When discussing people doing quests together,
Melon-chan had to log out of the game. Initially bombarded with messages, now journalists are still contacting her, through the guild, through her friends, asking for interviews about the quest she played with Sagittarius.
It has come to this!
Inside Melon-chan's bedroom,
The mirrored door of the capsule wardrobe swings open. The girl with disheveled hair, looking as though she hasn't washed it in a couple of days, steps out wearing a little bear pajama set. Emerging from the cabinet, she looks at the bedroom clock and sees that it's exactly noon, so she walks with her fluffy hair to the dining room just like that.
"You look so grumpy. Has someone bullied you?" asked the mother, who was sitting and eating, raising the question first.
The father, who was sitting and reading the news, looked up at his daughter with an up-and-down glance, then just shook his head, feeling helpless to comfort her. "My dear Tangmo (mean watermelon in Thai), even if you're at home, you shouldn't be like this, sweetheart," he said, even though his daughter had already graduated from college. Wearing little bear pajamas is one thing – that, he could accept. But a face unwashed, teeth not brushed, hair not combed – that was another matter.
Hearing this from their father, the mother quickly nudged him and sent a look that said their daughter was grown up now and not to meddle too much in her private life.
Meanwhile, Tangmo sat down at the table, and a robot came to serve lunch. As she ate, she didn't hide anything from her parents, recounting the whole saga of how she unintentionally completed a quest along with the lord of the great city of Chanthra, and also discussed the complications that arose after the quest was announced.
The mother asked with concern, "Or are you considering canceling the character and starting anew?" Tangmo once canceled a character and used the same national ID to set up a new character and started playing from level 1 again.
Tangmo pouted slightly and then said, "Last time, it was a problem with the character's appearance." Last time, Tangmo didn't think it through before she set it up to resemble her real face, which then required her to avoid people who were trying to flirt with her.
The mother smiled proudly, "After all, you are the university's star, aren't you?" Come to think of it, if you really look at her, this utterly exhausted girl, with a bit of lipstick and powder, is really quite beautiful.
Tangmo forced a smile, "But now it's not like before. Back then, I had both real guys and posers chasing after me, whether I was gaming or working at the company. It was so chaotic I couldn't focus on work or games. So I decided to throw in the towel and start over, to change my appearance. But now... sigh," Tangmo sighed, "The problem isn't my appearance anymore, but that everyone knows my name already. If I want to change it, I have to submit a request to do so."
"Hmm…" The parents began to understand their child's problem. Nowadays, in-game names can be used for financial transactions and are linked between the virtual and real worlds, so the rules that have been established are very strict regarding names.
Tangmo sighed and laid down her fork and spoon, after finishing her meal and leaving her plate clean. "What's more, I've now obtained a rare skill [limit break] and even a rarer profession. It'd be a shame to start all over."
Upon hearing this, father's eyes lit up. Online gaming has been a part of human life for nearly half a century now. Therefore, no matter how old one is, parents can understand what their children are saying. "In that case, it shouldn't be canceled, right?" The name itself suggests it is rare, having only a few players who own it.
"So, how should we fix this, dear?" The concerned mother turned to ask for advice.
Father rolled his eyes and then said, "That Sagittarius fellow, he claims out loud that you can ask him for help. It's because of helping him that our daughter is in trouble. If he's any kind of man at all, he must surely help her! And if he doesn't, come and tell me. I will go to the Chandra city and beat him up myself!"
The mother, after listening, thought it was a good solution. The other party is one of the five metropolis lords and must endure encouragement from journalists and also from many friends. They should be able to give better advice than the two of them, who are not celebrities (who, in fact, have never been). The mother added, "I do have some friends who are movie stars; I'll try to ask them how they handle these kinds of problems." Then she glanced at father, "Aren't you afraid of going to beat up the metropolis lord and then being beaten back down to level 1?" Half the world's population plays this game, and of course, both parents play it too.
"For my daughter, to reach the level, reduce it, I must persist!" said the father with a fiery determination in his eyes. Let no one dare bully my child.
Tangmo, hearing her parents, felt much better. "Then I shall take leave from work to go see him right away," she said.
"Mmm, even going to the company would probably lead to an interrogation anyway," her father agreed. "Better to clear this up first." Five years since moving the production base to Mars, and Earth's climate is getting better. Everything has changed. If one must work to make a living in a virtual world, playing online games has an impact on the job. Taking leave this time is like taking personal time off indeed.
Regarding the person whom Tangmo hoped to rely on,
He rose from the capsule, massaging his temples, but not because of the fame he acquired, or the new launch of the metropolitan lord, but rather,
"Jet lag..."
