Chapter 55: Procurement of Supplies

“When will someone be able to complete the profession change quest, QAQ?”

Hua Yibing had just finished swimming twenty laps and was now lying on a recliner in the appraisal shop like a salted fish.

Old Li also looked very tired, but unlike Huahua, he didn’t disregard his image.
Instead, he leaned against the wall normally.
“Didn’t the quest say so? Just meet the requirements.”

“Meet the requirements, indeed. But after meeting the requirements, another balance training was opened. Who can make a shot after spinning fifty times!” Hua Yibing hammered the recliner in frustration.

Previously, he had diligently run laps every day and had finally gotten the approval of that mentor NPC.
But the system immediately gave him a new quest—maintain balance.

The so-called maintaining balance was to perfectly make a shot after continuously spinning fifty times.
The hoop was only a little bigger than the ball.
Even if you tried to stuff it in with your hands, you might not be able to do it without touching the rim!

And before truly completing the profession change quest, quest one and quest two were superimposed.
That is to say, players not only had to run twenty laps every day, but also had to make one shot every day.
Only after making the shot would the quest be considered complete, and only after passing through the hoop perfectly could they enter the next stage.

“I seriously suspect that the developers are deliberately holding us back because they want to open the profession change until the open beta,” Hua Yibing mumbled.

Yan Shuangwen, who was sitting on the edge of the counter, finally gave him a look.
“Sea Realm doesn’t have any requirements for salted fish who only want to cast skills. But if you want to pull away from others, its long-standing hardcore reputation is no joke.”

Huahua, who had been filled with righteous indignation just now, instantly became a deflated balloon after hearing this.
His shoulders slumped at once.

“I unilaterally declare that the developer of Sea Realm is not a good person, but I didn’t expect him to really want me to learn something.”
He pouted and also pinched his arm, which didn’t have much meat on it.
“I used to be too lazy to even go out, but I didn’t expect to become a fitness guru in the game. I’m starting to suspect that I’m going to grow some muscles on my arms.”

Old Li laughed out loud when he heard this.
“Even in reality, you’re still far from growing muscles with this amount of exercise. Don’t worry, don’t worry.”

He followed up on what Huahua had just said and added a few more sentences, “But I also have a premonition that the open beta is coming soon. Look, the game has opened a novice dungeon, then opened the wild exploration, and also has a cooking system to supplement your stats. Now the profession change quest to increase your strength is also about to open. I believe that after the mentors are in place, someone will soon be able to go to the edge of the outer lands.”

“The edge of the outer lands?” Yan Shuangwen heard an interesting topic and interjected, “Will there be other races?”

Sykes, who was examining the small gadget that Yan Shuangwen had just created, also lifted his eyes and gave some attention to Old Li’s side.

Although the identity of Scott no longer acted with the 123 team, this group of self-proclaimed guys, for some reason, trusted him very much.
Every time they discussed the team’s development and goals, they would never deliberately avoid Sykes, just like now, they were openly discussing the news of the game’s open beta in front of him.

And at some point, the few of them had stopped using Old Li’s room as a base, but instead often gathered in Sykes’s small shop.
Even the recliner under Huahua’s body was something he had specially bought from a carpenter player and had carried all the way to the shop.

Old Li affirmed his companion’s question.
“There will definitely be, right? Otherwise, it would be too monotonous for a game. The previous main quest showed a very grand worldview, with long-lived species, sea species, and the mystery of the disappearance of the merfolk…”

“I know!” Hua Yibing came back to life from his stiff-corpse state, raised a hand, and answered quickly.
“I went all out and ate three of the octopus mentor’s little snacks before. He seemed very happy and talked to me a little more. He said that the outer lands were his former territory!”

Before everyone present could analyze the meaning of this information, they first looked at Hua Yibing with the eyes of a warrior.
This gaze even included Sykes’s—Xavier’s special-ingredient little snacks, three servings in one go.
Is this a true brave man?

Huahua was so looked at that he became angry from embarrassment.
“The point isn’t the snacks, but that sentence, former territory! He said that place is now a land without a master, and whoever occupies it owns it. Isn’t this a hint at the main quest?”

Old Li was thoughtful.
“That’s indeed the case. In other words…”

“Conquer the world starting from occupying the mentor’s territory?” Yan Shuangwen raised his eyebrows, unable to resist his urge to complain.

Hua Yibing’s eyes lit up.
“Wonderful! That’s it!”

“Then let’s set reaching the edge of the outer lands as the next stage’s mission goal,” Old Li, as the captain, set the goal directly and also asked Sykes, “Scott, will you be with us?”

The merman, after hearing the unexpected news just now, still hadn’t recovered.
He hesitated for a moment after hearing this question, and finally nodded.

