Chapter 486: The Researchers in the Shop
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
The number of customers in the shop had been increasing gradually, but it wasn't crammed with players yet. After all, few people would go around and promote it on a mass scale.
Right now, the games in the shop could teach much more than simple combat skills like the very beginning.
Of course, compared with players in the Deserted Sea Realm, the customers in the Spiritual State had much greater strength and broader views; some of them understood the laws of nature, and some could make powerful spiritual treasures. Besides, they had found many treasures in the prehistoric relics, and these treasures' power would be destructive if the cultivators could master them.
This was why the ancient families had been observing the situation after they heard about the shop.
After all, they were proud of the stuff in their own families when their descendants told them about the amazing things in this shop. Some of the stuff that they had were left by immortals from ancient times.
They hadn't totally understood their own treasures yet, thus they couldn't spend time on things in a shop.
But now, the situation had changed, and they decided to take a look at the shop together.
Besides, the owner of the shop had revealed his great strength, and it was wise to pay him a visit and establish friendship.
Mr. Fang glanced at the godly weapon fragment on the System Interface and saw the last one. Also, the synchronization time for the weapon 'Beowulf' was used up.
Meanwhile, a lot of system energy was used as well.
"It's not a bad deal." Seeing the number of customers in the shop increasing by many folds, Mr. Fang forced the argument of a good deal to comfort himself.
Today, people of the Tang Family, the Xun Family, and the Wang Family came to visit.
The door opened, and three grey-bearded old men who looked to be about 60 years old walked in; a group of people, male and female, young and old, followed each of them.
The people of the Tang Family all wore black clothes, the people of the Wang Family all wore green and white robes, and the people of the Xun Family all wore purple robes with golden trims.
They looked grand, neat, and orderly with the deportment of big families.
"Great to meet you!"
"It is an honor to meet you!"
Tang Yu and the others brought them a few bowls of instant noodles.
"Hu..."
"Slurp..."
"..."
...
"Xun Family Master, this is indeed a good place." A black-robed elder sat on a couch and watched the bustling customers with a bowl of instant noodles in his hands. "This...um... instant noodle is indeed as effective as they say!"
"In fact, our Little Yu mentioned the shop to me, but I thought it was one of this naughty boy's pranks." One old man lowered his head to eat the instant noodles. "Wow! Let's try all of the things here!"
Xun Tai, the Xun Family Master, was a middle-aged man wearing a luxurious purple robe. With a bowl of instant noodles in his hand, he looked up in the direction of the cabinet. "Aren't those the godly swords from the Sword Tomb?"
He remembered that the ancient families had delivered those swords to the shop after destroying the Heaven-Seeking Sword Palace a few days ago.
"What are you looking at? Granddaddy is an ancient godly sword!" one of the swords made noises.
The people exchanged a look with instant noodles in their hands. "Ugh..."
...
Having finished their instant noodles, these people walked along the corridors with their hands clasped behind their backs and toured the shop, followed by their disciples and elders.
On some screens, they saw little people with weapons; one of them had a big ax in hand, battling with a white hog that was about 30 centimeters taller than the average height of humans.
On some screens, some figures were fighting monsters with dark-purple swords.
They even saw a big white deer.
Many of them blinked, wondering if their eyes were playing tricks on them.
Finally, they stopped behind a white-haired old man.
"Old Academy Master?" On his screen was a simple box, and the icon of a penguin was jumping in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
"What's he doing?" Some family masters asked in surprise.
Battles are easier to understand, but what is this thing? It only has one box, showing some words.
"He's chatting on QQ!"
On Gu Tingyun's screen, several people's messages appeared beside several names.
Gu Tingyun typed, [Um... This Holiness, you just said that people can use the laws of nature that they understand to build a special zone around them. Can it really be realized?]
Ms. Spirit replied, [😒What Holiness? He's just a Smirk Face Emoji. This thing is difficult to realize but not impossible.]
The one with the ID of 'Unrivalled Almighty' and the profile photo of a smirk face emoji yelled, [Who? Who are you talking about? Who are you calling a smirk face emoji?!]
