Chapter 10 Placement and Resolution

His consciousness jolted, returning to the starry space.

"I'm back."

Zhou Jing looked down, confirming that he was using his original appearance, not the "Willwood" vessel.

*Hah*, finally back, the feeling of being poisoned and unconscious was really unpleasant… Zhou Jing grimaced.

When using a Star Realm Apostle, the consciousness does not detach from the body's senses; it is 100% real, and pain is truly pain.

The enormous fluorescent panel floated before him, displaying the information he had received earlier.

"Actually stayed for six days… so I was unconscious for about two days after being poisoned. Griff carried me, an injured person, through the forest for so long…"

Zhou Jing mused.

The forest was full of dangers, the threat of the Earth Bones had not disappeared, and he was not a true companion of the hunters, they could have abandoned him as a burden… but now it seemed that their so-called favor was not just empty words.

He briefly went on an adventure, tried another life, and recalling it was incredibly profound.

Zhou Jing suppressed his thoughts and looked at the next line of information.

The panel showed that this experience had collected a total of 163 Star Realm Points, accumulating his total to 1468 points.

Many actions of the Star Realm Apostle, such as fighting, training, surviving, and even eating, can collect wandering Star Realm energy, turning it into Star Realm Points.

But unlike the immediate gains from triggering achievements, the Star Realm Points collected from these daily behaviors are only tallied and settled when the Star Realm Apostle deployment ends and the consciousness returns, bringing back the collection results in one go.

Zhou Jing opened the statistical details of this item, which listed which behaviors during this experience had collected Star Realm Points, appearing very trivial.

Everything from killing strange beasts to what he ate every day had Star Realm Points credited, and even simply sleeping had a small amount of income.

"So as long as the Star Realm Apostle is alive and still breathing, they can continuously collect Star Realm Points…"

Zhou Jing scratched his head.

The bulk of this income was mainly from killing the White Spider Monster, and the rest was the sum of various odds and ends.

At the bottom of the collection details, two pieces of information caught his attention:

[Synchronization Rate Bonus: 0%]

[Legend Degree Bonus: 0%]

Synchronization rate and legend degree can increase the total daily income of return settlements, equivalent to improving the efficiency of the Apostle's collection of Star Realm Points.

The synchronization rate of the "Willwood" body had been raised to 32% before returning, but there was no bonus. He estimated that the synchronization rate had to reach a certain standard or higher to get a bonus.

The legend degree seemed to be related to the influence of the Star Realm Apostle, what deeds were left behind, how much attention was received, and so on. Based on Zhou Jing's not-so-rich experience analysis… this legend degree might be equivalent to something like personal reputation.

Closing the statistical details, Zhou Jing looked at the next item, which read "Experience log has been recorded, and related exploration results have been entered into the illustrated handbook."

"What does this mean…"

With a thought, the panel flashed, and two extended interfaces suddenly popped up on the left and right.

The interface on the left:

[《Star Realm Apostle Roster》]

[Number 001: Willwood (Alive) – Can view detailed attributes, experience log]

[Number 002: None]

The interface on the right:

[《Record Compendium》]

[1. Talent Category]

[2. Skill Category]

[3. Superpower System Category]

[4. Auxiliary Function Category]

[5. Trait Personality Category]

Zhou Jing became a little interested and studied it, roughly understanding what these were.

The 《Star Realm Apostle Roster》 records all Star Realm Apostles that have been generated, whether dead or alive.

Clicking on a name in the roster allows you to query the file of the Star Realm Apostle, and you can also query the experience log of the Star Realm Apostle.

The experience log is in the form of a video recording, containing all the Star Realm Apostle's experiences, as a memo.

Zhou Jing tried watching a few segments, all of which were images from the first-person perspective of this vessel, all things he had personally experienced not long ago. If he forgot the details, he could directly query the relevant images without confusing his cognition.

