Chapter Five: Political and Military Special Skills

Special abilities are a crucial attribute for players, determining their future development path. A good special ability can greatly enhance a player's strength. These abilities are divided into two major categories: political and military. Upon entering the game, players receive one political and one military special ability, but which ones they get depends entirely on luck.

Special abilities are far more powerful than ordinary combat skills. Aside from the two received at the start, players may chance upon new abilities during gameplay, though the number is limited by the system. Each player can possess a maximum of five special abilities: no more than two political and no more than three military.

Military abilities are further divided into command abilities and individual combat abilities. Command abilities enhance a player’s capacity to lead troops in battle, while individual combat abilities increase the player’s personal fighting power.

For instance, the Rapid March command ability increases the marching speed of the player’s troops by 10% for twelve hours, without affecting their combat strength after the march. The Rending Sky ability, which Chen Hao obtained through a hidden quest, is a typical individual ability, useful only to pilots.

Special abilities are ranked into three tiers: A, B, and C. The abilities randomly assigned to players at the game's start are C-level. B-level abilities can only be obtained through hidden quests. As for A-level abilities, the chance of acquiring one is about as rare as the occurrence of a virtual AI core explosion; each A-level ability is unique—once one player possesses it, no one else can obtain it.

A roulette appeared before Chen Hao. He spun the pointer to select a political ability, which landed on "Enthrall." Enthrall: Political ability. When this skill is used, there is a 1% chance to persuade an NPC to change their allegiance and become your subordinate; if the skill fails, there is a high likelihood of retaliation from the target. It is advised to use this skill only when safe.

Chen Hao’s luck was neither particularly good nor bad. The most prized political abilities are those related to intrigue, followed by management abilities that increase territorial income; the least desirable are in diplomacy and propaganda. The "Enthrall" ability Chen Hao received belongs to diplomacy, but its greatest function is to persuade surrenders—perfect for recruiting NPC underlings. In the early game, it is even more useful than management abilities.

Chen Hao spun the pointer again for his military ability. Although most players value command abilities more highly, Chen Hao hoped to draw an individual combat ability.

Before the Wuchang Uprising, he did not intend to develop his own base, so he would not have many subordinates, making command abilities less useful. Individual abilities, on the other hand, would allow him to level up much faster than others early on, giving him an advantage in all pursuits.

The individual ability he most desired was Marksman, which boosts firearm accuracy by 5%. If he obtained Marksman and allocated the twenty initial attribute points to shooting, just finding a good gun would make it possible for him to defeat bosses far above his level.

The game "War" is fair to all players; shooting skill in-game is unrelated to real-life marksmanship. Even a real-world sharpshooter, if their shooting attribute is low, would not hit targets no matter how perfect their posture. Conversely, someone who has never touched a gun but has a shooting attribute of 100 will have the system correct their stance and ensure a hit.

The pointer did not stop at Marksman as Chen Hao had hoped, but he still got an individual ability: Bloodbath, a close-combat skill. Bloodbath: Increases close-combat fighting power by 20%, and attacks have a 1% chance to instantly kill an opponent regardless of level difference.

Not getting the Marksman ability did not disappoint Chen Hao in the slightest, for upon seeing Bloodbath, he immediately thought of a new way to level up. Since he did not have a firearm ability, but instead gained Bloodbath for melee combat, why not focus on close-quarters fighting instead?

"War" is a classic shooter MMO, and firearms are undoubtedly the mainstream weapons. It was this that had locked Chen Hao into the conventional mindset of focusing on gun skills. The moment he received Bloodbath, he had a flash of inspiration and decided to take a melee path instead.

After drawing two random abilities, the adjutant snapped to attention and saluted Chen Hao. "Sir, your character setup is complete. After drawing your special abilities, your identification number has been permanently bound to your account and cannot be changed."

Chen Hao nodded, and the adjutant vanished. He already knew that drawing special abilities would bind his ID number to his account—a measure to prevent players from repeatedly deleting and recreating characters to reroll for better abilities. ID binding benefits players, too: they can use their accounts to enter the virtual trading platform created by Genesis to sell in-game currency without worrying about their real identity being exposed.

In-game points determine the distribution of interests on the Moon, Mars, and Titan, which are bought with the game's virtual currency. For player safety, only Genesis retains absolute control over the "War" game data.