Then, it continued, [It's difficult for you, a dumb little girl. But for me, it's a piece of cake!]
[Look! Someone's boasting so hard that cows can even fly!]
"..."
While they chatted animatedly in the group chat, the family masters who were watching from behind exchanged a look of bafflement.
Building a zone with the laws of nature around themselves? What's this for?
Confused, they continued the tour and wandered to somewhere else.
They saw that a few elders of the Heavenly Academy sitting near Gu Tingyun were also chatting with this thing.
They were talking in the Artifact Master Advanced Communication Group.
Li Haoran said, [Good news! Great news! Our Daoist Alliance made a breakthrough in the Gauss-Related Research Project!]
The Baoping Spiritual Master asked, [What breakthrough? We've been stuck here for a long time.]
Tang Yu chimed in, [Yeah. I pulled apart the guns in the game and tried to mimic them, but I couldn't do it. I don't know what the problem is, and the shop owner acts mysterious and wouldn't tell me anything when I ask him questions.]
Li Haoran said, [😀 Do you remember the scientist that we rescued in Grand Theft Auto 5? The weapon expert with a lot of titles?]
Baoping Spiritual Master typed, [We don't have this game! What happened? Did he give you the blueprint?]
Li Haoran replied, [😀 No, he didn't do that. He wouldn't tell us the key parts and only mentioned that the Gauss cannons had been replaced by railguns long ago. Anyway, I got some information and made a small toy.]
Then, Li Haoran uploaded a short video in which he injected lightning energy into a Gauss gun with four coils and then pressed a button through a device.
Snap!
A teacup in front of him was shattered.
"What is good about this thing?" The family masters asked in disdain.
"Master, if we don't hurry, there won't be seats left," someone reminded them.
"..."
"Have you decided? Which game are you going to play?" They immediately went online.
...
"Boss, what do you think of a big netizen meetup?" Jiang Xiaoyue suggested with some excitement; obviously, she had been planning this in the group for a long time.
"A big netizen meetup?" Mr. Fang stroked his chin. "It sounds good. But, do you want the cultivators and warriors of the Deserted Sea Realm to come over here? It might be a problem."
"Didn't you say that you used some innate ability to go to the Deserted Sea Realm? And you couldn't take others?"
"What? You want to pass the Heavenly Forbidden Zones?" At this moment, the godly swords hanging on the bamboo stick opened their mouths; they seemed to know something about it.
Chapter 487: People from Exotic Realm
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
"Ugh?" Jiang Xiaoyue curiously glanced at these self-proclaimed ancient godly swords.
Tink! She flicked her little finger on the ridge of a sword and tilted her head curiously, "Could it be that this sword knows how to pass it?"
"Of course, I do." The sword named Qing Ming swayed on the bamboo stick, and threads of black murderous spirit rose and condensed into two arms. It brought its arms to its 'chest' and 'glanced' at Jiang Xiaoyue with cold arrogance before saying in a deep voice, "Little Girl, don't you know that you must show your respect when you ask a senior a question...?"
"Ugh..." Suddenly, the little girl was replaced by Mr. Fang.
Embarrassed, it immediately said, "Um... since you are a master who overpowered me with your sword techniques, I will go against my rules and give you some clues."
Mr. Fang was at a loss for words.
"It was long, long ago." This ancient longsword spread its hands, looking reminiscent.
Behind Mr. Fang, many people including Zong Wu and Jiang Xuan stopped their games and leaned over with eagerness, wanting to know more.
Mr. Fang glanced at the group of people behind him in exasperation. "What are you doing?"
"..."
"It was the era when my master, who created me, and I fought together. At that time, there were way more powerful cultivators besides people like you..." Its voice was deep and ancient, as if it were telling an epic story of the distant past.
Mr. Fang wiped sweat off his forehead and said, "Stop boasting about yourself... get to the point."
Zong Wu and the others craned their necks to listen.
"It... it..." This black ancient sword with stains of rust seemed to be organizing its words.
