NOVEL NEXT Ch. 17
Chapter 17: Wife’s Boudoir Renovation Plan!
Just as all the combat players across the entire server were grinding their lives away for the sake of “new clothes” and “repairing the barrier”—
Another group of people, however, were racking their brains for the sake of something “even more important.”
【Mophis Cultural Research Institute】, Architectural Beautification Division.This department was made up of the very top tier of life-class professions in the game—【Artisans】 and 【Designers】.
Their daily research topic was how to beautify the environment around the Library without disturbing Mophis.
For example, that pavilion built for the “Sacred Stone” before was their masterpiece.
And now, after 【Alchemy Genius】 successfully entered the Library and brought back first-hand intel on the “boudoir,” this division was completely boiling over.
A short, blurry video, only a dozen seconds long, secretly recorded with a Memory Crystal by 【Alchemy Genius】, showing Mophis’s room, was being replayed again and again in the department’s top-secret channel.
“Brothers! Do you see this?! This is where our wife lives!”
The head, 【Ingenious Beyond Compare】, pointed at the screen, his voice trembling with excitement.
“A wooden bed, a dressing table, a small fireplace, and a couch… too simple! This is far too simple!”
“Our beloved Wife Mophis, the noble descendant of a former dynasty, how could she possibly live in such a plain place! This is an insult to her status! And it is negligence on the part of our ‘Knights’!”
His words instantly ignited the “rage” of all the architectural masters.
“That’s right! Just one look at this bed and you can tell it’s hard! How could we allow wife’s delicate body to sleep on such a thing! We cannot allow such a rough bed to hurt our radiant wife’s soft, tender little bottom! It must be replaced! Replaced with the most luxurious of princess beds, covered in velvet and cotton clouds!”
“And that dressing table! All those bottles and jars are scattered about with no order at all! We must customize one crafted from Moonlight Wood, complete with categorization and preservation functions! Every single one of wife’s cosmetics must receive the best possible care!”
“The walls! The walls are bare! How could this be allowed! We must hang the finest of artworks! I propose we use oil paintings created by our ‘Fanart Artists Division,’ all featuring wife as the protagonist! Let her see her own beauty every single day!”
“The floor! The floor is far too cold! We must cover it with carpets made from the fur of thousand-year Snow Bears hunted in the depths of the Northern Snowfields! That way, even if wife walks barefoot, she will feel like she’s stepping on clouds!”
“And that floor-to-ceiling window! Although it’s big, the curtains are too ordinary! They must be replaced with ones crafted from scraps of 【Starshine Veil】! They must match her new clothes!”
A group of men, average age in their thirties, who in the real world might be renowned designers or senior engineers, were now acting like crazed idol fanboys, arguing red-faced over how to renovate their idol’s room.
As they argued, they quickly sketched on design papers.
Very soon, an incredibly extravagant 【Mophis Boudoir Renovation Plan, Version 1.0】 was freshly completed.
The plan listed in meticulous detail everything from the chandelier on the ceiling to the patterns on the floor, even down to what kind of charcoal should burn in the fireplace (it had to be white sandalwood with calming effects).
Every conceivable detail had been considered.
Its level of professionalism was enough to make any top-tier real-world renovation company blush.
“Excellent! The plan is perfect!” 【Ingenious Beyond Compare】 looked at this plan, which condensed everyone’s wisdom, with satisfaction.
“But now, there’s one most crucial question.”
He swept his gaze across the group, his voice low and heavy: “How… do we get in?”
That one sentence made the entire channel fall silent in an instant.
Right.
No matter how perfect the plan, it was useless if they couldn’t get inside.
The Library’s gate could only be entered by 【Alchemy Genius】, the sole holder of the 【Library Card】.
They couldn’t possibly let him carry wood, carpets, and a princess bed inside and start hammering away, right?
That mental image was too beautiful—it dared not be imagined.
“Well…” a young artisan raised his hand weakly, “could we… build the whole thing outside, and then… somehow lift it in?”
“You think this is Lego?!” 【Ingenious Beyond Compare】 glared at him, annoyed.
“This is a game! There are rules! We cannot damage the Library’s main structure!”
“Then what do we do? Could it be that all our hard work can only remain on paper?”
Everyone fell into troubled silence.
At this moment, the deputy head, an old artisan with the ID 【Luban Reborn】, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
“Perhaps… we have overlooked one place.”
He brought up the Library’s structural diagram, zoomed in, and finally fixed the view on the second floor, on the huge floor-to-ceiling window of Mophis’s boudoir.
“Here.” He pointed at the wall beneath the window.
