Chapter 68: Chapter 65: Keep drinking, keep playing, the sky won't fall down.
Before he knew it, night had fallen and entered the room.
Returning from the library, the sound of flipping through papers resounded continuously in Kael's study, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Knock knock knock~
"Come in."
"Sorry to bother you at this late hour, Mr. Kael."
"Hmm? I didn't expect you to be the first to seek me out. I must say, the speed at which you complete missions is beyond my imagination."
"Because I cannot bear to wait a second longer."
"Oh? Have you set your sights on a target?"
"Yes. Are you going to stop me?"
"You must be joking, I can't wait for these people to die. Tell me, what profession do you wish to switch to?"
"Priest, and also, Mr. Kael, please forgive my presumptuous request."
"Speak."
"I need a weapon."
"A weapon... How about a Nail Head Hammer? To be honest, I'm not too fond of seeing their corpses intact."
(A faint laugh can be heard)
The person standing in the study was momentarily stunned, their tone somewhat strange: "That would be perfect."
After the individual had left, Kael's muttering voice rose in the study, "The verification of Attributes points during the day was essentially consistent with what I had thought, now it's time to probe... 'it', I suppose."
...
The next day, at noon.
[Royal Capital - Outskirts of Joy Street - The Bountiful Hostess Tavern]
Lan Xiao Yu sighed and called out to the maid in the tavern, "Miss Hil, another beer, please!"
The tavern was noisy, and a staff member dressed in a plain green maid's outfit came over and filled Lan Xiao Yu's wooden mug.
She took the mug and downed half of it in "gulp gulp gulp" gulps, then turned to Sister Astate and Nan Ke sitting across from her and asked, "How have your quests been going these past few days?"
Although Lan Xiao Yu did not know these two players before their trip to the Royal Capital, that didn't matter. After all, players become familiar with each other after running a few quests together.
However, it was quite clear that Lan Xiao Yu was not in the best of moods at the moment.
Or rather, it should be said, all three players sitting in the tavern seemed to be in a somewhat foul mood.
"We've been making good progress with the mission, but frankly, Joy Street is not a place that pleases me," Nan Ke said with a touch of melancholy on his face.
He wasn't someone who often played virtual games, so he was quite indignant about many things in the game, even though he knew it was all just a backdrop for the story.
He was a normal man, and after entering Joy Street, he too was affected by the enchanting atmosphere of that environment.
But after the initial excitement had subsided, what replaced it was melancholy and emptiness.
It was not the messy scenario some might imagine.
The game's ability to maintain harmony was quite impressive. Up to now, the hordes of players attempting to exploit bugs on the forums have yet to breach the "Holy Light" barricade set up by the game.
Nan Ke didn't even think about trying to break through that barrier.
What really unnerved him was when, on the second day in Joy Street as he was promoting his novel, he encountered a prostitute whom he had met the previous day while promoting his story.
The prostitute was a Half-Orc with small horns on her head, and her legs, not fully bare of fur, had a certain exotic charm.
When they met again, the prostitute thanked him with a surprised look on her face, leaving him puzzled.
After talking with her a bit more, he learned that because she got a book from Nan Ke, she had casually chatted with a client about its content after servicing him that night, enticing the adventurer to stay in the brothel all night for additional fees, just to have her tell the story.
If it had been any other night, she would face over a dozen vigorous adventurers and be completely worn out by the end of business hours, making even rest a challenge.
Now that she had these captivating novels, her life had indeed improved a little.
Truth be told, when he first heard the news, his instinctive reaction was to find it "ridiculous," but upon seeing the smile on the prostitute's face, he suddenly felt a bit saddened.
"Nan Ke, don't overthink it; this is just a game," Sister Astate said indifferently.
Lan Xiao Yu glanced at Sister Astate but didn't say much.
On the way to the Royal Capital by carriage with Kael before, this person kindly reminded Nan Ke to seize the opportunity with Kael's side.
At that time, Lan Xiao Yu thought this person had a decent personality.
But now it seems, different people indeed have different thoughts.
She did not have much to say, after all, trying to win an argument on the internet is hardly a realistic approach.
If she had to listen to others' sarcastic remarks like "classic" or "jhoy," she'd probably get so angry she'd be on fire.
So she just said nonchalantly, "After I complete the task given to me by Kael, I'll think of something to do."
After all, she came from the media industry, how could she not notice the darkness hidden within Joy Street while promoting novels?
She was actually discontented.
Blue Star OL is just a terrible game.
There is no positive feedback; instead, there are always some hellish and crappy event planning.
Sometimes she would wonder, is life always this painful? Or is it only like this when you are little?
Her heart answered her—always.
The more discontented people are with reality, the more they turn their attention to the online world.
A virtual disaster event a few years ago could have normally struck a severe blow to the virtual gaming industry, even to the point of shackling subsequent content production and game releases with heavy restrictions.
But within the Human Federation, aside from the additional restrictions imposed by her own country, the turbulence in the global virtual gaming industry was quickly quelled in a short time.
In its place, esports events were thriving like never before. Chapter Find:
As for the logic behind it... Lan Xiao Yu did not want to think about it, dared not think about it, did not wish to think about it.
Already pressured from all sides in reality to the point of wanting to give up, should she endure the annoying things she encounters in the game too?
Endure her foot!
"You two just finish the task first," Sister Astate said very calmly.
"Have you completed it?" Good upbringing prevented Lan Xiao Yu from launching a personal attack on him, but she still muttered somewhat dissatisfiedly.
"Me? I've already finished my task," Sister Astate stated lightly.
Nan Ke, who was sipping juice, spat it out with a "pfft."
"When did that happen? How come I have no recollection at all?" Nan Ke stared blankly at this "virtual friend" he had known for nearly two years in the House of Dog Empire group, feeling as if he was meeting him for the first time.
"While you two were still 'gathering intelligence' within the Royal Capital..."
Sister Astate's words threw both their faces into an embarrassed expression.
Lan Xiao Yu coughed and said, "You've seen my posts on the forum, you should know this game is not just a game for me, it's to some extent work. I need to gather more intelligence.
Anyway, how can work... how could work be considered slacking off?"
Seeing this, Nan Ke rubbed the back of his head innocently and muttered softly, "I'm just here for the scenery! Isn't that what casual gamers do in this game, wandering around to enjoy the scenery and look at pictures?"
"It doesn't matter, I'll drink as usual, and play games as usual; the sky isn't going to fall," Sister Astate chugged the beer from her wooden mug, setting it down forcefully on the table before standing up to head out of the tavern.
The sharp-eyed Lan Xiao Yu immediately noticed a Nail Head Hammer that had appeared at Sister Astate's waist at some point.
"Wait, did you change your class?" Lan Xiao Yu reacted immediately, exclaiming instinctively.
"I did change classes. Is there a problem?"
"No... I just didn't expect you to have gone to Brother Kael for the task reward so quickly."
"..."
Sister Astate gave them a glance without a flicker of emotion and said, "Where I went to do promotions, there was a Slave Trader who also trafficked in human lives, and it pissed me off; I couldn't stand it for a minute."
"..."
"Wait, how have you leveled up already?" Nan Ke, after using a scout skill on his companion, spoke with a face full of question marks.
"Like I said, I can't bear it for a second, to hell with human traffickers!" Sister Astate didn't look back and turned to walk into the fierce noonday sun.