Mint Mom!

"Our meeting hall is grand enough, but why are all these chairs in such battle-damaged condition?"

Here it comes—the inevitable question asked by everyone who joins Virtual-Real Boundary.

The Fourfold Essence had been curious about it, and naturally, Blanket had voiced the question too.

Mint perked up in an instant. Slapping the round conference table, which looked even older than she did, she argued indignantly, "With a witch like me here, this place ought to be a powerful, top-tier guild. Even though the interior decor has been upgraded, why are the furniture and fittings still so tragic?"

"Replace them! They must be replaced!"

Her voice resonated firmly, and her delicate white hands turned red from the smacking.

Uh... As a group of players accustomed to putting every single drop of output toward practical use, fine details like interior decorations were usually only considered after resources became abundant. Consequently, they could only exchange awkward glances.

Jiang Heyi sent a private message to Original Flavor Fries. After reading it, the two exchanged a glance, their lips curving upward in mutual understanding.

It was a rare sight to see Original Flavor Fries, who loved maintaining a stoic persona, actually smile.

During a pause in Mint's tirade, Jiang Heyi seized the opportunity to chime in: "Mint just wants to make the guild feel more like a home. I can understand that."

Before Mint could even feel happy for two whole seconds, Original Flavor Fries cupped her cheek and muttered expressionlessly, "The guild's resources won't be squandered on trivial matters at this stage. Since you're also a part of the guild, Mint, and you strongly insist on replacing them..."

Jiang Heyi hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. "Then we can upgrade your bed to a more luxurious model and open up a brand-new room for you to live in, so you won't have to hunch over in the meeting hall anymore."

Mint took in Jiang Heyi and Original Flavor Fries's overlapping attempts to speak.

She was not stupid; she could sense that when it came to furnishings, the rest of the guild was genuinely reluctant to invest existing resources into making changes.

The guild had opened its warehouse to her, letting her take whatever resources she needed, but the application of those resources should rightfully be prioritized for research and dungeon progression.

Yet, to cater to her feelings, Jiang Heyi as the guild leader had still made concessions and compromises, even willing to designate the guild's reserved, vacant expansion area as her private room.

A warm current seemed to flow through Mint's chest. The sweetness of being cared for, understood, and looked after made the corners of her mouth curve upward uncontrollably as well.

However, once the words reached her lips...

"Hmph, if you guys aren't willing to do it, I'll do it myself."

"Uh, Mint..."

"Potato, you don't need to persuade me," Mint said, her mind made up. "I'll go out and earn money myself to furnish the guild properly. I will absolute not touch the strategic material reserves in the warehouse."

Warden-哥 was the first to catch on.

Letting Mint brew potions for the guild for free while also sending her out to make money and support the guild...

Weren't these two guys playing psychological tricks on Mint?

Wow, how despicable, manipulating a child!

Virtual-Real Boundary was fully manned, with all eight members present.

The strategy meeting for conquering the sixth layer of the Subterranean Temple of the Clear-Sighted began officially.

The information provided by Mint previously had not been complete. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jiang Heyi recounted everything they had witnessed and experienced in the Clear-Sighted Temple from the beginning, starting from their encounter with Alna's spirit.

Mint sometimes cupped her chin, sometimes lowered her brow, sometimes dropped her head in deep thought, and sometimes rolled around on the bed—she was truly incapable of staying still.

"The frog-headed stitched monster and the wraith aggregate undoubtedly originate from the same kind of necromantic arts," she concluded. "Up until now, every enemy you've encountered within the temple has been a creation of the Everlasting Night Church. Aside from the Slime King, there are no native guardians of the Clear-Sighted."

Furthermore, both the sixth and seventh layers of the subterranean temple were the [Clear-Sighted Grand Mining Area].

The eighth layer of the subterranean temple was the [Smelting Layer].

The weapons, armor, and accessories used by the Clear-Sighted were all forged by their own master craftsmen, and the ores and materials required for forging largely came from this massive, lucrative mine that had been surveyed when the temple was first constructed.

The map of layers six and seven given by Alna was incomplete. Her separated memories had suffered severe damage starting from the sixth layer—a sign that her primary personality was on the verge of shattering.

From the fragmentary map, it was clear that the grand mining area was the largest region belonging to the Clear-Sighted.

Judging by the ninth layer, the [Deep Green Courtyard], the Clear-Sighted kept large numbers of monsters in captivity. Combined with the lifelike puppets on the second and third layers...

She leaped up and began pacing back and forth in front of the round table. "If nothing unexpected happens, what you'll encounter on the sixth layer will still be undead or dark-attribute monsters."

"The grand mining area is bound to be the most densely populated region of the Clear-Sighted. Ore veins need to be mined, and puppets and monsters serve as supplements to human labor. Controlling them requires elites, and their numbers should be quite large. Therefore, you can see the existence of an open-air cafeteria in this part of the map."

