Chapter 1: The Mysterious Old Walker

2030, October 1st, 8:00 PM. The global online player count for "King of Nine Heavens" surpassed 300 million, setting a new record. All the major main cities on every server were packed to the brim. As the top of the eight main cities worldwide, "Supreme Sanctuary" was especially bustling. Hundreds of rarely seen Zeppelin Thorn Airships floated in the sky, and even three Sky Fortresses were competing in splendor. The entrances of all the major guilds were crowded with players, gazing up at the "rich people not acting human" series in the sky.

Yes, today was the tenth anniversary celebration of the open beta for the virtual online game "King of Nine Heavens." All sorts of mysterious quests were, of course, indispensable... All magic potions and items were 20% off. Forget the whales—even the hardcore grinders couldn't resist stocking up.

The entrance to the Alchemist Guild was especially lively. Besides the potion discounts, a series of new magic potions had been launched, and several rare potion recipes were made available.

"Damn, bro, you're a real boss! How much did you spend on this Morasso Double-Headed Gryphon?" The Martial Artist couldn't help but touch it. Even a regular single-headed one was hard to raise, but this top-tier double-headed one was flashy even just strolling around the city. Unfortunately, that's a profession for the rich.

"Not much, just a few hundred thousand." The Soul Beast Master's calm expression carried a hint of show-off flamboyance. Among the eight main professions and hundreds of life professions on the Nine Heavens Continent, each had its own way to show off and technical difficulty. For example, Martial Artists required considerable skill proficiency, Wizards needed even stronger soul power perception, and as for Soul Beast Masters, the only issue with their development was money.

However, the Soul Beast Master, who had just been showing off, suddenly spotted an acquaintance and instantly turned into a goofball. "Old Carter, Old Carter, hey, Big Brother, don't go! Is the Fear Potion in stock yet? My baby has been waiting for over half a month."

"What's the rush? You think potions are mass-produced? Your batch still needs another half a month." The Alchemist rolled his eyes, clearly not too fond of the other party. An excellent Alchemist always had this kind of attitude.

"Come on, Luke Carter, I'm just itching for it. My Morasso Gryphon just needs this set of potions to level up. Look, one of its heads is big and the other is small—how unbalanced is that?" For a Soul Beast Master, nothing could make them throw away their dignity like their own pet. For their soul beast, pride and face meant nothing. Normally, even whales had their limits, since in the Nine Heavens World, you could hit a few rich people just by tossing a stone. Not everyone could be like "Ben Grant."

A group of familiar faces gathered around, chatting excitedly. On the Nine Heavens Continent, there were eight main professions: Wizard, Martial Artist, Soul Beast Master, Gunner, Exorcist, Alchemist, Forgemaster, and Runemaster. The first five were combat professions, while the last three were scholar professions. In addition, there were hundreds of detailed life support professions, such as gardener, tailor, gourmet, and so on. Each profession was interconnected and complemented the others. If it existed in the real world, it existed here; if it didn't exist in the real world, it still existed here. A virtual game that combined "adventure," "heroes," "life," "professions," and "showing off" was bound to be a hit. It was hard to believe that the company that developed this game almost went bankrupt in its early days.

No one was idle. While queuing, they watched live streams. Today was also the opening day for all the major S-level challenge quests. Players at the top of each profession began the "NO.1 Pinnacle" challenge, accompanied by the in-game masochist live stream.

"Holy crap, holy crap, 'King Carter'—what kind of damage is that? That's insane!"

"Look at what he's holding—the Calamity of the Grand Lich King Mosuo. Damn, that one staff has more stats than all my gear combined." A Wizard was practically drooling, probably more than when looking at girls.

"Shallow. King Carter's skill set is already at a master level, and his movement is on par with Martial Artists. You think you can become the world's number one Wizard just by relying on gear?"

"I told you, Fire Wizards are the real deal. Thunder Wizards are all idiots!"

"Screw you, did Thunder Wizards eat your rice? Out of the top ten Wizards, only one is a Fire Wizard!"

"Fire Wizards are the strongest!"

They were watching the Wizard King Challenge of the current world-ranked number one Wizard, "Rider Carter." The debate between Fire Wizards and Thunder Wizards had been going on for ages, just like the argument over whether salty or sweet soy milk was authentic. Official guides all claimed Thunder Wizards had an easier path to the top, but the current number one Wizard was a Fire Wizard.

The Soul Beast Master with the double-headed gryphon was quietly drooling over the Soul Beast Master challenge. On the virtual mini-screen was a player named "Hunter Darling," whose avatar was a cute loli, but beside her was every Soul Beast Master's ultimate dream: a god-level soul beast—the Twin-bodied Fire Luan. She was also number one on the spending leaderboard, rumored to have spent hundreds of millions on the game, nicknamed "Ben Grant," and was currently challenging the number one Soul Beast Master.