The two friends left at around 5 pm. Feng Bujue walked them to the door, and the three bade each other farewell by cursing one another. Feng Bujue slammed the door and cleaned the room cursorily. Then he walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out some ingredients. With a change to his gaze, he put on the apron, wiped his sleeves, and washed his hands. Two seconds later, he said with a strange excitement, “Hue hue hue… now that the two annoyances have gone, it’s time for the long awaited darkness cooking hour…”
He looked at the table of food and his hands moved fast like lightning.
“The seaweed has to be seasoned with alcohol and soy sauce. It will be put in the rice to evoke the freshness. The ratio of rice and fish is one cup of rice to a piece of pickled salmon. The sliced burdock can be paired with hand-torn hen-of-the-wood…” he mumbled as he cooked. Even though his actions were rough, each step was precise and accurate.
“Hmm… dinner is ready.” He placed everything inside the rice cooker and pressed the cook button. Then he turned his gaze to the side. “The tofu and veg left over from yesterday can be used to make a light lu wei. I can add the prepared pickled radish and scallops… This is it!”
He switched on the stove like this was some crazy cooking show and placed a wok on it. He poured a large amount of vegetable oil into the wok, and after the temperature rose, he made a dish of scrambled eggs. “Then, it is time to add in some ingredients for braised vegetables…”
As he added the ingredients, he shouted, “Wine! Sauce! Water! Sweet Sake!”
The man worked at the stove for an hour like a madman. The result was six dishes and some soup. They included various vegetables, meats, fish, and protein… It was quite well matched.
“Humph… Now I’m done.” After he was ready, he huffed with satisfaction. Then he sat at the big dining table in the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He placed a napkin in his collar like he was at a fancy western restaurant. He held a fork and spoon in each hand. Right then, Arthas jumped onto the table and slowly crawled toward the cooked meals. Ignoring its owner, it started to munch on the fish.
“Cat, you have been stunned by the impressive cooking skill of your owner, haven’t you? Hahaha!” Feng Bujue guffawed in his usual maddened way.
Arthas heard him and lifted its head to glance at Feng Bujue. Its eyes seemed to be saying, “What a dumb human.”
Several seconds later, Feng Bujue sighed. He yanked off the napkin from his neck and returned to his normal self. He looked at the ceiling and sighed. “So, this is what loneliness feels like…”
…
It had been almost a week since the conclusion of the Chang Lin scenario. During this period, the names in Feng Bujue’s friend list started to grow. It included people like Atobe-sama, Brother Long, and friends that he knew in-game like Passing Rain. In total, there were more than twenty names. Feng Bujue had the same attitude as Passing Rain when it came to their social life. They did not like to have a large social circle and preferred to be alone. It was hard to be their friends, and those who did become their friends would feel like they had been tricked.
Even though the friend list grew, Underworld Frontline still only had four members. It was not even enough to form a six-member group. The team buff given by the system had changed twice, and the effect was normal. After all, they were at the very end of the two guild rankings. But the guild aside, Feng Bujue’s personal ability could be counted among the top fifty players of the game.
———
Title: Unpredictable Zealot
EXP: 187500/270,000
Skill Points: 11,300
Game Coins: 1,020,000
Mastery Level: General Ability C, Workmanship D, Sleuthing D, Fighting D, Marksmanship D, Medic E, Sorcery D, Summoning N/A
Inventory 8/15: Mario’s Wrench, Flashlight, Stool of the Eighteen Bronze People (No. 5), SCP-500 (13/20), Anti-gravity Gun, Mad Moxxi’s Bad Touch, Bell of Jin Gang, Persephone’s Vacuum
Equipment: Jazz Shoes, Spiderweb Gloves, Death Poker (Sorcery Weapon), Echo Armor, Goblin Mask
Storage 3/10: Monkey, Sunglasses, and Strawberry Puzzle Cards.
Skill: Not So Hasty Repair, Body Enhancement Spell, Kyaa!, Alchemist’s Determination
———
After a player reached level twenty, the EXP needed to level up would drastically change, like how, when a player reached level ten, an extra zero would be added at the end. Since Feng Bujue managed to get the extra reward every time, he was basically leveling up every day. Of course, in terms of pure level, he was still far behind the professionals from the guilds who were tasked with rushing their level. They were online longer than him, and they had a better plan to deal with the scenarios. Furthermore, they had the buff from EXP cards. The top players on the server were level thirty-two. It might be just a five-level difference, but after level thirty, the experience needed to level up would go up to seven digits…
However, level did not represent power. Feng Bujue had something going for him, something that was visible from his mastery levels—he had no clear weakness. For example, in a sport like tennis, a player’s ability could be split into ten categories—like speed, reactions, reflexes, prediction, smash, and so on… Everything was calculated in measurements of ten. Then the top players would normally have more than three abilities that would be scored at ten, and the rest would have generally above eight and one or two weaknesses at six or seven. Using this standard to gauge Feng Bujue, he was someone whose every ability was above this eight standard. Theoretically speaking, this kind of athlete was very rare. Someone with their every ability above six could be called mediocre, but to have every ability above eight, perhaps that was harder to achieve than becoming a top player.
That was what they called ’all-rounded’ or almighty.
Using another analogy of baseball, there had never been a player who was good at running, catching, pitching, tossing, and batting. A player who was good at two out of the five could be called a star baseball player already. In Thriller Paradise, to be able to improve their masteries at the same level, in the entire server, Feng Bujue was the only one.
For a player at level twenty-seven, Feng Bujue had accrued plenty of Game Coins already, but one million of them had been turned into five inventory boxes. That could not be helped. Ten inventory spaces were not enough, and he was using the upgraded standard inventory.
After Chang Lin, Feng Bujue had exhausted more SCP-500, and he had been carrying the vacuum since he broke level twenty. In these past few days, he had gained some new equipment, basically one new piece each day, but they did not match his playstyle, so he either handed them to his teammates or sold them at the auction house. Therefore, data wise, all Feng Bujue had earned over these days were some new puzzle cards.
Lastly, his skills. One of the first skills that Feng Bujue learned had evolved after much repeated use…