Chapter 179
After finishing these tasks, Ye Bai checked the special talents among the refugees who had joined during her absence. Then she left the Tree of Creation and headed to her post to review the attributes of these special talents, so she could reassign them to suitable jobs.
On her way back, news of Ye Bai's return had already spread throughout the town. The residents who encountered her greeted her with a mix of excitement and nervousness.
Ottofis also attracted a wave of admiring glances, with people thinking, "Is this really the lord's mount? How impressive!"
The satisfaction level of the territory was at 98, a feat that even NPC cities couldn't achieve. Ye Bai was truly beloved by the residents of Baiye Town.
Of course, aside from the residents, Ye Bai also ran into several players. However, since her captain of the guard, Blaze, had taken it upon himself to follow closely beside her, these players were met with his intimidating gaze. Even though they were curious, they could only act as distant paparazzi, snapping photos of the newly appeared Ottofis.
Before long, the StarNet news reported, "After Baiye's disappearance, it seems she has brought back a donkey as her mount," sparking a flurry of discussions.
A game month later, players were averaging around level 30. The few strong players with resources at the forefront had reached level 40, but they were all stuck at the job change stage, as levels in the myriad worlds didn't equate to complete strength.
Other players, unlike Ye Bai who could simply allocate points, had to genuinely learn their class skills. Thus, aside from leveling up, they spent time improving their skill mastery. As a result, players found themselves bottlenecked at level 40, needing to build up their strength to complete the job change quest and reach tier two.
At this stage, interstellar players could access the mount system in the myriad worlds. For instance, the wildebeests raised in Ye Bai's territory were excellent mount units.
However, purchasing mounts directly from NPCs was expensive, and their upkeep was a money pit. Before the first job change, everyone was quite poor, and only a few players bought mounts afterward, feeling they were somewhat extravagant.
If one wanted to tame a mount themselves, finding a high-stat mount was a challenge. Ye Bai often found herself racing against merchant guilds when encountering wildebeest herds.
What the interstellar players didn't expect was that after Baiye, the big shot, had been missing for a game month, the most noticeable change was the arrival of a donkey mount... So, what was so special about this donkey?
As Ottofis was surrounded by onlookers, he trotted along, curiously glancing around, showing no signs of shyness.
Finally, after Ye Bai arranged the last special talent's new position, she arrived near the bakery in the residential area, where the aroma of freshly baked bread mingled with the scent of fruit and milk wafted through the air.
"Ah!"
Ottofis suddenly exclaimed in delight, his eyes sparkling at that moment. In a flash, he appeared at the bakery's entrance and took a bite out of a basket of freshly baked bread displayed in the window.
The plump baker inside immediately raised his eyebrows. "Whose is this—"
Before he could finish, he saw Ye Bai approaching and quickly broke into a smile. "My lord!"
"Uh, this is my mount. I’ll buy this basket of bread," Ye Bai said, pulling out a silver coin and purchasing the entire basket of freshly baked butter bread.
"Oh! So this is the lord's mount!" The baker suddenly recalled the rumors he had overheard earlier and quickly stepped back from the money Ye Bai offered. "No charge, no charge..."
Ye Bai tossed the silver coin into a nearby cash box. "I said I’m paying."
In the territory, food was supplied in portions, and anything beyond that required payment. Thus, the bakery was no longer just a cafeteria but had taken on a semi-commercial nature.
Seeing Ye Bai insist on paying, the baker didn’t dare to refuse. Instead, he hurriedly began adding more bread to the basket, filling it to the brim until Ye Bai stopped him, satisfied to see Ottofis grinning widely.
The baker chuckled, "It seems he really likes my bread!"
"Ah!" Ottofis immediately chimed in, agreeing.
What a delightful scene this was, a true meeting of kindred spirits...
Ye Bai's lips twitched slightly, but she held back the urge to tell the baker that the donkey before him was the "big shot from another world" she had mentioned before.
As she left the bakery with Ottofis, who was bouncing along happily, she understood. After all, Ottofis had previously only eaten cold bread; this freshly baked, warm bread must taste much better.
Savoring the aroma of the bread, Ye Bai picked one up, just about to take a bite when she suddenly paused.
Having been influenced by the title of "Sea God’s Keeper," she had developed the habit of occasionally checking her stamina on her personal panel and eating food to replenish it.
However, at that moment, Ye Bai noticed something was off with her stamina.
According to normal consumption rates, she should have had around fifty to sixty points left, but when she looked again, she found she still had 123 points.
In the next moment, the number on her panel jumped to 124 points, surprisingly increasing instead of decreasing.
Ottofis noticed Ye Bai had stopped and looked at her with curiosity, while the paper figure on the branch of the Tree of Life asked, "What’s wrong?"
Realizing something, Ye Bai opened her titles and found "Sea God’s Keeper." The description had changed slightly since she last checked: You have been infused with the Kraken's essence, gaining 'Continuous Devouring.'
The core effect remained the same, still influenced by the Kraken's essence, but what was once 'Eternal Hunger' had transformed into 'Continuous Devouring.'
The seemingly random appearance of the pet system allowed Ye Bai to gain information about the Kraken only when she saw it. She had thought it would be difficult to track its status afterward, but it turned out she could still glean insights from her title.
From the description of this title, it was clear that the Kraken was currently devouring the endless energy from the core of the Inferno.
As she relaxed, Ye Bai couldn’t help but speak with a strange expression:
"It seems... I won’t be hungry anymore."
She had expected to need to consume a lot of food in the future, but she hadn’t anticipated that the Kraken's essence would change with her actions. Now, it was consuming the infinite energy of the Inferno core, and although it wasn’t shared experience from kills, it was still providing feedback to Ye Bai in another form.
Not only would she no longer feel hunger, but Ye Bai also wouldn’t need to rely on sleep to replenish her stamina in the game. She could use the same amount of time to accomplish more than before.
More importantly, this energy was also slowly but automatically converting into increasing experience points.
Previously, under the influence of the Kraken's essence, Ye Bai had experienced "getting stronger by eating." Now, it had become even more absurd: "getting stronger just by breathing."
What was the difference between this and cheating?
To that, Ye Bai could only say, not much.
...
At her final stop, Ye Bai went to the blacksmith shop in the industrial area, where she found Felix, the red-haired boy with a special bloodline, working by the forge.
He was closest to the fire, but unlike the other blacksmiths who were sweating profusely, he showed no signs of discomfort, his face even a bit pale.
Ye Bai glanced at the blacksmith shop's level and status, and was surprised to find that, aside from Felix, the other blacksmiths were improving their proficiency faster than she had expected.
Compared to the tailor shop with title bonuses, the blacksmiths here were not lagging behind much.
Then Ye Bai noticed the particularly vigorous flames and realized the reason... it seemed Felix, the literal "sunshine boy," was playing a role.
When the blacksmiths saw Ye Bai arrive, they all paused their work. She quickly urged them to continue and then called over the somewhat shy Felix to head to the herb shop where Lucy was.
The half-divine snake demon lord, Kedar, had left nothing behind after being devoured by the Kraken, except for a crystal containing a class template. Ye Bai wasn’t sure if she could complete Felix's personal quest.
She handed the snake demon lord's crystal to Lucy, who then took Felix into the herb shop to get busy.
Before long, Lucy emerged from inside.
So quickly? Had she already prepared the medicine?
Ye Bai stepped forward, curious. "How's it going?"
Lucy replied, "He drank it; he should be fine."
"Boom..."
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