Chapter 67: Chapter 67 – A Matter of Paths
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Ren Suo woke up the next afternoon feeling refreshed. After washing up, he proceeded to have lunch.
It was simply amazing to take a short break after just a few days of work.
Ren Suo went to bed after experinting with his newly acquired abilities and props the night before and had not started playing his new ga.
Just as Ren Suo finished his lunch at the noodles stall downstairs and was about to return ho to start playing the new ga, he suddenly received a call from his mother.
“Ren Suo!” his mother said energetically. She continued, “You don’t need to work today, right?!”
Ren Suo pondered for a mont and realized that it was Saturday. It was no wonder his mother asked such a question.
“No, I don’t. What’s the matter?” Ren Suo asked.
“Do you rember what I told you about our neighbor Auntie Zhang’s daughter who is currently a freshman in Lianjiang University?” his mother said.
“Yes…And so?” Ren Suo replied.
“Didn’t you agree to et her today? The ti and location have been arranged, so et her at Tianhe Center Station at 2:30 in the afternoon!” his mother said. She continued, “You teenagers should decide where you would like to go afterward, but first et to talk and shop. She is also interested in taking the civil service entrance examination to beco a civil servant, so share your experience with her. How great it is for a girl to be a public servant…”
Ren Suo was about to be drowned in his mother’s lant. He quickly interrupted her, asking, “Wait, did I agree to this?”
“You did,” his mother confird. She said, “Four nights ago, I found out during our conversation that Auntie Zhang’s daughter is looking to beco a civil servant, so we arranged a ti for the both of you to et.”
“But, when did you tell about that?” a slightly confused Ren Suo asked.
His mother said, “I inford you right after my conversation with Auntie Zhang. You were busy at that ti and briefly agreed before quickly hanging up.”
Ren Suo recalled that four days ago, he was still trying to complete the ga [Over My Dead Body]. Although it was a turn-based ga, it was nonetheless very intense during the battles, having to consider the enemy’s location, his own units’ location, the units’ attack area…He could cause his own units to be injured or die if he did not concentrate just for a short mont, and thus Ren Suo was extrely focused while playing the ga.
In that case, it was indeed possible that he half-heartedly agreed to the etup during the phone call with his mother…
More importantly, Ren Suo was easily confused, and he could not trust his own mory very much either.
“Well,” his mother said in a suddenly serious tone. She continued, “You can’t be regretting now, right?”
“Well…” Ren Suo muttered.
“I don’t think my son is soone who goes back on his words,” his mother said.
Ren Suo went through a decent family education, with a strict mother and kind father. Upon hearing his mother’s tone, he subconsciously yielded and said, “Alright, alright, I will be there this afternoon.”
“Great, rember her mobile number, her na is Xia Lingyu…” his mother said.
“Right, wouldn’t it be easier if I talk to her directly over the phone?” Ren Suo said.
“You have not even t her in person, so how sure are you that you would be able to strike up a conversation with her?” his mother questioned.
Ren Suo suddenly thought that his mother’s words were logical.
On the other end of the line, Ren Suo’s mother hung up the phone. Ren Suo’s father, who was eating, asked, “Did you really inform Ren Suo about this? You did not even bring your mobile phone with you when you went out to walk that day.”
“I forgot to inform him,” Ren Suo’s mother said naturally. She retorted, “But he did not rember either, so whatever I say is the truth.”
————
It was 2 p.m. and Ren Suo had arrived at Tianhe Center Station.
Standing others up (no-show) was sothing Ren Suo could never bear to do, but calling the girl directly to cancel their eting in the afternoon seed too rude too—that was largely because she did not call him before, and Ren Suo was not keen on calling her first.
Sigh, it’s already a pain introducing myself over the phone.
Since his mother ntioned that the girl was interested in getting to know more about the civil service entrance examination, Ren Suo transferred his study materials on the exposition writing and aptitude tests, as well as sample online examination papers, into a USB flash drive, intending to give it to her directly if she wanted it. He thought that a first-year university student like her would be intimidated by a large number of study materials in the USB drive.
Even for Ren Suo, he only started preparing for the aptitude and exposition writing tests diligently in his third year of university, when he was supposed to find a job to intern in.
The first two years of university were the most carefree days where students were free of worry and very little people would actually study. Especially for those who were not the top students in the university, the MOBA and 3A gas, Arican and Japanese drama series or even live-streaming updates of their roommates were sufficient to kill most students’ moods to study.
Ren Suo sent a text ssage to the girl: “Hello, I am Ren Suo, I am at exit A. Let know when you have arrived.”
He received a reply very quickly: “_(:з」∠)_, I am reaching soon, senior”
Great, it looks like she did not have any more expectations than just asking her senior questions.
It would not be so awkward for us then.
Ren Suo took out his mobile phone as he waited for the girl and soon navigated to the Fantasy Forum. It was a forum which he frequently visited, and it had many different categories, including current affairs, gas, novels, movies, dates, comics, fantasy…One could talk about anything.
There were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of such online forums in Xuan Nation. Most of such online forums would then gradually die due to the lack of fresh content.
But after soone once uploaded a novel on Fantasy Forum and was edited and published by a publishing company, Fantasy Forum beca a well-known site to most people. Eventually, more and more people started uploading novels—short, dium, or long—onto the site, and hence, Fantasy Forum had many users who would write, as well as many users who would read. Hundreds of thousands of users would visit the site every day, ensuring its survival as an online forum over a long period of ti.
