Realm Walker

Chapter 9: The Spirit Realm

Li Dongze chose his words carefully before speaking again.

”The Spirit Realm is something supernatural. At present, it cannot be explained by science. Despite our ongoing efforts to investigate it, we still haven’t reached a complete understanding of what it is. The Spirit Realm exists within reality, yet it operates outside of it. Only those who are chosen can enter.

”As to how one is chosen...” He took a sip of his whiskey and smiled. ”You’ve already experienced that firsthand,” he said.

”The card?” Zhang Yuanqing responded, right on cue.

Li Dongze nodded slightly.

”It’s called a Character Card,” he explained. ”The person who receives one is given a trial quest. Pass the trial, and you’re granted a corresponding class, along with that class’s skills and traits.

”We haven’t figured out the mechanism by which the Spirit Realm selects its Walkers, and the method by which Character Cards are distributed isn’t fixed either. Sometimes the card simply appears inside someone’s body. Sometimes, a person finds one on the side of the road. Sometimes it can happen when someone accidentally clicks a link online.

”Completing the trial is only the beginning. If a Spirit Realm Walker wants to level up and grow stronger, they must keep accepting quests and entering the Spirit Realm. But don’t worry. Quests don’t appear that frequently, and not every Spirit Realm scenario is life threatening. Some of them are actually quite fun.

”Take myself, for example. I’m a Level 3 Scout. Over the past two years, I’ve entered the Spirit Realm roughly once a month, but only once every three months is it a solo instance, and I nearly died inside one time. The rest were multiplayer instances, which are relatively safer and more interesting.”

He chuckled. ”If you want superpowers,” he said, ”you have to pay the price.”

Li Dongze paused, giving Zhang Yuanqing room to ask questions.

”So it’s basically like a series of game dungeons?” Zhang Yuanqing said, offering his own interpretation.

Li Dongze smiled. ”I enjoy talking to young people. You pick things up quickly and you’re open to new concepts.”

After offering that brief compliment, he nodded and continued, ”Exactly. Think of it as playing a game, with the Spirit Realm as the dungeon. Some dungeons are solo. Others are multiplayer co-op or multiplayer PvP. Solo dungeons are the most dangerous, with the highest death rate.

”Multiplayer types are comparatively better. They come in two forms, death-type and penalty-type. The latter only deducts a certain amount of experience upon failure.”

”Why is the death rate highest in solo dungeons?” Zhang Yuanqing asked.

Li Dongze considered this for a moment. ”In multiplayer Spirit Realms, you encounter Walkers of other classes. But solo instances are specific to your own class. Take Scouts as an example. At the Transcendent tier, our abilities revolve around perception, tracking, and analysis.

”The three solo instances I’ve encountered were, respectively, playing detective in a murder mystery, engaged in a cat-and-mouse with a criminal through a jungle, and survival in the wilderness. Also, different dungeon types appear for each class, depending on if the Walker is at the Transcendent stage or the Saint stage.”

Zhang Yuanqing nodded along as he listened to Li Dongze’s explanation.

My class is Nocturnal Specter, so I get paranormal horror dungeons, he thought to himself. That’s just great. Thank God multiplayer instances exist, or I’d literally wet myself in there sooner or later. And the dungeon types change at the Saint stage?

”Is Lei Yibing’s disappearance linked to the fact that he entered the Spirit Realm?” he asked Li Dongze, his tone growing serious.

He desperately needed official confirmation of his theory. If Bro Bing had entered a Spirit Realm, then the situation wasn’t completely hopeless.

Li Dongze thought for a moment.

”After Lei Yibing’s bizarre disappearance, the official operatives in Hangcheng took over the case,” he finally replied. ”Their assessment is that Lei Yibing has already died inside the Spirit Realm.”

Zhang Yuanqing felt his heart skip a beat. Anxiety and panic surged through him, impossible to suppress.

”Why?” he demanded.

”This is because too much time has passed. A normal Spirit Realm instance, at least at the Transcendent tier, lasts anywhere from several hours to a day or two at most. The Transcendent tier covers levels 1 through 3. Lei Yibing has been missing for four days.”

