“After my observation, you seem to have an interest in history as well?”
“Yes.”
Ye Bai imdiately stopped her steps, turned her head to look at this NPC, replied to her, and simultaneously cast an [Identification] on the person.
????
Identity: Librarian, ???
Level: ???
Occupation: Historian IV, ???
Health: ???
...
Sure enough, as expected, Ye Bai received a string of question marks. Identification works based on the level difference, and the more an NPC's level exceeds one's own, the less information one can see. In lo City, a major capital city, it's normal to find high-level NPCs everywhere—nine out of ten people here are. From the abundance of question marks in the information, it can be inferred that the NPC who stopped Ye Bai is likely at least a second or even third evolution-tier (class advancent) professional.
Working as a librarian in a magical tropolis that reveres knowledge, her combat profession might very well be sothing like Archmage or Magister.
“It's rare. Nowadays, young people are too impatient, and few have the patience to study history like you do. I have a historical research commission, maybe... would you like to give it a try?”
[Librarian Anita of lo City has issued you the quest 'Historical Research'. Accept?]
Ye Bai's eyes lit up and she imdiately chose to accept. This was exactly what she had been waiting for!
Anita, the librarian, then began to explain to Ye Bai: “There are various societies in lo City dedicated to the study of magic. Since the Arcane Association established subsidies for these societies, competition for resources has led to so undesirable trends. So societies have even fabricated and tampered with historical records to exaggerate the prospects of their own magical schools…”
“…I have so recent suspicious studies from several societies. I want you to help identify any false content and determine the authenticity of these docunts.”
[New Quest Added: 'Historical Research - Discerning Truth from Falsehood']
Quest Description: Librarian Anita is displeased with the trend of societies recklessly altering historical records. She hopes that you can distinguish the truth from falsehood and restore the true history.
Quest Reward: Unknown
[Received Quest Item: 'Suspicious Research Findings' X4]
“No problem.”
After receiving the docunts handed over by Anita and successfully accepting the quest, Ye Bai didn't waste any ti, quickly reviewing the detailed information of the four 'suspicious research findings.'
'The Fall of the Tut Dynasty and the Abuse of Fire Magic'
'How Is the Elven Dragon Not a Dragon?'
'Proof of the Existence of Elental Civilization'
'Top Ten Legendary Magical Creatures, Number One Is It'
These research titles, which scread clickbait, were undoubtedly all fake. The specific content inside was written in a sensationalized report style, not genuine academic papers. The material consisted of one conclusion after another, and players were required to select all the erroneous sections before submitting them to the NPC.
However, using a trial-and-error thod wouldn't work. Submitting four incorrect answers in a row would result in quest failure, and the quest reward would be voided, even if the correct answers were found later.
Under normal circumstances, the standard strategy for this quest was for players to wander around the inner city, gathering information from different NPCs until they could discern all the errors.
Since these contents were the scams society used to dupe funding, they were all exaggerated clickbait. The residents of the magical capital were mostly high-level NPCs—skilled mages (or other powerful professionals). These articles would be seen as joke material among them.
For ordinary players, this was a ti-consuming and labor-intensive quest, requiring a high degree of patience and attention to detail.
But for Ye Bai, it was a piece of cake...
Upon receiving the quest, Ye Bai picked up one of the docunts titled 'Top Ten Legendary Magical Creatures, Number One Is It.'
'Sixth Place: The Dragon Clan…'
'…'
'First Place: Sli…'
Ye Bai quickly marked each of the ten magical creatures listed in the ranking as incorrect. This docunt was the most misleading for players because if they went around asking NPCs, they would discover that different NPCs and factions had varying opinions on the ranking of legendary magical creatures, just like how people in later eras compiled lists for historical figures for various reasons. It was all subjective rather than factual.
From a historical perspective, ranking was inherently a flawed concept—things that existed simply existed; their rit couldn't be judged across different tilines.
Next up was 'The Fall of the Tut Dynasty and the Abuse of Fire Magic.' 'Scratch, scratch, scratch'—Ye Bai marked four incorrect choices. The Tut Dynasty rose and fell within just fifty years, a war-hungry power that eventually provoked the wrath of its enemies and was crushed. Its collapse had nothing to do with magic usage, let alone fire magic. Discrimination against magical disciplines was wrong...
'Scratch, scratch, scratch'…
In less than a minute, Ye Bai had highlighted all the erroneous content in the four docunts, even double-checking to ensure she hadn't made a mistake.
She was intimately familiar with the entire question bank for this quest, making these four tasks a breeze.
