CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 67 ROUTING ISSUES

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

The next day at noon, Ren Suo woke up refreshed, washed up, and ate breakfast.

Having worked for a few days followed by a short holiday rest felt incredibly satisfying.

He had opened a Treasure Box yesterday and studied some new Skills and props for a while before feeling sleepy and going directly to bed, without even playing the new game.

Just as Ren Suo finished eating and was about to head home to play games, he suddenly received a call from his mother.

"Suo Zi!" His mother’s voice was full of vigor. "You don’t have work today, right?"

Ren Suo reflexively thought for a moment and realized it was Saturday—no wonder his mom was asking this question.

"No, why?"

"Didn’t I tell you before that Aunt Zhang’s eldest daughter is studying in Lianjiang and is now a freshman?"

"Oh... so?"

"Didn’t you promise to meet her today? The time and place are all set: 2:30 PM at Tianhe Central Metro Station!" his mother said. "You young people can decide where to go, but first, meet up, chat, and browse around. She also aspires to take the civil servant exam, so you should talk to her more about that. It’s good for a girl to become a civil servant..."

Seeing he was about to get caught in his mom’s relentless talk, Ren Suo quickly interrupted her, "Wait, did I really agree?"

"Yes, you did," his mother replied. "Four nights ago, while chatting with Aunt Zhang, we learned her daughter wants to take the civil service exam, so we set a time for you two to meet."

"And when did you notify me?" Ren Suo asked, quite puzzled.

"I told you right after I finished talking to Aunt Zhang. You were busy at that time, just kept giving vague acknowledgments before quickly hanging up."

Ren Suo remembered that four days ago, he must have been strategizing for "Over My Dead Body." Even though it’s a turn-based battle game, the gameplay is very intense, requiring focus on enemy positioning, his own team’s positioning, and Attack ranges. A slight mishap could lead to casualties, so Ren Suo was highly focused and serious while playing.

In such a situation, it was indeed possible that I would have responded noncommittally to Mom’s call...

The main thing is, I’m rather absent-minded and don’t trust my own memory much.

"Look," his mother’s voice suddenly became stern. "You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?"

"Well..."

"I don’t remember my son being the kind of person who doesn’t keep his word."

Ren Suo’s upbringing was actually pretty good. Guided by a kind father and a strict mother, hearing this tone from his mom instinctively made him concede, "Fine, fine, fine, I’ll go this afternoon."

"Good. Remember her phone number; her name is Xia Lingyu..."

"Right, can’t I just contact her directly on her cell phone?"

"You haven’t even met her. How could you just chat away as if you know each other well?"

Sometimes, Mom’s words make sudden sense.

Meanwhile, just after Ren’s mother hung up the phone, Ren’s father, who was eating, asked, "Did you really notify Suo Zi? You went out for a walk that night and didn’t even have your phone with you."

"I forgot," Ren’s mother said matter-of-factly. "But he didn’t remember anyway, so what I said is the truth."

By 2:00 PM, Ren Suo had already arrived at Tianhe Central Metro Station.

He really couldn’t bring himself to stand someone up, and it seemed too impolite to call the girl and cancel their afternoon meeting—especially since she hadn’t called him. It felt awkward for him to initiate the call.

Sigh, just introducing myself over the phone feels troublesome.

Since his mother said the girl wanted to know about the civil servant exam process, Ren Suo copied his essay writing and quantitative analysis study materials and online exam papers onto a USB drive. If she wanted them, he would give them to her directly. Presumably, a freshman, upon seeing all these study materials, would be discouraged.

Even Ren Suo himself only began seriously studying for the exams during his junior year when he realized it was time to look for work and internships.

Freshman and sophomore years are when college students are the most carefree, and few can settle down to study. Especially for those who weren’t top students in university, things like roommates’ MOBA games, AAA titles, American and Japanese dramas, and live anime broadcasts are often enough to destroy most people’s will to study.

Ren Suo sent a message: "I’m Ren Suo, at Exit A below. Let me know when you arrive."

It wasn’t long before he got a reply: "Senior Brother, I’m almost there."

Well, it seems she understands her role correctly: a senior brother to ask questions of.

This way, neither of us will be awkward.

Ren Suo took out his phone and waited while browsing, scrolling through the Mysterious Forums. This was a forum he frequently visited, with various sections like current events, games, novels, movies, blind dating, anime, fantasy... basically, anything you’d want to discuss.

Sites like this forum were not uncommon in Mysterious Country, numbering in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, and most would gradually decline due to a lack of fresh blood.

However, the Mysterious Forums remained popular because someone had once posted a novel there which caught the attention of a publishing house and was adapted into a book. Consequently, more and more people started posting short stories, novellas, and novels there. With a wealth of author and reader resources and daily traffic in the hundreds of thousands, the forum continued to thrive.

Last night, before going to sleep, Ren Suo had posted the issue he encountered with Player’s Privilege on a forum, seeking help.

After all, I’ll level up in the future, and I still haven’t found any other Minor World players—I have no one to ask.

