Chapter 010: Exchange

As for going out to the wild now to kill monsters and level up for some free attribute points? Yun Xi hadn’t even considered it.

With her current strength, wandering the wild was doable, but fighting monsters? That would be pure suicide.

Sure, she had unlimited resurrection, but using the Resurrection Godstone came with a price. Wasn’t staying alive better?

Maybe—aside from the 10-day beta test—she could spend the remaining 20 days learning on Blue Star?

Her stomach growled, pulling her out of her thoughts.

Since meals in the Divine Fall Continent only consisted of coarse wheat cakes and black bread—both awful and costly—Yun Xi chose to log off and return to Blue Star.

After a simple meal, she recharged today’s 648 yuan. Her system account increased by 641.52 copper coins.

Her current balance was:
651.42 (previous) + 9.99 (Main Quest 1 reward) + 99.9 (Main Quest 2 reward) + 641.52 = 1402.83 copper coins

That’s right. Whether system rewards or top-ups, all currencies transferred into the system account automatically incurred a 1% handling fee.

She checked the time—it was noon in-game, but midnight on Blue Star.

She hadn’t taken a break since noon on Blue Star. Now that she’d eaten, her brain was heavy with sleep.

Not forcing herself to stay awake, she washed up, changed into pajamas, and quickly fell asleep.

---

The Next Morning

After a breakfast of one egg, Yun Xi picked up her phone to check news related to Divine Fall Continent.

Following yesterday’s events, all players who had logged in seemed to have “vanished”—or rather, the authorities had fully blocked all news related to the game’s true nature.

To the average person, it still appeared to be just a regular game.

Even her parents in this life hadn’t responded to her message—probably thinking nothing of it.

As she scrolled through her phone, she was surprised to see a text from Gu Shi’an from earlier.

[Yun Xi, this game… it’s best if you register and log in. I wouldn’t hurt you.]
(Attached was an image of the Divine Fall Continent game icon.)

Gu Shi’an had sent the message before the servers went live yesterday, but Yun Xi had been too preoccupied with Yu Jinxiang and Tu Jiaojiao at the time and had overlooked it.

There was a lot of hidden information in his message:

• First, the fact that he messaged her before launch likely meant he was reborn as well.
• Second, in this timeline, Yun Xi had just broken off their engagement, yet he still chose to warn her kindly. Could it mean their future relationship might not be that bad?

Not to mention, in her previous life, she and Gu Shi’an had been good comrades.

Now having made up her mind, Yun Xi quietly categorized Gu Shi’an into the same group as Yu Jinxiang and Tu Jiaojiao—important, but distant.

She sent him a reply:

[Gu Shi’an, I’ve logged into the game. Thanks for the reminder.]
(She included her game ID.)

There was no reply, but Yun Xi didn’t mind—he was probably still online.

She turned off her phone but didn’t log in to the Divine Fall Continent right away. Instead, she sat cross-legged on the living room carpet and began practicing Light Shield.

She had to confirm whether spellcasting could be practiced on Blue Star, which would help her better plan the next month.

To her delight, the inheritance crystal had already bound to her, meaning she could open and view its contents even on Blue Star—including the spell pattern for Light Shield.

She could also circulate spiritual energy, but unlike in the Divine Fall Continent, Blue Star currently had no ambient spiritual energy. Once she depleted her own, she’d need to log into the game to replenish it.

That was a potential problem—but easy to solve. She just had to absorb energy from spirit crystals to restore herself.

Spirit crystals were the game’s universal currency, such as her own red crystals.

Yun Xi immediately opened her system panel. To acquire soul protection from the system earlier, she had recharged 10,200 red crystals. After the handling fee, she still had 98 red crystals left in her account.

Within the system, currency can only be exchanged downward, not upward.

In other words, 1 red crystal could be exchanged for 100 purple crystals, but not the other way around.

At present, her system account balance was: 98 red crystals – … – 1402.83 copper coins.

Without hesitation, Yun Xi exchanged 1 red crystal downward.

Although red crystals were incredibly valuable—equivalent to a year’s worth of soul protection—Yun Xi didn’t have the luxury to be stingy. Right now, power growth was her top priority.

After the exchange, her currency inventory became:
97 red crystals – 99 purple – 99 blue – 99 green – 100 white – 0 gold – 0 silver – 1402.83 copper coins

With just 1 red crystal, she now had a complete set of lower-tier crystals.

Each white crystal held 100 units of spirit energy. A hundred of them would last her a while.

Of course, during the beta test, she could log into the game to recover her energy, so she wouldn’t waste white crystals just yet.

---

When she logged back in, it was nighttime in Divine Fall Continent, corresponding to morning on Blue Star.

But the moment she opened her eyes, Yun Xi realized something was off—there was no light.

Her small wooden hut had windows, and last night, the bonfires outside had lit up the whole room.

Now, everything outside was pitch black.

Although Yun Xi wasn’t well-versed in the geography of the Shuyu Plains, one thing was common knowledge across the continent:
“At night, there must be firelight.”

If the spiritual flames in a village or town went out, that meant—

Yun Xi’s heart chilled at the implication.

Just as she was about to log out for safety, the firelight suddenly flared back to life, and the faint sound of arguing came from outside.

“Hada! Didn’t I tell you to keep the bonfire fuel stocked?! Where were you just now?”

“Father, I didn’t do it on purpose! Just now, the flame started burning faster out of nowhere—I couldn’t react in time.”

“It started burning faster?”

“Dad… the spirit flame went out for just a moment, it should be fine, right? Grandpa is strong, he’ll be okay…”

The young man’s voice grew softer, laced with dread.

“You’d better pray nothing happened,” the middle-aged man snapped angrily.
“I’m going to find your grandfather. You stay here and make sure—that flame doesn’t go out again!”

---

Yun Xi stayed silent for a moment.

From their conversation, she could deduce one thing: a powerful phantom must’ve approached the village just now. Otherwise, the flame wouldn’t have started burning faster.

As for the “grandfather” mentioned by the middle-aged man, that must be—
the village chief, the strongest man in the settlement.