Wu Xiaoming woke up with his pajamas soaked in his sweat. His neck and arms were slightly sore, but nothing he could not handle.
He had not had time to check out his own status before exiting the game - he might have been able to put up a fight against the shadow if he had been fully refreshed. But with that kind of exhaustion he would never have stood a chance.
He opened up his character panel, and immediately saw something different.
First of all, he was now level 10, with almost no additional progress to level 11. Which was not very surprising, the creatures in the lounge were plenty and quite hard to deal with.
Second of all was the two bars above his experience bar - one light yellow, and one blue. These were visual representations of his Qi and spirit resources - neither was full right now, and the blurred edges at the ends of them indicated to him that even with them visualized, he could only see on a general level exactly how much Qi and spirit he still had.
And thirdly, right next to the human shape that represented himself, was a simple word printed in black with dark smoke effect: "MARKED".
Current currencies: 23002 Spirit Fragments, 108 Vision Slivers. Not a lot gained, really, he just was not sure if it was due to the shadows and thread creatures not being "major" enemies or the fact that he was inside of the hotel.
What had changed? The only thing different was that he was now at level 10. At least from the versions he play-tested, there was no "milestone" for reaching this level. Did it come from some obscured branch of the leveling system? Or was it more of a symbol of his compatibility with the "gaming system"? He had no way to answer this question. After all, for a regular RPG, reading mana bars and recognizing debuffs were features of basic UI.
As for "MARKED", it was no surprise but a confirmation - he was marked by whatever being that was inhabiting the Sproutlinger Hotel, he had no doubt about that.
He had one more spare skill point, which meant he could finally unlock the skill he had been working for.
Thunder and Fire: increases spirit resource; grants active skill Palm Lightning; grants active skill Fire Talisman.
The best offensive skill in early stages for a character - grants two active skills, one melee, and one that could be either melee or ranged, or used as for traps. Palm Lightning, real to its name, was a skill where a character would spend spirit to conjure lightning energy in their palm and strike the enemies with it. It could be used in tandem with other palm strike skills that did not act in the same way. On the other hand, Fire Talisman is just a way to draw a kind of talisman that would release flames. He could draw it on paper, on wooden plaques, pretty much on any object with writable surfaces, or even in thin air, only with the drawback of less attack power. All things he needed right now.
He immediately began testing - first was to conjure up a little bit of lightning energy in his right palm - with a little bit of spirit spent, the center of his palm glowed in light blue and a few electric arcs sparked. Next, he tore a piece of paper from a notebook and began writing on it using only his finger. His spirit flowed into the paper and left a red trail as if it was ink. He picked the piece of paper up when he was done and went into the bathroom.
With one hand on the knob of the shower, he activated the talisman. "Poof" red flames burst from the side of the piece of paper where the writing was and subsequently ignited the paper itself. He threw the piece of paper down and waited for it to turn to ash before extinguishing it with the shower and flushing it down.
Now that he was at level 10 and unlocked this skill that would take his offense into another level, time was of the essence for him to prepare - for everything that might come his way.
First, he needed to make sure that the dark entities in the Sproutlinger Hotel did actually follow him here, for that he needed to use raw eggs to perform a simple unclean energy detection ritual.
Secondly, he needed to find things that would help him repel negative energy and malevolent spirits in the physical realm, preferably ones he could bring into the ethereal realm. This included things like black dog blood, male virgin urine, and/or things like peachwood swords and blessed statues or other items. Maybe he could find some by asking the Shenmue Temple for help.
Thirdly, he needed to find some real exorcists if possible. But there was also a chance that said exorcist would see through him and realize he was not the Wu Xiaoming everyone thought he was - so it would be a great risk.
He checked the time, it was only 8:43 in the morning, a bit later than the usual time he would wake up, but still a good time to head out.
His father apparently did not come back at all last night, for everything was still where it had been last night. He double checked his father's bedroom - it was empty. So he left a note and went out.
"What? Why'd you need to find a relic store for?" Douglass Kirkland responded about ten minutes after Wu Xiaoming asked.
"Since I am doing a ghost hunting show, I was thinking - having some actual protection would be nice, just in case one of their locations was really haunted." Wu Xiaoming replied.
"Okay, I am in the middle of something right now. I will text you something later, alright?"
Without Douglass Kirkland's help, all he could do now was find stores on the internet. And right now, he was on a rideshare towards the one that was relatively close to him and got a decent amount of positive reviews.
"Martha's Enchanted Goods" was the name of the shop, and apparently, they would also do palm readings.
"Oh! You're looking for protection against evil spirits, huh? Well you're in the right place." The old woman wearing two necklaces and two strings of beads on each wrist, presumably Martha smiled at Wu Xiaoming after hearing what he was looking for: "Let me see, for yourself, or family? Or - are you looking to explore some - unholy places?"
"Some for my family, and some for myself. " Wu Xiaoming nodded: "For business reasons I may need to visit some places that are kinda sketchy, so I was thinking - "
"Say no more. Follow me." The old woman extended her hand at Wu Xiaoming: "I am Martha, by the way."
Martha led Wu Xiaoming into a small room on the side, where all three walls were fully covered in all kinds of old and mysterious looking items: beads, rings, golden plaques, crosses decorated with jewels, short metal staves, and even small gilded daggers.
"Here, I recommend this for your family." Martha picked a heavy looking, dusty wooden box from a shelf to her right: "These are - gems of my collection." She opened up the box, and revealed to Wu Xiaoming a set of six red gems the size of quarter coins - all of which were red or orange, and each in a tight golden casing. "These are the Jewels of Arakar - once belonged to an Armenian family with rich history and tradition. I got it at a hefty price. They are said to be able to connect those who keep them, strengthen the bond they share and create a powerful protection for all who hold it."
"Hmm." Wu Xiaoming frowned - he did not see or feel anything special about these gems. "I - I don't know, can you - "
"Something else? " Martha nodded with a smile and shut the box. She walked by a three-level wooden shelf with some necklaces on it, then picked up two shield-shaped wooden plaques on black threaded strings. "You know what these are?"
Wu Xiaoming fixed his eyes on these plaques - there was nothing very special about them either. "I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"These are shields, plain and simple." Martha chuckled: "Some call them 'Arcane Shields', but I prefer to just call them 'Saint's Ward'. They are made from the bark of the famous holy tree of Mount Kremore, where once a Sainted Knight died in a glorious battle in the arms of his wife. Give them to your loved ones, they can ward off negative energy and all the other bad juju."
"Umm…" Wu Xiaoming decided to extend a little bit of confidence and trust: "How much are they?"
"You look like a nice guy. And I am a family person too, you know. I would do anything for my family. How about this? I'll give you a discount price. 500 dollars, and you can have them."