Chapter 129:

Opening treasure chests has always been a situation where some are happy while others are disappointed.

It’s just like playing those gacha lootbox games, most people who are addicted to opening treasure chests are trudging under the burden, supporting those European lords who should be thoroughly scolded.

However, Murphy’s batch of treasure chests was quite generous.

Even the worst item was just the “Hidden Quest Design Blueprint” that the “Meow King” player opened.

Players who obtained unwanted weapons could still trade with each other, so getting cursed items was just the developers’ “good-natured joke.” Although spirit weapons generally needed to be bound to one’s own spirit energy to be used, in the real world, this binding process wasn’t instantaneous.

Anyway, by the time Murphy led the little players, wearing their new outfits, to the city square, the vast majority of people were quite satisfied.

At this time, the festival had already begun in the square after nightfall.

The Transia region wasn’t exactly prosperous or open, so the festivals here were quite lackluster, with nothing more than girls dancing and drunkards indulging in drinking.

However, since the food for today’s festival was provided free of charge by Lord Murphy, without the need for those damned labor points to exchange, the happiness brought by the free food quickly heated up the festive atmosphere.

The girls from the Survivor’s Camp held hands and danced in the square amid the cheers of the people. Unfortunately, there was no accompaniment, but Lumina’s eyes lit up, feeling that her moment as a bard had arrived.

Her “hidden profession” had a very special “Music Infection” setting, and to make her music more infectious, she needed to perform in various occasions to gain the audience’s approval.

So, dressed in a vampire ceremonial outfit and wearing a masquerade mask, Lumina placed her beloved Nis’ music box on the ground and began playing the musical scores she had mastered to accompany the girls’ dancing.

This kind act was quickly met with an enthusiastic response from the surrounding crowd.

The little players gathered around to watch, and soon, some helpful souls joined in, like the “North Forest Dog’s Paddle” player who worked at the bar, proudly showing off some mechanical dance moves.

You have to admit, with Lumina’s fast-paced musical accompaniment, this guy’s passionate and dashing dance moves quickly earned the enthusiastic approval of the surrounding drunkards.

Of course, the more lively a festival was, the better, and seeing the little players still feeling a bit restrained, Murphy casually published a random event quest called “Enjoy the Festival.”

The quest required players to go up and perform.

The reward was gaining reputation with the Kadman Civilian Self-Defense Force and the Survivor’s Camp, and with this, even the players who were still hesitant immediately became proactive.

After all, reputation was just about being familiar with a group, right?

If you’ve contributed to a collective and most people recognize you, then your reputation would naturally rise.

Players who could dance went up and had a blast, feeling great as they watched their reputation bar slowly rise amid the cheers. Those who couldn’t dance also had a way, like Niuniu, who rushed up and performed a set of cool martial arts moves, even finding a few “lucky audience members” to spar with, also earning a wave of cheers from the drunkards.

Other student players followed suit, finding a spot at the edge of the square, using gas lamps to light up a circle, and taking out some coins as stakes, inviting NPCs to engage in recreational boxing matches.

It was purely for gaining melee combat proficiency, but it also attracted a group of idle and crazy NPCs to join in the fun.

For the players, roughhousing with NPCs was part of the game experience. Considering the immersive nature of《Reality Realm》, the fully simulated gameplay made them feel the increasingly lively festival atmosphere around them, easily getting into the spirit of things.

This was what Murphy wanted to see.

He didn’t want his little players to treat the residents as mere quest-giving NPCs.

That kind of cynical and realistic gameplay would eventually lead to trouble. Having the players’ relationship with the locals deepen further would only be good for the development of Kadman City and the Transia region, as both sides depended on each other.

At this moment, the vampire lord hid in the shadows of the square, using Desire Perception to secretly listen to the little players’ thoughts.

However, this power wasn’t very effective on these otherworld spirits, perhaps due to their lack of a physical form. Murphy could only hear some noise from their souls, with only extremely intense emotions being audible.

For example:

“Meow! This time, getting an enchanted treasure chest from Lady Tris, I definitely won’t get cursed!”

Intense emotions were brewing in the Meow King’s heart as he shouted inwardly:

“Meow, meow, the time has come to prove that I’m a super lucky player! Just now, you went offline and washed your hands three times, even putting on some nice-smelling bath gel. You also prayed to the God of Wealth and Lord Guan. This time, there’s no problem!

Luck and all that is just superstition!

And it’s definitely conserved!

You’ve been so unlucky for so long, believe in yourself! This time, you’ll definitely get something good!”

“This guy has such a deep resentment?”

Murphy blinked his eyes in the darkness.

He could tell that the Meow King, who was now walking towards Tris’s alchemy cottage, was on the verge of exploding. If Tris’s hidden quest didn’t give him a good enchanted treasure chest, this guy would probably go berserk.

Quitting the game was probably impossible.

After all, whether in the game or on the forums, the Meow King was very active, clearly a true fan of《Reality Realm》. But having such a poor gaming experience would definitely dampen the Meow King’s enthusiasm for the game.

“Well, let’s give you a little sweetener first, then we’ll slowly discuss you spreading yellow rumors about me.”

The cunning vampire lord, skilled in seduction, grinned in the darkness and flapped his bat wings, heading to Tris’s cottage first.

The Crimson Witch never showed much enthusiasm for festivals like this, and now that she was an official Blood Vulture Lady Sovereign, she had to maintain a certain decorum.

When Murphy arrived, Tris was busy with the “Convergence Stone.”

