(Pre-reading tip 1: The following content contains no plot whatsoever; it is solely an explanation for a question that arises in chapter 2.)
(Pre-reading tip 2: This chapter's content was written on 2025/5/24.)
After reading chapter 2, some readers might have the following thought:
“When the Paradise awakened the protagonist's talent, his Constitution attribute increased by 1 point, and then it charged 2,000 paradise coins for the cost, plus 200 paradise coins in interest… Isn't this interest too exorbitant?! 10% interest, are you running a loan shark operation?”
However, in my opinion, this 200 paradise coins in interest is not only inexpensive but is actually too cheap for the protagonist.
Let's set aside the plot for now and start with common sense.
In finance, the essence of interest is not “exploitation” but rather a price tag for “risk + capital opportunity cost.”
For example:
When you borrow money from a bank, the bank immediately lends you a sum of money to use. You then have to repay the principal on time, and at the same time, repay a little extra money as interest.
Why interest?
Because the bank's money could have been used for other things, such as investing or lending to others, instead of being lent to you.
But now that the bank has lent this money to you, it has essentially given up other opportunities to make money with this sum, while also bearing the risk that you might not be able to repay the debt.
Therefore, the extra interest you repay is essentially compensation for the risk the bank bears, as well as its opportunity cost.
When the protagonist awakened his talent in chapter 2, his Constitution attribute increased from 3 points to 4 points. This attribute point was a resource advanced by the Order Paradise. The protagonist had no capital at the time but enjoyed the benefits first.
So, isn't it perfectly normal for the Order Paradise to charge some interest for this?
Next, let's do some calculations from the plot's perspective.
Without this 1 point of Constitution, the protagonist's Constitution attribute would have been only 3 points!
In that state, the protagonist entered a LV.6 nightmare-level World and immediately encountered two Zombies at the start;
If his Constitution were 3 points, how much combat power would the protagonist have? Could he defeat these two Zombies?
Forget about fighting; he would be physically exhausted even after just a few minutes of high-intensity movement, too weak to swing a knife, and it would be highly probable that he would be tackled and bitten to death by a Zombie.
Here, we can introduce a concept from economics called the “Poverty Trap.”
It refers to a phenomenon where:
“When a person's resources, abilities, or capital fall below a certain ‘critical threshold,’ they will be caught in a vicious cycle due to an inability to acquire more resources, living poorer, earning less, and ultimately being systematically eliminated.”
In the protagonist Mu Bei's situation, this 1 point of Constitution attribute precisely constitutes a “survival critical point.”
With only 3 points of Constitution, the protagonist would not have enough stamina to perform basic survival operations like making simple protective clothing, let alone engaging in combat with the two Zombies that appeared at the start.
And that 1 point of Constitution attribute provided in advance by the Order Paradise was the “critical breakthrough” that broke this trap.
This 1 point of Constitution attribute gave the protagonist the stamina to complete initial operations, the opportunity to kill Zombies and activate his own talent, and thus the starting point to truly “snowball.”
Therefore, this 1 attribute point is not as simple as “just adding a numerical value”; this 1 point of Constitution attribute is the first gear in the protagonist's entire growth chain, a crucial fulcrum that ignites his non-linear growth.
In short, it's no exaggeration to say that this 1 point of Constitution given by the Order Paradise at the start was the protagonist's lifeline!
Finally, let's consider it from another angle:
If the Order Paradise were truly exploitative, it could completely leverage this “lifeline” of an attribute point to make the protagonist sign a seemingly extremely unequal contract, for example:
“The cost of this 1 point of Constitution attribute is that 50% of all your future earnings belong to me.” Or, “You must be bound to some high-risk mission in the future as repayment.”
Although the value of 1 attribute point itself is not very high, in the situation in chapter 2, its value to the protagonist was truly extremely high!
So high that without this one attribute point, the protagonist would most likely have died!
Everything is an equivalent exchange; that is the principle between the Paradise and the Contractor.
—1 free attribute point certainly cannot exchange for 50% of Mu Bei's future efforts, but it can exchange for a significant chance for the protagonist to survive.
However, in the main text, the Order Paradise did not do as I just described; it merely asked for the protagonist's 2,000 paradise coins basic cost fee + 200 paradise coins as a one-time interest.
Moreover, it was clearly priced, explained in advance, with no hidden clauses, and no disguised exploitation.
The above is my complete understanding of the matter: “When the Paradise awakened the protagonist's talent, his Constitution attribute increased by 1 point, and then it charged 2,000 paradise coins for the cost, plus 200 paradise coins in interest.”