Before Ren Suo went to bed the night before, he had posted a question about which player privilege he should choose, seeking other forum mbers’ help in his dilemma.
After all, he would still level up in the future, and Ren Suo had not found out about any other Mini Worlds players—there was no one he could ask about it.
As Ren Suo was worried that he would be identified by other Mini Worlds players, he decided to rephrase the question about the player privileges. He said that he was playing a foreign reloadable card ga and substituted the word “ga” for “mission”, and the word “rit points” for “ga coins”. He also ntioned how many rit points he had earned, and the rewards he received for each ga…
Ren Suo went to check on the question he posted and found that there were already more than 20 replies, many of which helped him to dissect the pros and cons of each of the three privileges.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo already thought of most of the views given in the replies. For example, he already understood the limitations of the privilege “Picky Player”, the diminishing returns of the privilege “ticulous Player”, and the lack of benefits early in the ga of the privilege “Novice”…
But there was one suggestion that refreshed Ren Suo’s perception:
“Each of the three privileges has their use, and it is not very aningful to say which one of them is the best because this is actually three different progression paths.”
“If you choose the first privilege, then you should purchase more missions (gas) that have a lower price tag. Quantity is key in this case. Seek to reduce the number of coins (rit points) that you would have to use. Perhaps there are other ways you can spend coins that you did not specify, but regardless, the main aim is to make more purchases.”
“If you choose the second privilege, then you should only consider the mission (ga) that gives you the best rewards. You should also ensure that you achieve a sufficiently high score in each mission to make full use of the privilege.”
“If you choose the third privilege, then you should always swap the mission (ga) that provides the best reward with another mission (ga) with 10% better rewards when you are choosing the free mission (ga) every month unless there are other special situations. You must then choose to play the replaced mission (ga) and achieve a high score; otherwise, you would have wasted this privilege.”
Ren Suo felt that it was a very logical analysis, especially the suggestion given for the third privilege. He had previously thought that “Picky Player” was ant to swap his least favorite ga away.
But the best and correct way to make use of that privilege was, as the suggestion ntioned, to swap the ga which gave the highest rewards with another one which gave 10% more rewards.
Although Ren Suo had already selected his privilege, such an analysis which perceived the privileges as different “paths” broadened his perspective.
Rather than comparing the pros and cons of each of the privileges, it would be better to choose the privilege that was in line with the ga progress path.
For example, “Novice” and “Picky Player” could complent each other perfectly. After all, both of the privileges increase the variety of attainable rewards from the gas. If there was a ga that gave 100 rit points as the reward, after changing it to a ga that gave 110 rit points as a reward and perfectly completing the ga, the total amount of rit points earned would be 115.5. After many months, the extra rit points earned were no small number—Ren Suo was left with just 11 rit points now.
Additionally, Ren Suo guessed that he would be able to level up his privileges each ti he leveled up, or perhaps acquire other privileges.
At that point, he would need to think about which privilege he should choose using such a “path” frawork.
“Making more purchases…” Ren Suo pondered. Suddenly, Ren Suo felt that his path was blocked and he looked up to see a handso and slightly smart-looking guy, wearing a black jacket and a pair of jeans, standing in front of him. Beside him was a young and pretty girl who was wearing a white skirt.
“You are…Senior Ren?” the girl probed.
Ren Suo nodded his head as he glanced at the handso guy beside the young girl. He quickly understood:
She brought her boyfriend to warn and tell to back off…
Although Ren Suo did not have any such intentions to date the girl, he still felt slightly uncomfortable, just like any other ordinary guy being cold-heartedly “rejected” after being asked out by a girl.
Regardless, Ren Suo was a working adult and quickly adjusted his mindset. He said to the girl, “You must be Xia Lingyu? If you already have other things planned, you can leave first with your boyfriend…”
“Eh?” the young girl in the white skirt said. She was slightly stunned and quickly dragged the handso guy beside her over and said, “You made a mistake, I am not Xiao Yu.”
What?
Ren Suo was stunned montarily and turned to look at the handso guy beside the girl. The handso guy blushed and laughed shyly, saying, “I am Xia Lingyu, and she’s my classmate Li Ke’er. Both of us are interested to find out more about the civil service entrance examination from you, senior…”
Upon hearing the voice, Ren Suo knew that he had recognized the wrong person—Xia Lingyu was a young woman who dressed neutrally and had cut her hair short.
“Oh…” Ren Suo said as he stretched his hand out, slightly embarrassed. He continued, “Hello, I am Ren Suo.”
“Nice to et you,” Xia Lingyu greeted as she and Li Ke’er shook hands with Ren Suo. The awkwardness in the air fell and they asked, “Shall we find a place to sit down first?”
But the awkwardness returned, even worse this ti—after Ren Suo shook hands with them, he remained rooted to the ground and did not answer their question.
After they called him a few tis, Ren Suo finally regained his senses and replied, “Sure, I’m not very familiar with this place…How about you lead the way?”
“Sure,” they replied.
As they walked, Ren Suo looked at the two girls’ bottoms…No, no, he was looking at their back, as he fell into deep thought.
When he shook hands with them just now, he heard the familiar voice.
[A key has been found.]
[The key is in a foreign state. Starting to retrieve the key.]
[The key has yet to form. 8777 seconds is required to retrieve the key. Do not remove physical contact. 8776, 8775, 8774…]
[A key has been found.]
[The key is in a foreign state. Starting to retrieve the key.]
[The key has yet to form. 9130 seconds is required to retrieve the key. Do not remove physical contact. 9129, 9128, 9127…]
Both of the girls had keys!
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