The white elf ranger, who was half a head taller than Mo Tan, turned to him in confusion: "Magic Power?"
"Uh... yes, Magic Power." Mo Tan chuckled and nodded. To be honest, his psychological resilience at the moment was quite ordinary, and his lying skills were only slightly better than when he was in the lawful good state. Although he knew that the plan he had temporarily come up with a few minutes ago should theoretically not go wrong, he still felt a little uncertain.
However, that was only in comparison to his other personalities. Being ordinary and mediocre in character did not mean his abilities were also ordinary. It should be known that the knowledge reserve and crisis situations Mo Tan had personally experienced were countless. He could still handle such small situations.
Sure enough, Yinna didn't doubt him at all, merely replying casually, "Yes, we elves all have a little Magic Power in our bodies, more or less. As we age, it will gradually accumulate even if we do nothing. It's just that I mainly focus on being a ranger, and I've never deliberately trained or meditated, so I can't compare to you."
"And..." She gave Mo Tan a dangerous glance, "I'm still young. If you convert it to your human age, I'm only about seventeen. You'd best watch your wording~~"
Mo Tan gave a dry laugh, quickly nodding in agreement. Then, after calculating the time in his mind, he tentatively asked, "Then, about charging these magic crystal lamps, I wonder if Yinna can handle it?"
"Why?" Yinna immediately looked at him suspiciously, "Trying to be lazy?"
As they spoke, the two had already traveled some distance from Dieyan City. However, because this was the main road leading to the large northern city of Granite City, there were still many travelers coming and going. Every two hundred meters or so along the road, there was a magic crystal lamp placed on a short pillar. They didn't operate during the day but provided light and warmth for travelers after nightfall, while also serving to deter low-level wild beasts.
It could be said that they were a common lighting device on the Innocent Continent.
The two happened to be walking past the first magic crystal lamp at that moment.
"I'm not trying to be lazy~" Mo Tan gently placed his hand on the thin crystal sheet attached to the stone base, showing Yinna an embarrassed expression. Then, without activating any skills, he tried to sense the Magic Power within his body and immediately broke into a sweat.
As mentioned before, the game Innocent World is quite unfriendly to players. Here, there won't be a situation where you stand near a quest objective, and the system automatically pops up a box in front of you with 'YES' and 'NO' options under 'Do you want to inject Magic Power into it?', and then selecting one counts as a certain percentage of quest progress.
Don't even think about it!
Do you need to inject Magic Power for a quest or other situations? OK, then figure out how to inject it. Don't fantasize about any 'one-click completion' good deeds.
As for more excessive things like auto-pathing, AFK monster grinding, etc... even browser games these days wouldn't be so tasteless, right?
This world is a little too real.
But in fact, this is not the most excessive part. Players in the novice stage do not yet know that not only these regular operations, but even some more advanced skills require a certain level of technique to activate. Currently, everyone can only master low-threshold, low-consumption, and fool-proof skills, which do not require any player technique and can be activated by thought alone. But as the professional level increases, this situation will completely change...
By the way, Mo Tan had actually been able to skillfully use many advanced skills for a long time, especially in the area of Black Vatican magic... it's just that he himself had no relevant memories.
"What are you doing?" Yinna asked curiously, "Are you treating this thing as your dream lover? Touching it so carefully..."
Mo Tan shrugged, helplessly saying, "I've never done this kind of thing before, honestly, it's much harder than praying and singing hymns..."
Then he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, sensing the 'Magic Power' that didn't exist in reality. This was undoubtedly somewhat difficult, just as we can never imagine what it feels like to have an extra tail or a pair of wings. But it must be said that human adaptability is very~ very~ very astonishing...
Soon, Mo Tan, who had turned red in the face from holding his breath, felt two indescribable presences coiling within his body, concentrated in his limbs and brain respectively. If he carefully sensed the former, he would find that the power seemed to subtly resonate with the surrounding environment, being volatile and extremely unstable; while the latter constantly gave him a sense of peace and warmth.
【First trigger of Magic Power and Faith Power perception, Intelligence +1, Faith Value upper limit +5】
A soft system prompt sounded in Mo Tan's ear. A moment later, the scale on the basic Magic Power crystal in his hand gradually lit up.
