A series of System prompts scrolled past Li Ang's ear, but he had no time to heed them as he bent down to check on Shi Qingsong, who had already fainted.
Phew, that's a relief. It's just a broken rib; he won't die.
Though Li Ang was resourceful and unpredictable, he still maintained a sense of respect toward teachers. He had held back somewhat during their brawl, refraining from dealing a fatal blow.
He reached out, his hand covered by his sleeve, pulled a cell phone from Shi Qingsong's pocket, and dialed the emergency number, 120.
Once the call connected, Li Ang lifted his soft palate, increasing the resonance in his oral cavity by shifting the point of resonance from his lower teeth to his soft palate. Simultaneously, he lowered his pitch, creating a strange, androgynous voice that would not reveal any personal information.
"Shi Qingsong, male, 34 years old, a teacher at the Experimental Middle School of Yin City. Injury: an isolated closed rib fracture due to external blunt force trauma. No open wounds on the chest, rapid breathing, skin contusions, currently unconscious. Specific location: Yin City Experimental Middle School underground parking lot, basement level two, north entrance."
The 120 dispatcher on the other end of the line paused for a moment. "Alright, we will dispatch an ambulance immediately. Please do not hang up the phone..."
CLICK.
Li Ang ended the call, stuffed the phone back into Shi Qingsong's pocket, then tore Shi Qingsong's shirt into two long strips and used them to apply a pressure bandage to the fractured rib.
Afterward, Li Ang carefully dragged Shi Qingsong to the entrance of the underground parking lot to ensure the ambulance crew could find him immediately. He then returned to the parking lot to clean up any traces—including footprints, fingerprints, and hair—that could potentially reveal his identity.
Once the cleanup was complete, Li Ang exited the parking lot through another exit. Only after confirming the sound of an ambulance siren did he head straight for the school building.
"Well, well, if it isn't our esteemed guest, Student Li Ang. Is there ever a day you're not late?" Inside the classroom, the English teacher, who was in the middle of her lesson, let out a resigned complaint.
Li Ang's tardiness had become a routine for this class. If not for his academic performance, which was top-tier even within Yin City, the entire teaching staff, including his homeroom teacher, would have advised him to drop out long ago. As long as it didn't affect the other students, it was tolerated.
Li Ang chuckled and expertly took his seat, beginning to check the now fully online System.
The System panel appeared before him like a VR illusion, featuring seven main modules: Player Information, Attributes, Equipment, Skills, Quest Log, Shop, and Inventory.
First was Player Information.
Name, age, race, and player ID were already filled in; only the player nickname remained to be entered.
The player ID, a complex string of letters and numbers, was primarily for the System to identify specific players, according to a note from the System. The player nickname, on the other hand, was mainly for social interactions among players. If two players undertook a mission together in the real world, a good nickname would make addressing each other easier and also help conceal their real identities.
Li Ang entered a nickname:
"Jugemu Jugemu Shit-Throwing Machine The Day-Before-Yesterday's Xiaoxin's Underwear Naming Is Really Hard Names Are Really Hard to Pick Bleh Bleh Bleh The Hangnail on My Hand Balmung The Armstrong Family's Generational Armstrong Cannon"
[Nickname available. Confirm?]
Li Ang frowned, chose to cancel, and entered another nickname: "God"
[Nickname available. Confirm?]
"Who Dares Defy Me?", "→Mist~Flower~Candy←", "Certificates 177*****9527", "Toilet Maggot Finder"...
Li Ang tried over a hundred IDs, not because he lacked naming skills or had bad taste, but to test the System's limits.
Some vulgar IDs pass the check, and so do some obviously overused ones without the 'Nickname already taken, please choose another' prompt. Even Pi to several thousand digits gets approved.
This game's System is really quite something...
Li Ang smirked and entered the nickname "Li Rising."
Simple and clear.
Below the player nickname was the green Experience Bar. Since Li Ang had just completed a task with an S+ rating, his 75 Experience Points were multiplied by 1.6, granting him a total of 120 Experience Points, more than enough to fill the Lv. 1 Experience Bar.
In this game, players received a rating after completing each task, ranging from C- (barely completing task objectives) to S+ (perfectly completing the task and uncovering underlying secrets). A C- rating yielded 100% of the Game Coins and Experience Points, a C grade yielded 105%, a C+ yielded 110%, and so on, up to 160% for an S+ rating.
Ordinary people undertaking their first mission, due to panic and lack of ability, usually only achieved a rating between C- and B+. If they were to eliminate the Ghost possessing Shi Qingsong, they would likely have to sneak into the parking lot and steal a car. Then, they would need to run him down on a secluded road until he was crippled, and finally use gasoline to destroy both Shi Qingsong and the possessing Ghost.