Murphy had given her the blueprint earlier, and now this Grandmaster Alchemist was close to producing this key item that could serve as a “dungeon system.” According to Tris, the complexity of this thing categorized it as a high-level spirit item, and its operating mechanism and spirit formula were unprecedented.

This piqued Tris’s interest in the object, and she didn’t feel it was a boring task.

“Your Excellency,” Murphy jumped in through the window and said to Tris, “Your warriors have completed the quest and will soon come to claim their reward from you. You haven’t prepared yet, have you?”

But it didn’t matter!

Because the rewards were right in front of them.

Five enchanted treasure chests, five enchantment orders, five elf skill manuals, and a special costume box, as well as an elf storybook for Lumina.

What a great haul!

Little Ashina and the Meow King happily took everything and politely bid farewell before leaving. But just a few minutes later, the Meow King’s ghostly wails and howls rang out from outside the courtyard.

“Oh! Your uncle has hit the jackpot! Heavens and earth, you’ve finally let me get lucky, the Crimson Witch’s spirit staff! Masterwork quality! Commander-level! With built-in spirit extraction! Automatic mana regeneration when killing monsters! Awoooo!

As expected of a raid quest reward!

And it’s got the yellow text too!

Awesome appearance, practical stats! Maximum collector’s value!

I just knew Lady Tris cared about us. Ahaha, I even got the ‘Nature’s Aegis’ spell manual!

Lady Tris!

I worship you!!!”

“Meow King, stop howling in this barbershop! The NPC neighbors are all looking over, meow, so embarrassing!” Little Ashina’s shrill voice followed, “Oh! I hit the jackpot too! Aiyah, the Crimson Witch’s Illusion Ring! It can generate a shield and create three spirit decoys, how awesome is that?

This must be an equipment Lady Tris used to wear when she was a girl, right?

Wow, this little bat head ornament is so exquisite!

I love it!

Lady Tris, I’m your fan!”

Little Ashina’s shrill shrieks made Lady Tris smile, marveling at how these otherworld spirits really wore their hearts on their sleeves. It was quite interesting to interact with them.

But when she turned around, she saw Murphy gritting his teeth, muttering to himself as he wrote and drew in his little black book, like he was drawing a cursed circle on someone.

“What are you doing?”

Tris approached with a bottle of wine and asked. Murphy replied in a cold tone, “Did you know they’ve been spreading rumors about you and me?”

“Tch, is that a rumor? You know what you did that night. I’m not interested in talking about you!”

The Blood Vulture Lady Sovereign pursed her lips and said, “Besides, you can’t handle a bit of idle gossip? Back when we were down and out in Kadman City, relying on each other for survival, people would poke fun at us every day, and I never saw you get so worked up. You’ve heard far worse things said about the two of us back then.”

“You don’t understand.”

Murphy waved his hand and put away his “Book of Grudges.” He said, “Slandering one’s sovereign behind their back is truly despicable behavior. I’ll have to get Maxim to properly teach that insolent Meow King what loyalty means!

Sigh, nevermind.

You’re right, they’re not really spreading rumors, after all, my intentions aren’t exactly pure either.”

Cough cough

Tris, who was drinking wine, immediately choked on it.

The Lady Sovereign put on a cold expression and brushed off Murphy’s hand that was on her waist. But in the next moment, she was pulled into the naughty Count of Kadman’s embrace. The Crimson Witch snorted, calmly forming a spirit orb in her palm to successfully deter the overeager Murphy. Rolling her eyes, she urged, “Aren’t you going to hurry up and go to the Blood Vulture Halls to prepare for Maxim and Miriam’s initial embrace?”

“Who said anything about initially embracing Miriam?”

Murphy struck a righteous pose and shook his head, “I’ve already signed a contract with that red-haired girl, one more effective than a blood pact.”

——

“This dress, ugh...”

In a room at the corner of the square, Sister Pomegranate, the one with the best figure among the female players, looked at the evening gown on her body with a pained expression.

Her height was enough to carry off the gorgeous long dress, but the chest area was a bit loose.

If even her well-trained figure couldn’t fill it out, the other three girls definitely wouldn’t fare any better. Little Ashina was so short that wearing the long dress was like wearing a stage costume, her legs couldn’t even spread apart.

Always confident in her appearance, Sister Pomegranate was now indignantly fuming, “Is this really meant for people to wear? Ridiculous! I refuse to believe anyone besides Lady Tris and Lady Adele could possibly fill out this monstrosity!”

“Alas, it is beautiful though.”

Lumina looked regretfully as she pinched her slightly plump waist, as if Lady Tris’s outrageous evening gown had dashed all her joy at completing the quest, obtaining the rewards, good skills, and access to the elf kingdom map.

Feeling quite dejected, she said sadly, “Look, we completed the quest and got the rewards, two happy things together. So why are we not happy?”

“Oh, shut up, the season for whining is long over!”

Orchid hugged her arms, looking displeased as she eyed Sister Pomegranate up and down, saying, “I think this evening gown must be quite expensive. This damn game is too hardcore in this aspect, if you can’t adjust your bust size, forget about wearing it.

Why don’t we just sell it?

Maybe we can use it as starting capital for something.”

“Lady Aqua! Lady Aqua’s monstrous figure could definitely pull it off!”

Next to them, Little Ashina, who had been snickering with her mouth covered, suddenly threw out her hand forcefully, her eyes shining as she said, “She would absolutely love this dress too. She used to be a fashion designer, you know? And we just so happen to have a perfect excuse to get her to join us... Oops! I mean, to get her to play with us. Look, the excuse is right here, isn’t it?”