His heart tightened when he saw that the system update was coming earlier than he expected.
So, what changed from the previous life he played?
Himself… indeed.
But even if he is the change, what did he accomplish that triggered the update?
Is it the Lucky Aura?
Alex wondered a second before shaking his head, "No way. That'd be too absurd. The luck factor was just a bug that needed fixing, which will be fixed after the update. It shouldn't be the important one... There should be something else that might have triggered this..."
But a few seconds later, he shook the thoughts away. No point dwelling.
He needed to use what little time he had before he was forced out.
His eyes drifted to the deepest part of the cave.
There was a narrow tunnel he hadn't explored yet. Maybe… there was more.
He took out a luminous orb, the candle, from earlier. and then activated Primary Detective, but something blocked it. His vision refused to expand. It hit a wall of nothingness.
That only happened when something special was ahead.
Alex slowly walked forward.
The darkness thickened. His light couldn't pierce it... like the tunnel itself repelled it. He raised a hand, stretching his fingers toward the strange shadow.
His fingertips touched something cool and soft, almost like touching water.
He pushed his hand through. It slid smoothly, swallowed by darkness. There was no rejection from the other side, and he slipped in, only to appear in some kind of chamber.
"Holy Sh*t"
The words slipped out of his mouth as he spotted a giant, exquisite treasure chest resting on a stone pedestal.
It was not black iron.
Not bronze.
Or even silver.
It was something that even at the peak stage of his past life, Alex only encountered once, just once...
"The legendary grade Treasure chest?" Alex's voice trembled as his eyes fell on the chest.
Back in his past life, when he opened the legendary grade chest, he found a holy-grade dagger and an S-rank martial arts skill.
Those were the kind of items that could overturn the power of a guild, especially in the current stage.
He could hardly breathe, and his gaze never left the chest. However, the problem was that he didn't have a legendary-grade key to open it.
Yet, he couldn't stop himself from approaching the pedestal, only to freeze again in shock.
Because lying next to the chest was a golden key, the exact matching key for the legendary chest. Placed right beside it.
Alex stared at it for a couple of seconds in blankness. And then shouted... "This is… ridiculous."
It was like someone locked a safe… and then put the key right on top of it.
Who would ever do that?
Alex scanned the chamber again, checking every corner and shadow, making sure nothing strange or dangerous hid in the room. A legendary chest was never simple. There could be hidden traps or buried curses surrounding it.
But after circling the pedestal twice, he found nothing.
He steadied his breath, tightened his grip, and moved straight toward the chest.
"Alright… fortune favors the bold." With that fearless declaration, he rushed forward, snatched up the legendary key, and inserted it into the chest's golden lock.
Click
The sound echoed like a bell in an empty cathedral.
Alex opened the chest eagerly.
Inside...
There was a large empty space that held only three items.
A folded note.
A simple wooden token.
And an egg...
He unfolded the note. The script was in ancient runic language, but the system instantly translated it.
"If you have opened this chest unharmed, you must be a hunter destined for my legacy. Haha, good boy. The chests outside were my greetings to you.
Oh, the egg is a fine one. Treat it as your first pet.
Beneath the chest is a teleport array that will return you near the village.
Walk the path as the sole inheritor of my lineage.
I look forward to meeting you.
André"
*
Alex froze.
His mind blanked for half a second.
André?
That André?
The God-Level Hunter, André, was a known NPC who, according to the lore, had shaken the entire Arcana world (game world). The man was considered the first-ever Hunter.
And now, Alex was… his inheritor?
Holy moly… that was some… incredibly shitty luck… Alex felt like today, he wouldn't even be able to sleep properly.
He picked up the wooden token carefully.
The moment it touched his fingers, it dissolved into a streak of soft blue light and flowed into his body like water.
The system chimed immediately.
*Ding!
[Congratulations, you have received the inheritance of God-Level Hunter André.
(First trial available at Level 10.)
You will always receive André's protection.
Passive granted: [Hunter Halo]
Damage to wild monsters +10%.]
*
Alex's lips twitched into a disbelieving smile.
One god-tier inheritance.
One legendary pet egg.
A stat halo.
50 treasure chests.
Six sub-professions.
22 Luck.
Today wasn't luck. It was a fuc*ing god sent miracle.
He lifted the egg next.
System:
"Egg contains life. Species currently undetectable. Check after hatching."
Alex's grin widened.
If the system couldn't detect it, it was guaranteed to be a treasure.
He placed the egg into his personal storage, not the space ring. If he died, the ring could drop. But items in personal inventory were permanent.
To protect it, he emptied a spare slot by tossing a black iron gear into the space ring, then nestled the egg into the empty slot.
"Perfect."
"ha" "ha" "Ha"
He couldn't help but let out a triumphant laugh… not once, but three times.
Everything today felt unreal.
After a minute, he finally forced his smile back into something normal… though the corners of his mouth still twitched upward uncontrollably.
Alright. Time to leave.
He hid his personal information, like level, stats, and equipment. The system allowed players to conceal everything from others, a prevention against malicious stalking or PvP sniping.
