Chapter 183 – Blue Star Today

Inside the rented standalone villa on Blue Star.

Buzz—

Faint spatial ripples dispersed as a tall, slender figure emerged from within.

“It’s only been a few days since I last came, and there’s already a layer of dust everywhere.”

Mu Yuan channeled the power of his template, and gentle breezes began to swirl at his fingertips. With meticulous control, the breezes swept through the room, gathering the dust that had settled on the floors and tabletops. However, they also sent a pen holder rolling noisily to the ground and caused the pages of books to rustle loudly.

After a moment, a grayish-black whirlwind laden with countless dust particles flew in from afar and, guided by his pointed finger, dropped neatly into a distant trash bin.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t taken out the trash from a few days ago either.

Mu Yuan rubbed his forehead in frustration.

His focus had completely shifted to the Eternal World, much like those veteran and seasoned Lords. The difference was, those established Lords had usually built their own teams or companies in the real world, whereas he, Lord Mu, was all alone—not even a maid to his name—making it increasingly difficult to manage affairs in the real world.

In such situations, Lords with substantial financial backing often had connections and had long since formed teams.

Lords from humble backgrounds also had the qualification to recruit other players to work for them. However, the players they could recruit were limited in ability and not particularly loyal.

As for him, Mu Someone, he couldn’t possibly hire players casually.

“For me, of course, it’s most reassuring to use people who are 100% my own, and I don’t even have to pay extra wages.”

He had long harbored the idea of summoning a few capable troop types to the real world to handle tasks for him.

To that end, Mu Yuan had specially used unique paper and ink to print materials such as ‘Xuan Nation Humanities and Geography’, ‘Blue Star Chronicles’, ‘Modern Clothing’, and ‘Everyday Greetings of Xuan Nation People’, sending them into the Eternal World.

Now, it was time to select one or two Elites to come to the real world and work.

Mu Yuan opened his panel, scanned through the troop list, and pondered briefly, “Quite a few of my Tianyuan troops have awakened self-awareness, but most of them are still rather naive and lack common knowledge. The truly viable candidates are only a handful.”

Sophia, Daisy, and a few others.

After all, they had genuine life experiences, allowing them to adapt to unfamiliar things much faster than Lu Liu, Seventeen, and others. They wouldn’t make the kind of laughable common-sense mistakes that Seventeen might.

The most suitable person was actually Isloria. A few days ago, she had even come out briefly and used her unique recording methods to replicate some Blue Star movies, projecting them within Tianyuan Territory to add some color to the territory’s cultural and entertainment life.

Islo·Versatile Tool Maiden·ria.

But Isloria was swamped with work; calling her to the real world would be too wasteful.

As Mu Yuan contemplated, he used his Mental Link ability to communicate with Sophia and the other. Both indicated they were available.

“Lord, choose me~!”

“No, you’re not suitable. Your modern theory exam score isn’t as high as mine.”

Daisy crossed her arms, tilted her chin up slightly, and her fluffy fox tail swayed back and forth as she laughed triumphantly.

However,

That fox tail was a bit too conspicuous.

It was true that some fantastical creatures now roamed the streets of Blue Star unabashedly. Not long ago, Mu Yuan had even spotted a scantily clad elf Young Miss in a television advertisement—though whether she was a real elf or a player who had gradually elf-ized after using a high-tier elf Legacy was unclear.Fantastical creatures aren’t all that rare on Blue Star, but they do stand out somewhat, and…

It would damage Mu Yuan’s reputation! How could he chat with other female players in the future?

He could only tell Daisy, “Next time for sure. Once work settles down, I’ll bring you all here for a team-building trip.”

Daisy: Or2.

Thinking of this, Mu Yuan began the summoning ritual.

Perhaps because Sophia had already undergone his evolution baptism, their connection had become incredibly close. The process of summoning her across worlds was remarkably smooth.

Mysterious array patterns spread out, and in the blink of an eye, Sophia appeared in the villa’s basement, wearing a black dress and a flax-colored sun hat, her eyes wide as she looked around.

After a moment, she suddenly came to her senses, lifted the hem of her dress slightly, and curtsied. “Good afternoon, Lord.”

