Chapter 72: Chapter 71: Starting at Level 15, How Do You Play?
Yuan Buping and his companions' Gunman Profession was still in an unactivated state. To successfully activate the career, only three conditions needed to be met.
1: Craft an exclusive F-grade weapon.
2: Clear a Secret Realm once.
3: Spend 200 Star Coins.
It was simple, without much difficulty, at least for him now, it wasn't anything too hard to do. Plus, with just 100 experience points, he could smoothly reach lv.1. He planned to take Yuan Buping and the others to the Secret Realm Building to farm some experience for a while.
These perfectly cleared Secret Realms generally had guides that could be looked up; low-level Secret Realms just required one to follow the procedures once inside. As long as nothing absurd was done, it was unlikely any accidents would occur.
Unless one's brain got waterlogged and they decided to stray from the main group to peer into the well of some deserted courtyard to see what was at the bottom.
Perfectly clearing an F-grade uncultivated Secret Realm, the reward was 100 experience points.
Clearing an F-grade cultivated Secret Realm, the reward was 20 experience points.
In the federation, there was something quite magical known as Protectors, and of course, some people preferred to call them power levelers.
For just a bit of money, one could have a powerful person, such as a level fifteen expert, lead you through some F or E grade Secret Realms. There was no pressure; one could simply follow behind, sipping cola and singing songs, and easily clear the realms.
However, only a small portion of Secret Realms had no level restriction; most Secret Realms imposed level restrictions on entering players.
And these level-unrestricted Secret Realms were often referred to by people as Chaotic Demon Dances; one could never know if the teammate beside them might be a level fifteen big shot.
If one encountered a confrontational type of level-unrestricted Secret Realm.
Then they could only pray for good luck, as it most likely boiled down to which side had the more fierce Protector.
Chen Miao had looked it up online; after clearing any of the level-unrestricted Secret Realms in Fengtian City, one could receive 1200 experience points, enough to level up to 3 and still have 400 extra experience points left, at a total cost of 600,000 credit points.
For just 600,000, one could skyrocket from level 0 to 3 in an instant.
A Secret Realm run every few minutes, unimaginably fast.
Many rich heirs directly spent 600,000 to have someone level them up to 3 first, then they would start forming teams to explore the Secret Realms themselves, which could save them quite a lot of time. However, it is said that the people in Jingjiu City didn't play this way.
Those people in Jingjiu City, likewise hiring levelers, didn't just go to the unrestricted Secret Realms of Jingjiu City; they would visit all cities' unrestricted Secret Realms across the entire federation.
All in one go.
For just a mere 90 million credit points, one could take a leisurely journey and come back as a level 15 Supernatural Occupation.
Starting at level 15, how would you compete?
It was said that Jingjiu City once had an 18-level Supernatural who shocked the entire federation, and the shocking part was that this Supernatural was just one year and seven months old.
...
And today, Chen Miao intended to hire a leveler to take Yuan Buping and the others to level 3, thus activating the Gunman Profession, and incidentally allowing the normal use of the Thomson Submachine Guns he had distributed.
600,000 per person, for seventeen people, was 10.2 million.
Just over 10 million, not too expensive.
But he didn't have it.
So he found a cost-saving method.
"Hard work."
Chen Miao looked back at Zhou Shen with a smile: "After this is over, I'll treat you to a good meal."
"..."
Today, Zhou Shen wasn't wearing a uniform, but casual clothes instead. He stood there, the corners of his mouth twitching wildly; lying down like this, he feared today he might have a hard time walking out normally, this was going to exhaust him.
As the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Bureau, this was his first time working with such high intensity.
But he couldn't not show up.
After all, he was now Chen Miao's man, and he still hoped Chen Miao would help him achieve the position of Deputy Director of the Events Bureau, so how could he refuse.
"Eh."
Chen Miao suddenly thought of something, turned his head to look at Zhou Shen: "Since this levelling service is so profitable, making 600,000 credit points a day, why don't you make this extra money on the side?"
"There aren't many in Fengtian City who can make that amount."
Zhou Shen shook his head and explained: "After all, only a minority play this way, and the vast majority simply can't afford it. 600,000, that's an amount many ordinary people wouldn't be able to save in their entire lives without eating or drinking."