When Mo Tan's Magic Power value consumed 20 points at a rate of 5 points per second, the energy in the crystal was already completely saturated.
"Well done~" Yinna patted his shoulder and laughed, "For someone who only knows how to pray and sing hymns, it's already quite excellent. But actually, you don't have to fill it completely. Seventy percent Magic Power and one hundred percent Magic Power don't differ much in duration; the latter is just brighter."
Mo Tan nodded, then instead of immediately heading to the second magic crystal lamp two hundred meters away with Yinna, he looked at the apprentice ranger in front of him with a slightly ingratiating expression, lowering his head and saying, "Do you remember our conversation just now?"
"About being lazy?" Yinna raised an eyebrow.
"Not entirely." Mo Tan sighed, "I've run into a bit of trouble, and if you can help keep it a secret..."
At this point, he glanced at Yinna, constantly muttering in his heart, 'If you were a woman... if you were a normal woman...'
"Of course!" Yinna's eyes lit up, and she quickly said, "I'm very happy to share secrets with others and keep them buried!"
Facts proved that she was indeed a normal woman. It seemed that even elven women, even if they were just NPCs, found it very difficult to resist the temptation of gossip, just like human women.
"I want to prepare something, in about forty minutes." Mo Tan whispered, "I might leave for a while then. It would be great if you could help charge the remaining parts and tell everyone when we get back that I wasn't slacking... especially Shuang Ye, don't tell her..."
Yinna leaned against the stone pillar with interest, her eyes sparkling with a brilliance that could kill several truckloads of cats, and chuckled, "That's not a big deal, but what's your reason? And why do you specifically want to hide it from Shuang Ye~?"
Mo Tan didn't speak, just gave Yinna a 'you understand' look.
Yinna immediately nodded: "I understand~ I understand!"
【What on earth did you understand from that look I just gave you? I don't even understand it! What strong imagination...】
Mo Tan chuckled while roaring in his heart, but his original intention was actually to make the other party go off track and complete a self-completion of who-knows-what content, and that would be fine.
"Then I'll trouble Yinna." Mo Tan scratched his hair and gave a silly laugh, "If I haven't met up with you when everyone gathers, just say I went to preach with the priest. I had promised him before and couldn't refuse."
Yinna blinked: "You're so well-prepared? Looks like you're very confident, then?"
【What the heck! What confidence are you talking about!!】
Mo Tan's mouth twitched as he nodded, forcing a dry laugh, "It's alright... it's alright..."
"So, is the date set? Is there anything else you need help with!?" Yinna seemed to have completely forgotten about the task.
【What date?!】
Mo Tan's internal state was already ORZ, but on the surface, he let out a long sigh and shook his head, "I'd better continue with these magic crystal lamps first, try to leave fewer for you."
"You can leave now if you want~" Yinna waved her hand generously, "Important matters first!"
【What important matters! So, in your eyes, routine patrols and maintaining public order are all trivial matters! Sister, your stance is very dangerous!】
Mo Tan waved his hand weakly: "No need, no need, there's still time... let's continue..."
Yinna shrugged noncommittally: "As you wish."
So for the next half an hour, the two continued with the task assigned to Fenrir Squad by the Autonomous Army. With Mo Tan's efforts, about seventy percent of the work was completed. This was due to his lower Magic Power limit; otherwise, he could have done a few more...
Then, at approximately 7:25 PM real-world time, a chat box suddenly popped up in the corner of Mo Tan's vision.
Sender: Shuang Ye
Content: "Hey! Still busy?"
Mo Tan quickly replied, "Yeah, it took so long to get just over half done. By the way, don't you have work?! Why are you still online?"
"If you enter the game during your break, you can rest twice as long! Hmm, that's about it, I'm logging off now, you keep it up!"
Shuang Ye's message came back even faster, and she logged off immediately after speaking.
Although the player friends list in Innocent World didn't have statuses like 'online,' 'offline,' 'invisible,' or 'visible only to XX,' Mo Tan could still guess that Shuang Ye had probably truly exited the game by now.
And then...
"What are you spacing out for?" Yinna saw Mo Tan standing still and gently patted his shoulder, asking, "Too much consumption?"
