Chapter Six: A Guide for Newcomers

The Calamity Courier, seated on the sofa, slowly savored a piece of dark chocolate, chewing it repeatedly to ease his excitement. Brimming with confidence, he sent out the message he had prepared in advance.

[Calamity Courier: "New Capital District 8, apprentice Calamity Courier from Black River Prison."]

The group erupted in a flurry of messages.

What was going on? What on earth was a Calamity Courier?

By scrolling through the chat history, Chen Qi learned about the profession known as the “Calamity Courier.”

Simply put, a Calamity Courier was responsible for predicting the time and type of disasters. In the game, disasters were unnervingly frequent, and anyone seeking information about them would find Calamity Couriers to be the most reliable experts. And now, with disasters on Earth growing more common, many veteran players were eager to head to disaster zones to accelerate their own growth. For that, they needed a Calamity Courier to point the way.

Moreover, Calamity Couriers came with a comprehensive training system, making the role a key focus in New Capital, and—apart from the minor flaw of being assigned to District 8—undoubtedly a top-tier starting profession.

Beyond the excellence of the profession itself, the Courier’s talents were even more astonishing, sending the group’s excitement to a fever pitch.

[Calamity Courier: First talent, rare, Child of the Weather. It's somewhat complex, as it's a profession-related talent that grants different bonuses under various weather conditions.
Second talent, rare, Blessing of the Morning Star: increases inspiration by 10%, boosts mental resistance in darkness, and grants a significant inspiration bonus while in darkness.]

[Fisher: Damn, a rare talent paired with Calamity Courier? That’s an overpowered combo! Are you guys playing with cheats or what?]

[Phantom Thief: A promising profession for the future—and a young lady, too! Courier, I hope we’ll get along well…]

[Mad Assassin: Restrain yourselves, veterans! Haven’t you ever seen a rare talent before? Calm down!]

[Calamity Diviner: Actually, my divination can also predict disasters… Damn it, I just got eliminated in society, and now I’m going to get eliminated in-game too. The world really is doomed.]

[Luo Qing: Excellent talents and profession. Just follow your mentor’s guidance and study well.
With the unique abilities of a Traveler, advancing in rank and title will be easier, but be mindful of your safety during major missions.]

The combination of rare talents and a top-tier profession brought even the lurking members out into the open; the group chat exploded as people scrambled to add the Calamity Courier as a friend!

Would the rush for attention eventually leave him forgotten?

Though Chen Qi wasn’t particularly interested in these friend requests right now, if he could get game tips from Luo Qing, he’d have a clearer goal in the early stages.

[Night Wanderer: My profession is Night Watchman at the Prison. First talent is ordinary, Blessing of the Morning Star: boosts inspiration, and grants resistance at night.]

For safety’s sake, Chen Qi didn’t reveal his first talent, “Master of the Morning Star,” since its core, “Morning Star’s Pursuit,” was a quintessential support talent.

To put it simply, it was like having a treasure compass.

Right now, he was just a newbie who’d barely started. If a veteran decided to hang him on the prow of a ghost ship as a living navigator, he’d be powerless to resist.

He vaguely recalled that, in the New Sun chat group, a newcomer with the “Chosen Sacrifice” talent had mysteriously disappeared, never to speak in the group again.

Looking back, it was a chilling tale.

As the group’s fervor over the Calamity Courier continued, Chen Qi’s message was quickly drowned out.

[Night Wanderer: Second talent, rare, Prophetic Dream: in-game, can vaguely foresee the outcome of a single choice.]

At this point, in their efforts to win over the Calamity Courier, three veterans began boasting about their equipment stashes, their luxury cars and mansions, and glamorous model photos, instantly flooding the chat and pushing Chen Qi’s messages away once more.

The scrolling was relentless…

Chen Qi could only sigh. These three could send ten messages a second.

Fortunately, Vice Admin Luo Qing didn’t overlook his two messages.

[Luo Qing: @Night Wanderer, your profession is the Night Watchman of Black River Prison, correct?
It’s not the best profession—there’s no mentor to teach you, and the survival environment is rather harsh.
Though your first talent is only ordinary, inspiration is hard to come by, so it’s actually quite a good talent, helping you learn incantations.
Your second talent is Prophetic Dream? That’s a powerful talent, enabling you to eliminate wrong choices during exploration.
If possible, as a Night Watchman in District 8, you should try to get promoted to Captain early on, and focus on physical training in the early stages—that’s very important.
Then, you can use the Night Watchmen’s intelligence network to explore places of opportunity, such as the fringes of the Luminous Lands, to seek out incantation knowledge.]

With no mentor to train Night Watchmen, exploration was key. Chen Qi committed these words to memory.

[Luo Qing: By the way, Night Wanderer, did you just encounter a disaster?]

She’d guessed it!

Vice Admin Luo Qing’s knowledge was truly formidable. Chen Qi pursed his lips; even though he had deliberately avoided mentioning his profession’s name, she had identified it with ease. She had also deduced that he had run into a disaster—likely based on his second talent.

