Chapter 155 – Vanilla Forest (Part 3)

As the two wandered around Spirit Valley for longer, they encountered more and more players, but without pets, everyone just glanced at each other before passing by. This was Vanilla Forest—those who came here were either after pets or materials. The savage PvP enthusiasts were all at Sky Arena ╮(╯_╰)╭

A few players seemed to recognize Moriarty and expressed surprise when they saw him partying up to farm pets—

Passerby A: You’re farming in a party?

Moriarty: ……

Passerby B: Are you helping out of pure goodwill?

Moriarty: ……

Passerby C: That 715 guy looks pretty dumb. How can you bear to scam someone like that?

Moriarty: Piss off =_=

438 wasn’t the quickest thinker, but he was still capable of thinking—

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: Your reputation isn’t great.

[Whisper] Moriarty: You just realized?

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: I knew when we partied up.

[Whisper] Moriarty: Then why bring it up now?

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: I just felt like saying it >_<

[Whisper] Moriarty: Say what you gotta say, stop acting like a girl =_=

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: I think…

[Whisper] Moriarty: Hmm?

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: You deserve it.

After that, there was not a single word exchanged between the party members—well, mainly because Moriarty temporarily muted his chat function to avoid losing his temper and getting himself killed before they could even catch the squirrel.

About an hour and a half later, after encountering regular mobs that looked like pets, regular pets that looked like mobs, and regular players that looked like both mobs and pets, they finally reunited with the long-awaited squirrel.

Moriarty didn’t understand 715’s obsession. In ninety minutes, they had caught three pets—not the best, but definitely not worse than a single squirrel. And according to 715, he hadn’t even seen a single hair of that squirrel before, only spotting its outline through the bushes with his cursor.

Moriarty also didn’t understand his own patience—why had he actually spent an hour and a half helping this guy search, all while enduring his constant bending over to pick up fertilizer… er, gather materials?

If he wanted to gather, why not go to Vanilla Grassland? What was the point of picking up weeds and rotten tree roots here? Pure waste of time. But he could only grumble internally—until they caught the squirrel, 715 was his moral creditor, and creditors reigned supreme =_=

The second reunion with the squirrel pet happened near an ancient tree.

It was a pine tree, its branches lush from years of growth. The lower branches were so weighed down by the upper layers that they nearly touched the ground. Behind the tangled branches, a faint little figure hid, its body pressed against the trunk like a puppy about to mark its territory. But the branches blocked the view, making it hard to see clearly.

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: That’s him!

[Whisper] Moriarty: You sure?

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: I’ll summon 502 first. Once he’s airborne, you capture him immediately.

Hey, are you even sure it’s the right one?!

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: Of course, if you end up capturing him, you have to give him back to me.

That wasn’t a problem—pets in Vanilla Forest weren’t bound and could be traded freely. Wait, what’s 502?

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: Go!

Can’t you let someone finish a damn sentence?!—

Moriarty’s furious roar died in his throat the moment “502” actually appeared.

Even though it wasn’t his first time seeing this “girl,” he was still awestruck by her presence.

Airborne for a long time…

Airborne and immobilized…

Still able to attack while airborne…

What the hell, this pet is straight-up broken!

[Whisper] Refined Into a Demon 715: What are you staring at? Capture it!

Only after 438’s reminder did Moriarty snap out of it and quickly target the airborne pet, preparing to cast—wait!

Is this… a squirrel?!

Since when do squirrels have pointy faces?! Long snouts?! Red fur?! NINE TAILS?!

[Combat] Refined Into a Demon 715 successfully captured [Nine-Tailed Fox].

If time could rewind, Moriarty would’ve slapped himself, snapped out of it, and captured the pet immediately. Maybe then the world would’ve been different—at the very least, better than the current reality—

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: I told you to capture it the second you saw 502! Good thing I was fast!

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: What’s the point of having you around? I could’ve done this myself.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Oh right, here, take a look. [Nine-Tailed Fox]

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Turns out it wasn’t a squirrel but a nine-tailed fox! ~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Hey, did you DC?

He hadn’t disconnected—he was just staring at the pet’s blindingly good stats, trying to figure out what similarities existed between a nine-tailed fox and a squirrel. The answer was none. If 715 had said it was a nine-tailed fox from the start, he would’ve taken it way more seriously and definitely wouldn’t have just handed over such a god-tier pet, even if the other was his creditor. But it was too late now. His only takeaway from this was—a scheming good person is scarier than a scheming bad person TAT

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Still, thanks for sticking with me all this time.

[System] Refined Into a Demon 715 gifted Moriarty one [Amytis’ Blue Soulstone].

Moriarty was stunned.

He had expected, at best, a “Comrade, you’ve worked hard” paired with a steamed cake, but instead, he bit into the cake and found a diamond inside—an eight-heart, eight-arrow, top-tier cut one at that…

[Local] Moriarty: [Amytis’ Blue Soulstone] You’re really giving me this?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Yup!

[Local] Moriarty: How much did you pay for it?

