Since Innocent World opened, Ji Xiaodao had only encountered two players.
The first, of course, was the man with a mask on his face, unfathomable strength, cold and gloomy demeanor, and elusive thoughts.
That seemingly 'cheating' guy would occasionally spar with her.
As of now, the young girl's record was twenty-one losses out of twenty-one.
She only managed effective attacks in two of those matches, and in the other nineteen, she lost combat effectiveness without even touching his clothes, all while he was not even serious.
The second player she encountered was a strange, robot-like person who claimed to have no rivals among players.
Xiao Dao also fought him, and although the result wasn't as one-sided as when she sparred with 'a certain someone,' she still ended up losing.
That defeat left such a deep impression on the young girl that she couldn't forget it.
Ji Xiaodao even doubted herself for a time, feeling she had no talent for this game, and was dispirited for quite a while.
After all, her resources far exceeded those of other players; her skills, equipment, and character panel were all top-tier.
Yet, she still maintained a 100% loss rate in player versus player combat, even though she had only fought two people, and both of them were a bit abnormal…
In short, putting aside the guy who was suspected of cheating, the girl always remembered that thing that was seven parts human and three parts not.
However, she didn't know the name 'Cordova,' and initially didn't connect Cui Xiaoyu with that guy.
Although her sister had mentioned 'a friend whose second form was a Dog-Headed Kobold' a few times in casual chats, Ji Xiaodao still hadn't put two and two together until now…
Under Cui Xiaoyu’s rather bizarre 'show-off,' she finally confirmed that the tall, spittle-flying boy in front of her was the same guy she had fought for dozens of rounds and was ultimately one-shotted by Mo!
“No wonder he said he seemed to have seen me; it turns out he wasn't mistaken…”
Ji Xiaodao turned her head away, narrowing her eyes slightly.
She knew that her appearance wasn't much different in the game; one could say that, apart from hair color, skin color, ears, and pupils, it was almost identical.
If someone really put their mind to it, or was as familiar with her as Ji Xiaoge, they would almost certainly recognize her.
“However, the battle rhythm was very fast at the time, the sky was gloomy, and I was in the shadows for most of the time, so it would be difficult for him to recognize me.
Plus, my sister always thought I was a scenery enthusiast, so if nothing unexpected happens, there shouldn shouldn't be any problems…”
She thought to herself, then leaned gently against Ji Xiaoge, closing her eyes as if somewhat distracted.
Immediately after, she heard Cui Xiaoyu’s loud complaint: “Huo Yan Yang has a bunch of NPC big legs to hug for experience, Ye Ge and Mo are having fun fighting in the Arena at Tian Zhu Mountain, Mo Tan is also hugging big legs in the Plague Zone—Yu Cheng is that big leg—only I am running around all day long, sigh, it’s miserable~~”
These words caused a very strong reaction.
“So, outside the game, can you call me by my real name?!” Wan Yang said indignantly.
“Usually, it’s five-person battles.
I only fight with Mo when Lu Jiang is being tutored by Feimi, and when Mr. Jia Deka and Ya Ya are busy.” Ji Xiaoge said seriously.
“Hmm, I guess I am hugging big legs, benefiting a lot from Yu Cheng~” Mo Tan said with a smile.
“No, not at all, thanks to Mo Tan, the situation didn’t get too bad.” Yu Cheng said weakly.
“Who is Mo? Which Mo?!” Ji Xiaodao blurted out.
Perhaps Ji Xiaodao’s voice was a bit loud, or perhaps everyone had never seen her so shocked, but all eyes turned to her.
“Cough, cough, Mo is a friend I met in the game.” Ji Xiaoge thought her sister was misunderstanding, and immediately put her arm around her, laughing, “Mo of silence, just a normal friend~”
“Mo of silence, huh…”
Ji Xiaodao nodded gently, then said nothing more.
Yi Dong, who had Black Vatican, Tan Mo, and Mo as friends in his character list, opened his mouth, then gave Mo Tan a meaningful look.
The latter subtly shook his head, spreading his hands helplessly to show his innocence.
“Student Xiaoyu, what you just said was too ambiguous.” Ji Xiaoge wagged her index finger, complaining, “It’s very easy to cause misunderstandings, you know!”
Cui Xiaoyu chuckled twice, raising both hands very sincerely: “I was wrong.”
