Chapter 78: Expedition Journey
The tireless clamor of the undead continued unabated deep into the wilderness.
At the head of the vast caravan of tricycles, Rex, leading the way on his own tricycle, sensed the presence of monsters and immediately jammed his brakes. Via the imprint matrix, he issued an impromptu quest to clear the monsters.
The already noisy undead erupted into even more grating cheers. This perpetually energetic bunch grabbed various weapons and clamored forward from the back, overtaking Hal and the other three former bandits, who were dejectedly riding in pairs, and surged past Rex, charging toward the direction marked out.
Just how numerous were the monsters wandering in Taranthan? Simply put, about the same as the number of bugs one would encounter while walking through a village wasn't an exaggeration.
After a full day and night, Rex had roughly figured out how much time it took for this undead group to besiege different levels of monsters and then auction off the loot (…). Taking advantage of this lull, he quickly got off his tricycle and stretched his limbs.
While the undead might be tireless, he definitely wasn't. Even though he could issue quests to get the undead to pedal on his behalf and allow him to rest in the cart for a bit, these undead lacked patience and would want to "submit the quest" within an hour or two at most… Rex hadn't managed to get any proper sleep since the previous night.
As Rex got off his tricycle to stretch, a similarly fatigued Hal and his buddies also dismounted.
The five instructors were responsible for three tricycles. Previously, Hal and his three comrades weren't willing to touch these old-fashioned contraptions, so the tricycles were all tied together and pulled by Rex alone.
After traveling for most of the day, this bunch finally realized how challenging it was. Tired and filthy, they begrudgingly went to take the tricycles from Rex. However, Rex, who was thoroughly exhausted, wasn't in a pleasant mood to put up with them.
"Mia, get off and move about too." Rex couldn't even be bothered to glance at those four rascals and turned to the woman in the cart behind him.
"Yes, Mr. Rex." Mia, who had been curled up in the cart, lifted the blanket covering her legs and rose.
Traveling in this world was anything but romantic. Even though this batch of tricycles manufactured in China came with spring suspensions, prolonged movement on bumpy dirt roads was still incredibly uncomfortable. Mia struggled for a bit and couldn't stand up.
Rex had to extend a hand and help her out.
"Lean against the side of the cart for a bit and try to move your limbs," said Rex as he supported Mia. Turning his gaze to the east, he added, "Just hold on for another half day, and we'll be able to see some human population."
"Yes, Mr. Rex." Mia lowered her head and bowed in gratitude. She forced herself to stand upright and support herself while stretching her stiff limbs that were nearly numb.
Rex gave Mia a slight smile; he did have some admiration for this woman. Rex himself was already experiencing some discomfort after sitting on the tricycle for a day and night, yet Mia hadn't uttered a single complaint throughout the journey. This endurance of hers made him view her favorably.
Rex glanced up at the sky, then began to search for targets among the undead.
Unlike Hal and the others who ostracized the undead, Rex was rather intrigued by them. Not only did he remember the names of some undead and could match voices to their "appearances," he could even remember which undead weren't particularly interested in killing monsters but into miscellaneous "odd jobs" instead…
As players swarmed to kill the monsters that had been drawn in by human scent, their experience from the previous expedition came into play. They efficiently suppressed the range of the monsters' movements by dividing into multiple battle squads, then chipped away at the monster's health while rotating with the next team upon exhausting their skills.
The "NPCs" felt like an entire day and night had passed since leaving Exile Town. But for the players, the event had only spanned a single night.
It was 5 a.m. on a Tuesday in Earth time. In two hours, even if they were unwilling, those with actual jobs would have to log out and head to work. Thus, the working-class players took this opportunity for a final flurry and put in their all toward farming monsters.
But… Here was the thing: whenever an activity involved three or more players, there were bound to be slackers. This iron-clad rule applied even in "OtherWorld"; as the teams up front engaged in the intense battle, there would still be a bunch of slackers chatting at the back or sneaking off to a corner and then brazenly practicing their gathering skills…
ID "Don't Believe It," a young lady by the name of Liu Meng, was one such slacker.
When this girl was in high school, Teacher Yu Chi was in the class next door. After graduating and entering college, she teamed up with Teacher Yu Chi on a mobile game, and the two got to know each other better through the back and forth of games. Teacher Yu Chi's foray into "OtherWorld" was also because of Liu Meng's invitation.
Young people, regardless of gender, were prone to misjudging themselves, and Liu Meng was no exception. She enjoyed the thrill of playing as an ADC (Attack-Damage Carry) in mobile games and focusing on damage output. On starting "OtherWorld," she believed that the most suitable class for her was ranger and thus diligently built up reputation with Tuttle.
And then, that was it.
The classes with damage output in "OtherWorld" were completely different from the DPS in traditional MMORPGs or the ADCs in traditional MOBA games. In this "OtherWorld," one had to physically engage with cold weapons… and that alone was insufferable.
At first, Liu Meng consoled herself, saying that the reason she couldn't get the hang of being a ranger was because ranged weapons weren't introduced. But when the weapons vendor actually displayed bows for sale (manufactured by a certain bicycle factory… ahem), Liu Meng hit a wall.
The bows available from the weapons vendor were all of the same type—straight draw bows.
There weren't any compound or recurve bows due to cost issues.
