Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Tremendous Pressure

A task as simple as being a runner could fetch fifty points of favorability from the Monarch of Wansheng Country, much to Yang Yu’s surprise.

It seemed that this task was likely combined with another concerning saving the King’s life.

Regardless, being able to increase the favorability of Wansheng Country’s acting Monarch towards himself meant that there would be a substantial increase in the chances of his opinions being accepted in the future.

Yang Yu knelt down joyfully and accepted the task, immediately starting a discussion about contacting the Elf Queen.

To hide his relationship with Bai Jin and Iyas, Yang Yu planned to have Iyas and Bai Jin join the team as appointed by the Elf Queen, to facilitate further investigations.

Thus, Yang Yu did not expose at the beginning that it was Bai Jin who could use the Crystal Ball for contact; he was merely forced to receive it.

This was also to avoid the scenario where, just like they had demanded of him, Qian Xialan or Ming Dalak, knowing that Bai Jin could use magic, would require Bai Jin to stay in the Elf Forest for contact.

It was easier for Yang Yu to make excuses, not so much for Bai Jin.

Moreover, as the Prime Minister, Ming Dalak knew that ordinary elves struggled to use magic; blurting it out could, without first gaining his trust, throw oneself deep into the fire, getting burnt inside out and unable to access the real centers of power.

The conversation went smoothly, and Qian Xialan decided to give Yang Yu some time to adjust, to contact the Elf Queen tomorrow before heading to the Life Forest.

Qian Xialan was anxious, wishing she could grow wings and fly herself to the Plant Clan’s village to fetch the Potions, but she also knew that she absolutely shouldn’t compromise the national plans for her personal desires.

Contacting the healing-capable elves to allow more people to survive the winter offensive at the frontlines was the top priority to be addressed now.

Otherwise, losing their ancestral home meant more than just losing the throne.

”The matter is settled then. You all go back and rest for today, and after concluding negotiations tomorrow noon, I hope you will keep your promise and bring back the Potions.”

”Your Majesty, I will bear your words in mind. I will definitely fulfill my promise and bring back the Potions intact to prove my innocence. It’s getting late, Your Majesty should rest early.”

The discussion concluded, and under the escort of the Imperial Guard, Yang Yu respectfully left the main hall and headed back to the gates of the Imperial Palace.

Stretching out, Yang Yu’s tense face slowly relaxed; the first step had encountered a minor hiccup, but it was still within manageable limits.

Faced with the real national leaders, Yang Yu did not yet possess the courage to openly challenge them.

In many RPGs, those who dare to openly challenge a King in his face are either raised in the Imperial City from a young age or, by a stroke of luck, know the secret passages of the Imperial City, or, they are fearlessly protected by powerful backers.

Unfortunately, Yang Yu met none of these conditions.

To become familiar with the entirety of Baihua City, he would need to rummage through every residence like a bandit, which, being a stranger in these parts with no game save points, would mean getting executed if caught.

As for having powerful backers, Yang Yu did not yet have relationships good enough for someone to protect him unconditionally.

There was no choice; such was reality. The starting point for civilians was just as expected.

Without exceptional talent, rights, money, or ways to access higher-level people and events, all Yang Yu could rely on was himself and the allies he met along the way.

Yang Yu was secretly glad he was a seasoned player, having seen all kinds of worlds, with the game panel’s enhancement indispensable to his success.

Otherwise, if he were just a regular civilian, dying a thousand times over wouldn’t be enough, let alone attempting to overturn a war between two countries.

However, as the game progressed, Yang Yu increasingly found the boundary between the game and reality to be incredibly blurred.

Even though he had been prepared at the start, as the stakes rose higher, dealing with enemies with exceedingly complex backgrounds became stressful. Just the thought of not managing it well, leading to a continuous wave of enemies and risking the entire team, unsettled Yang Yu.

He took several deep breaths and patted his cheeks to calm himself down slightly.

Seeing all this, Lotcar knew the enormous pressure Yang Yu was under. Unable to help just moments ago, he was somewhat upset. To avoid doing more harm than good, Lotcar could only listen carefully and watch the surroundings, ready to flee with Yang Yu at the first sign of trouble.

Lotcar crouched down, signaling Yang Yu to get on his back again, leaving the task of finding an inn to him.

Yang Yu nodded in understanding and, while climbing onto Lotcar’s back, began contemplating the upcoming plans and strategies for any contingency.

First, he needed to manage his noon contact with Bai Jin, as Bai Jin’s contact times were fixed. The time Yang Yu had agreed with Qian Xialan was earlier than the contact time with Bai Jin, so he had to find an excuse to cover the time gap.

After leaving the Elf Forest, Yang Yu had also tried to learn how to use the Crystal Ball for communication from Bai Jin but, unfortunately, using the Crystal Ball wasn’t a skill, and Yang Yu’s Skill Points were useless here.

Learning to use the Crystal Ball required a fair amount of magic knowledge.

Having previously avoided it to save Skill Points, now he couldn’t learn it even if he wanted to.

Bai Jin, with relish, would explain the principles of magic, and all Yang Yu could do was doze off. After trying a couple of times, Yang Yu gave up and decided to wait until Fuer Maling from the All Things Library could create the Magic Phone.

Using the Crystal Ball to communicate wasn’t considered a skill, but the act of communicating would indeed consume the user’s Magic Power and stamina.

Furthermore, the communication distance depended on the user’s Intelligence—the higher the Intelligence, the farther they could communicate, while the clarity of the image depended on the user’s magical proficiency.

Since the communication distance was reliant on the Crystal Ball user’s Intelligence, it meant that a high-Intelligence magician could easily contact a low-Intelligence magician from a distance, whereas the low-Intelligence magician often could not contact a high-Intelligence magician from a great distance and would need to keep moving closer to find a ”signal.”

Yang Yu didn’t know the maximum range of Bai Jin’s communication but, from what he could see so far, contacting him from the Elf Forest was no trouble, albeit a bit more draining on his Magic Power.

He also wondered if Bai Jin could connect with the genius Tico from the All Things Library or Gordon from Red Blood Rose. If he could contact Tico or Gordon, Yang Yu wanted to ask where he could acquire the two skills necessary to transform He Meng into a human-form Slime.

Bai Jin’s Intelligence wasn’t quite sufficient. If possible, Yang Yu wished Bai Jin could achieve global communication capabilities so that when he defeated the Demon King, he could broadcast it seamlessly to the entire world.

However, before realizing this goal, he needed to expand Bai Jin’s impoverished skill set as the skills learned at the All Things Library were gradually becoming insufficient.

Yang Yu had boosted Bai Jin’s Endurance considerably. Bai Jin should be able to continuously cast several Super Large Magic spells, and if he could acquire several high-quality mana regeneration pieces of equipment, Bai Jin could become a fortress of powerful firepower.

Unfortunately, inheriting the fragile nature of most magicians, Bai Jin had no defense against attacks targeting the rear positions.

Then, ensuring the safety of the output became his, the tank’s, responsibility.