”What about realms above the Transcendent tier?”

”That’s not entirely clear, but there should be instances with longer durations.”

Maybe Bro Bing is a powerful Spirit Realm Walker, Zhang Yuanqing thought. That was the only comfort he could offer himself.

Given his current ability and knowledge, he was powerless when it came to investigating Bro Bing’s disappearance. Joining the official organization and ensuring his own survival was the most critical priority.

Li Dongze took a sip to wet his throat.

”Oh, before I introduce you to the official organization, there’s one very important matter,” he said. ”What’s your Morality score?”

”60. Starting value,” Zhang Yuanqing answered honestly.

Li Dongze nodded. ”For a newcomer like you, Morality is the biggest trap. Remember that.”

”Why do you say that?”

”Do you remember the footnote beneath the Morality stat?”

He did. It told him to be a good person.

Zhang Yuanqing’s poker face nearly slipped.

”The starting value for Morality is 60,” said Li Dongze in a serious tone. ”If it drops below that number, the Spirit Realm’s punishment mechanism activates. It broadcasts your location to every Spirit Realm Walker in your city and issues a quest to eliminate you.”

Zhang Yuanqing’s jaw dropped, and words tumbled out before he could stop them.

”So I can never do anything bad for the rest of my life?”

It wasn’t as if he was planning to, but being forced to live like a saint sounded exhausting. Also, what were the standards for measuring Morality? If browsing certain types of content or sharing spicy images counted as morally degrading, then he was already finished.

Li Dongze laughed. He seemed to enjoy watching newcomers make that exact expression.

”Don’t be so tense,” he reassured him. ”Based on our observations, theft, robbery, assault, and similar offenses cost a Spirit Realm Walker between 1 and 5 Morality points depending on severity. Murder costs 10 points. Causing other situations with serious consequences such as multiple casualties will result in a points deduction proportional to the severity.

”As for shortcomings in one’s personal morals, those don’t affect the Morality score. And just as points can be deducted, they can also be accumulated. Hence the advice to be a good person.”

The mechanism sounded like it was specifically designed to restrain Spirit Realm Walkers. But why would the Spirit Realm want to restrain them?

Morality, law... These were constructs humans had created to maintain order. No other creature in nature needed them. In other words, unless the Spirit Realm’s was somehow aligned with humanity, the existence of a Morality stat didn’t quite make sense.

But the Spirit Realm was a supernatural phenomenon... Zhang Yuanqing mused.

He instinctively felt the restriction was illogical, but since Li Dongze hadn’t offered an explanation, it likely meant even he didn’t know the reason. From their conversation thus far, it was clear the government’s understanding of the Spirit Realm had its limits.

”I see. No wonder it’s a trap for newcomers,” Zhang Yuanqing said, his tone of voice reflecting this new realization. ”So how do you accumulate Morality?”

Newbies who gained superpowers tended to use them to achieve things they’d always wanted but never could, like making money. And all the fastest ways to make money were criminalized in the code of law.

What else is there...? He wondered. Would providing financial assistance to impoverished young ladies cost Morality points? In the Spirit Realm’s definition, would such a thing fall under personal moral failings or criminal activity?

He didn’t dare ask that particular question. He wasn’t that close to Li Dongze yet, and he didn’t want to leave a bad impression on his future superior.

”Accumulating Morality is as simple as losing it,” Li Dongze scoffed. ”Just do good deeds. In fact, many Spirit Realm Walkers from evil organizations are passionate about works of charity and love making donations, because it’s the fastest way to stockpile Morality. As long as you have enough money, you can kill without restraint.”

”Ironic, isn’t it?” he said with a snort. ”You never know what persona lies behind the mask of a philanthropist. And what’s even more ironic is that human lives can be measured in money. Reality works that way, and the Spirit Realm works that way as well. Additionally, killing a fellow Spirit Realm Walker does not deduct from your Morality.”

Li Dongze gave Zhang Yuanqing some time to digest this initial wave of information before continuing.