"Only a few people who can afford to play like this wouldn't look for someone in the external market; they already have Supernatural Beings within their own forces who specialize in mentoring newcomers. Those few who do need to find someone in the market always turn to familiar faces. The number of jobs that actually end up in this market can be counted on the fingers of one hand over the course of a year."
"Take the people from Jingjiu City, for example. They claim it's 90 million Star Coins to guarantee a level 15, but the actual cost is nowhere near that high since those major families all have people specifically trained to guide others through the maps."
"They just really do charge 90 million, that's all."
"And though the market is indeed vast, there isn't any malicious competition, the prices are basically fixed. This is because someone is controlling it. Privilege is privilege because only a handful of people have it, and many don't want to share it."
"Understood."
Chen Miao nodded, smiling, "Then let's get started. We have a tight schedule and a lot of work to do; we have to finish before 9 o'clock tonight."
"Don't get your hopes up too high."
Zhou Shen shook his head helplessly, "Today, at best, we can get about seven or eight people to level 3. The rest will have to wait for next time."
"No problem, just do as much as we can. A few is better than none."
...
After watching Zhou Shen and others walk towards the elevator to enter the Secret Realm, Chen Miao led Hungry Monkey to the reception desk in the hall to inquire about what floor the Secret Realm for testing Combat Power was on.
He couldn't take Yuan Buping and the others to farm experience because he was on the verge of leveling up himself, and he didn't want to level up. Leveling up would disqualify him from participating in the major event, and all his preparations would be wasted.
But since he had come, he might as well see what his Combat Power was.
"The 27th floor, is it?"
"Okay, thank you."
Chen Miao casually thanked the receptionist and then followed Hungry Monkey into the elevator to go to the 27th floor to test his actual Combat Power value.
...
Meanwhile, Zhou Shen was already going berserk in the Secret Realm, fully unleashing the might of the Supernatural Occupation 'Fist Dominator'.
"Die for me!!!!"
Before Yuan Buping even finished reading the Secret Realm Introduction panel, he saw Zhou Shen lift his fist high, ignoring the lesser monsters on the street, and rush straight to the end of the road where he pounded the boss that had just jumped out to death.
'Ding, congratulations to player Yuan Buping for successfully clearing Grade F Secret Realm 'Autumn Demise'.'
The dumbfounded Yuan Buping glanced at the settlement panel and then at his watch — it took 28 seconds.
Awesome!
This was a five-person Secret Realm with no level restrictions. Only the first clearance provided experience; no matter how many times it was cleared after that, no experience was given. This was also the special feature of level-unrestricted Secret Realms.
Basically, only level-unrestricted Secret Realms could be entered repeatedly. Theoretically speaking, all other Secret Realms could not be revisited.
For instance, the Experience Secret Realm and the first Secret Realm that Chen Miao entered were both one-time-only.
Before Yuan Buping had time to react, a flash of white light whisked him out of the Secret Realm. Without a moment to think, he immediately followed Zhou Shen directly to another Secret Realm next door.
This time.
Yuan Buping was quick to read the entire Secret Realm panel, to avoid the same situation where the Secret Realm was cleared before he had finished reading. He wasn't just after the experience; it was also about gaining a better understanding of the Secret Realms.
It would be a big help the next time he entered a Secret Realm on his own.
Just as he finished reading the panel, he saw Zhou Shen leaping through the air, releasing a roaring punch that hit the ground, sending countless ripples spreading out from the epicenter of the punch, and the monsters that hadn't even emerged from underground yet.
With that one punch, including the boss, everything was annihilated.
For a level 21 'Fist Dominator', slaughtering level 1 monsters and level 3 bosses was as easy as slicing through melons!
It was a one-sided massacre!
"..."
Yuan Buping stood silently in place, his face expressionless as he said nothing. He suddenly felt a complete shift in his understanding. He had always believed that with enough hard work, gradually saving up to buy a Job Transfer Book, he could catch up with the privileged and powerful Supernaturals one day.
Now, he saw that he was utterly naive.
He relied on his own hard work.
Whereas those people relied on the efforts of countless others beneath them.
It simply wasn't the same dimension.