I Found A Planet

The 9th year of the Federation, March 1st.

A public beta version of the world’s first online virtual reality game, Galaxy Era, had officially been released.

More than a billion more “Fantasy: Third Generation” virtual reality headsets by Xing Hai Technologies had been sold. Players with a strong interest in Galaxy Era had basically bought the headgear that they wanted.

…

9:40 A.M.

Twenty minutes left until the start.

“The starting point of the Galaxy Era beta version is as one of the individuals at the top of the hierarchy, the rulers of planets. Each player will have a planet.

“The impact of the internal test on the public beta version is almost negligible. Besides being more familiar with the operations of the game, players who had participated in the internal test will not have gained any obvious advantages … At this point, Xing Hai Technologies does take into consideration the interests of most players.”

Li Dong said in the group chat, “Qinghai, Yichen, Wanqiu, let’s seize the day and do a good job!”

“Understood!”

“I have to do a better job this time round.”

“I must become an expert that others worship!”

Li Dong looked at the time again and placed the game headset on his head. He clicked on the button to enter the game, and everything became white.

…

The Milky Way.

It was like a flat plate. Before Li Dong was a panoramic view of the galaxy covered with innumerable bright stars. The galaxy was located in a dark, empty void of a background.

Li Dong heard a notification beep from the system.

“Player, please set your ID name.” An illuminated translucent panel appeared in front of his eyes.

“Dong Zhimu.”

“ID name ‘Dong Zhimu’ is successfully set. Please adjust your appearance.” A glowing 3D human model rotated in front of Li Dong. It was a figure of his actual self.

However, in order to keep their identities confidential, players generally did not use their own appearances from reality. They would do a series of adjustments.

After some thought, Li Dong increased the height of the 3D character model to 1.8 meters and did some slight modifications on the face… His looks improved by about 20%.

“Just enough to be a little handsome. If I become too handsome, I won’t have the will power to pull myself out of the game world. I have to face reality with courage, no matter how cruel it is.”

He finished setting up his personal details.

The system opened up a huge atlas of the galaxy and introduced its contents.

“Player Dong Zhimu, this is the atlas of the entire Milky Way, including more than 200 billion stars. According to the Drake Equation, star systems with life-supporting planets are about one in a million, star systems with water-rich planets are about one in a thousand, and star systems rich in heavy elements are about one in ten.

“Water is the prerequisite for life, and heavy elements are the necessary components of civilization.

“There are three types of forces available to players – star systems with life, colonial star systems, and star systems with development potential.

“Life-supporting star systems have the highest value, and can accommodate a population of up to 100 billion. The colonial star systems are places to which people can migrate after a simple transformation to make them suitable for human survival. They can accommodate a population of up to 10 billion. Star systems with development potential refers to places with certain resources and the ability to be developed. They are places where people can choose to settle as residents, but there is no home planet. They can accommodate a smaller population of only a few billion.

“The game’s social structure is also broadly divided into three categories—civilization governors similar to those of the Earth Federation; captains of colonial spaceships carrying scientific information and population bombs; and independent pioneers carrying a small amount of technical information and a small population… There are big differences among the three starting points.”

Li Dong nodded. The difference was honestly too big.

The civilization governors managed human resources of more than 10 billion people. The captain of a colonial spacecraft, in addition to a spaceship and a number of crew members, must also use the population bomb to breed a civilization.

The worst was probably the independent pioneer. They would only have a few people around at the beginning. After the first phase opened up, one would realise that increasing the population was quite difficult… It could be said that this was the worst starting point.

According to the Drake Equation, there were only about 20,000 life-supporting star systems… That meant that only about 20,000 players had the opportunity to be a governor of a civilisation.

Divided by one billion.

The lucky ones who could embrace the “golden start” of a governor were only two in a thousand.

“Player Dong Zhimu, you performed well in the internal test. You are ranked 9,992 in terms of your experience score. As a reward, the system will assign a life-supporting star system to you and the position of supreme governor in an excellent civilization… It is a reward that only 10,000 players can get.

“So, please, choose a lit-up spot on this atlas that you want to belong to you, and start your journey.”

There were tens of thousands of blue dots of light on the huge atlas of the galaxy. Those blue dots suddenly brightened, looking like glow-in-the-dark pearls.

Many of those blue-colored spots of light were turning red, indicating that they had been selected by other players.

“I will choose that!”

Li Dong pointed to a spot on the edge of a spiralised arm of the Perseus constellation. “I want this star system.”

He really did not know which was the best choice, but he followed a simple principle: don’t follow the crowd.

Those on the fringes were better.

“OK. The star system you have selected is called KO-13687095. You can give it a convenient and easy name,” the system said.

“How about Zhiyuanxing?”

“The name has been selected by another player.”

“How about Eastern Jupiter?”

“Ok. Esteemed players, the various settings have been completed. I will send you to your respective stars. I wish you a happy life.”

“Ok, thank you.”

A white glare of light appeared in front of Li Dong and rushed towards him.

…

When Li Dong opened his eyes again, he was inside a dome-shaped building that seemed to float in the sky.

He stood in a huge space with a simple interior that was reminiscent of a control room.

A silver-white console was placed along the edge of the room.

He walked to the transparent window, and stretched his neck to look downwards. There were rows upon rows of modern buildings. They surrounded the tower from which he was currently looking out, forming an extremely prosperous city that also served as the political center of the planet.

The Tallest Tower.

It was the name of the tower that he was in.

Turning on the console in front of him, Li Dong checked some basic information.

Eastern Jupiter: A life-supporting planet with a diameter of 14,500 kilometers and a land area occupying ​​50.5% of the planet.

Population: 10.58 billion.

Science and technology level: I-type civilization (advanced). The civilization had mastered control of nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence, and other technologies. It was in the initial stages of preparing to equip its nation with the ability to explore the universe.

Management structure: Supreme Governor, then Federal Parliament, then City Council… Current operations were stable.

Military Force: A joint standing army of two million soldiers.

He reviewed the above, as well as other pieces of information available to him.

“Well, this is a good start.

“To be in control of a civilization, to inherit the culture of this society that has been settled for thousands of years, and to receive a huge amount of knowledge and resources… It’s impossible for most players to receive these sorts of rare wealth.

“This starting point is no less than a cheat code. I am already ahead of the competition before it has even started… Qinghai and the others will probably be very envious.”

“I have to make full use of these advantages in the upcoming journey and produce good results so that people would no longer underestimate me!”

“Ah… The ‘me’ who is ordinary in reality will create a glorious legend that belongs to ‘me’ right here.”

Li Dong opened wide his arms. At this moment, he felt high-spirited and filled with vigor.