Mo Tan was not lying, of course, his words just now held no reference value.
He did have quite A few friends: Cordova and Huo Yan Yang, whom he met in the Northwest; Chen Wangyu, who inexplicably became A God-blessed one in the Light Capital; Shuang Ye, whom he met in Marshall Territory in the Southeast Continent…
In the not-so-long period since the game launched, Mo Tan’s network had unknowingly spread across three-quarters of the continent, and if Ji Xiaodao, A friend he didn’t even know about, was included, it would be the entire Innocent World.
Of course, simply knowing A few people in different places wasn’t special, As there was no ‘Novice Village’ (Beginner Village) in this game, and even friends who knew each other in reality would find it hard to have the same starting location if they wanted to play together, so this kind of ‘network’ wasn’t worth much…
However, it was at least stronger than Jun Wu and Wei Yang; although they could also gather information through many out-of-game channels, it was clearly not very effective at this stage when all players were basically still in the exploration phase, at least far worse than Mo Tan.
So, for the owner of the Wanderer's Inn in front of him, this was definitely A win-win transaction.
Putting everything else aside, just the information Tan Mo casually mentioned earlier, if slightly organized, would definitely make the higher-ups look at him in A new light.
And telling him these things so easily proved that he must have even more similar news in his hands~
“What do you want to know from me?” Once Jun Wu made up his mind, he no longer hesitated. He crossed his arms and shrugged, saying, “I do have some stories here, and the scope is not limited to the vicinity of Kalen City, but this is, after all, just A small border town, the kind that is almost never taken seriously, so I can’t guarantee either the number of stories or their credibility.”
Wei Yang flapped her wings beside him and chuckled, “Many of them are about A sow in some village having A difficult birth, or someone’s chicken laying A nest of duck eggs, goo. Jun Jun spent A lot of effort to weave those trivial matters into stories, goo.”
“Oh~” Mo Tan nodded absently, “And then?”
“That’s it.” Jun Wu smiled wryly and shook his head, “Although the inns here are basically fully functional, there’s hardly any decent intelligence. Most of my current work is editing things like chickens laying duck eggs into stories like ‘Shocking Unethical Love in the Family Shadow!’, this transaction really isn’t fair to you.”
Wei Yang shook her index finger with A serious expression, “But you’ve already agreed, so you can’t go back on your word, goo!”
Both of them were telling the truth; after all, Kalen City was indeed A small place, the kind where A big news event wouldn’t happen once in decades. The higher-ups of the Wanderer's Inn naturally wouldn’t allocate many resources here, and Mo Tan, like Jun Wu and the others, was also A player, so the latter felt it was better to make things clear beforehand, otherwise, it would be inappropriate if it caused some disputes and misunderstandings…
“Your way of speaking is very strange~” Mo Tan, however, still looked absent-minded, not only did he not react, but he suddenly became interested in Wei Yang’s way of speaking.
“Goo? I have A talent that reduces my common language ability by 3, goo, so my speech became like this As soon As I entered the game, goo.” Wei Yang reacted slightly, then widened her eyes and said, “Your focus is very strange, goo!”
Mo Tan chuckled, “What should I be focusing on then? That the transaction isn’t fair or something?”
Both of them nodded As A matter of course.
“Alright, perhaps you are indeed in A position where you deal with low-level gossip every day, but what does that matter?” Mo Tan shook his head, bringing his two index fingers together and then slowly separating them, “I should have made it clear just now, what I need is—long-term cooperation.”
Jun Wu frowned, “You mean…”
“The previous owner of this place was promoted and transferred, right?” Mo Tan whistled, giving Jun Wu A frivolous glance, “Then can’t you get A promotion and A raise, find A white… hmm, find A girl who speaks good Mandarin?”
Wei Yang glared at him, “We are family, goo!!”
“Sorry…” Mo Tan nodded, then added, “Kidney Shot, understand?”
Then he was fiercely slapped by Wei Yang’s wing, losing 2% of his health…
“Let’s get serious, let’s get serious.” Jun Wu smiled wryly and patted Wei Yang’s shoulder, then quietly asked Mo Tan, “You think highly of me?”
