Vol-2: 095. Fallen Leaves Bring News, Where Are You, Mei-bi?

095. Fallen Leaves Bring News, Where Are You, Mei-bi?

What Li Aozi showed the players wasn't just the DM-101 Calamity experimental reagent used in Gulant; after all, given Tianhuan's productivity, they couldn't afford such an expensive reagent in the short term.

"This here is the XDM-101, a new mutation-inducing reagent I've prepared for you. It can awaken your Omega Energy, and it's relatively cheap. Most importantly, it accelerates the effectiveness of the reagent, so you don't need to worry about the cost."

Li Aozi took out a ginger-colored reagent from the biopool, gently shaking it, and red-black shadows rippled through the vial's walls.

"Of course... the cheaper cost comes with a price—its instability increases as well. You'll endure extreme pain, and there's no guarantee you'll awaken a high-level Omega Energy."

The players didn't understand Omega Energy ratings, so they didn't see a problem. Li Aozi's pricing was very affordable, perfectly suited for trying one's luck every now and then. If they happened to awaken a great Omega Energy, that would be fantastic.

But then, Li Aozi's next words stirred something deep in their DNA:

"Though the chances are unstable, I've roughly figured out a pattern: every 10 consecutive awakenings will guarantee a rare Omega Energy. Every 50 consecutive awakenings will guarantee a high-level Omega Energy. Every 100 consecutive awakenings will guarantee a high-level rare Omega Energy..."

Yan Wang grinned, "A gacha system with pity pulls?"

"Even if you awaken a useless Omega Energy, it doesn't matter. As a [Mutant], I'll teach you how to crush the genetic sequence of Omega Energy, gather the genetic fragments, and use them to feed the powerful Omega Energies you like."

Old Blind twitched, "Card fodder system?"

"Of course, if you think your Omega Energy isn't strong enough, I'm something of a capable [Mutant] myself. I'm quite confident in my own Omega Energy—if you don't mind, I can sacrifice part of my strength to rent my Omega Energy to you."

South Pole Penguin clutched his wallet in terror, "It's a pay-to-win game!"

Although the leaders of the three guilds had nothing to say about Li Aozi's methods, their bodies were honest enough to accept his offer.

The cheap XDM series was an excellent entry-level substitute, perfect for newcomers, and Omega Energy didn't interfere with future career progression. Some had already chosen [Martial Artist] but could still add [Physical Enhancement] Omega Energy to become even tougher.

After buying Li Aozi's reagent, the players noticed the biopool was still synthesizing some mysterious reagents. Li Aozi, acting mysteriously, said, "These are only for sale to warriors I recognize."

Such remarks, along with the cheap entry-level items he offered earlier, convinced people that Li Aozi definitely had some high-quality goods in stock.

For this reason, players from the three guilds gathered to discuss intensely.

"What do you all think? Should we take the quest or not?"

"Take it."

"But if we take it, this is harder than an A-level quest. Are you ready to die instantly?"

"Then don't take it."

"But if we don't, there are still plenty of resources left to uncover."

To be precise, it wasn't about whether to take the quest or not, because clearly, Li Aozi was doing a bundled sale.

If you don't accept the quest, unlocking Li Aozi's favorability or buying his goods would be impossible—so you'd have to grind for favorability slowly. And as for how much your [Charisma] would matter to a [Domination] class mentor like Li Aozi... well, even being scorned might be considered a privilege.

The difficulty of C-level quests was already an insurmountable mountain for the current players, and the quest Li Aozi had issued was daunting enough to make them hesitant.

The guilds weren't fools. For casual players or streamers, encountering such a quest might mean forming a fun group to mess around, increasing engagement and entertainment value. But the guilds aimed to profit from the game's mechanics.

Since everyone was here to make money, they had to seriously consider these complicated A-level quests.

Can we complete it? And what are the rewards?

Yes, there's 50,000 experience, which is significant in the early stages, but what about at level 10 or 20?

Worst case scenario, if players had to reach level 20 before they could tackle Li Aozi's main quest, even if the rewards were good, the manpower, resources, and time required would still make it a bad deal.

Moreover, what's the situation now? It's the closed beta!

The closed beta was only 15 days ahead of the public release, which in game time translated to over a year. But in real life, 15 days was barely enough time to empty out the fridge.

Just when many were considering completing the class transfer and then returning to grind and level up, Old Blind, the always lukewarm guild leader of the Murloc Guild, made a decisive statement:

"Why overthink it? We might be the first group of players to trigger a main quest since launch. That alone is big news!"

Coming from a streamer background, Old Blind had a different perspective than these workhorse guild players. He understood that sometimes, a person could inexplicably go viral and become a major internet celebrity.

