Annan blinked, momentarily unsure how to respond.
Do people in your world always shoot so straight?
Seeing Annan gaze at her with a blank expression, meeting his clear, nearly transparent ice-blue eyes, Lin Yiyi’s heart skipped a beat.
She forcefully suppressed the urge in her heart and said nonchalantly, "I was just thinking that you might need a few personal guards, young master. It so happens that I’m rather good at taking care of people..."
In Lin Yiyi’s twenty-one years of life, she had never taken care of anyone. The largest living creature she had ever cared for and kept alive was a rabbit.
Annan, who hadn’t spoken to a woman since he had arrived in this world, was somewhat tempted by the offer.
Although for his age, any extra relations were out of the question for the time being... Nevertheless, having someone take care of his daily life was certainly a good thing.
He could indeed recruit a couple of players who looked pleasing to the eye to take care of his daily needs. After all, as an NPC with a golden template, Annan had a vast amount of experience quota every day. At the very least, he could ensure that the growth rate of his maid team would not fall behind that of elite pioneering teams and might even surpass them.
If Annan wanted, he could quickly level up a dual-class player to level 10 within a day.
But that would be pointless.
Moreover, after some thought, Annan still felt it was inappropriate.
It wasn’t that hiring players as his maids was inappropriate... rather, the idea of them receiving such benefits without giving anything in return was what was inappropriate.
Yes, he didn’t misspeak.
The ones who should be giving were the maids, of course.
Annan had confirmed his own attractiveness and was fully aware of his current exalted status. At this time, he undoubtedly held an absolute advantage...
Therefore, he must be reserved.
To craft an image of someone "cold on the outside but warm on the inside, inherently kind, who had to become strong due to pain and setbacks," Annan had no choice but to painfully refuse—
And with his own value, he could sell this job for a good price.
Annan calculated this calmly in his mind.
He quickly went over his mission quota to see what price he could sell himself for, to ensure that he wouldn’t infuriate these players and that their sense of "gain" was significantly higher than their sense of "contribution."
As a game designer, he understood very well the balance between the sense of contribution and the sense of gain. This was the clear difference between games with seasoned and reliable designers and other games:
If this issue wasn’t addressed, either the benefits would be too meager, causing a significant number of players to experience frustration that exceeded their tolerance, leading them to quit the game; or the benefits would be too generous, causing player ability and vision to grow too quickly, which would diminish the joy felt upon recharging, thereby reducing desire.
Yes, the technique of distributing benefits was originally meant to entice spending.
And clearly, this game wouldn’t offer a recharge channel...
Since there were no points to buy and no time-based fees—Annan needed to think only about "how to increase playability and durability." This, in fact, greatly reduced his workload.
The first step was to create a hard currency.
Even though this game had no points, it didn’t mean that Annan couldn’t fabricate a points system.
Yes, it was the "favorability" he granted to players.
As long as this favorability could be used to purchase both essential and exclusive items, as well as a large number of generally applicable items with a good cost-performance ratio, favorability would become a kind of "token voucher" that players obtained through missions. And since favorability couldn’t be traded, these token vouchers were essentially "bound."
Now that he had points, Annan could get to work.
In fact, all of Annan’s plans for the players were built around this "token."
The first thing was to create a concept that his favorability was very useful. Anything he had could be bought with it.
Even Annan himself could be bought.
Yes, Annan was even calculating how much money he could make and how much he could fleece from these players by making himself into a commodity...
Well, it would take at least one thousand points of favorability, at the trust stage, to exchange for such a job opportunity... and just to be safe, it would have to be limited to females.
You want to be my maid, how can it be for free?
—Since I’m so adorable, of course, you should be the one paying me.
Annan was righteous and inwardly very calm.
"I’m currently living with senior Salvatore."
Seeing Jiu’er, also curious, squeeze over, Annan had no choice but to speak in a cool voice, slowing down the horse’s pace even more, and whispered an explanation to them while looking down: "It’s not convenient..."
Jiu’er asked with a curious and soft voice, "From where, senior? Twenty-four years old?"
"No, he should be over thirty by now."
