Book 4: Chapter 19: Arknights’s Most Precious Gift
He Who Knows Fate: I’ve arrived at block D. I was initially lost, but I ran into my neighbor, a young lady called Blue Poison. She is pretty cute. However, I can’t figure out why she is on the fourth floor.
Kal’tsit: The young lady called Blue Poison is the Sniper that I mentioned earlier, the one whom ordinary operators misunderstand to be covered in toxins.
He Who Knows Fate: …
Kal’tsit: Of course, these are just rumors. Although the operators who do not know the truth do not ostracize her because of that, they do not take the initiative to befriend her, so she is quite lonely on Rhodes Island.
God Sai: She does not have friends? How pitiful.
He Who Knows Fate: I suddenly realized that my life has completely changed since I joined the Dimension Administrators Association.
Solomon: Isn’t that normal?
17-Year-Old Beautiful Young Lady: Whose life would remain the same?
Queen of Ice and Snow: I feel my current life is quite good. I play games and read every day. If I have nothing to do, I can go to another world for a holiday and complete a mission while there.
Magus of Flowers: That’s right! That’s right! You can even work as a virtual idol to trick those shut-ins.
Solomon: Merlin, screw you! Do you hear me? Screw you!
Magus of Flowers: Oh! I just remembered. My most loyal fan is in this group.
I Have a Strong Presence: I keep feeling Merlin is doing this on purpose.
Solomon: Tell me, how blind must I have been to think highly of this virtual idol? There are so many pretty women in the world, but I watched only Magi Mari.
Magus of Flowers: Isn’t it because of my irresistible natural beauty?
Solomon: Irresistible, my ass. I’ll never believe you are Magi Mari.
Efreet: Even now, Doctor Roman is still living in his fantasy.
Magus of Flowers: Doctor, let me shatter your fantasy. I will give you a shout-out later.
Lord of the White Night: What are you going to shout out?
Magus of Flowers: Naturally, I will thank all the loyal fans for their support over such a long time, especially a certain Doctor.
Solomon: Ah! Damn! This great me can’t take this any longer. I’m leaving! I’m leaving. I’m leaving this place of hurt.
He Who Knows Fate: …Poor Doctor. He would have been better off not knowing the story, only finding out in the seventh chapter. That way, he would have been free of worries after a while. Do you think…that Doctor Roman self-detonated in the end because he found out Magi Mari was Merlin?
Efreet: Now that you mention it, this guess might be possible.
Lord of the White Night: Why guess? Just ask @Solomon.
Solomon: What now? I just left.
He Who Knows Fate: We are discussing the Final Singularity. Did you destroy yourself because you found out Merlin was Mari?
Solomon: …I beg you, please be nice. Stop whipping the dead horse. I’m already very miserable.
He Who Knows Fate: …
Umaru-chan: @Kal’tsit, when will you have costumes in the game?
Kal’tsit: ???
Umaru-chan: That game called Arknights. When will you have a costume? Furthermore, how many stars are you?
Kal’tsit: How would I know such a thing?
Umaru-chan: But you are Kal’tsit.
Kal’tsit: That is unreasonable, right?
Umaru-chan: I don’t care. Kal’tsit, my waifu!
Kal’tsit: …
Umaru-chan: Exusiai is also my waifu. Mostima is also my waifu.
[TL Note: Mostima’s profile: /wiki/Mostima/Story.]
He Who Knows Fate: What about Blue Poison?
Umaru-chan: Blue Poison is also my waifu!
He Who Knows Fate: Then good. Umaru-chan, listen up. Your waifu is now in my hands. If you don’t want anything to happen to her, send 1,000,000 points to my account.
Umaru-chan: …
Kal’tsit: …
Umaru-chan: I suddenly want to go to Kal’tsit’s world too, but I have classes. Unlike on missions, personal travel does not have that stupendous time dilation.
He Who Knows Fate: Speaking of which, I have not played Arknights yet.
Umaru-chan: I’ll let you know first that Arknights’s levels are ridiculously difficult.
He Who Knows Fate: Oh! What kind of game is Arknights?
Umaru-chan: Tower defense. Let me tell you a secret. If you cannot beat a level, you can go to the Arknights’s forums. There are strategies posted there.
He Who Knows Fate: What a joke! How could someone as smart as me fail to clear the levels of a tower defense?
Kal’tsit: Your tactical acumen is Flawed.
He Who Knows Fate: …Excellent. I’m going to play it now. Whenever Kal’tsit appears, I will keep drawing it.
Kal’tsit: …I told you to play Arknights to understand the story, not for you to draw my card.
He Who Knows Fate: I don’t care. I want to draw it. I’m going to play Arknights now. No one stop me.
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“What kind of trashy game is this? Why is this broken tower defense game so difficult? Don’t you know this great me’s tactical acumen is Flawed? This trashy game is ruining my youth! It is wasting my time and money. Also, this Lungmen Downtown. Just one unit passes, and I have to restart. Furthermore, the fast-forward rate is so slow! This is frustrating….”
After Chen Heng got stuck on a level, he became angry and wanted to throw his phone. However, he was not playing it on his phone, which upset him even more.
“Should I look at the forums? Just one look.” Eventually, Chen Heng could not resist and opened the gamer’s forums, access to which was free with the purchase of the game.
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Three hours later:
For the first time, Chen Heng realized the most important gift when buying Arknights was not the 10,000,000 LMD, the 100,000 Orundum, the 10,000 Strategic Battle Records, or the rare materials but the forum access filled with all sorts of strange strategies.
[TL Note: Arknights has multiple forms of currency earned in different ways and used for different purposes. Orundum is one of them. Here is a guide on all the Arknights currencies: https://gamepress.gg/arknights/core-gameplay/arknights-currency-and-shop-guide. Strategic Battle Records is the highest-tiered of the four Battle Records, which are used together with LMD to give EXP to operators. Here is more information on Battle Records: /wiki/Item/Battle_Record.]
Also, Chen Heng would like to say: Blue Poison, my waifu!
This time, Chen Heng stopped topping up the game with points after spending one point on buying the game. Instead, he played the game properly, relying on himself to progress. Strangely, the first time he drew from a pack of ten, which guaranteed a six-star operator, he drew Nightingale, Shining, Warfarin, Blue Poison, Exusiai, and Texas. This…
Putting everything else aside, Exusiai is quite pretty.
Looking at the situation, had I met more six-star operators before playing, would I have drawn ten six-star operators?
Knock-knock-knock!
“He Who Knows Fate, it’s dinner time. Do you want to go together?”
Chen Heng’s waifu, Blue Poison, had come.
“Coming!”
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Chen Heng and Blue Poison sat across from each other in the canteen, having dinner and a box of biscuits he purchased out of his pocket.
Chen Heng noticed no one sat within five meters of Blue Poison and himself. Everyone even cast strange gazes over occasionally.
He sensed no malice in these gazes, just some fear. This piqued his curiosity.
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