Chapter 96: Affinity

After reading through this NPC’s introduction, Su You could finally confirm that she had indeed met this NPC before.

Not only had she met him, she had even successfully recruited him.

And this guy had once stolen the rare ingredients Su You had spent a fortune on—ingredients she’d bought just to give as a gift—only to turn them into a pot of charcoal.

Su You had been so furious that she tore down his little kitchen the very next day.

Not only did she demolish his kitchen, she also confiscated all his so-called “Peerless Recipes,” “Ancient Recipe Fragments,” and “Traditional Cooking Manuals.”

Meike was anxious and angry, but since his “hostages” (i.e., his private collection) were in Su You’s hands, this dignified high-level mage could only lower his head and apologize, promising he’d never do such a thing again.

...

That was all in the past. In any case, seeing this “old acquaintance” again now, Su You couldn’t help but feel a bit complicated inside.

She knew Meike’s strength well—after all, he was a genius mage who had fully mastered magic at the age of nine. As for his personality… well, he wasn’t actually that bad. Compared to other arrogant mages who acted like their noses were in the air, Meike was actually pretty “down to earth.” He was just a little obsessive about cooking.

But to put it bluntly, he was both bad at it and loved to mess around. Even though he knew his cooking skills were terrible, he still insisted on ruining her ingredients at every opportunity.

The worst part was, you couldn’t refuse him. If you did, he’d throw a tantrum, and the next time you needed his help, he’d just stand by with his arms crossed, holding a grudge.

If you ignored his actual age, anyone hearing about this behavior would think he was just some mischievous kid.

But in reality… a mischievous kid in his fifties?

Heh...

After grumbling about Meike in her heart, Su You suddenly realized something.

This was just a digital world—not the save file she’d played before. Even though all of this “Meike’s” data matched her memories exactly, some of the underlying data had already changed.

All she recognized was this “skin”—not Meike the “person.” In fact, he wasn’t even a real person.

She didn’t know him, and this Meike certainly didn’t know her.

Thinking of this, the anger she’d felt recalling how he’d always ruined her ingredients faded, replaced by a strange sense of melancholy.

...But whatever the reason, Su You was determined to recruit Meike.

Whether they were “acquaintances” or not didn’t matter. This was a brand new data world—this Meike was fundamentally different. There was no way she’d recruit him just because of some “old acquaintance” feelings.

Her reason for choosing Meike was simple: he was awesome, he was powerful.

He was a “High-Level Fire Mage.” Even if his skill levels were sealed, at worst he’d still be a mid-level fire mage. Hesitating even a second would be disrespectful to those seven words!

Having made her decision, Su You recruited Meike before even looking at the other four characters’ profiles.

The moment she confirmed her choice, another friendly prompt popped up.

[Confirm recruitment of “Domno Meike”?]

[Tip: This character’s level is much higher than your territory’s level. Recruiting him will seal some of his skill levels until your territory reaches the required standard, at which point his skills will unlock. However, recruitment difficulty remains unchanged.]

[Yes]!

Su You confirmed without hesitation.

If it were any other high-level mage, Su You might have hesitated for half a second, wondering if she could actually keep them after recruiting them.

After all, as the prompt said, this character’s level was so high that recruiting him would be very difficult.

Think about it—a mage this powerful, why would he stay in her tiny, shabby territory?

But Meike was different. Based on Su You’s understanding of Meike… or rather, this “data shell,” she had something that could perfectly control him.

In other words, she was 90% confident she could recruit Meike.

That probability was even higher than recruiting Buguo, that little trickster.

That’s right—the second NPC Su You chose to recruit was Buguo.

The reason was complicated, but it was a result of careful consideration and calculation for maximum benefit.

...

Next, Su You stared at the remaining four NPCs for a long time before finally choosing to recruit one named “Yousen.”

[Yousen]

Gender: Male

Age: Young Adult

Loyalty: 70

Affection: 20

Talent: Farming (75)

Skill: Basic Farming

Trait: Affinity (his special affinity has unique effects on small animals and plants), Aftereffects (he suffers lingering effects from an illness or injury)

Profile: [Yousen’s whole family were ordinary farmers. Growing up immersed in this environment, Yousen developed excellent farming skills from a young age.

Yousen was born with a mysterious affinity—no matter the animal, or even plants… small animals would naturally approach him, and plants would grow healthier under his care.

At fifteen, Yousen even cultivated a brand new plant species, which caused quite a stir in the village. But with the attention came jealousy.

Not long after, a local troublemaker pushed Yousen into the river. Though passing villagers rescued him in time, he was left with lingering effects—whenever it rained or the temperature dropped, his legs would ache unbearably.

Later, Yousen’s family discovered that the troublemaker hadn’t acted on his own, but had been hired by the wealthiest family in the village.

That family made their fortune selling seeds, thanks to their unique cultivation techniques that produced high-yield crops.

But the seeds Yousen accidentally bred were even more productive and grew faster, threatening their business. Fearing for their livelihood, they tried to get rid of Yousen.

After the truth came out, the wealthy family’s reputation was ruined and they eventually moved away. Yousen’s family also left the village, seeking a famous doctor in a bigger town to cure his condition.]

...

The reason for choosing Yousen was simple: his negative trait wasn’t particularly bad, only affecting him during certain times. Most of the time, he was perfectly normal, so it was almost like he didn’t have a negative trait at all.

More importantly, his positive trait was outstanding—on a scale of 1 to 100, it was at least a 90.

(End of chapter)"