Choking for a while, it almost had sweat popping out on its body. Finally, it blurted out, "It's a place even I, a godly sword, can't explain clearly!"
"!!??"
"Damn it! I waited so long, and you are telling me this?!" Mr. Fang's face turned dark, feeling like he was going to beat someone.
The black sword squeezed out a few more words as if someone was trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube. "I had the honor to pass a sea realm in the Heavenly Forbidden Zones. When I traveled across it, I wasn't able to see the sun, the moon, or other stars for months. Even the cultivators who excelled in future prediction and calculation couldn't tell the directions."
Zong Wu, the Castellan of Yuanyang City, exclaimed, "Someone indeed ventured into that place?"
Mr. Fang asked, "Ugh? Is it so rare?"
"..."
Then, they heard the sword adding a few more details, "The storms in the ocean were much more powerful than the powerful sharp wind above the high sky. We saw water walls that were thousands of meters high and huge holes to the bottom of the sea; we even encountered monsters we never saw before. You can never imagine how hard we had fought."
"Ugh?" Mr. Fang glanced around at the people who craned their necks to listen.
"So..." Zong Wu lamented, "So dangerous!"
"Senior, you had ventured into such a dangerous place." As an elder of the Heavenly Academy, Elder Yu had obviously heard about some stories about it. "I didn't realize that it would be so unimaginably dangerous."
"Do you think this guy is BSing?" Mr. Fang asked.
"Not likely. According to the legends, the place to the north of the Heavenly Abyss Sea has always been ominous. The only method of passing that zone recorded in the books is the spatial shifting teleportation with the teleportation array from the prehistoric times," Elder Yu said, "No one has ever imagined of traveling through the Heavenly Forbidden Zones."
The other elders of the Heavenly Academy nodded and showed their agreement. "In other words, we must connect these two areas with a teleportation array if we want to hold this netizen meetup."
"Can't we... go in and open a path?" Mr. Fang suggested tentatively, "It's the most convenient method, right?"
"..." All the other people's faces turned green at this idea. "It's best... to build a teleportation array."
Mr. Fang stroked his chin. "Then, who knows how to build this type of teleportation array?"
"This..." Elder Yu said, "Senior Zixiao had an ancient teleportation array. Unfortunately, after Senior Zixiao disappeared, that ancient array was destroyed by a natural disaster. It will take a lot of manpower and resources to repair it."
Subconsciously, Mr. Fang reached for his wallet. "Will it cost a lot?"
"Um..." Zong Wu and the others exchanged a look. "If all the ancient families contribute, the cost will be little to them."
"Good..." They began to plan this grand netizen meetup.
...
– Meanwhile, in the sky above Yuanyang City –
Roars of rare beasts suddenly sounded from the distant sky as if some powerful killers were poking their heads from the clouds.
In the spacious Cloud Ocean Square outside Yuanyang City, many cultivators were pointing at the distant sky and chattering. Soon, a huge beast poked its head from the clouds.
A roar resonated in the sky.
Then, all kinds of strange beasts flew toward Cloud Ocean Square like gales.
"Over there! What's that?!"
A huge lizard-like beast covered in black scales was in the lead; it had two horns on its forehead, and its black wings spread out and fluttered, creating powerful winds around it.
"It seems to be a horned dragon of the western barbarians!" one cultivator yelled.
The huge body of the beast in the lead landed on Cloud Ocean Square, and its sturdy and sharp claws left deep cuts in the ground when it landed as if it were scratching tofu.
"Are they western barbarians?!"
"Western barbarians?!"
All the cultivators backed off, observing with wide-open eyes. They had heard about the barbarians in the northwest, but they hadn't seen one before.
The man in the lead was about 40 years old with a chiseled, handsome face; he looked like a marble statue. His golden hair glittered in the sun, and he looked imposing and powerful.
With a whistle, a young man who was about 20 years old and had red and brown hair landed from the sky on a horned dragon next. He looked exotic, flippant, and somewhat wicked. "Look! Are these the ancient and elegant oriental people that you mentioned, Big Brother? How come they are all backing away from us like mice seeing cats?"
