Reincarnation NPC, but Arknights

Talulah walked away happily.

Before leaving, Bai Ye handed her a bracelet he had made earlier, asking her to give it to Alina.

However, Talulah looked at the bracelet and made a request: "I want one too."

Bai Ye was quite puzzled as to why this guy also needed such a thing. Her heat shield could easily withstand attacks from external enemies.

Talulah often gives speeches in front of the infected. Since becoming a marquis, she hasn't wielded a sword in a long time.

Language and persuasiveness are her weapons.

However, throughout history, literature, language, and eloquence have indeed made people invincible, but they have never brought them victory.

So-called truth usually relies on magic and sharp blades.

Talulah's ability to command such influence stems from her capacity to resist the Ursus Empire's Infected Patrol.

However, even though she was already quite strong, Talulah still wanted one of Bai Ye's bracelets.

After giving away this one, Bai Ye didn't have many left.

Bai Ye plans to put the rest into the personal shop, where only players who meet the required favorability and contribution points can redeem them.

……

Talulah left happily, holding the bracelet.

Bai Ye then prepared to leave the core city and head to Sherag.

Before leaving, Bai Ye used a fragment of a past event from his inventory.

Instead of choosing the Jeston fragment, Bai Ye chose the bug he had previously killed at the volcano.

As mentioned before, player traffic in the core city has surged, and at the same time, the number of new players has also begun to increase.

Their own skill level wasn't high enough to clear the previous main story dungeons. And now, in the battle for the mining areas in the Ursus Scourge-affected region, they couldn't even dream of doing it.

The training grounds for newbies near the Marquisate of Talulah are those poor infected that have already been wiped out by previous players along with their nests. Therefore, newbies need a reliable place to farm monsters.

The volcano's insect nest is a good choice, as it contains a considerable number of lava Originium bugs, and there is also a huge queen bug at the end of the level.

New players who want to level up can fight on the outskirts, while experienced players who want a challenge can go deep into the lair.

There are swarms of dark, dense insects there, perfect for testing your maximum damage output, what's commonly known as DPS in online games. Of course, at the end of the dungeon, there's also a gigantic boss that poses a significant challenge to players—the Lava Originium Insect Queen, "Pompeii."

Although Bai Ye had never experienced this kind of dungeon as a player, he could guess that high-difficulty levels would restrict players through the environment—that's how most dungeons work.

This horde of insects will likely become a standard test for novice players, much like the old man in the previous game. It'll be similar to the first driving test, a mandatory course for every damage-dealing player.

"I hope those newbies who are desperately trying to max out their character levels and strategies won't blame me, although it seems like I really did unlock this dungeon myself..."

Bai Ye left behind fragments of events.

Luna had finally explained to him before that these copy crystals were actually fragments extracted from Akasha's records and recreated in a separate space. Because they were all made of data, they were different from reality and more like a game.

This is also the part of Arknights Online that feels most like a game.

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Is there something in front of this open space?

Ghost Shark stood beside White Night, watching him gaze at the empty space in front of him.

"Yes, you can't see..."

Bai Ye couldn't help but sigh.

In the current second "game version," the teleportation crystals used by players and the Awakening Temple where game characters are created are invisible to the native inhabitants of Terra.

Moreover, within the relevant area, the indigenous people would subconsciously leave, as if there were magic charms that "drive away idlers" posted nearby.

However, as the version progresses, teleportation crystals and awakening temples should gradually become visible. Although most teleportation points are "built" by players using Originium Crystals, these structures lose their physical form after creation; even if the native inhabitants can see them, they cannot touch them.

This is something that only players can use.

Even Bai Ye couldn't use it.

But he can see it now.

In the past, Bai Ye was unaware of these things, but now, thinking back, it seems that the connection between the two worlds is gradually becoming clear.

"let's go."

Bai Ye closed his inventory and then took Ghost Shark's hand.

"Eh?!" The girl touched Bai Ye's hand and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Relax your body."

Bai Ye spoke softly, and then began the first manned flight.

Having grasped the essence of his powers, Bai Ye was able to do more and more, even taking people flying into the sky. The speed was significantly faster than that of an aircraft.

However, Bai Ye can only bring one person with him now, because the amount of wind element he can control at one time is still very limited.

"Wow, it really does have wind element... This is really fantastical..."

Bai Ye couldn't help but complain.

Ghost Shark opened her eyes shakily and looked around. Just now, she only felt her body lighten, and then she was pulled up and floated away by Bai Ye.

"Don't look down yet."

Bai Ye offered his advice.

"Ugh—Eh!"

Ghost Shark lowered her head instinctively because of Bai Ye's words, and then she panicked.

"Wow!"

Laurentina was startled when she was suspended in mid-air for the first time with no support. Although the Deep Sea Hunter's physical abilities were ridiculously strong and he could jump very high, she had never been suspended in mid-air like this before.

