“Ahh…”

Lis, awakened by the sunlight, sat up with a teddy bear in her left hand and rubbing her eyes with her right hand, looking like she hadn’t slept well. She had slept until midnight last night when her sisters came back, and they kept chatting instead of going to bed, causing her to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

After using the bathroom, her sisters continued to talk about the Virtual Realm, which fascinated Lis for a while, resulting in her not getting enough sleep.

In fact, if Lis hadn’t taken over the body, their bodies would have been well-rested.

When an Artificer enters the Virtual Realm, their body is temporarily hosted by the Virtual Realm and automatically falls into a deep sleep. Most creatures alternate between shallow and deep sleep, with the restorative effects of deep sleep being the best but only accounting for a small portion of the sleep cycle.

Artificers who can actively enter deep sleep only need to spend 2 hours in the Virtual Realm to restore enough energy to last for 22 hours. Unless extremely unlucky, most Artificers spend about four hours exploring the Virtual Realm, restoring their energy to the point of almost overflowing.

This is one of the reasons why Artificers are the elite class in various countries. Not all Artificers control violence, but they all have more time in reality and tireless energy throughout the day.

In short, Artificers not only have higher talent than ordinary people, but also work harder, have more time, and can work faster and stronger, even if they are doing manual labor. Furthermore, Artificers have a more friendly reward feedback mechanism—ordinary people may not succeed even if they work hard, but Artificers will definitely reap rewards for their efforts. Even just idling in the Virtual Realm can make them stronger day by day.

Although they are all in the same game, only Artificers are considered players, while ordinary people are just NPCs used to enhance the atmosphere.

After entering the Virtual Realm, Diya let Lis take over the body, which meant giving up the “Virtual Realm-assisted sleep” benefit. In addition, their bodies had turned into those of children, so even sleeping for nine hours wouldn’t fully restore their energy.

As for why they had to go through all this trouble… it was to conceal the fact that they were Artificers.

Being able to immediately enter a deep sleep is a benefit and a symbol of Artificers. In other words, if a person falls asleep and doesn’t move at all, and sleeps for less than five hours, they are definitely an Artificer. Conversely, if a person sleeps restlessly, kicks the blanket, drools, and sleeps for more than seven hours, they definitely cannot be an Artificer.

Even though Diya had summoned the ‘Mask’ Artisan three years ago and started exploring the Virtual Realm, she had managed to deceive everyone, even the Sanctum Artificers, with this trick. In everyone’s eyes, she had always been innocent and naive, the princess Lisdiya who could only sleep with a teddy bear.

Even though she was no longer a princess, she still needed to conceal her identity as an Artificer. If Annan found out that little Lis was an Artificer, all her previous efforts would be in vain. Diya had also gotten used to leaving a sister to look after her body in reality. If she didn’t do this, she would feel restless and unable to focus on exploring the Virtual Realm.

Yawning, little Lis washed up in the bathroom and came out to see Asho, Igura, Harvey, and Pancake all having breakfast, looking energetic as if they had stayed up all night in the Virtual Realm.

At that moment, Annan came out of the room, and little Lis thought for a moment, untied her roughly tied double ponytails, and went over to tug at Asho’s clothes, saying, “Daddy, tie my hair.”

Asho, who was eating a custard-filled Lalafell, blinked and looked at Annan, but didn’t refuse the request. He picked up Lis and then skillfully tied her hair.

When it came to styling, Asho was a professional—just by giving Lis a messy hairstyle, he completely destroyed all the beauty of this little beauty, making her look like the most unappetizing dish made from the top-quality Lalafell ingredients. Lis’s forehead hair was pulled straight, and even her eyes were affected by the hair’s gravity, making her beautiful eyes look ugly.

But Asho wasn’t deliberately teasing Lis; he really wasn’t good at tying hair—his mother had short hair, and his brother had had a buzz cut for over twenty years. When would he have had the chance to learn how to tie hair?

But it didn’t matter that Asho couldn’t tie hair, as long as he made Lis look ugly, it would trigger the automatic aesthetic correction mechanism in the room.

He held Lis and stared at Igura across the table.

Stare (=⊙w⊙=)~

Stare (=^w^=)~

One second, two seconds, three seconds. When Annan sat down, Igura couldn’t hold back any longer: “Come here, I’ll braid your hair. Asho, you’re only fit to carve on shit.”

“Next time, just ask Aunt Bokin to braid your hair. He won’t refuse your request to protect his eyes.” Asho put Lis down and chuckled.

As Igura took out his small comb and helped Lis tidy her hair, Harvey, who had finished breakfast, walked to the living room balcony, lit a catnip, and asked, “Miss, do you have any plans for today?”

“I might, or I might not.”The Crimson Dragon Lizard suddenly appeared on Annan’s shoulder. As she tore off a piece of bagel to feed it, she said, “Today is May 4th, and your official start date isn’t until the 10th. Until then, you’re all free to do as you please without having to follow my lead.”

“Free?” Harvey narrowed his eyes. “You call this ‘freedom’? Being unable to contact the outside world, unable to breathe fresh air, and even unable to study sorcery factions?”

Although Harvey did not and could not assume an aggressive stance, the butler boy silently stepped forward, positioning himself between the necromancer and the young lady.

Asho glanced at Igura, who was intently braiding Lis’s hair, only exchanging a brief look with the heresy leader—It’s none of my business, I didn’t collude with Harvey, he’s the one who suddenly started this.

“So, what kind of freedom do you want?” Annan turned her chair towards the balcony, tilting her head slightly, her amethyst earring sparkling in the sunlight. “I assume you’re not just looking to smell the flowers, bask in the sun, and experience the exotic atmosphere, right?”

“I want to go to the sewers on the lower level.”

The sunlight seemed to take on a purple hue, a chilling coldness spreading through the space like mercury. Asho put down the Lalafell, and Igura held Lis in his arms.

They had almost forgotten—although Annan had used despicable means to recruit them, she herself was a two-winged artificer. Compared to the mind sorcerer who was not adept at direct combat, the necromancer who heavily relied on the battlefield environment, and the rookie sorcerer who had just set foot on the Time Continent last night, daring to negotiate with the Four Pillar God, the Purple Moth, her combat power was likely superior to the three.

Not to mention the presence of Pancake, the over-sixty-year-old expired youth.

“…Did you find it in the Gospel?” Annan flicked her earring, producing a ‘ding’ sound. “Let me guess how you searched for this information—’Where in Asura can one kill without attracting the attention of the Red Hats’?”

“Actually, it was ‘Where in this city are corpses most likely to appear’.” Harvey spoke, “I was hoping the name of a substandard hospital would come up, but it seems Asura’s medical environment is quite good.”

“I may not have mentioned it, but—adherence to social decency is a very important factor in the Gospel’s rankings.” Annan’s eyes seemed to be veiled with a hint of purple. “Without my orders, you are not allowed to kill anyone, not even a Lalafell.”

“I didn’t say I was going to kill anyone.” Harvey took a final drag and tossed the cigarette butt off the balcony. “There are plenty of ‘legal’ ways for a necromancer to acquire corpses—”

The butler boy pointed a finger, and an ice spike instantly formed at his fingertip, piercing through the air to freeze the cigarette butt in mid-flight, then gently hooked it, causing the frosty stub to arc into his palm.

“It doesn’t matter at home, but if you throw a cigarette butt outside, you’ll be violating the ‘High-Rise Residential Security Regulations’ and the ‘Public Security Administration Measures’.”

Pancake calmly stated, “Please refrain from actions that could damage your own value. The Gospel is watching you.”