[Calamity Diviner: What! A newcomer! A newcomer encountered a disaster!
Are you in the hospital now? Did you lose a life? Did you get randomly teleported to some ghostly place after dying?
Disasters are terrifying, aren’t they! You can’t get a good night’s sleep after seeing those things, right? No, no, my brain is about to explode again!]

He had encountered a disaster!

With Luo Qing’s words, the entire group’s focus shifted at once.

Luo Qing quickly explained: [To obtain a rare second talent, you must pass the highest-difficulty disaster trial at the start of the game, and this trial is often accompanied by a real-world disaster.]

Once this was confirmed, the group exploded again.

Glancing over their chats, Chen Qi realized that most of the group had never faced a disaster in real life.

The Calamity Diviner, for instance, had unfortunately encountered one as a newbie and been left with psychological scars, regularly having breakdowns in the group.

But to veteran players, while disasters were terrifying, they also promised great rewards. Many wished they could encounter one in the real world.

This, of course, was why Calamity Couriers were so sought after.

[Calamity Diviner: Disasters are terrifying, aren’t they! Just terrifying!]

[Mad Assassin: Prophetic Dream, that seems even stronger than my Aura Sense talent.]

[Phantom Thief: Amazing, you passed the hardest trial and gained such a powerful talent. Where did you encounter the disaster, brother? And how did you escape?]

[Fisher: Brother, did you really encounter a disaster? You’re not baiting us, are you? (suspicious emoji)]

Chen Qi replied perfunctorily.

Night Wanderer: “It was pretty scary. Ran into it near my home—a beast-type disaster. It seemed weak when I found it, so I got lucky and killed it with a knife.”

…

Suddenly, friend requests began pouring in with a chorus of notification pings; eight group members sent requests almost simultaneously.

A Textile Apprentice, the Phantom Thief, the Calamity Diviner…

Chen Qi sorted them into groups; perhaps he could make use of them in the future.

Some curious group members began pressing Chen Qi for details about the disaster and its location.

For his own privacy and safety, Chen Qi didn’t answer in the group.

Vice Admin Luo Qing’s message interrupted their barrage of questions.

[Luo Qing: Well, the newcomer welcome ceremony ends here. Welcome to the New Sun Game Support Chat Group.
Let me formally introduce myself: my name is Luo Qing. I’m the group’s administrator and somewhat of a scholar.
Newcomers, I can answer any of your questions, but in exchange I require knowledge—please understand, I do not accept items (no matter how good they are) as payment.
“Knowledge” can be a special method of clearing a stage in New Sun, unique information from the game, or intel about the Traveler King or other higher beings (including any higher beings that might exist on Earth).
Any of these can serve as “knowledge tokens” in exchange for answers to your questions.
So, newcomers, welcome to the world of New Sun. May you one day reach the Realm of the High Heavens.
I have important matters to attend to and will now go offline. Truly, I’m logging off.]

Once Luo Qing finished, the group chat was lively again.

Although Chen Qi’s talents were impressive, Prophetic Dream could only be used in-game and was a rather solitary ability; most people were more interested in the highly supportive Calamity Courier!

Moreover, many friend requests sent to the “Calamity Courier” were still pending, making the group all the more restless.

[Phantom Thief: Miss Courier, let me tell you, early gear is crucial! I happen to have a few spare weapons—a Silver Moon Blade, worth at least fifty moon silver coins! We can trade offline!]

[Mad Assassin: Phantom Thief, stop showing off your junk. I’ve got guides I traded with Vice Admin Luo Qing! You should know, it’s not easy to get guides from her!]

[Fisher: Miss Courier, please add me!!! I know my profile says male, but I’m actually a super cute girl—really curvy! If you don’t believe me, add me and I’ll send you a swimsuit photo!]

[Calamity Diviner: Please, add me as a friend, I’m begging you. I can do divination for you. Lately, my readings for burial dates have been especially accurate.]

The discussion shifted back to the Calamity Courier, and the group members began showing off their best tricks just for a friend slot.

…

Watching them all perform, Chen Qi frowned like a grumpy old man on the subway. Even if they were telling the truth, it didn’t change the fact that they were all a bunch of goofballs.

There was nothing useful for now. Checking the time, Chen Qi got up and headed back to his shared apartment.

Ding!

Suddenly, another friend request arrived.

[Calamity Courier: Night Wanderer, add me as a friend. I’m also in District 8 of New Capital.]

Taking the initiative? Chen Qi rested his chin, pondering. This Calamity Courier seemed rather aloof. Despite everyone fawning over her, she barely spoke in the group, yet now she’d reached out to him directly.

Still, he could guess her reasoning—it was likely the same as his own.

This game, after all, was grounded in real strength. It couldn’t be as peaceful as ordinary games, and veteran players might well take advantage of newcomers.

With overwhelming power, it was easy for veterans to dominate newbies.

Since they were both newcomers in District 8, their chances of meeting in-game were high, and cooperation between newcomers would naturally foster more trust.

Chen Qi accepted the request without greeting her, then reopened “New Sun.”

He was about to follow the Tracker back to Black River Prison.