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Caelan was currently having a great time browsing posts on the Forum. He was startled when he heard the voice, but quickly recovered. "Oh, that thing? That's called a 'handheld console,' which is a portable console. I only made a few of these right before I left."
Quinn was a little disappointed—then heard Caelan say, "I still have one here. I was originally planning to play games with them when I had free time, but if you want it, I can sell it to you."
Quinn's spirits lifted, but she then said, a little embarrassed, "Then I'd be taking yours..."
Caelan smiled and said, "I'm an Illusionist! I can play games anytime, anywhere, even without any runestones."
Quinn asked, "How much are you selling this handheld console for?"
Caelan thought about it. He made these things just to convenience his friends and never intended to sell them. The time it took to make one was no less than making a Deluxe Edition console, and to ensure "hard drive memory" and "connection speed," the amount of meteorite powder consumed was also not low. Wouldn't it be better to make more Elite Edition consoles with that time? The number of players was the most important thing right now.
"This item is originally not for sale. If you want it, I'll sell it to you for fifty gold coins."
As soon as he said this, Quinn gasped. The ten gold coins she had bought the console with earlier were hard-earned, and now this small device was five times the price of the console.
The reason Caelan quoted this price wasn't because he was heartless and wanted to earn money from the girl. He just thought that since they were from the same academy, if he sold it cheaply, what would happen if a large number of classmates came to buy it? It would be better to scare them away directly with a high price.
Those who were also interested in this so-called "handheld console" were immediately deterred by the price. At most, they would stand behind the few people and watch them play.
Seeing the extremely conflicted expression on Quinn's face, Caelan thought about secretly giving the girl a discount. After all, she was a pretty girl and an acquaintance. However, after hesitating, Quinn seemed to make up her mind and looked at her friend beside her. "Lillian, I need some emergency funds."
Lillian actually wanted one too, but after hearing that Caelan only had one and had promised it to Quinn, plus the price was indeed a bit high, she gave up on the idea. However, as a good friend, Lillian had long anticipated that Quinn would ask her for money, so she immediately responded, "I only have twenty-something gold coins on me. I can lend you twenty. We still need to keep some gold coins to go home, right?"
Seeing this, Caelan also said, "Senior Sister Quinn, just take the handheld console for now. It's not too late to give me the money after school starts." After speaking, he handed over the handheld console runestone.
Quinn was not coy and immediately promised, "Okay, I'll definitely gather enough money to pay you back after this adventure ends."
Caelan didn't doubt this. Quinn's strength should be similar to Cassius and Victor's—both at the Peak of Fifth Circle. As an Adventurer, earning 50 gold coins in two or three months might not be effortless, but it wouldn't be too difficult either.
Quinn got the runestone, immediately input her magic power to turn it on, then logged in with her account and password and confirmed with a face scan.
Account: 10836 (Reset Password)
True Name: Quinn of House Stormcall
Nickname: Purple Thunder
Gender: Female
Age: 21 (Details)
Gold Crowns: 150 (Recharge)
Exiting her account and entering the desktop, she found that there were still six icons.
"Just double-tap the icon with your finger," Caelan instructed from the side.
Quinn double-clicked "My Games" as instructed, and it opened. Caelan glanced at it and saw that all the current games were there.
She really was a gaming addict.
Since the break wouldn't be too long, Quinn opened Street Fighter, randomly matched into a room to battle someone, chose Chun-Li as her character, and her opponent chose Sagat. After the battle began, even though she was a bit unfamiliar with the handheld console's buttons at first, Quinn still beat the opponent's Sagat so badly that he couldn't find his bearings.
Poor Sagat. Through his mind palace, Caelan discovered that the opponent was just a thirteen-year-old child. Uh, he was probably going to be disheartened.
After lunch, the Adventure teams set off one after another.
Quinn and Lillian's team was a seven-person squad. After greeting Caelan's team, they left first.
After Nicole and Priscilla finished playing games, Cassius picked up the map and carefully compared it with the surrounding environment. After confirming the direction, the five of them got up and set off.
Lion Kingdom.
Angel City, the largest Opera House in the city, also known as the "White Rose Opera House" under the White Rose Family, to which the City Lord belonged. At this moment, the performance by the famous opera troupe "Saint Mary Opera Troupe" had ended, and the audience was gradually leaving the theater, all discussing the wonderful performance of the day with lingering enjoyment.
Two young men walked side by side. The taller of the two suddenly said,
"Ryan, did you notice that during the duel of the two Great Masters in the fourth act today, the music played by the backstage band..."
The shorter young man, Ryan, nodded. "Hmm, this piece of music is indeed very good, and its style is very unique, completely different from any music I've heard before. Could it be a new work by some Great Master?"
The taller young man said gloomily, "No, Ryan, didn't you feel it sounded very familiar after listening to it?"
Ryan stroked his chin, recalling carefully, and said thoughtfully, "It seems... it does sound a bit familiar, doesn't it? Could it be something I heard during a performance by another troupe before?"
The taller young man: "No, think again."
Ryan thought for a while, then shook his head. "Stan, don't beat around the bush. Although I like music, I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as you."
The taller young man, Stan, had no choice but to say, "The game! The Super Street Fighter game! They were playing Ken's background music from it!"
"Ah?" Ryan's mouth slightly opened in surprise, and he hesitated, "No, that can't be... Uh, it's very similar, but... but..."
"But what? It's just that the instruments played are different. The music is the same," Stan affirmed.
"Oh, no wonder then... No wonder I didn't recognize it at first. So the instruments were different," Ryan said, enlightened.
Stan also sighed, "After all, it's a piece of music from another plane. I suppose the musicians of the opera troupe couldn't find the corresponding instruments."
Upon hearing this, Ryan was surprised and asked, "A piece of music from another plane? Where did you hear that?"
"The Forum! The Illusionist specifically posted about it, saying that most of these games' inspirations come from another plane. The background music in Super Street Fighter was all created by a lady from another plane. Her name is very strange, something like 'Yoko Shimomura.' I've never heard a name like that before. It's a bit similar to names in the Moonwatch Empire, but there are also some differences. Could she be from the same plane as the First Emperor of the Moonwatch Empire?"
"I don't know about that. Who cares? We just play. Speaking of which, these games are really special. They've completely enriched our lives. In the past, besides watching operas, attending dances, and chasing girls, there were few things that interested us so much, right, Stan?"
"Exactly. By the way, how many games have you completed, kid?"
"Hehe, strictly speaking, I haven't completed a single game yet. Only Elemental Contra with thirty lives has been completed on easy difficulty." Ryan chuckled, then said gloomily, "I heard that for a while, you could have unlimited continues, but then the Illusionist changed it again, making it difficult for me to even see the later enemies, let alone complete the game. I'm very unhappy with this change."
Stan advised, "Don't say that. The Illusionist also said that this is to maintain the game's freshness and challenge. If there were unlimited continues, everyone would quickly get bored of the game."