Chapter 9: Spirit Realm
Li Dongze chose his words carefully and said:
"The Spirit Realm is a supernatural force that cannot be explained by science at present. Although we have been trying to analyze and understand it, we still don't have a complete understanding. The Spirit Realm exists in reality but is also separate from reality. Only chosen individuals can enter the Spirit Realm."
"As for how one is chosen..." He took a sip of wine and said with a smile, "You should have experienced it."
"That card?" Zhang Yuanqing responded timely.
Li Dongze nodded slightly:
"It's called a character card. Those who obtain a character card will unlock trial missions. Passing the trials will grant them a corresponding profession, along with the skills and characteristics of that profession.
"The mechanism by which the Spirit Realm selects travelers has not yet been figured out. The method of distributing character cards is not fixed either. Sometimes it might appear directly inside your body; sometimes you might pick it up on the street; sometimes you might accidentally click on a link online.
"Completing the trial mission is just the beginning. If Spirit Realm travelers want to level up and become stronger, they must constantly accept missions to enter the Spirit Realm. But don't worry, the frequency of missions isn't too high, and not every Spirit Realm scenario will endanger your life. On the contrary, some Spirit Realms can be quite interesting.
"Take me for example, I'm a level 3 Scout. In the past two years, I've entered the Spirit Realm once a month, but only once every three months for a solo Spirit Realm, where I almost died. The other times were multi-person Spirit Realms, which are relatively safer and more interesting. Heh, to gain superpowers, you always have to pay a price."
Li Dongze paused, giving Zhang Yuanqing time to ask questions.
"So it's similar to game instances?" Zhang Yuanqing offered his understanding.
Li Dongze smiled:
"I like talking to you young people because you have strong comprehension skills and actively embrace new things."
After this praise, he nodded:
"That's right, it's like playing a game, and the Spirit Realm is the instance. Some instances are solo types, while others are multi-person team-ups or competitions. The solo type instances are the most dangerous, with the highest death rate.
"Multi-person types are relatively better, with death types and punishment types. The latter only deducts a certain amount of experience points."
Zhang Yuanqing asked curiously, "Why do solo types have the highest death rate?"
Li Dongze pondered for a moment, "In multi-person Spirit Realms, you'll encounter Spirit Realm travelers of other professions, but in solo types, it's a Spirit Realm of your own profession. Take Scouts for example, the supernatural abilities of this profession are insight, tracking, and analysis.
"So the three solo Spirit Realms I've encountered were playing a detective solving cases; hunting and being hunted by criminals in a jungle; and wilderness survival. Additionally, for each profession, the Spirit Realm instances at the supernatural stage and the saint stage are different."
My profession is Night Walker, entering paranormal instances. Phew, fortunately, there are still multi-person instances, otherwise, I'd be scared to death in the Spirit Realm sooner or later. The Spirit Realm instances change at the saint stage? Zhang Yuanqing listened while nodding.
"Is Lei Yibing's disappearance due to entering the Spirit Realm?" Zhang Yuanqing asked in a deep voice.
He urgently needed confirmation from an official figure to verify his guess. If Brother Lei had entered the Spirit Realm, things might not be that bad.
Li Dongze thought for a moment and said:
"After Lei Yibing's mysterious disappearance, official personnel from the Hangcheng Police Department took over the case. Their judgment is that Lei Yibing has already died in the Spirit Realm."
Zhang Yuanqing felt his heart skip a beat, and he couldn't suppress the surge of anxiety and panic. "Why?"
Li Dongze explained: "Because it's been too long. Normal Spirit Realm instances, at least at the supernatural level, last from a few hours to one or two days. But Lei Yibing has been missing for four days. The supernatural level represents levels 1-3."
"What about above the supernatural level?"
"Not very clear, but there should be instances of longer duration."
Maybe Brother Lei is a powerful Spirit Realm traveler, Zhang Yuanqing could only comfort himself this way.
Regarding Brother Lei's disappearance, at this stage, neither Zhang Yuanqing's abilities nor his knowledge could be of much help.
In comparison, joining an official organization and then saving himself was the most important thing at present.
"...Oh, before I introduce you to the official organization, there's one very important thing." Li Dongze took a sip of wine to moisten his throat. "What's your morality value?"
"60 points, the initial value." Zhang Yuanqing answered honestly.
Li Dongze nodded: "For newcomers like you, the morality value is the biggest pitfall. You must remember this."
"Why do you say that?" Zhang Yuanqing didn't hide his confusion.
"Do you remember the note under the morality value?"
I remember, it told me to be a good person, Zhang Yuanqing almost made a face like Andy Lau.
Li Dongze said seriously:
"The initial value of morality is 60. If it falls below this value, it will trigger the Spirit Realm's punishment mechanism. It will report your location to all Spirit Realm travelers in the same city and issue a task to eliminate you."
Zhang Yuanqing was dumbfounded and blurted out:
"Then I can't do bad things for the rest of my life?"
Well, I'm not saying I want to do bad things, but being a saint is too exhausting.
Also, what are the standards for measuring morality? If doing crafts or posting spicy pictures counts as moral degradation, then he's doomed for life.
Li Dongze laughed, seemingly enjoying seeing newcomers make such expressions, and slowly said:
"No need to be so nervous. According to our observations, when Spirit Realm travelers steal, rob, or hurt people, they will deduct 1-5 morality points depending on the severity of the situation. Killing deducts 10 morality points. Causing serious consequences with multiple deaths and injuries will deduct corresponding morality points based on the severity of the situation.
"As for some personal moral losses, they won't affect the morality value. Also, while morality value can be deducted, it can also be accumulated. That's why it tells you to be a good person."
This mechanism sounds like it's deliberately designed to constrain Spirit Realm travelers, but why would the Spirit Realm want to constrain its travelers?
