A few weeks after they had returned to the sect, it snowed hard. Li Hua mountain was encased in white snow, everything glittering and reflecting the sun blindingly. Stepping outside, anyone's breath would start to rise in clouds of crystals.
Qiu Yunru really didn't like the cold.
It was something that always had caused him pain in his first life. With the barometric pressure dropping, he might be assaulted by headaches, migraines, achy joints, and a tiredness to consuming that it seemed to sit on his chest whenever he lay in bed.
Even though he didn't have the same problems now, he still avoided the cold for his own peace of mind. He spend long days and nights inside the Jade Clouds Sect library, and rarely went out when training wasn't happening. Of course, he put on a face of not being too bothered by the icy air in front of his fellow disciples; he didn't want to lose face that easily. But still, he looked forward to the return of the sun.
One day, he woke up to a new message from the game menu.
WELCOME TO THE THREE WIND FRUITS EVENT!
This title was embellished lavishly with gold and a stylized font. Around it floated red digital fruits that Li Chenyuan couldn't recognize.
WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME! It is time for our new Three Wind Fruits Event. Search for, find, and eat all Three Wind Fruits to unlock Full Lightness Skills, Temporary Lightning Speed Cultivation Improvement, and Intermediate-Advanced Alertness. Character Friendship Level Increase Quest also available. LIMITED TIME ONLY!
Though he was groggy and the screen was burning his eyes, Qiu Yunru recognized what this was.
It was one of those limited-time events that games like Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits had. Any game with character level-ups and battling had this kind of thing. There would be limited-time activities available to boost one's strength and stats. Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits held a quest like this every harvest season, and often had New Year's celebration events as well.
He squinted and scrolled through the quest instructions.
As usual, this kind of thing it wasn't mandatory to complete, but it could greatly boost his cultivation and levels. What's more, this "Character Friendship Level Increase Quest" was also interesting.
It was generally accepted that Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits ran on a sort of leveling system when it came to closeness with NPCs. Though there were never any notifications indicating when one had officially increased a level in terms of friendship with a character, the code of the game worked so that the more time and more kind gestures done towards an NPC, the kinder that NPC grew in return. It never transformed into romance, but certainly many players had made good friendships with NPC AI's over the years.
This was a whole other sect of the player community of Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits. They were known as "AI-Suckers" in the community.
Qiu Yunru thought this wasn't a nice name. After all, it really wasn't meant to be.
While most people preferred to play for the level-up mechanics and the open world AI functions, some people loved to play in order to create friendships with AI NPCs. People who played in the majority group felt they were better than those "pathetic" people who sought to get close to AI characters, and looked down on them, making an insulting name for them and calling them all sorts of sexist things, since it just so happened that many of them were women.
Of course, things would be different if there was romance. How many male incels would there be flooding the forums with stories of their gross sexual escapades and harems if that was the case?!
As for Qiu Yunru, he was in the majority group, and he had never been the type to focus on friendship with NPCs. Thus, if Qiu Yunru had been in the real world and in his previous life, he would have found this Character Friendship Level Increase Quest somewhat useless and probably wouldn't have done it.
However, things were different now.
Ever since he had arrived here over a year ago, he had to say that he couldn't look at the characters in front of him and remember that they were run by some AI. It was much different, seeing a face on a screen and seeing a body and hearing a voice in person. Sometimes, the thought made him uneasy, but what could he do?
What's more, he was a part of this world now. Whether he wanted to or not, it was necessary for him to be on good terms with those around him if he really wanted to grow strong enough to live a peaceful and solitary life in the future.
And in his time here, there had always been one person with whom he couldn't even get onto the edge of good terms with.
By the time he had gotten up and gotten dressed, he had decided:
He would go and collect the three fruits over the next week while the quest lasted.
Also, he would use this Friendship Quest to repair his relationship with Lei Ruolan a little bit.
Though having her beat him into a pulp every martial practice and being given the cold shoulder by her wasn't the worst thing, wouldn't his life be much more peaceful if she left him alone a little and didn't hate him so much?
So it was decided.
______
When Qiu Yunru inputted Lei Ruolan's name into the menu as the target character for the quest, a new box popped up:
COMBINE QUESTS? Would you like to combine the Three Fruits Hunt Quest with the Character Friendship Level Increase Quest?
Qiu Yunru was a little miffed. If he could combine them from the beginning and be more efficient like this, why hadn't the menu just started out with that?
What a shoddy game this really was!
He pressed the YES button. It would be better to do these two at the same time if possible. After all, the event was only a week, and he only had so much time.
At that moment, someone banged on his door, causing him to jump.
"You! Shizun has a mission for us! Come out!"