Xia Yi's Affinity Quest

The next day.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

The bang, bang, bang of knocking woke Xia Yi in bed. He opened his eyes, rolled onto his side to look at the door in puzzlement, then chuckled despite himself.

He had never intended to keep the player tied to his side at all times, yet the boy had come clinging to him of his own accord.

"Grandpa! Are you out?"

"Shi Lai?" Zhou Xiaoxian's sleepy voice came from outside. "Why are you... shouldn't you be in class at the Holy Academy?"

Classes for first-year students had started a week early.

"Oh, I skipped school," Shi Lai said, utterly unapologetic. "Grandpa's here, right? Don't people say old folks sleep lightly and wake up early? Why hasn't he gotten up with me knocking like this?"

"Skipped school???" Zhou Xiaoxian's head was full of question marks. What was this supposed to be? Wasn't today only his second official day of classes?

Probably... he discovered the Holy Academy didn't give him as much experience as I did? Xia Yi yawned and said with a smile, "I'm up. Come in!"

"Okay!" Shi Lai pushed the door open and got straight to the point. "Grandpa, hey, is there anything you need me to do? Just say the word!"

Zhou Xiaoxian poked her head in behind him and greeted Xia Yi. "Good morning, Teacher. He..."

"It's fine. We've already taken him to the Holy Academy. Whether he takes his cultivation seriously is his business."

Xia Yi did not mind either. "You want to do things for me? Nobody goes out of their way to please someone without wanting something. Tell me, child, what do you want?"

Shi Lai grinned. "Heh, Grandpa, teach me another powerful Saint Soul, would you? Like that one of yours, the one that turns into wings and lets you fly."

He certainly aimed high. Xia Yi shook his head. "I haven't even taught the girl Hat-to-Wings, yet here you are dreaming of it. Hmm, I do happen to have some errands for you. Go take care of those first. As for what else to teach you, I'll have to give it some thought."

Shi Lai perked up. There really was a quest!

"Just say the word!"

"Staying at an inn is inconvenient in some respects, after all. I'm planning to buy a residential compound. In East District Three, let's say. Help me find one, with a budget of under a thousand taels. Find something both cheap and good."

[Ding! Xia Yi has issued a quest: Find a suitable residential compound for Xia Yi and Zhou Xiaoxian in Lieyang City's East District Three.][Quest reward: Increased affinity with Xia Yi. The better the compound and the less silver spent, the greater the affinity increase.]

[Accept?]

Yes, of course!

"Leave it to me, Grandpa!"

"Under a thousand taels?" Zhou Xiaoxian interrupted in surprise. "Teacher, we should have less than ten taels left!"

Xia Yi reached beneath his pillow, and the stack of banknotes he pulled out left her staring.

Smiling, Xia Yi counted out a hundred taels in banknotes and handed them straight to Shi Lai. "You probably won't be welcome if you go house hunting without money. Take this and go."

"You got it!" Shi Lai took the banknotes and rushed off.

"Teacher, where did you get all this money?"

Zhou Xiaoxian came inside, staring at the banknotes, then asked with some concern, "Can we really leave this to Shi Lai? You should have said something earlier. I know Lieyang City a little better."

"Don't underestimate him. This child isn't stupid," Xia Yi said with a smile, silently adding, A modern person's way of thinking gives him far more options than you have.

Just as Xia Yi expected, Shi Lai logged out shortly after leaving the inn, then used Baidu on his phone to search for what made the best ancient residential compounds.

After finding some keywords, he logged back into Saint Soul Continent and began checking properties against them.

As for the price? He really did not know how to haggle, nor could he tell whether a House Broker was cheating him.

But he had another clever trick.

After viewing a house, he simply put his sword to the House Broker's neck. Would he give him the lowest price or not? Did the house have any defects?

He beat and interrogated them, even chopping off legs and arms to intimidate them. Whenever anyone came to arrest him, he reloaded his save. Everything went smoothly.

By that afternoon, even Xia Yi could find no fault with the answer Shi Lai submitted.

"Not bad. I'll go take a look tomorrow," Xia Yi said, using the Deception Scripture to plant the suggestion "This child is pretty good" in his own mind.

[Ding! Quest complete!]

[Received a small amount of experience.]

[Xia Yi's affinity -50]

[Current affinity: 60 (Friendly)]

Heh, straight to a passing grade! Shi Lai beamed and called out again, "Grandpa! Have you decided what Saint Soul to teach me?"

"No hurry. I didn't live in Great Zheng before, and I'm new here. I'd like to learn about Great Zheng's local customs, festivals, taboos, and the like. Do you have time to run a few more errands for me?" Xia Yi asked with a smile.