Morality and law are things created by humans to maintain order. In nature, apart from humans, other living beings don't need these things.
In other words, unless the Spirit Realm's stance is human, the existence of morality value seems a bit unreasonable.
But the Spirit Realm is a supernatural phenomenon.
Zhang Yuanqing instinctively felt that this limitation was unreasonable, but since Li Dongze didn't explain, it meant he wasn't clear about the reason either.
From the previous conversation, it wasn't hard to see that the officials had limited understanding of the Spirit Realm.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized: "I see. No wonder it's a big pitfall for newcomers. So how do you accumulate morality value?"
Newcomers often use their newly acquired superpowers to do things they wanted to do before but couldn't, like obtaining money.
And the methods to make quick money are all written in the criminal law.
What else? Hmm, I wonder if supporting poor little sisters would lower morality value? In the Spirit Realm's definition, does this count as personal moral failure or illegal?
Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to ask this question, after all, they weren't that familiar yet, and he didn't want to leave a bad impression on his future leader.
"Accumulating morality value is as simple as lowering it, just do good deeds. In fact, many Spirit Realm travelers from evil organizations are enthusiastic about charity and donations because this is the fastest way to accumulate morality value. As long as you have enough money, you can kill indiscriminately." Li Dongze snorted:
"It's ironic, isn't it? You never know what faces are behind those who do charity. And what's more ironic is that human lives can be measured by money. Reality is like this, and so is the Spirit Realm.
"Additionally, killing among Spirit Realm travelers doesn't deduct morality value."
After Zhang Yuanqing initially digested this information, Li Dongze continued:
"Next, let's talk about the official organization.
"The official organization we belong to is called the Five Elements Alliance, composed of five forces, namely the Hundred Flowers Association, White Tiger Army, Red Fire Gang, Water God Palace, and Central Court. The five forces represent five professions: Wood Spirit, Scout, Fire Master, Water Ghost, and Earth Monster."
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but mock in his heart: Why is the official organization full of monsters and ghosts?
"Besides the Five Elements Alliance, there are several other organizations with official backgrounds. I'll send you the information about them later." Li Dongze fiddled with his wine glass and said:
"The five major organizations within the Five Elements Alliance have allied in the past twenty years. Before that, they were independent and not on good terms with each other. This involves the generation and restriction of the five elements, as well as the differences in habits between various professions."
Li Dongze took a sip of wine, shrugged, and said, "Take those Wood Spirits from the Hundred Flowers Association as an example. They are a group of extreme environmentalists and animal protection association members. Good heavens, they even tried to push the Five Elements Alliance headquarters to issue a regulation prohibiting organization members from eating dog meat. Even God isn't as ridiculous as they are. Every time I see their sickening faces of animal love, I can't help but want to kick their butts hard with my leather shoes."
Next, Li Dongze harshly criticized the other four professions besides the White Tiger Army.
This gave Zhang Yuanqing a more intuitive understanding of the other organizations in the Five Elements Alliance, such as the Red Fire Gang who prefer to act rather than talk; the Water God Palace with their gloomy personalities who like to cultivate viruses and bacteria.
And the Central Court, which engages in real estate and mining development.
"Only our White Tiger Army's Scouts are wise, calm, and decisive, a perfect profession," Li Dongze concluded.
Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, do the other four major organizations agree with your statement?
"Heh, it sounds more and more like a game, right? Even within the Five Elements Alliance, some people refer to the Spirit Realm as a 'game server'. Spirit Realm travelers have character panels, items, need to complete missions, and each different Spirit Realm is like a different instance. Moreover, it has different professions. The people from the Red Fire Gang are rash and impulsive, fond of promoting violence, just like berserkers. The people from the Water God Palace have water control abilities, they're water mages. The Hundred Flowers Association can raise pets and heal injuries and illnesses, they're priests and summoners. The people from the Central Court are tough and durable, typical tanks."
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but joke:
"Then are you Scouts the 75 gold coin wards in the game?"
Li Dongze was stunned for a moment, involuntarily gripping the handle of his cane, and said expressionlessly:
"If I were a Fire Master from the Red Fire Gang, I would have already smashed your dog head with a stick."
"I'm sorry!" Zhang Yuanqing promptly apologized.
After the joke, the atmosphere between the two became more harmonious. Li Dongze smiled and said:
"After passing the supernatural stage, Scouts will possess extremely strong individual combat capabilities. When I say this is a perfect profession, I'm not exaggerating.
"Of course, among the orthodox professions, Night Walkers are generally recognized as the strongest profession. Well, I'm talking about orthodox professions, not including evil professions. Even we Scouts have to admit that Night Walkers are a bit more perfect than us."
Huh? Are Night Walkers that strong? Can they take on ten opponents? Zhang Yuanqing's heart leaped with joy: "Can you tell me more about the Night Walker profession?"
Li Dongze chuckled, understanding the young man's admiration for strength, and said:
"Night Walkers can demonstrate extremely strong assassination abilities even in the early stages of the supernatural realm. Their burst power is also remarkable. Moreover, they possess the ability to communicate with souls and control corpses and spirits. They have diverse skills and formidable combat power.
"However, Night Walkers are extremely rare. Currently, the Songhai City branch doesn't have any Night Walkers. This is because there are too few Night Walker trial Spirit Realms in Songhai, and the Taiyi Gate in the capital keeps absorbing Night Walkers from all over the country."
Speaking of this, he naturally inquired about the new employee's profession, saying:
"What's your profession? I hope you're not a Fire Master. I dislike rude and irritable young people the most."
PS: The morning update time is between 9:00 and 10:00, and the evening update time is between 10:00 and 11:00. This is for the public period, it might change in the future, we'll see then.
(End of Chapter)
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