Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

Chapter 63: Red Envelope

The ten of them were forming a line in the manager's room, shoulder to shoulder, looking at the guild's manager.

The manager is a middle-aged aquatic elf warrior. He is robust and tall with long limbs, turquoise eyes, short blue-green hair,  gills visible in both sides of his neck, and blue skin with white stripes and patches. His fingers are almost twice the size of the humans and are connected by a thick webbing between them.

The aquatic elf is one of the elf subraces, which has the ability to breathe underwater, and it is the elf subraces with less affinity with magic. They are larger and heavier than other elves and have thick skin that protects them from the cold of the deep water, keeping them comfortable in freezing temperatures, like how the layer of fat under the skin makes seals and other marine animals warm.

Arvastan Brighwave, the aquatic elf manager looked at them in a measuring way. He couldn't see how this group of young people could have defeated those pirates without suffering casualties. Except by the half-orc and the Dragonborn, the others look frail and delicate.

After observing them for a few seconds, the elf warrior spoke in his deep voice. "Congratulations for completing the mission of killing those pirates and taking the smuggled goods from them. Those alchemical potions were tested and were proved they were indeed extremely dangerous to common people."

"Many lives were saved thanks to all of you." Arvastan continues to say, "I don't know how you got to do that (with that skinny body of yours - he completed in his mind), but no matter how, your achievement deserves a reward."

The aquatic elf look at them again and concluded that they must have a good weapon to help them defeat those bandits. The pirates are nothing to him but are very strong to the young people in front of him. That's why he decided to help them upgrade their weapon and equipment to increase their survivability.

The artificial intelligence of the NPCs and monsters in Second Life is like nothing the human had ever seen before. They have history, personality, and thoughts of their own that made each one of them unique in Gaia. 

The environment can shape human learning and behavior, which can also be considered reactions to the environment [1]. The combination of the individual's subjectivity, the environment, and the people's reactions to the social interactions and the environment encourages learning and behavior.

The family history, social interactions, and the environment in which a person lives directly influences the way a person is. This is the same with the NPCs and monsters in Gaia. They can change through their environment and social interactions with players.

In this way, not only the geographic space of Gaia but the NPCs and monsters will change with time as well.

The aquatic elf warrior decided, among the items he thought would suit as a reward, to give Ye Yan's party a free one-time upgrade to their weapon and equipment. 

When he decided which item to give them, he wrote ten letters, one for each party member. His writing was rushed and the calligraphy was almost unreadable, but like works in a drugstore understand what doctors writing in their medical recipes, the craftsman can understand what the eld warrior wrote.

When he was done writing the letter, he put each one of them in a red envelope and handed it to Ye Yan and the others, that politely accept the reward from the elf warrior.

"After help protecting the lives of the citizens of Tientsin City, you guys gained a little fame among the common people. And to show how the Tientsin City values your help, your names will be posted in the Hall of Fame in the City Hall for all those that pass through there can see what you have done for the city.

System: Your reputation in Tientsin City has increased by 10 points. You gained charisma + 1. your name is written in the Hall of Fame in Tientsin City.

System: Your reputation in the Adventurers' Guild in all Yan Empire increased by 5 points.

As it is the second time they got a first clear in a Hell Mode dungeon, their names started to become know by NPCs in branches of the Adventurers' Guild in other parts of Yan Empire.

When Ye Yan and the others saw what was in the red envelope, they become ecstatic. Mainly Ye Yan because he already thought about upgrading his weapon. And as he needs to use this free chance in the next two days, he will go to the craftsman soon after he leaves the Adventurers' Guild.

The others hadn't thought about upgrading their weapons and equipment yet but now they will do it or they will lose the opportunity. They only hope that the material they have right now is enough for the upgrade.

Ye Yan likes his weapon a lot, so he had already thought about how he wants to change his fan and prepared the necessary materials to do it.

After thanking the elf warrior, they left his room and went downstairs.

My Girl was very happy about the fame gained in the city. So happy that he started to sing the same song that didn't get out of his mind since the battle against Captain Antonio in the Hell Mode.

.

"Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum,

pirates like to have their fun!

Yo-ho-ho on the 'Salty Breeze'

as they sail the seven seas."

.

Sadly, when Ye Yan and the others noticed what he was doing, it was already too late, because a bard started to sing along with My Girl while playing his yueqin[2]. And soon, every NPC and most players in the Adventurers' Guild started to sing along with them.

Conan and Demon Fox yelled at him to shut up at the same time, but they couldn't even finish before they were interrupted and everything becomes silent. 

When Ye Yan and the others saw the elf coming down the stair, their only thought that is that it's over.

Ye Yan sighed, put covered his forehead with his right hand, and said in his mind: "Not again".

The elf manager that appeared looks like a copy of the one that admonished them in the City of Ji, with little difference between them.

This elf manager is the cousin of the one in the City of Ji, that's why they looked so alike.

"It's you guys again. My cousin warned me about some rioters' adventures that messed things in this guild. I never thought I would have the displeasure to meet the routers that he spoke about." The elf manager spoke angrily to them.

It looked that this time they will not escape punishment.

While Conan, Demon Fox, I Love Skooma, Snow White, and Mage of the Cold Nights showed a horrified expression on their faces, and Ye Yan looked more serious than when a girl speak with him, Ashardalon and the others just sowed confusion. They didn't understand what was happening at all.

The elf just wanted to make them suffer now, for disrupting his beautiful, pacific and calm world. He was listening to the classical Chinese music Silent is Gold played with a bamboo flute when, suddenly, he started to heard screams and shouts from downstairs.

He became so mad that he almost broke his recording stone. The only reason the stone is safe now is that his strength is not high enough to break it or else, it would be broken without repair.

Now, he only wants to punish those who spoiled his day. 

The elf manager took them to a room where he can speak with them without interruptions. This is not his room, of course, he doesn't want his room to be tainted by the rioters.

He first admonished Ashardalon, My Girl, Harpy, and Hello Kitty. And after he vented a little on them, he ordered them to get out of his sight.

After the others left the room, the elf's gaze landed on Ye Yan, Conan, Demon Fox, I Love Skooma, Snow White, and Mage of the Cold Nights. He looked at them, one by one, with his stern expression, chilling them from head to toe.

They feel as if they were in their first years of school and their teaches caught them making a mess in the classroom or fighting in the interval. 

"As you don't know how to repent, I will forbid you to enter in any Adventurers' Guild of Yan Empire in the next three days." The elf manager said. He wants to punish them more severely but as they got a little fame in the Adventurers' Guild, he can't do things too hard or his superiors would cause him of hurting the interests of the guild.

System: You are forbidden to enter any Adventurers' Guild branch for the next three days.

System: You acquired the title [Partygoer], increasing your charisma with common folk by 3 points while decreasing your charisma by 2 with serious and nobles NPCs.

...

[1] Environmentalist learning theory.

[2] Chinese lute resembling a full moon (Yue means moon).