Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Liu Xing powered on his computer, navigated to the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, and headed straight to the main section to access the Shop Interface.

Upon entering the Shop Interface, a pop-up advertisement immediately caught his eye, promoting the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" that Shan He had mentioned before.

After reading about the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," Liu Xing realized that it was not like the typical starter packs with random item pools. Instead, it guaranteed three items for the price of 100 points.

Liu Xing checked his points balance; he had 135 points left. Purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" would leave him with only 35 points, which was just enough for him to linger in the real world for a little over a month.

However, Liu Xing had no plans to stay in the real world that long. After all, the saying goes 'the sooner you die, the sooner you reincarnate...'—no, that was not it. Liu Xing was coerced into this situation!

Just two days ago, while playing Overwatch at home, his phone had started vibrating intensely. In the midst of a group fight, he ignored the phone, thinking it was malfunctioning due to the persistent vibration. But when he finally checked it, to his surprise, it was a message from the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall.

"Congratulations to player Old Chinese Doctor for your outstanding performance in the scenario—Castle Lord. You've earned the right to Advance to the Shoggoth Region. Please begin your three promotion games within the next half month. After successfully completing two of these promotion games, you will ascend to the Shoggoth Region. Should you die or drop out in your first promotion game, your card will not be torn. If you fail to complete your promotion games within half a month, this will be considered passive gaming, and your Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall account will be suspended for one year."

It was a best-of-three promotion match, but Liu Xing hadn't anticipated that just one session of Cthulhu RPG Game could propel him towards advancement.

However, it made sense. Cthulhu RPG Game was unlike other games—it didn't require accumulating gear or experience. For a dice maiden, skill improvement was trivial. Even with all skills at 99, a roll of 100 could still spell doom...

The half-month time limit imposed made Liu Xing uncomfortable. Regardless of whether he advanced or not, failing to complete the promotion games meant facing a one-year ban, which, Liu Xing felt, was essentially a covert penalty of 365 points.

Such a punishment was unacceptable to Liu Xing. So, after purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," he decided to start his first promotion game. As for telling Chen Ling before running the group, Liu Xing figured it could be skipped this time, since players in promotion games probably wouldn't be matched with those in ordinary Cthulhu RPG Games.

With that thought, Liu Xing didn't hesitate any further and clicked to purchase the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack."

"Qingming Rain can inflict 1d3 points of damage on a mythical creature with physical immunity effects and has a chance to reduce the mythical creature's movement speed by 50%."

"Qingming Festival offerings serve as a universal component for any Summoning Ritual required."

"Upon opening a Qingming oil-paper umbrella, there is a 50% chance that a mythical creature will overlook your presence for the duration of 2d6 minutes. The duration is inversely proportional to the level of the mythical creature; the higher the level, the shorter the duration. After the time expires, the Qingming oil-paper umbrella will self-immolate."

Liu Xing's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself with satisfaction, 'Shan He has indeed been truthful to me; this "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack" is truly remarkable, with three incredibly useful items.'

First, there's the Qingming Rain, a fragile-looking bubble containing a droplet of water - clearly a throwable weapon capable of inflicting damage on mythical creatures immune to physical harm!

For ordinary players who can only resort to physical means to combat mythical creatures, those immune to physical damage are virtually invincible since so few players are adept at spellcasting. Thus, Liu Xing regards Qingming Rain as a talisman, ensuring he stands a fighting chance against creatures like the Formless Son (a subordinate of Azathoth, known as Azathoth's 'Spawn', an amorphous slime monster that attacks with tentacles).

And the Qingming offerings are even more precious. In the world of Cthulhu RPGs, rituals for the summoning of Eldritch Gods are frequent, and virtually every game involves some ritual, such as the one at EinsCastle, intended to summon a projection of Cthulhu. These rituals always require specific offerings, and players might lose or miss them during certain quests. Without the proper offerings, rituals could fail, potentially leading to a total annihilation ending or forcing players to have a "face-to-face exchange" with a formidable foe. In such cases, the Qingming offerings could be a game-changer.

However, Liu Xing couldn't help but criticize the gruesome appearance of the Qingming offerings, which, put bluntly, resemble a bloody lump of flesh...

As for the final item, the Qingming oil-paper umbrella looks like an ordinary umbrella but is adorned with peculiar patterns that grant it the power to confer temporary invisibility upon its bearer.

Contentedly, Liu Xing decided to place all three items in his character card's personal inventory to ensure their availability during the tabletop game sessions.

After purchasing the "Cthulhu Qingming Festival Gift Pack," Liu Xing took a deep breath, clicked to start the game, and embarked on his first promotion game, reassured by the fact that a failure wouldn't result in his character being torn apart.

However, it seemed that few were participating in the promotion game, as Liu Xing waited over ten minutes without the game starting...

Just as Liu Xing was grumbling about the game's sluggishness, it officially commenced!

But before delving into the game, Liu Xing was directed to a growth settlement page of the intermission.

"Entered the Emergency Department, no incidents occurred, First Aid skill increased by 3 points."

"Attended an English training class, no incidents occurred, acquired skill—Other Language: English 22."

"Underwent car driving training, an unexpected event—'Veteran Driver Takes You for a Spin'. Since your driving instructor used to shuttle on Qingcheng Mountain with a Mitsubishi Delica, your driving skills are now exceptional, hence you've acquired the Driving skill at 50."

Looking at the last entry of his intermission growth, Liu Xing found himself caught between laughter and tears.