[Ding! Xia Yi has issued a quest...]

A quest chain? Looks like I might actually get a flying skill! Shi Lai said happily, "No problem!"

And so, for several days in a row, Shi Lai skipped school and ran errands for Xia Yi all over Lieyang City. His experience rose rapidly, and he shot from level 51 to level 70. Aside from moving out of the inn into the new compound and going out for meals, Xia Yi hardly left home, learning about the world while guiding Zhou Xiaoxian's cultivation.

The suggestion he planted in his mind with the Deception Scripture also changed from "This child is pretty good" to "This child is pretty good. I can consider him a friend despite our age difference."

On Shi Lai's system display, Xia Yi's affinity rose to 90 (Heart-to-heart).

Four days later, that morning, Shi Lai knocked on the gate of Xia Yi's new compound as usual. "Grandpa, is there anything else you need me to do? Can't you teach me a Saint Soul yet?"

Sensing that Shi Lai's patience was almost exhausted, Xia Yi opened the gate and smiled. "There's one last thing I'd like to ask of you, just to satisfy this old man's curiosity. Chen Guang, the waiter at Wangjiang Tower, where Xiao Xian and I often eat, seems to have a story behind him. I'd like to know his story."

[Ding! Xia Yi has issued a quest: Investigate the past of Chen Guang, a waiter at Wangjiang Tower.][Quest reward: A large amount of experience, increased affinity with Xia Yi.]

[Accept?]

The last thing?

Huh, this one gives a large amount of experience?

Shi Lai, who had been feeling a little weary, perked up somewhat. "Leave it to me!"

Sure enough, a quest that gave a large amount of experience was harder than the earlier ones. Shi Lai failed to find any way in on the first day. His old method of simply threatening Chen Guang with a blade to make him talk, then reloading, did not work at all.

Chen Guang could easily stab him to death with chopsticks!

It was not until the next day that he obtained some information from an old man at a nearby teahouse.

"You're asking about Chen Guang? Heh, over thirty years ago, he was one of the outstanding talents of his generation, the senior disciple of his cohort at the Holy Academy. The officials in the Provincial Capital unanimously thought highly of his prospects. Unfortunately, something apparently went wrong with his cultivation later. Not only did he become lame, but his strength could no longer improve either. From then on, he was half a cripple."

A fallen genius? Sounds like a protagonist's setup!

This man really does have a story. Maybe... there's a quest?

Despite these thoughts, Shi Lai still trotted back to Xia Yi first to turn in his quest.

"He used to be the Holy Academy's senior disciple?" Zhou Xiaoxian was astonished. That waiter?

Imagining Song Ziyu ending up like that instead... she did not dare even think about it!

Xia Yi stroked his white beard, fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "You've done well."

Then he quietly drew a breath and changed the Deception Scripture's suggestion to: "This child is truly good. Perhaps I could... try tricking him into bed!"

[Ding! Quest complete!]

[You received a large amount of experience.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Xia Yi's affinity -10][Current affinity: 100 (Romantic love)]

-10? Maxed out? Holy shit, wait a second!

Romantic love?! Shi Lai paled in shock and hurriedly looked up at Xia Yi, only to see him smiling as he said, "It's getting late. Don't leave tonight. Stay here with me, and I'll teach you a new Saint Soul."

Tonight... don't leave?!

Shi Lai shuddered and hurriedly said, "No, no, no, Grandpa, I've got something to do. Oh, I have to go check in at the Holy Academy. Next time, next time!"

He did not even want the Saint Soul anymore. Under Zhou Xiaoxian's puzzled gaze, he fled!

Seated in his chair, Xia Yi lowered his eyes.

"His system can indeed detect my thoughts to a certain extent, but it can't force me to give him a reward after he completes a quest."

"Besides, the thoughts it detects are only superficial. At the very least, my Deception Scripture can fool it. Based on this preliminary look, that system won't affect me too much. That's a relief."

After some thought, he removed the Deception Scripture's suggestion.

[Xia Yi's affinity -80]

[Current affinity: 20 (Goodwill)]

Several hundred meters away, Shi Lai stopped in his tracks. His eyes reddened, and he nearly burst into tears!

Grandpa's unhappy because I didn't stay?

All these days of work were for nothing?!

Why is this so hard for me?!

PS: This book's first cross-promotion deal! I recommend Hengshan Jun's "Bitter Realm Martial Arts System." An experienced author under a new pen name-quality guaranteed.

Also, this is the new book's first promotional feature. If you've read this far and think it's decent, please add it to your favorites and toss in a few recommendation votes. If you don't think it's very good, please give it a few recommendation votes, then add it to your favorites. Maybe you'll like it if you read a little more? Hehehe.