Chapter 21: The Gaming Forum

The impact was immense; in the world of One Piece, there were so many unique abilities, each more formidable and varied than the last. Logia fruit users could become immune to physical attacks by transforming into elements, those with Paramecia fruits wielded powers over space or even time, and Zoan fruits offered limitless possibilities.

Just imagining himself obtaining any number of abilities made his heart race with excitement. Of course, that was all for the future—at present, he was still too weak.

In the game, auxiliary skills could only be acquired through exploration and sheer luck (note: auxiliary skills could not be brought into reality). Tang Shen read the description and almost flipped the table in frustration. “All up to fate? Are you kidding me? Figure it out yourself?”

Auxiliary skills might seem trivial, but in reality, they were indispensable everywhere. For example, the Gathering skill was essential for collecting food or acquiring abilities. Without it, killing a beast or someone from the One Piece world would be pointless—you wouldn’t be able to make use of the body.

Though the probability of obtaining skills was low, at least there was hope. Without even the Gathering skill, there would be no hope at all. It was a massive pitfall, and the official website didn’t even explain how to obtain it.

Still, Tang Shen found some comfort in his situation. He’d killed a Tooth Rabbit, and when he tried to pick it up, he had spontaneously learned the Gathering skill. Did that mean he was exceptionally lucky?

He imagined other players racking their brains for auxiliary skills while he obtained them with ease, and couldn’t help feeling proud. The gap was widening—he really was a man with the legendary protagonist’s halo.

In reality, things weren’t quite as Tang Shen imagined. The main reason he’d received the Gathering skill was that he was the first to kill a beast. Besides the server-wide announcement and the mysterious achievement points he’d obtained, the auxiliary skill was also a reward—provided he actively tried to touch the Tooth Rabbit, otherwise, he would have missed out. The website’s “figure it out yourself, up to fate” meant exactly that.

Of course, Tang Shen didn’t know this; he was simply basking in his success.

He then noticed an explanation for the Gathering skill. The official website wasn’t entirely heartless, after all. Such an important auxiliary skill deserved clarification, mainly about its function.

The Gathering skill included an automatic cleaning feature—any meat or vegetables gathered didn’t need washing and could be cooked or eaten directly. Some herbs could also be picked intact.

Upon reading this, Tang Shen immediately understood why, when he harvested the Tooth Rabbit’s meat, everything had been ready to cook. He’d thought that was just how the game worked, and assumed the Gathering skill was easy to acquire.

This meant that without the Gathering skill, even if you killed a Tooth Rabbit, you’d have to skin, bleed, and clean it—just like in real life—before you could cook and eat it.

The utility of this skill was immense.

The greater its usefulness, the happier Tang Shen felt.

There was another point that particularly caught Tang Shen’s attention: pain in the game was simulated one hundred percent by the brain, with no reduction in sensation.

This seemed cruel, but it had unimaginable benefits. Some people might not understand, and some even criticized the game, saying that dying would be agonizing. But this complete simulation was actually a tremendous advantage for humanity as a whole.

Why had humanity only managed to claim such a small territory over the years, with such slow development and even slower expansion? The root cause was that humans only had one life—no matter how talented or powerful you were, a single accident could mean your end.

Countless geniuses had perished from minor mishaps, simply because they lacked real combat experience. As a result, top human warriors were extremely rare; those who survived had been tempered by countless battles, living on the edge of death, climbing out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

No matter your talent or how much stronger you were than your peers, you had to survive long enough to reach the peak of humanity; otherwise, it was all meaningless.

But this "Second World" full-immersion game solved that problem. Although one’s physical strength couldn’t be synchronized into the game and everyone started with the same base stats, the experience gained from fighting beasts could be accumulated.

Most importantly, you couldn’t die in the game! Even if the pain was fully simulated, and there was a resurrection timer, these factors were negligible.

Compared to the annual casualty rate among young gene warriors, such inconveniences were insignificant.

As long as the mortality rate among gene warriors dropped, the truly talented could survive and thrive in Earth’s harsh environment. It was all worth it.

This game was not only a blessing for ordinary humans who could never become gene warriors, but also for the gene warriors themselves. Training in the game could also enhance physical fitness. Even if the synchronization rate was low, it was still preferable to the fatal risks young gene warriors faced when fighting beasts in reality.

Tang Shen had no doubt that this full-immersion game would soon sweep across all of humanity. Even if it was fraught with challenges, and currently a formidable struggle for novice players, its importance would only grow over time. The gene warriors weren’t fools—some of them likely already realized the game’s potential and were preparing to enter it in droves.

Tang Shen didn’t believe those gene warriors were stupid; on the contrary, many were extremely intelligent. Some at the very top were probably already making extensive preparations to join the game.

But that was none of his concern. He was familiar with the world of One Piece and would always have a head start. If others worked hard, he would work even harder. With so many hidden advantages, if he still couldn’t make something of himself, then his transmigration would truly have been in vain.

He carefully read through all the information on the official website, making sure he hadn’t missed anything, and then exited.

He navigated to the “Second World” forum.

The forum had just opened that day. Tang Shen expected it to be popular, but not this popular—there were already hundreds of thousands of posts, with new ones appearing every second.

He casually registered an account: “A Man Like a God.”

He started clicking on the featured posts. To truly understand the game, it wasn’t enough to read the official site; the forums were essential. The greatest experts often came from the player base, and besides, it was a good way to gauge the general situation among players.

The place was a chaotic mix of all sorts of people.

What Tang Shen didn’t expect was that the first featured post he opened was about himself.

“Who exactly is the player ‘Monkey D. Roger’ who first killed a beast? What’s his background? Could he be an elite from one of the nineteen great families? I was stunned when I saw the server-wide announcement. If anyone knows the inside story, please share!”