Welcome.

The next step in your character creation is the selection of your race. Races have multiple effects: they change your base stats, social status, starting area, and give you special skills, both active and passive, to empower and focus your playstyle.

There are many different races, with different difficulties, bonuses, and ethnic backgrounds, so choose carefully. If you wish to narrow the list, simply state your specifications loudly and clearly.

Choose well, player.

Once Yi Qiang finished reading the screen, it dissolved and was replaced by a long list of available races. Glancing through it, there seemed to be several hundred, all drastically different to each other. From High Elf to Elder Beastkin, and even stranger names, Yi Qiang was lost for a second before grinning and beginning to think.

If he wanted to choose the best race to fit him, he would have to think about just how he would want to play. That question was deceivingly simple: if he wanted to excel, there was only one choice - marksmanship. Yi Qiang had no interest in constant melee combat, nor did he particularly want to pursue the intrigue of magic or the intricacies of crafting. There was one thing Yi Qiang would never lose in, and that was ranged weapons.

From the descriptions of all the stats, that meant that he wouldn't want any bonuses to magical stats, as they would be wasted on him. So, the first order of business was...

"Remove all races with only bonuses to Intelligence, Wisdom, or Spirit."

That narrowed down the list significantly, but there was still far too large a number to look through. So Yi Qiang had to do some more thinking.

He looked through the first entries, quickly noticing that some of the bonuses seemed useless. A +10 bonus to Dexterity, after all, would be noticeable in the earlier levels, but Yi Qiang was sure that as stats improved into the triple digits, the bonus would be near-insignificant. Not wanting to waste something as integral as racial bonuses, Yi Qiang narrowed down the list once again.

"Remove all races with constant stat bonuses."

A massive chunk of races was removed, but there were still around 30. Thankfully, Yi Qiang already had one final requirement that would surely cut down the number of races to a manageable level.

"Remove all races without some kind of bonus to the use of ranged weapons."

Seeing the result, he smiled. There were only three races left. He selected all of them and read their detailed information.

Yll Elves

This subrace of elves is secretive, mysterious, ancient, and terrifyingly powerful. Though few, the Yll Elves are renowned by those who know of them for their grace and effectiveness in combat. They live in small groups within forests, avoiding outside contact and hunting only what they need. The better-known Wood Elves are a recent related group, though their power in combat has been distilled and their connection to nature has blossomed, forming the Wood Elves of today. Yll Elves use only bows and seek only the betterment of their skills. They worship no god but do abide by many ancient traditions.

Bonuses:

+15% to Bow skill growth

+10% Dexterity

+5% Strength

+10% Agility

-20% to growth of other weapon skills

Pantherei

The Pantherei are a well-known nomadic tribe who live and migrate primarily in the forest. True to their name, they are a subrace of beastkin who are panther-like in shape. These beastkin are well-known for their unique fighting styles with three weapons: the claw, the bow, and the mace. Which weapon a Pantherei shall be trained in is decided at birth, when though a special ritual, a child of the tribe is determined to be in one of three groups, each proficient in a different weapon.

Bonuses:

+5% Strength

+5% Dexterity

+5% Agility

+5% Vitality

+5% Constitution

Different weapon bonuses based on player's weapon of choice

Dragonblood Elves

These are perhaps the most legendary types of elves - the Dragonblood. According to myths, the first Dragonblood Elf was a prodigious hunter, who had managed to slay an ancient and powerful dragon. This elf was then attacked, killing his or her attackers at the price of their life force, resulting in the elf, encroaching death, collapsing on the corpse of the ancient dragon. Through some strange process, the power and bloodline of the dragon and the elf fused, forming the first Dragonblood Elf. Equal parts dragon and marksman, the Dragonblood Elves are born with both the power of dragons and the deadly skill of hunters. Though terrifyingly driven for growth to the point of madness, the Dragonblood Elves are logical and kind. Unfortunately, they were perceived as a threat by multiple other Elven races, who allied with other races to exterminate the noble Dragonblood Elves. Thankfully, a few remain, and their bloodline lives on, the born hunters being eternally hunted.

Bonuses:

+15% Strength

+15% Dexterity

+15% Agility

+20% to bow skill growth

+100% to stat points gained from training

-Special effect - cannot be identified as a Dragonblood Elf except in specific circumstances

Target social status: should a player's identity as a Dragonblood Elf be revealed, they will be hunted and attacked by a large majority of Elven races and will be refused aid by almost all other races.

WARNING: The difficulty of this race is extreme. Player is not advised to select this race without significant experience.

Note: This race is available only to integrated players.

Instantly, Yi Qiang was drawn to the Dragonblood Elf. Their bonuses fit his ideal playstyle perfectly, and across the board, the percentages were leagues ahead of the other two races. The difficulty was unmistakable, but Yi Qiang, as someone who had pride ingrained into him since extremely young, refused to buckle under such unfair pressure. If he was going to live in this new game, Yi Qiang did not doubt that he would do anything it took to finish it. He wanted to be at the peak, just as he was on Earth.

"I select Dragonblood Elf."

You have selected Dragonblood Elf. Would you like to continue to the next stage of character creation?

 "Yes."

Yi Qiang's background didn't change, but a new screen appeared in front of him.

Would you like to customize your appearance?

"No," he responded. Yi Qiang was fine with how he looked, and he wasn't really scared of being recognized.

Please assign your free stats.

Though you've already worked for your base stats previously, every character also gets 10 free stat points to assign as they wish.

Base Stats

Strength: 60

Dexterity: 60

Agility: 60

Vitality: 70

Constitution: 50

Intelligence: 60

Wisdom: 60

Spirit: 60

Free Points: 10

Deciding just to focus on his main stats, the ones most relevant to his playstyle, Yi Qiang added 3 to Strength, 3 to Dexterity, 3 to Agility, and 1 to Constitution. He was sure Stamina regeneration would be an issue he would have to worry about, so he did decide to work on that too.

When the system detected he had assigned all the points, he got another confirmation screen and was finally able to move on to the next step of character creation, and apparently, the final.

Finally, please select your name.

Input name here:

Once Yi Qiang looked at the empty space, a keyboard popped up below the original screen, for him to write his name in the empty slot.

Not caring much about what he was called(Yi Qiang was a bit of a loner after all) he input this actual name, Yi Qiang. He considered calling himself One, but he had grown tired of the joke that he only needed one shot to kill. When Yi Qiang got more experienced, it was even joked that he only needed one minute, too.

You have finished character creation. Moving on to tutorial.

Would you like to begin the tutorial?

To Yi Qiang, that question was easy - he was completely inexperienced with games, all but lost in his new world, and burdened with his own grand ambitions.

"Yes."