Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 58: Newbie Protection Period Benefits?

"Huh? This skill is actually pretty good!"

Shiba Inu Cai Cai excitedly tried out her skill and discovered that she could actually conjure up a space out of thin air—a space that seemed to exist independently of the world. She couldn't explain exactly where that small space was or how it appeared, but she could sense its presence. It was an experience she had never had before, and it felt very strange.

However, once this space is "outlined," it cannot be changed, but it can be "expanded."

Chai Gou Cai Cai fumbled around, trying to expand the entire space to its maximum extent—but it was only a few hundred cubic centimeters, at most the size of a basketball, far less than the Qiankun Bag that could be exchanged at the sect shop.

Nevertheless, Chai Gou Cai Cai found it very novel. She first casually broke off a small twig and "threw" it into her space, then "threw" in a few leaves, and then repeatedly took it out and put it in, taking it out and putting it in, playing happily until her blue bar was exhausted, and she was still a little reluctant to stop.

Jia Xiaoren, standing to the side, stared at the newbie's stupid and silly behavior, then looked at the Qiankun Bag in his backpack that he had spent a fortune to exchange for, and felt a pang of jealousy.

We're all players, so why are you so lucky? It can't be some kind of newbie protection period perk, right? I didn't have this kind of luck when I was a newbie!
After pausing for a while, Jia Xiaoren suddenly had an idea and asked, "By the way, you just entered the game and haven't become an apprentice yet, right? How about becoming my apprentice? Although my combat power isn't high, I'll still take good care of you and definitely won't leave you to fend for yourself!"

Shiba Inu Cai Cai asked in surprise, "Apprenticeship? You can even have an apprenticeship in this game?"

Jia Xiaoren nodded and said, "It's a new feature introduced in this update, called the Master-Apprentice System. It's a perk for experienced users to mentor new ones. You get points for completing tasks, which can be exchanged for items. Besides special effect accessories, you can also exchange for Qiankun Bags! How about it? Want to consider becoming my apprentice?"

Who wouldn't want to be guided by a pro? Especially since this pro seemed like a really nice person, willing to help a newbie with quests even though they were complete strangers, and explaining so many details to her in such a gentle manner. This reminded her of her earliest experience playing JX13, and she was quite excited. She nodded eagerly, "Wow! Okay, okay!"

Then, a dialogue box popped up in front of Shiba Inu Cai Cai:

Player [Jia Xiaoren] requests to be accepted as your apprentice.

After agreeing, the mentor-apprentice interface popped up automatically. Chai Gou Cai Cai was surprised to find that she was Jia Xiao Ren's first apprentice—it seemed that she would be the "senior sister" with the highest "seniority" in the future! Imagining being surrounded by a group of cute junior brothers and sisters in the future, Chai Gou Cai Cai immediately grinned foolishly.

"Since we're all on the same side now, I happen to have a lot of extra skill books here. I'll give you one; you can use it for now."

As Jia Xiaoren spoke, he pulled out a thin book from somewhere and handed it to Chai Gou Cai Cai.

Wow! Thank you, Master!

Shiba Inu Cai Cai took the book and saw that it was the [Wind Control] skill book, which was touted as an essential skill for players in the forum's newbie guide! She immediately felt a little embarrassed and wanted to return the skill book, saying, "Ah! This must be worth a lot of money now! How can I just take it for free!"

Jia Xiaoren waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's okay, you can use it first. It's not hard to farm, and the drop rate is quite high! Besides, I've also played JX13 before. When I played it, my master would prepare bags, dumplings, and green onions (Lu Chi Cong) for all of us apprentices. My personal master would even buy me a set of equipment to use as a temporary measure. Although I've been away from JX13 for a long time, let's just consider it a tradition of our sect!"

"Then thank you, Master!"

Shiba Inu Cai Cai hesitated for a moment, then stopped refusing and accepted the skill book.

Then, she eagerly selected the skill from her backpack and successfully acquired her second skill: [Wind Control]. The two talked for a few minutes before arriving at a small temple.

The small temple is a brand new stone temple, which looks much more impressive and larger than the screenshots on the forum. It seems to be newly built and can almost accommodate players crouching down to squeeze inside.

There were seven or eight players scattered around the stone temple, several of whom were walking around it, muttering something under their breath, which looked quite strange.

In addition, there was an offering table in front of the temple, on which were placed all sorts of strange delicacies, including roasted meat wrapped in leaves, a whole mud ball that smelled of poultry—which Chai Gou Cai Cai guessed was beggar's chicken, strange roasted fish, and even garlic river shrimp, which seemed to be quite well-cooked…

With a "gulp," Shiba Inu Cai Cai couldn't help but swallow.

Although she had already eaten, the food in the game tasted so realistic that she felt a little hungry just smelling the aroma.

Jia Xiaoren pointed to the stone temple and introduced, "Apprentice, mark this place on the map. This is Huang Gong Temple. You can come here every day to accept quests and maybe even encounter some unexpected events. However, since the server opened, only one player has triggered an event in all these days, except for Wang Ergou, who was the first to do so. The probability is really hard to say, but it doesn't hurt to try. The rewards from the boss you defeat in these events are really tempting! You can make a fortune as long as you trigger it!"

Shiba Inu Cai Cai had heard about the special encounters in the game, but she didn't know the details, so she asked, "Okay! But how do I trigger them?"

"Currently, the two methods I've summarized are getting close to Huang Gong Temple, or reaching into the temple to touch the stone statue. If you can reach in, it probably means you've triggered it. However, I don't recommend doing this, because Wang Ergou will suffer terrible consequences if he does. Huang Gong's favorability towards him is currently -100 and won't recover, making it impossible to complete Huang Gong's quests. Another player who triggered the encounter said he only needed to get close to the stone temple to trigger it, but before approaching the temple, he specifically placed a beggar's chicken on the offering table. You see, these things on the offering table now are all part of the mystical methods people use to trigger the encounter, because everyone thinks bribing Huang Gong might work. So, people usually just bring some miscellaneous food to place on the offering table, then walk around the temple a couple of times—"

Before Jia Xiaoren could finish speaking, he saw Chai Gou Cai Cai, who had just approached Huang Gong Temple out of curiosity, being blown into the sky by a black gust of wind that appeared out of nowhere.

"what--"

Hearing the screams filled with terror, Jia Xiaoren numbly rose into the air and, along with the other players who reacted quickly, retreated more than ten meters, maintaining a relatively safe distance from the Huang Gong Temple, which was gradually filled with black mist.

The screams quickly stopped, and the avatar of the newly recruited apprentice in the squad list turned gray.

Very good, my apprentice has sent it.

"Master, I...I think I've triggered a fortuitous encounter..."

Chai Gou Cai Cai's voice rang out in the team's microphone, but it pierced Jia Xiao Ren's heart like a knife.

“I know, I saw it,” Jia Xiaoren said, his calm tone betraying his jealousy as he listened to the shocked and envious comments from the other players. “Apprentice, just tell me, are you also part of the ‘uncle’ faction’?”

It will be available in a couple of days~~~
I hope you readers won't hold off on adding the book to your reading list QAQ. First-day subscriptions are really, really important for a newbie like me QAQ. I promise it will get 10,000 words a day after it's released!!

Throw away the tile!



(End of this chapter)