The Stress-Overloaded Hei Fan

The White Elf ranger, who was a little over half a head taller than Mo Tan, turned to him in confusion. "Magic power?"

"Uh... yes, magic power..." Mo Tan chuckled awkwardly and nodded. To be honest, his mental fortitude was rather average at the moment, and his lying skills were only a little better when he was in the Lawful Good state. Although he knew that the plan he had hastily come up with a few minutes ago shouldn't have any theoretical flaws, he still felt somewhat unsure.

That was only in comparison to his other personalities, though. Having an ordinary and mediocre personality didn't mean his abilities were the same. Mo Tan's reserve of knowledge and the crises he had personally experienced were countless. He could handle a small situation like this.

Sure enough, Yinna didn't have the slightest suspicion. She merely replied casually, "Of course. All elves have more or less some magic power in their bodies. As we age, it gradually accumulates even if we do nothing. It's just that I specialize in ranger training, so I've never tempered or meditated on it. I'm not as good as you."

"And besides..." She cast Mo Tan a dangerous glance. "I'm still young. Converted to human terms, I'm around seventeen. You'd better watch your wording~~"

Mo Tan gave an awkward laugh and hurriedly nodded in agreement. Then, after calculating the time in his head, he asked tentatively, "Then, Yinna, do you think you could handle charging the magic crystal lamps?"

"What for?" Yinna immediately looked at him suspiciously. "Trying to slack off?"

By then, the two of them had already traveled some distance from Rockpile City. However, since this was the main road leading to the northern metropolis of Granite City, there were still plenty of people coming and going. Along the roadside, roughly every two hundred meters, stood a magic crystal lamp mounted on a short pillar. They didn't operate during the day, but after nightfall, they provided travelers with illumination and warmth while also driving away low-level beasts.

They could be considered the standard lighting fixtures throughout the Continent of Innocence.

The two of them happened to have reached the first magic crystal lamp.

"I'm not trying to slack off~" Mo Tan gently pressed his hand against the thin crystal plate attached to the stone base. He gave Yinna an indescribably awkward look, then tried to sense the magic power within his body without activating any skills. He immediately broke into a sweat.

As mentioned before, the game Innocent World was quite unfriendly to players. There was no convenient feature where, after you stood near a quest target, the system automatically popped up a window in front of you with the words "Inject magic power?" and gave you yes and no options, then calculated your quest progress after you made your choice.

Don't even think about it!

If a quest or some other situation required you to inject magic power, then fine, figure out how to inject it properly. Don't dream of conveniences like "one-click completion."

As for even more excessive features like automatic pathfinding and AFK monster fighting... Even browser games these days weren't that shameless, were they?

This world was almost excessively realistic.

But that still wasn't the worst part. Players in the beginner stage had yet to learn that even some of the more advanced skills required a certain degree of technique to activate. At present, everyone could only use skills with low requirements, low costs, and foolproof activation. They required no skill from the player and could be activated with nothing but intent. As their class levels increased, however, this situation would change completely...

Incidentally, Mo Tan had actually already become proficient in using many advanced skills, especially Black Witchcraft... It was just that he himself had no related memories.

"What are you doing?" Yinna asked curiously. "Are you treating this thing like your dream lover? You're touching it so earnestly..."

Mo Tan shrugged helplessly. "I've never done anything like this before. Seriously, prayer and singing hymns are much harder..."

He then closed his eyes and concentrated with all his might, sensing the nonexistent "magic power" in reality. This was undoubtedly difficult. It was like how humans could never imagine what it would feel like to suddenly have an extra tail or a pair of wings. Still, humanity's adaptability was extremely~ extremely~ extremely astonishing...

Soon, Mo Tan, who had strained himself until his face and neck were red, sensed two indescribable presences coiled within his body. One was concentrated throughout his limbs and bones, while the other was gathered in his brain. Carefully sensing the former, he could discover that its power seemed to faintly resonate with the surrounding environment, changing constantly and extremely unstable. The latter, meanwhile, continuously gave him a feeling of peace and warmth.

First activation of magic power, faith power sensed, Intelligence +1, Faith limit +5

A soft system notification rang beside Mo Tan's ear. Moments later, the markings on the basic magic crystal in his hand gradually lit up.

