At this moment, Leandro was quite bewildered. Two players with IDs stood beside him: one, looking shifty, was XB; the other was a petite female player named Jin Se.
"Jin Se? She seems to be a celebrity." Zhou Ning raised an eyebrow, memories surfacing in his mind.
"The star of the Deep Blue Club, an Alchemist Master, and one of the top five Warrior Department players in the country. In his previous life, she was the one who maxed out Leandro's favorability and uncovered the secret of flame oil. I didn't expect her to be one of the closed beta players this time."
Zhou Ning's lips curled into a slight smile as he walked over. Compared to XB, Jin Se was undoubtedly a more valuable leek to harvest. He had seen the forum's record post from that time; Jin Se had persistently completed 492 ring tasks to max out Leandro's favorability, making her a legendary 'lickspittle.' It would be better to harvest such a legendary leek himself.
Jin Se was currently a bit troubled. She was born in Wales County, near Daklan. After lighting up the map, she rushed to Daklan immediately, only to perfectly miss the major plot. This morning, she arrived at Vik University hoping to try her luck and ended up encountering a Leandro who looked like a passerby and was unresponsive.
Thinking back to Wayne, who was very friendly to players in the previous series, why was the difference between NPCs so vast?
Huh, what's this?
Jin Se's eyes, like radar, spotted an incredibly handsome NPC walking from a distance. Isn't that Wayne Strowell?
He really is handsome, Jin Se's heart fluttered, and her face quickly turned a flushed red as if she had been drinking... "Clear your head, this isn't the time to be a fangirl!"
Jin Se snapped back to reality and noticed a new quest suddenly pop up in her quest list.
[You have triggered an instant quest: Give NPC Wayne Strowell a cupcake. There might be an unexpected surprise! Do you accept? Yes/No.]
Jin Se's eyes lit up, the quest had arrived!
She immediately selected 'Yes,' then her bright eyes scanned around, quickly noticing a breakfast shop not far away. She hurried over.
XB also saw Zhou Ning at this moment and immediately abandoned Leandro, excitedly running over: "Boss, good morning."
Zhou Ning nodded to him and, at the same time, issued him a quest to buy breakfast.
Soon, Jin Se returned with a steaming cupcake: "Boss, here you go!"
Zhou Ning feigned a slight surprise and smiled: "Is this for me?"
"Mm-hmm!" Jin Se could barely suppress the urge to scream, nodding furiously. That smile was too handsome, she felt dizzy.
"Thank you." Zhou Ning took the cake and asked casually, "Wait, you seem to be skilled in Alchemy?"
"Yes, yes!" Jin Se continued to nod frantically, feeling even more that this NPC was mysterious and unfathomable. Her transmigration identity was an Alchemist Apprentice, and she now had an Alchemy (Beginner) skill.
"Is that so? I have some simple work for you. Are you willing to accept?" Zhou Ning asked.
"I am willing!" Jin Se was overjoyed and quickly replied. Although the closed beta would end in less than two days, at least she could establish a connection with the protagonist, which would make things much smoother after the open beta began.
Zhou Ning wrote down the address of his Alchemy Laboratory on a slip of paper and handed it to Jin Se: "Come by this afternoon and try it out. If you can't handle it, I won't go easy on you."
At this moment, XB also returned with breakfast and, seeing the situation, looked eagerly at Zhou Ning: "What about me, boss?"
"Thank you." Zhou Ning smiled as he took the breakfast. He then settled the quest for him, turned, and walked towards Leandro.
XB:... He was in a lot of pain, a lot of pain. His current state of mind was a bit like seeing his beloved holding hands with someone else and getting into another car, while he was stuck under a car.
I was here first!
Leandro was also a bit confused at this moment. He had originally wanted to ask for directions, but then two strangers inexplicably surrounded him, talking nonsense, and then just as inexplicably all left, enthusiastically surrounding someone else.
Although he didn't care, what was this inexplicable feeling of loss?
Zhou Ning handed the breakfast XB had bought to Leandro and smiled: "Good morning, the Weather is nice today."
"Yes, it hasn't changed for at least two hours, very nice Weather." Leandro took the breakfast, hesitated for a moment, and asked: "I'd like to know where the Pig and Whistle breakfast shop is in the school. Do you know, senior?"
"I know. Are you looking for Mr. Turing or Mrs. Turing?"
"Mr. Turing. My father asked me to greet him." Leandro said.
Zhou Ning pulled out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and it was almost 9 o'clock: "Mr. Turing shouldn't be at the breakfast shop right now. I know where he lives. If you're not in a hurry, wait here, and I'll take you there later."
"Okay, thank you very much!" Leandro bowed to Zhou Ning.
[Leandro de Pesa's favorability towards you has increased. It is currently: Friendly]
Along the flagstone path, Zhou Ning walked to the three-story office building of the Alchemy Department and, guided by memory, found Professor Wesley's office.
Thump! Thump! He knocked on the door.
"Come in." Professor Wesley's voice came from inside the room.
Watching Zhou Ning push open the door, Professor Wesley sat at his desk, his expression serious: "Hello, Strowell, is there something you need?"
"Good morning, Professor Wesley."
Zhou Ning truthfully stated his purpose, "It's like this, my Alchemy skill is about to reach advanced level, and I recently rented an Alchemy Laboratory off-campus, so I won't be able to continue as a teaching assistant starting next semester."
"Oh? That's good news! I approve." Professor Wesley stood up, somewhat surprised, "What level have you reached now? Can you concoct sagacity potion?"
"I don't have the recipe, but I should be able to." Zhou Ning answered honestly.
The sagacity potion was a mid-level Alchemy recipe, and it wasn't a difficult task for Zhou Ning. However, seeing Professor Wesley agree so happily, why did it feel a bit unpleasant?
Professor Wesley pulled out a quill pen, tore off a piece of paper, wrote a recipe, and handed it to him: "This is the recipe for the sagacity potion. The school is organizing an expedition targeting the Meteorological Tide soon, and a large quantity of potions will be needed. The school can provide the herbs, and I'll give you two currency per bottle as a labor fee, or if you provide your own materials, I'll authorize the purchase at 15 currency per bottle. Are you willing?"
"I am willing." Zhou Ning's lips twitched slightly. As expected, it was the stingy Professor Wesley. This price would yield a profit, but it would barely cover the effort. However, for the sake of free experience, he endured it.
After discussing business, Zhou Ning bowed, tipped his hat, and bid farewell.
Facing the sunlight, Zhou Ning unfolded the paper with the recipe. It read:
sagacity potion: gastrodia elata leaf + daisy root + golden-edged agave root... It's not difficult.
"Wait... what's this?" Zhou Ning sharply noticed a partial header remaining on the torn-off half of the paper.
"This looks like... Innek University? Why would Professor Wesley use paper from Innek University?" Zhou Ning frowned. In his memory, Professor Wesley seemed to be from North Wales County, with his parents, relatives, and friends all there.
Returning to the tree-lined path, Leandro was still waiting there. After calling him, the two walked side by side out of the school.
Just as they walked out of the school gate, a notification suddenly appeared on his panel.
[You have triggered the survival quest [Survive]!]
[Quest Hint: Cultists from the shadows have set their sights on you. Please be vigilant.]
[Quest Requirement: Survive the cultists' attack.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
Zhou Ning's heart sank.
Suddenly, all the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as if pricked by needles.