Chapter 95: Domino Meck

Unless Bru’s carpentry talent is exceptionally high—on par with Buming and Bugu, both above 90—Su You would only consider choosing him under those circumstances.

With Bru out of the running, that left Buming and Bugu as options.

Buming’s drawback lay in his traits.

“Heightened Senses”—this is one of the rare traits that has a constant, ever-present effect.

You have to understand, “senses” here doesn’t just mean taste and smell, but also hearing… Sure, “Keen Hearing” sounds impressive, but what if your “Keen Hearing” isn’t an active skill, but a passive one?

To put it simply, it means you can’t control what you hear.

This means Buming not only has trouble eating well, but also has trouble sleeping well.

Unless Su You built him a house in a remote spot and let him live alone, there’s a good chance that if a roommate so much as turned over in bed, snored, or talked in their sleep, Buming would be up all night, unable to rest.

And that’s not all. Because his sense of smell is so sensitive, anything with a scent in the territory would affect him… Looking at it this way, is she recruiting an NPC, or bringing home an ancestor to worship?

As for Bugu, her flaw is the most obvious.

Her starting loyalty and affection are almost at the bare minimum, and on top of that, her negative traits are just like Buming’s—constantly in effect, sometimes in ways Su You can’t even be sure of.

She’s a little liar, full of nonsense and fond of making things up.

With a girl like this in the territory, Su You worries that one day, if she’s not careful, she’ll be tricked into a daze herself.

Even if she isn’t fooled, Su You fears the other residents might end up being led around in circles by this little trickster.

But if you set aside Bugu’s penchant for lying, she’s actually an extremely talented trading NPC.

A trading talent of 95—this is the kind of number that could, on rare occasions, make a merchant sell at a loss just to clear inventory. The odds are low, but with such a high talent, her growth will be rapid. Once her trading level gets high enough, Bugu might even be able to squeeze a few gold coins out of the stingiest dwarf merchant.

That said, the reason she has such a high trading talent is precisely because of the bonuses from her two traits.

Although “Pathological Liar” is a red negative trait, not all negative traits reduce stats. The system evaluates negative traits from the player’s perspective.

An NPC who loves to lie is bad for Su You, because it makes management difficult, but for the NPC herself, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Being easily believed makes trading easier; being good at lying means she can secure better deals for herself.

Although Su You is having a hard time choosing, she never considered giving up this recruitment opportunity. After all, there’s still a timed quest pressing her—she has to bring someone in, even if just to make up the numbers.

...

After another five minutes of deliberation, and after a difficult (well, not really) decision, Su You finally picked the second NPC she wanted to recruit.

[Kind Reminder: You may only choose one NPC for this recruitment. Once your choice is confirmed, all other NPC recruitment information will be cleared from the panel. The NPC you selected will arrive at your territory within a certain period of time.]

[This NPC is on their way to your territory. Estimated time: ???]

Almost as soon as these notifications popped up, Su You took out the recruitment card from her inventory.

[Would you like to use a recruitment card to refresh the tavern recruitment list?]

[Kind Reminder: Refreshing with a recruitment card will cause the tavern recruitment to re-enter the cooldown period after the current recruitment ends; the previous cooldown time will not be carried over.]

Looking at this “kind reminder,” Su You couldn’t help but feel that it really was rather considerate… After confirming her recruitment was successful, she used the recruitment card without hesitation.

[Recruitment card detected. The tavern recruitment list has been refreshed.]

Looking at the refreshed recruitment interface, Su You quickly skimmed through the information of the five new candidates. When she got to the fourth one, she paused.

This fourth NPC looked… kind of familiar?

Because the character looked familiar, Su You didn’t check the NPCs in order this time, but decided to look at this “acquaintance” first.

[Domino Meck]

Gender: Male

Age: Young adult

Loyalty: 60

Affection: 10

Talent: Magic (90)

Skills: Advanced Fire Magic (sealed), Basic Wood Magic (bottlenecked)

Traits: Elemental Affinity (increased affinity for magical elements), Cooking Enthusiast (loves cooking), Dark Cuisine (Cooking talent -50)

Description: [Domino Meck (known as Meck) is a mage with extraordinary magical talent. At just ten years old, he had already reached a threshold that most people could never attain in a lifetime, becoming a distinguished junior fire mage.

After joining the Mage’s Guild, and under the careful guidance of his teachers, Meck successfully broke through to become an intermediate fire mage at the age of eighteen.