Then Ye Bai walked to… no, she didn't need to move. She just looked up at Anita and selected the option to submit the quest.
“…Ah?”
Anita seed montarily stunned by Ye Bai's speed, a look of confusion crossing her face. Only after a mont did she gather herself, taking the docunts and flipping through them page by page.
Upon finishing her review, Anita pushed her glasses down and peered over them with her erald-green eyes, giving Ye Bai a thorough once-over, clearly impressed.
“Your knowledge and talent for history are truly unexpected. Would you like to beco my student? Naturally, this refers to the field of 'history'.”
[Anita is willing to take you as a student. You will receive the secondary occupation 'Historian I'. Do you accept?]
[Yes]
A flash of light enveloped Ye Bai, and in the next mont, her character panel updated, adding a new entry under occupations: [Historian I].
Securing this secondary occupation was Ye Bai's primary goal for visiting the library.
Secondary occupations, or lifestyle professions, such as [Historian], have unique acquisition conditions. The trigger for obtaining [Historian] was to read ten foundational historical books in a library. In magical or alchemical tropolis libraries, which house a wide variety of books, this condition is easy to et, as long as the books qualify as 'historical' and are accessible to beginners.
In contrast, libraries in chaotic tropolis, which lack as extensive a collection, would require players to search multiple libraries to find the sufficient number of introductory historical books needed to et the trigger condition.
The acquisition conditions for other knowledge-based secondary occupations such as [Botanist], [Zoologist], etc. follow a similar process. They fall into semi-hidden categories among lifestyle professions.
As Ye Bai gained the secondary occupation, Anita nodded approvingly at her: “Well done. I hope you can go even further on this path.”
[New Quest Added: 'ntor’s Expectation']
Quest Description: Your ntor hopes that you will make significant strides in your historical studies, raising your 'Historian I' occupation proficiency to 100%.
Quest Reward: Promotion to Historian II; Unknown;
After delivering this encouraging remark, Anita paid no further attention to Ye Bai, instead returning to her books.
The previous quest Ye Bai had completed served as the test for earning a historian ntor. Now, through the 'ntor’s Expectation,' she had access to a long-term, non-ti-constrained quest. Once her occupation proficiency reached 100%, she could approach her ntor to unlock a subsequent advancent quest. Success in the next quest would yield the reward of enhancing the occupation proficiency further, upgrading her role from [Historian I] to [Historian II].
Ye Bai opened her occupation interface to view the details of her newly-acquired secondary occupation:
[Historian I]
Occupation Description: You have already taken the first step in the study of history. Now, use your inquisitive gaze to uncover the truths hidden in the annals of history!
Professional Proficiency: 0/100
Profession Skill - Archaeology: Can gain experience by excavating historical information; can discover hidden quest clues from historical information.
She rushed over imdiately to obtain the secondary profession of Historian, primarily for the archaeology profession skill.
This was the life skill that best leveraged Ye Bai's information advantage, bar none.
In Wan Jie, experience can be gained through three channels: combat, quest rewards, and life skills.
Under normal circumstances, the experience reward from life skills is the least among all sources, as most life professions yield corresponding 'crafting items.' By contrast, professions like Historian, which do not produce crafting items, offer slightly more experience, but generally still fall short compared to combat and quest rewards.
However, there is one exception: the 'Profession Inspiration' effect.
The most straightforward analogy is that if a player has the secondary profession of Blacksmith, the experience and proficiency gained from forging a common white-tier equipnt versus a rare blue-tier equipnt are vastly different, with the latter being several tis higher.
In the case of the Historian profession, anyti a player unearths previously undisclosed historical information or corrects false historical records through archaeology, the discovery of 'new historical findings' can yield massive experience rewards!
New historical discoveries are often elusive for ordinary players, but for Ye Bai, a ga producer with intimate knowledge of the ga's chanics, it’s as simple as following a blueprint.
More importantly, Ye Bai possesses the [Spring of Origin], which grants access to the Divine Realm.
The Divine Realm, and especially the shattered fragnts of it, is akin to a vast archaeological site filled with previously unrecorded history for the rest of the world.
All these advantages combined an that for Ye Bai, grinding monsters would never yield as much experience as obtaining it through the Historian profession.
Additionally, one more aspect makes archaeology worthwhile: the discovery of 'historical clues.'
Ye Bai didn't leave the library; instead, she continued to search the nearby shelves for advanced historical books, which could only be read after becoming a Historian.
