[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing Novice Quest (2): Three guests checked into the hotel!]
[Reward: 60 Hotel Experience Points!]
[Reward: Vending Machine x1!]
[The following quest is now issued:]
[Novice Quest (3): Have a guest purchase an item from the vending machine (0/1)]
[Description: Although it’s a hotel, comprehensive development is key! Hurry up and set up the vending machine so guests can experience the joy of self-service shopping!]
[Rewards: 1. Hotel Experience 30 points. 2. Unlock the second floor of the hotel.]
The quest had arrived, just as expected.
Looking at these quest rewards that were practically handed to him on a silver platter, Chu Yi kept his expression completely neutral.
He turned his head to look at Zhu Bei.
Zhu Bei happened to be looking back at him.
The wheat-skinned young man moved his chapped lips, supported his younger sister, walked up to the front desk, and bowed deeply.
“Thank you, Manager. This place is really… too good!”
Chu Yi waved a hand.
He was currently anxious to count his money and had no time to chat with these people.
He simply said, “You paid money, I sold you goods. It’s fair trade. Go get some rest, I have things to do.”
Zhu Bei certainly knew how to read the room. Having spent years traveling out in the wilds with bad-tempered esper adults, he understood what a slight twitch of someone’s eyebrow meant.
So, he quickly nodded, pulled his sister—whose complexion looked noticeably better—and followed Xue Xiaobai into the hallway room.
Hearing three door clicks, Chu Yi finally turned his attention to his system interface.
That wasteland native named Zhu Bei actually had some pocket change, recharging 153 second-tier crystal cores in one go, harvesting a total of 7,650 points.
He would receive 70% of that, coming out to a total of 5,355 points.
For a newly opened hotel, this was practically an exorbitant income.
Yet Chu Yi let out a sigh.
“The deals I used to negotiate were in the seven figures. Now I’m a tiger fallen to the plains, bullied by dogs. I lost out,” he said. “Ten times the price is still too low; at least fifteen times.”
The system acted as if facing a formidable enemy.
[Host, arbitrarily changing the hotel prices is not conducive to the hotel’s long-term development.]
Chu Yi waved his hand dismissively and asked, “How much experience do I need to raise my personal level to level ten?”
The system’s brain failed to pivot in time.
Weren’t we just discussing pricing?
Still, as Chu Yi’s supporting assistant, it answered truthfully.
[For every level up, the required experience increases by 100 points. Level 3 to 4 requires 300 points, Level 4 to 5 requires 400 points, and so on.]
Chu Yi nodded. It took him less than a second to declare, “Then allocate 4,260 experience points to my personal level. Dump the remaining 1,095 points entirely into the system mall.”
This calculation speed… was so fast!
It surpassed the average human mental calculation level, beating at least 99% of people!
Chu Yi calculated it with absolute precision. The moment this batch of experience was fed in, his personal level instantly hit LV.10 (0/1000)!
He felt a sudden boom as a mighty, warm torrent of energy poured straight out from his heart, coursing through his blood vessels to his limbs and brain.
That frail, sickly feeling that had accompanied him since childhood vanished without a trace the moment that final bit of power was absorbed!
He raised a hand and touched his neck.
It was neither painful nor itchy anymore.
Looking at his reflection in the glass door, his grayish-white hair was also rapidly turning black, losing the senile appearance of an old man on the brink of death.
Chu Yi could feel his entire body pulsing with power. If he went to run a marathon right now, he might actually take first place.
This feeling of health… truly was wonderful.
No wonder those wealthy people were willing to spend six or even seven figures buying experimental health products just to extend their lives by a single day.
His gaze fell back on the interface.
The “Esper Power” column displayed [Under Development].
“Are esper powers random?” Chu Yi asked the system.
[No, they are developed based on the host’s soul traits. Your personality and the kind of person you are will dictate the nature of your origin ability.]
“Hmm…” He thought about it for a moment, smiling as warmly as a spring breeze. “Then it’s bound to be top-tier. After all, this is my ability.”
[…]
Should he call Chu Yi confident, or arrogant?
The system offered no comment.
After all, it had only known this host for a few days.
[Actually, you could have delayed upgrading your personal level,] it said tactfully. [The top priority is upgrading the hotel. Even if you aren’t strong enough, the hotel has an automatic defense system. Within the premises, you are forever invincible—this is our privilege granted to the host.]
He had just gotten over 5,000 points, only to instantly spend over 4,000 of them just to reach a level capable of developing an ability.
The system’s digital heart genuinely ached.
To this hindsight commentary, Chu Yi merely lifted his gaze lazily and replied, “You’re just a system, what do you know? I am the master of this hotel, and I call the shots on everything here. No matter how important the hotel is, can it be more important than me, the master?”
True, this place had an auto-defense function and he remained invincible within its perimeter.
But Chu Yi didn’t like relying on external crutches.
Nor did he trust so-called invincible auras.
When one is weak, every step taken is filled with hesitation and fear.
And now…
Chu Yi got up from behind the front desk and picked up the dagger lying on the table—plundered from Liu Dao’s cannon-fodder trio.
He walked out of the hotel, strolling leisurely, and stopped right in front of a mutated creature.
