This Text Adventure Game is definitely poisonous
Chapter 404 - 261: The Panda Man, Zhou You_1

Chapter 404: Chapter 261: The Panda Man, Zhou You_1

[Eric feels uneasy about his refusal and asks what you want as a reward. You are about to respond...]

[You tell him that you want 1000 reputation points.]

[Eric categorically rejects your outrageous request!]

Mu You was hoping to seize this opportunity to fleece Eric and complete the reputation quest all at once, but it didn’t seem like it was going to be that easy.

[After hesitating for a long time while looking at you with a conflicted expression, Eric eventually makes a new offer: 400 reputation points for clearing out the rat nest in the U-shaped Mountain Pass, with one extra point for each rat ear you bring him. That’s the limit of what he can offer!]

"What a cheapskate..."

Mu You sighed internally. Back in the Elf Forest, killing a troll would net dozens of reputation points, while here one would only offer one. It goes to show just how xenophobic this race is, making foreign adventurers struggle for every benefit as if it’s tearing away pieces of their own flesh.

But since Eric is the one who’s desperate, not him, Mu You decided to haggle some more.

[You agree to his reward, but he also needs to agree to two conditions.]

[First, any rat ears you obtain in the future can also be exchanged for reputation points with him.]

[Second, you need to bring some help with you, and he must ensure that they’ll be able to work unimpeded.]

[After hearing your conditions, Eric is even more hesitant, but considering the rapid rate of reproduction of the ratmen outside the city, he finally accepts. However, he imposes some restrictions on your conditions: only ratmen killed within the Sunlight Elf Territory can be exchanged for reputation points; the number of people you bring can’t exceed four, and you need to ensure that any problems they cause will be your responsibility.]

Eric sets restrictions to the conditions Mu You suggested, but the outcome is still acceptable. At least the task now is an ongoing one so Mu You can fleece Eric continuously from here on. Mu You also managed to secure the right to move around freely within the Sunlight Elf Clan.

This privilege is quite valuable. Many people are unable to infiltrate the Sunlight Elf Clan due to a lack of connections. Even if they try to sneak in, they would just be treated as invaders and chased away.

But with this status, the invitees can freely enter the Sunlight Elf’s territory. As long as they can maintain a positive reputation by doing tasks, they can stay here for a long time in the future.

Mu You promptly begins to look for his partner to party up after finalizing the agreement with this NPC.

Both Lin Xue and Little Ya quickly respond to his summons, and Mu You specifically asks Lin Hai to join. His ability with healing and creating shields is very convenient for clearing dungeons filled with monsters.

Lin Xue and Little Ya are in the Elf Forest, while Lin Hai is in the Elfin Border, and not too far away from the Elf Forest. After teleporting back, Mu You rides his Chocobo and picks up all three companions.

"Big bro, you’re so good to me!" Lin Hai is excited even being called to play the game late in the night.

This is the Sunlight Elf Territory, abundant with all sorts of whimsical creatures like phoenixes, maned eagles, and mana floating dragons. Many people want to get in but fail. Lin Hai was summoned here without even realizing how.

You could say, as long as he keeps a steady footing here, he’d make a significant contribution to the commerce alliance as this territory has various unique local products yet to be exploited. This development is very meaningful.

"Are you all ready for this? Killing these ratmen will consume quite a bit of energy," Mu You said.

In a team setting, the energy consumption is calculated as a whole.

For instance, the four of them form a team and once Mu You runs out of energy, and the other three each have around 15 points, adding up to a total of 43 Team Energy points. This is the energy of their team.

When the team acts together, each encounter during the journey, every option the team explores, and every time a team member dies will consume one Team Energy point. Having used up all their energy, each member’s game time is proportionally consumed to maintain the team’s operation.

There is one troublesome problem with current ratmen extermination; these creatures can escape. It might take more than one fight to kill a ratman. It costs an average of two points of energy per ratman but only gives back one year of life. Furthermore, there is the energy consumption during the exploration.

Therefore, them exhausting their game time to kill monsters is definitely a loss in terms of life, of course. The return is a large amount of experience and materials, plus the occasional extra reward of equipment or other items.

Overall, it’s a process of trading lifespan for experience. Whether it’s worth it or not is subjective.

A regular player certainly wouldn’t burn his lifespan like this. Most players log in when they have energy and log out when they’re spent. The daily playtime doesn’t exceed ten minutes, guaranteeing a stead increase in lifespan. However, this method is significantly slower in gaining experience. Regular players only have a few to ten-plus energy points daily which converts to just a few tens of experience points at most. It takes roughly a month to reach level 10 from level 1 even with the help of high level players grinding monsters for them. The leveling up after that takes an unknown amount of time.

Other than Little Ya, the other three of them can take the hit in lifespan. They aim to level up as swiftly as possible, without worrying about these expenditures.

"This is the spot."

"Little Ya, summon all your beast companions. Little Sea, provide the shield. The ratmen have a type of long-range flame arrow that deals high damage. As soon as the fight starts, we’ll have to quickly charge into the group of ratmen to disrupt their formation..."