Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Titles and Rewards

【Scenario Completed . Calculating rewards . 】

【Experience Points obtained: 1,500, Game currency: 15,000】

【Items/Equipment obtained: Eyes of Hatred, M1911A1 pistol, chef’s knife, baseball bat, flashlight x2】

【Completed/Accepted missions: 5/5】

【Special Ending reward: Time Lord’s gift . Please receive it later】

【Special: Hidden mission completed: 0; Deciphered Worldview: Time Loop】

【Terror Value Spikes: 0 times, Highest Terror Value: 0%, Average Terror Value: 0%】

【Your Terror Rating is: Completely Courageous . Qualified for additional reward; please choose in a moment】

【Skill Points obtained: 300】

【Bonus Experience from Skill Points: 3,000; Game Currency: 30,000】

【Reward for clearing Scenario: 80% increase to base Experience: 1,200】

【Calculation Completed . Please continue】

(Using the contents of this Summary as an example: the batteries in the flashlight and the bullets in the pistol are all small consumable items under Superior quality . Placing them inside a utility item or equipment does not take up extra space in the Inventory . The pipe wrench wasn’t obtained in the Scenario and was not taken into calculation . Items that fall under these circumstances will not appear in the Summary briefing . )

“The reward for deciphering the Worldview is really ridiculous…” Feng Bujue thought to himself . “Not counting the extra 240, the Skill Points I got during the whole Scenario was only 60 points . ”

“Jue Bro! I’m rich!” Wang Tanzhi shouted excitedly across the Team voice channel, “I suddenly leveled up to Level 10! Game Currency is also over 20K!”

Feng Bujue instinctively knew when he heard Lil’ Tan’s excitement that his friend gained between 60 and 150 skill Points this Scenario . He replied, “Saw it . The Team list also displays Levels . ” He also saw Long Aomin’s friend request while looking there and accepted it saying, “Don’t forget to accept Long Aomin Bro’s friend request . ”

“Yeah, I already accepted,” Wang Tanzhi answered . “Add him to the group . ”

After a few hand gestures, Long Aomin’s voice sounded through the voice chat . “Oh, you two’s levels have doubled; Feng Xiong’s even Level 11 . ” His level was the same as Feng Bujue’s: Level 11 .

There will definitely be someone who’ll ask, how did this sort of thing happen? Let’s take a look at Feng Bujue’s character details thus far:

Game Username: Feng Bujue, Level 11, Experience: 1350/11000 .

Skill Points: 430, Game Currency: 51,500 .

Specializations: General: F, Equipment: F, Investigation: F, Fighting: F, Shooting: F

Inventory 7/10: Mario’s Pipe Wrench, Eyes of Hatred, chef’s knife, baseball bat, flashlight x2, M1911A1 pistol .

Login Space 1/30: Puzzle Piece: Monkey .

Everyone look at his Experience Points . That’s correct, going from Level 11 to Level 12 requires 11,000, not 1,100 points .

Thriller Paradise increases Experience requirements every ten Levels just like a flight of stairs . Level 1 to 2 requires 100, then 2 to 3 requires 200, and so on . Level 10 to Level 11 requires 1,000, but after reaching Level 11 the player will see a sudden staggering leap (in EXP requirement) .

Besides the 1,500 experience points Long Aomin got for clearing and the 1,200 as a reward, he also got a little more than a 170 Skill Points (Sometimes Skill Points obtained during battle will be accurate to single digits) . He also got another 4,500 experience points during the clearance calculations, but once he leveled up to 11 he got a fright . Unexpectedly, he was still short 7-8000 to Level 12 .

The two chatted for a bit and told Wang Tanzhi a little bit about the circumstances regarding experience points after Level 11 . Soon after, it was Long Aomin who first remembered to ask, “Oh, by the way, what are your titles?”

Feng Bujue answered without thinking, “Cold-Blooded Headshot Psychopath . ”

“Uh…”

The other two were left speechless, and the group fell into an awkward silence .

Several moments later Wang Tanzhi forced a hollow laugh and commented, “Actually this System is quite reasonable . All of your attacks were aimed at the head… also your behavior was also pretty cold-blooded . ”

“What’s your title? Shrieking Spoiled Rich Heir?” immediately quipped Feng Bujue .

“How could the game have spoiled rich heir as a kind of title?!”

“That’s right… Spoiled Rich Heir is inherited, not earned,” Feng Bujue retorted .

“My Title is【Panicked Sneak Attacker】… . ” Wang Tanzhi was disinclined to continue talking nonsense with him and quickly announced his title to put an end to it .

Feng Bujue muttered to himself irresolutely, “Hn… this one title fully describes one who has attained the high standard of having an absolute-panic-mental-state plus having an inability-to-fight-head-on fighting style… The System really did use only one needle to draw blood . ”[1]

“This is one needle? More like one blade! This kind of Title will only draw contempt from strangers!” lamented Wang Tanzhi .

“There’s not much difference between strangers disdaining you from the moment they see your title or from the moment you let out your high-pitched helpless and pointless shriek…” declared Feng Bujue .

“Ha ha…” Long Aomin chuckled before mediating, “Actually Wang Xiong you don’t have to be too worried . It’s possible for your Title to change after each run through a Scenario . Just when we finished that one, my Title changed . Right now it’s【Squad Defender】 . ”

The three of them exchanged a few more words, before Long Aomin expressed that he himself had already been online for a long time and intended to go offline to rest a few hours . After resting, he’d login later using the sleep mode channel during the wee hours of the morning .

