Chapter 78: Hard Mode
After hearing the system prompt, Xing Ye’s group was transported back to the system space.
The black and white rubix cube hovered in the air as usual. “Congratulations to Player x8205 for achieving three perfect endings. This book is your reward.”
Xing Ye took the book titled “There Are No Lies in Puppet City” and read the conclusion: Under the kind little puppet’s help, Master Benedict and the inhabitants of Puppet City acknowledged their wrongs and set aside their differences. The inhabitants of Puppet City promised Benedict to develop a comprehensive set of laws and turn Puppet City into a civilized and merry town for the little puppet to live happily in forever. Benedict also apologized to the puppets he had created with his own hands. He had given them life, yet never taught them how they should behave and promised to work with the puppets so they could improve together.
Xing Ye closed the book and set it on the bookshelf. He already had three books; he needed five for the final level.
The campus world had 7 players. Not including the side quest, the total reward points for a perfect ending was 14000 points. Puppet City had 8 players, and the total reward points were 16000. From this, Xing Ye speculated the total number of reward points correlated with the number of players in each world.
The black and white rubix cube saw Xing Ye set down the book and started distributing rewards. “Congratulations to player x8205 for successfully completing a story and achieving the highest amount of points out of all the players. You have the opportunity to draw an extra QR code or choose a prop from a world you’ve played through.”
"What props are there?" Xing Ye asked.
The black and white rubix cube answered, "Only the nucleus control device, with the ability to control players with a machine-type body."
Xing Ye frowned slightly, "What about the swan crystal?"
The black and white rubix cube answered, "Player, please do not be too greedy. You already own a fate prop. Each player may only own one fate prop."
So it was like that? Then why did Randy want to turn Linda into a prop? Perhaps he or his stopwatch had the ability to absorb somebody else’s starting abilities, or he didn’t want to use his stopwatch any longer and wanted to change to a new following fate prop.
The former was more likely. During the fight, Randy just used Linda’s power to cancel the effects of Domestic Garbage and Bai Xu’s Diary. If he had more time, he might’ve had some way to erase Linda’s consciousness and steal her abilities before the world ended.
“I’ll choose a QR code,” Xing Ye said, “I wasn’t planning to choose a prop in the first place.”
After knowing the reward QR code would make the mirror stronger, there was no way Xing Ye would choose a prop. The first equippable QR code gave the mirror the ability to change bodies. What would this one be?
Xing Ye took out the cosmetic mirror. After returning to the system space, the mirror returned to being a cosmetic mirror, his copper mirror puppet body was left in Puppet City
When he opened the mirror, the mirror asked happily, “Did we get a perfect ending for Puppet City?”
“Yes,” Xing Ye rubbed the mirror, “All thanks to you.”
The mirror, who had always loved boasting about himself, actually turned modest when he heard Xing Ye’s praise. “No, it was because of your leadership.”
Xing Ye nodded shamelessly, “Of course, it was my battle plans that led everyone to the perfect ending. I know, I’m just too good.”
The mirror was flabbergasted for a while before shaking angrily, “Can’t you continue praising me a bit more? And applauding yourself like that, don’t you feel embarrassed?”
Xing Ye laughed, “Well, I learned it from a certain somebody and couldn’t resist giving it a go. It actually feels pretty good.”
The little mirror knew Xing Ye was intentionally riling him up and snapped the cosmetic mirror closed, clamping onto Xing Ye’s finger to protest.
While the two were talking, the black and white had already drawn a QR code. Xing Ye scanned it and read the description: Congratulations to the player for drawing a QR code that’s completely useless for them, but is useful for their prop. Friendly reminder, your starting ability has no effect on drawn QR codes~
It was just as Randy said- drawn reward QR codes would only be useful towards props.
Xing Ye directly used it. Just as before, a beam of light assimilated with the mirror’s body and a new equipped QR code appeared in the prop panel of his phone: A prop-equippable QR code. This can be applied to one of the prop’s starting abilities and upgrade them. Human Mirror’s starting ability, Otherworldly Beauty, has been upgraded to Devastating Beauty.
The weight of this information was too much. First, it officially gave the mirror the name Human Mirror. Xing Ye couldn’t help but think of Emperor Taizong’s Copper Mirror, History Mirror, and Human Mirror: “With a copper mirror, one may straighten their attire; With a history mirror, one may know the rises and falls of eras; with a human mirror, one may understand their own successes and failures”. He had once praised the outspoken political critic Wei Zheng as a human mirror and since then, the term Human Mirror was used to praise others as somebody who could help others grow and improve.
Human mirror. That was the system’s acknowledgement of the mirror.
The mirror’s description on Xing Ye’s phone also changed:
Prop abilities: Truth Eye (Passive), Devastating Beauty
Overall Assessment: 4 star prop (out of 5 stars). He’s finally useful.
