On this whole journey, the Light Cones they'd obtained could be counted on one hand. The quality was high, but the low quantity meant they couldn't even test out synthesis.
As for Garden of Recollection… they wanted to give Pei Guang lower-level Light Cones, but anything connected to him, never mind the crafting time, was inherently special. Such Light Cones were either extremely rare or simply impossible to create.
What? Give him some random ordinary Light Cone? That would be insulting either to the Garden itself or to the hard-won relationship with the player.
And since their collaboration with Pei Guang hadn't been that long, the result was that he could get super rare Light Cones with little trouble, but ordinary Light Cones were basically nonexistent.
But now things were different.
The Clockie Boy could hand out Light Cones? Even if they weren't as rare or powerful as what Garden of Recollection could give, they could serve as bases! Rare ones were needed, but so were base models.
While Stelle was buzzing with excitement, Pei Guang sent another message:
"This whole way we've gotten so many Emotional Manifestations, even meeting people who've lost their emotions: that proves these things will definitely be important later. Whether for synthesizing drinks or future story beats, we've got to stockpile them…"
Stelle: "Got it, I'll clean this place out completely!"
As she said that, Stelle licked her lips in excitement. The baseball bat wrapped in watermelon-striped tape in her hands even resonated with her emotions, baring a grin.
And why was Stelle even clashing with the Bloodhound Family? It really wasn't their fault.
Pei Guang was wanted because of Sparkle's interference. In the end, for various reasons, he got put on the wanted list.
Now, even though Sunday was preparing to step in to resolve things, too little time had passed. Sunday had only just contacted the Bloodhound Family's leaders to explain the misunderstanding.
But what the leaders knew took time to filter down to the rank-and-file. And in that gap, the Bloodhounds were still strictly checking for illegal stowaways.
Stelle had the bad luck of being hit by some jerk's car into Dream's Edge. When she tried to enter further, the Bloodhound Family spotted her.
With the crackdown on five-star illegal stowaways going on, Stelle was treated as a suspect.
Normally, Stelle could have just taken out her Dreamscape Pass, and at most, they'd warn her not to wander around before letting her pass.
But the problem was, being around Pei Guang had rubbed some of his rebellious streak off on her.
When the Bloodhounds asked, "Do you have your Dreamscape Pass on you?"
Instead of saying "Yes," Stelle answered: "I don't have my Dreamscape Pass on me."
That's right: she had tossed her passport into her storage space. But unfortunately, what they asked was whether she had it on her.
So Stelle was gloriously labeled an illegal stowaway.
And out here in Dream's Edge, where there were no villages ahead and no inns behind, she swung her bat and knocked out one Bloodhound after another trying to catch her. And they just so happened to drop quite a lot of money for her.
Most of these Clock Credits came from them. She didn't know what they were for, but she'd been keeping them anyway.
Originally, she was even thinking if they turned out useless, she'd just toss them in some corner to free up space. But now that she'd heard from Pei Guang that they were valuable, Stelle's interest was sparked at once.
Stelle: "Leave farming the gold to me! Don't worry, I didn't stir up trouble—these guys insisted I was an illegal stowaway~"
So, both Pei Guang and Stelle had fully clashed with the Bloodhound Family. And if not for the Clockie Boy, this whole affair might've blown over.
But now, with him giving out quests, and the quest item dropping from these people, the nature of this game shifted just a little.
Pei Guang: "Good! Then I'll count on you to stockpile more. Once I wrap up this storyline, I'll come find you, and we'll farm materials together!"
After cutting the call, Stelle raised her head. By now, all the Bloodhound Family members around her had long been knocked out. She had already looted everything that could be looted and killed anything worth killing.
But after hearing they could drop loot, Stelle felt it wasn't enough.
Dream's Edge was huge, with so many enemies. Just imagining trading all that for piles of materials and Light Cones made Stelle's whole body tremble with excitement.
She shouted out loud, thrilled: "I declare something! From now on, this place is called Trailblazer's Edge!"
Since it dropped loot, Stelle decided she would smash open every container here, knock down every person, and kill every unknown creature with her bat.
And just imagining pulling out a pile of materials in style while Pei Guang looked on with joy, envy, even the urge to kiss her—Stelle felt a thrill that ran from the inside out.
Eheheh~
In fact, Stelle was already entertaining a special idea: what if she gave those quest items to Pei Guang right in front of March 7th? What kind of expression would Pei Guang make then?
Thinking of this, Stelle's grin turned twisted, laced with excitement.
While Stelle was fantasizing and starting to act, on the other side Pei Guang ended the call and looked again at the Clockie Boy. "We'll get you what you want, but how do I turn in the quest?"
Clockie Boy: "Tick-tock~ Just come here~ Clockie Boy shows up anytime you call~"
Pei Guang: "No problem! I'll come find you later. Oh~ my dear Clockie Boy, I hope your rewards keep getting better and better~"
Clockie Boy: "No problem~ That big baddie Boss Stone snatched up a lot of treasures. All those unwanted goodies, I can give them to you~"
And so, the player and the Clockie Boy completed a little friendly trade here.
The Clockie Boy disappeared with the Clock Credits, and as it vanished, Pei Guang noticed that the statue seemed to grow cleaner. In fact, parts of the statue that had looked shabby before were even starting to shine with silver plating.
Pei Guang: "Hm? Not just rewards? It can even make the statue look better? Not bad, not bad~ Looks like I'd better focus on collecting resources instead of just wandering around…"