NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66 - Opening the Treasure Chest; He is Called Ren (2-in-1)
Chapter 66: Chapter 66 – Opening the Treasure Chest; He is Called Ren (2-in-1)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Which of the three options should I choose?
If only Ren Suo had enough time to deliberate over the options, he would have rephrased the three options and posted them online for his friends to discuss and provide their opinions.
However, he wanted to purchase a new game now and does not have the luxury of time. He had to make a decision on his own.
Choosing the first option would give him a 50% chance of saving 1 merit point in every purchase. That meant that he may only need to spend 49 merit points to purchase an item that was originally worth 50 merit points.
The second option was even easier to understand: he would receive additional +5% merit points whenever he uploaded his final mission scores. For example, when the final mission score for a subsequent mission is uploaded, he would receive 5 extra merit points, in addition to the given 100 merit points.
The third option was more unique and unusual.
The Picky Player.
Ren Suo felt that the quantity and quality of the free games given each month were varied. If he selected the “Picky Player” option, he would be able to swap one of the given free games that had the least benefits to him for another one that would reap greater rewards, provided that he had not yet selected the free game he wanted to play.
However, it was an option that required luck. If the game that had been swapped in was one that Ren Suo felt was too challenging or was one that was still less rewarding than the other given free games, he would have wasted that privilege.
Additionally, such privilege could only be used once each month—since free games only refresh once a month.
Ren Suo glanced at the clock and realized that it was 11:57 p.m.!
He did not have any more time to spare!
Each of the three privileges was unique in their own right, and choosing one of them over the others would not put him at any significant disadvantage. In that case…
Without further hesitation, Ren Suo selected the first player privilege, “Meticulous Player”!
This was mainly because he was a person who always sought to achieve balance: not to embark on the most dangerous journey, but neither the safest one. He would choose the one with an average, moderate amount of risk.
To him, “Novice” was the safest bet, and “Picky Player” was the riskiest. “Meticulous Player” was the only option where he did not fully understand its advantages, but he thought it would prove to be useful.
After Ren Suo made his selection, he was now officially a Level 2 player of the Mini Worlds. He quickly navigated back to the Grain Rain Promotions screen and bought the game—
[Holy Priest: Survival Battle]!
In the last three minutes of the ongoing promotion, Ren Suo managed to purchase one of the discounted games successfully!
His 60 merit points dropped back down to a measly 11 merit points.
Ren Suo was stunned for a moment but quickly found that his luck was actually decent—he had scored the 50% chance in his first purchase after acquiring the player privilege “Meticulous Player”, and managed to save 1 merit point for his purchase.
Ren Suo exited from the Mini Worlds Shop and proceeded to the safehouse inventory.
He had not forgotten about the 2-star treasure chest that he received as part of the rewards from uploading his mission score in the game [Over My Dead Body].
Furthermore, he now had 2 keys! Why should he wait to open the treasure chest?
At this juncture, he noticed that a tiny, rotating disc animation appeared at the bottom right corner of the icon for the game [Over My Dead Body].
It was as if the disc was currently being read.
There was no time restriction imposed on the game [Over My Dead Body]. Hence, based on the trend, it should only be deleted automatically the following month.
Now that Ren Suo had already uploaded his final mission score, he could still continue to play the game—although there were barely any benefits for Ren Suo to do so.
But in retrospect, playing games throughout his 22 years of being alive did not have many benefits for Ren Suo either!
It was only after he acquired the Mini Worlds Gaming Console that Ren Suo found out that he could earn more merit points to purchase more games by playing the free games. He could even acquire other strange abilities through specialized rewards.
As Ren Suo looked at the rotating disc on the bottom right corner of the [Over My Dead Body] game icon, he remembered that he saw the same strange animation on that of the [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters] game icon.
However, although the shining disc was still shown above the [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters] game icon, it was no longer rotating and evidently frozen in place.
On the other hand, the new game [Holy Priest: Survival Battle], which had just finished downloading, did not have any of such disc icons on the bottom right corner of the game icon.
What…do the disc icons mean?
Ren Suo scratched his head but still could not come up with a plausible explanation—there was no use thinking so hard about it anyway. He prepared to reap the rewards from his previous mission.
There were three items in the safehouse inventory: the 2-star treasure chest, a 1-star wind blade key, and a 1-star resentful key.
Ren Suo was excited as he eagerly chose to open the 2-star treasure chest!
However, a system prompt appeared:
[You do not have a 2-star key and cannot activate a 2-star treasure chest.]
“…” Ren Suo was speechless as he blinked blankly at the screen.