Mint continued her logical analysis. "After all, only the elite among the Clear-Sighted would be particular about their food. Puppets don't need to eat, and monsters can make do with relatively perfunctory meals. To set up such a large open-air cafeteria, tsk tsk."

"Just imagine: when Everlasting Night struck, the preceding few floors were wiped out suddenly without any resistance. An unstoppable offensive swept into the grand mining area, leaving the unprepared Clear-Sighted dead all over the field, while the monsters and puppets still held utility value. In all likelihood..."

Jiang Heyi had a mental picture forming in his mind.

Walking corpses, monsters, puppets, and necromancers lurking in the shadows—the vile spawn of the Everlasting Night Church.

Coupled with the intricate mine tunnels and shafts excavated throughout the mining area.

The first five floors had felt like mere appetizers. The moment their progression officially crossed the halfway mark, the perils and hardships of the subterranean temple would suddenly skyrocket.

"Save us, Mama Mint!"

Orange Tea, having learned bad habits from Warden-哥, piped up.

If anyone else said those words, Mint might have despised them, but coming from Orange Tea... she simply couldn't refuse.

"Give me some time. What you guys need are specialized potions tailored against the undead... I need to go flip through some tomes. There will be a solution, don't rush, children..."

Uh, suddenly realizing she had genuinely slipped into the role of a mother, Mint's face flushed crimson in an instant.

"Who's your mama!"

Warden-哥 fake-cried, "But you wouldn't want us to run into trouble exploring the grand mining area... Mama Mint, give the children more peace of mind with your potions!"

Blanket had an extremely fast learning curve and immediately followed suit.

"Mama Mint, the children cannot live without you!"

"Waaah, this is so, so disgusting." Mint buried her head in the bedding. "I promise you, I'll figure something out. Stop shouting, stop shouting!"

"In any case, you have to promise me one thing."

"No matter what, come back alive."

"Drink the life-saving potions I give you whenever you need them. No hoarding!"

This sounded even more like a maternal declaration. What an overwhelming amount of maternal love.

Feeling that manipulating "Mama" was lacking in basic human decency, Jiang Heyi stuffed some startup capital into Mint's hands right before she departed.

Mint adamantly refused, stating that since she had said she wouldn't touch the guild warehouse's progression supplies, she wouldn't touch a single bit of it. As much as she loved money and saving face, she still had that much of a baseline principle.

Watching Mint leave, Jiang Heyi and the others instead felt a sense of lingering loss.

Through their continuous time spent together, they no longer viewed Mint as an NPC, but rather as a living, breathing person, as if she were simply another player who had logged into the starry world using equipment.

Every subtle expression, every smile, every word and action, every instance of banter and scolding was no different from a real human being.

The message Jiang Heyi had sent right before playing the double act with Original Flavor Fries was...

"She has already started treating this place as her own home."

Everything she wanted to do stemmed from making this home of a guild better.

Thinking of her stubborn yet proud expression, a sudden surge of guilt welled up in his heart. He was going to feel remorse even after waking up from sleep.

Even if they kept telling themselves that Mint was merely data generated by Starry's design... yet, as time went on, would they truly still be able to tell the difference?

Original Flavor Fries seemed to have fallen into the exact same contemplative dilemma as Jiang Heyi.

"Later on, should we prepare a surprise for her?"

"What would be best to prepare?" Warden-哥 turned serious as well.

Zhong Zemo suggested, "Money, probably. She keeps talking about starlight gravel, so let's just satisfy her."

Jiang Heyi made the final decision. "If we hit a roadblock on the sixth layer's grand mining area—whether it's to prevent the floor guardian from recording behavioral data, or..."

He smiled. "Or just to give Mint a surprise, how about we head over to the Screamer's Great Snowy Mountain to scout the path first?"

Everyone smiled and raised their hands in agreement.

Mint, who had just teleported back outside the city of Annaxing Wind, sneezed several times in a row.

"Are those guys whispering behind my back... They clearly called me mama, but in the end, they're still a bunch of disobedient bad kids!"

Jiang Heyi was inspecting the fashionable little pieces of junk that the messenger puppet had picked up from outside, most of which were useless white-grade materials.

While he was sorting them, Warden-哥 strolled over.

"Potato, open your friend request list. The guild leader of [The Comedic Tree Under You and Me] wants to chat with you."

Jiang Heyi raised his head, perplexed. "What kind of guild is that?"

"One of the faster-progressing guilds in the subterranean temple raid teams. They were stuck on the frog-headed stitched monster for a while, but after farming enough potions, they blew right through it in one go and barely managed to clear it."

"Because they were caught off guard on the third layer, they got beaten into a total wipe twice by the puppets parasitized by Naphir."