After Mo Tan's magic power was consumed at a rate of five points per second, twenty points later, the crystal's energy was completely saturated.

"Nicely done~" Yinna patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "For someone who only knows how to pray and sing hymns, that's already quite impressive. But you didn't actually have to fill it completely. A crystal charged to seventy percent won't last much less than one charged to one hundred percent. The only difference is that the latter is brighter."

Mo Tan nodded. Instead of immediately heading with Yinna toward the second magic crystal lamp two hundred meters away, he looked at the apprentice ranger in front of him with an ingratiating expression. Lowering his head, he said, "Do you remember what we were talking about just now?"

"About slacking off?" Yinna raised her eyebrows.

"Not entirely." Mo Tan sighed. "I've run into a bit of trouble. If you could help me keep it secret..."

As he said this, he glanced at Yinna and repeatedly muttered in his heart, If you were a woman... If you were a normal woman...

"Of course!" Yinna's eyes lit up, and she spoke quickly. "I love sharing secrets with others and letting them rot in my stomach!"

As it turned out, she really was a normal woman. It seemed that even female elves—even if they were merely NPCs—could hardly resist the temptation of gossip any more than ordinary wives and young girls could.

"I want to prepare something in about forty minutes." Mo Tan lowered his voice. "I might leave for a while then. If you could charge the remaining lamps and tell everyone I wasn't slacking off when you return, that would be great... Especially Shuangye. Don't tell her, whatever you do..."

Yinna leaned against the stone post with great interest. The gleam in her eyes could have killed several truckloads of cats. She chuckled. "That shouldn't be a problem, but what's your reason? And why are you making such a point of hiding it from Shuangye~?"

Mo Tan didn't answer. He merely gave Yinna a look that said, You know what I mean.

Yinna immediately nodded. "I understand~ I understand!"

What exactly did you understand from that look? I don't even understand it myself! Your imagination is terrifying...

Mo Tan chuckled awkwardly while roaring inwardly. His actual intention had been to make her go off on a tangent and complete some self-supplemented explanation whose contents even the heavens knew. That worked.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Yinna." Mo Tan scratched his hair and gave a foolish grin. "If I haven't met up with you when everyone gathers, tell them I went to help the priest preach. I promised him earlier, and it wouldn't be good to refuse."

Yinna blinked. "You've prepared everything so thoroughly? Looks like you're very confident, huh?"

What plane? What confidence are you talking about?!

Mo Tan's mouth twitched as he nodded and laughed awkwardly. "It's all right... It's all right..."

"So, have you set the date? Is there anything else you need help with?" Yinna seemed to have completely forgotten about the mission.

What date?!

Mo Tan's heart had already collapsed into an ORZ, but outwardly he let out a long breath and shook his head. "I'd better keep taking care of these magic crystal lamps first. I'll try to leave you as little as possible."

"You can leave now if you want~" Yinna waved her hand generously. "Your real business is more important!"

What real business?! So, patrols and maintaining public order are nothing but trivial matters in your eyes? Sister, your stance is dangerous!

Mo Tan waved weakly. "No, no, there's still time... Let's continue..."

Yinna shrugged noncommittally. "Do as you please."

Thus, for the next half hour, the two of them continued carrying out the task the militia had assigned to Fenrir Squad. Through Mo Tan's efforts, they completed roughly seventy percent of the work. This was still because his magic limit was too low; otherwise, they could have finished several more...

Then, at around 7:25 p.m. in real-world time, a chat window suddenly popped up in the corner of Mo Tan's vision.

Sender: Shuangye

Message: "Hey! Still busy?"

Mo Tan quickly replied, "Yeah. After all this time, I've only managed to finish a little more than half. By the way, don't you have work?! How are you still online?"

Of course, he could see from his friend list that Shuangye had logged off for a while and only just logged back in. He was merely pretending not to have noticed.

"If I play during my break, I get twice as much rest! Mm, that's about it. I'm logging off now, then. Keep it up!"

Shuangye replied even faster, and immediately logged off after sending the message.

Although Innocent World's player friend list didn't have statuses such as "online," "offline," "invisible," or "visible only to XX," Mo Tan could still guess that Shuangye had truly exited the game by now.

And then...

