Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Quest Reward

Yue Qiang had always been sensitive about numbers, and he would remember in game character stats especially well.

Although this game wasn’t like most others that had quant.i.tative data such as Speed, Agility, Intelligence, HP, MP, Rage and so on – Strength and Const.i.tution were the only attributes that were slightly more common, and the rest Mind, Wealth, and Charisma being more similar to The Sims type of games – Yue Qiang still remembered the numbers and its secondary descriptions very clearly. He did not even need to bring up the character creation screen.

According to his earlier deductions, this game should have an average stat pool of 10 points. But the current stat description was a different story from the one he saw at the character creation screen. But with this current version of data, the game’s stat pool should be hovering around 20 instead. So here comes the question: Why are the descriptions of the character stats, before and after he began the game, completely different?

Yue Qiang was pretty sure that his stats was the same as it was at the beginning (before he purchased his cup noodles), and even his 15 points of ‘Charm’ was the total of 7 initial stats and 8 free stats. But the fact was the game had provided two completely different kinds of stat descriptions, and it really confused Yue Qiang.

As he pondered, he suddenly remembered something.

Wait… Charisma…

Yue Qiang suddenly recalled that, when he went downstairs to buy his cup noodles a second time, the store clerk’s att.i.tude suddenly took a very flirtatious turn, as if she suddenly had a screw loose in her head. If he thought hard about it, could it be that it was because his Charisma had suddenly increased? Maybe she changed because he added 8 points into his Charisma?

Yue Qiang shook his head. Ridiculous. Now who’s the one who had a screw loose?

Meanwhile, Mr. Chen Zi Han a.k.a the teacher in the screen seemed to realize that Yue Qiang was lazing around. This time, he did not do his Lion’s Roar but instead pulled a study ruler out from his lap, went through the motions, and slapped it down hard on Yue Qiang’s skull.

KUANG!

He had to say the game’s sound effects was way too realistic. For an instant, Yue Qiang thought that if he was there in person he would have a huge b.u.mp on his head right now. Maybe teacher Mr. Chen Zi Han looked like a skinny man, but his strength was definitely nothing to scoff at.

At a whim, Yue Qiang right clicked at the teacher. While he was clicking around the room randomly he had not thought to click on him, and to his surprise, a status screen actually popped out.

Character Name: Chen Zi Han

Occupation: Teacher (A poor scholar who teaches for a living)

Strength: 22 (Since he often beats his student as punishment, his strength is slightly larger than a normal man)

Const.i.tution: 12 (Studies non-stop and thus is quite sickly)

Memory: 25 (Well read in ‘the a.n.a.lects’, ‘Le Memoir’ and some other books)

He was right. These NPCs do have an average stat pool of 20 points. Even a teacher had a strength value of 22 points, whereas his character’s sat at a measly 12. With a question out of the way, another one popped up.

The game was only beginning and this was just the first NPC he interacted with, but already there were three attributes that were hidden behind question marks “?”. Next, he was a player and he had only five attributes, whereas a mere NPC, Teacher Mr. Chen Zi Han actually had six. Other than the possibility that this NPC might be an important plot character, it also subtly hinted that the scale of this game might be far bigger than he initially imagined.

As a hardcore single player gamer, Yue Qiang knew very well that the more casual an opening appeared to be, the better it gets as you delve deeper and deeper into the game. There were two reasons to that. One was that the game developer was beyond using equipment or levels or skills as a selling point. The other was that a game that pays attention to minute details, combined with powerful logic and balance would naturally be incredibly interesting and long lasting.

“Looks like this game developer is shooting for the sky,” Yue Qiang thought to himself.

He clicked at Mr. Chen again, hoping to discover more interesting points. As he expected, after suffering yet another ruler slap a choice appeared on top of the teacher’s portrait,

Teacher Chen Zi Han offers you a quest: <learn the=”” a.n.a.lects=””>>. Will you accept?

Yue Qiang knew that this was most likely the main quest. Just to see what would happen he chose the option ‘No’, and of course, he was smacked with the ruler again.

KUANG!

System Message: You have taken damage from Teacher Chen Zi Han’s ruler attack, and due to your poor const.i.tution you have become Stunned.

System Message: Teacher offers you a quest again: <learn the=”” a.n.a.lects=””>>. Will you accept?

Yue Qiang could’ve sworn he felt pain on his own head as he stared at the two bruises on his character’s poor skull. After a moment’s consideration, in the end, he selected the option ‘Yes’.

System Message: You have accepted a quest: <learn the=”” a.n.a.lects=””>>

Quest Log: The poor teacher Chen Zi Han was entrusted by Mister Yue (your father) to teach you the a.n.a.lects, a book about the rules of governing.

Quest Objective: Pa.s.s Mr. Chen’s test.

Quest Reward: None.

Yue Qiang stared blankly at the big word ‘NONE’ next to Quest Reward before he suddenly felt nostalgic: this really is just like the cla.s.sic domestic single player games, isn’t it? The plot driven and game progression through NPC interaction; although this quest system was most likely picked up from Western open world single player games. Originally, domestic games did not have any sort of quest system whatsoever, and plot progression was reliant entirely on interaction with NPCs. Sometimes the reason a player became stuck at a certain segment wasn’t because they didn’t have enough levels to beat the boss, but rather because they forgot to talk to a critical NPC. Even worse, the earlier games would not provide you with any hints whatsoever.

Yue Qiang could still remember the time he played ‘Chinese Paladin’ and was stuck at a forest maze for the longest of time. There was a monkey blocking the path and no matter what he tried he just could not go past that point. After searching for a guide everywhere and consulting his cla.s.smates, he finally realized that he needed to find a specific banana tree in town and obtain the item ‘Banana’ to feed the monkey, and only then he could walk out of the maze. It was one of the most annoying things about these cla.s.sic single player games.