Wang Tanzhi, on the other hand, didn’t want to play anymore today and didn’t intend to get back on again in the evening . Counting the Novice Tutorial, he’d already continuously played through four Scenarios: continuing would just be self-torture . Feng Bujue also expressed that after he finished going over his items he’d go offline . He wasn’t so tired that he couldn’t play anymore; he was just consciously controlling his own leveling .

The closed beta’s level cap was Level 20 . From a non-professional player’s point of view, they don’t have to be too concerned about power leveling . Once the total number of players in the closed beta that reach Level 20 exceeds 10%, closed beta will end . After which, service will close until the System is fully upgraded to the official version then Open Beta .

……

Thriller Paradise had long since attracted numerous game studios to participate . As mentioned before, on the first afternoon of closed beta, Feng Bujue was able to find a few guides posted by approximately Level 10 players on the forums right away . Evidently, most of these articles were from the hands of professional game studio members . These people, however, are professionals and when playing games had strategies and divided labor accordingly . In games like this, there’s definitely two work shifts . One group, starting from when they rise at eight in the morning, will immediately go and run through the game in sleep mode . The other group will follow in running the game but struggle in awake mode . The groups then switch shifts every evening…

According to the relevant legal provisions in the year 2055, there is a strict limit on the time a player can spend online in the Game Cabin; the time spent logged in during awake mode with the mind connected to the game’s reality must not exceed ten hours . Because sleep mode’s time ratio is 1:10, the time spent connected to the virtual reality must not exceed eight hours . The general recommendation is four hours or less . If the upper time limit is reached on both modes within twenty-four hours, the player will be forcibly disconnected and wait until after the next twenty-four hours before they can go online .

In other words, altogether a person in one day can reach eighteen hours with their mind linked to the game . This is divided into ten hours of awakeness and eight hours of sleeping . Changing Game Cabins is useless since all mind connection networks will not accept the citizen’s ID number . These are all regulations set by the law, primarily for the consideration of the user’s health as well . During the initial stages of the invention of mind connection games, there were people who would continuously stay connected except during the times they needed to eat or use the bathroom . Because of that, they basically all suddenly died or suffered irreparable brain damage in the end . Of course, these deaths cannot be blamed on the Game Cabin or the game . For example, as early as half a century ago during the period the fourth generation computers were popular, there were many sudden deaths in internet cafes . Who can these deaths be blamed on?

Once a few words of farewell were spoken to Lil’ Tan and Long Bro, voice chat ended and the team disbanded . Feng Bujue then opened the elevator door and turned to enter the equipment retrieval space .

Just as before, two glass pillars appeared in that room . There was already an item suspended inside the glass pillar on the left-hand side; it was likely the thing the Time Lord sent as a gift . If they hadn’t previously got the sealed-the-Demon-Gate ending, then naturally this reward wouldn’t be here .

Feng Bujue first took one of his two flashlights and deposited it into the Login Space, freeing up his inventory space to 6/10, then went to grab that suspended item . While cleaning up his inventory space, he glanced at the menu to look at the special ability title would give him . This ability was displayed above the Skills Bar and did not take up space in the Skills Bar .

【Name: Cerebral Concussion】

【Ablility Type: Passive】

【Effect: 30% chance to cause dizziness when using blunt objects to attack the head】

【Remark: It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t explode with one hit, just put in more effort . It’s just a head after all . 】

This Title Ability was pretty good, and, in any case, it’s a passive and doesn’t use Stamina . It also compliments【Mario’s Pipe Wrench】and ought to be pretty useful when confronting low-leveled monsters . But, if he ran into some powerful monsters, non-humanoid monsters, incorporeal ghosts, or BOSSes and so on… then I’m afraid that Feng Bujue wouldn’t have an opportunity to use a blunt object to attack the head .

Feng Bujue arrived in front of the first glass pillar fairly quickly . Suspended inside was a small glass bottle half full of sand .

【Name: Slowing Quicksand】

【Type: Consumable】

【Grade: Superior】

【Special Effect: Break the bottle and the speed of all monsters within one hundred meter radius will decrease tenfold . Lasts for one minute】

【Remark: Inside this bottle is some lousy Time dust . But if you are besieged by a giant horde of monsters, a bottle of this stuff might be able to help you escape . 】

This is a valuable consumable that actually has strategic worth . Do Lil’ Tan and Long Bro each also have one…” deliberated Feng Bujue as he arrived in front of the second glass pillar .

【Please select your additional reward: One, Randomly draw one equipment corresponding to your Level; Two, 50,000 Game Currency (Max Limit); Three, 4,000 Experience Points】

At Level 11, the worth behind this Terror Value was undoubtedly reflected; “Completely Courageous” gave three choices for one reward . Game Currency given was up to 50K . Leaving Equipment aside, that “increase experience by 40% of the current limit” certainly seemed too impressive at his current level . [2]

In theory, as long as Feng Bujue’s disorder was not cured, no matter what level he’s at, he only needed to go through two Scenarios and succeed in surviving to basically level up .

But precisely because of this point, Feng Bujue was even more unwilling to choose Experience . He was still a little worried that his forever motionless Terror Value would draw the attention of the game corporation who’d think he was hacking or something . So if he could stay low-profile, then he’d stay as low as possible; he didn’t want to level up too fast anyway .

Thus, he selected Equipment once again . Although he wasn’t lacking any weapons at the moment—he had both long and short ranged—he was lacking more on the defensive end of things . He hoped on drawing a reliable armor .

Footnotes:

[1]Same as hit the nail on its head, but that ruins the joke later .

[2]He’s talking about how the offer for 4000 EXP is 40% of his current EXP requirement (11000) at Lvl 11 . He was offered this before when he was Lvl 2 . but back then 40% of current EXP limit amount was out of 240 . so he would’ve only gotten 80 exp