Characters have a total of 5 attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Spirit. With each level up, in addition to a considerable increase in HP and MP, you are also rewarded with 10 attribute points—5 of which are automatically allocated by the system according to your class, and the other 5 can be freely distributed by the player. Attribute points are extremely important for improving combat power, but leveling up is not the main way to obtain them, because leveling is very difficult. The main way to gain attribute points is through the achievement system. Achievements are awarded when players accomplish remarkable feats. For example, if you PK 100 players from the opposing faction, you get the “Hundred Kills” achievement, which adds 10 points to all attributes; catch 1,000 fish to get the “Angler” achievement, which adds 20 points to Endurance; kill 10,000 little rabbits or chickens in the newbie village to get the “Rabbit (Chicken) Butcher” achievement, which rewards 10 free attribute points, and so on. There are a huge variety of achievements. It’s said that, in theory, a level 1 player who completes all the achievements available at level 1 can have as many attribute points as a level 50 player who does no achievements at all. A player who persistently pursues achievements can be a total boss among players of the same level, almost overpowered. Players who are obsessed with achievements are collectively called “achievement junkies,” while those who focus on leveling are called “leveling junkies.”

　　""Gods and Demons"" is a game with a very high degree of freedom. For example, there are no obvious class restrictions—like mages only being able to wear cloth armor, or warriors being unable to use magic. As long as the player has the determination and thinks it’s necessary, they can dump all their attribute points into Strength to create a melee mage, or dump them all into Intelligence to make a magic warrior. As for how effective that is in actual combat, that’s another story. At the very least, before being reborn, Jack Carter had a studio colleague who was a mage wearing heavy paladin armor, whose only use was to help clients’ low-level accounts farm low-level dungeons. The feeling of running a big circle in a small dungeon, gathering hundreds of monsters and blowing them up in one go, was simply divine.

　　That’s the basic introduction to the game. Anyway, it’s an easy game to pick up, and the mechanics aren’t complicated.

　　Now, Jack Carter’s class is Paladin.

　　In the game, Paladins can tank, deal damage, and heal—a seemingly all-rounder class. In reality, they can’t tank, can’t deal damage, and can’t heal, proving the saying: “Jack of all trades = master of none.” Before Jack Carter’s transmigration, players summed up five years of game experience with one phrase: “Weak against the strong, strong against the weak.”

　　In any online game, the top-tier players always seem to be either rogues or mages, followed by warriors, archers, and so on. With the Paladin’s trait of being “weak against the strong,” it’s destined never to reach the top. Actually, Jack Carter never intended to be a top-tier player anyway. Operation? Reflexes? Game sense? None of that—he didn’t have any of those skills! At least he was self-aware enough to know that, and besides, his personality wasn’t the competitive type to begin with.

　　If Jack Carter before rebirth was a beggar holding a broken bowl, then after rebirth, Jack Carter was determined to hold a big bowl. And the Paladin’s trait of being “strong against the weak” is basically a natural big bowl! Simple to play, practical, strong survivability, super high tolerance for mistakes—one of the top two choices for studio gold farmers and power-levelers (the other being Mage; if you have the skills, you can do anything, but Jack Carter didn’t have those skills). And the Elf race itself is good at Light magic, which can effectively optimize this class—or more precisely, enhance the Paladin’s signature skill: Zealous Devotion, which releases Holy Light in a certain area around your feet, dealing continuous damage to enemies. Although its power can’t compare to the mages’ AoE skills, each class has its specialty, and Light magic does bonus damage to undead and demons.

　　Jack Carter’s journey of rebirth had begun.

Chapter 2: Warm-up Before Leveling

　　Logged into the game. Yangfan Town—Jack Carter was born here. Pretty lucky, really; if he’d been born inland, he’d be spitting blood. Jack Carter immediately left town, crossed mountains and wilds, dying all along the way, and after a whole day finally reached the neighboring town of Nasayan. This was where Jack Carter would develop, the starting point for the studio’s power-leveling strategy.

　　Nasayan Port, a small seaside port town in the remote northern part of the Elven Kingdom, with towering trees, lush greenery, beautiful scenery, and crisscrossing rivers in the harbor. After completing a series of quests, Paladins set sail from here to the City of Holy Light, Avalon, which in the game’s story is under constant siege by demon armies. There are countless quests and opportunities there. And with the Paladin’s class traits, fighting against demon undead is the perfect arrangement.

　　The port was bustling with people, the docks packed with players setting up stalls and hawking their wares, and all the players coming and going were fully geared and well-equipped. Sigh, after all, the game’s been running for a month already. As the saying goes, a good start is half the battle. After finally getting the chance to transmigrate, to lose half the race right at the starting line!

　　Of course, only half the race was lost. After all, the huge advantage of transmigration is right here—no matter how badly he does, he should still do better than in his previous life.

　　Jack Carter quickly calmed down and started by observing the situation.

　　Most of the players at the port were Hunters, Druids, and Priests—all strong classes for Elves. Paladins, on the other hand, were very rare. This showed that most players were quite rational.

　　Then he checked the lively team-up channel in the area:

　　“Beach crab farming team forming, need a level 10+ bear tank, four waiting for one...”

　　“Duskwood dungeon team forming, strong bear tank and hunter ready, need a priest or resto druid”