Can't I Cultivate Myself?

[Yes.]

The next second, the dagger in Lin Qi's Backpack appeared in her hand.

Ryan froze.

"So it really is like getting equipment in a game."

But a dagger did not seem particularly useful, and judging by her attributes, he probably could not even compare to Lin Qi right now.

Ryan pressed the controller, re-equipped the dagger on Lin Qi, then opened the door and walked out.

[In the dormitory corridor at night, no one was around, yet you vaguely heard whispers.]

As the God worshipped by believers across the Rhea Continent, Janus was said to have created time and space before everything else came into being. Thus, Janus held an exceptionally high status across the continent.

The religion that worshipped Janus was called Gate of Janus, the largest Religious Force on the Rhea Continent.

The church in Berman City worshipped Janus. It was not particularly large, consisting of two Priests, ten Nuns, and several ordinary staff members.

The dormitory building stood behind the church. With a graveyard right next door, it often felt gloomy and sinister.

At this hour, most people were already asleep. Lin Qi passed through the corridor, went downstairs, and arrived before the graveyard.

Ryan had seen some unknown creatures floating around here through the window earlier. In reality, he would have run as far away as possible, but in a game, weren't ghosts and monsters just piles of experience points?

[Wandering Soul]

These small clusters of ghostly blue flame all bore those two words above them, along with a uniform lv3.

Ryan smiled.

"So it really is a game. Where would reality have something like this?"

It was not as though he had never been to a church before. Graveyards were perfectly normal. If there were demons and monsters around, word would have spread long ago.

Lin Qi said nothing. She charged forward with the dagger in hand, then raised her hand and struck. The dagger slashed through the Wandering Soul's body, immediately cutting roughly one-fifth from its HP Bar.

"Not bad. Its defense isn't very high."

The Wandering Soul counterattacked. It had no limbs, instead firing small balls of flame, but Ryan controlled Lin Qi to dodge them all.

Rolling, circling, lowering her body and sprinting, the movements felt like a real-life experience. Ryan was deeply shocked.

"The controls are way better than games in my previous life."

Before long, Lin Qi killed a Wandering Soul, and her experience bar surged by roughly a quarter.

"Keep going, keep going!"

Moonlit night, graveyard, a Nun and a dagger, a gorgeous waltz.

Hidden Profession

[Your level has risen to lv2.]

[Constitution +0.3]

[Spirit +0.4]

[Magic Power +0.6]

"Leveled up."

After killing four Wandering Souls, Lin Qi's level had reached lv2.

Ryan glanced at her growth attributes. There was not much to say. Her initially excellent growth was a little higher than the characters he had created before, but in the game, it did not make much difference. After all, the essence of this game was not about crushing enemies with attributes, but fighting and killing.

Moreover, if she took a Hidden Profession and successfully changed classes, her growth attributes would stabilize according to that profession's characteristics.

In other words, if players knew how to obtain a Hidden Profession, they would all follow that profession's leveling path as early as possible. Before that, the slight difference in attributes gained from leveling could basically be ignored.

"Oh, something dropped."

Ryan saw a patch of small light clusters emerge where the Wandering Soul had just died.

[You obtained Soul Jade x10.]

"So it's this."

Soul Jade was an essential item for magic-based professions to cultivate with, and it was also another type of currency in the game. He just did not know where it could be used here.

After putting away the Soul Jade, Ryan continued grinding levels for Lin Qi. There were still plenty of Wandering Souls in the graveyard. With no Quest Prompt, leaving monsters ungrinded was simply unbearable.

Midnight.

Ryan had cleared out every Wandering Soul in the graveyard, successfully raising Lin Qi's level to lv4.

"Leveling is still pretty fast in the Early Stage, but Wandering Souls don't give much experience now."

They gave little experience and dropped no equipment. Aside from Soul Jade, only two White Steamed Buns had dropped.

[Steamed Bun]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Description: Made from white flour. Want to know what it does? Take a bite and you'll understand.]

Lin Qi ate one. Its effect was to restore injuries—in other words, replenish HP.

It was worth mentioning that a Game Character's attributes were all quantified, including the HP Bar. So unless a limb was severed, being injured would not affect normal movement, and as long as she ate a Steamed Bun, she could slowly recover.

Well, it was a game, after all.

[

Name: Lin Qi

Gender: Female

Level: 4

Profession: None

Constitution: 8.9

Spirit: 11.2

Magic Power: 12.8

Comprehension: 9

Charm: 12

Skills: None

Backpack: Soul Jade x77, Steamed Bun x2

...