Through the protective barrier, he watched the humanoid monster wide its mouth open, revealing its double rows of teeth.
Chu Yi frowned, stepping back two paces like a cat smelling garlic.
Creatures like this didn’t brush their teeth, did they?
They smelled awful.
He recalled the system manual.
Aside from special variants, the weakness of all mutated creatures was the brain.
Just like the zombies in apocalyptic novels.
Chu Yi adjusted his breathing and stepped back in front of the Tier 1 mutant.
Through the barrier.
Fast, accurate, ruthless!
The dagger plunged straight into its eyeball in an instant!
Squelch!
The mutant shivered violently, its eyes instantly losing their light as it collapsed to the ground.
Chu Yi squatted down, gesturing with the dagger over its head.
“Crystal core… mm, the core is in the brain.”
After reaching LV.10, his five senses and physical strength had multiplied several times over.
Cracking open a mutant’s skull proved to be quite simple.
Prior to this, he had never killed any living thing, having only looked at anatomical diagrams in textbooks.
Mutants used to be human, and most of their anatomical features, including the skull, were retained.
Drawing on the textbook descriptions in his memory, Chu Yi quickly located the fragile bone seams, pried open the skull, and harvested a Tier 1 crystal core.
“System, convert this into mall points.”
[Received. Since this was hunted independently by the host, the system takes no commission. You have earned 10 points. Remaining points: 1,133.]
Watching more mutants gather around, a subtle look crossed his eyes.
The next second—
[HOST!!!]
The system screamed in sheer, uncontrollable panic.
Chu Yi had actually walked outside the boundary of the protective barrier!
The very second he stepped out, the Tier 1 mutants swarming around the hotel were instantly drawn to him, abandoning their attacks on the transparent barrier to chase after Chu Yi instead!
A massive, swarming mob of them—at least twenty-odd creatures.
Chu Yi ran in front, keeping a calm sliver of attention focused on the mutants trailing behind him.
Ah, their speed wasn’t faster than an ordinary human’s. If he ran at full sprint, they wouldn’t catch him, especially since his physical stats had just been boosted.
Still, even trash-tier mobs, if there were enough of them, would take some effort to clear out entirely.
Having roughly gauged the limits of his current capabilities, Chu Yi completed a lap around the hotel and leisurely strolled back inside the protective barrier.
Only then did the system let out a breath of relief.
Goodness only knew how terrified it had just been.
While Tier 1 mutants generally lacked infectious capabilities, getting injured by them introduced a unique toxin to the wound that was difficult to heal.
It had finally found an S-rank host across all metrics; if he died, where on earth would it go to cry?
[Host, please don’t do something that dangerous next time… Let’s just focus on managing the hotel properly. Once we complete all the metrics, we can leave this world!]
[By then, you’ll be powerful and free to go anywhere in the myriad realms—isn’t that great?]
Chu Yi had already returned to the front desk. Having run a whole circle, he hadn’t even broken a sweat, demonstrating just how massive the benefits of leveling up were.
Hearing these remarks, he raised an eyebrow slightly. “You really don’t have an ounce of foresight, do you? If I possess zero combat capability and step outside the invincible barrier, how am I supposed to fight anyone?”
With that, he couldn’t be bothered to waste breath arguing with the system on this matter.
He pointed toward the hallway and said, “Move the restroom a bit further outward and add Room 105 inside.”
[Received. Room added, 100 mall points deducted. Remaining points: 1,033.]
[The hotel’s room count has reached its current limit. After unlocking the second floor in the next phase, 5 additional rooms can be added.]
[Operation Assistant Reminder: You can expand existing guest rooms to increase comfort and boost guest happiness~]
Chu Yi skimmed the prompt briefly, then walked over to the small lounge area at the front of the hallway and placed the vending machine acquired from the quest in the corner.
Then he started stocking items.
250 bottles of mineral water: 1 point, buy two packs.
100 bottles of sports drinks (red, green, and blue variants): 1×3 points, buy.
100 bottles of vitamin C juice (orange, strawberry, blueberry, apple, and pear flavors): 1×5 points, buy.
100 bottles of carbonated sparkling water (Sprite, Cola, Fanta flavors): 1×3 points, buy.
2 + 3 + 5 + 3 = 13.
[Remaining points: 1,020]
Watching the trailing digits neatly drop to zero, Chu Yi nodded in satisfaction.
A neat freak’s soul was appeased.
He loaded all the drinks into the vending machine.
The machine featured internal spatial expansion, so there was no need to worry about space constraints.
Next came pricing.
A bottle of mineral water would be 2 points; sports drinks, vitamin C water, and carbonated sparkling water would all be priced at 4 points a bottle.
After finishing all this, Chu Yi paused to think.
He then retrieved the staff meals issued by the system yesterday and the day before, placing them inside as well.
[Special Offer] The day before yesterday’s two-meat, one-vegetable fast food (slightly spoiled): 8 points.
[Special Offer] Yesterday’s leftover two-meat, one-vegetable fast food (slightly spoiled): 12 points.
System: ???
[How can spoiled food be put on the shelves?! And you’re selling it for 12 points?!]
[Host, you’re going to be branded as running a shady scam shop!!!]