CHAPTER 70: 070 PLAYERS WHO SEE SUNSHINE AFTER HARDSHIP

"Just one bite. You promised me..."

"Is it good?"

"A bit burnt? Alright, I’ll improve it right away."

...

Lin Bai’s gentle voice often drifted from the Alchemy Room next to the training field, causing passing players to blush.

Of course, they could also witness the peculiar sight of Lin Bai chasing Zhao Tong around the training field, a plate of steamed buns or a bowl of noodles in hand, trying to feed him.

And so, Lin Bai’s popularity inexplicably soared once again. The players associated with the City Lord’s faction also rode the wave of Lin Bai’s fame, making some quick coin.

...

"Lin, the Storekeeper, is so sweet! I ship this CP!"

"The Immortal World suddenly has this cloying scent of romance. The damn developers must have ulterior motives!"

"Maybe Lin, the Storekeeper, didn’t join the City Lord’s faction for the City Lord..."

"Dumbelldore is in danger!"

"Two grown men feeding each other, yuck!"

"Lin, the Storekeeper, has to be the liveliest and most unconventional NPC so far. I think renaming the Immortal World to ’The Chronicles of Lin Bai’ would be more fitting..."

"The developers really get the essence of marketing. They make Lin Bai do whatever is eye-catching. If they killed off Lin Bai, this game would probably collapse."

"The game company is pulling so many stunts with Lin Bai. Killing him off would definitely cause a huge sensation."

...

Regardless of what the players thought of Lin Bai, he eventually completed his task and obtained the Ingredient Identification Technique.

It wasn’t that Zhao Tong had an epiphany.

Instead, Lin Bai had unintentionally made a batch of relatively edible steamed buns. The poor guard took one bite and was moved to tears. He not only wolfed down the buns but also exclaimed "Delicious!" three times.

Genuine sincerity! Absolutely unadulterated approval!

Watching Zhao Tong devour the buns, Lin Bai truly believed he had accidentally created a delicacy. He cautiously took a bite himself, only to nearly vomit up the meal he’d eaten the day before yesterday.

Then, Lin Bai learned a new tactic: Comparison! First, set a very low bar, then make slight improvements upon that awfulness. Gaining approval becomes much easier that way... Perhaps this trick could be used on players in the future too, he thought.

...

Lin Bai obtained the Food Material Analysis Technique, while the unfortunate Zhao Tong ended up recuperating next to Zhou Jiang.

From then on, the Hidden Guards in the City Lord’s faction turned pale at the mere mention of Lin Bai’s name. Gone were the brave declarations about avenging their brothers.

After visiting the two injured men, Xu Longyun completely abandoned the idea of assigning any more Hidden Guards to him.

This kind of non-combat attrition is too damaging to morale, she thought. Just let Lin Bai mess around as he pleases!

...

With the Ingredient Analysis Technique, Lin Bai finally had a breakthrough in his culinary skills. He became self-taught, instinctively understanding how to use many different ingredients!

He knew what kind of vegetables were suitable for stir-frying, which for steaming or boiling, what kind of flour was best for noodles, and what type was ideal for making dumplings...

While this skill might not seem very helpful for gameplay, Lin Bai felt he should now be able to attempt Alchemy.

Thus, he dedicated himself to experimenting with the ratios for Dan Fang.

His main focus was on the food-related Fasting Pill.

The human body’s daily nutritional requirements include fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and various inorganic salts, Lin Bai mused. Beef is rich in protein and amino acids, so it could be one of the ingredients. Since there’s beef, dried ginger and fennel will be needed to remove its gamey smell...

With no Hidden Guards to disturb him, Lin Bai’s mind was working at full capacity. He spread out cookbooks and various medical texts before him.

He meticulously compared and analyzed all ingredients that could serve as both Herbal Medicine and food. From these, he selected the most filling ones to be the raw materials for the Fasting Pill.

The insight provided by the System played a critical role at this juncture.

He selected beef, ginger, white Poria mushrooms (Bai Fuling), yam, Sichuan peppercorns, licorice (Gancao), and other similar ingredients.

Then, Lin Bai added the ingredients to the Alchemy Furnace in varying proportions. He followed the Fire Gong technique from the Cooking God System and the methods from the Basic Pill Refinement Technique to concoct the Fasting Pill...

Unfortunately, refining a pot of ingredients into a furnace of Pill Medicine was clearly not that simple.

Most of the time, Lin Bai would end up with a cauldron of cooked beef, beef jerky, or charcoal-grilled beef...

During this period, Xu Longyun visited a few times. Seeing Lin Bai’s bizarre method of stewing beef in an Alchemy Furnace, she couldn’t bring herself to comment.

After instructing everyone not to disturb Lin Bai, Xu Longyun paid him no further mind, quietly waiting for him to tire of his antics and give up.

If he could truly refine a pill from beef, I’ll go out and swallow a whole cow, she vowed silently.

...

While Lin Bai returned to a peaceful and simple life, focusing on Alchemy, the world outside was undergoing earth-shattering changes.

First, the Heavenly Remnant Collection, distributed far and wide, had caused a sensation in the literary world.

With the City Lord’s glowing endorsement setting a precedent, the Heavenly Remnant Collection became essential reading for scholars and literary figures.

