Chapter 026 No Surprise from the System

It’s worth mentioning that the game’s initial promotion included the ability to earn money while playing. However, the main draw was still the “Second World” and the influx of players after the game launched.

Naturally, since this point has been raised, many players came specifically for it. However, most of the first batch of players were already fairly well-off. Even those who came to earn money were often overwhelmed by the game’s cutting-edge technology after their initial experiences. For various reasons, only a select few truly grasped the currency exchange issue right away.

The game’s setup surely had its reasons.

Xia Xinyan didn’t know the exact rationale, but based on future events, she could guess some.

The key role of the game was to help players enhance their own abilities. Earning money could be seen more as a secondary goal, rather than just a gimmick to attract players. If you didn’t want to fall behind, it wasn’t just about exchanging game points for cash—even investing real money to boost your abilities was perfectly fine.

While exchanging game points for cash was allowed, doing it all at once would definitely lead to a vicious cycle later on where those players couldn’t clear dungeons.

As for why the exchange rate for renminbi to game points was 1:1, perhaps it was to prevent players from becoming all-powerful yet inexperienced paper tigers—sure they looked strong, but in reality, they were inadequate.

For example, if you directly gave an ordinary person superhuman abilities, they would still get crushed when facing a real superhuman, not to mention they might not even know how to use their newfound powers.

As the saying goes, the result of overeating is just bloating.

So the game’s design clearly indicated it did not support this type of enhancement route. As mentioned, a little bit of in-game spending was acceptable, but going overboard was out of the question.

Of course, in her past life, there were plenty who recklessly splurged and ended up losing everything in the end, but she knew those stories typically ended in disaster.

But many players likely didn’t even realize this issue until the Cataclysm arrived.

Xia Xinyan, having benefitted from her rebirth, had a significantly different perspective on the various discussions online. In her previous life, she was still immersed in anticipation for “Realm of Divine Presence.” This time around, she certainly wouldn’t waste time like that.

This time, she was going to become one of the first pioneers along with Ling Mo.

So, she paid attention to the movements of this small group of players. When the timing was right, she could invest a little. As long as the operation went well, there would definitely be profits later on.

Well… speaking of operations, a certain person came to mind.

After tidying up the living room, she lay down in the Game Pod and activated the game.

As her consciousness sank suddenly, when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in her Private Space.

The friend list displayed a message—it was from one of her targets for this session: Murong Yue.

【Murong Yue: Why are you logging off so soon? Um… I provided such a strong cover at the end, can you let me off the hook with that game point thing?】

The message was sent yesterday after the dungeon ended, but Murong Yue was still online, status: [In Battle Zone Dungeon].

Xia Xinyan suspected this guy had been playing all day.

After contemplating, she replied—

【You can get a half deduction.】

Players in dungeons couldn’t receive friend messages, so Xia Xinyan wasn’t in a hurry to collect her payment. Instead, she sat down at the wooden table and opened the Tianji system menu.

She had already spent all the game points she earned yesterday on physical attributes, but her system points and the lottery opportunity were still intact. Now that she was in the game, she could study them gradually.

The top rewards in the Tianji system mall were abilities, but there were also quite a few high-level gear that couldn’t be purchased in the game. These items had good returns in early game stages, and before personal strength increased, they were definitely beneficial to players.

However… the prices were no joke.

A single piece of high-level equipment could cost hundreds to thousands of points. As these were rarer than game points, she really couldn’t bring herself to buy them.

After browsing around, she temporarily set aside the mall items and shifted her focus to that lottery opportunity.

Dungeon completion rewards had a comprehensive rating system ranging from B to SSS. The higher the rating, the more game points you earned, and the higher your personal score, which helped with future leaderboard rankings.

Essentially, anyone who could complete a dungeon would end up with at least an A rating, while S ratings weren’t too hard to achieve as long as you didn’t slack off. So, the rating rewards provided by Tianji could be seen as a newbie benefit for her.

Since Xia Xinyan had never encountered such a thing in her past life, she was quite interested in this lottery opportunity.

Would she draw another ability?

Well… encountering a dual ability was already unprecedented; three abilities seemed unlikely.

Moreover, having more abilities didn’t necessarily mean it was a boon—overindulgence in good food could upset your stomach too.

After pondering for a while, she decided to use the lottery opportunity.

Suddenly, a virtual spinning wheel, visible only to her, appeared before her eyes. It lacked any item markers, only differing colored segments. It started spinning on its own without her touching it and, after a few seconds, it stopped in a golden area.

Then, nothing happened.

“…So what does this mean?” Xia Xinyan was perplexed.

【Congratulations, host, you’ve received SSR.】

Tianji provided the answer.

“……”

That’s a bit lame.

【Didn’t this format give you a feeling of spending money to receive goods? This is a masterpiece of our system.】

Xia Xinyan ignored it.

Because the lottery result had already appeared in her mind—

【God of War Mark (Bound)】

【Using the God of War Mark will unleash the user’s full potential, lasting half an hour.】

【Remaining uses: 3/3】

This left Xia Xinyan in silence for quite a while.

No surprise from the system.

Seriously OP.

According to her experience, such equipment was simply not available for purchase in-game, and while it might drop in a dungeon, the difficulty would be exceedingly tough. Although she had seen similar equipment in the previous Tianji shop, the prices had always been gut-wrenching.

It suddenly felt like she scored several thousand points for free.

However, once an item is marked as [Bound], only she could use it; such items had no physical existence, functioning as some of the rarest effects in the game.

If she could give this God of War Mark to Ling Mo, it would be an instant win, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

But using it herself was enough. After all, she was the first player with dual abilities, and even if she couldn’t match up to Ling Mo, she was still counted as a strong player.

Hmm… Looks like she should first try out her abilities.