[You gained 1 Historical Experience and 40 Experience points from reading "The Birth of Guilds."]
[You...]
While the experience gained from reading historical books was modest, Ye Bai wasn't doing it for the stats.
[You discovered the historical clue 'Faith Collection' from reading "The History of Alchemy," gaining 2 Historical Experience and 100 Experience points.]
At this notification, Ye Bai relaxed her brow.
All historical clues are tied to quests, so even hidden ones, though they often require additional conditions and information to piece together fully, depending on the player’s ability to solve the puzzle.
[You discovered the historical clue 'The Pulse of Magic' from reading "The Rise and Fall of the Blood Dynasty," gaining 2 Historical Experience and 100 Experience points.]
[You...]
[You...]
[You discovered the historical clue 'Transcendence's Demise' from reading "The Third Revolution of Magical Ideals," gaining 2 Historical Experience and 100 Experience points.]
A flash of light indicated that Ye Bai had leveled up again due to the depletion of her stamina, leaving her experience pool about 40% short of the next level. The experience from discovering historical clues was significantly higher than normal but still within typical bounds, falling short of the rewards for new historical discoveries.
However, Ye Bai wasn’t reading these books for the experience.
She hadn’t forgotten her primary objective for this journey: to change professions.
With the full ga guide in hand, failing to switch to a powerful hidden profession would be a waste of her identity as a ga producer!
The Historian profession could yield the historical clues 'The Pulse of Magic,' 'Transcendence's Demise,' and 'Faith Collection' from advanced historical books on three different schools of thought. These clues were prerequisites for a series of hidden profession tasks.
If following the normal quest flow, players would first need to grind monsters for an extrely rare drop, then hand it over to a suitable NPC to trigger a quest, complete it, receive the clue item, find a Historian NPC to unlock the 'historical clue,' and finally, reach the sa progress as Ye Bai. Without eting these prerequisites, even arriving at the quest location wouldn’t trigger the task.
Afterward, Ye Bai left the library and arrived at the iconic statue of the Elental Goddess in the city, touching a fold in the goddess's hem.
A stream of magical light flowed from her fingertips into her body.
[You obtained an unknown magical coordinate.]
Instantly, a glowing dot appeared in Ye Bai's vision, hovering and dancing before leading in the direction of the city outskirts.
In reality, the action of 'touching the goddess's hem' to obtain the coordinate required a series of tasks, but for Ye Bai, it was instantly bypassed.
Following the light’s guidance, Ye Bai made her way to the outskirts of ilo City.
From the mont she entered the outer city, the number of player characters around increased noticeably. Even after leaving the city gates and entering the wilderness, she still spotted so players, given that ilo was a major hub with plenty of opportunities.
Focused on their own affairs, none of the busy players took note of Ye Bai, whose level and na remained invisible to them.
Following the guidance through the woods until evening, Ye Bai arrived in front of an abandoned shack.
The dancing magical coordinate dot stopped atop the shack’s roof before dissipating with the wind.
Ye Bai entered the shack, which was barren beyond description—truly a household with nothing but walls. Spiders had spun thick webs in the corner. A fireplace held burnt-out coal, with so moldy firewood left nearby. A straw pile lay on the ground, and the only piece of furniture was a table with its surface scratched and marred, displaying an extinguished oil lamp.
In such a typical puzzle scenario, Ye Bai didn't bother searching the room, knowing it was fruitless.
Instead, she headed straight to the table, picked up the oil lamp, and positioned it over the converging lines of seemingly chaotic scratches.
"Snap!"
The oil lamp crackled, and the wick ignited automatically.
Ye Bai shut the door of the shack, and inside the unlit room, the oil lamp beca the solitary source of light.
Miraculously, due to the angle of the light, a shadow resembling a doorway appeared on the floor.
Ye Bai stepped into this illusory 'door.'
"Clack."
The forrly flat ground suddenly dipped, revealing a downward step, as Ye Bai placed her foot upon it.
This was a classic magical hidden chamber.
Normally, players would first need to piece together clues upon arriving here, identify the owner, and complete a series of tasks before unlocking the secret.
But for Ye Bai, there was no need for lengthy investigations—straight to the point.
From beginning to end, from when Ye Bai first entered the library to obtaining the Historian profession, to discovering key clues and reaching her destination, every action was executed with pinpoint efficiency, with no extraneous movents.
At the sa ti, Ye Bai received the system notification:
[You discovered the hidden location 'Rathen’s Secret Underground Chamber.’]
[You gained 5 Historical Experience and 5000 Experience points.]
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