Thriller Paradise

Feng Bujue was overjoyed and over the moon. Even though the effect of the skill was different from the explosive active attack skill that he had in mind, it would greatly improve his survivability and power level in combat. He instantly equipped the skill, and then the system audio spoke.

"These are your Mana Points, viewable as actual numbers. Using skills from the school of sorcery will exhaust these points. Mana Points can be recovered via resting or specific objects or trigger events in scenarios. The official shops will not provide any consumables that recover Mana Points. Current Mana Points: 140/140."

Following the audio, the menu window floated up before Feng Bujue's eyes, and an arrow was pointing at something in the top left of the interface. Right under the Stamina Points bar, a new bar appeared, and it was light silver in color.

"Hmm… It only unlocks after learning the skill," Feng Bujue mumbled to himself. He had read about this new setting in the gaming manual. In fact, he had been wondering why it had not shown up in his menu, but as it turned out, one had to learn a related skill for it to appear.

From the number, it looked like Mana Points followed the same logic as Stamina Points—level fourteen meant 140. Compared to Stamina Points, though, this number was shrunk to only a tenth of Stamina Points. Of course, there were more avenues to utilize Stamina Points; basically, all movement would exhaust Stamina Points while Mana Points were only reserved for activating sorcery skills, so the number ratio was right.

After receiving the additional EXP and skill card, Feng Bujue planned to enter another scenario. In the real world, it was barely 5 pm, and if he was quick, he might be able to reach his goal of achieving level fifteen before dinner.

Even though there was no official announcement, based on the communication and sharing of players on the forum, one could confirm that there were rarely long scenarios in non-sleep mode. The scenarios that would expend more than eight virtual hours mostly happened in sleeping-mode.

Feng Bujue's plan was to go prepare dinner after clearing this new scenario, so without any further ado, he jogged back to the log-in lobby and contacted Passing Rain through the menu. However, the girl was currently at the market and did not reply to him instantly. A new notification window appeared on the touch screen. "Your friend is not responding. She might be in a space away from her log-in space. Would you like to initiate communication via typing mode?"

Feng Bujue picked yes and quickly typed, "I'm done with all of my preparation. Contact me when you return to your log-in lobby."

Only when all the members in the team were in their log-in lobby could the leader choose to join the queue. This was something written in the gaming manual, so naturally, Feng Bujue was familiar with it. Passing Rain did not make him wait for too long; she soon returned to her log-in lobby and contacted Feng Bujue. After communication was established, Feng Bujue asked, "So, did you find anything worthwhile?"

"I didn't visit the Auction House; I went to the official shop instead purchase a set of apparel. I chose one that would increase my Mana Points recovery rate," Passing Rain replied.

Feng Bujue was slightly surprised. He had thought that Passing Rain would channel her focus on developing her fighting skill, so he was caught by surprise when she said that she had chosen an attribute that would help improve her sorcery skill. However, he quickly understood why. The attribute given by apparel was randomized, so perhaps of the three choices that were given to Passing Rain, this was the most suitable one. Or, maybe she planned to have a dual focus on fighting and sorcery. After all, having a single focus in a game like this was not really a clever way to play the game.

"Okay," Feng Bujue answered casually. "By the way, we need four members in total to start a guild. Currently, there are only two of us, which is not enough. Will you be online tonight?"

"The people in your friend list, including me, that are currently online are not enough to make up four people?" It was as if Passing Rain could not hear his question and tossed back this awkward question.

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue drew the humming out for one second before giving a confirmed answer. "Yes."

"Let me guess… Wang Tanzhi, Long Aomin, Soulie, and me—is that everyone on your friend list?" Passing Rain asked. Soulie should be the nickname that Passing Rain gave Laughing Soul; Feng Bujue realized it without much trouble. He pretended to think about it and sucked in a few breaths. A tut escaped from between his teeth, and in the end, he sighed helplessly. "That's right…"

"Then, things might be more difficult than we thought because I am kinda in the same boat."

F*ck! Feng Bujue roared internally. Of course, he could only think about that in his mind. In real life, he laughed drily and said, "So, that is why I'm asking is you will be online tonight. I'm not sure about Brother Long's situation, but Xiao Tan should be online. Counting both you and Laughing Soul, that should be enough people to make a guild."

"Hmm, that'll work," Passing Rain replied. "but we won't be online for too long. Being psychologically connected to a machine for too long is not good for your health. I recommend you take care of your health as well."

Hey! Before I ran into you, I was only online for one hour! Because you saw I was online when you came online, did you assume I've been playing this for the whole day‽ Such presumptuousness! Feng Bujue retorted internally, but in real life, he could only respond in a weak voice. "Er… thank you for your concern."

"Other than that, eating punctually is important. After this next scenario, it'll probably be 5 or 6 pm. You should get offline to get something to eat," she said in a level tone.

That was my original plan! Do you think I have gaming addiction! Do you think I'm a kid who can't control my entertainment time? Now that you say that, it's going to look like I'm such a wuss for logging off later! Feng Bujue kept his mocking retorts in his heart, and it made him feel so uncomfortable that he waved his fists around in his elevator. Thankfully, the girl was not able to see him…

If Feng Bujue was closer to Passing Rain, he might have said those things frankly, but they were not close enough to allow such candid exchanges, so in the end, Feng Bujue could only say, "Er… I understand."

He felt like if this was allowed to continue, the atmosphere would become like a mother lecturing her son, so he quickly switched the topic. "Er… to ensure that we can both finish up for dinner time, let's quickly enter the queue."

"Okay," she quickly replied. Feng Bujue felt like he had been granted a new lease on life. He let out a long sigh and started to operate the screen.

"Feng Bujue, Level 14

"Passing Rain, Level 14

"Please select the game mode that your team wants to join.

"You have selected the Team Survival Mode (Normal), please confirm.

"Confirming. The team size has been randomized: a team of five

"Your team has joined the team queue. Currently searching for other readied players or teams.

"Search complete. Team full.

"Adjusting nerve connectivity. Generating the scenario…

"Please wait for a moment. Downloading."