It wasn't a hard decision. Without jumping at this chance, he was going to die, and while Yi Qiang didn't have much to live for, this sounded interesting enough, perhaps a chance to push himself to his limits once again. Logically, it was this or certain death.

Sure, he could have a leisurely, pleasant life until he died with his money and connections, but after such a disciplined life, with no leisure or room for relaxation, the prospect really didn't hold much promise for him. It used to - Yi Qiang, four years ago, would have jumped on the chance in a heartbeat, but he was just numb now. If he was going to retire, it would only be to more battle. Sadly, this might be the only thing Yi Qiang could really enjoy, at least so far. Hence, the quick answer. As for any problems that might arise, Yi Qiang could deal with them as they came.

“Excellent. So, let me clarify a bit. You will start playing the game, called Ascend, at the same time as the people who purchased the game normally, giving you the same starting time as them. Of course, you won't need to log off unlike them, so you will have a significant advantage. Also, if everything goes as planned, you will be immortal unless you specially ask for a data wipe, which will effectively perma-kill you. Which brings us to the subject of death in the game. I won't tell you anything about this, or any other game knowledge, as what you need to know will automatically be explained to you by the system. As a prototype and, coarsely, a lab-rat, you will be checked on monthly, going by the time of Earth. During these check-ups, we will assess your mental state, your progress in the game, and many more things. There is time dilation in place, however, so on your end, it'll be roughly six months before your first checkup begins. We've already gotten the paperwork worked out, and we simply require you to a sign a contract.”

Yi Qiang spoke.

"And after I sign this contract, how will you get me released from death row?"

Mr. Yang smiled enigmatically.

"Our company has its ways. One doesn't grow to be a goliath of an organization without forming a few connections along the way, no?"

Yi Qiang didn't see any further reason not to get started right away.

"When does the game begin?"

"Why, it starts tomorrow!"

The process was simple. Mr. Yang took out a folded piece of paper from his suit and a pen and asked Yi Qiang to sign with his name on several spots. The sniper did also look over the contract itself briefly, just making sure that Mr. Yang had made everything up and that he wasn't actually signing a contract to become a servant or assistant. He may be desperate, but he had his pride.

With that, the guard unlocked the cell, and Yi Qiang found himself escorted out of the building and into a black electric car. Mr. Yang drove, and Yi Qiang sat next to him in the driver's seat.

They traveled in silence. It was an hour-long drive to the airport, where Mr. Yang had said their destination was, and it went by solely with meditation.

Finally, they pulled up into the packed airport. As someone used to travel in style, and who used to have tremendous sums of money at his disposal, Yi Qiang felt only vague familiarity when Mr. Yang pulled out a badge, which, upon being seen by the attendant, had them ushered into a back hallway.

That led to a separate, medium-sized area, in which a small jet was parked. As the only vehicle in the area, Yi Qiang found it safe to assume that it was their ride.

The plane ride was short. Mr. Yang and Yi Qiang sat in adjacent aisles, but unlike the trip in the car, Yi Qiang initiated a conversation - for entirely practical reasons, of course.

"Mr. Yang," this got his attention, and the businessman faced his recruit, "this game, I'm not sure I can simply head in without some extra information. I have no experience with games, or anything remotely resembling that, so I fear that despite my skills, I might find myself falling behind and not making the best decisions. In the field, we had a saying: 'Knowledge is a bullet fired before the first.' So, if there's anything that might be considered common sense by others, I need you to tell me."

Hearing this, Mr. Yang smiled.

"Of course. Why didn't you tell me before? Though, given your background, I shouldn't find it so surprising. It's to be expected that you had no time to spare on meaningless entertainment. In that case, it's likely easiest to summarize.

First, the aim of this game is not concrete. It's advanced enough to be treated like the real world - every character is complex and realistic, and the relationships between actions and results are just as intricate as those in the real world. So you have no set path.

While you may focus on combat - and there's no reason for a man such as you not to, Mr. Yi - why or whom you fight is entirely up to you. Ascend is a real world, mister Yi, and soon, it will be your only one.

Ascend itself does a good job explaining important information, so I don't believe you will have too much trouble, but regardless, some things are common knowledge that Ascend's creators may have forgotten to include.

