Chapter 105: Reporter Profession |
"So, what do we do now? Are we still sticking to the original plan and reporting for duty at the police station?" Misty Rain Traveler asked. "It should be a while before it gets dark. Do you want to look around somewhere else first to gather some information?"
"Let's go report to the Police Headquarters," Bai Mu said, continuing toward the Subway Station. "Don't put too much faith in the schedule on your phone. The time rules in this place are far too strange. Since Children's Day and Valentine's Day can run consecutively, the afternoon could very well transition directly into midnight."
"We are joining as Forensic Doctors, not being locked up in a detention center as criminals. There will always be opportunities to come out and look around. At the very least, there will be times when we need to go out to examine Corpses. The Script has only just begun; there is no need to rush things right now."
"True," Misty Rain Traveler conceded, convinced by Bai Mu's reasoning.
The two arrived at the Subway Station as originally planned. They went to the ticket vending machine and purchased tickets for the Beika Town Police Headquarters station.
Bai Mu casually bought a newspaper at a kiosk outside the ticket machines. Tucking it under his arm, he waited in front of the station with Misty Rain Traveler.
Walking all the way here, Beika Town struck him as quite prosperous. There were electronic billboards playing music videos of female celebrities, crowded snack streets, a massive hospital, and even a towering television tower. They had also passed by a quaint old street and a shrine.
The infrastructure and cultural heritage here showcased exactly what a top-tier city should look like, comparable to the Tokyo he had seen in movies and television shows.
The foot traffic was also immense. Even though it was not rush hour, a significant number of people were waiting for the subway in front of the platform doors. Station attendants stood by on standby, holding tools that looked like curved steel forks. Their primary job was likely to forcefully shove people into the subway cars with those forks whenever the doors could not close.
Almost every page featured a picture of a middle-aged man with a small mustache.
"Sleeping Kogoro Solves Yet Another Murder Case!"
"Hot Spring Murder Case! See How the Great Detective Kogoro Uncovers the Grudges Within!"
He dominated all the headline sections. In this era, newspapers and television were the primary sources of public information for the masses, meaning these headlines carried significant weight.
"Wherever this man named Mouri Kogoro appears, a Murder Case follows. Isn't that a bit too coincidental?"
"Has no one ever suspected that he is the actual culprit?"
"How is he a great Detective? He should be called the Grim Reaper."
In the newspaper Bai Mu bought alone, there were five or six Murder Cases related to Mouri Kogoro. Furthermore, from the cursory glance he had taken at the kiosk, almost every single paper displayed a large portrait of this man.
By that calculation, he was connected to dozens of Murder Cases at the very least. The newspaper in hand also documented the progression of these events. This great Detective was not invited to Crime Scenes after the incident occurred; he was either already on his way to a location before a murder happened or had already arrived at the destination.
'This person is very likely the protagonist of Beika Town,' Bai Mu thought to himself.
No matter how one looked at it, Mouri Kogoro was inextricably linked to the core of the Script. There might even be hidden side quests associated with him.
Bai Mu silently memorized the face and folded the newspaper away.
Now, he finally had some free time to study his newly acquired profession. Opening his attribute panel, he saw the word "Reporter" already listed in the profession column. Clicking on it revealed a detailed introduction.
"Profession Name: Reporter"
"Level: 1"
"Skill Points: 1"
"Please click here to view the profession skill tree."
Bai Mu opened the skill tree. It was a branching diagram extending from the bottom up. At the very bottom, there were only three (0/1)
gray options. Above them was a series of "???", indicating that he needed to raise his profession level to level 3 before he could unlock new selections.
Those three gray options corresponded to his initial skills, namely "Plainclothes Photography", "Illegal Infiltration", and "Battlefield Survival".
"Plainclothes Photography" was an active skill. Its effect allowed Players to freely alter the appearance of their clothing. For example, combat boots could be made to look like sneakers, and a bulletproof vest could appear as a dress shirt. Only clothing-type equipment could have its appearance changed, and the original attributes of the gear would remain unaffected.
"Illegal Infiltration" was a passive skill that enhanced the effectiveness of all stealth-type skills and lowered the Player's overall presence.
"Battlefield Survival" was also a passive skill. Its effect increased the recovery rate of the Player's Health and Stamina.
It seemed that unlocking a profession was equivalent to gaining a complete skill tree system.
However, specific skill points were required to unlock the corresponding skills.
When Bai Mu accepted the profession, he had received a single skill point, so he could only unlock one skill for now.
To obtain more skill points, he had to increase his profession level. Every level up would grant him one skill point.
The Reporter profession did not level up by fighting monsters. As a non-combat profession, its primary method of progression was to gather News.
He could gather News within the Script and sell it to the newspaper publisher after the Script concluded. He would then earn profession experience points and additional Points based on the intrinsic value of the news.
This was indeed a profession with alternative growth paths, encouraging Players to unearth the hidden truths within the Scripts.
The more hidden side quests and secret plots a Player dug up, the greater the extra rewards they would reap, and the faster their profession level would rise.
Furthermore, each Player could generally only hold one profession at a time.
It was not that Players were forbidden from using other class-change items, but there were multi-classing penalties. If someone took on two professions, the experience gain efficiency for both would be slashed to fifty percent. If they took on three, it would drop down to thirty percent.
However, professions could be swapped. If one felt their current profession was inadequate, they could choose to change careers, but their previous profession level and skills would be completely wiped out.
Bai Mu tried taking out his Camcorder and filming Mouri Kogoro's picture in the newspaper.
He discovered that he could designate this photo as News. Additionally, he could write a press release or use audio recordings to document his News.
The value of this photo could not be seen directly for the time being. Only after the Script ended, when he sold his News to the newspaper publisher, would he be able to see the actual value of the photo.
If the News was invalid—such as guessing the truth incorrectly or reporting something contrary to the facts—he would not receive any experience points or Point rewards.
All in all, the profession system felt rather complex. It was akin to opening up an entirely separate growth system with its own specific method of acquiring skills.
Bai Mu had a feeling that the photo's value would not be very high. After all, it was just surface-level intelligence laid out plainly in the Script, but having something was better than having nothing.
He kept his skill point for now. Since allocating it would not provide a particularly massive boost, and there was no urgent need for it at the moment, he decided to wait and invest the point whenever a situation actually demanded it.
Time quickly slipped away just like that. He and Misty Rain Traveler arrived at their platform and exited the Subway Station.
The massive Police Headquarters building appeared before their eyes. The facility was incredibly luxurious and featured its own dedicated parking lot.
But just as the two arrived at the entrance, before they even had time to report in, they saw a plump police officer in a brown leather jacket rushing out from the transparent glass doors while talking frantically on his phone.
"What! Another Murder Case occurred?"
"I understand, I will bring my people over immediately!"
"Hurry, hurry! Where are the Forensic Doctors and detectives?! Go call them!"
"I-Inspector Megure, the files for the last case haven't even been closed yet. There are no Forensic Doctors left in the Police Headquarters right now."
"Didn't they say new Forensic Doctors were transferred over? Are they not here yet?"
"The email said they would arrive today, but..."