Chapter 267 Servant (Part 1)
“What level is Blossoming Tree’s Goblin Engineering at?” Ye Ci suddenly asked out of the blue.
“He’s almost a High-tier Goblin Engineer now. He can surely level up very fast if someone provides him with the materials he needs. But…” Bai Mo hesitated for a moment. “You’ve recruited him for the sole purpose of building siege machines, right?”
“Yes.”
“The blueprint is difficult to find; you can’t even buy it from the market. The major guilds have long recognized the benefits of Goblin Engineering, so they have been recruiting large groups of Life Players. Moreover, they have assigned a lot more people than our guild at the auction, so it won’t be easy for us to outbid their players. Take our guild for example, we only managed to seize a total of five hundred blueprints from auction and market since our establishment. This is only an insignificant number compared to the massive amount of blueprints that are being circulated.” Bai Mo sighed.
“Some of the rarer blueprints are very limited in number, so it is very likely that only one Life Player in an entire will have the chance of ever using one. I know it would be better for the rarest recipe to be learnt by fewer people, but having only one of us mastering these blueprints will seriously hamper our production. This case is especially true for the higher tier blueprints that require multiple skills to complete. Having more blueprints will solve this bottleneck.”
Ye Ci naturally understood what Bai Mo was trying to tell her. She was reminded of Mara’s skill which would allow her to duplicate blueprints and skillbooks. These two skills could very well solve Bai Mo’s concerns. Not only that, she could also create duplicates of old but rarely seen recipes and skillbooks for sale. Cash would come flowing in and she would be able to play mind games with the major guilds. It was not a bad idea.
However, this would only happen if she could bring Alaunar, Mara and Yolan out from the Doluo Tribe, but even the mere mention of bringing Alaunar with her had worried the old man.If she were to propose bringing the entire family away, would the old man knock the life out of her with his God-tier staff?
Thinking up to this point, Ye Ci suddenly lost her confidence again. She had control over her own path, but she had no control over the system. Although her chances of success was great, nothing was decided until it really happened. Having such an unknown factor in her plan was indeed worrying.
In any case, it was no use for Bai Mo to worry about anything right now because his worries were not something that could be resolved within a short amount of time. When Bai Mo noticed that things also seemed like it wasn’t going so well on Ye Ci’s side, he asked, “What’s wrong? You look like you are worried about something.”
“Nothing serious, just some uncertainties.”Ye Ci told everything about Alaunar’s family to Bai Mo and as expected, he was extremely shocked. “How truly unbelievable! How truly unbelievable!” He chanted.
“What?” Ye Ci burst out laughing when she saw the rare expression on Bai Mo’s face. “Yo, I’ve never thought that I’d ever see that look on your face. Aren’t you one who is always smiling, cousin?”
Bai Mo reached out and slapped Ye Ci on her head in response to her statement, but quickly continued speaking. “It’d be great if we can bring those three here. As long as Blossoming Tree can reach the Master-tier in engineering, we won’t have to worry about guarding the Mithril ore vein.”
Ye Ci nodded. “That’s right. Yolan is a Master-tier Builder. She can construct fortifications around the Mithril ore vein. Since Mara can duplicate blueprints, she can make multiple copies of such blueprints. Once Blooming Tree starts arming these fortifications, we’ll be able to defend the mine.”
Bai Mo agreed. “Although the future is uncertain, at least for now, this plan can allow one man to hold out against ten thousand.” He thought for a bit, then stood up. “Alright, I will plan ahead by having Timely Rain recruit more Engineers and Builders.”
Ye Ci breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’s a good plan, but I’m still not sure if I can bring out this family of three.”
“Just do what you can and leave the rest to God.” Bai Mo patted Ye Ci on her shoulder. He took his bowl into the kitchen and went inside his room to prepare.
Ye Ci was still eating, but she had obviously lost her appetite. Ye Nantian rested his hand against hers and smiled, “Little Ci, do your best but don’t be too harsh on yourself. Always remember that Dad and Mom will always be here for you.”
Ye Ci, who was rendered speechless by Ye Nantian, stared at her father.
Zuo Xiaolan also patted Ye Ci on her head with a smile. “That’s right, we’re a family. No one will be able to separate us no matter what, so just do what you can.”
Family? Family…? Ye Ci seemed to suddenly be enlightened! It turned out that she had forgotten about something all this while! How could she forget such an important thing! Ye Ci suddenly stood up then rushed up to her parents with a smile. “Dad, Mom! I know now! I know now!” While saying that, she rushed into her room, leaving Zuo Xiaolan and Ye Tiannan behind in their confusion, wondering what had Ye Ci figured out.
