SWNOVELS Chapter 96.1: Contrast Cuteness
Chapter 96.1: Contrast Cuteness
"It's Saturday tomorrow. What's everyone's plans?" While farming monsters in Poisonous Marshlands southeast of Desolate Outpost, Give Me Medicine asked.
"Tackling the Inner Demon instance dungeon again?" a player suggested while stuffing materials into his backpack.
"Eh… Going back again?" A player not that keen on rushing for first clears objected. "We shouldn't go right now. Those three instances are impossible to beat. It's better if everyone advances to Level 2 first."
"I don't want to go either. Dying and getting kicked offline all weekend is way too frustrating."
Players who wanted to attempt the instance dungeons weren't pleased and voiced out their support. "When are we going to go, then? Potential values only increase by about one or two a day at most. Reaching Level 2 requires 100 Potential values, and our average right now is below 70."
"We only have two days in a week to access these instances. It'd be a waste not to go. Even if we can't clear it, gaining experience is beneficial."
"Yea, if we don't clear content now, how do we have future progress? If we don't try it now, it will still be impossible to clear in the future."
"So many people have gotten new gear from the siege event. Maybe we might be able to clear it now?"
"Of course we challenge it! If we don't fight for the first clear, others will get it!"
Seeing quite a number willing to challenge the instance dungeons, Give Me Medicine turned to Qin Guan and asked, "What do you think, Vanilla? I feel that our chances this week are better than last. We had no warriors last week, and our only mage was Blossom. This week, we've gotten a few more warriors while Fish and Baobao have also completed their job advancements. We can at least form three raid teams."
Qin Guan, who had been depressed since the mayoral election results came out, nodded reluctantly. He then turned to Blossoming Strokes and asked weakly, "Blossom, what do you think?"
"I find you annoying."
Qin Guan: "??"
"Nothing." Blossoming Strokes kept a straight face and turned away from him to address everyone. "Those willing to challenge the dungeon instance, don't play too late tonight and save some online time for raiding tomorrow. Gather online before noon."
Qin Guan's mouth twitched. "Hold on, Blossom, there was something wrong with the look you gave me…"
"Ah, what did you expect?" Blossoming Strokes expressed with displeasure. "So what if you didn't manage to become mayor? How long are you going to sulk for? So much game content has been released and you aren't even interested. And you have the audacity to call yourself a top gaming content creator?"
A shudder ran through Qin Guan's body.
He was quite a character, and despite being chided by Blossoming Strokes, he showed no anger and quickly stood up, saying, "I nearly forgot something important. Brothers, you guys continue farming monsters, Meds will take charge, and Blossom, you manage the materials. I have to go shoot new video content!"
With that, he handed several backpacks filled with materials to Blossoming Strokes and rushed off…
"Don't forget to inform Xiao Zhou and the others to join us tomorrow for raiding!" Blossoming Strokes shouted from behind.
"Got it!" Qin Guan waved his hand.
A stupefied Give Me Medicine: "???"
"What the heck, I tried talking to him for so long but it was all for naught. You just chastised him with two sentences and he listened?!" Give Me Medicine stared at Blossoming Strokes in shock.
"You talked with him about future game prospects in the game, like blood alliance plans and stuff like that. Of course, it wouldn't be of any use." Blossoming Strokes rolled her eyes. "We are all adults and have to be realistic! Nothing is more important than real-world prospects! For example, if I lose to Unceasing Entropy in intellectual terms within the game, I would at most just be pissed for a bit but get over it quickly. However, if anyone dares to say the books I write suck, I would bear grudges to no end!"
Give Me Medicine: "…"
Qin Guan ran all the way back to Desolate Stronghold and first told Xiao Zhou (ID Eight At Once, who ran a gold farming studio), who had been camping out here doing logging quests, regarding the matter of forming a raid team to challenge the Inner Demon instance dungeon tomorrow.
Then, he entered the teleportation point and traveled to Weisshem.
The town of Weisshem and its surrounding area for tens of miles was full of people and lacked monsters to farm. Once players' ty faded, no one other than idlers and players grinding manual labor quests were willing to come and stroll about.
Coincidentally, the former number one player, Ou Huang, was among the latter sort. Qin Guan hadn't yet stepped off the platform in the Weisshem Town Hall courtyard when he saw Ou Huang stepping out from the white glow, carrying a woven bag.
"Ou Huang?" Qin Guan trembled and immediately started recording footage. He approached in a friendly manner. "Boss Ou Huang, you aren't staying in Exile Town anymore? What brings you here? New quests?"
Ou Huang gave the streamer a cold look, completely ignoring him, and continued walking.
Qin Guan not only stuck on like a leech but even reached out to touch Ou Huang's woven bag. "Don't be so heartless, Boss Ou Huang. What's in that bag you are carrying? Oh my, why does it feel so hard? Dried boar meat? Did you make this yourself? What are you doing with this sort of thing in Weisshem? Isn't it only the Undead Merchant Association canteen that accepts this kind of lifestyle class products?"
