MMORPG: Crowd Control

In the smithing room, Candice was controlling the heat temperature precisely whereas Lei Zhen was hammering the monster core repeatedly.

Of course, there were also other materials that needed to be hammered down to a specific shape, but with the assistance of Candice, Lei Zhen's work was reduced immensely.

It was as if Candice was the perfect support for an ADC (attack damage carrier) in a MOBA game, knowing full well her partner's strengths and weaknesses.

"How long did you study under that elder of yours? You are almost as skilled as Smither Gary." Lei Zhen exclaimed in shock when Candice managed to provide him with the materials at the precise moment that he required them.

Such a task was not easy to do because it was the same as being an assistant to a surgeon during surgery. You'll need to understand the situation as a whole and the current process they are in.

"Just for a while, Master, nothing much." Candice merely said, brushing off the topic nonchalantly.

And hearing such a response, Lei Zhen knew she didn't want to reveal many details and with his personality, he also wasn't going to pressure her into answering his questions.

Sometime later, the blacksmithing process finally reached the end and Lei Zhen was praying inwardly for it to be successful.

However, when he saw the final product once they took it out from the furnace, he smiled bitterly.

"Second attempt, second failure." Lei Zhen said, knowing full well that it was to be expected. Even though Candice had some experience in blacksmithing, it wasn't on par with the famous Smither Gary in terms of skills.

"Sorry, Master, I wasn't able to assist you well." Candice lowered her head and said timidly.

"What's there to be sorry about, silly?" Lei Zhen chuckled softly and patted her head.

"It's just the second attempt and considering how we even managed to reach the final step is an achievement itself." He added, pacifying her and letting her know that it was not that big of a deal.

People learn the most not from success, but when they fail the most.

After all, failure would be deeply embedded in their heart and would cause them to always strive to concentrate on where they went wrong and how they could do better next time.

And Candice's heart instantly felt warmth because she could easily tell Lei Zhen wasn't lying. With her ability to decipher if a person was lying, she was extremely grateful to hear Lei Zhen was sincere.

"Thank you, Master." Candice clenched her fist and smiled.

"We still have one last attempt, so should we go over the details and discuss where we could do better?" She then suggested.

Lei Zhen nodded his head. "That's right, we should go review our process and see which aspects could be improved."

A few minutes goes by, and Lei Zhen was discussing intensively with Candice regarding their mistakes.

"I think Master needs to hammer harder in this aspect because the furnace couldn't heat it up enough."

"Agreed, my strength is a bit lacking to use Smither Gary's casual hammer, but this is the lightest hammer that he has. If I was to use the heavier ones, then I'm afraid I won't be able to even hammer precisely."

"But Master, I have an ability that lets me increase our strength temporarily. So why don't I buff you when you start hammering?"

Lei Zhen raised an eyebrow in confusion. He then asked in an alarming tone, "Since when were you able to buff me? I thought you were a damage dealer mage."

"Since the start?" Candice responded in a surprised manner. "You've never truly asked about my abilities or what I'm capable of."

"Well, that's because I didn't want to pry into your personal stuff." Lei Zhen scratched his head and said calmly. Candice might be his slave in terms of status, but never once had Lei Zhen ever seen her as his slave.

It was more of her being his employee. She was just working under him without much pay compared to the other crewmates.

"This is a problem that you need to fix, Master. How many crewmates do you actually know personally?" Candice suddenly asked.

"Uh…."

Lei Zhen was speechless because other than her and Howard, he rarely interacted with the other crew mates. Like he did interact with them, but just not at a close level.

"See, you can't even properly name one of the crew mates that work for you. And even if you could, I doubt you would know much of their background either."

"Um, we should properly focus back on the blacksmithing topic, Candice." Lei Zhen smiled awkwardly and said, seemingly trying to avoid discussing this particular topic.

"No, we should discuss this further, Master. I don't know why, but there is always an invisible line that you want to set between me, Howard, and the other crewmates." Candice said adamantly.

She had been keeping this matter to her heart for a while now and never had the chance to properly discuss it with Lei Zhen.

Thus, now was the perfect chance because they are alone and Lei Zhen wasn't able to leave technically as he was bound by his duty to craft a proper Bolten Artifact.

Lei Zhen was placed in a difficult situation. The matter of Candice being an NPC and how he was a player had finally come into the discussion.

He had long realized that other than him, no other players were able to have such a close relationship with the NPC.

Taking a deep breath, Lei Zhen compiled some of his thoughts together before giving her a somewhat decent response.

"Candice, you do realize that some people in this world are capable of teleporting and respawning, right?" Lei Zhen asked.

Candice nodded her head.

"Yes, I have seen such people before, but they are merely blessed by the goddess and could always revive after a few days. Hence, most people would usually refer to them as Immortal or Blessed Ones." She replied swiftly.

In this world, players dying constantly and respawning were common, so eventually, NPC had come to a consensus that such people are blessed by the goddess. They had this false sense of understanding to help them comprehend the impossibility- similar to what humans are in the real world.

"What if I told you that I'm also what you considered as Blessed Ones?" Lei Zhen suddenly revealed. From their encounter till now, Lei Zhen had never died because he always played cautiously ever since the Robert Knightman incident.

Therefore, Candice never knew about his capability to also revive if met with danger.

Candice's face was extremely pale as she never knew Lei Zhen was also capable of reviving.

"H-How is that possible though?" She exclaimed in shock.

"It's not just me, but also the women that you were interacting with outside. Griselda, Tang Qiaolian, and Liu Lingxin are all Blessed Ones as well." Lei Zhen revealed, not planning on hiding it from her.

Although he knew this revelation would definitely cause Candice to feel shocked and in pain, most likely because she knew the Blessed Ones would never die or age in her perspective. Not to mention, some Blessed Ones could have a possibility of never showing up again.

Of course, in the real world, people knew that these players have most likely quit the game, but to the people living in the Magnolia world, they believed that their revival had been used up or lost the goddess' blessing.

"Will you also disappear like the other Blessed Ones or explore some other places?" Candice asked as tears were flowing from her eyes unconsciously. The truth was hard for her to handle because she knew why there was an invisible line between them now.

"I won't disappear, so stop thinking about the worst possibility." Lei Zhen smiled and embraced her, patting her on the back. "See how you can feel my body and the sensation of it? It's proof that we aren't that much different aside from my ability to revive after dying."

Candice remained silent and merely wrapped her arms around his back tighter, almost as if she was afraid that he would be gone one day- never appearing in front of her.

"To be honest, this is kind of hilarious. Shouldn't I be the one worrying because if I die, I can always come back? But if you happen to meet any mishaps, then wouldn't I be the one all alone?" Lei Zhen chuckled softly, making a job toward a dark topic.

"Please don't say anymore, Master." Candice pleaded and wanted him to stop talking about it. She was afraid her emotion might falter even harder.

"Then let's just forget we ever had this conversation, okay?" Lei Zhen then suggested, smiling at her.

Candice nodded her head. "Agreed, this conversation has been deleted in my memory, never to be spoken of again."

"In that case, how about we resume the blacksmithing topic and focus on crafting a decent Bolten Artifact?"

"Yes, Master!"