Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!
Chapter 38 - 37: Men Keep Their IDs, Women Empower Themselves

Chapter 38: Chapter 37: Men Keep Their IDs, Women Empower Themselves

Wang Hao had thought about trying harder, yet the week had passed in a blur.

"I need to find a job!"

"If nothing works, setting up a shop on the street and writing online novels isn’t a bad idea either."

Whether he could make money didn’t matter, these idle days just didn’t align with Wang Hao’s values.

He always felt like he was committing a crime!

But... however... still...

Before that, why not log into the game?

Logging in wouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Whispers from a demon echoed in his mind, urging him to play the game.

Wang Hao, driven to annoyance by the thought, cursed inwardly, "It’s just logging in, I swear—I absolutely—won’t play!!!"

After putting on the headset, he saw a line of text.

["Turtle Soup Game’s" settlement has been successfully completed.]

[You have gained game points: 1500.]

[You currently have a total of 2800 points.]

[You have gained a Character Card: Chen Xinyi. You can now control Chen Xinyi to play the game.]

Oh?

Another character card?

He couldn’t help but feel delighted.

"I swear—I absolutely—won’t play!"

"I’m just looking."

He clicked on the character card.

[Name: Chen Xinyi]

[Female, 24 years old.]

[Profession: Journalist, Black-clothed Guard E-grade reservist]

"Yo, becoming an E-grade reservist of the Black-clothed Guards, huh? I get it, Miss Chen Xinyi, you were investigated and then drafted?" Wang Hao couldn’t help but snark.

He remembered that she didn’t have this status at the start of the game.

However, in the game, each character also has their own life trajectory, and "Black-clothed Guard" is clearly a significant supernatural organization within the game. It’s normal for some changes to happen.

[Physique: 95 (Ordinary)]

[Talent: Embrace the Ether II. Your innate high spiritual power allows you "accidentally" witness some strange things, making you suspect the real truth of the world. You have found the real supernatural circle.]

[Beauty: Your appearance surpasses normal humans, which helps in your social job.]

[Pathological psychology: Masochist (severe)—Since experiencing the pleasure brought by fear and danger, you can’t stop thinking about this intense sensation, and you seek to experience it again involuntarily.]

"Gah?" Wang Hao couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "Addicted to masochism, what a remarkable fetish."

The new female character was quite pretty, tall, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and even though her chest was a bit small, her outfit was impeccable. And yet, she turned out to be a severe masochist!

He remembered that in the "Turtle Soup Game," the masochism was only mild...

[Spiritual Strength: 233]

[Abilities: None]

[Comprehensive Evaluation: C-grade]

Although Chen Xinyi was quite attractive, she didn’t strike Wang Hao’s fancy; he wasn’t interested in weaklings...

In gaming, he only cared about strength, strength, strength!

"Emm... No matter how good-looking, I never keep vases before the resources overflow."

In various game settings, combat power seemed useless, as it was hard for humans to fight against horrors directly.

But "physical ability" and "psychological quality" indeed made a substantial difference in improving the gaming experience.

"Li Qingshan" could run faster, jump farther, easily scale walls, climb ropes, and even had special abilities like "bullet-time" to dodge some dangers.

"Li Qingshan," under a crisis, had a very low chance of underperforming because his psychological constitution is solid.

As for the newly acquired woman "Chen Xinyi"... she couldn’t even climb over a 2-meter-high wall, nor could she swim across a wide river.

Thus, Wang Hao didn’t plan on spending money to train her.

That’s how gaming works!

"Men keep their ID, women must fend for themselves," no one wants to spend money training a noob.

"Go fend for yourself, woman!"

If she could freeload more attributes in the Basic Training Camp, she would get a bit more attention in the future.

If that didn’t work out, she’d just be treated as a mascot.

Anyway, he wouldn’t spend a dime on her!

He glanced again at Li Qingshan’s resume, which had a few more lines: [Li Qingshan is learning how to operate the Leopard-2 main battle tank. Happiness +1]

[Li Qingshan is learning how to use a Gatling gun. Happiness +2]

Wang Hao: "..."

You are really something, truly happy.

Happy, just be happy then.

[Through prolonged training, Li Qingshan’s Spiritual Strength has slightly increased. (381)]

"Oh, finally did something productive."

Spiritual Strength, in other words, "Soul Strength," to a certain extent is equivalent to spiritual power and is somewhat similar to the magic value in other games.

Li Qingshan’s abilities "Bullet Time" and "Beast Intuition" each require the consumption of his own Spiritual Power.

Moreover, the more complex the ability, the more it requires high Spiritual Strength to support.

"Bullet Time" merely temporarily boosts Li Qingshan’s neural responsiveness, belonging to the "spiritual" domain rather than the "Time System."

Li Qingshan’s 381 points of Spiritual Strength were far from enough to truly control time.

As for how to train new superpowers, the Basic Training Camp had no related functions. He’d need to spend money to upgrade to "Intermediate Training Camp" to access them.

Wang Hao felt a bit troubled, the points he had at hand were not too many but also not too few. What to invest in?

"Upgrading to Intermediate Training Camp costs 2000 points, so expensive!"

A random draw for an Ordinary Level Strange Object would cost 1000 points...

He did feel an impulse to try his luck with a draw.

How could you play a game without drawing?

"What if I draw junk?"

"I only have 2800 points in hand, and each resurrection costs 100 points, buying clues costs an extra 500... The currency system in this game is too tight, no option to inject real money, really not very fun. If I could inject real money, I’d blow it up in a day!"

After thinking it over, Wang Hao decided not to make a purchase.

I’ll endure!

The Hoarder Party never loses.

Just as he was about to log off and do some chores, suddenly, a line of text popped up on the screen.

[Detected that your Basic Training Camp might have a "Guest" visit!]

[Do you allow the "Guest" to use various functions of the Training Camp?]

Hm?

A guest.

Is this a new feature?

He clicked the "?" button on the top right corner of the screen, and several lines of explanatory text appeared: [Please note, in the Etheric Abyss, "Guests" from various Parallel Worlds may come to your Training Camp for certain special reasons!]

[They have many expectations: exchange information, trade goods, treat illnesses, remove curses, or enhance their own strength.]

[If they are interested in some functions of the Training Camp, they would be willing to pay a certain amount of compensation to use these functions.]

[The higher the level of your Training Camp, the higher the probability of "Guests" visiting your camp, and the more compensation they are willing to pay.]

[Your current Training Camp level is: Basic.]

[You have not yet opened the trading function, you need to upgrade to Intermediate Training Camp to enable it.]