"My little genius, can't you even open such a simple mechanism?" When Leticia saw the mechanism that had stumped Melanie, she was a bit stunned.
This type of mechanism was considered the simplest in the game; as long as you used your brain a little, basically even a fool could solve it.
However, Melanie couldn't solve it.
It wasn't that she was pretending not to be able to solve it; she really couldn't.
"So that's how it is; what an interesting design." Melanie was currently sitting next to Leticia, staring intently at the character moving rapidly on the screen.
Leticia shifted her body slightly to the side, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Melanie was leaning in a bit too close; she could even smell the faint, elegant fragrance wafting from Melanie now.
It smelled very nice, giving one an addictive feeling.
This person... is really annoying.
"And here, why can't this quest be completed?" Melanie, however, was unaware of this. In order to tell Leticia what else she didn't understand, she leaned in even closer instead.
For a moment, Leticia's heart began to thump wildly.
"Hm? Your heartbeat is very fast." Melanie had sharp ears; Leticia's abnormality naturally couldn't escape her hearing.
"Phew, it's nothing. Here, your quest NPC is occupied by another quest... Tsk, why did you accept so many quests?" Quickly brushing off her own abnormality, Leticia looked at the long list of quests and frowned as she spoke.
"The team leader had me accept them before logging off. She said doing quests is the fastest way to level up," Melanie explained.
Of course, everyone understood the actual reason; Melanie had indeed intentionally created this pile of trouble.
Although she really didn't know how to do it, the team leader hadn't just taken her for a while and then abandoned her as she claimed.
In fact, Melanie had spent the entire night following the team leader running around various parts of the map. The team leader had told Melanie about some of the difficult points she knew, enough for Melanie to use these questions to stall Leticia for over an hour.
Using over an hour to close the distance, although somewhat difficult, was acceptable.
Leticia's heart was quite conflicted. What Melanie needed to do was to slowly make Leticia let go of her internal resistance and accept her presence in Leticia's life.
However, Melanie's plan was interrupted halfway through by a suddenly ringing phone.
"Strange..." Melanie took out her phone. Not many people knew her phone number, and those who did wouldn't call her without a necessary reason.
Did something happen?
The number displayed on the phone was one she didn't recognize, which made Melanie's confusion even greater.
"What's wrong? Answer it." Leticia looked at Melanie, wondering why this young girl was staring blankly at the phone screen.
"I don't know who is calling me." Melanie gently pressed answer and turned on the speakerphone.
"Hey, you got a second?" A hearty female voice came from the phone.
Melanie showed an expression of sudden realization; so it was her.
"Yes."
"Senior Sang said she was afraid you'd be bored, so she specifically found a job for you." Listening to the voice, the woman on the other side seemed quite excited.
"A job?" Melanie's hand subconsciously rested on her waist. "When and where?"
"Cough, cough, cough, it's not that serious." Melanie's two short sentences caused the woman to cough a few times. "It's not asking you to go cut people down; it's asking you to help train the little brats who recently joined."
Training?
Melanie's expression was somewhat conflicted. She was good at cutting people down, but training... she knew absolutely nothing about it.
"I'm not good at training others." She didn't dislike admitting her own shortcomings.
"It's called training, but it's actually closer to real combat." The woman recounted her plan. "A few troublemakers have joined the Hero Association. Because they are young and have decent strength, they've become a bit arrogant."
"You know those old fogies at the Association; they are quite annoyed by these little brats, so they are planning to give them a reality check."
"But we can't really let them fight heinous criminals; if anything goes wrong and they get hurt, those old guys would be heartbroken to death."
"So after thinking about it, they came to us, wanting us to send a few powerful characters to teach those little brats a lesson. And so, Senior Sang heard you were free, so she took this job."
After hearing the ins and outs of the matter, a flash of nostalgia crossed Melanie's eyes. Those old seniors in the Association were still as meddlesome as before.
When she had just joined the Hero Association, she seemed to have been heavily cared for by these few old seniors, though it wasn't a beating like this, but psychological counseling.
Although the effect wasn't great, at least Melanie felt their good intentions.
"Mhm, as long as I don't beat them to death, right?"
"Also don't beat them to a pulp. Just give them a lesson so they know there is always someone better, and there is always a sky beyond the sky. With just that little bit of strength they have, they can't even make a ripple in Central City."