Volume 3, Chapter 44 – This Bunch of Unreliable Adults

Though she called it allocating points, after checking her stats, Anran decided to save her attribute points for now instead.

Some skills had attribute requirements to learn them. If she put points into the wrong stat and ended up unable to learn the skill she wanted, that would be a huge loss.

Right now, Anran did not urgently need these few attribute points.

Although her attributes had not increased any further, several more of her skills had leveled up during her constant mechanical work.

Basic Mechanical Theory had reached Lv3, while Basic Assembly and Basic Mechanical Mastery had both reached Lv2, raising their efficiency bonus from 3% to 5%.

And Basic Mechanical Enhancement was not far from Lv2 either.

Enhancement-type skills looked pretty underwhelming in the early stages, but once they reached higher levels, they began to show their value.

A 100% boost could sometimes turn the tide of battle.

Not to mention Overload, the advanced skill that could multiply the power of machinery.

Those were the skills Anran was focusing on leveling right now.

[Apprentice Mechanic] itself did not have any active attack skills.

Generally speaking, it was a logistics profession in the early game, and it also burned through money.

But once it advanced into [Basic Mechanic], it could start using some more advanced mechanical equipment.

Not to mention that a Mechanic who developed well into the later stages could become an army alone, one person crushing an entire fleet.

Of course, in Night of the Stars, while the professions were not perfectly balanced, they were not as exaggerated as that sounded, either.

The demands on player skill were still very strict.

Besides, as the versions kept updating, the devs were constantly adjusting every profession and continuously adding new content.

A profession that dominated the world in one version could very well get nerfed into mediocrity after a minor patch.

That kind of thing was all too common in online games.

So there was no need for players to chase whichever profession happened to be popular at a given time. It was enough to follow their own hearts and choose what they wanted.

And if they really could not take it anymore, they could always delete the character and start over.

Anran had already set her goal for herself: steadily move forward on the path of the Mechanic.

Once she found those collections of hers in the future, she could unlock a few stronger professions as well to make up for her weakness in close combat.

…

“Aila, remember to watch the house properly!” Anran reminded Aila before leaving.

“Mm.” Aila nodded.

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Anran waved to her, then slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the designated place.

With Aila’s overall qualities, she could absolutely be trained into an excellent fighter.

But Anran had no such intention for the time being.

In Anran’s eyes, Aila was not a tool.

The gathering point was not on Qiuyang Road, but at a training base in the near suburbs.

By the time Anran reached the gate, someone was already there waiting for her.

“Hello, I’m the team’s logistics officer, Chu Yuan. You’re the new member, Anran, right?” The moment Chu Yuan saw Anran, he immediately walked over with a smile.

Though he hid it well, Anran still caught the surprise in his eyes.

In fact, Chu Yuan had already seen pictures of both Anran and Monster Mountain Hermit beforehand, which was why he recognized Anran immediately.

Just as “frail” as in the photo.

That thought flashed through Chu Yuan’s mind. A junior like this had passed that assessment with the highest score?

No matter how he looked at it, it felt strange.

“Mm.” Anran nodded.

“I’ll take you to our team’s quarters first,” Chu Yuan said.

Looking in through the main gate of the training base, she could see many low single-story buildings inside.

Chu Yuan led the curious Anran to their quarters.

A small house among the many one-story buildings.

As soon as she pushed open the door, Anran saw that three people were already sitting inside.

Two men and one woman.

All of them sat in a loose, lazy manner, and one of them was even sprawled out in a classic Ge You slouch.

As Anran walked in, she heard someone muttering, “Why’s Chu Yuan taking so damn long? Why hasn’t he brought our two girls back yet? Ah, at last our team’s sausage fest is finally about to be solved.”

Creak.

The sound of the door interrupted him.

As soon as he looked up, he saw Anran walking in behind Chu Yuan.

He immediately swallowed back what he had just been saying, put on a kindly smile, and stood up. “Hello, you must be Anran. I’m the team leader, Feilian. Welcome to our team!”

“Hello,” Anran said, a little stiffly.

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Even though everyone was still unfamiliar, and even though there were two weirdos sitting nearby, at least the leader and the logistics officer looked fairly reliable.

Feilian turned and glared at the young man in the Ge You slouch, then at the young woman sitting by the table, putting on all the authority of a team leader. “Daogu, Anna, get over here and welcome the newcomer already!”

The young man in the Ge You slouch had the codename Daogu.

He yawned and reached up to scratch his increasingly sparse hair. “Captain, it’s a rare day off. Just let me rest, okay? You know I’m not interested in little girls with no chest and no ass.”