"Sister Sia, are you disappointed in our rash journey?"
A horned dragon with red scales, three horns, and golden pupils slowly landed beside him. On it was a woman wearing silver armor, a red dress, and a bull-horn-shaped helmet. She was also carrying a giant, strange-shaped sword on her waist.
She took off her helmet, revealing a chiseled and exotically beautiful face.
In the next moment, they saw a scene that they couldn't imagine on their own!
"Look!"
Silver sword energies shot out from the city, and they formed a curtain of light, creating a dazzling show of colorful lights. With speed undetectable by the naked eye, the sword energies created streaks of silver afterimages and elegant arcs before landing on the platform. They were cultivators of Yuanyang City who were wearing silver warrior armor and Daoist robes.
They looked extremely elegant standing on flying swords that emitted spiritual lights.
"Big brother," the red-haired man froze for a moment and said, "Are these guards warriors or cultivators?"
Beside him, the blond-haired man was also dazed.
He felt like...
Subconsciously, this man looked down at the horned dragon beneath him.
The horned dragon pulled back its paws. Then, it looked down at its huge paws and seemed to be wondering if it could also fly this way.
Chapter 488: Go and Scout Out That Shop
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
"Duan Mude, the Honorable Captain of the Yuanyang City Guards and the Executive Elder of the Heavenly Academy."
The cultivator in the lead was wearing a silver robe; he was one of the cultivators who had witnessed Fang Qi destroying the sword slaves with Castellan Zong Wu at Cloud Ocean Square.
"Seth Mogus Blackdragon from the Black Dragon Family in Ultimate West Realm." The man who was older than the others and looked about 40 years old spoke. He had blond curly hair, he looked bright, and he was fluent in the native language of the Spiritual State.
Although the cultivators in the Spiritual State called them western barbarians, they wouldn't call themselves 'barbarians'. They usually referred to themselves as people of the Ultimate West Realm or Ultimate West Land.
These people had borrowed the term 'families' from the cultivators in the Spiritual State. They had four big families, and this man came from the Black Dragon Family, which was one of the four.
In fact, the languages of the people from the Spiritual State and the Deserted Sea Realm; they were similar with only a few differences. The people of the Ultimate West Realm had their own language, and some of them had learned and mastered the language of the Spiritual State.
Some of them had even given themselves names using the language of the Spiritual State. For example, Seth said, "You can also call me Luo Piaoling."
Luo Piaoling had excellent manners. Some of them put extra emphasis on good manners probably because they knew that they were called barbarians.
Of course, others just acted as what people of the Spiritual State expected them to be. The red-haired young man beside Luo Piaoling tried to speak using the language of the Spiritual State, but it sounded strange and awkward, "The swords are so slim that they can't even be used as toothpicks. Aren't you afraid that you will fall from them?"
"Not at all." Duan Mude landed slowly. With one hand casting a sword spell, his flying sword grew bigger than the double-handed broad sword that these visitors were using. "With this wondrous sword control technique, even a person with a big body can stand on it."
Then, he moved his fingers, and the sword immediately split into two and then to four. "You can even fly with others if you want; it all depends on your skill."
The visitors were dazed.
"This is the second son of the Frost Dragon Family Master."
"You can call me with my Spiritual State name." The red-haired handsome young man leaped down from the horned dragon and proudly interrupted the introduction. "Before I came here, I gave myself a name to use in the Spiritual State."
In case you don't understand my grand and majestic real name, he thought.
Duan Mude was secretly relieved that he didn't have to memorize the weird names of the western barbarians; they were all strange to him. He immediately asked about it.
The handsome red-head said with cold arrogance, "Lei Dazhuang!" [TL Note: Dazhuang means big and strong, but it is a bad-sounding name is Chinese.]
Duan Mude's face twitched. "... Good name!"
"Of course!" Lei Dazhuang said proudly, "I know that in your language, 'zhuang' means powerful and masters. Of course, Dazhuang means the master among masters."
