The system's teleportation carried no physical sensation. One second she was standing in the courtyard outside Chaosheng Apartments, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, and the next, she was stepping onto the wood-grained floor of her personal independent space.
In her first instance, someone had died to protect her, and in the second, she had watched helplessly as so many people died right before her eyes. Bai Ci slowly let out a long breath, her mind unable to find peace.
Sitting down on the soft bed, Bai Ci took a moment to compose herself before opening the system's settlement panel.
【Instance Settlement
[Instance Name: Chaosheng Apartments]
[Basic Information]
Player: Bai Ci
Time Spent in Instance: 4 days, 13 hours, 45 minutes
Overall Evaluation: B
Successfully assisted the Bureau of Investigation in destroying the insect queen, actively participated in searching for clues, demonstrated significant personal growth, and showed strong adaptability and responsibility, but was somewhat lacking in teamwork.
[Basic Rewards]
Experience: 30
Points: 120
[Special Rewards]
1. Item "Withered Flower and Ring" Upgraded:
As the tide recedes, the warmth remains. It will remember your courage to hold fast in the darkness, shielding you from a deeper chill.
(Effect: Can block low-to-mid-tier spiritual entity attacks. When triggered, the ring will grow hot, the barrier's range will expand, and its duration will be extended.)
2. Starting Class: Ghost Bride (Hatching Complete)】
Bai Ci gently caressed her middle finger.
The ring was still there, warm to the touch. It no longer had the icy, metallic feel from when she first got it, as if it had completely merged with her body temperature.
At the very end in Chaosheng Apartments, if this ring hadn't held out until she killed the insect queen, neither she nor Chen Quan would have made it out of the underground passage alive.
She was owing Lin more and more.
Bai Ci sighed, her gaze slowly drifting downward before finally stopping on that brand-new line of text. A touch of vexation was inevitably mixed with her pleasant surprise.
Having cleared only one game, her starting class had already finished hatching. According to the information on the forum, this meant the hatched class wasn't particularly strong.
Oh well, it was a rare class after all. Since it was already rare, what more could she ask for?
Besides, gaining a bit more power earlier wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At least it was better than those players who didn't even survive long enough to see a powerful class hatch.
To see the details of the Ghost Bride class, Bai Ci opened her personal information panel to check.
【Player Information
Name: Bai Ci / Unnamed
Level: 1
Current Experience: 40/100
Points Held: 120 points
Core Attributes: Stamina 10 (HP 100/100), Spirit 10 (Mental Value 10/10), Agility 10
Allocatable Attribute Points: 0 (Obtained upon leveling up)
Current Status: Slight fatigue, minor superficial abrasions, stable mental state
Current Class: Ghost Bride (Expand for details)
Next Instance Global Unlock: 95 hours, 20 minutes
Instance History: 《The Diary》 (D-rank evaluation, settled); 《Chaosheng Apartments》 (B-rank evaluation, settled)】
Although she had originally intended to check her class details, Bai Ci's attention was immediately drawn to the "Unnamed" next to her name. She was certain it hadn't been there the last time she opened her personal information panel.
When she tapped "Unnamed," an input box popped up with a friendly tip in small print:
[Please enter a name that is better suited for Western-style instances. If the name entered has a low anthropomorphic degree, the system will automatically select a random replacement from the name database.]
If nothing else, this friendly tip clearly had a story behind it.
After some thought, Bai Ci entered a very standard name: “Lora.” It had no special meaning; it was simply the character she had played when she ran her very first murder mystery game.
That game hadn't been particularly good, but it featured a narrative trick where the culprit behind all the events turned out to be the character played by the DM, which had left a deep impression on her back then.
Once the name was approved, Bai Ci finally turned her attention back to her class. Tapping on it, the panel switched to display the details.
【Class (Will take effect in the next instance)
"Ghost Bride":
The rain's message as a contract, unyielding loyalty as a vow. Witnessing his edge and his vulnerability, warming his coldness and loneliness. Bound by affection, guided by oath, bearing his destiny and joy, guarding his years in peace and tranquility.
1. Cloud Rendezvous (Passive)
Upon entering an instance, a random male NPC will be granted the "Rain's Message" status.
"Rain's Message" Effects:
① This NPC will establish an intimate relationship with the player, such as lovers, betrothed, or married, and will alter the player's initial spawning location in the instance.
② The player can view some of this NPC's skill levels and health status.
③ If the NPC is a non-human creature, the rate of affection gain is doubled, and they will not trigger initial hostility.
2. Unswerving (Passive)
① If the player's instance settlement score is lower than the highest score among other players in the instance but higher than the lowest score, it will be settled as equivalent to the highest score. However, no items can be obtained during settlement.
② After the instance ends, the player will receive a "Gift" from the NPC with the "Rain's Message" status. "Gifts" fall under the item category, can only be used by the player, and cannot be traded or gifted.
③ The player cannot obtain items within the instance, and cannot use or hold any items other than "Gifts."】
Bai Ci read through every single word carefully, her feelings rather complicated.
She had to admit, it truly lived up to being a rare class. The mechanics were indeed peculiar, with both pros and cons, and extremely heavy restrictions.
Being unable to pick up or use items in an instance effectively cut off the most conventional path of progression for most players. On the flip side, as long as she wasn't the worst-performing player in the team, she could piggyback off the highest evaluation.
Combined with the "Rain's Message" status, which bound her to a male NPC, allowed her to see his status, doubled affection gains from non-human monsters, and prevented them from attacking her first—
It was clear that this was not a combat class at all.
Bai Ci closed her eyes, and when she opened them a moment later, her gaze had grown much clearer.
Observe, approach, gather, judge, and strategize. Use the smallest cost to reap the greatest reward, and grasp the core information in the most covert way. This was the path a "Ghost Bride" should take.
Bai Ci turned her attention back to her points.
120 points.
It wasn't a lot, but it certainly wasn't a small amount either.
In her previous instance, her evaluation had been dismal, earning her barely 20 points. After deducting the basic maintenance fee, nothing was left. Back then, she hadn't even dared to move too much, literally lying in her space for three days straight just to keep her stamina and mental state at a safe level to face the next instance.
Recalling the physical powerlessness she felt in this instance—if not for the ring, she and Lin Wenyu would have either been eaten by the bugs or ended up trapped to death in the electrical shaft.
That feeling of sheer weakness, of being unable to even protect herself—she never wanted to experience it again.
Although 120 points wasn't much, after rummaging through the mall, she actually managed to find an exercise equipment for 60 points that could steadily increase her endurance and strength through training.
The system only restricted a player's stamina, spirit, and agility through the status panel, but other related aspects like endurance, strength, and self-healing ability still had room for variance within the same numerical value.
Before falling victim to the Anomalous Infection, Bai Ci had just been an ordinary murder mystery game DM. While she did some basic exercise and wasn't the type to gasp for breath after walking a few steps, she was only slightly fitter than the average person.
Rate on N.U.