The 《Record Compendium》 classifies and records all the abilities of the Star Realm Apostle templates he has used, allowing for intuitive queries. Currently, it only contains the abilities of "Willwood".

In addition to the recording function, the compendium is also equivalent to a character creation material library – when creating a new Star Realm Apostle, you can specify inheriting the abilities of other Star Realm Apostles from the compendium, to generate the new vessel's template. It's just that depending on the selected abilities, it consumes varying amounts of Star Realm Points.

"So the more Star Realm Apostles I use, the richer the roster and compendium become… but it seems that only after the previous Star Realm Apostle clears the game or dies can I create a new Star Realm Apostle."

Zhou Jing secretly noted it down, closed these two interfaces, and continued to look down.

The cooldown time for the next deployment is twelve hours… this is easy to understand, the main body must spend at least twelve hours of time before the consciousness can be re-deployed into the Star Realm Apostle, like before.

It doesn't seem to be forced, when the time comes, you can travel if you want, and you can choose not to travel if you don't want to.

Zhou Jing looked at the last line of information:

[Please formulate a placement action plan for the Star Realm Apostle…]

The reason why the panel was stuck on this settlement interface was because the follow-up operation had not yet been carried out.

As soon as he chose to continue, the settlement interface immediately disappeared, replaced by a new page:

[Placement Target: Willwood]

[Highest Synchronization Rate Record: 32% (Second Stage)]

[Placement Revenue Cap: Star Realm Points 0/2000, Information-State Particles 0/20]

[Please set the main action goal, secondary action focus, event handling mode, combat mode, interaction mode…]

[Hint: During placement, the synchronization rate will not increase. The higher the synchronization rate, the more capable the Star Realm Apostle is of dealing with complex events and acting flexibly according to the placement plan.]

[Hint: When the Star Realm Apostle executes the placement action plan, the behavior pattern still carries template trait personality.]

Zhou Jing read it once, and suddenly understood.

"Placement mode… so that's what it's like after returning. When I'm not personally controlling the Star Realm Apostle, he will act according to the plan I set, just like those robots with standard artificial intelligence in the main world. Formulating a placement plan is equivalent to establishing the robot's behavior program and logic chain…"

He had originally guessed whether the Star Realm Apostle would disappear with him after he returned, or whether time in the other plane would pause.

Now it seemed that time in the other world was still flowing, and the Star Realm Apostle stayed in that world, acting according to the placement plan he set, and automatically collecting Star Realm energy.

However, unlike personally controlling it, the Star Realm Apostle has a limit on collecting Star Realm Points in placement mode, which depends on the level of synchronization rate.

Every 25% of the synchronization rate is a dividing line, divided into four stages. Each time a stage is raised, the placement revenue cap will be raised.

The basic placement revenue cap depends on the template rarity. Raising a synchronization rate stage will at least double the placement revenue cap, so the placement revenue cap of the fourth stage synchronization rate is at least eight times the revenue cap of the first stage.

When the cumulative total revenue of an Apostle in placement mode reaches the upper limit, then he cannot continue to obtain placement revenue, and he needs to personally descend to increase the synchronization rate, thereby expanding the revenue cap.

Only Star Realm Apostles who clear the game and whose synchronization rate reaches the fourth stage have no placement revenue cap.

Zhou Jing nodded secretly: "So raising the synchronization rate is a very high priority goal. Compared to personally controlling it, the Star Realm Apostle should spend more time in placement mode."

He carefully read the specific details of the placement plan.

The placement plan has many settable items, covering multiple aspects.

He summarized it and simply divided it into two categories: action goals and action modes.

The former determines the purpose of the Star Realm Apostle's placement action, whether to explore new areas or stay in place, whether to focus on cultivation or stir up trouble everywhere.

In more detail, it can also be specific to a certain detail, such as choosing to focus on cultivation and setting priority to improve the level of which skill, and so on.