"..." Duan Mude gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Young Master, you have an excellent name."
Luo Piaoling was standing on the side, and his face twitched as well.
Then, he introduced the valiant-looking woman who was wearing a red dress and silver armor, "This is Ms. Sia of the Red Dragon Family."
Duan Mude nodded at her slightly. This woman was a genius even among the barbarians who focused on the path of the warrior. She had reached the King Warrior Realm at such a young age.
"This is Elder Andrew of our Black Dragon Family." He gestured toward an old man who was wearing black armor and had a brown mustache.
"This is Elder Lu Mingwei of the Red Dragon Family." He pointed at a middle-aged man with long hair reaching his shoulder and said, "His ancestors came from the Spiritual State."
...
"Please come in!" After the introductions and greetings, Duan Mude asked in a low voice, "Where's Castellan Zong?"
"He went to the internet café to take a seat... he told us to send him a message to his communication jade when the visitors come..."
"..." Duan Mude's face turned dark. "I'll take you guys to the Taiwang Inn to rest; we'll go to the Heavenly Academy tomorrow."
...
– Meanwhile, in the Origins Internet Club –
Li Haoran asked, [Do you plan to rebuild the teleportation array?]
In fact, there were teleportation arrays in the Legend of the Sword and Fairy and Diablo 2.
Even the Legend of Mir 2 had random teleportation and instant teleportation spells.
The most convenient method was the teleportation magic spell in Harry Potter. With enough energy, it was faster to move from one zone to another than the sword control technique.
Of course, if one failed, one could lose a limb or a body part, which made it not suitable for battles.
At the current stage, the best option was the teleportation technology in Diablo.
It could be a spatial portal or an array disk; it was a very mature system.
However, the teleportation arrays in Diablo had drawbacks. For example, the people who wanted to use them must pass them and light up the array on the other side before they could be teleported to the exact location.
Only the type of teleportation gates in the mysterious Sanctuary in Act II of Diablo could teleport people without meeting those criteria.
If this kind of teleportation arrays was developed, people could be even teleported to another world, but it was quite difficult for these cultivators to research and make.
The only good news was that Heavenly Academy had the expertise to build one type of teleportation arrays.
...
"I'm surprised that this shop even defeated the Nangong Family and those few godly swords." On the shore of the Heavenly Abyss Sea, black winds howled. The black figure standing on the cliff by the sea said after a pause, "Only three godly swords came out from the Nangong Family, but two of them are on the immortal-slayer-level."
"Does it mean that the opponent's strength is above the immortal-slayer-level?" The black figure sounded greedy. "The pair of Daoist eyes gave him so much power? No... it should belong to us!"
The chilly rainfall and blowing breeze made it sound like someone was whispering. A ghost-like figure said, "My spies brought me news. They are going to repair the teleportation array."
"We can't let them repair the array." His voice was as faint as a breeze while his words whispered in the sky, "We can't let them find out the truth about that person's downfall... at least, not now."
"If this person with strength on the immortal-slayer-level combines his power with those of the ancient families..." The ghost-like figure said, "We might not be able to defeat them for sure."
"Damn it..." The black shadow said with hatred, "Our clan has arrived at the last moment after scheming for many years; we must get them! Otherwise, we will... turn into ashes in tribulations..."
A murderous spirit appeared around them, and it seemed like no one could stop him as he was determined to do whatever he must even at the price of his life.
"Then..." Their voices got even fainter until vanishing in the darkness. The last words seemed to be, "Let's go into that shop and test the waters..."
Chapter 489: Plan
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Fang Qi glanced at the task list on the System Interface. He had completed the second task of establishing dominance and obtained the rewards.
Mr. Fang dreaded turning the Fortune Prize Wheel since he still remembered that he almost got a bag of potato chips when he turned it the last time.
However, Fang Qi glanced at the items listed on the wheel and saw the high-level items included Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Orochi's Blood, Random Bloodline Elixir, and a Godly Weapon Fragment. These items would stay on the wheel. Mr. Fang had turned the wheel several times and saw these items many times as well.
