stay...
"Player, are you alright?" The guide spirit asked cautiously. Its host had been acting strangely since the last time they came out of the dungeon, and this time it was even more abnormal, having been staring blankly at the overgrown courtyard for ten minutes.
"Show me the recent friend requests from strangers," Ren Yifei said, snapping out of his daze. He hadn't even thought to check the rewards first.
The guide wizard didn't quite understand, but still pulled up the friend request.
It has ten pages in total, with one hundred numbers on each page.
"Filter out all entries containing the names 'Afei' or 'Ren Yifei'."
Ten pages were condensed into one page, and nearly thirty friend requests were received.
"Little Flower from the Academy. She's also an old-timer in the neighborhood, and Jiyu from the Spring Banquet. Tsk, what kind of luck is that?" He thought for a moment, then declined to approve.
"Academy" is a faction created by "Wenli," a player ranked sixth in the rankings. Many people suspect that this player is a top student in real life. Of course, this has nothing to do with him.
He then discovered traces of several other forces, with well-known and influential groups from all seven regions extending olive branches to him.
This doesn't mean he's particularly talented; he's just casting a wide net. It's like a newly discovered, unsigned talent show contestant suddenly becoming popular and then being approached by numerous entertainment companies—who knows, maybe he'll snag a bargain at a bargain price?
Delete everything.
Socializing is too tiring; he just wants to stay home, motionless, and only go out to find roles when it's time.
The eighteenth application popped up: "I'm looking at you, Ren Yifei, the movie star."
The applicant had no specific background, no distinguishing features, and left no concrete clues, making it appear like a threat.
"Does knowing my real identity make you so great? I'm so famous."
Pull it open, add to blacklist, click delete—it's all nonsensical.
After searching for a long time, I finally found Saman's application. There were two, one from a few days ago and the other just now, three minutes ago.
"Ah Fei, I am Lin Guanyue."
He was naturally outgoing. Ren Yifei twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking about the equipment card, and gave a dry smile. Then he accepted the application and tagged Lin Guanyue (Saman). He became the second person on his friend list.
The first person on Ren Yifei's friend list sent him a lot of text messages. He glanced at them briefly. Some were thanking the 'neighbors' for bringing them customers, and some were updates on the progress of the 'Spring Banquet' video.
The edited version is out, three and a half hours long. The editor said that the love and hate between the NPCs in the Spring Banquet is also a wonderful part, and he really couldn't bear to cut this storyline, so the length was fixed at three and a half hours.
Ren Yifei immediately remembered that the other party refused to delete it, arguing that it was a princess carry that was part of the storyline.
Okay, that's the artist's insistence.
He sent a text message to Mr. Akin, saying that he would visit him within two days.
"Ding-dong, the player's friend request has been accepted." Saman, the aloof guide spirit, tossed out a series of electronic sounds without any expression.
Saman was discussing recruitment with his subordinates when he heard the news and immediately turned on the light screen.
That's right, it was Black Rabbit's application.
"We've found the players you're looking for who are skilled in computer programming and online game design. When would you like to meet with them, boss?"
"Tomorrow." Saman ended the call with a few words, then stared at the "approved" message on the screen for a long time. "Did he approve my application as soon as he arrived?"
Right?
The guide sprite remained silent: "Whatever you think is true."
"When shall we meet... No, that's too hasty, it'll scare people away." Deleting the few words he'd typed, Saman retyped, "We..."
He stopped typing those two words because he wasn't sure what he wanted. Should he meet in person first, or chat online first?
However, a text message arrived: "Hello."
"Hello," Samantha replied with two words. It was the first time he realized how tongue-tied he was, unable to come up with a seemingly casual greeting.
His daily life revolves around exchanging benefits; if something doesn't resonate with him, he can say whatever he wants to say.
Ren Yifei was also worried. He had just checked the market price of this type of equipment card, and found that it was practically unavailable, with very few dungeons being able to drop it.
Yes, it's a rare card. It's exclusive to lucky players and can only be obtained from high-end dungeons. You can't buy it with money, and it's basically out of reach for people like Ren Yifei.
"Do you need silver coins?" I heard that those who have built up their power in the desolate corner are short of silver coins, and after thinking it over, this is the most suitable option.
