Chapter 14: Taking Stock of Harvest
The feeling of a successful harvest could be summed up in one word: awesome! After trying for so long and dying so many times, the rewards were richer than ever before!
Including the single Time Travel Coin left over from his last trip, he now had a total of twelve!
The future master of time!
"Achoo!"
A gust of cold wind blew through the room, making Zhou Ning sneeze. He'd just finished showering and hadn't even had a chance to get dressed yet. He walked to the window and stared out for a moment, surprised to see that snow had begun to fall.
Zhou Ning was speechless.
He quickly closed the window and pulled on a white shirt.
What the hell? It was raining when I came upstairs, and now it's snowing? This weather... was it trying its hand at face-changing?
In the game Apocalypse, the weather was notoriously fickle. To compensate, every dorm room at Wake University was equipped with a gas stove for heat. However, gas was expensive, since the northern territories—and their vast coal mines—were controlled by the Walrus faction. A single Roshen would only buy you a few hours of heat.
The Roshen was the second tier of the Blaxton Kingdom's currency, derived from the ancient Faric word groshen, meaning "shiny thing." Before his first time travel, Zhou Ning had calculated that one Roshen was equivalent to about twenty yuan, which was nothing to sneeze at. The next tier up was the Viktar, worth ten Roshen, and each Roshen could be broken down into ten Winnies.
In years past, poor students had frozen to death in their rooms during cold snaps, trying to save money on heating.
If Zhou Ning hadn't extorted some money from those Curse Cult members earlier, he probably wouldn't have been willing to light it.
The struggles of being poor, he thought wryly.
Zhou Ning tossed a Roshen into the stove and flipped the switch. A small blue flame ignited, quickly growing larger.
By modern standards, the gas stove was surprisingly ingenious. It contained a heat sensor and an overheat switch that would automatically shut off the gas if the temperature rose too high. Its practicality was comparable to that of a modern appliance.
As the stove roared to life, the temperature in the room rose significantly. Soaking in the rare warmth, Zhou Ning sighed in comfort. He was about to lie back on his bed and check the time-travel simulator when a woman's scream pierced the night from outside his window.
"Ah!"
Startled, Zhou Ning rushed back to the window and looked out.
Due to the weather and tides, travel between cities was inconvenient, so many students like Zhou Ning lived on campus during the holidays. At the sound of the scream, lights flicked on in a dozen windows up and down the dormitory building. Clearly, others had been startled as well.
Outside the apartment was a small forest where, in better weather, wild mandarin ducks often came to mate. But now, with the snow falling heavily, everything was a blanket of white, and it was impossible to see clearly. The only sound was the rustle of flakes landing on leaves.
With no further movement outside, and no one willing to venture out into the snow to check in the middle of the night, the dorm lights went out one by one.
"Probably just a wild cat," Zhou Ning heard someone mutter from a room below.
That didn't sound like a wild cat... Still, Zhou Ning wasn't about to go downstairs alone to investigate. He took a deep breath, secured his doors and windows again, and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. Then, he opened the time-travel simulator's panel.
First things first: collect the rewards.
The options this time had been quite compelling. The JOJO world certainly held many treasures. In the simulation, Zhou Ning had lived long enough to become a legendary vampire of immense power. Besides the stone mask, his collection could have included arrows or other artifacts.
But at that moment, the Ripple breathing technique was what appealed to him most. There was no need to risk it all for some uncertain prize, so he had prudently chosen option one.
[You chose option one.]
[You have acquired the skill: Expert Pick-up Artistry.]
[You have acquired the skill: Ripple Breathing (Basic).]
[You have acquired the skill: Mysticism (Intermediate).]
[Expert Pick-up Artistry]: Charm +1. Your powerful charisma and thick skin ensure your advances are rarely rebuffed.
[Ripple Breathing (Basic)]: A powerful breathing technique that channels life energy. Strength +3, Agility +3.
[Mysticism (Intermediate)]: Spirit +1. You possess profound knowledge in the field of mysticism and have learned to craft a number of esoteric items.
Instantly, a deluge of information flooded his mind, making his head throb. He felt as if his brain had been suddenly crammed with all sorts of mysterious knowledge, including the complete methodology for Ripple breathing. It took him a long while to recover.
He took a deep breath, and a wave of heat immediately rose from his lungs. He could feel life energy surging through his body.
The knowledge of how to use Ripple and channel its energy into objects felt as natural as instinct.
It was magical. He'd been exhausted after the day's events, but now he felt brimming with strength. The physical aches and mental fatigue had completely vanished.
Tsk, what a well-made game.
He clicked on the [Mysticism] skill, and a list of crafting recipes for extraordinary items appeared before him.
The Stone Mask was at the top of the list, followed by Voodoo Dolls, Mithril Bullets, Holy Water Formulas, and more. It just goes to show how superstitious my legendary vampire persona was, he thought.
But... the Stone Mask? Does the system want me to create vampires in the real world?
[It has been detected that the player has successfully completed "Lost in the Fog City" and has one more chance to retain their talent in the real world. Do you want to draw it? Yes/No]
"How does retaining a talent in the real world work?"
[You can choose to keep one of the three talents selected during this time-travel simulation. Once retained, you will possess this talent in both the real world and the simulation. However, you may only have one additional retained talent in the simulation at a time, which can be changed at any time.]
Was there even a choice? With a surge of excitement, Zhou Ning decisively selected 'Yes'.
[Lottery completed: You have obtained the talent Tony Stark (Purple).]
[Tony Stark (Purple)]: Just like Iron Man, you are a quintessential playboy. You can be sharp-tongued, but you are also intelligent, resourceful, and possess an extreme talent for scientific research.
Zhou Ning paused. "System, if I take this talent, will my personality change?"
For once, the system seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying: [Not entirely. Your core personality will remain dominant.]
Zhou Ning nodded as the game panel refreshed. His attributes had undergone their first earth-shaking change since he'd started using the simulator.
His Agility, in particular, was now 30% higher than that of an average person, placing him firmly in the realm of the extraordinary.
And his Charm had reached an unprecedented 99 points!
Name: Zhou Ning/Wayne Stewell
Race: Human
Template: NPC [Countdown to open beta: 47 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes]
Level: 2
Occupation: Student/Teaching Assistant [1/10]
Secondary Occupation: Linguist [2/10]
Talent: Tony Stark (Purple)
Personal Attributes: Strength 10, Agility 13, Stamina 8, Will 9, Spirit 9, Charm 99
Health: 80/80
Stamina: 96/96
Willpower: 9/9
Mana: 0
Life Skills: Alchemy (Basic), Mysticism (Intermediate)
General Skills: Professional English Proficiency, Pickpocketing (Intermediate), Advanced Shooting Proficiency, Expert Pick-up Artistry, Ripple Breathing (Basic)
(The rest is omitted for now.)
[Evaluation: A man who has just begun to acquire combat abilities. His actual strength, however, pales in comparison to his stunning looks.]
Tears welled up in Zhou Ning's eyes.
The evaluation finally says I'm more than just a pretty face! he thought, overjoyed. This is great!
Right, what about those new maps and features the system mentioned?
He opened the simulator panel again. Sure enough, a small red dot had appeared on the map, indicating new content. And next to it, one of the two previously locked tabs was now available: Lottery.