Chapter 717: Profession Skills and Casual Players

"So, the evil god isn't all that terrifying after all..." Having finished the movie, one could not help but feel that this evil god, Loki, was rather amusing.

"I truly thought this would scare me out of my wits!" Sera, a young elven maiden, exclaimed with excitement as she slipped off her virtual reality headset, instantly diving into an animated discussion with the surrounding elves.

"A god so weak, haha..." A great white deer chimed into the conversation.

"I think the part where he caught the arrow was the most interesting," a Shiba Inu kobold added.

"I wonder if there are any other 'movies' of this kind available to watch!" Nearby, quite a few newly arrived customers murmured.

"Boss!" The elves also looked toward Boss Fang with wide, pleading eyes full of anticipation.

"Not for the time being," Boss Fang spoke up. "What's coming next is a new game, not a movie."

"A game?!"

"What new game?!"

Even the assassins playing World of Warcraft at computers further away leaned over to listen.

Watching the movie had only taken two hours, so there was clearly plenty of time left today.

While the elves, Jiang Xiaoyue, and Xiao Lingdang gathered to converse excitedly, others chose to log back into the game to pursue another day of exploration.

...

By this time, most players in World of Warcraft had reached their fifties in level. The current version available was the level 60 patch. Unlike other games, the leveling process in World of Warcraft was quite swift, and once max level was attained, players could freely choose casual play, primary PvE, or primary PvP content according to their preferences. If one chose to focus on just a single path, the time commitment was rather relaxed, except when progression raiding was involved.

In their leisure time, they could head to the battlegrounds to hone their combat skills, duel and converse within the capital cities, or engage in blacksmithing, enchanting, and gathering. Even traveling across the vast world just to sightsee was completely viable.

Under the system's enhanced freedom, these activities were visibly much richer and more colorful than in the original version.

In the northeastern corner of the shop, several pots of blue sabertooth orchids, unique to the Morning Light Empire, were arranged along the window sill, where dwarves and mages sat together in the booths.

On Mage Adolf's computer desk sat a bag of spicy latiao strips, more than half of which had already been consumed during the movie.

Mechanically, he stuffed another strip into his mouth.

"Elder Thorek, take a look at this blueprint and see if it can be crafted," Adolf said, holding out a roll of design plans. "A few of us mages put a group together and managed to get it while everyone else was watching the movie."

To the dwarven elder Thorek, although the "Artifact Refining" from Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 was indeed something he could study and draw inspiration from to great benefit, blacksmithing and alchemy remained his true trade.

World of Warcraft contained many pieces of equipment that had defined a glorious era for certain classes, and some gear of artifact caliber could actually be obtained through blacksmithing.

For instance, the blueprint for "Destiny" currently in his hands.

As everyone knew, the true game in World of Warcraft only began at maximum level.

Even at the same level, an insurmountable chasm in strength existed between someone clad in powerful equipment and someone wearing eco-friendly green gear.

"Destiny," true to its name, was a sword imbued with an immense, formidable power, as if possessing it meant one could command fate itself.

It was also the first of the seven legendary weapons in all of World of Warcraft.

Elder Thorek's eyes instantly went wide.

"Heavens! What is this?!"

Amidst his exclamation, quite a few people nearby cast their gazes over, staring with burning intensity at this purple-quality, two-handed greatsword that could be forged by hand.

"Elder! Can... can this sword actually be forged?!" Before crafting had even begun, Rough, a dwarven warrior nearby, pushed his hairy head over, his eyes red with envy as he glared at the screen.

"What's the rush?! This elder... is working on the Master Blacksmith quest!" Elder Thorek spoke with a smug expression. For the sake of chatting, he had taken off his virtual reality headset, leaving his mouse cursor hovering over the blueprint Adolf had traded to him. "This elder is currently doing this quest called 'Infusion Process.' I reckon no one in the entirety of World of Warcraft will be faster than me!"

Glancing at his blacksmithing skill, it was only just over two hundred.

"No..." Rough the dwarf spoke up. "With such a precise blueprint... can it be forged within your actual workshop?"

What he referred to, naturally, was the workshop in reality.

"This..." Elder Thorek fell into deep thought for a moment. "I am afraid this elder will need to thoroughly study and master all the blacksmithing techniques contained within it before that becomes possible."

"Which means... it is entirely possible?!"

The Infusion Process, as the name implied, was the act of imbuing equipment with magical energy.

Because of this, equipment forged in World of Warcraft already came possessed of many powerful magical attributes.

On the other side, Grand Mage Adolf and quite a few other sorcerers were researching "Enchanting" and "Alchemy."

"Siss... look at this Healing Potion, it can actually mend wounds in an extremely short amount of time..." Adolf remarked. "Tix, I believe it is necessary for us to investigate its method of production."

Unlike in Diablo, because of the existence of profession skills in World of Warcraft, complete crafting methods were actually provided.

...

In a corner near the entrance of the shop.

The knights of the Golden Gryffin Knights Legion had also finished watching The Avengers, though they clearly did not participate in the idle chatter for long.

"Oh?" Helen, who had just returned from a brief chat with the elves, turned her head to look at Commander Evan’s screen, only to find that the commander had already run off to the Eastern Plaguelands.

"Commander, what are you doing here?" Several knights gathered around to watch.

"Yesterday in the western part of the Eastern Plaguelands, I encountered an old knight who had been exiled for treason because he saved an orc," Commander Evan explained. "My intuition tells me there must be some untold story hidden within this. I plan to do this quest first; it also gives a fair amount of experience."

Displayed on the screen was an old knight named "Fordring."

...

Returning to the lounge area, the elves were precisely discussing the movie they had just finished watching.

A group of people was currently gathered around the sofas in the resting area.

Elder Cywi held a cup of cappuccino, sipping it with extreme comfort.

Opposite her, a crowd of orcs sat in a row, talking grandly and loudly.

"Ding-dong." Jiang Xiaoyue's communication jade chimed once, and she delightfully pulled it out to exchange a few lines of messages.

"How do you all possess this weapon!? And you can even use it to chat on Penguin!?"

"This communication jade was modified based on the 'mobile phone' found in the shop's games..." Jiang Xiaoyue looked at the elves. "Don't you have one? I recall the new game and the Resident Evil movie also feature mobile phones..."

"Aren't those things virtual?" Elder Cywi asked in bewilderment.

"But they can be taken apart for research."

"Ah—?!"

"They can even be taken apart for research?!" Elder Cywi’s face instantly twisted into an expression of sheer horror. "Then that... The Avengers..."

Everyone turned their heads to look over with horrified expressions.

"Could it be that you didn't know?" Jiang Xiaoyue looked at her in surprise. "Everything can be studied."

"Ah—!" We always thought it was all fake!

Evidently, these elves and mages were rather pitiful; despite playing the games for so long, they had always believed the space inside was merely meant for training combat techniques.

...

PS: The things that need to be explained must be addressed whenever there's a free moment... otherwise, there might soon be no chance left to explain them...