Mo Tan then turned to Kang Lan, subtly changing the subject: “Oh, by the way, about that thing related to levels earlier, didn’t you say you’d talk about it once everyone arrived? Give us a rundown.”
“Something about levels?” The newcomers were a bit confused and turned their gaze to Kang Lan: “What is it?”
The latter smiled shyly and cleared his throat: “It’s like this, my main profession reached level 20 yesterday, and I discovered something.”
“What did you discover?” Yu Cheng tilted her head, asking curiously.
During this time, she had rescued a large number of refugees and also completed many quests while ‘Black Vatican’ was offline, such as 【Heal 10 Infected】, 【Pacify the People of Erbazi Village】, 【Daily Prayer】, 【Convince Old Blacksmith Guntong Silver Pickaxe to Quit Drinking】, 【Read and Recite the Entire Third Subsection of Chapter Seven of the Holy Scripture】, etc.
She had now reached Priest Level 19 and Dawn/Dark Saintess Level 7, making her the closest strong player to Kang Lan in terms of level among those present, if one excluded Cui Xiaoyu, who was only Level 1, and didn't count Ji Xiaodao…
Student Xiao Kang smiled, then slowly explained to everyone: “I’m sure everyone knows about the increasing experience required for leveling up, right?”
Everyone except Mo Tan shook their heads in unison.
Kang Lan was immediately stumped: “You guys aren’t serious, are you? You don’t even calculate something this important?”
“No, we don’t.” Huo Yan Yang nodded as if it were obvious, shrugging: “Maybe at the very beginning we’d think about it, but after playing for a while, we’re too busy with other things.
Where would we find the time to calculate that stuff? We just use the optional experience when it’s available.”
Yu Cheng also nodded: “Me too, pretty much…”
The others also gave similar answers.
Except for Mo Tan, who had performed precise calculations under his chaotic neutral personality, no one had paid attention to this aspect of the game.
The reason was actually very simple: the sense of immersion in Innocent World was simply too strong.
Not only did it have a complete world view, but the intelligence of the NPCs within it was no different from that of ordinary people, infinitely diminishing the concept of 'game.'
Taking Huo Yan Yang, who was fighting Evil Cultists in Sumir, and Yu Cheng, who was deep in the Plague Zone, as examples, they were too busy with other things to even care about the experience progression rules.
At most, they would only pay attention to their current experience.
“I’d like to calculate it, but the system doesn’t give me the chance,” Cui Xiaoyu pouted, grumbling with a resentful look, “Becoming strong or becoming a Dog-Headed Kobold all depends on others’ whims…”
“Alright, you win.” Kang Lan chuckled and clapped his hands, then said dejectedly: “Actually, it’s nothing much.
It’s just that when the first profession reaches level 20, the proportion of optional experience gained will greatly decrease, and the experience required to go from 20 to 21 is ten times that required to go from 19 to 20.”
Everyone nodded: “Oh, oh.”
Kang Lan paused for a moment, then emphasized again: “A full ten times, really!”
Everyone: “Oh, oh!”
Kang Lan: “…”
Mo Tan felt that this guy must be extremely embarrassed right now, so he cooperated relatively well and asked, “So, it will become quite difficult to level up further, right?”
“That’s right.” Kang Lan looked at Mo Tan with gratitude and nodded: “That’s why most professional players are generally stuck at level 20.
Even though they have professional teams and resources, because the optional experience greatly decreases after level 20, their leveling speed simply can’t pick up.
Think about it, the experience required to level up has increased tenfold, but the experience acquisition speed is even slower than before.
Under these circumstances, being stuck for ten days to half a month is simply normal.”
This time, everyone finally stopped saying “Oh, oh” (Cui Xiaoyu was whistling boredly)…
Huo Yan Yang, who urgently needed to improve his strength, frowned deeply: “Aren’t there still fixed experience gains? Like ‘You gained 2333 War Priest experience.’ Is it really slower than before?”
“Of course it is.” Kang Lan nodded, asking everyone with a wry smile, “I guess none of you have really calculated the ratio of fixed experience to optional experience gained in the early game, right?”
Everyone shook their heads, but Yu Cheng, who had completed quite a few quests, whispered, “From what I remember, optional experience was more, much more.”
