NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62 - Appraisal, Grain Rain Discounts
Chapter 62 – Appraisal, Grain Rain Discounts
“AD 266 was the second year of the Taishi era under the rule of Emperor Wu in the Jin dynasty in the west, and also the second year of the Ganlu era under the rule of Emperor Mo in the Wu dynasty in the east.”
“Vast territories and much political power fell into the hands of the Sima family. Eastern Wu was the only other kingdom then which had not fallen to Jin, but was barely surviving on its own. As war ceased briefly, the people could finally rest and rehabilitate, and the demons gradually ceased to exist.”
“In AD 279, Jia Chong, the Grand Chief Controller of the Jin dynasty was given the highest authority as Commander-in-Chief and put in-charge of a six-pronged military campaign against Wu.”
“In AD 280, the Wu Emperor Sun Hao surrendered to the Jin dynasty and given the title ‘Marquis of Guiming’, which, interestingly, was in contrast to Emperor Liu Shan of the fallen Shu Han state, who was enfeoffed the title ‘Duke of Anle’. From that moment on, all of the states were united by the Western Jin dynasty.”
“In AD 266, the sixth generation head of the Ren family, Ren Han, entered the Luoyang Palace and left behind the ancestral secret about the royal spell of ‘Perfect Understanding of All Heavens and Earth’.”
“However, even until AD 299, the Jin dynasty did not make use of the ‘Perfect Understanding of All Heavens and Earth’ to cease all sources of Reiki, but instead plundered through the lands to eliminate all forms of Reiki practices amongst the people.”
The scene on the screen suddenly changed to that inside a house. It was the middle of the night, and on the sickbed was Ren Han. Under the unsteady candle light, his pale skin could be seen, but both his eyes remained brimming with energy.
Ren Han said, “The ancestors of the Ren family, we have all been wrong… Not every leader of a nation is able to manage the power and authority in his hands, unlike the wise and brilliant Emperor Guangwu who was also skilled in martial arts. The Sima family… They are also merely a bigger and slightly more powerful family. The future of us, the Ren family… should never be entrusted to anyone else!”
Feebly, Ren Han took out a token, saying, “The Chixiao Token… This was the mysterious item that formed from the dead body of Emperor Zhaolie after he received the affirmation of all Emperors of the Han dynasty and turned into the King of the Ghosts…”
He continued, “This token has extraordinary powers. All Han people around the one who possesses this token will receive numerous benefits. And if the Chixiao Token selects its owner, all restrictions would be removed and the holder would be able to be affirmed by the ancestral emperors of the Han dynasty to become one of the royal members of the Han dynasty!”
“For us, this means that we would be able to break free of the first shackle of our bloodline and establish our own political regime with our own abilities without any hindrance!”
“As long as we, the Ren family, possess our own political power, we can unite the world using our unparalleled abilities. With that, we can put the ‘Perfect Understanding of All Heavens and Earth’ to good use, and fundamentally remove the curse upon our bloodline…”
“However, it is extraordinarily difficult for the Chixiao Token to select its owner… You have to keep the Chixiao Token safely. The Sima family lacks morals and the world is cruel – they will soon dig their own graves. When that time comes… The world will be a living hell, and the people of Han would be the first to bear the brunt of it.”
“We must continue eliminating all monsters, and we must continue making our name known around the world! When the people of Han is in danger, there must be one of us…one of us from the Ren family…who will be recognized by the Chixiao Token…”
“Always, always remember this!”
“In the year 270, Ren Han passed away at the age of 20. His last words were: The Ren family… still lives on.”
“In AD 299, war broke out once again between the eight princes of the Jin dynasty and seven years of battle yet again plagued the Central Plains with aggression and malice…”
The screen turned black and a few messages from the system appeared:
“☆ Achievement Complete – Annals of the Han Dynasty!”
“You now have access to Chapter 2 of ‘Over My Dead Body’!”
“Your current game data has been saved and may be used in Chapter 2.”
Rensuo rolled his eyes. He simply could not imagine himself going through the same thing again in the next chapter, unless he bought the game… But that was only going to happen if he had a lot of money, or his fingers had a mind of their own.
Firstly, Rensuo knew that the unlucky him would have to spend a few days trying to get a perfect start to the game.
Furthermore, throughout the game, the head of the Ren family may be unlucky and encounter only strong elves. He would have no choice but to perform spiritual exchange with the elf and the child would then be unable to inherit the inherited ability of the family lineage. In that case, the inherited ability of the lineage of the Ren family head would be rendered useless.
In addition, Rensuo may meet special encounters throughout the game. Had he not encountered Cao Zhi in the present game save, he would definitely not have been able to survive until year 265 in the game.
Lastly, whether he was able to successfully complete the chapter also depended on the reproduction rate and death rate. Rensuo was fortunate enough to have a barely sufficient number of Souls of the Ancestors in the current game save for the sixth generation Ren Han to be revived and kill Emperor Zhaolie of Han. Otherwise, if he had to give up on the game save when he already made it to the final battle, he would have been really depressed – any normal person would feel like smashing the game controller.
Thinking back, Rensuo thought that the abilities of the Ghost Troops of the Shu Han army was actually mediocre. If not for their large size in numbers, the Ren family Practitioners who were archers would have easily killed Liu Bei in the first few turns.
