Chapter 97: What Do You Mean Fan Plushies Are Already on Sale?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: What Do You Mean Fan Plushies Are Already on Sale?
Suddenly hugged from behind by the Gamies, Xie Bai almost couldn't catch her breath.
"Mmph... wait, let go... let go of me..."
Hearing Xie Bai’s struggle, the two Gamies instinctively released their hold.
"Ugh... sorry, Sister Xiaobai... we just got a little too excited."
"After all, we didn't expect you to come back so soon, Sister Xiaobai."
As they spoke, the two Gamies vaulted over the back of the sofa and landed right next to Xie Bai.
Seeing how exhausted Xie Bai looked, they reached out and poked her cheeks tentatively.
"Um, Sister Xiaobai, do you need to rest right now...?"
"If you're tired, we can bring a big bed over for you."
Only then did Xie Bai’s dazed mind begin to clear.
"How... how did you two put all this together?"
In response to Xie Bai’s confusion, one of the Gamies pulled up the forum’s light screen.
"We modeled these rooms after the videos we saw on here."
"Except for this pile of plushies, which we bought off the forum, everything else was copied using my spatial abilities."
Hearing Gamie’s explanation, Xie Bai instinctively looked at the plushies surrounding her.
"Atoris, Aisarakus... and me?"
Suddenly, Xie Bai realized something was off.
"You said you bought these on the forum?"
"Yes, they’re called 'character merchandise' or something like that..."
"We saw they had your image, Sister Xiaobai, so we bought them. We also picked up a few others from the top of the bestseller list."
Xie Bai realized things were even weirder than she thought.
Although she had checked the player forum a few times since returning to the real world, she hadn't noticed anything major.
Yet, without her knowing, the forum’s merch shop had already launched fan-made goods.
She could understand why she and Atoris were included—their images had appeared in the videos.
But why was there a plushie of Aisarakus too?
Realizing there was a problem, Xie Bai took the light screen from Gamie and began browsing.
In the official merch shop, besides the characters she knew, there was a vast array of figures she had never seen before.
White hair, black hair, blonde hair, male, female, non-human—there was everything.
At a glance, the variety was so rich it made Xie Bai’s head spin.
Furthermore, every plushie had a name and a brief biography, allowing one to get a general idea of the character’s background.
However, when it came to the plushie representing Xie Bai, the situation was a bit peculiar.
[Bai]
[???]
[Price: 1099]
Aside from the name and price, there was no other useful information.
Even so, it didn't change the fact that Xie Bai’s fan plushie was currently number one on the bestseller list.
"Then again... am I really that popular...?"
Though she grumbled under her breath, Xie Bai felt a small spark of excitement deep down.
This feeling of being popular from behind a screen was actually quite enjoyable for her.
Of course, that was only as long as it stayed behind a screen.
As someone who was socially inept—aside from being able to handle lolis younger than herself with ease—she usually relied on absolute strength to reduce the difficulty of social interactions.
In fact, this tactic was incredibly effective. As long as Xie Bai demonstrated peerless, absolute power, everyone around her became very easy to talk to, and there were rarely any complicated social maneuvers involved.
However, this trick only worked on people who already possessed some level of strength.
If a massive crowd of ordinary people swarmed her, Xie Bai would likely be unable to cope.
She had some social skills, but not many.
"But for this fan merch to appear before the game even officially launches... is it to help players learn about the characters in advance?"
Thinking this, Xie Bai continued scrolling down.
Beyond the Aodu Empire and the Northern Territory, she saw figures from many other regions.
She could learn the basic details of almost all of them through their descriptions.
Aside from the three Children of Fate she already knew, Xie Bai found five more plushies tagged as "Child of Fate."
"Mage, Archer, Guard, Priest, Druid... wait, where’s the last one?"
In Xie Bai’s memory, the Children of Fate corresponded to the nine major classes players could choose.
Conversely, there should be nine Children of Fate in total.
But right now, Xie Bai could only find eight fan plushies for them.
And the one missing was the Traveler class.
"What’s going on... I heard the Traveler class was even more of a struggle than the Warrior, but surely it’s not so bad that it doesn't even have a corresponding Child of Fate?"
Based on what Xie Bai had gathered from the player forum, the Traveler class was a casual, "jack-of-all-trades" role.
Its defining trait was that it could use any skill or equipment, was proficient in learning life skills, and had its own unique exploration-based skill tree.
It was a class specifically designed for casual players looking for a relaxed experience.
The problem was that regardless of the class, one couldn't escape the cycle of grinding monsters to level up.
And because the Traveler class was too casual, its combat power was almost non-existent.
If not for the mechanic that allowed them to mix and match skills and weapons freely, Traveler players might not even be able to make it out of the Beginner Village.
Finally, at the very bottom of the list, Xie Bai found a plushie depicted as a dark silhouette, also tagged as a Child of Fate.
[Unnamed]
[The Traveler-side Child of Fate. Possesses the wondrous ability to explore the entire world. Perhaps on a random street corner, you might be lucky enough to encounter this traveler wandering the world.]
[Currently Unavailable]
"Hiss... it’s actually a hidden character. It can't be that they haven't finished the design yet, right?"
The thought gave Xie Bai a bit of a headache.
"Missing one Child of Fate... isn't this going to ruin my 100% completion run?"
Setting the Traveler issue aside, Xie Bai turned her attention to the plushies of the other five Children of Fate.
"At least the information for the other five is confirmed. I can write it down and have Thanatos and the others arrange for people to find them."
Thanks to the officially sold fan plushies, Xie Bai had learned the names and characteristics of the other Children of Fate in advance.
This would undoubtedly be a huge help in her quest to complete the Bond of Fate.
If it were the old Xie Bai, she probably would have used the Boundless Floating Light to search for those Children of Fate immediately.
But the current Xie Bai was in no hurry to act.
Ever since encountering the True Gods in the other timelines, she had grown suspicious of certain special powers—especially Fate.
If she remembered correctly, among the True Gods, there was a God of Fate who was second only to Gliese.
However, that entity’s power to govern fate was limited to the current timeline, so Xie Bai hadn't paid it much mind.
The problem was that in the main timeline, a God of Fate would also exist.
A God of Fate who governed the main timeline was something Xie Bai couldn't help but be wary of.
After all, "Fate" had always been an incredibly profound and mysterious concept.