So Ren Yifei asked directly, adding, "This is the reward for the equipment card, given at market price. Don't worry, it won't affect our future cooperation."
After a while, a number appeared on the other end: "3".
Ren Yifei thought about it and realized it was a reasonable price, but taking it out in that situation had indeed been a great help, so he directly transferred four silver coins online.
He earned exactly four silver coins from this trip, so after paying the reward, he still had ten silver coins left.
In any case, this matter is now closed, and they can have a truly equal dialogue from now on.
Saman, on the other hand, immediately thought of a way to contact them: "Are you interested in investing with silver coins?"
He's already working on the game console, and it's nearing completion, but further investment is needed, most of which will require a small amount of silver shells.
As everyone knows, gold coins are used for dungeons, while silver coins are used for the Desolate Corner.
While it's possible to exchange gold coins for silver coins on the market, the price and supply are unstable.
However, Afei's output is quite stable, basically four per dungeon, and he plays the game frequently, having played four times in a month, making him a high-output player.
Saman is very much looking forward to working with him.
Saman knew this, and Ren Yifei knew it too; he simply countered with, "Just a supplier of silver shells?"
"Of course not. If possible, I hope Afei can become the tester for this product. There's no one in the world who knows NPCs better than you," Saman replied immediately.
After staring at the words on the screen for a long time, Ren Yifei typed a few lines: "I will consider it when your product comes out."
Click send and close the communication page.
"Shall we settle the rewards now?" the guide spirit asked softly.
Ren Yifei then remembered that the reward hadn't been settled yet; he had almost forgotten about it.
Judging from his expression, the guiding spirit knew he'd forgotten. This is too much! What host only checks their rewards when reminded by the system? Other hosts check their rewards the moment they log off, okay?
"Settle the accounts now. Give me the total."
Without further ado, the guide sprite pulls up the rewards page.
"20 points, 10,000 White Shells, 4 Silver Shells, 2 Gold Shells, 1 Silver Treasure Chest. Also obtained: SSR-level Ghost Card: Starlight Goddess, Affection Level 80%... SSR?!"
"Oh! Oh oh oh oh oh!" The guide sprite crowed like a chicken, and Ren Yifei glanced at it, thinking it had malfunctioned.
"Player, how do you have an SSR card? SSRs don't drop at all in mid-tier matches! Even in high-tier matches, the drop rate is only 8%!"
If the guiding spirit were to materialize, it would already be running around in circles, its face buried in its hands: What happened? Why did my host get an SSR card after just one trip to the mid-tier level? Did he hack into the headquarters system?
"SSRs are really rare?" Ren Yifei had no idea.
"It's not a matter of whether it's rare or not, it's that it simply doesn't drop in mid-tier matches. Did you hack into headquarters and change the drop rate, player?"
Ren Yifei was speechless. What was going on? He patiently explained how he obtained the 'Star Goddess': "Do you understand now?"
The system just sent silver coins to Saman through the system, didn't it think about it more deeply?
"What kind of luck do you have, player?" The guiding spirit, having understood the process, became even more excited. "Upgrading an SR card to an SSR is extremely difficult. The fastest way is to obtain your destined equipment."
"But to achieve this, you first need a special equipment card that can't be found on the market, you also need to waste an item slot to bring it in, and you also need to successfully identify and defeat the 'ghost'."
"This is simply an impossible task!"
Seeing that Ren Yifei remained calm, the guiding spirit sighed: its host started with an R-rank card and had no idea how fierce the battle for the Wild Cards in the Desolate Corner was. It was time to give its host a crash course in common knowledge!
So it directly pulled up a data table, which was full of official card drop rates.
"The drop rate for N cards in beginner matches is 80%, and the drop rate for R cards is 20%. Beginner matches are the easiest to obtain rare cards, which can be considered a benefit for new players."
"Grandma Chunzhi is a mutated R-rank card. When the host gets the Ghost Card upgrade card, you can try to upgrade Grandma Chunzhi. 100% favorability is extremely rare." The guiding spirit was very excited when talking about these rewards.
Ren Yifei nodded indifferently: "Yes."
The guide spirit was quite satisfied, and it amplified the second point: "Drop rate of ghost cards in low-level games: 80% N cards, 18% R cards, 2% SR cards. Neighbor is a regular in low-level games, so it's not surprising that SR cards drop. In fact, SR cards rarely drop in low-level games."