Furthermore, Ren Suo was also worried he would be recognized by other Minor World players, so he disguised the Player’s Privilege issue. He claimed he was playing a foreign Krypton Gold card game, changed "game" to "task," "Merit Points" to "game Gold Coins," and revealed how many Merit Points he had earned before and how much each game could reward.

Ren Suo checked his query and discovered it had already gathered over twenty responses, many of which helped him analyze the pros and cons of the three privileges.

However, many opinions were conclusions Ren Suo had also reached, such as the limitations of "The Choosy Freeloader," the low expected returns from "meticulous calculation," and the uselessness of "novice player" in the early stages.

One person’s advice, however, offered Ren Suo a fresh perspective:

"Each of the three privileges is useful in its own right, and it’s somewhat pointless to say which is the best because they represent three development paths."

"If you chose the first privilege, then you should buy low-cost tasks (games) in bulk, winning by quantity, and try to reduce the cost in Gold Coins (Merit Points) with the aid of the privilege. Perhaps you have other ways to spend, but you haven’t mentioned them; in any case, it’s about taking the multi-consumer path."

"If you chose the second privilege, you should only focus on the tasks (games) with the highest rewards and ensure that you obtain a high score each time, maximizing the use of your privilege."

"And if you chose the third privilege, then unless faced with a special circumstance, when choosing free tasks (games) each month, you should replace the one with the highest reward with a task (game) that offers 10% higher rewards. You must then choose this new task (game) and achieve a high score in it; otherwise, you’ll waste the privilege."

Ren Suo found these insights very logical, particularly the advice about the third privilege. He had previously thought "The Choosy Freeloader" was for replacing games he didn’t like.

But the correct usage, as the advice suggested—replacing the highest reward game for one that grants a further 10% increase in rewards—was indeed the best approach.

Although Ren Suo had already chosen his privilege, the ’pathway’ thought process had opened new windows for him.

Instead of comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the privileges, it’s better to choose the one that matches my gaming path.

For instance, "novice player" and "The Choosy Freeloader" could definitely coordinate, since they both increase game rewards in Merit Points. If there was a game with a 100 Merit Points reward, and it was swapped for a 110 Merit Points reward using "The Choosy Freeloader," then perfectly completing it with "novice player" active would yield a total of 115.5 Merit Points. These incremental gains were not to be overlooked—especially since he was presently down to just 11 Merit Points.

Moreover, I speculate that as my player Level increases in the future, these privileges could potentially upgrade, or I might obtain other privileges.

When the time comes, I’ll have to evaluate my privilege choices using this ’pathway’ thinking.

Multi-consumer pathway, huh? Ren Suo mulled over it. Suddenly, the light dimmed. Lifting his head, he saw a rather handsome man dressed in jeans and a black jacket, and a beautiful young girl in a white dress standing in front of him.

"Are you... Senior Brother Ren?"

The girl in the white dress tentatively asked, and Ren Suo nodded. He glanced at the handsome man next to her, and it dawned on him: This is her way of showing off her boyfriend, to make me back off...

Although Ren Suo didn’t have such intentions in the first place, it’s naturally somewhat uncomfortable for any normal man to be invited out like this and then be given the cold shoulder.

However, Ren Suo, being an adult, quickly adjusted his mindset and said to the girl, "You’re Xia Lingyu, right? If you have something to do, you and your boyfriend can go first..."

"Eh?" The girl in the white dress blinked and hurriedly pulled the handsome man over. "You misunderstood, I’m not Xiaoyu."

Ren Suo was taken aback.

The handsome young man’s face turned red. He chuckled shyly and said, "I am Xia Lingyu. She’s my classmate Li Ke’er, and we both wanted to ask Senior Brother about taking the civil service exams..."

As soon as he heard the voice, Ren Suo realized he had mistaken their identities—Xia Lingyu was just a cool-looking young woman with short hair and androgynous clothes.

"Uh..." Ren Suo said awkwardly, extending his hand. "Hello, I’m Ren Suo."

"Hello." Xia Lingyu and Li Ke’er both shook hands with Ren Suo, which helped dissipate the awkwardness. "Shall we find a place to sit down?"

However, things became more awkward—after shaking hands, Ren Suo stood motionless, not responding to their suggestion.

After they repeated themselves a few times, Ren Suo came to and replied, "Sure, I’m not familiar with this area... maybe you could lead the way?"

"Of course."

Watching the two girls’... Butts... no, no, their departing figures, Ren Suo fell into deep thought.

During the handshake, he had heard that familiar voice.

"Key detected."

"Key is in a stranger Status, beginning acquisition."

"Key found to be unformed, requires 8,777 seconds for acquisition, must maintain constant contact during the process. 8776, 8775, 8774..."

"Key detected."

"Key is in a stranger Status, beginning acquisition."

"Key found to be unformed, requires 9,130 seconds for acquisition, must maintain constant contact during the process. 9129, 9128, 9127..."

Both girls, it turns out, have a Key!