Typically, only abilities which “exchanged one life for another” could compare with the inherited abilities of the Ren family Practitioners, such as Jiang Wei’s Twisted Fate ability and Zhuge Liang’s Light of the Seven Stars ability.
In particular, it was obvious that Zhuge Liang was intended to kill targets in one turn. Rensuo did not think it was possible to train a game character in the first chapter that was able to take a total damage of 2240 points.
At this juncture, the screen finally showed what Rensuo was eagerly waiting for:
“Mission accomplished.”
“Completed basic mission objective – 60 points awarded”
“Large family: More than 50 members in the family – 5 points awarded”
“Spiritual exchange: Performed spiritual exchange with 1 elf – 1 point awarded”
“History lover: Witnessed 10 historical events – 5 points awarded”
“Long-lived: Formed positive friendships with more than 20 special historical figures – 5 points awarded”
“Total score is 76 points. Appraisal: Moderately good.”
“Current mission score: 75 points (moderately good). Highscore: 75 points (moderately good).”
“Do you wish to upload this score as the final result? You will receive merits based on the appraisal category of your current mission score. You will also receive special rewards.”
“You may only upload your score once.”
Rensuo had not expected the appraisal for the present game save to be that well.
Nonetheless, there could be more bonus points as there was a large amount of freedom given in the game.
Or perhaps, the game was simply too difficult, and as long as the player was able to complete the mission, they would have gained many bonus points.
Regardless, what surprised Rensuo the most was the category “Long-lived”.
Bonus points were given for forming positive friendships with historical figures?!
Rensuo had thought that encounters in the game, like going on shooting trips with Lu Bu and studying with Guan Yu, had been a mechanism of the game to increase the difficulty – to make things more complicated for the player by increasing the number of game characters.
While the game characters were completely unafraid of natural disasters, such encounters were actually the times when the Ren family would decrease greatly in numbers.
Who knew that if such encounters would contribute to more bonus points if you survived!
Presently, the question for Rensuo would then be: should I upload this result?
Or create a new game save and try one more time?
76 years… If he really wanted to achieve an even better score, Rensuo would definitely have to keep trying until he obtained a perfect setup at the beginning of the game. And even if he continued playing from the best possible setup, he may not survive until year 266 in the game…
Rensuo looked at the time and realized it was 2 a.m. in the morning. Oh no, he thought, I still have to work tomorrow.
In that case… Nevermind, I will think about this tomorrow.
Rensuo exited the game and was about to turn the game console off when he noticed from the corner of his eye that the “World Shop” icon at the left corner of the screen showed rain!
He had never seen such a situation before and so he clicked into the “World Shop”.
There, he saw the banner: “Grain Rain Solar Term Discount Event!”
Rensuo was stunned for a moment.
Even the 24 solar terms are reasons for discounts?! Rensuo looked at the date and realized that it was indeed the last solar term of spring, the Grain Rain term.
Wait, what about Tomb-Sweeping Day… I was at the group training on that day!
Rensuo felt as if he was at the losing end, but he was quickly relieved – he could not afford the games even if they were on discount anyway.
On a separate note, the column “Smashing the Door of Life and Death, Trampling the Door of Right and Wrong” had been removed and replaced with the column “Here Comes the Grim Reaper”. Rensuo was bored and opened the column, but was instantly taken aback. What on earth, it required 468 merit points to acquire!
If only I could buy it with real money… Rensuo looked at the pathetic 25 merit points that he had and muttered to himself, “This game must not be fun…”
But he still could not resist, and clicked to see the game description. The game title was very down-to-earth –
“The Grim Reaper is Omnipresent”.
“This is a puzzle game in which the player would take the role of a Grim Reaper. The player would have to make use of various peculiar relationships between causes and effects to identify and kill evil targets who have committed grave crimes. This is an unlimited game and the mission targets would be set at random. There are no completion criteria, but instead there is a list of achievements which grants the player corresponding merit points and specialized rewards on completion of an achievement. In-game purchases are available. Game difficulty: 1~3 stars.”
“Some of the recurring achievements include:
Kill 200 evil targets – 5 points awarded;
Kill 5 low-level evil Awakened targets – 10 points awarded;
Kill 1 mid-level evil Awakened target – 30 points awarded;
Kill 1 high-level evil Awakened target – 100 points awarded.”
Rensuo remarked, “The game seems very time-consuming.”
He knew that in order to achieve good scores in such games where the difficulty would vary and was also a “puzzle” game, the player would have to play for long hours and late into the night. He might even have to equip himself with the “Unlimited Energy” ability.
In that case, he would definitely be seeing lots of his hair on the floor or on the bed – just not on his head.
It was the first time, though, that Rensuo found such a game that allowed the player to farm unlimited merit points. He made a mental note of the game, for it was a game that would reduce earning merit points to just a time issue.
Nonetheless, the game required 468 merit points to acquire… He could not afford it even if he was willing to stay up through the night to play the game.
Rensuo selected the “Grain Rain Solar Term Discounts!” option and his eyes lit up instantly.
There was a total of four games in the discounts list, but two of which cost three-digit figures of merit points to acquire. Clearly, some games were too expensive even if they were discounted for a poor player like Rensuo.
Only two of the games had relatively more affordable prices –
“Torturous Rain of Blood”, 50% OFF, 45 merit points.
“Wicked Priest”, 50% OFF, 50 merit points.