He grew so quickly that there was no one left in the city’s Mage’s Guild who could teach him. So, Meck decided to set out alone for a bigger city, hoping to learn more advanced magic (crossed out)… cooking skills!

Yes! That’s right! Cooking skills!

In fact, Meck’s true dream, ever since he was a child, was to become a top chef capable of creating delicious dishes!

Unfortunately, Meck was born with no talent for cooking. His magical talent is as terrifyingly high as his cooking talent is terrifyingly bad… One is frighteningly good, the other is frighteningly bad.

When Meck was first discovered to have exceptional fire magic talent and was invited to join the Mage’s Guild, he refused without hesitation. The reason was simple: he wanted to learn cooking from others, and studying magic would waste too much time and seriously hinder his progress on the path to becoming a culinary god (?).

Although Meck refused, the Mage’s Guild didn’t give up. But Meck was determined. After turning down the Mage’s Guild, he went straight to a restaurant to seek an apprenticeship… and was kicked out in less than three days.

Because the food he made was so bad that even the restaurant owner’s dog foamed at the mouth after eating it.

Upon learning all this, the Mage’s Guild managed to trick nine-year-old Meck into joining by telling him, “As a fire mage, you’ll have better cooking methods.”]

...

Su You’s reaction: “…”

(End of chapter)"

"96. Affinity

After reading through this NPC’s introduction, Su You could finally confirm that she had indeed met this NPC before.

Not only had she met him, she had even successfully recruited him.

And this guy had once stolen the rare ingredients Su You had spent a fortune on—ingredients she’d bought just to give as a gift—only to turn them into a pot of charcoal.

Su You had been so furious that she tore down his little kitchen the very next day.

Not only did she demolish his kitchen, she also confiscated all his so-called “Peerless Recipes,” “Ancient Recipe Fragments,” and “Traditional Cooking Manuals.”

Meike was anxious and angry, but since his “hostages” (i.e., his private collection) were in Su You’s hands, this dignified high-level mage could only lower his head and apologize, promising he’d never do such a thing again.

...

That was all in the past. In any case, seeing this “old acquaintance” again now, Su You couldn’t help but feel a bit complicated inside.

She knew Meike’s strength well—after all, he was a genius mage who had fully mastered magic at the age of nine. As for his personality… well, he wasn’t actually that bad. Compared to other arrogant mages who acted like their noses were in the air, Meike was actually pretty “down to earth.” He was just a little obsessive about cooking.

But to put it bluntly, he was both bad at it and loved to mess around. Even though he knew his cooking skills were terrible, he still insisted on ruining her ingredients at every opportunity.

The worst part was, you couldn’t refuse him. If you did, he’d throw a tantrum, and the next time you needed his help, he’d just stand by with his arms crossed, holding a grudge.

If you ignored his actual age, anyone hearing about this behavior would think he was just some mischievous kid.

But in reality… a mischievous kid in his fifties?

Heh...

After grumbling about Meike in her heart, Su You suddenly realized something.

This was just a digital world—not the save file she’d played before. Even though all of this “Meike’s” data matched her memories exactly, some of the underlying data had already changed.

All she recognized was this “skin”—not Meike the “person.” In fact, he wasn’t even a real person.

She didn’t know him, and this Meike certainly didn’t know her.

Thinking of this, the anger she’d felt recalling how he’d always ruined her ingredients faded, replaced by a strange sense of melancholy.

...But whatever the reason, Su You was determined to recruit Meike.

Whether they were “acquaintances” or not didn’t matter. This was a brand new data world—this Meike was fundamentally different. There was no way she’d recruit him just because of some “old acquaintance” feelings.

Her reason for choosing Meike was simple: he was awesome, he was powerful.

He was a “High-Level Fire Mage.” Even if his skill levels were sealed, at worst he’d still be a mid-level fire mage. Hesitating even a second would be disrespectful to those seven words!

Having made her decision, Su You recruited Meike before even looking at the other four characters’ profiles.

The moment she confirmed her choice, another friendly prompt popped up.

[Confirm recruitment of “Domno Meike”?]

[Tip: This character’s level is much higher than your territory’s level. Recruiting him will seal some of his skill levels until your territory reaches the required standard, at which point his skills will unlock. However, recruitment difficulty remains unchanged.]

[Yes]!

Su You confirmed without hesitation.

