Chapter 69: The Character’s Background (4/26)

Having mastered the "Purple Gauze Robe," Ou Xiaolu kept glancing at the violet aura encircling him. Only after a long while did he turn to A Luo. "A Luo, what do you think? Do you want to try this out? It’s quite a remarkable technique."

A Luo shook her head. "Forget it. The cultivation methods you use aren’t compatible with us. Even if you give me the technique, I’d have to start learning from scratch, and after cultivating for a while, who knows what side effects might arise? I think I’d better stick to my own path."

Ou Xiaolu didn’t press the matter when A Luo declined to practice the "Purple Palace Codex" with him. They quickly set aside the topic and shifted their focus to discussing who should be assigned to assist Booth.

Naturally, this required consulting Booth himself. By now, it was already midnight on his end, and he was about to turn in for the night.

From the activity shown on the screen, it was evident that Booth was not doing particularly well. He had only managed to rent a tiny one-room apartment.

At that moment, Xiao You was curled up on the bed, sleeping with the Sun Coral Egg in her arms, while Booth was relegated to the sofa.

After Ou Xiaolu listed the character cards he had obtained, it was clear that Booth’s perspective differed from his own.

First off, there was no point sending over the rank-and-file minions. The world Booth was in was dangerous, and those minor characters would serve only as cannon fodder, utterly useless.

Among the professional-grade characters, Booth had his eye on only two: "Detective" and "Warlock."

In Booth’s words, each had their own utility. The detective could help analyze situations and investigate the forces lurking behind the world’s façade. Most importantly, the detective would undoubtedly be smarter than the average character. With his assistance, a lot of clues would not be overlooked.

As for why choose the warlock, it was purely because this world fell under the dominion of magic. Bringing in a warlock could help them infiltrate the magical community and perhaps reap some benefits.

Ou Xiaolu wasn’t surprised at all by Booth’s choices; he had initially planned to send those two as well.

However, their opinions diverged on the remaining characters. Ou Xiaolu wanted to send over the chef and the merchant, or perhaps the chef and the thief, but Booth was opposed. In his view, both the merchant and the thief were just minor characters—hardly worth the trouble.

And as for sending a chef—just to cook?

"So what do you want, then?" Unable to convince Booth, Ou Xiaolu could only let him choose for himself.

After a moment’s thought, Booth replied, "Send over the Red Queen and the White Queen."

At this, A Luo chimed in, "See, didn’t I say it? Now’s the time to send in supporting characters, but you wouldn’t believe me."

Ou Xiaolu shot her a look. "When did you ever say that?"

"Just now! Booth heard it too," A Luo replied smugly.

Ou Xiaolu rolled his eyes. Was this really the time for such mischief?

Still, he began considering the consequences of sending the two supporting characters. On reflection, it didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. Both the Red Queen and the White Queen were formidable in their own right; once there, they’d surely be helpful, at least in terms of combat strength.

With that in mind, Ou Xiaolu nodded in agreement.

Booth then said, "Give them plausible identities. Don’t drop them right into my lap. The detective should act alone; the other three can be together. I’ll go find them."

"Plausible identities?" Ou Xiaolu was a little confused.

Seeing the puzzled look on Ou Xiaolu’s face, Booth slapped his own forehead. "I forgot. The previous projections were all in miniature worlds, where identities didn’t matter. Even if there were changes, they wouldn’t bother telling you about them. Actually, the reason projecting someone costs 50 combat points is to provide them with a plausible identity. The cost can be adjusted or increased."

Hearing this, Ou Xiaolu’s eyes narrowed. "I think I understand what you mean. You’re saying that in larger worlds, everyone has a background, and the combat points are spent to break through the world’s boundary and insert someone inside. If you want a better background, you have to spend more points? That means the gap between supporting and main characters isn’t just about combat power, but about the difference in their identities."

"That’s exactly right," Booth affirmed with a nod.

"Can I control their backgrounds when I send them in?" Ou Xiaolu asked tentatively.

"You can specify during the projection."

"Alright, let me give it a try." Ou Xiaolu cheerfully opened the world deployment interface.

He checked and found Booth’s claim to be true. At the bottom of the interface, there was indeed an option to adjust the combat point cost for deployment.

Ou Xiaolu first deployed the "Detective" card, incrementally increasing the combat point consumption.

When the cost reached 100, an additional character background field appeared beneath the card, allowing for descriptions within a certain scope.

After some thought, Ou Xiaolu wrote a brief line:

"A renowned detective from the Misty City, though luck has never favored him. Every time he’s close to solving a case, a bespectacled boy appears and cracks it first. He hasn’t had any income for nearly three months, so he abandoned life in the Misty City and came to the new town—where that boy will never show up—to start afresh."

Upon entering this background, it immediately appeared on the card, stamped with an official mark of plausibility.

With a light tap, Ou Xiaolu discovered that this very word—"plausible"—granted the character a five percent boost in strength.

Now even more intrigued, he took out the "Warlock," "Red Queen," and "White Queen" cards, intending to send them in together with a unified background.

And this idea worked perfectly. When deploying all three at once, the cost to adjust their backgrounds was cumulative.

According to Ou Xiaolu’s setting, the Red Queen and the White Queen became the last two heirs of a magical family from France, arriving half as refugees, with the warlock as their steward.

As for the conflict between the Red Queen and the White Queen, Ou Xiaolu made no mention of it. Once the four characters were projected into the "World: The Broken Scepter," he notified Booth of their new identities.

Booth nodded, committing Ou Xiaolu’s newly crafted identities to memory, and began contemplating how best to approach these characters.

After all, Booth had already realized that in this world, he absolutely could not afford to arouse its suspicions.

Meanwhile, Ou Xiaolu seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Gazing at the three altars, he mused over whether he should draw another batch of cards.