Chapter 52

Changes

“Welcome player [Spicysticks 50cents per pack] back to [Star Ocean]. Do you want to apply for work or academic training?”

Looking at her almost-exhausted points, the lady elf hesitated and eventually chose to work.

Their work was different from green titans. Currently, the teaching resources for elves were extremely abundant, because there were only tens of transformed elves. As long as their accumulated points were enough, they could apply for classes any time they wanted, save for during the instructor’s resting time.

But the flaw was that the majority of elf players had very low contribution points…

They were different from the tough-skin green titans who were constantly doing physical labor outside. In the past, elf balls could at most work for four hours and had to return to base to replenish their moisture. The amount of time they could work per day was limited. In addition, during this period, the majority of the elves worked even less in preparation for their transformations.

This led to a shortage of contribution points by the elf players.

Spicysticks glanced at the job’s content and eventually chose to give up.

Her external appearance was a wind demon. After transforming, she didn’t only have a pair of wings, but her vision was also much better than before. Sometimes, she could even see the details of an object a few kilometers away.

Such talent allowed them to have a unique advantage when it came to grazing livestock. Players with high ambitions could apply to graze over a hundred star-rhinos or yellow cattle at any time. There was no need to worry about the livestock getting lost.

To wind demons, this was a good opportunity for them to frenziedly earn some contribution points. Ordinary elves could only graze about ten livestock at any given time. Those walkers who could move faster would at most dare to apply for grazing thirty livestock. A bit more and they might accidentally lose some of them. Only wind demons didn’t have such concerns. This was the huge advantage of being able to fly!

After the overlord returned this time, the changes to the base were extremely great. Firstly, there was a very large magnetic field at the base’s center. In the magnetic field, the gravity was adjusted to ten times that of Mars. There was also a new stretch of greenery, and the main crop was a type of grass that glowed with purple light. Its scientific name was silver ash…

Although he didn’t know why this purple grass had a different-colored name, it wasn’t important. It was fine as long as the grass was nice to look at!

Right now, it could be said that the base had changed drastically since the beginning. The center of it was covered with greenery that stretched over tens of thousands of meters. Other than a part of the area being classified as an agriculture zone, the majority of it was used as a pasture to graze the livestock that was as large as elephants.

Outside the base, things were also no longer as desolate as before. After the stretch of greenery was planted, a new cloth market, a large-scale dining hall, and a blacksmith store were erected!

The scale was very large and it also helped the new elf players to add a new job channel. One could choose to be a waiter at the dining hall, a dishwasher, a cloth-dyer, a cloth-cutter, or some other special jobs. Naturally, you could also choose to help out at the blacksmith store!

All these new jobs didn’t really have too much of an advantage when it came to contribution points. The earning rate was roughly the same as the jobs on the farm. Not only that, but the new jobs also required more time and energy.

The A.I. said that although the new jobs had no advantage in terms of contribution points, the players could learn some life skills!

For the blacksmith store, they heard that the fat panda was a master blacksmith who was proficient in runes. After learning from him to a certain extent, one would be able to learn some rune forging techniques.

And as for the cloth market, it was the same. The overlord had hired a master tailor, and after the employees finished working, they could also learn advanced sewing techniques. It was said that even demon-subduing techniques could be learned from the master tailor.

As for that octopus auntie, the dishwasher of the dining hall…mn…from the current looks of things, it was really just an auntie dishwasher… However, its eight hands were extremely fast when it came to washing dishes. It was unknown what sort of race it would evolve into in the future.

As for those who were planting crops in the farm and grazing livestock, what would they learn…? Who knows? But Spicysticks was filled with some anticipation about the future explanation…

“Yo, Spicysticks, have you used up all your contribution points?” Just after she reached the farm and received the mission, Spicysticks ran into a familiar person. It was none other than an elf in the same transformation batch as her, named ‘Considerate’.

“Mn…” Spicysticks replied in a light tone and wanted to take her livestock for grazing. But just when she took a step forward, her path was blocked.

“I say, why don’t you just spend more time on training instead of seizing the slots for missions? If your points are insufficient, do you want me to give some to you?”

“Do you have a lot of contribution points?” Spicysticks frowned lightly. This person was someone she knew in real life. They grew up in the same courtyard. In real life, due to him constantly playing virtual-games, his demeanor was extremely vulgar. And after his transformation, he instantly started to put on airs as his confidence and face both swelled explosively.

In the past, if he met her in real life, he wouldn’t even dare to let out a fart. But now, he tried to pick her up when he had nothing to do…

This brat was truly swollen now!

“Still okay, I should have enough for two weeks’ worth of training,” said the nerd who was despised by her.

“Oh?” Spicysticks was startled a bit.

(Not too bad. But then again, he is a nerd and is immersed in the game every day. How could his contribution points be bad?)

(Mn…this old lady will feign civility with him then!)

“This… it wouldn’t delay your progress, right?” Spicysticks spoke in an understanding tone.

“No, no! I’m just accumulating points!” The other party patted his chest and smiled.

(Seems like his reserves are thicker than what I imagined.) Her tone then turned gentle. “In that case, I will have to trouble elder bro…”

“Eh, we are childhood friends that grew up together, why are you so polite with me?” He then continued, “Hey younger sis, do you think we should change our names?”

“Change our names? Why?”

“Think about it, in the past, we were all in the form of balls. There’s no problem if you name yourself Spicysticks or Jellied Tofu. But now, our appearances are that of immortals. Shouldn’t we have some standards?”

“Elder bro’s words are logical…” Spicysticks giggled, yet she silently thought, “Are you too happy that you are floating in the air and have forgotten how ugly you look like in real life? You can’t even be compared to a piece of spicy stick, yet you dare to look down on this lady’s name?!”

“Elder bro, what should I change to then?”

“Let me think about it. You are so beautiful and flawless, why don’t you call yourself Xayah?”

“Elder bro, what about you?” Spicystick’s smile was like a blooming flower. “Should you be named Rakan then?”

“Aiyaya, little sis, this name you proposed is so good. Xayah and Rakan, it matches so well. Mn, good literature skill, I’ll obey little sister then. We will be known as the Xayah/Rakan team! How about we work hard together to be selected for this upcoming mission?”

“Hehe!”

“Eh? Why were you laughing coldly?”

“No?” Spicysticks hurriedly made her cold smile gentle. She then clapped her hands. “Little sister feels that elder brother’s idea is pretty good.”

“Oh, that’s good. That’s good then!”

(Good your grandfather, you actually want to have a couple name with this old lady? Just continue dreaming. Right now, being selected for the mission is the essential thing, so this old lady will endure your nonsense for a few days. After a few days passed, hmph. I will let you know what does the idiom ‘breaking the bridge after crossing it’ means!)

(What? Moral integrity? What a joke. When in games, didn’t some guys also call people ‘hubby’ just to get free items?)

However, she didn’t expect that when one was out to play, it wasn’t as easy as imagined to retreat unscathed.

Note:

Xayah and Rakan are references to the League of Legends (LOL)