If it were any other high-level mage, Su You might have hesitated for half a second, wondering if she could actually keep them after recruiting them.

After all, as the prompt said, this character’s level was so high that recruiting him would be very difficult.

Think about it—a mage this powerful, why would he stay in her tiny, shabby territory?

But Meike was different. Based on Su You’s understanding of Meike… or rather, this “data shell,” she had something that could perfectly control him.

In other words, she was 90% confident she could recruit Meike.

That probability was even higher than recruiting Buguo, that little trickster.

That’s right—the second NPC Su You chose to recruit was Buguo.

The reason was complicated, but it was a result of careful consideration and calculation for maximum benefit.

...

Next, Su You stared at the remaining four NPCs for a long time before finally choosing to recruit one named “Yousen.”

[Yousen]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 70

Affection: 20

Talent: Farming (75)

Skill: Basic Farming

Trait: Affinity (his special affinity has unique effects on small animals and plants), Aftereffects (he suffers lingering effects from an illness or injury)

Profile: [Yousen’s whole family were ordinary farmers. Growing up immersed in this environment, Yousen developed excellent farming skills from a young age.

Yousen was born with a mysterious affinity—no matter the animal, or even plants… small animals would naturally approach him, and plants would grow healthier under his care.

At fifteen, Yousen even cultivated a brand new plant species, which caused quite a stir in the village. But with the attention came jealousy.

Not long after, a local troublemaker pushed Yousen into the river. Though passing villagers rescued him in time, he was left with lingering effects—whenever it rained or the temperature dropped, his legs would ache unbearably.

Later, Yousen’s family discovered that the troublemaker hadn’t acted on his own, but had been hired by the wealthiest family in the village.

That family made their fortune selling seeds, thanks to their unique cultivation techniques that produced high-yield crops.

But the seeds Yousen accidentally bred were even more productive and grew faster, threatening their business. Fearing for their livelihood, they tried to get rid of Yousen.

After the truth came out, the wealthy family’s reputation was ruined and they eventually moved away. Yousen’s family also left the village, seeking a famous doctor in a bigger town to cure his condition.]

...

The reason for choosing Yousen was simple: his negative trait wasn’t particularly bad, only affecting him during certain times. Most of the time, he was perfectly normal, so it was almost like he didn’t have a negative trait at all.

More importantly, his positive trait was outstanding—on a scale of 1 to 100, it was at least a 90.

(End of chapter)"

"97. Dory’s Story

The “Affinity” trait isn’t as simple as it appears on the surface.

Beyond just being good with animals and taking care of plants, this trait also gives the NPC a tiny chance to cultivate special plants.

This was already reflected in Yousen’s backstory.

That’s also why Su You gave up on another NPC who had a whopping 85 points in Planting Talent and had even reached the beginner bottleneck in skill level, and instead chose Yousen.

Because this trait can more than make up for a lack of planting talent—in fact, it’s even more important than talent itself.

[Would you like to recruit ‘Yousen’?]

[Kind Reminder: You may select two people in this round of recruitment. You have already recruited one (Domno Meck). Once you confirm your choices, all other NPC recruitment information will be cleared from the panel, and the NPCs you selected will arrive at your territory within a certain period of time.]

[Yes]

[This NPC is on their way to your territory. Estimated time of arrival: ???]

……

Bu Guo, Domno Meck, Yousen…

Su You silently recited the names of these three NPCs, then pushed open the tavern door.

As she left the tavern, Su You noticed that it was already completely dark outside. This alone showed just how long she’d been inside, and how much time she’d spent agonizing over her choices.

It seemed everyone else in the territory had already gone to their rooms to rest. Out here, Su You was the only one left… or at least, that’s what she thought.

“Miss Lord?” A familiar voice, a familiar way of addressing her—Su You paused for a moment, then turned to see Dory, who looked just as surprised to see her.

Su You was a bit puzzled as to why Dory was here at this hour, just as Dory was wondering why Su You hadn’t gone back to her room to rest so late at night.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Dory broke the silence.

“I just remembered I still have something to do. If you’re free, you should get some rest.”

Su You nodded and headed toward her house—she’d been planning to rest anyway, just hadn’t expected to run into Dory.

She wasn’t particularly interested in what Dory had to do; that was her private business. As long as she wasn’t doing anything harmful to the territory, that was enough for Su You.

