Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 305, Section 52: Special Materials

So, you want to ask for leave?

Inside the lighthouse in Peach Blossom Village, Dongshan Shen looked at the timid calico fox in front of him and repeated the request it had just made.

"Eek (It's okay if it doesn't work)" Three Flower twisted its body uneasily, its fluffy tail sweeping the ground slightly, and it cautiously raised its eyes.

Actually, it regretted it as soon as it opened its mouth, feeling that it had been bewitched and blinded by those few plates of pasta.

It's a huge mistake to ask its owner for leave just because of a guy it's barely met; it doesn't align with its goal of climbing the ladder.

"You are a pure spirit and cannot take human form yet. Taking physical form in the real world could easily cause a disturbance, however..."

Dongshan Shen changed the subject. He knew what Sanhua wanted to do and if it was just a small matter, it wouldn't be a problem.

"I'll give you a three-day leave. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll arrange some props."

"Hey!"

Sanhua nodded repeatedly, overjoyed.

It wasn't the surprise that Touyama Shin agreed to give it a vacation so it could go to the human world, but rather that Touyama Shin not only gave it a vacation, but was also willing to provide it with items!
Isn't this the legendary Jane Doe to the Emperor's heart?

Even illiterate people understand a lot of principles.

It seems that it has taken another step closer to becoming second only to one person.

After sending away the overjoyed Sanka, Higashiyama Shin didn't take the matter too seriously.

He was aware of all the exchanges between Sanhua and Ludu. Sanhua might hold grudges, but she was also serious about repaying kindness.

If you give it a little something, it will reciprocate.

After eating three plates of pasta, Sanhua patted her chest and agreed to Ludu's request, saying she would help her think of a reasonable reason to give the pasta to her grandmother.

But as a result, it sat at the door, thinking for a long time without any clue, and felt that it might have to go to the human world and take charge in person to get it done, which led to the request for leave just now.

Higashiyama Shin planned to create a clone talisman for it and then give it the Sanzu River Ship to test it out. That thing was like a mobile territory; as long as you were on the ship, it was like being in the underworld. Moreover, it was invisible to humans and could effectively conceal the aura of the Three Flowers.

Don't be fooled by Sanhua's seemingly harmless, even somewhat naive, appearance in Huangquan and Taoyuan Village.

In reality, the concentration of spiritual energy within its body has been carefully cultivated by Dongshan Shen, and it cannot take human form. Once it appears in the human world, it is very easy for it to lose control of itself and turn into a giant beast similar to the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The same applies to the small snake on the other shore, but since most of its body is composed of yin energy, it is easier to control. If it were to transform into a giant beast, it would likely be due to uncontrollable rage or intentional rage.

Shinichi Higashiyama walked to the room at the top of the lighthouse, a room where only he was allowed to enter.

Even Sanhua, who has the authority of acting village chief, cannot see the existence of this room.

The interior was extremely simple, with only a wooden single-legged table on which an antique scroll was laid out.

At the center of the scroll is a miniature map of Peach Blossom Village, but it only occupies a small part, surrounded by large areas of locked-out areas shrouded in thick fog.

There is also a value above that shows how much vitality value has been collected so far.

These vitality values ​​are feedback after the branches have absorbed the vitality, and do not affect the overall progress of vitality collection.

As the true village chief of Taoyuan Village, Dongshan Shen can decide to use these vitality points to unlock plots of land.

The pine forest that was unlocked for players earlier was unlocked through this method, but he just made up an excuse that it would be unlocked when a certain number of players were reached.

Otherwise, it would be unreasonable to say that their contribution of vitality has reached a certain level and thus unlock new areas, since they have just entered and haven't even started farming yet.

Now, thanks to the players' hard work, a new plot of land can finally be unlocked.

Shin Higashiyama can only see the name of the Misty Land, but he can usually get a general idea of ​​it just from the name.

Grasslands and mudflats are not being considered for the time being.

Of them, only one seems to be somewhat useful: the Chaotic Stone Territory.

Without much hesitation, Shin Higashiyama chose to unlock it directly.

[Luan Shi Territory is now open]

[Description: An abandoned open-pit mine. Contains a large quantity of common stone, suitable for basic building materials. It also contains small amounts of special minerals, suitable for further processing.]

Very good, it seems that Muramasa Taki will have to work part-time as a miner from now on.

Currently, among the players, only Takii is capable of processing special materials.

Perhaps it could be used in a human laboratory to develop some other effects, but it certainly wouldn't be as effective as Takii directly shaping it by hand to unleash its original power.

Since they haven't made any progress after having the giant's remains for so long, Shin Higashiyama didn't have high hopes.

