《Haven Online》 Xinya Name: Yin Game Name: Drifting Cloud Lvl: 25 Date of birth: Monday, 20th Apr 2195 (Age 18) Star sign: Aries Nationality: Chinese Ethnicity: Asian Sexuality: Gay Education: High school Relationship status: Single Career path: Gaming Physical characteristics Height: 5''6 Body Shape: Slim but fit Hair color: black Eyes: brown Face shape: diamond Other words that might be used: adolescent, average, fair, immature, moderate, normal, ordinary, teen, teenage, teenaged, young Game Character Description Features: His game character has dark green hair that is shaped like leaves, bark-like skin that is the same texture of an ancient tree in a forest he also has dark green vine-like tattoos that were wrapped around his neck and other places on his body. His chest is bare except for those vine tattoos and his bottom half is covered by dark green pants made of that has a look of it being made out of some kind of plant, also his feet are completely bare. Updated armor: Rose Armor/ the style wasn''t different from what he was currently wearing, the only difference was the color and the designs on the clothing. Like his current outfit, it was just a pair of pants and a shirt, the shirt was just the tattoos that would showcase on his chest. The armor was red with black rose prints on it and the shirt tattoos were also black roses in bloom. The armor also had some very nice stats on it, it gave +16 defense, +3 intelligence, +3 Dex and it was also upgradeable to a certain point. Skills: Throw: It''s a skill that enables you to throw potions from far away at your enemies. If you have a combat potion in your hands, you can use the throwing attack. Unlike arrows, you can immediately attack an enemy without aiming first. Dreaming Dust: Dreaming is usually reserved for when you sleep at night, but this potion will allow you to put anything to sleep anytime you want. In fact, enemies who are hit by the dream dust potion will fall asleep in an instant, making it a useful potion in a fight. Sleeping enemies are more sensitive to damage, but they won''t stay asleep for long. Unfortunately, stronger enemies are more difficult to put to sleep. *The potion required stamina potions and the dewy-eyed fruit Mini Fireball: the damage is not great and it can only attack two monsters at a time. *The potion required health potions and Glow flowers. Flora Attack: potion causes the petals of the Dancing Girl flowers to burst forth and wrap around an enemy causing them to become immobile, the petals will then suck out the life force from the monster for 25 sec doing 60 to 300 damage depending on the quality of the combat potion. * The potion required Stamina potions \u0026 Dancing Girls flowers. * The potion required Stamina potions \u0026 Blue Belladonna. / Can''t make only got the seeds./ 3 packs. Resurrection Potion:This potion when broken against a player, will envelop a player in smokey white substance before entering that player''s body. For one day, the defense of the player would be greatly raised, while if the player should die, they will be resurrected right away, without the loss of any coins or items and won''t have to log out right away. *The hour penalty will still be there, the player must log out after 35 minutes. * The potion required Health potions and the death flower / Can''t make only got death flower seeds - also the only way to grow these flowers was to cover the seeds in rotting flesh. Catering: The true joy of cooking is sharing your dishes with others. Catering allows you to prepare food in larger quantities so that you and your guests can dine together. The more people you have, the better your banquets will be. It creates a Catering Dish out of several other food items. You must have at least two edible food items to merge into one Catering Dish. The Catering Dish produced provides the combined total of the stat bonuses of all the items it is made up with. Tasting:Cooking is a science where ratios and formulas combine to make something of exquisite beauty. When prepared with a steady hand and a patience mind, food can move hearts and give strength. Tasting: will improve these effects. This skill passively increases cooked Items and Catering stat gain effects while increasing Cooking''s base quality rate, stability during Cooking, and EXP provided from Cooking food. Dryad racial skill: being one with nature being able to blend in with trees, rocks, and other things of nature to be unseen. Reaction Fusion: Cooking and Potion Making are quite similar indeed, it''s only fitting for them to be used together. This is a skill that will allow you to fuse together any type of cooking or potions, but be careful, for the outcome of the fusion can create devastating results. First Aid: ch 117 Recipes: Regular Potion recipes: Mana/Health/Stamina - These can be upgraded to different tiers : Reaction Fusion Potions Recipes: Welch''s Fruity Bomb: This strange creation is a mix of a Mini fireball potion and Welch''s Fruity Bait. It has a taste that nobody would be able to describe because once it''s eaten you won''t be alive. This strange creation does 300-400 damage depending on the quality of the potion and the food it was made from. Food Recipes: BellyBorg Stew: +75 MP +75 STA Cookies \u0026 Cream Crepe Cake!: Cookies \u0026 Cream Crepe Cake: Each layer of the thinly baked crepes has been smeared with cream and cookies, stacked into a tower to make a cake. The sweetness of the cookies blends seamlessly with the airiness of the whipped cream. After eating it you will gain, depending on the star rating +23-30 MP, +11-14 HP, + 5-9 STA. Ch: 48 Karry Karry: It was an ice dessert with sweet toppings that included chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and red beans. It was from the Bingsoo region where there are a lot of ice caves located. The recipe was highly sought after in the future but was very hard to get because it only dropped from a monster called the Bigoloo, but that monster was extremely hard to find. HP +29~30 Str +37~38 Int -14~15 Dex -14~15 Luck +24~25. Welch''s Fruity Bait: This bait is said to be a must-have item for wanna-be fishermen that wish to reel in a fish or item that could only be caught at a higher level. This bait is also famous for bringing in items as opposed to fish, and when this is used for fishing, the catch rate of fish and of items will double. Broiled Ctenophore tentacles: A strange recipe of unknown creation, seems to have a special magic effect. Once eaten a player will have the ability to talk to every creature underneath the sea. *the special effect lasts 5 in-game days./ This effect will be able to be stacked with other food bonuses. Puff Pastry Fruit Pizza: it looks like a fancy dessert that would be perfect for an elegant party, but it''s super easy to make! *For four hours, it will give: Mana +50 HP+50 Str+ 21 Sta+50. Fruit Salad: +24 Hp +30 MP Apple Juice: +10 Hp +35 Str +9 Dex *Assume he has other recipes but they haven''t been named. Items: Food Ingredients:Brought a lot from the butcher''s grocery store, we will assume he has everything to make anything he wants. [Quest Items] Wyatt''s Sword: The true owner and name of this sword are unknown. It is a relic of the great war that happened a long time ago. This sword has passed through many hands and each person who owned it died tragically. It''s been said that this sword is cursed and only in the hands of its true owner will it''s the true potential show. To learn more, find Bajji the master blacksmith. Map piece to the hidden land of Moo Moo Pow: According to folklore, Moo Moo Pow is an underwater kingdom that is ruled by the great Lord Krishna. This is a place that is believed to be an old wives'' tale, a myth, that is until the clue was discovered. Tier 3 Treasure Map:because none of the party members died inside of this dungeon, you will be able to skip a chain without losing the reward. When you complete the tier 3 treasure dungeon, you and your party will be able to get double the rewards. *Don''t attempt this dungeon until you''re at least level 65. Misc Items: Cupcake covered wagon:a two in one transportation device. It was obvious what the main function was but its second function made really want to get it. The wagon could transform into a food stall with a working kitchen. Fianna S¨¬dhe Egg: Shilvak''s Combat Gloves: Shilvak was the first combat potion master to walk these lands, he was feared and worshiped by the people around him. For his skill with potions was too great, one day he disappeared only leaving behind a manuscript detailing his adventures. Throw enhancement +10 Dex +5 Mutated Ctenophores eggs: These eggs are the babies of the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore, but it''s death they have been mutated. They will now only grow to the size of a plum and can be used for breeding. They can be used for food, or harvested for the toxin that they secret from their pores. *An artificial lake needed to grow them. Rhiannon''s bracelet: This bracelet grants up to five people at a time access to a very special shop. The bracelet will only work once, so when you decide to use it, make sure you have enough coins to spend. To activate it, you need to stand in the center of a fairy ring on a full moon. Automat: is a kind of vending machine, players can put their sellable items into it and leave it somewhere in town. Lapis Cut Bracelet: This magical spatial inventory offers a total of 100 slots for storing items. Special effect: It will keep food and ingredients fresh. It cannot be traded. Lapis Cut Earring: This magical spatial inventory offers a total of 100 slots for storing items. Special effect: gives +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Intelligence, +4 Luck (only if you have the stats), +6 Max Damage, +5 Critical, and +3 Defense buff as long as you''re wearing it. Glimmering beetles: These types of bugs were great for farms, they had the ability to allow a player to get double the harvest. After the update, once it gets out what these bugs could do they would be worth around 50 silver for a 100. Bracelet of Requisite: This bracelet is connected to the four elements: water, wind, fire, and earth. Once the bracelet is equipt it will determine which element is most needed by the wearer. With the water element, the player will be connected to all water sources that are in Haven, just say the name of the water source to use. Quests: The Fae realm needs your help: The Unseelie has become blinded and has disrupted nature''s balance. With them not stopping the anomalies from forming, impurities have begun building up destroying the magical essence of this realm. The magical essence comes from the Mad¨¦r trees, but they are all now slowly dying. If all of the Mad¨¦r trees die the Fae realm will collapse upon itself. Rhiannon wants you to completely awaken this Mad¨¦r bud, and only bring it back once the tree blooms fully. *It is advised to have Level 20 farming skill before attempting to plant this bud in the ground. Reward: ??? exp / ??? coins / ??? *Racial Skill Cermin Pantulan (Mirror of Reflection) Shilvak Dungeon Quest Lvl 50 Titles that matter: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest: Only the most gallant of heroes deserve such a title as this one. For having rescued Baldahurh forest from its undead state and brought it back to living, the inhabitants of the forest salute you. *This title grants you a 2x exp and coin bonus when fighting dark type monsters and +15 on all stats. The Fisherman''s Recognition: Fisherman''s Recognition: 5% fishing bonus/ 2% more of a chance of catching an item. * While this title is activated the player will gain money profits when selling fish to NCPs. Newest stats: Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 320/320 Level:23 MP: 280/280 EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina:280/280 Skill points: 25 Str: 4 Dex:15 Int: 4 Luck: 11 Coins: Coins: 0 gold 867 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 Each level they gain 4 stat points. 1 Rebirth *Edited A sudden scream echoed throughout a decrepit looking bedroom, followed by the loud thump of a body hitting the floor with a strong impact. A beautiful black-haired young man who appeared to be in his late teens laid on the dirty floor next to a tiny mattress motionless in what appeared to be in shock. After a few minutes, he managed to pull himself up from the dirt-stained floor and looked around at his surroundings in bewilderment. He couldn''t quite understand what was going on because the last thing he remembered was dying by falling down a pothole in the attempt of trying to rescue a small child. Leaning against the bed the young man searched his memories in an effort to figure out what had happened. He remembered logging out of the VRMMO he was playing because his VR headset needed an hour to cool every four hours, as expected of the cheapest model. While the headset was cooling he decided to go out and buy something to eat for dinner from the mini-mart down the street. After getting some rice and a few other items that were within his meager budget, he started to head home. He was a mere block away from his run-down apartment when he saw a young girl in the street while a car sped towards her. It wasn''t as if he was trying to become a hero, it was just that he reacted without thinking. He wheeled himself out into the street as fast as he could to push the girl away from the oncoming car only for one of his wheels to get caught on a rock causing him to flip out of his chair and fall down an open pothole. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. The last thing he saw before falling was the car turning a corner. It was no way near to hitting the young girl. As he was falling the only thought in his mind was, ''I''m an idiot." Hitting the ground head first, he heard a loud snap and his world turned black. Coming out from his thoughts the young man was confused. He could have sworn that he had died and even if he didn''t wouldn''t he be in a hospital. Panicking he started to frantically check his body only to realize that besides his paralyzed leg that he had for years there was nothing wrong with him. Different thoughts raptly swept through his mind while he was looking around the room such as, not believing this was real and wondering if this was just part of an elaborate dream. He quickly ruled that out because if this was just a dream his leg wouldn''t be still paralyzed. Seeing a cell next to his pillow he picked it up and started examining it. Only to see that it was the phone he had three years ago down to the deep scratch on the back of it due to him throwing it at the wall because he was pissed at his father. Fingering the scratch he was sure that it was his but he also knew that he pawned it for money for food two years ago. Switching his handphone on he looked at the date. What he saw made him drop the phone in shock. After double-checking with the television and the electronic assistant on motel''s dresser, he was 100 percent sure. In what seemed to be astonishment he whispered, "It seems that I Yin Xinya have traveled back in time three years." After his astonishment wore off there was a bit of petulance, "Was my death such a joke that the gods pitied me enough to give me a second chance?" "If that is so, I will make sure to make the most out of this new chance." He said with determination. 2 Recollection *Edited It still pained him to this day that his father would take the word of that gold-digging molester over the word of his own flesh and blood. It was because of that woman that he developed Gynophobia. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Every time he is near a woman he feels immediate, overwhelming fear to the point where he gets panic attacks. He really misses those times before she came. His father used to dote on him, especially after his mother passed away and it was just the two of them. Even when his leg became the way it is, his father still cared for him even if he stopped expecting much from him. Everything changed when his father got remarried, that''s when Xinya caught his stepmother''s eye. Xinya was always a beautiful boy and his stepmother loved beautiful boys. Nothing much happened in the beginning, she was very nice always wanting to dote on him. He soon learned that she waiting for him to let his guard down. The older he grew the more things escalated, from casual touches to more inappropriate ones. Since he was in a wheelchair she would wheel him to dark corners of their mansion out of the site of various maids and butlers and grope him only to get upset when he never got hard. Xinya didn''t know what to do he was always a timid child especially after his accident. With his father being away most of the time and with his stepmother removing all the phones from the house he didn''t know what to do. It wasn''t until one night before his father would return that he made a promise to tell his father everything. It all started at dinner his stepmother was acting really suspicious not her usual touchy way. She had this creepy smile on her face and kept urging him to drink. Xinya knew he was slow about a lot of things but he knew something was up. Luckily for him, her cell phone rang making her have to excuse herself from the table. This let Xinya have the perfect opportunity to dump the drink out into a potted plant that wasn''t too far from him. When she returned and saw that his glass was empty she just smiled and resumed eating. After excusing himself Xinya went to bed and about an hour or so later he awoke to his stepmother in sheer lingerie grinding on him. Panicking Xinya grabbed a book from his dresser and knocked her upside the head with it pushing her off him. His stepmother was a sneakily one she knew one day she would get caught, so for years, she has been telling Xinyas father that she felt uncomfortable around his son, that Xinya had been looking at her weirdly, and that he touched her inappropriately. Xinya father wrote it off as a misunderstanding but after walking in on this scene of his wife distressed, disheveled, bleeding from the head and his son chasing after her, he started to believe. Xinya tried to plead with his father, of his innocence but his father already been brainwashed by his stepmother. His father proceeded to disinherit him only allowing him to take a few of his possessions before kicking him out of the house. The only good thing was that he still had 100 thousand dollars left to him by his mother, although he wasn''t allowed to touch it until his 18th birthday. He thought about getting revenge on his stepmother and his dimwitted father but decided against it, since he knew karma was just a couple years away. In his last life two years from now, his father will walk in on her having sex with the gardener''s 15-year-old son on the kitchen table. After paying off the boy Xinya''s father was about to divorce her but it turned out that she was pregnant and the baby was his. 3 Phone Call Edited* The first thing he did was grab his smartphone and opened himself a bank account, afterward, he moved the money his mother left him to it. In his last life, he waited until the day after his birthday to do so because he was so depressed not knowing that his stepmother found out about the money and had it merge with the families account. When he learned about what his stepmother did, he was enraged but there was nothing he could do. He wanted to get a job but the jobs he could do needed experience or so the employers said. Those days were the hardest, it wasn''t until a year later his only friend found him out on the street. Her name was Pan Wei a childhood friend of his and the only woman he could tolerate. She is the daughter of one of the previous household''s maids. His stepmother fired her mom because she couldn''t stand how close her daughter and Xinya were. Xinya stopped talking to her after his stepmother banned her from the house and took his phone away. When she found him on the streets, although they weren''t as close as they used to, she still helped him a great deal. She fed him, let him stay with her for a while and brought him a VR headset and taught him how to make money in the game. If it wasn''t for her he knew for sure that he would have been dead a lot sooner. Sadly Wei died two years after that by way of VR sickness. She used a VR Pod that allows one to stay inside of it for 24 hours if one chooses as long as it is stocked with the standard nutrient solution. One day she asked her roommate who was going to the store to buy more for her. Being deceitful her roommate brought expired ones for cheap so she could pocket the money. Wei died because of that roommate selfishness, nobody would have known but luckily the roommate had a case of guilty conscious and turned herself in. Clenching his fists, Xinya promised himself that he wouldn''t let that happen this time. Opening up his contacts he dials the number of the person he owes everything too. The phone rang twice before it was picked up. "Xinya... is that you?" A bell-like voice said. Tears gathered in his eyes, it''s been so long since he heard his friend''s voice. He never thought that he would be able to hear it again. "Yes, it''s me." He said. The two of them talked about everything that has happened. He told her about what his stepmother did and how he was disinherited and kicked out of the house. "Don''t beat yourself up, nobody noticed." "But I should have, I was your best friend. After that woman banned me I was so angry and then I got angry at you because you stopped contacting me. I thought you were only my friend because I was convenient... what a fool I was." Wei replied sadly. Xinya finally knew why Wei did so much for him in the past after learning the truth, she must have felt really guilty that she doubted him. "It''s alright, really. I''m away from her now." "That''s true, but where are you staying now?" Wei asked worriedly. "Some cheap motel in the slums." Wei let out a horror-filled gasp before saying, "What are you doing at such a place?" "I didn''t have any money for somewhere better and I could only get the money my mother left for me today." He replied. "That''s right... it''s your birthday today." Wei said softly into the phone. "Yeah it is, but it''s not worth celebrating this year." Huffing angrily at the situation Wei says, "Fine, but next year we''re partying twice as hard to make up for this year. By the way, tell me where you are, your coming to stay with me." "Alright, but I won''t stay there for free." He said while telling her his address. "I''ll come to pick you up in a bit, make sure you have your stuff ready." She said bossily. "Don''t worry, I only have one bag and it''s already packed." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "One bag? They only let you take one bag with you?" "Yeah..." He replied meekly. "Your stepmother making me hate her more and more. I don''t even know why that stupid bitch tried to seduce you, with you being gay and all." "How did you know?" He asked startled. "Please... if you never tried anything with me, obviously your gay." Xinya couldn''t help but let out a laugh at her nonsensical words. "It''s good to hear your laugh again it has been a long time," Wei said softly. He knew then just by her words how concern she been about him and felt like tearing up again but held it back to console her. "Yes, it has been a long time." He said finally. "I''ll be there in an hour, wait for me." She said before ending the call. 4 Moving in Edited* Punching the steering wheel in one part frustration and one part anger, Wei pushed back the urge to find that woman and make her pay for what she did. At this moment she just wanted to get to her friend and make sure that he is alright. The drive took her all of 30 minutes due to the fact that she was driving well over the speed limit. When she got to the address that Xinya told her she was appalled by what she saw and wanted to get him away from this place as fast as she could. Even though it was a motel in the slums it was decent enough but that wasn''t the reason that she was disgusted. All around the area were prostitutes both men and women. They were openly performing indecent acts all around the building. She knew she needed to hurry and get Xinya away from here because if he sees this he might become even more emotionally damaged than he is already. Disregarding her surroundings Wei hurried to where Xinya''s room was located. "Xinya I''m here, open up!" Wei yelled as she knocked on the room door. Opening the door slightly, Xinya peeked out the door. Seeing that it was just Wei he let out a relieved breath and opened the door all the way. When he came out earlier the prostitutes around the area started soliciting him, even offering to do anything he wanted for free. It was slightly trauma-inducing, those lewd faces brought back unwanted memories. "I''m so glad you''re here," he said with a smile, opening the door wider to let her in. "I hope I didn''t make you wait too long," Wei replied walking into the room and grabbing his bag that was on the floor. "Let''s get out of here." "I have no problem with that." Wei hurried and wheeled Xiaya to her truck and helped him inside before putting his bag in the back. Once everything was situated Wei got in and drove off. During the car ride back to Wei''s house, Xiaya asked about how Wei''s life been since they parted even though he already knew, but he knew that talking would bring them closer again. They talked about all sorts of different things, Wei told him about how her mother got a better job after she got fired. She told him how nice their new employees were, they even helped her get an apartment in a good area. Lastly was the elite area where the fabulously rich lived. This area mostly had business moguls, famous people and so on. It was a gated community and very secure, this is where Xinya used to live. The place where Wei was taking him now was the middle-class area to one of the low-end apartments. Even if it was considered low end it was just on the edge of being high end. It was a very desirable location to live in, but the rent is quite high, which is probably why Wei needed a roommate in Xinya''s last life. When they arrived Xinya pretended to be surprised by the place. The apartment building was huge with over 30 floors. The inside was decorated quite nicely for where it was located. It reminded him of one of those luxury hotels he had the pleasure to stay in when he was younger. Wei took him to the 15th floor where she was staying all the while explaining to him about the benefits of living here. Once they reached her apartment, Wei opened the door with a flourish and pushed Xinya inside. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Glancing around the place, Xinya felt that it had a homey feel to it despite being a tad girly. The living room was decorated with ivory walls and carpet, a floral covered couch and chair and a reasonable size tv. The kitchen was covered in yellow and white, with the latest appliances. She went on to show him the bedrooms and bathroom before asking him if he liked it. Xinya made sure to comment on how great the place was, it was small but considering where he lived in his other life this place was paradise. After discussing everything, Wei put his name on the tenant lease. His share of the rent would be $1,500 a month, so he decided to give her 6 months in advance. The next few days went by great, Wei took him shopping for new furniture for his room and they got to know each other again. One night while they were eating dinner Wei asked him if he was going to get a job somewhere since she knew that the money his mother left for him wouldn''t last forever. So Xinya told her how he was going to try to make money playing the VRMMO Haven Online. Wei was a little shocked since she knew that he never played any games before, but she also knew that would probably be the only path that he could take. Plus if he gets good enough maybe he could get a company to sponsor him. Xinya already knew exactly what Wei thoughts were, they were the same as everyone else who first starts a VR Game. The ultimate goal, to get a company to sponsor them, but there was only a 1 out of a million chance of a person getting a company interest enough, to get them to invest in them. 5 Game Start Edited* There was even a special website called KiloXA that allows players to live-stream themselves inside of the game. It was a good way to make a name for yourself while making some cash on the side. Xinya used to watch a lot of different broadcasts and have all sorts of special places stored in his brain. If it wasn''t for lack of interest in grinding for levels he could probably be a ranker. Xinya watched as the men finish setting up his new pod with glee. In his old life, he never imagined that he be able to one. The pod cost alone was a staggering amount of $55,000, plus the medical assistance fee of $100 a month and if that wasn''t bad enough there was still the price of nutrient solution. Lucky the pod came with a six month supply of the stuff but after that, he would have to pay $200 dollars for a case. After the men left Xinya went over to inspect his new purchase. Caressing the metal encasing, Xinya felt that it was worth the price because it was a gorgeous piece of machinery. The pod itself was as big as a small twin-sized bed, it was oval in shape and had a small hatch that opened. Opening the hatch to pod he saw that there was a comfortable mattress for him to lay on, electronic eyewear that was connected to the pod itself, some electrodes that needed to be hooked up to the body and small plastic tubes sticking out of the sides. Xinya was confused about why the tubes were there for a minute when he remembered that they were there to get the nutrient solution in. He heard that it turns into a gas and seeps into your body while you''re in the virtual reality. Turning around he wanted to see Wei''s reaction to the pod only to see her staring at it as if it was her long lost lover. Shaking his head at her reaction, he turned his attention back towards the pod. He did offer to help her pay for the rest of her, it was the least he could do after she helped him so much, but she denied his offer saying that would pay for it herself. He did try to insist because he knew she was worried about how expensive it was and she knew that he didn''t have a lot of money after buying his. She ignored him saying that she be able to afford it soon and when she gets one he better help her level up, to which he just nodded and said he promised he would. After getting himself situated in the machine he made sure that he was all hooked before closing the hatch and pressing the button to turn the pod on. A ding sound was heard before a mechanical voice begins speaking. [System: Do you wish to register this pod?] "Yes!" [System: Scanning.... this pod have been registered to Yin Xinya, Male, age 18, SS: 123-xx-xxxx. Is this information correct?] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Yes." [System: Which game would you like to play?] "Haven Online." [System: One moment please.] There were a series of different beeps for around 10 minutes before the voice spoke again. [System: Would you like to begin the game now?] "Yes." [System: Internalizing...] Suddenly Xinya world turned to black before a cut scene started playing. It showed Haven Online as a place where you have the freedom to do anything you dream of doing. He remembered watching it in his past life but not really paying attention to it but this time he watched with expectation. After the cut scene was over he was brought to a white room where a floating fairy NPC with long orange hair and pink wings were waiting at. "Hello, my name is Marisol. Welcome to Haven Online, is there anything you would like to ask before you create your character?" The fairy asked in a cheerful tone. Shaking his head Xinya replied, "No, there is nothing I need to ask." 6 Character Creation Edited* First was the Human race, the avatar looked exactly like him with no changes at all. This race was common throughout every VRMMO, it would be odd to find one without it. The Human race had great potential and skills are learned quicker than other races. They have a mass amount of creativity which gives them extra experience and bonus skill points when leveling up a crafting skill. Their only drawbacks are that they are weaker than the other races. The Siren race was a bit different, the avatar of him had short blue hair and glittering scales that cover most of the body. They are musically inclined, be it with song or instruments. This race is coveted, by idol singers and the like. Sirens gain extra experience and damage when using music skills and they also get a skill called Siren''s song with the ability to hypnotize any monsters to do their bidding. Their only drawback is that their weak to fire type monsters. The Dwarves are another stereotypical race in games, the avatar looked very stout with medium length hair and a long beard that was braided. They are expert miners and workers of stone and metal they are capable of crafting with great strength along with making things of unimaginable beauty and intricacy. This race is great if you want to go into blacksmithing or jewelry making. The Elf or the fair folk as many call them are human-looking but just have pointy ears and their beauty is magnified to 200%, which is why many girls play them. They have high intelligence and dexterity which gives them an advantage in magic and archery. Their only drawback is that they have a weak defense. The Giants are of human appearance, but of prodigious size and strength, which Xinya could see reflected in his avatar. The Giants have a very high defense which makes them the ideal tank. They also are experts in melee attacks which is why they have extra combat damage. They also have there own unique skill called stomp, which allows them to stomp the ground with force, temporarily immobilizing an enemy and causing damage. Their only drawback is that they have very slow movement speed. The Dragonkin, on the other hand, doesn''t have any human characteristics and the avatar looks like a dragon with two legs. It had dragon wings, scales covering the entire body and sharp dagger-like claws. Dragonkin are humans descended from dragons, these beings are very intelligent and will get extra experience and damage while doing fire-type magic, but they are defenseless against water. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Lastly, it was the class that Xinya wanted to pick the Dryad. The avatar had dark green hair, bark-like skin, and vine-like tattoos that were wrapped around his neck and other places on his body. Dryads are attuned to nature. They can find and grow rare plants or items with ease be it on land or sea. If they craft with items from nature it will always have a better effect than anything made by another race. The only drawback to this race is that their defense is very low and they must soak their feet in a water source every twelve hours for their energy source. Dryads are thought of as the trash race because their skills are seemingly not needed, but Xinya knew that after the update in a few months the Dryad will be one of the best money making races in all of Haven. Haven Online creator''s wanted the virtual reality world to be truly immersive. So they tried to make every skill and item useful as skills and items, in reality, are useful, but they realized that two skills in-game were being not useful by players, the skills in question are cooking and potion making, because one didn''t need to eat in-game and all potions can be brought by NCP''s, so it was a waste of skill point to level up these skills. To resolve this, the creators decided to update the game, making it so your avatar will get hungry three times a day or more depending on how much you feed it, also the NPC''s will now only sell the most basic of potions, which consisted of health and magic potions that would only recover 50 points of your health or magic. 7 Drifting Cloud Edited* "Marisol, I''m finished with this part," Xinya said to the fairy that hovering near him. Waving her hand, another screen popped up. It was the screen that let you pick your beginner stats. To start off everyone gets twenty points that can be put in either of your six starting stats. There was health, magic power, stamina, strength, intelligence, and dexterity. While strength, intelligence, and dexterity only go up by one when you but a point into them, health, magic, and stamina got up ten points. For example his you put 3 points in health, your health will be 30 points. You can put in these stats manually or you could let the NPC fairy roll them for you. If you let the NPC do it there is a chance you can get point in a hidden stat. There were two hidden stats, one was Will and the other was Luck. Will was a stat that determines your mental prowess. The more Will you have, the better a person can survive dangerous situations. Will also affect your critical damage, combat skills, magic defense and the ability to survive fatal blows. Will is one of the most sought-after stats for rankers, but it is also the hardest to get. To get it you need to survive a hit with only 1% of health remaining and if you could do that there it is only a 2% chance of acquiring it. "You want me to pick your stats? Oh, goodie!" The fairy said with a look of glee on her face. Waving her tiny hands a giant lever appeared by her side, while a stat card appeared by Xinya''s head. With one last delighted giggle, the fairy pulled down the lever as hard as she could. A couple of seconds passed by as the numbers began to appear, Xinya was quite nervous he hoped he didn''t make a mistake by doing this. If he gets a bad roll you might have just put a set back into his plans. Once the numbers stopped moving he heard the fairy laugh excitedly while clapping her hands. "Wow, this was my best roll ever!" Marisol said looking proud of herself. Turning his head slowing, Xinya finally got a look at his stats. He couldn''t believe his eyes so much that he did a double-take. He got Luck, the one he was hoping to get. Although there was only one point in it, it was still great, because although it''s hard to get it''s not difficult to train. Looking at the rest of his stats they seem alright, he got 5 points into HP, 6 into MP, 3 into STA, 1 into STR, 2 into INT and 3 into DEX. Although his STR was worrying, he wasn''t planning on leveling it once he gets his job anyway, but he does need to get to level 10 before that. Which he knew would be hard with only one STR. Shaking his head he motions for the fairy to continue. "You''re almost done all you have to do is pick your name and then I will send you on your way to the beginner town." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Xinya thought hard about a name, in his last life he didn''t really care because he wasn''t really playing, so he just named his character Worker #2 as a joke, but now since he is going to really be playing and exploring the world he wanted something that would suit him. After a few minutes of thinking, he knew exactly what he wanted his name to be. "I want my name to be Drifting Cloud," he said to the NPC. The fairy eyes blanked for a moment and Xinya knew she was checking her databases to see if that name could be used after another moment passed she came back to life with a smile. "The name you have chosen is available. You are now Drifting Cloud. Are you ready to begin your adventure in Haven?" 8 Beginner Town Edited* Taking a look at his surroundings, he could see that there wasn''t a lot of players here. Most of the people who littered the street were NPCs. This wasn''t really surprising since, in the beginner town, the experience rate was doubled. Getting to level 10 here would take all of an hour, maybe two if a person was lazy, but once you reach level 10 you will be automatically transported away from the beginner town and can never come back. What people didn''t learn until later was that there are many secrets in the beginner town, you just have to find them. It took three years until someone decided to look around the place and see what wonders it held. Xinya was just surprised that it took that long before someone got curious enough to investigate every nook and cranny of the place. He always thought that under different circumstances he would''ve explored every inch of this virtual world. That person did discover some very interesting things about the beginner town, some useful and some seemingly useless information. It was the seemingly useless information that Xinya was going to go for. One thing people didn''t know was that the beginner town was there to help you gain the skills you might need before heading out into the main world. Although you could get them out there too, you would have to travel to different places, which would take hours, even days in the game depending on the distance. Although time is on a faster spectrum, 1 hour in the game equals to 30 minutes in reality. Shaking his head, Xinya cleared away the thoughts of how careless people could be and headed to his first destination. He walked until he saw an out of the way restaurant. On the step, he saw a little boy looking into a basket with a worried expression on his face. This was the start of a chain quest that would get him the cooking skill. Actually, this chain quest will get him 9 skills that will make his cooking above everyone else''s. Although you could get these skills out there in the main world there is a skill that one could only get in the beginner town, well there were few but only one for cooking. Walking up to the young boy in question Xinya said, "Hello there, is something the matter?" A notification box appeared in front of Xinya face: A quest has been triggered would you like to proceed? Xinya answered yes with his mind and the box went away. The young boy looked at him with tearful eyes and said, "Today is my mother''s birthday, I made her a cake but I dropped it causing it to become ruined. I would like to make her another but we are out of eggs and milk. I would go and get more but the farm is far away and my mother would get upset with me is I go by myself." After saying that the boy looked down despondently. "I can go with you if you want," Xinya said, comforting the youth. "You would do that mister? Thank you so much." The boy said brimming with enthusiasm. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. A quest has been created: Help the restaurant owner''s son collect 5 eggs and 5 bottles of milk. Reward: 5 exp 5 bronze coins Learn: Egg Gathering and Milking Now egg gathering and milking might seem like useless skills, since you can do it without getting the skills but with the skills, the animals will be calmer, the time needed to collect will be reduced and the items will be of better quality. Also, there is a 1 in a million chance that you can gather a golden egg from chickens and if you sell it to an NPC you can get 1 million gold. Xinya followed the boy to the farm, and after slipping in the mud and running after crazy chickens was finally able to collect the items the boy needed to make the cake. "Thank you so much for helping me, mister." Smiling, Xinya rubbed the boy''s head and replied, "Your welcome." Quest completed. You gained 5 exp and 5 bronze coins. You have two new skills please check your skill bar for more details. Opening his passive skill bar Xinya checked out his new skills. Egg gathering: Improves the quality of eggs and the ability to gather eggs from chickens. Who knows? You just might just find a golden egg! Milking: Improves the speed at which you milk cows and goats and the quality of the milk. Nothing like a fresh glass of milk just squeezed out of the teat of an animal! "Would you mind helping me with something else mister?" The boy shyly asked. "Sure what do you need?" Xinya asked expectedly. 9 Old Wang鈥檚 Farm Edited* "Sure, no problem, I will go right away," Xinya replied. Quest has been created: The restaurant owner''s son is worried that his sister won''t make it back in time to finish cooking their mother''s birthday meal, go to Old Man Wang''s farm and help the sister make it back on time. Reward: 15 exp 10 bronze coins Learn:?? And ?? The young boy gave Xinya a hand-drawn map and sent him on his way. It took all of twenty minutes to reach the farm. There was a young woman standing in the middle of the field, she appeared to be 18 or 19 years old she had on a green jumper with a straw hat. At the moment she was frantically swatting away three giant crow looking birds that had two heads and glowing red eyes. Xinya knew these birds they were called Glass Wyverns. They are basically harmless to players but to crops, they are a menace. They can eat up an entire crop in less than an hour if not stopped, their weakness is water. Once they get their wings wet, they won''t be able to fly causing them to be sitting ducks for whatever predators that have their eyes on them. Seeing a well and a bucket filled with water, Xinya grabbed it. Using the ladle inside the bucket he splashed the birds, close enough so that they could feel the water but not close enough for them to get drenched. Although their carcasses would fetch a pretty penny at the market, with only one point in STR they would take forever to kill. As Xinya was putting the bucket down the young woman let out an excited screech bouncing over towards him. "Thanks so much mister, I been dealing with those darn birds for the last couple of hours. If you hadn''t come I don''t know what I would have done. By the way the name Macaroon, what''s yours?" Macaroon said while sticking her hand out. Xinya looked at the offered hand then back at her and just smiled ignoring her outreached hand. "My name is Drifting Cloud." "Oh," she says while putting down her arm in an awkward manner."It''s nice to meet you. May I know why you are here?" "You younger brother asked me to come to check on you. He was worried you wouldn''t make it back on time to fix dinner for your mother''s birthday." Slapping her forehead Macaroon said, " Oh no, I was so preoccupied with those darn birds I almost forgot my main purpose, I need to hurry up and gather the ingredients that I need. Quest Completed. You have gained 15 exp and 10 bronze coins. You have gained two new skills, please check your skill bar for more details. Hoeing was a passive skill that improves the ability to gather different types of plants with a Hoe. Although dirty-minded people would say it is something entirely different. To rank up this all you had to hoe different plants. Harvesting was a passive skill that improves the ability to gather harvestable using a Sickle or by hand. To level up this skill all you need to do is harvest different plants. This also counts towards herbs that helps a person create potions. Putting away the skill bar Xinya saw that the girl was still standing there looking at him sheepishly. "I''m sorry to bother you again mister but do you mind helping me?" Quest Triggered "What do you need help with?" Xinya asked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "I don''t think I will make it back in time if I have to gather everything I need by myself, would you mind getting half of the ingredients for me?" "No problem, I would be happy to help." He replied. Quest has been created: Macaroon needs you to gather ten potatoes, five carrots and two stacks of rice in 1 hour. Reward: 25 exp 25 bronze coins After getting an extra set of tools from Macaroon, Xinya set out to harvest some potatoes. Since he was only a novice at the skill he did poorly at first. Similar to the real world when someone just beginning to learn something but as he kept doing it and his skill leveled up a rank he became more accustomed to the action of harvesting plants. In his old life, he cooked a bit in this game but he only had two recipes and the ingredients were so easy to find that you could basically stumble across it by just walking through the woods. In his last life, he focused more on gathering herbs for potions to sell to make money as making potions himself were just too expensive. To make potions you needed a potions kit and there only three ways of getting one, via a treasure chest, a random quest reward or in the beginner town. Few people had them and after the update, most people wouldn''t sell theirs and the ones who did sell them for an extraordinary amount. 10 Cooking Skill Edited* "You finished already? I thought it would take you longer, I was just coming over to help you. Since your done, I can hurry home and start on dinner." Xinya just gave a smile, while putting the sacks of ingredients into the wagon. Once he was done a notification popped up. Quest Completed. You gained 25 exp and 25 bronze coins. Opening his character information box he saw his recent stats: Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Non-Available HP: 50/50 Level: 1 MP: 60/60 EXP: 45/100 Stamina: 30/30 Skill points: 0 Str: 1 Dex: 3 Int: 2 Luck: 1 Coins: 0 gold 0 silver 40 bronze Xinya shook his head sadly when he saw his experience, he had been playing for almost an hour and still wasn''t halfway through level one. Shrugging it off, Xinya knew that a high level was good but without decent skills it was worthless. "I would love too." He replied diligently. Quest Triggered. Seeing his sincere expression, Macaroon looks down. "Well, actually I don''t think that I would be able to finish cooking the meal by myself and would like your help." Laughing lightly Xinya agreed to help her. Quest has been created. Macaroon needs you to help her cook Lamb stew for her mother before the party begins. Reward: 15 exp and 10 bronze coins Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Learn:?? and ?? He walked back to the small restaurant with Macaroon and walked into the kitchen to help her cook. They passed by the young boy he helped earlier, he was completely unaware of their presence because he was busy concentrating on decorating the giant cake he had in front of him. Once they were in the kitchen Macaroon started to immediately direct him on what he needed to do. Xinya was mostly aware of what he needed to do since he was already good at cooking in real life. In Haven Online most skills just magnify a person''s innate talents in the game. For example, if a person was a terrible singer and they got the singing skill, even if they level the skill up all the way they would only become a decent singer. This is the reason that even though Haven Online has a lot of fantasy elements, it is said to be one of the most realistic virtual reality games ever made. It didn''t take that long before everything was finally completed and was just waiting for the final touches. Macaroon stood over one of the pots stirring while looking very proud of herself. Xinya had to admit that the food did smell divine, he bet it would taste like nothing he experienced in the real world. Closing the lid on the pot, Macaroon walked over to him while wiping her hands on her apron. "Thanks again, with your help I finally finished the stew for my mother''s birthday." Quest completed. You gained 15 exp and 10 bronze coins. You have gained two new skills, please check your skill bar for more details. Checking his skill bar he saw that he finally got the cooking skill and the skill that can only be begotten from the beginner town, production mastery. Cooking: Allows a player to cook with various food ingredients. A player can learn recipes by finding them throughout the world or from monster drops. There are many types of specializations in cooking to learn them all please visit different chefs in the world. A cooking journal has been added to your character tab once you''ve made all dishes within it with a rating of 5 stars you will be known as a grandmaster chef. Xinya checked out his cooking journal and let out a low whistle at how many dishes there were. He knew that he wasn''t going to be a grandmaster anytime soon. Closing the tab, for now, he checked out the other skill, the one he always wanted to have. Production Mastery: Making something, no matter what it is, requires selecting the materials, shaping it, and then properly combining them. Someone who can mentally organize the relationship of different parts and how these parts combine to form the resulting product will develop patience and tenacity that they didn''t have before. This leads to improved Stamina. Production Mastery is a skill that reflects the heart of the maker. The heart of the maker who imagines the completed product has a more delicate skill, and his intense desire and imagination lead to a successful incarnation of the result in the real world. Making something or discovering in order to make something is the driving force that develops the Production Mastery skill. Production Mastery passively increases the gathering and production success rate of all life skills. 11 Birthday Surprise Edited* "Macaroon, the neighbors have started to arrive! Mom will be here soon and we didn''t even start to set up the place!" the boy said while wringing his hands together. Xinya could see that he worked himself up into a state of panic. He looked over at Macaroon to see what she would do only to find her looking at him with a pleading expression. Quest Triggered "Mister, do you mind helping us set up the food, while we are busy with the guests and preparing the last of the dishes?" Macaroon asked helplessly. "Sure I don''t mind helping you out with that," Xinya said as a notification popped up in front of him. Quest has been created. Macaroon needs you to help her set up the table for 11 people including yourself. Be sure to make the dining table presentation nice or Macaroon will be upset with you. Reward: 45 exp & 50 bronze coins Learn:?? Xinya was shown to a cupboard where all the items he needed to decorate the table was located at. Looking inside he saw three different types of silverware and dishes, there were candles and handmade flowers and other sorts of things. After rooting around in the cupboard for a bit, Xinya knew how he was going to decorate the table. There were some white apple blossom plates with a golden trim that looked very lovely, there were also matching napkins. The handmade flowers that he found were also apple blossoms, meaning somebody must have put together this set once upon a time ago. Deciding to go with his gut he grabbed all these items out. He looked around once more and grabbed any other items that look like it could match the apple blossom motif he was going for. After finding everything he needed, he took the items to the dining room and begun to prepare. He remembered when he was younger, he used to watch the maids set the table for parties all the time. So following that memory he began setting up the ideal dining room table presentation. He went over everything more than once, he knew that this was just a game and it didn''t need to be perfect, but he wanted it to be. Adding the final finishing touches, Xinya stood back and marveled in the artistry he created with just household items. He was about to go back into the kitchen to announce that he was done, but hearing footsteps, he turned around to see Macaroon carrying the food in. She stood awestruck at the entrance taking in her surroundings. "Wow, mister! It''s beautiful, my mother will love it. Thank you so much." Macaroon said while running up to him to give him a hug, but before she could Xinya sidestepped her causing her to fall on the floor. Getting up she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "I forget you don''t like hugs. Hehe, but I do want to sincerely thank you for all your help so far." Quest completed. You gained 45 exp and 50 bronze coins. You have gained a new skill, please check your skill bar for more details. You leveled up! Opening up his skill bar, Xinya saw that he gained a skill called Catering, it probably won''t be any use to him in the early stages of the game but later on it might be of great use, Xinya thought as he read the description. Catering: The true joy of cooking is sharing your dishes with others. Catering allows you to prepare food in larger quantities so that you and your guests can dine together. The more people you have, the better your banquets will be. It creates a Catering Dish out of several other food items. You must have at least two edible food items to merge into one Catering Dish. The Catering Dish produced provides the combined total of the stat bonuses of all the items it is made up with. Xinya and Macaroon worked together to put all the food in the right place on the dining table. The cake that her brother made sat in the center of the table on full display. When it was about time for their mother to come home, they moved all the guests into the dining room, so that when she walked in she would be surprised. It was a little past 6''oclock game time when their mother walked in, the surprise went off without a hitch and their mother teary-eyed doing the whole party. The party went on for a couple of hours before everyone decided to leave as Xinya was debating to himself if he should leave or not, Macaroon came and dragged him over towards her mother. Once they were there, Xinya quickly removed her hand from his person while giving her mother a smile. "My dear boy, my children told me how much you helped them today. I would like to say that you have my gratitude." The older woman said while smiling softly at him. Chain Quest Completed. You gained 10 gold and 1000 exp. You have learned Tasting & Ingredient Hunting. You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You are now level 4! "Here''s a little something for your trouble." The woman said while handing in a package wrapped in cloth. You have gained the mother love package, please keep it safe it''s from the heart. "Thank you so much, ma''am," Xinya said while giving a gentle smile. After saying goodbye to everyone, Xinya left thrumming with excitement. He couldn''t believe the reward he got, the guy on the forums never told anyone about that part. 10 gold was a lot for a beginner, it''s $5000 in real-world currency. He knew it would be great starting money for him to buy the things he needs. It would save him a lot of time and trouble. Xinya decides to head to a general shop because he wants to check out the different cooking supplies since he knows that items are cheaper when they are brought here. While walking there Xinya looks over the new skills he had gotten. Reading them over, Xinya knew that they would always be helpful to him. Ingredient Hunting: Rare cuisines depend on hard-to-find ingredients from the wild and beyond. But you must be able to recognize a quality ingredient to pick it out from the garbage! The art of Ingredient Hunting will make these easier to spot. It passively causes certain monsters to have a chance to drop ingredients, although monsters may drop ingredients, their drop rates are unaffected by this skill. Tasting: Cooking is a science, where ratios and formulas combine to make something of exquisite beauty. When prepared with a steady hand and a patient mind, food has the ability to move hearts and give strength. Tasting will improve these effects. This skill passively increases cooked Items and Catering stat gain effects while increasing Cooking''s base quality rate, stability during Cooking, and EXP provided from Cooking food. After reading the skills over, Xinya hummed to himself deciding to open the package that the woman gave to him when he heard a scream coming from over yonder. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Non-Available HP: 90/90 Level: 4 MP: 100/100 EXP: 255/1000 Stamina: 70/70 Skill points: 3 Str: 1 Dex: 3 Int: 2 Luck: 1 12 New Friend* As the person who was running got closer, Xinya saw that it was a young boy around 13 or 14. He wasn''t surprised by this since people over 13 are allowed to play with parent supervision and a guardian inside the game. As a matter of fact, most of the poorer families encourage their children to play at a young age, so they could bring extra income into the house. Xinya saw that the two monsters that were chasing the boy were Avaha''s, they were a cross between a dog and a snail, fast but slimy and the grossest looking monster in all of the beginner town. They were blind, but have keen hearing, the slightest movement could set them off. As long a person stays completely motionless the Avaha''s aggro would disappear. Glancing around Xinya saw that there was a tree nearby, if he could get to it he could use his Dryad racial skill of being one with nature to blend in with the tree, to be unseen, but he felt wrong just letting the boy die. After pondering for a bit on rather or not if he should just leave the kid to those monsters or not, he decided to save the boy. Picking up a nearby rock, he threw it at the nearest dog, sprinting forward he grabs the kid and then ran as fast as he could towards that tree, activating his racial skill. Covering the boy mouth so that he couldn''t speak, he watched as the Avaha''s prowled around the tree where they were hiding for a couple of minutes before wandering off. Xinya stayed motionless in that position until he couldn''t see the shadows of those dogs anymore. After two more minutes passed, Xinya thought it was safe enough. Canceling his skill and pushed the small boy away from him. Getting a better look at him, it turns out that he was a beastman, a wolf hybrid to be exact. Xinya felt an urge to give his head a pat because how adorable the boy looked but didn''t think the boy would appreciate that. "Thank you for saving me, I would have been a goner if it weren''t for you." The boy said cheerfully. "Your welcome, but can you tell me why you were fighting here alone at night?" Xinya asked. Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment the boy said, "Well I was playing with my older brother earlier, but I had to stop playing to do a bit to do real-world stuff and when I came back, my brother already left beginner town." "I''m getting to that. I wanted to catch up to my brother and you know the monsters give 2x experience at night. I just didn''t think that they would become that strong." "There''s no such thing as a free lunch, you know." Xinya laughingly replied. "You can say that again, by the way, I''m Melting Snow and you?" "I''m Drifting Cloud, it''s nice to meet you," Xinya said smiling. Getting closer to him Melting Snow started inspecting Xinya everywhere. Getting flustered by him invading his personal space, Xinya pushes him back. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Xinya asks confused. "Oh sorry, I just realized that you are a Dryad. I wanted to make one too because they look so cool, but my brother told me not too because they''re the most worthless race in the whole entire game." Even though Xinya knew that wasn''t going to be true soon, his whole entire being suffered damage points when Melting Snow said that, but he just sucked it up and brushes the insult off because he knows that there will be a lot more of them until the update comes, especially when he picks his class. Xinya just gives Melting Snow a strained smile and leaves it at that. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Melting snow knew he goofed up, he basically called the guy who saved him a piece of crap, well his race anyway. Laughing awkwardly he tried to think of something to segway them into another topic. "So¡­ what were you off to do, before you had to rescue me?" Melting snow asked. "Well, I was just going to check out the General store to see what kind of items they had there. I heard it was cheaper than the ones you get when you leave to go to one of the starting cities." Xinya replied. Tilting his head in confusion Melting Snow said, "Really? I never read anything like that on the forums." "Oh...well, my friend told me about it," Xinya said. "I see, well I don''t want to try grinding anymore tonight, so I will come with you if you don''t mind." "Sure come along," Xinya replied with a smile. Suddenly a notification box popped up. Melted Snow has added you as a friend do you accept? Yes or No 13 General Store* "Oh look we here!" Xinya excitedly yelled trying to interrupt the boy''s story. Walking into the store, Xinya saw that it did sell an assortment of items that you wouldn''t see together once you left the beginner town. There was an assortment of musical instruments, like violins, cellos, guitars, drums, pianos, and even handheld microphones. There was also score scrolls and art canvases scattered about. Going deeper into the store, Xinya also saw tailoring items, pet training kits, and something Xinya knew he had to get, an Automat kit. An automat is a kind of vending machine, players can put their sellable items into it and leave it somewhere in town. When other players buy the items the coins will go to the owner automatically and what''s really nice about it is that the owner can restock the automat from anywhere. Most people don''t use them since they can only hold small sized items such as food, potions, knives or shoes for example. Xinya was distracted from looking around for minute by Melting snow loud voice as he enthusiastically gushed over the pet training materials and how cheap they were. "Drifting Cloud look, they are selling these items at such a low price. My brother sent me a message earlier saying these exact items cost around 50 silver each and I should save my money, but look they only 15 bronze coins here. Wait until I tell my brother he going to be so jealous." Melting Snow said while grabbing all the items he could. Laughing slightly, Xinya said, "I''m betting you''re glad you didn''t make it to level ten when your brother did." "I''m sure am." The boy said with gleaming eyes holding on to his items like they were treasures. Shaking his head at Melting Snow silliness, Xinya went back to looking around the store. After a couple of minutes of searching, he found the cooking equipment. Everything he would ever need was there, although the quality was low as was everything in the store, it would last him until he made enough coins to buy better quality equipment. Looking over everything he noticed that everything wouldn''t fit into his spatial inventory, he would need to get a larger one. After checking around the shop and not seeing any he went to ask the owner. "Excuse me, sir, can you help me?" Xinya asked the older gentleman that was standing behind the counter. "Hello there, you young whippersnapper. What can I help you with?" "Well I searched your store for a spatial ring but I can''t seem to find any. Do you sell them here?" Xinya politely asked. Quest Triggered "How about you help an old man out and get the material I need for me. If you do I''ll give you spatial jewelry set for your trouble." the old man said. "I would be glad to help, what do you need me to do?" Xinya asked. "There is a cave a little way out of town, inside the cave is these magical stones called Lapis. It is deep blue and glows with a magical aura, they grow on vines that cover the cave, I need you to gather some for me. The only problem is that the Lapis is a food source for the Gem Spider. It''s a fearsome creature that causes many brave men to come to their end with its poisonous fangs. I know this task sounds difficult and it is, so I will allow you to share the task with someone else. Will you do it?" Xinya weighed the pros and cons before accepting the quest. He never heard about this quest in his past life but the old man did say the stones grow on plants and he did have the harvest skill. He thought maybe that was the reason he had gotten the quest and he could always ask Melting Snow to help him with the quest. He was feeling quite glad that he saved the kid''s life now. "Yes, I will help you," Xinya said to the old man. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Good lad, I knew you wouldn''t let me down." The man said with a kind smile. Quest has been created. The general store owner needs you to gather 20 Lapis and kill the Gem Spider at Lazuli Cave. The quest can be shared. Reward: 20 bronze coins 1000 exp Item: Spatial Jewelry Set Xinya left the old man and went to find Melting Snow who he left ogling all the items in the store. After finding him in the junk section, Xinya walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Startled Melted Snow jumped and turned around, "Oh it''s you, are you ready to go?" "Well I got a quest from the general store owner and it''s sharable, do you want to join in?" Xinya asked. "What kind of quest is it?" the boy asked curiously. "It''s to kill a giant spider." Wide-eyed with excitement the boy said, "Hell yeah, I''m in." "That''s great let''s get started when day breaks. Okay?" Xinya said with a small smile. "Alright, but what should we do until then?" Pondering for a bit, Xinya look at his energy bar, "Let''s go to the pond just outside of town, I need to get my feet wet." 14 Silverware* Hearing a splash, Xinya turned to see Melting Snow jumping into the water. During the time they have been out here, Melting Snow been trying his best to catch a fish. For what propose Xinya didn''t know and when he asked all Melting Snow said was that a fish wronged him once, whatever that meant. Xinya did try to tell him he wouldn''t be able to do it without the fishing skill, but it was of no use. Checking the time Xinya saw that it was almost 1 am and the sun would be rising soon. In Haven''s Online night only lasts for three hours, it starts at 10 pm and ends at 1 am. The reason why the creators designed it that way is because of the extra bonuses at night, besides the 2x experience there was a 2x coins bonus and item bonus from monsters. If the creators were to had left night time longer, those strong individuals who could fight during that time could control the economy of the game. Xinya wondered why they added it in, in the first place, but figure it''s a chance for people who want to make quick coins. While he was waiting Xinya decided to open the package that Macaroon''s mother gave him before he left the restaurant. Opening it up, notifications started to pop up. