Chapter 287: Student Longjing Tea

Luckily, Salvatore didn’t leave immediately after sending the letter.

He had already written to Annan after receiving the letter from Black Tower. So, he began packing his luggage after the letter had been sent. The things he packed were mainly the materials, reagents, and utensils in the basement.

As it turned out, Annan had already rushed back to Freezing Water Port before Salvatore had finished packing his things.

“We’re so close to each other. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just summon me back to talk?” Annan said displeasingly, “What did you have to write a letter for…”

“I was simply worried that you were busy.” Salvatore sneered as he said, “What if you weren’t able to rush back within an hour and a half upon receiving my voice message… Wouldn’t that delay things?”

The truth was that Salvatore had forgotten because he had a tight daily work schedule. He subconsciously thought that Annan would also be busy.

Yet, for Annan, this meticulous work could be assigned to the players.

It could be delegated as a mission to give experience points or affection ratings, and even in the form of payment if Annan were to be more considerate.

At the same time, it would also allow the players to experience the joy of managing the city and handling government affairs.

Isn’t that a win-win situation?

Roseburg has been operating stably anyway with nothing major happening. Plus, the job posts assigned to the players are the positions that were once corrupted or assassinated by the Rotten Man believers.

Since this bunch of villains could do the work, surely the players can manage it.

There aren’t much expectations for the players to perform well. It will be fine as long as the governing system doesn’t collapse.

Even if it were to collapse, it would be none of my business.

It’s not my home anyway!

Annan narrated it righteously.

According to Annan’s observations, these players were doing really well. They mainly had a great passion for work.

The players mainly spent their sleep time in their original world to log into the game.

They would probably not enjoy having to move bricks and chop trees during their bedtime. But, it was fun for them to just easily upgrade their levels just by drinking some tea in the office, signing some documents, having some snacks, reading some books, and even going out for a walk during their free time. This was already pretty good treatment.

Annan wouldn’t turn the players into drudgery who didn’t get paid or the mistreated workers with no rest time. The players would also clock in and out according to schedule and have more than enough free time.

Delicious Wind Goose and the new player Longjing Tea had good management skills among these players. Annan observed that these two were probably the oldest and most capable among this batch of players, judging from their communication skills.

Aside from that, Annan had also slowly picked out some talents who were not exactly strong in combat but had surprisingly good management and organizational skills.

Two of them seemed to have an accounting background, while the rest were from logistics management. There were also a few players who appeared to be streamers who focused mainly on simulated managerial games in the real world.

I’ll let them practice with Roseburg first. After they have gained proficiency, I’ll bring them back to Austere-Winter. Annan thought.

The previous backlog of government affairs in Roseburg had been dealt with. Everything returned to smooth operation. These players who Annan had summoned urgently for work could now be another batch of laid-off employees.

Of course, it was not to make them unemployed on the spot.

Annan had assigned them different tasks based on their behaviors.

This was called “The one and only hidden mission obtained upon fully demonstrating one’s abilities.”

“…You want me to get Longjing Tea to Black Tower?” Salvatore rubbed his temples in distress as he looked at the well-behaved, well-mannered Longjing Tea behind Annan. He said, “This indeed isn’t much of a problem. His ability to self-learn Edict spells shows that he definitely has the talent of a wizard. It’s no big problem that no one had recommended him. Although I don’t have a say in recommending someone into the tower yet, I am still part of Black Tower. Such privilege wouldn’t be a problem.

“However, if he wants to join Black Tower, he wouldn’t be able to graduate and leave if he failed in becoming a Transcended. Even if he graduates and is able to leave, he will still have to serve the Black Tower for five years.”

Salvatore explained the rules of Swamp’s Black Tower to Annan.

I know, I know. He would need to behave as a normal student.

Annan nodded and asked, “What type of work is it usually? How is the workload?”

“The workload isn’t heavy at all. They’re wizards, after all. They wouldn’t be assigned to do any labor work too.”

Salvatore shrugged, “The task is usually to help their tutors craft things, or to collect some magical materials, influences, and what not at the ancient ruins, wilderness, those kinds of places. They might also go out to help buy some things or recommend talented children they find along the way back to Black Tower. In short, it’s to run errands.”

“And what if he doesn’t have a tutor?” Annan asked, “If I remember correctly… Swamp’s Black Tower didn’t seem to have a tutor from the Edict School, right? So I just wanted him to study some books and consolidate his foundation.”

—and give me a copy of the Swamp’s Black Tower collection while he’s at it.

It didn’t matter if there were no nightmares in Swamp’s Black Tower.

The “Secret Eye” faction that Annan had activated previously could now be utilized.

One could gain experience steadily just by learning through copied books. They could even be granted the reputation points from the “Secret Eye” faction so that players who chose wizard apprenticeship could advance themselves within their school with that knowledge. With that, Annan wouldn’t have to give out too much of his affection ratings as currencies for the players.

What then could the reputation points of the “Secret Eye” faction be exchanged for?

It would depend on what Annan had at the time.

Naturally, the price would also be discussed then.

After all, wouldn’t your reputation points be useless if you couldn’t see the NPC of the “Secret Eye” faction?

“Hmm… That’s true.” Salvatore mused, “If it’s just to read…”

He frowned as he was in deep thought for a moment and then asked Annan softly.

“How about this, Annan? I’ll bring him to tower first, let him self-learn with those books, and then come for classes to solidify his basics further. After that, I’ll sign up for a tutor qualification after I’ve successfully passed the exam and advanced in my rank, and then recruit him.”

“That’s fine.”

Annan said with a smile, “I believe in your character and capability. Use him as an errand boy as much as you want, and you can also give him any task. I’ll arrange with you if and when I need him. Take the exam as soon as possible then, senior. I might still find you a batch of wizard apprentices in the future. I’ll send them all to be your apprentice then.”

“Are you trying to poach the Storm Tower and the Howling White Tower?” Salvatore asked worriedly, “Is that okay?”

“Of course it is.” Annan replied affirmatively, “No need to worry.”

Annan would just have to give Salvatore a mission authority when the time came. That way, the tasks that Salvatore had granted to the wizard apprentices could be used as feeder tasks to be altered into experiences. However, the everyday experience gains would still be extracted from the experience pool with a limit imposed. This was to prevent the wizard apprentices from getting addicted to Salvatore and stopping their learning…

“Alright then, I’ll take him with me.” Salvatore agreed.

He soon instructed worriedly, “When you go to the capital, you must be careful.

“That Hermetic School always gives me an off feeling. I will go to the tower master and ask for information about Nicholas Flamel when I return. If there is any problem, I will write to Freezing Water Port at any time. Remember to keep someone here to help forward the letter to the capital.”

It’s not that troublesome. You can simply tell Longjing Tea if there’s anything, I’ll be able to hear it…

But Annan still didn’t say it out directly.

Instead, he hinted, “If the information is extremely crucial, you can give it to Longjing Tea. They all have a way to contact me during an emergency.”

Like posting an SOS message on the forum or something.

Or he could even just dial the other players’ number directly offline, making an exaggerated thirteen consecutive calls.

Isn’t that much faster than writing a letter?

This is the power of technology.jpg

Let me tell you, Ron [1]. This is so much better than a magic wand.jpg