In fact, the remains were quite attractive to demons, who could slowly devour them and grow stronger. If spiritual energy was S+, yin energy was A, and negative human emotions were C, then this thing must have been at least a B.

That is to say, there are almost no demons now, otherwise Kyoto would have become a demon capital.

However, if it is ground into powder, mixed with bullets, and then rubbed by Takii's hands, a strange reaction will occur, which can produce a certain special attack effect on demons.

Although it certainly can't compare to Nobita's Hero Sword.

Perhaps because the effect was too subtle, not only did humans fail to figure it out, but Taki also did not continue to explore it further.

He figured it out thoroughly when he was bored.

He casually confirmed that the game would be open to players. Dongshan Shen opened the game system and saw that the Silver Cup Manor game was about to be completely shut down in a few days.

He didn't buy any points in the game midway, and in reality, no other disasters occurred. So, did the game change history, or was the game born based on history?

So what if he buys points for a game when a new game is about to be released?
Will there be two games running at the same time?

Higashiyama Shin was somewhat tempted, but quickly suppressed it.

Players have a limited number of playtimes per day; switching to a different game doesn't refresh the limit.

Adding more than that would significantly increase the risk compared to the potential reward.

The main problem is that he's become lazy and can't go back to the days when he single-handedly beat "Soul Swap" all by himself.

Sigh, these players have really ruined his otherwise diligent life.

Meanwhile, the group of players that Higashiyama Shin mentioned.

They all received the notification.

[Peach Blossom Village Announcement: The withered branches have gained some revival power, dispelling a veil of mist. A new area, "Chaotic Stone Territory," is now open. This area allows for stone mining and contains materials with special properties.]

The moment the announcement popped up, all the online players in the lobby paused for a second, then exchanged glances, jumped up, and rushed straight into the gates of Peach Blossom Village.

Even several players who were not originally online logged in just a few seconds after the announcement was posted. Without saying a word, they disappeared from the lobby and headed straight for Peach Blossom Village.

"Do you need a pickaxe to quarry stone?"

"It seems like no one has a skill that's convenient for mining, right?"

The players used their unique skills and quickly arrived at the newly opened area, which was a desolate abandoned mine scene. Huge gray-white rocks were exposed on the ground, forming steep cliffs and deep pits.

To mine, you need to spend points to buy a pickaxe.

Muramasa Taki took out a hoe from his system inventory, pondered for a moment, sat down on the spot, and began to rub it by hand.

I'm going to turn the hoe into a pickaxe.

It wasn't that she was stingy with the points, but rather that even with the same materials, the quality would be improved after she hand-crafted them.

Since there wasn't much land to cultivate, she didn't bother to rub the hoe by hand.

The availability of quarry stone makes all the difference. There's a large gray-white stone pit in front of me. I estimate that the probability of digging out special materials is about the same as drawing cards.

It's still the kind of game with no guaranteed minimum. Good luck is guaranteed, bad luck is guaranteed.

Takii can sense the properties of most materials by touch, but it's not like you can just press it on the ground and find out where the treasure is.

If she really had that ability, she wouldn't mind being a Voldemort-like figure lying prone in the mining area.

Her advantage probably lies in her ability to quickly determine whether a material is special, and her superior mining equipment.
She looked up and saw that Iwasaki had already made his move.

An invisible force coalesced into a giant hand, like a drill, which easily pierced the hard stone wall, stripping away large chunks of rock.

It seems that no matter how good the pickaxe is, it can't keep up with Iwasaki's mole-like speed in digging holes. Taki could only silently speed up his movements.

Fortunately, within Peach Blossom Village, the players' strength was suppressed to a certain level, and Iwasaki's astonishing digging speed did not last long.

A moment later, he gave up, covered in stone dust, and sat quietly to the side, watching the progress of other players.

"I've found a Dead Sea pearl!" Ludu exclaimed excitedly, holding up a smooth, shimmering pebble in a clear voice.

The players stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on her hand.

However, even someone like Ethan, who prioritizes profit above all else, wouldn't stoop so low as to snatch something from a child.

Uesugi, who was resting, was closest to her. She got up, walked over, and took the pebble from Ludu's hand to examine it carefully.

"It seems... to be just an ordinary stone?" she asked, her tone uncertain and questioning.

The pebble was passed to Takii, who gently stroked it with her fingertips, feeling its internal structure and energy fluctuations.

A few seconds later, she handed the pebble back to Ludu, smiling gently and saying, "Yes, it is indeed a precious Dead Sea pearl. You are very lucky."

The coaxing tone made Ethan withdraw his probing gaze; this thing was clearly not very useful.

Ludu happily retrieved the pearl and swung her hoe even more vigorously.

