The night sky is dotted with countless stars. Alistair is standing on an endless plain. The wild grass is a gorgeous blue color. The lonely wind sweeps past, and the plain resounds with a low rumbling.
In the unknown distance, there seemed to be a rhythmic "thumping" sound echoing. As Alistair listened carefully, he recognized that it must be the sound produced when a battle drum was beaten. However, this drum sound contained an ancient, profound and heart-stirring meaning, causing Alistair's spirit to suddenly lose its way in this desolate and vast plain.
"Welcome to the world of 'Midnight Nobles', dear players. Before entering the magnificent realm of Rhinolus, please choose your race and profession first."
A low and pleasant system notification sound rang in Alistair's ears. Immediately, he came to his senses and secretly sighed, "This 'Midnight Nobles' truly deserves the title of a century-spanning masterpiece. Just the game's initial interface alone has achieved an over 90% level of realism, causing him to momentarily lose his composure just now."
As the system notification sound faded away, 10 lifelike projections appeared around Alistair. They were the figures of the ten races from the game "Midnight Nobles", all male models. They were humans, dark night elves, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, orcs, trolls, giants, undead, and ancient elves.
These projections were slowly revolving around Alistair. Beside each race's projection, there were different circular patterns flashing. Some were sharp long swords, some were staffs with magic crystals at the top, some were models of totems, and some were golden and noble mallets...
The flashing patterns beside these races represent the occupations that the race can choose.
Among the ten races in "Midnight Nobles", not every race can take on all occupations. Take the undead for example. If you ask the undead race to take on the shaman occupation, wouldn't that be making people burst out laughing? As for the Ogres, there is no thief occupation among them. Although using the tall and imposing figure of the Ogres as an excuse to claim that they cannot become thieves seems a bit far-fetched, if such a large and strong race were really trained to become thieves, even if placed in the bounty hunter alliance in reality, Alistair believes that those self-proclaimed all-powerful bounty hunter instructors would probably all look miserable and squat in a corner, unable to shed a tear.
Alistair looked around and surveyed the scene. He had long been familiar with the information about the ten races and the seven professions. However, that was merely an impression gained from written materials and visual images. It was only when he came into contact with these lifelike projections that he gained an intuitive understanding.
After a slight flutter in his emotions, Alistair quickly calmed down. He frowned and thought for a moment, then decided to stick to his original choice. His thoughts were focused on the night elf race.
"Select the race - Night Elf. The player's gender is male. The appearance of the game character will be adjusted according to the player's real appearance, with an upward adjustment limit of 10% and a downward adjustment limit of 30%. Please select the adjustment of the game character's appearance."
"As a bounty hunter, appearance is important, but being too striking can also cause problems." Alistair glanced at the already handsome appearance of the dark elf and decided to lower his appearance by 20%. Although the appearance remained handsome, compared to the dark elf illustrations Alistair had seen before, he believed that he would not stand out too much among his own kind.
"Race determination - Male Dark Elf race, appearance confirmed. Please, dear player, choose the profession you wish to take up."
His gaze rested on the icons representing the available classes for the dark night elves. Alistair walked around the six icons - warrior, mage, priest, thief, hunter, and druid - before finally settling on the emerald green icon, which exuded a sense of nature.
Among the seven professions in "Midnight Nobles", Alistair was most impressed by the Druid profession.
Among the countless job advertisements out there, there are numerous descriptions of Druids - such as "Children of Nature", "Blessed by the Earth God", "Rescuing the endangered and polluted environments across the Rhinolus continent", "A fearless and noble profession", and so on.
Alistair showed no interest in these introductions at all. The only reason he cared about the Druid profession was that it was characterized by its "changeability".
The official website did not disclose the specific skills of the seven professions, but it did explain the characteristics of each profession. In the introduction of the Druid profession, the point that Alistair was particularly interested in was: "As the Druid profession gradually becomes stronger, one can learn to transform into various animals and even fight in the form of various fierce beasts, truly deserving the title of 'Son of Nature'."
"Transformation!"
