Chapter 119

Chapter 119: Officially Designated, Spiritual Energy Career Mentor Bai Fu [22]

When the game was updated to version 1.1, it introduced ranking and arena functions, added some beginner villages, and increased the player level cap from 20 to 25.

The update wasn’t too extensive, but it significantly enhanced the game’s playability.

The introduction of the arena gave players who enjoyed PK (player versus player combat) a home. As a game that boasts ultra-high freedom as its selling point, the PK system in Above the Stars has been taken to new heights by the players.

One could say that version 1.1 was a highly successful update.

Therefore, when the details of the 1.2 update were revealed, most players clicked on the link right away to see what interesting new features would be introduced in this new version.

[The players of Silent Courtyard have had their fun for so long; in the new version, can we get our own Bai Fu?]

[Follow Bai Fu meow, thank you Bai Fu meow.]

[Add a pants-dropping feature, please!]

[Dude, do you want this game to die? If it really allowed pants-dropping, there would probably be a bunch of perverts showing off on the first day of the update.]

As soon as Bai Fu opened the official update preview special page, she noticed that the video at the top was already filled with comments.

She played the video, accompanied by cheerful music, the Q-version character representing the official image, Star Girl, appeared on the screen.

[Do you miss me? After months of not seeing each other, today Star Girl is here to bring you super exciting news about the upcoming version update!]

[In five days at 2 AM, Above the Stars will undergo maintenance for an update. The update duration will be the same as last time, adventurers, if you have any urgent matters to attend to, make sure to prepare accordingly.]

[Alright, let’s get into the main topic now.]

Star Girl’s straightforward style received much praise. In the following video, she detailed the specific content of the 1.2 version update, mainly divided into two aspects.

One aspect focused on optimizing the gaming experience, including increasing the number of beginner villages, refining the arena matchmaking rules, and enhancing the user interface for logging into the game.

The other aspect involved changes and additions to game functions. Version 1.2 would introduce four new features.

First, a team competition mode aimed at enriching the entertainment gameplay, allowing players to experience the fun of inter-player faction battles ahead of time.

Second, a game plot chronicle where players who missed certain storylines could browse through summaries to understand what happened in the game.

Third, challenge dungeons where players could face popular bosses they’ve defeated before.

Fourth, career trial runs where after the new version release, players could experience other roles within the virtual space and decide whether to switch careers.

Bai Fu quickly skimmed through the update content of version 1.2. To be honest, none of these things were relevant to her since she’d already tried them out. Because she couldn’t register a game account, she couldn’t enter the arena, so she didn’t expect to benefit from the newly opened challenge dungeons.

However, the updates outside of the game content caught her eye.

No, it wasn’t just catching her eye—it was keeping it wide open!

First, the official update teaser video included a compilation of plots from various beginner planets in version 1.1. As the most active NPC on Source Star in this version, Bai Fu unsurprisingly made it onto the video.

[Holy crap, Fu!]

[Yay, it’s Bai Fu, licking the screen!]

Players excitedly went wild.

Next, upon opening the sub-page for Source Star on the update preview special page, Bai Fu was delighted to find herself featured as the cover character of this page.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one; Xia Shi, Youlia, the President of the Truth Society whose face hasn’t been revealed, and an unfamiliar man also graced the cover.

According to the official introduction video, all characters on the cover were important plot figures in version 1.1 and were very likely to continue playing significant roles in the new version.

For regular players, Bai Fu appearing on this interface was expected, but for Bai Fu, this held great significance.

The unfamiliar man aside, Xia Shi, Youlia, and the President of the Truth Society were either protagonists of a major storyline or important bosses. By placing her alongside these NPCs, the official essentially acknowledged her as having the potential of a protagonist.

“It’s worth it that I’ve gone through so many plot exploration degrees!”

Bai Fu was overjoyed, wondering what kind of enhancements and adjustments the planners would make for her next time.

[What, isn’t this the bad woman who appeared in the abandoned cooling plant and Bagalos Base?]

[Bad women are great; I love bad women. Is anyone else tired of Bai Fu? I think she’s too righteous, I don’t like righteous characters.]

[Whether righteous or not, I like them both.]

[Ah, it’s Miss Xia Shi, she’s the one who issued the series of Gene Progenitor Laboratory quests.]

[Fu haters go away, my Shi is the best!]

Looking at the arguing comments floating above the video, Bai Fu couldn’t help but laugh.

Youlia being the best? Xia Shi being the best?

She began looking forward to how these players would react once they learned about her relationship with Youlia and Xia Shi.

Your beloved Youlia doll avatar is in my hands, and I play with it however I want!

Finally, what surprised Bai Fu the most was the official response to player questions.

Q: How exactly does the career trial function work? Is it just sparring with wooden dummies in a virtual space, or are there no wooden dummies at all?

A: Each career has a corresponding mentor. Players can apply to spar with the career mentor in a virtual space. We can reveal now that the gunner career mentor is Lumia, and the spiritual energy artist career mentor is Bai Fu.

“Bai Fu? Isn’t that me?”

What?!

Bai Fu was shocked. Following the success of her illustrations being featured on the homepage of the official website, giving her a little bit of exposure…





She had actually become one of the spokespeople for the Psionic class!

