How to Be an Ordinary Person in a World of Adventurers

Game + fantasy + farming, with a touch of apocalypse. The protagonist has no love interest, so feel free to enjoy. Things to note: The author is a beginner, and this is my first male-oriented novel, so it may not be especially power-fantasy (it’s not mindless wish fulfillment) and it’s a slow burn. Characters other than the protagonist may have same-sex romances, so feel free to pass if that makes you uncomfortable. Synopsis: “Realm of the Four Quarters” is a free-roaming VR game released by an obscure company. Its quirky design gives players only a character’s initial stats from the start, leaving them to explore and activate every other System feature themselves. Within weeks of its launch, it had joined the ranks of games that flopped. Then one day, someone posted asking what to do after seeing their character’s stat screen in real life. When the same thing began happening in places around the world, everyone finally realized that reality had turned into a game. Yu Fengyuan was an oddball who, out of boredom, maxed out every combat class he could unlock during the few weeks Realm of the Four Quarters was live before it flopped. When the game returned, all he wanted was to be an ordinary person and enjoy a quiet life, ideally wandering around, growing flowers and raising animals.