He had always been hoping for the end of the world in 2012, but when the time came, there wasn’t even a fart.

Although William Carter wasn’t doing well in life, he wasn’t lacking in intelligence—especially when it came to gaming, where he had a real talent. No one knew that this down-and-out guy had once led his university team to win the Dota championship at the ACG (Asian Cyber Games).

Back when William Carter played Dota professionally, he had a nickname: Henry Carter, which described his almost map-hack level awareness. But in reality, the countless times William Carter dodged enemy ganks wasn’t due to awareness, but rather intuition—what people call a sixth sense.

A natural instinct for danger.

Dota couldn’t be a real career. Even the WCG (World Cyber Games) prize money was only twenty or thirty thousand at most—barely enough for airfare. Most Dota players abroad lived off social welfare, and even the top players didn’t make much. It was even more miserable in China. So, after a brief period of glory, William Carter’s team disbanded.

The brothers all went their separate ways, only occasionally gathering online to stomp some noobs. Every time this happened, William Carter felt especially sentimental.

Now, he no longer played Dota for Dota’s sake, but for the chance to play with friends.

This morning, with stubble on his face, William Carter sat in front of his computer, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He kicked off his slippers and used his toes to nudge awake the old computer that had accompanied him for five years. The hard drive whirred like a car engine, and the fan sounded like a helicopter.

He pushed aside the sock next to his mouse, humming a little tune he made up himself: “Every morning, I strive to improve, blue underwear, shining bright…”

Then, he registered a new account on the VS platform and queued up for a Dota match with a bunch of level-one numeric IDs. His teammates didn’t disappoint: they picked Sniper, Troll Warlord, and Phantom Assassin in turn. At least one of them picked a proper hero—Kunkka—and even bought a Belt of Giant Strength (+6 Strength) at the start.

When asked, the teammate replied, “Isn’t Kunkka a strength hero?”

William Carter didn’t say a word and just treated the other four as simple bots.

William Carter picked Omniknight—the old man riding a wolf. The opponents were so bad that William Carter couldn’t help but kill them, even if he didn’t want to. He rushed a Necronomicon, used the little blue minions to block, and with a horde of summons, he netted, stunned, and mana-burned his way through the enemy. He killed anyone he saw. By 45 minutes, he had Necronomicon, Aghanim’s Scepter, Mekansm, Scythe of Vyse, and Boots of Travel. He even bought a bunch of True Sight Wards and spelled out three characters on the enemy high ground—“Legend Bro.”

Just as he was about to buy Eye of Skadi, William Carter clicked on the NPC that sold Ultimate Orbs, only to be surprised to find that the Ultimate Orb had turned purple. Hovering the mouse over it, the name had changed to “Purple Ultimate—Realm of Dreams.”

Wearing it grants you entry into a permanent dream realm. Dreams are reality, and in the eyes of those who dream, reality is but a dream.

Damn, what kind of new cheat is this? And the author must be into philosophy. William Carter clicked it casually, and the purple Ultimate Orb appeared in his inventory. Then, to his shock, his Necronomicon, Aghanim’s Scepter, Mekansm, Scythe of Vyse, and Boots of Travel were all absorbed into the purple Ultimate Orb. With a flash of golden light, they combined into a new item.

It still looked like the purple Ultimate Orb, but the color was much more solid.

Next, all the skills of William Carter’s hero, Omniknight, disappeared one by one: first Repentance, then Holy Persuasion, Test of Faith, and Hand of God.

Not even allowed to use skills? This cheat is insane.

As William Carter was thinking this, his head suddenly throbbed with pain. The purple Ultimate Orb actually flew out of the screen and stuck itself to William Carter’s forehead. Then, the NPC beauty’s avatar suddenly expanded into a ferocious ghost face. A hoarse voice rang out.

“Welcome to our world!”

And just like that, William Carter transmigrated.

He himself found it unbelievable, afraid that he was dreaming.

Could this be the world of Warcraft Dota?

As William Carter was pondering, the hoarse voice sounded again: Hero level 1, skill acquired: Holy Persuasion—gain permanent control of an enemy unit.

Holy Persuasion, Omniknight’s skill—just as expected!

William Carter dazedly processed this information, and soon his face was full of joy.

He happily ran deeper into the forest, already imagining himself summoning a horde of minions to roam the continent. No doubt about it, he was going to be a legend.

After running for a while, he finally encountered his first neutral creep as night fell—a little dog about half a meter tall, squatting in the bushes with half its head poking out. Its beady little eyes darted around warily, as if it were hiding in the grass to poop.

William Carter recognized this neutral creep—it was a level-one Kobold. Kobolds are the weakest neutral creeps in Dota: 240 HP, 10-11 base attack, 0 armor. One area spell could wipe out a whole group.

Although William Carter had killed countless Kobolds in Dota, he’d never really looked at one closely before. They were just too insignificant, always clustered together. Every time, he’d just see a yellowish-orange blob, toss out an area spell, and then those five little “goat pellet” creeps would squeak and die.

This time, William Carter took a close look at the Kobold and couldn’t help but frown. This guy looked way too humble: red eyes, pig nose, and a row of poop-yellow buck teeth sticking out of its mouth.