A Newbie's Character Creation
Grey Dawn.
It was a game my junior from university had recommended, right around the time a long-awaited vacation had started to feel dull.
He knew perfectly well I wasn't much of a gamer, so the fact that he'd gotten this excited about pitching it to me suggested it had to be something special.
"Hyung, just try it. People go on and on about how hard it is, but they're just being dramatic. Pick a good starting point, follow a guide, and it's totally doable. There's a real satisfaction to growing step by step, too."
He'd already tried more than a few times to drag me into his hobbies, and I'd turned him down every time. Refusing again felt a little too cold.
I'm bored anyway. Might as well give it a taste. With that casual thought, I typed the game's title into a search bar.
The first thing that jumped out at me was a post on a community board.
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but the whole post was basically a scare piece about the game's nightmarish difficulty.
Doesn't sound like my kind of game…
Skimming the background lore, I found a medieval fantasy setting. You explored a vast continent, conquered dungeons hidden across the land, farmed gear, and used that gear to challenge even tougher dungeons. The core content of the game, in particular, was conquering a total of seventy-two dungeons.
I skimmed past the setting description, and below it the post went on and on about how a guide was absolutely essential.
It looked so hard I couldn't even picture myself starting. The world itself felt dark and grim, and nothing about it appealed to me. The complete absence of any urge to jump in told me this simply wasn't my kind of game.
Sensing my reluctance, my junior recommended a system called Origin Correction.
During character creation, applying Origin Correction would automatically assign stats that matched your chosen origin. For a newbie who had no idea which origin was good, how to distribute the matching stats, or which traits were worth taking, it was the perfect system.
Once he put it that way, I stopped hesitating.
I closed the browser without a second thought.
People had always told me I was slow to get moving. That didn't mean I wanted to bring that same inertia into a game. What was a game for, if not to kick back and enjoy yourself without overthinking it? I hadn't played many games, but that was how I saw it.
The install was supposed to take over an hour, so I took my time eating and came back. The download had just finished, and I started the game without a moment's hesitation.
Character creation. No more need to wrack my brains over complicated choices. The moment I entered, the words Origin Correction appeared on the screen, and I clicked them without a second thought.
Newbies know nothing. Newbies hate complicated things.
I was about to check the adjusted stats when, without the slightest warning, the screen erupted in a light so intense it looked ready to burst.
And when I opened my eyes, I was in an entirely different world.
First things first: this guide is meant to help newbies who are using trait cheats.
You can only take three traits, so grab the best ones you can. It'll make the entire game far more comfortable.
Grey Dawn is such a brutally hard game that a lot of people start casually and rage-quit, so consider this a way to at least experience the charm of the setting.
Cutting straight to the point — I strongly recommend picking up a trait called Hidden Lineage.
It's an S-grade trait, but there's one catch: it only appears when you roll randomly. You can't select and apply it directly.
A lot of people hate Origin Correction because it locks you into a forced story, but this trait can still show up on a random roll even without using Origin Correction.
That said, considering the traits that come later, I recommend just using the trait cheat I've posted.
Here's what it does:
◈ Initial base stats penalty (-30%)
◈ Growth stats (Strength, Agility, Stamina, Magic) growth rate +200%
◈ Additional stat increases possible when certain conditions are met (combat experience, special achievements, etc.)
In a game this viciously difficult, the initial stat penalty can hit hard — but for long-term play, it's one of the closest things to a must-have trait.
Use it properly, and the speed at which you grow stronger over time will leave everyone else in the dust.
Just keep in mind: if you take this trait and also apply Origin Correction, there's a high chance you'll be treated as a mutant in that origin…
Have you ever watched the ground crack open from nothing more than a single step forward?
The sight of the earth splitting like a meteor crater with every footfall was enough to make anyone watching want to drop to their knees in submission. Bare-chested, looking like any middle-aged man you'd pass on the street — and yet the power he displayed left no choice but to feel a fierce, overwhelming presence.
Was I talking about the Heavenly Demon?
If I'd been staring at the Heavenly Demon who stood above all men, that might have been preferable. There was only one Heavenly Demon, after all.
But right in front of me, every last person was racing around shattering the ground like it was nothing.
"Catch me if you can!"
"Haha, Serin! You're not getting off easy if I catch you."
A sweet, lovers' atmosphere hung between the two of them — but lower your gaze even a little, and the scene beneath their feet was catastrophic. The ground was being reduced to rubble as if a war had broken out.
"Yahoo!"
When someone loaded both legs with power and kicked off the ground for a high jump, you had to tilt your head all the way back just to follow them. Watching the stone dust scatter in every direction when they landed was just a bonus.
"Take this!"
A thrown punch didn't just obliterate a boulder beyond recognition — the shockwave alone toppled trees dozens of meters away like dominoes.
They threw themselves off cliff edges to train their bodies. They practiced high jumps to catch birds. Ball games ruined ordinary stones too quickly, so they kicked around spheres molded from ores I'd never seen or heard of. When they got thirsty, they drained lakes' worth of water in a single gulp.
Scenes like this were playing out all over the village. To them, this was everyday life.
And why was I here?
The reason someone who couldn't treat the ordinary as ordinary found himself in this place was simple: I had opened my eyes here out of nowhere — carrying the memories of my previous life.