He didn’t expect to get such an outrageous piece of news from a player—what’s that called?
Xavier had only left temporarily due to an accident.
While he was stunned, someone grabbed the magic mirror on the table and called Xavier , but the other party seemed to be very busy. 

Anyway, it’s better to go and see with the players.

The itinerary of the 123 team, which should now be called the 1234 team, was thus settled.

Although they all thought that with their current strength, the developers definitely wouldn’t let the players successfully achieve the goal of occupying territory, but it was always possible to go and have a look with a bit of resources and reserves, right?

The first step was to purchase food.

In Hua Yibing’s words, [“Scott just has to stand in the market, and half of the food for the four of us is already taken care of.”]

This was why Sykes and Old Li were standing at the entrance of the players’ market.

“Isn’t this the appraiser? Long time no see. The bean soup you helped me improve last time was a great help. Want to try the latest Sea Realm version of soy milk!”

The owner of the stall closest to the entrance discovered them and greeted them with unusual enthusiasm.

A player who was choosing things next to him heard this and immediately let out a strange cry.
“Old Tree Branch, you can’t be biased. I’ve bought soup from you so many times. How come I didn’t know you also developed such a good thing as soy milk! Hurry up and give me a portion too!”

The owner was obviously also very familiar with this customer.
He waved his hand in a shooing gesture.
“Go, go, this is a non-sale item to repay a benefactor! If you want it, first buy ten or twenty portions of bean soup, and I’ll consider giving you a small cup.”

In the end, it was unknown whether the old customer successfully got the free gift, but Sykes’s arms were firmly stuffed with a large pot of a drink called soy milk.

This was the first time he had encountered something like this today, but it was definitely not the last.
After walking through half of the life-skill players’ market, Old Li’s expression had changed from the initial surprise to envy, and now to calmness.
In fact, even so, his heart had also silently planted a large lemon orchard.

“Hua Yibing was actually rarely not bragging,” Old Li sighed with heartfelt emotion, then patted Sykes’s shoulder.
Such good connections were truly unique in Sea Realm.

Besides the various new food items enthusiastically given by the stall owners, they also purchased the most basic health-restoring dishes step by step.
They had to have high-grade dishes that added two hundred points at a time, and also lemon candies that added a dozen points at a time.
After all, who knew how many times it would take to successfully reach the edge?
There were only so many reputation points, so they had to be careful and save a little.

With ample food reserves, the next step was to purchase equipment.

This task was given to the roommate duo, Hua Yibing and Yan Shuangwen.
The two of them stood in front of the obviously renovated and expanded exchange post.
Looking back at the original exchange post, which was like an illegal building constructed from a few mud boards, they almost suspected they had gone to the wrong place.

“I told you, this place was definitely upgraded by players spending reputation points!” Hua Yibing lamented as he touched the snow-white wall, but accidentally smudged it with a little of the sauce left from his pan-fried meat patties, leaving a brown mark the size of a fingernail on the wall.

[Player “Hua Nord” has damaged a public building of the exchange post. This is a one-time announcement, and 500 reputation points will be deducted. It is hoped that all customers will take this as a warning.]

The system’s prim and proper voice rang out, and the few players nearby all turned their heads to look at Hua Yibing’s side.

Huahua: “!!!”

Why is this system also a range broadcast!

He looked at his roommate next to him, only to find that the other had quietly moved far away at some point, pretending not to know him at all.

Is it too late for him to pack himself up and be sent out of the ocean overnight?

Anyway, the purchasing task still had to be completed.
While Huahua was replenishing the energy of the energy lamp and rummaging through the weapon racks, besides being sized up by the few players who had just heard the system broadcast, he was also being stared at closely by the red-haired, red-eyed exchange post mascot.

“I really won’t break these things!” Hua Yibing gritted his teeth and assured Ella.
“So stop staring at me, little elf miss.”

Ella turned her face away as if nothing had happened, as if the person who had been watching Huahua’s movements just now wasn’t her.

Three small compasses for identifying directions, a few signal stones that would emit a dazzling light, a pile of fresh fruits that could be eaten directly to add stats…
Besides these basic supplies on the list, Hua Yibing also picked a few gold items that, although not very good-looking, were quite substantial, as basic materials for Yan Shuangwen to transform.

As expected, at checkout, the guy who had pretended not to know him had his eyes light up by several degrees.
His entire gaze was glued to the surface of the few shiny gold things.

Hmph, hmph, hmph.
Hua Yibing hummed smugly in his heart, and in front of his roommate, he put all the supplies, including the few pieces of radiant gold, into his backpack, then swaggered away.

Let’s see you pretend not to know me

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