Mina had a robot come in to support Phakin to lie down on the bed, looking at the master with concern. "On Mars, the rotational period is about the same as Earth, maybe slightly more. It could be because the master has been working in the colony, and the day-night cycle is different from that in Thailand, so the body hasn't adjusted immediately. In another week or two, the master should feel better."
"But first, the master should eat three meals a day according to Thai time, to adjust the digestive system at the same time."
"Uh...uh...uhhh…" Phakin's mind drifted. He felt a reflux in his stomach. For lunch, it looked like he would have to settle for porridge again.
Meanwhile, Mina wanted to report that due to her master completing the quest storyline unintentionally, good relations with the lorde had been established, resulting in a 10% reduction in the teleportation gate toll between the starter city and Chandra city. Let's not dwell on that for now.
Furthermore, the lord of the four metropolises were all inviting him for tea, for wine, or to visit, but let's not dwell on that either. But looking at her master's condition, it's better to wait for his energy to return.
"The game I just played has completely drained my energy." Though still young and strong, jet lag does not discriminate; it can happen to anyone.
The starting city of this game is similar to the starting cities of other games where the level is capped, not allowing monsters to exceed level 20.
The map is also not connected to the main continent but is an island surrounded by water. If one wishes to travel to the main continent, they must teleport through a gate.
The destinations of the teleport gates are various cities on the main continent, almost every city, allowing adventurers to choose their own starting point for their journey. In particular, every NPC city has a gate to receive teleports from the starting city. As for player cities, if there is an update that includes the construction of a teleport gate, then it is also possible to teleport from the starting city.
However, the teleport gates of all the cities on the main continent are not interconnected, and the starting city, which allows teleportation to any location, does not permit usage as an intermediary passage, such as teleporting from City A -> starting city -> City B. What is possible is teleporting between the starting city and City A, or if one wants to change cities, they must travel from City A to City B and then teleport from City B to the starting city. Only then will they be able to teleport back to City B. This system is due to the presence of a lord system that allows armies to attack each other, and the system does not permit this as a means to move troops.
When Melon-chan newly set her level 1, she was a girl with a default face, walking in the town square, she was invited by various guild stalls to join them, and in the end, she became interested in the Berserker profession, thus she joined this guild. The place where she teleported to after reaching level 20 from the starting town is the location of the main branch of the Berserker guild, which is not the city of Chandra.
But it's not too far away.
The city of Chandra is located southeast of the main continent on the Map, covering an area between the city walls of more than ten thousand square kilometers, with an NPC population of over ten million, not including adventurers, companies, and shops, where players come and go all the time.
Sagittarius laid out the structure of the city defenses of Chandra in layers, similar to the days of the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods (Thailand history periods since 1157AD around late Song Dynasty in China or Crusade in Western). These were designated as royal cities, great cities, capital cities, or inner provincial capitals, outer provincial cities, etc., depending on the era. However, they all had the same purpose: to serve as a fortification before attacking the capital city.
As for the coastal areas, there is no need to mention the various islands that can be turned into cities. Now, there are fifteen islands to the southeast, all of which have cities established on them and are considered head cities with Sagittarius' noble NPC overseeing them entirely. Previously, Chandra had no navy. But now, the navy is fully equipped! If you were to attack Chandra by landing troops at Chandra Bay, with the navies that are stationed on the various islands, it would be a very futile attempt.
On land, the cities in the nearest radius in every direction are all Sagittarius's. Those cities are considered the first layer of defense, and there are even cities which act as a second layer of defense.
The city-states or sovereign cities did not adopt this idea. Perhaps because it required city lords to press accept and become a vassal city, and then they had to play politics with "people" rather than NPCs. It's possible that all of the lord Chandra's subordinates being NPCs might have been against the concept.
After all, Melon-chan ended up popping up in a city bordering the "Territory of the City of Chandra."
The major branches of various guilds are mostly located in NPC cities because they do not want political groups or player land lords to have the power to intervene in the guilds. This is unless the city lord himself is the guild leader, as is the case with the Lord of the metropolis, Miss Mewku Mewku.
Whenever Melon Jung logged into the game, she would head straight for the teleport gate, teleporting to the city of Seven Lakes which is located to the northeast of Chandra City.
This city is one of the tourist attractions in the game, boasting seven-colored lakes as its name suggests. It is a place where tourists and adventurers travel to admire the wonderfully crafted scenery. But Melon-chan grew bored of it. She walked out of the city, avoiding eye contact and greeting no one, changing into plain clothes to disguise herself, searching for the most ordinary items in her dimensional bag to wear.
