40: Xu Duantong's "bad start"

Chapter 40: Xu Duantong's "Terrible" Start

It seems the people of this world have been influenced by another world, coupled with the World Will.

The professional system, similar to games from his previous life, has character panels and levels.

Xu Duantong naturally had one too.

He opened his character panel with an indescribable feeling:

Andrew (Xu Duantong)

Level: 4

Strength: 13

Agility: 10

Constitution: 11

Spirit: 12

Free Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

Gold: 154

Talents:

Crippled: Constitution decreases by 10 points with each level up.

Skills:

Heavy Strike level 3: Attacks enemies with full force.

Shockwave level 2: Releases a shockwave to attack enemies within 10 yards in front.

"..." Xu Duantong fell silent for a moment. As a person from the 22nd century, he was also a gaming enthusiast.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at this panel... it was a "terrible" start, the kind of terrible that means completely burnt.

And this talent... it's truly outrageous! A talent that lowers Constitution upon leveling up?

No wonder he felt so "weak"! From his memories, he was also very decadent; everyone else was busy leveling up, striving to become stronger, constantly killing evil monsters.

But he was different; he would hide whenever possible, not wanting to level up at all...

So this talent was waiting for him here! Losing 10 points of Constitution with each level up...

Each level up grants +1 to all attributes, plus 5 free attribute points.

Even if he put all points into Constitution, he would still lose 4 points...

Good heavens! This talent is truly moving!

Despite this, he still managed to reach level 4?

If that's the case... his innate Constitution must have been over twenty points, right?

How could such a person have the "Crippled" talent?

Although talents are random when one becomes a professional, they do have some connection to the person themselves.

"Is Heaven trying to destroy me! Did it bring me here just to toy with me until I die?" Xu Duantong felt his life turn bleak.

At this moment, a "ding" sounded in Xu Duantong's mind, and his cheat arrived.

"System?!" How could Xu Duantong not have read web novels? A cheat is a must for transmigration! And here it is!

Xu Duantong was incredibly excited. It seems his "predecessors" did not lie to him! A cheat is a must for transmigration!

Xu Duantong looked at the system, and his fervent heart slowly extinguished.

This was a "pay-to-win" system!

The currency for paying was something called source points.

Xu Duantong checked his source points: 1855 points.

That seems like a lot!

Xu Duantong opened the shop.

A large recommendation appeared:

Newbie Pack: Price 1000 source points.

"???" Xu Duantong was full of questions. Did it think he didn't play games?

Whose newbie pack costs 1000 yuan? Even Tencent would be crying tears of envy, alright!

For such a crooked merchant! For such a game! Xu Duantong would immediately report it! Not even a dog would play this, alright! It's simply heartlessly black!

[Purchase Successful]

Xu Duantong: "Open Newbie Pack."

[Obtained Talent: Chosen One]

[Obtained Skill: Fireball]

[Obtained Equipment: Sharp Katana]

"???" Xu Duantong looked at the three unrelated rewards. You give me Fireball, then give me a katana as equipment?

However, the system was his father; to survive, Xu Duantong could only rely on the system's power.

He immediately checked these rewards:

[Chosen One: All attributes increase from +1 to +2 per level up, free attribute points increase from 5 to 10 points]

[Fireball level 1: Launches a Fireball to attack enemies]

[Sharp Katana: Strength +12, Constitution +5, Agility +8. Additional: [Bleed: 10% chance to cause bleeding on hit, dealing bleed damage and increasing damage taken by 10%]]

It seems quite good! Especially the Chosen One.

At least... it offsets his other "Crippled" talent, meaning he gains no free attribute points and +2 to all attributes per level up.

Calculated this way, it's equivalent to gaining +8 attribute points per level, which is one point less than a normal person in this world.

Xu Duantong could still barely accept this, after all, with the system in hand, there should be other ways to increase his strength!

At least this equipment was a very good direction.

And then, he could fight monsters to level up! He no longer had to worry about leveling himself to death.

Xu Duantong then checked what he could buy on the system panel.

All kinds of equipment! From 100 source points to equipment with a string of nines in source points, everything was available.

