Volume 1, Chapter 43: A Law-Abiding Private, A Little Greenhorn

The next moment, the red-robed leader’s cigarette burned down to the end.

Qin Shang hadn’t really noticed how many puffs she took; it felt like she finished the entire cigarette in one go.

She rolled down the car window with a casual flick, tossing the cigarette butt away, then glanced briefly at the young man.

The car was filled with the sweet, fruity aroma of a woman’s cigarette.

“Alright, enough idle talk. You’ve already gotten sidetracked,” she said.

“You just asked me about the role of levels. Hmm… by now, you probably have some idea, right?”

“As your level rises, both the duration and number of times you can use skills increase. Take your profession, the Trickster, for example.”

“Like the skill ‘Inheritance.’ When you’re a novice Trickster, using ‘Inheritance’ comes at a cost.”

“For instance, if you inherit the estate of an elderly person in reality, you have to fulfill their last wishes!”

“But as your level increases, once you reach the Order Realm, ‘Inheritance’ will evolve into a new skill…”

“‘Plunder!’”

After saying this, the red-robed leader raised an eyebrow.

“You no longer have to pay a cost while gaining benefits. In multiplayer dungeons in the Divine Path, for example, you don’t need to ‘inherit’ other players’ side quests anymore—you can directly obtain their hidden clues…”

Hearing this, Qin Shang suddenly perked up.

The skill ‘Plunder’ sounded much more powerful than ‘Inheritance.’

No cost to pay? Then my initial assumption about using ‘Inheritance’ for the first time was completely valid.

Damn, kill all the other players, then use ‘Plunder’ to get their clues.

No need to help them finish side quests—that’s just too satisfying!

But noticing the playful expression on the red-robed leader’s face, Qin Shang restrained the twitch of his lips, harder to suppress than an AK-47 recoil.

According to the balance mechanics in Divine Path, such an overwhelmingly powerful skill must come with a terrifying price.

Only, the price might no longer be completing others’ side quests.

Alternatively, the exclusive skills of other professions at the Order Realm, as the red-robed leader mentioned, might also be enhanced, granting them abilities to counter the Trickster’s ‘Plunder.’

He composed his expression.

“Order, Order Realm, and Rule Realm—could you briefly explain the levels corresponding to these three stages?”

The red-robed leader glanced at Qin Shang indifferently.

“You’re currently an Order Realm player.”

Qin Shang wasn’t surprised by this.

He was just a rookie Divine Path foot soldier, a beginner.

Naturally, he corresponded to the lowest player level.

Then the red-robed leader leisurely continued,

“Order players have levels from 1 to 3.”

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“Corresponding item usage permissions are from tier 1 to 3.”

“Order Realm players have levels 4 to 6, and Rule Realm from 7 to 9.”

“Item tiers correspond to player levels. Of course, level 9 is currently the highest player level. I haven’t encountered anyone at that level yet.”

“Maybe the Asian server started too late. There might not be any players at that level yet.”

Asian server!?

Qin Shang’s mind sparked again.

“Wait, wait, wait—Red-robed leader, what the hell is a server?”

The red-robed leader gave him a flirtatious glance.

“When you first entered the Divine Path game, didn’t you see a prompt to choose a server?”

“Or were you so scared and nervous that you forgot to choose, and were subconsciously transmitted into the national server?”

Uh…

Actually, I really want to say, I never went through that step.

Qin Shang’s game ID wasn’t chosen by himself, nor was the server.

He simply didn’t have those steps.

At the time, he had just received a package sent by his missing wife before she disappeared. Qin Shang’s expression was already grim.

In a low mood, he tore open the package out of instinct.

Inside was a powered-off device and a silvery card. He took up the character card.

Then his vision blurred…

When he opened his eyes again, he was already inside the “Death Train” dungeon.

The red-robed leader didn’t seem to care about his expression. While driving steadily, she said calmly,

“There are three main server regions. Currently, the Asian region is called the second region, America the first, and Europe the third.”

“For some reason, these three regions haven’t officially opened yet. Other smaller server regions aren’t counted because there are no players in the Order Realm at all.”

No players in the Order Realm—that means no players at levels 4 to 6 either…

Hmm, I cleared the “Death Train,” a first-clear S-level corrupted dungeon, and only got 25% experience.

If I need to fill the experience bar to reach level 2 Trickster…

Damn, I still need to run similar S-level dungeons three more times…

Leveling up in Divine Path isn’t something that happens overnight.

With just the experience mechanic alone, who knows when I’ll become a level 2 Trickster!

“Actually, I don’t even know how to use items yet…”

Most of the questions in Qin Shang’s mind had been somewhat answered through his conversation with the red-robed leader.

But that didn’t mean he was free of other doubts.

Some questions still couldn’t be asked just yet, like the special nature he sensed about himself.

Others receive character cards from the Divine Path system, but his was sent by his wife…

This fact alone could greatly shake many players’ assumptions.

Also, things like his game ID not being self-chosen, and the server not being selected by him.

All these things that other players should have experienced, he hadn’t.

But Qin Shang felt their relationship with the red-robed leader wasn’t close enough for such honesty.

For now, it was better to keep these differences to himself.

“Items?”

“You have items?”

Hearing this, the red-robed leader blinked in surprise, rarely showing such an expression.

“What level was your newbie dungeon?”

“Could it be S-level? You actually got item rewards?”

“You know, items are usually awarded only to the top performers, the MVPs, in A to S-level dungeons.”

“And they’re mostly consumables. S-level dungeons for Order Realm players aren’t common…”

“Where did you get your items?”

Qin Shang was pleased to finally shock this veteran player.

Without wasting words, he summoned his character card and pulled out the “Cursed Red Dress.”

Reaching out to the empty air, a red dress materialized out of thin air.

The red-robed leader wasn’t startled. It seemed women were already accustomed to this ability to retrieve items from the inventory out of thin air.

After all, this was a hallmark of Divine Path players!

Speaking of items, Qin Shang recalled that when leaving the dungeon, he had picked up an old priest’s cross…

Thinking of this, he opened his inventory.

[Inventory: Corrupted Red Dress, Fallen Cross, Holy Cross (consumable) *3, Rename Card (consumable) *3]

The Fallen Cross was an item dropped by the priest after he died.

Although Qin Shang was in so much pain he nearly fainted, perhaps due to good gaming habits, adrenaline kept him going.

He gritted his teeth and looted the cross, adding it to his inventory, then barely managed to activate the healer skill “Heal” at the last moment.

To be honest, Qin Shang hadn’t yet checked the attributes of that item!