A huge huge thanks to both Katy and GreenKiTea on Kofi for the donations. Enjoy the bonus chapters!

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The preparations made before coming here proved useful. 

Tessa was full of praise for the wood from the Star Forest and the Earthfire Dragon hide that Qi Yu had prepared. With one martial artist and one mage working together, they were able to repair the house with remarkable efficiency.

After most of the day had passed, the house—which had been destroyed by the Ice Demon’s self-destruction—had been repaired by about seventy to eighty percent. The Survival Panel notified Qi Yu that the additional quest had been completed.

During this time, Theodore watched as Qi Yu used wind magic to clear the dust and debris from the house and water magic to clean it. 

All of this made Qi Yu seem incredibly mysterious in the child’s eyes.

He asked Qi Yu what a mage was.

Qi Yu: “It’s a profession, just like your grandmother is a martial artist.” 

“Are all mages as powerful as you?”

“Some aren’t as good as me, and some are much better than me.” 

“Grandma said you live in the forest, which is different from us. What is a forest?”

Qi Yu said, “The forest I live in is called the Forest of Stars. I’ve never seen any other forest, so I can only tell you what the Forest of Stars is like.” He told Theodore that the Forest of Stars was different from here—the ice fields were covered in white ice and snow everywhere, while the Forest of Stars was green.

There were trees, grass, and flowers everywhere.

Theodore listened with great curiosity: “When I grow up, I want to be a mage, too, and I want to visit the Forest of Stars.” 

Qi Yu: “When that time comes, I’ll welcome you.”

Theodore: “Great Mage, may I see what you look like?”

He whispered, “Maybe I’ll run into you somewhere someday. By then I’ll be all grown up, and you probably won’t recognize me. I’ve never seen you before, so I wouldn’t be able to recognize you either.” 

Qi Yu thought he had a point, so he pulled the hood off his cloak. Theodore’s mouth formed an “O.” 

Tessa also stared at him in astonishment.

Qi Yu asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

He knew he certainly didn’t look his best right now: yesterday he’d been tossed into a snowdrift, then roasted inside the constant-temperature magic circle, and after that, thrown back out into the freezing cold.

But… looking at the two of them—they were both covered in dirt and snow—surely neither of them would look down on the other?

“You… are much younger than I expected,” Tessa said, suppressing her inner shock.

She’d guessed from Qi Yu’s voice that this nobleman probably wasn’t very old, but despite that hunch, she was still taken aback when she actually saw the overly youthful, clean-cut face beneath the cloak.

“If I may ask, are you of legal age?”

“If it’s a minor,” Tessa thought, “then I’ve really done something terrible—sending a child to face such a dangerous monster in my place.”

Qi Yu: “I’m an adult—I’m 19.”

Feeling it was only fair, he asked her in return, “And you?”

“I’m over five hundred years old,” Tessa said absently. “Nineteen—according to our Vela customs, that’s not even the age of majority yet.”

She felt a twinge of guilt: “These past few days, I’ve actually made you do so much work.”

Qi Yu was also startled by the phrase “over five hundred years old”—it was the first time he’d ever met someone who’d lived that long. No, he suddenly remembered seeing many elderly people at the Mages’ Guild in the city.

But back then, he didn’t have much understanding of lifespans in this world; thinking about it now, they were probably really a group of very elderly mages.

He suddenly felt reassured: Teacher Tranquility was only seventy—it seemed he could still live for a very, very long time in this world.

Theodore, listening to the conversation between his grandmother and Qi Yu, snapped back to reality.

His large gray eyes sparkled: “Mage, you’re so handsome!” 

Qi Yu asked in puzzlement, “Don’t we all have two eyes and a mouth? What’s the difference?” He knew he was just an ordinary person with black hair and black eyes.

He felt that a person could only be considered truly beautiful if they had golden hair and golden eyes. 

Like Duo Ju, for example.

Or someone with a regal appearance, like Professor Aegnor, whom you’d never forget once you’d seen them. 

Theodore thought what he said wasn’t quite right, but it also seemed to make some sense, and he didn’t know how to refute it. He thought, even though everyone has eyes, a nose, and a mouth, some people just look really good.

But the mage looked so matter-of-fact—could it be that my understanding is flawed? 

Tessa happened to be on the roof laying down fire-dragon hides, so she didn’t hear this strange exchange between the two. That evening, the three of them had dinner together in the newly renovated house.

Tessa had simmered a large pot of the creamy mushroom and vegetable soup that Qi Yu loved, and she watched him affectionately as he tucked in with his head down, eating heartily like a little hamster.

Afterward, it was time to say goodbye.

When Qi Yu said he was going back, Theodore looked utterly reluctant, but Tessa, on the other hand, was very calm, as if she had already suspected as much. In her heart, she had long since regarded Qi Yu as a messenger sent by the gods to save her. 

Now that the monster had been slain and the house repaired, the Divine Messenger would surely return to the side of the gods. 

Qi Yu took out several sets of Earthfire Dragon thermal gear and gave them to her and her grandson.