As for the low-end items such as potato chips, they would usually only stay on the wheel once. They would be replaced randomly by other things even if they were not drawn.
This time, the spot for the potato chip was replaced by Cappuccino, and the Dove chocolate was also switched off.
Mr. Fang had no choice but to lower his head and turn the Fortune Prize Wheel.
The needle on the wheel swiftly turned and then gradually slowed down until it came to the zone of the high-end items.
Godly weapon fragment...
Passed.
Orochi's Blood...
Mr. Fang's face turned dark when the needle passed it too.
The needle moved even slower, and the next item was Cappuccino.
"F*ck!"
Snap! The needle moved a bit further in the end and stopped at a strange machine.
[Beep! Host, congratulations on getting a 'Norton's Disassembler'. This machine offers services with fees.]
[TL Note: The Chinese version of Dungeon Fighter Online seems to be a little different compared to the North American version. Therefore, we translated the terminologies to the best of our abilities.]
"Ahh!?" Mr. Fang froze for a few seconds as he glanced at the strange machine that looked like a cupboard. "Norton's Disassembler?"
He felt puzzled, and his vision almost darkened. Wait, I don't even have the game yet! The disassembler' is in place already?
In Dungeon Fighter Online, it was well known that alchemy reached an ultimate high level. In this game, players could even disassemble equipment and crystals; that went to show how advanced this technology was.
Through alchemy, most of the items in the game could be disassembled and made into various colored crystals with different elements or colorless small crystals. Using these crystals of different categories, players could create new equipment.
The colorless small crystals could be understood as mediums or sorcerers' magic crystals.
These crystals had steady and dense structures, which made them extremely important products of alchemy. While ignoring other features, they could act as medium or buffers which were a necessity for using many skills in the game.
Fang Qin didn't know if the skills recreated by the System were like those in the original game. In the original game, once the players that focused on close-range combat went over level 30, they all required colorless small crystals as a medium to use the more powerful skills.
However, in terms of mages, the mage players must cast spells through the mediums, which was the common feature of most systems of mages and sorcerers.
"..." Mr. Fang at a loss for words, wondered why he was given this item before the game was released; it only made sense if this item came after.
He had to accept it anyway since it was his prize...
The only good news was that Fang Qi would get the majority of the income earned from this machine including activation fees and service fees. After all, it was his prize.
In other words, this item would bring him more income later on, but he had to put it away for now.
Another task had stayed on Mr. Fang's System Interface for a long time.
It was the task to unlock the new online game, Dungeon Fighter Online. The number of the sci-fic games and movies including Resident Evil the movie, Resident Evil the game, Grand Thief Auto 5, The Matrix, and StarCraft had reached 5; the earlier ones had far surpassed 1,000 activations.
With more players entering the two old shops, GTA 5, the game with the highest degree of freedom in the sci-fi genre, had more than 6,000 activations.
Despite this game not being that helpful towards improving strength, it was casual, relaxing, and open. The players could get familiar with the functions of modern objects, and the artifact masters, cultivators, and warriors could also learn basic knowledge about the machines in this game.
It was why many cultivators tried this game even though its style was not to their tastes.
For example, Tang Yu had dismantled the marines' guns while he played StarCraft and spent some time on trying to mimic them but couldn't find a way. However, Li Haoran could make a breakthrough in this research with his advantage in the basic knowledge that he learned from Grand Thief Auto 5.
The newly-released StarCraft had a sharp increase in sales lately. As for 'The Matrix', its activation number had reached the target set by the task before the release of StarCraft.
The goal of promoting sci-fi world views was temporarily completed.
As for the goal of unlocking the magic world views, Diablo 2 had been popular for a while now. The movie series including Harry Potter and the Hobbit were not as popular, but the fourth movie of Harry Potter had been released and the first movie of the Hobbit was released; each of them still had many fans.
The basic knowledge of runes and spells in the movies and games were helpful to the viewers. For example, the knowledge in Diablo 2 helped cultivators with the research of magic instillation and teleportation arrays. On top of that, spells such as teleportation and transfiguration had their own advantages.
