Chapter 240: S-Rating and D-Level Player
Night arrived as scheduled. Xu Huo and Wei Da stood on the left and right corridors respectively, watching the exhibition hall. Before the lights went out, Xu Huo placed his phone on the ground beside a pillar, facing the sculpture.
Under the light, the sculpture's head twisted, shedding its outer cloak like a shell, sliding out from the gap below. It propped up its elongated head, scanned the entire library, then walked toward the spot where the new painting hung. It casually swung its cane, smashing the phone. After the light source vanished, it stopped before the pillar, bent down, and pressed its face close to the painting frame. It stared for a full half minute, then suddenly flew into a rage, swatting the painting to the ground and stomping on it violently until the frame and paper were completely destroyed.
"Looks like this method won't work either!" Wei Da whispered.
"Maybe your painting was just too ugly," Xu Huo said, thinking for a moment. He pulled Ni Tian out of the painting. "You heard what was said during the day. Now you have a chance to try."
Ni Tian tried to run as soon as she came out, but Xu Huo kicked her to the ground and stepped on her, keeping her down. "You're dreaming! I'm not going to die!"
On the other side, Wei Da had already run out to attract the monster's attention. Without another word, Xu Huo shoved Ni Tian back into the painting and had the Painting Woman enter the painting to push Xie Man out.
Xie Man had already seen what happened. Without waiting for Xu Huo to speak, she said, "Isn't it just going head-to-head with a monster? At worst, I'll become a painting again. If that oil painting wasn't lying, maybe I'll get lucky!"
With that, she strode into the exhibition hall, charging straight at the monster's back. "Hey! Are you the curator of the Hundred-Person Art Museum?"
The monster, who had been chasing Wei Da, stopped. It slowly turned around, lowering its towering frame.
Xie Man swallowed twice before saying, "Curator, can you give me a painting?"
The Curator Monster swung its cane, and she turned into a new painting!
"No good!" In the darkness, Wei Da couldn't see clearly, but he sensed Xie Man's sudden disappearance. "I think it doesn't matter what you say to the curator. His eyesight is bad—he has to get close to see clearly. Once he confirms you're alive, he turns you into a painting!"
Xu Huo realized this too. He turned quickly, sketching on white paper. In just a few minutes, a pencil drawing was ready. He put it in a frame, hung it back on the pillar, then kicked the painting containing Ni Tian toward Wei Da. "Time to go!"
Wei Da lunged forward, caught the painting, and vanished from the spot in the next second. At the same time, Xu Huo left with the Painting Woman.
But the art museum didn't calm down after they left. The Curator Monster, wandering through the hall, found the newly hung painting by the pillar. It bent down and looked at it for a long time before lightly tapping it with its cane. The pencil-drawn glasses in the painting transformed into a real pair of glasses in its hand.
After putting on the glasses, the Curator Monster let out a satisfied roar. The entire art museum began to tremble. The floor split open from the center seam, and black-and-white tiles surged out, pushing the ground and stone pillars apart. As the area expanded, the museum's doors and walls cracked and rebuilt. The decorative murals were all refreshed, and even the paintings on the walls gradually changed—their content grew deeper, and a layer of shiny glass was added to the frames...
Xie Man and Lu Gang were spat out by the painting. Seeing the museum's drastic transformation, they exchanged glances and left the instance one after another.
Xu Huo, who had used a return ticket, didn't go directly back to Zone 014. Instead, like when he first got off the preliminary train, he entered a blank space. Three hundred and sixty degrees of fireworks special effects surrounded him for half a minute before his personal panel popped open:
[Congratulations, Player Passerby A. For successfully completing three tasks in this instance and prompting the instance venue to upgrade to a D-level instance, you have received an S Super Rating. In addition to the rewards due from this instance and the gift from the Hundred-Person Art Museum Curator, the game will also grant you an additional special item as a bonus.]
An S-level rating? This was unexpected.
