[Assessment complete. Evaluation Grade: C!]
[Completion criteria met. Acquired Trait: 'Natural-Born Scoundrel (Green)'.]
Victor stroked his chin.
He felt that his performance in this simulation was clearly better than in the last script. He had made practically no major mistakes and hadn't been turned on at the end. If he were judged by the previous scoring standard, his evaluation grade should have gone up a level to 'B'.
But the system still gave him a 'C'.
'System, I performed better in this script. Why is the evaluation still a C? Explain.'
The system quickly provided an answer.
[Each script has a base difficulty, but also a hidden difficulty that varies based on different character backgrounds. The hidden difficulty also affects the final score.]
Victor understood now.
To give a simple example, if a script's background was a period of war, completing it would undoubtedly be much harder than during a time of peace.
For another example, dealing with a mad and possessive beauty like Jingliu would surely be far more dangerous than dealing with a laid-back slacker like Qingque.
These additional elements involving the script's characters, background, and so on were clearly important factors affecting the simulation's difficulty.
Alright, to be fair, Qingque's script was indeed simpler. He had even cleared it in one life.
Now that he had accumulated two C-rank evaluations, Victor decided to use them both.
'Steady Accumulation' would upgrade directly from white to blue. The effect would undoubtedly be greatly enhanced, significantly increasing his leveling speed in simulations, which was tantamount to a difficulty reduction.
As for using a C-rank evaluation to upgrade the green 'Natural-Born Scoundrel,' it was certainly a bit of a waste. However, during the simulation of Qingque's script, things had gone incredibly smoothly, with almost no difficulties or unexpected situations. He figured 'Natural-Born Scoundrel' must have been at work.
In Victor's understanding, the 'Natural-Born Scoundrel' trait was equivalent to an extra boost in his luck value whenever he was committing evil acts.
Luck, though intangible, was incredibly important.
For instance, in a certain cup war, no matter how strong your stats were, if your luck value was too low, you were in for some seriously bad juju. One second you're happy as can be, the next you're forced to commit suicide. A truly miserable end.
Besides, this was the Scoundrel Simulation System. The system's name itself made it clear what he should choose.
Victor used the two C-rank evaluations to upgrade 'Steady Accumulation' and 'Natural-Born Scoundrel' to blue quality.
The description for 'Steady Accumulation' didn't change at all; its effects remained to be tested.
As for 'Natural-Born Scoundrel,' however, the success rate for doing bad things increased from a 'small' boost to a 'medium' one.
The entire simulation, followed by checking his gains and upgrading traits, had taken up a lot of time and consumed a fair bit of Victor's energy and mental focus.
Seeing it was getting late, Victor simply closed the system interface, fell onto his bed, and went to sleep.
He slept soundly and peacefully, right through to the bright light of morning.
Meanwhile, Qingque, also on the Luofu Xianzhou, couldn't sleep at all.
She had just had a dream.
The dream was so realistic that Qingque couldn't even tell if she was dreaming or in reality.
She had actually dreamt that...
Qingque couldn't help but shiver, her hands subconsciously clutching her chest.
Even though it was still two or three hours before dawn, she was so distraught that she couldn't get back to sleep.
She finally managed to endure until dawn. Without even washing up, Qingque walked out of her home in a daze.
It happened to be her day off. As was her custom, she would have met up with a few good tile partners at the parlor to play a full, satisfying day of Celestial Jade.
But now, the moment she thought of anything related to Celestial Jade, her mind would automatically recall that incredibly realistic nightmare from last night. The agonizing memory instantly drenched her in ice water, chilling her to the bone.
If she hadn't already arranged to meet her partners at the parlor, she wouldn't even want to go.
Qingque dawdled all the way. By the time she finally arrived at the parlor, her partners had already been waiting for a while.
"Qingque, what took you so long?"
"Boss Qing, you're usually the first one here. Had a change of heart today?"
Qingque mumbled a vague reply. Her partners didn't think much of it and urged her to hurry to the table and start playing.
"Hurry up and get to the table, we've been waiting for ages."
"Yeah, let's get a move on! We're going for three hundred rounds today!"
Listening to the clatter of the Celestial Jade tiles, seeing the neat stacks upon the table, Qingque's mind began to replay the memories from her nightmare as if on its own accord.
She kept losing, losing all her credits, losing her property, losing her job, and in the end, losing every last shred of her dignity as a person...
The nightmarish memories washed over her, wave after relentless wave. Qingque's face instantly turned deathly pale. She subconsciously clutched at her chest, her breathing becoming rapid as if she couldn't get enough air.
Her partners noticed something was wrong with Qingque and quickly gathered around.
"Qingque, what's wrong?"
"Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"Should we take you to the Alchemy Commission to get checked out?"
Qingque took a few deep breaths, trying to steady herself, then looked at her partners apologetically.
"Sorry, I'm really not feeling it today... You guys go on and play. I'll go see a physician. I don't want to hold up your game."
"Are you sure you'll be okay alone? How about I go with you?"
One of her closer partners said with a look of concern.
Qingque waved her hand, forcing herself to act as if nothing was wrong.
"It's fine, it's fine! I probably just ate something bad. It's a small problem."
After a few more pleasantries, Qingque quickly walked out of the parlor.
She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but the moment she stepped out of the parlor, she felt the air become much fresher.
Qingque took a few big gulps of air. Color slowly returned to her face, and her wildly beating heart gradually calmed down.
Qingque couldn't resist looking back at the parlor behind her. Her heart rate threatened to accelerate again, scaring her into quickly turning away, not daring to look again.
Qingque shook her head in frustration. It seemed that until she could forget last night's nightmare, she couldn't touch anything related to Celestial Jade.
With one last glance at the parlor's sign, Qingque left the entrance, looking utterly dejected.
Unable to play her favorite Celestial Jade, feeling depressed, and not wanting to go home, she had no idea how to spend her day off. So, Qingque began to wander aimlessly through the streets of the Exalting Sanctum.
Suddenly, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Boss, a bowl of chopped beef offal in chili oil, and a glass of soda mung bean milk."
Qingque's eyes instantly blazed with fire.
There was no mistake! It was him! She would never forget this voice, not even if she became Mara-struck!
After waking from the nightmare, Qingque had reviewed her memories and quickly realized that Victor had set her up, luring her to lose all her chips and pushing her step by step into the abyss of compulsive gambling.
Rage completely consumed Qingque's reason.
"You bastard!"
Without a second word, she strode forward and grabbed Victor by the collar.
______
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