In a magnificent palace in the inner section of Half City, a demonic woman with brown hair and green eyes stretched lazily and waved her magic wand. In the next moment, she already appeared before the shop.
"It's been a long while since I saw the young Mr. Fang..." She reached out her slim hand to push open the door and entered the shop.
This was the advantage of the teleportation spell shown in Harry Potter. It had limitations in some areas and was even dangerous sometimes, but it was obviously very useful.
Mr. Fang sneezed, and he wondered who was thinking of him. Anyway, including Diablo 2, Devil May Cry, Harry Potter, and the Hobbit, he was only one step away from reaching the goal of the magic world views.
[TL Note: In Chapter 426, the author mentioned that 8 movies and games were required for magic world views, but it is now down to 5 here. We think that the author made a typo in Chapter 426 and will issue the correction.]
...
After completing the last task, he had also obtained an elevation of privileges. Fang Qi saw a tree-shaped graph on the System Interface after his privileges were upgraded.
With this graph, he didn't need the System to send him tasks. Instead, he could see on the System Interface what he would do to develop the internet café and what benefits he would get.
For example, the three shops had all reached the limit for expansion. Fang Qi could calculate through the tree-shaped graph what degree of expansion he should make before he could get new rewards.
This way, he could make his own plans instead of solely relying on getting tasks from the System.
Chapter 490: Lecture on QQ
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
"Expand the Jiuhua City Shop to 8,000 seats...? Expand the Half City Shop to 6,500 seats and the Yuanyang City Shop to...1,000. With all that and making sure the seat occupancy rates are no lower than 70% at peak times, I will obtain the achieve 'First Stage Prosperity', get the right to sell iced red tea, and choose a movie or a game?" Fang Qi guessed that he would get benefits if he expanded the shops, and he sure found one achievement.
"Can I choose a movie or a game on my own will?" Fang Qi scratched his head and saw the instruction specifying that the movie or game he chose must have a lower power level compared to those of the existent games and movies. It meant that his decision wasn't unbounded.
Compared with the tasks such as establishing dominance, the things that Fang Qi now needed to do were a little trivial.
Of course, 'trivial' didn't mean 'unnecessary'.
– In the Jiuhua City Shop –
With the increase in customers, two employees for each shop were not enough to deal with the daily business as there were too many players.
The situation was now completely different from when the Legend of Mir 2 was just released.
When the Legend of Mir 2 was just released, there were indeed large numbers of players, but they were mostly disciplined like the soldiers of the Jiuhua Army and Royal Guards which managed their people with strict rules, thus giving little extra burden to the shop.
But now, many elite disciples from different factions and families entered the shop. At the peak times, nearly 10,000 players passed each shop's gate.
The shops were only organized thus far since the shop employees were cultivators; they were nimbler in both movements and minds and could multitask. If they were ordinary people, they would have been overwhelmed by now.
The System seemed to have no intention of handling this problem. Instead, it tossed the problem to Mr. Fang who had obtained an elevation of privileges and could operate on his own, as the System described.
"..." Mr. Fang was feeling pain as he muttered in puzzlement, "Didn't you say that I'm responsible for outside business and you will manage the business inside the shops? I haven't finished conquering the world yet, and you put this burden on me. Do you think it's fair?"
"Then, what's your job now? Staying idle? As a system, you can't continue in this idle lifestyle."
System didn't respond.
If the System had a face, it must be dark right now.
"Come on, give me a suggestion." Finally, Mr. Fang revealed his intention.
Silence.
After a long pause, the System seemed to give in and spat out some words reluctantly, [With your current privileges, you can recruit employees by yourself.]
Mr. Fang was at a loss for words.
The System didn't offer anything useful and 'bicker' back. Mr. Fang viewed the System's action in disdain.
Do I need you to tell me the obvious?
Mr. Fang had no choice but to consider the issue of employee recruitment. Right now, the Yuanyang City Shop had more than enough employees.