Ou Huang was as indifferent as an NPC and continued to walk forward, paying absolutely no heed to Qin Guan's endless chatter…
Qin Guan had a video series called "Expert Specials" among his uploads, which was a series on players who stood out due to their unique and humorous approaches.
Of the players he had filmed as material, the cold and indifferent Ou Huang was popular among the non-player crowd. This expert player had too much entertainment value—his forum posts were always laden with emojis, leading those who had never interacted with him to mistakenly think he was a cute girl. However, his in-game persona was cold as ice, and players all agreed that they had never heard Ou Huang speak more than three sentences.
In addition to his sort of contrast cuteness character, Ou Huang was also the non-player crowd's standard for unconventionality. He didn't join teams, never participated in monster hunting parties or large-scale quests, and refused all types of attempts by others to play together. He single-handedly turned the cooperative online game into a single-player experience and did so impressively, occasionally posting his experiences on the forum, which would quickly be bumped to the front page.
Qin Guan himself and quite a few of his companions often referred to Ou Huang's forum threads. Now, seeing that Ou Huang had come to Weisshem, Qin Guan immediately assumed that this expert player must have more interesting material that could be filmed and thus pestered him shamelessly…
This wasn't the first time Ou Huang had been filmed by the shameless Qin Guan, and he calmly walked out of the town hall, turned a few alleys, and arrived at Martin Street.
Currently, it was 6 p.m. on Earth and 11 a.m. in the game. The marketplace on Martin Street (OtherWorld) would only start getting lively after two in the afternoon. Right now, the whole street was deserted, with very few pedestrians. Only a few shops, a leather workshop, and a bakery were open.
Silent Ou Huang and Qin Guan, constantly making "KABAKABA" sounds, passed through, and the apprentice at the leather workshop gave them a casual glance without barely batting an eyelid. There were so many skeletons roaming the streets daily, and even the mayor was one, so the townsfolk were no longer surprised.
With his big bag in tow, Ou Huang came to a grocer and entered.
The shop owner, who had been dozing off behind the counter, suddenly snapped awake and stared blankly at the two undead that had entered his shop. He didn't scream in terror or make any attempt to solicit business; there were too many skeletons treating shops on the street as sightseeing spots, and after being troubled for a few days, shopkeepers like him had no choice but to adapt.
Evidently, Ou Huang wasn't here for "sightseeing." He silently walked over to the counter and emptied the contents of his woven bag.
Ou Huang's bag contained only dried wild boar jerky. He had caught boars via the butcher class's trapping skill, slaughtered them accordingly, and cut the meat into slices, which were then seasoned with salt and air-dried.contemporary romance
If food products created from lifestyle class professions weren't gray-quality junk but white-quality (common) when "Identified," they could be sold to the Undead Merchant Association, and NPCs would have no problem consuming them.
Finally, a look of astonishment crept into the face of the previously desensitized general goods shop owner.
Ou Huang pointed at the jerky on the counter, then pointed to the boss.
"S-sell to me? Are all these for sale?" The shop owner was momentarily stunned as he tried to make out the meaning behind this skeleton's gestures.
Of course, Ou Huang didn't understand the native language and repeated his gestures once more.
The grocer boss gulped nervously. Over the past few days, the new lord's men had set up a stall in Martin Street that sold goods at unbelievably low prices, and he had bought quite a bit himself. While he hadn't directly transacted with these undead, who couldn't speak human language, he also didn't have the guts to drive away these two undead who seemed to have peaceful intentions.
Thus… the grocer boss bit the bullet and examined the jerky.
The air-dried wild boar jerky had been prepared cleanly and appeared to have quite a generous layer of salt applied on the surface (sugar and salt sold by the Merchant Association canteen were cheap). This batch even looked much better than wild game jerky that hunters brought to sell.
Perking up, the shop owner immediately weighed the jerky, made some calculations, and counted over a hundred copper coins, stacking them up on the counter.
Ou Huang wasted no time nor said anything, instantly pocketing all the NPC's copper coins, then turned around and left.
Qin Guan, with a head filled with questions, hurriedly followed behind. "Boss Ou Huang, why are you exchanging white-quality items for gray-quality junk NPC currency which we can't us—"
Before he even finished, Ou Huang turned into the next-door clothing store.
The middle-aged lady boss of the clothing store had a wooden reaction much like the grocery shop owner when she saw the two undead enter her store… Many players came to poke their heads around her store, too.
Ou Huang looked around at the clothes hung on the wall, then picked out a round-neck pullover and a pair of double-pocket canvas trousers, which he brought over to the counter. He then produced the copper coins that were "Identified" as gray-quality junk to the NPC store owner.
"What the heck?! That works too??" Qin Guan was absolutely flabbergasted.
The lady boss was equally shocked…
Due to the massive sale of affordable fabrics by the new lord's men, business at the clothing stores had become incredibly challenging. Their store had been closed for the past few days. The lady boss hesitated, then plucked up her courage and nervously picked out 80 copper coins…
done.co