Just as everyone was wondering whether Shi Feng was a noble NPC—
Ximen Piaoxue, being dragged away, stared at Shi Feng like a venomous snake and snarled, "Just you wait, kid. I've got you memorized. The Martial Alliance won't let this slide. When my old man gets out in twelve hours, he'll still be a force to be reckoned with. There won't be a single corner in Red Leaf Town left for you to hide in."
Hearing Ximen Piaoxue's vicious threat, a chill ran down everyone's spines. This was the kind of grudge that would only end in blood.
But no one dared underestimate Shi Feng anymore. Just from that single display of strength, they could tell he was no ordinary player.
The Martial Alliance was a guild with a modest reputation in Red Leaf Town. They had made a name for themselves in other martial-arts virtual reality games — not a studio-organized guild, but one formed by casual players, backed by a handful of wealthy investors. Now they had collectively moved into the Divine Realm. While they hadn't yet risen to the level of a third-rate guild, they were still a force that couldn't be taken lightly.
Right now, the Divine Realm held absolute dominion over the entire virtual gaming world. Supported by the newly developed Main God System, the Divine Realm was entirely managed by the system itself, requiring no human intervention. This guaranteed fairness in the game, and the Main God System would continue to evolve the Divine Realm, constantly generating new quests, Dungeons, secret realms, and all manner of content. It was a living game — something no other virtual reality game could compete with.
On top of that, the Divine Realm's map was incomparably vast, large enough to sustain all of humanity. Within the game, you could experience virtually everything that existed in the real world, plus countless things that didn't — it was subtly trending toward becoming a second world. No other virtual reality game could even come close.
After Ximen Piaoxue was dragged away, everyone turned their gazes toward Shi Feng, their faces full of curiosity. They wanted to read him like an open book, to figure out once and for all whether he was an NPC. Unfortunately, no matter what observation skills they used, Shi Feng came back as one hundred percent a player, not an NPC.
This only deepened everyone's suspicions, but no one dared approach Shi Feng to ask. He probably wouldn't answer anyway, and if they somehow irritated him, they might just become the next Ximen Piaoxue.
Shi Feng glanced at the crowd, their faces etched with questions, and let a faint smile cross his lips before turning to leave.
After living in the Divine Realm for ten years, he had long since figured out every rule inside and out. Attacking a player within a safe zone would naturally land you in the hands of the guards, but as long as you didn't use any action that inflicted actual damage, even fairly aggressive physical contact wouldn't draw their attention.
When he had pinned Ximen Piaoxue down, it was essentially the same action as patting someone on the shoulder — only with more force. The guards wouldn't intervene over that. But when Ximen Piaoxue used a Charge ability that caused stun damage and committed a clear act of aggression, the guards naturally wouldn't let it slide.
As for players harassing female characters, all a woman had to do was activate the anti-harassment system. But Ziyan Liuyun was new to the Divine Realm — it was understandable that she didn't know.
As for Ximen Piaoxue's threats, Shi Feng couldn't care less. The Martial Alliance wasn't even a third-rate guild. In his past life, he had led the small and weak Shadow against numerous first-rate guilds, and even those top-tier guilds had been powerless to stop him, let alone a loose collection of a few thousand casual players like the Martial Alliance.
If they wanted to come after him, he would deal with it. He was a reborn man, and he now held a Magic Artifact in his hands — what was there to fear?
As for building a closer relationship with Ziyan Liuyun, he would have to put that on hold for now and find another approach. The girl's guard was far too high, though he understood. If it had been the Ice Goddess doing this, Ziyan Liuyun likely wouldn't have reacted the same way.
Shi Feng shook his head with a rueful smile and walked away.
"Sir, please wait." Ziyan Liuyun finally couldn't hold back. The temptation of ten silver coins was simply too great — this was her biggest chance. If she let it slip, what would happen to her mother's illness?
"Oh? Have you changed your mind?" Shi Feng turned around and looked at the conflicted Ziyan Liuyun with a smile.