But Su You had barely taken a few steps when she realized something seemed off about Dory’s expression… Her eyes were a little red, as if she’d been crying.

Did Dory really have something to do, or was she just upset about something, and didn’t want to disturb Duoya’s rest, so she’d come out to find a quiet corner to cry alone?

After noticing this, Su You immediately turned around to look for Dory, but found that she had already disappeared.

She first opened the territory info panel to confirm that Dory was still within the territory and hadn’t left, then began searching for her.

Since there weren’t many buildings in the territory yet, there weren’t many places to search.

There was no need to check the residential houses, since people were inside, and Dory was unlikely to go to the only empty one. So Su You’s search route went from the tavern to the stables, then to the quest hall… When she reached the tailor shop, she faintly heard the sound of someone sobbing inside.

Su You hesitated for a moment, but in the end, instead of knocking, she simply pushed open the door to the tailor shop.

She was the lord—there was no building or item in her territory she couldn’t use or open, especially since she’d built this one herself.

The noise from opening the door wasn’t small, and it immediately startled Dory, who was hiding inside, grieving alone.

Since Su You hadn’t knocked and opened the door so quickly, she saw Dory before she had a chance to wipe away her tears, her eyes filled with surprise and panic.

“Miss Lord…” Dory instinctively wanted to ask why Su You was here, but when she saw Su You walking over and handing her a clean cloth, the words caught in her throat.

“You don’t need to explain anything to me. I won’t interfere in the private affairs of my territory’s residents.” With that, Su You pushed the cloth closer.

Dory seemed surprised that Su You didn’t ask or say anything, and sat there stunned for several seconds. Only when the cloth was practically in front of her face did she react.

She took the cloth and wiped her face haphazardly.

After handing over the cloth and confirming that although Dory was sad, she wasn’t about to do anything foolish, Su You prepared to leave. But she’d barely taken two steps when Dory called out to her.

“Miss Lord, don’t you have anything you want to ask?” As soon as she said this, Dory regretted it—Su You had just said she didn’t need to explain, and now she was asking if Su You wanted to ask anything… Wasn’t this just looking for trouble?

Fortunately, Su You didn’t mind. She hadn’t been lying—she truly wasn’t interested in other people’s private matters.

But if Dory wanted to share, Su You didn’t mind staying to listen.

“If you want to talk, then I can ask.” Su You’s words brought a hint of warmth to Dory’s heart, which had been heavy with worry and sadness from recalling the past.

Her mood visibly improved, though there was still a trace of sorrow in her eyes.

“Then… Miss Lord, do you want to ask what happened to me in the caravan before?” As she said this, Dory’s eyes held a hint of hope, as if she wanted Su You to ask.

This should have been Su You’s question, but now, their roles seemed completely reversed.

Seeing that Dory really did want to share, Su You gave up on going to rest. She dragged a chair over and sat down across from Dory.

“Then let me ask—what exactly happened to you in the caravan back then…”

……

The story wasn’t long, and the beginning was just as Dory had said before.

She’d joined the caravan against her parents’ wishes, and then the caravan was attacked by wild beasts, causing her to be separated from the others… She hadn’t lied, but she had left something out.

The reason the caravan was attacked was because someone in the caravan got greedy and, while no one was looking, stole a beast cub.

Beast cubs are worth a fortune in big cities, because in this world, there are people called “Beast Tamers.”

When a beast is still a cub, it’s much easier to tame.

(End of this chapter)"

"98. Qin Yao

Not only that, but the young beast cubs have plenty of time to bond with their handlers. As long as the training methods are correct, these wild beasts can become powerful and fiercely loyal servants.

Back to the matter at hand: after this person stole the beast cub, he didn’t tell anyone. Instead, he hid it in one of the caravan’s cargo crates, planning to wait until they returned to the city before secretly taking it out to sell.

Because the caravan had no idea about the cub’s presence, they took no precautions. So when the cub’s parents tracked them down by scent, everyone in the caravan was still fast asleep.

And it wasn’t just the cub’s parents—apparently, they’d called for their kin as well. Otherwise, if it had only been two beasts, the caravan, with its dozens of people, wouldn’t have been thrown into such a panic.

But there were more than twenty ferocious beasts at the time. With that many, even if another caravan had joined them, it would have been a death sentence.

So the caravan was left with only one option—to run.

What followed was the caravan members being chased and scattered by the beasts, Dory included.