Humanity granted Genesis such authority not without conditions: Genesis’s main program is open to human scientists, who have written a "Justice" protocol. Should Genesis ever violate this protocol, it would be destroyed.

Chen Hao exited the hall, and a world map appeared before his eyes. He needed to choose a birthplace. While players set their ancestral origin, this does not mean they must be born there. By default, players are sixteen years old upon entering the game and may be born in any city within their country or as an overseas Chinese.

If the player’s goal is to become a scientist, being born overseas is best, since early twentieth-century China lagged far behind foreign countries in science and technology. But Chen Hao’s ambition was not science—every man dreams of conquering the world. As an introverted yet ambitious man, and now with the advantage of memories from the next ten years, he wanted to be the boss.

Chen Hao’s gaze fell on the Qi-Lu Peninsula. He had previously lacked the confidence to select the province and missed out on a very important modern general from Qi-Lu. Now, he would make up for it. Moreover, 1900 was the height of the Boxer Rebellion, with Qi-Lu being the epicenter, offering more mission opportunities.

After choosing his birthplace, Chen Hao felt as though he was flying through clouds, and soon he descended to the ground. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a stone-paved street lined with modern buildings. The system prompt sounded in his ear:

"Player Chen Baxian, welcome to 1900. Your chosen birthplace is Penglai County, Qi-Lu Province. Your current status is civilian. Please open your attribute panel to allocate your free attribute points."

Following the prompt, Chen Hao opened his attribute panel and saw all the displayed attributes. His current level was zero, and all attributes were also at zero.

Name: Chen Baxian
Level: 0
Rank: Private
Subordinates: 0/0
Territory: 0
Faith: Constitutional Monarchy

Political: 0 (includes Intrigue, Prestige, Management, Diplomacy, Culture, Propaganda; 20 allocatable points)
Intrigue: 0 (related to subordinate loyalty)
Prestige: 0 (affects the chance of NPCs joining you)
Management: 0 (determines territorial income)
Diplomacy: 0 (affects NPC favorability)
Culture: 0 (related to personal attribute improvement)
Propaganda: 0 (improves NPC favorability toward your faction)
Special Ability: Enthrall (Political; 1% chance to change NPC allegiance, high risk of retaliation if failed, advised to use safely.)

Military: 0 (includes Command and Individual; 20 allocatable points)
Command: 0 (includes Strategic Analysis and Tactical Execution)
Strategic Analysis: 0
Tactical Execution: 0

Infantry Proficiency: D
Artillery Proficiency: D
Cavalry Proficiency: D
Engineer Proficiency: D
Navy Proficiency: D
Air Force Proficiency: D
Special Forces Proficiency: D
Espionage Proficiency: D

Individual: 0 (includes Strength, Shooting, Combat, Stealth)
Strength: 0 (affects endurance, speed, resistance, recovery)
Shooting: 0 (determines shooting accuracy)
Combat: 0 (determines melee ability)
Stealth: 0 (affects likelihood of being detected while ambushing)
Driver's License: None
Special Ability: Bloodbath (Individual: Increases melee combat power by 20%, 1% chance to instant-kill regardless of level difference)

In "War," attributes are divided into Political and Military, with Military further split into Command and Individual. Each time a player levels up, each minor attribute increases by one point; after level 50, no more points are gained this way.

Each minor attribute has a maximum of 100 points; leveling can only raise them to 50, but players can earn extra points through special in-game achievements. For instance, if a player pursues the general path and leads a classic victory, the system will rate their performance, and a higher rating increases the chance of receiving bonus attribute points.

Once any minor attribute surpasses 50, further improvement becomes increasingly difficult. For example, if a player’s Tactical Execution is 51, defeating an equal enemy force of 200 will grant one point. If their Tactical Execution is 71, it might take several such battles for another point.

NPC attributes are generally similar to players' but less comprehensive and complex. For instance, if a player recruits a soldier skilled only in charging, with no political talent or potential to become a general, his displayed attributes will be limited to Individual.

Raising any base attribute above 90 is nearly impossible for players; for NPCs, only historical figures ever reach such heights. The general Chen Hao nearly befriended had Strategic Analysis at 86, Tactical Execution at 96, and a Command value of only 91—yet he was already a renowned modern warrior.