Volume 3, Chapter 43 – Mysticism and Science

While Anran was making firearms and High-Energy Explosives in the workshop, there suddenly came a knock at the door.

She stopped what she was doing, set a gun barrel down on the workbench, and only then walked over to the door.

“What is it?”

Standing outside was Gray, looking pleased.

“I’ve got good news for you. Eudora didn’t die. She survived,” Gray said.

“Huh?”

Anran froze. Burned that badly, and she still hadn’t died?

“Then what about the Boss?” Anran quickly asked.

“This…”

Gray fell silent.

Seeing his reaction, Anran already knew the answer.

Sure enough, how could so many good things happen in this world?

Something like fate felt even more real in a game, after all, because many things had already been set in advance by the game planners.

Only as the game progressed would players have a greater and greater influence on it. When that time came, no one knew what direction Night of the Stars would take.

“How is Eudora now?”

Gray said, “Although she was lucky enough to survive, she’s still in intensive care, and no one knows when she’ll wake up. The medical staff found that her body had been wrapped in a layer of bionic tissue and breathable film. That’s why she wasn’t burned to death. Colin probably did it for her before he died.”

Gray let out a sigh.

Anran did not know what to say. After all, her relationship with Eudora was very ordinary, not even at the level of acquaintances.

If only Colin had survived too.

That thought was quickly crushed by Anran. The dead were gone, and what she needed now was to level up to [Basic Mechanic] as soon as possible. Only then would she have the strength to deal with Morningstar’s small squad.

But since Eudora was still alive, she had to tell Aila the news.

“Ding-dong! Story Quest [Mysticism and Science] triggered. This quest has been accepted automatically.”

Huh?

Anran was startled by the sudden game notification.

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A story quest that was forcibly accepted?

After talking a little more, Anran immediately opened the game panel once Gray had left.

[Story Quest] Mysticism and Science

Quest Introduction: Make contact with the story character Eudora and unlock the storyline [Mysticism and Science].

Quest Reward: 1000 EXP.

Quest Rank: D.

Repeatability: Unique.

“?”

This was the first time she had seen a quest like this.

Just unlocking a certain segment of the story would reward 1000 EXP.

It gave her the feeling that this storyline was not simple.

But Eudora still had not escaped danger, so Anran could only suppress her curiosity for the time being.

For the game to issue such a serious prompt meant this was definitely a very important story event.

Seeing that it was getting late, Anran finished the last bit of cleanup, packed her things, and left the workshop.

Her residence was very close to the Research Center. When she got back, Aila was sitting there watching TV in boredom.

So Anran told her that Eudora was still alive.

Aila immediately looked eager to go.

If Anran had not said that they still would not be able to see Eudora right now, she probably would have run off to the hospital by herself.

“Then when will we be able to see Eudora?”

Anran really had no idea. She knew nothing at all about medicine, so she could only answer vaguely, “She’ll be better soon. In a few days, Gray will notify us.”

“Oh.” Aila sounded disappointed.

But there was nothing to be done. She could understand.

Anran still needed 9000 EXP to reach Lv9. Restless and impatient, she did not sit idle. After dinner that evening, she went back to the Research Center again.

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This time, however, she brought Aila with her.

Unable to refuse Aila, Anran could only warn her not to do anything too shocking, such as suddenly grabbing a piece of metal in the workshop and eating it.

Who knew whether there were any pinhole cameras installed in the workshop? That was why Anran had never dared do anything too outrageous there.

She had only been honestly doing mechanical work.

The process of entering the workshop went smoothly, apart from Anran noticing that Morton kept looking at her with some strange expression in his eyes.

“Sit quietly and don’t move around, okay?” Anran said.

After that, she continued making guns.

She did not need many firearms herself, but the extras could all be sold. Even if she did not sell them to players, she could still dump them at a slightly lower price to local gun shops.

Being able to earn EXP on one side and a good amount of money on the other, Mechanic really was the most suitable profession Anran had found for herself so far.

Clink, clink.

A rhythmic sound came from behind her.

