Chapter 00009: The Wooden Plate
# The Wooden Plate
Chapter 9
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 9: The Wooden Plate
Li Chengxi glanced at the old woman and her grandchild standing at the doorway.
Maybe it was something about memories from childhood that suddenly sparked his interest.
So he moved his mouse, returned the view to the default zoom, then slightly magnified the frame.
At this moment, the view pierced through the thatched roof and entered the house.
The camera angle was very similar to a life simulator game, except Li Chengxi couldn’t use his mouse to freely control the little pixel people inside.
The interior couldn’t exactly be called barren, but truthfully, there wasn’t much inside.
A single shelf, a big cabinet, one large and one small bed, and a simple table with chairs for eating.
Compared to the decor back in the Castle, this was a completely different style—one look and it felt like even the castle’s stables were more luxurious than a peasant’s home.
If there was anything new Li Chengxi had discovered in these past three days, it was the discovery of a very useful hotkey.
When he pressed the alt key, all items and NPCs in the camera would light up, with their names shown above them.
Even when scouting in the wild, this method helped locate animals in the forest.
If he used it together with the vertical adjustment keys on the right side of the screen, he could even spot locations with mineral veins.
But this trick only worked when the view was at the default zoom or closer in.
If zoomed out, no highlights would appear.
This function solved the lack of clarity that came with the pixel art style.
No matter how many fine details there were, pixel-style visuals were simply hard to distinguish.
Out of habit, he pressed the alt key, and suddenly all the overlooked things in the room lit up on the screen.
Most of them were ordinary things—some rope hanging on the wall, a shuttlecock tucked under the table, stuff like that.
Just as Li Chengxi was about to exit and go look at other homes in Haim Village, he suddenly noticed a line of text that had appeared on the shelf—longer than usual.
“Lilia’s Wooden Plate”
That was a surprise.
He’d never seen an item with someone’s name as a prefix before.
Li Chengxi moved the cursor over to the shelf and scrolled the mouse wheel to zoom in.
When most of the screen was taken up by the pixelated wooden plate, he right-clicked his mouse and selected "Properties" from the dropdown menu.
Name: Lilia’s Wooden Plate
Grade: Decorative Item
Effect: None
Description: A wooden plate personally crafted by Lilia.
Due to the special nature of the wood, it can contain magical energy and may be used as raw material for crafting magical items.
That crimson longsword Viola used, “Crimson Fang,” was a magical item, and this wooden plate from Liliya was essentially a rough blank for one.
All in all, it seemed like a fairly unique item.
Li Chengxi reached out toward the screen—and this time, his hand passed through successfully.
He could feel the touch of rough wood at his fingertips.
Gripping it firmly, he pulled, and the wooden plate carved from solid wood was dragged right out of the screen.
Picking up items from the game barely consumed any Faith Points.
From the tests he’d been running these past few days, it seemed to depend on weight, but the cost was generally just a single digit at most.
Also, to accurately extract an item, it was best to zoom in the screen.
That way precision was higher.
Otherwise, like the first time when he accidentally stuck his finger into the screen and affected way too much too broadly, things could get messy.
“For a kid’s craftsmanship, this is actually really decent.”
The plate was nice and even, and the rim was smooth and symmetrical.
You had to know, with handmade plates like these, it was all too easy to cut one side higher or lower.
But maybe because there was no sandpaper, the surface was really rough and prickly to the hand.
He turned the plate over.
On the bottom, there was a line of squiggly marks that didn’t look quite like letters.
But when seen through Li Chengxi's eyes, they twisted and morphed into, “Haim Village, Lilia.”
He placed the plate beside the checkout counter, then rolled the scroll wheel to zoom back out again.
He figured he’d bring this up with Viola during her morning prayer later.
He remembered Viola had a few mages under her command—maybe one of them could use this to craft a real magical item.
But as the screen returned to its normal scale, Li Chengxi saw that the old lady and the children who had been standing outside had already come into the house.
The little girl was pointing at the shelf and crying loudly, two oversized, cartoon-style teardrops stuck on her cheeks.
"Uh…"
A sudden pang of guilt hit him.
What Li Chengxi had just done basically counted as stealing a child’s belonging.
Not very honorable.
Truth was, he hadn’t really thought about it at all while doing it.
It felt like one of those RPG games where you’d barge into NPCs’ homes, look through their stuff, and take anything useful.
Just as he was about to put the plate back on the shelf…
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
Maybe—this was an opportunity?
———
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648, April 2nd.
6:30 AM.
As always, Viola led her Royal Guard to kneel in prayer within the Chapel, hoping once again to hear the sacred voice of the Demon God.
"Cough cough!"
The knight Zola, standing to her left, coughed twice.
In the silent chapel, it sounded particularly loud and jarring.
"I'm truly sorry, Your Highness."
"Zola, are you alright?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I probably just caught a bit of chill while fleeing to Leon Stronghold. I’ll get some herbs after prayer—it’ll be fine."
Viola gave a small nod and turned back toward the Holy Emblem, bowing her head in devotion once more.
But just as Viola closed her eyes, she suddenly stood up again.
The Royal Guards all looked at her with surprise as she took two steps back.
From beneath the Holy Emblem on the altar, a brilliant light began to shine.
It was so bright it pushed back the shadows from every corner of the chapel.
Moments later, the light faded.
Viola and the knights exchanged confused glances.
Zola exclaimed in astonishment, “A… plate?”
“More precisely, a plate gifted by the Lord Demon God. This is a sacred relic!”
Viola stepped forward carefully, just like someone handling a fragile treasure.
She picked the plate up gently, turned, and held it out so all the gathered Royal Guards could see.
“Cough cough… But, Your Highness, what exactly is our Lord trying to convey to us? Did you hear the Holy Voice of the Demon God?”
Viola shook her head.
“I only heard the Lord telling me to step back a little. No further explanation was given.”
One of the knights, a particularly petite figure who looked to be no taller than one meter forty, raised her hand and said,
“Could it be… a metaphor?”
“You know something, Shelly?”
Seeing all eyes turn to her, the tiny knight named Shelly immediately stood at attention.
“Yes, Your Highness. I once met a traveling Priest who told me that messages from a god are always obscure—full of layered meaning and difficult for mortals to understand. That’s why we rely on Priests to interpret the will of the divine.”
Viola had proclaimed herself the first Archbishop of the Demon God, but this was her first time truly acting in a clergy role.
And now there was… a plate?
How exactly was she supposed to interpret this?
“Cough cough, perhaps the Lord has sent us this plate to remind us that our current situation is like being surrounded on all sides, much like how food sits trapped in a plate?”
“I don’t think so.”
Viola shook her head.
“I feel like it’s not that simple. In fact—I think it might carry more than one meaning.”
Hearing that, the knights all sank into deep thought, throwing out all kinds of interpretations.
Some said the Lord was hungry.
Others thought the plate must be a powerful magical device.
Some even believed it was a divine message telling Princess Viola not to seek revenge yet, but to focus on defense.
There were all kinds of takes.
Remarkable how they could all draw over a dozen meanings from a single plate.
Viola specifically asked Zola to write down all their hypotheses.
She herself continued to stare at the plate, deep in thought.
“A plate… A wooden plate… An empty wooden plate… Is the Lord trying to warn me that I am currently empty, lacking something vital? No... if we consider the power the Lord gave me a few days ago…”
As she pondered, her finger absentmindedly grazed the bottom of the plate—and she felt a sudden sting.
A sharp splinter from the unfinished wood at the base had pricked her finger.
She turned the plate over and happened to see what was carved into it: “Haim Village, Lilia.”
(End of Chapter)