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The professional-grade communication bead, bound to mental energy, proved to be extremely stable. 

So stable, in fact, that the voice on the other end sounded just as clear as if the person were speaking right next to her ear. And… It sounded very familiar. 

Qiyu had an excellent memory; especially since he’d begun cultivating mental energy, he could read text and remember it instantly. The same went for voices, of course.

“Your voice sounds familiar. I feel like I’ve heard it before.” 

Dan Xingyu felt a sudden flush in his ears; if he hadn’t known the other person’s personality so well, he might have read too much into it. 

Still, Game Brother’s voice was clear and crisp—and sounded surprisingly young. 

He said softly, “Maybe it’s just a similar tone.”

No, that’s not it.

Qiyu asked him, “Did you take the Red Resource Zone card yesterday?” 

Dan Xingyu was taken aback. “How did you know?”

He shouldn’t have mentioned this to Qiyu yet.

Qiyu raised his voice slightly: “Did you run into a mage wearing a dark green cloak?” 

Dan Xingyu:?

He was stunned: “Were you there yesterday, too?” 

“So we’ve actually met before, God Has No Form.” 

Qiyu said excitedly. “I’m that person.”

He recalled yesterday’s scene and felt a little flattered: “You even said I was so cool.” 

Dan Xingyu froze as he began to rack his brain, trying to recall everything from yesterday.

Unfortunately, he’d been in such a hurry to get to the resource zone yesterday that he hadn’t really paid much attention to a passing mage. He only remembered a fleeting glimpse—the person was shrouded in a cloak from head to toe, looking very mysterious.

How could it be such a coincidence?

“What a coincidence!” The same voice rang in his ears.

He heard Qiyu’s regretful voice: “If I’d known it was you, I would’ve chatted with you a bit more.”  

“You were the first friend from Earth I met after arriving in the Survival Game world.” 

For the first time, Dan Xingyu felt his mind wasn’t quite up to the task; he began frantically trying to recall what he’d been wearing yesterday in the resource zone. 

Thankfully, he hadn’t dressed too outlandishly—it wasn’t too embarrassing. 

Wait a minute!

His whole body suddenly froze.

The Cloaked Mage was I Love Survival Game, and he himself wasn’t dressed in such a way that would hide his appearance. So didn’t that mean the other person had seen him clearly?

He found himself getting nervous.

No matter how youthful he looked, a person couldn’t be twenty-eight and look like he was eighteen, could he? 

Has he already figured out that I lied to him? 

“God Has No Form?” Qiyu looked at the small ball in his hand in confusion. Could it be that the signal from this thing wasn’t stable enough?

Why isn’t there any sound coming from the other end?

God Has No Form is usually so talkative when we chat.

A voice came from the other end:

“What did you think when you saw me yesterday?”

A friend complimented him on being cool, so of course he had to return the compliment.

Qiyu replied without hesitation: “Your eyes are really beautiful—they sparkle, just like the mist star flower.” 

He noticed them at first glance.

Dan Xingyu: “……”

Unable to help but let the corners of his mouth turn up, he muttered under his breath, “Who wants to hear that?” 

Still, that familiar feeling seemed to be coming back.

The tension inside him—which had arisen for no apparent reason—subsided, and he let out a sigh of relief before bringing up the topic himself: “I mean, now that you’ve seen me, don’t you think I look younger than you imagined?”

Qiyu really hadn’t realized that. 

After all, he’d met Chairman Sean, who, at the ripe old age of seventy-nine, was as robust as an ox. 

Still blunt as ever: “No.” 

Dan Xingyu: “……”

“I guess I really can’t expect too much from you,” he sighed, feeling a little lighter. “I need to apologize to you.” 

“I’m sorry, I lied to you. Actually, I’m not twenty-eight this year—I’m eighteen.” 

Qiyu felt that the tone in Shen God Has No Form’s voice right now was finally the one he was familiar with.

He listened to the other’s voice—clear and full of vitality: “Let’s get reacquainted. I’m God Has No Formxiang, also known as Dan Xingyu. I’m eighteen years old this year.”

He typed out the exact words on the survival panel and sent them to Qiyu.

After saying this, Dan Xingyu waited quietly for a reply.

I hope Gaming Brother isn’t too upset, right?

