35: Chapter 35 The Way of the Professional

The three of them crouched beside the rules written in blood.

Combining this with the information released by the Starlight Will before the plot began:

[ ' Emperor with Real Power ' plot content: Your emperor has been controlled by the people around him (disguised 'Anomalies'), the palace (Home Base) is no longer under your (Strategist) control, the divine tree containing great power cannot take root there, and corruption is about to spread here... ]

[ Objective: Find the 'Anomalies' around the emperor, roleplay as appropriate characters, and eliminate the 'Anomalies' ]

Combining this with the three rules before them, Chen Aoyun deduced the general situation of this plot mission:

" The emperor is controlled by 'Anomalies'. This is a script similar to 'Clearing the Emperor's Side'!

The script may be divided into two parts: forming a 'Clearing the Emperor's Side' team and finding the 'Anomalies'.

The first part is forming the 'Clearing the Emperor's Side' team. [ Plot Rule 1 ] says: When the 'Crusade Value' reaches 100%, you can mobilize the army to head straight for the palace and eliminate the villains (Anomalies) around the emperor.

Bringing this corpse back to the military tent will provide 50% Crusade Value, leaving 50% remaining. I guess the remaining Crusade Value might only be obtained after returning to the military tent.

In other words, this first part is the work the three of us need to do!

The second part is to find the 'Anomalies' around the emperor. That guy Fan Ling is not here; his identity is 'Minister of Works', so he should be in the palace. His task is to find the 'Anomalies' within the palace. "

Zhao Hongxiu's view was consistent with Chen Aoyun's, and she added:

" Your analysis is correct. We must do both: form a team to crusade against the 'Anomalies' and find the 'Anomalies' in the palace, and the mission should be completed.

As for these 'glory fragments'... 'glory fragments' are used to summon Heroic Spirits, and Heroic Spirits can be used as a fallback.

Whether it's forming the crusade army or identifying the 'Anomalies', if normal means fail, it's time for the Heroic Spirits to take the stage! "

Chen Aoyun understood what Zhao Hongxiu meant.

With 100% Crusade Value, one can mobilize the army to head straight for the palace, but what if we can't reach 100%?

What if the plot progression gets stuck?

That is when [ Heroic Spirits ] take the stage.

Summoning a [ Heroic Spirit ] with charismatic appeal, and under the leadership of the Heroic Spirit, forcibly seizing military power and marching on the palace—this is the role of Heroic Spirits in this plot mission!

The only difference is the method of summoning Heroic Spirits.

On the Starlight Chessboard, Chen Aoyun uses Construction Power to form pieces and place them to summon Heroic Spirits.

But in the plot world, summoning Heroic Spirits can only be done through 'glory fragments'. Ten 'glory fragments' summon one Heroic Spirit. Currently, they only have three, so it is obvious that Heroic Spirits in the plot are not that easy to summon.

Zhao Hongxiu looked at Chen Aoyun, " Mr. Strategist, your task is to conceive suitable Heroic Spirits. If the plot gets stuck, we need you to provide a fallback.

You might need to conceive two Heroic Spirits at the same time: if we get stuck in the process of forming the crusade army, we need a charismatic Heroic Spirit to provide a fallback and forcibly seize military power.

At the same time, we need to prepare for the worst regarding Fan Ling. We don't know his situation right now. In case he can't find the 'Anomalies' in the palace, the crusade will have no target, so you might also need to prepare a Heroic Spirit capable of distinguishing friend from foe! "

After taking a long look at Chen Aoyun, Zhao Hongxiu herself felt that she was asking for too much.

[ Zhao Yun ] and [ General Zhang Fei ] were just summoned by him. It was already very difficult to summon these two for the Dragon Kingdom, which had no native Heroic Spirits. Now, she was actually asking Chen Aoyun to continue thinking of new Huaxia Civilization Heroic Spirits, and two with special purposes at that.

Are Heroic Spirits that easy to perceive?

If Heroic Spirits could be perceived so easily, the Dragon Kingdom wouldn't have gone thousands of years without a single native Heroic Spirit, struggling in the Game of National Destiny, and causing the national destiny to hit rock bottom.

Zhao Hongxiu felt that her request was too demanding and just wanted to say something, but unexpectedly, Chen Aoyun nodded very seriously and said, " Fine! Leave the Heroic Spirits to me; you just continue progressing through the plot normally. "

Hearing Chen Aoyun calmly agree to her request, Zhao Hongxiu didn't know what to say for a moment and stood there stunned.

Chen Aoyun didn't think it was a big deal. Finding suitable Heroic Spirits wasn't difficult; what was difficult was the 'glory fragments'. Without enough 'glory fragments', even if he had suitable candidates for Heroic Spirits in mind, he wouldn't be able to summon them either.