”Next, let’s talk about the official organization. We belong to an organization called the Five Elements Alliance, composed of five major factions: the Hundred Flowers Society, the White Tiger Legion, the Crimson Fire Gang, the Water God Palace, and the Central Court. These five factions represent five classes, respectively: Wood Demon, Scout, Fire Sage, Water Ghost, and Earth Wraith.”

A thought floated unbidden into Zhang Yuanqing’s consciousness.

Why is the official organization basically a lineup of monsters and demons?

”Besides the Five Elements Alliance, there are several other organizations with government backing,” Li Dongze continued. ”I’ll send you the documentation later.”

He rotated his glass in his hand. ”The five factions within the Alliance only came together to form this coalition in the last twenty years. Before that, they operated independently, and relations between them weren’t exactly friendly. This ties into the cycle of creation and destruction governed by the five elements, as well as the inherent temperamental differences between the classes.”

He took a sip of his drink and shrugged. ”Take the Hundred Flowers Society and their Wood Demons, for example. They’re a pack of extreme environmentalists and animal rights activists. Good Lord, they actually tried to push the Alliance headquarters into banning all members from eating dog meat. Even God isn’t as ridiculous as they are. Every time I see their pathological tree- hugging faces, I want to kick them with my leather shoes.”

Following that tirade, Li Dongze proceeded to mercilessly critique all four factions aside from the White Tiger Legion.

This gave Zhang Yuanqing a fairly vivid picture of the Alliance’s other groups. The Crimson Fire Gang, who preferred fists over words; the Water God Palace, whose members were gloomy types who enjoyed cultivating viruses and bacteria; and the Central Court, comprising real estate moguls and mining tycoons.

”Only we Scouts of the White Tiger Legion are wise, composed, and decisive. The perfect class,” Li Dongze concluded.

Would the other four factions agree with that assessment? Zhang Yuanqing wondered silently.

”Heh. The more I describe it, the more it sounds like a game, right? Even within the Alliance, some people refer to the Spirit Realm as the ’game server.’ Walkers have character panels, items, and quests. Each Spirit Realm is like a dungeon instance. On top of that, there are different classes.

”The Crimson Fire Gang is a reckless and violent organization, like berserkers. Those in the Water God Palace can control water, making them water mages. The members of the Hundred Flowers Society can raise pets and heal injuries, so they’re priests and summoners. The Central Court’s people are thick skinned and tough—your classic tanks.”

”So does that make you Scouts the wards we can buy from the item shop for 75 gold[1]?”

Li Dongze froze. His grip tightened on the cane’s handle, and his expression went flat.

”If I were a Fire Master from the Crimson Fire Gang, I would have already caved your skull in with a stick.”

”I’m sorry!” Zhang Yuanqing whimpered, apologizing without hesitation.

The joke helped to relax the atmosphere even further, and Li Dongze smiled.

”Once a Scout passes the Transcendent stage, they develop extremely strong solo combat capabilities,” he said. ”When I say it’s a near perfect class, I’m not exaggerating.

”That said, among the orthodox classes, the Nocturnal Specter is universally acknowledged as the strongest. I’m talking about orthodox classes only, not evil ones. Even we Scouts have to admit that the Nocturnal Specter is a cut above.”

Wait, is a Nocturnal Specter really that strong? Zhang Yuanqing wondered. Can it take on ten opponents at once?

His spirits soared. ”Could you tell me more about the Nocturnal Specter class?” he asked eagerly.

Li Dongze let out an amused laugh but understood the young man’s natural admiration for strength.

”Even early in the Transcendent tier, a Nocturnal Specter possesses devastating assassination capabilities, and their burst damage is also exceptionally impressive. On top of that, they possess the ability to communicate with souls, refine corpses, and command spirits. Their skill set is diverse and their combat power is formidable.

”However, Nocturnal Specters are extremely rare. Currently, there isn’t a single Nocturnal Specter within the Songhai branch. This is partly because there are very few Nocturnal Specter Trial Realms in Songhai, and partly because the Taiyi Sect in the capital keeps absorbing Nocturnal Specters from across the country.”

The discussion naturally led to a question for his new recruit.

”What’s your class?” asked Li Dongze. ”I hope you’re not a Fire Sage. I absolutely despise rude, hot tempered young people.”

1.