The latter, however, shook his head, “I just think highly of myself, and I also feel that even if you have A rather aimless personality, you wouldn’t want to stay cooped up in this small place forever.”
“What does that have to do with you thinking highly of yourself, goo?” Wei Yang, now quiet, stretched languidly, her pair of wings behind her spreading into A flat angle, and asked with her head tilted, “The previous owner worked here for more than ten years before being transferred to A good place, goo.”
Mo Tan revealed A sly smile, “Exactly, after all, no matter where, mediocre people make up the vast majority, but ways of promotion other than flattery and seniority still exist~”
Jun Wu nodded thoughtfully, “I think I understand what you mean.”
“Performance, I will provide you with performance.” Mo Tan slightly narrowed his eyes, “You can’t maximize your advantages As players, but I can, and I don’t have much time to waste, so at this stage, I will put in more, to slowly raise your status in the Wanderer's Inn, consider it an early investment.”
Jun Wu nodded, “And in the future, I, who will be able to master more intelligence, will give you an equal or even excessive return, huh, alright, I have no objections, anyway, I’m just A casual player.”
“Two, goo!” Wei Yang also nodded, “I have no objections, goo!”
Mo Tan smiled, “Later, tell me all the information you can get from the Kalen City inn, even if it’s about A sow having A difficult birth or A chicken laying duck eggs, I want it.”
“No problem.” Jun Wu nodded, “I’ll send you A friend message later.”
Then Mo Tan’s originally smiling expression slowly subsided…
“Now, there’s something I need you to keep an eye out for within your capabilities…”
……
An hour later, outside Kalen City
Mo Tan squatted under A crooked neck tree, idly drawing lines on the ground with A dagger.
A withered hand silently pressed on his shoulder, and A hoarse, slightly leaky voice came from behind…
“Guess… guess… who… I… am…”
“I guess your great-uncle!” Mo Tan, however, swept the incoming person’s legs, tripping him to the ground, then turned around and delivered A Kidney Shot directly to the opponent’s waist, and A heart-wrenching howl immediately echoed in the silent night.
A few seconds later, A thing wrapped in A dark blue cloak slowly stood up, drawing cold breaths. He had A face that was 30% rotten, dry and pale hair hung over his shoulders, and his two hands were As grotesque and terrifying As half-eaten chicken feet…
“Why are your attacks so vicious!” This Eternal Clan level 7 Frost Mage, named Rin Dong in the game and Yi Dong outside, noted As A, gritted his teeth at Mo Tan, “I lost health! Lost health!”
Mo Tan pouted, “Leaving aside whether you even have ‘blood’ at this point, by rights, with that appearance, you should have been beaten to death on the road by now, shouldn’t you?”
“I just wanted to scare you.” Yi Dong, who looked like A string of connected bones, chuckled awkwardly, then reached out and gently wiped under his ribs (bone?), and the next second, this zombie-like entity transformed into A handsome young man with fair skin, delicate features, and A sunny disposition, clutching his waist.
【Rin Dong】
Health: 200 / 220
Stamina: 210 / 210
Mana: 330 / 330
Class: Level 7 Frost Mage, Level 2 Demon Warlock
Faith: None
Alignment: chaotic neutral
Talents: Eternal, Life-Death Boundary, Super Spirit Body
Basic Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 6, Intelligence 23, Constitution 11
Civilization Attributes: Eloquence 7, Charm: 10 (-100), Knowledge 5, Leadership 5
Combat Attributes: Demonology Level 2, Fire Elemental School Level 1, Water Elemental School Level 5
Skills: Summon Imp, Curse of Agony, Ice Bolt, Ice Shard, Downpour, Freezing Pulse, Frost Armor
From Yi Dong’s current profile and his reaction just now, we can see that the 【Kidney Shot】 skill indeed doesn’t deal much health damage, but it really hurts.
Also, his appearance just now was really ugly…
“Scare me?” Mo Tan scoffed, “If your own face suddenly appeared in front of me, it might be even more damaging.”
Yi Dong ignored the sarcasm in Mo Tan’s words and just pouted, “Don’t say that, this might really be my face. I didn’t change my appearance when creating the character. This character’s previous life seemed to be human, and that dead look feels like an artistic rendition of myself.”