The latter is the handling mode for various events, such as aggressive, conservative, balanced, etc., but it will be affected by the traits of this Star Realm Apostle, personality, style, position, and so on.

"First try it out and see what the specific results of the placement mode are like…"

Zhou Jing thought for a while and quickly set the placement plan this time, all choosing conservative and balanced options.

Let's play it safe first and see.

[Placement plan has been saved and will take effect immediately]

[Do you want to open the map overview mode to additionally specify the activity area and plan the activity trajectory during placement?]

[Hint: You can choose not to specify, and the Star Realm Apostle will decide the activity area based on the situation according to the placement plan.]

The interface of the map overview mode popped up. This time it was no longer all black, but a small area was added, which was the area Zhou Jing had walked through in the Black Shirt Forest, which could be zoomed in and out.

In addition, this time the unknown area has also become selectable as the exploration target under the placement mode of the Star Realm Apostle.

"Don't specify an area."

Zhou Jing refused.

There is nothing special that needs to be explored at the moment. Let's wait for Griff and the others to bring the "Willwood" Star Realm Apostle to Frostwood Village and unlock that area.

After completing these operations, the panel flashed, the interface of the placement plan disappeared, and new information appeared:

[Setup completed]

[Interdimensional preparation space closed]

[Next entry countdown: 12 hours]

Suddenly, Zhou Jing's vision went black.

And in the next second, his vision returned, and what he saw was no longer the fluorescent panel and the starry space, but his own room.

Outside the window, the neon lights were still flickering, illuminating the steel forest-like high-rise buildings and the flying vehicles passing through them.

Zhou Jing blinked.

"So I'm back?"

"I thought it would suck me into the crack again like the Star Realm traversal…"

"By the way, what time is it now?"

Zhou Jing thought of this, sat up from the bed, and opened the electronic clock on his phone.

Five in the morning.

He estimated the time he fell asleep, which was more than six hours.

The interdimensional preparation stage showed that the traversal time can be set by yourself. The default is six hours of the main body, which is converted into the stay time in the Star Realm through the time flow difference between the two worlds.

Zhou Jing was still energetic at this time and did not feel any fatigue.

"Conducting Star Realm traversal through the deployment of consciousness, is my main body in dormant sleep during this period? Then if someone comes to wake me up during this process, will I continue to traverse, or will I return immediately like waking up from sleep after being disturbed?"

Zhou Jing was a little curious.

He spent six days in the Star Realm, and the memories were profound, but during this time, he often thought about the main world and did not get confused.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhou Jing found that his memory had become much better. With just a thought, he recalled the experience of his main body the day before the traversal.

*Um*, I just came home after the interview, and my family notified me that I needed to bear the quota for forced immigration for the family, disrupting my life plan…

Zhou Jing gently exhaled, but he did not feel as lost and resentful as he did when he first learned the news.

After calming down for a few days in the Star Realm traversal and wandering between life and death, he suddenly figured out a lot of things.

Although he didn't get any benefits from changing his body, he found that his mentality had changed.

Never before had he felt like he had taken off an invisible burden, so light to the core, as if he were boundlessly free.

Zhou Jing's eyes changed, and he finally made up his mind and took a long breath.

"It seems that it's time to make a decision."

……

……

Outside the Black Shirt Forest, there is a winding river as clear as a sapphire. On the other side of the river is a green field.

And on the field, there is a human village called Frostwood Village, standing by the river. A small stone bridge is built on the river to connect the forest.

The sky was slightly bright, the dawn was faint, and in the peaceful village, the farmers walked out of their houses with yawns, took their farm tools, and prepared to go to the fields to work.

At this moment, three disheveled figures carrying people ran out of the forest on the other side, stepped onto the stone bridge, stumbled into the village, and shouted anxiously as they ran, quickly attracting the attention of many villagers.

"They're about to die, save them!"

"Call the witch doctor over!"

For a time, the whole village was lively.