Yu Yu had a draft in mind and typed rapidly. Since this was her first post, she was full of sincerity, sharing some of her own speculations and revealing the existence of the Academy and quests.
Mainly because the Academy was right there, what should and shouldn't be known would eventually become known anyway, so there was no point in hiding it. After finishing, she checked it over and was satisfied before posting.
First post.jpg
Comment 1: Let me derail this thread a bit. How many spirit points did the OP have initially? My friend really wants to be a spellcaster, but she couldn't pass the spirit test, so the Academy advised her to change careers.
—OP: 9
Comment 2: Wow, impressive!
Comment 3: That's amazing! I don't have gaming qualifications yet, so I've been living on the forum these past few days, and I haven't seen many people with initial attributes above 7!
...
The next dozen or so comments were all praising how impressive she was. Yu Yu read them in silence. The first comment had indeed derailed the thread, and there was no getting it back on track.
Comment 27 Free Little Bird: What's the use of having one high attribute? You need to look at total attributes. In this game, attributes are randomly assigned, with a maximum of 60 points. If you have less than 36 points, I suggest deleting your character and starting over.
Yu Yu frowned, mentally calculating that her initial attributes totaled only 33 points, which by his standards meant she should delete her character. Looking up, she noticed quite a few people were responding to him.
She typed a line: [So you have 36 points? Have you deleted your character?]
Free Little Bird: No, I'm planning to delete mine. Wait for me!
Yu Yu didn't reply further and temporarily left to look at other threads. It was then she discovered that this Free Little Bird had already posted several threads. All were about random attributes and character creation, without any evidence, purely based on imagination.
In this game, death meant a three-day blackout, and creating a new character didn't guarantee better attributes. Only a fool would believe this. Opening the thread with the most replies, she found that some people actually believed him and were even posting countdown timers for their character deletions.
Yu Yu: "..."
7788: This game is invitation-only, and you can gain attributes by leveling up. There's no need to pursue high initial attributes. What if they're not even random?
Yu Yu watched as this user argued with the original poster and others for over a dozen comments before angrily leaving the thread. Other people's choices weren't Yu Yu's concern, as long as they didn't cause trouble in her own threads.
[You might not believe this, but when I was crossing the bridge this morning, I saw a crack in the river, and a strange one-eyed fish came out. I've never seen this species before...]
[Image] [Image] [Image]
Comment 1: Never seen it before. Any experts out there who can explain this?
Comment 2: Where do you live?
—OP: By the Cang River
Comment 3: Is this fake? Your photos are too blurry and foggy. It's probably just some reflection that looks strange.
—OP: We have heavy fog every day here. It's especially thick and only disperses by noon, then returns the next day. It's quite bothersome...
Comment 4: Yes, we have heavy fog every day too. It's getting thicker and thicker, very strange.
Comment 5: Lately there's been fog across the entire country. Hardly any city has been spared. I wonder if it's some kind of natural disaster.
Comment 6: It's happening abroad too. I heard some island nation reported seeing giant shadows in the sea. All sorts of chaos. Some people are even proclaiming it's the end of the world.
...
The thread successfully derailed to the topic of the fog. Recently, there had been dense fog globally, and although they were in China and weren't particularly afraid, people were indeed feeling anxious.
Yu Yu instinctively looked outside. At some point, a gray haze of fog had returned, creating what seemed like two different worlds separated by a window. The sea of fog had swallowed up distant buildings and lights, making everyone feel like they were on isolated islands.
Yu Yu opened the window and looked into the distance, finding that she couldn't see beyond two meters. This weather was indeed very strange. Yu Yu suddenly closed the window. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she thought she had glimpsed something flashing through the fog.
Her rented place was in the suburbs, with no other households within twenty meters, and hers was the innermost unit. Theoretically, no one should be passing by...
Yu Yu stood up and turned on the lights as these thoughts crossed her mind. Looking at the dense fog outside, Yu Yu wondered if she should move somewhere with more people around. But then thinking about her wallet, Yu Yu sighed. She opened her instant noodles, boiled water, and waited...
She sat down at the table again and browsed the forum. Message notifications kept popping up, along with several private messages, but Yu Yu didn't check them yet.
[Eternal Darkness: Professional Knowledge from Pine Cyan Guild]
[Hello everyone, I'm Pine White.
Today I'd like to share what our guild knows about "Eternal Darkness."]
[Without further ado, "Eternal Darkness" has five basic professions: Spellcaster, Rogue, Ranger, Warrior, and Guardian.
Spellcaster: The main attribute is Spirit. The Academy doesn't recommend this profession if you have less than six points in Spirit. The skill tree is very complex and not suitable for beginners. Difficulty level: three and a half stars.