Dan Xingyu felt a bit mischievous—taking advantage of the other person’s good temperament, he’d deliberately chosen this moment to reveal the truth.

He’d run through many possible scenarios in his head, but the one thing he never expected was:

“We really are on the same page.” 

Qiyu, for his part, had no idea how to bring up the subject of age with God Has No Form.

As it turned out, the other person had also lied about their age—so they were even.

He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, “Take back your apology, because I lied to you too. I’m actually not twenty-nine this year.” 

Dan Xingyu:?

“You…”

Qiyu matched his tone and introduced himself: “Let’s get acquainted again. I’m I Love Survival Games, real name Qiyu. Nineteen this year.”

“Going by real age, I’m still a year older than you.”

He thought to himself: Great, God Has No Form has called me ‘Big Brother’ so many times, and looking at it now, I wasn’t actually taking advantage of him.

Qiyu asked, puzzled, “You’re not mad, are you, God Has No Form?”

“That shouldn’t be… We’re even now.”

A laugh was his reply: “I’m not mad. I just think it’s really strange, but also kind of fun.” It felt like neither of them was very smart. 

Qiyu thought it was funny too: “God Has No Form, so you’re actually this small.”

Dan Xingyu nearly choked: “How about you just call me by my name?”

Since they usually communicate through the survival panel, calling each other by their IDs doesn’t seem wrong. 

But now that they were using the communication orb, it felt a bit eerie to hear the other person call him “Shen God Has No Form” so casually.

Qiyu: “Okay, Dan Xingyu.” 

That sounds better.

Dan Xingyu: “Then I’ll call you by your name too, Qiyu?”

He emphasized, “Just call me by my name. You’re not allowed to make me call you ‘bro’—don’t take advantage of me.” 

Qiyu didn’t understand what there was to make a fuss about; he nodded: “Okay.” 

The two of them burst into laughter again for no apparent reason. 

After laughing, Dan Xingyu suddenly sighed, “Oh well, compared to your gift, what I brought you seems pretty half-hearted.” 

Qiyu assured him, “No way—as long as it’s a gift, I’ll be really happy to receive it.”

Dan Xingyu: “Then take a look.”

【Your friend “God Has No Form” has sent you a gift.】 

【Received 20 Candle Jade Lotus Stems, received 2 Candle Jade Lotus Flowers.】

Qiyu took them out. 

Twenty flower stems instantly filled the tabletop.

This flower, called the Candle Jade Lotus, was about the size of a bowl. Its layers of pale pink and white petals were as thin as cicada wings—elegant, pure, and exquisitely delicate.

Dan Xingyu: “I saw these flowers yesterday in the resource zone and fell in love with them at first sight. Don’t they look a bit like a stunning version of lotus flowers? I thought right then that picking them and displaying them in a vase would look absolutely gorgeous.”

“Then I thought, since you have a farm in the forest, why not bring back a couple of whole plants to try? What if I can grow them? That would mean I’d always have fresh flowers.”

“A vase?” Hearing the word, Qiyu knew exactly what she meant. He nodded. “I’ll check the trading section in a bit to see if anyone’s selling these.”

This Candle Jade Lotus was truly beautiful. Recalling what he’d said earlier, Qiyu immediately added, “Dan Xingyu, I really love your gift.” 

Dan Xingyu: “It’s a shame it’s too hot here. I took one branch out, and even after putting it in plain water, it visibly lost its vigor. I’ll have to leave it all up to you.”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but imagine Qiyu holding the flower branch.

Unfortunately, the image of Qiyu that had been in his mind was completely shattered, and he couldn’t reconstruct it at all.

Qiyu reflected on his earlier thoughts and decided to check the Mages’ Association shop to see if they sold any formations capable of maintaining a constant temperature. Of course, it would be best to see if he could learn how to draw such magic formations himself.

His gaze fell on the two Candle Jade Lotus plants set aside: “I’ll plant them first.” 

“Go ahead.”

The communication orb had a switch; turning it off would temporarily sever the connection.

Qiyu found an empty patch of land and planted the two Candle Jade Lotus plants. Watching the incessant icy rain, he feared it might freeze these delicate flowers, so he cast two Bless spells in quick succession.

One was a standard Growth Blessing to enhance the plants’ vitality.  For the other, he made a wish as he cast the spell: “May you thrive with vigor, bloom abundantly, and produce many seeds.”

