Chapter 137: Elemental Stones

Building Infrastructure in a Data Driven World

They were like a bunch of bouncy, energetic balls flying everywhere, making it impossible for Meck to detect what types and how many elements there were.

Of course, there was actually a much simpler and more direct way for him to calm Yuwei down—just knock him out. If someone’s unconscious, they can’t be nervous, and the elements would naturally stop bouncing around.

But Meck obviously couldn’t do that, so all he could do was patiently wait for Yuwei to calm down.

Originally, Yuwei was still in a nervous state, but this time it wasn’t because he was meeting a mage. Instead, it was because he knew he was about to become a mage himself.

A wish he’d had for so many years was finally about to come true. No matter who it was, their emotions would be all over the place.

Seeing that Meck was about to lose his temper, Su You sighed and tried to distract Yuwei with another topic.

“So, why did you join the territory? Was it just because you saw he was a mage?”

Yuwei was taken aback, then actually started thinking about it, and quickly answered, “That was part of it, but I was already looking for a suitable territory to join.”

But it’s really hard to get into a major territory. If you want to join a powerful one, you have to pay a hefty ‘application fee’ up front, and on top of that, the cost of living in those places is sky-high.

With all those factors, Yuwei never expected he’d be able to join one of the big territories—he knew he wasn’t qualified.

Since he couldn’t go to a major territory, Yuwei decided to look for a small or medium-sized one to settle in.

Small territories might be lacking in resources and opportunities, but they also need people, so usually they don’t charge any ‘application fees.’

Plus, it’s easier to put down roots in a small territory. If you have some ability and contribute to the territory’s development, you might even be able to land an official position once the place grows.

This brings up the difference between Wanderers and Travelers—the biggest distinction between these two types of NPCs is whether or not they belong to a territory.

Put simply, Travelers already have a territory they belong to, while Wanderers haven’t joined any territory at all.

Wanderers are rootless, drifting from place to place, which is why they’re the ones who might join a territory.

Travelers, on the other hand, generally won’t join a new territory since they already have a ‘home’—unless something unusual happens, they won’t leave their original territory.

Thanks to Su You’s question, Yuwei relaxed a bit. While the magic elements in his body quieted down, Meck seized the moment to use his own energy to check Yuwei’s body.

As he examined him, Meck muttered under his breath, “If only we had an Elemental Stone—this would be so much easier…”

Elemental Stones are special items that can detect what elements are present in a person’s body.

If you use an Elemental Stone, it doesn’t matter when or where—so long as the person is alive and not deliberately hiding it, you can always tell what their primary element is.

But if a mage is using their own energy to check someone else, the person being checked has to be calm.

After about two or three minutes, Meck frowned, rolled his eyes, and said with obvious annoyance, “Tch… turns out he’s water element.”

Meck was already a bit impatient from all the time Yuwei had wasted, and now, after all that, it turned out Yuwei’s primary element was water!

Meck himself was a fire element mage. Even if he didn’t want to be biased, fire and water just don’t mix—it’s no wonder he was so annoyed.

Su You could guess why Meck was so displeased, but Yuwei didn’t know. He thought the mage was just annoyed because he’d wasted time earlier.

“What element he is doesn’t matter. Don’t tell me you can’t teach him?” Su You raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying a hint of challenge.

Su You’s goading wasn’t particularly subtle, but it worked on Meck anyway. He knew she was doing it on purpose, but for the sake of the new kitchenware, he decided to let it slide.

Meck snorted, sounding a bit proud: “I am a high—mage, after all. Teaching a beginner who’s just getting started shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“As long as you can teach him, that’s fine.” Su You nodded, then turned to Yuwei. “You should follow him and learn the basics of magic…”

“I’ll study hard! Please don’t worry, Lord!” As soon as he realized he’d get a chance to learn magic, Yuwei immediately promised loudly.

Only after he finished did he realize he’d interrupted Su You, so he quickly apologized and scratched his head awkwardly.

“Please, go on, Lord.”

Su You understood how excited he was, so she didn’t mind the interruption. She took out the magic rune book she’d prepared for directly changing classes to mage.

“If you can become a mage on your own through study, that’s best. If not, I have something here that can help you change classes, but I won’t give it to you for free. You’ll have to earn it with your own contributions and money.”

Magic rune books aren’t expensive, but if she could save one, that would be ideal. If not, it was fine to use it—after all, water mages are a bit special compared to other types.

Since they already had a fire mage, using the first rune book to make a water mage was actually a good choice.

The ‘territory contribution’ Su You mentioned refers to a numerical value earned by completing tasks she assigns.

Right now, the tasks are all simple, and contribution points are special—they can’t be handed out freely, or the value would collapse. So for now, Su You hasn’t released any contribution tasks, and there’s currently no way to earn them.

But soon, there will be.

Yuwei went off with Meck to learn about magic, while Su You found a place to sit and opened up all the NPC info panels to compare and review them.

NPCs like Yuwei, who don’t have high talent, skills, or a backstory, are considered ordinary NPCs.

Meanwhile, those like Dolly Doya, who have high talent in a certain field, at least one basic skill, and a more complete backstory, are special NPCs.

Aside from the data differences, there’s not much distinction between the two types. The only real difference is that ordinary NPCs have lower AI, while special NPCs have higher AI.

(End of Chapter)"

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