...

]

The attribute panel had updated somewhat, but there were no major changes. Ryan did not know how long it would take for the Wandering Souls to respawn, so he planned to take a look outside the church.

On the screen, Lin Qi, dressed in a Nun Outfit and holding a dagger, walked alone through the church.

The empty, silent church was suddenly jolted awake by a Bell Chime.

[You heard the Echo of Time and Space.]

[The cycle has begun. Through Janus's Gateway, you glimpsed authority from Old Days. Black Flame burned from the Ancient Old Period to the present, incinerating the remaining ashes and unfolding New Life.]

[You Kneel and Worship before the Janus Statue and choose—]

[1: Pray.]

[2: Look Directly at the statue.]

[3: Take Copper Coins from the Donation Box to ease the burden of Goddess Janus.]

"Midnight?"

Ryan turned to look at the Wall Clock. It was exactly twelve. What time-space cycle? Wasn't it just the start of a new day?

But what did this prompt mean?

A Hidden Profession?

No one seemed to have mentioned this on the Game Forum.

[You chose to Look Directly at the statue. The statue seemed to be looking directly at you as well, and then—]

[1: Pray.]

[2: Take Copper Coins from the Donation Box to ease the burden of Goddess Janus.]

"?"

[You took two Copper Coins from the Donation Box, easing Goddess Janus's burden of bearing All Beings' desires. Being able to help a Deity put you In a Good Mood.]

[Constitution +0.3]

[Magic Power +0.3]

"Huh?"

This could raise attributes too?

Ryan controlled the Game Character to Stand Up. At that moment, five Shadow Figures suddenly appeared within the previously empty church.

[Lingering Rift Spirit lv6]

Generally speaking, this meant he had triggered a game mechanic. Ryan did not hesitate and controlled Lin Qi to Raise Saber and attack.

The Evil Spirits' attributes were much higher than the Wandering Souls'. Although Lin Qi had Leveled Up Three Times, she had only gained a little in attributes and had not obtained any equipment. Compared with the Strength Growth brought by the monsters' higher levels, it was Not Enough.

The higher the level, the harder it was for a Game Character's growth to keep up with monsters without equipment and skills to support it.

But in the Early Stage, the gap was not that large. For a Soul Player, it was ridiculously easy.

After several minutes of slashing, Lin Qi successfully cleared out the five Evil Spirits, and her level smoothly reached lv5.

"That's it?"

Ryan still wanted more.

Evil Spirits gave lots of experience and were not very difficult. Unfortunately, there were too few of them.

Still, was it really reasonable for Evil Spirits to appear inside a church?

[You obtained Incomplete Ancient Evil Spirit.]

Ryan picked up the item that had appeared after the Evil Spirits were cleared away, and the Game Interface immediately displayed a new message.

[Ancient Evil Spirit (one-fifth): A powerful Evil Spirit that existed during the Ancient Old Period. It can be transformed through a ritual into an Evil Attached Spirit for battle. According to records in the Holy Scripture, users were often granted a certain mysterious title.]

"This thing... could it be a Class-Change Relic?" Ryan froze.

Come to think of it, its description was very similar to the Class-Change Relics in the game. It might really be a Hidden Profession path.

But he only had one-fifth of it right now, and he had no idea how to obtain the rest. Ryan inspected the area around the Donation Box for a while and even took out two more Copper Coins, but there was no reaction this time.

"The key might be the Echo of Time and Space. I can only come back tomorrow at this time and try again."

Thinking of this, Ryan felt somewhat emotional. He had never expected that, by a strange twist of fate, creating a Female Character Account would actually unlock a Hidden Profession quest.

Though he was not certain yet, he definitely had to cultivate this account carefully. If the quest could not be obtained again, wouldn't that be a huge loss?

And he could not guarantee that the timeline would remain the same after starting over.

"This game should let me create other accounts. If it really is a Hidden Profession, I'll focus on cultivating this one."

Ryan thought to himself.

But for now, it seemed this game could not solve his predicament. The Game Character's abilities could not synchronize with him. Items could, but apart from two Steamed Buns, there was nothing else.

He would definitely be able to obtain better things later, but time was not on his side.

With that thought, Ryan walked to the window and glanced across the street, only to discover that Deke was gone. He had no idea where she had gone.

Ryan was not sleepy, so he chose to keep playing.

He still had to get up early tomorrow... so he might as well keep playing.