Ziyan Liuyun studied his eyes warily, trying to detect any hint of ill intent. But no matter how she searched his gaze, she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. If anything, those deep, fathomless eyes of his reminded her of the ocean. Still, she asked cautiously, "You really only want Ice Juice? You won't ask for anything else?"
Shi Feng nearly broke into a cold sweat. Just how unreliable did he look in her eyes? She felt the need to triple-check? If she weren't a Divine Priest, he would have turned and walked away on the spot. Being regarded as some kind of creep was more than he could tolerate.
"Look, I do happen to need a Chef to craft a few things for me. How about this — we'll draw up a contract. I'll hire you as a Chef, and I'll offer you the same treatment that a third-rate guild grants its life-skill players. With the Main God System backing the contract as a guarantor, that should put your mind at ease. If you're comfortable with it, come with me. If not, you're welcome to stay here." Shi Feng sighed and spoke in an unhurried tone.
Ziyan Liuyun was stunned silly. The man standing before her was offering her a job — a real, honest-to-goodness position. After all, Chef was a life-skill profession that practically no one respected, let alone one that anyone would actually hire a player for.
She had heard from her best friend about the benefits that third-rate guilds offered their life-skill players. Her friend had even shown off about it, bragging that her boyfriend was a life-skill player in a third-rate guild — how amazing the monthly compensation was, how there were additional perks if you performed well, all of it better than most jobs in the real world. It had made Ziyan Liuyun envious beyond words.
"I'll go with you, but I cook really slowly. Is that really okay?" Ziyan Liuyun gritted her teeth and decided to accept Shi Feng's offer. If she let this opportunity slip, who knew what would happen down the road. Based on everything she'd observed about Shi Feng, he didn't seem like a bad person. Besides, she was just an extremely ordinary female player — there was absolutely no reason for him to trick her for some ulterior motive. This was a virtual world; as long as she never revealed her real-world address, he'd have no way to find her. If anything, Shi Feng was the one taking the bigger risk.
"Then come with me. I need to buy a few things first." Shi Feng nodded, looking perfectly calm on the surface, though inwardly he was overjoyed. He'd just managed to recruit a Divine Priest in one stroke. As for the Ice Goddess — well, he could only apologize to her. First come, first served.
Ziyan Liuyun followed Shi Feng out of the restaurant.
Shi Feng led Ziyan Liuyun back to the general store, where he purchased a large number of cooking supplies — pots, spatulas, knives, and all manner of miscellaneous tools. The total came to less than two silver coins. After that, they headed to the Chef's Association, where he spent one silver coin on two beginner recipes: one for Wolf Meat Dish and one for a Refreshing Drink. He also bought all the ingredients required for those recipes, along with the materials for Ice Juice, spending another five silver coins in the process.
Ziyan Liuyun was utterly dumbfounded by Shi Feng's spending. He'd just dropped that much money buying all these things — how incredibly rich was he? Earlier she'd thought Shi Feng seemed a bit unreliable, but now her opinion had completely changed.
The materials and recipes he'd spent all that money on were more than enough to advance her to Senior Apprentice rank. Even the life-skill players in top-tier guilds probably didn't receive that kind of treatment.
What Ziyan Liuyun didn't know was that Shi Feng actually felt this was dirt cheap. Chefs were so easy to maintain.
All the recipe materials could be purchased from NPCs. For less than ten silver coins, he could support one Senior Chef Apprentice all the way to the top. If he'd tried to train a Blacksmith or an Alchemist, that amount wouldn't even cover the initial costs.
He then rented a modest kitchen and led Ziyan Liuyun inside.
"Sign the contract, and all these materials and recipes are yours. Just focus on making nine hundred cups of Ice Juice first, then switch entirely to producing the dishes from those two recipes. Once these items sell, you'll get a twenty percent cut. On top of that, your base salary will be determined each month based on your performance. If you run off, you'll owe ten times the amount in compensation. If that all sounds fine, sign here." Shi Feng pulled out a standard employment contract for life-skill players from the Main God System. These contracts were all identical except for the compensation details — airtight and legally binding within the system.
PS: Thanks to Ai·Leng for the tip!