Dan Xingyu seemed to really like this flower, so once he’d grown plenty of them, he could send him a fresh Candle Lotus every day. After planting the flowers, Qiyu discovered that Civil Engineering Brother Tu Mu had sent him a gift. 

【Received 4,750 emerald crystal coins.】

These were the proceeds from selling the brocade flame feather set.

【Civil Engineering Brother: As expected, the stock sold out almost immediately after it went live. A lot of people who missed out are still asking me if we’ll restock.】

【I Love Survival Game: It’s sold out.】He can’t return to Gold Hole City right now.

He clicked on the regional chat channel.

Players are still discussing what happened in the resource zone. One player lamented:

【Liver Emperor: When I entered the resource zone yesterday, I ran into a lot of players from other zones—from the Island, the Grasslands, and the Desert. I was really hoping that after spending time in the resource zone, I thought I’d return to the plaza after leaving it, but I didn’t expect to be sent straight back the moment the 24 hours were up.】

【Liver Emperor: If I’d known, I would’ve found a few players to chat with first and see if I could trade for some supplies.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: It would be great if players from different zones could trade with each other.】

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: They don’t even let us use the survival panel there—the survival game is always one step ahead of us.】

【The More I Involution, The Bitterer My Life Becomes: I envy you guys in the resource zone—you must’ve scored some great loot. Right now, I’m worried that this rain just won’t stop, and the mutated creatures out there have been mostly driven away by the rain swifts, so it’s hard to kill them and get some meat.】

【The More I Involution The Bitterer My Life Becomes: The temperature keeps dropping, and while we’ve got plenty of bonfires here, it’s still tough to get through the day if we can’t get enough energy from our food.】

Mage Guild Shop.

Qiyu opened the shop and found the highly effective magic skill 【Earth Guardian】 and martial skill 【Ghost Step】.

The two cost a total of 150,000 gold coins.

Qiyu was just about to make the purchase when he paused to think it over and decided to search for magic arrays first.

Basic Constant-Temperature Array: 10,000 gold coins. Basic Defense Array: 20,000 gold coins. Basic Restoration Array: 20,000 gold coins.

There were actually so many magical arrays with such a wide variety of functions. Qiyu was intrigued and continued scrolling down.

He found exactly what he was looking for.

*Course on the Basic Principles of Magic Arrays*, priced at 150,000 gold coins.

Note: This course was created by His Excellency Magister Karen. Refunds are available within 2 hours of purchase. A 500-gold processing fee applies to refunds.

A course on magic arrays—if you find it unsuitable, you can still get a refund within two hours! Qiyu’s regard for this Magister Karen, whom he’d never met, grew tenfold.

He began rummaging through his backpack. 

The Mages’ Guild shop has a “For Sale” page, marked by a small basket icon in dark gold.

Qiyu first placed a Level 1 Magic Crystal into it. The crystal flashed, and a Magic Crystal appeared inside the empty little basket.

【You will receive 20 gold coins. Are you sure you want to sell?】

20 gold coins?

Isn’t a Magic Crystal worth 10 gold coins?

Qiyu exited, opened the item purchase page, and searched for “Magic Crystals.”

Level 1 Magic Crystal: 10 gold coins each.

It suddenly dawned on him—oh, he had a 50% discount privilege.

One Level 1 Magic Crystal—the original price at the Guild Store is 20 gold coins. 

And when he sold them, the Guild Store bought them back at the original price.

With a total of 11,900 Level 1 Magic Crystals in his backpack, Qiyu listed 10,000 of them, earning 200,000 gold coins. 

Without hesitation, he immediately purchased *Earth Guardian* and *Ghost Step*.

His fresh gold coins were immediately reduced to 50,000.

He still had 74,963 gold coins left over from his previous earnings in Gold Hole City; combined, that came to about 130,000.

Qiyu decided to hold onto the remaining 1,900 Level 1 Magic Crystals for now, since ordinary energy towers primarily consume Level 1 crystals.

Level 2 Magic Crystals sell for 100 gold coins each. 

Selling 300 of them netted him 30,000 gold coins.

He spent 150,000 gold coins to purchase the *Course on the Basic Principles of Magic Arrays*. Just like that, he spent 300,000 gold coins in less than a minute.

