Chapter Eight: Two Acting Paths

“Gained a new identity?”

Chen Ye was immediately surprised. He hadn’t expected that the suona gifted by the elderly erhu player would contain a “Musician” trait.

This was undoubtedly a trait item!

Even in closed beta games, trait items were extremely rare.

Obtaining one would provide a tremendous boost to the player!

According to the trait rules in The Eerie Era, trait upgrades generally branch into three directions—

The first direction is absorbing the item’s trait to gain additional subsidiary traits.

The second is merging with an identity or profession to acquire a new identity, causing the original trait to upgrade or change.

The third is crafting items related to the trait using that item.

However, these three paths cannot be chosen arbitrarily; they follow specific patterns.

Many traits are bound to particular identities or professions, and if that identity hasn’t been unlocked, absorbing the trait is usually impossible.

The item can either be stored away for future use or crafted into an extraordinary item to utilize the trait in another form.

If the player’s profession suits absorbing the trait, then it falls under either the first or second path—

Either gaining new traits or fusing traits.

When two traits fuse to form a new identity, the original traits undergo significant transformation!

Generally, fusion progresses positively.

When Chen Ye opened his panel again,

His identity had changed from [Wanderer] to [Wandering Musician]!

The traits had also evolved.

[Poor Gaze] → [Wandering Sound]

[Wandering Sound: The sound produced by any instrument you play carries a sorrowful, poignant tone, evoking nostalgia, sadness, and pain in listeners. After the audience hears the entire piece, they must pay you an appropriate performance fee.]

[Apprentice Musician (New): Repeated practice of an instrument strengthens related trait abilities and increases Eerie Points.]

[Good Fortune: While wandering, you are more likely to encounter special luck; the more you travel on foot, the greater your fortune.]

[Wandering Heart: When interacting with others who are also wanderers, you are more likely to receive friendly assistance.]

At this moment, the negative trait [Poor Gaze] had been removed and replaced by the positive trait—

[Wandering Sound].

“This trait isn’t bad at all.”

After reading the trait description, Chen Ye smiled knowingly and suddenly felt a wave of comfort wash over him.

Having the [Wandering Heart] trait effectively meant gaining an additional livelihood!

As long as listeners hear the entire song, they must pay a performance fee.

This was a common rule attached to most art-related traits.

For example, painters, film directors, novelists...

These professions, after creating works using their traits, could obtain corresponding rewards according to specific rules.

Equivalent exchange—no freeloading allowed!

Of course, Chen Ye also knew that different professions could be fused.

For instance, if the [Thief] profession fused with [Reader] and [Recorder], it would give rise to a new profession—

[Plagiarist].

Though this profession had the ability to copy texts, it would earn the enmity of creator-class professions, and once discovered, the plagiarist would be hunted to the ends of the earth.

Every profession’s traits had their pros and cons.

Moreover, the more professions fused, advancing to second or third transfers...

The profession’s flaws would diminish, and various traits could evolve and transform during growth.

However, to advance to a second transfer, one needed to accommodate at least four different traits and possess two complete profession traits.

Currently, Chen Ye’s [Wandering Musician] was still a first-transfer profession, albeit enhanced by the suona.

Stronger than an ordinary first-transfer profession.

Since [Poor Gaze] had been removed, the remaining four traits appeared relatively neutral.

If used well, their positive effects would far outweigh any negatives.

Meanwhile, his Eerie Points increased by 500!

Checking the leaderboard,

Chen Ye suddenly saw his ranking leap into the top one hundred.

[Rank: 99]

Scrolling to the bottom line, his name “Chen Ye” appeared.

The leaderboard showed up to one hundred entries.

Currently, the 100th place held 580 Eerie Points.

Chen Ye had 600.

In the early stage, everyone’s growth was slow.

Even with this month’s leaderboard bonus, progress was still sluggish.

“How did I suddenly make the list...” Chen Ye muttered inwardly.

Of course, he hoped his Eerie Points would rise quickly, but he hadn’t expected to enter the rankings so fast.

As the saying goes, fame breeds fear, and strength breeds envy.

The top hundred on the leaderboard had only a few names, with the top and bottom being the most conspicuous.

At this moment,

The top-ranked player was Bai Chen, with a staggering 3,000 Eerie Points, looked up to by the lower-tier players.

Only the other top ten experts kept a close eye on him.

But the name at the 100th spot was watched by countless eyes.

Although at the bottom, this position was the most awkward—lacking resources yet attracting more envy...

When facing opponents twenty or thirty percent stronger, a player’s desire to challenge would rise. But when opponents were a thousand or ten thousand times stronger... such ambition would be crushed by an insurmountable chasm, leaving only admiration. Any envy or disdain would vanish under such vast disparity... unless the person lacked self-awareness.

“Sigh, why did I suddenly get ranked? At least give me some warning.”

Chen Ye sighed. This ranking was indeed the most embarrassing; even climbing a few places higher wouldn’t be so conspicuous.

Hmm, if other players who struggled to increase their Eerie Points heard Chen Ye’s thoughts... would he be beaten up when he went out?

Opening the [Fate Jianghu] chat,

Sure enough, many players had already mentioned “Chen Ye.”

“How did another expert suddenly surge onto the leaderboard?”

“How long has it been since we arrived in this broken game? The guy ranked 100th already has hundreds of Eerie Points?”

“How did he manage that?”

“The top three—Bai Chen, Hua Shao, and Bing Bing—all have four-digit Eerie Points. They’re monsters!”

“Did they start with rockets? How can their Eerie Points grow so fast?”

“My profession is chef. I don’t even have cooking utensils, let alone meat. Am I playing a ghost?”

“Up there, even if you don’t have utensils, at least you have some meat.”

“I wonder if that chef is a girl? If not, that extra piece of meat might be good for making ham!”

“You must be a devil!”

“……”

The chat was lively, with hundreds of messages pouring in every second, discussing all sorts of topics.

Of course, Chen Ye’s appearance only stirred a brief wave of discussion.

At the start, players who could quickly accumulate Eerie Points were still few.

Everyone paid close attention to the names on the leaderboard.

More than anything, they were curious about how to efficiently increase their strength and rank by “acting” to gain Eerie Points.

“Becoming a [Wandering Musician], my [Good Fortune] and [Wandering Heart] haven’t disappeared; instead, I’ve gained [Wandering Sound] and [Apprentice Musician] traits!”

“Does that mean...”

“Now I can increase Eerie Points both by walking and by improving my instrument skills, unlocking two acting paths?”

Chen Ye’s eyes brightened. He realized that although the [Wanderer] trait was initially miserable, merging a bit of trait immediately changed things!

Though not a full transformation, the speed of trait upgrades was far from low.

Two acting paths!

Only a very few professional identities could support multiple acting routes.

Compared to other professions, [Wandering Musician] wasn’t very powerful but had its uniqueness.

Wasting no time, Chen Ye picked up the suona in his hand, ready to blow into its long tube and enhance his musical skills!