Chapter 767 - 728: The Arrogant Angel Bar Girl
Da Fei entered the tavern with boundless curiosity, but was surprised to find it desolate and silent, without even the warmth of a fire. Could the tavern in Divine Punishment City really be this desolate? Even a tavern in some remote mountain village would be more bustling than this. At the very least, in remote taverns you would always find a couple of NPC drunks, and a couple of system refresh heroes with a few odd quirks to liven up the place.
Wait a second, thinking of taverns as places where the system refreshes heroes for hire, Da Fei suddenly realized a serious matter; this is Divine Punishment City, an area inaccessible to mortals. Its desolation almost seemed apt, but what kind of heroes would the system refresh here? Angel Race heroes?
At this moment, Da Fei was shocked! If they were Angel Race heroes, even if in a miserable state, wouldn’t they be several notches stronger than heroes from the mortal races? Could this place be meant for refreshing Angel Race heroes? Isn’t that a bit too powerful?
Thus, Da Fei turned his gaze to the only barmaid in the tavern. It must be said, the staffing of this tavern was also streamlined to the max; there wasn’t even a tavern owner, so this barmaid served as both the owner and the server.
The unwritten rule of taverns is that players must first order a drink, the more expensive the better, then tip the barmaid, or give her precious little gifts. In return, the barmaid would improve her favor with the player. Once the favor reached a high enough level, the barmaid would whisper secrets and provide exclusive information to the player.
The kind of intelligence players are most interested in usually goes like: "Today, our tavern welcomed a very powerful hero who urgently needs this and that. If you help him find it, perhaps he will serve you..."
Or "I’ll tell you a secret. Last night, a certain Chamber of Commerce lost an important treasure at a certain location. If you find it, it’s yours..."
In short, this is the standard play for taverns. It’s also, as mentioned before, the play style of the headhunting players who specialize in buying and selling top-quality tavern heroes’ intel for profit. Of course, the pain point of this play style is that the barmaid will only share the most important and valuable information with the player who has the highest favor with her!
This means that players must not stop sending various "little gifts" such as necklaces, jewelry, pearls, iceberg roses, flying feather garments, and so on to win her favor. If today the barmaid comes to work dressed in the gorgeous clothes you gifted her, then congratulations, you are definitely within her top 10 favored individuals.
Of course, don’t underestimate being in the top 10; the barmaid has equipment slots too. If the clothes slot is taken by another player, you can still compete for slots like hats, rings, necklaces, gloves, shoes, shawls, and toys. As long as the gift you give successfully occupies one of her equipment slots, then you’re the winner in the life of this tavern.
If a player occupies all her equipment slots, then congratulations, she is yours. Consequently, the barmaids in all the major cities and taverns are dressed to the nines, noble like princesses, and dazzling like goddesses. But the barmaids who are elevated to such a level are not something that an average civilian player can afford to invest in; no matter how much they give of the middle and lower class items, she wouldn’t bat an eye, giving only trivial and irrelevant intel in return. Therefore, the average civilian player can only switch to rural taverns to cultivate their very own village-level goddess.
Naturally, barmaids have different personalities and preferences, and the effectiveness of the gifts varies greatly. For example, some barmaids, though high-class by appearance, come from humble origins and may truly cherish something commonplace, like eating an ice cream or a plate of fried potatoes. If a perceptive player can capture her true desires and cater to them, they often can achieve wonders at a low cost.
In summary, this is the gameplay involving barmaids in the game.
And at this very moment, Da Fei was surprised by the barmaid in front of him - dressed in coarse cloth, with a freckled face, and looking listless while dozing at the counter.
As a barmaid, this was too disappointing for the audience, right? Moreover, in Divine Punishment City where everyone is an Angel, every humanoid Angel is dignified, and the men are handsome while the women are pretty. Yet her appearance doesn’t even qualify her as a barmaid, let alone as an Angel?
However, there is a saying that abnormal circumstances breed mysteries, and the stranger it is, the more profound it must be! The more profound it is, the more I have to dig into it! Wahaha!
Da Fei excitedly said, "Miss, I’d like a drink, the most expensive one!"
The barmaid opened one eye and said indifferently, "We don’t have any."
Da Fei was stunned. "No drinks? Or just no expensive ones?"
The barmaid indeed closed her eyes and didn’t speak any further. Da Fei was taken aback once more. Gosh, isn’t this barmaid way too snobbish? What sort of service attitude is this? I’m a ’Warmly Prestigious’ inter-zone Warrior here!
And just then, Elifel reminded, "Lord City Lord, Angels don’t drink alcohol."
Da Fei exclaimed, "Can it still be called a tavern if there’s no alcohol?"
Elifel then said, "Alcohol in the Light God Realm is not essential. My Lord might try ordering a glass of Light Holy Water, which is a hospitality must-have in every Divine Realm’s inn."
Da Fei muttered an "Oh" and ordered, "Let’s have two glasses of Light Holy Water! The most expensive kind!"
—Thud! Thud!! Right after Da Fei finished speaking, two large silver cups filled with milk-like Holy Water were plunked down in front of Da Fei’s table.
