Chapter 112: I’ve Become an Internet Celebrity Too

As long as he fished within the yellow circle, both the bite rate and the quality of his catch were far better than usual.

Quite a few of the anglers nearby were clearly knowledgeable. Seeing Lu Kuan’s series of actions, they began murmuring among themselves, evidently envious of his good fortune.

Lu Kuan was in high spirits. After that, fish came one after another, and every so often he even hooked a plump river frog or two. Cooked into a proper dish, they were supposed to be incredibly delicious. Just thinking about it made Lu Kuan drool.

“Beep beep~”

Lu Kuan was fishing to his heart’s content when a message came through from Dai Guang.

“Heh heh, what are you up to?”

Hearing Dai Guang’s obviously guilty-sounding voice through the communicator, Lu Kuan raised an eyebrow and laughed. “What’s going on? Why do I hear a guilty conscience in your voice?”

“Heh heh heh~ I knew I couldn’t keep it from you.”

On the other end of the call, Dai Guang scratched his head sheepishly and said with a grin, “I teamed up with Kui and the others today, and I told them our real names. Was that a little inappropriate?”

“Haha, it’s fine. It’s not as if we’re hiding anything shameful. It’s just a game, so it’s no big deal.”

Lu Kuan laughed, but still reminded Dai Guang, “You should be more careful in the future, though. The biggest taboo in a game is revealing too much to people you barely know. Understand?”

Dai Guang nodded repeatedly, committing Lu Kuan’s words firmly to memory. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Since Lu Kuan clearly hadn’t taken it to heart, he could finally relax.

After chatting a little longer, Dai Guang ended the call.

A smile lingered on Lu Kuan’s face, though he was actually somewhat puzzled. Had this guy gone out of his way to contact him just to say a couple of completely pointless things?

He quickly put the little episode out of his mind and continued enjoying his leisurely afternoon.

Meanwhile, Dai Guang switched off the communicator and nervously patted his belly.

Forget it, forget it. Better not tell Lu Kuan about this after all. Besides, from the way I see it, Wu Xiaoxiao doesn’t seem to mind, does she?

…

Two hours passed.

The little fish basket at Lu Kuan’s feet was already filled to the brim, and his Fishing skill had successfully risen to Level 2, with 3% proficiency.

After tidying up his things, Lu Kuan headed straight for the tavern.

He had gathered nearly enough ingredients for cooking, so it was time to start training his Cooking skill. The most sensible thing was to learn the recipe for “Insanely Spicy Red Pepper Sauce” as soon as possible.

The tavern nearest Livingwater Lake was the Golden Wheel. Lu Kuan rented a cooking station from the tavernkeeper. When he passed through the main hall and entered the kitchen, he was surprised to find three players inside—and two of them were familiar faces.

The young man and woman standing close together were the same couple he had seen by the lakeside earlier. Neither looked older than twenty, and judging from their outfits, they had come to practice their cooking skills just as Lu Kuan had.

Standing opposite them was a male elven mage. His equipment appeared to be of fairly good quality, so Lu Kuan gave him a few extra glances. When he noticed the class badge on the man’s chest, he could not help raising an eyebrow.

The badge had a silver-white background, with an open book filled with golden writing at its center. It was the class badge of the mage’s advanced specialization: the Silver Scholar.

This guy is no ordinary player, Lu Kuan thought, secretly impressed.

The Silver Scholar specialization was extremely difficult to obtain because it required a player’s Arcane Knowledge skill to reach Level 4. For players at the current stage of the game, that was an almost impossible requirement.

At present, the only way to improve knowledge-related skills was to read books in the library. To acquire a specific type of knowledge, players had to complete the relevant quests and unlock the right to read the corresponding books.

Naturally, great difficulty came with great rewards.

The Silver Scholar was reputed to be the strongest control-oriented class in the early game, a master specializing in field-manipulation spells. It was also the most defensive mage specialization, making it an outstanding choice for wilderness PvP and team battles.

When Lu Kuan had first been reborn, he had considered choosing this class as well. In the end, however, he had taken his soloing ability and wilderness survival into account and decided to continue playing as a ranger.

Perhaps sensing Lu Kuan’s gaze, the elven mage turned his head and glanced over. Lu Kuan turned away naturally, pretending not to notice, and casually walked off to find a spot nearby where he began cooking.

The elven mage’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal and turned back to the couple in front of him.

“This price is already quite reasonable. You can check the auction house yourselves. Among equipment of the same quality, how many pieces do you think are listed for more than my offer?”

The young couple both wore hesitant expressions. They whispered to each other for a while, yet still seemed unable to make up their minds.

“Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t cheat you on the price. If you don’t believe me, I can even ask our guild leader to vouch for me.”

Seeing their hesitation, the elven mage frowned slightly and continued patiently, “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. The longer you delay, the more this item will depreciate. If I come back to buy it later, it won’t be worth this much anymore.”

Under the elven mage’s seemingly sincere persuasion, the male player appeared somewhat tempted. His ponytailed female companion, however, was clearly more decisive. She gently shook her head and quietly reminded him of a few things.

The three of them were using ordinary conversation mode, so they kept their voices very low. An average person standing nearby certainly would not have been able to hear them. But how could they have known that a ranger with nothing better to do had invested three levels into the Listening skill?

Everyone was naturally curious. After hearing their conversation, Lu Kuan could not help turning his head to glance at them.

Judging by the situation, this couple had probably gotten extremely lucky and looted a purple-quality item. Otherwise, why would they be haggling for so long?

The female player was still hesitating when she happened to notice Lu Kuan turn his head. She froze slightly, then took another careful look at him. An excited expression immediately appeared on her face. Grabbing the male player’s hand, she leaned close and whispered a few words into his ear.

A moment later, the couple left the elven mage standing alone and hurried over to Lu Kuan.

“Friend, sorry to bother you. Could we trouble you for a moment?” the male player asked politely.

Lu Kuan was a little surprised. He set down the spotted mud loach he had been roasting—it was only half-cooked—and turned sideways to face them.

“What is it?”

The two players carefully examined Lu Kuan’s face, then broke into delighted smiles almost in unison. The ponytailed girl immediately asked, “Excuse me, are you the person in that video on the forums—the one who fought against the Glory Guild at Star Cluster Camp?”

Lu Kuan raised an eyebrow and chuckled inwardly.

Looks like I’m a little famous after all.

“That’s me,” he admitted without hesitation.

“That’s wonderful!”

The ponytailed girl immediately brightened. She took something from her bag and held it out in front of Lu Kuan.

“Expert, could you help us estimate this item’s approximate market value?”

In the girl’s hand was a pitch-black iron hammer, a little over a foot long. Its surface was covered in slight dents and scratches, and it looked quite heavy.

Judging from its size, however, it was probably not a combat weapon. It was more likely a tool for a life skill, such as a blacksmith’s hammer.