Annan pretended he hadn’t caught the insinuation in the other’s words, and calmly explained, "He was the previous Mayor of Frostwater Harbor, a wizard more powerful than me."
"Does that mean those people were planning to attack Frostwater Harbor in front of Lord Salvatore?"
She cleverly shifted away from the previous subject, tossing out a new topic to engage the other party’s attention as though it were nothing – a common tactic among girls when they sensed their probing was about to fail.
But her choice to change the subject wasn’t because she wanted to retract her question.
She had simply noticed that Jiu’er, who had been following behind them, suddenly leaned in with curious eyes.
Lin Yiyi immediately felt an alarm go off in her mind and urged Annan to quickly divert the topic.
Although she herself was only twenty-one years old... To a little lord of just twelve or thirteen, she still came across as the much older "big sister."
There was a definite gap, both in age and height.
Jiu’er, on the other hand, with her petite frame, even shorter than "Tan Juan Geraint," seemed more like a peer, likely to have more in common with him.
Furthermore, Jiu’er was not a genuine "peer of the same age."
Jiu’er was not only nearing adulthood but also a broadcaster – skilled in conversation, chatting, attracting affection and adept at the art of understanding people’s hearts, far more than other girls of this age.
In this first test with forty players, although the number of female participants was not exceedingly low, there weren’t many who were truly competitive.
Lin Yiyi was very confident.
Because she believed that other female players would surely come over with a focus on the lord’s mission.
But she was different—
Because she was here for the face! She just wanted to squeeze cheeks!
She could announce her desires without shame—this was enlightenment.
Suddenly, a thought and a bold idea popped into Lin Yiyi’s mind:
Thinking about it, is this game suitable for all ages?
Under her unmistakably direct gaze, Annan shivered.
Damnit, are the players of this world all so fearsome...
He cleared his throat quietly and replied indifferently as if he had noticed nothing, "But, because Blackfire was discovered earlier, Senior Salvatore is currently in a soundproof basement doing research...
"He just happens to be away at this very moment."
"That’s too much of a coincidence."
Lin Yiyi nodded solemnly in agreement.
Truth be told, she hadn’t really listened; her mind was full of those icy blue eyes, soft like a plush cat...
Once again, Annan had to discreetly clear his throat, looking ahead as he blandly responded, "Yes, that’s why... this is not revenge but premeditated murder. They had already laid out a scheme just to kill me.
"I don’t know how I offended them, but since they’re coming for me, I’ll be ready."
With a cool voice, Annan put on an expression of unjust persecution yet exuded firm determination and confidence in his words, "I will never succumb here. No danger, no matter how great, can stop me—"
Although he had quite a role to play, Annan actually never took this enemy to heart.
After all, during the assassination attempt that completely broke the rules of the game, Annan hadn’t seen a single Transcendent.
This undoubtedly had showcased his foundations to Annan.
If it weren’t for the players watching, he wouldn’t have spent the time talking trash with those two and would have gone straight in and swiftly killed both of the invisible assailants with his sword. However, since the players were watching, he had to "reveal some information about the plot through the dialogue," which made it somewhat troublesome.
Nevertheless, Annan was quite grateful to the old Viscount.
Thanks to his ridiculous actions, Annan had managed to impress the players, cementing an image of someone innocently persecuted. Whatever he would do next, the players would understand.
In principle, it was just like how Annan showed Salvatore he was attacked. By casting oneself as the victim first, one gains sympathy; and if one is also highly potential, of high status, capable, and most critically, good-looking, one could immediately draw in a group of neutral folks.
Now that Annan was going back, he was prepared to enter the dungeon.
He was quite looking forward to it; would the old, confused Mayor of Roth Fort continue his mysterious actions... Hopefully, in his absence, he would thoroughly infuriate both the players and the citizens of Frostwater Harbor.
Then his leading the players in "revenge" would become an act of justice. It might even establish his prestige and the citizens’ favor, solidifying everyone’s efforts into a united force.
So please, don’t stop, old man!
Please continue courting death!
I’m very easy to kill, come again—
This time, I definitely won’t retaliate!