Mo Tan quickly nodded, then pretended to look up at the sun and exclaimed, "Ah! I should go..."
There were no watches in this world, so Yinna's calculation of time was naturally not as accurate as Mo Tan, who had been constantly monitoring the system time. She could only guess approximately how much time had passed, so she immediately said, "Okay! Then good luck! I'll help keep it a secret from the team~"
Five minutes later
【You have voluntarily disconnected. Please choose whether to reconnect.】
"No."
【Execute wake-up procedure?】
"As soon as possible."
【Received. It is now January 1, 2049, 7:30 PM. You will wake up in one minute.】
When Mo Tan opened his eyes, his phone displayed the time as exactly 7:30 PM.
"The time is about what I expected..." He got up and poured himself a glass of water, then complained with extreme resentment, "Ah~ It feels dangerous to be a part-time hacker or to deal with hackers, and it's super troublesome!"
However, his exclamations at this time should not be taken seriously. In fact, none of his exclamations, at any time, should be taken seriously for the person 'Mo Tan.'
After all, he's sick...
After closing his eyes and meditating for about two minutes, when Mo Tan opened his eyes again, the feeling he gave off was completely different.
He was still him, but he was no longer the him from just now.
"I take back what I said earlier~" With excitement and joy sparkling in his eyes, Mo Tan chuckled to himself, "If this world didn't have any trouble at all, it would be far too boring."
Undoubtedly, at this moment, he didn't mind trouble finding him at all, and he was quite happy to cause trouble for others~
Although actively switching personalities consumed a lot of Mo Tan's energy, he still didn't rest much. Instead, he walked straight to the game capsule and lay down inside.
...
【Your mental connection has been detected】
【Entering Innocent World — Player Public Space】
【Please select the area you wish to log into.】
"Thirteen~"
【Received. Accessing Public Area Thirteen. Welcome, Tan Mo, chaotic neutral.】
...
After a brief dizziness, Mo Tan appeared in a not-so-spacious area, and based on his initial assessment immediately after opening his eyes, it seemed to be a prison cell.
The faintly glowing iron door in front of him was the exit.
"The game is called Innocent World, but logging into the Public Space where only players exist puts you in an environment for 'prisoners' or 'criminals.' Heh heh~" Mo Tan shook his head and chuckled, "What a blunt satire..."
With that, he reached out to push the half-open iron door.
【You are about to enter a public area. Please choose whether to blur your appearance.】
"Absolutely~" Mo Tan whistled, answering the system voice very naturally.
Unlike the game world, the official introduction to the player Public Space was quite detailed. The ability to blur one's appearance could be known in advance by simply looking at the information, without even needing to consult forums.
As for why it's about consulting forums and not customer service? It's simple, because Innocent World has NO! CUS! TOM! ER! SER! VICE! PHONE! NUMBER!
This has to be said to be a giant anomaly among the oddities of the gaming world...
No customer service phone, no customer service email. You have to figure out all problems yourself, and returns are not allowed after 24 hours~
This is the attitude of Wu Zui Company towards players. Despite being a new company, it has an air of 'your grandpa is still your grandpa' that looks down on the world, which makes many players look at them with new eyes.
And then curse like mad...
After being pixelated, Mo Tan finally left the 'prison cell' and entered Public Area Thirteen.
Strictly speaking, he was refreshed into it. After all, if the system put a door here, never mind anything else, once there were more players, you'd be crushed to death just by the crowd! If some unlucky Dwarf player happened to hit a peak period, a tragic incident would be almost inevitable...
So, even though the system is your grandpa, it's still very thoughtful in most cases~
Mo Tan was still wearing the equipment he had as Tan Mo, but all his skills were locked, and his physique had reverted to that of an ordinary person in reality. Equipment and attribute bonuses were clearly meaningless here.
After a quick glance around, he almost immediately found the girl in a robe, with long orange hair and round glasses.
"Hey~" He stealthily approached Shuang Ye, and whispered to a very tall-looking Orc man beside him, "What do you think about adding Erguotou to water?"
???
Chapter 15: End
The reason for updating so early today is not because there's more later in the afternoon... but because I haven't slept yet.
Lazy people don't have drafts; they post as soon as they finish writing. So please, don't have any expectations for me. Well then, good night 【Immortal face】