Compared to lower-tier matches, the drop rate for SR cards is significantly higher in mid-tier matches, reaching 20%, with 60% dropping R cards and 20% N cards. Therefore, it's not surprising that a 100-player raid could obtain the SR card "Crane's Return".
"Although players' luck with items is generally average, Oni cards never disappoint. If luck isn't enough, skill can make up for it. It's just a bit of a pity that Crane Lord isn't an Oni card, otherwise he would have the potential to be an SSR."
At this point, the guiding spirit sighed, "But this is also good, as he has also given away his natal weapon, the painted fan, and a portion of his demonic power to the player through items and skills."
"A gift?"
A hand gripped the light screen, guiding the spirit to see its host narrow his eyes dangerously: "You're saying that Crane Lord gifted you a natal weapon and demonic power?"
"Yes, yes." The guide spirit said cautiously.
Ren Yifei twisted his fingers: "I hope you can explain what you just said properly."
Aren't all the characters in the dungeon just obsessed with demons? Where did Crane-kun's destined weapon and demonic power come from? And his little fan isn't even a standard item in the dungeon?
"Player, calm down. Let me explain."
The guide spirit stammered as it explained the situation. The items and skills players obtain from dungeons largely depend on the will of the 'ghost'.
However, the obsession with Crane Return alone is not enough to generate the Spring Banquet, so this instance has a rare second object of obsession, namely Crane Lord.
Ren Yifei was given the item 'Ink Bone Painting Fan' and the skill 'Demon Transformation' because he gained the approval of He Jun.
"So when I felt his presence at that time, it wasn't my imagination, but it was real." Ren Yifei took out the ink-painted fan and traced the crane image on it with his fingers.
He thought that Crane Lord's will had only reached the desolate corner, but it turned out that his soul had also been there.
Did her soul only depart peacefully after seeing him take away the crane?
Ren Yifei suddenly felt a sense of 'friendship', even though they had never spoken a word to each other in real life.
A faint smile appeared on his face, like a ripple in a gentle breeze, calming the spirit and making him suddenly unwilling to disrupt the atmosphere.
Once the host's mood index returned to its initial level, the guiding spirit spoke again: "In this instance, the host has also gained the approval of the Obsessive One, who has specially gifted you a skill and an item."
Skill: Summon Black Cat
"Skill activation: Summons a black cat that can see ghosts and warn you of danger. Limited to one use per dungeon."
"Restriction: Applicable to paranormal dungeons."
Rating: D (What more could you want when you have a cat to pet?)
"There are also props, such as nail guns: they can damage all tangible objects within a ten-meter range, and each instance has ten bullets. They are applicable to non-ancient instances."
The guide spirit summarized: "Summoning skills are relatively rare, and this skill's purpose is to warn of danger. If it continues to evolve, it might become a prophetic skill. So, in terms of quality, you've gained, but in terms of quantity, you're lacking. By the way, do you remember the passive skill you got from the silver treasure chest you opened earlier?"
Ren Yifei recalled the skill he had learned back then and wanted to chuckle: "Master of Human Body Outlining: Passive skill, increases the failure rate of your ranged attacks by one percent."
"Is there a big difference between a 100% chance of killing someone and a 99% chance of killing them, like it's a joke?"
"This skill is at level E. Would you like to consider upgrading it?" the guide spirit reminded its host. "You can check out some small auctions; they supposedly have low-level skill upgrade cards."
Ren Yifei was surprised: "How do I upgrade?"
"Skills and items can be upgraded with cards, and so can Ghost Cards, but they are very rare and mainly drop from high-end dungeons. The equipment card you just found is an upgrade card specifically for Ghost Cards."
It's getting more and more complicated, with upgradeable skills and items... Ren Yifei had a lot of questions to ask the guide spirit, but then he saw it start to tremble slightly and keep making a "beep-beep-beep" sound.
"system?"
"Player ID 95XX27, you have been forcibly bound to a high-end dungeon activation key. In three days, you will be forcibly taken into a random high-end dungeon. You may carry three active skills, three non-ghost card items, and two ghost cards. Please prepare." The guiding spirit spoke in a completely different voi
ce than usual.