Cultivate Myself, Isn't That Okay? Chapter 2

Ryan admitted that the character he had created was a little too extreme—

"Great, this is exactly what I like."

Change it? My ass. No changing it.

Ryan shifted his gaze, curious about what starting identities female characters could have.

In his previous life, he had only played male characters. But female characters were available in this game too. As for their romance routes, they were basically either lesbian flirting or using props. The visuals were decent enough, but Ryan felt they weren't as fun to control as male characters.

He clicked to switch genders, and a whole set of similar character creation options appeared. The difference was that every "accessory" was far more exquisite than those for male characters.

Before long, a great beauty with silver hair, red eyes, and a somewhat gentle aura appeared in Ryan's field of vision.

"Heh~ This is the kind of wife I'll marry someday."

He had to admit, this character creation system was pretty realistic.

With that thought, Ryan clicked Generate Information.

Lin Qi (Female): Constitution 8, Spirit 10, Magic 11, Comprehension 9, Charm 12

Starting identity tendencies: Noble, Nun, Teacher, Priest, Maid, Knight...

"?"

Ryan froze for a moment.

"Is the difference really this huge?"

Wasn't this ridiculously overpowered?

Never mind her comprehension and charm—her starting magic was an absurd 11, her spirit was as high as 10, and even her constitution was 8.

He was furious, trembling, and freezing. When would male characters finally stand up?!

"What a shame."

"Should I remake her?"

Ryan hesitated. Never mind the identity—with such high starting attributes, he felt like he was losing out big time. A muscle man was certainly beautiful, but the temptation of those numbers was just as hard to let go.

Knock knock knock!

A burst of urgent knocking suddenly rang out.

"Ryan!"

"Ryan!"

A low voice came through the door. Ryan jolted and hurriedly stood up.

"Who is it?"

The moment he spoke, the interface before him immediately changed—

[Game information confirmed. Lin Qi, female, entering the game...]

"Fuck! Seriously?!!!"

New author, new book. Please support me~

A reminder before reading: This book only involves raising a female character account. No gay content, no little girls, no marriage, and none of that messy stuff. If you don't understand, please read the synopsis. Don't stir up trouble. Thank you~

Graveyard, Nun, Waltz

"Why did it take you so long to open the door?"

Outside the rented apartment, the blond young man Deke looked at Ryan in confusion. Ryan's murderous expression made him instinctively take a step back.

"Nothing. I was in the bathroom."

Ryan replied irritably.

"I see. Sorry for disturbing you, but there's a mission from above." Deke lowered his voice. "Lord Adler wants you to pick something up from Black Ding Street No. 228 at 9:14 tomorrow night."

"What thing?"

"You'll know when you get there. Someone will meet you."

After saying that, Deke tugged down the brim of his hat.

"I need to go. All for Grand Duke Marganna... Good luck."

He had come quickly and left even faster.

Watching Deke disappear at the end of the corridor, Ryan frowned. The name Heiding Street felt familiar somehow. After thinking for a while, he finally remembered.

It had been mentioned in the game's opening background information. A fire had broken out at Black Ding Street No. 228, killing more than fifty people.

However, it had not been a direct game prompt, but a piece of news printed in a newspaper.

Later, players had specifically investigated it and discovered that it was a cult sacrifice. Digging deeper would unlock a class questline—the Soul Eater.

It was not a hidden profession, but its abilities were quite good.

"They want me to pick something up from a place like that?"

Ryan felt that something was very, very wrong.

The game had only explained the background, but by the time Cassidy arrived in Berman City, the fire had already happened. So it would most likely take place tomorrow night.

A cult ritual, a fire, and him, a grunt from the Bureau of Investigation—no matter how he looked at it, this would not end well for him.

Ryan shut the door.

After a while, he walked to the window, pulled aside the curtains, and looked down. He discovered that Deke had not gone far. Instead, he had stopped in an alley across from Ryan's building.

Is he watching me?

Is that really necessary?

At that moment, Ryan had the feeling that he and the other side were not actually allies.

"Since things have come to this... I'll play the game first."

There was definitely something wrong with this, but he did not want to go, nor could he escape. He could only see whether the game could help him first.

On the virtual interface, the female character "Lin Qi" stood gracefully.

