CHAPTER 498: CHAPTER 16 CATTLE, HORSES AND TASKS

"Don’t make it sound so depressing, I just wanted to see what it feels like to process these things..."

Listening to his friend’s words, [Deer and Cattle], twitched and suddenly felt this hard-won task wasn’t so appealing anymore.

He and the half-elf player beside him were friends in real life; they had entered the game together two months after the public beta of [Mysterious Era] began.

Of course, he was just saying that; he would definitely not walk away from this place right now.

Although he seemed to be doing grunt work, in fact, the quota for these laborious ’tasks’ had to be snatched up by competition.

It might seem tedious, but grinding here overnight could yield a significant amount of experience, and a fair number of contribution points from the [Secret Ceremony Society], making it quite cost-effective.

Given the time ratio between reality and the game is twelve and a half to one, one night in reality equates to only three or four days of grinding in the game.

Once he logs off, his qualification for the task ends, and if he wants to come back here, he needs to watch for the release of the task and compete for it again.

These tasks might not offer the reward experience of high-intensity monster grinding, but [Mysterious Era] is different from other games; its mechanism clearly discourages players from seeking combat actively.

After all, you only get five free lives, and the resurrection stone that costs 888 can only be bought once.

"Honestly, if it were just dealing with a few parts, it might be quite interesting, but repeating the same thing for days on end is too boring. Luckily, I can use auto-play."

Having also processed the parts in his hands, the half-elf player [Butter Toast Cat] threw them onto the assembly line, watching as they gradually flowed into another room and complained, then picked up the next part to continue working.

With the latest system update, an auto-play function has been introduced. For tasks that involve a lot of repetitive actions, players can choose to use auto-play.

Without this feature, the vast majority of players probably couldn’t endure such monotonous tasks, akin to a day job.

During this process, players’ consciousness would return to the initial space, the character creation interface,

where they could enjoy various movies and television programs or play other computer games to pass the time.

Of course, all these things require extra fees to unlock.

It was said that when the update was first released, the planners tried to cycle through various commercial ads during auto-play, but they were quickly drowned out by a torrent of curses on the forum.

"Enough talking, my Deer and Cattle buddy, I’m off to watch ’Ring North Pole’. See you the day after tomorrow!"

After the last sentence, Butter Toast Cat, without waiting for Deer and Cattle to respond, suddenly turned expressionless, continuously grabbing a new part to process, silently working.

"...You’re the cattle, your whole family are cattle!"

Deer and Cattle gave a middle finger to the unresponsive body of Butter Toast Cat, noting that his movements seemed a bit sluggish and unresponsive.

"Running the standard auto-play mode, huh?"

Moments later, he concluded, then fell into thought.

Currently, there are three auto-play modes in the game: Standard, Advanced, and High-Level, each with progressively higher efficiency.

The standard mode is free, while the latter two cost two yuan per hour and five yuan per hour, respectively, charging by the actual time elapsed.

After considering his friend beside him and thinking it over, Deer and Cattle finally decided to grit his teeth and activate the Advanced auto-play mode.

Though it costs quite a bit, it could bring a higher efficiency in grinding for experience.

What’s more important is that the vast majority of players are using the standard auto-play, which means work efficiency is very low. If he now uses the Advanced mode, it would make him seem very diligent.

In essence, he is betting that his diligence will be noticed by his superiors, thereby giving him a chance to receive better tasks.

To put it simply, he’s starting to hustle.

.........

"... Target identity confirmed, retrieval complete."

At this moment, the Last Dragon Descendant crouched beside a corpse with arrows in its back that died with eyes wide open, recording the scene with a crystal ball. Then he searched out a pitch-black stone inscribed with several ancient runes from the pocket of the corpse’s magic robe.

Tiramisu carefully concealed her figure at the base of a distant boulder, providing cover for the Last Dragon Descendant.

Ordinary players have their ways of playing, and professional players have theirs.

"Here, pass this on to Naya."

After searching through the spoils, the Elf returned to Tiramisu’s side, casually tossing the stone emitting a special frequency vibration to her.

"You’re not going to hand it over to him personally?"

Surprised, Tiramisu caught the inscribed stone and looked at the Last Dragon Descendant.

"No need, the club might need you for the upcoming task. I’m no longer part of the squad, I’d rather not mingle with such dangerous missions. It’s a good time to relax a bit now."

With his back to Tiramisu, the Last Dragon Descendant waved goodbye.

After being forced to contact Anvis by those people before, it was equivalent to letting the Olivendi Family in on the news about the Sword of King Selection too.

This disrupted White Light’s original plan, but it also allowed them to learn some new information.

Three Sixth Rank NPCs carrying the coordinates of the Sword of King Selection along with one and a half million Gold Coins, and it seemed they were Bounty Hunters without any backing.

Thus, White Light secretly mobilized four Sixth Rank Elite Level Mechanical constructs and a batch of Seeds of Destruction, ready to farm the Boss.

Meanwhile, during the time Tiramisu was taken captive by the three, she had already preserved their scents using a Secret Skill following Naya’s instructions.

As long as a special tracking Mysterious Object was matched with it, they could precisely locate the targets within a certain range.

"...Alright, see you tomorrow then."

Watching the Last Dragon Descendant’s departing figure, the cat-eared girl waved her hand, unusually refraining from making lewd jokes.

Although the Elf verbally expressed concern about the danger, both knew very well that with the club’s current strength, hunting down three Sixth Rank individuals was not a difficult task when prepared.

She actually understood the Elf’s thoughts somewhat; although the enemy, those three Bounty Hunters had honored their promise and let them go. Yet here she was about to lead a trap to kill them, which seemed somewhat despicable.

But this was the helplessness of a professional player; executing tasks never deviated from the will of the individual.

The Elf was playing the game, whereas she was working.

....

"This is...really irritating."

Meanwhile, the Last Dragon Descendant leaving alone was also troubled by his own mindset.

Knowing it was just a game, knowing the club’s decision was unobjectionable, but it just felt awkward.

For this reason, he even made up an excuse to refuse participation in the subsequent roundup, even at the cost of potentially losing the club’s rewards.

"If Naya or Little Sword knew what I’m thinking now, they’d probably mock me ’immersed too deeply, needs a shock therapy’ again."

With a self-deprecating shake of his head, the Elf rejuvenated his spirit.

"No big deal, I’m just playing a game now, so I’ll do whatever feels good...hmm, this feeling, boss?"

Mumbling to himself, the Last Dragon Descendant suddenly paused, hastily pulling out a Mithril tag engraved with the insignia of the Secret Ceremony Society from his chest.

At this moment, the tag was emitting a special kind of fluctuation.

"Investigate a female actress’s information within three days? Obtain a temporary authorization to mobilize resources from the Secret Ceremony Society, including the Teleportation Array?"

Having read the brief mission briefing sent to him by Anvis through the tag, the Last Dragon Descendant glanced at the Task that popped up on his panel and instantly pushed his previous annoyance to the back of his mind.

"OKK boss, your loyal subordinate Rivers at your service!"