But in the other two shops...
He must solve the problem of employees before expanding the shops.
He must put out notices of recruitment first.
...
Mr. Fang handled the trivial matters in the shop and didn't have time to mind other things.
Meanwhile, the players in the three shops were busy preparing for the Netizen Meetup.
Right now, Su Tianji was talking to her disciples in Liuyun Daoist Palace, "Fenghua! Yuexin! Which robe do you think is the best for me to wear on my journey to the Spiritual State?"
In her room behind Tianji Palace, Su Tianji was putting a white Daoist skirt and a blue Daoist robe against her body to compare.
Her two disciples looked embarrassed.
Obviously, idle people like them were not qualified to join the construction team for the teleportation array, and so they had lots of free time.
Class A of the Huang House in Lingyun Academy, where Nalan Mingxue and Song Qingfeng were at, had become the elite class of Lingyun Academy. Mu Hongzhu, the combat technique instructor, had become one of the elite instructors as well.
These young people came out from the practice field in high spirits.
"Young Master Song, should we go to the Spiritual State this time?" Lin Shao was dressed in black clothes and wore black boots; he had been dressing like this after watching 'The Matrix'.
"Of course!" These young people had reached the Grandmaster Warrior Realm. Song Qingfeng practiced two fist techniques and said, "I feel like I'm unrivaled!"
Lin Shao murmured, "Senior Sister Zixin beat you senseless yesterday, eh?"
Xu Luo stopped him. "Hush! Don't expose him."
Song Qingfeng was feeling a little smug.
...
The elite young warriors from the three academies in Dajin were also the most experienced players; they were the main guests invited by the Heavenly Academy. Shengjing Academy and Xiyi Academy were invited along with Lingyun Academy.
Compared with their peers of Lingyun Academy, the disciples of Xiyi Academy and Shengjing Academy were more nervous.
They had played games in the internet café for a long time but had only competed with their own peers; they never had battled with outside people.
In the last competition, the disciples from these two academies had been defeated by their peers from the Lingyun Academy. This time, they were determined not to repeat their shameful experience!
"Senior Brother, are you sure that you can win?" some disciples were whispering among themselves outside of the shop.
"Don't worry! I've cultivated for so long in the shop. Besides, our Dajin Royal Family has improved the Gold Raven Scroll!" Fifth Prince Ji Yang was among them, and he laughed with arrogance while saying, "It's said that the western barbarians are visiting the Spiritual State; we finally get the chance to show our abilities!"
"Fifth Prince, you are a great genius!" someone praised, "You are not 30 yet, but you have reached such a high level in the Martial Dao!"
"Of course."
Behind them, Nalan Hongwu walked out of the shop, patting Liang Heihu, an instructor at Shengjing Academy, on the shoulder. This Old Duke said, "Heihu, you are the best among the instructors of Shengjing Academy. It's said that in the Spiritual State, cultivators under 150 years old and warriors under 100 years old are counted as the young generation. At your age, you can join this competition."
"His Majesty has told me this. The younger disciples under 30 can go there and just watch."
The Fifth Prince who was walking before them looked back at them with wide-open eyes. "..."
...
In the Artifact Masters Group Chat, people were working harder and way more professionally.
The artifact masters from different forces were the main strength in making the Cross-Regional Netizen Meetup possible. The forces included Xuanzhong Manor and Yuxu Mountain, which had inherited the original array disk of the ancient teleportation array and had begun talking about the building plan of the new teleportation array.
Gu Tingyun created a group chat in QQ, and many artifact masters from the Half City Shop and the Jiuhua City Shop joined the group. He sat before the computer and said solemnly, [I'll explain the structure of the teleportation array in detail.]
The Baoping Spiritual Master said, [Guys, we've successfully made the new communication jade based on your blueprint of the jade-slip-style communication jade.]
In her hand was a communication jade bigger than the ordinary ones. It could not only send messages but also upload the information stored in the jade slips to QQ.
Gu Tingyun added, [I have brought you a lot of documents about building the array.]
The lecture began on QQ.