Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 170 Has the favorability changed again?

Four erosion marks erupted at the same time, and the violent magic elements instantly devoured the enemy's figure, creating a spectacular scene of flames and storms, flowing water and thunder. The entire corridor was shaking, and the walls and ceiling made a low groan, as if they would collapse at any time.

When the noise gradually died down, there was no trace of the enemy in sight. There was only a piece of armor that had been ravaged beyond recognition and looked like scrap metal, which was dissipating into black mist.

Avella breathed a sigh of relief, put away the holy book, and whispered to herself: "It feels... so relaxing."

Although the process looked dangerous, in fact the enemy didn't even touch the corner of her clothes, and Olvera's health remained full. Moreover, chanting magic didn't consume a lot of physical strength like wielding a holy sword, so she didn't feel very tired. At most, her tense nerves suddenly relaxed and her mind was a little empty.

After standing there to sober up for a while, she went forward to check her spoils at the constant urging of Alice, who was already impatient. She picked up three pieces of [Ashes of the Remnant Fire] and an attribute orb - Strength - from where the enemy's body disappeared, but she did not see what she wanted.

"Where's the key?"

The princess blinked and searched carefully again to make sure she hadn't missed any items. She asked Alice in confusion, "Don't elite monsters drop keys? Why can't I find them?"

"If you can't find it, it means it didn't explode." Alice's answer seemed so natural.

Avella was confused all of a sudden: "But if we don't have the key, how can we enter the next floor?"

Lingge was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Is it fun to scare people, Alice?"

"Of course, elite monsters are not BOSSes, so there can't be only one on each floor. The fifth floor is a novice level, which is for you to adapt, so there is only one elite monster at the door. But starting from the fourth floor, the difficulty returns to normal, and it is common to encounter elite monsters, so don't be so surprised. By the way, the corridor behind may be more difficult, so be mentally prepared."

"It's simple. Go find other elite monsters and keep killing them until they drop a key."

"Woo." Ovella, who thought she had mastered the game, suddenly wailed like a small animal: "Why is this happening..."

She nodded with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she felt that Lingge was not that difficult to approach and she just needed to adapt to his personality. On the other hand, she felt that Alice was a little bit hateful for scare her with such words.

With mixed feelings, I continued to move forward.

"Are there any other elite monsters?"

It made Ovilla feel like she was facing a strict court teacher.

"It's fun... No, I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just telling the truth!" A certain golden-haired maid almost revealed her true thoughts, or rather, she had already revealed them.

This sentence should be to comfort myself, right?
But there was no comfort in the tone.

Fourth floor corridor, current progress: 65%.

Lingge ignored her and said to the slightly anxious princess, "Don't worry too much, Miss Avella. Maybe the difficulty will increase later, but you are also an adult with normal learning ability. You know your own advantages better than those monsters who only act according to instinct. It will not be difficult to deal with them."

……

After searching every branch in the corridor on the fourth floor, destroying more than a dozen waves of attacking monsters, killing the fourth Cruel Shadow, and consuming a total of five [Ashes of the Remnant Fire], Olvera finally found the key to the Ruler's Chamber from the enemy's corpse.

"I'm so tired." She had a droopy face, her hands and feet felt sore and weak, and her mouth was hoarse and dry. The former was due to the continuous swinging of the holy sword, while the latter was the sequelae of chanting magic for a long time. "Are you tired already?" Alice said disdainfully: "Brushing is also part of the game. If you don't like it, don't play. Our game is very fair. As long as you put in enough effort, you can get the same reward. The same is true in reverse. If you don't want to brush, don't complain that you are not strong enough."

"But we didn't get anything good."

Olvera couldn't help but grumble under her breath after she was criticized for having a bad attitude towards the game and always thinking about getting something for nothing.

Up to now, the most dropped item is [Ashes of the Remnant Fire], followed by some attribute orbs that increase health, magic, defense, attack power, etc. These are everywhere and completely useless. They can only be left in the item bar to gather dust. I haven't seen any of the most useful ability orbs.

Until now, Olvera's accessories column still only has jumping beads and tumbling beads, plus a sensitive bead that can't be said to be completely useless but also not very useful.

"That's because your face is too dark!"

Alice didn't need to make any judgments and said decisively: "If you were a European, would we be like this now? The explosion rate of the game is very balanced, without any errors, so you should look for problems in yourself and don't blame the game for everything you encounter!"

If she had a physical body now, she would definitely have a posture with her back straight, arms folded across her chest, sharp eyes, and righteous words.

Olvera whispered, "I don't blame Yugi."

"Really?" Alice expressed her doubt. "Have you never secretly cursed in your heart, 'Why is the drop rate of this crappy game so low?', 'The data of this crappy game is not balanced at all?', 'Why is the map of this crappy game so complicated?', 'The designers and developers are all idiots?'..."

"Really not." Olvera felt a little aggrieved. As the princess of Belman, the only blood descendant of the Leslie royal family, she was raised as the future heir of Belman since birth, and received tedious and meticulous court etiquette education, which was so strict that her standing, sitting, walking, communication and even her eyes had to conform to the elegance and dignity that an heir to the kingdom should have.

It was not until later that the curse gradually took effect that she was allowed to shed the cold shell and truly live as a girl. Today, Olvera has forgotten most of the complicated etiquette and rules, but their influence on her personality will not change. Therefore, even though she has been buried in darkness for many years, she can still retain her kindness, simplicity, sensitivity and courage that she has regained.

Of course, I wouldn't, as Alice maliciously speculated, scold the developers and designers for being stupid because of the game's low drop rate, poor data balance, complex and difficult maps, etc. Even if I really wanted to scold, I wouldn't scold them in such a vulgar way, not elegant at all, not something a lady should say.

"Well, that's what I said." Olvera's aggrieved expression really made people want to believe that Alice was a heartless person. She did not change her position because of this, but carefully maintained her skeptical attitude, "But I always felt that you would scold me like this."

At this time, Ling Ge suddenly asked: "Why?"

Alice replied without thinking, "Because I am..."

She realized something was wrong halfway through her words and quickly stopped talking, but it was too late. Her words had already revealed something unintentionally. The scene suddenly fell into a mysterious silence. After a few seconds, Ling Ge said to Avella: "From now on, if you don't want to hear what she says, you don't have to pay attention to it."

The princess nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

Alice: "..."

If there was a system narration here, she would definitely hear this prompt:
[Ovira's favorability towards Lingge has increased! 】

[Ovilla's favorability towards Alice has decreased! ]

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)