Qiyu finally understood why, when he was picking up his paycheck at Gold Hole City, the staff had mentioned that many Mages blow through a year’s worth of Association living expenses in their very first month.

For Mages, gold coins slip away like the wind. Gone in an instant, without a single coin left behind.

Since there was a two-hour “refund window,” Qiyu didn’t dare to delay and quickly opened the *Fundamentals of Magic Arrays* in his hands.

He flipped to the first page. His mind suddenly wavered.

Focusing his gaze and regaining his composure, he found himself sitting in an unfamiliar room. Before him was a large desk, with paper, a pen, and various other items—some familiar, some not—laid out beside him.

A man wearing a light gold robe stood in front of Qiyu; his face was somewhat blurry, and Qiyu couldn’t make him out clearly.

“Welcome to my magic course. I’m Karen.”

Qiyu was surprised: So this Magic Array course was actually taught in person?

How was this even possible?

The world of magic masters is truly wondrous.

No wonder it costs 150,000 gold coins.

“First of all, we need to understand one thing: the core of any magical formation…”

Qiyu soon had no time to marvel; Teacher Karen didn’t give him a moment to adjust before diving straight into the explanation.

He was completely immersed in this entirely new body of knowledge.

“Let’s stop here for now.”

Magister Karen seemed to glance at him.

Qiyu once again felt his mind go blank and found himself sitting in the shelter. 

The *Course on the Fundamental Principles of Magic Arrays* in his hands was still open to the first page. Two hours—was it over already? 

【The current two-hour course has ended. Would you like a refund?】

Of course not! 

Qiyu had been listening with great interest, so he chose “No” without hesitation.

The next moment, daylight gave way to night, and darkness fell.

However, since it had been raining outside and the sky was overcast, Qiyu had already turned on the living room sconces, and the fireplace had been burning steadily, so it didn’t really affect him.

His mind was brimming with the new knowledge he’d just encountered; he couldn’t wait to hear more, and he was eager to put it to the test. At the same time, his experience with *The Fundamentals of Magic* had made him very curious about the other two books, *Guardians of the Earth* and *Ghostly Steps*.

“Will those be taught in a similar way?” 

The communication orb suddenly began to flash.

Qiyu chose to answer: “Dan Xingyu.”

“You sound so happy—did something good happen?”

Qiyu: “Yeah, I bought a few things I’ve been wanting today, and I also learned some new stuff.” 

He didn’t mention the magic array; if he mastered it later, he could surprise Dan Xingyu.

Dan Xingyu: “That’s definitely something to be happy about, but it’s time to eat now.”

Qiyu: “Yeah, let’s eat!”

【Your friend “God Has No Form” has sent you a gift.】

A bowl of Sky-Ripper Beast meat soup, a spicy seafood hot pot, a plate of stir-fried mixed green vegetables, and a serving of sliced watermelon and emerald crystal peaches.

“What a feast!”

Besides, whether it’s a steaming bowl of meat soup or a spicy seafood hot pot, it’s perfect for this kind of weather.

Qiyu remembered that he was in the desert: “Isn’t it really hot over there right now?”

Dan Xingyu: “It’s hot outside, but with the puppy-shaped air conditioner and the ice-silk outer robe you sent me, I’m not hot at all.”

Given his personality, he should have ended the conversation right there. 

But perhaps influenced by Qiyu, he added, “The puppy air conditioner is cute, and the robe is really practical. I like them a lot.” Qiyu then began eating with satisfaction. 

The two had forgotten to turn off the communication orb. Dan Xingyu knew Qiyu’s eating habits, so he didn’t say anything either. The whole meal passed in silence. 

After they finished eating, Qiyu used a Waterball spell to wash the dishes. Only after he was done did he remember that his best friend couldn’t use magic.

“How are you going to wash the dishes?”

The communication orb was really handy. If this had been the survival interface, he wouldn’t have bothered to ask about something like this, but with the communication orb, it was as if they were having a conversation face-to-face, so he just blurted it out.

Dan Xingyu told him, “I have an alchemy puppet that can handle chores.” 

Qiyu: Wow!

Dan Xingyu: “It can help me out. It handles chores—cooking and washing dishes.” She added, “But the food it makes isn’t as good as what I cook myself.”

Qiyu hadn’t expected that an alchemy puppet could be used this way.