Firstly, the level system.

Your combat power manifests itself through two things: stats and skills. Of course, there's room for interpretation outside of those components, but these are the main guidelines. We'll ignore skills for the time being to talk about stats. Stats are the foundation of combat ability. They represent the body and the mind's ability to overcome a challenge and to work towards a set goal. There are many different stats, eight, I believe, but those will be explained, in detail, within the game. Anyways, the higher the stats, the higher the capacity of the player to overcome difficulty.

Stats rise through three methods. One, training. If you want to raise your Strength stat, it's a simple process - exercise. This process works just like it would in real life, except for the fact that it is significantly accelerated. Two, gear. Most items provide stat bonuses - that means that if you decide to use a sword that raises your Strength, the moment you begin wielding that sword, you will receive a stat bonus. Depending on the rarity of the equipment, stat bonuses can be higher or lower. Third, levels. Levels are the numerical value of your experience in the game. When you win a fight or kill an enemy, you gain experience. Experience changes based on two factors: the level difference between you and your opponent, and the grade of your opponent. The latter will also be detailed when you enter the game. You can also gain experience by completing quests, which you'll learn about as well. Once you gain a level, you receive attribute points. Attribute points are then used to improve a stat. One attribute point improves a stat by one point. When you gain a level, you can also equip more powerful items - most items have level requirements, meaning they can be used only at a certain level.

But that's enough about stats. Second, equipment.

Besides providing stat bonuses, equipment, depending on their type and use, have other effects. Weapons, for example, have two universal values, which change from item to item. Attack and weight. The former is simple: the higher this value is, the more damage the weapon does in one strike. The latter is not difficult to understand either: if this value is high, wielding the weapon taxes the body more.

Besides weapons, you can also equip armor and accessories. Armor is graded with only one aspect: defense. The defense value signifies how much damage the item can block: the higher this value is, the more damage it can stop from reaching the wearer. An armor's defense only works on that armor, too; there's no such thing as a collective defense.

Accessories are far rarer than either armor or weapons. They don't have any universal values, either: they just provide stat bonuses, unique skills, or perhaps both.

All of the three types of equipment feature one last value as well: durability. Before an item has been used at all, it starts with its maximum durability value. This can change based on the item itself - better items have different durabilities, and different types of items have different durabilities as well: a sabaton will naturally have less durability than a chest plate of the same quality. Durability is deducted from an item when it takes damage. When a weapon is placed under stress, or when armor is struck, it will lose durability. Accessories also lose durability, but unlike other items, they lose durability at a fixed rate over time. However, all items can get repaired, for a price. Depending on the skill of the person repairing your gear, the maximum durability has a chance to be lowered.

Finally, as I previously mentioned, some items provide skills. This is most commonly seen among accessories, but some weapons and armor can grant access to unique skills as well.

There are two classifications to these skills, which are also applicable to skills not granted by equipment. Active and passive. Active skills, as you can probably guess, have to be specifically activated, and it usually costs some sort of resource or energy to do so. These types of skills perform either a very specific action or grant an effect for a very specific time. These effects are often more drastic than those of passive skills, but they make up for it by only being active for a certain time before having to be renewed. Passive skills, on the other hand, have an effect that is always in play. They don't require anything to be or stay in use and influence your character until the equipment is removed.

The last thing you probably need to know about is skills. Most important information will be described in the game, so this will be brief.

Like equipment skills, player skills are also passive and active.

One gains a skill by performing a specific action and satisfying preset requirements to gain that skill. So, if you practiced with a sword a lot, you'd gain Sword Mastery.

Skills level up, which increases their effectiveness. A skill levels up through repetition or insight into that skill.

Finally, just a bit of final advice: you'll be given the ability to choose your race. That's extremely important, so think hard about it with each race's bonuses and how you want to live in the world.

And that's all the common knowledge you should probably know." Mr. Yang finished, the ten-minute speech having visibly drained him as he leaned back into his seat. He tried to hide it, but Yi Qiang could tell he was slightly tired because of it. In an act of mercy(though Yi Qiang also benefited), they both kept quiet and let the rest of the plane trip pass in silence.

Finally, they arrived.