Chapter 5: Levels and Permissions

Low level, insufficient permissions—Li Nianlong had encountered these phrases in numerous novels before, pitying the protagonists who faced such circumstances. Little did he expect that time would bring a change, and now he found himself in similar shoes.

"How do I increase my level and permissions?" he asked, recalling how he gained experience from defeating the three robbers earlier; was beating people up the way forward?

Dragonfly's wings fluttered, casting specks of light that coalesced into a towering white panel adorned with black Song-style characters.

"To upgrade, there are several methods," Dragonfly indicated the text on the panel and elaborated.

"First: By defeating humans with Sin Points. Humans are born pure, without good or evil, but as they grow and encounter various environments and events, they are influenced, turning either better or worse. Those who turn good emit white auras, protected by the system. If you defeat them, you won't gain experience, instead, you'll lose ten times the corresponding experience points.

Those who are neither good nor bad have yellow auras. If they perform good deeds, they will cleanse their aura; if they commit bad deeds, they turn red, becoming villains. Defeating such individuals yields neither rewards nor punishments.

Villains emit red auras, with darker shades indicating higher Sin Points. If it turns black, they are egregiously wicked. Defeating them grants multiple times the experience of a regular red-named villain, making them the system's prime targets for you to defeat."

After hearing the first method of gaining experience, Li Nianlong's eyes flickered. "So, the system wants me to uphold justice and punish evil?"

Dragonfly nodded. "Goodness is pure qi, evil is impure qi. Pure qi makes the world better, while impure qi corrupts it. Pure qi is highly beneficial to the system."

"What benefits?"

"Host's level is too low, permissions insufficient, unable to answer temporarily."

"..."

Li Nianlong shifted his focus to the second method of leveling up.

"The second..." Dragonfly continued, "is through completing tasks issued by the system. Based on the host's experiences, tasks will be generated automatically. Different levels of difficulty yield varying amounts of experience and rewards. Failure results not only in no rewards but also penalties."

"The third: Through acquiring and upgrading Life Professions. These are unrelated to combat prowess but are supplementary to the host. Life Professions have no fixed forms, and one can enhance them through practice until reaching the maximum level."

Pausing, Dragonfly looked at Li Nianlong and smiled, "Since the host is alone, the system offers the best deal. You can acquire all Life Professions in this world by triggering the appropriate conditions."

"All of them?" Li Nianlong, who had spent considerable time playing online games, understood the concept of Life Professions. In typical games, players could choose only two or three, like miners, blacksmiths, or tailors. Upgrading Life Professions granted rewards like experience, strength, constitution, magic power, etc., but Li Nianlong's status panel lacked细分 (detailed attributes) like constitution, magic power, attack, defense, magic attack, magic defense, and only had the four basic attributes, appearing quite rudimentary.

"Yes, all of them," Dragonfly confirmed.

"How do I get a Life Profession?" This was a significant question. If it required finding a teacher like in old games, it'd be troublesome to locate them in reality!

"It's simple." Dragonfly offered a satisfactory answer, "Just fulfill the conditions to trigger a Life Profession. For example, to obtain the Chef profession, you just need to cook."

"That easy?" Li Nianlong was pleasantly surprised.

"Just that easy." Dragonfly nodded with a smile.

After a moment, Li Nianlong pursued, "If I want to be a tailor and sew a pair of socks, that works?"

"Sure does!"

"And if I want to be a carpenter and make a small stool?"

Dragonfly laughed, "Any action related to the profession can trigger acquisition."

"Awesome!" Even Li Nianlong couldn't help but commend the system's setup. If he could trigger all Life Professions, wouldn't he become the world's most versatile genius?

Moreover, upgrading Life Professions brought additional benefits, making it even more fantastic.

Most thrilling for Li Nianlong was that the system offered him the first glimpse of hope to retaliate against the Long family, which mattered above all else.

"As for permissions..." Dragonfly explained, "As the host's level rises, permissions will gradually increase. Permissions are upgraded every ten levels until reaching level 100, attaining the tenth permission level."

"Level 100 for the tenth permission level?" Li Nianlong raised an eyebrow, "I'm only level 1 now, so I have no permissions?"

"That's correct." Dragonfly nodded, "Currently, the host has only obtained basic usage permissions. Only at level 10 will you gain the first permission level."

"What's the first permission level?"

"Host's level is too low, permissions insufficient, unable to answer temporarily."

"..."

"Is there anything else the host wants to know?" Seeing Li Nianlong in a daze, Dragonfly inquired.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Nianlong pointed to his attribute panel, "How is the experience required for each level calculated?"

"The formula is [(Level + 1) x 200] x (Level / 2), which determines the experience needed for each level," Dragonfly replied.

Li Nianlong did a quick calculation. At level 1, level plus 1 times 200 equals 400, and level divided by 2 is 0.5. 400 multiplied by 0.5 equals exactly 200.

"So that's how it works." Li Nianlong understood, but this calculation meant future experience requirements would be astronomical. To go from level 99 to 100 would require 990,000 experience points—990 thousand! A daunting prospect.

After a moment of worry, Li Nianlong asked, "What changes with each level up?"

"Each level up increases each of the four attributes by 5 points and grants an additional 10 attribute points, which the host can allocate freely." Dragonfly finished and pointed to the remaining 10 attribute points, saying, "You can now choose which attribute to increase."

Li Nianlong's current attributes were: Level 1 (35/200)

Strength: 10

Speed: 8

True Qi: 5

Intellect: 12

Unused Points: 10

Given that each level-up increased attributes by 5 points, Li Nianlong's pre-level-up stats were Strength 5, Speed 3, no True Qi, and Intellect 7, which seemed mediocre.

"What are the average attributes for a normal person?" Li Nianlong didn't consider his stats terrible. Comparatively, he stood 1.88 meters tall, was fairly strong, and had a sharp mind; he shouldn't be considered weak.

"The average adult male's attributes are around 4 for Strength, 3 for Speed, and 4 for Intellect."

Li Nianlong smirked slightly, "So, I'm just an ordinary person."

Noticing Li Nianlong's dejection, Dragonfly comforted, "Not anymore. Your abilities already surpass those of ordinary people and will continue to grow."

Glancing at Dragonfly, Li Nianlong felt warmth in his heart seeing her subtle concern. He nodded, "You're right, I'm different now."

Taking a breath, Li Nianlong studied his attributes and pondered before asking, "Which attribute should I improve the most?"

"Me? You're asking me?" Dragonfly pointed at herself, her eyes shimmering with a faint delight.

"Is there a problem?" Li Nianlong frowned, unsure if he could ask.

"No, no." Dragonfly shook her head vigorously, took a deep breath to calm herself, then pointed to True Qi, "Based on the system's assessment, True Qi is the rarest resource, and it's essential for using skills in the future. Enhancing True Qi is the most cost-effective."

"True Qi..." Li Nianlong pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement. Before leveling up, his True Qi was at 0, confirming its scarcity. With 5 points of True Qi, he could only use the Basic Chaotic Punch once, indicating that as the skill level rose, the required True Qi points would increase, making it crucial to boost this attribute.