“Exactly.” Kang Lan nodded slightly, shrugging: “Quite a lot, probably accounting for 70% to 80% of the total gain, so, do you all understand?”
Yi Dong, who had gained a large amount of professional experience due to a certain accident, asked, “Then we just need to focus on getting more fixed experience, right?”
“Yes, yes.” Ji Xiaoge, who for some (bizarre) reason had more fixed experience than optional experience, nodded in agreement.
Yi Dong, who had gained 50,000 Necromancer experience and 15 specialization levels in one go, was just incredibly lucky, so let’s not talk about him~
Ji Xiaoge’s situation was more unconventional.
Unlike Yu Cheng, most of this girl’s experience was fixed professional experience, with very, very little optional experience, even if you included the rewards from special Arena quests.
As for the reason… look at her two professions: one 【Chef】 and one 【Battlefield Engineer】.
Neither of these were serious main professions; they were more like two very specific ‘crafts.’
The way to gain corresponding experience was also simple and direct—cooking dishes added Chef experience, manufacturing machinery added Engineer experience.
In terms of combat, a poison victory added more Chef experience, while a bombing victory added more Engineer experience.
As for optional experience… it was very little.
“Fixed experience is hard to get.” Kang Lan just assumed the two hadn’t reacted yet and explained earnestly: “For example, I’m a Jungle Ranger, and I took on a quest like 【Help with Serving Dishes】 or 【Resolve Emotional Disputes】.
If my profession hadn’t reached level 20, I could get a lot of optional experience, but after level 20, I wouldn’t get any optional experience at all, and no professional experience either, because these two quests have nothing to do with whether I’m a Jungle Ranger.
So, do you understand?”
“I think I get it.” Mo Tan nodded, smiling as he asked, “You can’t find this knowledge on the forums, can you?”
Kang Lan blinked: “Of course not.
There are too few level 20 players right now, so this information is basically only circulating within a few small circles.”
“I understand too.” Wan Yang slapped his thigh, cheerfully saying: “Anyway, it means after level 20, quests must be related to your player profession to gain professional experience, right? Like me, a War Priest, joining in group fights or something?”
“Theoretically, yes.” Kang Lan pulled out his phone and scrolled, saying without looking up: “But there are also many special cases.
Hmm, look at this guy on the forum.
He took on a unique Epic quest chain, the content of which was to explore a hidden tomb.
If this guy can complete the quest alive, he’ll definitely get a lot of benefits, at least a large amount of experience.
But most such quests are very dangerous, especially without a team…”
Cui Xiaoyu immediately asked eagerly, “Did he complete it?”
“How would I know?” Kang Lan raised an eyebrow, then started scrolling through his phone, looking and saying: “The moment he entered the tomb, he was hit by six virulent poisons, then he was chased by a large iron ball about five meters in diameter for twenty minutes.
With superhuman perseverance and a large number of health potions, he stubbornly held out until the end of the passage…”
Cui Xiaoyu beamed: “And it was a dead end!?”
Kang Lan shook his head: “No, he found an old iron door at the end.”
Cui Xiaoyu clapped his hands: “And the door was rusted shut and he got crushed to death!?”
Kang Lan shook his head: “No, he used his last bit of stamina to unleash a big move and blast the door open.”
Cui Xiaoyu was extremely excited: “And then he went in and was bitten to death by a thousand-year-old zombie?!”
Kang Lan shook his head: “No, he successfully found the quest item and also discovered a secret waterway that led directly to a lake outside.”
Cui Xiaoyu was overjoyed: “And then he drowned, right?!”
Kang Lan shook his head: “No, he’s a good swimmer, and he was wearing leather armor, so he swam out smoothly.
Quest completed, tsk tsk, as expected, he was rewarded with over 80,000 experience, an Epic Soul Coffer that allows for a job change to a Mad Lich, three unique excellent set pieces, eight thousand gold coins, and a wrist enchantment scroll, Ghost Soul Search, wow…”
Cui Xiaoyu’s face turned ashen: “Tsk…”
Kang Lan: “Then he was blown up by two Goblin lolis who were fishing with explosives by the lake.
This guy said that when he died, those two little brats were still throwing dynamite into the lake, hmm, or maybe bombs.”
Cui Xiaoyu: “Wahahahahahahahahaha *hiccup*.”
Everyone: “…”
Chapter 228: The End