During the chase, Dory was actually running with several others. But one of them twisted his ankle while fleeing and was about to be caught by the beasts. Hearing his desperate cries for help, Dory’s heart softened.

She wanted to help him, but her kindness nearly cost her own life.

The man, knowing he’d twisted his ankle and that the only person reaching out to help was a weak woman who couldn’t possibly carry him, had a simple thought—if he couldn’t escape, he’d drag someone down with him!

So when Dory came back to help, he grabbed her, trying to make her die with him.

……

Hearing this, Su You felt she could already guess what happened next.

First, since Dory was standing here safe and sound, she must have escaped. But given the situation, with the beasts around, she couldn’t have gotten away on her own.

Which meant someone had saved her—and whoever saved her paid a heavy price, most likely their life.

And the reason Dory was so heartbroken was probably because the person who saved her was very close to her… If it had just been an acquaintance, they wouldn’t have risked their life, and Dory wouldn’t be this devastated.

After all, even if the person was a benefactor, if they were a stranger, Dory would feel guilt, self-blame, gratitude, regret… but not this kind of grief.

Sure enough, Dory’s next words confirmed Su You’s guess.

“Sister Qin… She rushed up alone to fight that beast to save me…”

The “Sister Qin” Dory spoke of was Qin Yao, a gentle older girl who lived next door. The two of them had grown up playing together. Qin Yao always looked after her, and Dory was very fond of her.

Unlike Dory, who had no fighting skills, Qin Yao had shown exceptional talent for combat since childhood and later entered the best local combat academy with outstanding grades.

The only reason she was with the caravan was because she didn’t feel comfortable letting Dory travel alone, but also didn’t want to go against Dory’s wishes by telling her parents. As it happened, Qin Yao’s academy was on break, so she was at home and decided to join the caravan with Dory.

Although Qin Yao claimed she wanted to experience caravan life, Dory always knew she really just wanted to protect her.

Dory never imagined that, despite her confident promises that nothing would go wrong, in the end… she herself was fine, sitting here safe and sound, but someone else had paid with their life for her stubbornness.

……

That’s where the story ended.

As for why Dory didn’t want to go home, Su You now understood.

Maybe this answer made Dory seem cowardly, but anyone faced with such a situation would want to avoid going home and facing reality, choosing instead to run away. Whether that choice is right or wrong, it’s understandable.

But…

After hearing the story, Su You still had some questions.

“So how did you escape in the end? Did you just watch her fight the beast and then run away by yourself?” Su You didn’t believe Dory would do something like that.

At most, she might have stayed there, frozen, but she would never have run away.

Su You even thought that, if Dory had a choice, she might have chosen to die with Qin Yao.

But if Dory hadn’t run, and Qin Yao hadn’t defeated the beast, then Dory wouldn’t be standing here now.

Faced with Su You’s question, Dory fell silent.

No one knew how long passed—long enough that Su You began to wonder if Dory really had abandoned Qin Yao and was too ashamed to admit it—before Dory finally answered.

“No… I wanted to help, but I was too scared… and then I fainted.” Dory hadn’t answered before not because she was ashamed, but because recalling that scene was just too painful for her.

At the time, Qin Yao was covered in blood, just like Duoya that night…

In fact, to be precise, Qin Yao’s situation was even worse than Duoya’s!

After all, Duoya fought at range—though she was injured, she could still move quickly and run. But Qin Yao was a close-combat fighter, and she had to protect Dory, so she couldn’t run, and her injuries were even more severe.

Before Dory reached the territory, there were actually two reasons she didn’t dare rest.

One was fear of the beasts. The other was that every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was a vivid red.

This nightmare kept her from resting until she reached the territory, where things finally got a little better.

But tonight, she’d dreamed of that day again, which was why she came here—to cry and let out her emotions.

“Did you faint from fear?” If Dory had said yes, Su You wouldn’t have been surprised, since one of Dory’s traits was being timid, and fainting from fear was entirely possible.

But Su You didn’t get a clear yes or no.

Because at the time, Dory’s whole mind was on Qin Yao, so she herself wasn’t sure how she’d fainted.

“I might have fainted from fear, but I also feel like maybe I didn’t… I’m not really sure.”

Normally, anyone in that situation would assume they fainted from fear—Dory thought so at first too. But she always felt like it wasn’t just fear, but that some other force had made her pass out, though she had no proof.

(End of chapter)"

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