He could also buy skills and upgrade skills.

In this world, skills are either self-taught, obtained through skill books, or taught by a "mentor."

One skill point is gained with each level up.

Used to increase skill levels.

Apparently, the original owner had invested all his skill points from leveling up into Heavy Strike and Shockwave, leaving none behind.

Xu Duantong saw many passive skills and was very eager, especially many passive skills that increased Constitution.

He desperately needed them now! Especially a passive skill called [Good Kidneys], which could grant him Constitution equal to his level * 1, meaning one Constitution per level.

This could further reduce the "DEBUFF" brought by his talent... but unfortunately, this passive skill cost 10,000 source points, which he couldn't afford.

Xu Duantong was currently tormented by this [Crippled] talent.

"Sigh~ I'll take it one step at a time. At least now I can go out of the city to fight monsters!" Xu Duantong sighed. His remaining eight hundred-plus source points couldn't do anything. This system, which demanded source points, sold things that were all very expensive. The cheapest seemed to be the Newbie Pack he just bought... it was actually quite conscientious...

Wait a minute? I actually thought this Newbie Pack was conscientious?! Xu Duantong almost didn't react.

Sigh, Xu Duantong sighed. After all that, he still had to go out and kill monsters. He picked up the [Sharp Katana] he took out of his spatial storage and stood up.

He wasn't worried about others seeing it; in this world, every professional has an exclusive professional backpack, which is a storage space.

The higher the level, the larger the storage space. This is something every professional possesses.

Xu Duantong now took a good look at this place.

The camp residents primarily lived in tents, along with some carriages, shelves, etc., forming individual public "private territories."

The outermost layer was a wall built from some unknown black wood.

There were watchtowers, and guards stood at the entrance.

The sky was dark red, and there seemed to be a smell of sulfur in the air.

The ground was like scorched earth, with virtually no vegetation.

One could only say that this world was truly a "desperate" world, from every aspect.

The people walking around were mostly professionals wearing various equipment.

Ordinary people could only work as various logistics personnel, service staff, etc., to make a living.

In this world, killing monsters would drop gold, equipment, and various items.

Isn't this just a game world?!

Or rather, a digitized real world.

There were no health bars; an attack could cut off your head, and no matter how strong you were, if you could die, then you would die.

There wouldn't be a situation where no matter how strong the attack, as long as you had a health bar, you'd be fine.

To put it plainly, reality was primary, data was secondary.

The digitization here clearly only digitized one's own abilities in the form of a panel, rather than digitizing people and the world entirely.

Xu Duantong also understood this point, so he naturally couldn't treat it entirely as a game.

His previous life, let's call it his previous life for now.

Back then, in games, as long as the health bar was visible, he could kill! And he wasn't afraid of dying, since he could revive.

But in this world, there was no such thing as dying and reviving.

Xu Duantong had to be cautious, extremely cautious!

Now, let's go out and see the situation first. He hoped this was a newbie village, and the monsters outside wouldn't be too strong!

Xu Duantong, holding his katana, walked towards the village entrance.

As Xu Duantong walked out of the village, the guards simultaneously said, "Professional! We bless you for a safe return!"

"Thank you!" Xu Duantong was momentarily stunned, then turned to express his gratitude.

Xu Duantong hadn't walked far when he saw some black-grey, grotesque, unknown humanoid creatures wandering ahead.

How to describe them? They were somewhat similar to humans, but only had an upper body, as if a person had been horizontally cut in half, and then they crawled on the ground using their hands.

Their entire body was black-grey, with no visible muscle or skeletal structure, and no fur. Their head also lacked a complete set of facial features, only a single blood-red eye and a large mouth that took up half their head.

The mouth full of sharp teeth clearly indicated high damage, and its thin, pointed tongue constantly whipped around as it crawled, looking very flexible.

Xu Duantong looked at the monster, his expression hard to describe.

Fortunately, he had a built-in detection system that wasn't part of the panel. Of course, it only displayed the name and level.

Crawling Ghost - Level: level 3

He didn't know its specific strength, but a level 3 monster... he should be able to defeat it, right?

Xu Duantong thought for a moment and decided to give it a try.