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. You have received: Silverware set You have received: Fruit Salad and Apple Juice recipes You have received: 3 packets of seeds Opening his inventory, Xinya saw that the silverware set was something totally different from what he was expecting. It was a fork and knife that was as long as a sword, he also would be able to dual-wield them. The stats on them were alright, it was basically the same on both. Giant Flower pattern Fork [Base Stats] Damage: 15-20 Injury Rate: 0%-1% Critical: 25% Stun Rate: 10% Durability: 10/10 NPC Value: 15 silver coins Other Information: A giant fork. It does more psychological damage than physical damage. Giant Flower pattern Knife [Base Stats] Critical: 15% Stun Rate: 8% Durability: 10/10 NPC Value: 15 silver coins Other Information: A knife that is too big to be used for dining. If hit by it, you may sustain more psychological damage than physical damage. Xinya was grateful that the lady gave them to him, he just noticed that he didn''t have a weapon, he almost smacked himself in the head for being such an idiot. He didn''t know how he thought he could defeat the spider without a weapon. He just brushed it off as having too much on his mind that he forgot to get one. A person usually receives a beginner sword by completing the mayor''s quest. He is the first person a player sees when they log in, he welcomes them and gives them a quest to go around town meeting different NCP''s. In the end, you will get a sword and some coins for the trouble. Xinya figured he could just buy his own once he got finished with the restaurant quest but got sidetracked. Checking out the recipes he saw that they were pretty good, the apple juice gave a buff of +10 HP, +3 Str, and +1 Dex and the Fruit salad gives a buff of +24 HP and +30 MP. It didn''t say how much hunger it restored but Xinya knew that wouldn''t come until after the update. The seeds, on the other hand, were just a packet full of 10 apples, strawberry and cherry seeds. Xinya wouldn''t be able to use them until he had enough coins to buy a farmhouse, but if he makes enough coin soon he can buy one cheap. Ten minutes later the sun had risen and a wet and dripping Melting Snow strode his way over to Xinya pouting something fierce. Plopping down next to him, Melting Snow starting to ring out his clothes while sighing. "So, I couldn''t catch a fish." Melting Snow said despondently. "Well, I did tell you that when you first started you know," Xinya replied. Huffing, Melted Snow said, "Are you finished getting your energy up can we go and kill the spider?" "Yup," Xinya said drawing out the word. "Let''s go." The two boys followed the map that the old man gave them to the cave. The cave wasn''t as far from the town as Xinya thought it would be. It took them an hour to get there but that was only because they had to bypass all the monsters on the way there. 15 Gem Spider* "You''re asking me that now? We are about to go into battle." Xinya replied huffing. "Right¡­" Melting Snow said regaining his focus. "Tell me afterward." They started to walk deeper into the cave very cautiously, so far they haven''t seen either the Lapis or the spider. The farther they went inside with the absence of anything, the more creeped out they felt. The only good thing in this situation was that the cave wasn''t dark as one would have expected, it was illuminated by mushroom type plants that were growing around. Xinya made a note to himself to gather some on his way back. After walking a few feet farther, they both started hearing strange noises coming from ahead. Walking towards the sound, what they saw gave Xinya relief while giving Melting Snow disappointment. Surrounded by Lapis gems, there was a blue and white gem covered spider, the size of a cow, walking across the biggest spider web that he ever saw. "Hey, I thought you said it was going to be a giant spider?" Whispered Melted Snow. Looking at him in disbelief, Xinya said, "Is your definition of giant different to mine or something? What do you consider a giant?" "I don''t know maybe the size of a bus or something." "Let''s just kill this "small-sized" one first," Xinya said while shaking his head. "Since you have more HP than me you will gain its aggro, don''t tank it just run around and hit it when you can. I will hit the spider from the back while you''re doing that." After fine-tuning the plan a bit they were ready for action. Melting snow picked up the nearest rock, turning the spiders aggro towards him. The spider quickly scuttled towards him, all the while Melting Snow used his beast-like speed to dodge the spider''s poisonous fangs. Xinya could tell that he was a very good player, he stayed out of the spider''s reach at all times, only getting close enough to launch an attack on it. There were a few times where he was just an inch away from the fangs but he would always dodge in just the right time. He knew that wasn''t luck but just pure skill, he gave Melting Snow a thumbs up in his mind. While that was going on, Xinya had already sneaked up behind the spider and started using his giant fork and knife on it, doing significant damage to it. He wasn''t an expert in combat but did his best to slice away at the spider, like it was roast chicken. Between his and Melting Snow attacks the Spiders HP was dwindling down exponentially. After Melting Snow was far enough away the spider turned his attention onto him Xinya saw Melting Snow pull out an HP potion and was chugging it back to restore his health, once it was back he started running back to rejoin the fight. The spider started coming for Xinya looking all sorts of enraged. Gathering his courage he waited until it was close enough before quickly jumping on top of it, jamming his fork in its eyes in the process, completely draining the last of the spider''s HP. Once it died it burst into a million little particles and only items was left in its wake. The two boys looked at each other, their eyes gleaming with happiness. Melting Snow starting jumping up and down in excitement. You Have Leveled Up! "I can''t believe it, we did it. I wished I thought to record it. I show it to my brother, I was so badass." Melting Snow excitedly exclaims. "Says the boy who almost died at the end." Xinya jokingly replied. Sticking out his tongue, Melted snow said. "Whatever, so what did the giant bug drop anyway?" They both scanned the items to see that there was a sword with poisonous effect, a piece of armor and some misc items such as coins, spider meat, and potions. "I call dibs on the sword!" Melting Snow exclaimed. "To be fair you can have the amour." Xinya just nodded his head since that''s what he wanted in the first place. "Okay, sure. We can just split the other stuff." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. They split the coins, they each getting over 500 bronze coins apiece, Melting Snow took the potions while Xinya took the spider meat. After that Xinya started to collect all the Lapis gems that were needed without incident. Once that was completed they started walking back out the cave, Xinya gathering the glowing mushrooms on the way out, while he was doing that the two boys talked to each other while walking out of the cave. "I think after I turn in this quest I will be level ten." Melting Snow said sadly. "It was fun hanging out with you, can you tell me which region you are going to pick?" "You''re not going to the region your brother is located in?" Xinya asked. Shrugging Melted Snow said, "I think I would have a lot more fun hanging out with you." "Well, I guess either the region of Utak or Ziam since they cost by the water," Xinya replied. "Really? Ziam is where my brother went. Please go there." Remembering certain details about Ziam agreed with Melting Snow saying that he would go there when he reached level ten. The two of them continued talking about random things all the way back to town. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Non-Available HP: 100/100 Level: 4 MP: 110/110 EXP: 250/2000 Stamina: 80/80 Skill points: 4 Str: 1 Dex: 3 Int: 2 Luck: 1 16 Saying Goodbye or Not* Rolling his eyes Xinya said, "You still on that? "Well I''m curious you know, it''s not every day you see a person fighting with a giant knife and fork, I didn''t even know you could fight with them," replied Melting Snow. "As you can see you can indeed fight with them," Xinya said twirling his weapons a bit. "I got them while getting the cooking skills." "You do know that''s a useless skill right? It''s a complete waste of skill points." Melting Snow said as if he were lecturing a newb that never played games before. Shrugging Xinya just smile saying, "Everyone plays the game in their own way, there''s nothing wrong if I want to play around with cooking." "I guess you''re right and you have me, I''ll help you fight and you can feed me all sorts of yummy food. I heard when someone becomes a Master or Grandmaster chef their cooking in this game will blow a person''s mind and you will never care for real-life food as you once did." Melting Snow carried on excitedly. Laughing softly, Xinya said, "It''s a deal, I will cook you the most delicious food that you won''t even believe I was the one that made it." Xinya truly felt that Melting Snow was a very cute kid, and wondered if this is how having a little brother felt. He begins thinking about his soon to be little brother knowing that he would never have that familial connection with him. That brought Xinya''s mood down for a moment a frown almost appearing on his face, but the feeling was erased as quickly as it came when he saw Melting Snow holding out his pinky towards him to make a promise. A smile graced his face as he connected his pinky with Melting Snow, he started to feel something that he only felt with Wei, trust. He just hopes that Melting Snow won''t let him down. After walking for a while more they made it back to town and went into the general store. The owner came over to greet them as soon as he saw them a wide happy smile became plastered on his face. "I see that you two whippersnappers are back. Did you get all the Lapis I asked for?" The old man asked. "Yes, here you go, all 20 of the Lapis," Xinya replied while handing him the glowing stones. "Thank you so much, here is your reward," he said handing Xinya and Melting Snow a package. After that, he scurried away saying he had work to do and if they needed something all they needed to do was ask his assistant. Suddenly notifications popped up around Xinya as he opened the package. Quest has been completed. You have gained 20 bronze coins and 1000 exp. You have gained an Item: Lapis Cut Bracelet You have gained an Item: Lapis Cut Earring Lapis Cut Earring: This magical spatial inventory offers a total of 100 slots for storing items. Special effect: gives +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Intelligence, +4 Luck (only if you have the stats), +6 Max Damage, +5 Critical, and +3 Defense buff as long as you''re wearing it. After putting on the items, Xinya opened up his character tab to look at his new stats and was happily surprised by what he saw. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Non-Available HP: 100/100 Level: 4 MP: 110/110 Exp: 250/2000 Stamina: 80/80 Skill points: 4 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 5 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 10 gold 0 silver 600 bronze Stat Points 4 Seeing that he had some stat points that he forgot to use, he decided to assign them already knowing what his future class is going to be. He put two into HP one into stamina and the last into Intelligence. His new stats looked much better. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Non-Available HP: 120/120 Level: 4 MP: 110/110 EXP: 250/2000 Stamina: 90/90 Skill points: 4 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 6 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 10 gold 0 silver 600 bronze Stat Points 0 Xinya didn''t worry about his skill points at the moment since he needed to level up his skills by actively using them before they could go to the next level. He had no time for that since he needed to get all the skills he needed before he needed to leave beginner town. He looked over to Melting Snow who was just opening up his package, suddenly there was a shower of confetti around him signifying that he was now level. Giving a whoop Melting Snow put on the items and it seemed like he was selecting something, Xinya already knew it was the region he wanted to go to. Once he was finished Melting Snow said, " I have ten minutes before I''m going to be transported away. I''m going to buy some items before I leave, I''m going to say bye now in case I don''t see you before I leave." With that Melting Snow rushed around the store seeing if anything caught his fancy. 17 Fishing Skill* He was going for the fishing skill, the fishing skill was very special for it only had 5 levels and for each level the player needed to travel to a master fisherman in their region. The master fishermen will then give the player a task and if they complete it they would be able to level up the fishing skill. What many people didn''t know that once a player leaves beginner town and go to their region of choice there would only be four master fisherman in the selected region. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. To get all five levels of the skill a player must learn the fishing skill at the beginner town first, which was exactly what Xinya planned to do. The fishing skill is very useful, besides catching fish for cooking, you can also catch plants for potions and rarely other items such as jewelry which a player can sell to an NCP or trigger a high-grade quest, but for that the player doesn''t need all five levels of the skill, getting to level 4 would be fine. The reason Xinya wanted to be able to get to level 5 is because of the unique skill he will receive after he gains level five of the skill. This skill is called Underwater Fishing, this skill allows a player to breathe underwater for a period of time, it doesn''t sound exciting but it truly is. Underwater is the most unexplored part of the game and there are many things to find beneath the water such as treasure, hidden caves, etc. People have tried exploring under places with the swimming skill but that skill only lets a player breathe underwater for a very short period of time, longer if they have high enough stamina. The swimming skill also only allows a player to go to a certain depth. Xinya walked through the craggy old forest until he reached a clearing. Surrounded by the forest on all sides was a clear blue lake, that glinted beautifully in the sunlight, and sitting on a sturdy rock that was right next to the water was an old man fishing. Wearing just a simple outfit of pants, a shirt, and a straw hat, the man had the presence of a fishing legend. "Excuse me, sir?" Xinya said, calling out to the man. The old man just calmly put his finger to his lips signaling Xinya to be quiet, after a few more minutes the man''s fishing line was pulled. Quickly the old man struggled to reel the fish in, seeing that he was fighting a losing battle he looked over at Xinya. "Hey boy, what your doing just standing there come help me!" The old man shouted gruffly. Quest has been created. The old fisherman has been trying to catch Old Betsy the giant Salmon that lives in this lake. The fisherman has been trying to catch her for over 10 years if you help him you will be greatly rewarded. Reward: Title: The Fisherman''s Recognition Learn: Fishing Skill Xinya rushed over to where the old man was standing and grabbed ahold of the fishing rod. Gripping it with all of his might he pulled on it along with the old man, trying to pull up the fish that was struggling to get free just below the water surface. The fight was hard, Xinya was pulling as hard as he could, water was splashing all around them, the fish appearing and disappearing from view so fast that Xinya could hardly keep track of it. It took what seemed like hours but only minutes had past when they finally were able to pull the fish from the water. It was a beautiful sight. The size of the fish was extraordinary, it was a great catch. The old man thought so too if his teary eyes were any indication. "Young man, how can I ever thank you. I have been trying to catch that fish for years, It was my white whale. Now that I caught her I''m finally satisfied." The old man said gleefully. Quest Completed. Title Gained: The Fisherman''s Recognition Fisherman''s Recognition: 5% fishing bonus/ 2% more of a chance of catching an item [ While this title is activated the player will gain money profits when selling fish to NCPs] Learned: Fishing Skill Fishing: a useful skill to use when catching fish in the water. A player can easily start fishing with Fishing Rod and Bait, but you need more than that to fish even better. You must know how to adequately attach the Bait, have the judgment to choose a good place and have the patience to wait until a fish is caught once all the preparations are done. Once fish is caught, you must control the single fishing line and quickly snatch it up as the fish will challenge you with its strength. This is why many people refer to experienced fishermen as the masters of life. To level up this skill please find these masters of life to help you. The old man preceded to pack up the giant fish preparing to go but before leaving he walked over to Xinya and handed him a green fishing rod. Item gained: Spare Fishing Rod Spare Fishing Rod: A tool for fishing. Dip it in the water to catch fish. In order to fish, you need to equip it with the bait as well. Special Effect: 2% chance of catching bigger fish. With that, the old man left with a big smile on his face and Xinya holding the fishing rod with an even bigger smile. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Not-applied HP: 120/120 Level: 4 MP: 110/110 EXP: 250/2000 Stamina: 90/90 Skill points: 4 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 6 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 995 silver 444 bronze 18 Giant bugs again?* In the woods, there were different herb patches scattered around and usually, the woman could be found in the forest collecting them. If a player was interested enough to listen to the town''s gossip, they would hear the woman being called a descendant of a powerful healer. The appearance of the woman matched those rumors greatly for she had a godly aura and helped heal countless villagers with her potions. Many male players in future will seek her out and try to gain favor with the woman to b ascend past just mere friendship because in this game a player could actually date an NPC if they wanted to and if a player were of age and willing to marry an NPC they could do more. Only a few people ever ventured that far though, their reasoning was is if they couldn''t get a real girl an NPC will do. Xinya walked through the woods intent on finding the woman, after wandering around for an hour and getting lost for a moment Xinya finally stumbled upon her. She wore a white robe while carrying a wicker basket that was filled to the brim with herbs. At the moment she was kneeling down examining an herb she just plucked in her hand. "Excuse me, ma''am," Xinya said startling her from what she was doing. When she looked up at him, he saw that she was as lovely as what people reported, but the more he looked at her the more his skin crawled. So much so that he had to look away. Standing up the woman brushed off her robe, "How may I help you, young man?" "I saw that you were gathering different herbs and was interested in what you were doing?" Xinya asked even though he already knew. To get what you want from NPCs a player must never be to straight forward and only ask in a roundabout way to get a quest. The NPC''s are highly intelligent and two quests will never be the same, for example, although the cooking skill quest started out with a crying little there were so many different directions it could of went. One player even saying that he had to make a grand meal for the mayor of the town. So even if most quests start the same and give the same rewards the middle and the end will always be different. "I was collecting herbs for potion making." the woman said while looking at the herb in her hand in disappointment. "Sadly I can''t find no usable ones the woods, it seemed the wood has become infected with parasitic bugs who use the herbs as their food source. "Why would you want to help me, we just met." The woman asked curiously. Looking down pretending to be sheepish Xinya said, "Well I always had an interest in potion making and was wondering if you could give me some pointers?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Very well, If you help me get rid of those insects I will teach you the basics." The woman replied with a kind smile. Quest has been created. A mysterious young woman wants you to exterminate the insects in the wood so they won''t contaminate the herbs for her potion-making. Kill 20 Insects. Reward: 200 exp 150 bronze coins Learn: Potion Making & Herbalism "I won''t let you down I will get rid of all the bugs for you," Xinya replied. The woman gave Xinya a map to show him where the bugs hive was located and also two potions. One was called Benzo Apyrene, it was a potion that was able to smoke out the insects from within there hive so he could kill them. Xinya thought that it was nice to look at, it was a glass bottle with smoke swirling within. The other potion was called Organophosphate. The woman told Xinya to spray it on the hive after he dealt with the insect and then spray some around the area. That way no other insects would think about trying to come into the woods. Xinya followed the map until he arrived at this giant cone-shaped hive. It was golden in color and all around it, a gooey substance coated its walls. There was a large hole in the middle of the cone opening it up to what felt like a cave, but Xinya guessed there was probably a tunnel situation going on in there. Taking out his weapons and the armor that he previously got from his battle with the spider he was ready to go. Xinya sneakily walked up to the hive''s entrance and threw the smoke potion inside. The woman said it would take about a minute for it to really take effect, so while he waited Xinya got into a battle stance. Not a minute the first insect came out and it was the size of a dog. 19 All Skills Gained* Soon Xinya finished killing all twenty of them, but during that process, he learned that he really dislikes close combat fighting. He looked a right mess, there was gunk all over him plus he had bug bits in his hair. Sighing he started to use the other potion on the hive while also spraying it around the area before stopping by the nearby lake to clean up. Once he was finished getting bug innards off of himself he headed back to the woman to turn his quest. When he finally got back to the woman the sun had begun to set and the night was approaching. Knocking on the decrepit hut''s door that was considered the woman''s home he waited for her to answer. Opening the door and letting him inside she asked, "Did you do as I asked?" "Yes, Ma''am. The Mesto has been destroyed," he replied. "You did well." She said kindly. Quest has been completed. Reward: 200 exp 150 bronze coins Learned: Potion Making & Herbalism Potion Making: Once you know-how, creating potions with herbs is not such a difficult skill. But, rare potions require equally rare ingredients, and extra care should be exercised in handling them. A player can create various potions with herbs. A player must have a brewing pot in order to use this skill. Potion Making uses 1 Stamina, but cannot be used when Stamina is below 2. Herbalism: is a very important skill to have when identifying and gathering herbs in the wild. Gathering herbs is a very delicate process and beginners in Herbalism can often ruin intact herbs. Rare herbs tend to grow only in the most hazards of places and, therefore, you should regularly study the different kinds of herbs and practice a careful gathering skill. It also passively increases the success rate of and decreases the time required when gathering herbs from Herb Patches, while also granting a chance for the patch to drop two herbs at once. Getting up the woman went into the back room, Xinya heard a rustling sound and after a few minutes, the woman was back holding a few items. With a closer look, Xinya saw that it was two books and a metal pot with a stirring spoon. Item Gained: A Basic Guide to Identifying herbs. Item Gained: A beginner''s guide to potion-making. Item Gained: A medium-sized copper pot and spoon ( 5% chance of potions not blowing up) The woman than preceded to lecture Xinya all about the ins and outs of potion-making without leaving a single detail out. Although 60% of the work in making potions will be handled by computer the other 40% would be manually handled by him and even though he knew most this already a refresher course never hurt anybody. By the time the woman had finished with her lecture the sun had set and rose again. "And finally," she told him, "The most important thing in being a potion maker is experimentation." "Experimentation?" Xinya asked since he didn''t remember the other potion maker who gave him this lecture the first time saying that. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Yes, experimentation. Not every potion has been invented. There are potions being created to this day. Don''t just rely on the books, do your own research and create something new." The woman sternly told him. The two of them talked some more before Xinya left her place, he put the copper pot and spoon in his inventory while opening up the books as he walked. The first one ''A Basic Guide to Identifying herbs'' when he opened it a bright light appeared and a notification popped up. [A Herb guide has been added to your character tab!] Clicking it, it showed every herb by rank and where to collect it, but since his herbalism skill was still low he could only collect two herbs from the list. The other book ''A beginner''s guide to potion-making'' did the exact same as the first, but showed what potions he could make and the steps to make them. The book came with two recipes, an HP & MP one, but it was a bottom tier recipe which only gives 50 pts to health and mana. To get better recipes he would need to find them but he already knew where some already were so he wasn''t worried, he decided to just level up his skills with the novice recipe for now. Now that he had all the skills he wanted it was time to level for real, he was going to go collect stuff he needs before he has to head out of beginner town after he has 5 stacks of one hundred of all the herbs and ingredients he wants he will go level for real and leave this place. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Not-applied HP: 120/120 Level: 4 MP: 110/110 EXP: 450/2000 Stamina: 90/90 Skill points: 4 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 6 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 995 silver 594 bronze 20 Goodbye Beginner Town* Ennunise is a reddish looking herb. It is one of the main ingredients in creating a potion that is capable of recovering HP. However, if not used properly it can be dangerous. Uforise is a glowing blue herb that pulses with the flow of mana it is one of the main ingredients when creating a potion that can help restore MP. Awegella, on the other hand, is a greenish herb that smells great and is often mistaken for food by animals and humans alike. It''s mainly used as the base ingredient for making potions. Xinya gathered up all of the herbs until there was no more to gather in the process he raised the level of his herbalism by two. He also found some wild crops while he was doing that, quite a few actually. Once he was finished herb collecting he went back for them. He found potatoes, carrots, blueberries, and wild rice that was growing in a pond. He made sure to keep the roots intact in at least two of each plant that he gathered so he could plant them later. Just like with his herbalism he also leveled up his harvesting and hoeing by gathering those plants. He thought about leveling his fishing skills while he was here but decided to put it off until later, that skill would take time to do anyway and time wasn''t on his side at the moment. There was only a couple of months left before the update and Xinya wanted his skill levels to be high enough so he could make difficult items that were worth a lot of coins. Finishing harvesting the last two potatoes that he found, Xinya decided it was finally time to go level up. Seeing that his level was only four, he knew the perfect place to level. With that thought in mind, he took out his weapons and headed to one of the farms on the outskirts of town. The one he was heading to was the carrot farm, in the back of it were monsters called the Hareture. They looked like a mix between a turtle and a rabbit, they had the appearance of a rabbit but the speed of a turtle and hard outer shell. It was a simple enough plan so after testing it out twice, Xinya went on a warpath hunting the Hareture left and right. His ingredient hunting skill was leveling up very fast and he also collected a lot of Hareture meat. That would come in handy later when he really started trying to level up his cooking skill. Xinya stayed behind the farm for almost an hour before a notification popped up. [Congratulations your level 10!!] Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. [Please pick the region where you want to start from.] There were over 100 different regions to choose from but since Xinya already decided he quickly chose Ziam. [Are you sure this is the region where you want to start?] Yes or No Xinya clicked yes when another notification popped up in front of him, telling him that he had ten minutes to get his affairs in order before being transported away from beginner town. Knowing that he already had everything in order he just calmly picked up the items that had dropped from the monsters while he waited to be transported. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Not-applied HP: 180/180 Level: 10 MP: 170/170 EXP: 10000 Stamina: 150/150 Skill points: 10 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 6 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 995 silver 594 bronze Stat Points 6 21 Bellport* The town was bustling with players, they were everywhere Xinya could see. Some were setting up shops, some were trying to recruit others in joining their guild and others were grouping up to do quests together. Seeing the different types of activity everywhere made Xinya truly feel like he was back once again, that this really was his second chance. As he was taking it all in a notification popped up in front of him telling him that the map function has been activated. Xinya walked through the crowd while opening the map to see which town in Ziam that he was in. The map was semi-transparent so he didn''t have to worry about bumping into anyone as he walked. The town he was currently in was called Bellport. The map also showed the local produce, monsters, and the different types of minerals that could be found here. Which was great even though it doesn''t show you the exact location. Bellport was in the inner area of the region, and it was very close to the capital. There were a couple of towns in the inner area, the basic starting towns for new adventures. These towns that were in the inner area all had monsters that were low leveled, but the farther a player goes out to the outer cities the higher the level of the monsters become. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Xinya didn''t need to worry about that now since he wasn''t strong enough yet to venture out to those towns anyway. He needed to go get himself a class anyway before he thinks of doing anything else. The class that Xinya wanted was a bit different from the regular ones, it was a completely new one that was just introduced by the creators just this past year. The class was called the Artisan, and there were two different versions of it. There were the tailor/blacksmith hybrid and the chef/potion maker hybrid. An artisan is a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand. The reason was that the early tests were quite easy but as they level up there life skill the harder the test becomes. Some players even become stuck on an endless loop of failure and become stalled in their leveling. Xinya remembered reading all the stories from the players who choose the class on the game forums, and he really wished he could be one in his past life, he always thought that if it was him he could pass the tests for his chosen life skill if he had a chance and now he does. The Artisan is separated into two types of fighting styles close combat and ranged. For the blacksmith/tailor hybrid, if a player chose blacksmith as the fighter class they will be able to fight with a giant hammer, if they chose tailor, on the other hand, they will have ranged attacks with poison needles. The Chef/Potion making hybrid is kind of a mystery although it became popular after the update most players used chef as the fighter class and the few who tried potions, switched back after a couple of days, saying it was difficult to figure out how to use the skills. Xinya doesn''t really enjoy close combat, so he decided to make potion-making the fighter class and if he couldn''t figure out the skills he would just suck it up and change it. Xinya walked through the town for a while before he found the place he was looking for. To change your class in the game one needs to get a quest from a job instructor. Each job instructor is located in different places. To be a warrior you need to go to the barracks, to be a mage you need to head to a magic tower and so on, but the artisan instructor was located in a variety of different places in this town it was an old toy crafting shop. Taking a deep breath Xinya went to open the door of the shop, this was officially him starting on a new path inside the game and he could hardly wait. Before opening the door a beeping sound started, it was his friend chat it seemed that Melting snow noticed that he left beginner town. Sighing, Xinya pauses in his actions and opened it up. "Congrats, your finally out of beginner town, you took forever." Melting snow''s booming voice ranged out. Smiling, Xinya said, "There was something I had to do that''s why it took as long as it did." "It''s fine, what town did you wind up in?" asked Melting snow. "Bellport." Melting Snow was silent for a minute before saying, " That''s really close to the city I''m at, I''ll come to where you are, it will take only a few hours to get there." 22 Melvin* Forgetting his purpose, he trailed his fingers over the toys musingly. These toys reminded him of his lost childhood, depressing thoughts started to invade him. Picking up a teddy bear he stared at it, it reminded him of the one his mother gave him when he was younger. How he missed her. Someone cleared their throat, startling him from his reverie. Masking his feelings, he suppressed those thoughts that he was having and put them back in the little box in his head where they came from. Xinya put the teddy bear back and turned around to face a man that was clearly in his late 30''s. The man had a jubilant smile on his face, his dark brown hair was tied back with a ribbon, he was wearing comfortable slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a vest. After fixing his glasses the man stared at Xinya with a particular expression on his face. "You seem to be a little old for my toys, but that''s alright as long as your young at heart." the man said smiling gently. Shaking his head, Xinya said, "No, that''s not why I am here. I want to learn to be an artisan like you." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. The man''s expression changed to something more serious, he looked at Xinya with new eyes. He looked him up and down as if searching for something, after a couple of tense filled moments, the man smiled once more it seemed as if he found what he was looking for. "Let me introduce myself, my name Melvin Manford the master of all crafts," Melvin said giving a dramatic bow. "Nice to meet you, I am Drifting Cloud." "So you want to be an Artisan," Melvin replied. "What crafts have you already learned?" "Cooking and potion making," said Xinya. "The two most difficult ones," Melvin said with an excited glint in his eye. " I will let you become an Artisan if you pass a small test. Are you up for it?" [Quest has been created. Melvin the master crafter is excited to gain a disciple, but he needs to know if you are worthy. Melvin wants you to create 20 potions and cook him a 2-star dish. Time Limit: Two days.] Reward: Class Change & 50 skill points " Yes, I''m up for it," Xinya said confidently. Xinya saw a correlation in the recipes that Melvin gave him when crafting an object the player stamina or mana will decrease depending on the item a player is crafting. So by making him craft the potion and the food, Melvin was secretly helping him. Every class instructor does something like this in some form or another but it still gave Xinya a warm feeling, because he knew Melvin was rooting for him to succeed. Leaving the shop Xinya thought about what he should do first, he already had everything he needed to make the stamina potion, so that would be easy to do. The Bellyborg stew would take longer since the main ingredient he needed was the meat of the Bellyborg monster. It is a bizarre, but extremely common creature, It''s about the size of an ostrich, has two huge and two smaller wings, two thin, long legs, and a huge, wide tail. It has thick, but delicate skin covered in small, thin feathers, which is usually either silver, light orange or yellow or a combination of these colors. They are extremely fast making them very hard to kill. Knowing that trying to get the meat would take him the longest to do he decided to make the potions first and get that over with. Walking through town he found the apothecary, he needed to rent a potion lab. He was still too newbie to be able to make potions outdoors when he level up the skill three more times he would be able to. Since he has to waste some money for renting a room he decided to make the most of it and do just that. Xinya gave the woman at the desk 2 silver and 3 bronze coins and made his way into the room, it would lock automatically until he decides to leave. The room was bare besides equipment for making potions. Taking out the items he needed, he prepared himself to make potions for the next few hours. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Not-applied HP: 180/180 Level: 10 MP: 170/170 EXP: 10000 Stamina: 150/150 Skill points: 10 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 6 (+3) Luck: 5 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 993 silver 591 bronze 23 Bellyborg pt1* Creating the potions were like second nature to Xinya since that was all he did in his previous life, and since these kinds of potions were what he specialized in, making them was very easy. Before he knew it he made 100 of each potion recipe, the last one he made allowed him to reach the skill level that would allow him to make potions outside. A lot of players would wonder why he would want to make potions outside rather than staying in a nice clean room with no distractions. While that might be ideal for tailors and blacksmiths, for potion makers they have to go to a lot of different areas to collect ingredients, like on mountain tops or the middle of the woods. He could always buy his ingredients but if he could do it himself why would he waste his coins like that. Xinya used up all of his items that allowed him to make the two potions, but he did succeed in making 100 of each potion without failing once but these were very easy potions if he even failed once with his past skills he wouldn''t know what to think. His skill level was high enough a level past the one he was aiming to get, he was aiming for level 5 but got level 6. He only had four skill points left now, he couldn''t wait until he could change his class. Those extra 50 skill points will be a lifesaver for him. While he sorted out his skill points he noticed that he had 6 stat points that he didn''t use yet. He put one in Hp, two in Stamina, two in intelligence and one in luck. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Not-applied HP: 190/190 Level: 10 MP: 170/170 EXP: 10000 Stamina: 170/170 Skill points: 4 Str: 4 (+3) Dex: 6(+3) Int: 8 (+3) Luck: 6 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 993 silver 591 bronze Stat Points 0 After putting all of the potions he made into his inventory, Xinya decided that it was time to leave and go hunt some Bellyborgs. Checking the map, he saw that they were located at the northernmost part of the woods just out of town. It would only take him about 15 minutes or so before he was able to reach the place. All of a sudden Xinya heard strange noise up ahead, it was loud squawking sounds, hearing that he knew that he was close. Jogging now that he was close, he reached a clearing where there was dozens of Bellyborgs all over the place. Pulling out his weapons, he was ready to get started. Since the monsters were fast, he planned to try to sneak attacking them, then go in for the kill. That way they wouldn''t have time to run away from him. With that idea in mind, he crept over to the nearest Bellyborg as quietly as he could. When he was in the stabbing distance the Bellyborg it suddenly took off running as if it felt his presence. Writing it off as just a fluke he tried it again only for it happen once more. Convincing himself that he was just being too loud, he tried again, only it happens again and again to the point where Xinya gave up on being sneaky and just started chasing after them like a mad man. After an hour of tiredly chasing after them and not being able to catch one, Xinya fell to the ground in defeat. It was time for a new strategy. As Xinya sat there on the grass contemplating on what he should do, his messenger beeped. Opening it up he saw that it was Melting Snow again. Wondering what he wanted he pressed to accept the call. "Hey, guess what I''m here!" Melting Snow said excitedly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "That''s nice, but why didn''t you stay with your brother?" Xinya asked curiously. "I told you before, it''s boring staying with him, he''s not playing for fun. It''s all about the grind for him," replied Melting Snow. Xinya thought that he must be a ranker than. "Well, since your here want to help me catch some Bellyborgs?" "Bellyborgs? What kind of monster is that?" Melting Snow asked. "They are giants birds that are very hard to catch, and they are making me go a little crazy," Xinya replied honestly. 24 Bellyborg pt2* Xinya wrecked his brain thinking of a plan to take these darn birds down, but so far couldn''t come up with anything, and here he thought that Melvin quest would be easy. How wrong he was. He sat there thinking as he watched the birds walk around on their thin birdlike legs and suddenly like lightening an idea struck him. A brilliant smile graced his face, and he started chuckling a little evilly to himself, while he whispered to himself, "I got you now birdies and when I''m done with you, I''ll roast your meat on an open fire." Before he could start putting his plan into action, Melting Snow burst into the clearing startling Xinya a bit. Melting Snow jogged over to him while waving his hands to get his attention. "Hey, why are you just sitting there? Did you give up already?" Melting Snow asked. Giving the birds a look, Xinya replied. "No, I haven''t given up just yet." "From my point of view, it looked like you already have. Don''t worry I''m here now let me show you how it''s done." Melting Snow said confidently. "You shouldn''t rush in, I have a plan to deal with them," Xinya said. Snorting, Melting Snow said. "I don''t need any plan just to deal with those birds, just watch." Melting Snow ran towards one of the Bellyborgs brandishing his two swords only for the monster to scamper away before he could get to it. This happened a couple more times until Melting Snow realized he needed to be more sneaky. So he activated his race talent and tried once more with determination. Xinya watched as Melting Snow used his tracking skills to sneak up on the Bellyborg it seemed to be working at first but at the last moment, the monster bolted away. This happened a few more times before Melting Snow gave an angry roar and started trying to throw his swords at the Bellyborg. Xinya lip twitched as he tried to suppress his urge to laugh, it was quite funny when it was happening to someone else. Oh well, he did try to warn him. "Are you ready to hear my plan now?!" Xinya asked Melting Snow loudly. Throwing a death glare at the birds, Melting Snow stumped over to him. "What do we have to do to kill those things?" "How good is your aim?" Xinya asked while chuckling. ~~~~~~~ "So this is what we are going to do, instead of chasing the bellyborgs around like maniacs we are going to use these rocks to cripple them and then beat them to death," Xinya explained. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Melting Snow smiled while picking up a rock. "Now that''s what I call a brilliant plan." Tossing the rock up and down in his hand, Melting Snow quickly caught it out of the air and threw it as hard as he could at one of the Bellyborgs legs. There was a loud crack, a squawk, and flapping of wings before the nearest Bellyborg fell to the ground in pain. Xinya was on it in seconds, stabbing at it with his knife and fork. Without much of a fight, it was dead and some of the anger that Xinya felt towards the birds were disappearing with it remains. "It worked!" Melting Snow yelled excitedly running over to see what the bird dropped only to be disappointed. "All that hard work and it only drops some meat and feathers." "Well I need the bird meat for a quest and you can sell the feathers, people need them to make arrows you know," Xinya said. "That''s true, okay let''s split the feathers." "You know this is only the first one right, they might drop something better once we kill a bunch. So let''s say who need it most gets it and the other things we can just see who wants it. Nodding his head in agreement, Melting Snow said. "Alright let''s do it your way." With that settled, Melting Snow went over and grabbed a few more rocks from the pile and Xinya ready his weapons. With a slight nod between them, the onslaught began. They started killing the Bellyborgs like they were going out of style. Xinya collected more than enough of the meat, he made sure to split any coins or feathers that dropped with Melting Snow. Besides a few claws nothing interesting dropped yet, they decided after killing five more they would stop since it was going to dark soon. Before they could even begin with the last five a loud squawk descended across the clearing. Looking towards the sound they saw that it was a boss. Melting Snow turned to him with a gleeful smile on his face. "It''s never boring with you, is it? This time I will make sure to record our victory." 25 King BellyBorg* "Melting Snow I don''t think we should try to fight it, I''m not strong enough," Xinya said. Looking at him pleadingly, Melting Snow said, "Come on, let''s just try and if it looks like we''re getting our butts kicked too badly, we can just run away." Xinya thought about it, he did say he would experience this game world more and not just work this time around, but on the other hand, the smart option would be just to wait until he had his class change and try killing it than when he had actual skills. Both points were valid, he had a hard time choosing which option but decided to be dumb just this once and have some fun. Like Melting Snow said if they about to die they can just run away. "Alright, let''s do it," Xinya said. Melting snow cheered and ready his swords, "Let''s do it the same way we took down the spider in the cave. I take it from the front and you take it from behind." Melting Snow gave a battle roar and took off towards the King Bellyborg, Xinya watched him go bemusingly and before he followed wondered if Melting Snow was old enough to understand what he just said could be taken in another way. Watching as Melting Snow caught the attention of the Bellyborg, Xinya sneaked behind it. He made sure to put a stack of the HP potions he made earlier in his main inventory so that they were in quick reach just in case. Unlike the other BellyBorgs, the King wasn''t a runner he took on Melting Snow head-on, but Melting snow was holding his own. It made Xinya wonder what level he was on now, it had to be way higher than him. The King Bellyborg was using a skill called wind slash at Melting Snow every other couple of seconds but every time he just dodged them, doing acrobatic maneuvers that nobody could possibly do in real life while landing blow after calculated blow on the monster. "Drifting Cloud, I''m going to use stun afterward try to incapacitate it by crippling it as we did with the other birds." Melting Snow shouted at him while steadily dodging the bird attacks. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Once the stun wore off the King Bellyborg couldn''t move anymore and was stuck in one place, but he definitely could still attack them. While Xinya didn''t get the burnt of the monsters attacks, Melting Snow sure did. Since the monster was focusing on Melting Snow, Xinya jumped on it''s back and started stabbing it in the head. When the monster noticed him, it started shaking around causing Xinya to fall off. Melting Snow noticing that the monster was distracted decided to use one of his new attacks, it had high damage but a very long cooldown. Moving a little way back he shouted ''Star blades'' and a giant shining star formed from his swords hitting the monster with a burst of light. It was a critical hit and caused most of the monster''s HP to go down but there was still a sliver of HP left. Seeing that there was only a little Hp left, Xinya took it upon himself to climb on the back of the monster again and stab at it like there wasn''t a tomorrow. After the third stab of his, the monster fell and disappeared into particles of light and different notifications popped up before him. You have leveled! You have leveled! You have leveled! You are now level 14! You have gained the title Bird Killer! Bird Killer: A title earned by those who kill the King Bellyborg under the level of 15. STR +4, INT +4, DEX +4, Luck +4, Max HP +10, Max Stamina +10,Max Mana +10 After seeing the title stats Xinya was extremely happy, he didn''t care about the drops just the title alone was worth killing that thing. Melting Snow, on the other hand, was jumping up and down cheering, one look at him could see how excited he was. "We did it and I got it on video. I''m going to upload it right now." Melting Snow said happily. "Let''s checked out what it dropped before you," Xinya replied. "Alright, what did the giant bird drop." There was a pile of items on the ground, S grade meat, and feathers, meat going to Xinya while the feathers were split between them, the same with the coins that dropped each getting 300 silver apiece. There was also some other items, there was a sword skill book that Xinya let Melting Snow have, two recipes that Xinya took and the last thing was a mysterious black egg with no description. "What is that?" Melting Snow asked in confusion. "I don''t know," Xinya replied because he really didn''t, there were pets in the game but they didn''t drop from monsters as far from what he knew. He never saw anything like it on the forums he read in the future. "It''s probably just a food item. Why don''t you keep it." Melting Snow said. Xinya thought he might be right but just in case, gave him 300 silver coins and told Melting Snow he rather bid for the item. Melting Snow was reluctant to take the money at first but Xinya insisted, with the reason that it might be a rare item. Melting Snow doubted that but took the money anyway with a smile. "Come on, let''s go back to town I need to make Bellyborg stew for a quest. I''ll let you have some." Xinya said. With a big smile on his face Melting Snow said, "Sure, I don''t mind being your official taste tester." With that done, they both started walking back down before it becomes dark out, what Xinya didn''t know was that Melting Snow uploaded his video of their fight with the King Bellyborg and it was getting massive hits at this moment. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 240/240 (+10) Level: 14 MP: 220/220 (+10) Exp: 40/50000 Stamina: 220/220 (+10) Skill points: 9 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 6(+4) Int: 8 (+4) Luck: 6 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 994 silver 623 bronze 26 Mysterious Woman* Looking around she surveyed the men that were sitting near her, to see that they were talking to each other as close friends. A smile appeared on her lovely face, if one of the men had glanced toward her at that very moment, they would''ve been taken aback by the sheer beauty of that smile, but what no one knew that beneath that smile was something entirely dark. Watching how her men got along so well, the woman felt pleased. For just a couple of months, ago they hated each other to the bone, but only with some heartfelt words and teary eyes, they all became wrapped around her little fingers. ''They all been trained so well.'' She thought to herself. When she started this game her goal was to make the strongest men of each race of the game, fall in love with her. It was the main reason why she chose the siren race, besides if men can have harems why couldn''t she. Throughout the years of playing this game, she succeeded in her goal, she had 5 out of the 7 races, excluding her own, since two sirens were not needed. The men were all businessmen, powerful fighters and extremely rich and they were all in the palm of her hand, begging for her attention like dogs. It amused her every time she thought about it. Although she has these men at her beck and call, she feels incomplete because she hasn''t finished her goal. When she first started playing, she never expected that a Dryad would such a hated race to play. No matter where she looked a person who chose that race couldn''t be found, but now she has found him the last piece to complete her collection. All she had to do was make him love her. ''Which should be easy,'' she thought. ''Any man who glances at her falls a little in love already. Hee Hee Hee.'' After watching the video two more times to ingrain the face of her new conquest in memory, she scrolled through the comments to see if anything interesting was written. [ Am I seeing things are they fighting a King Bellyborg! ] [ If you''re seeing things then I must be blind¡­ (¡¨£¾£ß£¼;¡¨) ] [ Let''s be blind together¡­ I don''t see anything.] [How did they summon a King Bellyborg? To do that you must kill a whole bunch of bellyborgs, from what I saw they are swordsmen, how did they catch them to kill a lot of them?] [ There must have been a bug or glitch or something, you can''t kill those things without a long-distance fighter!! ?(¡¥¥í¡¥"?) ] [ Maybe they had one and he left¡­] [ Are you dumb? Who would leave a boss fight? ] [ Your right!! I wonder what lvl they were?? ] [ If I had to guess by the use of the spell the guy taping used I say LVL 13-14, the other guy I have no clue. ] [ He was obviously a low level maybe 10 or 11. I don''t even think he changed his class to anything yet, look at how he fights, so newbish. ] [ He''s a Dryad!! Wow this my first time ever seeing someone use that race. It really does look cool to bad it''s useless. ] [ He could have chosen it because he has a plant fetish. (^_<)?¡î ] [ That might be the only reason for someone to choose that worthless race.] [ Yep. Besides having no useable traits, it also has a handicap.] [ Handicap?? ] [ A player of that race have to soak its feet in water for an hour every 12 hours, or it could die.] [ Wow! If I didn''t think the Dryad race was bad before, I certainly do now. What a fool picking that race.] [ Agree +1] [ Agree +2] . . . . [ Agree + 1573828] The woman smirked after reading the comments, she knew that the Dryad player would have a hard time of it if he wanted to join a party or a guild. His little friend wouldn''t stick around for sure, after realizing how much trouble his Dryad friend will bring him. After the little beastman leaves the Dryad will be all alone, ridiculed by other players, friendless, and having to fend for himself. Once he was at his lowest that would be her time to strike, a comforting ear, subtle encouragement, make him feel like he belongs and he will be in her grasp. It will acquire more skill than what she used to get her other men, but if it meant that she would complete her collection, she didn''t really give a damn. She cleared her throat softly, but it was enough for all the men around her to become silent. "Sorry to interrupt your conversations, I know it must have very important." " No, no!!" Beastman said while shaking his head rapidly. "We were just joking around with each other." "That''s right, nothing important. Was there something you needed my dear?" said the Dragonkin. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Well¡­" She started while looking down shyly. "I was wondering if we could¡­ no, it''s too much to ask for." Grabbing her hand the human said, "You can ask us anything, there''s nothing we wouldn''t do for you." "That''s right!" The dwarf and the giant said in sync. "Well, do you know the town Bellport in Ziam?" She said, seeing the men shake their head she continued on. "Well it is said to have natural hot springs, players said if you sit in them for an hour it will permanently boost your HP & MP by 25." "Really? That''s great any extra HP or MP would do us loads of good." The beastman excitedly said. The Human was confused, "If it was such a good thing, why were you so reluctant to ask us?" "It''s because it will take us four months to get there." She replied while playing with her fingers coyly. "Only four months," the dwarf said with a booming laugh. "We have been on longer journeys than that. Right guys?" "That''s right!" "For sure!" "I start getting things we need for the trip." "I will get our stuff repaired, don''t worry dear we be ready to go in no time." 27 Making BellyBorg Stew* When they arrived there were only a handful of people, of course, since this was a town for low-leveled players it wasn''t strange that there were only a few people hanging around here. Once he starts heading to the outer cities he knew that campgrounds like these would be packed during this time of day. Guiding Melting Snow over to a secluded spot, Xinya registered a camping spot for himself. A registered spot can only be used by himself and his party members, although there is no need to register a spot if a player does register they will get a passive buff, that allows them to gain a 1% experience increase in fishing, cooking and gathering for a short period of time. The player would have to sit at their campsite for 10 minutes to obtain the buff. Melting Snow starting to set up a campfire so they would have some light to see what they were doing, while Xinya pulled out his portable stove, a couple of pots and pans, utensils, and the ingredients he would need to cook the dish. His skill was still a novice and he never made Bellyborg stew so he figured it would take him a few tries before he could make a 2-star dish. As Xinya was checking the recipe Melting Snow came over looking at what he was doing curiously. " Do you need my help any with anything?" "Nope I''m fine, but thank you," Xinya said with a smile. "You can just relax and wait to eat something delicious." "Relax? I don''t know that word. I think I will go fishing while you cook. I got the skill, I will get my revenge on those fish who made me look like an idiot last time." Melting snow said with a grin. Shaking his head in disbelief, Xinya said, " Alright, I hope you catch something this time." "Just wait and see, I will catch the biggest fish you ever have seen!" Melting Snow yelled while running towards the lake. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Once his ingredients were prepped he pulled up the directions, like the minimap the screen was quite see-through so he was able to follow the directions while cooking the food. The first thing he needed to do was marinate the bellyborg in one of Bellport''s classic green wines, bay leaves, and thyme for a couple of minutes but the longer it marinates the better it will taste. Since he had four Bellyborgs prepared he decided to do this with the rest of them also, that way once he gets finished with the stew that he is preparing now, the other attempts of his would come out better. After he was finished that he saw that the next thing he needed to do was cook the bacon over low heat in a pan. When it''s crispy, he would remove the bacon and then turn the heat up to medium. That was simple enough the portable stove had a function where it will ding once a portion of food is cooked perfectly. After the bacon was finished he needed to pat the Bellyborg pieces dry and brown them in bacon fat. Xinya made sure to take his time, doing it slowly but surely. It took around 5 minutes before they were perfectly brown and then he removed the Bellyborg pieces and put them into a bowl. Then he proceeded to brown the onions and mushrooms. Once they turned color, he added the carrots and garlic and let it cook for another two minutes. Once the two minutes were up he sprinkled flour over everything and stir to combine. He had to stir often, until the raw-flour taste cooks away, which took about ten minutes. Afterward, he poured in some Jitterwrinkle sauce that is made from a duck type monster of the same name, which was a red-colored sauce and extremely flavorful, and stir it in to incorporate it. The stew started to become very thick, so he added some of the green wine from the marinade, and stir that in, too. Returning the Bellyborg to the pot, along with any juices that have accumulated. He then stirs in the herbs. First, he brought it to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. He let it cook for at least 30 minutes, which was a way shorter time than it would be in real life, then he started checking to see if the legs and thighs are tender. Since the directions said they should almost to the point of falling off the bone. When the meat was tender, he removed it, along with the mushrooms and onions, and put them in a bowl, putting a plate over them to keep them warm. He then turned the heat up to high in the pot. Boiling down the liquid by half until it has thickened to the point of being a sauce or loose gravy. Returning the vegetables and meat to the sauce the dish was done. Xinya tasted it, although it was good it could be better. He didn''t even get one a half a star on this attempt. Although he knew this would happen he did feel a little down, cause he was a great cook in real life, not even getting a half a star was a knock to the ego. Looking over at the lake where Melting Snow was trying to catch a fish with his hands, with a determined expression on his face, made Xinya feel determined, he swore he would make a two, no three-star dish tonight. On his third try, he got a two-star dish but on his fourth try, everything went beyond his expectations. Somehow he made a four-star dish. Checking the ingredients it turned out that he took out the S grade Bellyborg meat by accident. Better quality ingredients make better quality food, so everything makes sense. Giving the stew a taste, he almost moaned in pleasure. The flavor hit his taste buds hard leaving him wanting more. It was incredibly delicious he could hardly believe that he was the one that made it. 28 Melting Snow* When Melting Snow reached their camping spot he saw that the table had already been set up and the food was ready to be eaten. It smelled delicious, he knew it wasn''t real but he still had to swallow his saliva. Seeing that Drifting Cloud was gesturing for him to sit, he immediately did so. He had to admit the look of the food also appealed to the eye. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "What are you waiting for, give it a taste," Xinya said while anticipating about how Melting snow would react to his cooking. Melting Snow chuckled, "Are you nervous that I won''t like it or something." "Just eat it," Xinya replied with a slight roll of the eyes. Melting Snow picked up his fork and started to dig in, the taste was very pleasant, it was almost on par with what his chef used to cook for him in real life. After he finished eating he told Drifting Cloud exactly that, only to see a fire light in his eyes before continuing to eat his stew. As Melting Snow looked at Drifting Cloud eating, he felt very happy that they met. This was the most fun he had with someone in awhile. It was like he had a real friend, not one of those fake ones that his father used to pick out for him, always trying to kiss his ass because he had money. Drifting Cloud didn''t know anything about him and treated him normally, which was very refreshing. He was a little wiser now after everything that had happened these last two years, his father was schemed against, making him lose his business and wealth. Which caused him to have a massive stroke, not even a sliver of his former self remained. This caused Melting Snow''s brother to take up the reins of being the head of household at 18 years old. Melting Snow had to hand it to him, his brother did wonderfully, settling everything, selling the house, using the money to find them a decent place that was still somewhere above middle class. He knew if it had been up to him everything would''ve been a mess. Melting Snow wanted to help too, but quickly realized that being an ranker wasn''t for him, if he hadn''t met Drifting Cloud he probably would have gone insane staying by his brother side, but after his brother saw the video of his and Drifting Cloud''s fight he approved of him staying by his friend''s side. He even made more coins than his brother so far, he was ecstatic. With a small smile Melting Snow continued eating Drifting Cloud delicious food. ~~~~ Xinya felt very proud and a competitive after Melting Snow told him that his cooking was almost on par with his chef''s. He had a feeling that Melting Snow was a rich kid and this just proves it. It didn''t matter to Xinya either way but he did want to make something that would knock out Melting Snow''s tastebuds now. The sun had risen and most of the other players in the camping ground was packing up to leave. Xinya marveled at the scenery for a moment before starting to clean off the table. Melting Snow also got up stretching a bit, looking at the other players who were leaving. "What should we do now? Have you finish your quest already or do we need to get something else for it?" Melting Snow asked. "Nope, I got everything I need for it, just got to go back to the instructor to complete it," Xinya replied. "But before that, I need to soak my feet, how about I show you how to fish for real while we wait." Melting Snow smirked, "Is this a challenge? You think your fishing pole can beat my bare hands?" "I do. At Least with a pole, I''m guaranteed to catch one. Your hands will fail you." Xinya said while laughing. "Oh, it''s so on, let''s do this. If I win the next time we find a boss, I get the first pick of items." Melting Snow said. Snorting Xinya replied, "Sure, but if I win, you have to use the hated pole and fish with me anytime I want." They shook on it and headed down to the lake to fish as Xinya soaked his feet. For the next hour, they both tried their hardest to catch, with eventually Xinya catching one while leveling up his fishing in the process. He also leveled his cooking earlier leaving him with only 1 skill point that was just enough to level his fishing skill. After gloating at a pouting Melting Snow for a while, they both walked in town to turn in Xinya''s quest. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: The Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 250/250 (+10) Level: 14 MP: 230/230 (+10) Exp: 40/50000 Stamina: 230/230 (+10) Skill points: 0 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 7(+4) Int: 8 (+4) Luck: 6 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 994 silver 321 bronze 29 Class Change* "Wow!! This place is awesome!!" Melting Snow said before he started going around checking out each and every toy that caught his interest. Xinya shook his head at Melting Snow childishness and looked around the shop for Melvin only to see him already coming towards them, with a bounce in his step and a big smile on his face. He was staring at Melting Snow with a gleeful expression because he was appreciating the toys that he personality made. "Welcome back, Drifting Cloud. I see that you brought a friend with you this time." Melvin said with all smiles. Glancing at Melting Snow, who was still looking at toys excitedly said, "Yes, this is my friend. His name is Melting Snow, he seems to be enjoying your toys very much." "As all children should." He replied with a laugh. "Have you finished the task I gave you?" "Yes, I have!" Xinya said while pulling out the potions and handing it to him. "All 20 potions like you asked for." Melvin looked them over while murmuring to himself that they were good quality before looking up at him again and asking, "What about the Bellyborg stew I asked for?" "Here it is," Xinya said bringing out a container that was still warm to the touch out in view. Melvin took the container and walked to a table and sat down, pulling out a fork from his pocket he opened up the lid of the container and began eating. He ate unabashedly, loud smacking and chewing filled the room. He gulped down the food with a bliss out expression, on his face until every last bite was gone. He even got a piece of bread to mop up the excess juices. Once he was finished, he rubbed his stomach feeling satisfied. "You did a marvelous job, I haven''t eaten in two days, you see, to busy working on a new toy. It was a good thing you came, with these stamina potions and my full belly I can continue on." Melvin said happily. Xinya was dumbfounded, and here he thought that Melvin gave him those recipes in a sly way of rooting for him, but instead, all he wanted was a free meal and some free potions. He felt a little foolish that he thought that there was more to what Melvin was doing than what it actually was. As soon as Xinya took to bundle notifications started to pop up all around him in fast succession. Quest has been Completed!! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You are now level 16! Your job change was a success! You are now an Artisan!! You have gained 50 skill points! Please choose your combat talent: Cooking or Potion Making Xinya pressed potions for his choice of combat talent. Are you sure you want potion making? Yes or No Xinya pressed yes, he already made up his mind and was determined to go through with it. Your combat talent is now potion making, you will have seven days to change it. If you do not change it in seven days the combat talent will be permanent. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Suddenly the bundle Xinya was carrying changed from a dull grey to a light blue and a picture of a potion vial appeared on the front of it. A smile appeared on Melvin''s face when he saw the bag change, but he didn''t say anything, just walked away, disappearing into his backroom where Xinya assumed that he went to continue working on his new toy. Shrugging he went over to Melting Snow who by now had finished admiring the toys around him. "Are you finished completing your quest?" Melting Snow asked. "Yup, I have finally got a class," Xinya replied with a smile. Melting Snow was confused, and asked, " A class? What instructor works in a toy shop?" "An Artisan!" Xinya said. "An Artisan¡­, Melting Snow replied with a smile. "I should have known, you never follow what people say. From your race to the skills your getting. Can''t wait to see how you fight." Xinya just smiled holding up the bundle, "Well let''s see what skills I get." "Go for it!" Melting Snow said excitedly. As soon as Xinya opened the bundle notifications appeared: You have learned: Throw Throw: It''s a skill that enables you to throw potions from far away at your enemies. If you have a combat potion in your hands, you can use the throwing attack. Unlike arrows, you can immediately attack an enemy without aiming first. You have learned: Combat Potion Creation Combat Potion Creation: This skill allows you to created dangerous potions from ordinary items. These potions can be explosive, corrosive, anything you want as long as you can make it. *Potion Creation Journal has been added to your character tab. You have gained: Shilvak''s Combat Gloves Shilvak''s Combat Gloves: Shilvak was the first combat potion master to walk these lands, he was feared and worshiped by the people around him. For his skill with potions was too great, one day he disappeared only leaving behind a manuscript detailing his adventures. Throw enhancement +10 Dex +5 "Ahh¡­" Xinya said after reading the description of the skills and item that he got. "What skills did you get?" Melting Snow asked curiously. "Skills that will take some time to figure out, but I already have a starting clue to help me," Xinya replied with a wry smirk. Laughing Melting Snow said, "Why do I have a feeling that this is going to take us somewhere fun." Xinya was about to respond when a beeping sound was heard, and a flashing notification appeared. 23 hours have passed please log off for an hour! "I have to log off for an hour, I will talk to you later alright," said Xinya. "Alright, I have to do the same in about 20 mins anyway. I see you later." Melting Snow said with a smile. 30 Wei鈥檚 News* "Great! I timed it right." Wei said excitedly. "The food is almost ready, come help me set the table." "Sure," Xinya said, going over to the bottom cabinets and grabbing a couple of bowls and plates. After everything was set, Xinya took his place at the table, waiting until Wei brought out the food. He didn''t have to wait long, only a couple minutes had passed before Wei brought out what she had cooked. As she laid it out on the table Xinya saw that she made gaifan served with soup. Gaifan was a simple dish just rice covered in meat and vegetables but it was delicious all the same. The soup was she made was just an ordinary egg drop soup but to Xinya who was quite hungry, it looked wonderful. After Wei poured them a cup of iced tea it was time to eat. "I have some exciting news!" Wei said happily. After swallowing some food Xinya replied, "Oh what is it?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Well my mom got promoted to head staff leader, she will be in charge of hiring and training staff at the family where we work at. They also gave her a giant bonus." Wei said. "That''s wonderful! Tell your mom I said congratulations." Xinya said with a smile. This wasn''t something he knew about in his past life, but he was very happy for Wei''s mother. She was very nice to him when she worked at his house, she deserves this. "But that''s not the best news," Wei told him in pure exhilaration. "My mom going to pay for the rest of my VR pod. I just have to pay her back in a year." "Really?" Xinya asked. "Yeah! My mom always knew I wasn''t cut out to be a maid and I always told her about how I want to try making money in the game. So my mom made me a deal she said if I can pay her back in a year, I will have her blessing to make Haven Online my career, if not I have to go back and work with her." Nodding his head, Xinya said. "That sounds fair, and I bet your mom only doing it this way because she worried. It is tough to make a living in Haven Online." "I know, but I also know I can do it and I have you there to help me. What can go wrong?" Wei replied. "That''s right, I will help you in any way I can. That''s what friends are for." Xinya said sincerely. "I decided to be a Dryad and do the artisan class," Xinya said. "Dryad? Why did you pick that race? From what I heard it''s the worst one in the entire game." Wei asked curiously. Xinya didn''t know how to explain it to her, he couldn''t say he came from the future and the Dryad race will help him become very rich because of its racial skills. One, he doubts she would believe him and two, she probably think the trauma he sustained made him go crazy. Thinking quickly he came up with a lie. "Well, I thought the character looked awesome, plus since I''m going to be fishing a lot it won''t hinder me," Xinya said. "Oh, so that''s your plan. You going to try to fish up underwater treasure." Wei replied very interestedly. "I read in the forums that this one guy fished up a Dragonwry''s sword that was worth over 200 gold coins, that would be over $10,000 in real money." Slyly rubbing the back of his neck, Xinya said, "Yeah, that''s one of my plans, I''m still working on the others." "I don''t have the patience to fish, so I can''t do that with you, I was thinking of going the exploration route, and before you say anything I know a lot of people are doing that too, but I never see anyone try to treasure hunt in the snowy lands they always go for the desert," Wei said. "That''s because it''s cold there, even though you can turn down the settings to 20% so you would hardly feel it, your avatar still would. So you have to constantly check your health bar and make sure your avatar don''t freeze to death." Xinya said worriedly, he wasn''t sure if she started out doing this in his past life, but when they met she was making potions to make money. Laughing Wei said, "Don''t worry, I''m not going to start off by doing that. I''m going to need to make coins first if I want to do that. I am going to need a lot of gear. It will probably take me a year to put my plan into action since I have to pay back my mother." 31 Clue* Looking around Xinya saw that Melvin was busy running back and forth helping customers, when he saw Xinya he smiled and waved before carrying on with his business, not wanting to get in the way Xinya left the shop. Walking outside, he was blinded for a moment by the afternoon sun. Once his eyes adjusted he noticed that the street was more packed than usual and wondered why that was. Shrugging it off he opened up his friend list to see if Melting Snow was back online already, seeing that he was, Xinya was about to message him when he noticed that Melting Snow status was set to busy. Xinya assumed that he may be in the midst of doing a quest and didn''t want to be bothered, so Xinya decided to wait until he had finished whatever he was doing before contacting him. Since Melting Snow wasn''t there to distract him, Xinya thought that figuring out how to get skills for his potion combat class would be the best use of his time right now. Because when he had his class sorted out he could focus on making coin and turning that into real-world money, which he so needed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Pondering to himself on what to do, he found himself in the middle of the town near a fountain. It was one of those stereotypical ones that a person would see in most places, a cherub surrounded by flowers spitting water out from its mouth, but it was still lovely to look at. Taking a seat at one of the many benches that were around, Xinya tried to remember everything he knew about the artisan class and how the players got their skills. The trial of fire is an arena that only combat blacksmiths can get into, to go there players have to buy a teleportation scroll from their instructor and then they are transported to a decrepit room filled with broken weapons. They have 30 minutes to an hour depending on their skill level to fix up any of the broken weapons they choose and then they''re thrown into a battle against a monster or NPC of the same level. If they are victorious three times in a row they can get a skill or if they don''t want to get a skill they can keep fighting and gain points to get rare materials. Tailors, on the other hand, get a silver bracelet that can hold needles. The description on it is quite vague, with the only words: find (a person''s name). They must say the person''s name aloud to trigger a quest. This quest will give them clues about how far the person is from them and their history. It sounds hard but it''s quite easy since the person is always in the town the player begins the quest in, most likely in a shady bar. Then the player will have to do a quest to become that person''s apprentice. After people learned that fact, it became the easiest out of the artisans'' classes to get skills. Now the Chef combat talent was very interesting. They would get an apron and their hint would be to find a gourmet chef, which would lead them to the mayor''s house where a chef who used to cook for the royal family now works. The chef will always have been a combat chef that was wrought with tragedy, the chef will always say he wants a quieter life as a regular chef. The chef will then tell the player about how mutant rats are trying to take over the food supply and how the player must destroy them. There are ten dungeons where they hide, for each one the player destroy besides the regular rewards they will also get a combat skill. For the potion making talent, there was no information or none that Xinya could remember, but then again people usually quit it after a couple of days of playing stating that they couldn''t figure out how to get the skills. Without any help from his future knowledge, he will have to figure this out himself. He was aware of this from the beginning but he wanted to make sure. The one thing he did notice was that each combat talent gave a clue that would help players in obtaining their skills. Opening his inventory, he took out the gloves that he was given yesterday and reread the description on them. Shilvak''s Combat Gloves: Shilvak was the first combat potion master to walk these lands, he was feared and worshiped by the people around him. For his skill with potions was too great, one day he disappeared only leaving behind a manuscript detailing his adventures. Throw enhancement +10 Dex +5. It seemed that his instinct when he first read the description was correct, there was a hint, Shilvaks manuscript. Xinya hoped that it was made into a book and was at the town''s library or he had a feeling that he would have to go search for it. ''Was this the reason why many people gave up on the potion combat talent.'' Xinya wondered. He really hoped not, he really didn''t want to go on some long arduous quest. Opening the map he decided to head to the library, to start searching for the book, but before he could take one step towards the direction it was in a beep sounded. It was an incoming call from Melting Snow. Connecting the call, Melting Snow voice sounded in his ear. 32 Following Strange Women* "You know that video I recorded of us fighting the King Bellyborg?" Melting Snow asked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Yeah, what of it?" Xinya replied. "It went viral!" Melting Snow said excitedly. "My channel has become really popular recently, I''m getting friend requests left and right. I feel like a star." Xinya was confused about all of this, he didn''t understand why a video of them fighting the King Bellyborg would go viral. It wasn''t a rare monster or anything and it was also a low level one at that. While Xinya was thinking about what could possibly entranced people, about the fight, Melting Snow continued on. "A lot of people kept asking me how did we do it. Since to summon the king we had to kill a lot of Bellyborgs. They kept asking who was the range fighter that helped us and wouldn''t believe me when I told them that we did it on our own. I almost told them how we did it but I was upset that they doubted my skills." Melting Snow said with a slightly irritated tone. After hearing that, Xinya finally understood why a simple video of killing the King Bellyborg went viral, two close combat players able to summon and take it down without the help of a range player was unthinkable. Many people would want to know how they took down so many Bellyborg, not to summon the King but to gather the feathers. Bellyborg bird feathers are in the top five feathers that are great to use to make arrows and since the Bellyborg are low-level monsters they would be easier to kill. No wonder there was a lot more people in town today than it was all the time he has been here. "Don''t tell them, let them figure it out for themselves," Xinya said. "Also it might be good if you disallow friend invites so you won''t be bothered by spam invites." Melting Snow smiled looking proud, " I already did that, but I will allow them to personal message me just in case I get the attention of a sponsor." "You know that wouldn''t be likely to happen to us regular players," Xinya said. "Let a kid dream, who knows it could happen." Melting Snow replies. "So what are you up to right now?" "I was about to head to the town''s library to figure out my skills." "The library?" Melting Snow said. "I go with you." "Don''t worry, I needed to go there anyway. I need to find a beast taming manual about this region''s monsters. I want to get a beast companion soon." Melting Snow replied. Xinya thought that it was about time that Melting Snow starts thinking about getting a companion, so he nodded his head saying, "Oh, alright, then I will meet you there." "Okay, see you in five." Melting Snow replied before he discounted the communication. ~~~~~~ Reaching the town''s library, Xinya saw that Melting Snow was already there and was waiting on steps waiting for him. Once Melting Snow saw him, he waved happily at him, opening the library door while also motioning for him to hurry up. Smiling, Xinya jogged up towards him, and together they walked inside the library. The library was bigger than it looked on the outside, it had a rustic feel to it, while still being comfortable at the same time. There were books everywhere but the place was quite spacious, with seating areas scattered all about. The walls were painted in neutral colors and their paintings of gentlemen Xinya never seen before in his life, but overall he felt that this was nice and quaint. While Xinya was taking in his surroundings, Melting Snow was already heading to the front desk. There were three people who were sitting there, each of them had a book in their hand. Xinya assumed that they were the librarians who worked there. Standing right in front of them, Melting Snow cleared his throat to get their attention. "How may I help you, young man?" Asked the librarian on the far right. He was an elf a very handsome one at that with his straight black hair that was pulled back to reveal a long, narrow neck. Bright green eyes, looked at Melting Snow patiently as he waited to be answered. "I''m looking for books on beast taming, can you help me find some?" Melting Snow asked politely. "Sure, we have some books on that." He said. "Ms. Mable can you direct this young man to where books on beast taming are located." "Sure thing. Senior librarian Chilson." Ms. Mable replied before escorting Melting Snow to one of the shelves. When they were a little ways away, Sr. Librarian Chilson turned his gaze to Xinya. "Do you need help in finding a book also?" "Yes, I was wondering do you have a book by the combat potion maker Shilvak," asked Xinya. The elf face turned regretful, but strangely enough the librarian next to him expression changed. If Xinya wasn''t paying attention he would have missed it. "I''m sorry to say that Shilvak''s manuscript was lost a long time ago. There were only several copies made but somehow they were misplaced and was lost to the world." Chilson said. "I would really have loved to have read them." As the elf was speaking the other librarian got up and walked to the back shelf a little ways away, while giving him a look. It was a look that conveyed that she knew something, but it wasn''t her place to say anything. If a person wasn''t perceptive enough it would go unnoticed. Which is probably why those other players couldn''t figure out how to get the skills. 33 Shilvak鈥檚 book* "All that knowledge," he mused, skimming his fingers along the edges of the books. "It would be hard to pass upon." One day, he decided, after he was living a comfortable life, he would spend his leisurely days traveling to all the different libraries in this world, so he could read to his heart''s content. She was a truly lovely girl, from the beastmen race, from her ears and tail he could tell that she was half deer. She had long snow-white hair that flowed over her delicate shoulders, her leaf green eyes were focused on her task, while her pink saccharine lips were pursed in concentration. Xinya politely cleared his throat as a way to gain her attention but sadly it was of no use, she was too absorbed in what she was doing. Since the first approach didn''t work, he said in a loud clear voice, "Excuse me, miss." The sound of his voice must have startled her because the book she was holding slipped through her hands and she almost fell off the step ladder she was on. Bracing herself against the shelf, she took a calming breath before looking at him. "Oh me, oh my, I didn''t notice you there. You scared me witless." The woman said. "Would you be a dear and hand me that book I dropped." Xinya was only too happy to comply, if she really had felled, he probably would have had to catch her and just thinking about touching her made his skin crawl. "Here you go, ma''am." "Well, aren''t you a polite thing, but I''m still too young to be called a ma''am. People in these parts call me Ms. Wynter. On the account that I was born in winter, you see." Ms. Wynter said cheerfully. "Alright, Ms. Wynter, than," Xinya replied. "So how can I help you, young man?" She asked curiously. "Well, it''s about Shilvak." Xinya watched as Ms. Wynter smile disappear only to give him a complex look. "I think you may know something about him." Putting the book she was holding away, her face turned serious. "Before I say anything may I ask why do you want to know about him." "The reason is that I want to become a combat potion maker just like him," Xinya replied. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "And you think you have what it takes?" She asked while looking him up and down in disbelief. Quest Triggered!! Once Xinya saw the notification he knew his action was right. The woman got down from the ladder she was on and stood a step away from him. She gazed at him with penetrating eyes, as if she was checking for something, it reminded him of how Melvin looked at him when he first asked to be an artisan. "I see you are sincere in your desire to be a combat potion maker, please follow me," she says. Xinya follows her to a seating area that was located behind an alcove, instead of the expected table and some chairs there were two chaise chairs, separated only by a small glass table. Wynter sat in one making herself comfortable while motioning for him to do the same. "When I was younger," She started when she saw that he was sitting. "I also wanted to be a combat potion maker. Shilvak was my hero you see, he saved hundreds of thousands in the great monster war. Not only with his healing potions but also with his combat ones. I wanted to be just like him, but one day he just disappeared. No one knew what happened to him." Xinya attention was caught, "Did you ever figure it out?" "I had my speculations, but I could never be sure." She replied sadly. "That''s too bad," Xinya said. A reminiscent smile appeared on her face, "I remember being so happy when I learned that he left a manuscript of all his adventures and of how he created his potions, but then something happened his apprentice destroyed most of the copies and hid the original. He didn''t want the masses to obtain something so freely that took him so much dedication in learning. So he divided each book into two parts and hid them in different places around the world. After years of researching, I found that one of the places is hidden near Bellport. I wanted to look for it myself, but I have come to realize that I am too old, but looking at you I think you will be able to find the first half of the book. All I asked that once you find it you will allow me to read it." "Of course, I will. It''s the least I could do." Xinya replied sincerely. Quest has been created. Wynter has always wanted to be a combat potion maker, but due to age and fighting skills finding Shilvak''s manuscript will be hard, but she thinks that you have potential. So she is willing to impart upon you her knowledge, the only thing she asks is to see the book once you finished reading it. *Quest is sharable. Reward: 1000 exp & first half of Shilvaks book. 34 Hidden Office* "Where are we going?" Xinya asked confused. "To my office," Wynter replied. Wynter leads him through multiple bookcases, and up to a pair of spiraling staircases until they reached a remote part of the library. It looked older, much more so than the downstairs area was, but it was also more elegant. They walked until they reached alone bookcase in the middle of a wall. Xinya was confused as to why they stopped here since he didn''t see the door leading her office, he was about to question her about it when she suddenly moved towards the shelf and pulled a golden book out from it. Xinya looked on in bemusement as the bookcase moved to reveal a door. He felt that it was something out of a fantasy, but considering this whole place consists of nothing but fantasy, he shouldn''t have been so surprised by that. One thing he did know was that if he ever gets enough money, he was getting one of those for his house in the real world. Opening the door to her office, they walked inside. The place was small but organized. There were books stacked neatly in piles and from what Xinya could see a board pinned with notes about Shilvak. Curiously he walked around, only to see most of the stuff in her office was about Shilvak or what he assumed connected to him. "As you can see, I did a lot of research on Shilvak and his apprentice," Wynter said while gesturing around the room. Xinya knew that Shilvak was her hero and she wanted to be a combat potion maker like him, but from what he could see it felt like she was obsessed. Although he could understand her passion, even if she was just an NPC and it was programmed into her. "Yes, I can definitely see that you did," he said. "Alright, enough chit-chatting let''s get to it." She says while pulling out a map covered with notes from inside her desk. "The place where you will be going to is called Krimplot, it''s an island surrounded by water just a few miles from Bellport." Xinya looked closer at the map. "If the place is surrounded by water, how am I supposed to get to it?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "I can give you a teleportation scroll that will send you straight there, but how you will return is up to you to figure out," Wynter replied. "I see, well can you tell me what you know about the dungeon?" Xinya asked. "I will," Xinya said. They talked some more about what could be the possible tests that Xinya might face inside the dungeon, while Wynter gave him helpful suggestions on what to do if he comes across any of the ones she mentioned. Since Wynter had no inkling of sort monster it would be, but she did know that since it was a potion made a monster that it will have deadly ranged attacks, so she told him that the best course of action is finding a way to fight it up close. Xinya felt that didn''t really help him but thanked her for her help anyway. When they finished talking she sent him on his way, with the promise that he would bring back the book. Putting the teleportation scroll inside of his pocket he went back downstairs, to the place where he and Melting Snow first came in. Once he arrived he saw that Melting Snow was already at the front desk holding three books in his arms. When Melting Snow saw him he called out to him. "Where have you been, man?" Melting snow said. "I have been waiting for you for over an hour." "Why didn''t you just message me?" Xinya asked confused. Glancing at the NPC he was with then back at Xinya quickly, Melting Snow said, " Well, Ms. Mable was so kind and was helping me so sincerely, and I didn''t want to rush you." "Right¡­" Xinya replied. He saw the blush littering Melting Snow face. A pretty girl and a young boy, he knew Melting Snow wouldn''t mind if he had been longer. "Anyway, I learned a great deal from these books. I now know exactly what monster I want to tame." Melting Snow said excitedly. "Oh?" Xinya asked curiously. "Which one?" "I want a Leopade." Melting Snow replied. Xinya was speechless for a moment. "You do know that a level 50 monster right?" "Of Course I do." Melting Snow said happily. "But that''s my goal pet, for now, I want either a Hellvine or Flare Dog." Hearing the two monster names, Xinya felt that they were way more suitable for Melting Snow''s current level. "They sound good." "So what were you doing anyway? Did you get any leads on your skills?" Melting Snow asked. "Actually I have, although there isn''t a book here in the library, there''s one somewhere else. I will need your help, are willing to come with me?" Xinya replied. Smiling, Melting Snow asked, "Are we going on another adventure and will it be dangerous?" "To answer both of your questions, yes, if you want to and perhaps," Xinya said. "What do you mean ''if I want to'' of course I want too. I always have the most fun when I''m pulled into your activities." A grinning Melting Snow said. 35 Going to the Dungeon* "You''re asking me that now after you already agreed to help?" Xinya asks with a laugh. "I was going to agree anyway, but I still want to know what I''m in for. I might need to upgrade my weapons or get new armor before we go." Melting Snow replied. To be honest, what Melting Snow said was correct, the librarian did say that the monster they would be facing would have long-range attacks and since the monster is potion based the type of skills it could have could be corrosive. With that thought in mind, Xinya felt that Melting Snow''s way of thinking was very mature for his age. A certain saying came to him, ''Just because your older doesn''t make you wiser'' and that was quite true in this case. "You are right, I probably should let you prepare. I was just going to wing it since, I can''t use my combat skill, but I forgot that you can. " Xinya said. "It''s alright. So tell me about what we have to do." Melting Snow replied. Xinya goes on to tell Melting Snow everything he learned from the librarian. He told him all about Shilvak and how he was a legendary combat potion maker who saved hundred or thousands, he explained about his apprentice and how he thought the masses wasn''t worthy of reading Shilvak''s book and learning his skills so easily, so he hid the book and it copies in different dungeons around the world. He then informed him that one of the dungeons was located here in Bellport. "Wow.." Melting Snow says after hearing all the details. "Your class got a much better backstory than mine. After listening to yours I feel a little letdown." "How come?" Xinya asked laughing. Patting Melting Snow on the shoulder, Xinya said, "Well this is a newer class, they probably didn''t want to make so generic. I think I would have been happier if they did. Then I wouldn''t have to run around like this." "Don''t say that, think of the adventure." Melting Snow said happily. "So do you know what will be in the dungeon?" "I know for sure that the first two parts will be a test of sorts, what kind I have no clue but it might be deadly, so we need to stock up on HP pots and the last part is a boss a monster created by potions," Xinya said. "A monster created by potions?" Melting Snow asked. "I don''t know either, but what I heard is that it''s a ranged monster, so we need to fight it up close and its attacks can be corrosive." Replied Xinya. Melting Snow was quiet for a moment before saying, " I think we should enchant our gear, that way when we receive an attack our gear won''t fall apart." "I was thinking the exact same thing, plus we need to buy a raft kit," Xinya said. "Why would we need a raft kit?" Melting Snow asked. "Oh.. did I forget to mention that the dungeon is on an island in the middle of a lake?" Asked Xinya. Laughing heartily Melting Snow said, "Not only will this be an adventure, but it will be an island adventure. I''m so going to record this. So how long will it take up to go there and back?" "That''s the good part, I got a teleportation scroll, so we will only have to worry about getting back here, which, including finding cover for when night comes, will only take us two-three days ingame." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "That''s great, at least we won''t have to worry about getting there." Melting Snow replied. "Alright let''s go." They stopped first at the only magic tower in town, they needed a mage to cast the enchant on them. The enchant itself wasn''t expensive since any mage that just had their class change could do it, so they only lost five bronze coins each. After that they stopped at the general store and Xinya brought a deluxe rafting kit, he wanted to get a small boat but he needed to learn a skill to use it. The skill itself was easy to get but the person you need to learn it from wasn''t in Bellport, so he had no choice in just getting a raft. Once they were done with their preparations, Xinya created a party and added Melting Snow to it. Taking out the teleportation scroll from his inventory he ripped it in half, which caused a light to flash, it surrounded their two bodies completely making them disappear from view. When the light dimmed the two of them appeared on an island in the middle of the lake. Everywhere they looked there was only water if they squint they could just barely see a whole bunch of green specks in the distance which they assume was trees but they were miles away. The island was also barren the only thing they saw was a small opening in the ground covered by foliage, looking down the opening the only thing that they saw was a pair of stairs made of vines leading down. They couldn''t see anything else, everything was pitch black and there was an eerie silence coming from inside of it. Xinya had a bad feeling about this place, but Melting Snow was already recording, talking to his fans about what they were about to do. "Come on, Drifting Cloud let''s go!" Melting Snow said before heading down into the opening. 36 First Room Cleared* Xinya looked at Melting Snow, who was looking around the place in wonder, or making sure he got a shot of everything for his recording, Xinya didn''t quite know, but what he did know was this place was lovely. It was as if they were back outside, but instead of being daytime it was night. They were underground, but the minerals from the rocks sparkled like stars when they were hit from the light of the glowing plants that were all around. There was tall grass everywhere and herbs patches that were scattered around, but what caught his eye the most was the statue that was standing against the wall in the room. It was of a tiny child, a little girl to be exact, she was covered in flowers from head to toe. She looked so lifelike as if she could come off that podium at any time, but what really strange to Xinya was her expression. It held a sinister feel to it, it made him feel very uneasy when he looked at her. Melting Snow, on the other hand, didn''t feel that anything was wrong and walked closer to the statue, looking at it curiously. Suddenly he squatted down, clearing away some of the foliage as if he had discovered something. "Drifting Cloud, come over here and look at this." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Walking over to Melting Snow, Xinya squatted down next to him and saw what he found. There was a plaque on the statue that said ''To begin, give me red and blue if you fail to do so in 20 minutes of when you first set foot down here your through'' and underneath those words, were two empty holes at the bottom of the statue. "What does that mean?" Melting Snow asked. "It means that if we don''t give her something red and blue in¡­" Xinya stops and looks at the time. "In 12 minutes, the statue will most likely come to life and kill us." Melting Snow: .... Laughing at Melting Snow''s face, Xinya pulled out a red and blue bottle from his inventory. "Don''t worry, this test is really easy, the first ones are always the simplest. Did you forget that this dungeon is about potions? It just means that we need to place a health potion and a mana potion in the holes. "Why didn''t I think of that?" Melting Snow asked. "You did it, Let''s go in!" Melting Snow excitedly said while pushing the door open and walking in. Xinya followed him inside and as soon as he was in the room the door closed behind him and a notification popped up in front of him. [You have entered the room one out of five of Krimplot dungeon! You won''t be able to leave the dungeon until you finish or die!] Once the notification disappeared, Xinya could finally see the room, it was similar to the room before, grass and herb patches all over the place. He was going to have to collect them after he dealt with this room test. He could never have too many herbs. The only thing that stood out was that there were four statues standing on a podium in each corner of the room, and they each were holding a weapon. There was a riddle on each of their podiums plaques Xinya could easily tell where this was going. From the looks of it so did Melting Snow, because after reading one he said, "I don''t think I will be helpful here." "Don''t worry, your just the brawn," Xinya replied with a smile. "Thank, I guess." Melting Snow said not knowing if he should feel insulted or not. Walking over to the nearest statue Xinya read: '' So busy, always so busy, every time you overwork yourself you need to drink. The more you tirelessly work, the more you depend on me.'' "Stamina Potion," Xinya said in a loud clear tone. He watched as the statue turn around no longer a threat. The next three statues were similar to the first, the riddles were very easy but considering that this is a dungeon for people without any class skills, he should have expected that. Once he had finished answering the last statue riddle another notification appeared. [You have completed room 1 out of 5! You may enter the next room at ay time!] 37 Carnivorous Plants* To get past this room Xinya needed to figure out a riddle to guess which of the five water fountains wouldn''t poison them. Once again the riddle was quite simple, but also much harder than the previous ones. The one upside of this room was that the liquid in the correct fountain was the potion of luck. Xinya was happy when he learned that, Melting Snow was even more so. He excitedly bragged to his viewers about it. The reason why they were so happy at this discovery was that the potion of luck, which is made from the hard to find, four-leaf clover, is that after three ingame days, the potion turns into a special item. Although the item is random, it''s never a cheap item and it''s always something the player needs. After drinking from the fountain, Xinya and Melting Snow proceeded to the next room. The new room was very different from the last two, there were vines growing on the walls everywhere, connected to the vines were green pods with shiny bits. On a closer look, Xinya saw that they weren''t pods at all but baby carnivorous plants, with jagged metal teeth and in the center of the room was the mother. "Oh, man!" Melting Snow said while taking out his weapons. That quite summed up Xinya''s feelings about this situation that they were in, so he also brought out his trusty giant knife and fork just in case, while thinking, ''I won''t be getting eaten by any plants today, if anything, they will be eaten by me.'' Looking around the room, Melting Snow said, "I don''t see a riddle anywhere, are we supposed to fight that thing?" "Wait a minute, let me think," Xinya said while searching the entire room. Like Melting Snow said there were no riddles, but then again, nobody said that all the tests would be riddles. Looking around the room harder Xinya finally saw it. "Look." "Look at what?" Melting Snow asked still on guard. "Look at that baby plant just behind the mother plant," Xinya replied. That''s when Melting Snow saw it, there was a baby carnivorous plant just behind the mother, but unlike the rest of its siblings, it looked sick and very weak. Checking it''s health bar, he saw that it was very low and would die soon. Melting Snow finally understood what they had to do. "So we have to save the baby, right?" "That''s right, but I don''t think the mother will let us near it," Xinya replied. "Than what should we do?" "Alright, let''s do it. This way I can show off my evasion skills to my fans." Melting Snow said while turning his swords around to the blunt side. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Melting Snow quickly grabbed the mother carnivorous plant aggro, the mother plant seeing that he was a threat stood up on her roots and started chasing after him. Melting Snow dodged her attacks as if they were nothing. As Xinya looked at him, he felt that Melting Snow was getting better and better each time he saw him fight. Not wanting to waste time Xinya edge his way to the sick baby plant, trying not to gain the mother plant''s attention. After a few minutes, he had succeeded and was right in front of the baby plant. What he didn''t expect was for the baby plant to sense his presence and let out a shrill cry. The mother, hearing its baby cry immediately stopped going after Melting Snow and started to rush at Xinya. In a move that was one part acrobatic and one part something a person would see in an action movie, Melting Snow jumped over the monster, did three somersaults in the air and landed between the mother and the baby. "Hurry up and do what you have to, the mother is about to go berserk." Melting Snow said while holding the mother plant back. Pulling out a health potion from inside of his inventory, he poured it over the baby plant, there was a slight glow and it became as healthy as it''s siblings. The baby started to let out happy sounds and the mother plant calmed down once it saw that its baby was well again. Melting Snow stopped attacking and moved away from the mother plant, Xinya too moved away from the baby as if to show they meant no harm. The mother went to her baby and checked it over, seeing that it was one hundred percent healthy again, she picked it up and put it against the wall. After that, she went back to the center of the room going dormant as well as her offspring. A door appeared and a notification sounded and they knew they completed the room. "Omg, that was so awesome, and I was awesome!!" Melting Snow said. Smiling at Melting Snow''s enthusiasm, Xinya said, "I have to admit you were awesome." "I know right." Melting Snow smugly said. "Let''s go to the next room." 38 Sliding Puzzles* "No, monsters in this room. My brawn is not needed for this one." Melting Snow said while chuckling. When a grin Xinya replied, "Don''t worry my brain can handle this room, you can just stand there and look strong until I need you." "Whatever Man." Melting Snow said while making faces at Xinya. Studying the room a bit, Xinya knew exactly what he had to do. It seemed straightforward to him at least, all he had to unscramble the pictures on the wall, they will show potion ingredients and once all the ingredients are revealed he would have the formula to make a potion with. The only troubling thing was that he felt like it was too easy, but he also knew that this was the last room before the boss, so maybe the creators designed it that way. Either way, he wouldn''t know until he starts. After figuring out everything Xinya explained it to Melting Snow. "So we figure out the pictures and you just make the potion out of the ingredients they show?" Melting snow asked. "Yup that the gist of it." Melting Snow scrunched up his face in disbelief, "Are you sure that''s all too it?" "I really hope so," Xinya said, as he went to the nearest wall to him and touched the puzzle, as soon as he did a notification sounded. [You have activated room four of five! You have 15 minutes to complete the potion! If you don''t complete it in 15 minutes you will die!] "Oh crap!" Melting Snow shouted while looking at the far wall. Following Melting snow gaze Xinya saw that dirt was coming out of holes all around the room slowly. If they didn''t hurry they would be buried alive. "Melting Snow go start working on one of the other puzzles!" Xinya quickly got to work, it was on of those sliding puzzle, it might be hard for some, but for him it was easy, he used to do them all the time when he lived with his dad and stepmother, since she took all his electronics away, even after he left that horrid place he did them from time to time as a way to relax from a stressful day. "I did it!" Melting Snow yelled happily. "See, I have a brain too." Patting his head, Xinya looked at the picture it was just as he expected. "Good Job." The pictures showed two blue herbs, one green herb and a bottle of water. What he had to make was a simple Mana potion that would add 200 points back to a person MP. it would take him all of two minutes to make and since there were only three minutes left he hurried up and started it. The intricacies of potion-making is a subtle art and not something that should be rushed, this was something that Xinya learned well in his last life. Although the game helped a bit it still took a stable hand and skill. If a person relies too much on the game to help them the potions would turn out subpar at best, but if the player used their own skills along with the game they can make high-quality potions. Some people might wonder what''s the difference between a regular potion and one of high quality, the answer is simple the regular will allow you to gain back the mana, stamina or health you lost, but high-quality potions would do that and more. They will keep adding stats a long while after. For example, if a player was fighting a monster and they lost health after they take the HQ potion they would gain back their health and while fighting if they lose more health, the potion effect will kick in and they will automatically gain health back for the next couple of minutes. This is why Xinya always tried to do his best while making potions, because although regular potions sold HQ potions sold for a lot more, also he figured that making only a regular potion wouldn''t let them pass this room. Two minutes went by and Xinya finally finished the potion, never knowing the whole time Melting Snow was standing near him and recording. Suddenly a ding went off and a notification appeared. They had completed this room successfully. "Wow! Was that an HQ potion you made?" Melting Snow asked. "I thought only NPC''s could make those." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Nope, any potion maker can if they work hard," Xinya said modestly. "If you say so. Anyway, the next room will be the last right? It holds the boss?" Melting Snow asked. 39 The Final Room pt1* "Do you have enough health potions?" Xinya asked. "Yup, I got tons, what about you?" Xinya just looked at him. "Do you even need to ask?" "Right, potion maker, dumb question." Melting Snow replied with a smile. "Let''s go in." When they opened the red doors, a vile odorous black smoke blew in their faces, causing them to gag in disgust. A notification appeared in front of both of their eyes: [You have entered a poison state! Your HP will keep going down until you leave this room!] "Shit!" Xinya said as he was -1''s appearing above his and Melting Snow''s head every other second. "How high is your HP?" "It''s only 500, what about you?" Melting Snow replied. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Only 250, we need to kill this monster fast," Xinya said anxiously. Looking around the room, the first thing that Xinya saw was that the plants that were so green and lush in the other rooms were decrepit and dried up in this room. The room itself gave off a dead feeling. Xinya didn''t see the monster but in the center of the room on a bronze podium was a book covered by a glass case, upon a closer look he could tell it was a piece of Shilvak''s book. "I think once we touch that book the monster will appear," Xinya said. "Although from where will be the problem." "How about you go get the book, if the monster appears close to you I will jump it giving you time to escape." "Sounds good," Xinya said going nearer to the book, just as he was about to touch it, an attack pushed him away doing 30 damage to him. The front of his armor was covered in blue goop, wiping it away, he finally saw the monster. It was a mishmash of broken potion bottles and different colors all jammed together to make one giant mass. If Xinya had to liken it to anything he would say it looked like a marshmallow that was cooked too long and was thrown into some glass. Seeing Melting Snow predicament, Xinya had an idea. The monster wouldn''t be able to keep them both at bay at the same time. If he starts coming after the monster, it would have to split its attention allowing Melting Snow to get closer and closer to it. With that plan in mind, Xinya drunk down an HP potion and joined in the fray. Xinya''s assumption was correct the monster began to split its attacks between him and Melting Snow, at first Melting Snow wondered why he joined in, but after a while, he understood what was going on. He began to advance on the monster every time it went after Xinya, Melting Snow knew he had to be quick the way Xinya was knocking back HP pots, if the monster throws a critical hit at him, he might die. Just when Melting Snow got in the distance where he could use his swords on it, the monster caught him off guard with an attack that pushed him back three feet. What was worse was that there was a sticky substance on him, that was causing him extra damage. Shaking it off, he drank an HP potion and went back to it. The monster was pissing him off, it was time to take it down. Looking at his skill list he saw that his speed skill had cooled down. He felt stupid for using it earlier, but if he knew it had a four hour, in real-world time, cool down he wouldn''t have. Although his defense was that he had just gotten the skill and was eager to test it out. Looking over at Xinya who was trying his best to dodge the barrage of attacks that were thrown at him, Melting Snow ready his swords and activated his skill sonic run. Since his sonic run was only level one at the moment it only allowed him to go 3x faster than he already was, but that was perfectly fine for this monster. 40 The Final Room pt2* "I can''t get the book, we need to kill that thing first," Xinya yelled. Melting snow sucked his teeth, and said "Alright! Come help me divert this thing''s attention again." Xinya saw that the monster was pushing Melting Snow back again, although he did some damage to it, with the way the monster attacks it would take them forever to kill it, and with being poisoned they didn''t have that kind of time. Xinya knew that this probably would of went better if they had a ranged attacker in the team, but there was no time to dwell on what if''s at the moment. What they needed was a plan. Just as Xinya was about to go over to help, Melting Snow stopped him. "Drifting Cloud, I''m running out of stamina and I used up all of my stamina potions. Do you have any?" Melting Snow desperately asked. "Yes I have a bunch, can you make it over here to get it? Xinya asked as he watched Melting Snow dodge numerous attacks. "I don''t think so, throw one at me, I can catch it." Melting Snow replied. Watching as an attack from the monster almost got Melting Snow, Xinya asked: "Are you sure?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Yes! Throw it now, my stamina it at 50 points." Melting Snow yelled. Seeing no other way, Xinya threw a stamina potion at Melting Snow, but because of the monster''s attack, Melting Snow had to dodge, causing the potion to miss his hand and hit the monster instead. When the stamina potion spilled onto the monster it sizzled and the monster reared back in pain. It took over 200 damage from that potion spill. Xinya and Melting Snow shared a glance as if to say what the heck is going on. Melting Snow quickly moved over to Xinya while the monster was distracted, and took some of the stamina potions he was holding, while asking, " So, potions hurt that thing?" "It would seem so, everything in this whole dungeon dealt with potions somehow, why should it be different for the boss," Xinya replied a little bemused. "It''s because you don''t have the skill, I got it from my class change. It allows me to throw potions at monsters. I will explain more after we dealt with this thing." Xinya said drinking a hp potion because his poisoned state was bringing his health down. "Drink the stamina potion, I will throw potions at it while you attack it with your sword." "Alright, let''s do it !!" Melting Snow said getting ready. Xinya took out 50 potions and connected them to one of the empty slots on his throw skill, so he could use them instantly without having to take out them out of his inventory one by one. Once that was done, he began to throw the potions at the monster causing immense damage to it. Instead of the monster pushing them back, he was pushing it back instead. The monster could barely use it''s skills when it tried it was interrupted by Xinya damaging it with a potion, seeing that monster was backed into a corner, Melting Snow jumped into the fray, using his attacks to damage it more than it already was. The monster''s health points were going down fast, there was only 100 left since it was almost over and Melting Snow wanted to end it flashy for his viewers so he used his final attack skill on it. A bright light engulfed his swords, he waved them in a circular motion and a thousand swords appeared, with a dramatic cry Melting Snow yelled, "Swords of death, take your vengeance!" All one thousand swords pierced the monster, taking the last of its health points. Xinya watched as the monster dissolved into a puddle of nasty ooze, before turning into white particles and disappearing into nothing. Suddenly different notifications popped up before him. [You have cleared Krimplot dungeon!] [You have leveled!] [You have leveled!] [You have leveled!] [You have leveled!] [You are now level 18!] "We did it!!" Melting Snow said, throw a fist in the air. "We sure did, now let''s see if it dropped the key to the case," Xinya said while walking over to the loot. There was indeed a key, which Xinya took, there was also, 5 silver coins which they split, lots of different kinds of high-grade potions, which Xinya let Melting Snow have, there was also a combat potion recipe that Xinya quickly grabbed called Dream Dust. Dream Dust: Dreaming is usually reserved for when you sleep at night, but this potion will allow you to put anything to sleep anytime you want. In fact, enemies who are hit by the dream dust potion will fall asleep in an instant, making it a useful potion in a fight. Sleeping enemies are more sensitive to damage, but they won''t stay asleep for long. Unfortunately, stronger enemies are more difficult to put to sleep. Xinya knew that this potion would come in handy, putting it in his combat potion journal he went over to the podium and opened the glass case and grabbed the book. [You have obtained part one of two of Shilvak''s book! You will automatically get the quest for the second part when you reach level 50!] All the important notes of the book, about gaining combat recipes entered his collection journal, leaving the original book with only stories of Shilvak''s travels. Now Xinya understood why he could give the book to an NPC. After he grabbed the book another door appeared, Xinya opened it to see that it was an exit. "Melting Snow, let''s go!" "Alright! Let''s get out of here." Melting Snow said while putting his swords away. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 270/270 (+10) Level: 18 MP: 250/250 (+10) Exp: 12/1000000 Stamina: 250/250 (+10) Skill points: 28 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 7(+4) Int: 8 (+4) Luck: 6 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 996 silver 326 bronze 41 New Skill* "That was a lot of fun, I wished I had quests like yours." Melting Snow said. "Don''t you have to do quests to get your skills?" asked Xinya. Shrugging, Melting Snow replied. "Well I do, but they mostly fetch me quests, so very boring." "You''re jealous of my quests, while I''m envious of yours. What a pair we make." Xinya said with a slight smile on his face. "We are a fine pair." Melting Snow said while laughing. "Anyway let''s get off this island." Xinya took out the raft kit from his inventory and opened up. The raft that appeared was a wooden on, it was a high-grade one so it wasn''t just some logs tied up together with two ores. It was finely crafted, with two raised sides so that passengers wouldn''t fall out if the water were to get rough. It had one long seat built in the middle and it was padded for comfort. The ores were connected to the raft so there was no way they would fall into the water if there was a slip of the hand, also the raft had bonus speed +5. Melting Snow walked around the boat, looking at every inch of it in curiosity. "This is so cool, I have never been on a raft ever in my life, real or in-game." "Me either, but there is a first time for everything," Xinya said. Pushing the boat into the water was quite the strenuous ordeal, Xinya felt a little stupid he should have opened it near the water, but for some reason, he thought they would have had to put it together themselves. He couldn''t do anything about it now, next time he would read the item description more carefully. Once the raft was in the water, he and Melting Snow got on to it, each one of them grabbing an ore. "So¡­" Melting Snow asked carefully. "We just paddle one at a time? Like I paddle then you paddle?" Xinya was as clueless as Melting Snow so he said, "We can try that." Doing a Melting Snow suggested, they took turns paddling, but what wound up happening was that the raft kept turning in circles. Knowing that they were doing it wrong, Xinya stopped and opened the internet interface and looked it up. It seemed they had to move the ores at the same time. "Melting Snow stop we are doing it wrong," Xinya said. "What should we do?" Melting snow asked. There was no need to navigate since it was a straight path to where they needed to land, but it did take a while for them to reach their destination, while they were paddling Melting Snow asked about Xinya''s throw skill and what it does. "It''s nothing special," Xinya said while paddling. "It just allows me to throw potions from far away at monsters. I think that one skill you used the one thousand sword impalement was nice, although a bit flashy." "Hey now, people love flashy skills, that''s the whole point of getting them." Melting Snow said. "Really¡­ I thought people get skills to make them stronger?" Xinya asked sarcastically. "Well, that too, but mostly to look cool." "Whatever you say," Xinya replied laughing. "You don''t believe me? Well, let me tell you¡­" Melting Snow began, going on and on about how flashy skills are the best until they reached land. Xinya who gave up on listening to Melting Snow talk a long time ago, gave a sigh of relief once they landed. They landed on a slight clearing, only a few feet away was a dense forest. Xinya had a feeling that a person could get lost in those woods for days without even trying. Since it would be dark in an hour or so, he decided to set up camp for the night, because who knows what type of dangerous monsters lurks in those woods. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. There wasn''t much they needed to do, they just needed to make a fire. Although this wasn''t an official campground, one thing all players knew, if they are out in the wild, they need to make sure to always light a fire at night it will keep the monsters at bay. Not any fire would do though, it had to be a fire pit and registered to each person or they won''t be safe. Once it was fully dark and the fire was lit, there wasn''t anything for them to do but wait until sunrise, so Melting Snow sat by the water to fish, while Xinya sat next to him soaking his feet. Xinya wasn''t fishing he was looking at his combat potion journal and at Shilvak''s notes. [One year into the war] ''I have been healing the soldiers that have been injured by the monsters every day since this war has begun, I know that helping people is a great virtue, but I can''t shake the feeling that I should be doing more. I also want to be on the front lines and destroying those monsters who have been killing us for no reason, but all I know is potions. Will I ever be of use.'' -Shilvak [Two years into the war] ''I could take it no longer, I can''t just sit on the sidelines any longer I must help my fellow men in more ways. I have been secretly working on potions that would destroy rather than help and I finally made progress. While making a health potion I accident knocked in a glow flower, it caused a giant explosion. After tweaking with it for a while I can now create mini fireballs, the damage is not great and it can only attack two monsters at a time but it''s something. I now know that the health potion mixed with certain flowers can create fire type potions that will do great damage to monsters. I will call them, combat potions'' -Shilvak 42 Making Potions* "Drifting Cloud, why are you making so many potions. Do you think we will need them tomorrow when we walk through the forest?" Melting Snow asked. "The potions I''m making right now are combat potions. While I was soaking my feet, I was reading the notes I got from the book in the dungeon and gained a new combat potion." "Really? That''s awesome!!" Melting Snow exclaimed. "What kind of combat potion you get." "It''s called mini fireball, it can cause damage to two monsters at a time, but it also said the damage isn''t that high, but I''m happy to have it either way. Plus if I pair it with dreaming dust it should be fine." Xinya replied. "Dreaming dust? What is that?" Melting Snow asked confused since he had never heard of that skill before. "It''s another combat potion, remember it dropped from the potion monster after we killed it?" Xinya said. Melting Snow thought for a while before saying, "Oh yeah, I remember now. I thought the recipe was for a regular potion and didn''t really pay it any mind. So what does that combat potion do?" "It can put monsters to sleep for a short period of time and while they are sleeping the damage done to them will be greater. I think it would only be the first hit done to them while they are sleeping because I assume they will wake up after being hit once." Xinya said his excitement about this combat potion was clearly showing on his face. "Wow!! I never heard of that skill or anything else like that before." Melting Snow said in wonder. "It must be rare, check the circle rating." "I think it will be a waste of time, there''s no way a rare recipe would drop from a monster in a low-level dungeon like that one, a person would need a lot of luck for that to happen and¡­." Xinya stopped mid-sentence when he remembered that he did have the luck stat. He almost facepalmed himself. "Right, let me look." Melting Snow was a bit confused with the quick turn around but just said, "Alright." Scrolling through the list, Xinya finally found the potion section. Going straight to the combat potion section he quickly looked for dreaming dust and what he saw surprised even him. Dreaming dust had six circles, the highest amount there was, which meant that this combat potion was extremely rare to get. Which meant his luck really worked in his favor this time. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Seeing the dumbfounded look on Xinya face, Melting Snow asked, "What is it? What does it say?" "It says that the combat potion is a six circle on," Xinya replied. "No way, are you kidding me right now? Melting Snow asked. "Nope, a monster in a low-level dungeon dropped an extremely rare potion," Xinya said matter of factly. "Man, if we had sold it. We would be swimming in money right now." Melting Snow said with regret. Laughing, Xinya said, "This is a combat potion, besides me, who would be dumb enough to get this class." "Oh, that''s right. Even if it is extremely rare, nobody would''ve wanted it anyway." Melting Snow said feeling better now that he knew that there wouldn''t have been any coin gain from it. Rolling his eyes at Melting Snow, Xinya begins trying to make the Dreaming dust potion, now that he knew that it''s a six circle potion, he knew that the failure rate would be really high at his current level in potions. The potion required stamina potions and the dewy-eyed fruit. Although Xinya had tons of stamina potions he only had 50 dewy-eyed fruits, the dewy-eyed trees were good for the soil and help the plants grow, so he collected a few in beginner town for when he buys his own land. If he knew a day would come that he would need the fruits he would have collected more of them. "Drifting Cloud, I can''t wait until our next battle to see your combat potions in action, I will make sure to record it, and rub it in everyone''s faces at how awesome you are." Melting Snow said gleefully as he watched Xinya prepare his ingredients. Stopping what he was doing Xinya said, "Melting Snow don''t record me when I start using my combat potions, please." "Why not?" Melting Snow asks in confusion. " I hate how everyone bad mouths you saying you''re useless, once they see your combat potions in action that will shut them up." "Yes, it will. I agree with you, but it will also bring problems. What do you think would happen if ranker, guilds, see that I can put tons of monsters to sleep with just one potion?" Xinya asked seriously. Melting Snow thought about it and realize exactly what would happen, "They would come after you, trying to make you join them and if you didn''t they would harass you." "Exactly, right now I''m still a newbie with no backing, so until I get some I have to hide my true strength, do you understand?" "I do, once I get a sponsor, you won''t need to worry about anything I will have your back, then you can show your true skill without any worry." Melting Snow said. 43 Into the Forest* Xinya was going to find small farmland to grow herbs and food products he needed for cooking and potions, but as he thought about it he would need to buy a house that has a couple of acres of land. In Haven online buying a house in the future would cost over 200 thousand gold coins and that would just be for the cheaper ones, but right now since the update hasn''t happened yet they will still be cheap. They should be going for around 2-5 thousand gold coins, but there was one house that Xinya knew that he could get really cheap. Putting that thought in the back of his mind, for now, he continued working on the dreaming dust potion. It was as hard to make as he thought even with his experience in making potions. When the first two times he tried making it failed, he turned on the guide and followed it step by step. The guide was different from letting the game help him. When the game helps it controls a player''s body in making a potion, it helps get the player''s body used to how to do it but it also degrades the players skill, so it''s only useful for beginners, while the guide is a holographic image of an instructor showing a player the correct way of doing things. After following the guide three times, Xinya finally got the hang of it and started trying to make the potion in earnest. It seems he got a little cocky about his skills and realizes he can''t do that. He will be making a lot of different types of potions now and not just the ones that he was used to when he was in the future. The night passed like that with Xinya making potions and Melting Snow fishing. When the sun rose, Xinya made 22 out of 40 dreaming dust potions, and his potion-making level also rose as well he was now level 10 out of 50. It was nothing to brag about getting those first ten levels were always the easiest. Looking at the 1 million experience he needed to level up and since most of the potions besides the dreaming dust one only gives him 5 exp, he knew it would take a while until he could level up his potion-making skills again. ~ After tidying up their campsite Melting Snow and Xinya walked to the entrance of the forest. It looked so foreboding to them, there was smog seeping out from the trees, and they kept hearing ghastly noises coming from within. Xinya walked closer and peeked his head inside, there was no light, although it was daylight and the sun was shining, inside the forest there was no light. "What are we going to do? If we can''t see where we are going, how are we going to make it out safely?" Melting Snow asked a little panicked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Xinya had a hunch that Melting Snow was a little afraid of the dark, he thought about teasing him a little but felt that was wrong. Everyone had something they were afraid of, even him. "Don''t worry," Xinya said while pulling out two glow flowers from his inventory. "I got these." Melting Snow let out a breath that he didn''t even know that he was holding, "That''s great, now we will be able to see." Xinya begins tinkering with the glow flower, tying it together and making it into a bracelet for Melting Snow. Since Melting Snow was a dual blader, he would need both of his hands free in case they encounter something in the forest, but Xinya would try his hardest to make sure they won''t. "It seems you will have to be the brawn once again, Melting Snow," Xinya said jokingly. "Why do you say that?" Melting Snow asked. "Because I''m going to navigate. I leveled up my map." Xinya replied. Huffing, Melting Snow said, "Why did you do that, it''s a waste of skill points at this stage. I know it''s helpful but if we never went to the potion dungeon we would never need it." "You wouldn''t need it, but I would. Once the map is level three it will show exactly where to find herbs, fruits, and vegetables in the forest." "Oh, right. I forgot about that feature, but still, to get it to level three is throwing away 15 skill points and we already get so few as it is." Melting Snow said. "Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing," Xinya said soothingly. " Anyway let''s get this over with, the faster we go in the sooner we can leave." 