Whether they were esteemed literary masters or unsuccessful scholars, everyone pored over the Heavenly Remnant Collection, diligently studying it and racking their brains to fill in the verses, dreaming of achieving overnight fame like Xu Longyun.

The progress bar for the ’Deficiency Value’ in Lin Bai’s mind, which had stopped growing, began to advance once more. Simultaneously, there was a massive influx of negative Emotion Value.

Now, the tree of negative emotions was laden with fruit.

...

Second, the players, like dazzling new stars, began to gradually distinguish themselves.

After the local inhabitants discovered the players’ tireless, undying, and uncomplaining nature, they began assigning them numerous high-difficulty tasks.

These included tasks like escorting caravans, suppressing bandits, hunting Beasts in the mountains, and gathering rare Herbal Medicines.

The players’ Levels rapidly increased with each completed task, allowing them to integrate into this world and change it at an astonishing speed...

...

Once Lin Bai settled down, the players in Jiamucheng finally entered a normal game mode: learning Skills, leveling up, accepting various quests from NPCs, and grinding monsters to gain experience...

Of course, Lin Bai’s influence lingered; Jiamucheng’s ’culture of imperfection’ remained popular.

All players learning Skills at the Blacksmith Shop, carpenter’s shop, or tailor’s shop crafted incomplete items daily. Inadvertently, they developed the erroneous belief that flawed items were the genuine articles, and perfect ones were not.

After crafting a finished item, they would instinctively break off a piece before considering it complete.

However, this influence was only seen among lifestyle-class players.

Players who joined martial arts academies to learn Martial Arts were not affected. Although they spent more than players in other Novice Villages, the skills they learned were not compromised.

Therefore, during this period of Lin Bai’s inactivity, the Levels of Jiamucheng players rose rapidly.

The only ones likely feeling frustrated were Dumbelldore and Crispy Rice, the two siblings.

Dumbelldore possessed Inner Strength but had no combat Skills.

It felt like being the monk Jueyuan, who unknowingly cultivated profound Inner Strength using the ’Nine Yang Divine Art’ but lacked any martial techniques. When fighting, he couldn’t utilize any of his Inner Strength and could only serve as a punching bag, passively taking hits.

With Lin Bai absent from the Chef’s Divine Food Stall, he couldn’t even ride his master’s coattails for popularity. In just two or three days, his live stream viewers dropped by more than half.

After all, who would want to watch a player’s unremarkable daily routine of meditating and practicing, or chopping vegetables and peeling potatoes in the back kitchen?

Dumbelldore went to the City Lord’s official residence to find Lin Bai, hoping to learn Dragonfall Palm. However, Lin Bai, citing his insufficient Inner Strength, taught him a couple of knife techniques and then sent him away.

Watching the enthusiastic Lin Bai stewing beef in the Alchemy Furnace, Dumbelldore couldn’t find a suitable excuse to coax Martial Arts techniques out of him. Perhaps, in Master’s eyes, culinary skills are more valuable than Martial Arts! he lamented inwardly.

Dumbelldore also considered learning basic Martial Arts from the city’s martial arts academies and had even paid the registration fee.

But Lin Bai’s fame was not only Like the Midday Sun among players; he was also incredibly renowned among the native residents.

In Jiamucheng, everyone knew Lin, the Storekeeper of the Chef’s Divine Food Stall, and that he was an honored guest of the City Lord.

The ’imperfection’ prevalent in Jiamucheng was all his doing.

The Wild Wind Gang, affiliated with the Zhang Family Punch Palace, had even proactively visited the City Lord’s official residence to offer Lin Bai a generous gift as an apology for their members’ indiscretions, seeking to bury the hatchet.

Others were even less willing to offend Lin Bai without reason.

And since Dumbelldore was Lin Bai’s nominal disciple, which martial arts academy would dare teach him Martial Arts behind Lin Bai’s back? Consequently, wherever he went, the academy masters treated him as an honored guest, but his requests to enroll as a student were always politely declined.

Thus, Dumbelldore’s martial arts training journey was brought to a standstill, making him arguably the most bored player in the game.

...

Similarly, Crispy Rice and Sticky Rice were also struggling with their Martial Arts progression.

Recently, they had managed to unify Jiamucheng’s Beggar Gang using the basic Martial Arts they learned from the City Lord’s faction.

But that was the extent of it. In this Xianxia-dominated world, the Beggar Gang only possessed some unsavory tricks suitable for petty theft and mischief; they had no remarkable sect-defining Martial Arts.

Players who had initially joined the Beggar Gang, upon realizing they couldn’t learn any more advanced skills, quickly lost interest. They defected one after another, returning to a more conventional gameplay path.

Crispy Rice knew his younger brother (Sticky Rice) possessed extraordinary abilities, but due to his own Undercover status, he couldn’t even enter the City Lord’s official residence, let alone meet Lin Bai.

Like Dumbelldore, his progress had also stagnated. He couldn’t even find a team to go hunt Beasts at West Mountain to level up.

As for leading the Beggars to hunt Beasts? That was out of the question. Each Beggar lost was one less member. If they were all wiped out, how could he continue his Undercover mission or remain the Beggar’s Sect’s Leader?