“Hmm, it seems that processing it to that extent just now was already the limit.” Mo Tan nodded seriously, “Considering your looks.”
“Less nonsense.” Yi Dong held out A hand to him, “Give me the stuff.”
Mo Tan shrugged and handed over the 《Primary Undead Knowledge from his satchel, “You arrived really fast, is your starting point very close to here?”
“So-so, it’s not far anyway. I used all my savings to buy A Dwarf airship ticket. Goblin ones are several times cheaper, but I didn’t dare to sign that death pact.” Yi Dong casually complained, then held the Undead Knowledge book in his hands and looked at it for A while, smacking his lips, “I didn’t expect you to actually have such A good thing.”
Mo Tan didn’t pay attention to his last piece of nonsense, only saying seriously, “You’d best confirm first whether learning this thing will cause you trouble. You should know that Necromancer are not very well-liked in this game’s world view, and combined with your appearance just now, it will definitely be extremely provocative.”
“Don’t worry.” Yi Dong smiled confidently, pulling at his rather elastic cheek, “In the ‘living’ state, all death aura on me will be concealed, otherwise, wouldn’t the Eternal Clan have already gone extinct? Hmm… let me see, do I just need to open it…”
He gently opened the large book in his hand, and the moment the first page was turned, it transformed into A white light and disappeared into the air, and then…
“Done?” Mo Tan looked at his friend, who showed no change whatsoever, and asked, “Any changes?”
Yi Dong stood rooted for A moment, then, coming to his senses, immediately flushed with excitement, “Alright! I’ll Try!”
With that, he took half A step back, extended A hand, and pointed behind Mo Tan. A ghastly white halo lit up at his fingertip, accompanied by A grating crunching sound, and the previously flat ground actually cracked open, with A ghastly white bone hand slowly emerging from within.
It must be said, it was quite cool. If this scene were in reality, scaring A few kindergarteners would definitely not be A problem, but if the onlookers were older than third grade, it would be hard to say…
After all, this Skeleton Soldier, which struggled so hard to climb out, was only about the height of A first grader, and its proportions were A bit off, with A rather large skull on A small frame, looking like A mascot at first glance.
“Can you explain to me…” Mo Tan looked at Yi Dong weakly, then casually flicked the little Skeleton Soldier behind him, knocking it to the ground, “What is this thing.”
The latter chuckled awkwardly, “A Skeleton Soldier.”
Mo Tan chuckled, then bent down to look at the Skeleton Soldier struggling on the ground for A long time without flipping over, then grabbed its head and lifted it up, “Is this thing the Junior X Team member of the Skeleton Soldiers?”
“I’m just A level 1 Primary Necromancer right now.” Yi Dong chuckled dryly, raising his hand to disperse the small skeleton, which was struggling in Mo Tan’s hand, into A pile of bones, “Summoning something like this is already the limit.”
Mo Tan played with A bone stick in his hand, asking absently, “Besides being able to give birth to your own son, what other skills have you learned?”
“That’s hard to say…” Yi Dong scratched his hair, “The Necromancer system is A bit complex. It determines the direction based on the number of uses and proficiency of certain skills. The Skeleton Soldier I just summoned belongs to the 【Bone Control】 skill line. There are also three other lines: 【Spirit Summoning】, 【Plague】, and 【Flesh】. This is still A primary Necromancer; I don’t know if other categories will be added later, but it feels powerful!”
Mo Tan pondered for A moment, then suddenly said to Yi Dong, “Now, change back to that Zombie state and summon A Skeleton Soldier again.”
“What do you mean, Zombie! That’s Eternal Form, and it comes with many benefits!” Yi Dong pouted, but still obediently switched back to his zombie-like appearance from before. His skin began to fester at A visible rate, and the specific process will not be described in detail, considering that this book has some underage readers.
It’s A bit different.
Mo Tan keenly noticed that Yi Dong at this moment seemed slightly different compared to before, and the tall Skeleton Soldier that then rose from the ground in front of him made him completely certain!
“Indeed… some talents or characteristics will affect certain skills, but…” Mo Tan slightly furrowed his brows, muttering, “Where did I know that from?”
Chapter 83: End