Although he had already noticed that the keys and the treasure chests had individual star ratings and had his doubts, Ren Suo was still slightly dumbfounded when presented with such message—
It was simple and straightforward to spend money in the game, but it was excruciatingly difficult to redeem his rewards!
The Mini Worlds Gaming Console had a steep learning curve and a high cost, typical of hardcore local system games, including the deterring settings of free reloadable games that hindered the game experience!
[You have two 1-star keys, do you wish to combine them? (One 2-star key can be formed from two 1-star keys)]
Eh?
Ren Suo selected the 1-star wind blade key and found that there was indeed a [Combine] option.
He heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the game was not completely heartless and did not require him to obtain a 2-star key regardless—it was already extremely hard for Ren Suo to obtain a 1-star key. Where can he even find a 2-star key?
Furthermore, it was relatively cheap as only two 1-star keys were needed to be combined into one 2-star key.
On the [Combine] screen, Ren Suo saw a combination table but was immediately dumbfounded as he scanned the rows:
2-star key = 1-star key * 2;
3-star key = 2-star key * 3;
…
9-star key = 8-star key * 9;
“9 * 8 * 7 * 6…” Ren Suo muttered to himself as he silently took out his mobile phone out and began calculating the number of 1-star keys needed to form one 9-star key.
It was not a lot; only 362880 1-star keys were needed to do so.
Ren Suo shook his head and decided not to think so far ahead—just like how he would dream of enrolling in Tianjing University or Tsinghua University and being able to boast about it when he was younger.
[Do you wish to proceed with combining the keys? Note: after the combination process, the type of the newly-formed key would be randomly selected and enhanced from that of any one of the original keys.]
[Combination success rate to form 2-star key: 90%.]
“Why is there even a success rate for combining keys too?” Ren Suo lamented. “This is becoming more and more like an online game with reloadable credits.”
[Combination successful. You obtained a 2-star wind blade key.]
[2-star wind blade key: +15% chance of receiving additional wind blade-type rewards.]
It was now the nerve-racking time to activate the treasure chest!
[You used ‘2-star wind blade key’ to activate the treasure chest.]
[You received Prop ‘Jade Pendant of the Goddess of Luo’.]
“…What?”
It was the first time that Ren Suo had obtained a Prop. The previous rewards he had received before were either Abilities or one-time Ability.
Nonetheless, his empty [Props] column would be less lonely now.
But wasn’t the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of Luo the token that Cao Zhi had given the Ren family of Practitioners for them to perform spiritual exchange with the Goddess of the Luo River?
Now that Ren Suo received the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of Luo, could it mean that…
He could also…
…see the Goddess of the Luo River transform from a paper character into a real-life three-dimensional character?!
Indeed, Ren Suo only had such pure thought, and nothing else.
[Jade Pendant of the Goddess of Luo]
[Grade: 2-star Prop. Pre-requisite: A fully-developed breathing system.]
[Effect: When equipped, the player would be able to breathe normally in any water environment. The player’s vision and hearing abilities would also be slightly increased. The player’s swimming ability would increase significantly, and the effect of water pressure would be drastically reduced.]
[Remarks: A trace of warmth lingers on the crystal-clear jade pendant.]
Although the prop did not match up to Ren Suo’s imagination, it was not useless either. It lived up to its grade as a 2-star prop.
In other words, having the prop meant that Ren Suo now had extraordinary powers and would be able to roam the seas and yet would never drown!
Although humans now had submarines…but at the least, Ren Suo would not need swimming goggles, nor would he be afraid of water entering through his nose or ears!
The more Ren Suo thought about the effect of the prop, the more he felt that it was not of much use. Nonetheless, Ren Suo equipped himself with the prop and looked at the description of the specialized reward he received from [Over My Dead Body]—the [Heart Strengthening] ability.
[Heart Strengthening]
[Grade: 2-star ability. Prerequisite: A blood circulation system similar to that of upright primates, Reiki novice.]
[Effect: When equipped, the player would be able to use this Reiki ability on any target on the brink of death that has a fully-developed heart and who is still conscious. Heart Strengthening is able to strengthen the heart and boost all body functions of the dying target. At the same time, the target’s lifespan would increase by at least 12 hours without any side effects. However, using Heart Strengthening multiple times on the same target within a short timeframe (72 hours) can result in heart rupture in physically weaker targets.]
[Remarks: ‘This is the last time I will be selfish. Although I know that I can’t live much longer even if I return home, but…being able to have my family beside me when I die is the last kindness fate can bestow upon me. At the very least, before I die, let me see these precious treasures as I fade away to an ever-lasting slumber. My ancestors, please forgive my willfulness.’]
Ren Suo’s heart sank as he read the remarks. He recalled his journey through the game a few days ago.