Anran, who was assembling an assault rifle, frowned slightly. She finished the final step and gained 400 EXP, then turned around to see what Aila was doing.

“Huh?” The moment she saw it clearly, Anran froze on the spot.

At some point, Aila had started tinkering with a mechanical device.

And on the small table beside her, there was already a transparent glass tube.

The kind with glossy black metal blocks embedded at both ends.

Emmm…

Weren’t these the very same glass tubes embedded in the joints inside Aila’s body?

“Did you make this?” Anran walked over and asked.

“Mhm.”

Aila nodded.

Inside the mechanical device, Anran also saw a half-finished product.

Making herself…

It gave off a rather subtle feeling.

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But at the same time, Anran saw even more possibilities in Aila.

Mechanical fabrication was a very rigorous process.

Having Aila, a robot, do this kind of work was actually more suitable than having her do it.

Then Anran shook her head again. No, that would not do.

Right now, Aila was just “an eleven-year-old little girl.” If someone with that identity turned out to be a mechanical master, people would definitely get suspicious.

Anran could not help sighing. In the end, there were still too many constraints holding them back.

In a world centered on struggle, weakness was often a fault in itself.

“Here, play with this. Don’t make these things here anymore,” Anran said as she handed Aila an assault rifle without any bullets.

“Why?” Aila asked in confusion.

“This is more fun.” Anran pointed at the gun.

“Oh.” Aila nodded.

Anran then went back to her grand gunmaking enterprise.

Selling equipment directly to players would maximize the profits, but the current Anran did not dare expose her identity and location too much. It would be best if she could find a spokesperson. If she could not, then she would keep it simple and sell to stores instead.

…

The next morning, with only a little over a thousand EXP left before leveling up, Anran received a notification from Nine Songs.

Because she had been constantly appearing around the Research Center recently, Nine Songs had no trouble passing the message along to her.

Her identity screening had been approved!

The moment Anran stepped into 97 Qiuyang Road, she received the news.

Only this time, the person handling the handoff with her was not the deputy minister she had met last time.

It was the guide NPC young lady, Huang Yu.

“You can report in tomorrow.”

“I have one more question,” Anran said.

“Go ahead,” Huang Yu said.

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“How did that outlander called ‘Monster Mountain Hermit’ pass the assessment?” Anran wanted to verify her guess.

Huang Yu smiled and said, “I’m not going to tell you that. You can ask her yourself when the time comes. After all, you’ll be teammates from here on out.”

“…”

Uh.

Well, Anran had only just learned that she and Monster Mountain Hermit had been assigned to the same team.

Walking out from Nine Songs, Anran looked at the suddenly increased number of players outside, then raised her head to look at the sky.

The weather in Twinmoon City was still excellent.

Originally, the number of players coming to clear this dungeon had already dropped by quite a lot.

But yesterday, a strategy post had suddenly appeared on No. 1886’s forum.

The poster’s ID was Leading the Escape.

She was the very same girl who had posted a strategy guide before and nearly gotten beaten up at the entrance to Nine Songs because of it.

And now she was back again.

This brand-new strategy post explained in detail three ways to clear the dungeon. Like a shooting star cutting through the night, Leading the Escape used her own personal experience to light up the hearts of countless bewildered players.

This was exactly how this dungeon was meant to be farmed!

For a time, Leading the Escape became a famous top player in No. 1886’s beginner village!

That group of people who had failed to beat her up last time went looking for revenge again in a fury, only to end up at the entrance to a military camp belonging to the Security Department.

In the end, they were beaten senseless by a group of heavily muscled, powerfully built soldier boys.

Every last one of them left covered in dust and dirt, burdened with deep psychological scars, and never dared go looking for trouble again.

“I’ve got 26,000 Free EXP now.”

That night, after putting everything away, Anran checked her panel.

She did not hesitate for long. She immediately spent 20,000 EXP and raised her Apprentice Mechanic level to Lv9.

As for Lv10, she was still more than 20,000 EXP short.

Next came another round of stat allocation.