Rogue: Similar to the assassin class in conventional games. Main attributes are Agility and Perception. This profession is also quite deep and tests the player's real-life athletic ability. Overall difficulty: four stars.
Ranger: Main attribute is Agility, but may require points in other attributes as well. Similar to a combination of archer and druid. Can contract with pets. Fairly suitable for beginners. If you don't use the bow, difficulty is two stars; for bow-focused rangers, difficulty is five stars.
Warrior: You know what this is. Can play any style and is the least demanding profession in "Eternal Darkness." Anyone can play it. Difficulty: one star.
Guardian: Sorry, we've only heard about this character occasionally. We don't know how to switch to this class or how to allocate points. We guess it might be a knight or priest type profession that possibly hasn't been unlocked yet. If there is a main attribute, it's likely related to Willpower. Players with naturally high Willpower might want to wait for this one.
Besides these, everyone has discovered that "Eternal Darkness" has no profession restrictions. As long as you can handle it, using a staff and shield at the same time isn't an issue. Heavy armor or light armor – wear whatever you want.
In conclusion, "Eternal Darkness" is sure to sweep the global gaming world. Its popularity is just around the corner!
Additionally, Pine Cyan Guild announces our entry into "Eternal Darkness" and is recruiting female players across all servers. No males, please.]
Yu Yu quickly scanned through it. So there was even a Guardian profession? She hadn't heard anyone mention it on the forum. As for the rest, Yu Yu didn't have much reaction. These classifications were very superficial. In fact, all professions in this game required skill. Even the most ordinary warrior had to learn combat techniques at the City Guard Camp, just like...
"...as if they're really trying to teach us," Yu Yu murmured. Although she hadn't been there herself, from forum discussions she knew that "Eternal Darkness" was already walking a fine line with the 404 regulations. Those techniques could be used in real life, if one had a knife...
Thinking about this, Yu Yu felt somewhat concerned. Her phone kept sending notifications, all related to the recent abnormal fog. Apparently, several experts had already shared their insights, both domestically and internationally. She had browsed enough and finally returned to her own thread.
Pine Cyan Guild was a recently emerging guild that only recruited female players. They were said to be quite capable, but Yu Yu had left the circle long ago and no longer paid attention to such things.
In "Eternal Darkness," she only wanted to play the game well, earn some money, and live her life. After scrolling for a while, Yu Yu finally encountered a few spellcaster players who expressed their gratitude to her, which improved her mood considerably. However, the ratio... could it be that spellcaster players didn't know about the forum?
Why were there so few people?
Yu Yu recalled something about a test, but the problem was, when she went to accept quests, there wasn't any test at all. They just extended credit immediately, and everyone was very friendly... Was it because she had entered the game too early?
Comment 108: Thank you, expert! I really didn't know about the Academy's existence. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for traces of humanoid monsters recently.
Yu Yu finally smiled. At last, she heard what she wanted to hear.
She added, [If you have any news, I will definitely reward you.]
She had suddenly thought of posting on the forum, of course for the quest. Relying on herself to find the patrol team was not very easy, and this was when the versatile players came in handy. There was no place players wouldn't dare to go; they could find anything in every nook and cranny.
So Yu Yu posted, only needing players to keep an eye out. The humanoid monsters in this game were probably not something players at their level could defeat anyway. Having accomplished her goal, Yu Yu didn't rush to log in for once and took her time...
"My noodles!!!"
Yu Yu was heartbroken. When it rains, it pours—her landlord sent her a message. She opened it to see:
"Little Yu, our lease expires next month and we won't be renewing. I've sold the house and am going back to my hometown to live with my son. I'm telling you in advance so you can prepare to move."
Yu Yu: "..."
After a moment, she could only type two words: [Security deposit]
The landlord promptly transferred the money to her. Yu Yu sighed, resigning herself to slurping her overcooked instant noodles, feeling utterly dejected. Two days later, Yu Yu successfully reached level 4. It was difficult to gather a thousand experience points; she had to continuously accept quests and gather herbs to barely accumulate enough experience.
Current status: Level 4 (71/10000)
Seeing this experience requirement, Yu Yu felt dizzy. Last time it was 1,000, and this time it increased tenfold. Which genius designed this?
Because she kept accepting quests, she acquired six cantrips: [Light], [Mage Hand], [Detect Evil], [Spell], [Repel Pests], and [Detect Poison]. Except for Light, which had some combat capability, the others were all support spells.
Yu Yu felt that cantrips might mostly be for support, with very few attack spells. Since learning Lightning Arrow, Yu Yu's attack power had greatly improved, though the cooldown was a bit long. She was eager to level up to increase her Spirit, but when she saw the experience requirement of 10,000 points...
