NOVEL WEB Chapter 4
“…Something interesting happened.”
Staring at the scene before him that clearly exceeded common sense, Bai Yi was silent for a few seconds. He reached out to push the non-existent glasses on the bridge of his nose, revealing a detective-like determined expression.
He slowly said in a tone of “there is only one truth”:
“Could it be, this is the legendary system cheat?”
“And I, am I the chosen one?”
The surroundings were still silent. On the blurry mirror, the distorted text flickered dimly and brightly.
Bai Yi seemed to have received an answer, nodded seriously, and completed his self-questioning and self-answering.
“It must be so.”
Saying this, he stretched out his finger and seriously poked the mirror that obviously was not right and did not reflect any figures.
“So, where is the newbie gift pack? Where is the newbie gift pack?”He poked the mirror several times, and the text on it became more and more distorted and flickered, but there was not even a cheap special effect, as if nothing had happened.
Bai Yi’s originally excited eyes suddenly became extremely disappointed, full of doubt and disdain.
He said expressionlessly, “No way, no way, in this day and age, there can’t be a system that doesn’t even have the standard newbie gift pack, right?”
With each sentence, he poked once.
System: ???
In the silence, one by one, the text emerged on the mirror, flickering more and more intensely.
[The system energy is full, the Nightmare Game is officially online.]
[From the official launch of the game, players can enter different nightmare fragment instances after falling asleep. Whenever a player successfully clears a nightmare fragment instance, they will receive game rewards corresponding to the difficulty and content of the instance.]
[Detection of existing nightmare fragments that have not completely dissipated, included in the player’s game database, beginning settlement——]
This time, the text on the mirror changed extremely quickly, giving Bai Yi no time to react or even complain.
[Cleared Nightmare Fragment [Blood-colored Inn]]
[Instance Level: ★☆]
[Clearance Evaluation: A]
[Points Earned: 10]
[Beginning special reward extraction.]
The transparent text turned into a stream of water and dissipated in front of Bai Yi’s eyes, and everything around suddenly became illusory.
The mirror seemed to be constantly extending up and down, blurring the boundaries of space.
At some moment, Bai Yi felt as if he had returned to the bottomless deep sea. Star fragments fell all around, and countless glows enveloped him.
As the starlight dissipated, several crystals slowly condensed. The dreamy and confusing color flashed in front of Bai Yi’s eyes and disappeared in an instant.
[You have obtained a special drop: Nightmare Crystal (White) ×3. The game backpack has been opened and automatically stored.]
[You have obtained a one-star character card ‘Ghost of the Rainy Night’ (upgradable).]
A phantom card flew out from mid-air, gently spun in front of Bai Yi, and then slowly dissipated.
On the card, a tall and thin man in a trench coat was walking in the rainy night, a black umbrella covering most of his face. Only the corner of his mouth showed a smile that was not quite a smile.
Under the umbrella, the pitch-black shadow merged with the background of the card.
He bowed to Bai Yi, and the whole person slowly exited with the dissipation of the phantom card.
[Based on your performance in the instance, you have obtained a growable skill card ‘Praise of the Blind’.]
Another phantom card condensed in mid-air.
This time, what appeared on the card was a frail-looking little boy. He was squatting on high steps, his body shrouded in the shadow of the corridor, under his long and curled eyelashes, his pupils were hollow and deep.
There was a faint reflection of blood in his eyes.
He smiled slightly at Bai Yi and also dissipated.
In the end, there was only one line of text left on the mirror——
[Settlement completed, displaying player attribute panel.]
**
Name: Bai Yi
Age: 17
Talent: Rhythm of All Things lv10 (Awakening 10%)
[Note: A talent that awakened on its own due to a naturally powerful soul, capable of passively sensing the life rhythm and spiritual fluctuations of all things, seems to have brought you a lot of trouble. Under the dual suppression of the Nightmare Game system and the lawless world rules, this talent cannot awaken further at present.]
**
Bai Yi’s gaze couldn’t help but linger for a second.
He continued to look down without changing his expression.
**
Life Skills (not displayed below lv1):
Bewitch lv3
[Note: Your natural talent combined with years of rich practice has created your transcendent accomplishments. As long as you are willing, you can deceive anyone in this world, including yourself. All pyramid scheme leaders pale in comparison to you, willingly admit defeat, and can only be laid off and re-employed.]
[This ordinary skill has reached the limit of mortals, and after integrating with the related spiritual transcendent abilities, there is a chance to further break through to an transcendent skill.]
**
Bai Yi had a question mark above his head. “…?”
“Ah, this, I’m not, I don’t have, don’t talk nonsense!”
First was a subconscious denial, Bai Yi’s tone gradually became righteous. “This system, how did it learn to make up stories?”
“Could it be because I used the task reward to offset the newbie gift pack, and it’s worried about being exposed by my cleverness, so it’s feeling guilty?”
The response to him was still silence. It made him look abnormal talking to the mirror.
But Bai Yi didn’t have any sense of embarrassment at all. “As expected, it’s feeling guilty. I told you I’m not that kind of person…”
More text flickered quickly on the mirror, as if it couldn’t bear it any longer, it interrupted someone’s words in this way.
