First Character Card

Although Liu Xing had no idea why Shan He said that, he still gave a polite chuckle. "Thanks for the compliment."

What Liu Xing had not expected was for Shan He to suddenly wave his hand. Everything around Liu Xing instantly vanished into nothingness, leaving only himself and Shan He sitting face-to-face between heaven and earth.

"Congratulations on completing the Novice Mission, Old Chinese Doctor. I am Shan He, the person in charge of the Ghoul Area." Shan He took off his hat and transformed into a refined-looking middle-aged man. However, Liu Xing was certain that Shan He was a Mythical Creature, because Shan He's APP (Appearance, an attribute in Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG; humans generally had an Appearance of 50, with 99 being the maximum. Any Appearance over 99 belonged to Mythical Creatures) was simply too high in Liu Xing's eyes, clearly beyond the realm of humanity... Liu Xing was someone who judged by looks, so he completely ignored Shan He's flashy transformation.

"Oh, then what's my evaluation?" Since he was already here, Liu Xing did not think Shan He would do anything to him after the Novice Room character mission had ended. He looked at Shan He and asked with a smile.

"Congratulations. Because you completed the Side Quest, the game ended early. You have received an A-level Evaluation. Your reward is 50 points and one Old Seal Amulet. Please check your Personal Warehouse after exiting the game," Shan He said in an official tone.

After delivering that standard speech, Shan He continued with a smile, "Since the highest evaluation for a Novice Room mission is A-level, you have become the twenty-second Newcomer in the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall to receive an A-level Evaluation. Therefore, you will receive a special reward: an extra Character Card."

Liu Xing was delighted. This special reward was truly excellent. According to the rules of Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, every Character Card was equivalent to an extra life. Now that he had two Character Cards, he finally felt that his life was somewhat secure.

"However, I must explain this first. This Character Card can only be used in a tabletop RPG game. In other words, after you die in a game, you may choose to use this Character Card to revive at any time before that Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG game ends. But if you do not use this Character Card to revive before the game ends, and you have no other Character Cards, you will still be considered dead and erased." Shan He's next words chilled Liu Xing's heart, because the restrictions on this Character Card were extremely severe. Its usefulness had been cut by more than half.

No matter what game it was, the final stage was always the hardest. And given Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG's usual style, Players would inevitably have to face Mythical Creatures to some extent near the end. So even if Liu Xing revived at the very end, he would still be doomed to die...

"By the way, how are those twenty-one Newcomers with A-level Evaluations doing now? Did any of them uninstall the game?" Liu Xing asked curiously. After all, one could learn from those who came before, and he needed to know whether his seniors were doing well.

Hearing that question, Shan He chuckled and said casually, "Them? They all failed their missions and lost all their Character Cards, so their accounts were forcibly deleted and they were erased."

Liu Xing's heart tightened at that answer. It seemed he had unknowingly raised a death flag.

"They all thought they were the protagonists of some webnovel. They relied on having an extra life, loved taking risks, and then died." Shan He looked at Liu Xing and sneered. "How many games do you think you'll survive before you die?"

Shan He's gaze made Liu Xing's skin crawl. He could only force himself to say, "I think I can make it to the ending."

Shan He clearly had not expected Liu Xing to still be joking at a time like this, and his interest in him grew slightly. "Young man, you have a bright future. I think highly of you."

Shan He walked over and patted Liu Xing on the shoulder. "You can go back and rest now. Oh, and one more thing: the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall charges one point every day as a maintenance fee. In other words, you must enter your next game within fifty days. Otherwise, if your points are negative at the start of any calendar day, the Player will still be erased immediately. Also, the shop sells special gift packs during every traditional holiday, and there are plenty of good things in them. You'd better save up 100 points before Qingming Festival. Consider that an insider tip from me."

If Liu Xing remembered correctly, today should have been March 20th. There were only about fifteen days left until Qingming Festival. He currently had 50 points, which meant he needed to complete at least one more tabletop RPG game before Qingming Festival if he wanted a chance to gather 100 points and exchange them for the gift pack Shan He mentioned.

