Magic Farm 173

Chapter 173: Reputation Surpasses Ten Thousand, Silver Exploration Chest

Originally, the Forest of Stars’ reputation value was close to 6,000.

Ever since Qi Yu and his group visited Ophelia Royal City, the reputation value had been steadily rising.

But just now, after Elder Roland’s announcement, Jin Qian watched as the number following the Forest of Stars jumped instantly from 6,000 to a figure starting with 7!

After that sudden leap, it didn’t rise quite so explosively, but it still climbed by the dozens at a time.

7,100, 7,200, 7,300…

Jin Qian’s heart pounded wildly.

As he watched the numbers soar, he could hear the crowd beneath the float discussing excitedly.

“Forest of Stars? Where is that? Never heard of it.”

“If they can produce such an incredible mage, it must be a truly extraordinary magical sanctuary.”

“This Mage Qi Yu is amazing. I’ve seen Life Blessing magic before, but never anything this powerful.”

“It’s such a pity my mother’s sick and didn’t come out tonight. I wonder if this blessing could have cured her.”

“This mage’s blessing magic covers such a wide area, and the float will circle the city several times. Why don’t I go home with you and bring Auntie out?”

“…”

Elder Roland continued to speak to Qi Yu through mental transmission: “When you use blessing magic, restrain yourself a bit. Don’t make such a big commotion.”

“Why?” Qi Yu didn’t quite understand. He didn’t know how to use mental voice transmission yet, so he asked in a whisper, “Didn’t you say this was a benefit the Mage Association gives to the people?”

Since it was a benefit, and he was giving it out, why not make it as good as possible?

Elder Roland was momentarily at a loss for words.

She couldn’t very well say that in previous years, the mid-level mages responsible for the blessing simply didn’t have this kind of ability.

To create such a spectacle, the association would have to send a high-level life mage to anchor the event for a whole month.

That was no easy task.

But she couldn’t blame this young mage in front of her: he’d only been invited by chance.

Besides, he had already said he’d be returning to the Forest of Stars tomorrow.

Looking into the clear eyes of the young man, Elder Roland sighed. “Fine, do as you like. After all, it’s a good deed that benefits others.”

If it were someone else, she might worry about the dangers of flaunting such talent, afraid that ill-intentioned people would covet his gifts and target him.

But this one?

Never mind that his origins were a mystery and no one in the Mage Association, for all their power, knew the exact location of the Forest of Stars.

And after the commotion he’d caused in Ophelia Royal City, who would dare set their sights on him?

Did they want to be turned into dumplings by His Excellency the Archmage?

Qi Yu had no idea how many thoughts flashed through the elder’s mind in that instant.

He only knew she’d changed her mind again and confirmed, “So you’re really not going to stop me? I can do as I please?”

Once she’d thought it through, Elder Roland became magnanimous.

She smiled kindly. “Yes, yes, cast as you wish. Just mind your own magic—don’t overexert yourself.”

After all, he had people behind him to protect him. He was young; what was wrong with being a little bold?

Qi Yu felt reassured.

Elder Roland sat back down, leaving him alone on the high platform.

The residents of Jindong City looked up at him, cheering his name:

“Lord Qi Yu!”

“Lord Qi Yu!”

Such fervent emotion surged toward him that Qi Yu’s eyes sparkled.

The staff in his hand glowed with green light, and magic rained down on everyone present.

They soon noticed that the flowers they held in their arms, touched by this magic, sprouted new buds and fresh shoots.

“Oh!”

“These are flowers blessed by the mage’s magic! I’m going to take them home and care for them well!”

“Lord Qi Yu isn’t just good-looking—his magic is so fascinating, too.”

The residents of Jindong City were swept up in a frenzy, and the Zone 01 regional channel was about to go wild as well.

Jin Qian wasn’t the only one watching the reputation rankings.

Ever since the morning, when people learned Jin Qian was out exploring with the Game Boss, they’d been refreshing the reputation leaderboard.

But all day, the reputation value had only crept up slowly, so no one thought much of it—after all, when the leaderboard first appeared, the Game Boss had already unlocked three places and the reputation value was only a few hundred.

Clearly, this was something very hard to raise.

But just now—

[Cockroach Tastes Weird: Holy crap, everyone go check the reputation value!]

Players opened it to find that the number, which had been just over five thousand in the daytime, had suddenly shot up to seven thousand.

And it was still climbing fast!

Opening the detailed contribution list, as expected, a certain ID was far ahead of the pack.

Obviously, the Game Boss had done something again, and the regional channel started frantically @-mentioning their only connection, Jin Qian.

[Grind King: @Need a Little Money to Save Me.]

[Cockroach Tastes Weird: @Need a Little Money to Save Me, where are you? Why aren’t you streaming at a time like this?]

[Jiangnan Misty Rain: @Need a Little Money to Save Me, urgent urgent urgent urgent urgent.]

[Grumpy Bro: Even Jiangnan Bro is breaking character out of anxiety @Need a Little Money to Save Me.]

…

After much summoning, Jin Qian finally appeared:

[Need a Little Money to Save Me: (video)]

[Need a Little Money to Save Me: (video)]

[Need a Little Money to Save Me: Damn, I’m just stunned—Game Boss is literally the Spring God in person!]

