"Are you planning to do business in this dimension?"
Hai Lan floated in mid-air, watching as Jiang Qiao directly activated the build mode. Jiang Qiao wasn't constructing a shop; instead, he was setting up a simpler street stall, which could also be called a roadside stand.
"Why not? After players challenge the Tower of Trial, they need a place to repair their equipment or deal with unusable items from the Tower of Trial."
With a swipe of Jiang Qiao's fingertip, a portal appeared behind the stall. A youthful female gunman stepped out of the portal. She was an LV50 NPC named Enforcement Master Yirui.
Her combat profession was the Wandering Gunman, the most agile of the four Gunman specializations, focusing on flashy gunfighting skills.
This NPC wasn't created by Jiang Qiao on the spot but had been made by the creator Jiang Qiao twelve days ago at the beginning of the creation. However, she hadn't formally appeared in the Holy Spirit World yet.
Creating a level fifty NPC on the spot and equipping her with all epic gear would be a huge expense for Jiang Qiao.
"Your equipment is pretty average," remarked Yirui as she stepped out, her first words to Jiang Qiao.
"Of course you wouldn't care for level twenty-five equipment, especially when it's a plus-zero enhancement," Jiang Qiao retorted.
Yirui did not respond to Jiang Qiao's comment. Most of the Holy Spirit NPCs didn't have the intelligence to freely answer players' questions yet.
Most Holy Spirit NPCs are like semi-intelligent robots, responding to players with preset answers based on their inquiries. However, the NPCs' responses are so varied that they create the illusion of free-form conversation for players.
Jiang Qiao then placed four boiler-like machines next to Yirui.
These boiler-like machines were her main component: the Equipment Enhancement Machines!
Each Enhancement Machine operated independently. Players didn't need to throw their equipment into the machine; they simply accessed an enhancement interface and dragged their gear into it.
Jiang Qiao set up these four enhancement machines for the use of the Tower of Trial's residents.
"Let me see. Enhancing players' equipment only requires a certain amount of currency and Magic Power Crystals?"
Jiang Qiao took out the magic stone that the old mage had given him earlier. On the surface, it looked like a light blue crystal stone, containing considerable magic power and some impurities.
But with Hai Lan's powerful digestion capabilities, these impurities could be directly converted into energy.
Essentially, this magic stone was Hai Lan's ration, providing one to ten points of energy. Jiang Qiao suspected there were higher-quality magic stones.
Jiang Qiao cast a detection spell on the magic stone, revealing its detailed data.
Magic Stone·Small
Consumable item.
Description: A conglomerate containing powerful Otherworld energy that requires purification before use.
Effect: Restores 200 MP when crushed.
This effect was quite useless and was considered garbage among players, so they didn't deliberately collect such magic stones.
Jiang Qiao needed to modify this item to make it less useless.
Before making changes, Jiang Qiao decided to summon another NPC. As this thought emerged, a portal opened in front of him, and an NPC that looked about five or six years old walked out.
This NPC carried a massive backpack, large enough to fit ten of him inside...
Fairy Merchant Razr.
"You will be the merchant to exchange magic stones," Jiang Qiao said, half-kneeling before the Fairy Merchant.
The fairies in Holy Spirit were set to have childlike bodies and strong magical talents.
This race would be selectable by players in future updates, but for now, only NPC fairies existed.
The Fairy Merchant NPC's backpack was still empty. Jiang Qiao started editing the items he would sell.
First up was magic stone exchange. Jiang Qiao's plan was to have equipment with a "strong Otherworld aura" from the Tower of Trial be disassembled in the disassembler to get "magic stones."
To entice players to disassemble unwanted Otherworld gear, magic stones would need to be exchanged for good items.
"Let's start with fashion items. Let me see..." Jiang Qiao pulled out the System Book and waved his hand, causing it to flip to the fashion gear subsection under the equipment catalog.
Fashion items are a common setting in most online games, also known as cosmetic gear. While most fashion items have no attributes, they look good. Jiang Qiao decided to add some attributes to the fashion items since they weren't bought with real money but earned by players clearing instances.
"Unicorn Headpiece, Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece, Boxing Bear Costume, Snowman Pixel Outfit..." Jiang Qiao muttered while adding one fashion item after another to the Fairy Merchant's product catalog.
Changing fashion items was referred to as the Fairy Wardrobe.
"Will players really exchange magic stones for these?"
Hai Lan, watching, quickly grabbed a Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece from the Fairy Merchant's backpack.
Hai Lan conjured a mirror and put on the Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece, shaking her head soon after.
The Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece had a slightly longer neck, so it wobbled even more as players moved their heads, resulting in a hilarious effect. If worn in the PK arena, opponents might laugh to death halfway through the fight.
Luckily, Holy Spirit had an option to hide headgear, leaving it to the player's preference.
"Your actions already prove that players will exchange for these fashion items, right?" Jiang Qiao said as he added more ordinary fashion items like white tank tops, flip-flops, and beach shorts.
"But... But this gear... really undermines the dignity of adventurers, heroes... no, Holy Spirits," Hai Lan said, seemingly liking the Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece. When she turned back, the unicorn's blank eyes stared at Jiang Qiao, making him quite pressured.
"Players' background settings are Holy Spirits, but essentially, we're just a group of people here to have fun," Jiang Qiao said, closing the System Book. "This world is not a battlefield but an amusement park for us. Wouldn't it be better to dress more cheerfully in an amusement park?"
Jiang Qiao reconsidered and replaced the term "foolishly" with "cheerfully."
In fact, Hai Lan's thoughts represented most Holy Spirit NPCs' views, which was "Please look like a normal person when playing through storyline CGs.jpg."
"Amusement park," Hai Lan murmured, looking at the distant Tower of Trial.
That might be another impressive thing about the players. For the native residents, battles in the Tower of Trial were matters of national survival, desperate fights!
But for the players, it was more like going on a field trip, facing each battle with a light-hearted attitude. After all, they could run back to their corpses after dying. What was there to fear?
"I like this headpiece. Are there more?" Hai Lan had already shown the possible popularity of the Rainbow Unicorn Headpiece with her actions.
"There's plenty, but I don't recommend wearing it while eating," Jiang Qiao said, taking out an Owl Headpiece, Bear Headpiece, and a bunch of other comical equipment.