It seems that since this was his first encounter with alchemy puppets—and they were enemies he had to fight—he automatically assumed they were combat-type entities.

But on second thought, with Dan Xingyu handling the cooking, and tasks like housework and cleaning that could be handled by magic, it seemed he really didn’t have any need for a housekeeper after all.

A message suddenly popped up on the survival panel:

【Announcement: Due to days of continuous rain, a flock of rain swifts has emerged in Star Forest, and mutated creatures are gradually disappearing. Unable to find prey, the rain swifts will viciously attack all living things. Players, please take precautions and defend the shelter.】

【The higher the shelter’s prosperity, the more likely it is to attract swifts.】

【Limited-time points event now live: Earn 1 point for every swift killed. The Points Store is now open.】

Qiyu: “Dan Xingyu, has an announcement gone out over there?”

“I was just about to tell you,” Dan Xingyu said. “They’ve launched a points system for killing mutated creatures over here.”

The two briefly compared their information and found that the details were largely the same, though the settings differed, as did the mutated creatures they’d encountered. In Zone 88, there was a creature called the Earthfire Dragon.

Dan Xingyu quipped, “I’ve run into one or two of these ‘Earthfire Dragons’ before. The name sounds pretty impressive, but they’re actually not very dangerous. Their loot isn’t worth much—just tough meat—and Earthfire Dragon hide is good for insulation and waterproofing.” 

He paused.

“Insulating, waterproof,” Qiyu murmured. “It might be pretty useless over there, but in our Zone 01, that’s a valuable item.”

Dan Xingyu realized this too: “Since I’d only seen a few here and there before, I hadn’t thought of that. If the announcement is true and there’s a large batch of Earthfire Dragons available, I’ll buy a batch then.”

Qiyu added, “Great, I’ll be buying them up on the regional channel, too.”

Because of the announcement, the two didn’t chat any further; they each had to make their own preparations to face the impending crisis. “Qiyu.”

Qiyu replied with a “Hmm. Is there something else?”

Dan Xingyu said earnestly, “We need a smaller one.”

He knew his friend was certainly no slouch, but the announcement stated that the more prosperous a shelter was, the more likely it was to attract mutated creatures. Qiyu was the first player on the entire server to upgrade to a Level 2 shelter.

Qiyu: “I definitely will—I value my life too much. Dan Xingyu, you have to be careful too. Don’t you dare die.”

Dan Xingyu: “……”

Although what you said is fine, Qiyu, my friend, you don’t seem to be very good with words.

They ended the call.

Qiyu felt a bit disappointed that he couldn’t continue the Magic Array lesson. But since the survival game had specifically issued an announcement, he knew he had to take it seriously.

Qiyu opened the regional chat channel. Unsurprisingly, it was flooded with posts about the announcement:

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Whoa, a limited-time event—it’s really become a survival “game” now. Sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.】

【Liver Emperor: Even though swifts have pretty average attack power, I don’t think the Survival Game would issue a special announcement for something so harmless. It’s probably better to keep it small.】 

【I Love Survival Game: swifts can evolve, so we might not just run into Level 1 swifts.】

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Hey, let’s take a group photo, gamers!】

Qiyu stared at this person’s username several times. This “Cockroach” was even more active than Civil Engineering Brother—it was as if he lived in the regional chat channel.

He was already a familiar face to him.

But what exactly is this “Cockroach,” and just how strange does it taste?

【Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan: The announcement says that the higher a shelter’s prosperity level, the easier it is to attract swifts. Gaming expert, you need to be more careful.】 

Qiyu:?

【I Love Survival Game: Thanks.】

He glanced at the username “Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan”—it rang a bell; the player was near the top of the leaderboard.

However, they weren’t close, and he didn’t know why the other person was suddenly being so friendly.

【Irritable Brother: So when are the swifts coming? Are we just supposed to wait here forever?】

【Pro Sucker: @I Love Survival Game, Gaming Expert, do you still have any screaming lily of the valley for sale? I didn’t manage to snag any the last few times.】

【I Love Survival Game: None available right now.】

The rain kept falling heavily, and the temperature kept dropping. When he used “Whispers of Nature,” he sensed that the plants were feeling down.

For the plants in his territory, he had increased his blessings from one per day to one in the morning and one in the evening.