“#”

A cross mark instantly popped on Anran’s forehead.

That pissed her off!

Even if what you said was true, could you not say it so bluntly and infuriatingly?!

The woman beside him, Anna, had her golden hair tied behind her head, and there was even a cat tattoo on her arm. Her reaction was not much better than Daogu’s.

She suddenly pulled a cigarette out of the back pocket of her pants, bit it between her cherry-colored lips, then picked up the lighter on the table and lazily lit it.

After taking a deep drag, she even blew a highly technical pair of smoke rings before saying in an eerie voice, “Feilian, you know me. I’m not interested in ordinary people. Come back when you’re an alien, a non-human, or a superpowered person.”

“…”

That line sounded weirdly familiar.

Feilian was “furious.” The newcomer had just arrived, and already his authority was gone. How could that stand? “If you don’t get up right now, I’m not filing for your cigarette money reimbursement next month!”

“Heh.”

Anna uncaringly pulled a wine bottle out from under the table. Pinching the bottleneck lightly between her index finger and thumb, she swayed it gently. “Vintage Kage red wine from Imperial Year 8098. If this falls and shatters, then…”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Feilian’s expression changed drastically. He looked like he wanted to rush over, but then he lost his nerve. “Let’s talk this through. Don’t lay a hand on my wine!”

Anran, who was standing there blankly, caught one word. “Cigarette money?”

“You’ll get reimbursed, you’ll get reimbursed. Chu Yuan, make a note of that,” Feilian said, turning around.

“And welcoming the newcomer?”

“No need for that. Having me, the team leader, step in is enough.”

“…”

Anran was completely dumbfounded.

Seeing Anna put the bottle down, Feilian quickly changed the subject. “Chu Yuan, hurry up and pour our newcomer a cup of tea.”

“No problem, Captain.”

Chu Yuan left.

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Anran stood awkwardly in the doorway.

But very soon, Chu Yuan came back again.

And handed her a cup of tea.

Anran politely said thanks. Just as she took the cup and was about to take a sip, she suddenly froze.

What was this dark brown liquid?

It would not be poisonous, would it?

Anran had already been traumatized by the fruit pastry series she had accidentally created herself.

Thinking of that, Anran felt that the Pastry Maker side profession still had a lot of room for development.

“This is my special strong tea. It’s just a little bitter,” Chu Yuan said with a smile.

Maintaining a smile, Anran took a light sip.

“Pff—”

She almost spat it out.

Fortunately, Anran managed to hold it back.

Bitter.

I’ve had enough of food connected to darkness.

“How does it taste?”

“It-it’s fine. It’s just a little hot,” Anran quickly said as she set the cup down.

These four people were each more unserious than the last, and each more unreliable than the last.

Maybe she ought to turn around right now and go ask Lü Changming to switch her to another team.

“Are you sure this is a proper Nine Songs action team?” After some hesitation, Anran finally asked.

Feilian’s expression stiffened, but he quickly recovered and waved a hand grandly. “Don’t judge us by appearances. We used to take first place in internal evaluations. Even if we’ve declined now, we’re still not last!”

“Being provisionally second from the bottom by a margin of one point is not exactly something to be proud of,” Anna said mercilessly, tearing open her own wound.

“Well…”

Maybe I should slip away while I still can.

Anran took a step back.

“Don’t even think about it. Weak as you may be, now that you’re here, don’t think you’re getting away,” Anna said, her gaze sharp.

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The corner of Anran’s mouth twitched. She turned her head to look behind her, just in time to see a girl walking over with her nose in a book.

ID: Monster Mountain Hermit.

The second newcomer, and the last member of the six-person team.

Anran suddenly felt like this was the same as joining a group chat.

A group chat full of unreliable veteran weirdos.

The newbies were entering one after another.

She was one of them, and another one had come after her.

At this moment, shouldn’t a meme image pop up?

“Newbie, run! These people are all xx!”

“Run!”

“Go!”

Bang!

Monster Mountain Hermit, who was reading while walking, crashed straight into Anran.

She was a little taller than Anran.

The book landed right on top of Anran’s head.

Then, with a plop, it slid to the floor.

“…”

One of those always-looking-down types, huh.

Speechless, Anran lowered her head and looked down.

Hm?

The title displayed on the inner cover page was The Secret Garden of Girls.

“…”

So the other newcomer is a pervert too!

Wait, this wasn’t the time to be marveling at that.

Anran suddenly realized that she had already been surrounded by a bunch of unreliable people.