Qingming Festival Gift Pack and Advancement Game

Liu Xing opened his computer and clicked on the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall, then went straight to the main interface and entered the mall.

As soon as he entered the mall interface, an advertisement window popped up, displaying the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" that Shan He had mentioned.

Liu Xing finished reading the introduction to the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" and found that this gift pack was not like the Newbie Gift Pack, which was a gacha-style pool. Instead, it fixedly provided three items and cost 100 points.

Liu Xing checked his points and found he had 135 points left. If he bought the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," he would only have 35 points left, which was enough for him to stay in the Real World for a little over a month.

However, Liu Xing didn't plan to stay in the Real World for that long anymore. After all, as the saying goes, "the sooner you die, the sooner you are reborn"... not! Liu Xing was being forced into this!

A couple of days ago, Liu Xing was playing Overwatch at home when his phone suddenly vibrated. Liu Xing was in the middle of a match, so he ignored the phone. However, the phone kept vibrating, so Liu Xing thought it was broken. When he finally opened his phone, he was surprised to find it was a message from the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall.

"Congratulations to Player Old Chinese Doctor for his outstanding performance in the scenario 'Castle Lord.' You have qualified for advancement to the Shoggoth Area. Please begin your three Advancement Matches within the next half month. After successfully completing two Advancement Matches, you will advance to the Shoggoth Area. If you die or are eliminated during your first Advancement Match, your Character Card will not be torn. If you fail to complete the Advancement Matches within half a month, it will be considered passive play, and your Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall account will be Ban for One Year."

This was a best-of-three Advancement Match. Liu Xing hadn't expected to be able to start his advancement after only playing one Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG game.

But then again, Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG games were different from other games. They didn't require accumulation of equipment or experience. As for improving skills, that was not an issue for the Dice Goddess. Even if all your skills were 99, she could still roll a 100 and kill you...

However, the half-month time limit made Liu Xing feel a bit uncomfortable. Moreover, regardless of whether he advanced or not, if he couldn't complete the Advancement Matches, he would face a penalty of being Ban for One Year. Liu Xing felt that this "Ban for One Year" was essentially a penalty of 365 points...

This was a penalty Liu Xing could not accept. Therefore, Liu Xing decided to start his first Advancement Match after purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack." As for telling Chen Ling before starting a game, Liu Xing felt he could skip it this time, as players participating in Advancement Matches and players participating in regular Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG games should not be matched together.

With that thought, Liu Xing didn't hesitate and directly clicked to purchase the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack."

"Qingming Season Rain: Can deal 1d3 damage to Mythical Creatures with physical immunity and has a chance to reduce their movement speed by 50%."

"Qingming Sacrifice: Can be used as a sacrifice for any summoning ritual."

"Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella: When opened, there is a 50% chance that Mythical Creatures will ignore your existence for 2d6 minutes (the duration will be shortened for higher-level Mythical Creatures). After the duration ends, the Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella will automatically burn."

Liu Xing's eyes lit up, and he thought, Shan He didn't lie to me. This "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" is indeed a good thing. All three items are very useful.

First, there's the Qingming Season Rain. It appears as a small, fragile bubble containing a drop of water, clearly a throwable weapon that can damage Mythical Creatures immune to physical damage!

For ordinary players, combat with Mythical Creatures was primarily through physical means, as very few players could learn spells. Mythical Creatures immune to physical damage were almost invincible!

Therefore, Liu Xing felt that the Qingming Season Rain was equivalent to an Amulet, ensuring he had a fighting chance against Mythical Creatures like the Formless Spawn (a Lower Servant of Azathoth, known as Azathoth's Spawn, appearing as an amorphous ooze that attacks with tentacles).

The Qingming Sacrifice was an even rarer treasure. In Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG games, sacrifices and rituals to summon evil gods were endless. It could be said that every game involved some kind of ritual. For example, in Ains Castle, there was a ritual to summon a projection of Cthulhu. Completing these rituals definitely required specific sacrifices. In some questlines, players might lose or miss certain sacrifices. If a ritual couldn't be completed due to a lack of sacrifices, it could lead to a Total Party Kill or force players into a direct "conversation" with powerful enemies. In such situations, the Qingming Sacrifice would be extremely useful.

However, Liu Xing had to complain that the appearance of the Qingming Sacrifice was quite SAN-value-reducing. To put it simply, it looked like a bloody lump of meat...

As for the last item, the Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella, it looked similar to a regular oiled paper umbrella. However, strange patterns were drawn on the umbrella's surface, granting it the powerful ability to grant the user temporary invisibility!

Liu Xing was very satisfied and chose to place all three items into the inventory slots of his Character Card, ensuring he could use them during the game.

After purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," Liu Xing took a deep breath and clicked "Start Game" to begin his first Advancement Match. After all, he wouldn't have his Character Card torn if he failed the first one.

However, he didn't know if it was because there were few players participating in Advancement Matches, but Liu Xing waited for over ten minutes without the game starting...

As Liu Xing muttered that this broken game was doomed, the game officially began!

However, before officially entering the game, Liu Xing entered the Intermission Growth settlement page.

"Entered the Emergency Department, no unexpected events occurred, First Aid Skill grew by 3 points."

"Attended an English training class, no unexpected events occurred, obtained skill--Other Languages: English 22."

"Attended Driving Training, an unexpected event occurred--Veteran Driver takes you flying. Because the teacher responsible for your Driving Training often drove a black car on Qingcheng Mountain using Liuling Weiguang, his driving skills were extraordinary. Therefore, you obtained the skill--Driving 50."

Liu Xing looked at the last intermission growth entry, and couldn't help but laugh and cry...

PS: The next chapter will teach everyone how to court death, by dropping the Imported Plot...