Urban Demon Refining System

“Actually, these three items have another function besides representing different factions,” Xiao Yang paused and continued, “As you probably know, after completing the beginner’s guide quest, you will usually get the title of Monster Catcher.”

"Hmm." Zhao Baichuan nodded. That's right, he does indeed have such a title now.

"This title signifies that you have officially become a player, but you are still in the beginner stage."

"Hmm." Zhao Baichuan nodded. Indeed, this kind of setting is common in most games.

"After obtaining this title for a period of time, the system will assess the new player's strength. Passing the assessment will generally trigger a quest..."

"The task of becoming a demon refiner?" Zhao Baichuan answered first, but he still had a question in his mind. "Brother Blackhead said that as long as a demon reaches the level of a lesser demon, this task will be automatically triggered, but why haven't I received any task notification yet?"

"This is what I wanted to tell you." Xiao Yang gathered his thoughts and said, "Actually, the item selection at the beginning of the game is essentially three different professions."

"Profession?"

“That’s right, it’s about professions!” Xiao Yang nodded. “The Demon-Refining Teapot represents the Shu Mountain faction, and the profession it represents is Demon Refiner. The Ghost-Collecting Gourd represents the Kunlun faction, and the profession it represents is Ghost Refiner. As for the third situation, it’s not clear what profession it corresponds to yet. Actually, this task is a faction task.”

"Um, teacher, you mean that the guy in the baseball cap is in the same situation as me, because the sealing stone's alignment isn't showing and he hasn't triggered his class quest yet, which is why he's so weak, right?"

"That's right. Becoming a demon refiner is not just a change in title, but a qualitative leap. Every demon refiner will receive a bonus based on the unique characteristics of their profession, so the strength of a demon refiner is incomparable to that of a demon hunter."

"But why is my strength higher than that baseball cap?" Blackhead had told him before that the number of monsters depends on the strength of the player's soul. Theoretically, the upper limit is six, but most people can't reach that standard. For experienced players like him and Xiao Yang, having three monsters is already the limit. It seems that the baseball cap's soul strength is slightly higher than theirs, but the strength between the two is not proportional.

“You’ll have to ask yourself that. It’s not that the one in the baseball cap is weak, but that you’ve already taken the strongest one. You know the story of Tian Ji’s horse race, right? Your flower fairy is the best horse.” Xiao Yang glanced at the little guy playing on the artificial flowers. “But this little guy seems to be more intelligent than ordinary demons.”

"So that's how it is." Zhao Baichuan suddenly realized that he had always thought he was exceptionally talented, but it turned out he hadn't even encountered the opponent's main force.

"Actually, the third type of sealing stone item has always been a mystery among players." Xiao Yang thought for a moment, "As far as I know, there has always been a legend circulating among those veteran players."

"What legend?" Zhao Baichuan asked curiously.

"Before the three holy lands, the world was a world of demons." Xiao Yang did not answer his question directly, but instead told a story.

"A world of demons?"

"Yes, back then, humans were nothing more than food for them. But with the rise of the Human Emperor Fuxi and the help of the gods in Heaven, humans finally drove away the demons and ascended to the position of rulers. In order to prevent these demons from rising again, the gods decided to establish three holy lands in the human world and bestowed three divine artifacts to suppress them. Over time, some gods and demons who violated the heavenly rules were also suppressed here."

"The three sacred sites are Mount Shu, Kunlun, and Penglai?"

“That’s right.” Xiao Yang nodded. “The three holy lands are located in three different directions, hence the names Penglai in the east, Kunlun in the west, and Shushan in the center.”

“But Penglai has vanished into thin air.” Zhao Baichuan could not hide his disappointment. “Does that mean I’ll be a monster hunter for the rest of my life?” Compared to a monster refiner, a monster hunter is much weaker. Even that freak with four monsters in the baseball cap is only so-so. It seems that choosing this sealing stone is really a dead end.

"Don't be disappointed." Xiao Yang saw Zhao Baichuan's expression and knew exactly what he was thinking. He comforted him, "Not being able to become a demon refiner doesn't mean you can't go further."

"Hmm." Zhao Baichuan nodded, but he wasn't in a good mood. He just assumed that Xiao Yang was trying to comfort him.

"In fact, a considerable number of players chose the sealing stone at the beginning of the game, and their strength did not stagnate."

"Does Teacher Xiao know any ways to improve one's strength?" Hearing this, a glimmer of hope rekindled in his heart.

"The key to this matter still lies with that sealing stone." Xiao Yang paused. "From what I understand, the description of that sealing stone states that it seals away an unknown creature, right?"

"Hmm." Zhao Baichuan nodded. He had initially thought it was a gimmick used by unscrupulous businesses to lure players into spending money. "Do I need to unseal the creatures inside?"

Although the sealing stone contained instructions on how to unseal an unknown creature, he had no clue how to break the seal.

“If the legend is true, the creatures inside these sealing stones should be the gods and demons who violated the heavenly laws back then.” Xiao Yang took a sip of cola and continued, “For this reason, when the game Mythology was first released, a considerable number of people chose sealing stones as an item.”

"Hmm." Indeed, compared to the simple and straightforward attributes of the Ghost-Capturing Gourd and the Demon-Refining Teapot, the Sealing Stone is more mysterious, and some people still can't help but choose this item.

"However, legends are just legends. This item is indeed a huge trap. It cannot release these gods and demons at all, which means that our strength cannot be improved. Although there are initial items for sale in the store, they cannot trigger faction quests. Just when everyone was at a loss, a mysterious player appeared."

"A mysterious player?" Zhao Baichuan immediately became interested.

"Yes, this person has a large number of demon-refining teapots and ghost-collecting gourds, and claims that as long as these players are willing to exchange, he can guarantee that they will join Shushan and Kunlun."

"I'm sure a lot of people have chosen to trade!" Zhao Baichuan said. After being tormented by the Sealing Stone pit for so long, many people must have been unable to resist the temptation and chose to trade. This is the same as deleting an account and starting over in a game.

"That's right, many people did choose to exchange at the time and eventually successfully joined the Shushan and Kunlun camps."