Cursing the game designer.jpg
As usual, she added one point to Spirit, reaching 12 points now, with 36 Spirit Power. Additionally, level four gave her a passive skill 'Identify Magic 1', a passive point, and the usual skill point. For the passive point, Yu Yu thought for a moment and put it into 'Use Magic Device'.
~Edit and rewritten by Rikhi, Reiya_Alberich, ReiNyam~
Her own combat power was indeed lacking. If she were to PK with other players, her need to chant would put her at a disadvantage. Previously, Yun Lun had told her some common knowledge about scrolls, rune traps, and such, which interested her.
But before that, she needed to be able to use magic devices. Now she had four passive skills.
Furthermore...
After two days of trading, Yu Yu's wallet had become considerably fuller.
Earning 13 silver and 50 copper per piece, the hardworking little players had brought her a total of seven pieces of insect silk over these two days, netting Yu Yu 94.5 silver.
However, if the insect nests weren't burned, the loot was actually quite good. These days, players finally had equipment to trade, and they were visibly happier. During these two days, City Guard Camp quests had also opened up for Yu Yu, but compared to the Academy's generosity, the City Guard Camp was much poorer.
They only gave 100 experience points, 1 silver coin, and one portion of hemostatic paste—extremely stingy. The only advantage was that no one competed for their quests. Other players hadn't infiltrated yet, suggesting there might be a hidden favorability setting. Unlike the Academy, ever since Yu Yu mentioned it on the forum, accepting quests had become less easy.
The City Guard Camp mostly involved patrol and combat missions. When Yu Yu put on her hood and went out with them, she looked quite intimidating. Worth mentioning was that those causing trouble for the patrol teams were mostly players—various brawls, provocations of NPCs—and the City Guard Camp was running back and forth, too busy to stop. Just finishing a quest cycle, Yu Yu smiled as she accepted greetings from colleagues before leaving the barracks.
"Boss! Boss Yu! Take me with you!" a familiar voice called from the parade ground. "I can patrol too!"
Yu Yu turned and saw the "Beast Brother" shouting from the parade ground, but she didn't answer. Because the next moment, he was kicked down by the City Guard Camp instructor, howling in pain. The instructor mocked, "She's a genius from the Academy, of course she can join the City Guard Camp. You can't even learn a defensive stance, and you want to patrol? Dream on!"
Beast Brother was furious. "I'm playing a game and getting mocked by an NPC? Damn you, game designers!"
The instructor thought he was cursing at him and kicked him down again. Yu Yu found a place to log off because someone had contacted her, saying they had seen a humanoid monster.
[Finding the Missing Patrol Team (1/5), Ms. Keya from the City Guard Camp is trying to communicate with the Academy, attempting to borrow a mid-level spellcaster...]
Yu Yu took a look and felt even more urgent. This game was unfair; NPCs were actually competing with players for quests.
.: [Image] [Image] [Image]
[Boss]: [Where did you see this? I'll definitely reward you generously.]
.: [The terrain is difficult to describe. You probably can't get there.]
[Boss: [What kind of terrain can't I reach?]
.: [Across a cliff, with a height difference of over three meters.]
[Boss]: [... How did you get across?]
Is this even a path that humans can take?
They added, [I can take you there, but you need to give me 10 silver.]
Yu Yu immediately felt the pain in her heart. [Are you ripping me off? Jumping a cliff costs 10 silver?!]
She was planning to log in to learn some first-level spells.
.: [You can choose not to go.]
Yu Yu wanted to curse.
[Take me to see if there really are humanoid monsters,] Yu Yu said. [I'll give you two silver first, and two tooth knives as well, as thanks.]
.: [Smiley face] [You're welcome.]
Yu Yu couldn't help but put on a fake smile too, and sent a [Smiley face]
The other person logged off, and Yu Yu cursed her bad luck. Tomorrow she still had to find a place to rent and ask for leave from her boss...
Just thinking about this, Yu Yu lost her energy. So exhausting. Why couldn't she be a rich lady?
Outside the city, Yu Yu wore her beautiful wizard robe, put on her hood, and leisurely sat on some rocks waiting. She wanted to see which bastard dared to charge such a high price of 10 silver. Her eyes remained fixed on the city gate, occasionally logging out to check the time.
Why hadn't they arrived yet? Were they standing her up?
"I'm sorry I'm late."
The voice came from behind her. Yu Yu had just logged out to check the time and immediately logged back in.
Right on time, huh? Hmph.
Yu Yu jumped down from the rocks, turned with a fake smile, "It's fine, your timing is just..."
Upon seeing the woman in hemp clothing clearly, Yu Yu froze. She instinctively pulled her hood lower to hide her face. How could it be her?
Shu Tu: "What's wrong?"