Then he moved the treasure chest off the pedestal.
Beneath it, just as the note said, was a glowing teleport array.
Before stepping in, he scratched his chin and grinned.
"Legendary chest box is still a legendary item. Why waste it?"
He picked up the empty legendary chest and shoved it into his storage ring.
He stepped into the teleport array.
Flash
The world inverted. When color returned, he stood at the entrance to Novice Village 10001.
The village was nearly empty as Most players had already logged off for the update.
He checked the time.
Only three minutes left.
He logged out without hesitation.
*
Unlike his expectations of staying all night in excitement, Alex slept soundly until dawn. Maybe it is because of exhaustion.
But while he slept, the entire Arcana World Online community was on fire.
After the update, players discovered something shocking
Free attribute points could no longer be added to Luck.
And Luck no longer increased on level-up.
The official announcement followed:
"Due to a development oversight, the Luck stat was mistakenly categorized as a basic attribute.
It has been corrected.
Existing Luck points gained by players will not be removed.
We apologize for this mistake."
Almost instantly, players who hadn't pumped points into Luck exploded with rage.
Forums filled with curses, petitions, and complaints.
One post gathered almost a million signatures in hours, demanding that the system allow Luck allocation again.
But Arcana World Online's official stance remained cold and silent.
No rollback or compromise
And somewhere, far from the noise, Alex slept peacefully… with 22 Luck, Hunter inheritance, a god-tier egg, and a future none of them could imagine.
*
La la la
Alex's phone vibrated and rang while he was in the middle of breakfast. He glanced at the screen.
Lin Xue.
He answered, and before he could speak, her excited voice burst through the speaker.
"Alex, my Arcana World Online helmet arrived. I made my character already… I chose Pastor, and I'm in Novice Village 10002. Where are you?"
Alex swallowed, wiping crumbs from his lips.
"I'm in 10001 Novice Village. We're practically neighbors. We can't meet inside the novice villages, but both villages belong to the same town. When we get to the main city, I'll bring you around."
"Deal. When I hit level 10, take me leveling," she demanded playfully.
"No problem," Alex replied without hesitation.
"Okay, I'll go grind now. See you at level 10."
Click.
Alex stared at the phone for a second.
"Bye..."
He finished breakfast, washed his hands, and logged back into Arcana World Online.
*
He spawned at the entrance of the novice village. The first thing he did was open his settings and check whether his personal information was in hidden status or not, so that only his character name would remain visible.
Better to stay low-profile for now.
But the moment he took two steps…
He felt the gazes.
Several players were staring at him from a distance, whispering to each other.
Alex didn't need to guess why.
Today was only Day 2 of the server opening. Most players were walking around in ragged clothes and with wooden sticks.
Meanwhile, Alex was glowing in full black-iron gear, wearing three black-iron rings, with a backpack stuffed with loot.
In their eyes?
He wasn't a player.
He was a moving treasure chest with legs.
It didn't take long for someone to approach.
A guy swaggered up, name floating brightly above his head: "This Young Master Has Money."
He leaned in smugly. "Hey there... Your equipment for sale?"
Alex raised his dagger casually. "Sure. How much you got?"
The young master puffed his chest proudly.
"This young master is generous. One hundred copper coins for your dagger, and your rings, one silver each. But if you sell all three together, I'll give you four silver. How about it?"
Then his voice dropped into a cocky threat.
"And if you don't sell… heh. Ever heard of the guild World Domination? They're top 5 in China's rankings in 'Natural Disaster'. My cousin is an Elder there."
Alex almost laughed out loud.
Threatening someone from Arcana World Online… using a guild from another game?
It was like threatening a lion with a goldfish.
And worst of all… World Domination wasn't even strong. In his previous life, they were barely a second-rate guild.
"You doing a comedy show?" Alex grinned. "Not selling."
"You..." The young master's face turned green. He hadn't expected rejection.
"Move," Alex said calmly. "You're blocking the road."
"No," the rich master snapped, eyes fierce with embarrassment. "If you don't sell to me, wait for World Domination to hunt you down."
Alex laughed coldly. "So, you're basically trying to rob me in daylight using your connections?"
"Exactly. If you don't give me your equipment, you won't survive in Arcana World Online."
His five followers stepped forward, puffing their chests. They clearly wanted to beat Alex up, but couldn't. Novice villages prohibited PvP. Anyone attacking first would be thrown into the small black jail for seven days and lose a level.
Still, their intentions were clear.
Alex had had enough.
"Get lost..."
He pushed the young master lightly, but with his 11 Strength (base + power ring), the man stumbled back several steps and nearly fell on his face.
The young master exploded at once. "You dare push ME? Kill him"
Just a moment, he approached with words because he was worried about the rules, and with one push from Alex, the so-called young master completely forgot the village rules and charged.
His five followers rushed together.
One, named "Follower 2," stabbed Alex with a flimsy dagger.
It barely scratched him and dealt 1 damage.
The system instantly responded:
*Ding!
System:
"Six players (including Follower 2) are attacking you. You may retaliate freely for 3 minutes."