Maybe he accidentally bought it dirt-cheap from some clueless seller and didn’t realize its worth?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Didn’t buy it. My party got it while leveling ages ago. I won the roll and stored it in the guild warehouse. The Commander only just gave it back to me recently.

[Local] Moriarty: Do you even know what this material is used for?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Jewelry crafting, demon refining, even gear enhancement—super useful. You really don’t know its worth, huh?

Dammit, he totally does! =_=

Amytis’ Blue Soulstone—a material dropped by the final boss of Hanging Gardens, and it only has a chance to drop if the party’s average level is equal to or below the dungeon’s recommended level. And only parties with god-tier luck even see it drop, let alone win the roll.

That’s why he was hesitating to accept it—this guy’s moral high ground was practically piercing the clouds =_=

But this was the first time he’d heard of someone getting back an item they contributed to the guild. No, wait—the leader gave it back?

[Local] Moriarty: Didn’t you give it to the guild? How’d you get it back?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: The guild warehouse was full. The Commander said since I rolled it anyway, he gave it back for me to play with.

Play with…

Moriarty took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and told himself to stay calm. A weird guild member naturally had a weird guild leader—no big deal, yeah, no big…

[Local] Moriarty: Then your guild warehouse must be packed with even better stuff now.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: It’s being used as a wardrobe by our guild’s Mad Lad. He’s been spamming the Goddess of Fortune Set draws—already burned through thirty-something tickets, all for stat-less cosmetic gear. But stats aside, they’re seriously gorgeous, no duplicates at all. There’s this one camouflage outfit that’s super cool—he promised to lend it to me after he’s done with it, hehehe…

Hehehe your ass! The camouflage outfit isn’t the point! The point is, if he remembered correctly, the Goddess of Fortune Set lottery cost 100 bucks per draw! Thirty-something draws were whatever, but damn, this was clearly aiming to fill an entire guild warehouse! And what did that mean? The RMB spent could wrap around half of Huaxia!!!

Weird guild member, weird guild leader, weird guild…

[Local] Moriarty: What’s your guild called?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Ghost Server Legion.

[Local] Moriarty: I’ll remember that.

More than remember—he’d never forget.

With the nine-tailed fox captured, 438’s pet satchel was full. A man must know when to be content, so he decided to leave Spirit Valley and head elsewhere. After all, entering Lover’s Constellation required a base score, and Spirit Valley didn’t grant any—meaning his score was still at zero.

Hearing 438 was leaving, Moriarty was surprised—

[Local] Moriarty: Not staying longer?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Nah.

[Local] Moriarty: With your luck, you might find an even better pet.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: So you can keep mooching off me?

[Local] Moriarty: ……

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Doing bad things isn’t the worst—just own up to it. Look me in the eyes and answer (⊙o⊙)

[Local] Moriarty: Fine, I admit it =_=

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: That’s a good boy. But I really can’t stay here—my score’s still at zero.

[Local] Moriarty: You’re a Demon Refiner. What use do you have for scores? Pets are the real deal.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: If I enter Lover’s Constellation with zero points, my guildmates will laugh at me TAT

Like those weirdos have any right to laugh at you!!!

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Plus, this place has PvP… it’s not safe… [fidgets]

[Local] Moriarty: You’ve got me.

No, he didn’t say that, no no no facepalm >_<

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: That’s what I mean—there are probably tons of bad guys like you.

[Local] Moriarty: ……

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: I even ran into a scammer earlier.

[Local] Wandering Monk: I AM NOT!!!

The sudden intrusion in the chat startled 438. Swiveling his camera, he saw a third Demon Refiner appear on the map.

[Local] Moriarty: Monk?

[Local] Wandering Monk: Old Mo?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You two know each other?

Wandering Monk had no time to reply—he was like Tang Sanzang finally reaching the Western Paradise, with eyes only for this one Buddha before him.

[System] Wandering Monk gifted Refined Into a Demon 715 500 Huaxia Coins.

Seeing the system notification, the frustration that had plagued Wandering Monk all night vanished in an instant.

438 blinked, still processing the situation. First, the guy who ambushed him helped him catch a nine-tailed fox, and now the scammer had a change of heart and came to return the money? Had harmony finally spread across Vanilla Forest?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: 500 Huaxia Coins isn’t a huge deal, but what you did was wrong. Still, you owned up to it—just like M here. Good boys! [thumbs up]

[Local] Wandering Monk: LAST TIME—I AM NOT A SCAMMER!!!

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: You and M are friends?

[Local] Wandering Monk: Yeah, what about it?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: That explains it. M ambushed me earlier, killed me, and stole my pet. Birds of a feather flock together. But M already admitted his mistake—why are you still being stubborn?

For the sake of his own lifespan, Wandering Monk decided to stop engaging with 715 and turned to his friend instead.

Coincidentally, his friend also had questions—

[Local] Moriarty: What did you scam him for?

[Local] Wandering Monk: I DIDN’T SCAM HIM!!

[Local] Wandering Monk: You ambushed him?

[Local] Moriarty: Uh…

[Local] Wandering Monk: YOU USELESS—!!!