" Stop calling me Mr. Strategist, Mr. Strategist. Just call me by my name, Chen Aoyun. "

Having determined their respective roles, the three of them prepared to lead the troops back to the military tent.

The problem was, where was the military tent?

Chen Aoyun subconsciously asked a soldier nearby.

Zhao Hongxiu and Xiao Zhenghong were startled when they saw this and wanted to stop him, but they were a step too slow.

" Where is the military tent? Take us back to the military tent. "

As soon as Chen Aoyun asked the question, the surrounding soldiers who heard it suddenly looked at Chen Aoyun in unison.

[ Plot Rule 3: Any rude, strange, or non-compliant behavior will increase suspicion towards you. When a character's suspicion value towards you reaches 100, they will view you as a serious threat and will proceed to eliminate you ]

By the time Chen Aoyun reacted, it was already too late, and a message appeared before his eyes: [ Your behavior is strange, suspicion from surrounding soldiers + 30 ]

Chen Aoyun quickly shut his mouth. Fortunately, the suspicion level didn't increase by much.

Zhao Hongxiu rode forward and quietly shielded Chen Aoyun behind her, " Take that corpse and return to camp! "

As expected of a veteran player, she didn't need to ask where the military tent was; she simply commanded the troops to return to camp and followed behind them.

It wasn't that Chen Aoyun couldn't think of this, but having never been a [ Roleplayer ] before, he was not yet accustomed to the way of progressing through plots.

" It's fine. Everyone is the same when entering a plot as a Roleplayer for the first time. I caused much more trouble than you did during my first roleplay... " Xiao Zhenghong walked up, patted Chen Aoyun on the shoulder, and said with a smile.

It was just a small episode with low suspicion, but it rang an alarm for Chen Aoyun.

Having become cautious, Chen Aoyun began to analyze the things he should pay attention to, and for a while, he didn't say a word.

The three of them silently followed the troops back to the camp.

Xiao Zhenghong said, " There's no need, really no need, Mr. Strategist... Chen Aoyun, there's no need to be overly cautious. If the rules don't specifically state otherwise, the characters in the plot cannot hear or see the conversations between Roleplayers and Strategists. "

Only then did Chen Aoyun relax a little. The road back to the camp was a bit long, and along the way, Chen Aoyun summarized some points to be mindful of when progressing through the plot, such as: don't ask random questions, don't act blindly without observing first... and so on.

This caution of Chen Aoyun made Zhao Hongxiu and Xiao Zhenghong feel it was a bit exaggerated, but on the other hand, it also made them feel that Chen Aoyun was indeed a reliable companion and commander.

[ Strategist ] is the commander of all [ Roleplayers ], which is a right granted by the rules. Being overly cautious as a [ Strategist ] is actually not a bad thing.

On the way back to the camp, Chen Aoyun remembered the battle just now and asked: " How did you manage to have combat power beyond that of ordinary people even without the support of Heroic Spirit Manifestations? Is it the ability of [ Roleplayers ]? Since the ability of Roleplayers is so strong, why are Heroic Spirits still the key to winning or losing in every Game of National Destiny? "

Zhao Hongxiu explained: " The combat power that Xiao Zhenghong and I displayed just now is indeed the ability of [ Roleplayers ]. Like [ Strategists ], [ Roleplayers ] are divided into nine ranks. Each rank can obtain the ability of a [ Profession ]!

I follow the [ Path of the Soldier ], currently at rank three, possessing the abilities of the [ Warlord ], [ Military Medic ], and [ Knight ] professions. That [ Hold the Line ] just now was a skill of the [ Warlord ] in the [ Path of the Soldier ].

The power of [ Heroic Spirits ] comes from the power of humanities of the Old Era. The power of [ Roleplayers ] is the same; it also comes from the power of humanities of the Old Era.

Using various [ Professions ] of the Old Era as carriers of the power of humanities, Roleplayers have multiple [ Career Paths ] to choose from, such as [ Military ], [ Bandit ], [ Official ], [ Artist ], [ Competitor ], [ Shaman ]... and so on. The higher the rank of the [ Career Path ], the stronger the ability.

Furthermore, the abilities of [ Roleplayers ] can also overlap with the Manifestations of [ Heroic Spirits ]. There was no manifestation of this in the previous stage because the rules of the previous stage disabled the abilities of both Strategists and Roleplayers themselves.

But regardless of whether it is [ Roleplayers ] or [ Strategists ], no matter how high the rank, how many abilities, or how strong, they only enhance capabilities at a conventional level.