44 Hide* The glow flowers surrounded them in a sphere of light, because of them they were able to see a few steps ahead, behind and next to themselves. Xinya caught up with Melting Snow and pushed him behind him, "Let me lead." "Alright." Melting Snow said moving a step behind him. Xinya opened up the map and zoomed in on their location, the map showed the entire forest and the monsters and plants within. While looking at the map he saw that there were some good plants that he could collect here in the forest, but since he couldn''t see the plants exact location, plus he wasn''t prepared Xinya decided to come back later. Using his new feature, a swarm of red dots appeared on the map, showing the level and exact location of every monster in the forest. Most of the monsters him and Melting Snow could handle if they run across them, but there were few that if they were not careful would be able to kill them and unfortunately they were in the direction they needed to go. Sighing softly to himself, Xinya begin walking while Melting Snow closely followed. "It will take us around 3 hours to exit this forest, maybe 4 if something happens. We need to be on our guard and speak softly as to not to attract any attention from the monsters." Xinya whispered. "Okay." Melting Snow quietly said. ~ They had been following the map, and everything has been going smoothly, so far there hadn''t been any real trouble, one might say they found a lot of benefits while walking through the forest. Every time a monster got near they would make a detour and find a plant or a fruit tree that Xinya had to stop and collect from. One time when they had to bypass a monster, Melting Snow tripped over something that turned out to be a gemstone, worth at least 20 silver coins, Although Melting Snow wanted to share the coins with Xinya, he told him to keep it for himself. The way they were going Xinya thought for sure that they could make it out of this forest without having to fight a single monster, it wasn''t until 2 hours later and they were a mile away from the exit that Xinya realized how wrong he was. He should have known that nothing would be that easy, especially for him. Rubbing his forehead in annoyance he turned to Melting Snow and whispered, "There''s a monster stalking us." "I already know." Melting Snow replied. "You know? Why didn''t you tell me?" Xinya asked. "It''s my beast senses, and I didn''t say anything because I didn''t sense any aggression from it, It feels like it''s more curious than anything." Xinya did notice that Melting Snow had been acting weird from time to time as they were walking. He would oddly look around as if searching for something, or he would ready his swords as if something was about to attack him, Xinya didn''t see any monsters on the map when these things happened so he just thought that Melting Snow was acting a little jumpy, because of his fear of the dark. "Next time tell me please," Xinya said a little aggrieved. "I wonder why it didn''t show on the map." Sheepishly, Melting Snow rubbed the back of his head, "I''m sorry, but since it wasn''t making no move to attack us, I didn''t deem it as important enough to tell you." "It''s alright, but it must be stalking us for a reason," Xinya replied. Xinya went back to check the map, they were about ten feet away from the exit, Xinya was about to tell Melting Snow when the monster from before started moving towards them quickly. "Melting Snow, get ready the monster is quickly coming our way!" Melting Snow ready his swords looking every which way but not seeing or hearing anything, "Where is it?" Xinya really didn''t know how to answer Melting Snow, because one second the monster was running towards them and then the next second it had completely disappeared. The monster was circling them appearing and disappearing, Xinya thought maybe the game had a bug for a minute or so, but then he caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared again. That''s when he realized what was happening, there was only one skill that lets a monster disappear from the map. "Oh shit!! Melting Snow the monster has ''Hide''." Xinya quietly yelled at Melting Snow while pulling out a potion. 45 Flare Dog* Melting Snow must have realized it too because instead of fighting he was tried to push back the Flare Dog. To tame a monster a player needed to bring down the monster''s health down to exactly 50%, with a taming cane. The taming canes are designed to hit the monster until it''s health is only 50% but if a player uses their weapon first they won''t be able to use the taming cane. "Drifting Cloud, I need your help!!" Melting Snow said desperately while holding the monster off. "I have to tame this flare dog." Xinya knew that is would be tricky, flare dogs are extremely territorial and it probably locked on to Melting Snow because he''s a beast type, a dog type at that. Thinking about it Melting Snow said that he felt that the monster was curious, maybe since they were about to leave the forest, the flare dog wanted to test its strength, but Xinya was wasting time. With a dreaming dust potion in hand, he threw it at the flare dog only for it to dodge. It was extremely fast, and once again its enormous black and white furry body disappeared. The glare from its glowing sun tattoos was the only thing left as it departed. Melting Snow hurried and put away his swords and brought out his taming cane, getting ready. "Drifting Cloud stand back, don''t use any more of your dreaming dust potion. The flare dog is to fast and it would be a waste. I got this don''t worry." Melting Snow said to Xinya just as the flare dog appeared again. Swirling the cane around in his hand, Melting Snow jumped at the monster and smacked it in the face, causing the flare dog to be knocked back a couple of feet. The flare dog started growling at Melting Snow, it didn''t phase him at all instead he smirked and said, "Bring it on." The flare dog launched three fire attacks at Melting Snow, which he dodged with ease, but the flare dog was just distracting him. While Melting Snow was dodging the fire attacks the flare dog used his incredible speed and snuck up behind Melting Snow and used another fire attack. It happened so fast that Melting Snow wasn''t able to react and got blown away by it slamming against a tree. "Urg¡­" Melting Snow painfully moaned. " Damn that hurts, even when the pain setting is on low." "Be Careful, this dog is smarter than it looks," Xinya told him. "Don''t worry, I''m well aware of that now." Melting Snow said while gulping down a health potion. Quickly he put away his taming cane and brought out a pet carrier, once Melting Snow put it on the ground it grew to be roughly 10x the size of a normal one. Melting Snow needed to lure the flare dog inside for the taming to be complete but the flare dog wasn''t having any of that. "What do I do? How do I lure it inside the carrier?" Melting Snow asked as the flare dog kept charging at him throwing attacks. Seeing that Melting Snow wouldn''t be able to keep dodging all of the monster''s attacks, Xinya thought of an idea. He wasn''t sure if it would work but after everything Melting Snow did for him he wanted to help him get the flare dog. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Melting Snow starts running, make the flare dog chase you around and then run into the pet carrier," Xinya said. "Run into the pet carrier?!? If I do that, I will be trapped inside with it." Melting Snow replied dumbfounded at Xinya''s idea. "Don''t worry as soon as your inside the carrier, I will throw one of my dreaming dust potions at the flare dog making it go asleep, and once it''s knocked out you can escape and capture it," Xinya said. Seeing that it was a sound plan, Melting Snow aggravated the flare dog enough that it started chasing him all around, with Melting Snow jumping and dodging all of the incoming attacks from the monster. It was quite a funny sight, well at least for Xinya. Finally, Melting Snow got the flare dog to follow him into the carrier, once they were trapped the monster cornered Melting Snow and was going in for the kill, when Xinya threw the dreaming dust potion inside, knocking the flare dog out. Melting Snow ran out of the carrier and closed it, causing it to shrink back to normal size and making the monster within turn into a baby. Melting Snow paused as if he was reading something and a happy smile appeared on his face. "I did it! I tamed my first monster." Melting Snow said excitedly. Smiling fondly at him, Xinya said, " That''s great. Let''s get out of these woods now, the sooner we get back, the sooner you can start training your little one." 46 Frozen Ice* Melting Snow, on the other hand, was extremely bored, he became so accustomed to things happening when he was around Xinya that these two days of peacefully walking was very boring for him. He understood that he had to learn that every day wouldn''t be exciting, plus now that he had tamed a monster he would need to take out to train it. From what he read it could take up to three to four weeks, it will take hard work and patience. While Melting Snow was thinking about this, he heard a beeping sound, it was a message. Opening it Melting Snow saw that it was from his brother saying: '' Log off, we need to talk.'' Melting Snow was very confused about what his brother wanted to talk to him about and why he needed to log off to do so, he was worried that it might have something to do with his father or something equally important. "Drifting Cloud, I have to log off my brother needs to talk to me about something." "Should I wait for you to return?" Xinya asked. Shaking his head, Melting Snow said, "No, continue going to town, I don''t know how long I will be." "Alright, I will see you later then," Xinya said waving goodbye to Melting Snow. Melting Snow waved goodbye to Xinya than logged off the game. After a few seconds of getting his equilibrium back, Melting Snow got out of the pod and went to search for his brother, their new apartment wasn''t as big as their previous house, but it was big enough that it took a couple of minutes to find his brother. When he found his brother, he was sitting in his office with the door open waiting for him. "Jun, please come in, I was waiting for you." said his brother. As Melting Snow walked into the office he had a bad feeling. "Sorry to keep you waiting, gege." ~~ One day ago Frozen Ice was going over the items he and his guild got from the latest dungeon they cleared. So far his guild was ranked in the top 5000 for the fastest clear time and he invidiously was ranked in the top 1000 on the leaderboard, for newbies like him and his guildmates that was spectacular. He also had a sponsor get in touch with him, saying that if he makes it into the top 500 they would sign a contract deal with him. This was everything he wanted, all the planning, sabotage, things were finally going how he wanted. "What''s so funny my dear?" Frozen Ice asked while making his face appear loving. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Turning to him with a loving smile, Silken Envy said, "Your younger brother is just so cute. He put out another video, his skills are really great, it''s like he playing bodyguard for that Dryad." The other members of the guild heard her and got curious and opened the internet interface to watch the video also. They started commenting on how great Melting Snow''s skills were and how he should join their guild. Plus with a cute, energetic boy around it would make the guild more lively. Frozen Ice knew his brother didn''t want to be a ranker and he didn''t mind, because he knows if his brother tried he could be competition. So he told his guild that his brother wouldn''t like cramped up in one place, and he wanted him to go and have fun. He could tell they all thought he was a kind and caring brother, just the way he wanted it. He was about to go back to checking his inventory when a private chat opened up in front of him from Rose Lily. RL: Sweetie, we need to talk about your brother. FI: Why? RL: He''s making a fool out of himself, hanging around with that dryad. Everyone can see he''s being used. FI: So what? Why do you care? RL: Of Course I care. If people find out that he''s your brother, they might use him against you. Your just rising up, if that happens it could ruin your chances. I don''t want him to mess up your sponsorship. FI: Your right baby, I will talk to him about staying away from that dryad until I get into the top 500. That way once I have a sponsor it won''t matter what he does. RL: Why only until then, he should just join our guild and help you. FL: No, there''s no need, a couple of weeks away will be good enough, by then I will be in the top 500. RL: But sweetie, with his help, our guild could be able to rank higher. FI: I said no! Why do you want him here so bad anyway? RL: I don''t, he''s your little brother I''m just worried. FI: Don''t worry, he can take care of himself. 47 Accomplishment* Melting Snow decided when he is with his brother''s guild during this period, he would strive to get stronger and train his monster to be the best. That way when he returns to Drifting Cloud''s side he could handle any adventures they go on, but first, he had to tell him goodbye. With a sigh, Melting Snow got back into the pod and logged back into Haven. By the time Melting Snow had logged in Xinya had already reached Bellport. He couldn''t wait to complete the quest, there was so much that he needed to now that he got his combat potion skills. He needed to work on his fishing, cooking, potions and he been meaning to take the mysterious black egg he got from the King Bellyborg to the beast tamer NPC. He wanted to see if it was a pet, if not he would just use it as an ingredient. There were a lot more things he needed to accomplish before the update in three months that his head hurt just thinking about it, although he wasn''t sure if he could get a headache in virtual reality but he could feel one coming on. A beep interrupted his thoughts, It was a video call from Melting Snow. With a slight smile, Xinya opened the call only his smile went away when he saw Melting Snow''s face. "What''s the matter?" Xinya asked concerned. Sighing, Melting Snow said, "My brother needs me to help out with his guild. So I will be gone for three weeks, four at the most if something happens." "That''s alright, it''s only a couple of days. You won''t miss much here, go help your brother." Xinya replied. "No." Melting Snow said while shaking his head sadly. " It''s not three weeks ingame time but real-world time." "Oh, I see," Xinya said. He could understand why Melting Snow was so upset, a lot could happen during that time. Xinya would miss the energetic boy, he made things lively. He was like the little brother he never knew he wanted, but it was only three weeks and they could still video call each other, he told Melting Snow that. "I know." Melting Snow said reluctantly. "Just don''t go on any adventures without me." Chuckling, Xinya said, "I''ll try my best not too." The three librarians had their hands full, checking out books and answering questions, it seemed it wouldn''t be as easy as walking in, completing the quest and leaving as he thought. Holding back a sigh, Xinya stood in line and waiting for his turn. Twenty minutes had past and it was finally his turn, he stood in front of Wynter and gave a smile. She was so startled to see him that she stood up so quickly that she turned over her chair. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Your back!" She exclaimed. "Did you complete the dungeon already." Nodding his head, Xinya said, "I am and I did." Seeing that he was about to pull something out, Wynter stopped him and told him to follow her, not forgetting to inform the other two librarians that she would be back. As they walked to her office, Wynter asked him to tell her everything that had happened in the dungeon in detail. Xinya did as she asked he told her about all the puzzles and eerie statues and carnivorous plants. By the time they were sitting comfortingly in her office, he was almost done telling her everything. "Wow, that was some adventure you had, I wish I could have experienced it with you," Wynter said her face filled with regret. "And where is Shilvak''s book?" "Here it is," Xinya said pulling a book bound in leather from his inventory and handing it to Wynter. Wynter held the book with care, tears coming to her eyes as she caressed the cover, "I never thought I would be able to see this book in my lifetime. Thank you so much Drifting Cloud I''m forever grateful. Quest Completed!! Reward: 1000 experience points The two of them talked a little more before Wynter needed to leave and go back to work. Xinya left the library feeling self-satisfied, he accomplished what he set out to do, but he knew that he had to work harder, there was a lot of things he needed to do. With those thoughts and seeing that 23 hours had passed he logged off the game. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 270/270 (+10) Level: 18 MP: 250/250 (+10) Exp: 1012/1000000 Stamina: 250/250 (+10) Skill points: 28 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 7(+4) Int: 8 (+4) Luck: 6 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 996 silver 326 bronze Stat Points 4 48 Roaming Wind* Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Xinya wanted to grab them all but he knew that some ingredients would be hard to get since the region that he was in might not have the certain plants or monsters needed to make the dish. Although he did grab a few recipes that needed ingredients from other regions, mostly fruit and vegetable dishes. Since the auction house in Haven Online connected to every region in the game, a player could get items from far away without having to go to other regions, unless the item was hard to find or too expensive for the player to buy. At this point, seeds were sold very cheaply so Xinya made sure to get a huge stockpile of them, for when he had his own land. While searching through the auction house, Xinya was surprised to find a certain recipe, it was a recipe called Karrykarry. It was an ice dessert with sweet toppings that included chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and red beans. It was from the Bingsoo region where there are a lot of ice caves located. The recipe was highly sought after in the future but was very hard to get, because it only dropped from a monster called the Bigoloo, but that monster was extremely hard to find. The reason why the Karrykarry recipe was so highly sought after was because of the stats it temporary gives HP +29~30 Str +37~38 Int -14~15 Dex -14~15 Luck +24~25. Although it takes away some stat points from the intelligence and dexterity stats, It was still wanted because it could temporarily allow a player to have the luck stat with 24-25 points in it. For Xinya to see it in the auction house for only 10 silver coins, when in the future it would be over 10 thousand gold coins, of course, he had to snatch it up. Fishing was something that Xinya was trying his best to level after he was done getting supplies and leveling up his cooking to a decent level he went to the lake to fish. It took him about two weeks ingame to finally get to 95% exp, now he just had to get that last 5% before he could go find the level two fishing master. His inventory, on the other hand, was now full of all different kinds of fish. Xinya didn''t mind he got a lot of seafood recipes that he could use them for, although one good thing happened while he was fishing he managed to find a Jade Pearl. A Jade Pearl is an ingredient used by mages to make a life drain orb. A life drain orb is a last-ditch effort used by mages against monsters, once the mage health goes below 5%, they can use the orb against the monster they are fighting, draining its health to get back their own. Since the orb takes 2x of the monster health in the process, the orb would most likely kill it. The Jade Pearl isn''t anything rare, but it would at least bring in a one hundred silver if he sold it. His potions making skills were coming along as well, he managed to get to level 11 sooner than he thought, but it was all due to the lucky potion he drank in the dungeon. It gave him the recipe to make medium mana potions. These mana potions allowed a player to get back 500 points back to their mana. Xinya didn''t have a hard time making this potion since it was following the same steps as making a regular mana potion, but it did eat away at his blue herbs since it takes five blue herbs to make one medium mana potion. Xinya knew he probably would have to go out and gather more herbs very soon, but he would worry about that once he is back inside the game. "Xinya!! Xinya are you listening to me?!?" Xinya snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Wei, "Yeah, I was listening." "Than what did I say?" Wei said. "Okay, I admit I wasn''t listening," Xinya replied sheepishly. "Urg!" Wei exasperatedly shook her head. "I said the men are almost finished setting up my pod and I have to think of an avatar name." "What do you mean, you came up with one last week," Xinya said confused. "I did, but now I don''t like it. Help me think of a new one." Wei pleaded. Xinya was a bit bewildered, the name she thought of last week was the one she had in the future when she played, but now she wants to change it, Xinya wondered if this was a ripple effect. "Well you know my ingame is Drifting Cloud, maybe it could be similar to mine. Everyone will think we are brother and sister." "We might as well be," Wei said smiling. "Let''s see what would be similar to your name." The men who were fixing up the pod came out saying that they were done installing, Xinya showed them out since Wei was busy thinking. When he wheeled himself back in the living room Wei had a big smile on her face. 49 Wei鈥檚 Decision* She would hunt small animals and sell the fur she gains to tailors, amass a small fortune, and then in a couple of years use that money to fund her dreams of becoming an explorer. Once she is an explorer, she would find tons of different kinds of treasures, which she would sell and become super-rich, so rich that she and mom would never have to work for anyone ever again. That was her plan, but after hearing all of Xinya''s adventures in Haven Online, Wei started to doubt if she was choosing the right path. Xinya did what he wanted, Wei knew that he must have researched the game, she could tell by the way he explained things to her while they talked about his adventures, but he still chose to be a dryad even though it is the most useless race, he chose to level up cooking and potions even though they are useless skills, he became an artisan that focuses on potion-making and cooking, which everyone steers clear from, he did all the wrong things but he already made 9 gold coins. Wei always told herself that she wanted to be an explorer because that was a safe option, on the forums it said even a complete novice could turn a profit by being an explorer, so she settled for that because it would be a good way to make money plus it was similar to what she really wanted to do. Although, after seeing Xinya follow his gut, breaking the rules players set of what not to do, she too wanted to break the rules and follow her dream of becoming a treasure hunter. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Treasure Hunter is one of the branches from the adventure class the other one being Explorer. Unlike, explorers who search for ruins and excavate treasures, a treasure hunter is different. Treasure Hunting originated from a mischievous little elf who had a thirst for knowledge and adventure. Upon researching different old tomes, the elf found there was an abundant amount of hidden dungeon all over the world of Haven. Determined to go inside of one of the dungeons, the little elf became proficient in survival skills and threw away his bow and arrows to specialize in dual-wielding guns. He soon became known as the greatest treasure hunter. Wei knew that to go down the treasure hunter branch, she had to make an elf and from little information about the class there is on the forums once she becomes one her appearance will change. It will lose the softness and gracefulness of a normal elf becoming more hardened and seductive. After thinking about it, Wei decided to take the chance and chose the elf race. For once she will follow her heart instead of her head. After changing the appearance a bit so that it didn''t look exactly like her, Wei moved on to her starting stats. She knew that she could just let the fairy choose for and perhaps get some rare stats but she felt that she was already going against everything she sought out to become and didn''t want to push it. Since she only had 20 starting stats points she decided that since elves have low defense she would put ten stat points into health, since the higher a player''s health was the higher their defense would be. For the other ten points, she would split them in half, five into stamina and five into dexterity since those are the stats needed when using dual guns. If there was anything she got from the 0.3% of players that are playing as a treasure hunter is that stamina would be her best friend. It seems the skills of the dual guns use up a player''s stamina, so the higher it was the better she will be. After checking over her stats once more, Wei decided she was ready to begin her adventure in Haven now. Just as she was about to inform the fairy she paused, she started worrying if she was making the right choice. If she goes down this path there was no turning back, but then she thought about Xinya, he went through so much, had nowhere to fall back on, but he wasn''t taking a safe road. 50 Fishing Xinya knew that Wei wouldn''t take as long in beginner town as he did, he tried to tell her that she should do some quests there but she wouldn''t listen to him saying that it faster just killing monsters. Only when he told her that he got all his coins from a cooking quest there that her resolve faltered, but she said she didn''t want that skill taking up one of her two crafting skill slots. He didn''t know how to convince her, he couldn''t say that in three months time that cooking would be one of the most popular crafting skills, she would ask how he knew. He couldn''t tell her that he was from the future, that would sound crazy. Plus, Xinya already knew that Wei thought that he was severely traumatized from what happened with his family if he starts spouting nonsense that he''s from the future he had a feeling that she might invite professionals over to look him over. He was able to convince her to leave one of her crafting skill slots open, although she did potions in the future she wasn''t too good at it and could only make low-grade ones, it would be better if she had the cooking skill. That way he knew he could help her make money for her dream of becoming an explorer. Besides convincing her to leave one crafting skill slot open, he also told her that she should buy things she needs at the general store there before she leaves because they are a lot cheaper in beginner town. Xinya really wished he could have convinced her to do the quests in beginner town, there were a few that gave out some good things, but he also understood why. Most of the quests there are useless and doesn''t give anything, and most people who play are trying to earn coins to feed their families, so they couldn''t afford to waste time dallying around beginner town even if they wanted too. He wondered if people in the past who just played these types of games for fun would think less of them for not exploring every inch of beginner town. They probably say that the people who are playing Haven Online are not real gamers. A sudden ding sound of a notification rang out in the air, shaking Xinya out from his reverie. After clearing his head, looked at what it said: [Ding!] [A mysterious wind has flown by activating your luck be prepared] Xinya wasn''t surprised by this, it happened a few times since he put his latest stat points into luck. The first time it happened, he was confused, but then he realized that his luck was up to ten without the help of a title. He could only guess that this phenomenon only happens when the luck stat is actually at 10 by using stat points. So far it only happened while he had been fishing and every time it did he gotten an S- grade fish or an item. This time he was hoping that he could get and S-grade lobster, he would be happy with a crab also. Feeling a tug on his line, Xinya starts smiling, it felt heavy so it definitely wasn''t a shrimp. He started frantically reeling up his fishing line while chanting to himself: "Be a lobster, be a lobster, be a lobster." A fierce struggle commenced for five minutes with Xinya pulling and reeling the line up with all of his might. When finally he managed to pull it out. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. [You caught a wooden box!] When Xinya saw that notification his smile disappeared, he was a little upset, if he caught and S-grade lobster or crab his experience would of went up at least 2-3%, he gets no experience for items. Grabbing the wooden box he opened it up, hoping for something good. [You have received a treasure map!!] Looking it over, Xinya thought that it was probably for a tier-one treasure dungeon since those are the ones people find while fishing, and if he sells it, he wouldn''t get much for it. He decided to save it, he thought after finding a treasure hunter NPC to restore it, he could do it with Melting Snow when he comes back. He was always whining at him how boring it was over there hanging with his brother guild. With that thought, Xinya put the map in his inventory and continued fishing. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 270/270 Level: 18 MP: 250/250 EXP: 1012/1000000 Stamina: 250/250 Skill points: 14 Str: 4 Dex: 7 Int: 8 Luck: 10 Coins: 9 gold 996 silver 326 bronze 51 Butterfly Effec Just as he was about to go to town and sell some of the low-quality fish that he didn''t want or need a ding sounded signaling him that he received a message from someone. Clicking on it, he read it to find that it was from Wei. It seemed that she was finished changing her class and wanted to show off. Xinya already knew what her class was going to be, she even goes on and on about how the explorer is a good class and great at making coins when they are eating a meal together. If he didn''t know that''s the class she wanted to be he would have to be stupid, that''s why he didn''t understand why she was acting like her class would be a surprise. Xinya shook his head in confusion, he didn''t know why she was acting this way but he just shrugged it off, he can act like her class selection was a surprise. He did want to see her in her beginner explorer gear anyway, by the time he was able to play with her she was wearing normal fighting gear. Xinya walked over to the meeting place that Wei decided on, it was the west gate that leads out of Bellport. The west gate leads to monsters that were level 10-15, so Xinya assumed that Wei wanted to show off her fighting skills along with her avatar class change. Out of nowhere a woman appeared and grabbed Xinya arm while saying, "Hey." Xinya was startled, quickly pulling his arm out of her grasp he moved a couple of steps away from the girl while frantically wiping at the place where she touched him looking as if he was about to have a panic attack. "I''m sorry, I''m really sorry." The girl said sounding upset. "It''s me, Wei. I can''t believe I did that, I was just so excited. I''m sorry." Knowing that it was Wei helped him calm down, taking a deep breath he said, "It''s okay, I''m alright." "That''s good," Wei said with a smile, then bringing out her guns and twirled them. "What do you think." After his panic eased, Xinya finally got a good look at Wei. He was really surprised, she wasn''t a beastman or explorer. He knew that she was an elf, but she looked different from the other elves that he has seen. She had more sex appeal than the female elves that he seen, her body was more voluptuous, she also had golden tattoos across her chest, arms and legs. Besides that, the avatar still looked similar to how Wei did in real life. Xinya could tell she made her eyes a little bigger and made her nose thinner and her hair changed from black to a deep blonde. "What''s going on? I thought you wanted to be an explorer?" Xinya asks genuinely confused. "I did, but for all the wrong reasons.." Wei proceeded to tell him why she thought being an explorer was good in the first place, but then told him that it wasn''t the class she wanted to be. She told him that when she first researched the game, the treasure hunter appealed to her most, but since she knew she needed to make money that''s why she decided on explorer and talked herself into believing that''s what she really wanted to do. "But after seeing you becoming a dryad, learning cooking and potions even though you need to make money, made me change my mind," Wei said looking at him as if he changed her life. Xinya didn''t know rather to laugh or cry at this situation, it seems that meeting her this early really did cause a butterfly effect. Xinya didn''t know how to help her now if she was an explorer he planned to help her save money by opening a shop where she could help out at, but treasure hunters didn''t need to save up for gear. Treasure dungeons are everywhere in the world, a player just needs to find a map. Maps aren''t that hard to find, but the good ones are. 52 Tier One, I think no Coming out of his reverie, Xinya smiled and said, "As long as it makes you happy then I think it''s fine, but this class will be challenging. "I already know that, but I read on the forums that tier 1 dungeon maps are not that hard to find," Wei said. "Wei¡­" Xinya started. "Although they are not hard to find, since you can get them by fishing and researching, but those methods are a long process it can take days or weeks until you get one and tier1 dungeons don''t reward a lot." Wei looked down, it was as if she was questioning her decision on becoming a treasure hunter. She knew what Xinya said was right, she even thought about it herself, but still, this is what she really wanted to do. Seeing the determination in her eyes, Xinya said, "Look, if this is something you want to do, then I''m behind you 100%, but you will still need to make coin, did you at least think of a side plan. Don''t forget you still need to pay back your mom." "Thank you Xinya," Wei said with a happy smile. "I actually did think of a side plan to make coin. Although I dislike fishing it''s a good way to get tier 1 maps, and I remembered you saying that you fished up some good items that could sell well, so I got the fishing skill in beginner town." Xinya could work with this, her having fishing was better than having her work in a shop for him. He just needs her to get to level 5 then they could get the scuba diving skill and they can find treasures that are underneath the water together. "That''s great, I will have a fishing partner now." "Hopefully if I''m doing it with you, I won''t be bored," Wei said. "You do know you can connect to the internet interface while doing it, you could listen to music or watch a movie," Xinya said. Wei was surprised, "Really you can? Is that what you do?" "Yeah really, and no I don''t do it. I like the quiet relaxing atmosphere that fishing gives, it allows me time to think." Xinya said. Wei could understand that people needed time alone with their thoughts. She also had a feeling that it was a sort of therapy for him. Whether it was or not he was getting better and if it was the game influence than the money spent was worth it. "So, should we go train, I want to show you my gun skills." "Actually when you were talking about fishing it reminded me. I caught a treasure map the other day." Xinya said pulling the map out from his inventory. Wei placed her hand just above the map and started using her skill ''Map Restoring''. Map Restoring is a skill that allows a player to attempt appraisal and restoration of a map. There is a fixed coin cost for every appraisal or restoration attempt based on the player''s skill level.10 bronze coins at level one go down to one bronze coin at level 10. There is also a cooldown of thirty ingame minutes after every appraisal or restoration attempt. Just as Wei used the skill a notification popped up causing her to stop, with a frown on her face she looked at the map than at Xinya. "Are you sure you fished this up from the lake?" "Yeah, I''m sure," Xinya said a little as to why she was asking. "Why?" "Well when I tried to restore the map, I got a notification saying that my skill is to low to do so. But a level one tier map can be restored with Map Restoring at level one, so I don''t understand." Wei said. After Wei said that, Xinya realized that he got the map while his luck stat was activated. He quickly took the map from Wei''s hand and started walking into town. Wei seeing him leaving her was flustered because she didn''t know what was going on. "Where you going," Wei shouted at him. "Hurry up and follow me, we are going to see the Treasure Hunter NPC," Xinya shouted back at her while continuing to walk. 53 Contrac Xinya knew exactly where to go when looking for a Treasure Hunter NPC, the marketplace. Although there is an auction house, each town also had a marketplace where players can go and set up shops. There were different types of shops that players could set up, they could rent or buy an actual one, they could buy a cart to sell from, they could sell from a vending machine or they could use the cheapest option and get a personal shop briefcase and sit on the ground and sell items. This is what most Treasure Hunter NPC''s did. The market place was in the middle of town and it was always full of people. Xinya thought that he and Wei should split up to cover more ground to look for the NPC but changed his mind, there were too many people and they could lose each other in the crowd. Just as he was thinking about how they were going to find the NPC he heard a man''s voice advertising his wares. "Hey! Hey! Come and Look! I''m selling crystals orbs, rare gems, the eye of Vulcan and much more!! Come over and take a look." Xinya recognized those items, they were items that could only be obtained from a treasure dungeon. Looking over at the man, Xinya saw that he was a dark-skinned elf with broad shoulders and muscular chest that was glistening with sweat from the hot sun. Just looking at him Xinya knew he was a Treasure Hunter NPC. Seeing that Wei was busy looking around, Xinya tugged at her sleeve to get her attention, "I found one follow me." They made their way through the crowd of people until they were finally near the elf. He was surrounded by a group of girls who, from what Xinya could tell was recording him. Xinya rolled his eyes at them and looked back at Wei, only to see she had a blush on her face and shyly kept sneaking peeks at the elf. "I need a picture of him." Wei muttered to herself, while Xinya just gave her a look that said ''Really? You too.'' Although he did understand her feelings and if he was new to the game like Wei, he would probably be staring too but after playing so long he got used to all the beautiful people in this game to the point where the outer appearance of a person no longer had a hold on him. Ignoring the fangirls and Wei''s drooling, Xinya walked up to the elf and said, "Excuse me." Hearing a voice call him the elf looked up and seeing that he might have an actual paying customer put a megawatt smile on his face. "Hello there, how may I help you." "Yes, I was wondering, are you a Treasure Hunter?" Xinya asked. Showing the elf the map, Xinya said, "Yes, can you help me restore this? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "For the right price I can." The elf replied in a sly manner. Xinya already knew how Treasure Hunters were, well the NPC''s anyway. They were a greedy lot that was only happy when they had money. That''s why when treasure hunters got more popular and contracts were discovered they were used religiously because if a player takes a map to a Treasure Hunter NPC and doesn''t make a contract, and the map turns out to be a high tier one it would most likely disappear along with the Treasure Hunter NPC and their coin. "Sure no problem, how much do you want?" Xinya asked. "Ten silver coins." The elf said with a smile. "That''s too much!" Wei said when she heard the price. No matter how good looking the elf was she wouldn''t let him cheat her friend. "It''s fine, Wei," Xinya told her soothingly. The elf was trying to rip Xinya off and he knew it but Xinya didn''t care about losing 10 silver coins he could always make it back. "Alright, let''s make a contract." The smile on the elf face disappeared, getting up he closed his shop. The elf then proceeded to walk over to Xinya. "It seems you know your stuff kid, let''s do it." Xinya lifted his left hand his palm facing outward toward the elf, the elf followed suit raising his hand towards Xinya. Together they said, " Contract! A deal that been set can not be broken. If one breaks it they will be punished with the loss of all their worldly possessions." A glow formed around the two, making the contract binding. Some of the people in the marketplace stopped and started but didn''t understand what was happening, so they just carried on what they were doing. 54 Gold Chain Symbol A faint blue glow appeared on the surface of the map, signaling that the restoration had been successful, the elf looked down at the map and a pained expression appeared on his face. He reluctantly handed the map back to Xinya. "The map has been restored, pay me and go." Xinya handed the elf the ten silver coins and without saying anything turned around while motioning to Wei and walked away. They didn''t see the elf clenching his fists in frustration or a figure that was hidden in a white cloak tailing them as they left. Xinya led Wei to an empty campsite that was just out of town not even realizing that they were being followed. Sitting down at one of the tables with Wei he opened the map and was surprised. His expression must have shown on his face because Wei reacted. "Is the map bad? Did you waste ten silver coins for nothing?" Wei asked agitated. Shaking his head Xinya said, "The map isn''t bad, but it is a one-tier map." "How is that not bad? God¡­ we got scammed." Wei said as if she was about to break down crying at any moment over the lost coin. "Let me finish," Xinya said. "It is indeed a one-tier map, but it has the gold chain symbol." His words left Wei confused she didn''t understand what that meant but from the excitement in Xinya voice, she could tell that it was good. "What does a gold chain symbol mean?" Xinya almost forgot that there was no information about these types of maps on the current forums yet. He would have to be careful from now on about his knowledge of things he learned in the future but if she asked him about how he knew about this he could easily make up an excuse. "A gold chain symbol on a map means that the map is a part of a chain." "A chain? What do you mean?" Wei asked. "I mean, once the one-tier dungeon is complete the reward chest at the end will hold a map to a tier two dungeon. I don''t know how far the chain will go but since it started with a tier-one dungeon that it will probably only go up to tier three." Xinya replied. Wei let out an excited gasp, "Really? How do you know all of this?" "Oh.. Well why I was in the woods gathering items a group of Treasure Hunter NPC''s were setting up camp and I heard them talk about it." Xinya lied with a straight face. That made perfect sense to Wei, so she just nodded and said, "So are you going to keep the map or sell it for coins." "No, I won''t be selling. This will be something we will be doing together, my treasure hunter friend or do you not want to go on a treasure hunt with me?" Xinya asked with a sly smile. Smiling Xinya said, "Than let do¡­" Before he could finish his sentence a scream was heard, Xinya and Wei turned their head towards the sound only to see that it was a woman wearing white running out the woods that was near their camp being chased by Phaseflyers. Something about this situation seemed odd to Xinya but he couldn''t put his finger on it. Storing away the map, Xinya just watched the woman being chased as if I was some sort of entertainment. "We need to help her!" Wei said. Xinya just looked at her and asked, "Why?" "What do you mean why? If we don''t help her she will die." Wei said looking at Xinya as if he was crazy. "So what. This is a game, even if she dies she will just lose some experience a few items, that all. Why should we help her?" Xinya responded while looking at the woman trying to fight off the Phaseflyers with mild interest. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Wei knew that Xinya logic was sound and she also knew that besides her and maybe her mom Xinya didn''t give a damn about any other woman but she couldn''t watch the player die. She knew how hard it was to gain experience, so she felt that it was only right to help the girl. "If you won''t help her then I will," Wei said drawing her guns running to the woman to help her out. Xinya just shrugged and kept watching, there were only two Phaseflyers, plus they were only level 11 monsters, he knew Wei could handle it. Turning his attention back to the woman he finally knew what was odd her robe and weapons was very expensive items also they were something that only a level 20+ player could wear. Xinya had to wonder why a level 20ish player was pretending to be scared of level 11 monsters. As he was thinking the woman started running towards him. 55 White Lotus There were some players, mostly girls, who pretend to be a white lotus to lure in men. Once these men and in some cases women are under their control, they will bleed them dry until they don''t have any coins left. As to why this woman wanted to target him, well he had an idea. She must have been around when he was having the map restored. Anyone could tell that Wei is a Treasure Hunter, but for him to need an NPC to restore the map must mean that it was a high tier map. The higher the tier the better the treasure and better treasure equals a lot of coins. Xinya had this woman all figured out. "Help! Help! Save me!" The woman shouted running towards Xinya at breakneck speed. Just as she was about to reach him, Xinya got up and moved away at the last moment causing her to crash to the ground face first. The Phaseflyer caught up to her and started attacking her from behind while Xinya watched in silent amusement. Wei had already finished killing her monster and was running over. "What are you doing?! Help her!" "Help her?" Xinya tilted his head as if he was confused with what Wei was saying. "Why do I need to help her? The monster damage to her is only 1 point." Wei paused her actions, in which she was about to scold Xinya and looked down at the woman who was screaming bloody murder while fighting off the monster. It was indeed only damaging her by only -1 point. Wei felt confused about what was going on. That''s when a message from Xinya popped up. DC: She playing us, she knows about the map. RW: Are you sure? How does she know about it? DC: I''m sure. Plus when we were getting it restored we weren''t discreet at all. We should have been, we are lucky more people didn''t notice. RW: What should we do about her than? What if she tells more people and they come hounding us. DC: Just ignore her, we don''t need to waste our time on her. She doesn''t know are names and we are leaving this town anyway. She won''t be able to find us. RW: We need to leave this town? What for? DC: The place on the treasure map is in Errinisworth. RW: Errinisworth? Isn''t the monsters around that town around 20-25? I think I should lvl up before going there. DC: Don''t worry, it will take 4-5 days to get there. You can level up along the way. RW: Alright. The woman was so immersed in her acting that she didn''t even notice them leaving. She was screaming and batting at the monster like a damsel in distress. After five minutes of doing this, she realized she couldn''t hear anyone talking around her. Opening her eyes she realized she realized she was all alone. Confused she pushed the monster off and with a quick motion, she stabbed it, killing it instantly. Putting her blade back she stomped her feet in irritation and said, "Where the fuck did they go! She couldn''t figure out how any man would leave a beautiful frightened woman alone like herself. The only reason she could think was he was putting up a front because his girlfriend was there. After thinking about it more, she felt that was the only reasonable explanation. A nasty smirk appeared on her face, she would just have to make the guy believe that his girlfriend isn''t worth his time¡­, "and then all his items will belong to me." After the woman left, Xinya and Wei appeared in front of a tree that was three feet away from where the woman was. Xinya knew that Wei probably would be feeling some doubt even if she said that she believed him, so using his Dryad skill he camouflages them against a tree, so they could watch what she would do. "That bitch! Urg¡­ I feel so stupid." Wei angrily said. Consoling her, Xinya said, "It''s because you have a kind heart, but remember, although this is a game, it''s also a way to make lots of money, and when it comes to money people will do anything. So be careful with the people you try to help from now on." 56 Scheming Rose Lilly Sighing Melting Snow closed his message window and stood up, that woman had found him again. He was so sick of her, he really didn''t know what his brother liked about her. Even a 14-year-old kid could tell that she didn''t like him back and was just using him, but would his brother take his word for it¡­ nope. Melting Snow long ago stopped trying to talk sense into his brother, he felt that he had changed a lot after they went bankrupt and his father suffered from the stroke. At first, he just thought that he had to mature fast, especially with everything he had to handle but now he doesn''t think so. His brother became more cold and calculating, even willing to use people. He wasn''t the brother he knew anymore and that made him quite sad. He felt as if he had lost his father and brother if it wasn''t for his cousin he didn''t know what he would do. His cousin Zixuan was older than him by 5 years but he never treated him like a kid, when he was with his cousin he always felt as if he had another big brother. Sadly, his cousin and his real brother didn''t get along, not that his cousin didn''t try to get along with Melting Snow''s brother but for some reason he always disliked him. The reason for the dislike was unknown, but if Melting Snow had to guess he would say his brother felt inferior to their cousin. Be it looks, brains, skill his cousin had them all the only thing he was lacking was money, which Melting Snow brother made a point to repeatedly rubbed his face in. After a while, he couldn''t do that anymore, once they heard that their cousin was making good money from playing Haven Online and a little after that they had no money themselves. Melting Snow once suggested that they asked their cousin for help, but the look that appeared on his brother''s face when he said that scared him so much that he never spoke of their cousin aloud to his brother again. He just really wished he knew why his brother hated him so much. "Melting Snow there you are. Where have you been?" Rose Lily asked coming into the room where Melting Snow was hiding. "Nowhere. I have been here the whole time." Every time Melting Snow saw Rose Lilly a frown appeared on his face, he really didn''t like her. "I see." Rose Lilly said a doting smile appearing on her face. "What have you been doing?" Shrugging, Melting Snow said, "Nothing really just checking my messages." "Who from? Your little dryad friend?" She asked. Melting Snow didn''t see how it was any of her business who was messaging him and wanted to tell her exactly that but it had been ingrained in him to respect his elders so he just told her. "No, actually it was a message from my cousin asking how am I doing. I was about to reply when you came in." "Zixuan¡­" Rose Lilly spoke so softly that Melting Snow almost couldn''t hear her. The keyword being ''almost''. The loving tone in which she spoke his cousin''s name he heard it clearly. He now understood her persistence of sticking close to him and having an affair with his brother. Clenching his fist and trying to hide the disgust that she brought out from within him he asked, "Is there something you needed." "Oh.. no, no. I was just checking up on you for your brother." She said snapping out of her reverie. "Continue messaging your cousin, um¡­ tell him I said hi." "Does he know you?" Melting Snow couldn''t believe that gall of this woman. Rose Lilly didn''t notice the attitude of Melting Snow she was busy thinking about how right she was. She knew if she gets Melting Snow here she would have an easier way to get in touch with her Zixuan. At first, she thought that if she got together with Frozen Ice she would be able to meet him often, but who knew they hated each other. After catching Melting Snow on a video call with him once, she knew that she needed to get closer to him, but an 18-year-old hanging around a 14-year-old people would think she was a pedophile. The only way was to get the older brother to like her, which she did. Everything was going perfectly until Melting Snow and Frozen Ice went their separate ways inside the game. Rose Lilly now had a chance to get in contact with her Zixuan, she could still remember when they first met. It was just before he went to America. It was at a school reunion party that she attended as a guest of a friend. When she first saw him she was awestruck but when she had her men get information on him, she fell in love. Since her parents wouldn''t let her go to America, she had to find another way to get close to him and now she has a chance. "Not my ingame name, no, but tell him Li Ming says hi." She says while leaving sure that she made a big impression on Zixuan as he did her. 57 Nascent Soul Once the video call was opened, Melting Snow saw his cousin and started laughing. "Zixuan, what is that all over your face." "It''s just soot from when I was blacksmithing," Zixuan said sheepishly while rubbing the soot off his face. "Also, what did I tell you about calling my real name inside of the game." "I''m sorry, Soul." His cousin''s full avatar name was Nascent Soul but Melting Snow always felt that it didn''t roll off the tongue and just called him, soul. "Was there anything you wanted to talk about?" Nascent Soul asked concerned. "You don''t usually video call me." "Do you know someone named Li Ming?" Melting Snow said getting straight to the point. A frown appeared as he thought about that scheming woman. Seeing how serious his cousin seemed, Nascent Soul thought hard before answering, "That name doesn''t seem to ring any bells for me. Why do you ask?" "She is my brother''s girlfriend, but she has always been trying to get close to me. At first, I thought she wanted to look good in front of my brother, but now I think differently." Melting Snow told him. "Did she do anything improper to you?!" Nascent Soul questioned him worriedly. "You better tell me the truth." Shaking his head quickly, Melting Snow said, "No, It''s not anything like that. It is not me that she is after but you." Nascent Soul calmed down after Melting Snow said that but was still concerned, "Why would you think that? "Because it''s true." Melting Snow proceeded to tell his cousin about everything that had transpired between him and Rose Lilly a couple of minutes ago. He told him about how she said his real name in that sickeningly loving tone and how she was so sure that his cousin would know her by name. "You should tell your brother about this." Nascent Soul told him seriously. Melting Snow just rolled his eyes at him and said, "I have been telling my brother about all her sneaky ways, but he just won''t listen. He''s too in love with her to see the truth of the matter. I don''t know what to do." "If it''s like that then there is nothing you can do." Nascent Soul said with a sigh. "I would talk to your brother myself, but you know how it is between us." "I know, and I always wondered what happened to make him hate you so much." Melting Snow said curiously. "It''s funny, now that I think about it. It was because of a girl. It happened when your brother was twelve and I was thirteen. There was a girl that he liked but she didn''t like him but me." Nascent Soul said. "Just because of that, I don''t believe it." Melting Snow said. "Well, he confessed in the middle of the classroom and the girl told him in front of all of his classmates that the only reason she was nice to him because she wanted to get close to me. This spread across the campus and he was known until he left the academy as second best." Nascent Soul replied his expression unreadably. Melting Snow understood his cousin and he knew that his cousin was very protective of his family. He must have tried to stop the gossip but failed, and because of that incident, it caused his cousin''s to hate him. This must-have upset him at that time. Melting Snow also understood his brother''s feelings, but at the same time was disappointed in him about his bad taste in women, because the same thing is happening again. "I will try to talk to my brother once again about her, but if he doesn''t listen I will just give up and let him face the consequences of his obliviousness himself." Melting Snow said. "That''s all you can do." Nascent Soul said with a slight smile. "Either way in less than two weeks I will be able to go back to my friend and won''t have to deal with this mess." Melting Snow smiled just thinking about it. "You mean that dryad I seen in your videos?" Nascent Soul asked. Just as Melting Snow was about to reply a beeping sound was heard it was a message from Drifting Cloud. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Melting Snow said opening up the message. After reading it, he looked visually upset. "What''s wrong?" Nascent Soul asked after seeing Melting Snow''s face. "My brother sucks, that''s what''s wrong. I''m missing out on an adventure because of him." Melting Snow said pouting a little. Laughing, Nascent Soul, "What type of adventure is it, that would make you this upset? " You don''t understand, Drifting Cloud, found a tier 1 treasure map with a gold chain symbol, and I can''t join him. He did say I can join him for the next one but still¡­" Melting Snow replied sadly. "It seems, with that type of friend you will never get bored." Nascent Soul said a little curious about Drifting Cloud. 58 Transfer Letter Since they had all the items that they needed, the only thing they had to do was tell their class instructors that they were leaving town. A class instructor job was to guide players with their skills and help them out with job-related quests. If a player leaves a town without telling their class instructor, the class instructor in the new town would not be able to help them because they wouldn''t have the transfer letter needed. The transfer letter would allow the player to transfer over to a new instructor and the new instructor would be the one guiding them from now on. A player can only get one transfer letter, so they have to be careful in choosing what town they want to settle down in. Xinya knew that he wouldn''t be using his transfer letter for quite a while since the town he had his eye on was Arkala. Arkala was the supreme trading town out of the whole region of Ziam, although that was great it wasn''t the reason Xinya wanted to settle down there. Arkala''s soil was rich and it was easy to grow anything there. Many people didn''t know this until much later and by the time Xinya started playing in his last life, every piece of land in Arkala was claimed, and the people who brought land early but didn''t need to use it rented it out for a mass amount of coin. Xinya also thought about doing that but he knew that there would be a public outcry about how the players who owned the land were taking advantage and the developers would step in and ban everyone who rented out their farms for three months while also taking back the lands. Although the gains would be great, the outcome was something that Xinya felt wasn''t worth it. ~ When Xinya walked into Melvin shop it was busy as ever, little kids were running all around the place. Glancing around he saw there were new toys on the self that he hasn''t seen before, toys that seemed to come out of a dream. Xinya was about to get a closer look when Melvin appeared in front of him. "Hello, Drifting Cloud. How have you been?" Melvin said his usual smile adorning his face. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Looking at Drifting Cloud in a curious manner, Melvin said, "Is that so? Follow me to my office so that we can have a nice quiet place to talk." Xinya followed Melvin who leads him behind the checkout desk to a door that leads to his office. When they walked inside, Xinya saw that the place was very cluttered with toy parts that were scattered about, blueprints, and documents that littered the floor. Melvin sat on top of his desk pushing a chair towards Xinya. "So what did you need to talk about?" Melvin asked. "I''m leaving Bellport for good and won''t be coming back. I was wondering if you could give me a transfer letter." Xinya replied. Melvin tilted his head appearing to be thinking, "May I ask what town are you going to use the transfer letter in?" "In Arkala," Xinya answered. "Is that so?" A giant smile appeared on Melvin''s face. "What a coincidence, I''m opening a toy shop there. I''m just waiting for a person to come to replace me so I can leave." Xinya was shocked, he heard of class instructors moving to different towns, but the instructors who did that always had a hidden backstory that can lead to a story quest. For his instructor to move to the town he was aiming for wasn''t a coincidence, it seemed he fulfilled one of the conditions for the story quest and the NPC was following him. A smile graced Xinya face looking at Melvin as if he knew nothing, "This is great, I guess I won''t need that transfer letter at all." "It seems like it," Melvin said while laughing. Melvin and Xinya talked a bit more, Melvin asking about what skills he obtained so far and if he was enjoying being a combat potion maker, in which Xinya told him that being a potion maker was going well, making sure Melvin knew that he very much enjoyed his class. When Xinya was about to go Melvin handed him a package. "I saw that you haven''t changed your armor yet, so I got you some that you can wear at level 20," Melvin said while gently smiling at him. 59 Galling Swamp His little detour cost him twenty minutes, and by the time he reached the meeting place, Wei was already there leaning against the wooden gate. To Xinya it looked as if she was spacing out, he really needed to talk to her about not leaving herself defenseless like that. Who knows what type of pervert she would attract. As a matter of fact, as he was thinking that he saw two of male players gawking at her as if she was a piece of meat and they wanted a taste. From their body language, Xinya could tell that one of the guys were egging on the other to go and talk to her. Seeing that the guy was about to go to her, Xinya jogged towards her. Seeing that Xinya appeared a big smile appeared on Wei''s face and she poked him with one of her guns. "What took you so long?" "I wanted to get one last look at the town before we left," Xinya replied, while slightly turning his head to see the guy was slinking back to his friend. ''As if I let someone like you talk to her.'' Xinya only had a few people he cared for in this world and Wei was one of them, he would only give her away to someone he approves of. "Oh," Wei said with a laugh in her voice. "I didn''t take you as someone who is sentimental." Shrugging Xinya said, "What can I say, I admit it, I''m a sentimental guy." Wei wanted to continue teasing Xinya but decided not to, he can be sentimental all he wanted. She found it to be a quite endearing trait. "Should we get going?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Yes, let''s get going," Xinya said. Xinya and Wei left town, following the dirt road. They would need to follow this road for about a day than they would reach Gallling swamp. At first, Xinya thought to just pass through it but he realized it would be a good place to level. Galling swamp held monster''s that were level 13- 15. So it would be a great place to level before they reached Baldahurh forest. Wanting to make it close to Galling Swamp before nightfall, they upped their pace, instead of strolling along, Xinya and Wei was basically, speed walking. Even though they were walking fast they still had time to check out the sights. There was a beautiful lake to one side of them and they could see players and NPC''s in a boat fishing. Every so often there would be covered wagons full of goods passing by them. There were also a couple of farms, Xinya had to hold back the urge of collecting some of the produce. If it wasn''t for the fact that he had them already, he didn''t think he could. They were making, great time, and within an hour before sunset, they made it to the entrance of Galling Swamp. "I can''t believe we made it here so fast," Wei said plopping on the ground. "To be honest, I didn''t think we would either," Xinya said. "I thought that it would be already in the middle of the night before we arrived." "We exceeded your expectations, you thought so little of us," Wei said playfully. A wry smile appeared on Xinya face. "Whatever, go collect some firewood. I will start setting up camp. "Yes, sir." Wei laughingly gave Xinya a salute before rushing off to do her task. Looking at her retreating back, Xinya only shook his head at her antics before starting the task of setting up camp. There wasn''t much to do, he just needed to dig a fire pit and gather some stones to place around it. It only took ten minutes before he was done and Wei was back with the firewood. Once the fire was set and they registered themselves to it, the only thing they had to do was wait until daybreak. They were both proactive people so while they were waiting for sunrise, Wei pulled out a target dummy that could move around on its own, so that she could practice her aim. 60 Murkmouth Xinya was now even more determined to go to Arkala after they finished doing the treasure dungeon. He needed to buy some land quickly so that he could plant the few dewy-eyed fruits that he had left. Only then he would have enough fruits available to make all the dreaming dust potion he wanted. "Wei, come here," Xinya said. Wei was trying to grab her target practice dummy that was moving all around when she heard Xinya''s call. Finally able to catch it, she put it in her inventory before running to see what Xinya wanted. "Something wrong?" "Take these," Xinya said, handing her some potions. "It''s alright." Wei began. "I have tons of potions from the NPC''s. I have about 500 of each. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. With a smirk, Xinya replied, "Those are normal potions, these ones are high quality. Just keep them, for now, you might need them when we get to the dungeon." As soon as Wei heard high quality she didn''t need to be told twice and took the potions from Xinya and tucked them into her inventory. Although potion making is a useless crafting craft, Wei felt that if Xinya sold these high-quality potions he might make a small bit a coin. "Thanks, Xinya." "You''re welcome," Xinya said while smiling. After clearing up their campsite, they entered the swamp. Once they entered the scenery changed, they sky turned dim and there was fog all over the place. The ground was muddy and hard to walk in and every couple of steps they had to walk through a bit of swamp water. Xinya thrived in this environment, but Wei was having a hard time. All around them was tall trees, Xinya recognized some of them as trees that could be seen in the real world, there are different varieties of the cypress tree. Such as the pond cypress, swamp cypress, and red, yellow, white and black cypress. There was also the water tupelo, also known as the cotton gum or swamp tupelo, but unlike their real-world counterparts each tree gave off an aura. Xinya and Wei were walking for a while before Xinya motioned for her to stop. " The level fifteen monsters or just ahead. We are going to use them to gain experience." "Level 15¡­ are you sure that I will be able to handle them?" Wei asked a little worried. "Don''t worry I will draw them to me, you just shoot them from behind until you level up enough that you can kill them yourself." Seeing that it was a good plan, Wei said, "Alright, let''s go and get me some levels." As they kept walking they came upon the level 15 monsters, they were called Murkmouths, they were shapeless mud monsters that only had a giant mouth for a face. They used that giant mouth of theirs to attack players. Once a player was grabbed by the monster''s mouth, they will be incapable to move and the Murkmouth monster would eat them up. Xinya knew how dangerous these monsters were and from the look on Wei''s face, she did too. "Are you sure we will be able to handle these monsters, I read on the forums that a lot of players died while fighting them." "Don''t worry I have a theory and if it is correct, these monsters will be a piece of cake to kill," Xinya replied. Wondering what Xinya theory was, she watched him with guns ready as he opened his gloved hand and a fiery potion appeared. She watched as he tossed it in the air a few times before throwing it at the nearest Murkmouth monster. The Murkmouth monster was consumed in flames but it still ran towards Xinya with a roar, Wei was worried and wondered why Xinya wasn''t throwing more potions until she realized the Murkmouth monster was slowing down until it couldn''t move at all. The mud had hardened. "I guess my theory was correct," Xinya said with a smug smile. "Shoot it." Wei aimed her guns at the now statue-like monster and used a skill called Blazing Bullet at it. The shot hit and the Murkmouth monster just crumbled, causing her to gain a lot of experience. She was astounded by what happened, what she read on the forums seem like a lie right now. She felt as if she was seeing the beginning of something, she just didn''t know what. Looking at Xinya with eyes filled with disbelief, then watching as the Murkmouth monster disappeared into nothing she smiled widely at him saying, "Do it again." 