Chapter 044: Arrangements

Their conversation came to an end, and the auction was also nearing its close.

Most of the items being auctioned were low-tier or ordinary detection gear. According to the alchemist, these wouldn’t be of much help for that mission—only high-grade equipment would truly make a difference.

Although he might sound like a salesman, Yun Xi agreed with him. If there’s better gear available, why waste money on the mediocre stuff? After all, she wasn’t strapped for cash anymore.

There were still two months left before the mission related to the Wraith-Goddess of Liberty officially began.

Before that, she needed to reach at least level 11.

While Yun Xi was still deep in thought, the auction formally concluded.

Thanks to their earlier discussion, her relationship with the alchemist had deepened considerably. Just before they parted ways, the alchemist finally shared his name with her.

Although they had written down their real names when signing the purchasing contract under the system’s oversight, due to different languages and scripts, Yun Xi hadn’t been able to recognize his.

And since he’d remained anonymous even after becoming friends, Yun Xi had never actually known his name.

Now that he was willing to tell her, it was, in a way, a sign that he was open to letting her in.

Yu Nanfey.

“Yu”? That was the royal surname of the Yuqi Principality!

Could he be the child of the Grand Duke? But that couldn’t be right—if that were the case, he wouldn’t be lacking in money.

Sure, not all of a duchy’s wealth is concentrated in the duke’s hands, but the basic benefits of being a duke’s child should at least be enough to keep them financially secure.

“Don’t overthink it. I’m not a native of the Shuyu Plains either.”

Hearing that, Yun Xi simply nodded in understanding.

She had no intention of digging deeper anyway. Whatever Yu Nanfey’s true background was, it had nothing to do with her.

“I’ll be heading off first to start crafting your detection equipment. Don’t forget to have the payment ready.”

“No problem. I’ll transfer it next month on time.”

After watching him leave, Yun Xi politely said goodbye to the host of the banquet, Dilinna, and then headed back home.

Once she was settled in her study on the second floor, Yun Xi pulled out pen and paper and began making plans.

At present, she had learned six spells:

• [Water Ball]
• [Water Arrow]
• [Light Guard]
• [Appraisal]
• [Fireball]
• [Healing]

Based on her earlier goals, she still needed to learn:

• [Hold Person]
• [Purify]
• [Counterspell]
• [Wish]

But with the special mission in Qinglan Town fast approaching, Yun Xi had to prioritize combat capability.

Out of those four, Hold Person and Counterspell were a must-learn. Purify and Wish could be pushed back.

She ruled out Wish because its learning curve was too long. Even if she devoted the next two months entirely to it, she might not master it in time.

Purify, on the other hand, wasn’t as urgent.

As long as she learned it before Blue Star was fully invaded, she’d be fine.

And even if she didn’t learn it in time, she could just purchase pollution-free food in Qinglan Town. There was no need to resort to choking down rough barley cakes or those disgusting knobby fruits.

Besides learning those two combat spells, she also needed to raise her level and become a mid-level spellcaster.

Since she’d decided to take on this special mission, she had to give it her all—there was no way she was going to show up as a low-level caster and compete against a group of elite prodigies.

After sketching out a simple plan for herself, Yun Xi logged off to eat, shower, and get ready for bed.

Compared to the Fallen Gods Continent, Blue Star was still much safer at this stage.

If her memory was right, nothing significant happened during the first three months of open beta.

It wasn’t until the fourth month that the invasion from the Fallen Gods Continent began to slowly unfold.

She couldn’t recall the exact timeline, but it was definitely over a year before Blue Star was completely overrun.

When that time came, everything would change. The food would become inedible, and people would be forced to log into the game to earn copper coins just to buy food.

No matter how much time passed, Yun Xi would never forget the nauseating saltiness of those knobby fruits.

After her nighttime routine, Yun Xi laid down on her soft bed and, as usual, opened her phone to check the latest news.

It was a habit she had developed since her rebirth—just in case there was some important information she had missed.

With the official open beta now live, the government’s plan to rescue tourist-mode players had been slowly progressing, but so far, there hadn’t been much real progress.

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[CryBaby]: We wanderers are doomed anyway. Dying in some remote wasteland where no one even knows—it’s hopeless.

[YourGrampsIsHot]: Why do you insist on logging in? Just stay on Blue Star like a normal person.

[Yaoyao]: I’m so jealous of you official players. Unlike us born in the wild, even if we have high spirit stats, there’s no way for us to learn spells.

[YourGrampsIsHot]: Yaoyao, want me to buy you a spell pattern scroll? You can study it offline.

[CryBaby]: Don’t listen to him bluffing. My friend joined the official team, and even he couldn’t find spell pattern scrolls in the official shop. Turns out one scroll costs at least 1,000 gold—that’s 10 million copper coins!

[YourGrampsIsHot]: Pfft. I’ll take out a loan!

[Yaoyao]: Wow, you’re amazing, Gramps! I’ll be waiting for good news!

[YourGrampsIsHot]: …

[CryBaby]: Yaoyao, call him Grandpa. Might work better.

[YourGrampsIsHot]: You internet trolls! Yaoyao, I was seriously trying to help!

[Yaoyao]: What’s wrong with calling you Gramps? It’s a sign of respect!

[CraftLiquor]: Guys, focus! The real issue is how to protect the rights of us wanderers!

[FairyOfFlowerValley]: Right?! Can the officials give us a straight answer already? Sniff sniff People are showing off their spells, and we wanderers are just supposed to sit back and watch? Don’t we deserve a future too?!

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Wanderers made up only about 1 in 20 of the total population, but considering Huaguo (Flower Country) had over a billion people, that meant there were still tens of millions of them.

And most were beta testers—young people who loved gaming. The authorities couldn’t afford to ignore their voices.

In response, aside from the original “online rescue” method, officials finally issued a second solution:

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[Recently, we have received a large number of opinions and suggestions. For tourist-mode logins, we are implementing the following plan:

If tourist players wish to shed their wanderer status, we will offer offline training opportunities.

Martial arts skills are free. Due to the special nature of spellcasting, players may sign a trade contract with the official system and select a master to learn from.

This method has already been tested by tourist players and is proven effective. Once training is complete, they will be automatically reclassified as official players and granted adventurer status.]

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Yun Xi remembered seeing this announcement in her past life too.

She’d also wanted to sign the official trade contract and study spellcasting through it.

Unfortunately, the lines were ridiculously long…

Jing City was one of the most populated metropolitan areas in the country, with nearly a million wanderers.