Second Life: Welcome to Gaia

Ye Yan went to the kitchen to eat something. He is so hungry that his stomach started to grow. Images of creamy custard bun, custard egg tarts, lotus paste century egg flaky puff pastry, pineapple bun, red bean, red bean flaky puff pastry, and roast pork bun.

When he opened the fridge, all his hope for a good breakfast went down the drain. There's nothing in the fridge, not even a single egg.

He would be content with a simple sesame bread with fried eggs with how hungry he is right now, but he can't even eat bread with water because there is no bread in the damn kitchen.

Ye Yan wants to kick Qian Zhong right now for forgetting to buy food. He was responsible for market purchases this week.

Qian Zhong has been going out on dates with Xiao Xiao these days and excluded everything else from his mind. For someone that loves food like Qian Zhong, forgetting to buy it is a big deal.

Ye Yan had heard about people that lose weight after breaking up but, maybe, Qian Zhong will be one of the few that lose weight while dating. He had noticed that Qian Zhong had lost a little weight these days, and now, he knows why.

Ye Yan doesn't know if it is a good thing because he had heard Xiao Zhan, I Love Skooma in the game, saying that Xiao Xiao likes chubby guys. She thinks they are cute. And if Qian Zhong continues to lose weight, maybe he will be considered less attractive to Xiao Xiao.

As there is not a single thing he can eat in the apartment, he will have to go to the Bakery to buy something.

There is a week that Ye Yan didn't set a foot out of the house, then it will feel good the have the sun on his skin again. He needs to start run in the morning again and not just exercise in his room, or his body will suffer from a deficiency of Vitamin D.

For someone like Ye Yan that likes to fight, deficiency of Vitamin D is a huge threat because it can cause muscle weakness, bone pain, fatigue, joint pain, low energy, sour mood, and even more frequent illness.

There is only one week that Ye Yan started to play the game, and in all this time, he didn't go out of the house. If this continues, he will become a recluse.

Ye Yan likes to stay at home but stay long periods of time without sunlight is not healthy.

Ye Yan went to the bakery two blocks away from his apartment. The shop was crowded with people, and he had to wait for three minutes in a queue to be attended. While waiting, he kept looking at the delicious foods showcased inside the bakery.

Everything looks so good that his hunger increased, and his stomach growled out loud. People started looking around to see who made the sound, but they couldn't find out that it was Ye Yan, because he keeps a serious face that looks to say 'I would never act so impolite'.

But if letting others know that his stomach is growling from hunger would let him be attended first, he would gladly say out loud it was him.

He purchased different types of buns and pastries. He would have brought the delicious-looking strawberry cake if he had more hands to take everything home. But it will be a priority in his next visit to the bakery.

Ye Yan left the bakery fast without the need to stop to pay because the shop has a camera that identifies the customers and can know everything that he consumed or brought, and would automatically debit the amount spent in his account.

After leaving the bakery, Ye Yan wasted no time and started to chomp on the buns while walking back home.

When he just entered the apartment, his friend almost pounced on him. They were like a pack of hungry wolves, looking at the bag with the bakery goods.

He handed the bag to Tang Yunfan. If he waited a little longer to do so, he would get attacked by his friends.

Tang Yunfan and the other went at it like they didn't eat in days.

Only after they were satisfied, they start to talk with Ye Yan. Hu Ling started saying that the 100 slots of the guild are finally occupied.

When a guild has just been created, it is at level 0, with a maximum capacity of 100 players. Only after these players do some guild quests, the guild get experience to be upgraded.

While Ye Yan was doing his quest, his friends were doing a quest to help the guild accumulate experience, but they got only a tenth of the experience necessary for upgrade it to level 1.

Ye Yan called his friends to do the dungeon in Tientsin because when you do quests or challenge a dungeon with only members of the same guild, their guild gains experience points. And get the first clear of a Hell Mode Dungeon, can not only give experience but reputation points as well.

Most of the first clear of Hell Mode's level 5 dungeons in the Yan Empire was taken by other parties. No one got the first clear of the dungeon in Tientsin, probably, because most of the dungeon is underwater, making it harder for players to complete it on Hard Mode, even more, on Hell Mode.

"I have worked a lot for our guild, then you guys should give me some red envelopes as a reward for my hard labor."

In the game, there are two types of red envelopes[1]. One contains money and the other, experience points. When a player opens an experience red envelope, he can receive from 30% to 100% of the experience points the sender put inside it. The sender transfers his own experience points when he put them in the red envelope.

"It is not like you isn't getting experience points while doing these things." Qian Zhong said. He didn't want to give his hard-earned experience points to Hu Ling that, actually, has about the same experience points as him.

Hu Ling is responsible not only for the recruiting but to get useful information for them. As a mage, he got a passive skill that enables him to gain experience points while reading. The more the mage learns, the more experience he gets.

This makes the mages have more knowledge about the game than other classes. But it has a bad side. As the library contains every book written, it includes erotic and pornographic books as well. Then, it gave birth to many perverted mages in the game.

"Fine." Hu Ling said grudgingly. "How is your quest going, Third Bro?"

"Basically, I only need to go to the Xi' An, in the center of Yan Empire to get the rest of the items." Ye Yan told them.

"Good. The faster you do this, the faster we will be able to get our own guild residence." Hu Ling discovered that they can get a shortcut in the way to acquire their guild's residence inside the Palace, but it is too difficult to enter it if you aren't an official. And officials are unable of using this privilege to help others. Only players that entered the palace by their own means can start a quest to get a property in the City.

As Ye Yan already entered the Palace, they are one step closer to getting their guild residence.

Ye Yan nodded at Hu Ling. He too wants to get it as soon as possible. "After we get the first clear, I will continue the quest."

"Great. I will make the preparations." Hu Ling smiled as he remembering something, and said, " I almost forgot. Thanks for giving me that thief's information. She will be very useful. Those idiots from before tried to ambush our party again. They didn't succeed but I think they reverse a punishment. I will ask this thief to steal everything from them until only their underwear is left." After saying it, hu Ling gave them an evil smile that they know he really mean it.

.........

[1] The red in Chinese culture is a symbol of energy, happiness, and good luck. Sending red envelopes is a way to send good wishes and luck (as well as money), as well as a form of protection. They are most commonly associated with New Year but are also part of many other occasions as a way of sharing good luck and blessings, like births and weddings. The color of the envelope is very important. If you give a white envelope, the meaning is not the same because it is often be exchanged at funerals.

The amount of money has meaning too. It can never include the number 4 (4, 40, or 400) because its pronunciation sounds like the word for death. The number 8, on the contrary, will bring luck and prosperity.

The custom of giving red envelopes originates in some of the oldest stories of the Chinese New Year. As the legend goes, a demon known terrorized children while they slept on New Year's Eve, and parents would need to keep them awake all night to protect them. One a New Year, a child was given eight coins to play with to keep him awake, but he fell asleep with the coins on his pillow. The demon appeared, but as he went to touch the child, the coins, that in truth were the Eight immortals in disguise, produced a powerful light that drove the demon away.