Super Righteous Player-Chapter 159 - 157: Brushing Up Goodwill_1

The two players guarding the door had long known that Annan had gone out "to grab some stuff."

But they clearly hadn’t expected that Annan, just by making a round trip, could actually bring back so much stuff...

"...Do, do you need help carrying anything?"

Seeing Annan moving towards the city lord’s mansion as slowly as a snail, they hurried over and asked enthusiastically.

With a backpack as huge and heavy as a high schooler’s at the start of vacation, a wooden bucket that reached down to his knees—and which bumped against his leg at every step—in his hands, and a giant lollipop-like object wrapped in cotton, bigger even than Annan himself—it was obviously very heavy.

Annan glanced at the two players.

Are you guys coveting my favorability again?

Mainly because their reaction was all too familiar...

It was just like the start of the college year when enthusiastic upperclassmen would rush over to help freshmen carry their bags.

Oh, perhaps freshmen isn’t quite right.

Unless the upperclassman is a weirdo.

"Thank you."

Though he had two rounds of internal commentary, a reserved yet joyously concealed smile appeared on Annan’s face.

He nodded with a gentle attitude and quickly accepted the offer, "Then I’ll trouble you."

As he spoke, he handed the wooden bucket storing the Elf’s Hand and the backpack filled with books to the two players. He didn’t hand over the hammer because he didn’t want them to know that it was a new cursed object he had obtained.

Otherwise, they would get too much information.

And besides, they might not even be able to lift the hammer...

The hammer was simply too heavy.

You have to realize, currently the players’ Strength attribute was all at 6 points, and there were even a few at 5 points, not a single one at 7 points.

Though Annan appeared frail and short, his Strength attribute was actually as high as ten points.

Yes, Annan’s strength was far greater than that of these chickens...

But Annan still didn’t refuse their requests for tasks.

It wasn’t just because Annan was looking for opportunities to distribute favorability, that "exclusive designated token" to the players.

Moreover, Annan was well aware that the quick way to farm favorability wasn’t by "helping others," but by "asking for help."

Appropriately bothering someone can make the relationship between two people closer. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

The more one invests in something, the likelier they are to enjoy it... this is called "the effort justification effect." It means that humans always have a tendency to find reasons for their own efforts.

The higher the cost needed to achieve a certain goal, the higher the value that goal will have in the mind of the person involved. Otherwise, it would cause a dissonance between behavior, cognition, and attitude.

Simply put, when Annan seeks help from the players, the players will convince themselves that Annan deserves help, convincing themselves they like Annan to justify their behavior as legitimate.

In childhood, many sly kids instinctively used this tactic to approach someone they liked: asking to borrow a book, get some help picking up an eraser, share half a textbook to draw closer, much more effectively than "lending a book" or "picking something up for someone."

...For example, after a senior helps a junior carry her luggage, the junior isn’t necessarily going to like him for it.

But the junior who was helped will easily earn a level of favorability that is "friendly" or above from the helpful senior and is very likely to get their subsequent requests for help granted.

In a sense, this is also one of the reasons "nice guys" end up with nothing...

As long as these small requests for help are simple, not troubling, and not annoying, enough requests can quickly build a relationship of trust.

If Annan can promptly reciprocate with an adequate "reward," such trust will quickly turn into favorability.

In RPG games, the connection between players and NPC quest-givers, the player’s immersion in the game world, is cultivated through these methods. Even the joy and importance players place on incredibly difficult, frustration-filled hardcore games are nurtured in the same way.

These players, up until now, still think they’re the ones farming favorability from Annan.

Actually, not at all.

In fact, Annan had been working hard to increase their favorability towards him.

And he was doing it very efficiently.

"Thank you both."

In his own room, Annan gave a serious bow to the two players and asked them to sit down.

Then he gave each of them 100 favorability points.

Even though they hadn’t actually been much help... Annan had carried these items such a long distance by himself, and all they did was move them from the entrance to the inside of the room.

But faced with Annan’s thanks, the two of them just laughed heartily and responded:

"No problem at all, this thing wasn’t heavy."

"Don’t mention it, just give us a shout if you need anything!"

"You two have been working all night, and I feel quite guilty..."

Annan nodded, his voice cool and clear, "I will find a way to make it up to you later."

Hearing this, the two players suddenly looked a bit embarrassed.

Because they knew all too well—they hadn’t been seriously watching the door at all.

Instead, they had been idle at the doorway, watching live streams and browsing forums.

"...No worries, it was nothing."

The player named "Andersen" glanced at his partner "Square Leek" subconsciously and cleared his throat, "We’ll get back to keeping watch. It wouldn’t be good if someone snuck in while we’ve been away for too long."

"You two have worked hard,"

Annan said with gratitude as he nodded.

Andersen and Square Leek promptly excused themselves.

Only when they left Annan’s door did they delightfully notice their favorability ratings had jumped up again, feeling pleased with themselves.

"This Tan Juan is really a good kid."

Andersen remarked with a sigh, "So endearing."

"That’s for sure," Square Leek clicked his tongue, "In such a dark world, to remain so pure-hearted and polite... It’s really not easy."

"Exactly, I’m a die-hard Tan Juan fan from now on,"

Andersen agreed, "No matter what new factions come out, I’m sticking with Frostwater Harbor. Not for anything else, just because of how Tan Juan handles things. Working for him feels satisfying... Isn’t that enough?"

"It’s probably just because there aren’t any pretty girls licking your boots yet."

Square Leek saw through Andersen’s thoughts, "If a new faction pops up with a super attractive leader, I bet you’d switch sides on the spot."

Andersen instantly became angry and embarrassed, "Shut up, isn’t Tan Juan good-looking?! Anyway, you’ll never get with him either, what’s the difference? Why don’t you just imagine Tan Juan as a beautiful girl and be done with it?

"If the leader of a beautiful girl faction were really that pampered, she’d either be spoiled or independent and wary... Either way, do you think she’d have such a good attitude towards us?

"It’s like how fun it is to trash talk with idiots online! Once you find out the person on the other side is of the opposite sex, would you dare to trash talk them?"

"...You’re really a... genius."

Square Leek barely swallowed the word "pervert" and replaced it with "genius."

Because halfway through, he fell into thought...

...Upon further reflection, it seems there might actually be some truth to it?