"Huh? Does that phase cause a total wipe?" Jiang Heyi was shocked.

As long as one held Sister Alna's lantern, clearing the second and third layers normally was practically a freebie.

They had only broken Naphir's first body before triggering the cutscene, causing the opponent to retreat without a fight.

Where was the danger of a total wipe?

"That's not very clear. According to them, the Naphir in their progression path was abnormally strong. Maybe it's a matter of differences in dungeon progression."

The Subterranean Temple of the Clear-Sighted could be considered a litmus test for the server's players, and those ranking at the top were without exception all top-tier experts.

Thinking of this, Jiang Heyi accepted the friend request from [A Brief Dream of Yellow Millet].

"Guild Leader Potato, I apologize for the abrupt intrusion."

"No problem at all. You're looking to consult about the subsequent floors, right?"

"You certainly cut straight to the point. It seems communicating with you will be very pleasant and smooth."

Both the etiquette and attitude of the other party were impeccable, and Jiang Heyi responded with social savvy of his own, "No need to use 'you' [formal form]; it feels too awkward."

"Before that, I would like to ask Guild Leader Potato one question."

Pausing for a moment, [A Brief Dream of Yellow Millet] asked, "Has Virtual-Real Boundary truly already conquered the fifth layer?"

Glancing at the fellow leaning against the wall and whistling, Jiang Heyi frankly admitted it.

"Yes, just now."

"A first-encounter kill?"

"A first-encounter kill."

"Did you resolve the guardian almost single-handedly?"

Jiang Heyi thought about it. "Original Flavor Fries also contributed greatly, and the efforts of all guild members were equally indispensable."

"How strong is the floor guardian, the [Wraith Aggregate]?"

That was somewhat difficult to answer.

Jiang Heyi consulted the opinions of Original Flavor Fries and Orange Tea, receiving the evaluations of "trash" and "inferior to the Slime King" respectively.

Hence, he gave an ambiguous reply: "Far exceeding expectations."

Yellow Millet: "I understand, thank you very much... As for the fourth layer, does Guild Leader Potato have any tips for us?"

She added, "We don't need a complete walkthrough, just some useful little hints. We are willing to pay compensation in game materials."

After a moment of consideration, Jiang Heyi taught the extremely unorthodox chat box positioning method to Yellow Millet, while also asking if they liked playing bullet-hell games.

Upon receiving the reply, "Everyone in our team is rather inept at those," Jiang Heyi burst into laughter. His infectious, cheerful smile quickly spread to Warden-哥's face, and then to the messenger puppet.

The premonition of watching others suffer—that smug sense of relief when you've already made it ashore and watch others flailing in the water—erupted uncontrollably.

Though utterly lacking in virtue, imagining the scene... it felt so good.

Smiles never disappear; they simply transfer to someone else's face.

"Wait, Guild Leader Potato hasn't mentioned the price yet. How am I supposed to trade with you?"

"I haven't thought about what I want for compensation yet, Guild Leader Yellow Millet. I assume you're an honorable person and won't mind me collecting payment a little later?"

"Naturally."

"Very well, I wish you a pleasant raid. We'll be waiting for you in the sixth layer's grand mining area."

Inside the guild hall of [The Comedic Tree Under You and Me].

A total of eleven players were staring at the chat box projected by Yellow Millet. The moment the conversation ended, everyone could no longer suppress their discussions.

"Are the people in Virtual-Real Boundary all monsters? They've already reached the sixth layer?"

"You guys should just check their character levels through the guild interface; five of them are already level 10 and have all completed their specialization advancements."

"What kind of bullsh*t leveling speed is that!"

"When did they get new members again?"

"We can't catch up, we really can't catch up. Against their progression speed, you can't even feel angry."

[My Sword Is Also Eager for Blood]: "Guild Leader, did they just throw us a favor?"

Yellow Millet's character model was a Vampire, and the dark red little wings folded behind her back spread slightly in a relaxed state.

She sighed. "Although it has the flavor of delaying payment to maximize profits, being able to show such generosity upon a first meeting is enough to prove that Guild Leader Potato is an admirable person."

"So, all those things Warden-哥 said were true?" [Jiangdong's Iron Wall] swallowed hard, his face full of disbelief. "Cyber Potato really soloed the fifth-floor guardian?"

"He claimed himself that it was everyone's hard work, but... I'd guess it's true." Yellow Millet smiled helplessly. "After all, lines like 'it was inseparable from the efforts of all guild members'—that smells way too much like a polite cliché..."

She let out a long breath of profound admiration. "To be able to lead a group of monstrous guild members, possess supreme strength, and still be so polite and humble... as a guild leader, he's almost a bit too low-profile."

"Let's just hope we don't run into them in the Guild War."

(Third update! The ten-thousand-word daily update is complete!)