Chapter 493: No Seats Left? Watch a Cartoon First

Though the affair of the Ask-Heaven Sword Palace was a blockbuster in Lingzhou, shaking the entire high cultivator echelon there, it failed to trouble the areas of the Great Jin Kingdom and the Half-City in the slightest.

Many artifact masters from both shops had secured their spots early, all for the sake of this lecture on teleportation array architecture knowledge from Lingzhou.

This particular teleportation array seminar on the Penguin Channel could be said to have gathered the elite artifact masters from major shops.

The content covered not only the traditional architecture methods of teleportation arrays taught by Gu Tingyun, but also the research on materials and structures contained within the waypoints of Diablo II, presented by Jun Yangzi of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance.

Each of the two could be said to have its own unique advantages.

Following the lecture, there would be private one-on-one tutoring on Penguin to help both sides successfully construct the teleportation arrays.

Such matters were by no means the work of a day or two, and thus the entire shop had already begun to boil with activity early this morning.

...

The convenient modern lifestyle in Grand Theft Auto V had given the cultivators of this world a great deal of inspiration for daily items.

Items such as mobile phones and vehicles, for instance.

It was not that the cultivators of this world were incapable of manufacturing these things, but rather that very few people would ever dedicate research to this area.

After all, who knew if they might be casually annihilated by someone the moment they stepped out the door; why waste thoughts on such useless things instead of cultivating properly?

As for cultivators with truly profound cultivation, they could accomplish everything with a few spells and had absolutely no need for such trinkets.

But things were different now; the Wuwei Daoist Alliance had first repelled the Cloud-Yunnan Upper Realm and then defeated the allied forces of the major factions at minimal cost. Though there was a fair amount of trickery involved, the entire country now appeared to have settled into stability.

They had roughly transitioned from the previous state of constant battle-readiness into a semi-peaceful era.

With a masterpiece of a game like Grand Theft Auto V leading the way, and The Matrix acting more like a "heavenly book" of the programming world to help cultivators understand and learn these concepts, the application of the new communication jade to daily life seemed to follow as a matter of course.

Although the new communication jade remained a rare novelty, in the Jiuhua City shop, at least those like the Eldest Princess, Nalan Mingxue, and Su Tianji, who had absolutely no shortage of spirit crystals, had already begun using them.

The majority of this communication jade's structure was still manufactured using the traditional artifact-refining techniques of cultivators, capable of playing back virtual images and transmitting long-distance voice messages. Apart from drawing slightly from the mobile phones in Grand Theft Auto V, it could be considered a new type of artifact with an extremely specific purpose.

Naturally, being able to use such an item still carried immense prestige among the player community.

For instance, the owner of the Breeze and Bright Moon Pavilion, a young lady named Dong Qingli, had recently purchased one.

"Miss, there are no seats left again..." Zhang Wanyu took a turn around the counter, wondering why on earth there were so many people so inexplicably early in the morning.

In the past, even if one had to queue during peak hours, there would at least be a few vacant seats early in the morning.

"It seems they say the artifact masters are holding some sort of lecture..." Dong Qingli appeared exceedingly cultured and reasonable, saying serenely, "They are about to repair the teleportation array leading to Lingzhou, which is quite important. Let us just wait a while..."

To maintain order within the premises, long after a previous shop upgrade, queuing no longer required standing behind someone's seat; instead, numbers were assigned for computers based on the order of member card or spirit stone registration.

It was only recently that this system had actually started being utilized.

One could see people swiping member cards or settling bills, while many had already begun carrying milk tea and instant noodles to sit on the sofas in the lounge area, waiting for someone to log off.

Early in the morning, the lounge area had already gathered quite a crowd; some planned to have a bowl of instant noodles first and then leave, returning when a seat opened up, while others sat on the sofas discussing matters related to the games.

"We were just a tiny bit too late..." Zhang Wanyu felt a wave of dejection. "Eldest Miss, should we head back to the Breeze and Bright Moon Pavilion first...?"

