I Am My Son
Despite his reluctance, Xiao Yu eventually went to the hospital for a checkup. The checkup didn't take much time; medical technology in this era was already very advanced. He simply stood on a machine and had his face scanned a few times, and that was it.
However, the results won't be available immediately; we'll have to wait a while.
Xiao Yu didn't take the matter too seriously; he only went for a checkup to put his mind at ease. By the time he left the hospital and returned home, it was already past ten o'clock. By then, the drowsiness he had been suppressing finally kicked in, and he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes in bed.
He slept until after 6 a. m. When he woke up, Xiao Yu stretched and yawned. The dizziness he had felt earlier had disappeared, but he still felt weak and powerless. Xiao Yu thought to himself that he really couldn't stay up all night anymore. After all, he was 25 years old. He couldn't be as resilient as he was when he was a young man. He could stay up all night for several nights in a row for a week without feeling anything, but now he couldn't stand staying up all night.
Feeling weak, Xiao Yu took out the gym equipment and did some exercise he hadn't done in a long time. After stretching his muscles and bones, he ordered takeout and ate his fill. After resting for a while, it was already past eight o'clock when Xiao Yu finally went back into the game.
As soon as I entered the character login interface, I received a system notification.
System notification: You have received an email.
Upon opening the email, it turned out to be from Moonmark? The Shadow Chaser.
It was none other than the Seed of Elements, accompanied by a simple message.
The items have been sent to you, so we're even now. Feel free to contact me if you need any work in the future. --Lin Yueying
So this girl's name is Lin Yueying, which is quite similar to her name in the game.
Xiao Yu took out the Seed of Elements and looked at it. Seeing the string of attribute descriptions on the back, Xiao Yu felt a sense of satisfaction. This battle in Nightwhisper Village was finally worthwhile. Just this thing alone made his efforts over the past few days worthwhile. He couldn't wait to create an account with an elemental creature and play a new character. As for the Goblin character, it would be burned to Ashes in a little over half a month when the Flame Mark expired, so there was no need to worry about it.
However, he is a professional gamer after all. This character has at least been upgraded to the BOSS template, so he should at least make use of it. Why not use this Goblin character to test the waters of the Defias Brotherhood? Even if he doesn't plan to join them in the future, at least he can understand how game studios operate with monster templates.
With that thought in mind, he suppressed his eagerness, put the Seed of Elements into the system warehouse, and then chose to enter the game.
After logging in, he was still in the cabin of the Defiant. As soon as he stepped out of the cabin, an acquaintance walked towards him.
Black Rod (Shadow Guardian): "Hey, you're finally online."
Xiao Yu was taken aback. "Huh? Black? Rod, weren't you dead?"
"This is a newly created number," Black Rod said.
Xiao Yu also noticed at this moment that Black Rod was already a level 15 elite when he was in Nightwhisper Village, but now he was only level 10, and his template had changed to rare elite.
"So this account is newly created? But it's already a rare elite so quickly? And why hasn't your name changed? Doesn't the system prevent duplicate names?"
"That's easy. The entire Westfall is my cousin's territory. He can just give me a few named monsters to kill and I'll level up. As for the name, according to the storyline, my current character is the son of my previous character, so we can share the same name."
Xiao Yu thought to himself that this was acceptable; he did know that foreigners sometimes have fathers and sons with the same name.
(So you used to be called Old Black, and now you should be called Little Black?)
Xiao Yu inwardly complained, then asked curiously, "Why don't you just make a BOSS template?"
"It's not that easy. Leveling up to a rare elite is manageable, it only takes 100 reputation points, just kill two elite monsters. But to advance to the elite template, you need 300 reputation points, which means you'd have to kill at least seven or eight elite monsters to earn that much. And advancing to the boss template requires even more reputation. Although we Defias Brotherhood have quite a few strong monsters under our command, you can't treat them like this."
To put it bluntly, it's a matter of cost-effectiveness. Relying solely on killing monsters to level up is generally too expensive for most people. Xiao Yu nodded, indicating his understanding. "So, did you come to see me for something? If it's to recruit me to join your studio, I'm afraid I can't agree yet; I haven't decided."
Xiao Yu spoke first, but didn't completely shut down the conversation. He said, "I haven't thought it through yet," meaning that if you offered me more benefits, I might make a decision.
Black Rod waved his hand, "There's no rush. You don't know us very well yet, so it's understandable that you have some concerns. However, the Defias Brotherhood offers more than one way to cooperate. We can cooperate in another way."
Black Rod then began to explain.
It turns out that Shadow Dynasty Studio has very strict recruitment standards. Everyone who joins the studio can receive a salary and bonuses, comparable to regular companies and enterprises. Earning over 10,000 yuan a month is not a problem.
However, joining the studio as a full-time employee is not easy. At the very least, you have to prove that you are capable enough. The previous recruitment of Xiao Yu was already considered an exception. Once you join the studio, you must move to the studio in real life. After that, you must completely obey the studio's orders in the game. Even the ownership of the game character you use will belong to the studio. You only have the right to use it, which is equivalent to becoming an employee.
The second way to collaborate is to join the Defias Brotherhood as a game character. This way, you're not considered an internal member of the studio, and it's somewhat similar to an adventurer's guild, except that the adventurer's guild is replaced by a monster faction.
These members naturally don't receive salaries or bonuses, but they can receive subsidies based on the strength of their game characters. There are no subsidies for ordinary templates, 20 for rare elites every day, 50 for elite templates every day, and 100 for mini-boss templates every day. Of course, the prerequisite is that you must be online for a full eight hours and follow the Brotherhood's commands. If you don't play for eight hours, you will only receive half salary. In addition, there are extra rewards if you perform well.
The third type of cooperation is affiliation. Players nominally join the Defias Brotherhood and are protected from monster attacks in Westfall, but in reality, there is no subordinate relationship or economic connection. Of course, if they encounter attacks from adventurers or other monster forces, affiliated members are obligated to help the Defias Brotherhood fight—but this is not mandatory.
These people who are merely there for show are not very reliable; they are basically just there to create a facade and boost popularity.
Xiao Yu preferred the second cooperation method, which was 100 yuan a day, totaling 3,000 yuan a month. It has to be said that this wage was not much. In this day and age, with inflation, even street sweepers earn more than 3,000 yuan a month, and half-salary would only be 1,500 yuan. However, considering that it could be regarded as a part-time side job, this income was still acceptable.
"Then I'll choose the second option."
Black Rod nodded, a knowing look on his face.
"Then I'll invite you. You can choose to join."
System notification: Black Rod invites you to join the Defias Brotherhood. Do you wish to join? Yes/No.
Xiao Yu chose to join.
System notification: You have joined the Defias Brotherhood. From now on, you will fight for Rod's cause. You can find information about the Defias Brotherhood in the Monster Faction System.