After some time, he finally regained his senses and smiled bitterly, saying, “It was a good game…”
“Even though that was a story from 2000 years ago…”
————
“It’s been a long time since I last met you, Yu Kuangtu.”
In a special science research laboratory located within the Central Science Research Center in Tianjing of Xuan Nation, Yu Kuangtu, who was leading Li Dan to leave the center, saw a familiar figure heading towards them.
“You could Facetime me if you wish to see me every day, Teacher,” Yu Kuangtu replied as he looked at the young man sitting on a wheelchair in front of him, being pushed by his dedicated nurse. Yu Kuangtu laughed as he said, “Or should I say, the web that Teacher created can now support long-distance communication?”
“That’s far from being possible,” the young man said. He covered his mouth as he coughed twice. He asked in a hoarse voice, “Aren’t you from the Lianjiang area? I remember that you don’t like to come back here much…”
“There are too many people I dislike here. Well, Teacher is an exception,” Yu Kuangtu retorted.
“I’m only here this time because my subordinate has entered the second-tier. I brought him here to be tested.”
“Oh?” the young man said as he turned to look at Li Dan, who was standing beside Yu Kuangtu. The young man said, “Not bad, not bad…Mmm, this smell…Is the Awakened ability sound-related?”
Noticing the shocked look on Li Dan’s face, the young man smiled and said, “Don’t be so shocked, this is the only small ability I, a useless person, have. It’s an ability that no one else can learn…I shall not disturb you two anymore.”
“Goodbye.”
Li Dan looked as the young man was wheeled away on the wheelchair and asked, “Director Yu, who is that man? Why did he…harm himself?”
Li Dan had noticed then that the young man had a pale complexion and his skin was ice-cold. His breathing was quick and he could barely focus during the conversation. It was obvious that that was all due to a large loss of blood internally. That was also the reason why he had to sit in a wheelchair, as it was hard for him to walk normally in such a state.
But what was this place? Internal bleeding was not a big problem and could be treated easily. However, the young man seemed to have been in such a state for a long period of time and required dedicated personnel to take care of him.
“Teacher is the creator of the web and is also the strongest Practitioner in Xuan Nation,” Yu Kuangtu said. His words rang loudly in his ears.
Li Dan was extremely astonished. He said, “But I didn’t feel…”
“That is because he is too powerful and you cannot even feel the movement of his breathing currents,” Yu Kuangtu said. He explained, “The ‘tiered’ system of ranking Practitioners was established based on him as the model. Most of the Reiki abilities were also created mainly under his support and supervision.”
“I remember that he was a fourth-tier Practitioner just three months ago. But now, he has become even scarier.”
Li Dan looked in the direction that the young man left in surprise. His mouth was open as he said, “Four…fourth-tier…?”
Yu Kuangtu said, “As second-tier Practitioners, we are essentially the strongest group of Practitioners, and it is the case for other countries as well. At the most, there are only a few people who are Awakened that are naturally as talented, but they would still not be higher than the third-tier rank. But sadly, even though Teacher’s level is way above all Practitioners in the world, his ability cannot be used in combat.”
“Why not?” Li Dan. “A second-tier Practitioner would hardly succumb to any illness, so as a fourth-tier Practitioner…He should be able to take any nuclear bombs in his face, can he not?”
“So what if he could,” Yu Kuangtu replied with a sigh. He said, “With such immense strength, it can only be a horrifying curse. In order to prolong his life and prevent his strength from growing further, he has to lose a large volume of blood every three hours, and survive with just an extremely small intake of sugar. Otherwise…he would have been dead by now.”
“This can actually be a curse…In such a vast world, there really are unending surprises,” remarked Li Dan in awe. “Oh, you have not told me who this strongest Practitioner is.”
“I do not know either. His identity and files are top secrets,” Yu Kuangtu said. He continued, “When I was learning from Teacher at the beginning, he once said that he no longer had any family, and he would probably never have any in the future either. He is the sole surviving member of his family line.”
“As such, he told us to call him by his surname. His surname is…”
Li Dan walked a few steps forward but did not hear any sound following behind. He turned his head to see Yu Kuangtu still rooted in his original spot, his eyes gazing into the air lifelessly.
“Eh?” said Li Dan as he tapped Yu Kuangtu on his shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
Yu Kuangtu regained his senses and rubbed his temples, saying, “Nothing…It’s just…I seemed to have forgotten something.”
Losing his memory while walking? Li Dan blinked a few times and decided to change the subject. He asked, “So what is the young man just now, who is the strongest Practitioner, called?”
Yu Kuangtu replied, “I remember, that Teacher asked us to call him…Ren.”