[Need a Little Money to Save Me: The fact that I’m still recording videos for you all at a time like this—that’s real dedication. These are the only two; from now on, I’m going to focus on enjoying Boss’s display of miracles!]

The two videos Jin Qian posted showed Qi Yu casting the Life Blessing and, the second time, the Plant Growth Blessing.

Although players often complained that the survival panel’s features were lacking, whenever it did have a function, it was always done especially well.

Take these two videos Jin Qian posted, for example.

From his vantage point at Qi Yu’s right rear, all you could see was the mage’s tall, elegant back.

Staff held high, a sacred white halo rose from him and spread outward…

The camera panned down to the natives below.

Even from a great distance, the details were still clear.

In the footage, the natives’ clothing, expressions, and transformations were all visible to the players.

[Cockroach Tastes Weird: Damn, I think I just saw someone visibly become much younger. Can the survival panel add beauty filters now?]

[Grind King: It’s not a filter, it’s magic. At 46 seconds, there’s an old man on the right—his hair turns black.]

[Reaching for the Moon: All those expressions, from joy to shock to ecstasy, can’t be faked. No wonder Jin Qian calls this a miracle.]

There’s no comparison—how could anyone compete with this?

This boss could practically make people young again.

The only flaw in the video was that it couldn’t capture the voices of the natives.

But from their ecstatic expressions, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were shouting.

With magic like this, if the reputation value didn’t skyrocket, that would be the real surprise.

Compared to the first video’s Life Blessing, the second video of the Plant Growth magic seemed much more ordinary. But from a viewer’s perspective, for Zone 01 players, the second video was clearly more entertaining.

A spark of magic, flower branches sprouting anew, a riot of blossoms.

[IAmLily: Is this festival about playing the role of the Spring God? If I were one of the natives below, I’d really believe the Spring God had descended.]

[Cockroach Tastes Weird: So cool! I can’t imagine how dazzling the Game Boss must look standing on that high platform right now!]

[Be a Good Person: With the way the reputation is skyrocketing, it probably won’t be long before the whole city is chanting his name.]

[Reaching for the Moon: Thank you, Game Boss. You’ve given me a bit more confidence for my next exploration.]

[Very Bossy: @My Fate Is Not Up to Heaven, we’re all exploring outside—how come yours isn’t like this?]

The players: …

Wow, even the corpse-kicking segment showed up!

No wonder they say ex-fans are the deadliest.

Other than his last meltdown, My Fate Is Not Up to Heaven rarely showed up to defend himself, and now he was just playing dead.

He’d watched those two videos too.

He was so furious he could practically bleed.

He couldn’t imagine how glorious ILoveSurvivalGame must look right now—this was the storyline he’d envisioned for himself in the native world!

Jealousy burned in his chest. At this moment, he not only hated Qi Yu, he even resented the Survival Game itself.

If they’d already put him in Zone 01, why did they also have to put ILoveSurvivalGame here?

If he’d been given a second chance at life, why couldn’t he have been assigned an overpowered mage class?

Was he reborn just to watch someone else reach the top and serve as a backdrop to ILoveSurvivalGame’s boundless glory?

How could he possibly accept that?

Suddenly, the survival panel emitted a brilliant light, illuminating his bloodshot eyes, accompanied by a server-wide announcement:

[Congratulations to Zone 01’s Forest of Stars for becoming the first region to surpass 10,000 reputation points. All Zone 01 players receive a “Reputation Blind Box” x1.]

Qi Yu heard the announcement too.

He was both shocked and delighted—his reputation had surpassed ten thousand so quickly?

Jindong City, I love you!

The surprises weren’t over yet.

A moment after the previous announcement, another server-wide message appeared:

[Congratulations to player “ILoveSurvivalGame” for becoming the first player in the server to accumulate over 10,000 personal reputation points. System reward: “Silver Exploration Chest” x1.]

“Boss, you’re amazing!” Jin Qian couldn’t help but cheer.

Leslie shot him a glance.

But Leslie only thought Jin Qian’s praise was a bit too blunt and crude, not suspecting anything. He assumed Jin Qian was marveling at the two blessing spells just now.

They truly were astonishing.

Zone 01’s regional channel:

[Cockroach Tastes Weird: Game Boss, you’re incredible! Game Boss, you’re my dad!]

[Grind King: Game Boss has brought so many benefits to our zone—calling him Big Daddy is totally justified.]

[Be a Good Person: Whoa! I got a Team Scroll from my “Reputation Blind Box”!]

[The More You Grind, The Worse Your Fate: ??? Are you a lucky dog? I got Emergency Rations x1.]

[Grumpy Bro: I got a map. If I get an exploration blueprint next time, I can specify a location on this map.]

[Reaching for the Moon: I got a Backpack Expansion Card x1, can add one slot to my backpack. Looks like the rewards from these Reputation Blind Boxes are all related to outside exploration.]

[Little Old Me: I wonder what kind of reward the Game Boss’s Exploration Chest will give.]

[Grumpy Bro: I’ve noticed you’re always curious about other people’s stuff, @Little Old Me. I’m a bit curious too—how much valuable stuff do you have in your backpack?]

[Little Old Me: …My bad, I’ll never say it again.]

[Little Old Me: I’m going to lurk now.]

[Author’s Note]

[food][food][food]

Will continue with a late-night snack update later [heart]