There weren't crossbows either, because crossbows were considered a restricted article in modern China. Getting a customized bow that most wouldn't know how to use was one thing (the likelihood of injuring oneself while playing a real bow was much higher than hitting the target), but intending to get a customized crossbow would very much get one invited for tea.
Considering the generally sedentary lifestyle of players in real life, the bows ordered by Yang Qiu from the bicycle factory weren't much harder to handle than toy bows. The bow frames were made using alloy and could even be used as melee weapons. Mainly, practicality, durability, and ease of use had been the emphasis.
It was just that the prices weren't attractive, given the cost. Even the cheapest straight draw bow started at 60 copper coins.
After that… Players who managed to save up and buy a bow basically all cried.
Unplayable. It was just unplayable no matter how hard they tried.
Even if the wanderer class's two bow skills, Triple Shot and Energy Arrow, had rune skill assistance and could fire arrows after consuming a certain amount of energy, wanderer players would still strike their own teammates eight times out of every ten arrows fired.
For the modest price of two copper coins, Liu Meng had rented someone else's bow to practice archery. Hitting the target right in front of her posed no problem, but quite a few players within a 70-degree fan-shaped range ahead inadvertently ended up being her victims as well.
Liu Meng, unable to properly use a bow and being clumsy at killing monsters, eventually gave up on the graceful ranger profession and embarked on the path of a master gatherer…
While the players up ahead were fervently slaying monsters, this girl snuck around with a group of slacker comrades at the rear. Whenever she spotted a harvestable plant, she would immediately pull out her trowel and start digging.
From between rocks, Liu Meng dug out a plant that had a stem resembling a dandelion but with potato-like roots and a texture reminiscent of snake scales. A nearby gatherer player glanced over and exclaimed, "Snake Scale Fruit? Not bad, Xiao Liu, you're already able to gather Level 2 herbs!"
Liu Meng grinned and quickly plucked off the stem's leaf and, with a flick of her wrist, tossed the Snake Scale Fruit into her backpack before continuing to scan the ground around her.
She hadn't participated in the previous expedition quest and only found out upon their return that gatherer players who had taken part in the expedition had managed to collect herbs no less profitable than what the monster-farming players earned. This had left her really regrettable.
Now, for this event, were it not for the fact she had just started college and didn't dare skip classes like her upperclassmen, Liu Meng would stay in the game all day.
There were two main outlets for the yields of gatherer players. One was to exchange them with Lord Yang for reputation and copper coins, while the other was to sell them to player teams that had apothecaries.
Liu Meng preferred the latter option because the transactions could be settled in RMB. The money she earned from gathering alone had allowed her to buy several sets of clothing from Taobao.
Of course, training to be a master gatherer wasn't easy. Although "Identify" could quickly scan whether certain types of flora or fauna had gathering value, it had a cooldown and consumed energy (the mental power of wanderer class players was shown as energy).
In most cases, players honing their gathering skills still had to memorize the collection diagram they acquired after advancing to the gatherer lifestyle class and must use their own eyes to locate collectible resources.
Just as Liu Meng looked around for more herbs, a string of yellow text suddenly popped out in her quest panel: [Weapons Master Charlie Rex is looking for players to help cook food. Would you like to go take a look?]
Liu Meng jumped up in delight. "An impromptu quest! Do you guys want to come along?"
Gathering players with trowels in hand were surprised. "The heck? You received another impromptu quest?"
"You received it the previous time too. How is your luck that good?"
"I want to come! Count me in!"
Impromptu quests issued by advanced NPCs were similar to manual labor quests, though less time-consuming. Monster-farming players busy killing monsters didn't find these quests as attractive as hunting high-level monsters, though the casual slacker players felt it worthwhile. The few gatherer players put away their trowels, clapped off the dirt from their hands and body, and gleefully went running to Rex.
The tricycles used by the advanced NPCs were loaded with foodstuff. Besides instant noodles, ham sausages, and soon-to-expire canned food, there were also hardier vegetables that could survive this trip, like potatoes, radishes, and winter melons. Six NPCs couldn't eat that much, and the gatherer players had breakfast ready for them in under 20 minutes.
The gatherer left happily with an hour's work of copper coin in hand once done, while Hal and the others, whose stomachs were already growling, sat down to eat.
The food made by these undead couldn't compare to the dishes prepared by those two at the Merchant Association canteen, but it was at least decent. The most skilled cook among this group was Tuttle, who only knew how to stew things randomly, after all.
On the other hand, this bunch of undead could even fry potato slices, ham sausages, and canned luncheon meat with winter melon slices on the spot. The only minor issue was an inability to grasp the right balance of flavors in the seasonings, resulting in food that was occasionally overly salty or bland.
"These undead are rather suited to be chefs," said Tuttle while rubbing his filled belly.
Hal glanced in the direction of the large group of skeletons who had already slain the monsters and was now holding an auction of loot. He shook his head regretfully and muttered, "What a pity that there's Yang. If only we could sell these things in the Kenyan Empire… they'd be worth more than the Outer Continent's orcs."
Mia, who was clearing up the cutlery, shuddered upon hearing this.
Rex: "…"
Had it not been for the fact he didn't want to start a fight with these fellows in front of the undead, he would have advised Hal to tone down on his scumbaggery.
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