At that moment, Dong Qingli flipped her delicate hand, producing an exquisite jade-plaque style communication jade from her storage artifact.

"It matters not," Dong Qingli said. "Let us watch this for a while."

"Chatting on Penguin?" Zhang Wanyu was somewhat surprised, for Penguin was not a place where one always found things to talk about.

"No, let us watch an animated cartoon." Dong Qingli opened the virtual image, tapping here and there within it before channeling her spiritual energy into the device, whereupon the virtual image before them grew larger and larger, eventually expanding to the size of a twenty-inch monitor.

"An animated cartoon?" Zhang Wanyu thought about it; wasn't that the kind of story film that could only be watched on the computer in 'My Space'?

Computer time was so precious; who would waste it watching such things? Furthermore, it required a considerable amount of gold coins in 'My Space' to purchase, which was an absolute waste!

If it were not for the fact that unlocking certain items required purchasing this, she felt that no one would ever buy it at all.

"Yes!" Dong Qingli said with some excitement, "I bought several in 'My Space' over the past two days; these virtual images can be stored inside the communication jade to watch!"

"Uh...?" Zhang Wanyu asked in astonishment, "They can be watched using the communication jade?!"

Zhang Wanyu observed that there were quite a few options; originally, when jade slips stored information, cultivators extracted it by activating it with spiritual energy and using divine sense to select and retrieve it, rendering it invisible to the outside world.

Yet the thing before them appeared far more externalized; though it could similarly be operated through divine sense and spiritual energy, the virtual image allowed others to see it as well, displaying option after option upon it: Pokémon (Pocket Monsters), Tom and Jerry, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World...

She selected Pokémon, and then the two girls sat together, eating instant noodles while they watched.

This animated cartoon told the story of "Pokémon," mysterious creatures living on this planet, and Ash, who aspired to become a Pokémon Master, embarking on a journey of adventure together with Pikachu.

Thus, the two girls also began their wondrous journey of adventure.

The animation had clearly been remastered by the system; every single frame was as beautiful as a wallpaper and exceedingly exquisite.

While eating her instant noodles, Zhang Wanyu watched that yellow electric mouse before her eyes that kept crying out "Pikachu," causing her maidenly heart to instantly overflow: "Wow, this Pikachu is so cute!"

"I bought this one!" Dong Qingli, after all, had exchanged her vegetable-farming money from her very first day playing 'My Space' for a Pikachu plush toy.

"Hahahahaha look at these two people, they've been electrocuted into absolute fools!"

"This creature seems so fun..."

"Both cute and fun..."

The actions of the two quickly drew the attention of those nearby.

An Cheng, as the son of the Jiuhua City Lord, was in truth half a playboy; he was usually quite idle and currently found himself utterly bored.

As for An Huwei...

In the early morning, he happened to have a brief moment of leisure and ran into the shop to sit for a while, never expecting that there would not even be a seat, leaving him to sit on the sofa drinking milk tea in dejection.

"Miss Nalan, we arrived late today." Lanyand walked through the shop door and took a turn around, "There are no seats left."

She subsequently sat down in the lounge area.

"Hmm? What is it that you two are watching?"

"Pocket Monsters," Zhang Wanyu said. "It is the special breeding method for raising spiritual beasts in 'My Space' that requires purchasing this first to unlock."

"So that is how it is..." Nalan Mingxue carried a bucket of instant noodles, sat down beside them, and casually began watching as well.

At this time, An Cheng and several other young masters of Jiuhua City, who were dying of boredom, also crowded over: "What are you all watching?"

"What do you mean what?" Sitting nearby and casually chatting, An Huwei also cast his gaze over.

By this time, yellow light could already be seen bursting wildly before their eyes as Pikachu cleared the field with electricity.

"What kind of spirit beast is this?" An Huwei set down the milk tea cup in his hand and began to watch with curiosity.

"What sort of new thing is this...?" Very quickly, many idle cultivators and warriors in the lounge area subconsciously began to gather around to watch.