"What are you spacing out for?" Seeing Mo Tan standing motionless, Yinna gently patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Did you use up too much energy?"

Mo Tan hurriedly nodded. Then, pretending to look up at the sun, he exclaimed, "Ah! I have to go..."

This world had no such thing as a wristwatch. Naturally, Yinna's estimation of the time was less accurate than Mo Tan's, who had been counting his pulse while constantly keeping track of it. She could only guess how long it had been, so she immediately said, "All right! Good luck! I'll help keep it from the squad~"

Five minutes later

You have voluntarily disconnected. Please select whether to reconnect.

"No."

Execute awakening procedure?

"As soon as possible."

Acknowledged. It is now 7:30 p.m. on January 1, 2049. You will awaken in one minute.

When Mo Tan opened his eyes, his phone displayed exactly 7:30 p.m.

"The timing is about what I expected..." He got up and poured himself a glass of water, then complained with a sigh, "Ah~ Whether I'm moonlighting as a hacker or dealing with hackers, it feels so dangerous. And it's such a pain!"

But his sighs at times like this couldn't be taken seriously. In fact, none of Mo Tan's sighs could be taken seriously, regardless of when he made them.

After all, there was something wrong with him...

After closing his eyes and resting for about two minutes, Mo Tan opened them again. The feeling he gave off was now completely different.

He was still himself, but he was no longer the same person as before.

"Taking back what I said earlier~" Mo Tan chuckled to himself, his eyes gleaming with excitement and delight. "If this world didn't have even a little trouble in it, wouldn't it be terribly boring?"

There was no doubt that he had no problem with trouble coming to find him now. In fact, he was more than happy to cause trouble for others~

Although switching personalities voluntarily consumed a great deal of Mo Tan's energy, he still didn't rest for long. Instead, he went straight to the gaming pod and lay down inside.

Mental connection detected.

Preparing to enter Innocent World—Player Public Space.

Please select the area you wish to log into.

"Number Thirteen~"

Acknowledged. Preparing to access Public Area Thirteen. Welcome, Tan Mo of Chaotic Neutral.

After a brief wave of dizziness, Mo Tan appeared in a space that wasn't particularly spacious. Based on his initial assessment immediately after opening his eyes, this place should be a prison cell.

The iron door in front of him, which flickered with a faint light, was the exit.

"The game is called Innocent World, yet logging into a public space inhabited only by players puts you in an environment aimed at 'prisoners' or 'criminals.' Heh~" Mo Tan shook his head and laughed. "That's some pretty blatant satire..."

With that, he reached out and pushed the half-open iron door.

You are about to enter a public area. Please select whether to blur your appearance.

"Absolutely~" Mo Tan whistled and answered the system voice naturally.

Unlike the game world, the official introduction to the player public spaces was fairly detailed. The option to blur one's appearance could be learned in advance by looking through the information, without even needing to ask on the forums.

As for why he said "ask on the forums" instead of "ask customer service," it was simple: Innocent World had no! customer! service! phone line!

That had to be the strangest of all strange things in the gaming industry...

There was no customer service phone number and no customer service email. Players had to figure everything out for themselves, and after twenty-four hours had passed, even returns were impossible~

That was Innocent Company's attitude toward its players. It was clearly only a new company, yet it possessed the world-defying arrogance of your grandpa is still your grandpa. It couldn't help but make countless players look at it in a new light.

Then they stomped around and cursed it out...

After a layer of mosaic was applied to him, Mo Tan finally left this "cell" and entered Public Area Thirteen.

Strictly speaking, he had been refreshed into the area. After all, if the system had installed a door here, players would eventually be crushed to death by the crowd once enough of them arrived—not to mention what would happen if some unlucky Gnome player tried to squeeze through during rush hour. A tragedy would be all but inevitable...

So, although the system was still your grandpa, it was quite considerate most of the time~

Mo Tan was still wearing the equipment he had used as Tan Mo, but all his skills had been locked, and his physique had been reduced to the level of an ordinary person in reality. The equipment and attribute bonuses were obviously meaningless here.

After looking around, he almost immediately found the girl in a mage robe with long orange hair and round glasses.

"Hey~" He sneaked up near Shuangye and quietly asked a tall, heavily built Orc man beside her, "What do you think about mixing erguotou into water?"

"???"