Luban and Mozi

Lin Feng arrived at the Outer Valley.

After the players had learned their skills and collected their quests from him, the veteran players had gone off in teams to challenge the Illusory Realm, while the newcomers had set out to complete their beginner quests. That left him with nothing to do.

So he went to the Outer Valley to discuss building a residential area with Ying Zhan and the others.

The Outer Valley had a small freshwater lake, oval in shape and covering more than thirty mu. Since moving into the valley, the tribe had drawn all its water from the lake.

The lake was fed almost entirely by natural rainfall.

Lin Feng planned to build the residential area on a patch of open ground east of the lake. That would make it convenient for the residents to fetch water.

Of course, they would also need to establish rules to strictly prohibit residents from polluting the lake.

"Chief, if you want to put up tents, I'm very good at that. But I don't really know how to build wooden houses."

When they started discussing the construction, Ying Zhan scratched his head.

The Ying Clan Tribe was small, with only around thirty people. They had no need to build houses and settle in one place.

Usually, they would find a spot and put up a few tents, or live in a cave. When game became scarce nearby, they would move on to the next place.

He could build wooden houses, but he couldn't guarantee they would be sturdy.

What if they went to all the trouble of building a whole row of houses, only for a gale to blow them all down one day? Wouldn't that be embarrassing?

"Pan Xiong, your Baimu Tribe lives in houses. You must know how to build them!"

Ying Zhan turned to Pan Xiong with a pleading look.

"Our tribe lives in the Baimu Forest, and we build our houses using trees that are already there. I don't really know how to build houses on open ground, but I can give it a try."

Pan Xiong scratched his head.

He had the same concerns as Ying Zhan.

He could build them, but he couldn't guarantee they would be sturdy or last long.

Lin Feng looked at them and sighed helplessly.

It seemed he couldn't count on them.

He'd have to count on the players instead. Hopefully, one or two of the new players would have the right expertise.

Lin Feng opened the system and issued a quest to all players.

Quest Name: House Construction

Quest Description: The tribe needs to build a residential area, but the chief, who has no construction experience, is stumped by the problem of building houses. If you know how to build a sturdy and attractive wooden house, report to the chief within thirty minutes.

Quest Rewards: 10 experience points, 10 Contribution Points.

Since all they had to do was report to the chief, the system had assigned the quest only a small amount of experience.

But it was obvious this quest would have a follow-up!

Lin Feng set the quest duration to half an hour. Once the time was up, the quest would be canceled automatically.

After the quest was issued, all the players who were online received a notification.

In a grove in the Outer Valley, a group of newbie players were swinging their Stone Axes and chopping down trees with all their might.

This was the first step of their beginner quest.

Chopping wood was dull and tiring, but chopping trees in a game was a fresh and exciting experience for them. They were at it with great enthusiasm.

A few players standing close by chatted as they chopped.

"I never dreamed this game would actually be so realistic. The veteran players on the forum weren't exaggerating at all! I found the official game website link in a gaming group and made a reservation out of curiosity. Just look at this axe and the details on these trees! The realism is insane!"

One player exclaimed as he chopped.

"It really is amazing. It's hard to believe technology has advanced this far! I heard that when you log in, your body goes into a deep sleep, so you basically get twice as much time every day! If you moved your company into the game, you could work at the office during the day and handle paperwork in the game at night. Wouldn't that double your productivity?"

Another player chimed in.

"Damn, are you a demon?"

"So we're going from 996 to 24/7?"

"That's terrifying!"

The players were deep in conversation when a quest update notification suddenly sounded.

Everyone stopped what they were doing without thinking and opened their quest panels to take a look.

"House construction... too bad I don't know how."

"I've never even laid bricks. How would I know anything about that?"

"Laying bricks wouldn't help anyway. There aren't any bricks in the tribe, so they obviously want us to build wooden houses."

"The quest gives 10 experience points and Contribution Points. Should we go report to the chief, then tell him we don't know how?"

"I wouldn't do that. I heard from veteran players on the forum that NPCs have hidden favorability scores. Apparently, the higher your favorability, the more likely you are to get exclusive and hidden quests. If you go and trick an NPC, you'll probably lose favorability."

"Then forget it."

The player who had planned to trick the system for experience and Contribution Points immediately backed down.

Losing favor with an NPC wasn't worth a few measly experience points and Contribution Points.

As the new players chatted, two of the players chopping trees suddenly lowered their axes and exchanged a knowing look.

Their eyes were both ablaze.

"Our chance to show what we can do has arrived!"

"That's right, son! It's our chance to show what we can do!"

"Get lost! You're more likely to be my son!"

The two were best friends sharing a dorm room, both studying in the Civil Engineering Department at a university in Xia Country.

By chance, they had seen someone promoting this game in a gaming group.

At first, they hadn't been interested.

But when they read a comment saying the game was a perfect sandbox, with physics that perfectly reproduced reality and allowed players to build anything just as they could in real life, they were tempted.

So they decided to reserve a copy.

To their surprise, two sleek, futuristic-looking black Game helmets were delivered to their dorm that very day.

They couldn't wait to get into the game.

Before logging in, they had agreed to use the IDs "Luban" and "Mozi."

They were the two most famous master craftsmen in Xia Country's history.

They were going to become the gods of architecture in the game!

But after Luban entered the game, he discovered that his companion, who was supposed to be named "Mozi," had chosen the ID "Father of Luban" instead!

He flew into a rage.

That bastard was always looking for ways to take advantage of him!

Fortunately, he'd kept something in reserve too.

His ID wasn't Luban, either. It was "Father of Mozi."

They were more or less even, except their IDs had been switched: Luban had become Mozi, and Mozi had become Luban.

"Come on, let's go report to the chief."

"Let's go!"

It wasn't long after Lin Feng issued the quest that he saw two little players hurrying over with Stone Axes in their hands.

"Reporting to the chief! We know how to build sturdy wooden houses!"

"That's right. They'll keep out the wind and rain, and they won't fall down even in a force-ten gale!"

The two ran up to Lin Feng and enthusiastically bragged about their abilities.

Saying their houses could withstand a force-ten gale was an exaggeration, of course, but force-ten winds were unlikely to occur in this valley anyway.

Besides, what did an NPC know about force-ten winds?

As long as it sounded impressive, that was all that mattered!

Lin Feng watched the two newbies boast in front of him with great interest.

Father of Luban?

Father of Mozi?

Their names did sound rather professional, but why did they have to add "Father of" to the end?

Why couldn't these players choose normal names?