**
Dark Cuisine lv2
[Note: In a certain sense, being able to elevate cooking to this level and achieve the effect that only poison can do with ordinary ingredients is also a kind of transcendent talent.]
Iron Stomach lv2
[Note: Enjoying your own dark cuisine every day and still being able to live until now, it’s obvious how strong your stomach is. This may be an even more transcendent talent.]
Personality Mask lv1
[Note: Special experiences allow you to switch between multiple character personalities skillfully, as simple as putting different personality masks on your face.]
[When the fake becomes real, the real is also fake. When an intermittent schizophrenic perfectly plays the role of a schizophrenic, should he be recognized for his superb acting skills, or should his condition be diagnosed as worsening?]
[Click to view more skills]
**
Bai Yi had a second question mark: “…??”
…Is this note serious?
…The legendary way of countering sarcasm with sarcasm, using the way of the Onmyoji to cure the great Onmyoji’s body? (TL: from ‘以其人之道，还治其人之身’-using other people’s own principles and methods to cultivate themselves)
I suspect you’re implying something about me but I have no evidence.jpg
The text on the mirror continued.
**
Transcendent Skills:
Praise of the Blind lv1
- Passively increase the goodwill of neutral units by 5 points, friendly units by 10 points, and reduce the defense and hostility of enemy units. (Only effective for the same unit for the first time, cannot be repeated. Aura-type skill, no need for the player to cast.)
- Actively cast on people within ten meters, can produce an effect similar to #lowering one’s own presence#, making other people subconsciously ignore the player’s existence. But once the player makes a noticeable move, this effect is automatically broken. The casting effect and range are related to the player’s mental power.
- Actively cast on oneself, temporarily reducing one’s own vision as a price, briefly amplifying one’s own strength. The degree of strength amplification is directly proportional to the degree of vision reduction. In a completely blind state, the strength will be amplified by 300%. Lasts for up to three minutes, after three minutes everything returns to normal.
- Special: Adams’ Soul Praise
Can only be used once, a unique consumable. After using this skill, it will summon a soul phantom that obeys your commands 100%, and will go through fire and water for you until it completely dissipates.
[Note: This is a praise for the “blind”. You played with enemies far stronger than yourself in the identity of the blind, completed the identity switch between the hunter and the prey, ignited the nightmare with the flame of revenge, and obtained the special lament of the soul praise.]
[People often trust too much in what they see with their own eyes, but who is the real blind one?]
**
This time, Bai Yi was full of question marks: “???”
“Being able to blind enemies, making people relax their guard, ignore oneself, and also being able to blind oneself, enhancing strength…Hmm, either you’re blind or I’m blind, this skill, it really lives up to its name.”
He muttered a complaint without words, his gaze fell on the last special soul praise, as if he was thinking.
Just as Bai Yi’s gaze was drifting, not knowing what he was thinking, the text that was originally flickering quickly gradually slowed down, revealing the last few lines, completely solidifying on the mirror.
**
Points: 10
Card Slot: [Ghost of the Rainy Night★]
[Characteristic to be confirmed] [Can be equipped / consumes Nightmare Crystal (White) ×1 every 24 hours] [Click to no longer display]
Backpack: Nightmare Crystal (White) ×3
**
After reading this long panel information, especially those large paragraphs of text written as notes but read as sarcasm, Bai Yi was silent for a full five seconds.
With a face devoid of expression and a pair of dead fish eyes with dark circles, he suddenly spoke.
“Speaking of which…”
“Don’t you want to explain what you said before about ‘energy is full’?”
He unexpectedly did not ask more about the situation of the Nightmare Game, nor did he mention the extraordinary skills and cards he had just obtained, but instead targeted the first sentence the system said when it appeared. “What is the so-called energy? Where does it come from? How is it full?”
Element detection.jpg
Word by word until the end, Bai Yi’s smile gradually distorted, and his body almost showed substantial black air.
“——I’m afraid I’ve been working hard in the nightmare for you all these years.”
System: …
Bai Yi let out a sigh of regret.
“Sigh, the dignified system, after swallowing the hard work of this poor worker for so many years, surely you wouldn’t even give a single explanation and a little bit of compensation?”
Although this system never gave any response, making him look like he was always talking to himself as if he was sick, but just through the frequency of text changes, it was enough for him to realize that this system was definitely not a rigid standalone system. Even if it didn’t have human-like consciousness, there was a certain logical pattern.
——So, of course, take the opportunity to shear the wool, even if this wool is likely to come from his own body.
In the silence of the room, Bai Yi, who did not get a response, continued to issue weak, helpless and pitiful complaints. “The world of capitalists is so cruel, I, who have been working for so many years, really should not get deeper and deeper…Just slack off every day, anyway, there is everything in the dream.”
The previous expression of fatigue as if he hadn’t woken up appeared on his face again, he was indifferent to the player panel and the skill card he had just obtained, which looked very attractive, and he yawned lazily again, his eyes half-closed with dark circles.
Bai Yi turned around and left.
[Player detected to have one more reward to claim——]
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