Let Me Game in Peace Chapter 1 - Abandoning Himself to Vice

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“After the dimensional storms decades ago, multiple dimensional zones appeared across the world—gods, immortals, ghosts, monsters, angels, devils, elves, etc. All kinds of legendary dimensional creatures were discovered. Via hunting these dimensional creatures, humans acquire their powers...” While the seasoned Yu Qiubai delivered his lecture, his eyes would now and then glance toward the rear corner seat in the classroom.

The rest of the students paid close attention, yet the youth in the corner propped his textbook up before him, his arm stretched across the desk as he dozed off. Occasional soft snores escaped him.

Yu Qiubai gave an imperceptible head shake, sighing to himself.

Memories flooded Yu Qiubai of the words the retiring principal had shared with him. Gazing once more at the boy who slumbered deeply on the desk, drool trickling from his mouth's edge, he couldn't help shaking his head with another sigh.

“Qiubai, I've encountered countless geniuses over my years. To sum it up, there are two kinds of geniuses.” The old principal's eyes had sparkled back then.

“Which two kinds?” Yu Qiubai inquired with interest.

“One kind is named Zhou Wen, and the other kind includes all the remaining geniuses.”

Those words from the former principal etched deeply into Yu Qiubai's mind, yet the very student the principal had lavished with praise had turned into a slacker with zero drive for self-betterment. He just slept through classes and played games on his phone afterward.

Yu Qiubai had once tried to ignite Zhou Wen's fighting spirit with motivational speeches, aiming to spur him onward. But no matter how many talks he gave, Zhou Wen stayed unchanged—nodding off in lessons and glued to his phone games outside them. Cultivation held no interest for him, as if all ambition had vanished.

The class-ending bell rang out, and Yu Qiubai watched Zhou Wen bolt upright from his nap. Snatching his phone without a backward glance, he dashed from the room. This sight left Yu Qiubai disheartened as he murmured with a sigh, “Principal, I've done all I could. Sadly, Zhou Wen is beyond saving.”

Zhou Wen ran the whole way, quickly exiting the building until he reached a quiet spot in the school grounds.

He noticed the odd stares from teachers and classmates, but brushed them off without care.

People thought Zhou Wen had sunk into despair after failing to cope with defeat, but he understood perfectly that he'd never let the loss bother him. His apparent self-indulgence stemmed from a baffling cause he himself struggled to fathom.

Unlocking his phone with practiced ease, Zhou Wen opened the “Ant Nest” game app. The screen soon displayed the shadowy tunnels of an ant nest, filled with twisting paths swarming with black ants.

Confirming no onlookers nearby, Zhou Wen pierced his finger and let a droplet of blood fall onto the screen.

In the next instant, a bizarre sight unfolded: the blood droplet absorbed into the screen, spawning a blood-colored avatar inside the Ant Nest game. Next to this avatar floated a status panel.

Zhou Wen

Age: 16 years

Lifeform level: Mortal

Strength: 9

Speed: 5

Constitution: 8

Primordial Energy: 4

Primordial Energy Art: Ascetic Meditation

Primordial Energy Skills: None

Companion Beast: None

Since the dimensional storms hit, myriad dimensional lifeforms emerged. They fell into categories like Mortal, Legendary, Epic, and Mythical. Humans ranked lowest as Mortals. Practicing Primordial Energy Arts boosted their physiques, enabling evolution to superior forms.

Yet pure cultivation of a Primordial Energy Art to refine the body and advance proved agonizingly sluggish. Slaying dimensional creatures and absorbing their dimensional crystals sped up the process dramatically.

Dimensional beings hid in perilous realms. Beyond humanity's mapped zones, venturing elsewhere meant near-certain doom. Not all dared to gamble their lives.

Moreover, Earth's federation strictly barred minors from entering dimensional zones.

Zhou Wen's practiced Primordial Energy Art, Ascetic Meditation, demanded relentless body forging to generate Primordial Energy, shunning any outside aids.

Across the federation, many sixteen-year-olds harnessed Primordial Energy through cultivation, but scarcely anyone on Earth managed it solely via Ascetic Meditation's grueling self-tempering, without external boosts. In Guide City's history, Zhou Wen stood alone in this feat.

Soon, every teacher and student at Guide High School expected Zhou Wen's stellar future. Then a transfer student arrived, issuing a challenge. Shockingly, this newcomer crushed him in a single blow—and it was a girl who did it.

From that point, Zhou Wen quit his harsh training regimen. He seemed to plunge into dissipation. Folks assumed his spirit broke under the blow, but Zhou Wen knew his shift had zero ties to the loss. It all traced back to the enigmatic phone he clutched.

Zhou Wen eyed his phone while maneuvering the blood-colored avatar to butcher black ants throughout the Ant Nest.

“Killed Mortal creature, Vigor Ant... Killed Mortal creature, Vigor Ant... Killed Mortal creature, Vigor Ant...”

Kill notifications scrolled rapidly with each ant felled.

After slaying hordes of Vigor Ants, a clear chime rang out, followed by a unique alert on screen: Killed Mortal creature, Vigor Ant. Discovered Primordial Energy Crystal.

Zhou Wen's eyes sharpened as he spotted a gem-like crystal drop from a slain Vigor Ant, marked with the numeral five.

Thrilled, he swiftly directed the blood-colored avatar to collect the Primordial Energy Crystal. Upon contact, it dissolved into an odd energy that surged into the avatar's form.

At the same moment, Zhou Wen sensed a rush of power flowing from his phone into him, like a thunderbolt strike, swiftly refilling his Primordial Energy.

In the avatar's stats, Primordial Energy jumped from four to five.

Defeating dimensional creatures could yield crystals of various types. The usual ones included Strength, Speed, Constitution, and Primordial Energy Crystals.

Strength Crystals amplified human Strength upon absorption, Speed Crystals boosted velocity, and the rest worked analogously.

In truth, crystals lacked visible numbers. People couldn't view their personal stats; they only sensed enhancements post-usage, blind to precise gains.

Zhou Wen's peculiar phone let him harvest dimensional crystals sans the deadly risks others faced in zones, plus it revealed exact stats for creatures, himself, and the crystals themselves.