After several instances, Xu Huo had roughly understood that successfully clearing an instance task usually only earned a B or A rating. He had completed two tasks this time, so he thought he wouldn't even get a B. He never expected a sudden turn of events—a simple pencil drawing of glasses could have such a huge impact.
In the museum, when he said Wei Da's painting was ugly, it wasn't entirely a joke. The monster had poor eyesight, but it carefully examined paintings. It only smashed the frame in anger after a serious look, which meant the monster not only killed those who damaged paintings but also had some understanding of art.
Of course, Xu Huo didn't know what perspective the monster used to view paintings or whether it would acknowledge a player's work. So he didn't plan to waste more time in the instance. He hung the painting purely on a whim before leaving... but now it seemed the Curator Monster highly approved of his artistic skill.
Prompting the instance venue to upgrade was beyond his understanding of the game, but thinking it over, he could piece together clues. The Curator Monster could turn people into paintings, so turning a painting into an item wasn't strange. And it was clearly the core of the Hundred-Person Art Museum instance. The reason for the upgrade to D-level might lie here.
Before he could check the game items, another new prompt appeared:
[Based on Player Passerby A's instance rating, congratulations on successfully upgrading to a D-level player. The game will unlock D-level permissions for you. As you are the ninth player in Zone 014 to advance and the third to receive an S rating, the game will also gift you an upgrade package.]
[Upgrade Permissions are as follows:]
[① Item Exchange: Once a month, you have the right to exchange items. This is limited to exchanging multiple items for a higher-level item or replacing items of the same level. The game will notify players when exchangeable items are detected.]
[② Cross-Zone Bounty: Once a month, you can use the bounty function. Players can input information they need or items they wish to trade (including tickets and items), while also providing valuable items (including tickets and items) or White Notes. The game will release this to other players on your behalf and provide feedback. Feedback time is limited to one month.]
[③ Information Feedback: The game welcomes players to provide any relevant information. Based on your information, the game will assess its value and give corresponding rewards.]
[④ Leaderboard Function: D-level players can compete on the five-zone joint ten-thousand-player leaderboard for their level. This leaderboard only displays player nicknames.]
[⑤ Broadcast Function: The game will broadcast important current events and hot news from the E27 wormhole point to players.]
After the upgrade, the personal panel was more complex than before, with more functions. The electronic time changed from a single game time to both game time and real time. It also included the weather, temperature, and air humidity index for Zone 014 and the current game instance.
The item column remained largely unchanged, but the item images were more colorful. However, the potion column now had several empty slots for adding potions. Additionally, the original potions now included recipe information beyond basic usage and details.
As for the ticket, besides departure information and destination, it now included the zone where the instance venue was located. For example, the address for Garden Castle Station became E27-011-Garden Castle Station.
There was also a new luggage compartment, noted for storing food and clothing with preservation functions.
There were some minor changes not worth mentioning, but the five new permissions were worth exploring.
Xu Huo had already used the first one once, exchanging the "Fearless Torch" and "Arsonist's Tool" for a D-level item, "V. Fanxiao's Tool of Crime." Although this required game prompts, it was available once a month and allowed exchanging items of the same level, giving players some choice—after all, not every item obtained in the game was convenient to use.
As for the cross-zone bounty, the 009-zone player Peng Fengnian, encountered in the slaughterhouse instance, had spent a fortune to buy information about the Skinner. And players from other zones had arrived in Zone 014 very quickly after the game issued a notice...
Xu Huo thought for a moment and wrote a ticket for Zone 014 and a bounty amount in the bounty column. Before a month had passed, the game gave feedback as soon as he sent it:
[Currently, there are seventy-two D-level instance tickets for Zone 014 on the bounty platform. Among them, fifty-six are for White Note transactions, and sixteen are for item or potion transactions. The minimum transaction amount is fifty thousand White Notes. Do you wish to proceed with the transaction?]