Chapter 177: Chapter 177

Jiang Ye thought to himself, You’re asking me? I was about to ask you!

Zi Sang Haoyun had a different take on what he’d said.

Maybe he really did know something extra.

Jiang Ye pondered briefly, then replied—

Wu Ying: 【You know, my experience is kinda special—】

【Before I joined Duoe, I actually had my “tattoo” cleansed!】

【And even after that, when my Glyph Pattern Ability got crippled, I also considered “cleansing” it again.】

【Still, having gone through the experience of “cleansing a tattoo” once, and seriously considering doing it again, I naturally developed some unique thoughts about Glyph Pattern Abilities—】

【Tell me, why does a Glyph Pattern Ability always have to be tied to a matching tattoo?】

【And how come when the tattoo is removed, the ability disappears too…】

【Look, it’s still a type of ability, but Human Players’ Talent Abilities don’t manifest physically like Glyph Pattern Abilities do.】

【Honestly, the way Glyph Pattern Abilities feel to me… they’re more like items than actual abilities.】

Abilities that truly belong to a player can’t be taken away. Like Attributes, Talents, Skills…

But after experiencing a Trader extracting his Glyph Pattern Ability, Jiang Ye really did feel—

So-called Glyph Pattern Abilities are basically growth-type items that just look like tattoos!

Plus, he had another detail to support this—

Dark-Type Replica Qu Xing’s S-tier Skill, Shadow Curse, had two curse forms: Death’s Shadow and Dark Shadow.

The Dark Shadow curse could temporarily seal someone’s Talent and Glyph Pattern Ability.

Sealing a Talent was limited to S-tier and below.

Yet sealing a Glyph Pattern Ability had no limit whatsoever!

Back then, Jiang Ye was completely stunned.

Of course, more than shocked, he was thrilled.

Later in the Quick Battle arena, he relied on Shadow Curse’s broken seal effect on Glyph Pattern Abilities to easily force Lin Jing to surrender on the spot.

At the time, he didn’t think too much about it while enjoying the benefit.

And Little Black had offered an explanation—

In the Doomsday Apartment, these kinds of “counter effects” were pretty common.

Jiang Ye had accepted it without much thought.

But when he went from being the one benefiting from the counter effect…

To becoming the one suffering from it, after his Replica’s Glyph Pattern Ability was ripped out—

That’s when he finally started to feel—

This so-called “common counter effect”…

Just because it’s common, does that make it reasonable?

There was probably something wrong here!

And actually, when he compared the two, Jiang Ye had already faintly sensed—

When it comes to Talent Abilities under S-tier, Glyph Pattern Abilities really are way stronger.

But once you hit SS-tier, Talents are no weaker than Glyph Pattern Abilities.

Not to mention the SS-tier Light-Type Replica…

Even Qu Xing’s SS-tier Dark-Type Replica with Shadow Curse could directly lock down a Glyph Pattern Ability!

Which clearly showed how SS-tier Talents crushed even the most powerful Glyph Pattern Abilities!

The reason players generally believe “Glyph Pattern Abilities are stronger than Talents” is mostly because it’s easier to obtain a powerful Glyph Pattern Ability.

While SS-tier Talents… are insanely rare!

Most players—hell, even most strong players—don’t stand a chance of getting one.

That’s why so many go the Glyph Pattern route—it’s a shortcut to power.

But what they don’t know is: the ceiling for Talent Abilities is much higher than for Glyph Patterns!

Of course, even if the ceiling’s high, it doesn’t matter if you can’t reach it.

In comparison, powerful Glyph Pattern Abilities are within reach for the average player.

So developing them naturally became the mainstream…

And the more players dominated with strong Glyph Pattern Abilities, the more everyone believed: Glyph Pattern Abilities > Talent Abilities.

But Jiang Ye was able to figure this out.

Not just because he had his ability ripped away.

More importantly—he himself had an SS-tier Talent!

So it wasn’t hard to infer—

Other top players with SS-tier or even SSS-tier Talents probably also realized this!

There’s no way they’d let their incredible talents go to waste. Fresh chapters posted on novel✶fire.net

And their strength probably wasn’t any weaker than those relying on Glyph Patterns!

Of course, some of them might’ve awakened powerful Glyph Pattern Abilities to complement their strength…

Jiang Ye suddenly remembered—just moments ago in the group chat, someone questioned:

Why didn’t the leader of Duoe search the Defender’s soul?

No one had answered that.

But Jiang Ye had a vague guess.

