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 experimenting with his newly acquired abilities and props the night before and had not started playing his new game.

Just as Ren Suo finished his lunch at the noodles stall downstairs and was about to return home to start playing the new game, 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 moment and realized that it was Saturday. It was no wonder his mother asked such a question.

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“No, I don’t. What’s the matter?” Ren Suo asked.

“Do you remember 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 meet her today? The time and location have been arranged, so meet 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 meet to talk and shop. She is also interested in taking the civil service entrance examination to become 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 lament. He quickly interrupted her, asking, “Wait, did I agree to this?”

“You did,” his mother confirmed. She said, “Four nights ago, I found out during our conversation that Auntie Zhang’s daughter is looking to become a civil servant, so we arranged a time for the both of you to meet.”

“But, when did you tell me about that?” a slightly confused Ren Suo asked.

His mother said, “I informed you right after my conversation with Auntie Zhang. You were busy at that time and briefly agreed before quickly hanging up.”

Ren Suo recalled that four days ago, he was still trying to complete the game [Over My Dead Body]. Although it was a turn-based game, 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 moment, and thus Ren Suo was extremely focused while playing the game.

In that case, it was indeed possible that he half-heartedly agreed to the meetup during the phone call with his mother…

More importantly, Ren Suo was easily confused, and he could not trust his own memory 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 someone 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, remember her mobile number, her name 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 met 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 remember 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 something Ren Suo could never bear to do, but calling the girl directly to cancel their meeting in the afternoon seemed 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 mentioned 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 games, American 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 message to the girl: “Hello, I am Ren Suo, I am at exit A. Let me 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, games, 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 someone once uploaded a novel on Fantasy Forum and was edited and published by a publishing company, Fantasy Forum became a well-known site to most people. Eventually, more and more people started uploading novels—short, medium, 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 time.

Before Ren Suo went to bed the night before, he had posted a question about which player privilege he should choose, seeking other forum members’ 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 game and substituted the word “game” for “mission”, and the word “merit points” for “game coins”. He also mentioned how many merit points he had earned, and the rewards he received for each game…

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 “Meticulous Player”, and the lack of benefits early in the game 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 meaningful 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 (games) that have a lower price tag. Quantity is key in this case. Seek to reduce the number of coins (merit 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 (game) 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 (game) that provides the best reward with another mission (game) with 10% better rewards when you are choosing the free mission (game) every month unless there are other special situations. You must then choose to play the replaced mission (game) 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 meant to swap his least favorite game away.

But the best and correct way to make use of that privilege was, as the suggestion mentioned, to swap the game 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 game progress path.

For example, “Novice” and “Picky Player” could complement each other perfectly. After all, both of the privileges increase the variety of attainable rewards from the games. If there was a game that gave 100 merit points as the reward, after changing it to a game that gave 110 merit points as a reward and perfectly completing the game, the total amount of merit points earned would be 115.5. After many months, the extra merit points earned were no small number—Ren Suo was left with just 11 merit points now.

Additionally, Ren Suo guessed that he would be able to level up his privileges each time 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” framework.

“Making more purchases…” Ren Suo pondered. Suddenly, Ren Suo felt that his path was blocked and he looked up to see a handsome 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 handsome guy beside the young girl. He quickly understood:

She brought her boyfriend to warn me and tell me 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 handsome guy beside her over and said, “You made a mistake, I am not Xiao Yu.”

What?

Ren Suo was stunned momentarily and turned to look at the handsome guy beside the girl. The handsome 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 meet 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 time—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 times, 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!