They cannot be compared at all to the skills of [ Heroic Spirits ]. The exclusive skills of [ Heroic Spirits ] are all 'conceptual' skills. As long as they do not conflict with the major rules, the skills of [ Heroic Spirits ] can even change the logic of battle, just like the [ One Man Blocks the Gate ] you activated a short while ago! "

[ Career Path ]? Chen Aoyun was stunned, then couldn't help but ask: " Can any [ Profession ] become an ability for [ Roleplayers ]? What about those who sing opera? Is there a corresponding career path for [ Opera ]? You know, the kind that wears big red opera robes and can do face-changing? "

Chen Aoyun was just asking casually, but unexpectedly Zhao Hongxiu said there really was: " Are you talking about [ Performer ]? Performer should belong to the [ Path of the Artist ], and Sakura Country and some Western countries have such Roleplayers. "

Chen Aoyun was puzzled: " [ Performer ]? Why is it [ Performer ]? Why isn't there an [ Actor ] profession in the [ Path of the Artist ]? "

Zhao Hongxiu didn't know what 'Actor' referred to, but she guessed something and said: " If the 'Actor' you mentioned is a profession unique to the Old Era, then it might really not exist in the [ Path of the Artist ]! [ Career Paths ] are also related to civilization.

Huaxia Civilization has performed too poorly in thousands of years of the Game of National Destiny. The civilization is not prominent, so the unique [ Professions ] within the civilization will naturally not be recognized by the Starlight Will to become [ Professions ] selectable by [ Roleplayers ]. "

Zhao Hongxiu's expression was lonely, " Never mind the [ Professions ] unique to Huaxia Civilization; even shared professions don't possess Huaxia elements because Huaxia Civilization is not prominent.

You might not understand what I'm saying, so let me give you an example. For instance, the [ Hold the Line ] I just activated as a [ Warlord ]. Aren't you surprised that I, a person from the Dragon Kingdom, activated an ability as a [ Warlord ] that actually has the typical holy attributes of the Western world. "

What Zhao Hongxiu said made Chen Aoyun recall that in the battle just now, whether it was Zhao Hongxiu or Xiao Zhenghong, the power on them was very holy, as if they were fighting using the holy light power of the Western world.

" Is it because Huaxia elements are not prominent, so even if your [ Professions ] are very common, they cannot possess Huaxia attributes? "

Zhao Hongxiu and Xiao Zhenghong nodded at the same time, " The power of [ Career Paths ] is magical, but no matter how magical, it relies on civilization. Huaxia Civilization has never been prominent in the Game of National Destiny, so any [ Profession ] of our Dragon Kingdom's Roleplayers does not possess the elements of Huaxia Civilization.

My [ Warlord ] uses holy light to 'lead the army', and Xiao Zhenghong's [ Judgement ] also uses holy light to judge... Since we've mentioned [ Career Paths ], I might as well explain it to you thoroughly.

[ Career Paths ] are things that have many wonderful and special aspects. Take healing abilities, for example. [ Path of the Soldier ], [ Path of the Official ], and [ Path of the Shaman ] all have [ Professions ] with healing abilities. The [ Military Medic ] in [ Path of the Soldier ] can heal, the [ Medical Official ] in [ Path of the Official ] has healing abilities, and the [ Priest ] in [ Path of the Shaman ] can equally heal themselves and others.

Let me tell you another thing that might shock you. In the first stage, Old Li, Li Changchun, who roleplayed the 'Prime Minister'. This Li Changchun can often roleplay various big figures. Do you know what his [ Path ] is? "

A [ Roleplayer ] who is good at being an official and good at roleplaying high-ranking officials. Chen Aoyun subconsciously thought that this person should follow the [ Path of the Official ]. If you are an official but don't follow the [ Path of the Official ], could it be that you follow the [ Path of the Bandit ]?

But the answer Zhao Hongxiu revealed surprised Chen Aoyun. " Old Li follows the [ Path of the Enterprise ]! The [ Financier ] profession in the [ Path of the Enterprise ] allows Old Li to quickly accumulate assets in any plot and mission. By using assets to bribe his way to 'pass the plot' or 'get promoted', Old Li can do better in the officialdom of the plot than those who follow the [ Path of the Official ]! "

Chen Aoyun was dumbfounded. Can the Game of National Destiny be played like this? Zhao Hongxiu's words once again refreshed Chen Aoyun's understanding of the Game of National Destiny.

Chen Aoyun couldn't help but be curious, " What about [ Strategists ]? [ Strategists ] are also divided into ranks. Are the abilities of [ Strategists ] also this strange and exaggerated? "

This actually stumped Zhao Hongxiu; she had never been a [ Strategist ] and could not give an answer. " Every time a Game of National Destiny is completed, the participating [ Strategists ] and [ Roleplayers ] can gain experience to increase their rank. If the Dragon Kingdom can get a ranking in this Game of National Destiny, you, a rank 0 [ Strategist ], should be able to increase your rank. By then, you will know what the situation is with [ Strategists ]. "

Chen Aoyun nodded. Not far away, a huge military fortress had already appeared. " Let's progress through the plot first; other questions can wait until later. "

Closely following the troops, the three of them stepped into the fortress gate...