For Alistair, who is skilled in various disguise techniques, the various transformations of the Druid profession undoubtedly have generated a certain degree of appeal and familiarity.
After a moment of thought, Alistair finally brought the green Druid icon to his own face.
"Career confirmation, Druid."
"Now, dear player, please be patient. Once you complete the final step, your character will be officially confirmed."
"Please name your game character."
"Naming!" ?" Alistair was taken aback for a moment. As someone who had never been involved in games before, he obviously forgot this. After a while of thinking, he decided to use a rather ordinary name, "Embrace Nature."
"Sorry, dear player. This name has already been taken. Please choose another one."
"Such a common name is actually being used by someone?" Alistair furrowed his brow and decided to go for a more eye-catching one this time. "Forest Wanderer."
"Sorry, dear player. This name has already been taken. Please choose another one."
Alistair's eyebrows furrowed deeply, and he made up his mind to make it even more stylish this time: "The King of the Forest."
"Sorry, dear player..."
Slightly vulgar option: "Stab you from behind secretly."
"Very sorry..."
A bit more lewd: "Split the character 'Kun'."
"Very sorry..."
Stupid comment: "I'm a bear."
"Very sorry..."
Alistair tried out nearly a hundred names in a row. His face grew more and more pale. His calm state was no longer able to remain composed and he couldn't help but shout angrily, "Are these people crazy? How could they choose such names?"
The furious Alistair was completely unaware that at this very moment, countless players might be cursing him just as fiercely as he was.
Taking a deep breath, Alistair sat quietly and thought for a while. Then, he slowly uttered three words: "The End of Cycles!"
"Player's game name confirmed - 'Cycles' End, naming successful. Now proceeding with the final confirmation."
"Player Cycles' End, Race: Night Elf. Gender: Male. Profession: Druid. Final confirmation, do you accept?"
"Accept!"
"Entering the scan, the player's game character is created and established."
"The Rhinolus continent is divided into the Order and Chaos factions. Please let player Cycles' End decide which faction you belong to?"
Alistair looked at the chaotic group with a sense of reluctance. As a bounty hunter, his forte was to navigate through the chaos. To be honest, the name of this chaotic group perfectly suited his temperament. However, as he recalled the information about his current mission in his mind, Alistair had no choice but to reluctantly abandon the side of the chaotic group.
"Establish factions - Maintain order."
"Player information confirmed - Cycles' End. Race: Night Elf. Gender: Male. Profession: Druid. Alignment: Neutral. Now, dear player Cycles' End, please select the map of the Neutral alignment for your starting point of the adventure."
The deep and melodious voice of the system swept past like a gentle breeze. Before Alistair appeared a huge map projection, showing the specific territories of the five major kingdoms of the defending faction on the Rhinolons continent.
Located in the west, the Western Kingdom of Ailor, which is composed of hills, forests and plateau areas...
Located in the center of the Five Kingdoms, on the map projection, it appears as a vast red dragon empire...
The entire kingdom is characterized by a plateau terrain, and it is the Lornedara Plateau Kingdom that produces the most powerful cavalry in the entire continent...
The snowy mountains renowned worldwide for their brilliant gemstones and ice crystals...
The south faces the sea, while the north is surrounded by mountains. More than half of the entire kingdom is covered by the serene forest of Micro-Pen.
On the huge map projection, hundreds of red dots were marked. Alistair understood that these red dots were what the system referred to as the place where the adventure began.
Glancing over the maps of the five kingdoms one by one, Alistair had nothing to hesitate about at this moment. He simply reached out and randomly clicked on a red dot.
"Player Cycles' End has begun to confirm the starting location for the adventure, near the Whispering Forest - Wind Talker Town. Now entering 'Midnight Nobles', wishing you a pleasant adventure. 3-second countdown has begun..."
"3"
"2"
"1"
In the starry night sky, suddenly a pale white light beam descended, enveloping the figure of a dark night elf. Amid the melodious sounds of the war drums on the vast plain, the light beam gradually faded away, and Alistair vanished as well.