Mu Yuan led Sophia out of the basement and gave her multiple tasks in just a dozen sentences.

“Right now, your top priority is to study—learn to use computers and other tools, gather intelligence through forums, and purchase various types of Remnant Souls.”

By delegating these tasks to his assistant, Lord Mu could relax a bit more.

He also had an idea: he could follow the example of veteran Lords and start a company. The core members would, of course, be 100% his own people, but he could recruit some peripheral staff to broaden his money-making channels.

No need to rush on that, though.

Leaving his little assistant to study on her own, Mu Yuan pushed the door open and left. He had arranged to meet with Frog-Selling Bro today to discuss a major Remnant Soul deal.

After jogging out of the residential complex, Mu·Rising Star of the New Generation·Town-Level Lord·Owner of Numerous Elite Troops·Yuan, skillfully scanned a code, hopped on a shared bike, and headed out.

Good thing Sophia didn’t see this, or she might have forgotten how to say “caw.”

This was precisely why Mu Yuan felt the Real World required a certain level of staff and grandeur. Without enough pomp, business would be hard to conduct.

Several months had passed, and Xuan Nation had undergone significant changes.

A large screen in the distance was playing an advertisement for a body wash. The spokesperson wasn’t some celebrity but a two-winged angel with skin as pale and smooth as milk, pure white wings sprouting from her back, and a holy radiance emanating from her…

“XX Body Wash, even angels say it’s amazing.”

Mu Yuan: “?”

This has to be false advertising!

He was certain. Angels were legendary creatures, even rarer than Dragons. They were, at the very least, Epic-tier life forms. Mu Yuan wouldn’t claim that no one in all of Taixuan possessed such an Epic troop, but there was no way they’d be paraded in a commercial.

Still, the reputation of angels was indeed impressive, and it seemed highly effective at fooling ordinary people who only had a superficial understanding of the supernatural world.

“Angels, huh…”

This was one aspect of the great changes on Blue Star. Former celebrities were no longer in vogue; nowadays, endorsements and live sales were handled either by “angels,” “high elves,” or some famous superhumans.

On the streets, passersby in training uniforms or armor could occasionally be seen.

However,

“It’s noticeably more desolate than before, probably because various incidents are becoming more frequent.”

He also noticed some enforcers, likely players, wearing black vests, patrolling the streets from time to time.

Clearly, the situation had become more tense.He did want to contribute, but he was currently just a weak and ordinary small-town lord, powerless against such world-changing events. All he could do was improve his strength as quickly as possible. Otherwise, even as a lord, he might be like a leaf boat in a storm, capsizing in an instant.

Lost in thought, Mu Yuan had already arrived at his destination.

A restaurant run by an old lord.

Here, he met Frog-Selling Bro and, through his introduction, a deacon from a commerce guild.

From this deacon, Mu Yuan intended to purchase a thousand Militia Remnant Souls.

“A thousand Militia Remnant Souls? Lord Mu is young and promising.”

Deacon Chen was well-traveled and knowledgeable. He knew perfectly well that purchasing so many remnant souls wasn’t for recruitment; the most likely purpose was to use them as sacrificial offerings or consumables.

Whether it was sacrificial treasures or the boldness to buy a thousand at once, it all indicated that this new lord was young and promising.

He might be among the top-tier talents just below the Golden Ranking.

Considering that it was even harder to make it onto the Golden Ranking this year, Lord Mu Yuan’s potential was no less than that of previous years’ Golden Ranking newcomers.

Deacon Chen smiled. “A thousand Militia Remnant Souls—our First Hand Commerce can certainly provide them, but…”

He paused, then continued, “These common one-star remnant souls have always been consumables. We don’t stockpile them intentionally and can only gather them from various locations, which will take quite some time…”

Mu Yuan understood Deacon Chen’s implication. He had done his homework before coming.

Simply put, the profit from selling common one-star remnant souls alone was too low. Even large commerce guilds weren’t particularly fond of such business; they’d rather sell a few or a dozen rare remnant souls.