But as soon as he said that, the others looked at him like he was the foolish son of a wealthy landlord, their expressions full of kindness and concern. Being ridiculed by competitors wasn't a big deal, but Old Blind noticed even his own guild members were casting doubtful glances at him, making his face flush red. He crossed his arms and explained:

"You guys aren't reading the fine print!"

"At first glance, Li Aozi's quest seems far too difficult, clearly unsuited for our level of players to complete—but look closely at the three completion conditions. Other than C, do any of them require combat?"

Everyone immediately checked the quest description again, reading it carefully, and realized they had missed a lot of details.

The three completion conditions: A required paying for class transfer and completing Li Aozi's assigned training tasks. B involved investigating the Beitiao Group. C was an internal selection tournament; Triangle Town had a small dueling arena, and Li Aozi would rent it out for a while, allowing players to compete for a chance to go to space.

Upon closer inspection... there really wasn't any mention of combat.

"Hold on, that's not the whole story," Yan Wang poured cold water on their excitement.

"C is one thing, but if this quest is so difficult yet has no combat elements, and A only requires paying and following orders—then it stands to reason the real challenge will be tied to the B completion condition."

"Exactly," South Pole Penguin agreed. "C may seem like it has no risk of death penalties, but in reality, if you don't complete B, you won't get the critical hydrogen bomb item, and Li Aozi wouldn't take you to space without it."

"So the real question is," Old Blind said, arms crossed, "just how hard is B?"

"The issue isn't how hard B is, but how strong the Beitiao Group is. Can we even get in?" Yan Wang's skepticism was based on this point: "If we can't complete B, C is out of the question. So, if we take the quest, I think completing A should be enough. The later tasks are a waste of effort, and besides, Li Aozi isn't the only mentor on Azure Star. Sucking up to just one isn't worth it. Our White Day Guild plans to complete A and then drop out."

Yan Wang's shift in attitude largely stemmed from his distrust of Omega Energy as an unstable factor. He suspected that the [Mutant] class might not be as powerful as the official promotion or Li Aozi made it seem.

As a guild with a solid business model, Yan Wang wasn't willing to take risks. He preferred a conservative approach, not gambling with valuable early-stage manpower.

Li Aozi took note of Yan Wang's reaction, but he wasn't annoyed, even though this dark-faced guy was clearly at odds with him.

On the contrary, Li Aozi thought Yan Wang wasn't bad, very steady—just not suited to be a guild leader.

The issues Yan Wang raised were the same ones that had plagued [Mutant] players in the previous era. While the class exploded with spell damage in the early stages after reaching Alpha rank with the [Domination Form], the problem lay in the unstable nature of cultivating [Mutant] itself.

Not only that, but although Yan Wang's view might seem short-sighted, from the perspective of guild management, it wasn't wrong.

Still, as a vice guild leader or second-in-command, saying something like that was fine. But as the leader, you needed ambition and vision.

[Then again, White Day Guild has always been steady, so maybe it's just their tradition.]

Since White Day was a purely commercial guild without professional players or popular streamers, Li Aozi didn't know much about Yan Wang. Now, however, he was intrigued and planned to observe him for a while.

From the start, Li Aozi had been short on talent. On Azure Star, the teammates he needed to recruit were: [Mechanic] Du Zexin, who was slacking off on vacation in Frost-Plated; [Inquisitor] Gretorvo Nightsong, who was in prison; and future legend [Architect] Barnum Zeglin—Master Zeglin was currently enjoying a cushy position as a senior civil servant in Gulant, doing odd jobs for Alexia, occasionally working the fields, fixing roads, building bridges, and hunting. He was living more comfortably than anyone.

The combat specialists were in place, but the logistics personnel were sorely lacking.

For example, David Lin's son, and Yavanna's talent—if possible, Li Aozi even wanted to recruit David Lin himself, a tough guy with maxed-out military and political skills. The whole family could move in together, and once they had Yavanna's talent, he could kick her to the curb.

The logistics staff among the players were quite capable, but most stayed under the radar. Famous coaches, team leaders, and analysts were mainly key members of national teams, and Li Aozi had no access to them. People like Yan Wang, who managed guilds, were perfect for space travel.

War and destruction were never the core themes of the universe's civilizations. Those were just visible sparks and friction—development and cooperation were the real, lasting paths.

[Speaking of which, I wonder how Mei-bi is doing. It's been a while since we've been in touch. I need to find a way to lure him over to upgrade my biopool.]

While Li Aozi was lost in thought, the other two guilds made their decisions.

"Since the White Day Guild leader said so, I'll just complete A. As for C, I'll bring people over to try it later if I get the chance," said South Pole Penguin, leaving some options open. He wanted both the pot and the plate, which was fair enough—everyone wanted more benefits.

In the end, it was the Murloc Guild, who had been wiped out by the C-level quest, that unanimously agreed to accept the quest after Old Blind's strong persuasion.