"Put...put me down!"

"We're flying at full speed, of course we can't stop."

"Then...don't let go!"

Ghost Shark yelled and then hugged White Night tightly.

"so……"

Bai Ye sighed and pulled Laurentina into his arms. "I told you not to touch or look around like that..."

"Ah."

Laurentina, unusually, didn't use her sharp tongue or say anything else. She quieted down, closed her eyes, and leaned against Bai Ye's chest without uttering a word.

However, Bai Ye couldn't stop talking.

"You seem to weigh a bit more than Skadi."

"Hey, hey, don't hug me so tightly... you're going to break your bones!"

"Wow, it's so tight! Doesn't it hurt your chest?"

……

"..."

"Shut up."

"..."

Bai Ye stopped talking; he had actually been quite nervous before. However, it seemed that Laurentina was also somewhat flustered, which calmed him down.

On the contrary, the girl's flustered appearance made him find it somewhat amusing.

Laurentina isn't usually like this.

It's nice to see this side of the girl.

Chapter Twenty-One: Entrance

"Ah!"

Skadi sneezed, and several small animals around her scurried away.

Skadi seemed to have become much more subdued on land. When she sat still, even the small rodents didn't perceive any threat posed by her and simply surrounded the girl.

However, she was most likely attracted by the cookie crumbs that fell next to Skadi.

"Sneezing again..." Swire was already used to it.

Skadi has been sneezing a lot lately, which looks rather comical.

"Do you want some?" Skadi looked at Swire, tilted her head, and handed her the biscuits.

“No, I’m full…” Swire waved her hand, but she was a little curious, “Have you ever traveled in the wilderness before?”

Although Skadi seems a bit dull and simple-minded, and doesn't seem to have much experience, she's surprisingly good at wilderness travel.

"Ah."

Skadi nodded.

“I used to be a bounty hunter.”

“I see.” Swire nodded.

Only she would react so calmly.

Those in the know would probably be surprised.

In fact, Skadi has quite a reputation in the bounty hunter community; everyone knows there's an Agorian monster here. It's unclear why such a powerful individual would be so foolish as to compete with them for their livelihood.

Moreover, Skadi's most outrageous trait is that she is a lone wolf.

In the continent of Terra, those who can roam the wilderness alone are all incredibly powerful and ruthless individuals.

Besides the lack of supplies due to its remoteness from cities, the wilderness is also plagued by natural disasters, infected creatures, bandits, and even encounters with pre-existing civilizations or other mysterious entities. In addition, there are the "Rusty Hammer" thugs, enemies of civilization.

Traveling alone is far too dangerous.

Unfortunately, Miss Swire actually had no experience in the wild and no special concept of bounty hunters like Skadi.

"However, Bai Ye prepared these supply packs for me, one per day, which is very convenient... Indeed, it's better to have his help."

Skadi said, pointing to the vehicle next to her.

In the past, when she was alone in the wilderness, food and supplies were a major problem. Most of the time, she relied on her body, which had been modified by the deep-sea hunters, to tough it out. This body didn't even conform to the law of conservation of energy. Despite exerting so much effort, it consumed very little energy, and she could maintain her powerful fighting ability even after three days without food.

Aside from being somewhat uncontrollable, it is indeed a successful biological weapon.

However, Swire clearly didn't care about any of that; her attention was almost immediately drawn to the White Nights that Skadi was talking about.

The girl asked curiously, "So he knows all this too? Was he a bounty hunter before?"

“Hmm… I don’t know. I don’t know what he was doing before either.” Skadi shook her head. “Even the identity of the Calamity Messenger was obtained within this year.”

“He just came out claiming to be a messenger…hmm, what a mysterious guy,” Swire muttered.

After talking with Skadi, she realized that she didn't know much about White Night.

What was this guy's past like? What was he thinking? What were his hobbies? She seemed to know nothing about it. Skadi wasn't a talkative person either, so getting information out of her was actually quite difficult.

Looking back now, although Bai Ye had a good relationship with all of them, there was always a strange sense of distance between them. Bai Ye seemed somewhat out of place with them. In the past, Swire thought this was because Bai Ye wasn't from Lungmen, but an outsider who wasn't used to life here.

But even Swire himself didn't know the truth.

However, she was also somewhat envious of Skadi, who had quietly succeeded first. Could it be that Bai Ye was susceptible to this kind of thing?

'Ah Chen, it seems we have a long way to go...'

Swire sighed.

-------------------------------------

"Time to open your eyes, we've arrived."

Bai Ye placed the ghost shark on the ground and then patted her on the shoulder.

"Well--"

The girl lost her balance, swayed for a moment, and then collapsed to the ground, dizzy and disoriented.