Chapter 118
"The feeling of using magic is hard to describe. I just cast my first Ice Bomb spell in reality, and its power is far weaker than in the game. Perhaps in the game, there's an environmental guidance that makes it easier to release magic, while in reality, it requires much more practice. It's somewhat like bringing something from another world into this one..."
"But don't worry, the enhancement of mental strength has been absolutely verified. Just focus on leveling up, and you should be able to raise your mental strength to D rank pretty soon..."
Jiguang shared her recent updates with Ye Bai in a message, mostly venting about work.
Although both Ye Bai and Jiguang were in the Wanjie (Myriad Realms), they didn't have the kind of regular contact that friends usually have when playing online games together.
Civilizations that could join the Xingmeng (Star Alliance) had mostly achieved a liberation of productivity. With abundant material conditions in reality, more and more interstellar citizens had become 'professional players' who rarely left their homes.
Moreover, due to the unique nature of how mental strength could alter reality, being a 'professional player' meant more than just making money in the Wanjie; it also represented an enhancement of mental strength in real life. Thus, within the vast community of professional players, the term 'professional' far outweighed 'player.'
In the Wanjie, there were very few individuals who could be considered completely independent; most worked for some small organization or department, and these organizations could ultimately be traced back to a civilization's influence.
For instance, Jiguang was currently affiliated with a research institute on Juhai Star, which was under the jurisdiction of the research team of the Huanhai civilization.
Interstellar players in the Wanjie weren't really 'playing'; they were genuinely working in a different place. Their actions in the game were essentially just part of their job, which meant that as long as Ye Bai wasn't 'born' in Suola City, she wouldn't have much contact with Jiguang, making it easy to keep her identity under wraps.
In contrast, Ye Bai resembled a full-time player from the era of web novels. Although she spent a lot of time in the game every day, she was working for herself... Oh, and she also had a lord's identity, so the NPCs in her territory were technically working for her too!
After replying to Jiguang with some updates about her own 'situation,' Ye Bai logged out of the Star Network. She opened her eyes on the soft bed in her room, stretched lazily, and stood up to move around a bit.
Since arriving on Juhai Star and settling in, Ye Bai hadn't stepped out of her rental apartment even once.
After all, people in the era of Blue Star a millennium ago could live a homebody lifestyle, and in this highly advanced interstellar age, it was even more so.
"Glug glug..."
Ye Bai took a can of nutrient liquid from the safe and drank it.
Previously, she had taken it for granted that the prices on Juhai Star were similar to those on Blue Star, especially after Jiguang treated her to a bath that cost over twenty star coins. In reality, bathing was a relatively ceremonial activity and a standard luxury, and eating out in reality wasn't much cheaper.
However, with the same amount of money, Ye Bai had bulk-purchased thirty bottles of high-energy nutrient liquid.
On Blue Star, nutrient liquid sold for 1 star coin per bottle from vending machines in parks, providing enough energy for a day. Back then, Ye Bai thought that was the standard. Later, after trying nutrient liquid on a Star Alliance spaceship that could last two to three days, she assumed it was just a high-end product of the Star Alliance.
When she arrived at Juhai Star and saw advertisements for nutrient liquid priced around 1 star coin, she thought it was the same thing.
It wasn't until she experienced it that she realized Blue Star's prices were a rip-off. The 1 star coin nutrient liquid on Juhai Star could last at least five to six days!
As a transit point in the universe, Blue Star's 1 star coin could only sustain a day's worth of nutrient liquid, costing as much as instant noodles on a high-speed train.
Ye Bai glanced at her balance. After paying the rent deposit, she still had over nineteen thousand, with a few decimal places, but it didn't actually refer to star coins.
In the vast universe, the varying levels of civilization development and resource availability on different planets led to significant differences in prices and exchange rates.
Only the star coin guaranteed by the Star Alliance was the most stable universal currency, unlike other civilizations that might have some special resource-based currency. The star coin operated on an 'energy-based system,' where 1 star coin equaled 1 standard energy unit of the Star Alliance.
