Order Realm Grunt, Little Novice

The next moment, the Red-robed Cult Master's cigarette burned down to the end.

Qin Shang had barely seen the woman take a few puffs before the cigarette was already gone.

She rolled down the car window and coolly flicked away the butt, then glanced at the young man.

The carriage was filled with the fruity, explosive fragrance of women's cigarettes.

"All right, enough with the small talk. You got me sidetracked."

"You asked me earlier what levels are for. Hmm... you probably understand a little now, right?"

"As your level rises, the duration and number of uses for your skills will increase as well. Take your Deceiver class, for example."

"Take Inheritance. When you're still a Deceiver newbie, using Inheritance requires you to pay a price."

"For example, if you inherited the estate of a dying old man in real life, you'd have to fulfill his final wish!"

"But as your level rises, once you enter the Order Realm, Inheritance will upgrade into an entirely new skill..."

"Plunder!"

After saying that, the Red-robed Cult Master raised an eyebrow.

"You no longer need to pay a usage price while receiving the benefits. If this were a multiplayer instance in the Divine Path, to give a simple example, you wouldn't need to complete other players' side quests through Inheritance anymore. You could directly obtain their hidden clues..."

Qin Shang perked up at that.

Plunder sounded a little more powerful than Inheritance.

If he didn't need to pay a price, then his original assumption about his first use of Inheritance could come true after all.

Damn, kill all the other players, then use Plunder to obtain their clues.

And I wouldn't even have to complete their side quests. Wouldn't that be amazing?

However, seeing the Red-robed Cult Master's amused expression, Qin Shang forced down the corner of his mouth, which was harder to suppress than an AK.

According to the Divine Path's balancing mechanism, a skill this ridiculously powerful probably came with an even more terrifying price.

It was simply that the price was no longer completing other people's side quests.

Alternatively, the signature skills corresponding to the other classes in the Order Realm that the Red-robed Cult Master mentioned might also be enhanced, giving them the ability to counter and restrain a Deceiver's Plunder.

He controlled his facial expression.

"Could you briefly explain the levels corresponding to the three realms of Order, Order Realm, and Rule Realm?"

The Red-robed Cult Master glanced at Qin Shang indifferently.

"You're currently a player in the Order Realm."

Qin Shang wasn't surprised by the result.

He was just a newbie among the Divine Path's cannon-fodder recruits.

Wasn't it perfectly normal for him to be a player at the lowest level?

The next moment, the Red-robed Cult Master said unhurriedly:

"Order Realm players are levels 1 to 3."

"The item permissions available to them correspond to tiers 1 to 3."

"Order Realm players are levels 4 to 6, while Rule Realm players are levels 7 to 9."

"Item tiers correspond to player levels. Of course, level 9 is the highest level a player can reach. I haven't encountered anyone at that level yet."

"Maybe the Asian Server opened too late, so it might be that there aren't any players at that level yet."

Asian Server!?

Qin Shang noticed another crucial point.

"Wait, Yuan Fang—ah, forget it... Red-robed Cult Master, what the hell is a server?"

The Red-robed Cult Master rolled her eyes at him with irresistible charm.

"When you first entered the Divine Path game, didn't you see a prompt asking you to select a server?"

"Or were you so frightened and nervous that you forgot to choose a server and were subconsciously sent to the national server?"

"Uh..."

I actually really want to say that I never went through that step.

Qin Shang hadn't chosen his own game ID, and he certainly hadn't chosen his server.

He hadn't gone through any of those steps at all.

At the time, he had received the package his wife sent him before she disappeared. Qin Shang's expression had already turned grim.

With his spirits low, he subconsciously tore open the package.

When he saw the powered-off device and a small silver-white card inside, Qin Shang picked up the Character Card.

Then his vision blurred...

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the Death Train instance.

The Red-robed Cult Master didn't pay attention to his expression. She simply drove steadily and said indifferently:

"There are three major server regions. The Asian region is currently known as the second major region, the Americas as the first, and Europe as the third."

"For some unknown reason, the third region still hasn't opened its servers. The other smaller server regions aren't counted, because not even one player there has reached the Order Realm."

Not even one had reached the Order Realm. That meant there weren't even any level 4-to-6 players...

Hmm, clearing the Death Train, a first-clear S-rank Cursed instance, had only earned me 25% experience.

If I needed a full bar of experience to reach level-two Deceiver...

Damn, I'd have to enter similar S-rank instances three more times...

Leveling up as a Divine Path player wasn't something that happened overnight.

With the experience system alone, he had no idea when he would finally reach level-two Deceiver!

"Actually, I don't know how to use items yet..."

Most of the questions currently filling Qin Shang's mind had been answered to some extent through his conversation with the Red-robed Cult Master.

That didn't mean he had no other questions.

Some questions couldn't be asked for the time being, such as what Qin Shang considered his own special circumstances.

Other people's Character Cards had been issued by the Divine Path, while his had been sent by his wife...

That alone could completely overturn the understanding of many players.

There were also several other things. For example, Qin Shang hadn't chosen his own game ID, and he hadn't chosen his server.

He hadn't experienced any of the things that other players should have gone through.

Qin Shang simply felt that his relationship with the Red-robed Cult Master hadn't yet reached the point where they could be completely honest with each other.

It was better to keep these differences between him and everyone else buried for now.

"Items?"

"You have an item?"

At that, the Red-robed Cult Master blinked her beautiful eyes, revealing a rare trace of surprise.

"What rank was your newbie instance?"

"Could it have been S-rank? You actually received an item as a reward?"

"You should know that items are generally awarded only to the best-performing players in A- to S-rank instances—in other words, what we commonly call MVPs."

"And they're usually consumable items. S-rank instances in the Order Realm are quite rare..."

"Where did you get the item?"

Qin Shang was secretly delighted that he had finally managed to shock this veteran player.

Without wasting any words, he communicated with his Character Card and summoned the Cursed Red Skirt.

He reached out and grabbed at empty air, and a red skirt materialized out of nowhere.

It didn't scare the Red-robed Cult Master. It seemed women were already accustomed to this ability to retrieve items from thin air through an inventory.

After all, this was the hallmark of Divine Path players!

Mentioning items reminded Qin Shang that he seemed to have picked up a cross belonging to the Elder Priest when he left the instance.

With that thought, he opened his inventory again.

Inventory: Cursed Red Skirt, Fallen Cross, Holy Cross (Consumable) *3, Rename Card (Consumable) *3

The Fallen Cross had been an item dropped where the Elder Priest died.

Although Qin Shang had been in so much pain at the time that he had nearly passed out, perhaps a good habit formed from playing games had kicked in, driven by adrenaline.

He had actually held on long enough to loot the body and put the cross into his inventory before activating the Doctor skill to heal himself at the last moment.

To be honest, Qin Shang still hadn't checked the item's attributes yet!