The Mysterious Youth

Yuqing was busy helping Viscount Xiersen deal with the exotic beasts' corpses and reassure the townspeople. Her game identity was the viscount's daughter, so she earned extra game points for every little thing she did for the town. It gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

"Aili, this is for you. It's an exotic beast's crystal core. It's good for your mental power." Viscount Xiersen patted his daughter on the shoulder and sighed. "You've grown up."

Yuqing took the crystal core the viscount handed her. Just like in the games she played as a child, monsters always dropped a few coins when defeated. She was just about to see how much it was worth when-

[Holy crap!!! This game is so generous! The reward it dropped is an actual mutant crystal core!!]

[And it's an ice-type mutant crystal core!]

[A supplement-a huge supplement!]

"This is a real crystal core?" Yuqing remembered the system saying that the crystal cores inside mutants and contaminated creatures, like zombie crystal cores, could help her water ability mutate further into an ice ability capable of attacking.

Since she wasn't strong enough yet, Yuqing had no plans to go out hunting mutants for the time being. She hadn't expected to get a core in the game first.

[It's real. Hurry and put it away. Refine it when you get the chance.]

"Okay." Yuqing immediately put the crystal core into her player inventory.

"Aili, do you want to set out on an adventure?" Viscount Xiersen looked out over his territory, devastated by the exotic beasts. "Before, you hadn't awakened, so your mother and I sheltered you beneath our wings. Now you should embark on a hero's journey and temper yourself."

Yuqing knew the story was progressing. Although she hadn't spent much time with her NPC parents, they had given her a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time. Facing their sudden parting, she felt a little sad. "I do, Dad."

"Those two knights might be able to travel with you for part of the way." Viscount Xiersen wiped away a tear and pulled a cloth pouch from inside his clothes. "These are gold coins, your dad's secret savings. Keep them safe, and don't let your mother find out."

Yuqing reached out and took it, but no matter how long she tugged, it wouldn't budge. When she looked up, she saw Viscount Xiersen staring tearfully at the money pouch, lost in reminiscence.

Yuqing: ...

So half his sadness just now had been for his money pouch. Suppressing a laugh, she pulled the pouch free and tucked it away. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll be frugal."

Meanwhile, at the foot of the city gate,

"Bro, you have no idea how weird this place is!" Xilaier was the type to act familiar with anyone. Even though the youth ignored him, he wasn't angry and kept talking to himself. "I'm an S-rank sentinel, and I actually got beaten down in the newbie village. It was terrifying."

The youth kept his eyes lowered as he wiped his short blade. Cold light gleamed along its edge, and his hood concealed most of his face. He didn't so much as glance at Xilaier.

Xilaier wasn't upset. He scratched his head and continued, "But we really got lucky. We've only cleared two stages, and we've already met a guide! What do you say? Want to join forces and team up?"

At the word "guide," the youth's hand abruptly stopped wiping his blade.

He raised his eyes slightly, revealing a sliver of his pale jaw beneath the shadow of his hood. His voice was low and raspy, with a hint of surprise. "A guide?"

A guide NPC right at the start? That doesn't fit the story logic of Dark Night's newbie village at all.

"Yeah, yeah!" Xilaier immediately pointed toward Yuqing, his eyes lighting up. "It's Miss Aili. She awakened healing-type mental power and even helped stabilize our mental domains just now. She's amazing!"

Shen Que had been standing silently to the side, but his gaze had remained fixed on the youth.

His voice, build, and the visible contours of his brows and eyes all had a youthful air. He was about their age, and since he was still wandering around the newbie village at this time, he was most likely a freshman this year. The mask on his face was the most expensive one in the game store; he was doing this simply because he didn't want to reveal his identity.

He stepped forward, his tone steady, each sentence striking at the heart of the matter. "The level-two contamination wave triggered a level-four boss ahead of schedule. It's probably a new plot the instance calculated, and there aren't any game guides to consult. Going solo is too risky. If we team up, we can share quest progress, and you could use a guide's mental soothing too. You've got nothing to lose."

"I can handle it on my own." The youth looked up and glanced at the two of them, absolutely confident in his own abilities.

"But you can't compete in the mecha matches alone. Once the newbie village storyline is over, there's the simulated mecha storyline, and after that you have to team up for ranked matches. How are you going to play ranked matches by yourself?" He and Shen Que had already lost time, and now they needed to catch up. Xilaier really didn't want to pass up such a good teammate.

"What are you talking about?" After finishing what she was doing, Yuqing walked over to Xilaier and the others. The game was quite difficult, so she had decided to take the viscount's advice and find teammates to go to the next stage with her.

"Miss Aili! We're inviting this fellow to join our team," Xilaier said.

"May I travel with you?" Yuqing was delighted to hear that. It saved her the trouble of persuading them one by one. "I've awakened powers too, and my father hopes I'll go out and gain some experience."

"You're going too?" The youth, who had been wiping his dagger all this time, suddenly looked up at Yuqing.

Guides were hard to find. Although Aili was an NPC, her soothing power was strong. His sea of consciousness had sensed that soothing power from more than ten meters away. She was also clever and had found the exotic beast's weakness. Even if he hadn't intervened just now, the guide could have dealt with the beast.

"Yes." Yuqing nodded. Once she had cleared one stage, of course she had to go to the next.

"Then I'll go too." The youth raised his eyes and looked at the other two. "Is that all right?"

"Of course..." Both Shen Que and Xilaier found it a little unreal. They had thought they would have to work at it before they could successfully invite Aili and the youth to travel with them, but unexpectedly, both had agreed at once.

"By the way, what's your name? We're going to be teammates, so we can't very well not know each other's names, can we?" Yuqing looked at the taciturn youth and introduced herself first. "My name is Aili."

"I'm Xilaier, a first-year freshman at the military academy."

"Shen Que. I'm his classmate."

Shen Que and Xilaier introduced themselves as well, though they didn't reveal any more details.

"Ajiasi." Ajiasi nodded and gave his name.

"All right, then it's settled. We'll set out in three days." Yuqing checked the time. It was almost mealtime. After refining the exotic beast's crystal core in a little while, she would log out and go eat at the cafeteria. She missed the cafeteria's guobaorou.