As a standard energy unit, the star coin couldn't be subdivided. The decimal points Ye Bai saw were the result of the system converting it into Juhai Star's currency.
Besides star coins, Juhai Star also accepted the common currency of the Huanhai civilization, 'Beni.' Ye Bai activated basic financial management on her personal terminal, setting it to monitor the slightly fluctuating exchange rate between Beni and star coins in real-time. When Beni dropped in value, it would buy in, and when it rose, it would sell.
The decimal points after Ye Bai's balance represented her 'earnings' from the past few days, a setup Jiguang had taught her to help earn some money for nutrient liquid.
With nearly twenty thousand star coins in hand, accustomed to drinking nutrient liquid and with no luxury expenses in reality, Ye Bai doubted she would even need to exchange game coins with Jiguang's lab people.
Then, Ye Bai remembered the magic Jiguang had mentioned earlier. She opened the nearby mall and ordered a 'Fluid Sandbag' suitable for D-rank mentalists for 10 star coins.
In less than three minutes after moving around in her room, the delivery drone arrived with her package.
The Fluid Sandbag looked like a blob of mercury. Following the instructions that came with it, Ye Bai focused her thoughts, and the sandbag transformed into a thin wall.
After using all the second-level spells she had learned in the Wanjie on it, Ye Bai confirmed once again that she was different from the interstellar players who needed practice. As long as she had added points to her skills in the game, using them in reality felt just as smooth.
Moreover, after upgrading her [Resilience] talent last time, Ye Bai felt her physical condition had significantly improved, giving her a sensation akin to the foundation-building phase in a fantasy novel. She had consumed seven bottles of high-energy nutrient liquid, roughly equivalent to a normal one-and-a-half-month supply, as if she had expended a tremendous amount of energy to transform her body, just short of shedding some dead skin.
After retracting the Fluid Sandbag back into its original square box, Ye Bai logged back into the game.
Not just Ye Bai, but now, compared to reality, most interstellar players probably spent more time in the Wanjie.
...
In the Wanjie, it was a new day in Baiye Town, and this was the first day it was open to players since upgrading to a town.
Players who had waited for three days excitedly entered Baiye Town, like a group of tourists using their eyes as cameras, snapping pictures of the territory, which still had some buildings under construction.
Although many areas in Baiye Town were off-limits, the residential area was open to the public.
It was evident that the residential area of Baiye Town had expanded significantly, and a school had already been built, with an even taller and grander building under construction nearby.
Players learned from nearby NPCs that this massive building was to be the future theater.
The four corners of the residential area, divided by stone paths, had added security booths, where territory soldiers equipped with energy crossbows, all above level 20, were on duty.
These scenes felt so familiar to the players. Baiye Town's configuration was increasingly resembling that of an NPC town, and it seemed to have many features that even NPC towns lacked.
— It had only been three game days since Baiye Town upgraded; just how much productivity does Baiye have to spare?!
When Baiye Town was still a village, its complete facilities had left other territories in the dust. Just like Baiye Town's rating, this question was one of the unsolved mysteries for interstellar players.
As the players strolled around, they soon made their way to the market, quickly discovering that new equipment, [Swift Boots], had appeared in Baiye Town's market. It was also a blue rare-grade item, with ten pairs available for 'only' seven silver coins!
Buy, buy, buy!
After accidentally spending all their recent savings again, players who initially wanted to save for screenshots soon realized that the NPCs in the upgraded Baiye Town had 'more tasks' to offer.
Previously, as more and more players from Blue Star arrived in Baiye Town, the territory's NPCs would occasionally issue tasks that players had to compete for, leading to a supply-demand imbalance.
Now, they had barely walked down the street when an NPC called out to them, asking for help with various issues.
Players who had been about to take screenshots found themselves stopping uncontrollably—
How could any player refuse a quest?
...
"What? You caught a criminal already? That was fast!"
Ye Bai had just logged in and was planning her upcoming job transition when she received a report from Blaze.
"Yes, we've already sent him to the newly built prison," Blaze replied proudly. As the sheriff, he hadn't expected such quick results to come his way.
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