Qingming Festival Gift Pack and Advancement Games

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

The moment he entered the store interface, an advertisement window popped up. Its contents were precisely the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" Shan He had mentioned.

After reading the introduction to the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," Liu Xing discovered that it was not a card pool like the Newbie Gift Pack. Instead, it came with three fixed items and cost 100 Points.

Liu Xing checked his Points. He had 135 left. If he bought the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," he would have only 35 Points remaining, enough to stay in the Real World for another month or so.

However, Liu Xing did not intend to remain in the Real World for that long. After all, as the saying went, the sooner you die, the sooner you reincarnate... Yeah, right. Liu Xing was fucking being forced into this!

A couple of days ago, Liu Xing had been playing Overwatch Butt at home when his phone suddenly started vibrating. He had been in the middle of a team fight, so he ignored it. But the phone kept vibrating nonstop, making Liu Xing think it had broken. When he finally checked it, he found that it was actually a message from the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall.

"Congratulations to Player Old Chinese Doctor for your outstanding performance in the scenario—Castle Lord. You have therefore qualified to advance to the Shoggoth Area. Within the next half month, please begin your three Advancement Games. After successfully completing two Advancement Games, you will advance to the Shoggoth Area. Furthermore, if you die or are Eliminated for the first time in an Advancement Game, your Character Card will not be torn up. If you fail to complete your Advancement Games within half a month, it will be regarded as negative gameplay, and your Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall account will be banned for one year."

This was a best-of-three Advancement Match. Liu Xing just had not expected that after playing only one Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, he would already be eligible for advancement.

But thinking about it, that made sense. Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG was unlike other games. There was no need to accumulate equipment or experience, and as for improving skills, that was not even an issue for the Dice Goddess. Even if all your skills were at 99, she could just roll a 100 and still screw you over...

Still, the half-month time limit made Liu Xing rather uncomfortable. Whether he advanced or not, if he failed to finish the Advancement Games, he would face a Ban for One Year. In Liu Xing's eyes, that so-called one-year ban was basically a disguised penalty of 365 Points...

Such a punishment was something Liu Xing could not accept. Therefore, after buying the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," he planned to begin his first Advancement Game. As for his promise to tell Chen Ling before starting a tabletop session, he figured he could skip it this time. Players participating in Advancement Games probably could not be matched with players in ordinary Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG games anyway.

With that thought, Liu Xing stopped overthinking and directly clicked to purchase the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack."

"Qingming Season Rain: Can deal 1d3 damage to Mythical Creatures with physical immunity, with a chance to reduce the Mythical Creature's movement speed by 50%."

"Qingming Sacrifice: Can serve as the sacrifice required for any summoning ritual."

"Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella: After opening the Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella, there is a 50% chance that Mythical Creatures will ignore your existence. The duration is 2d6 minutes. The higher the Mythical Creature's level, the shorter the duration will be. Once the duration ends, the Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella will automatically burn up."

Liu Xing's eyes lit up. Shan He truly hadn't deceived me. This "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" really was good stuff. All three items were extremely useful.

First was Qingming Season Rain. Inside what looked like a fragile little bubble floated a tiny drop of water. It was clearly a thrown weapon, and it could even harm Mythical Creatures immune to physical damage!

For ordinary players, physical means were usually the only way to fight Mythical Creatures. After all, far too few players could learn spells. That made Mythical Creatures immune to physical damage nearly invincible!

Therefore, Liu Xing felt that Qingming Season Rain was equivalent to a protective talisman. It ensured that when facing Mythical Creatures such as the Formless Spawn—Azathoth's lesser servant, known as Azathoth's fetal spawn, an amorphous slime creature that attacked with tentacles—he would still have a fighting chance.

Qingming Sacrifice was an even rarer treasure. In Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, rituals to worship and summon evil gods emerged one after another. It could be said that every Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG involved some sort of ritual. For example, Ains Castle had involved a ritual to summon Cthulhu's projection. Completing such rituals naturally required specific sacrifices, yet during certain quest lines, players might lose or miss some of those sacrifices. If they could not complete a ritual because they lacked a sacrifice, it could very likely lead to a Total Party Kill, or force them into face-to-face "communication" with a powerful enemy. That was when Qingming Sacrifice would prove immensely useful.

However, Liu Xing could not help complaining that Qingming Sacrifice's appearance was really damaging to one's SAN Value. Put simply, it was a bloody lump of meat...

As for the final item, the Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella looked much like an ordinary oiled paper umbrella. However, strange patterns were painted across its surface, granting it such powerful abilities and allowing its user to temporarily turn invisible!

Satisfied, Liu Xing chose to place all three items into the carried-items slot of his Character Card. Only then could he ensure that he could use them during tabletop RPG games.

After purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," Liu Xing took a deep breath and directly clicked Start Game to begin his first Advancement Game. In any case, even if he failed the first Advancement Game, his Character Card would not be torn up.

However, perhaps there were relatively few people participating in Advancement Games. Liu Xing waited for more than ten minutes, yet the game still did not begin...

Just as Liu Xing muttered that this shitty game was going to die sooner or later, the game officially began!

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

"Entered the First Aid Department. No unexpected events occurred. First Aid Skill increased by 3 points."

"Attended the English Training Class. No unexpected events occurred. Gained skill—Other Languages: English 22."

"Attended Driving Training. An unexpected event occurred—Veteran Driver Takes You Flying. Because the instructor responsible for your Driving Training had spent many years driving a Liuling Weiguang black cab on Qingcheng Mountain, his driving skills were exceptional. You have therefore gained skill—Drive 50."

Liu Xing looked at the final Intermission Growth entry and did not know whether to laugh or cry... PS: The next chapter will teach everyone how to court death—Eliminated right after the Imported Plot begins...