Vol.1 - Chapter 7 – Something new
"Thank you for your contribution to the village, Xia Ya. As a reward, you can choose from..."
"I choose the 'Quest Dispatch Order.'"
Xia Ya answered immediately.
The other two options were a coupon for free items and a tax exemption order that greatly increases NPC favorability. Xia Ya didn't plan to use the latter to win over Sennia, as it was too inefficient.
"Alright, here's your Quest Dispatch Order."
The Village Chief pulled out a yellow exclamation mark plaque and handed it to Xia Ya.
In the previous single-player beta version, using this plaque allowed you to gather a group of NPCs for a dungeon raid. But now with more players, there should be more variety.
"Good luck, Xia Ya."
The Village Chief said this inexplicably, then turned and left.
Xia Ya's body suddenly shook violently.
The Village Chief had never said this before!
Only once, he had heard it only once!
In the eleventh cycle, when he became the Village Chief, the original Village Chief said this before self-destructing.
—Good luck, Xia Ya.
Could it be...
He quickly stepped in front of the Village Chief, staring at him nervously.
"Do you remember me?"
Xia Ya's voice trembled slightly, his eyes filled with intense hope.
Even if only one NPC remembered him, it would be enough.
But the other simply smiled politely at him, just like when refusing to chat with most under-leveled players, then stepped aside and left.
Everything was normal, except for that completely unnecessary sentence.
Xia Ya stood there in a daze, his thoughts interrupted by a few new faces crowding around.
"Boss, boss, please carry us!"
"Boss, can we get a friend spot?"
"Boss, do you write guides? Can we get a link? Is it on xBlog or xSite?"
Only when these messages intruded did Xia Ya realize he had already broken out of that cycle.
It seemed that he had gained something new this time.
He glanced at the Village Chief's back.
His previously numb and calm heart suddenly rippled, and his mind was activated.
"Quiet down," he said.
The players gathered around immediately quieted down.
Xia Ya: "Do you all have weapons?"
"A shovel?"
"A pickaxe?"
"A rolling pin!"
"Times three!"
The last two voices were particularly loud, and Xia Ya couldn't help but look over. Sure enough, it was the Jojo trio.
"I will initiate a monster hunting quest, and you can try to apply."
He crushed the "Quest Dispatch Order," setting the requirements to "Level >= 2, main hand equipped with a weapon," the destination to "Corrupted Forest Edge," and the task content to slay 15 monsters/people.
After setting the information, the system automatically generated rewards, and an exclamation mark appeared above Xia Ya's head.
But for most players, the exclamation mark they saw was gray, and only five people applied—such as the Jojo trio, who had just obtained the "Power Strike" skill from Sennia and automatically switched to the Swordsman class.
Learning new skills also comes with a large amount of experience entering the experience pool, and they probably invested this experience in the Swordsman class.
In Illusory Realm, there are no fixed classes, and experience accumulates in the pool, allowing you to invest it freely.
You can be a Swordsman, Archer, and Mage simultaneously.
But starting from the third combat class, there is a 25% experience penalty, the fourth 50%, the fifth 100%, and so on, making it nearly impossible to become a master of all classes.
Xia Ya, at most, had seven combat classes simultaneously.
The other two probably switched to Militia from Maden.
Compared to Swordsmen, Militia lack the passive bonuses of "Sword Mastery" and "Dodge," but gain "Planting" and "Chopping Wood," and the attributes gained with level-ups are slightly reduced. Except for the first cycle, Xia Ya never started as a Militia.
"The rest of you, I'm sorry, we agreed to set off from here at 3 PM. If anyone meets the 'has a weapon' & 'reaches level 2' criteria by then, you can still join."
After Xia Ya finished speaking, the remaining people immediately showed smiles of surprise and dispersed, seemingly eager to level up.
"By the way, boss," Air Conditioning also used this title, "we mentioned you when we submitted our quest this morning."
"To Miss Sennia?"
"Yes."
"Well... thank you."
"Boss, boss, a quick question." Instant Chill leaned in, "Actually, our leader wanted to ask too, but was too embarrassed... Are you trying to increase that married woman's favorability?"
Xia Ya nodded.
"Then... what can you do when it's high?" Instant Chill swallowed, his eyes filled with longing, "Can you... you know?"
"I don't know." Xia Ya shrugged, "But do you think it's possible?"
"I knew it wasn't possible." Brandy scoffed, "The 'Illusory Workshop' said this is an 'all-ages game,' so how could it offer those kinds of experiences?"
Illusory Workshop.
Xia Ya noted the name.
"Not necessarily, didn't they claim the time flow was 1:1000 during the beta for a whole year? Adding the 3:1 ratio of in-game to real-world time, that's equivalent to three thousand years in-game. With so many advanced AIs, there should be something generated, right... why not think about it?" Instant Chill argued, "Right, boss, don't you think I have a point?"
"A bit of a point."
Xia Ya smiled in agreement.
According to their explanation, he had been trapped in the game for a thousand years of real time, three thousand years of game time...
Damn, doesn't this make me like that old man Kirito, so what am I, a human flashlight?
"I think you've hallucinated from too much gaming." Brandy continued to pour cold water on Instant Chill.
"You're just bent under the weight of reality, no imagination!"
The two argued loudly.
Xia Ya shook his head, bidding farewell to the trio.
He quickly caught up with Sennia ahead.
Enke West had intended to return with her, but was forced back by Sennia's icy gaze, and was knocked out by Sanya, who had been lying in wait at the corner, and carried back to the Tavern.
What awaited him was a period of torment by the iron maiden. In over a hundred cycles, Mr. Enke's best record was a week, and this time, player intervention might change things.
Xia Ya didn't directly greet Sennia but quietly followed behind her, his footsteps loud, clearly wanting her to hear.
Sennia pretended not to hear, and the two silently returned to her doorstep.
She pushed the door open, went inside, and closed it without looking back, her movements flustered, as if afraid Xia Ya would rush in.
Xia Ya stood at the door, helplessly looking inside, then back at the empty street, finally sitting alone on the wooden stump where he had placed his clothes basin in the morning.
He sat quietly for an hour under the scorching midday sun.
Sennia also watched for an hour from inside.
Then, with a creak, the door opened a crack.
Xia Ya turned around in confusion, looking a bit at a loss.
After a few seconds, Sennia appeared in the crack, with a hint of helplessness and reproach.
"Come in, kid."
—Just like that.
Xia Ya smiled inwardly.
Once again, he stepped somewhat awkwardly into the married woman's boudoir.
Proofreader & Editor: Lyra