But Li Ang had not only eliminated the possessing Ghost but also saved Shi Qingsong, who was theoretically extremely difficult to rescue. This earned him an S+ rating, boosting his 75 Experience Points to 120, surpassing the amount needed to level up.
Assuming the vast majority of existing players came from ordinary backgrounds, their average past mission rating likely fluctuated between C- and B+. Therefore, if Li Ang could consistently complete tasks with an S-rank evaluation, the Experience Points he gained would exceed that of ordinary players by 30%-60%. The same logic applied to Game Coins. After a series of tasks, the gap between Li Ang and veteran players would rapidly shrink, and he might even manage to overtake them.
[Prompt: Player current Experience Points 120/100. Can upgrade from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2. Player will receive one free attribute point upon leveling up. Upgrade?]
After reading the relevant System instructions and confirming that upgrading would not cause a golden, shimmering spectacle or grant a buff that healed all injuries, Li Ang chose to upgrade.
[Prompt: Player Li Rising has advanced to Lv. 2, obtained one free attribute point. Current Experience Points: 20/200]
So the Experience Bar's maximum increases by 100 points with each level-up...
Li Ang nodded and shifted his gaze to the Attributes tab.
The Attributes tab displayed approximate values of the player's current physiological functions, divided into Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Constitution, Perception, and Charisma.
Strength, Agility, and Constitution were straightforward, largely determined by factors like muscle strength and nerve reflex speed.
Intelligence was not synonymous with wisdom. Intelligence referred to the ability to recognize and understand objective realities, and to use knowledge and experience to solve problems. Wisdom, on the other hand, was an ability bred from a complex system composed of multiple subsystems, such as the intelligence system, knowledge system, and systems of methods and skills, among others.
In simple terms, increasing Intelligence points could, at most, enhance a player's calculation ability, observation skills, and thinking capacity. This would speed up arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and solving multivariate equations. However, it wouldn't help them ascend to enlightenment in a single step, leaping from basic arithmetic to group theory, Euclidean spaces, or Clifford algebras.
Perception was the consciousness's awareness of internal and external information. It specifically manifested as the player's ability to spot traps and detect anomalies—their scouting ability, or in other words, a kind of sixth sense or intuition. As for Charisma, it was the player's personal attractiveness to the outside world.
For an ordinary adult male, these six values were all 5. Li Ang's attribute panel, however, read:
[Strength: 6] (Level of a senior fitness enthusiast)
[Agility: 6] (Level of a senior parkour enthusiast)
[Intelligence: 7] (Genius)
[Constitution: 6] (Level of a senior marathon enthusiast)
[Perception: 6] (Level of a senior hunting enthusiast)
[Charisma: 4] (Average looks, slightly peculiar speech and mannerisms)
These six values were only rough indicators provided by the System based on a player's physiological functions. They didn't necessarily mean that those with higher values would definitely have an advantage in actual combat. For example, a muscular bodybuilding coach and a professional boxer might both have a Strength Attribute of 7 (representing relative strength) on their panels. However, their power generation techniques would be worlds apart. A boxer's ability to instantly mobilize muscle fibers for explosive power would completely overwhelm that of a bodybuilder. In a real combat scenario, it would be a one-sided, merciless beatdown.
Considering that leveling up granted one free attribute point, even an average person with no special talents could, after reaching Lv. 10, rival professional athletes at the peak of human physiological capabilities.
What about Lv. 15, or Lv. 20? The game had been running for seven months now. Heaven knew how many Superhumans or hidden masters had emerged from the masses...
Li Ang exhaled slowly, feeling the pressure once more.
After some deliberation, he allocated his free attribute point to Perception, raising it from 6 points ("Level of a senior hunting enthusiast") to 7 points ("Level of a professional hunter"). After all, when facing unpredictable Spiritual Bodies, the Perception Attribute might be far more important than other attributes.
Below the Attributes tab was the Equipment tab, displayed as a translucent human silhouette. The equipment column had no slot limit. This means players could stack equipment freely. If conditions allowed, they could even wear about ten suits of plate armor at once or seven or eight rings on a single finger.
The equipment column displayed: [Worn item: Strange Eye]
Now that the player panel was fully online, the specific values of the Strange Eye were revealed. According to the System prompt, the spiritual power consumed by the Strange Eye (also known as Spiritual Energy) was linked to the Intelligence and Perception attributes. The calculation was: [(50% Intelligence points + 50% Perception points) × 100 = Mental Power Points].
When activating its Special Effect, the Strange Eye consumed one Mental Power Point per second, and five Mental Power Points per second during high-intensity operation. Li Ang's total Mental Power Points amounted to 700.
Using only the Truesight ability, it can last for 700 seconds. Creating and maintaining illusions, it can last for 140 seconds. This number is pretty close to my previous tests.
Li Ang nodded and shifted his gaze to the Quest Log and the Shop.