She spent her money like water for her travels, taking horse-drawn carriages, airships, and even balloons, among the breathtaking views of the unspoiled nature of the 19th century. But she did not enjoy the scenery at all; instead, she logged off from the game, afraid that other passengers might recognize her!
which really, her face was already default, why she was afraid.
The next morning,
The carriage stopped at the horse resting spot outside the town. Tangmo, who had bought a log off seat, had set the capsule machine's alarm clock, didn't think of doing any quests during the trip, nor enjoying the scenery, so she got up from bed when the rooster crowed. Then she logged back in.
"Chandra city, no matter how many times I see it, it can always amaze me." Before this, Melon -chan had not thought to admire the view at all, but the magnificence of the city as seen from the horse resting spot made her amazed every time.
Since she began playing a new Level One, besides going to work at the company which was also located in the city of Seven Lakes, Melon-chan was a good guild member. She went monster hunting with the guild, completed quests with the guild, and went dungeon raiding with the guild. On holidays, like all the players or company employees who had an ID in this game, she would go sightseeing. Chandra city, being close to both her guild and company, naturally became her first sightseeing stop, making her a frequent visitor.
Melon-chan took a deep breath and walked straight into the city. With Sagittarius raising many NPCs, and the game system's NPCs able to give out quests, it attracted an overwhelming number of players. On both sides of the street, there were stores from the real world lined up to serve customers who were players. Not to mention shopping malls, there were plenty to be found when looking left and right. Buildings around ranged from three to ten stories high, but all had to follow a uniform architectural design, specifically contemporized Thai architecture, such as gabled roofs or wood carvings with clean white walls on the ground, making the whole city look cohesive and harmonious.
While white might easily get dirty in the real world, this was a game world, where white remained white even as the evening approached.
Melon-chan walked until she was tired before reaching the city hall.
What can you do? The entire city's area was over ten thousand square kilometers. Or when compared to Old Trafford (the football stadium of Manchester United), you would need more than fourteen thousand Old Traffords placed side by side to match that area.
The city hall was designed in a contemporary Thai style, both majestic and expansive.
Melon-chan walked up to the public relations counter and said, "I would like to request a meeting with Mr. Sagittarius, please."
The NPC receptionist smiled with a static expression, clearly just a program and not even an AI. She pointed to the appointment book and recited her predetermined line, "Please fill in the details, you will receive a reply. Please be patient." Then Melon-chan walked to the book, touched it once, and a 3D window appeared for her to type her message for an appointment.
While about to give out her contact number, Melon-chan hesitated for a moment because her inbox was crammed with questions about Sagittarius, to the point where she had turned off the notifications. How would she be contacted now? There was no other way; it was her only means of contact. "Knowing this, I should have rented a hotel in advance and given the hotel address," she thought, with the hotel informing her of replies received. However, she went straight there without having rented a hotel. From now on, it would be torture to open the message box again to check if the office had contacted her yet.
She pressed send and then got ready to stroll around the city waiting for a reply.
But she only turned around,
A handsome man in a butler's outfit suddenly appeared from somewhere, followed by another procession of maids.
"Hello, White Hawk. At the command of Lady Mina, I am here to pick you up, Miss Melon Eiei," he said with a bow, and the maids following behind bowed respectfully as well.
That was a problem for people who named characters with symbols, right? NPCs would pronounce the names strangely.
But that's not the point!
Melon-chan puffed out her eyes examining the man up and down and then asked, "Are you White Hawk, the Sword Master Crazy, who offers the secondary occupation of berserker?"
The butler bowed respectfully and replied politely, "Yes, it's me."
Melon-chan had a distant look in her eyes. Her guild made her work for 120 hours in order to meet this person and conduct a quest with him in exchange for the occupation of berserker. But it turns out that the NPC, who gave the occupations to all the guild members, was just a mere butler for Sagittarius!
this world was truly unjust.
120 hours, exhausting and difficult ===> butler…
If I had known, I would rather play the role of a land lord. The profession is so easy to acquire, just apply for a claim at the city hall of the starting town, and you get this profession without having to complete any quests.
Melon-chan playfully thought to herself as she observed people engaging in this profession, exhausting their substance and even spending real world money to expand their cities, but still failing and going bankrupt over and over again.
Even though there are still plenty of good areas left, to develop from a community into a village, then into a sub-district, and then into a district is extremely tough. If you're not truly cut out for this, let alone to become a city with walls.