Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 39: Interlude of Growth

Once a stranger, twice familiar.

Liu Xing returned to reality once more, stretching lazily – it felt so good to be alive.

The computer screen displayed the current data of Liu Xing's character card.

Name: Liu Xing

Occupation: Doctor

Education: Graduate

Place of Birth: Rongcheng, Sichuan, China

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Background: An ordinary doctor who, during a vacation in England, assisted the police in solving over a hundred cold case disappearances. Not only did he receive a substantial reward, but he also gained coverage in the domestic media, becoming quite famous back home.

Strength: 55

Constitution: 40

Willpower: 80

Luck: 80

Agility: 50

Appearance: 70

Size: 45

Intelligence: 85

Inspiration: 90

Education: 87

Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge: 1

Sanity Points: 78/80

HP: 8

MP: 16

Damage Bonus: None

Credit Rating: 50+10 (Temporary buff for completing the Hidden Ending, lasts for three sessions of the Cthulhu RPG Game)

Skills: Medicine 78, First Aid 80, Psychology 71, Psychoanalysis 70, Jump 70, Spot Hidden 40, Persuade 60, Lockpicking 11.

Personal Items: Cellphone, a bottle of ancestral green tea, candy given by Director Ke.

Relationships: Isabella (20), Chris (50)

Assets: 500,000

Cash: 50,000+10,000 (Reward from Manchester Police)

Points: 139

Liu Xing examined his character card. There wasn't much difference from the beginning, except for the loss of two Sanity Points, the addition of a Lockpicking Skill, and a slight improvement in Psychology.

Of course, because Liu Xing achieved the Hidden Ending by helping Isabella kill Gary and regain her freedom, he managed to pin the blame for the hundred-plus disappearances, or rather murders, on Gary. As a result, he received a reward from the Manchester Police and coverage in the domestic media, which led to a sudden spike in reputation, hence the +10 temporary buff to his Credit Rating.

The 139 points made Liu Xing raise his eyebrows in relief – after all, it meant he could spend over four months in real time before having to return to this damned Cthulhu RPG Game to face death once more.

However, Liu Xing suddenly remembered something – what about the promised interlude of growth? He had thought it would take place within the game itself.

After closing the character card, Liu Xing was greeted with a new window brimming with a myriad of options—apparently, the interface for interlude growth.

Liu Xing had three opportunities for interlude growth, allowing him to select three options from the jumbled array to enhance his character during these breaks.

A cursory glance at the choices confirmed the game's commitment to realism—nearly nine out of ten options for interlude growth were tied to money.

For instance:

Enrolling in an English language course required 5000 cash, providing the skill 'Other Language: English' with a value of 5d6 and a 10% chance of an unexpected outcome.

Attending a driving school demanded 10000 cash, awarding a driving skill valued at 5d8, with a 20% accident rate.

Joining the New Western Cooking School cost 3000 cash, granting cooking skills with a 6d6 value and a 20% accident rate.

These types of interlude growth were akin to purchasing skills by spending a substantial amount of cash from one's character card, reminiscent of buying skill books in other games.

Besides these, there were advanced training options, which cost less cash but required meeting certain prerequisites to enhance existing skills on the character card, like:

Overseas hospital training programs, costing 1000 cash and requiring a Medical skill of 70, could boost the Medical skill by 1d6, with a 25% chance of an incident.

Joining an emergency medical department with a First Aid skill of 70 could increase the skill by 1d6, with a 20% incident rate.

Self-taught public speaking required 500 cash and a Persuasion skill of 40, enhancing Persuasion by 1d4, with a 5% incident rate.

Beyond these two categories, there were special interlude growth options, which left Liu Xing speechless:

Arranged marriage required 50000 cash, with prerequisites of 500000 in assets and a formal occupation, granting a spouse but with a 50% mishap rate.

Inheriting an overseas fortune needed 10000 cash, with the next Cthulhu RPG Game taking place abroad, providing assets worth 1d1000000, but with a 50% mishap rate.

Changing careers cost 20000 cash, with a prerequisite of reaching 50 in other occupational skills to switch careers, with a 0% mishap rate.

Psychological therapy required 10000 cash, with a prerequisite SAN value of 50 points or above, restoring 2d3 SAN points, with a 0% mishap rate.

Despite the dubious nature of options like arranged marriage, the guide revealed its critical importance for players; a married player could recover 1d3 SAN points during each interlude growth, gain a random skill point increase, and, in certain special modules, choose to bring the spouse along, effectively gaining an assistant. However, the death of a spouse would cost the player 2d6 SAN points.

Apart from special growth like arranged marriages, players could also romance and marry NPCs in-game to acquire a spouse.

As for inheriting foreign estates, it was essentially gambling, which, besides the risk of losses, necessitated participating in a Cthulhu RPG Game abroad, potentially in a random country. The stakes increased if the location was a remote African country like Equatorial Guinea or a war-torn nation like Syria.

The incident rates mentioned at the end of each growth option represented the likelihood of triggering unexpected events—good or bad. For instance, a fortunate event during English training might reveal a remarkable talent, leading to an 'Other Language: English' skill valued at 10d6. Conversely, a bad event could mean enrolling in a fraudulent course, resulting in no language acquisition at all.

After careful consideration, Liu Xing decided to play it safe and chose "Joining an emergency medical department," "Enrolling in an English language course," and "Attending driving school" for his interlude growth. As a doctor by trade, enhancing his primary skill of First Aid was paramount—the higher, the better, with the added bonus of a SAN reward for reaching a 90-point mastery.

In the Cthulhu RPG Game community, it's widely accepted that achieving a skill level of 90 denotes mastery in that field, which naturally bolsters one's confidence and SAN.

While Liu Xing had always been skeptical of this notion, it was so universally espoused that he too had come to accept it as true.

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