“According to our brother 【Alchemy Genius】’s description, this room has an independent fireplace on the first floor. By the building habits of the Ancient Dynasty, fireplaces were usually built along the outer wall.”
“And beside the chimney, for the sake of inspection and cleaning, there was often a very small passage left, leading to the outside—namely… the flue opening.”
In 【Luban Reborn】’s eyes, the light of wisdom gleamed.
“This flue opening is usually sealed with stone bricks. But for us artisans, dismantling a few bricks and quietly putting them back in is no difficulty.”
“The most crucial thing is—this spot is concealed enough, it won’t alert anyone.
And—it leads directly into wife’s room!”
“We can use this passage to send in small, exquisite decorations first!”
“For example, a magic flower that never withers, a music box that plays lullabies, or… a card signed by all our ‘Architectural Beautification Division’ members, expressing our love!”
“We can use these small things, one by one, to fill wife’s room with our heartfelt care! Let her know that there are people silently concerned about her quality of life!”
“When the time is right, when our relationship with wife has grown closer, then we can propose the full renovation plan.
Wouldn’t it be perfectly natural by then?”
These words were like lightning, shattering the fog in everyone’s minds.
“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”
“Master Luban, amazing! You even spotted this!”
“Yes! We can ‘ant-move’ it! Start with small gifts!”
“This method is great! It not only expresses our sincerity, but it’s also filled with the romantic feeling of a ‘secret surprise’! Wife will definitely love it!”
Once again, the department’s morale was set ablaze.
They immediately began new divisions of labor.
One group was responsible for precisely calculating the location and dimensions of the flue opening.
Another group began designing and crafting the first batch of “small gifts” to be delivered inside.
For a time, all kinds of rare wood, gems, and magical materials flowed out from the guild warehouse and into the hands of these architectural masters.
……
Inside the Library, Mophis shivered.
She had the distinct feeling that someone was plotting against her behind her back.
Shaking her head, she dismissed the illusion from her mind.
Her attention was fully concentrated on the massive “Barrier Repair Progress Bar” she had created with her own hands.
The progress was rising even faster than she had expected.
In just a few hours, it had grown from the initial 10 points to over 50,000 points.
The players’ grinding power was simply terrifying.
At this rate, it probably wouldn’t take even two days for the one-million target to be achieved.
“When that time comes, what kind of special effects should I use to celebrate?”
Mophis stroked her chin, beginning to think seriously.
Should it be a “Holy Light Bath” covering the entire Western Wasteland, granting all players a powerful 24-hour buff?
Or perhaps a “Petal Rain,” paired with moving background music to set the mood to perfection?
Or, simply, a fireworks display in the sky spelling out “Thank you all” in four giant characters?
She was happily envisioning it when suddenly, a system notification interrupted her thoughts.
【Ding!】
【You have received a new quest item.】
Mophis froze.
Quest item?
At present, she only had the main quest “Repair the Barrier,” and the guild quest “Make New Clothes.”
Could it be that 【A Thread of Life】 and the others had already finished the new clothes?
No, that couldn’t be—it was clear that the materials on the quest list hadn’t yet been gathered.
Puzzled, she opened her backpack.
There, lying quietly in one of the slots, was a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Beside the box was a small card.
Curious, Mophis picked up the card.
On it was a line of text, written in an elegant font:
【To our most beloved Miss Mophis:】
【May this never-wilting ‘Starlight Rose’ bring a trace of vitality and light to your lonely room.】
【——From your most loyal servants, the Mophis Wife Knights, Architectural Beautification Division, with respect.】
Mophis: “???”
Architectural Beautification Division?
What was that supposed to be?
And also… how did this gift even get in here?
Her head full of question marks, she opened the gift box.
Inside was a meticulously crafted potted plant.
It was a rose forged from an unknown silver metal, its petals inlaid with fragments of Stardust Powder.
In the dim room, it radiated a gentle yet dazzling brilliance—something far too beautiful to belong to the mortal world.
【System Notification: You have obtained a special piece of furniture, 【Never-Wilting Starlight Rose】.】
【Item Description: An artwork painstakingly crafted for you by a group of passionate artisans, using countless rare materials and their heartfelt devotion. Placing it in your room will slightly increase your mental recovery speed and lift your mood.】
Mophis stared blankly at the flower.
Walking to the wall, following a faint trace of dust on the card, she quickly found the perfectly concealed flue opening that had just been opened.
Her little face turned pale.
These players…
Just to deliver her a gift, they even dared to crawl through a chimney?
The underwear I just took off… they didn’t see it, did they?