In the entire Defenders’ Alliance, there might be someone even stronger than Duoe, or even the Apartment Bosses!

A being powerful enough without relying on Glyph Patterns—just pure top-tier Talents!

Someone that even Duoe wouldn’t dare mess with!

Maybe even someone with a high-tier Privilege Identity!

And if such a being was the leader of the Defenders’ Alliance, then those Defenders…

Might not be the weaklings without Glyph Pattern Abilities that Duoe members and Wu Ying’s memories assumed.

On the contrary, the Defenders’ strength might not fall short of Eerie Players at all!

They might even have among them people like Qu Xing, with Talents that counter Glyph Pattern Abilities!

So when Eerie Players think the Defenders act holier-than-thou…

The truth is, the Defenders do have the right to be proud!

They look down on Eerie Players, not just because of some spiritual pride, but because—

And because their understanding surpasses that of regular Eerie Players!

Realizing the Defenders’ true status and power, Jiang Ye also became aware—

Apartment 0000 after midnight might be even more dangerous than he’d thought!

Dangerous in a way even veteran players couldn’t imagine…

And that threat might not only target Light-type players—it might target Jiang Ye as well.

His thoughts were spinning wildly again, and he couldn’t help but feel a fresh wave of urgency.

Zi Sang Haoyun, reading his reply, didn’t seem to suspect anything.

In fact, he replied in surprise: 【You mean, Glyph Pattern Abilities aren’t really abilities, but items…】

Jiang Ye immediately denied it: 【I never said that. I just think they’re not as “pure” as Talent Abilities.】

【Anyway, why’d you DM me about this—got some thoughts of your own?】

Zi Sang Haoyun: 【Nothing too special, just that I once made a comment expressing disdain for the Defenders during a conversation with a VIP Player—and the VIP corrected me.】

【So I started to suspect that maybe the Defenders aren’t what we regular players think they are.】

【But when I tried to ask that VIP for more info on the Defenders, they didn’t want to talk.】

【That’s why I came to you, to see if you knew more about them.】

Jiang Ye already had suspicions about the Defenders’ power and position.

And Zi Sang Haoyun’s words just happened to back that up.

But Jiang Ye wasn’t about to share more of his own insights—instead, he nosily asked:

【Sounds like you talk to VIP Players pretty often? How’d you get to know them—and even earn their favor?】

If it were a straightforward question, Zi Sang Haoyun wouldn’t have bothered replying.

But Jiang Ye’s phrasing? Zi Sang liked it.

Especially that word, “favor.”

Most players never even get the chance to see a VIP Player.

And if they do, sucking up to them usually doesn’t work.

But Zi Sang Haoyun had the honor of chatting with one—definitely counted as “favored.”

Still, despite the pride in his heart, he stayed modest on the surface and immediately denied it:

【Heh, no way I earned any favor. Just got lucky and hit it off, that’s all.】

Jiang Ye, thick-skinned as ever in Wu Ying’s persona, followed up immediately: 【So how exactly do you “get lucky”? I could smash my head and still not “luck into” that!】

Zi Sang could see Wu Ying’s envy and jealousy, which only made him more smug, so he casually replied:

【Actually, for us Duoe members, it’s a bit easier than regular players to get in touch with VIPs.】

【You forgot… “Eye That Sees Heroes”?】

Eye That Sees Heroes—a selection event organized by Duoe, or more accurately, a gambling event.

Every batch of Beginner Apartments usually has a Rookie King.

All players can bet on who they think has the best shot at becoming the Rookie King.

And the first person to place a correct bet on the Rookie King wins the Eye That Sees Heroes grand prize.

What the prize actually is, Wu Ying’s memory didn’t say.

But apparently, top players really want it.

And every round, a decent number of VIP Players also place bets.

Zi Sang Haoyun didn’t say it directly, but the implication was clear—

He’d gotten to know a VIP Player through the Eye That Sees Heroes event.

Duoe had access to more info about newcomers.

So VIP Players who got info from him had a better shot at betting right.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and asked: 【So you provide newbie info to VIPs to help them bet on the Rookie King?】

【Isn’t that risky? Aren’t you afraid the boss will find out?】

Zi Sang clearly wasn’t worried—he said bluntly:

【The boss definitely knows.】

【I’ve even heard from a VIP Player that our boss’s abilities go way beyond Mecha Replica and Soul Search.】

【Everything we Duoe members do—the boss sees it all!】

【Honestly, even this convo we’re having right now? The boss could probably look it up.】