He also pulled a large pile of Emerald Crystal Peaches from his backpack—all looted today from the Emerald Crystal Peach Grove: “These are a specialty of our Star Forest—they’re especially delicious.”

He had originally intended to set up a temperature-regulating magic array for the two of them, but Tessa—who had been quietly accepting his kindness all along—declined this time.

“We are children of the ice fields; we shouldn’t fear the cold,” Tessa said. “An environment that’s too gentle will stifle the fierceness in our blood.” 

Qi Yu respected her views.

“Well then, I’m heading back.”

He opened the “Drifting Bottle” quest page and selected “Go Home.” The sound of clattering footsteps echoed through the night.

Theodore held Tessa’s hand, his eyes wide as he stared at the carriage—something that absolutely should not have appeared on the frozen plains of midwinter. Tessa, meanwhile, wore an expression that said, “I knew it”: Who but a god could possess such miraculous powers? 

Qi Yu turned to look at them: “Goodbye.”

Tessa, with Theodore by her side, bowed to him: “Thank you once again for your help, Master Mage. I will pray to the Goddess of Nature every day, blessing you with safety, good health, and a life of prosperity.”

Qi Yu climbed into the carriage. 

A moment later, the carriage came to a stop.

He stepped out and found himself back in the familiar Star Forest.

This time he was prepared; he took out four beast crystals and fed them to the alchemical ponies one by one: “Thank you for bringing me back.”

He hadn’t expected the alchemical ponies to give him any kind of response, but just as he was about to turn and leave, the pony that had originally snatched the beast crystal—the one that had snatched the beast crystal in the first place—voluntarily came over and nuzzled his hand.

Before Qi Yu could even react, they had already turned around, and the carriage vanished into the night in the blink of an eye. 

Qi Yu couldn’t help but smile slightly.

He entered his territory.

He had left yesterday morning and returned after dark today.

As he had expected, there was little white light within the territory.

He opened his survival panel, tapped on the map, and looked at it with a hint of anticipation—and there, amidst a vast expanse of gray, a new location was slowly glowing.

It was a place even farther away than the Blackrock Mountains, almost at the very edge of the map, in the far northern region.

【Winter Ice Plains】. 

He tapped it with his finger, and a prompt appeared.

【Explored area. Players may visit once per month and may not stay longer than 24 hours.】

Just as he thought!

He stared at the vast map, feeling an overwhelming curiosity about this world.

Server 01 Regional Channel:

【Liver Emperor: The top player’s points haven’t budged in the last couple of days. I’m both curious and anxious watching this.】

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Maybe the top player is busy with something even more important? Though I can’t think of anything—what could be more important right now than killing Swifts and snagging points?】

【Roadside Drifter: For the top player, points are just so-so at this point, right? After all, he’s had more than enough to trade for everything he wants for a long time now.】

A group of people was happily chatting in the channel when, out of the blue, a flash of gold lit up the survival panel:

【Server-wide Announcement: Player “I Love Survival Game” has made some progress in exploring the outside world, and the fame of 【Forest of Stars】 has spread to at least three regions.】 

【Reputation System Activated!】 

【The current region’s reputation rankings have been updated.】

【Cockroach Smell is So Weird: Holy crap, a server-wide announcement!】 

【Hardcore Gamer: ??? Exploring the outside world? At least three regions? We’re still playing single-player as cavemen in the forest, and these big shots have already connected with the rest of the world?】

【Passersby: Holy crap!】 

【I’m Domineering: Holy crap!】

【Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan: Holy crap!】 

【Reaching For The Moon in the Heavens: So, the reason the points haven’t moved these past few days is that the top players aren’t even in the shelter?】

【Little Old Me: No wonder the top players are buying Swift Meat and selling Earthfire Dragon sets—supplies I’ve never even heard of. So they’ve already been doing business with outside channels…】

Qi Yu was also startled by this sudden server-wide announcement. 

Unlike previous announcements, this one didn’t prompt him to confirm whether he wanted to post it. He opened the newly appeared 【Regional Reputation Leaderboard】.

Regional Reputation Leaderboard:

1st Place: Star Forest, Reputation Points: 660.

Currently, this leaderboard has only a single name in first place; from second place onward, it’s all blank. When you click on the reputation score, you can see the IDs of the contributors to that region’s reputation. 

Similarly, the reputation contribution leaderboard for Star Forest also lists only one name—“I Love Survival Game.” Qi Yu can see the specific sources of his reputation points.

Of the 660 reputation points, Golden Cave City accounts for 510. In addition, the Winter Ice Plains contributed 30.

To Qi Yu’s surprise, Ambner—a city he had never even visited—actually contributed a full 120 reputation points. 

Were the Gareth siblings he met in the Resource Zone really that valuable? 

While he was reading, another server-wide announcement popped up: 

【Server 01’s “Forest of Stars” is the first region to top the regional reputation rankings, earning a server-wide reward: 1 green-quality resource point will spawn in the territories of all players on Server 01. (For players in Celestial Territories, resource points will spawn randomly around their sanctuaries.)】

【Player “I Love Survival Game” from Server 01 has received a personal reward: a resource point (Purple).】