Seeing that portrait image, Ryan felt a little helpless. He had just tried to delete the character, but the game had informed him that deletion was impossible. Once a character had been created, she would continue to exist unless she "died."

And after dying, he would have to wait twenty-four hours before creating another one.

Creating another new character was impossible as well, because so far Ryan could only create one character.

There were probably some prerequisite conditions for opening a new character.

And waiting another day just for the character's appearance was definitely not worth it.

"Forget it. Her attributes are good anyway, and the name fits too."

If this really was a golden finger, then numbers were obviously more appealing.

[Please choose your spawn point.]

'Augus' 'Veldia' 'Arcadia' 'Holy Court'...

The remaining options were all grayed out. Only the Augustus Empire could be selected.

[Spawn point confirmed: 'Augus'.]

The game interface changed. Augustus Empire—Berman City. This was the game's standard opening. No matter what face you created or what profession you randomly received, as long as you chose the Augustus Empire, you would begin in Berman City.

The screen shifted.

A strange room appeared in Ryan's field of vision.

A bed sat in the upper-left corner of the room, with a small brown bedside cabinet beside it. Farther over was a desk by the window. On the stretch of wall exposed between the desk and window stood a vertical row of books.

It was a very simple, plain room.

['Lin Qi' is a nun of Janus Church. She was born with talent far beyond ordinary people and can sense a world that normal people cannot perceive.]

"So she got the nun profession? Does that mean she has strong magic talent?"

"How do I control her?"

As he wondered about that, a virtual controller appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision.

He tried grabbing it, and to his surprise, he could actually pick it up.

Using the controller, the in-game Lin Qi began moving according to his thoughts.

So that was how it worked.

After figuring out the controls, Ryan looked toward the upper-left corner of the interface. With a tap of his hand, he opened Lin Qi's personal attributes.

The first thing that appeared was a portrait image of her wearing a nun outfit.

The black-and-white nun outfit was adorned with curved lace trim across the chest. Its sleeves had ruffled cuffs, while the skirt hem consisted of two layered folds, one long and one short. Below them were a pair of slender, beautiful legs clad in white stockings.

Her silver hair framed bright, clear ruby-red eyes. Beneath her delicate nose, her cherry-red lips were crystal clear.

"Is that me?"

Compared to the face he had just created, the portrait image of Lin Qi before him was far more vivid and lifelike. Ryan even started to feel that playing a female character account might not be so bad.

Her attribute values were the same as before, and she was Level 1. In Empress Online, every time a character leveled up, her attributes would increase. The amount depended heavily on her profession and talents.

For example, the Warrior Profession tended to increase constitution, while the Mage profession tended to increase magic.

"Are there no quest prompts?"

Ryan searched around, but aside from the Attribute Panel and Backpack, he found no other useful information.

There were no quest prompts either.

"This is a little different from the game."

[An ordinary oil lamp.]

[Tomorrow's Morning Post]

[Faith Overview of Janus]

[Date on the calendar: Saint Virtue Calendar, July 7, 1886]

Ryan controlled the character around the room. When he saw that final prompt, he could not help but freeze.

"The same time as reality?"

He looked out through the game's perspective. It was nighttime there too, and the time and place both matched. Ryan began to suspect that he and Lin Qi were in the same time and space.

"Or maybe the game was generated based on my real environment. Web novels really don't lie to me."

A game character could be recreated after dying, but he could not. Clearly, the game was only a game.

"Hmm?"

There was a small knife in the desk drawer.

[Dagger]

[Quality: Good]

[Description: A diligent dagger that worked hard to add a trace of spirituality to itself.]

"Starter equipment?"

Ryan tried putting the dagger into the Backpack. It worked smoothly. When he equipped it again, a dagger appeared in Lin Qi's hand.

Cold moonlight shone into the room, causing faint chills to glint from the dagger. Nighttime, a nun, a weapon... Now this was getting interesting.

The Backpack had a 5×5 grid, and equipped items did not count toward it. The space was limited, but it was enough for now.

"Can I take things out of the game Backpack?"

A thought suddenly occurred to Ryan.

He then tried unequipping Lin Qi's dagger.

[Extract 'Dagger'?]

Besides the equipment prompt, there was also an extraction option.