After some back-and-forth, Mu Yuan also purchased 70 Sentry Remnant Souls, 60 Archer Remnant Souls, and 7 Nun Remnant Souls from Deacon Chen.

Total value: 132 Soul Crystals!

“Hiss—”

Frog-Selling Bro, standing nearby, gasped sharply.

What a massive transaction! The rumor that Mu Yuan had latched onto a wealthy woman was clearly true!

Deacon Chen hadn’t expected this new lord to make such large purchases after his sales pitch. Now, he was starting to worry that the quantity was too high—could this new lord afford it all?

He had to ask again.

“I’ll buy them. We can sign the contract and pay the deposit at any time.”

Deacon Chen beamed. “Excellent! Since you’re so forthright, I can’t take advantage of you. As an elder, I’ll round down the total and charge you only 125 Soul Crystals.”

The most expensive among these were the Nun Remnant Souls.

Nuns were already a rare and precious one-star unit, hard to find elsewhere. Since there was an opportunity to buy them from First Hand Commerce, he… well, mainly, he couldn’t resist the urge to splurge and bought a batch.

After witnessing the sight of hundreds of nuns in the Land of Trials—ahem, the vast and magnificent power of the Holy Light—Mu Yuan had grown somewhat envious.

Nuns were the lowest-tier unit capable of wielding Holy Light power.

He might not have the chance to form a nun corps of hundreds, but cultivating ten Holy Light High Priests and having them debut as a luxurious idol group didn’t seem too difficult.

With more Human Race units, Evolution Points would follow, and his household would prosper.

Isloria would also evolve soon, and he believed her work efficiency would reach new heights then.

With the big deal settled, Mu Yuan began to eat.

Although the ingredients and cooking skills here were far inferior to those in the Cold Moon City Lord Realm’s restaurants… it wasn’t bad. Besides, he wasn’t paying for it himself.Frog-Selling Bro said, “I heard this year’s newly appointed Lords are fiercely competitive. Our association has updated the top ten ranking of new Lords. Apart from the mysterious Tianyuan big shot who firmly holds the top spot, the rankings of other rising Lords have fluctuated quite a bit.”

“Oh?”

Mu Yuan hadn’t really paid attention to these matters.

Come to think of it, was the ‘Top Ten Newcomers’ list before the trials also compiled by First Hand Commerce? To be fair, their information accuracy is quite high—as long as they exclude him.

“For example, the Lord currently ranked fourth, Frost Sky Lord, is a newly emerged dark horse.”

Mu Yuan thought for a moment but had no recollection, so he listened as Frog-Selling Bro continued, “He was previously ranked 24th on the Gold List, still some distance from the top ten. But a few days ago, he encountered Great Sun Lord in the special Secret Realm, the Soul Duel Arena. The two engaged in a duel of champions, and Frost Sky Lord defeated Great Sun Lord with an overwhelming advantage, winning all three battles.”

“In that fight, Frost Sky Lord’s three commanders were extremely formidable, each having reached the Concept level or even achieved Minor Achievement in Concept. In terms of commander strength alone, some analysts in the association believe Frost Sky Lord might even be stronger than Wang Ba and Wave Caller.”

Mu Yuan expressed amazement and casually asked:

“How did he manage to gather so many Concept-level experts?”

Frog-Selling Bro shook his head.

Deacon Chen then spoke up, “Frost Sky Lord probably discovered a site where traces of Concept remain. This is a great Opportunity. Sometimes, Opportunity is even more important than background or talent.”

“Of course…”

Deacon Chen’s tone shifted, “Opportunity also requires strength to seize. Such sites with residual Concept traces are usually guarded by powerful monsters. The fact that Frost Sky Lord could discover and occupy one speaks to his capability.”

“Great Sun Lord once discovered an Opportunity Treasure Land called ‘Historical Remnant Scenery’—a special area that reappears due to fluctuations in time, both illusory and real. Explorers have a chance to retrieve historical Treasures from it. Unfortunately…”

He shook his head, “Great Sun Lord wasn’t strong enough at the time. Not only did he miss the Opportunity, but his own troops also suffered heavy losses during the exploration.”

First update…

(End of chapter)