Ye Ci went online and strode quickly to the tent where Alaunar and his family lived. She peered into the leather tent through the gap and saw Yolan passing a bowl of meat soup to her children, then rubbing her children’s heads affectionately. The gentle look and affection on her face seemed so familiar to Ye Ci. It was exactly the same as how her parents would look at her!
She actually forgot that Yolan, Mara and Alaunar were family! Although Ye Ci had been talking about family, she never thought of them as one entity. She saw them as three separate individuals and compared them to each other, trying to figure out who was more loyal to her. It was only now she understood her grave mistake. She shouldn’t have viewed them as three separate individuals in the first place. If she were to view them as one entity, then things would be much easier.
Ye Ci couldn’t help but get excited at the thought. She reached out to part the leather flap and walked into the tent.
“Ah, you’re here! I just made some meat stew. Come, have a bowl! The mountain is very cold in winter, have a bowl of soup to warm yourself up.” Yolan quickly invited Ye Ci to sit down when she saw her coming in. Alaunar was going to bow to Ye Ci, but Ye Ci gestured for him to sit down and eat instead.
After spending a few days with Ye Ci, Mara was quite used to Ye Ci now. She quickly fetched a bowl for Yolan to serve Ye Ci a bowl of meat soup.
Ye Ci accepted the bowl and drank the soup after expressing her gratitude to the family. Although her real body was stuffed, her body in the game was still exhausted. Drinking the soup seemed to instantly dispel her weariness and allow her to slowly regain her HP.
Alaunar stared at Ye Ci in silence before suddenly speaking up, “Elf, have you gathered enough ores?”
“Mhm.” Alaunar had been following Ye Ci so he naturally knew how much ores she had taken, so Ye Ci didn’t try to deceive him either. As for his question, Ye Ci could vaguely figure out the reason behind it.
“Does that mean you can buy a harp for Lia soon?” Alaunar gripped his soup bowl tightly as he gazed at Ye Ci fervently, seemingly trying to suppress his emotions.
“Yes.”
Alaunar thought for a very long time before asking, “Elf, do you know what is Lia’s most impressive ability?”
“What is it?” Ye Ci didn’t directly answer Alaunar but chose to smile at him, then swept her gaze over Yolan and Mara. Both of them had sort of a lonely look on their faces. It would seem like they knew what Alaunar was going to say.
“She can whisk you away from this island.” Alaunar lowered his voice and had a very secretive expression on his face, thinking that Ye Ci was really oblivious to this information.
Ye Ci pretended to be surprised to play along with Alaunar. “Oh? That’s really impressive!”
“Yeah! I heard that it was handed down in Lia’s family. Khu’tak managed to leave back then thanks to Lia’s great great grandmother!” Alaunar seemed rather pleased with himself speaking up to this point. This was a secret between him and Lia, so naturally no one else would know about it.
Although Ye Ci didn’t really know about that, she wasn’t really concerned about it. What Alaunar was going to say next was more important. “So that means as long as I pay Lia, I can leave here?”
Alaunar was stunned. So were Yolan and Mara. The three of them stared at Ye Ci as though she was a complete stranger.
“Why? Did I say something wrong?” Ye Ci shrugged.
“No, no. You’re right. If you buy a harp for Lia, she will definitely send you away from here.” Alaunar lowered his head, looking a little upset.
Ye Ci reached out to ruffle his hair and consoled him with a smile. “What’s wrong? Are you reluctant to see me go?”
Alaunar stared into the bowl of soup he was holding, looking determined. Yolan spoke up instead. “Elf, Alaunar is very fond of you and is hoping that you would stay. Must you leave?”
Ye Ci nodded. “Yes, Yolan. I am an adventurer. To me, there’s a more beautiful and vast land beyond this place, beyond this this island, beyond this sea…” Ye Ci was quickly interrupted by Mara before she could even finish speaking. “But don’t you think this place is very beautiful? We have lush forests, vast oceans and you can even hear the mermaids sing. Why would you want to leave such a beautiful place? Are the foreign lands that attractive?”
Ye Ci knew Yolan and Mara were not anxious because of her. They were anxious because Alaunar had made some sort of decision. It was for this reason, Ye Ci could only look at Mara gently and speak to her in a soft tone, “Mara, you are right. This place is very beautiful. The sky is very blue and the forest is very green. The people here are very kind. Although I don’t have any good impression on the mermaids, I can’t deny their beauty and melodious voices either. Some of the places beyond here are filled with blooming flowers. But some are barren lands with snowy mountains, deserts, forests and waterfalls. In the outside world, every step leads to a different scenery. Even though this is a great place, the blood of an adventurer still runs through my veins. I love a life of uncertainty; I yearn for that kind of excitement.”