A day later, a large pile of quarried ordinary stone was found next to the Luanshiling quarry.

No player wanted these things, so Hayato brought a wooden cart, intending to use the stones to upgrade his house.

His ability is incredibly convenient for transportation.

Now almost every player has gained something, but they are unsure of the uses of the materials and need to seek help from experts in this field, such as Taki.

Takii only provides free appraisals for players in this association. Through her, we can roughly figure out the main properties of the special materials produced here.

Most of them are materials that can be attached with the [Sturdy] attribute, and a small number have the [Memory] attribute, which means that the more you use the same move, the more proficient you will become.

It's not that it's useless, but it's quite different from the extraordinary material that Takii initially envisioned.

"Holy crap! I won!!"

A loud shout caused the players to turn their heads.

Hayato, who had been carrying bricks for half a day and had just found an open space to dig for a while, had a golden light shining through the gaps in his pickaxe, which was bright even in the daytime.

All the players froze instantly, and Nobita's alarm bells rang in his mind, realizing something was wrong.

He was the first to rush towards Hayato, and the other players reacted almost simultaneously, their figures flashing.

Iwasaki, Ethan, and the others quickly positioned themselves not far from Hayato, forming a standoff with Nobi, Uesugi, Taki, and the others who rushed over.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

"Whoever finds it keeps it, that's reasonable, isn't it?"

Nobi stared at Iwasaki, who was in the lead, preparing to persuade the latter.

Iwasaki's expression was unreadable, and his voice was flat: "We have not reached any agreement here."

The implication is obvious.

Uesugi Hitsuki couldn't help but interject, "We can simply follow the previous ceasefire agreement with Peach Blossom Village. Isn't this within the territory of Peach Blossom Village? If we dig up something good in the future, we'll have to fight every time. Isn't that exhausting? We'll have to be on edge all the time."

As the weakest player, she craves a peaceful environment for development; fighting and killing are not good.

Iwasaki did not respond to Uesugi; his gaze fell on Taki.

Taki was silent for a moment, then met his gaze: "State your conditions."

She realized that Iwasaki's goal was not necessarily what Hayato had dug up, but rather a way to put pressure on her and force her to make a statement.

“Appraisal,” Iwasaki looked at Takii as if he weren’t the one who had grabbed her by the neck and snatched the silver cup a few days ago. “We can pay a reasonable fee.”

"Okay." Taki agreed readily, without any hesitation.

The tense conflict was quickly quelled.

Uesugi looked at Takii's calm profile and felt a tightness in his chest, as if he had been taken advantage of, just like when no one bought her information last time.

"Aren't you angry?" she couldn't help but ask Taki in a low voice.

Taki thought for a moment, then said seriously but without much variation, "Getting angry is useless. You have to learn to use your emotions. Only get angry when you need to, like when you really need to fight."

Uesugi's eyes widened, as if he were seeing this incredibly popular high school student for the first time.

These words made this woman in her twenties instantly feel like an impatient high school student.

It's not surprising that players grow, after all, they experience things that are hard for ordinary people to believe. But Taki is the same age as Nobita, yet he has transformed faster and become more rational.

"Um, um, I dug something out, could you take a look at it for me?"

Hayato dug out a peculiar substance from the golden crevice, a substance with a texture like a golden sponge.

Well, except for Hayato, that guy seems to have always been like this.

Taki took the strange substance and felt its energy fluctuations.

After a moment, she looked up and gave her assessment: "This thing should possess a [shapeshifting] attribute, which matches your abilities very well."

"Really?" Hayato scratched his head in classic Japanese style and chuckled foolishly.

Compared to the harmonious atmosphere at the Players' Association, Iwasaki's side was very quiet.

Yui, Arthur, and Park Min-woo are not talkative people. Ethan felt that if he were an ordinary person, hanging out with these people would eventually lead to depression.

It's normal for him to side with Iwasaki during the confrontation just now. As long as the interests align, he can accept it if they stab each other in the back today and become brothers tomorrow.

Of course, it would be best if he stabbed someone in the back and called them "brother".

"Are you sure you want to do it the day after tomorrow? The game also refreshes the day after tomorrow, are you really not going to postpone it for two days?"

Ethan approached Park Min-woo, who was silently mining, and instead of speaking directly, he sent a private message asking a question.

Park Min-woo mechanically swung the pickaxe, increasing the force with each swing, as if the rock before him were his mortal enemy.

"I can't wait."

"I've waited long enough."

"I want them to..."

Bang!
The pickaxe, which already had little durability left, snapped in two under Park Min-woo's full force, and the flying lime dust scattered like an explosion.

Amidst the white ashes, Park Min-woo slowly uttered his last word.

".die."

(End of this chapter)