—System Prompt: You have purchased two glasses of third-tier Light Holy Water, spending +2 Demon Essence.
Apu! Da Fei nearly spat out a mouthful of water. Wait a minute! Drinking two bottles of mineral water actually costs Demon Essence? Do you know how many Demons I have to kill to loot two Demon Essences? Does it mean the price is one Demon Essence per cup? The problem is—
Da Fei couldn’t help but ask, "I have a 30% discount here in Divine Punishment City! What’s with this charge?"
The bar girl raised her eyelids impatiently and said, "It’s a tip, got it?"
Oh my God! Why does such an ugly bar girl with such bad service demand a tip like this! Da Fei exclaimed in astonishment, "You’re forcing a tip just because you don’t have change?"
The bar girl snorted, "Did you see how these two glasses of water made it to the table?"
Da Fei answered with surprise, "Indeed, I didn’t notice!"
The bar girl said indifferently, "That’s right, my service is incredibly swift, and that’s the reason for the tip!"
Oh my God! Da Fei had to be impressed and decided not to argue; better to avoid being looked down upon, not to mention increasing friendliness. At any rate, the drink was ordered, so it was time to start asking questions.
Da Fei then asked, "Excuse me, do heroes appear in this pub?"
The bar girl retorted, "What do you think?"
Oh my God! I’m the one asking you! Da Fei asked again, "What I mean is, do heroes of the Angel Race appear in this pub?"
The bar girl replied with annoyance, "What do you think?"
Damn! That arrogance has hurt me deeply! So this is how the high-class and classy Angel Bar Girls operate, and the usual pub flirting tricks won’t work on her? Does it mean I have to pull out the big guns and give gifts?
The gifts for the bar girls are quite peculiar; they don’t need usual strategic treasures or even Divine Artifacts. They only want high-end clothing, jewelry, antiques, small crafts, and so on—stuff that, in the eyes of players, has no practical value. Of course, such items are also needed by certain high-status noble NPCs.
And Da Fei just so happens to have such items, like the Chess craft item from the last match where he killed a Nightmare and obtained poker cards, Fuzzy Bear toys, and so on. These items are surely high-end in the realm of gifts and can fetch good prices at auctions or be traded for good stuff.
But the problem is, Da Fei is just passing through here; using such important gifts for flirting seems unreliable, right? Unless the Divine Punishment City in the China Region has a pub too, and a bar girl—that would be worth Da Fei’s investment—wait a minute! Da Fei suddenly realized! He’s the City Lord of Divine Punishment City, and he could totally build a pub there! Wouldn’t it be known if it were possible to attract an Angel Hero?
No! A living example is right in front of him, and he has to study it now or it will be even less reliable to try to build it without this information. Right, he has plenty of those small poker cards, so casually giving them away wouldn’t be a problem.
Just then, the door to the pub creaked open, and a group of golden name reporters hustled into the pub and surrounded Da Fei again.
Da Fei asked in surprise, "What brings you all here?"
The reporters laughed and said, "Mr. Da Fei, as the world’s most renowned high-end player, your every move is a rare interview opportunity. So, please don’t mind us, just act as if we’re not here. Of course, if you could continue answering our questions, that would be even better! What are you up to, Mr. Da Fei?"
Da Fei was shattered, this is definitely stalking and surveillance, right? Can’t a guy enjoy his game without this? Alright, no need for you to ask me questions, I want to ask you guys something.
Da Fei pointed towards the bar girl and said with a smile, "Of course, I’m pursuing exotic romance! But what puzzles me is, why haven’t the brave warriors from the European Union Zone, especially the British warriors known as the gentlemen among knights, pursued her? Just watching her wear that rag-like old skirt?"
"Moving?" The reporters were stunned and then delightedly said, "Mr. Da Fei, you’ve asked a brilliant question! Actually, we’ve only just arrived here ourselves and have been busy interviewing warriors from various countries, so we haven’t had the chance to delve into this place yet."
"Indeed, Mr. Da Fei has provided us with excellent interview material. I think this bar girl is like Cinderella! And Mr. Da Fei has seen through her exterior to the moving essence of her!"
Immediately, a reporter excitedly said, "That’s right, I think she’s waiting for a true Warrior to restore her peerless beauty! Will Mr. Da Fei be such a Warrior? We will watch with anticipation!"
Da Fei’s brows twitched, Cinderella? Broadcasting how I hit on her in front of the whole world? Damn, that’s putting me on the spot. What if I fail? Won’t I humiliate my country?
Meanwhile, at the Royal Ark Command Center, Lancelot, who was monitoring the big screen with zealous attention while fighting, suddenly yelled with excitement, "Fools! Hurry up and get these idiots out of the way! I sent him to watch Da Fei, not prompt him!"
"Captain, there are reporters from three different stations we can’t control, they insist on following Bob and we can’t shake them off!"
"Captain, watch out!"
(Seeking monthly tickets, recommendation votes!)(To be continued. If you like this work, please support me with your recommendation and monthly votes at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)