61 Transformed Murkmouth Although, on the upside, Xinya did get some nice coin from fighting the Murkmouth monsters all day, and some sellable items. The items themselves weren''t anything great, they were things like the tooth of a Murkmouth, a mud ball from a Murkmouth, these monster didn''t seem to drop anything worthwhile but Xinya knew that the NPC''s would buy these items so he kept them anyway. After reaching level 13 Wei felt confident enough to start killing the Murkmouths on her own without Xinya assistance. So for quite a while the two of them had been fighting separately. When Wei saw that it was almost night, she finished killing off the Murkmouth monster that she had been fighting and went over to Xinya who upped his killing spree from one Murkmouth monster at a time to two. "Xinya it''s almost night shouldn''t we leave?" Wei asked. Killing the two monster off, he said, "We should, but I think we should try fighting one at night." "Are you crazy? These things will get 3 times stronger at night!" Wei looked at him as if he lost his mind. "It will be fine," Xinya told her. Wei didn''t understand why he appeared to be so confident, "Really?" "You probably didn''t notice but as we were fighting these monsters we were moving forward," Xinya said. "The swamp''s exit is right next to us." Wei turned around to where Xinya was looking and saw through the swamp trees glimpses of a road. Now she understood why Xinya was so confident if something happens while they were fighting a Murkmouth at night than they could just hightail it out of there. Turning back towards Xinya she gave him a smirk, "Alright, I''m game. Let''s try and if we fail we''ll just have to get stronger." "That''s the spirit," Xinya said, but he felt a little bad, he only wanted to try fighting them at night because he remembered something. In his past life, he once read about a group of players who were traveling through the Galling Swamp and didn''t make it out before nightfall because they were fighting Murkmouths. When night fell the Murkmouths transformed, bugs from the nearby trees swarm the Murkmouths making them stronger and faster. That wasn''t the most interesting part though, the interesting part was that when they killed one of these transformed Murkmouths, it dropped the bugs. These types of bugs were great for farms, they had the ability to allow a player to get double the harvest. These bugs were called Glimmering beetles and if a player could get a male and female of the species they could breed them. After breeding them, a player can either sell them to farming NPC''s for some silver coin or to other players. After the update, once it gets out what these bugs could do they would be worth around 50 silver for a 100. Xinya wasn''t planning on breeding them so he could sell them but he did want to use them for his own purpose. He will tell Wei to hold on to them and save some for Melting Snow, after the update they would understand how much money they could make from them. Night fell and the whole swamp became, even more, creepier than ever, the fog permeated their surroundings, hoots of owls echoed from above, but the worst part was the loud growls of the Murkmouths. The sounds they made was enough to make a person''s hair stand on end, and Xinya knew that if he wasn''t inside a game he would be. The Murkmouths bodies cracked as they all transformed, they became bigger in size and body, the trees around them lit up with the glow of thousands upon thousands of Glimmering Beetles that took flight landing on different Murkmouths merging with them. The newly transformed Murkmouths now glowed with an eerie green light. They looked terrifying. "They look like something that nightmares made¡­" Wei whispered as she moved closer to Xinya. Xinya had to agree with Wei description of the monster''s, he felt a little creeped out just by looking at them. "Let''s move closer to the exit just in case." "Okay," Wei responded already walking to where the exit was, Xinya figured that she was more scared than he thought. As they moved closer to exit, Wei stepped on a fallen twig that was on the ground causing it to snap. The noise alerted the two Murkmouths that was nearest to them, letting out a loud roar the two Murkmouth started charging towards them with their mouths wide open. 62 Level up!! Xinya, on the other hand, was bombarding the Murkmouth with his mini fireball potions, it took six potions before the monster hardens instead of one like it took when he was fighting the monsters in the day. Giving a sigh of relief he took out one last potion and threw at the monster causing it to crumble. [You have gained 4000 experience from killing a monster at night!] After seeing that notification, he now understood why players took the chance to fight at night, the experience was amazing. Xinya was about to go check out the items that the monster dropped but then he heard Wei scream, it seems her level was a bit too low to handle a transformed Murkmouth on her own. "Xinya help me!" Wei shouted as she ran. She had long given up on trying to shoot at the monster, she was barely doing any damage to it anyway. Xinya sprinted over to her with a potion bottle in hand and threw it at the Murkmouth monster that was chasing her. The Murkmouth suddenly stopped moving it was as if it had fallen asleep. Wei looked at the Murkmouth that suddenly stopped chasing her and then at Xinya in amazement. She wondered how he got the monster to stop so quickly. "Wei come over here near me," Xinya told her, he didn''t want her to alert anymore Murkmouths that was in the area. As Wei ran over to him, Xinya threw a mini fireball potion at the Murkmouth doing double the damage on it because of dreaming dust potion he used before, after three more potions the Murkmouth monster was dead. "Xinya, what potion did you use on the monster? The first one you threw?" Wei asked curiously. "It''s the dreaming dust potion, remember I told you about it before," Xinya replied. "It makes a monster fall asleep instantly and the first hit you do on it while it''s sleeping will have double the damage." Wei felt a little speechless after hearing the description of the potion, she knew that it had to be a very rare one, "If you had such an awesome potion like that, why haven''t you been using it?" "For two reasons, one, I only have a small supply of them right now, deducting the one I just threw I only have 17 left. Secondly, I don''t have the ingredients to make more right now." Xinya straightforwardly said. "No wonder you weren''t using it," Wei said, she really hoped that he could find the ingredients he needs for that potion because she felt that it was a very helpful potion to have and with it, nobody could look down on his class. He tried to tell her that they were sellable to NPC for some coin but her bug phobia was too big, so he just kept them all, once the update happens and they become really valuable he would give them to her than he would see which was greater coin or her bug phobia. Looking around the swamp he saw the other Murkmouths was grouped up into threes and fours, "Wei do you have a sniping type skill that makes no noise when you fire it?" "Yes, it''s called Tranquil Bullet. It lets me fire from very long distances and it''s silent." Wei told him. "That''s great! Here is what we are going to do¡­" Xinya explained his plan to Wei, he wanted to do this as simple as possible, so that they both would get a lot of experience and not be swarmed by four Murkmouths at a time. The two groups of Murkmouths were about ten feet away from them, Wei backed up a bit and aimed at the closest one and then used her Tranquil Bullet. The one that was hit let out a primal roar and started charging their way but the other monsters weren''t affected. Once it was about four feet away from them, Xinya spammed hit it with mini fireball potions, while Wei tried to help, shooting her gun at the monster, before it was even close enough to see clearly it was dead. "Your plan worked, as long as we keep luring out one at a time we can get a lot of experience by morning," Wei said excitedly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "I think so too, as long as nothing goes wrong," Xinya replied. Xinya and Wei continued luring the Murkmouths out one by one and killing them all throughout the night, getting a massive amount of experience. Wei had already level twice and Xinya was so close. By the time the sun was appearing in the sky, he got a notification. [You have leveled up!] [You are now level 19!!] Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 270/270 (+10) Level: 19 MP: 250/250 (+10) EXP: 1012/1000000 Stamina: 250/250 (+10) Skill points: 13 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 7(+4) Int: 8 (+4) Luck: 10 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 996 silver 450 bronze 63 Floret Bun Putting them in his inventory, Xinya was ready to say goodbye to this swamp. "Wei are you ready to leave here?" "I have been ready, Wei said giving a small shiver as she looked around at the lumbering Murkmouths. "If I don''t ever have to see these giant mud monsters and their bug friends again I will be a happy camper." Laughing, Xinya said, "You know there will be a lot scarier monsters out there than these." "I know." She said. "But I also know it will be very unlikely that we will be fighting those monsters at night." "Well¡­" Xinya said looking everywhere but at her. "Well.. what Xinya?" Hmm? Come on spit it out." Wei said looking at Xinya like there was something wrong with him. "I mean, you know. We might not have any choice but to do so." Xinya said logically. "Come here," Wei said to Xinya walking towards him. " Let me explain clearly why we would have choices to do so. Laughing Xinya ran towards the swamp exit while Wei chased behind him shouting. ~~ Once they exited the swamp, Wei became more cheerful, well after poking Xinya a few times with her guns anyway. The road they were on now would lead them straight to Baldahurh forest. It would take them a day and a half to reach it if they didn''t rush and Xinya didn''t feel like rushing and neither did Wei. After a couple of hours of walking their surroundings changed a bit, glancing around they saw that there were two roads, the one that they were on and another one that would let a player bypass entering the swamp to reach their position. That was the road Xinya was going to take before deciding that Wei needed to level up. There were also a lot of tall leafy trees to the left of them, the trees gave the impression of a wall because they couldn''t see what was hidden beyond them. To the right of them was an open field covered with colorful flowers. Most of them he had seen before, these colorful flowers were mostly what tailors used to make dyes. Wei squealed when she saw all the pretty flowers, she felt that the scene was something out of a beautiful dream. Leaving the road she ran over to the flowers intending to get a better view. "Hey, Xinya. Let''s pick some flowers." Rolling her eyes, Wei replied. "Who cares, I will just use them as decorations for my house when I save enough to buy one." "I didn''t know you want to buy a house," Xinya said surprised. "Well I didn''t before but as a treasure hunter, I need a place to store the treasure I want to keep," Wei replied. Xinya just nodded, "Sure, that makes sense." Wei wasn''t sure if Xinya was being sarcastic or not, so she just carried on picking the prettiest flowers she could find. Xinya on the hand was just looking around he had the Ingredient Hunting skill so he could just pass his eyes over the different types of flowers to tell what they are. Suddenly a blooming white and gold flower caught his eye it looks as if it was a mixture between a lily and a carnation. It was slightly glowing and swaying back and forth. Xinya tried to identify what sort of flower it was but couldn''t he just assumed his Ingredient Hunting skill was to low. Going over to it Xinya tried to pick it but couldn''t, for some reason it was strongly rooted to the ground. Using all his strength Xinya pulled at the flower with all his might, there was a loud pop and the flower was uprooted only it wasn''t a flower at all. At the end of the stem wasn''t roots but a Floret Bun. A Floret Bun was a bunny-shaped monster that was made out of flowers and lived underground. They were basically harmless unless they are disturbed then it would let out a cry which would alert its kin. Hundreds of Floret Buns would than gather and pull the unlucky players who disturbed them underground to die. "Wei hurry back to the road!" Xinya shouted throwing the Floret Bun in his hand away from him. Holding numerous flowers in her hands, Wei was just about to ask why when the ground began to shake. Sensing danger Wei ran as fast as she could, back to the road. "What''s going on," Wei asked as she ran, turning around to see the dirt opening up and hundreds of bunnylike monsters started to chase them. "Why are these cute little monsters trying to kill us. Running next to her, Xinya let out a sigh, "I fucked up okay, I let my curiosity overrule my brain." "Well, at least we can say we died by the cutest monster in the game," Wei said trying to cheer him up. 64 Wandering Sound "Xinya, help me!" Wei screamed while struggling against the massive amount of Floret Buns that was dragging her. Xinya turned around when he heard Wei scream, he could have sworn that she was right next to him a couple of seconds ago, he really wanted to know what could have happened in those couple of seconds that caused the situation to become like this. He was about to pull out a dreaming dust potion and throw it at the Floret Buns that had Wei, but before he could a couple of Floret Buns caught him by the feet throwing him off balance causing him to fall. Suddenly he was swarmed by the Floret Buns and started being dragged to his death, his gloved hand was still free so he summoned a mini fireball potion and threw it at the Floret Buns that was on him causing them to go up in flames. Lucky the Floret Buns were only level 11 monsters or he would have a harder time killing them. Getting back up he was about to go save Wei but more and more Floret Buns started coming at him. He knew that even if spammed potions at the Floret Buns he wouldn''t make it to Wei in time. ''What to do?'' Xinya frantically thought as this situation became increasingly out of hand. He didn''t want Wei to die but there was nothing he could do to stop it. The only thing he could do was kill as many as possible and try to make it over to her in time. Just as Xinya was about to start to besiege the Floret Buns with potions, a bewitching melody was heard from nearby and suddenly all the Floret Buns stopped as if they were in a trance and started going towards the music. Turning towards the sound, Xinya saw that there was a male siren standing twenty feet away from him holding a flute to his lips. He was an extremely handsome man, with long bluish-grey hair a classically defined face and a body that could do no wrong. Moving towards Wei, Xinya pulled her up from the ground and together they watched as tons of Floret Buns walked in a line towards the guy. Wei in a mild stupor and Xinya with a slight fascination. "How is he doing that?" Wei asked as she watched. "It''s a racial skill that most sirens have called Beguiling Song it allows him to entice nearby monsters or players if it''s PVP. Once enamored, the monster or player will mindlessly follow the music, wherever it goes." Xinya replied. "The skill sounds so overpowered," Wei said, but Xinya could tell that Wei was in awe of it. Xinya just shook his head, "It''s really not¡­" After he said that Xinya and Wei quickly got to work killing all the Floret Buns. With them all, in a trance, it was super easy to take them all out quickly, especially with the use of Xinya mini fireball potion. Although it only damages two monsters at a time once thrown but the flames spread to the surrounding monsters that are in close proximity and does damage over time. It took less than a minute before all of the Floret Buns were destroyed and a whole bunch of items littered the ground. Wei walked over towards the siren and said, " Thank you so much for your help, if it wasn''t for you I would have been a goner." "She''s right, we really appreciate your help back there," Xinya said with a smile. "Would you like some of the items for your help?" "That''s alright, none of these items would be of any use to me." The man said expressionlessly. Xinya looked down at the items that dropped and agreed silently with the man, for most people they items were useless but for Xinya they weren''t. The items that the Floret Buns dropped were flowers and seeds. Picking one up a notification popped up. [ *Dancing Girls has been added to your plant collection tab.] Opening his plant collection tab, besides Glowing flowers he saw Dancing Girls clicking on it he read: [Dancing Girls: A perfect flower to liven up your home, these flowers once full grown will be able to dance attracting bees and butterflies to your garden. It''s not just a mere decoration, it is also an ingredient for a special type of combat potion.] After reading that Xinya busied himself picking up all of the flowers and seeds that dropped while Wei and the siren talked. "Your friend must really like flowers." The siren said as he watched Xinya pick up every single flower and seed that dropped. "You can say that," Wei said sheepishly. "By the way, what''s your name mine is Roaming Wind and his is Drifting Cloud." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "It''s nice to meet you, my name is Wandering Sound." the siren said with a smile. "It''s nice to meet you too," Wei said, blushing a bit at his smile. Seeing that Xinya was almost done picking up the items, she asked, "So where are you heading?" "I''m going to Errinisworth." Wandering Sound replied. "Really, we are going there too. Want to join us?" Wei asked. Xinya who had just finished picking up all the items heard her asked this of the unknown person they just met and gave her a look that said, ''Didn''t we just had this conversation about not being too trusting of others.'' Wandering Sound who saw the look said, "I don''t want to intrude..." Seeing the dirty looks Wei was giving him, Xinya relented, "It''s fine, you can come along with us." "If you don''t mind then I will." Wandering Sound said. 65 What鈥檚 Normal He had always dreamed of becoming a famous singer and after winning an online competition his dream came true. A well-known company signed a contract with him and at the age of eighteen, he became a famous virtual star. The company he was with wanted to expand their market so they sent some of their more popular stars inside different vrmmo''s. He was one of the stars that got chosen, but on the upside, he got sent to one of the most popular vrmmos. All he had to do was to become popular, the company would set him up in a town and promote him. His songs were all in a digital format, so if a player liked his music they could download it after the first time they heard it. There are three ways a player can perform in a town, one is a street performance, where a player can rent a designated place in town to perform for an hour or more if they want to continue to pay for the spot. Secondly, there are wooden stages, around 2-3 depending on the size of the town. The stage can only be rented if player popularity reached a certain amount. Basically it comes down if the player''s digital album has the right amount of sales. Lastly, there are concert halls and stadiums, these are only reserved for players whose album has reached the top 10 in sales and popularity. Wandering Sound had sold out stadiums every other week, but he wasn''t happy. Becoming famous sounds easy on paper, but the reality is that it''s extremely hard. The company didn''t understand how many people wanted to be famous in this game by becoming a singer. The town the company chose to settle him in was the capital of Ziam, it was a good idea, a lot of people all over the region always wandered in and out of the capitol. It''s too bad that other people also had the same idea, once he entered the capitol there were sirens everywhere, trying to get popular. Although he was a great singer and songwriter, his music wasn''t mainstream, so he didn''t have a lot of fans at first but the company hired a songwriter that was popular for his mainstream songs. Using those songs he became extremely popular. He had money, fame, endorsement deals but he wasn''t happy because he didn''t earn it himself using his music. Deciding not to resign, he decided to quit being a singer for a while and wander the game making money in other ways. He had always been interested in discovering new places, so he decided that he wanted to be an explorer. He already had enough coin that would allow him to travel wherever he pleased, so he decided to be one. Since he was already a bard, he could make explorer his secondary class. To get a second class one must become friends with the class instructor of their choosing and once they gained that instructor trust, they will be given a chain quest that pertains to the second class they want. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. For example, Wandering Sound''s quest was to find evidence of the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. After searching for the last two weeks he finally found a clue that pointed him in the direction of Errinisworth. Excited he packed up his stuff, sold his house in the capital and left town. He had been on the road for about a week, he finally realized how lonely he was. In the capital, he was always surrounded by people and he always had his fans to talk to, but as he walked he realized how much the silence was getting to him. Since the competition was high in the capitol he was never really familiar with anyone, because he knew the person you call friend could become an enemy in the blink of an eye. He watched it happen to so many of the other singers. Now that he was out of the capitol and no longer a singer but a normal player he wanted to try to make friends, but finding someone who didn''t know him would be hard, that is why when he heard Roaming Wind scream he paused for a bit before running to help. Who knew he would run into players that don''t follow the normal conventions. As he saw the Treasure Hunter getting dragged by Floret Buns and her Dryad friend trying to help her by throwing potions. A smile appeared and all he could think was, ''Interesting.'' 66 Thoughts When they had to log out because their 24 hours were up, Wandering Sound also logged out because he felt it would be best to sync up their logout times since they were traveling together. He didn''t want to have to log out when the three of them were in the midst of doing something dangerous and be the cause of causing an accident. Xinya was very impressed with Wandering Sound, as he talked to him he found him to be a very pleasant and sensible guy. He didn''t get any bad feelings when he was around him, but he still didn''t let his guard down. There are many people who hide their evil intentions behind a nice facade, with those sort of people one can never predict they''re true agenda. Wei would tell him if she knew what he was thinking, that it was just his trust issues acting up, and he would agree with her. He had seen the worst in people more than he had seen the good, because of this he couldn''t give out his trust easily. He wasn''t Wei who basically saw the good in everyone. ~ After logging off the game, Xinya got out of the pod and wheeled himself to the living room. Along the way he passed Wei''s room, hearing movement inside, he was about to call out to her but she started speaking. Knowing that she must be on the phone, he wheeled himself away as to not intrude. Feeling a little hungry Xinya bypassed the living room and went straight to the kitchen, he hasn''t really cooked since his previous life, not counting instant ramen and microwavable foods. Thinking about it, he realized he hadn''t had time to cook inside of the game recently, it''s understandable with everything that has been going on that he wouldn''t have time to do so. He didn''t know how he strayed off from his course so far, in his head his plan after getting his class and some skills, was to go out and collect different types of plants, make potions, and cook amazing food which he would sell later for a massive amount of coin. Shaking his head, he admitted to himself that life doesn''t always go the way you envision it. Not to say that he disliked how things were going, he didn''t, he quite enjoyed it actually. In this life Haven Online is fun and exciting, it was not like how it was in his previous life a boring grind to make money. This outcome is what he wanted to happen anyway but he never thought it would happen by a simple divergence. As he thought about it, he realized that divergence was Melting Snow. If he had never met him in beginner town his path would have probably been way different. Xinya smiled as he thought about that silly boy. Wei also became a divergence in his path, her becoming a treasure hunter instead of an explorer, also by joining her early he felt that he had to take care of her as she once did him. He didn''t mind doing so, but the Wei right now didn''t see the harshness of the game and wasn''t as guarded as her future counterpart and that made him not want to leave her by herself. Now there was Wondering Sound, Xinya could clearly see that Wei developed a small crush on him. He couldn''t blame her, a handsome guy coming in the nick of time-saving her life from peril. That is what romance books are made out of. Of course, that would sway a young girl''s heart. To be perfecting honest it caused Xinya''s heart to beat, but only briefly. He was never one to indulge in the silliness of love at first sight. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. 67 Black Bean Shrimp with Gai-Lan He couldn''t be happier that he was away from her and her atrocities, this new wheelchair signifies freedom and he was going to enjoy it. A stray thought of his father came to him before he pushed it back inside the little box in his heart. He wouldn''t think about him, it''s all in the past now and he would leave it there. After forcing those stray thoughts away he looked inside the refrigerator to see what he could make, seeing that they had shrimp, black beans and gai lan (Chinese broccoli), he decided to cook Black-Bean Shrimp with Gai lan. Xinya took and the ingredients and utensils that he would need to cook after preparing everything he proceeded to stir together the broth which consisted of, rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and salt into a small bowl until the cornstarch was dissolved. He then removed any bruised or withered outer leaves from the gai lan, afterward, he trimmed and peeled the stalks. He made sure none of them was too thick if he found any that was he cut them again He cut the gai lan crosswise into 2 1/2-inch pieces, separating leafy parts from thick stems. Once the salted water that he had on the stove began to boil he put the stems inside leaving the pot uncovered, he lets it boil for 4 minutes until crisp-tender, then he added the leafy parts of the gai lan, letting both parts boil until they become tender. After 5 minutes he took them out and patted them dry, he then transferred them to a large dish to keep warm while loosely covering them with foil. Going over to the shrimp he rinsed them off and patted them dry. Setting them to the side, he heated up a wok over high heat until it was hot enough that if he dripped water inside it would vaporize instantly. Then he stir-fried it until the shrimps were pink on both sides for about 1 minute more. After that, he added the shrimp to the broth mixture and stirred it together while bringing it to a boil. About two minutes later he removes it from heat and drizzled it with sesame oil. He stirred it together than he poured the shrimp and sauce over the gai lan. "Ooh, what smells so good," Wei asked as she walked into the kitchen. Smiling, Xinya said, "I made Black-Bean Shrimp with gai lan, and it''s ready, so help me set the table." Wei went over to set the table happily, "I think this is the first time that I will be eating your cooking, in real life and online." "Don''t worry, soon you will be experiencing my cooking all the time in the game," Xinya told her. "Why do I feel as if that is a threat," Wei said, as a chill went through her body. Rolling his eyes at her he said, "How is that anything like a threat, do you think the food I make will be bad?" "Well¡­" Wei said slyly. "Even if food smells good it can taste bad." Wei knew Xinya grew up with servants waiting on him, so she was a little skeptical about the food. "I see. Remove your dish, I will eat all of this myself." Xinya said while tasting the food after the flavor hit his tongue a pleased expression appeared on his face. He understood Wei''s reluctance and wouldn''t force her to eat his cooking if she didn''t want to. Wei after seeing how much Xinya enjoyed the shrimp he just ate, she choked on air when she heard Xinya telling her to remove her dish, "Hee..hee... You know I was just joking, of course, your food will be delicious." Xinya ignored Wei antics and put the food on the table. Wei filled her bowl up with the delicious-looking food and tasted it. She was overwhelmingly surprised the food was so delicious. The pleasant bite of gai lan compliments the stir-fried shrimp beautifully. She couldn''t believe someone who grew up surrounded by servants could cook so well. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "When did you learn to cook so well?" Wei asked in wonder. Xinya couldn''t tell her the truth so he just said a little white lie, telling her that he learned in secret, when he found time to hide away from his stepmother. There were many holes in his story but he knew Wei wouldn''t look deeper into it in case of touching on a sore spot. After they ate their meal, they logged back on. Wandering Sound was already waiting for them. Wei gave him a shy hello when she saw him while Xinya just nodded and smiled. Once the pleasantries were over they once again began their trek to Baldahurh forest. Checking his map, Xinya saw that they were only an hour away from arriving. 68 Baldahurh Fores That wasn''t the only thing that had changed the sky started to become a darkish red the closer they got, ominous noises also started appearing out of nowhere causing Wei to get startled from time to time. Xinya was a little on edge too, not because of the noises but because he knew what was within Baldahurh forest. Xinya read about the Baldahurh forest in his last life, the player''s tales about the forest was always very interesting but they always creeped him out a bit too. The reason he was creeped out was that the monsters in the Baldahurh forest were dead, to put it more precisely, undead. From what he read in one of Haven Online libraries, he found out that there was once a mage who was kidnapped by his ex-lover. His lover was very possessive to the point where if the mage even glances at another person, it would set his lover off. Seeing how deranged his lover was becoming the mage tried to leave him, but was caught. The lover took him from his home in the dead of night and drugged him so he wouldn''t put up a struggle. He took the little mage deep into the dangerous Baldahurh forest where the little mage wouldn''t be able to escape. The lover must have been planning to do this for a while because when the mage awoke he was in a nice looking cottage. The little mage tried to plead with his ex-lover to let him, but the lover wouldn''t allow him to go. He wanted the little mage to love him again and he would do anything to make it happen. The little mage suffered unspeakable things from his ex-lover in the name of love to the point where he couldn''t take it anymore. That should have been the end of it, the little mage should have escaped and been free and happy, but sometimes there is no such thing as a happy ending. Dark magic is unstable and there are always side effects to using it. The little mage who was so happy that his ex-lover was dead and was about to push him off to escape was startled when he came back to life. The lover became an undead corpse, but he could speak and think like normal and he would live forever, the little mage was horrified. He knew that his ex-lover would never let him go, so he bit his tongue to suicide but as if driven by instict the ex-lover grabbed him and bit him on the shoulder turning him into an undead creature like him. The little mage screamed after waking from the bite because he knew he would be trapped with the person he hated forever. There is a legend that the little mage and his lover still lives in the cottage somewhere in the woods, Xinya read multiple accounts of people seeing it but before they got close they mysterious died. Xinya never expected that he would be traveling through the very forest that he loved to read about on the forums. Hopefully, he won''t die inside, that would upset him. "We''re here." Wandering Sound announced. Snapping out of his thoughts Xinya looked around, they were indeed at the entrance to Baldahurh forest. "So we are." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "This place is freaking creepy," Wei said looking around wide-eyed at everything. "Once we go inside it will be even more so," Xinya said looking at Wei with a smirk. "Are you scared?" "No way, I have been practicing my special technique just in case," Wei said smugly. "What technique would that be?" Xinya asked a little curious. Trying to contain her smile, she said seriously, " My special technique is called running away." Xinya just rolled his eyes, while Wandering Sound said while laughing, " That is a good technique, but I think everyone has it." "Although everyone has it, I perfected it." Wei smiled while shrugging. "Well, make sure to use it when you get into trouble," Xinya said humoring her. "Let''s go in now." "Wait, do you everyone have enough potions?" Wandering Sound asked before Xinya could take a step towards the entrance. Laughing Wei said, "Don''t worry about potions, Drifting Cloud is a potion maker he has tons. We couldn''t run out if we wanted to." "Oh, that''s good." Wandering Sound said while looking at Xinya in a new light. "Than let''s go. 69 Vex Hound A Vex hound was a level 21 monster, that had mangled black fur, glowing red eyes, superior strength, and speed, also, because of it''s undead state, it had a foul odor. Once upon a time, they were the go-to monsters that tamers wanted to be their fighting partners but once the zombification of Baldahurh forest happened that all changed. In their undead state, the Vex Hound became feral and would kill anything that moved. After being in the Baldahurh forest for about 4 days now fighting different grotesque looking undead monsters, even logging out once during this time before coming back and continuing. Wei had leveled up two times and with just a little more experience she would be level 16, on the other hand, Xinya and Wandering Sound haven''t leveled up once yet which led them to the Vex Hounds. They thought by fighting a higher level monster they would all at least level once before leaving the forest. Since it was already dark when they reached the Vex Hounds they were just going to set up camp and wait until morning to fight them, but while gathering wood Wei accidentally aggroed two transformed Vex Hounds. Xinya who was closest to her at the time used his Dreaming Dust but it only hit one of them, while the other escaped which led them to this situation. Wei dodged the transformed Vex Hound mouth at the last second while scurrying over to Wandering Sound, the monster hot on her heels. Wandering Sound had already put his flute to his lips to put the transformed Vex Hound into a trance. As he began playing his beautiful melody, the Vex Hound paused in steps, just as the three of them was about to relax the Vex hound shook off the trance-inducing music. "Beguiling Song isn''t working!" Wandering Sound shouted, the Vex Hound begun charging towards Wei once more. Xinya was about to go over and help when he saw the dreaming dust wearing off on the Vex Hound that was near him. Snails Song is a skill that when played will make the monster or player it''s used against, move at a snail''s pace for 50 seconds. The skill was created by a female bard because her lover was always over-eager in bed. This skill takes 50 sta peruse. After the Vex Hound was slowed down and Wei was safely away, Wandering Sound begin playing his flute once again. A haunting melody begins, giant musical notes begin appearing in the air around Wandering Sound, floating stationary in front of him. As the song went on the sharper the musical notes became until they were like knives. Wandering Sound''s music changed from haunting to deadly and the musical notes began to move towards the Vex Hound at a stunning speed, stabbing in and out of the monster making it look like a pincushion. Xinya who was already finished killing his monster came over to watch the spectacle. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. He was a little in awe at what he was seeing, the skill that Wandering Sound was using was no joke. Soon the Vex Hound died disappearing into particles only leaving some coins and items in its wake. "Wow, what skill was that?" Wei asked Wandering Sound while looking at him with starry eyes. "It''s called Soprano blast" Wandering Sound while picking up the items. "I just got it recently, this the first time I had a chance to use it." Soprano Blast is an area of effect skill that when played will change musical notes into deadly weapons destroying any enemy they come in contact with. This takes 75 mp peruse. "I''m glad you did or else I would have been a goner," Wei said. Wandering Sound looked at Wei quickly before looking away, "I wouldn''t have let anything happen to you." Wei blushingly smiled but stopped when she noticed Xinya giving her a knowing smirk. Ignoring him she begins picking up the fallen wood, "So are we still going to set up camp?" Xinya laughed at her inside his head before saying, "Well we already know we can kill the transformed Vex Hounds so let''s just keep killing the one by one." "What Drifting Cloud said is correct, why wait, until the morning we can get very good experience by killing them now." Putting the firewood down Wei got up and said, "Alright, let''s do it." "You sure did change your mind about fighting at night," Xinya muttered but made sure that Wei could hear him. Wei looked at Xinya and stuck out her tongue before going over to Wandering Sound side. Xinya shook his head and wondered what happened to ''Bros before hoes'' or in this case ''vanity before insanity''. 70 Bad Flirting Although Wandering Sound helped a lot by using his skill Snails song, as everyone knows Vex Hounds tend to travel in packs. This became apparent during the night, when they were trying to aggro one Vex Hound but somehow aggroed 5 of them. Xinya wasted 6 dreaming dust potions because he kept missing as he was running and Wandering Sound wasn''t of any use because he wasn''t proficient enough in playing his flute while running. Xinya for one thought he should practice doing just that. After taking care of the Vex Hounds they found themselves deeper in the forest. Checking the map, Xinya saw that there was only one Vex Hound around them and realized they must be at the edge of the Vex Hound territory. Looking at his experience bar he saw that he only needed 100 more experience to level. Smiling Xinya looked towards the single Vex Hound in a predatory manner. "Hey guys, I''m about to level up let''s kill this last Vex Hound than we can rest," Xinya said while looking at Wei and Wandering Sound. "Same here, let''s kill the little beastie," Wei replied already readying up her guns. Wandering Sound just looked over at Wei and laughingly said, " I''m with you two, let''s finish off this last one." Using her guns, Wei aggroed the monster, while it was chasing her Wandering Sound used snail song on the Vex Hound slowing it down. When Wei was a fair distance away from it, Xinya started throwing his mini fireball potions at it, Wei also got some good shots on it. In a matter of seconds, the Vex Hound was dead and a notification popped up in front of Xinya: [You are now level 20!!] "Yay! I leveled up I''m now level 17!" Wei said excitedly. "Gratz, I have also leveled up, I''m now level 20," Xinya stated happily. Wandering Sound pretended to be sad and said, "It seems that I''m the only one who had yet to level." "What level are you anyway?" Xinya asked curious. He knew that Wandering Sound was a higher level than him but he didn''t know how high. "I''m level 25, and at the rate, things are going, I''m going to stay 25 for a while." Wandering Sound said pitifully. "Aww, don''t worry you will level up soon," Wei told him as she patted him on the back, completely falling for his pitiful acting. As Wei patted him, Wandering Sound''s expression changed from being sad to happy, "Of course I will as long as I stay with you¡­ um... Two." After watching the bad flirting that those two were doing, Xinya decided that he needed some alone time, " I''m going to go find a stream and soak my feet why don''t you two set up camp and we meet back here in an hour." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. "Are you sure it''s okay to separate, what if you run into something?" Wei asked. "Don''t worry, the stream is only a little ways away. You will still be able to see me." Xinya replied while pointing to a stream that was about ten feet away from them. "Let''s just go together, we can just set up camp over there." Wandering Sound suggested. Seeing as he won''t be able to get some alone time he agreed with Wandering Sound. The three of them walked over to the stream and while Wei and Wandering Sound were setting up camp Xinya begins soaking his feet. He had been lucky up to this point, this is the first in a while that he needed to stop and soak his feet. When they went to the swamp there was water everywhere, on the road he could walk along the river banks, in the forest, there were many puddles of water around, only after they started moving deeper into the forest that the puddles become scarcer. The hour passed by quickly enough, Xinya was about to go to the campsite that was a little ways away but seeing Wandering Sound and Wei in deep conversation, he decided to take a quick look around. While he was soaking his feet he had looked at the map and there was a large black spot on it. Since it was near them he wanted to go check it out, he wondered if it could be an unexplored dungeon or something. Walking in the direction of the black spot by following the map, Xinya didn''t notice that there was a steep hill in front of him. Tripping over the air, he rolled down the hill at breakneck speed. It happened so fast that he reached the bottom of the hill before he could even scream. All the while -2 damage notifications popped up in front of him as he fell. He slowly got up to collect his bearings when he became spell bounded by the scene in front of him. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 280/280 (+10) Level: 20 MP: 260/260 (+10) EXP: 22/1100000 Stamina: 260/260 (+10) Skill points: 13 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 9(+4) Int: 10 (+4) Luck: 10 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 997 silver 700 bronze 71 Quest Triggered It was extremely out of place in this setting, to Xinya it seemed that even as time moved on and everything changed this one place would forever remain untouched. He was a little in awe and slightly fanboying. This was the place he read about, he still could hardly believe it. After taking a picture of the cottage for his personal collection, he messaged Wei and Wandering Snow in party chat. DC: Guys guess what I found!! RW: WHO CARES, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! WS: Roaming Wind don''t shout at him, I''m sure he didn''t mean to wander alone in the forest where he could die. DC: Your sarcasm is not wanted Wandering Sound, and I just saw something on the map that I wanted to check out. RW: And you couldn''t stop and inform us before going? DC: I saw that you two were busy talking so I didn''t want to interrupt you. WS: Drifting Cloud she is right, if it was anywhere else it would be ok but in these woods the monsters are dangerous and we don''t want to see you lose experience and coins because you didn''t want to bother us. DC: Your both right, I promise from now on, no matter what you two are doing If I want to do something I will bother you. RW: This boy¡­. DC: That''s what you want right? WS: I mean, only in dangerous places. DC: Well I''m hereby informing you that I''m in a very dangerous place right now. RW: What!?! Where are you? DC: Remember the lore of this forest¡­ WS: Don''t tell me... DC: Yup I found the place. RW : What place? What are you two talking about? WS: Roaming Wind I will tell you on the way to him. Drifting Cloud mark you coordinate! DC: I already did and be very quiet on the way here as to not alert anything. WS: Alright we are on our way we be there in about 20 minutes. Sit tight, and don''t die! Closing the party chat, Xinya thought about waiting for them to arrive but he really wanted to get a closer look at the cabin. He remembered what he read in the forums, how everyone who saw it died, but in all of those accounts when the players stumbled upon it, they were either fighting or fell and accidentally discovered it. Either way when they discovered the cottage they were making a lot of noise at the time or so they said. After coming to that realization, Xinya took the stealth approach as he made his way over while towards the cottage. As he was getting closer the only thought that passed through his mind was, ''I''m a ninja, I''m a ninja.'' Xinya finally made it to one of the windows that were on the side of the cottage after a couple of minutes of panic-inducing fear of being caught and killed. Sneakily he looked into the cottage to see that it looked quite normal, practically homely considering two undead people who lived there. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Suddenly there was a noise and two men exited from the side room, they weren''t what Xinya was expecting them to look like at all. Besides the slight greying of the skin, they really didn''t look dead. The taller of the two was muscular with prominent features that made him look strikingly handsome, while the smaller one had a softer edge to his features, but he didn''t look feminine at all he was as handsome as the other. The only thing was that his eyes held a doll-like quality, it was like his body was there but his mind wasn''t. As Xinya watched the two men embrace, Xinya couldn''t help but wonder if the mage became a victim of Stockholm syndrome. He really felt bad for the little mage who had been stuck for centuries with a man he despises without any means of escape. Maybe after all this time he broke and started playing along with captor. Xinya didn''t want it to be that way, he wanted the little mage to fight to be able to get away as he did. Xinya stared at the little mage hoping to see that there was some fight left within him, just as he was thinking that the little mage abruptly looked straight at him. As their eyes connected the glassiness of the little mage''s eyes started to fade and Xinya could see hope bloom. 72 Christopher Xinya ducked down when he saw the muscular man turning to leave, moving over to a nearby tree he used his racial skill to camouflage himself against it. He watched as the muscular man left the cottage door then walked around the perimeter of the cottage a couple of times before heading deeper into the woods. Luckily it wasn''t in the direction that Xinya friends were coming from, letting out a breath that he didn''t know he was holding Xinya undid his camouflage. Rushing back over to the cottage, Xinya suddenly felt a sense of urgency because he knew this would be the best time to save the little mage. When he got to the window the little mage was already there looking at him, when seeing all of the desperation and hope that the little mage was feeling at that moment aimed at him it hit him so hard that he felt like he couldn''t breathe for a minute. The feelings of desperation and hope that someone would come and save him he remembered them well. How he wished that someone would save him from that house, from her but nobody ever did. If it wasn''t for his stepmother being cornered and his father being an idiot he knew he would still be there. Although he couldn''t save himself he will save the little mage even if it kills him. Xinya was about to try to open the cottage window to try to talk to mage but he was stopped by the little mage shaking his head telling him no. Holding up one finger, as if to say wait one minute the little mage ran as fast as he could to the side room that he just came out from with the muscular man earlier. Coming back out from the room the little mage held a small square chalkboard for writing. Hurrying back to the window to where Xinya was waiting. The little mage started writing something quickly on the chalkboard before showing it to Xinya: ( Do not try to enter the house, it''s been spelled.) "Spelled how?" Xinya asked quietly but he could see that the little mage could understand him. Wiping off the chalkboard, the little mage wrote: (I can not leave and if someone other than ''him'' tries to come inside he will know.) Xinya knew helping the little mage escape wouldn''t be as easy as breaking in and grabbing him and leaving, but he wouldn''t give up he will still save the little mage from his possessive ex-lover. Seeing the determination in the young dryad eyes made the little mage tear up, he finally had some hope that he might be able to escape from this prison of love that he was in. He wished for this for centuries, but nobody ever came close enough to rescue him. The little mage once again wiped off the chalkboard and wrote: (Will you help me escape from this place?) "Yes, of course. Just tell me how to get you out of there." Xinya said. [Quest has been created!] The mage Christopher in desperation used black magic to get away from his ex-lover Wyatt, in doing so he made the Baldahurh forest become a place of the undead with his ex-lover Wyatt as a conduit. The only way to rescue Christopher is to kill Wyatt. Wyatt being the conduit of the spell is very powerful and can make anything inside of the Baldahurh forest do his bidding. Once Wyatt is truly dead, everything in the forest will return to its normal state including Christopher. *Quest is shareableFind authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Reward: 1000000 exp / 20 gold coins / Special Item for player class The little mage basically just reiterated what Xinya read on the quest notification with some extra details about where Wyatt''s weak points were and the best tactic when trying to kill him. After they finished talking Xinya promised the little mage that he would kill Wyatt for him. 73 With Roaming Wind & Wandering Sound ''Did they get lost or something?'' Xinya wondered as he followed the map to where his friends were at. ''This is why they should have upgraded their maps as I did.'' ~~ 20 Minutes earlier Wandering Sound could hardly believe what he saw in the party chat, everyone knew the lore about Baldahurh forest, but to actually find the mysterious cottage that''s something nobody could ever imagine. He couldn''t wait to get there and see the place with his own eyes. "What were you and Drifting Cloud talking about in the chat?" Wei asked. She felt a little left out and wanted to know why the two of them were so excited. He looked at Wei with a smile, the smile on his face made Wei a little weak in the knees it was so beautiful. "In the Baldahurh forest, there is a tragic story of a little mage and his ex-lover...." Wandering Sound begins to recount the story to Wei while following the coordinates that Xinya gave him earlier. As they walked he told her everything he knew and what he learned from people on the forums. By the end of the story Wei had tears in her eyes, she felt so bad for the little mage. It also reminded her of Xinya''s situation, she couldn''t help but speculate what would have happened if Xinya never got out of that house. She didn''t want to think about it, she couldn''t because it was too painful to even think of. How she hated Xinya''s father and stepmother, although she knew that Xinya just wanted to let things go, she didn''t. She wouldn''t let them get away with what they did to Xinya. No matter how long it takes, she will find a way to drag them down and sully them as they did to Xinya. With Wei being so quiet, Wandering Sound turned to her and was surprised to see the tears in her eyes. His heart started to beat a little faster as he looked at her. He felt at this moment that she was the loveliest woman he ever saw, inside and out. Moving closer to her he used his fingers to wipe away her tears, Wei was startled by his actions which caused her to snap out of her thoughts. She didn''t know when she stopped walking or how he got so close to her. "Are you alright?" Wandering Sound asked. He was a little embarrassed by his bold actions and removed his hand from her face. Blushing a little bit, Wei touched her cheek still feeling the warmth from Wandering Sound''s hand. "I''m fine, the story just got to me." She replied while thinking, '' The effects in this game is too realistic.'' "Let''s hurry and find Drifting Cloud." Wandering Sound awkwardly said. Not noticing the atmosphere Wei wiped away the tears from her eyes while smiling at him, "Yes, let''s go."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Since they went the opposite way when they were looking for Xinya they had to go back in the direction where they set up camp at. As they were walking they bypassed a couple of Vex Hounds, it seems that the ones they killed had already respawned. So far they were able to not aggro any of the Vex Hounds they came across but soon their luck disappeared as they were walking they somehow managed to aggro not one but three Vex Hounds. They ran for it but they got chased further away from where they needed to go. ~~ Xinya finally found his friends only to see them running towards him with three Vex Hounds on their heels. Sprinting forward, he already had a dreaming dust potion ready. Throwing it at the Vex Hounds they immediately fell asleep. "Wandering Sound you really need to learn how to play the flute while running," Xinya said as a greeting. "Goodness! Drifting Cloud you came in the nick of time." Wei said happily because she didn''t have to run anymore. "And Wandering Sound you do need to practice running and playing the flute." Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Wandering Sound said, "I know, I know, let''s just deal with these Vex Hounds." Suddenly a thought hit him, "Drifting Cloud why are you not waiting back at that place?!" "It''s not going to disappear if I don''t stay there," Xinya replied, laughing at Wandering Sound''s reaction. "Plus I got a quest. I tell you more in detail after these monsters are dead." 74 Rose Armor Once the camp was set up, Wandering Sound was the first to bring the subject back up. He was buzzing with curiosity and was barely holding himself back from going over to Xinya and shaking the answers he wanted to know out of him. "Drifting Cloud, come on and tell us everything." Xinya started describing everything that he saw when he was at the cabin, how the little mage and his ex-lover looked and how they interacted with each other. He told them how when Wyatt had left he had a talk with Christopher and found out how to save him from his eternal imprisonment. "So all we have to do is kill Wyatt and Christopher would be free?" Wei asked. Xinya saw the determination shine brightly in her eyes, he had a feeling that Wei was overlapping the little mage life with his own. "Yes, once Wyatt is dead, Cristopher will be free from the binds that are holding him," Xinya replied. "But it will be difficult, Wyatt is the conduit for this forest and his strength will be unimaginable." Wandering Sound rubbed his head thought, "So how are we supposed to kill him than? It seems like he is this forest''s boss." "Christopher told me some of Wyatt''s weaknesses. They will help up when we are fighting him." Xinya said. "Oh?" Wei responded happily to hear that Wyatt had some sort of weakness. "What are they?" "From what Christopher told me Wyatt was created out of dark magic so he would be weak against light skills. Also, his other weak point is his head, Christopher told me that was the point where the dark magic first entered him so that would be his weakest point." Xinya told them. "Hmm¡­ I have a light-based skill but since only a small percent of monsters have the dark element I never leveled up the skill." Wandering Sound said. Wei''s eyes lit up with realization, "I also have one but since I read on the forums that there are few dark element monsters I didn''t level it up but I have some skill points left so I could, but I need to use it on monsters to gain experience for it." Knowing that they needed those light-based skills to defeat Wyatt, Xinya had an idea, "Alright, I need you two to level up those skills, there are Vex Hounds around you can practice on them. Although the Vex Hounds are not a dark element monster but because of the dark magic in the forest your light magic attacks should damage them more." "Are you coming with us?" Wei asked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. Nodding his head in agreement Wandering Sound said, "Yeah you should stay here and restock, me and Roaming Wind will be fine. I have beguiling melody and snails song after all." "Alright let''s go then, Mr confident." Wei started. "I want to see if my damage really does change because I''m using a light skill." Wei and Wandering Sound got up from the camp and begin walking in the direction of the Vex Hounds. Xinya could hear that they were joking with each other as they walked, and he felt that they looked closer than they did before. "Don''t forget to come back before dark and Wandering Sound, please practice playing the flute while running!!" Xinya shouted when they were a little ways away. Seeing them nod at him, he turned his attention away from them and opened up his inventory, he was about to pull out his potions kit when he saw the armor package that Melvin gave him. He almost forgot about it since it took him so long to get to level 20. Opening it up he saw it that the style wasn''t different from what he was currently wearing, the only difference was the color and the designs on the clothing. Like his current outfit, it was just a pair of pants and a shirt, the shirt was just the tattoos that would showcase on his chest. The armor was red with black rose prints on it and the shirt tattoos were also black roses in bloom. The armor also had some very nice stats on it, it gave +16 defense, +3 intelligence, +3 Dex and it was also upgradable to a certain point. Xinya knew he would be able to wear this for a long time and was very grateful to Melvin. Xinya quickly put on the new armor and checked out his new stats: Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 280/280 (+10) Level: 20 MP: 260/260 (+10) EXP: 22/1100000 Stamina: 260/260 (+10) Skill points: 13 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 12(+7) Int: 11 (+7) Luck: 11 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 "Nice," Xinya said quietly to himself as he saw his new stats with the armor on. He was about to close his interface when he saw that his combat potion journal was blinking. 75 Two New Combat Potions With a little bit of anticipation, Xinya began reading the two new entries: Two and a half years into the war ''It saddens me to say that we have been losing the war, I don''t blame the soldiers it is not their fault. The reason for losing is the boss monsters, they are simply too strong. They wield power that the normal monsters do not have and it takes at least 50 of our men to kill one. I researched high and low to make a new combat potion to help us in this predicament but alas so far I have failed.'' ~Shilvak A few months later Something wonderful has happened, while some of the soldiers were on reconisis they brought back tons of different types of flowers for me to use hoping they would be of use in creating combat potions. While most of them were useless in creating anything there were two flowers that seemed to be different from the rest. The two flowers names were ''Dancing Girls'' and ''Blue Belladonna'' after experimenting with these two flowers for a while, I had finally created two new combat potions that will help when fighting boss monsters and normal ones. I have named the combat potions ''Flora Attack'' and ''Pulse Strike'' With these two combat potions I know I can turn the tide of this war. ~Shilvak Once he was finished reading the two paragraphs a notification popped up in front of Xinya, telling him that he had learned two more combat potion recipes. After reading the description of the potions he was extremely excited because they were a great addition to his Mini Fireball and Dreaming Dust combat potions. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting. The Flora Attack potion causes the petals of the Dancing Girl flowers to burst forth and wrap around an enemy causing them to become immobile, the petals will then suck out the life force from the monster for 25 sec doing 60 to 300 damage depending on the quality of the combat potion. While Pulse Strike is a combat potion that when thrown strikes the surrounding area with electricity and blows all of the nearby enemies away. This potion does 85-400 damage depending on the quality of the potion and it also stuns the monster for 10 seconds. Xinya was a little upset that he didn''t get a light-based potion, it would have been so much easier to take care of Wyatt if he did get one but he was still happy with the ones that he had gotten. There were a lot of monsters that were weak to lightning and earth type skills. Fire was strong against Wood and Ice but is weak to Water. Ice can be either strong or weak against Fire, depending on whether it''s classified with or separately from Water. If it''s separate, then Water will be strong against Fire while Ice is weak to it Earth is strong against Electricity and very weak against Air. Lightning is strong against Water, but otherwise equal against Fire and Ice and is weak against Earth. Water is strong against Fire, weak to Ice and Wood. Air is strong against Fire, weak to Earth and Electricity. Wood is weak to Fire and Ice and strong to Water and Earth. Metal is strong against Wood and Fire and is weak against Water and Lightning. Light and Dark are usually conflicting forces who are equally strong against each other, but weak as a defense. Light is usually effective against the undead and other evil beings, while Dark is effective against "good" beings. Since this region''s monsters were mostly of the water element Xinya knew that Pulse Strike would be his new best friend when fighting monsters, the only bad thing is he hasn''t seen any Blue Belladonna flowers as of yet, so he wouldn''t be able to make that potion yet. Luckily he did have the Dancing Girls flowers so he could try making the Flora Attack potion. Although he was level 7 in potion making and the recommended level in making the Flora Attack potion was level 8 he still felt confident that he could make a decent amount without failing too terribly. Taking out his potion kit and all of the ingredients that he would need, he began trying to make the Flora Attack combat potion. Following the recipe, he boiled some water in his potions cauldron than added in one stamina potion, two Ortoclony or yellow herbs that are used in the creation of stamina potion, and stirred it well for 15 seconds. Letting the concoction boil for a minute removed the petals of the Dancing girls, once it was done boiling he put 11 petals into the cauldron and stirred it well. After stirring it off and on for 3 minutes the potion was completed. Taking the caldron of the boil, he waited for the results. [You have failed in making Flora Attack!! Please try again.] 76 A Funny Acciden Looking at the lavender potion bottle in his hand he felt quite satisfied with himself, none of the potions were bad quality and he made more than he thought he would. He was itching to try out the combat potion but he understood that he still had to make other potions. Putting the Flora Attack potion away he began working on the Mini Fireball potions. After taking out the ingredients for it, Xinya speculated that he probably has enough to make about 93 of them is he doesn''t fail while making them. As he began making them he heard a strange sound coming from behind him freaking him out a little. Turning around he let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was just Wei and Wandering Sound coming back to camp. When they got nearer, Xinya gave them a closer look to see that Wei was silently cracking up and Wandering Sound looked worse for wear. "What''s so funny?" Xinya asked Wei once she was inside the camp. Chuckling a bit Wei said, "You won''t believe what happened." "Nothing of importance happened." Wandering Sound said while eyeing Wei as if to tell her not to say anything. Either Wei didn''t see it or pretended not too because she just carried on gleefully, "While we were in the woods leveling up are skills, by the way, my damage went up so much using my light skill that I couldn''t believe it." "I knew it would," Xinya replied while motioning for her to continue with her story. "So, me and Wandering Sound was kicking the Vex Hounds butts, so I suggested that he should practice running while playing the flute." Wei could barely contain her giggling as she spoke. Wandering Sound irritably looked at her, "Yes please do remember that you''re the one who suggested it. What happened was your fault." Xinya was very curious about what happened to Wandering Sound in the woods. With how Wandering Sound was acting it had to be something very embarrassing. "What happened?" Xinya asked. "Well, as you know this game is very realistic," Wei began holding back a laugh. "And as we walked through the Vex Hounds territory every so often we would pass a turd pile¡­." Xinya''s eyes widen as the realization seeped in, he looked at Wei for conformation, when she nodded he looked at Wandering Sound and started cracking up, "Gosh, that''s hilarious. I can''t believe you fell in a pile of shit." "Face first!" Wei said laughing some more. Wandering Sound had his hands covering his face, which was already bright red in embarrassment. He couldn''t believe that this had happened if his fans ever find out he would never live it down. "Let''s not talk about this anymore." "What is it?" Wandering Sound asked a little wary. "Did any get in your mouth?" Xinya asked making Wei laugh uproariously again. Wandering Sound just rolled his eyes at the two of them, before moving farther away from them huffing as he did so. Wei just laughed as she watched Wandering Sound go off to pout. After calming down she looked over at Xinya, she finally noticed that his avatar looked different. "Nice amour, when did you get it?" Wei asked. "My instructor gave it to me, remember I told you about it before we left Bellport," Xinya replied. After thinking about it for a bit, Wei did remember, but that was a while ago she couldn''t be faulted for it slipping her mind, "Oh, right. It''s really nice, I hope my instructor gives me some armor too." "If not you can always buy a used one, it would be cheap and that way you can save up for a really nice one." "That''s true," Wei began. "By the way besides getting new armor did anything happened while we were away?" "I got two new combat potions, but I will only be able to use one of them for now," Xinya replied. "That''s awesome! Will it help us when we fight Wyatt?" Questioned Wei. Nodding his head Xinya said, "I think it will be able too." "That''s great!" Wei said excitedly. "Wandering Sound and I had already leveled our light skill to level five, so once your done making potions we be all set." "That''s wonderful, once I''m done we can make a plan on how we are going to take down Wyatt," Xinya responded. Smiling Wei got up from where she was seated, "Alright, while your busy making potions I''m going to go cheer up Wandering Sound." "Cheer up? Don''t you mean tease some more?" Xinya asked. "Nope," Wei said while shaking her head. "I''m going to go cheer him up, he will need it with how fragile the male ego is." 77 The Plan Xinya cleared his throat trying to catch their attention, after doing it a couple of times without any results because they were wrapped up in their little world Xinya gave up and shouted, "Hey guys!" When they heard Xinya''s voice, Wandering Sound and Wei were a bit startled. Wei turned around and looked at Xinya only to see that he was giving her a knowing look. Paying him no mind, she grabbed Wandering Sound''s arm telling him without words that it was time to discuss the plan. Once everyone was settled around the fire Xinya began speaking, "Before we start planning how we will kill Wyatt. I need to ask what your light skills do." "Alright I''ll go first, my light skill is called Soul Shot." Wei taps her skill icon in her interface and sends the description to Xinya and Wandering Sound. Soul Shot is a skill that compresses the user''s soul inside the bullet which on impact releases the light of a living soul on the enemy. It does 240 to 300 knockback damage against dark monsters, it also has a very small chance of paralyzing a dark monster for 5 seconds. "Ah, no wonder the Vex Hounds kept flying back when you shot them." Wandering Sound said. "This is a very useful skill to have, with a knockback skill at our disposal, we can keep Wyatt away from us in case one of the other skills fail." Nodding his head to what Xinya said, Wandering Sound agreed that Wei''s skill would be very helpful in this fight. "I guess it''s my turn now, my skill is called Liturgy for the damned." Following Wei''s example he also sent his skill description to them so they could read what it says: Liturgy for the Damned: is a song from the heavens that gives a player a shield of light that protects them from dark creatures. This shield is very powerful and will do 300-400 damage to any dark creature that looks upon it, while also protecting the teammates of player from attacks. To sustain it, a player''s mana will be drained, 10 mana every 5 seconds. The less mana a player has the weaker the shield will become. "No wonder you were chucking back those mana potions like they were water when we were fighting those Vex Hounds," Wei said not believing how much of a mana killer that skill was. "Tell me about it, I don''t have that many are left now." Wandering Sound replied. Xinya just opened his inventory and grabbed a stack of Mana potions from tons he had in his inventory and gave it to Wandering Sound, "Here take these." "It''s fine, just take them," Xinya told him while trying to push the potions into his hands. Seeing how Wandering Sound was going to refuse, Wei took the potions out of Xinya''s hands and gave it to Wander Sound. "What are you hesitating for you are already paid him for any potions he wants to give you by helping us not die from the Floret Buns. So just take them." "Alright, alright. I can''t fight you with that logic." Wandering Sound said as he put the potions away in his inventory, giving a thankful look to Xinya. "Since that''s settled let''s start making the plan." Wei eagerly said. The three of them thought long and hard about how they could use their skills to take down Wyatt, when an idea came to Xinya mind, "I think I got an idea on how we should handle this." "What is it?" Both Wandering Sound and Wei said at the same time. "From what Christopher told me, Wyatt leaves in the afternoon around 1 every day. We shouldn''t fight him near the cottage since I think he will be more powerful there since it is the nexus where the black magic originated from. So I think once he is outside one of use should catch his attention and lead him to a clearing that has no monsters around." "I think that should be me since I am the fastest runner out of the three of us," Wei said. "Are you sure it will be dangerous," Xinya said worriedly. Filled with determination, Wei replied, "Yes I can definitely outrun him. "Alright, once Wei leads him to the clearing, I will hit with my dreaming dust potion and if that doesn''t work Wandering Sound will use his Beguiling Song or Snail song on him. At that point I will use Flora Attack, Wei I will be counting on you to spam Soul Shot at Wyatt once I used it." "What about me?" Wandering Sound asked. Thinking about it Xinya said, "I''m going to need you to stay close to Wei since the aggro is going to mostly be on her, once you see that she need reload put up your light shield. That way we are constantly doing damage to Wyatt all the time." "Your plan makes sense, but where should we lead Wyatt at?" Wandering Sound asked. "Don''t worry, I already found the perfect place on the map, I will send you the coordinates," Xinya replied. Happy that everything was settled, Wei said, "I think maybe we should log off now because we don''t know how long this will take us." "Roaming Wind is right, we should log off and once we come back we can free Christopher." "Yup, with Drifting Cloud plan nothing can go wrong," Wei said. 78 Let鈥檚 Begin After five minutes, Xinya and Wei saw that Wandering Sound had finally logged back in. Seeing that the two of them were raring to go Wandering Sound asked, "What are you two doing?" "Xinya was just making sure my coordinates are correct, while we waited for you," Wei replied. "That''s a good idea, we don''t want you to get lost while Wyatt is chasing you." Wandering Sound joked. Although what Wandering Sound said was just a joke but Xinya felt it was pausable since he knew how Wei was. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was only 10 am in-game, still early. With this extra time felt that Wei should practice some. "Since it''s still early, let''s do a run-through. That way Wei can get familiar with the terrain, and won''t trip over anything as she runs through the woods." Xinya told them. Indignant, Wei said, "Hey! I''m not some weak girl in a horror movie who falls when someone is chasing her." "You could be." Wandering Sound said seriously while looking at her avatar up and down. "What''s that supposed to mean?!" Wei yelled angry. Holding up his hands in surrender Wandering Sound said, "Nothing, I meant nothing." "You better meant nothing." Wei was annoyed, she knew what Wandering Sound was thinking. If this was a horror movie she would be the brainless hot girl who dies first. Hiding a smirk, Xinya clapped his hands together to get their attention. "We are getting sidetracked, Wei I don''t think you will fall but I do want you to familiarize yourself with the path you will take." "Alright," Wei said, while slyly shooting a glare at Wandering Sound. Xinya took both of them near the cottage, close enough for them to see it but still far enough that they weren''t on the property. That way Wei could just take a beeline when she enters the woods that way she would still be going down the same path that would lead her to the clearing. Xinya made her practice the run a few times that even without looking at her map she would be able to make it the clearing with no problem. When it was a little over 11:30, Xinya told Wei to get in position while he and Wandering Sound made their over to the clearing. It didn''t take long for everyone to get in position so all they had to do was wait. Since they needed to buy time, they just talked about random things in party chat. RW: Guys! Wyatt is on the move get ready! WS: ok. DC: Be careful when bringing him here. WS: Don''t worry, I got this. Wei watched as Wyatt came out from the cottage, he was very different than she thought he would look. She was expecting a massive bodybuilder physique, similar to the hulk, with facial features that were very unappealing. What she thought and what she saw was completely different. He looked like a young master going out for a hunt, with leather hunting clothes and a long black sword by his side that was pulsating some unknown energy. His appearance was extraordinary too, besides his greying skin he was utterly gorgeous, with long blonde hair that reached his back, she couldn''t see the color of his eyes but they were almond-shaped and matched perfectly with his face. She guesses the saying was right, evil does come in pretty packaging. Seeing that Wyatt was walking away from the cottage, Wei sprung into action. She ran onto the cottage property, right in his line of sight. She knew that Wyatt would try to kill anyone he sees near the cottage because of what Xinya told her when they were logged out. This way she didn''t have to waste time using any skills or taunting him and just begin running immediately. Hearing an angry roar behind her and a coming of footsteps she knew the chase was on. "How dare you step foot in this place and think you can escape!!" Wyatt shouted angrily behind her. As she was running, she realized that he was closer than she thought he was, she couldn''t believe how fast he was. She quickened her pace, dodging in and out of the dead looking trees to create distance. She thought everything was going well until the trees started to come to life in front of her. She felt like she jinxed herself, this was just like a horror movie. When Xinya told her that Wyatt had power over the forest she didn''t think it meant the trees also. Tree branches were getting in her way, the roots were coming up trying to trip her. She only needed to run a couple more feet and she would reach the place where Xinya and Wandering Sound was waiting, she hoped she could make it. Glancing over her shoulder to see how far away Wyatt was, she was surprised to see that he was almost on her with a sword drawn. As he was about to bring it down on her, she dodged, as she did so she tripped over one of the tree roots. She fell on the ground but managed to roll out of the way of Wyatt''s sword strike, seeing that there is no way she could escape while he was so close, she used her skill Soul Shot at him causing him to be knocked back. [Quest has been activated!] [The Battle of Baldahurh forest has begun!] [Wyatt''s area of effect has been triggered!! All party member''s inventories will be lock doing the duration of the battle!] These notifications popped up in front of Xinya, Wei and Wandering Sound. As they saw them, they all had a similar thought¡­.Shit. 79 Oozing Spectres "What happened?" Xinya asked wondering why the notifications suddenly appeared. "I don''t know, while Wyatt was chasing me I had to dodge an attack and fell so I had to use my Soul Shot on him," explained Wei. Understanding appeared in Wandering Sound''s eyes, "It must be that the first attack triggers everything." "That makes sense." Xinya begin. "And now Wyatt knows why we are here." As soon as Xinya stop speaking and loud roar echoed throughout the woods. The three of them became tense, looking in the direction where the sound came from, they saw the trees moving apart making a straight path towards them. Footsteps could be heard coming towards them along with a dragging sound. Xinya already had his Dreaming Dust prepared and ready to throw. He was happy that his gloves had slots for his combat potions or he would be out of luck. Wandering Sound was gripping his flute hard, anxious about what was going to happen. On the other hand, Wei was filled with anticipation, she had her guns cocked and were ready to destroy Wyatt. Barely a minute passed when Wyatt appeared in all of his glory, he looked different from how he did previously. Gone was the young master, he now looked like a cold-blooded killer. His greying skin was even more apparent, veins were protruding everywhere on his body, his eyes were glowing red, and a black aura surrounded his entire body. The sword that fits nicely at his side was now five feet long, it created a trench on the ground as he dragged it behind him. Wyatt looked evilly looked at the three of them and laughed maliciously, "Weaklings, you think you can take him from me!!" "We will." Xinya calmly stated. "He will be free from you." "That''s where you''re wrong, you fools! He doesn''t want to be free, he loves me!" Wyatt roared at them. "He doesn''t love you! He hates you, and once we kill you he will be happy!" Wei angrily said inching to start attacking him. "Kill me?" Wyatt laughed at the mere idea. "I would like to see that." Wyatt lifted the five-foot-long steel sword with ease, and without blinking an eye struck it onto the ground so hard that the impact blew the three of them back, causing them to land heavily on the ground a couple of feet away. Without even touching them Wyatt caused Xinya to lose 20 health points, getting up Xinya saw that Wyatt was summoning something from the crack he created on the ground. Quickly he threw his Dreaming Dust potion at him, to interrupt him, It landed but it didn''t work, it seemed Wyatt was too strong for that potion. Cursing a little inside his head he yelled, "Wandering Sound quickly use Beguiling Song!" Wei was about to use Soul Shot which would have been helpful in this situation but she was blown back further than the guys and she needed to be in range for her skill to work. Just as she was about to fire, Wyatt had finished his summoning and four monsters appeared by his side. The monsters were called Oozing Spectres, they were ghastly looking things. It had a human head that was attached to the body of a beast. It was covered in green slime that smelled horrible that constantly dripped everywhere. They were only level 26 but they were mini-bosses. They were also hard to kill because the green slime was acid and if it touched a player their health will go down a lot. Wandering Sound was constantly saying shit under his breath as he saw them appear, Xinya was also feeling a little discouraged, it was one thing to fight Wyatt by himself but now there were four mini-bosses to attend with. Wyatt laughed maniacally at the looks on their faces, "You think you can beat me when you''re scared of my minions. It seems I won''t have to lift a finger to defeat you all." A fire lit in Xinya eyes after he heard Wyatt speak, he wouldn''t give up the little mage was counting on him, he would not let him down. He looked around he saw that Wandering Sound and Wei was looking pessimistic. He couldn''t have that if they think they can''t win then they won''t be able too. Opening his interface he opened the party voice chat, that way when he talks only the three of them could hear. "Guys, don''t give up yet." "It''s hard not too. If those four monsters attack us at the same time were done for." Wei said via party voice chat. "What she said." Wandering Sound said. "But if I have to die, I''m not not going without a fight. "Don''t worry, I got an idea, we need to separate the monsters from Wyatt and fight them in the forest. That way we can deal with them one by one" Xinya told them while giving Wei a knowing look. "I see where you''re going with this, you want us to play bait and kill," Wei said. 80 Stalling "Wei takes Wandering Sound into the woods, you already know what you need to do, explain it to Wandering Sound. I will stall Wyatt for a couple of minutes than lure the monster inside the forest." Xinya said. "Alright, I will only need 3-4 minutes," Wei told Xinya while grabbing Wandering Sound hand dragging him into the forest leaving Xinya all alone with Wyatt. Wyatt watched as the two left his smirk becoming even more pronounced, "It seems your friends have abandoned you to die alone. How does it feel? Are you sad, that you been betrayed?" "Why would I be sad?" Xinya begin. "I let my friends go because I care for them. Unlike you, who can''t let go even though you know you are hurting the person you say you care for." The smirk on Wyatt''s face disappeared as if it was never there. His face became cold, so cold that it felt like if you kept looking at it, it would freeze your whole entire body. "What do you know boy?! I have never hurt Christopher, he is loved and safe." "Loved?" Xinya started laughing sardonically. "You call that love! That''s not love, that''s an obsession!" "I do love him and he loves me!!" Wyatt hollered angrily. The way that Xinya mocked his feelings for Christopher filled him with fury. He couldn''t wait to destroy him, afterward, he would use his body to fertilize the plants around the cottage. "He loves you? Don''t make me laugh. From what I can see he despises you, loathes you, hates you. To him, you are nothing more than his jailer that kept him locked up all these years." Xinya watched as Wyatt gets more and more upset after each word he spoke, but it wasn''t enough he wanted his words to pierce deeper into his heart. "Do you think, once I free him, that he will ever think about you once your gone?" Xinya asked seriously. "I bet he won''t, you will be just like a bad nightmare that will fade from memory after a while." Wyatt was shaking from rage, his fists clenched hard enough that his fingernails were digging deep within his skin. He wanted this boy dead and he wanted it now, how dare he besmirched the love he had for Christopher, even implying that Christopher hated him, that was absurd. Thinking back through the years they spent together after Christopher failed suicide, he knew that Christopher came to love him again. He never rejected any of his advances, he always did everything he told him to do, and he always waits for him when he goes off hunting. Wyatt knew that this was Christopher''s way of showing that he loved him and he won''t allow this boy to belittle it. Xinya already had his map open and saw Wei and Wandering Sound location, making a break for it he ran into the forest with the Oozing Spectres hot on his tail. As he ran he heard Wyatt''s chilling voice coming from behind him. "Don''t completely kill him my Spectres, bring his half-dead body back to me. His death needs to be slow and painful." Wyatt''s voice menacingly echoed throughout the forest. Once that Dryad was dead he planned to display his head on a pike in front of the cottage as a warning to everyone. Nobody would take his love away from him. Xinya ran as fast as he could, the four Oozing specters were hot on his tail he had to keep ducking and dodging because they kept spitting acid at him. Luckily enough all of their attacks had missed or he would be down a lot of Health points right now. Seeing that the dots of Wei and Wandering Sound on the map were only a couple of feet away Xinya knew that he would have to shake off these Oozing Spectres before they met up. He wondered what he could do when he saw a low hanging branch on a tree in the opposite direction of where he needed to go. Quickly he beelined to the right and rushed to the tree. He grabbed the branch and pulled himself up disappearing from view. The Oozing Spectres stopped for a minute in confusion before continuing to run in the direction they last saw him going. Knowing that won''t fool them for long, Xinya jumped down from the tree and continued to run to Wei and Wandering Sound. 81 Four Minutes Earlier "What''s going on?" Wandering Sound asked once Wei stopped running. He could see that they were far away enough from where they left Xinya, but not too far away that Xinya wouldn''t be able to catch up to them if he needed to. Taking out four small circular objects from a small pouch on her belt she said, "During the times when I and Drifting Cloud are logged out, sometimes we watch players going through treasure dungeons. In one of these videos, we watched as a player goes through a high-level one." Wandering Sound nodded along to her words not really seeing where she was going with this. "While the player was in the dungeon he couldn''t use his inventory, knowing that one day we would be going into dungeons like that we researched how we could carry stuff without using the inventory. We found that there are cloth bags that come in all different sizes. From small pouches that can carry 4-5 things to large bags that can carry 20-30 things. Xinya brought me one and told me to keep my Survival Gear in, he wanted me to get used to the extra weight plus it will slowly gain me more stamina from carrying it." Wei explained. Wandering Sound suddenly became fully aware of what the pouch that hung from Wei''s dress meant, "So does that mean you got potions in there along with the survival gear that Xinya wanted you to carry?" "Sadly, no. I didn''t think we would run into a situation that would lock our inventories yet. I only kept my Treasure Hunter Survival Gear inside of it." Wei replied. She was also upset that she didn''t put a couple of potions inside of it just in case something like this happened. "Oh." Wandering Sound said a little disappointed but wouldn''t let it get to him. "So what did you and Xinya meant by bait and run." Wei gave two of the small circular objects to Wandering Sound, "These are called D¨¥koi, they are one of the treasure hunter''s survival items. When these babies are activated they will let out a noise that will entice the monster the noise been set to, even if it''s in aggro to it." "Really?" Wandering Sound said, feeling way more stimulated than before. He didn''t have that overwhelming sense of doom anymore. "Yup and once the monster touches it they will become stunned for all of 5 minutes and even is they wake up they will go into a dizzy state for 2 minutes. This is the number one escape tool for Treasure Hunters when they know they can''t win against a monster." Wei said smugly. "Be glad I didn''t." We replied. "Plus these things are very costly to make, it took me 20 silver coins just to make these four and I had to borrow that from Xinya." "Ahh, no wonder I haven''t seen you use any. But your right I''m glad you didn''t. So what do you want me to do with these two?" Wandering Sound asked. Patting the large rotten looking tree behind her, she said, "This tree will be our starting and ending point. We are going to put one of the D¨¥koi''s a couple of feet in front of it. The other three we will put each one a little further away from the last." Wandering Sound agreed with the placement of D¨¥kois, this will give them more time to kill each one of them. They quickly got to work setting the D¨¥kois up in different areas, once they were done they went back to the tree where they first started. "Do you think Xinya is alright?" Wei asked. Checking the Xinya stats in the party window he said, "Besides the little bit of health he lost due to the blowback by Wyatt he is completely fine." "That''s good," Wei replied sounding a little off. She knew that Wandering Sound wouldn''t know that she was talking about mentally and not physically. This quest was cut too close to home and she was wondering how Xinya was feeling right now. She was about to dwell on the subject some more but as she lifted her head she saw Xinya running towards them at top speed. She was about to ask if he was alright when loud screeching sounds could be heard, startling her. She noticed that Xinya was giving her a look as if to ask if she did she do it. Wei responded to him with a nod, before turning her attention back towards the screeching. 82 Conviction Once the party heard a zap they knew one of the Oozing Spectres was down for the count. Xinya quickly brought down the camouflage and ran towards the nearest Oozing Spectre. As soon as he was near it he heard three more consecutive zaps, there was no time to waste they needed to kill them fast before they wake up. Knowing that Dreaming Dust potion would be too weak to put these guys out, he wouldn''t even waste a bottle to test. He couldn''t wait until he had the materials so he could make higher quality ones. Looking to his left he saw Wei and Wandering Sound was ready to start blasting the monster, holding a hand up he stopped them. "The first attack will awaken it from its stunned state, but it will still go into its dizzy state which will be trouble for us. So this is what we are going to do, Wandering Sound ready up Soprano Blast, I''m going to use Flora Attack potion, it will bind the monster for 25 seconds, while it''s bind Roaming Wind use Soul shot on it to knock it back away from us, that''s when Wandering Sound will use his Soprano Blast on it. We will keep doing that until it''s dead." Xinya said. Since it appeared to be a sound plan and they couldn''t think of anything that would go wrong, Wei and Wandering Sound did what Xinya asked of them. Wandering Sound put his flute to his lips and the same haunting melody as before when they were fighting the Vex Hounds begin to play. After a few seconds, the musical notes around Wandering Sound was sharp and ready to attack. Seeing that Xinya threw the Flora Attack potion at the Oozing Spectre causing it to come out of its stun state, but before it even got the chance to move a cloud of purple petals swarmed the Oozing Spectre. They begin drying, turning the Oozing Spectre into a statue of sorts. Xinya checked the Oozing Spectre Health to see that it was at 24k but was going down. "Roaming Wind shoot it." Wei used her skill Soul Shot knocking back the Oozing specter that was still bound up by Xinya potion and dealt 500 damaged to it. After Wei knocked it back, Wandering Sound used his Soprano Blast. The Oozing Spectre was pierced deep with the multiple sharp musical notes. Each musical note did about 75 damage to the monster, altogether Wandering Sound did about 750 damage on the Oozing Spectre. Between Xinya, Wei and Wandering Sound they did around 5k damage to the Oozing Spectre, after doing it the same thing four more times they killed the Oozing Spectre. "Omg, it dropped some potions," Wei said happily. Besides the potions, the Oozing Spectre didn''t drop anything useful and even if it did it wouldn''t matter since they wouldn''t be able to put it in their inventory anyway. Xinya gave the potions to Wei so she could put it in her pouch and the three of them went to take care of the rest of the Oozing Spectres. The other three monsters were dealt with the same as the first, the last one was the toughest to kill though. By the time they got to it, the last Oozing Spectre had already woken up from its stunned state. Now that it was in its dizzy state it was harder to handle. The Oozing Spectre was crazily running around, the acid from its body was being flung everywhere. The three of them had to keep dodging behind trees as to not get hit by the disgusting ooze. A stroke of luck happened when the monster tripped over a log, causing it to fall. Because of that fall, Xinya was able to use his potion to subdue it, and like the others, the monster was killed. With the deaths of these four monsters, they had gained 5 health potions, 2 mana potions, and 3 stamina potions. It wasn''t nearly enough to deal with Wyatt but it was something at least. They decided to rest for a bit, although it''s slow it would help them slowly recover their Health, Mana, and Stamina without using the potions. After about six minutes they were ready. "Do you think that we can really beat him?" Wei asked a little concerned. Looking at Wandering Sound and Wei worried faces, Xinya said, "Stop worrying about if we can and start thinking that we must. We have to save Christopher." "He right." Wandering Sound says. "We must." "Yeah, we must," Wei said with a newfound conviction. 83 Battle Begins Looking at Wyatt in contempt, Xinya retorted, "You will only witness my pleasure when you see my smile as I watch you die." Those words made Wyatt feel more enraged, once again his aura became pronounced. The blackness around his body started spiking, swirling around his body. The wind began to pick up and the surrounding area became stormy, lightning began to flash in the sky. Xinya looked around to see that the clearing began to take on an ominous appearance, the sky became darker, the trees begin to change looking more twisted and gnarly. It seemed that Wyatt was done playing and was ready to fight. Sneakily Xinya checks his peripherals catching a glimpse of Wei and Wandering Sound hidden nearby. This was all apart of their plan when they were walking back to the clearing they realized that they wouldn''t be able to take on Wyatt straight on. They knew that Wyatt''s weak spot was his head and they needed to take advantage of that fact. Since that was the case Wandering Sound suggested that one of them keep Wyatt''s aggro on themselves while Wei uses Soul Shot while aiming for his head. After talking it out Xinya suggested that he be the one that Wyatt''s aggro is focused on because Wandering Sound wouldn''t be able to because he was horrible at running while playing his flute. Also this way, Wandering Sound can offer back up for him. Turning his attention back to Wyatt, Xinya watched as Wyatt''s demonic red eyes focused on him, causing a chill to run down his spine. Sinisterly Wyatt lifted his large black sword at Xinya and growled, "I will use your blood to polish my sword." "Are you guys ready?" Xinya asked in party chat, gingerly touching the pouch that Wei gave him earlier that was filled with the potions from the Oozing Spectres. "Yeah, as ready as I can be," Wei replied. "I got you covered." Wandering Sound told him. "Alright, start attacking once I say," Xinya said while getting himself ready. Xinya knew that he had to start attacking before Wyatt did if Wyatt attacked him now only one thing would occur. He would lose most of his health and by the second hit, he would be dead. He checked Wyatt''s health to see that it was 100k and knew that they were in for a long fight. Xinya pulled out his Mini Fireball potions and starting throwing them at Wyatt while sprinting around him. He remembered when he was killing monsters with Melting Snow, Melting Snow used this technique when he was fighting monsters. He would kite the monster while keeping the monster''s aggro to himself. After watching him a few times, Xinya was sure he could do it too. Although Xinya dodged the hit, the power from the sword caused him +50 damage and a large trench in the ground. Xinya would have to be more careful, if he gets too distracted he could trip over one and he would be done for. "Wei start shooting! Wandering Sound use Snail Song on him." Xinya commanded while throwing the Mini Fireball potions at Wyatt, continuously dodging his attacks and jumping over the trenches he made. Wei was nervously waiting for Xinya to tell her to start shooting when Wyatt started attacking Xinya she didn''t think she would have the chance. Who knew that Xinya was so agile on his feet. From the start, she already had her guns aimed at Wyatt''s head and with Xinya words it was time for her to shine. Using her skill Soul Shot, two bullets flew towards Wyatt''s head only to miss at the last moment. 84 Battle Continues pt 1 Seeing Wyatt lift his hand and remembering how he controlled the trees earlier when he was chasing Wei, Xinya told Wei and Wandering Sound to come out since there was no point in hiding now. Wei was a little miffed that their plan was completely ruined."What are we going to do now?" "Just because we don''t have the element of surprise anymore doesn''t mean we can''t take him down." Wandering Sound replied. "Wandering Sound is right, did you see how I was running around Wyatt throwing potions?" Xinya asked. Wondering where Xinya was going with this she replied, "Yeah I did." "Do you think you can do that while getting headshots?" Questioned Xinya, if she could then they still have a chance in this fight. "I don''t think I could do it all of the time but I might be able to get a couple of shots to his head," Wei said. "That be good enough. Wandering Sound and I will cover you while you''re attacking. Just be careful of Wyatt''s attacks." Xinya told her. Looking at the evil man who was laughing contemptuously at them, Wei gripped her gun and said, "Don''t worry, I got this." Wyatt watched as the two from before came out from where they were hidden just before he was going to use his powers to turn the forest against them. It would have saved him some time in dealing with them himself, but he must admit it was better this way, it would give him more of a challenge. The attacks that the puny Dryad was hitting him with barely left a scratch on him. "So it seems that your friends didn''t betray you at all, lucky you. That means you all will get to die together." Wyatt lifted his sword and slashed it sideways, the attack caused a wind that could destroy anything in its path and it was aimed straight at the party. Moving quickly, Wandering Sound gathered Wei and Xinya close to him and with just a few notes blown in his flute he activated his skill Liturgy for the Damned. A large blue shield made of light surrounded the three of them shielding them from Wyatt''s attack. While the shield itself protected the three of them from the attack, the light that pulsated from it caused Wyatt damage. It was satisfying for them to see Wyatt yelling angrily in pain. Even after Wyatt''s attack stopped, Wandering Sound kept the shield up as long as he could just to watch Wyatt suffer. "It seems the only one who is going to die is you." After seeing Wyatt get really hurt by Wandering Sound''s light skill, Wei confidence went up. Going on the offensive, Wei skirted around Wandering Sound and started attacking Wyatt. With the way Wei''s Soul Shot kept knocking Wyatt back and disrupting him from using his skills, Xinya felt that he was right, they could beat Wyatt. Checking Wyatt''s health he saw that it was down already to 60k. He had to hand it to Wei and Wandering Sound, their light skill damage was doing double the damage and when Wei got a shot off to the head it did triple. Wei, on the other hand, wasn''t worried about nothing but killing Wyatt and she would use every trick that she learned so far to achieve that goal. She already got the hang of disrupting his special attacks, but his normal attacks were dreadful, she had to make sure she rolled, ducked and dodged each and every one of them. Although with her skill she could only do so about 60% of the time and her Health was taking a hit. When her Hp was down to 50 she couldn''t stop the inevitable any longer, she needed to use one of their few potions, "Drifting Cloud I need a Health potion quick or I''m going to die." "Alright, hang on for a second." Xinya took one of the Health potions from the pouch. "Wandering Sound use your shield again, while Roaming Wind gets patched up. 85 Battle Continues pt 2 As soon as Roaming Wind was out of the way, Wandering Sound got in position and was going to activate his shield, but it seems that Wyatt had something up his sleeve because before he had a chance to put his flute to his lips, Wyatt had already finished chanting something. Although he was too late he did enjoy watching as Wyatt was pushed back in pain by the light of his shield. As Wandering Sound was holding off Wyatt, Xinya handed the health potion to Wei who quickly drank it, but before she could go back into the fray, a dragging sound was heard coming from all around them. Xinya looked around to see that about twenty trees had come to life. They had transformed from normal-looking trees to ones that had a monstrous appearance, their roots became legs and their branches became arms that had claw-like hands attached to them. As they dragged their feet closer to them, Xinya could see that they were aiming for Wei. He expected as much, with how much Wei was damaging Wyatt and how her attacks and kept stopping Wyatt from using his skills, Xinya knew that Wyatt wanted to put a stop to her first. This little trick of Wyatt was nothing to Xinya, it was just a hindrance and nothing else. Xinya pushed Wei towards Wyatt, "Go and help Wandering Sound before his shield fails, I got this." "Are you sure?" Wei asked looking at the oncoming trees and then back at Wandering Sound shield whose light was steadily going out. "Yes, I''m sure now go," Xinya said. After Wei left he took out one of his mini fireball potions with a smirk. "I always wanted to see what it feels like to start a forest fire." The trees begin their attacks using their branches as whips striking at Xinya. Because they were so large the attacks were very slow, allowing Xinya to dodge them with ease. Seeing some of the trees start following after Wei, he jumped in their way triggering their aggro. He proceeded to throw Mini Fireballs at the surrounding trees, the dry wood lit up so fast it was like Xinya threw gasoline on them. He only had to throw one potion and 3 trees caught on fire. After a few throws, all of the trees was on fire, the trees were screaming in pain as they burnt. It seemed that since the trees weren''t originally monsters, their Health was really low only about 400, because of that they died very easily. It took him only a couple of minutes to deal with them, once he was done he went back to the real fight. Wyatt had smartened up after Wandering Sound shield had fallen, he used his speed to escape from Wei''s soul shot. By the time Xinya was close enough to throw a Flora Attack potion at him, Wyatt had already lifted his sword and struck it down. It was the same skill that he used before, the wind from his sword sliced through the air blowing all three of them back doing 160 damage in the process. The impact of falling bodies as they hit the ground made a horrible sounding thump. Giving a mocking laugh, Wyatt lifted his sword drawing in his power readying to strike at them again. Xinya quickly got up and ran to Wei and Wandering Sound, he passed the final Mana potion to him. "Hurry up and drink the potion, we need your shield!" Xinya said panicking. Just as Wyatt poured his power into his sword so he could use his attack again, Wandering Sound with just a second to spare used his Shield skill. With Roaming Wind and Drifting Cloud behind him, he began to walk toward Wyatt making him unable to escape. Once the effect of Wyatt''s skill disappeared Xinya jumped from behind Wandering Sound and used his Flora Attack potion. While he was bound, Wei started using her Soul Shot again, the two of them worked in tandem with each other, Xinya binding him, while Wei kept shooting him. This kept on for a while until Wyatt''s Health was down to 10k, at this point Wyatt started roaring and became berserk. He became stronger and faster than before, he swatted Wei away like she was a fly, he rushed to Wandering Sound and kicked him against a tree hard, before turning his attention to Xinya. Xinya checked the party stats to see that Wei and Wandering Sound were still alive but just barely and there was no way he could get a Health potion to them. 86 Battle Ends Wyatt''s once thought out attacks were now gone, he was now like a mad man swinging his sword back and forth wildly. His powerful swings cut through the trees around them causing them to fall, he would then use the fallen tree to throw at Xinya. "You shall never take him from me!" Wyatt kept shouting. His mind was hazy and the only thing he knew was that he must kill that Dryad. After ducking from another thrown tree, Xinya shouted in party chat, "Where are you guys at! I need help here!" "We are right behind you, we see you but we are not in range. Try slowing him down some." Wei told him. ''Slow him down?! It''s not like I''m running for my life or anything.'' Xinya thought to himself as he zigzagged through the trees trying to put more distance between them. Wyatt let out another roar, slashing down his sword causing another wind attack. This time Xinya was to slow and before he could completely hide behind a tree the attack nicked him causing him to lose -35 health. Altogether he lost -195 out of the 290 health he had. Knowing if he took on another full-blown hit it would kill, he wanted to drink a Health potion, but it was too late Wyatt had already caught up to him and sliced through the tree he was hiding behind. He began to run again this time he tried to throw Flora Attack potions over his shoulder to slow down Wyatt. It was hard to do while weaving in and out of the trees and trying not to get hit by Wyatt but he managed to make contact on his third try. When the Flora Attack potion landed on Wyatt, Xinya stopped running and started throwing more Flora Attack potions at Wyatt to keep him bound. Finally, when Xinya was about to run out of the potion Wei showed up and started shooting Wyatt. Wandering Sound was right behind and he was about to use his Soprano blast but Xinya stopped him, "Wandering Sound spam Snail Song at him, I ran out of Flora Attack potions, so slowing him down is our only option now." Nodding his head, Wandering sound started playing a ballad tune at Wyatt. After Flora Attack wore off, they could see how Wandering Sound skill affected Wyatt. Unlike the Vex Hounds, there wasn''t much difference in Wyatt''s movements. Although he did appear a little slower than he did before. In Xinya''s opinion, as he ran through the trees once more with Wyatt on his tail, Wyatt was significantly slower. He could even throw his mini fireball potions at him while missing less often than before. Although he didn''t understand why Wyatt was so laser-focused on him, with the way Wei is dealing damage on him. "What are you doing Roaming Wind, go back to where you were!" Xinya shouted at her. "Don''t worry, all I need is two shots straight at his head and he is dead. It''s quicker this way." Wei said. "Quicker?! You''re missing all of your shots! Go back to where you were!" Xinya yelled. Ignoring Xinya, Wei kept on trying to shoot Wyatt from her position. She was always relying on Xinya in this game and it was finally her time to shine. It was mostly because of her that Wyatt was dying, this was her moment to show Xinya that she wasn''t just some useless person that he had to always protect, she was strong too. Although she wanted to show off, she saw that shooting backward wasn''t working, so she became a little more daring and ran alongside Wyatt and started shooting him from the side. As more of Wyatt''s health went down, his attention, that was on Xinya transferred to Wei. Wyatt''s health was already down to 500, just as Wei was about to fire the shot that would end this battle, Wyatt slashed down his sword at her. Xinya already knew something was wrong when Wyatt stopped chasing him. Seeing him charging up his power to attack Wei, Xinya took action and rushed to her. Xinya got to Wei just as she fired the last shot needed to kill Wyatt, he pushed her out of the way, just as Wyatt attack made it''s way over to her. Xinya watched as his health disappeared from the attack but before his avatar died he saw that they were successful. Wyatt started to scream loudly, crazily yelling that Christopher will bring him back before the dark energy around his body disappeared. His body started aging becoming older and older until it was just a dried-up husk. As Wyatt fell to the ground in death the three of them could hear him whisper Christopher''s name over and over again. [The Battle of Baldahurh forest has Ended!] [You have gained 80000 experience!] [You have gained the quest item Wyatt''s Brain!] [You have gained the quest Item Wyatt''s Sword!] As his avatar lay on the forest floor in death he could still see everything around him. Xinya saw Wandering Sound and Wei run towards him, how visibly upset they were. That''s when more notifications sounded: [You have Died!!] [You have lost 50000 experience and 1 silver 600 bronze coins and a random item from your inventory!!] [Since you died you will be auto-logged out of the game!] He heard Wei panicky screaming his name as everything faded to black. Xinya awoke in his pod as he expected after dying. He was a little upset because once you die in the game, you couldn''t log on for 2 hours, something about calming the mental state of a player who experiences death. He was also a little pissed off at Wei if only she listened to him this wouldn''t have happened. 87 Talking He quickly pushed her off him, which made Wei fall back hard against the floor. She looked at Xinya from where she was with a mixture of shock and hurt before she realized what was happening. Xinya had his arms around himself rocking back and forth while breathing harshly. "I''m so sorry Xinya. I shouldn''t have touched you." Wei said in anguished, tears falling from her eyes. She was so angry at herself first she caused Xinya''s death in-game and now she caused him to have a panic attack. Not knowing how to calm him down she just talked about how sorry she was while kneeling next to him. Hearing Wei''s voice helped him snap out of the attack somewhat, after a couple of minutes of doing some breathing exercises he calmed himself down. Once he was calm, his mind was a lot clearer, he looked down at the sobbing mess that was Wei, and felt a little irritated at her. Not because she hugged him, he knew that she was too emotional to know what she was doing. He was irritated because she didn''t listen to him in the game. If she did then they would be celebrating their victory, but now he had to wait two hours before he could go back inside of the game and save Christopher. Xinya really wanted to be mad at her, he truly did, but as he listened to Wei cry and apologize repeatedly so tragically he couldn''t stay upset at her. "Stop apologizing Wei." "No! It''s all my fault, if only I listened to you, you wouldn''t have died." Wei said troubled. "Come." Xinya wheeled himself into the living room. There was no point in talking in the middle of the hallway. Once Wei was seated on the couch in front of him, he asked, "Why didn''t you listen to me?" "It was stupid really. I wanted to show off. I''m always relying on you and finally, I could show my worth. You needed me and I got carried away by that knowledge. I shouldn''t have and I''m very sorry." Wei told him, her head lowered in regret. Xinya could understand where Wei was coming from, he had been overprotective of her, far too much it seems, "I forgive you, it''s alright. You didn''t cause my death, I was the one who ran out to save you. My death is in my own hands." "But¡­" Wei started but Xinya interrupted her. "No buts. You learned your lesson right?" Xinya asked seriously. "No doing your own thing in fights anymore, that will cause people to die." Looking at Xinya straight in his eyes, Wei said, "I promise I won''t. After seeing you die in the game like that¡­ it looked so real. It was like you had died for real." If the body is still in one piece it will stay in the same place, a barrier will surround it until the player logs on again, but for all purposes, it will look like a real-life dead body. For Wei to experience that must have been dreadful. "Maybe next time you enter the game, you should turn your graphics down. Turn the realistic setting off." Xinya said. Shaking her head, Wei said, "No, if you can handle it so can I. I''m not some weak person." "Are you sure?" Xinya asked. "I am," Wei said. After talking for a half an hour, Wei''s cell phone started ringing, it was her mom asking her to help her with a job. Wei told Xinya that it wouldn''t take long and made him promise not to start playing without her before running out the door. 88 Wyatt鈥檚 Sword? As soon as he logged on the first thing he saw was Wandering Sound sitting across from him leaning against a tree. Seeing that he didn''t notice him moving, Xinya realized he must be using his interface to either watch videos or search the web. Creeping towards him, Xinya poked him on the shoulder scaring the crap out of him, "Hey." "Hey yourself! You almost scared me to death!" Wandering Sound shouted holding his hand against his heart. A giggling sound could be heard from nearby, Wandering Sound and Xinya turned to see Wei laughing at their antics, "You do know this is a game right, he can''t possibly scare you to death." "How would you know? This game is so realistic I wouldn''t put anything past it." Wandering Sound said. While Wei and Wandering Sound was going back and forth, Xinya took this time to check his status he had gained about 22k experience points from killing the Oozing Spectres and 80k from Wyatt''s death, which would have brought him close to leveling up, but since he lost 50k because of his death he only had about 52k experience. Sighing a bit, Xinya checked his inventory since a random item would be missing from it. As he looked he saw that his seeds were still there and his potions, he was a little worried that his mysterious egg would be the thing that was missing but it turned out that it wasn''t. Not finding what was missing he could only check his inventory records to see what was missing. It turned out to be one of the recipes from the auction house. Luckily it was only a common one, he could rebuy it later. He must have forgotten to collect it in his recipe journal when he brought it for it. Turning his attention back to Wandering Sound and Wei, he said, "By the way, after I died, did Wyatt drop anything thing?" "Nope, as soon as you died I got a notification saying the quest items have been sent to the quest holder." Wandering Sound told Xinya, while Wei nodded in agreement just next to him. "Let me take a look," Xinya remember the notifications he got before he died about Wyatt''s brain and sword. Looking in his inventory once more he found the quest items. Clicking on them he read their descriptions: Wyatt''s brain: This is the place where the dark magic struck Wyatt and turned him into the undead thing he became. The dark magic is keeping the brain alive, it needs to be destroyed by the person who first cast the dark magic before the Baldahurh forest and everything in it can return to how it once was. Wyatt''s Sword: The true owner and name of this sword are unknown. It is a relic of the great war that happened a long time ago. This sword has passed through many hands and each person who owned it died tragically. It''s been said that this sword is cursed and only in the hands of its true owner will it''s true potential show. To learn more find Bajji the master blacksmith. Reading the sword''s description left Xinya speechless, it seemed that it was part of a bigger quest. It sounded interesting but Xinya had a feeling that he probably wouldn''t be able to do it for a while, it seemed like one of those quests where a player needed to be a high level to complete. Seeing that Wandering Sound and Wei were staring at him, waiting for him to tell them about the quest items, Xinya shared the descriptions of the items with them. As they read them he saw their faces go through all sorts of emotions. "I was wondering why the quest didn''t complete after we killed Wyatt." Wandering Sound said. "I just thought that we needed to talk to Christopher but it seems that it was more than just that." Wei nodded along as Wandering Sound spoke before saying, "And the sword must lead to an epic quest don''t you think?" "I don''t think we should worry about the sword yet until we a higher level," Xinya told her seriously. "I agree with Drifting Cloud we should just put that aside for now, and come back to it once we think we''re ready, but I do think we should find out who this Bajji guy is, so we know what we will be up against." Wandering Sound said. "Your right." Xinya started. "Once we finished the treasure dungeon, I will look into it." Wei slapped herself on the forehead, "The treasure dungeon, with everything going on it completely escaped my mind." "It seems you forgot what your class is." Wandering Sound said while laughing. Xinya started laughing too, while Wei just rolled her eyes at them. "Come on, let''s stop joking around, we still need to save Christopher." The three of them had smiles on their faces as they walked back to the cabin, knowing that once they go there they could finally free Christopher. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 280/280 (+10) Level: 20 MP: 260/260 (+10) EXP:52022/1100000 Stamina: 260/260 (+10) Skill points: 13 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 12(+7) Int: 11 (+7) Luck: 11 (+4) Coins: 9 gold 996 silver 200 bronze Chapter 89: Christopher is Free! Xinya led them back to the cottage, where Christopher was at, the walk there wasn''t long and in no time at all they arrived. The first thing they saw was a lovely young man with slightly grey skin standing just outside the cottage door looking at the sky in wonder. It was as though he hadn''t been outdoors in a very long time and was basking in the scenery that he once again got to experience. A small smile graced Christopher''s face as the wind blew over him, he had finally got a taste of freedom after years of being trapped in the cottage and he liked it. Hearing a twig snap, Christopher tensed up for a minute, thinking that it was Wyatt, but he knew that couldn''t be. The only way he could be outside like this was only if Wyatt was gone. Turning his head to see who was there, he saw that it was the boy he asked to help him and two others he didn''t know. When he first saw the boy, he finally felt that he had some hope, for the first time in decades. When the boy said he would save him he didn''t really believe him but he had hoped, and when he felt the barrier around the cottage go down he knew that his hope had come true. He wanted to run and hug the boy and thank him profusely, for what he has done for him, but for some reason he couldn''t move farther away than the area around the porch. Christopher could only think that the dark magic is still in effect, but even so, just being able to leave the cottage and not having to worry about Wyatt was more than enough. ~ Xinya couldn''t help but smile as he saw that Christopher was able to leave the cottage now but knew that it wasn''t over. Xinya walked those last few steps until he was close enough to speak with Christopher. He didn''t really know what to say in this type of situation, so he merely said, "I''m back." [Yes...yes you are.] Christopher wrote on his mini blackboard. He gave Xinya a grateful smile because he knew what the latter was trying to convey. [Thank you so much. I had almost given up, thank you for saving me.] Wandering Sound and Wei thought it is best to stay a little ways away from Xinya and Christopher as they talked, but they could still see and hear everything. Wei couldn''t help but tear up, she was so happy that the mage was going to be free. On the other hand, Wandering Sound felt a little worried about Roaming Wind, all throughout this quest her emotions had been unsteady. Wandering Sound had to wonder if something like this happens to her. Even thinking about it made him upset, he really hoped it wasn''t true. Not noticing the turmoil his friends were in Xinya continued speaking with Christopher, "I''m sorry to say it''s not over yet." [What do you mean?] Christopher wrote, eyes wide with worry. Bad thoughts started to appear, he even started questioning if Wyatt was even dead. Knowing where Christopher''s mind was going, he quickly assured him that Wyatt was really dead. Opening up his inventory he took out Wyatt''s brain and showed him. "For it to be truly over, and for you to be free, you need to destroy this." The amount of dark magic that pulsated from the item in the boy''s hand frightened Christopher, but to escape this place and this life he knew he had to be brave. Taking the item he realized what it was, it was Wyatt''s brain. This was the place where his chaotic dark magic entered that night centuries ago. Determination welled up in him handing the item back to the boy he rushed into the house but not before writing that he be back on his chalkboard. He ran into the bedroom and quickly went through the items in the closet until he saw it, his staff. The last time he saw it was when Wyatt brought it back for him on one of his daily outings. It was another of Wyatt''s little ways of trying to please him, but he never touched it. He was scared of what else his magic could do, even now he was hesitant in touching it but he knew this was the only way to end this mess he caused. Grabbing his staff, he gripped it tight and walked back out of the house where the boy who had saved him was waiting. Xinya who saw Christopher come back out of the house, staff in hand, held out the brain for him to take. Christopher grabbed the brain and placed it on the ground, he looked at it thinking about all of his years of suffering from pain and humiliation at the hands of Wyatt and knew once he got rid of the dark magic he would never have to think of it again. Raising his staff high he started casting the lightest spell he knew, suddenly a bright white light shot from his staff into the sky and made dark grey clouds appear in the sky. Thunder could be heard before a light struck down and hit the brain dead center destroying it to pieces. As the brain shattered into pieces a dark smoke escape from inside of it and dissipated into the air. Immediately, everything around them started to change, the forest that was full of death became alive. The trees became lush and green. The foliage around them started to bloom, the red sky turned blue and for the first time they could see the sun. Wei stood there in awe at the changes that were happening around her, she grabbed Wandering Sound hand and smiled at him. Wandering Sound just squeezed her hand and continue to watch with a big smile on his face. Xinya didn''t pay attention to his surroundings but watched Christopher, he watched as Christopher grey skin become more human-looking. He watched as he touched his heart to feel it beating, he watched as Christopher inhaled, breathing in the air around him and he watched as tears gathered in his eyes as he kept mouthing thank you at him. [Quest has been completed!!] [Reward: 1000000 exp / 20 gold coins / Special Item for player class] [You have leveled up!] [You are now level 21!!] [You have gained Death Flower Seeds] [You and your party have gained the title Saviors of Baldahurh Forest!] "What are you going to do now that you are free?" Xinya asked. [I want to see if any of my kin still lives, if not I will pay my respects at their graves. Then I want to see the world, see what I missed] Christopher wrote. "Do you want us to escort you out of the woods?" Xinya asked. "We are heading to Errinisworth." Smiling Christopher wrote, [If you don''t mind that would be perfect.] After introducing everyone to each other, Christopher packed up his stuff and the four of them left the woods, not knowing that their names were now broadcasted on the game homepage as the saviors of Baldahurh Forest. End of arc 3 Chapter 90: Melting Snow is Coming Back Melting Snow stared at the Haven Online homepage in disbelief, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing. There was a featured announcement on the front page of the game website called the Saviours of Baldahurh Forest. Everyone knew of Baldahurh Forest, the forest of the undead as most players called it and the story within it. The tragic love story of the little mage and his ex-lover. From what Melting Snow saw there were many people on the forum who were addicted to the story, mostly Fujoshi''s. They would go into the forest from time to time and try to look for the cabin or try to catch a sighting of the little mage and the ex-lover, which in most cases lead to their death. Melting Snow thought those girls were crazy but had to admit some of the fanfictions they came up with was interesting even if it was boylove. The announcement of the Saviours of Baldahurh Forest wasn''t why he was in disbelief. Melting Snow always knew that one of these days someone would stumble on the quest of saving the forest, he always thought that as he read the forums about the place, but he would never in a million years guess that the person who would stumble on it would be his friend Drifting Cloud. Although there were two other names on the list of saviors, he knew for sure that it was Drifting Cloud who found that quest. Melting Snow knew Drifting Cloud well and he figured that he must have tripped and fell and landed on the quest. How he wanted to kick his brother in the head, he missed an epic adventure because of him. If he was a little bit younger he would be throwing a tantrum right, but as a mature 14-year-old boy, he would just spike his brother''s drinks with chili powder for the next couple of weeks. Melting Snow scanned down at the comments, he really wanted to know what people were saying about this. He bet the comments would be amusing. [I can''t believe what I''m seeing! Someone actually completed the hidden quest in Baldahurh forest?! I need to get my eyes checked¡­] -[ If you need to get your eyes checked than I need to get my eyes checked too. £¨?¡õ?;£©] -[If you want, you can have one of my spare pairs of glasses. hee hee.] [Drifting Cloud, Roaming Wind, Wandering Sound¡­ I never heard of there names before, are they rankers?] -[I have checked the rankings twice, their names are not on it. I refuse to believe they newbs. I they must be retired professionals who are playing for fun.] -[Professionals? As if... Professionals wouldn''t bother with Baldahurh forest.] -[How would you know?! (?¨y?) ] -[ Because I am one. Now bow down to my greatness.] -[͹£¨¡ô¡ô¥á ] [Wandering Sound¡­ I heard that name before.] -[Do tell!! I want to know!!] -[ Me too!! Who is he!!] -[(¨R?¨Q) I know who it is!! It''s that famous eastern singer! Look up the song Sweet Lovely You by Wandering Sound.] -[OMG!! It is really him!! Is this what he is doing after he stopped singing?] -[ No my handsome prince, why must you go and fight. Just keep singing and I pay you with all the coins you would ever need.] -[You sound like you want to be his sugar mama¡­ lol] -[For my Wandering Sound¡­ I would be his sugar mama, papa, and everything in between. ?©f??)¥Î?] Melting Snow was cracking up at these comments, how he wished he could go on the forums and brag about knowing who Drifting Cloud was but he couldn''t, he had promised that he wouldn''t draw attention to him. Sighing, Melting Snow was still a little upset about missing doing the quest, but he wouldn''t miss anymore. His brother already got his sponsorship so there was no point for him to stay with his brother guild anymore. Opening up his interface, Melting Snow video called Drifting Cloud after it beeped a couple of times Drifting Cloud finally answered. Looking at Drifting Cloud, Melting Snow saw that he had changed, gone was the blue gear that he used to wear, now he wore a black and red getup that Melting Snow had to admit looked lovely and badass at the same time. Behind him, he could see two other people, he already knew who the girl was since Drifting Cloud told him about her in one of their chats but the boy was new. Melting Snow felt a little worried that Drifting Cloud might replace him, but seeing Drifting Cloud smile patiently at him like always, he put that thought out of his mind. "So you became the Saviour of Baldahurh Forest¡­" Melting Snow begins. ~ Xinya started laughing when he heard the whine in Melting Snow''s voice, he really did miss the kid, "You know how I am." "Yes, a trouble magnet!" Melting Snow begins. "I can''t believe I missed it. Don''t do anything else give me a day and I meet you." Smirking, Xinya said, "Anything can happen in a day." "That''s true, knowing you. Just stay put and make potions or food while you wait for me please." Melting Snow all but begged. "Since you rushing here, I guess your three weeks are up." Xinya started. "Don''t worry everyone needs to restock after the battle, so we won''t do anything while we wait for you." "Awesome!! See you soon." With that Melting Snow hung up the voice call. "Your little friend is sure is lively." Wandering Sound said. "Yeah, he is," Xinya said a gentle expression crossed his face. "He is like the little brother I never had." Wei just smiled at Xinya happy that he had someone like that in this game, but if that little boy ever hurt Xinya in any way she would make him pay. Chapter 91: Errinisworth While leaving Baldahurh forest the whole group felt merry, Wyatt was dead, Christopher was free and they all got great rewards. Everyone was happy, but it wasn''t until they left the forest completely and walked into an open meadow that Xinya saw Christopher''s face really light up with a sense of wonder. Xinya was moved by the expression on Christopher''s face. He had saved him, Christopher was finally free. It truly hit him just now that like Christopher he was also free, and like Christopher, he got a chance to start over. As he watched Christopher lift his head to the sun, tears swam in his eyes. "Are you alright Xinya?" Wei whispered. Xinya didn''t know when she got so close to him, but as he looked in her eyes he saw that she understood what he was feeling at this moment. Smiling he lightly touched his hand to hers before pulling away, "Not really, but I''m doing better." He continued to watch Christopher take in his surroundings, not noticing Wei looking at him with shocked teary eyes, not seeing Wandering Sound coming up to the two of them looking worried, not paying attention to Wei reassuring Wandering Sound that they were fine. He just kept watching, Christopher basks in his newfound freedom. It was a half-day walk to Errinisworth, so the four of them continued on their journey, chatting happily together. As they walked, Xinya became more friendly with Christopher, telling him about all of his adventures thus far. It got to the point where their friendship value was extremely high. When a player and an NPC friendship is high enough, besides getting special quests, they could also add the NPC to their friend''s list to keep in touch with each other and the NPC can volunteer to help the player on quests if they felt like it. Xinya wasn''t befriending Christopher for that, he just felt that they experience similar things and wanted to be his friend. They were about thirty minutes away from ErrinisWorth when Christopher stopped walking. Xinya was the first to notice this and looked at him questioningly, while Wandering Sound and Wei continued walking, talking together in their own little world. "What''s the matter?" Xinya asked, wondering why Christopher had stopped. Christopher smiled sadly at him before gesturing to a path that was a little ways away from the road they were walking on. Holding his chalkboard he began to write something down. [This is where I leave you. That path is the way to my town.] ~ Wei finally noticed that Xinya wasn''t walking with them anymore and turned around to see what was going on. Seeing that Xinya and Christopher had stopped in the middle of the road she was about to head over towards them when Wandering Sound halted her in her tracks. Wandering Sound had a feeling that Christopher wouldn''t follow them all the way to Errinisworth, he wasn''t as emotionally attached to Christopher like others so he didn''t really care if he left or not. Christopher was an NPC not a real person, Wandering Sound felt that as soon as the quest was over the NPC wasn''t important anymore. Although he knew others felt differently from him, and he didn''t mind that. He had a feeling that Roaming Wind was one of those people, and that just made her more lovable in his eyes, but he stopped her from going over because he knew that Drifting Cloud got way more attached to that NPC than Roaming Wind did and he didn''t want her to intrude as they said their goodbyes. "Let them talk alone." Wandering Sound said quietly, not wanting the Drifting Cloud and Christopher to hear. Glancing over at Xinya once more, Wei agreed with Wandering Sound. She had a feeling that they were saying goodbye to each other, so she let them be and waited. ~ Xinya looked at the path once more it looked so old, it was barely visible. There was overgrown grass covering most of it, it looked like it hadn''t been used in a very long time. Thinking back to how long Christopher had been trapped, it might not have been. "Do you want us to come with you?" Xinya begin. "It could be dangerous walking there alone." Shaking his head, Christopher wrote: [It will be fine, I''m not as weak as I look.] After he wrote that he summoned his staff in a great show of power. "That''s true your not," Xinya said while smiling at him. [Once again, I would like to say thank you for all that you have done for me and if you ever need me I will be willing to help you in any way I can.] A notification popped up suddenly: [You and Christopher are now friends!!] [Christopher is now registered on your friend list!] "Don''t thank me, I only did what any person would do when someone is being held captive." Xinya modestly replies. Christopher just smiled gently at him and wrote: [ I must be going now.] "Goodbye, my friend," Xinya said sadly. Shaking his head Christopher wrote: [ This is not a goodbye, just a see you next time.] Xinya watched as Christopher walked down the hidden pathway, waving goodbye to him until he was out of view. He really hopes that Christopher finds what he is looking for in that town of his. He hopes that his new start would be as good as his. "Drifting Cloud!" Turning around Xinya saw that Wei was calling him, waving him over. "Did Christopher already leave?" Walking over to them he replied, "Yes he did. Why didn''t you two come over and say goodbye?" "You were closer to him than we were, we didn''t want to intrude on your farewell." Wandering Sound said. Rolling his eyes at the two he said, "Come on, let''s head to Errinisworth before nightfall." "Yeah, let''s hurry. I can''t wait to get there and see what types of shops they have." Wei said. Xinya just remembered that they got 20 gold coins for finishing Christopher''s quest, he would have to turn it into real money later and remind Wei to do the same. She could probably pay off her mother with what she made today. After two more hours of walking, they finally made it to Errinishworth, Wei was ecstatic, Xinya was happy too, there were so many things he needed to do while he was here. While Wandering Sound wondered where to start looking for his quest of finding evidence of the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. As they walked inside the gate the three of them couldn''t help but stop and stare, the town was huge, to say the least, and also very active. Everywhere they looked they saw players and NPCs bustling about, doing all sorts of things. The town itself was very different from Bellport, instead of looking like a 16th-century European town it was styled as an 18th-century American colonial town. As Xinya looked around at the building and shops, he could quite clearly say he never has seen the like of them before in his life. The houses were simple in design and very homely, typically featuring two stories, made of wood and had a chimney that was placed in the center of the roof. There were a couple of different shops and taverns here and there and as they walked farther in town they saw a huge marketplace. "What should we do first?" Wei asked while looking at shops with interest. Wandering Sound looked around while thinking, "I think the three of us might have different things we want to do while we are in town, maybe we should split up." "We don''t need to split up, we can just do one thing at a time," Wei said. "No, Wandering Sound is right we don''t know how long it will take us to do what we need to do on our own. Splitting up is the right idea." Xinya said. Seeing that what Xinya said made sense, Wei agreed with them, "Alright, let''s do it your way." "Before we split up, I think we should set up a meeting place in town, that way once we are finished with our individual tasks, we could meet there," Xinya told them. "That''s a good idea." Wandering Sound said while looking around, there was a huge lake nearby them with tons of boats. "How about we rent a houseboat for a couple of days?" "A houseboat?" Wei asked confused about what that was. "A houseboat is like a campsite but better, it comes with a lot of amenities, such as different crafting stations with a 1x experience bonus. Also, there is work out equipment that would help you improve your stats without using stat points, but they are expensive." Xinya explained. "Don''t worry about it, I will pay for it. Take it as an advance payment of all the potions I''m going to be asking you for." Wandering Sound said. Xinya couldn''t fight that logic, so he agreed, it would be a great place to work on his potions and stats, which reminds him he needed to decide where to put new points he got from leveling up and also see what his new title gave him. As they were walking his interface started beeping, opening it up he saw that it was Melting Snow calling him, with a smile he opened his Video chat. Chapter 92: HouseBoat pt 1 After talking for a while, Xinya ended the video call with Melting Snow. He really enjoyed teasing that boy, he had to wonder what Melting Snow would say if he knew that he didn''t have to worry about him stumbling into any quests since his plan was to do nothing much but make potions. Xinya laughed at the thought of Melting Snow''s reaction. "What''s so funny?" Wei asked curiously. Shaking his head, Xinya replied, "It''s nothing. Let''s go see if Wandering Sound finished renting the houseboat for us to use." While Xinya was talking to Melting Snow, Wandering Sound had left them, saying he was going down to the docks to rent one of the boats. So instead of waiting for them here in the busy market place, Xinya thought it would be better to just go down to the docks and meet him. Wei started smiling slyly and in a childish moment said, "I''ll race you there." Xinya watch as she took off and laughed following after her, he knew he wouldn''t be able to catch up to her since elves are quick on their feet, but just being able to run freely like this made him grin. By the time he made it to the docks, he could see Wei was already there excitedly telling Wandering Sound something. "I see you finally made it." Wandering Sound started. "Roaming Wind was just telling about her flawless victory, in the race, you two were having." Looking at Wei in a dubious manner, Xinya said, "Flawless victory? More like cheating." "That wasn''t cheating, it''s called being efficient," Wei told them. "Efficient? In what way?" Xinya asked already knowing that some smart remark was coming his way. "By not wasting your time with the thought you could win," Wei said snarkily. Wandering Sound started laughing and Xinya was tempted to pick up some of the dirt on the ground and throw it at her. He decided against it, but he would get her back, he might just ask Melting Snow for some ideas. "So Wandering Sound did you rent the houseboat already," Xinya said changing the subject. "Yup, it''s all taken care of." Wandering Sound said showing them a rectangle-shaped object in his hand. Confused about why he was just showing them that object and not taking them to the houseboat, Wei asked, "What is that thing in your hand." "This object right here is the remote that will summon our houseboat." Wandering Sound begins. "We just have to find an empty space so we can summon it." Looking around Xinya saw that most of the spaces near the dock were filled. It wasn''t a surprise since those spots were in the best location. The docks were located in the center of the town, so the players who have those spots don''t have to walk too far. "Hey, there''s a good spot over there!" Wei shouted while pointing. Wandering Sound and Xinya both turned to where she was pointing, to see that there was an open spot some distance away from the docks but not far away enough that it be a hassle to walk through the town. "Well, what are we waiting for! Let''s go get it then before someone else does." Wandering Sound said. In no time at all they were at the spot, Wei found and Wandering Sound held up the rectangular object in his hand towards the water and press the button that would summon it. A twinkling sound was heard and the area in front of them began to distort and in mere seconds a houseboat appeared in front of them. Wei squealed when she saw it, complimenting Wandering Sound on his wonderful choice, even Xinya thought it was quite exceptional to look at. It reminded him of those tiny houses he saw in pictures a long time ago, just that it was on the water. Xinya had a feeling by the look of this boathouse that Wandering Sound had Wei''s preferences in mind. By the way Wandering Sound was looking at Wei as she complimented him, he had to say that his assumption was correct. The houseboat itself was styled like something out of a fairytale. It was shaped like a giant bunny, Xinya assumed that it was a callback to how they first met. It was painted white with blue and red accents. The only word to describe it would be adorable. Chapter 93: HouseBoat pt 2 The three of them hurried on board and started exploring. There was a covered porch with what looked liked very comfortable seating, a massive storage area, a hot tub for relaxing, diving board, and a waterslide and that was only what was only on the outside. On the inside they saw that it looked like a normal apartment, there was a kitchen, a living room, and bedrooms, but instead of a bathroom, there was a crafting room. The crafting room at the moment was completely empty, they would need to select what type of crafting they wanted to do before the room could change to suit their needs. It was the same with the living room, it might be full of furniture now but they could change it to a weight room to build up their stats. "This place is awesome!" Wei said enthusiastically while looking around the houseboat. "I have decided that once I have enough coin, I am going to buy one for myself." "Are you sure? These types of boats cost a lot." Xinya said. Inquiringly she asked, "How much could they be?" "Cheapest would be about 1-2k gold coins," stated Xinya. "Why in the world do they cost so much?" Wei asked. "It''s because like regular ships, you can use them to sail across the water. You can basically travel all over Haven while taking your home with you." Wandering Sound explained. After thinking about Wei could understand why the houseboat was so expensive, sighing she said, "I guess my dream of owning one will never come true." As soon as the three of them finished exploring the houseboat, Wandering Sound and Wei were ready to go to town. Wandering Sound to find more information about his quest, while Wei just wanted to look in the shops. Before they left Xinya made sure to remind Wei not to spend all of her money, because she could use it to start paying back her mom, but she was already a step ahead of him, saying she already put up her gold coins for exchange. Knowing that Xinya didn''t worry as he watches them go and just headed back inside the boathouse. Sitting down in one of the chairs in the living room he opened his interface to see his stats. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 280/280 (+10) Level: 21 MP: 260/260 (+10) EXP: 600/1200000 Stamina: 260/260 (+10) Skill points: 17 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 12(+7) Int: 11 (+7) Luck: 11 (+4) Coins: 29 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 4 He couldn''t believe he had 29 gold coins, he wouldn''t even dream of seeing that many coins in his past life. He opened his web account and transferred 25 of his gold coins for exchange. Right now the exchange rate for coins was 1 gold coin =$100, 1 silver coin= 50 cents, while 1 bronze coin= 0.005 only a half of a cent. If someone buys his coins and he knew they would he would have $2500 in the bank. Once he was done doing that he went back to his stats, he decided after dealing with Wyatt he would need a lot more health so he was going to put all for stat points into his HP this time. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Bird Killer HP: 310/310 (+10) Level: 21 MP: 260/260 (+10) EXP: 600/1200000 Stamina: 260/260 (+10) Skill points: 17 Str: 4 (+4) Dex: 12(+7) Int: 11 (+7) Luck: 11 (+4) Coins: 4 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 Once he did that he went to check out his new title Savior of Baldahurh Forest, reading the description he was astounded by what it said: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest: Only the most gallant of heroes deserve such a title as this one. For having rescued Baldahurh forest from its undead state and brought it back to living, the inhabitants of the forest salute you. This title grants you a 2x exp and coin bonus when fighting dark type monsters and +15 on all stats. Xinya couldn''t help but smile gleefully when he saw his new stats once he equipped the title: Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest HP: 325/325 (+15) Level: 21 MP: 275/275 (+15) EXP: 600/1200000 Stamina: 275/275 (+15) Skill points: 17 Str: 19 (+15) Dex: 27(+15) Int: 19 (+15) Luck: 26 (+15) Coins: 4 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 Chapter 94: Unlocking Shilvak鈥檚 Journal Xinya was happily looking at his stats when he saw his combat potion journal icon glowing. He looked at the glowing icon in confusion, he had already read all of the paragraphs that Shilvak wrote and gained all of the combat potions. He knew he wouldn''t be getting any more until he reached level 50 and do another potion dungeon, so he couldn''t understand why the icon was glowing. Clicking on the glowing icon a notification popped up before his eyes: [A seed in your inventory has unlocked some hidden parts of Shilvak''s journal. Be careful, these parts were hidden for a reason!] Once the notification faded away, Xinya saw that there were two new tabs in the journal. One tab was called secret combat potions, while the other was called failed experiments. Pressing the secret combat potion tab, he saw that there were five potions, but four of them were blurred out. Xinya wondered if it was like the regular combat potions and he needed to be a certain level to be able to see them. Curious, he touched one of the blurred recipes only to get a pop up saying, ''To view this recipe you must have the main ingredient in your inventory.'' ''Oh, so that''s how it works,'' Xinya thought to himself. It seems that to be able to view these potions recipes it would require luck in finding the right ingredients for them. He was still happy though, he acquired a new combat potion skill he thought he wouldn''t be getting another one for a long time. Xinya started to read about his new skill that, like the others, was written as a journal entry. The more he read the more excited he became about this new skill. Three years into the War There is no hope, every day I watch as these brave men go off to their death. Each and every day more and more bodies are piling up. We have run out of room for individual graves now, the mass graves are also full. It has come to the point where it is normal to just burn the bodies. It frustrates me that there is nothing I can do, me the great potion master who invented new ways to use them. There must be something I can do, there has to be. ~Shilvak Months Later During one of our many covert operations to take down one of the monster''s strongholds, I found these dark black flowers growing on rotting corpses of livestock. Curious as to how they grew in such a place I took them back to the base with me. After experimenting with the flowers for weeks, I finally created a useable potion. Although, I don''t know the use for it as of yet. ~Shilvak Two Weeks Later I didn''t want to play god! This potion, this creation is doing just that. While in battle, the monsters were winning and more of our brave soldiers were dying. I ran out of my normal combat potions and decided to use the unknown one. I tried to throw it at a monster but I was hit by an attack and the potion landed on a dead soldier. Alas, what happened next was unexpected, the dead soldier came back to life. His wounds were all healed and he was stronger than before. With him, we obliterated the monsters and won the battle. But what happened next was terrible, the other soldiers shunned him, calling him a demon and a monster. Things escalated to the point where they were considering burning him at the stake, I couldn''t let that happen it was my fault that he was like this I had to save him. One night while everyone was sleeping, I snuck him out and gave him money so he could make a new life for himself. This potion, this resurrection potion, I will never make it again. ~Shilvak A notification popped up in front of him as soon as he finished reading the paragraph: [You have learned the Resurrection potion! You can now see the recipe in your journal!] Upon reading the description of the potion, he felt that it was too good to be true. This potion would be extremely useful for him and his friends, he couldn''t wait to tell them about it. Resurrection Potion: This potion when broken against a player, will envelop a player in smokey white substance before entering that player''s body. For one day, the defense of the player would be greatly raised, while if the player should die, they will be resurrected right away, without the loss of any coins or items and won''t have to log out right away. *The hour penalty will still be there, the player must log out after 35 minutes. Xinya wanted to make this potion immediately, he knew it would come in handy when they go to the treasure dungeon. He didn''t want it just because he was scared he would die again, but for the fact that it gave a good amount of defense. He was sad to learn that he couldn''t make it right away since the main ingredient was a death flower and he only had the seeds. That wasn''t the worst part, Xinya saw that the only way to grow these flowers was to cover the seeds in rotting flesh. Xinya could only shake his head as he read that and wondered how he was going to do it. Filing it away for now, Xinya decided to head to town himself. He needed to go to the auction house to see if anyone was selling the flowers he needed to make more Flora Attack potion. While he was there, he might as well search for some Blue Belladonna, so he could try his hand at making the Pulse Strike combat potion. With that thought in mind, he got up and started heading out. Before he reached the door he caught a glimpse of the kitchen and decided to get some food ingredients while he was out. He could make a welcome back dinner for Melting Snow while working on his cooking skills. Now that would be killing two birds with one stone. ~ As Xinya walked through the town, following his map to the auction house, he kept hearing whispers around him. It''s not uncommon for players to be gossiping about something, but he could tell that those whispers were about him. In Bellport, there were fewer people and he never really stayed in town for long periods of time, but this town was full of people, and the stares he was getting were making him nervous. He should have known it would be like this. "Is that a Dryad? I can''t believe someone chose that race." Said girl A. "They must be really stupid to do so, everyone knows that race is completely useless." Replied boy B. "Is that the same Dryad that was in that video?!" Girl C wondered. "I highly doubt it, I remember that Dryad was wearing blue armor." Said girl D. "You''re right, I remember now." exclaimed girl C. "Dryads look cool, too bad they suck." Whispered boy E. "If you want to be a ranker, never team up with a Dryad." Man F told a young boy next to him. "Why not?" Asked the little boy G. "Because they are useless and will just slow you down." Explained man F. Xinya just shook his head as he heard the different whispers about himself and continued on his way. He would just ignore these people because in two months'' time they would be taking back their words. Xinya couldn''t wait to see people''s faces when the new update hits. This would be like a smack to their faces. As he walked, Xinya admired the architecture around him, the recreation of the time period was really well done. He always wondered how much research the company did when they made these towns. It was like walking through a history book, well, besides the fact that there were fantasy creatures walking about. Before he knew it, he found the auction house, it was different from the last one he visited. It was bigger and there were way more people inside, but that was to be expected. Walking inside Xinya sighed, once again he would be spending some of his coins. Hopefully, the auction house would have everything he was looking for. Chapter 95: Blackmailing Rose Lily "Melting Snow, wait for me!" a woman''s voice called from behind. Ignoring the voice, Melting Snow just walked faster. He was extremely pissed off, and the cause of his anger was the one and only Rose Lily. As soon as he told his brother that he was going back to his friend, Rose Lily started whispering in his brother''s ear. Melting Snow didn''t know what she said to him, but his brother made Melting Snow bring her along with him, with the fake reason that he needed someone to watch over him. Like Melting Snow would believe that nobody watched over him for weeks when he started playing this game, but now he does. That made no sense to him. He tried to tell his brother over the course of the month, what Rose Lily been trying to do, but it was like his brother became deaf when he mentions any wrongdoing of hers. To see his brother being played by this woman caused Melting Snow to a lot of respect that he had for him. "Melting Snow, I know you hear me!" Screamed a shrill voice. Sighing, Melting Snow continued walking faster not caring a little about the woman behind him, he hates to admit it but seeing the way his brother treats that woman angered him to death. It''s gotten to the point where he wants to slap some sense into him. Anyone could see that Rose Lily is only pretending to like him. Sometimes he wishes he could go live with his cousin so he won''t have to worry about his idiot brother. Melting Snow was pulled to a stop and turned around to face an angry Rose Lily, "Why are you walking so fast! You better listen to what I say or I will voice call your brother and you won''t be able to go to your little Dryad friend!" "Tch¡­" A sly smirk appeared on Melting Snow''s face. "I listen to you? Ha! I think it''s you who will be listening to me." "What are you talking about?! I''m the one in charge here!" Rose Lily yelled angrily. Melting Snow just huffed at her, "Unlike my dear older brother, I''m not stupid. I know you like my cousin." As Melting Snow spoke those words, Rose Lily paled. She couldn''t believe that this little boy knew her feelings. This could turn out bad if she plays it wrong, "So what if I do. Your brother is so wrapped around my fingers that he won''t believe a word you say." "Your right," Melting Snow nodded at her. "He won''t." Rose Lily let out a sigh of relief that she didn''t even know she was holding, she was just trying to bluff, it''s a good thing he fell for it. She actually didn''t know if Frozen Ice would believe his kid brother over her or not. Just as Rose Lily was calming herself down, Melting Snow said, "Although my brother might not believe me, my cousin will. You should know how he dotes on me." Melting Snow watched as Rose Lily''s face transformed into a sheer panic with delight. He had already told his cousins about all of this, but she didn''t know that and what she didn''t know would work in favor of him. "Are you going to tell him?!" Rose Lily desperately asked completely giving in. "That depends on you." Replied Melting Snow. Never would she have thought that Melting Snow would blackmail her, she always thought that he was a naive, childish boy who knew nothing. She still wouldn''t give up, Zixuan was hers, she just had to find a way to work this into her favor. "What do you want?" She asks. "Nothing much really, since you want to follow me so bad.." Melting Snow started but Rose Lily interrupted him. "I didn''t want to follow you!" "Really now?" Melting Snow said while looking at her in disbelief. "It''s true." She began. "Although I wanted to follow you, in the beginning, to get closer to your cousin, after you said you tell him I said hi, I decided the best way was just to be nice to you in real life so you mention me more to him." Melting Snow now knew why she kept coming over to their house these days and trying to interact with him. He just figured that his brother said something to her about his suspicions and she was pretending to play big sister to fool his brother more. "Well if you didn''t want to follow me, why are you?" Melting Snow asked. "Your brother really wanted me to keep an eye on you, he wants to know what''s so special about that Dryad that you rather go to him than, be with a sponsored team." Rose Lily replied. Melting Snow puffed out his cheeks in anger, he couldn''t believe his brother, he was so sick of his inferiority complex. Not everyone wants to be the best, he just wants to have fun and go on adventures, what''s so wrong with that. "I see," started Melting Snow. "This is what is going to happen, you will follow me to the town where my friend is at. If we go to other towns you can follow us there but you will stay away from us. I will give you information to report back to my brother, so you don''t have to worry." "But, what if.." Rose Lily started. "But nothing, just do what I say, if you can make it so that my brother stops paying attention to me and my friend, I will give you my cousin''s in-game name." Melting Snow said. "You promise?!" Rose Lily asked disbelievingly. Melting Snow snorted at how happy she was becoming, "I won''t lie, I will give you a name. If you can do it, that is, then I will give it to you." "Don''t worry I will, I will do anything for Zixuan." Rose Lily said with determination, before becoming lost in a fantasy about her and Zixuan. If Melting Snow looked hard enough he could practically see pink flowers blooming all around her. He just shook his head at her stupidity, just having the name doesn''t mean his cousin would add her, and whoever said that he would give the real one. "Let''s go, I want to make it to Errinisworth by tomorrow." Melting Snow said and started walking again with Rose Lily trailing behind. ~ Wandering Sound after separating with Roaming Wind walked throughout the town until he found a run-down library. It was said to be the oldest library in Errinisworth, that it was here even before the town was built. As he walked inside, the smell of mold hit his nostrils, it was like he was being hit over the head with it. Going deeper inside, he looked all around but couldn''t find anyone. Just as he was about to give up looking and search for books on his own he tripped over something. Looking down to see what tripped him, he saw that it was a leg sticking out from a pile of books. Hurriedly he removed the books off of the person that was underneath, with as many books there was he hoped that the person wasn''t dead. After removing all of the books he saw that it was an old man underneath the books and he wasn''t dead at all but sleeping. Wandering Sound couldn''t believe it he panicked for nothing. As he shook the old man awake he watched as the man awoke with a start. The old man looked around wondering who woke him when he saw a handsome siren in front of him. "What do you want sonny?" The old man said a little cranky at being awoken from his afternoon nap. "I need your help, do you have a book, map, or anything that could give me information on the Forgotten valley of Ensworth?" Wandering Sound asked. "Ensworth you say?" The old man got up and went towards the back of the library. Wandering Sound followed him to see the old man rummaging through some books that were piled up in the corner. " You know I didn''t hear that name in a long time, I thought that most people forgot about the place." The old man suddenly pulled out a tattered old book from the pile and showed it to Wandering Sound, Wandering Sound her a ding followed by a notification and knew he had found what he came for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I will be adding this on ever chapter now on: If you are not reading this at Webnovel.com, then the content you''re reading is stolen! Please support the author athttps://www.webnovel .com /book /14439037906434405 /Haven-Online Also, piracy is bad, this is my job and I barely get anything from it. If you steal my work you are making it so that I won''t have enough money to support myself and have to get a new job and I won''t be able to write anymore!! Chapter 96: Xinya Goes Shopping pt 1 Xinya aimlessly wandered around the auction house awestruck by how real it looked. It was completely different from the one in Bellport, where the auction house was basically an empty building where a player could use the interface to look through the things that were put up for sale. This auction house, on the other hand, had items out for display. Everywhere that Xinya looked there were objects that he had never seen before. Randomly, Xinya went up to one of the displays on the wall and touched it. A screen popped up showing that it was being bided on and the bid amount was up to 500 gold coins. This surprised Xinya, not because of how many coins players were bidding for that item but that they were actually bidding. From what he experienced in his past life most players when selling an object would just set a buyout price and wouldn''t use the bidding feature. Although his knowledge about the auction house was quite limited, in his previous life he didn''t have the luxury to worry about such things as buying something from the auction. Looking through the other displays he realized that he was right he was lacking in understanding about this because it seems that every item on display in this auction house was one a player had to bid on, and all of them were extremely expensive. Knowing that he wouldn''t be able to afford any of these items on display, he went to one of the empty stalls along the wall that would allow him to open the auction house interface. Inside the stall was a blue window like interface, Xinya tapped on it making a home screen appeared. After entering his account number, the auction house interface showed up. The auction house interface was broken up into different sections such as weapons, armors, accessories and etc. Xinya calmly scrolled down the list until he found what he was looking for, the plant''s section. This section was where people sold their flowers, herbs, seeds, basically any type of inedible plants there was. Xinya clicked on the section and within a second a wide array of plants appeared on the screen in front of him. It would have taken him too long to go through the list of plants to find the ones he needed without getting distracted. So he just looked around the window like a screen until he found the search bar. Once he found it, he typed in ''Dancing Girls'' before pressing enter. The other flowers on the screen disappeared leaving behind the flower he had searched for. There were dozens of players that was selling it and Xinya was happy to see that the price they were asking for was very cheap. Xinya brought about 300 of them and only spent around 12 bronze coins on them. After the Dancing Girls was sent to his inventory, he went back to looking for the other flowers he needed, he got 200 glowing flowers, and two packets of their seeds. Xinya also got 100 Dewy-eyed fruit, 400 red herbs, 365, blue herbs and 194 yellow herbs, which all together set him back about 300 bronze coins. Sadly he couldn''t find any Death Flowers or Blue Belladonna for sale. He did manage to get 3 packets of the Blue Belladonna seeds, luckily. Although for some reason the seeds were priced abnormally high price of 20 silver coins Xinya decided to get them anyway. He would just think of it helping out a fellow player earn a bit of coin. After getting all of the plants that he needed, Xinya decided to browse through the other sections to see if there was anything good. Most of the sections didn''t really hold any appeal to him, and the ones that did he knew he wouldn''t have enough coin to buy anything from them as of yet. That''s when his eyes roved over the vehicle section, he might couldn''t afford anything good there but it wouldn''t hurt to look. Tapping on the section, Xinya watched as fantastical transportation devices showed up before him. There were normal ones like carts and wagons, but there were also extraordinary ones like a mechanical horse that a player can ride inside like a car or an airplane shaped like a cloud. These devices were all made by players, so Xinya wasn''t surprised at how weird some of the designs of the transportation devices were, although the price of some of them left him in a little bit of a shock. One transportation device, that was designed to look like a giant teddy bear was price at three million gold coins. Xinya couldn''t help but wonder if there was a person rich enough to waste that much coin to buy that transportation device and if there were, he was curious about how to become that person''s friend. Xinya laughed at his last thought, he knew he would never become friends with someone because of how much money they had. Ignoring the pricey transportation devices, Xinya once again looked at the wagons some more. As he was scrolling through them a particular one caught his eye. It was a large white and yellow covered wagon, and it was shaped like a cupcake. Xinya clicked on the wagon and was taken to the description page. From what he read in the seller''s description of the covered wagon it was created by accident, It appears that the seller was attempting to make a mobile campground but it failed and turned into this abomination, as the seller called it. Xinya laughed at the seller''s comment and continued reading. The cupcake covered wagon was a two in one transportation device. It was obvious what the main function was but its second function made Xinya really want to get it. The wagon could transform into a food stall with a working kitchen. If he saw this device without the seller''s comment he would a little confused as to why anyone would make this since the update hasn''t happened, but knowing it was an accident made sense. A good accident for him if the price was right, scrolling down some more he saw the price was too good to be true. The wagon wasn''t as expensive as he thought it would be, only 200 silvers, plus it had a movement buff on it that would make the creature that was pulling go twice it''s normal speed. Xinya really wanted it, it would save him and his friends sometime when they went on adventures together. Also while on the road he could sell his food to people, while also leaving the Automat he got in beginner town in different locations. He would make more coins that way, plus he knew that Wei would get a kick out of riding inside of it, who is he trying to kid, he would also have a blast riding inside a giant cupcake. Taking a deep breath he decided to do it, tapping the buy button 200 silver coins disappeared from his inventory. Now all he needed was a creature to pull it. ~ If you are not reading this at Webnovel.com, then the content you''re reading is stolen! Please support the author athttps:// www.webnovel. com/book/ 14439037906434405/Haven-Online Chapter 97: Xinya Goes Shopping pt2 Knowing that if he stayed any longer in the auction house, he would probably wind up spending more of his coins, Xinya decided to leave before he was tempted once more. He was already down 220 silver coins and 312 bronze ones and he still hasn''t bought any ingredients for the welcome back meal he had planned for Melting Snow. After leaving the auction house, Xinya opened his map interface, so he could follow it through the town to one of the food shops. While on the way Xinya passed a handsome lion eared man standing in front of a pen that held different types of monsters. Something about him caught Xinya''s attention, making him pause in his steps, while also taking a good look at the man. The man was a gorgeous and very mature looking he had to be in his late 30''s early forties. He was also very tall, around 6''3 with spectacular bulging muscles, he was dressed in dirty leather pants and a loose unbuttoned shirt that showed off his abs nicely. His dirty blonde hair was swept up in a ponytail dangling behind his back. Xinya had a feeling if this man was a real person he could be a model, but then again everyone in Haven Online had their beauty dial turned up a notch. The physical appeal of the man wasn''t what caught Xinya attention, it was the tattoo on the side of the man''s neck. It was the symbol of a beast tamer, and judging from the color of the man''s tattoo he was a very good one. Remembering the egg in his inventory Xinya calmly walked over to him, "Excuse me, I''m sorry to bother you but can you help me with something." "What do you need sonny?" The lion eared man said gruffly while looking Xinya over. "You see I have this egg," Xinya began while pulling out the shiny black egg he got from the Bellyborg King out from his inventory and presented it to the man. "I wonder if you can tell me anything about." The lion eared man took the egg from Xinya''s hand and examined it. After inspecting every inch of the egg''s surface for a couple of minutes the man looked up and gave Xinya a sharp look," Where did you get this egg from?" "I got it after killing a King Bellyborg," Xinya said wondering why the man was asking. "No wonder," the lion eared beast tamer muttered to himself. "That makes sense." Confused, Xinya asked, "Pardon me, but why does it make sense?" "The Bellyborg monsters are male-only, there are no females. So to reproduce they steal eggs from other monsters and then coat them in their DNA. After which the egg will turn into a new Bellyborg." The beast tamer NPC explained. "So it''s not a Bellyborg inside of the egg," Xinya commented. "Than what''s inside of it?" Scanning the egg once again, a look of awe appeared on the beast tamer''s face, "This egg right here holds a Fianna S¨¬dhe. You must be lucky these types of monsters are never seen on this side of the world, they mostly like to inhabit warmer climates. It''s been a while since I heard about one being in these parts." "I guess, I am a little bit lucky," Xinya told the man while smiling. He knew his luck stat probably had something to do with this, but at this moment he didn''t care. "Can you tell me more about Fianna Sidhes." "I can do you one better than that, come to my shop with me, I have a book that will tell you about every monster there is in the world." Seeing Xinya''s hesitation, the beast tamer quickly said, "You will also need other items to hatch the egg anyway, so either way you going to need to need to come to my shop." Xinya signed because he knew what the beast tamer said was true, hopefully, this little egg of his is worth it. After the lion eared man handed him back his egg, Xinya followed him across the road to a little shop that he didn''t see before. The inside of the store was similar to a normal pet shop that he could visit in real life, but instead of cats, dogs, birds, and hamsters inside the store, it had small beast type monsters. Xinya looked around fascinated at all the different breeds of monsters that the beast tamer had. There were a few that made him do a double-take, for instance, there was one monster in the cage by the sidewall that had mid-length magenta fur, its body was shaped like a lizard, Its face resembled a goat and its eyes reminded him of a sparrow''s. It also had a frill around its neck and a pair of short horns. It was one of the weirdest looking monsters that Xinya had seen so far. "What you looking at boyo?" The lion eared man asked. "Come over here and look at all the stuff I got for you." Xinya turned away from the small monster he was looking at and walked over to the counter where the man stood with a pile of items. Xinya almost facepalms when he saw how much stuff there was. "Do I really need all of that?" Xinya asked. He could already see his coins becoming dust in the wind. "Of course you do sonny boy." The man replied. "If you don''t believe me take this and read it." The man handed Xinya a green pamphlet, taking it Xinya opened it and started to read it right then and there. How to hatch a monster egg! Prepare an incubator Once the monster egg is in the incubator the hatching process will begin. I will take about 3-4 days before the egg is hatched make sure to set the incubator to the optimum temperature. The temperature needed to incubate may differ depending on what kind of monster egg it is. Prepare a warming blanket When the egg hatches it can no longer stay in the incubator, it will suffocate inside. Sadly the baby monster can not regulate their body temperature. This is why you need to keep it covered in a warming blanket for 1-2 days. Prepare training tool and toys While the monster is still in infant form it can not be unsummoned, during this time it''s best to train your monster that way it can help you. Depending on what type of monster it is you can train it as a battle partner, mount or as a support. Prepare monster food A newly hatched monster will be extremely hungry and will need complete access to food immediately once they hatch are placed inside of the warming blanket. Make sure to have a lot of food on hand. Goodluck In hatching your egg! After reading the pamphlet, Xinya realized that the man was right, he would definitely need all of those items, that was piled up in front of him. The lion eared man knew it too if his knowing smirk meant anything. "How much would everything be?" Xinya asked while sighing in defeat. Smiling the man cheerfully said, "It''s your lucky day sonny, I will give you a 5% discount." Xinya gave a pretend smile, altogether the items came up too 365 silver and 50 bronze coins. Xinya felt like all day he had been waving goodbye to his coins. Hopefully by the time he has done getting everything he would have some left. Packing up everything in his inventory, Xinya left the shop before the man conned him into buying something else. As he left the shop the man followed him to the door. "Hey sonny, after you finish hatching the monster egg make sure to bring the Fianna S¨¬dhe back here so I can help you with the bonding process alright." The man told him. Xinya knew about the bonding process with tamed monsters but not with hatched monsters, so Xinya told the lion eared man that he would make sure that he comes back once his monster was hatched. After waving goodbye to the man Xinya begins to walk through the town again. This time he would just go straight to the food shop without getting distracted. After a couple of minutes of walking he arrived at the food shop he was searching for. It was a butcher shop, where Xinya wanted to get some meat from. Walking inside the shop he saw a young boy with red hair and an eerily smile happily propping a dead monster up on a long counter where he was standing. For such a gangly looking boy, Xinya saw that he was quite strong with the way he was manhandling the monster away. Seeing as the boy didn''t notice him yet, Xinya walked closer only to see the boy placing two large rocks under the shoulders of the monster and two under the hips. If Xinya wasn''t so focused on the boy''s actions, he would have seen a smirk appear on the boy''s face. The boy did indeed noticed that Xinya was there, he really wanted to see how he would react to what he was doing. The boy always gets a kick out of how people act once they see him cutting up a monster. With a dark smile, the boy proceeded to pick up a long sturdy butcher''s knife and starting between the monster''s hind legs, the boy made a short cut all the way down to the pelvic bone. Watching as the blood ooze out of the monster made Xinya a little squeamish but he continued watching as the boy slit the skin of the monster and peeled it back before cutting through the muscle layer. The boy made a shallow slit that ran all the way to the jawbone. After making that slit, Xinya watched as the boy turned the knife blade upward and, starting at the pelvic cut, cut through the muscle layer along the same line, using the fingers of his free hand on either side of the blade tip while pulling the muscle layer up and away from the organs. Seeing the inside of the monster was weirdly fascinating for Xinya, although he used their meat to cook, this was the first he actually saw where it came from. If he had this sort of skill it would be very useful for him, it would sure cut down on his spending of meat ingredients. He continued watching the boy as he cut the monster windpipe and esophagus in two as far up the neck as possible. Then he put his knife aside and grabbed the windpipe with both of his hands and pull down hard. Xinya almost gagged when the entrails were pulled free down to the midsection. He was silently rethinking his previous thought. After that, the boy removed the stones from under the monster and roll the carcass onto its side. Once the monster was turned over the boy did the same on the other side, pulling more entrails out. When that was finished the boy spread the back legs open by lifting the monster up by the hind legs and placing a large rock underneath the rump. Picking up his knife once again the boy placed it against the middle of the pelvis and then he pressed the knife down firmly. He then went on to finish cleaning out the monster removing any excess tissue, including the windpipe. After that he began to remove the skin, first, he made a cut down the inside of each leg to the middle of the carcass. Then the boy cut the skin all the way around the neck, as close to the head as possible. Lastly, he grabbed the skin with both hands at the back of the head and pulled down hard. The skin of the monster came off in one piece, which amazed Xinya to some degree. ~ If you are not reading this at Webnovel.com, then the content you''re reading is stolen! Please support the author athttps:// www.webnovel. com/book/ 14439037906434405/Haven-Online Chapter 98: Looking at dresses Using his sturdy knife, the boy began taking off the leftover skin that was on the monster''s legs and any other spot that the skin was stuck to the meat. "Your one of the few people who could watch me do this without vomiting on the spot, I must commend you." Xinya noticed that the red-headed boy had a smirk playing around his lips and understood that the boy knew he was watching him since a long while ago and was just messing with him. Xinya wanted to be upset by the boy''s actions but he thought it would be best not to yell at someone who knew how to skin a body. "Well, I''m sort of a chef, I''m used to handling meat." Xinya started. "This is just the first time I''m witnessing someone taking the meat directly from a monster''s body." The boy laughed, "You amuse me, would you like to learn how to do it yourself?" [Quest Triggered!] Xinya was about to say no, although it was a useful skill to have, pulling entrails out of a monster''s body was something Xinya could live without. Just as he was about to decline he remembered the Death Flower and how it grows. He began to second think his decision, If he were to get the skill he could use the parts of the monster he doesn''t use for food to help him grow the Death flower. He would just have to find a place to store it so it would become rotten and he should be good to go. Seeing how much the skill would benefit him, he swallowed his doubts and said, "Yes I would very much like to learn how you did it." "Wonderful," the red-headed boy said with glee. [Quest Created!] John the owner of this prestigious butcher shop has way too many monster carcasses to skin, and he needs to send 20 pounds of meat to the mayor''s house for a banquet by tomorrow. John needs you to help him skin 15 monster carcasses, so he will be able to make his deadline and not lose his credibility with the mayor. Reward: 2500 exp / 15 bronze coins / Learn: Field Dressing Xinya sort of felt like he had been tricked, but since it was too late to back out of it now he just went with it. Walking to the counter Xinya asked John to show him what he wanted him to do. ~ After Wei separated from Wandering Sound the first thing she did was go check out the shops. To be more specific the clothing shops, one thing that Wei was really excited about besides making money when she started playing this game was checking out the different styles of clothes in the game. Before she got the pod for Haven Online, she would go on the forums, mostly to search what class she wanted to get, but also to check out the different types of clothing the game offers. There was a feature in this game where a player could hide their armor for costume clothing. A lot of people took advantage of this feature, mostly girls when they are hanging around town going on dates with their boyfriends. This feature is also there for fashion designers, just as there are idol singers in Haven Online there are fashion designers. There is a good percent of tailors in this game that wants to break into the fashion industry, there are even yearly contests where a player can design a fashion line and the players around the world can vote for which one they like. The top ten competitors would then compete, being judged by the very top people in the fashion industry. The winner would get $100,000, a contract with one of the elite fashion companies and their fashion line mass-produced in the real world. Wei would follow the competitions every year since the game came out, she never wanted to design clothes herself but she dreamed about wearing those clothes a lot. Those designers always created the most beautiful clothes that she had ever seen. Wei had promised herself that once she gets a lot of coins she would get one of those outfits that she had fawned over for years. She would get one in-game and in real life, but she knew she would have to wait a long time before she could make that happen. Although, right now she would settle for one of the NPC made dresses. Sadly, she didn''t have the coin for even an NPC outfit right now but that didn''t mean she couldn''t look. With that thought in mind, she found the nearest clothing shop and rushed to it. It didn''t take her long to find one. Hurrying inside, her mouth opened in awe at the sight of all of those lovely outfits. Walking farther inside, she browsed through the outfits until she saw something that caught her eye, it was a glittering white elven princess dress. Taking it off the rack, Wei couldn''t believe how beautiful it was. It was one of those sheath dresses that was cut to fit tightly through the body. It highly tailored through the waist and hips and fitted through the full length. It was embellished with blue trims and elegant buttons on the sleeves. There was also some blue lacing on the back to ensure it fits nicely. Moving to one of the mirrors she put the dress up in front of her and imagined herself wearing it. She wonders what Wandering Sound would say if she showed up wearing this. As she pictured it her face began to turn red, she would really like to see his reaction. Wei was so caught up in her imagination that she didn''t the young woman behind the counter looking at her warmly. The woman was very interested in what the young girl was thinking as she stared in the mirror hold the dress that she made. Leaving the counter the woman walked slowly over to the girl, slightly amused that the girl had yet to take notice of her. Seeing that she wouldn''t the woman cleared her throat and began to speak. "You seem to really like that dress." A woman''s voice said startling Wei out of her fantasy. Blushing, Wei put down the dress and said, "Yes, I think it looks very beautiful." "Thank you I designed it myself." The woman came over to Wei and took the dress out of her hand and held it back up against Wei." It would look beautiful on you. Are you going to buy it?" Wei just shook her head, while caressing the satin material of the dress, "There is no way I could afford to buy something like this." The woman was moved by the care that the young woman in front of her, took when handling her creation. It''s been a long time since she saw someone''s eyes light up by just looking at the clothes she made. It made her very happy and she wanted to make the girl as happy as she made her. "What if you pay for it in another way?" the woman said. Wei was slightly confused and was about to ask her what she meant when a notification appeared in front of her face: [Quest Triggered!!] "What do you mean?" Wei asked excitement showing in her voice as she asked. The woman just answered Wei''s question with another one, "This dress, are you willing to work for it?" Wei finally understood where the woman was going with this and was extremely excited, she didn''t mind working hard if it meant that she could have this dress. "Yes, I''m most definitely am willing to work for this dress just tell me what you want me to do," Wei said. [Quest Created!] Mary Joe the clothing shop owner is in a slump, her designs haven''t been selling as they did before. She wants you to help her creative juices to start flowing again. She would like you to go around the city and talk to the townspeople to learn their likes and dislikes. Once you interview 20 people, Mary Joe will reward you for your help. Reward: 200 experience/ One Clothing Voucher Mary Joe reiterated everything that the quest stated while giving some additional information. She also handed Wei a clipboard with a questionnaire on it, so Wei would know what to ask the people she finds around the city. "Don''t worry Mary Jo, I will make sure to get the information you need," Wei told her with a smile. Mary Joe just gave Wei a smile and told her, "I know you will and I will be looking forward to seeing the answers you get from the townspeople." Waving goodbye, Wei rushed out of the shop and started roaming around town, there were people everywhere she looked but she still didn''t know how to start this quest. She never realized how hard it could be to walk up to a total stranger and start asking them questions. She really wishes that Xinya was here, he would be able to help her, but as soon as that thought started she shut it down. She needed to stop relying on Xinya all of the time and do things for herself. She is the one who wants the dress, so she needs to be brave enough to go out there and get it. Mustering up her courage she walked up to the first female NPC she saw and started talking. Chapter 99: Wrapping up quests By the time Xinya, Wei and Wandering Sound had finished doing their own thing, the sun had set only to rise again. The three of them weren''t reunited at the boathouse until the afternoon sun was high in the sky. Wandering Sound was the first to return to the boathouse, after getting the notice that he completed his quest another one appeared. Wandering Sound should have known that it would be a chain quest, nothing came easy in this game. His new quest was to use the evidence he discovered to find the ruins of the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. Looking down at the book in his hand he was grateful that the old man let him borrow it. Usually from his experience, there would be some kind of quest he would need to do to obtain it. Thankful that there wasn''t, Wandering Sound hurried back to the boathouse to do some light reading. He thought about just reading it at the library with the old man, but the inside of the place wasn''t comfortable to be in, and if he had to read such a thick book he wanted to be comfortable. So without further ado, Wandering Sound left the dingy library and hurried back to the boathouse. As he walked inside, he didn''t see anyone around, calling out Roaming Wind and Drifting Cloud''s names didn''t get any results, so he assumed that Roaming Wind was still out sightseeing and Drifting Cloud must have left to do something. Since nobody was here, Wandering Sound thought it would be best to start reading the book. Going back outside on the deck, Wandering Sound found a very comfy chair that was facing the water and sat down in it. As Wandering Sound look out at the breathtaking scenery, while hearing the ambient sounds of birds and waves crashing all around him, he knew that this was exactly the right atmosphere for him to be reading in. Giving a comfortable sigh, Wandering Sound opened up the tattered blue book and begin reading. As he read he learned many things about the Forgotten valley of Ensworth. Such as it was a mystical, harmonious valley, where people and monsters lived in peace. It was said that it was founded by a monastery during the great war hundreds of years ago. It was a place where people and monsters who didn''t want to fight went to live in peace. The book also mentioned how the valley''s people were heavily criticized back then for betraying their own kind. It got so bad that many towns in the eastern region tried to lay siege to it. Seeing that their valley was about to be overcome with hate, the elders at the time sacrificed themselves to erect a barrier around the valley and the people inside. The town disappeared and so did the people inside of it. From what Wandering Sound read he could see that there were some rumors about the place, one that really interested him was that the people who live inside of Ensworth are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond their normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. Besides that, there were a lot of speculations of where Ensworth valley could be located at. Some people said that it was underground others said that it was floating somewhere in the sky above. Wandering Sound didn''t believe any of those speculations though, as he kept reading he saw that there was a bunch of mentions to the Yunlune Mountains. Wandering Sound knew that had to mean something, there were too many mentions of it. Knowing that the Yunlune mountains were probably the place he needed to go next to continue on with his search of Ensworth, Wandering Sound opened up his map to see where the mountains were located at. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to do so, his map wasn''t upgraded enough to search for mountain ranges. Wondering what he should do next, he thought he should go back to that old man''s library and ask him. He was just about to do so when he remembered that Drifting Cloud''s map was upgraded. All he had to do was wait until Drifting Cloud returns and he could get the answers he needed. With that plan in mind, Wandering Sound got up, putting the book inside of his inventory he went back inside of the houseboat. While he was waiting for Drifting Cloud to return, he decided that he might as well train his stats some. Going inside of the living room, Wandering Sound pressed the giant red button on the wall and in just a couple of minutes the living room changed into a workout room. After looking at all of the workout equipment in the room, Wandering Sound picked the treadmill. It would help him gain stamina and intelligence, but he could also practice running while using his flute in a safe environment. Getting on the treadmill, Wandering Sound began to run, while trying to play one of his old songs he created himself on his flute. ~ Wei was the second one to make it back to the boathouse, after running around town all throughout the night asking people questions, she felt mentally tired. She didn''t realize how hard it would be getting people to answer her questions until she tried it. Most NPCs she found would either ignore her or shoo her away, a couple of times she had to buy something before they would even begin to talk to her. It took her a while but she found out that if she made small chat with the NPC''s first, maybe give them a compliment or two, she could get them to answer her questions easier. Although it took her a couple of hours to come to this realization, she did come to it. After that getting the questions she needed answered was a piece of cake. Finishing the last questionnaire, Wei rushed back to Mary Joe''s clothing shop with an excited smile on her face. Walking into the clothing shop, Wei greeted Mary Joe who was standing behind the counter, "I''m back." "So you are." Replied Mary Joe with a pleasant smile on her face. "Have you done what I asked of you?" "Yes, I have," Wei handed Mary Joe the clipboard with the completed questions. Mary Joe''s facial features brighten up even more than before, "Thank you so much, you don''t know how much you have helped me." "You are welcome," Wei said feeling accomplished knowing that she helped someone without asking for assistance from anyone. She became even happier when the notification of the quest being complete popped up in front of her. "Here you are," Mary Joe started. "A clothing voucher that entitles you to get an outfit free of charge from any clothing shop in the Ziam region. Taking the golden ticket, Wei was beside herself, she couldn''t wait to get that dress from earlier. As she searched the racks she couldn''t find it anywhere. Having a bad feeling she went back to the counter where Mary Joe was standing. "Miss Mary, do you remember the dress from earlier I wanted?" Wei asked. The smile on Mary Joe''s face disappeared and Wei knew she was in for some bad news, "Regretfully, the white princess dress from earlier has been sold. Usually, nobody comes into my store these days, but the Mayor''s young daughter came in. She said someone was going around asking questions for my shop and was curious." Wei was extremely disappointed by this, she really wanted that dress and she worked so hard for it. Seeing how distressed the young girl looked, Mary Joe thought of something that would soothe her. "Don''t be distressed, remember the voucher I gave you is good for any shop in the Ziam region." Mary Joe told her. As if a light bulb turned on, on top of her head, Wei understood what Mary Joe was getting at even if she didn''t outright say it. There were much better shops in Ziam than Mary Joes and one day while out on her adventures she would find one, so using her voucher now could be considered as a waste. With that conclusion, Wei cheered up. Putting her voucher away, she said her goodbyes to Mary Joe and headed back to the boathouse with a skip in her step. It was just the beginning of the afternoon when she arrived. As Wei walked inside the boathouse door, she heard someone playing some very catchy music. Going farther inside, while following the sound of the music, Wei saw Wandering Sound running vigorously on a treadmill without missing a beat as he played a song on his flute. Wei just stood there and watched his performance, taking in the lovely view, that was him. Wandering Sound must have noticed someone staring because he stopped playing and turned around and looked at her, getting down from the treadmill. With a big smile, Wei clapped for him, "That was great Wandering Sound. You should be a musician in real life!" Wandering Sound blushed not saying anything, trying to change the subject Wandering Sound said, "So, how did your sightseeing go?" Chapter 100: Melting Snow Arrived! Xinya was the last to make it back to the boathouse after being mentally scarred by John the butcher shop owner. He had just spent the last couple of hours arms deep in monster guts and was completely numb to everything now. When they first started and John gave him another demonstration on what to do, Xinya was sure he could deal with it, but that was before he actually had to handle the monster himself. The action of cutting a monster open, watching the blood ooze from it, feeling a monster''s insides with his own hands, was disturbing. The first five times, made Xinya shiver just thinking about having to do it again, but on his seventh one, it became second nature to him. He stopped associating the monsters as living things but as things that could be eaten. It was a coping mechanism, but with these realistic graphics, nobody could fault him for having one. By the time he was on his 12th one, he was skinning the monsters so skillfully that John started to praise him on his technique. To which Xinya just looked at him, trying not to give a grimace for that acknowledgment, but instead turned his lips up in what could be a sad attempt at a smile. It was late morning when they were finished skinning all the monsters, and as Xinya finished his last one he couldn''t help but sigh with happiness. He was finished, he didn''t have to listen to anymore tearing of flesh, squelching sound of insides being pulled out or the dripping of blood as it fell to the floor. If there was only one thing that he knew right now, it was that he darn sure didn''t want to see any more monster meat, for at least the rest of the week. He was planning a meat party for Melting Snow''s arrival but he would just change his plans. Melting Snow would love anything he makes anyway. "Thank you so much for your help, I don''t think I would have been able to finish skinning all of these monster carcasses on my own," John said cheerfully, holding out his hand that was red from blood at him. Gingerly grabbing ahold of John''s hand, Xinya shook it, "You welcome¡­ I guess." [Quest Complete!!] Reward: 2500 exp / 15 bronze coins / Learn: Field Dressing A sudden ding sound of a notification rang out in the air, startling Xinya as he moved his hand away from John''s. [Ding!] [A mysterious wind has flown by activating your luck be prepared] "I know that I tricked you into helping me a tad." Just started as Xinya looked at him with an expression that said, ''So you admit it.''"But to make it up to you I will allow you free reign over my store, connected to my butcher''s shop is my grocery store. I will allow you to buy anything inside of it for free as long as the cost doesn''t exceed 30 silver coins." Xinya couldn''t believe his luck, figuratively and literally. Thirty silver coins worth of food ingredients would save him a lot. He could even stock up ingredients on one of the first recipes he plans to sell once the new update arrives. "Really?! You mean it?" Xinya asked wanting to confirm what he just heard was truly real. John wiped his hands on his apron while nodding at Xinya in confirmation, "I won''t lie to you, you saved my behind. Who knows what would have happened if I didn''t get that meat delivered on time." "Thank you, I really appreciate your generosity," Xinya told him happily. "No problem, now follow me." The red-haired boy said. John led Xinya through a side door in the butcher shop, when Xinya walked through it was like he was in a different world. Gone was the smell of meat and blood, with body parts laying all around. Now there was a sunny run of a mill grocery shop full of delectable foods and other items. Xinya followed John over to the grocery shop counter where he watched as John type something in a machine. After scanning a black card, John handed it to Xinya, "This card holds exactly 30 silver no more, no less. Just swipe it over the items you want to buy and they will be purchased." Taking the card, Xinya looked it over. It was just black with no distinguishable features. The size was indeed similar to that of credit cards, Xinya really wanted to test it right now. "Timothy!!" John shouted, startling Xinya. A little boy with the same facial features as John ran out from one of the doors in the store. "What do you want, John?" The little boy asked. "This is my brother Tim, he will watch you shop while I run the meat over to the mayor," John explained to Xinya completely ignoring his brother. "John¡­" Timothy whined. "Do I really have to watch him? I was doing something." "Do what I say, or I will skin you like one of those monsters in the butcher shop." John threatened. Timothy just rolled his eyes as if he heard the same thing many times before, "Whatever." Xinya his smile as he watched the two brothers go at it. As soon as John left he promised the little boy that he would only take about 30 minutes at the most and with that he began to shop. The card worked wonderfully as soon as he swiped over an item it would disappear into his inventory and the card would show his remaining balance. Just like that for the next half hour or so Xinya shopped to his heart''s content, buying things he needed right now and things that would be needed in the future. ~ After leaving the shop Xinya started walking back to the houseboat when his interface video chat started beeping. Opening the call up he saw that it was Melting Snow on the other end. "Guess what?!" Melting Snow excitedly asked as a greeting. Continuing to walk down the road, Xinya replied, "What?" "I have arrived at Errinishworth!" Melting Snow told him. "Tell me where you are staying." "How about I come to pick you up." A smile played around Xinya lips. "You might get lost if you try to find the place on your own." "As if I ever get lost. You must be thinking of someone else." Melting Snow said. "Tell me where to go, you don''t have trouble yourself to pick me." Smiling gently Xinya responded, "It no trouble at all, I''m walking back there now, myself. Another stop along the way won''t hurt." "Alright, I will wait for you out in front of the Darina Inn." Melting Snow told him. After saying goodbye, Melting Snow hung up the video call and turned around to face Rose Lilly. "My friend will be here soon, as per our agreement I don''t want you anywhere near him." "Whatever." Rose Lilly said rolling her eyes. "I understood you the first time, I will just rent a place around here somewhere. I won''t bother your friends at all." "Good because if you do I will cancel our agreement." Melting Snow said. "Fine, what do you want me to report to your brother? He knows we already made it to Errinishworth." Rose Lilly asked. Thinking, Melting Snow said, "Tell him that I met my friend, gush about how nice and kind he is. You know how you girls do but say he shy so you couldn''t join us and that I will fill you in on what happened later." "You know your brother won''t believe, second-hand knowledge. He might think you lied to me." Rose Lilly said. "Than just tell him you followed us at a distance and spied on what we were doing. Your good at making him believe anything you say, it shouldn''t be hard." Melting Snow replied a little irritated. "Fine, I will do that then." Rose Lilly said before leaving Melting Snow. She couldn''t believe how this brat was acting. Like she should just kneel down and do whatever he says. If it wasn''t for Zixuan, she would have made that boy''s life a living hell. He might have gotten hold over her now but once she has Zixuan wrapped around her little finger, her payback would come, but for now, she needed to find a place to rent for a while. Once Rose Lilly left, Melting Snow let out a breath he didn''t know he was holding. He was finally free of the shackle his brother put on him and can enjoy hanging out with Drifting Cloud again. He couldn''t wait to ask him how he got Wondering Sound to join him. Hanging out with a celebrity wasn''t something Melting Snow could even dream of Drifting Cloud doing since he doesn''t like attention. As Melting Snow was wondering about that and other things he heard a beep. Opening his interface it looks like he got a voice call from his cousin. ~ 20 minutes earlier in another part of Ziam A man walked inside of a room angrily slamming the door behind him as he did so. He was so dreadfully tired of all of the back and forth the other guilds gave him. Just because his guild was mostly full of crafters, didn''t mean that they should hesitate when forming an alliance with him. His guild also had some of the strongest fighters in the game and if he didn''t respect his guild''s member''s privacy he would show those other guilds that look down on them, how 15 of his members are in the top 100 of the rankings. Sighing the man deactivated the ring on his finger, disabling his disguised state. He transformed from a red-haired dwarf with a sturdy body to a tall looking human with long legs and a muscular body. His hair changed from red to black, it also became shorter only reaching the edges of his ears. Nobody knew him in this form, and he didn''t want anyone too either If anybody realizes that his dwarf form was a disguise for this one, he would never get any peace. His dwarf form was too well known and famous because of his blacksmithing skills. It was one of the reasons why he created his guild because he was sick of people trying to recruit him into theirs. The man knew that it wasn''t really the other guilds that were stressing him out, it was the upcoming contract signing with the military. Some of his designs caught the attention of the Airforce and they wanted him to create several designs for them over the next few years. It was a great opportunity for him not only would they sponsor him, but they would also give him over 100 million dollars for each design. Although as a test he needed to finish a design that has been on their shelf for the last ten years. The pressure of knowing how much this would help out his family situation was slightly getting