Chapter 56: Harvest

No delay or dizziness—the scene before him instantly returned to the familiar bedroom he had lived in for seventeen years.

Li Cheng turned his head to look at the alarm clock on the desk; its hands were identical to when he entered the mission, meaning that from the perspective of the real world, he had never left.

'If a player dies in a script mission and is teleported out as a corpse, others will see the person fine one moment, then suddenly decapitated the next—quite a bizarre sight.'

Thinking this, Li Cheng’s cold expression suddenly cracked; he frantically pulled out deodorant from his backpack slot and sprayed himself wildly.

The earlier killing had been too wild—he hadn’t noticed he was splattered all over with blood, filthy as hell.

'It’d be great if the Killing Ground game had a built-in cleaning function—I could just shout, “Master God! Full-body clean! Deduct points from me!”'

Li Cheng muttered to himself, stripped off his dirty clothes, stowed them in his backpack slot, found a clean outfit from the wardrobe, changed into it, then sat back down at his desk and opened his freshly generated mission log.

【Player Overall Performance: S, Game Coins and Experience Gained Increased by 60%】

【Reward Settlement In Progress】

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow slightly; in the Killing Ground game, mission evaluations ranged from C- to S, with higher ratings yielding better final rewards.

'The reason I received an S rating was not only because I completed the three locked rooms in thirty minutes—half the mission time—but also because I uncovered the truth behind the escape room: I directly found its designer.'

Li Cheng tapped his cheek with his finger, thinking seriously, 'Looking back, this beginner mission was cleverly designed. The first room—the seawater chamber—actually gave players over twenty minutes.'

Even if you hadn’t heard the song “Drunk Sailor,” you could smash through the captain’s wooden door with brute force, spending time and energy to retrieve the key items: the sextant and the marine chronometer.

Second, even if you couldn’t read the sextant, you could simply use the marine chronometer’s hint to calculate longitude 759, then solve the dial lock by brute force—since the first two digits of latitude had only ninety possible combinations.'

'And the second room, though it seemed you’d be crushed into pulp if you failed to solve the code, actually left a way out: crawl into the stone fireplace and take a gamble.'

'As for the third room, it was even simpler—whether or not the player chose to save Mike made no difference to the final outcome.'

'Seen this way, as a beginner mission, the Killing Ground accommodated both puzzle enthusiasts with some experience and ordinary people who could think calmly. In a way, it was fairly balanced.'

Still, a perfect clear was always better.

Beginner players could increase their mission rating to quickly gain the most important experience points, level up, and earn one free attribute point to improve their physical base stats.

After passing the beginner stage, higher player ratings also increased the chance of obtaining rare items from mission rewards.

If a player just wanted to coast through, taking only the lowest rating each time, they’d easily die in increasingly difficult missions.

One must seize every opportunity to strengthen oneself to survive the spiral of death.

【Mission Reward 1: 100 Experience Points】

【Mission Reward 2: 200 Game Coins】

With the S-rating’s 1.6x bonus, Li Cheng earned 160 experience points and 320 game coins this time.

After claiming the reward, he was notified he had reached Lv2, with current experience at 60/200.

'According to the official exchange rate of one game coin equaling ten thousand RMB, this single mission earned me over three million—players really are a profitable profession.'

Li Cheng clicked his tongue and turned to the third reward.

【Mission Reward 3: Rare-Quality Skill Scroll ×1】

In the virtual interface, a parchment scroll bound with hemp rope floated in midair, emitting a blue glow.

At the thrilling moment of opening the treasure chest, Li Cheng rubbed his hands together like a fly, his expression tense, then muttered, 'Open!'

The hemp rope snapped abruptly; the parchment scroll burst into bright light.

【Skill Scroll Name: Mist Concealment Technique】

【Attribute: Learning-Type (One-Time Only)】

【Type: Spiritual Energy】

【Usage: Active】

【Rank: Rare】

【Effect: Mist Concealment. Continuously generate a 20-meter-radius dense fog centered on the user. Within the fog, the caster’s voice, thermal signature, and presence are all weakened.】

【Cost: 1 Spiritual Energy point per second. Each additional meter of fog expansion increases cost by 1 point per second.】

【Cooldown: 30 seconds】

【Learning Requirement: Perception attribute ≥ 7】

【Note: During casting, the fog follows the caster. If the caster moves away or stops casting, the fog dissipates at the rate of ordinary mist under environmental influence.】

【Note: Today, our frontline reporter was lucky enough to interview Mister Zabuza, the Mist Concealment Ghost. He once held his own against the Sixth Hokage of Konoha, held down the Seventh Hokage and his famed rival from the Uchiha clan with a single Water Clone—truly a legend who dominated the ninja world for millennia.】

'Ugh.'

Li Cheng squinted, forcing his gaze away from the utterly ridiculous skill note.

In the Killing Ground game, skill scrolls are divided into two types by usage: 【Consumable】 and 【Learning-Type】.

The former, as the name suggests, has a limited number of uses and is activated by tearing, chanting, or sacrificing. Once all uses are exhausted, it self-destructs.

The latter allows the player to learn the skill recorded on the scroll—a process that usually consumes the scroll (only a few scrolls can be learned multiple times).

Generally, Consumable scrolls have stronger effects than Learning-Type ones.

As for skill 【Types】, they are broadly categorized into 【Martial Arts】, 【Shooting】, 【Spiritual Energy】, 【Mechanical】, 【Lifestyle】, and 【Universal】, each with numerous subcategories.

For example, 【Spiritual Energy】 includes spells, illusions, divine arts, witchcraft, and curses.

【Lifestyle】 includes cooking, forging, medicine, fishing.

Some hard-to-classify skills are grouped under 【Universal】.

Additionally, since the supernatural power systems connected to the Killing Ground are too numerous and complex, a unified metric—【Spiritual Energy Points】—is used to measure a player’s supernatural energy.

Formula: (50% Intelligence Points + 50% Perception Points) × 50 = Spiritual Energy Points.

This is merely the base source of Spiritual Energy; players can increase their maximum Spiritual Energy and recovery rate through various means (e.g., cultivating internal energy, chakra, the Force, etc.).

With Li Cheng’s current blank state, his Spiritual Energy is 300 points.

'Leveling up to Lv2 granted one free attribute point, just enough to meet the requirement for learning Mist Concealment—but no need to rush now.'

Li Cheng thought for a moment, chose not to immediately consume the Learning-Type scroll, reopened the player forum, gathered some data, then opened his panel and selected Log Into Physical Killing Ground.

The player black market there had been operating for four and a half years—greater opportunities might exist. Perhaps he could use his 320 game coins to buy something useful.

(End of Chapter)