This was a class mentor; any player who wished to understand the Psionic class in the future would be unable to bypass her. The amount of attention this could bring her was almost unimaginable, and it wasn’t fleeting attention either—it would last as long as the game’s operations.

“Amazing!”

Bai Fu wanted to grab the Star Lady and give her two big kisses.

When she noticed this Q&A, many players also came knocking.

[Is it true or false? Can we challenge FuFu?]

[Ah, I’m fighting Bai Fu?]

[This is good, haha, everyone wait for me, after the new version opens, I’ll perform an injury-free run past Bai Fu.]

[Dream on, are you even capable of an injury-free run? Do you think this is a game with invincible frames from rolls or counter-attacks?]

Though most players believed that challenging Bai Fu would result in being trampled underfoot by her, many still wanted to be among the first to run and challenge her when the new version launched.

[What’s wrong with me liking to be stepped on by FuFu?]

Bai Fu lightly pinched her chin.

If the official team could make her into a challenge boss in the challenge dungeon, it would undoubtedly create even more buzz. This way, there would definitely be more players making videos of themselves challenging her. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

She shook her head and casually flipped through discussion threads posted by players related to her.

Once again, Jiujiao took the lead, but instead of guessing her identity as usual, she made some inferences based on the new content officially released.

[I estimate that there will be quite a few questlines related to FuFu’s true identity in the new version. You can look forward to it.]

Looking forward—how could they not?

If FuFu were really the Overlord of Yōuyè, that would be absolutely amazing. Shadow twins, Overlord of Yōuyè. If the severely injured version of the Overlord of Yōuyè was already so cool, just imagine how powerful the complete form of the Overlord of Yōuyè must be!

Bai Fu casually closed the official website and community pages.

There were five days left until the update of the new version, and she needed to prepare thoroughly to avoid unnecessary trouble caused by sudden mass log-offs by players.

Pretending to be a bystander escaping from Black Mountain City, Bai Fu quickly returned to Tong Shan Camp.

After handing over the task of investigating the infectious disease at Tong Shan Camp, she gained another 140,000 experience points—not much, but not insignificant either.

“For the next few days, you should continue to stay here at Tong Shan Camp and take care of the patients. I’ll go back to Goli Desert first.”

After giving instructions, Bai Fu left.

On the way back to Goli Desert, she tried out the newly acquired Memory Fragment.

The level restriction for this Memory Fragment was level 35, which was an insurmountable barrier for players, but for her, it was child’s play.

After entering the special instance of the Memory Fragment, she immediately transformed into a battle frenzy.

Stealth?

Forget about it!

She led the mutant rioters out through the front gate of the research institute, beating anyone who dared to obstruct them to their knees.

At the end of the instance, an unremarkable-looking mutant looked at her with gratitude: “Are you really not going with us?”

Bai Fu shook her head. “Go, go find your freedom. Don’t get caught again.”

While speed-running the instance, she investigated the reasons behind the mutiny of these mutants. It turned out that the truth was disgraceful. Most of these special mutants were originally ordinary civilians, but because they were suitable for mutation, they were captured by people sent by the Psionic Diffusion Committee. In the research institute, they endured countless pains, and when the pain exceeded a certain threshold, they finally decided to risk everything and escape from the institute.

“Thank you, meeting you is the greatest fortune of my life. I will take them to a place where no one can find us and start anew.”

The unremarkable-looking mutant kept thanking Bai Fu until the instance ended and he disappeared from her sight.

Bai Fu sighed. In the instance, these mutants were saved, but in reality, according to Beihim’s account, they ultimately failed to escape and were all executed, never achieving the freedom they desired.

She glanced at the Game Prompt.

[Instance completion time: 13 minutes and 46 seconds]

[First-time completion today rewarded with 140,000 experience points]

This Memory Fragment could be challenged repeatedly, but only the first completion each day would reward experience points.

Even so, Bai Fu was very satisfied.

Being able to gain an extra 140,000 experience points every day was not something easily found elsewhere. If she could obtain more Memory Fragments, she wouldn’t lack experience for a short period of time.

…

As Bai Fu was about to reach Goli Desert, the Former Republic publicly disclosed all the details of the attack on Black Mountain City. They strongly condemned the Truth Society and issued the highest bounty for the traitor Beihim.

When this news reached the Truth Society, the President of the Truth Society was utterly baffled.

“How do I not know that I sent someone to attack the Former Republic and turncoat Beihim from the Former Republic?”

At first, he thought it might have been done without his knowledge, but after investigation, he was sure that it was someone impersonating the Truth Society.

“Purposefully disguising oneself as the Truth Society must have an ulterior motive… But…”

The President of the Truth Society snorted coldly.

Whatever the intentions of those impersonating the Truth Society were, it didn’t matter anymore because he was soon going to initiate the final operation. If the operation succeeded, all these petty individuals would be crushed effortlessly by him. If it failed, he would most likely die anyway and wouldn’t need to worry about being schemed against.

Upon closer reflection, this impersonation incident wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it drew the attention of the Former Republic away, leaving them no time to focus on other matters.

“That person pretending to be a member of the Truth Society isn’t half bad.”

The President of the Truth Society couldn’t help but laugh.

There were too few people in this world like Bai Fu who constantly caused him trouble!

He dialed Doctor Ai’s terminal: “Make arrangements, I need to see Youlia now.”

“Yes.”

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