An Old Ark Player Only Plays Survival

A flash of light, and the survivor's body appeared on Ark Continent. He slowly got to his feet, raised his left hand to inspect the implant embedded in his flesh, rubbed it hard with his right hand, then looked over the surroundings. The place was utterly familiar: South Zone 1 of the isolated island, Newbie Paradise.

"Ding! Choose your difficulty from the start: Normal, reward: one level 150 griffin; or Hardcore, reward: double carry capacity!"

Is this the kind of golden finger you only see in novels? It didn't activate outside, but now it has in the game. As expected, golden fingers only activate after you reach a certain point in the story. So which difficulty should I choose? Normal obviously doesn't suit an experienced player's status, and a griffin won't be much use in the mid-to-late game. The Hardcore reward is much better, though its drawback is obvious: one death and it's all gone. After playing this long, can I really keep being an ordinary player who follows the rules? Of course not.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.