Devastating Beauty: “In the north, there are beauties so unique and ethereal that they collapsed cities, then went on to collapse entire nations.” Only those possessing otherworldly beauty may master this ability. As long as the user smiles sincerely or cries sadly, the enemy will fall into a daze. After being attacked with this skill, players with ordinary eyesight and sense of aesthetics will be stunned and frozen for three minutes. They will not be able to use starting abilities, QR codes, or any props to attack the user. The range of this ability depends on the size of the mirror and the duration
Use conditions: Intimacy points must be above 80. 200 points will be deducted from the player for each person affected.
The mirror was startled when he saw his own starting abilities: “Woah, I’m so strong now! Before, I could only use Otherworldly Beauty to protect myself but now, I can use it as an attack. If I had this ability in the last world, we wouldn’t have had to waste Puppet Play to control Randy. The range depends on the size of the mirror, so I’ll move to a super big mirror in the next world! The best mirror would be a full body dance studio or classroom mirror!”
“Those kinds of mirrors are hard to transport and are easy to break. You can’t just look at power, you also have to consider your own safety.” Xing Ye patted the mirror, “I think your current size is perfect. You’re easy to carry and in an emergency, you can also attack somebody.”
“I want to be a bit bigger!” The mirror protested, “I’m like the size of a vitamin bottle cap right now! At the very least, I should be the size of a face. That way, I can attack two people at once!”
Xing Ye said helplessly, “We have to see what the environment is like in the next world. I know you want to help me, but you have to remember your own safety.”
The mirror was very happy. Xing Ye has always treated him very well.
After obtaining their rewards, Xing Ye contacted Guan Ling and Cao Qian. Cao Qian’s reward props included the swan crystal, so she chose to save Linda instead of choosing a QR code. Guan Ling did draw a QR code and got one that allowed him to create teams with players regardless of their campus. The system really gave him whatever he wanted.
“Body in the Cao Camp but Heart in Han Camp” was a permanent QR code that could be stacked with other QR codes. It could allow players from different camps to enter a world together, but his teammates needed to be willing to join the team.
Guan Ling invited Cao Qian and Xing Ye. The two accepted and the three officially became teammates.
After the third world, everyone’s points, props, and QR codes were as followed.
Guan Ling: 0 Props, 0 QR codes. Started with 3300 points, obtained 5000 points from the side quest, 1000 points from killing Randy, and 3000 points for finishing the true ending. In the game, he used Losing the Family Fortune once and A Shattered Mirror Put Together 4 times, consuming a total of 250 points. He finished Puppet City with a total of 11950 points.
Cao Qian: 1 Prop (Swan Crystal) and 2 QR codes. The original copies of Teaching Plan and Wrongly-Used Projector have yet to be used. Started with 5100 points and obtained 3000 points from the ending, finishing with a total of 8100 points.
Xing Ye: 1 Prop (Human Mirror), 0 QR codes. Started with 8600 points. In the game, he used Redrawing Pen to copy Piano, Mature, Projector, Glorious Boxing Fists, and other QR codes, consuming a total of 1650 points. He obtained 10000 points from the true ending, finishing with a total of 16950 points.
Although all of his QR codes were already consumed, the QR codes he currently had memorized were Hippity-Hop Ping Pong Balls, Piano, Omnipotent Pen, Peaceful Spirit’s Tune, Skip Class Freely, You’ve Already Matured, Domestic Garbage, and Wrongly-Used Projector. Right now, he still needed special-attack QR codes. In the next world, he needed to focus on collecting such QR codes.
After calculating their points and inventories, Xing Ye muttered to himself, “I need 50,000 points to become a high level player. Right now, I only have a bit more than 10,000. There’s still a long way to go. Xing Shuo’s death is already basically confirmed, but I still don’t know who exactly killed him. Right now, there’s no new leads to investigate. Maybe I can find something after I become a high level player.
The black and white rubix cube heard Xing Ye’s words and laughed mischeviously, “If the player wishes to amass points quickly, there is a way. Is the player willing to try?”
“What kind of trap is it this time?” Xing Ye asked, his face not changing at all.
“You can’t call it a trap. This is the Game of Challenging Fate- you can only succeed by going against and overcoming fate. The Grand Historian, Sima Qian, was imprisoned for writing the Record of Ren An, and developed the Book of Changes in his confinement. Confucius, in his despair, created the Spring and Autumn Annuals. Beethoven, after going completely deaf, composed his world-famous Symphony no.5, “Of Destiny”. The true challengers of fate can turn the tests of fate into opportunities and have the courage to face countless difficulties. So, would the player be willing to challenge the next world in order to become a high level player as quickly as possible?”
The rubix cube’s words didn’t frighten Xing Ye, “When you say it like that, I can’t cower now. What kind of challenge is it?”
“It’s very simple. In the next generated world, the player will be given three choices: Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. If the player chooses Hard mode, a perfect ending will net you 30,000 points. The difficulties and points won’t influence your teammate. Player x8205, are you willing to challenge fate?” The black and white rubix cube asked.
“That’s exactly what I wanted.”