Liu Xing nodded thoughtfully and said, "Thank you for the reminder. May I leave now?"

Shan He smiled and waved his hand. Liu Xing's vision went dark, and when he came to, he found himself back in his room!

Liu Xing let out a long breath, leaned back in his chair, and silently stared at the computer.

The computer still displayed the Novice Room interface of the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall, but a notification box had popped up in the middle.

"Congratulations to Old Chinese Doctor for completing the Novice Mission. Welcome to the Horror Hall family."

Liu Xing closed the notification box and exited the Novice Room.

The interface then automatically switched to the Character Card screen.

Name: Liu Xing

Profession: Doctor

Education: Graduate Student

Birthplace: China, Shu Region, Rong City

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Background: Undecided (to be determined by the Player's first multiplayer tabletop RPG game)

Strength: 55

Constitution: 40

Willpower: 80

Luck: 80

Dexterity: 50

Appearance: 70

Size: 45

Intelligence: 85

Idea: 90

Education: 87

Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge: 0

Sanity Value: 80

HP: 8

MP: 16

Damage Bonus: None

Liu Xing could immediately tell that this was a 7th Edition Character Card, because all the values were multiples of five. Character Card attributes were generally determined by 3d6 rolls, meaning rolling a certain number of Six-Sided Dice and multiplying the result by five. There were also additional checks based on age. Liu Xing was twenty-three years old, so he could make one Education Improvement Check by rolling a single Hundred-Sided Dice. If the result exceeded his current Education Value, his Education attribute would increase by 1d10 percentile points. Clearly, Liu Xing had passed the Education Improvement Check, so his Education Value had increased by either two or seven points.

In Liu Xing's opinion, the stats on this Character Card were quite good. Aside from his relatively frail build and low Damage Bonus... there was also one thing that dissatisfied Liu Xing: his Idea was a little too high. Although Idea affected a Player's ability to gather information during the game, in more situations, the higher one's Idea was, the more likely one was to encounter Mythical Creatures or abnormal phenomena ahead of time. Then their Sanity Value would be forcibly deducted.

Therefore, Idea was a Double-Edged Sword.

Sanity Value, meanwhile, was determined by Willpower, so its initial value was equal to Willpower.

However, Liu Xin could not alter the Character Card's stats himself, so Liu Xin scrolled down to the skill screen. It showed that Liu Xin had 348 remaining Professional Skill Points, because a Doctor's Professional Skill Points were equal to Education Value multiplied by four.

A Doctor's Professional Skills were First Aid, Other Languages, Medicine, Psychology, Biology, Pharmacy, and any two other skills related to the Doctor profession, such as Psychoanalysis for a psychiatrist. Liu Xing could freely distribute his Professional Skill Points among those skills.

Of course, aside from Professional Skills, Liu Xing also had some Interest Skills. After all, everyone had hobbies. Interest Skill Points were equal to Intelligence multiplied by two, so Liu Xing had 170 Interest Skill Points that he could freely add to any skills he wanted.

In addition, the Character Card had a special attribute—Credit Rating.

Credit Rating was also a very important attribute in Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, because it affected how much money you could possess in the game, what items you could carry, and your initial living conditions. It also affected how NPCs viewed you. After all, compared to a ragged beggar, people were more willing to listen to the opinions of a well-dressed Doctor.

Therefore, the higher your Credit Rating, the better. However, only Professional Skill Points could be assigned to Credit Rating, and each profession had Upper and Lower Limits for Credit Rating. For example, a Doctor's Credit Rating ranged from 30 to 80. Credit Rating was also a mandatory investment, so Liu Xing had to spend 30 Professional Skill Points on it.

PS: I just rolled up this Character Card, and my luck was fairly good. Since this chapter involves a Character Card, there was a lot of explanation, though it was not especially detailed. When I have time later, I will upload some basic Cthulhu Mythos RPG settings in the work-related section. Of course, you can also directly search online for the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Rulebook. Thank you all for your recommendation votes. Please continue to recommend and bookmark!