Chapter 369 - 359: Role-playing a Game NPC 7

At that moment, Lord Fair-reign watched his girlfriend go to the door. He had actually already guessed who was outside.

After a sigh, he had already made his decision.

’Since I can’t hold onto the item anyway,’ he thought, ’I might as well get the best possible deal for myself.’

...

Meanwhile, after a flurry of activity, Moira Lynch had finally moved all the energy stones from the warehouse into her space.

From Patience’s explanation, Moira now understood the purpose of these energy stones.

Simply put, energy stones were a power source.

Most interstellar machinery was powered by this type of energy stone.

The mineral veins Moira had auctioned off before also contained such energy stones, and in considerable quantities.

But extracting them required more than a dozen processing steps.

The process was somewhat similar to manufacturing batteries.

Moira casually picked up an energy stone.

An unused energy stone was blue, enveloped in a blue glow that made it look like a pure blue crystal.

But the one in Moira’s hand was black, with only a faint white glow emanating from it.

This was the sign of a depleted energy stone.

Patience had said these energy stones had ten percent of their energy remaining, but that wasn’t entirely true.

Only a small fraction of them contained ten percent or slightly more.

The vast majority were between five and eight percent.

"Patience, can these energy stones still be used?" Moira asked.

She received an affirmative answer.

[Yes, but...]

They could be used, but only for low-power devices, like phones or hair dryers.

Alternatively, Patience offered Moira another option.

Although the residual energy inside these stones was very low, if converted into a different type of energy, they could last for a long time.

[How do I convert them into another type of energy?] Moira asked.

Patience replied with a single word.

[Burn.]

An energy stone with five percent of its energy left could burn for a month without going out.

Moira was stunned. ’They can be used like that?!’

Having learned of this use, Moira looked at the now-empty warehouse and couldn’t help but say, "This isn’t nearly enough. Are there any other warehouses?"

Speak of the devil.

Just then, a robot passed by the doorway, and Moira immediately called out to it.

"I’m the new Recycler. Are there any other warehouses here?"

The robot stopped and glanced behind Moira, its eyes widening in an instant. "You did all this?"

"That’s not important. I want to continue my work now."

As she spoke, the bow on her head twitched.

[Name: Blessing Badge

Status: Fully Awakened

Holder: Moira Lynch

Blessing Acquired: The Charm of Language. No matter what you say, the other party will believe you unconditionally.

Effective for four days and twelve hours.]

When she had first received this blessing, Moira had tested it on Shane Rhodes and the others.

She found that people really would believe anything she said, as long as it wasn’t too outrageous.

If she said something too absurd, they might believe her initially but would quickly realize the truth. Furthermore, Moira had to deliver her words with enough conviction.

Sure enough, after hearing Moira’s words, the robot immediately forgot what it had just seen and said to her, "Of course there are. Please, follow me."

Moira followed the robot to another warehouse, even larger than the last, which was piled high with energy stones.

Seeing all the energy stones, Moira eagerly went inside and began collecting them with gusto. She only stopped when Patience reminded her that time was up, at which point she stopped what she was doing and ran back towards the area with the game pods.

After returning to the work area, Moira quickly lay down and entered the game.

In the process, she noticed that several other game pods were also empty. It seemed that while she was gone, other players had been waking up and leaving one by one.

After entering the game, Moira chose to play the third NPC role.

As her appearance changed, a nearly extinguished campfire appeared before her. It was pitch-black all around, so dark she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.

She could faintly hear the sound of flowing water. By the looks of it, she was in the wilderness.

According to the NPC’s profile, she was now playing a nameless NPC.

Despite having no name, she was a key character who could unlock a dungeon.

The game *Divine Soul* was great in every way, except for the lack of information. Players had to find everything themselves, and discovering things like dungeons was purely a matter of luck.

Moira only needed to play this NPC for one hour, and only for today.

During that hour, if a player appeared, she was to issue a quest and end her role-play session early. If no one showed up, that was fine too.

Just as Moira was tossing wood into the fire out of sheer boredom, the sound of footsteps and a pleasant voice suddenly came from nearby.

"I didn’t expect to find a campfire out here in the middle of nowhere."

Hearing the voice, Moira looked up and saw a player dressed in night-travel gear with a bow slung over their back approaching.

The player was wearing a mask, so Moira couldn’t make out their features.

As per the rules, Moira prepared to say her lines.

When she opened her mouth, an old, hoarse voice came out. "Young man, COUGH, COUGH. The forest is dangerous, COUGH, COUGH. Why are you out here all by yourself, COUGH, COUGH."

She had to cough twice for every sentence she spoke. It wasn’t intentional; it was a trait of the character that she couldn’t control.

Hearing this, the player sat down beside her and said, "Old man, I was lost and wondering how to get out of here. It’s a good thing I ran into you."

"COUGH, COUGH—COUGH, COUGH—COUGH. If you want to leave, just head in this direction."

Moira’s coughing grew more severe as her trembling arm pointed the player in a certain direction.

"Thank you for the directions. You seem to be ill. Do you need my help?"

Hearing this, Moira was thrilled. ’You finally said it!’ she thought.

Moira didn’t speak immediately, as she had to suppress the urge to cough. The feeling was very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, it was almost over.

"Across the river is Blackwater Stronghold, home to a band of robbers. Not long ago, those robbers broke into my home. They kidnapped my wife, my son, my daughter-in-law, and my grandson. They also stole all our family’s savings. I only escaped because I was out fishing. I’ve been waiting here, hoping to find someone who can save my family."