to him, but he knew he would pull through as long as he took his mind off of things. Thinking of what could help him get his mind off of his problems and remembered that his cousin said he would be meeting his friend today. With a smile the man opened up his interface and video called his little cousin, he wonders if he could get him and maybe his friend to come to Arkala. Chapter 101: The Meeting Melting Snow was surprised to hear from his cousin, he knew how busy he had been. Opening up the video call, Melting Snow couldn''t help but frown at how tired his cousin''s avatar appeared to be. He had a feeling that he was overworking himself again if it was showing this much inside of the game. "What''s with the frown, my cute little cousin should always be smiling," Zixuan told him with a grin. "I would be smiling," Melting Snow staring hard at his cousin. "If a certain cousin of mine didn''t look so haggard." Zixuan eyebrows raised in disbelief, "Haggard, you say? The game might be realistic but I doubt my avatar could look haggard." "That''s just it if you''re so tired that it''s changing the appearance of your avatar, then something is wrong." Melting Snow said seriously. "Are you worried about me?" Zixuan began, chuckling. "It seems my little cousins have grown somewhat." Peeved, Melting Snow retorted, "Don''t try to change the topic. I''m very worried, you could get sick from the way you''re overworking yourself." Zixuan saw how sincere his cousin was in his concern about him and tried to soothe him, "Don''t worry, I know my limits. I will even give you permission to check up on me and make me rest." "Are you sure you want to give me permission to boss you around?" A mischievous grin formed on Melting Snow''s face at the thought of telling his cousin what to do. "Well," Zixuan started, already knowing what kind of thoughts that were going through Melting Snow''s mind. "I know you would never take advantage of it, right?" Melting Snow couldn''t help but pout while silently tsk''ing in his heart before saying, "Right, I would never do that." Zixuan wished he could give his cousin''s head a pat right, he looked so adorable standing there pouting. Before he got a chance to say another word he saw his cousin''s face light up followed by the sound of a man''s voice calling Melting Snow''s name. ~ Xinya couldn''t hide the joy that appeared on his face when he saw Melting Snow standing there, in front of the inn. He couldn''t believe how much Melting Snow had changed since the last time he saw him. He was still as cute as ever with his black wolf ears and fluffy tail, but the gear he had was upgraded a lot. He looked like a modernized samurai, wearing a blue and gold hakama for his armor. It was completely different from a normal one, the pants, for one thing, wasn''t loose but fitted perfectly to his legs while his undershirt hung loosely over his trousers, and lastly, his golden Haori lay open over his shirt. Melting Snow swords were also different, gone was his twin black swords, they were now replaced by blue ones that matched his outfit perfectly. Xinya could tell that his armor and swords were custom made, and was happy to know that Melting Snow had such a caring brother that would spend so much on him. Seeing that Melting Snow caught sight of him, Xinya smile became bigger and he started to walk over to him, "Long time no see, did you miss me?" "Well we did chat all the time with one another," Melting Snow replied jokingly. "So not really." "I''m hurt, and here I thought you missed going on adventures with me." Xinya teased him. Melting Snow huffed at him, "Don''t even get me started. I still can''t believe I missed that epic adventure you went on." Xinya just laughed at the frustrated expression that was currently on Melting Snow''s face. He almost forgot how amusing this boy was, all his irritation about handling monster guts disappeared. It seems he did miss him more than he thought. ~ The sound of someone clearing his throat interrupted Melting Snow''s inner rant about how stupid his brother was and how much he wanted to kick him. The sound came from his cousin who was looking at him as if saying, ''You didn''t forget about me did you?'' "Oh, I''m so sorry cousin," Melting Snow sheepishly said, "Let me introduce you to my friend." After changing some settings in his video call, the once transparent screen that was only visible to him could now be seen by everyone. Melting Snow grabbed Xinya''s arm and pulled him closer to him. "Drifting Cloud meet my older cousin Nascent Soul," Melting Snow said happily that his two favorite people in the game were meeting. Xinya was taken aback by the suddenness of the introduction but pulled himself together. Looking into Melting Snow''s video screen he said, "Hello, Nascent Soul, it''s nice to meet you." Melting Snow always talked about his cousin a lot so Xinya was quite curious to see what he looked like. From how Melting Snow talked about him he expected a gorgeous god-like man, but what he saw was a semi-handsome man that looked very tired. He had an urge to ask if he was alright. "It''s nice to meet you too, Drifting Cloud. I heard so much about you from Melting Snow." Zixuan said polity not thinking much of the other man. He could see why his cousin was so enamored with him though, The Dryad did look cool. With his tree-like skin and how leaves made up his hair. It was like the man was a living plant, although he was older than what he expected. But, from the way he heard them speak to one another, he didn''t feel like he had anything to worry about. "The same could be said about you," Xinya said with a smile. Chuckling, Zixuan said, "I guess he doesn''t have anything else to talk about." "Hey!!" Melting Snow gave both of them the stink eye, "I have plenty of things to talk about that don''t contain you two." "Oh? Like what?" Xinya asked curiously. "You know¡­ things." Melting Snow replied while shyly looking away from them. Zixuan was about to chime in when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. Remembering that he told his guild members to inform him when another guild came, he started to say his goodbyes to Melting Snow. "It seems we have to cut this short. I will message you later cousin and Drifting Cloud it''s been a pleasure to meet you. Please look out for Melting Snow for me." "Don''t worry, I will keep an eye on Melting Snow for you," Xinya said. Melting Snow just rolled his eyes, "I don''t need anyone to keep an eye on me, if anyone needs it, it''s your cousin." "You could be right about that," Zixuan said with a chuckle. "Goodbye cousin." Was the last thing Melting Snow said before turning off the video chat. ~ "Your cousin seems nice," Xinya stated once Melting Snow said goodbye. As soon as the words left Xinya''s lips Melting Snow begins to speak warmly about his cousin. "He is, he looks out for me. He helps me with any problems I''m having. He just the greatest." "So basically you got two caring older brothers instead of one," Xinya said while smiling lightly. "Right..." Melting Snow''s face distorted for a moment but cleared up before Xinya noticed it. "Two caring older brothers." "So are you ready to go to where we are staying for the next couple of days?" Xinya asked. "I''m sure I am, where is it?" Questioned Melting Snow, wondering where Xinya was going to take him. Gesturing for Melting Snow to follow him, Xinya said, "One of my friends named Wandering Sound, rented us a boathouse to stay in." "Wandering Sound?! That''s right I wanted to ask how you became friends with him. With him being a celebrity and all." Melting Snow asked bouncing around Xinya as he walked. Confused, Xinya stopped walking."What do you mean? Wandering Sound is a celebrity?" "You mean you didn''t know? He''s one of the biggest idols in the eastern region of the game." Melting Snow said as if it was a known fact. Xinya couldn''t believe he was hanging out with a celebrity all this time and didn''t know it, he wondered why Wandering Sound didn''t tell him and Wei. After being around Wandering Sound for this long he knew he wasn''t the type of guy to hide things. So the only thing he could think was that there was a reason why he didn''t want to let them know. Xinya started walking again, weaving in and out through the crowd of players and NPCs with Melting Snow, trying not to bump into anyone. Turning his head to face Melting Snow, Xinya said, "When you meet Wandering Sound, pretend like you don''t know him." "Why?" asked Melting Snow curious as to why Xinya was asking him to do that. "Because I think he doesn''t want to be recognized and wants to be treated like a regular person," Xinya explained. It was the only reason Xinya could think of as to why Wandering Sound was hiding his identity. Since Xinya wasn''t paying attention to the road and busy talking to Melting Snow he didn''t see the man who was holding a giant cake coming towards him very quickly. Before he knew it, the two of them crashed against each other causing the cake that the man was holding to fall, completely ruining it. The man was horrified, Xinya was covered in cake and Melting Snow was desperately trying to hold back his laughter. After wiping off some of the frostings that landed on his face-off, Xinya began to profusely apologize to the man. Xinya expected the man to get angry, but what he did exceeded his expectations. The man started to literally bawl his eyes out. Xinya and Melting Snow exchanged glances but neither of them knew what to do. Since he was older Xinya thought it was up to him to calm the man down. Patting the man on the back, Xinya said, "Are you alright is there anything I can help you with?" "This cake was for the mayor''s banquet tonight," The man spoke still crying a bit. "If it''s not delivered on time the mayor will have my head." Xinya had a bad feeling about this, this was the second time that he ran into an NPC that had to do something for the mayor. Something about this seemed so familiar to him like he read it before. While Xinya was thinking, Melting Snow tried calming down the man by saying, "My friend here is a chef, he would be able to help you make a new one." [Quest Triggered!!] The man looked at Xinya with hope in his eyes and said, " Are you a chef?" "Yes, I am," Xinya said, watching as the man''s eyes fill with happiness. Chapter 102: Junip猫re "I must apologize for my poor conduct, my name is Junip¨¨re. I work at Lacrosse Bakery as the head pastry chef." Junip¨¨re said, drying his eyes from crying earlier. Xinya took in Junip¨¨re''s appearance and saw that he was indeed wearing a green and pink uniform with the logo of Lacrosse on it. The getup suited the man, his short and chubby stature made the outfit look very cute, especially since pinned on his blonde hair was a tiny green chef''s hat. "It''s alright, you probably worked hard on that cake, I would have been upset too if something like that happened to me." Melting Snow to him reassuringly. Nodding thankfully at Melting Snow''s words, Junip¨¨re looked at straight at Xinya with hope sparkling in his blue-green eyes. "Would you be willing to help me make another cake." "Let''s get out of the middle of the road before we start talking. We don''t want to bump into anyone else now, do we." Xinya told them walking over to a statue of a man holding a sword that was a little away from the road that they were on. After bypassing the crowd that was walking on the road, the three of them finally made it to the area where the statue was located. While Junip¨¨re and Xinya sat down on one of the benches to talk, Melting Snow decided to take a closer look at the statue. Once they were seated Junip¨¨re grabbed Xinya''s hands in his and with pleading, eyes said, "So, will you help me?" "Tell me the problem first," Xinya said removing his hands from the man''s hold, not wanting to jump into anything too quickly, he still had a feeling that he read about something like this somewhere. "I don''t have time to bake another cake since I still need to prepare other desserts. The deserts that I need to prepare are very delicate and they will take a long time to make." Junip¨¨re explained. "The cake itself was the simplest thing to make but it was also the centerpiece of the banquet. The mayor specifically requested it and if it''s not there the mayor will be very upset." Xinya pondered for a minute or two before saying, "Tell me more about the mayor." Junip¨¨re glanced back and forth to make sure no one was listening to them. Xinya found this to be odd and realized that maybe there was more going on with this town''s mayor than he thought. "The mayor used to be very nice and gentle. He would always listen to the people''s worries, never demanding much from the citizens even though he could have. He was the greatest mayor that the town ever had. But one day, everything changed. The mayor became a dictator." Junip¨¨re said. "Really? But the people here don''t look as though they are under a dictatorship." Xinya said. Sighing Junip¨¨re said, "That''s because that''s how the mayor wants it. His power is there hidden all around but you can''t see it unless you look. Right now the ones that are feeling it the most are the owners and workers of the shops in town." Something about this seemed extremely familiar to Xinya like it was on the edge of his brain but he couldn''t reach it. Giving up thinking about it, Xinya looked into Junip¨¨re''s desperate eyes and decided to help him. "Alright, I will help you make another cake, tell me what you need me to do," Xinya told him. Junip¨¨re''s whole body brighten exponentially, it was like a huge burden left him. He began explaining to Xinya what kind of cake that the mayor wanted and when it should be delivered. [Quest Created!!] The pastry chef Junip¨¨re has dropped the cake that was meant for the mayor''s banquet tonight and has no time to remake it. Junip¨¨re asks for your help in making a new one, he will give you the recipe to make the cake and design as to what the cake needs to look like. The cake needs to be delivered at Mayor''s mansion by 8 o''clock tonight before the banquet begins if it is not brought on time Junip¨¨re will be publically shamed and run out of town by the mayor. *Only players with the catering skills will be able to complete the quest. Time left: 6 hours [Reward: 700 experience/ 100 bronze coins/ unknown recipe] "Here is the cake recipe and design," Junip¨¨re said while handing two scrolls to Xinya while standing up. "I have to hurry back to the bakery to start on the other desserts, thank you so much for your help." As Junip¨¨re left, Melting Snow wandered back over. Xinya who saw him walking over asked, "Are you done ogling the statue?" "I wasn''t ogling it, I was keeping an eye on it. I still remember those statues in that potion dungeon you took me too." Xinya almost burst out laughing at the serious in his tone, if he didn''t know better he thinks that those statues traumatized the poor boy, "Whatever you say, let''s start heading back to the boathouse, there is something I need to do." "Oh, did that baker guy give you a quest?" Melting Snow asked as they walked. "Yeah," Xinya replied. "As you should know since you practically threw it my way." Laughing, Melting Snow said, "I guess I did do that. So do you have to make a cake for that guy or what?" "I have to make a cake and there is a time limit to do so," Xinya explained. "Wow, let''s hurry back to your boathouse than." Melting Snow said while picking up the pace. "By the way did the man give you the ingredients to make the cake?" "Nope, but don''t worry after collecting the recipe, I saw I had everything needed to make it," Xinya told him. Huffing at him, Melting Snow said, "Drifting Cloud, it doesn''t matter if you had the ingredients or not. You should have asked the NPC for them. This is why you need me around you too nice." Xinya just rubbed Melting Snow''s head not responding. Melting Snow looked so cute while sternly talking to him, that Xinya couldn''t stop himself from doing so. "I''m being serious here," Melting Snow said a little peeved that Xinya was treating him as a kid. "I know you are," Xinya said with a smile. "Thank you for looking out for me." "No problem." Melting Snow said while bumping against Xinya in a friendly manner. ~ After working on their stats for an hour or so, Wei and Wandering Sound decided to take a break and sit outside on the deck. There was a very comfortable looking hanging daybed that Wei wanted to try sitting in. As they sat the daybed rocked gently as the waves hit the boat. The atmosphere was calming and they were both comfortable. Wei started to feel a little shy, while they were working out she didn''t feel that way, but now it was like the mood had changed. The two of them slowly began talking, random things at first, then that leads to them talking about the game and what they wanted to accomplish inside of it. Then the conversation began to change, they started talking about their life, and everything else in between. Even when the conversation stopped it didn''t matter, they simply enjoyed each other''s company. Wei hoped that they could spend more time like this in the future. The two of them just sat there in silence, basking in the ambiance around them. The afternoon sun was high in the sky, casting it''s golden glow down on them, warming them. While a gentle breeze came and swept past them, leaving the scent of saltwater in its wake. The atmosphere made Wei feel as if she and Wandering Sound were two retired lovers, spending their golden age on a houseboat. While Wei was smiling silly to herself, Wandering Sound looked at her and said, "It''s beautiful out here, isn''t it? But this is only the second most beautiful sight I''ve ever seen." "Oh? What is the first one?" Wei asked curious, completely forgetting about the previous thoughts that were going through her head. Wandering Sound moved ever so close to her, causing Wei to blush before he whispering in her ear, "You are." Wei was completely dumbfounded and didn''t know what to do, she felt as if her whole body was turning red. Before she could respond Wandering Sound stopped her from talking. "You don''t have to give me a response now, I just wanted you to know that I think of you more than just a friend." Giving her one last sweet smile Wandering Sound got up and walked back inside of the boathouse. In a daze, Wei watched as he left, slowly she touching her ear. She knew she had feelings for Wandering Sound but she wanted to get to know him more before they went farther than just friends. All she knew was that she wanted to speak to Xinya right now, just as she was about to send him a message, she saw him walking over. He was with a young boy and they were talking happily with each other as they walked. Wei knew for sure that this was Melting Snow the boy Xinya talked about. She couldn''t wait to meet the boy who made Xinya smile like that. Chapter 103: Making the cake "Welcome back Drifting Cloud," Wei said as soon as the two boys stepped onto the houseboat deck. "Who is your little friend?" "Roaming Wind let me formally introduce you to my first friend in this game, Melting Snow," Xinya said while sending Wei a smile. He then turned to Melting Snow and said, "Melting Snow this is Roaming Wind. She is like a sister to me, so treat her well." Melting Snow bounced over to Wei, a big smile on his face while reaching out his hand, "It''s nice to meet you, I have heard so much about you." "The same goes for you," Wei replied, taking the offered appendage. For some reason, as she looked at Melting Snow she kept picturing a giant puppy. She had to hold back the urge to reach out and tussle his hair. "Where''s Wandering Sound?" Xinya curiously asked. He wondered if he had already arrived back from finishing that quest he had. When Xinya mentioned Wandering Sound''s name a blush appeared on Wei''s face. She couldn''t help but think about what happened earlier between the two of them. Without meaning to she once again touched her ear, while sighing wistfully to herself. She really needed to talk to Xinya soon. Noticing Wei''s strange action, Xinya was quite curious about what happened between Wandering Sound and her while he was gone. He knew something must have, judging by that blush that appeared on Wei''s face when he mentioned Wandering Sound. He would need to ask Wei about it later and depending on her answer, would help him decide if Wandering Sound needed to be talked or not. He doesn''t mind the relationship he just wants Wandering Sound to be completely honest with Wei about everything. "He''s inside of the houseboat, probably working on his stats again, but we can go inside and see," Wei said while trying to stop thinking about what happened earlier. Walking inside Wei started to call out Wandering Sound''s name. Xinya walked after her, while Melting Snow just stood on the deck for a minute to take in the appearance of the houseboat. He was in awe at the way it looked, he couldn''t believe that it was shaped like a bunny. He wondered if the port had other boats in other animal shapes. Melting Snow had a feeling a wolf shaped houseboat would be super cool looking. As Wei and Xinya walked inside they saw that Wandering Sound was indeed, working out on one of the treadmills. Wandering Sound had long heard Roaming Wind calling his name. He thought that she wanted to talk about what he said earlier, but when he saw Drifting Cloud coming in with her he realized that wasn''t the case. Getting down from the treadmill he was running on, he went to greet Drifting Cloud. Just as he begins to go over to him, he saw a small boy came into the room after Drifting Cloud. Wandering Sound figured that this was Melting Snow, the boy he heard Drifting Cloud and Roaming Wind speaking about. Wandering Sound hoped that the boy wouldn''t recognize him, he didn''t know what he would do if he did. He had been basically hiding a part of himself. He wondered what would happen if Roaming Wind knew, he didn''t want her to start treating him like his fangirls did. If he had known that the boy was coming today he would have brought a mask to hide part of his face, and if Roaming Wind and Drifting Cloud asked he would have just said it helped his stats. Looking at the boy''s age, the boy really didn''t fit his target audience. It would be very likely that the boy wouldn''t know of him since many boys around that age don''t follow his music. "Wandering Sound come over and meet, Drifting Cloud friend," Wei said cheerfully. Pretending to not know who he is, Melting Snow walked over to Wandering Sound with a bounce in his step, "Hello, I''m Melting Snow. It''s nice to meet you." "It''s nice to meet you too. I''m Wandering Sound, as you might know since Roaming Wind kept yelling my name, like a crazy person." Greeted Wandering Sound, happily. From what he could tell the boy didn''t recognize him at all. This made him very happy since his secret wouldn''t be let out of the bag yet. Poking him on his arm, Wei said, "Who are you calling a crazy person?" "You, of course." Wandering Sound replied making everyone laugh, much to Wei''s displeasure. "Now that everyone has met, I need to get started working on a quest," Xinya said with amusement in his voice. "Oh? What kind of quest is it?" Wei asked curiously. Melting Snow plodded over to Wei and before Xinya could respond and said, "He has to make a cake for a banquet. Now ask me how he got it." "How did he get it?" Wei asks playing along with Melting Snow. "He ran into a pastry chef. The cake went flying landing all over Drifting Cloud''s face. It was a sight to see." Melting Snow said, using his whole body while narrating what happened. Xinya just shook his head at Melting Snow''s exaggerated storytelling. Leaving them to talk he walked into the kitchen. He thought it would be good if they used this time to get to know each other because Melting Snow was apart of the team now. Going over to one of the counters in the kitchen, Xinya opened his recipe collection journal and found the cake recipe that Junip¨¨re needed him to bake. Skimming through the ingredients, he started to take out all of the food items from his inventory that he needed to use. The recipe that he had gotten from Junip¨¨re was for a Pink Champagne Velvet Layer Cake. It was only a three-star type of cake, so Xinya knew that he would be able to make it, easily. The Pink Champagne Velvet Layer Cake, from what it said on the recipe was a moist, tender white cake reminiscent of its buttermilk cake cousin, the Red Velvet Cake. The Champagne Velvet Layer Cake is flavored with a champagne reduction and hints of pure almond and vanilla extracts. It is iced with buttercream frosting, Pink Champagne Buttercream, and is accented with a Strawberry-Raspberry filling that pairs so well with champagne. It''s the perfect cake to serve at a banquet. After Xinya finished reading the introduction of the Pink Champagne Velvet Layer cake, he saw Melting Snow come into the kitchen. "You came to watch me bake?" "Yup, plus the atmosphere in the other room is kind of weird." Melting Snow said while moving to Xinya''s side. "What do you mean?" Xinya asked concerned. "How is the atmosphere weird." Shrugging, Melting Snow said, "Well, Wandering Sound keeps on giving Roaming Wind these looks. They were basically flirting in front of me, they should be ashamed." "What?" Xinya said, almost bursting out laughing from what Melting Snow said. "Well let''s leave those two alone, you can help me make the cake." "How? I don''t have the cooking skills." Melting Snow said. Xinya began taking out the tools needed to make the cake, once they were all situated on the counter he said, "You don''t need the cooking skill to measure." "Your right. Tell me what I need to do." Melting Snow said happily taking the measuring spoons and cups from Xinya''s hands. "Alright first we need 2 ? cups of¡­" Xinya began telling Melting Snow which ingredients he needed and the measurements of each. After about an hour the prep was done. Patting Melting Snow on the head, Xinya smiled and said, "Thank you for your help, now it''s my turn." "Your welcome, I will just watch you from over there." Melting Snow said going over to a nearby table. He couldn''t wait to see how the cake turns out. The first thing Xinya did was prepare the Champagne Reduction, It was lucky for him to grab three bottles when he was in the grocery store. Grabbing a medium saucepan he put it over medium-high heat, pouring champagne into the saucepan he waited until it started boiling. He boiled it for 15 minutes until it was reduced to ? cup. Afterward, he removed it from the heat; setting it aside to cool completely. While he was waiting for the champagne to cool he arranged an oven rack in the lower part of the oven and preheated it to 350oF. Once that was done he started grease 5 different sized round cake pans with oil. He lined the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper cut to fit the size of pans. Greasing the paper linings, he proceeded to dust the lined pans with flour, tapping out the excess, before setting it aside. Using a large spoon, he began mixing some flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring it until it was well combined and aerated. Adding some butter, shortening, and oil he continued mixing until everything was well combined In another bowl, Xinya began to whisk together the champagne reduction, with buttermilk, egg whites, and extracts until well blended. After that, he slowly added half of the liquid mixture to the batter and started mixing it. Once everything was thoroughly combined he used a spatula to scrape and pour batter into prepared pans dividing them evenly. He then smoothed each top evenly with the spatula and then he rapped each pan on counter surface 2 to 3 times to expel any air bubbles. After he did that he put the cake pans into the oven to bake while setting a timer for 30 minutes. While he was waiting for the cake to bake he started to make the frosting and filling for the cake. It was quite easy for him to make, all he had to do was place confectioners'' sugar into a bowl. Using some of the champagne that he boiled he began to pour it over confectioners'' sugar in a steady stream while stirring. Stirring until the sugar was dissolved he than added some butter and shortening and continued to stir, scraping downsides of the bowl if it was necessary until the mixture was creamy and almost fully incorporated. Xinya than begin to stir faster until it looked light and fluffy, that''s when he knew it was done. Hearing the ding of the oven knew it was time to take his cakes out. Taking them out one by one he set them aside on one of the counters to cool. He hoped they turned out all right since he wasn''t using the cooking guide to help him he would only know once the dish was completely finished. Turning to Melting Snow who was drooling over the cakes while looking at them, Xinya said, "If you think they look good now, just wait until it''s completely done." Chapter 104: Finished Product Once the cakes were completely cooled, Xinya grabbed the largest pan. Carefully he removed the cake from within and proceeded to place it on an empty cake stand. The cake stand was something Xinya found in the kitchen cabinets, it was white, round and big enough to hold the cake he made easily. He frosted the top of the cake that could become the bottom piece carefully. Making sure the frosting was spread evenly on the top of the cake before proceeding to stack and frost the other four cakes in the same way. Once all five cakes were stacked and their tops were frosted, Xinya begins to coat the entire outside of the cake with the rest of the frosting in the bowl. By the time he was done smoothing the frosting so that the cake had a clean sharp look, there wasn''t a bare spot to be seen. The frosting was finished so now it was time to start decorating the cake. Opening up his inventory Xinya took out the design that Junip¨¨re gave him. Tearing the scroll in two, it dissolved, being collected into his recipe journal in a small section under the Pink Champagne Velvet Layer cake recipe. Clicking it, a 3D image of how the cake would look with the design appeared. The design itself was simple, the cake was to be covered with roses on the top two layers. The design showed two ways of doing it, one way was to make candy roses. Which Xinya couldn''t do since he didn''t have the materials or recipe on how to make them. The second way was to make the roses by piping them out with frosting. This was the only option that Xinya could choose to do. Besides roses, the design also called for putting strawberries and raspberries on the outer edges of the last three tiers of the cake. Xinya thought that the cake in the 3D projection looked simply outstanding. He hoped that he could make his cake just as beautiful as it was in the projection. He didn''t want to think of himself as being cocky, but he thought that he could. Preparing a pastry bag, Xinya laid it down next to the bowl that the leftover frosting was in. From the design, Xinya saw that the frosting roses were red, so he needed to change the color of the frosting he made. Remembering the bottle of rose petal blood he got from John''s grocery shop, he pulled it from his inventory. Rose petal blood is a special ingredient that changes the color of food, it not only changes the color but gives off the lingering scent of roses that will refresh the person who eats it. Dropping a few drops of the rose petal blood into the bowl of frosting, he stirred it for a while. It took about 30 seconds before the frosting turned a bright rose red. Scooping the frosting into the pastry bag Xinya was ready to decorate. Before doing so he glanced at Melting Snow, he was being awfully quiet which was unlike him. When he looked at him he saw that Melting Snow was looking at him expectantly. Curious as to why he was doing so, he saw Melting Snow glance down at the counter and then back at him. Looking down at the counter, Xinya saw the bowl he was using, which still had trace amounts of frosting inside of it. Smiling, Xinya now knew why Melting Snow was being so quiet and well behaved. He used to do the same when his mother was alive and she was baking. The more well behaved he was the more rewards he got at the end. Xinya picked up the bowl from the counter and held it out to him, "Do you want the leftover frosting, Melting Snow?" "How did you know I wanted it?" Melting Snow asked, rushing over to take the bowl. "It''s like you read my mind or something." Laughing at how silly Melting Snow was being, he watched as the boy took the bowl of frosting back to the table he was sitting at and start eating it. If the blissed-out expression that Melting Snow had on his face meant anything than Xinya knew that he succeeded in making it delicious. "After you finish with this quest, you so have to make me something as good as this." Melting Snow said while licking his fingers. "I already plan to," Xinya replied while taking out some strawberries and raspberries to use for the cake. Melting Snow stopped eating and looked at Xinya very excited, "Do you mean it?" "I wouldn''t say something I didn''t mean," Xinya said beginning to decorate the cake. After 30 minutes Xinya had finally finished decorating the cake. A ding sounded notifying him that his cake was complete. [Pink Champagne Velvet Layer Cake has been completed!!] [Pink Champagne Velvet Layer Cake evaluation: Taste 4 stars/ Quality 4 stars/ Presentation 3.5 stars!] [Cooking has leveled up!] [Catering has leveled up!] ''Hmm.. a 3.5 on presentation.'' Xinya pondered why he got that score and the only thing he could think of was that he used frosting to make the roses instead of making the candy ones. He still thought the cake looked beautiful without the candy roses. Thinking that he missed something he started inspecting the cake for any flaws. So immersed with looking the cake over that Xinya didn''t hear Wei and Wandering Sound walk in. "Wow, so beautiful," Said an awestruck Wei as she walked into the kitchen, startling Xinya from his inspection. "I can''t believe you made this, Drifting Cloud." Melting Snow agreed with Wei, nodding his head at her statement, "I know right, I was here watching as he made it and still can''t believe how great it turned out." "Why are you acting as I have never cooked before?" Xinya asked. "Not on this scale," Wei said while gesturing at the size of the cake. Looking at the size of the cake, Xinya wondered if he could make it in real life, "I guess you''re right." "Drifting Cloud told me he is going to make me something better than this," Melting Snow suddenly said. "Really?" Wandering Sound asked. "I hope you share it with the rest of us." "I''ll think about it." Melting Snow replied causing the other three to smile. ~ Checking the timer on the quest Xinya realized he only had 30 minutes left to deliver the cake to Junip¨¨re or there would be trouble. Opening up his inventory, Xinya tried to put the cake inside only to be stopped by a notification. [Quest Item is not allowed to be put in inventory!!] That''s when Xinya realized that he was in trouble, he was expected to carry this giant cake all the way to Mayor''s mansion, through crowded streets, and on a gravelly road with loose rocks. As Xinya stood there thinking how much of a pain this was going to be only one word came to mind, "Shit!'' "Drifting Cloud language!" Wei yelled at him. "There are young ears here." Melting Snow just rolled his eyes at her, "How old do you think I am? Five?! I have heard worse." "What''s wrong, Drifting Cloud?" Wandering Sound asked, ignoring the other two. "I can''t put the cake inside of my inventory, I have to carry it to the Mayor''s house," Xinya said irritated. "We will help you." Melting Snow said. "Yeah, me and Wandering Sound can clear away obstacles as you walk and Melting Snow can help you carry it," Wei explained. "That''s a good idea Roaming Wind, who knew you had one in you." Wandering Sound said as he and Xinya looked at Wei with pride. Wei just huffed and elbowed Wandering Sound in the side before saying, "I do have a few good ideas from time to time, you know." "Alright let''s do it, I only have 28 minutes left before it needs to be there," Xinya said. Going over to the counter, Xinya and Melting Snow picked up the giant cake and begin to maneuver it outside of the boathouse, with Wei and Wandering Sound leading the way out. Everything was going smoothly until they got to the steps of the boat that led down to land. It was quite an ordeal trying to walk down those steps, Xinya had to walk down them backward because It was the better option than letting Melting snow do it. There was only one mishap but luckily Wandering Sound came to the rescue. He then proceeded to keep his hand on Xinya back as he walked down the rest of the stairs to keep him steady. Wei found a shortcut while using her map, causing them to walk beside the lake. Which was a plus for Xinya since he could walk in the water, wetting his feet, making his water needs, go down. After ten minutes of walking on the rocky, watery shores of the lake, they reached a road. The road was empty for the most part only a few people walking around. Wei explained to them that once they cross it, they would only need to cut through a back alley and they would arrive behind the mayor''s house. The walk was easier said than done, after a couple of mishaps, such as, Melting Snow tripping over a rock, Wei bumping into a person, which almost knocked her back onto the cake. If it wasn''t for Wandering Sound catching her the cake would have been squashed. Even with all those mishaps, 8 minutes later they arrived with the cake safely and sound at the back of the Mayor''s mansion, only to find Junip¨¨re waiting. He showed a giant smile once he saw Xinya holding the cake. Chapter 105: The Banquet Pt 1 "You have arrived," Junip¨¨re said while walking towards Xinya. "I thought for sure you wouldn''t make it, but I''m so glad that you did. Thank you so much for doing this for me." With a strained smile from holding up the cake Xinya said, "It was no trouble at all, I am happy to help you." "Oh my! Here I am blabbing away, while you are holding that heavy cake." Seeing Xinya strained expression, Junip¨¨re rushed to the backdoor of the mansion and opened it. "Come, the kitchen is right through this door. You can put the cake down on the counter." Junip¨¨re held opened the backdoor for them as Xinya and Melting Snow carried the cake inside, while Wandering Sound and Wei trailed behind. When Xinya first entered the first thought that passed through his mind as he looked around was how magnificent the kitchen was. The kitchen walls were a lovely canary yellow, that stood out against the rustic brown hardwood floors, that was impossibly spotless. Not to say everything else wasn''t, Xinya thought the whole kitchen looked immaculate. It had a very unique antique feel to it, but it was also very large and elegant looking. It wasn''t Xinya dream kitchen, but it could make his top twenty list. Seeing the wooden counter nearby, he started maneuvering his way over there with Melting Snow. After setting the cake down on the table, Melting Snow let out a sigh, "I can finally relax. I thought for sure we were going to drop it on the walk over here. I was even too nervous to talk." "You worried for nothing, little man. Roaming Wind and I wouldn''t have let that happen to the cake." Wandering Sound said with a smile. "Um¡­," Melting Snow begins, thinking about how Roaming Wind almost squashed the cake with her body. "Right." Junip¨¨re walked over to the counter and started inspecting the cake. As he looked at it with a genuinely pleased expression appeared on his face. With shining eyes, he practically skipped over to Xinya. Grabbing his hands once again, as he did when they were sitting on the bench by the statue, he said, "You have my gratitude. This cake is more wonderful than I expected it to be. Now I won''t have to worry anymore." "Your welcome." Just as Xinya finished speaking a notification popped up in front of him. [Quest completed!] [Reward: 700 experience/ 100 bronze coins/ unknown recipe] [Gained Recipe Cookies & Cream Crepe Cake!] Cookies & Cream Crepe Cake: Each layer of the thinly baked crepes has been smeared with cream and cookies, stacked into a tower to make a cake. The sweetness of the cookies blends seamlessly with the airiness of the whipped cream. After eating it you will gain, depending on the star rating +23-30 MP, +11-14 HP, + 5-9 STA. "I have prepared something for you," Junip¨¨re said, removing his hands that were holding Xinya''s, and started digging through his apron pocket. He pulled out a golden envelope and gives it to Xinya. "It''s not much, but I wanted to give you something extra." Melting Snow moved closer to Xinya and peered at the golden envelope and asked, "What is it?" "It''s an invitation to the banquet tonight," Junip¨¨re replied, answering Melting Snow''s question. Then turning to face Xinya he said, "I thought maybe you would like to go since you made the cake for it." "Thank you, but without my friends helping I don''t think I would have been able to make it here," Xinya said. He knew his friends would probably want to go too, and he didn''t feel right about being the only one going when they helped him get here. "Would it be possible to get invitations for them too?" Smiling Junip¨¨re, "There''s no need for them to have invitations, your invitation alone is enough. You are allowed to bring up to 5 guests with you." "That''s great," Xinya said with relief. He heard someone cheer behind him, mostly likely Melting Snow. Looking at his friends he saw Wei looking excited, Melting Snow practically bouncing on his toes. Wandering Sound, on the other hand, was just looking at Wei, smiling at her happiness. Glancing at the clock, Junip¨¨re said, "I need to go set up the cake and the other deserts. Thank you once again and I will see you later at the banquet." Junip¨¨re then proceeded to pick up the giant cake like it weighed nothing and rush out some swinging doors. Once Junip¨¨re was left, Melting Snow and Wei swarmed around Xinya, looking at the invitation in his hand. "I can''t believe I get to go to a ball," Wei said dreamingly. "Technically this isn''t a ball, a ball is a formal dance while banquet is a large celebratory meal." Wandering Sound explained. Rolling her eyes at him, Wei said, "Shush!" "You shouldn''t ruin her dreams, Wandering Sound. She might start to hate you." Xinya said. "I doubt that could ever happen." Wandering Sound replied while looking at Wei who just blushed and said nothing. Melting Snow watched as the three of them talk, and shook his head, "Guys, your not focusing on the most important thing." "What do you mean?" Xinya asked Melting Snow. "It''s a banquet right?" Seeing everyone nodding, but not understanding what he was getting at. Melting Snow continued, "Don''t we need to dress up?" Everyone finally understood what Melting Snow was worrying about. Xinya smacked himself upside the forehead, ''Of course they would need formal wear for a banquet.'' he thought to himself, wishing he came to that realization sooner. Remembering the invitation, Xinya opened it to make sure. Who knows maybe he would get lucky and they could just go as they were. Noticing what he was doing, the others looked at him expectantly. Inside the golden envelope were two pieces of different types of paper, and five tiny silver pins, with different color pearls on top. Leaving the pins inside of the envelope he read the glitter gold parchment paper, that was the invitation. It read: Banquet Invitation You are cordially invited by the Mayor to attend a Banquet. It will be held at his home estate on the last day of the month at 9 pm. Formal wear is required and tardiness is not accepted. Sighing at the thought of having to buy some formal wear, Xinya begins reading the note that came with it: Hi, If you are reading this you must have brought me the cake, making me super happy. I was worried you might not have any formal wear to attend the banquet. So I got these pins from a friend of mine. They are called Faux Outfit Pins, you stick them on your normal clothes and the pins will transform them into a different style. Cool right?! The ones I gave you are for formal clothes. They only last 5 hours, so don''t use them, before the banquet starts. Your friend, Junip¨¨re "Good news everyone, we don''t have to buy formal wear," Xinya told the group cheerfully, explaining everything that was in the note from Junip¨¨re. "That''s not good news, it''s great news," Wei said, for a minute there she thought she might have to use the clothing coupon she had gotten. Since it was only 8 pm in-game and the banquet didn''t start until 9 pm they decided to walk around town to kill some time. As they walked, they found many places and shops they never have seen before. Xinya made a mental note to himself to explore them a little more when he has time. ~ Time flew by before they knew it, and it was already a little before 9 pm. They hurried and made their way back to the Mayor''s mansion. As soon as they made it they saw a line of people forming outside of the mansion, waiting to gain entrance. Getting in the back of the line, Xinya handed one of the pins to each of his friends. Melting Snow got the blue one, Wei the pink one, and Wandering Sound the purple one. There were only two colors left a red and a gold one. Xinya picked the red colored pin deciding to save the gold one for another time. As if they were synchronized all four of them, pinned their clothes at the same time. Their clothes begin transforming into elegant formal wear as they did so. Each of the men''s outfit was the same, a suit and tie with dressy leather shoes, but they were just in a different color. Wei, on the other hand, was wearing a pink sparkling floor-length gown. She squealed at how pretty the dress was, spinning around in it. Xinya could see from Wandering Sound''s face that he approved of her outfit as well. Laughing silently to himself, Xinya wondered how long they had to wait to enter. The answer to that was ten minutes, they had to wait ten minutes before they were able to enter the mansion, but once Xinya saw the inside of the place, he knew it was worth the wait. A butler led them down a magnificently decorated hallway that led to the banquet hall. Once inside the hall, the butler escorted them to their table. After they were seated, they begin looking around, admiring the view of the place. The banquet hall itself was very large, with many tables littering the floor. There were elegant golden chandeliers that accented the room and red curtains that drape from the ceiling. Xinya saw that the banquet hall had a neutral coloring, that made some of the decor items stand out. Like the floral arrangements, candles, etc. While Xinya was looking around the hall, he noticed a stage with a long table on top of it, that a few people were seated at. He knew that the table was reserved for the man of honor and his most important guests. He quickly noticed the man in the middle, from the way he was attired and his demeanor, Xinya knew right away that he was the Mayor. Xinya stared at the man for a while, the Mayor was happily chatting with the man next to him, stroking his long black beard as he talked. Xinya watched as the mayor''s fat belly jiggled as he laughed at what the man next to him said. He didn''t seem anything like Junip¨¨re said, but Xinya knew appearances can be deceiving. Just as Xinya was about to turn back to his friends, he could have sworn he saw something like a string connected to the Mayor''s back, but when he blinked it was gone. Thinking it was just his eyes tricking him, he dismissed it. Chapter 106: The Banquet Pt 2 After all the guests were seated, it was then that the banquet could be said to have officially started. Xinya who was conversing with his friends could hear the dull roar of people voices all around him. The snippets of conversations flitted through one ear and out the other, but the cheeriness that the crowd exuded stayed with him. Suddenly there was the clicking of glass, that quieted the whole hall. Turning around, Xinya saw that it was the Mayor hitting a wine glass with a fork to get everyone''s attention. Once the mayor was sure that he had the attention of the entire room, only then did he speak. "My dear townspeople, I would like to express my gratitude to you all for coming to another of my monthly banquets." The Mayor stated while looking around the room at the different faces in the crowd. "I see many new faces in the crowd tonight, for those of you that don''t know me I''m Ian Kingsley, the Mayor of this wonderful town." There was scattered applause from the crowd, that came from the players that got to attend the banquet, including Xinya and his group. The Mayor gave a big grin, before continuing with his speech. "It''s good to have new blood joining this town. You will be able to witness the changes that I plan for this town, and what lovely changes they will be. I hope everyone¡­" The Mayor continued talking, everyone was aptly listening, well everyone but Xinya. Xinya felt like slapping himself, he couldn''t believe that he was such an idiot. As soon as the Mayor mention changes it was like something clicked in his brain. He couldn''t believe he forgot all about what happened to Errinisworth. All he could think about was how he could be so stupid and forget something important like that. Thinking about it, he knew that in his defense it wasn''t something he was interested in back then when he first read about it on the forum. To be completely honest it wasn''t something that he was interested in now either. From what he remembered, before the potion and cooking update, there were two mini updates. One had been inputted into the game secretly and needed to be activated, while the other would be announced. The one that was inputted into the game secretly, wasn''t activated until one year after the potion and cooking update. To activate the mini update, the Devs (Video game developers) created an event. In each region of Haven, they picked a random town and had a monster corrupt it. Xinya knew, as well as anyone who did their research on the game, that there are intelligent monsters in Haven Online. Some are smarter than most players in the game. From the lore, it was these monsters who orchestrated the whole monster war, once upon a time. They were said to have all died, but from what he read, Xinya knew that some of them survived. The Devs in all their brilliance, put the low-level monsters of that type, to use for this event. Those types of monsters are extremely sneaky and smart and can destroy a town before anyone noticed it. An in Xinya''s future, that''s exactly what they did. By the time the mini update was activated, Errinisworth was completely overrun. It was still accessible to players but there was an evil in the town, that all players felt. Players would be killed by the NPCs constantly. They would report it, only to be told that it was a monster that killed them not an NPC. It got to the point where players would bypass the town of Errinisworth. It stayed like that until one guild decided to find the cause. They were one of the top guilds in the future and only came to Errinisworth because they thought it would be a challenge. That''s when they discovered that the people of Errinisworth were taken over by the Tall man and his minions. The tall man is a dark type monster made of shadows. It uses shadow type tentacles to latch on to a person''s body after it does that it would be able to mimic the person entirely. The way they look, act, and speak, the tall man would be able to mimic it all. Although they would need to keep the host body alive somewhere to keep up their ruse. Xinya finally understood what that string-like thing he saw earlier when he was looking at the so-called Mayor was. Xinya also knew that since only the Mayor was affected that the event was still in the early stages. He had a dilemma, if he does something that sets off the mini update early, he could save a lot of people from dying later. If he doesn''t, then he won''t be calling any attention to himself, it was already bad enough with the Baldahurh Forest. Weighing the two options in his head, he thought about it. He could either find a way to trigger the quest or ignore everything. Looking around the table at his friends, his eyes strayed to Melting Snow who was listening attentively to the fake Mayor''s speech, he decided. He did owe the boy an adventure after all. Once the fake Mayor, finished his speech, everyone in the banquet hall applauded. Before sitting down the fake Mayor waved his hand and the whole entire banquet hall filled with music, making the atmosphere more festive. As all the guests in the banquet hall turned back around in their seats and begin talking once again, Xinya just continued to stare at the fake Mayor, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of that smokey string like tentacle once more. Sadly, no matter how hard he looked he couldn''t see it. "Drifting Cloud!" A voice from behind startled him from his concentration. Turning around in his seat he saw that it was Wei calling him. "What are you looking so hard at?" As soon as Wei asked that, Melting Snow and Wandering Sound stopped talking to each other and focused their attention on him. He really didn''t really know what to tell them, he certainly couldn''t say that the Mayor was now a pod person. He could say he saw a weird thing connected to the Mayor, but that could just be written off as a trick of the light. He would need to wait until he saw it once again, but that doesn''t mean he can''t make them wary about the Mayor. This way they would be ready to spring into action if something happens. "The Mayor. For some reason, I''m getting dangerous vibes off the man." Cocking his head to the side in a cute manner, Melting Snow said, "Really? He seems so nice and looks a little like Santa clause. Not that I believe in him or anything." The three of them just looked at Melting Snow as if saying ''Right.'' Wandering Sound and Wei than turned to look at the Mayor once more. This time really studying him. "I still don''t see it," Wei said while staring hard at the Mayor for a while before turning back to look at Xinya. "I think, I do." Wandering Sound said seriously. "I don''t know what the man next to him said, but for a split second, the Mayor''s eyes changed color. If I wasn''t staring at him, I would never have noticed." Melting Snow was really intrigued now, every time he was with Drifting Cloud something fun always happens, "What do you think it means?" "It means, if we play this right, something exciting will happen tonight," Xinya said, turning his attention back to the Mayor. Melting Snow gleefully smiled as he thought, ''Adventure here I come.'' Chapter 107: The Banquet Pt 3 "There''s no use staring." Wandering Sound said. "I doubt that the so-called Mayor is going to slip up again." Turning back around to face everyone, Xinya replied, "Your right, I think we need a way to make this fake Mayor show if true colors." "Do you have any idea how to go about it?" Wei asked. Not yet, but give me a while, I will come up with something." Xinya replied. Touching Xinya''s arm to get his attention, Melting Snow cheerfully said, "I will help you think of something too." "I know you will," Xinya said while rubbing Melting Snow''s hair. The four of them begin discussing what they should do to trigger the quest, but after an hour, none of them had a good idea. Melting Snow was getting the feeling that maybe they wouldn''t be able to trigger a quest after all. Although he longed for adventure, he didn''t mind waiting for the next one, being with Drifting Cloud was good enough. Seeing that they weren''t going to come up with anything anytime soon, Xinya thought that they should just try to enjoy themselves. It was a banquet after all and who knows maybe when they took their mind off the problem a solution would come to them. Another reason why he thought that they should enjoy themselves for a bit was, Wei. Xinya saw how she wistfully looked at the couples out there on the dance floor while they were talking. He knew what she was thinking, the couples swirling bodies, moving rhythmically to music in harmony, looked like something out of a fairytale. Xinya knew how appealing that was to her, plus he didn''t know if they would be able to ever have a chance to go to another one of these types of events. Even though there is a potential quest here doesn''t mean they couldn''t enjoy themselves also. "How about we stop thinking about this potential quest for a while," Xinya started. "We have been mulling over what we should do for an hour now. Let''s relax for a while and maybe an idea will come to us." Wandering Sound nodded his head agreeing with him, "Drifting Cloud is right, maybe while we are enjoying ourselves an opportunity might appear." "Your right, we should go and enjoy ourselves!" Wei said way too quickly like she couldn''t wait to do something else. Xinya just looked at her and smirked knowing exactly what she was thinking. "I feel like there is something, you want to go and do. Am I right, Roaming Wind?" "What are you talking about?" Wei said shyly. "I''m just agreeing with both of you." "Sure you are." Xinya snickered. Wandering Sound gave Drifting Cloud a glance, wondering what he was conveying. Seeing his glance, Xinya just smiled and cocked his head discreetly to the people dancing. Wandering Sound''s eyes widened in enlightenment and looked at Roaming Wind knowingly. Standing up, Wandering Sound walked in front of Wei''s chair and held out his hand, "Roaming Wind, would you give me the honor of dancing with me." "S...sure," Wei stuttered, blushing slightly as she took Wandering Sound''s hand. As Xinya watched as Wei and Wandering Sound walk towards the dance floor a small smile played on his face. This was Wei''s princess moment, the moment all little girls dream of as soon as their parents let them watch their first princess movie. They would dream about going to a ball and having the boy they like to ask them to dance. Well most girls anyway, some would want to be like the princesses that could kick ass, and some would want to do both. Xinya knew that Wei always wanted both. Watching as the two of them twirled around the dance floor, made Xinya happy but at the same time, he felt a bit lonely. He doesn''t think he would ever find someone for himself, not with all of his issues. Just as he was about to start a pity party for himself, Melting snow nudged him. "Hey, Drifting Cloud, when do you think they will bring the food out? I really want to try some, you know just to compare it to yours." Melting Snow said. Looking around Xinya saw that the banquet tables that should be filled with food weren''t set out yet. A banquet without food, was no banquet at all, was Xinya''s thought as he looked around. Thinking that maybe the Mayor wanted the food to make a grand entrance, Xinya turned to Melting Snow and told him exactly that. "Maybe we will see Junip¨¨re since he would probably be one of the chefs bringing the food." Melting Snow said. It was like a light bulb suddenly went off in Xinya''s head. "You are a genius, Melting Snow." "Well, I do try to be one." Melting Snow puffed up, while confusingly asking, "So, why am I a genius?" "I just figured out how we can trigger this quest, and Junip¨¨re is the key we need," Xinya explained. Intrigued, Melting Snow asked, "What do you mean?" Xinya begins explaining in detail his idea, and why Junip¨¨re was needed, but this idea would only work if Junip¨¨re came out to bring the food. If not then he would have to think of something else. ~ Fifteen Minutes Earlier When Wandering Sound asked Wei to dance she was extremely excited, but it wasn''t until they were at the dance floor that she realized she couldn''t dance. Panicking, she wondered what she should do. She couldn''t just tell Wandering Sound that she didn''t want to dance anymore, that wouldn''t go over well. As if sensing her panic, Wandering Sound asks, "Is there something wrong, Roaming Wind?" "I just realized I can''t dance," Wei replied, deciding to tell Wandering Sound the truth. "Maybe we should return back to the table." Smiling, Wandering Sound grabbed her around her waist and pulled her close, "Don''t worry, it''s fine if you can''t dance. Just let me lead you." "Alright," Wei said as Wandering Sound began to move around the floor with her. As Wandering Sound began to twirl her around the dance floor, she couldn''t believe how well she was doing, until she got a notification saying that she just learned the dancing skill. That''s when she remembered that she was inside of a game, of course, she would catch on faster than she would in the real world. She begins to truly enjoy herself once she realized she wouldn''t step on Wandering Sound''s feet like she thought she would. Wandering Sound suddenly spun her around, before dipping her, the dance move was very elaborate, like something out of a movie. As he slowly pulled her up, bringing her close enough for their faces to touch, he whispered to her, "Are you having fun?" Before Wei could answer a bell rung, causing the music to stop all around them. The Mayor once again called everyone to attention. "Please be seated everyone," The Mayor started. "The food is about to be brought in." ~~ Deleted Scene: As Wandering Sound and Wei twirled around the dance floor, Wandering Sound suddenly starts singing the lyrics, "You spin me right round, baby, right round..." "You have a good singing voice," Wei said, not knowing how else to reply, beginning to think something was wrong with him. Chapter 108: The Banquet Pt 4 After everyone was seated once again, the Mayor picked up a giant golden bell from the table and rang it twice. A door on the other side of the banquet slid open, and a long table covered with the most appetizing food that Xinya ever has seen, besides his own was rolled out into view. The table was at least seven feet long, filled to the brim with different types of food. There were all sorts of soup, meat, vegetables, and other types of dishes. The variety of food was immense and Xinya knew that it probably took a long time to make it all. Once the table was presented to the guests, the three chefs rolled it to the space against the left wall of the banquet hall. When the table was in position, the three chefs took their places behind it, ready to serve up the food. Seeing the chefs standing in their respective spots, the Mayor once again rung the golden bell. The door opened once again this time revealing, another seven-foot-long table, but this time it was covered with desserts, with the cake Xinya made sitting in the center. "I can''t believe how beautiful your cake is, even surrounded by all of those other desserts," Wei whispered to Xinya while gazing at all of the delicious looking desserts that were on the table, just waiting to be eaten. Xinya just nodded at her not saying anything, but he couldn''t help but be proud of how his cake turned out. Trying not to be overconfident, but he thought that it would probably taste better than most things on that table. Then again he did dislike cherries and there were a lot of cherry type desserts on the table. The dessert table was rolled over to a space on the right side of the banquet hall by three different chefs. Xinya looked all three over, but none of them were Junip¨¨re. Xinya let out a sigh, it seemed like he would need to think of another idea now. Just as he was about to go back to the drawing board, another chef quickly walked out the door where the food came from and hurried to the dessert table. When Xinya saw the short, blonde man come out from the door, he felt a great sense of relief. He thought that his idea might have a chance of working now. The Mayor rung the bell once again while saying in a loud, booming voice, "Dinner is served! The servants will come around and tell you when it''s your turn to go and fill up your plate." While he was talking, a couple of servants brought dishes filled with food to the Mayor and the people seated at the table of honor. It seemed that they were exempt from having to make their plates. Xinya understood why, but if this was real life, it would seem as if the Mayor was putting himself above the common people. "After you finish dinner," The Mayor continued, "Summon a servant over, so they can clear off your table and escort you over to the dessert table. Now commence with dinner everyone." Once the applause was over the Mayor sat back down and begin eating, while the servants went around calling up five tables at a time. By the time it was Xinya and his friends turn, Melting Snow was practically salivating. Xinya always had a feeling that Melting Snow was a little foodie at heart. Well luckily for him, Xinya was willing to feed him, plus after the update, because his race is beastman, he would need to eat more food than any other race. After the update, Xinya knew that Melting Snow would be similar to those hobbits that Xinya read about long ago. Although it wouldn''t be that bad, he wouldn''t need to eat 7 times a day like them, only 4-5 depending on the size of the meal. Beastmen became an expensive class to play because of this since the cost of food items skyrocketed. There were only two recipes that Xinya knew of that could keep a beastman satisfied that after eating it they would only need to eat once more that day. These recipes, although not hard to get, was hard to make because of the ingredients needed for it. One of the recipes was out of Xinya''s reach, it had an ingredient that he would never be able to find in this region and buying it all the time would be expensive, but the other recipe, well that was something else entirely. All he needed to do was find it. "Come on, Drifting Cloud. Let''s go grab some food." Melting Snow said while holding the silver tray the servant gave him, heading to the dinner table. Shaking his head at the boy''s eagerness, Xinya followed him with Wandering Sound and Wei trailing behind. Once he arrived he saw that Melting Snow was already filling up his tray with food, mostly meat, and pasta. He was a young kid, after all, there was no way he would want any of the vegetables. Xinya was about to chastise him since young kids need vegetables to grow, but then remembered that this is a game and let him pick any food he wanted to. Looking at the table, he saw that the food was separated into an appetizer, salad, soup, vegetables, starch, fish, and beef. Going down the table he decided to try a dish he never had from each of the sections. He got some canapes, radish salad, pumpkin soup, broccoli and cauliflower gratin, brown sugar-glazed salmon, and beef medallions. After getting everything from the dinner table that they wanted they went back to their table and begin to eat. Xinya was gobsmacked at how delicious everything was, the food was way better than what he could make at the moment. Opening up his interface, he checked the food only to see that it was made by a master chef. It was only scored two stars, and Xinya realized that a two-star dish made by a master will always be better than a dish scored four stars made by him. He would need to train his cooking, he wanted to be able to make food like this. Melting Snow, who was trying to sneak a piece of salmon off Xinya plate, saw Xinya eyes fire up as he ate and knew that soon he will be able to test more yummy food. When everyone finished their dinner, the servants came over and started clearing off their tables and escorting them over to the dessert table. This was Xinya chance, once he was over there he would ask Junip¨¨re if he could introduce him to the Mayor. The best scenario is that he could, but the worst is that he can''t, and if he can''t, well he will just think of another way to get close to the Mayor. Who knew that things would turn out better than what he expected, after making his way to the dessert table, Junip¨¨re greeted him and pulled him aside. "I was so worried, you would decide not to come," Junip¨¨re said. "Why were you worried?" Xinya asked. Sighing, Junip¨¨re replied, "My boss knew I wasn''t the one who made the cake. He said and I quote: ''That cake is too good to be your work.'' "Are you in trouble?" Questioned Xinya. "Nope, I just said that I made it with a friend." Junip¨¨re begin. "But the Mayor came in as I was telling my boss that. He already rewarded me and now wants to reward you by sitting at your table after he cuts the cake later." "That''s great. I will look forward to meeting him." Xinya said genuinely happy. It seems the game is working in his favor. After grabbing some desserts Xinya went back to his table to wait. Chapter 109: The Banquet Pt 5 With his dessert in hand, Xinya walked back to his table with a bounce in his step. Once he was reseated the smile he was holding back, broke forth. So far everything was going smoothly, but he wasn''t going to jinx himself by being overconfident, he knew that many things could go wrong. One is that he and his friends wouldn''t be strong enough to handle the Tall man by themselves and die in the process. Xinya shook his head clearing away that thought, he shouldn''t be so pessimistic. With their new titles, he knew they would have a good chance of defeating this monster. Just as Xinya felt optimistic about everything, he realized something extremely important, he only had 10 health potions, he used the rest of them up in Baldahurh forest while making combat potions and he didn''t think Wei or Wandering Sound had any either. It''s a good thing he still had a stack of twenty of each combat potion in his inventory or he would have been screwed. He had meant to make some later, but who would have known that he would wind upright in the middle of another combat type quest so soon, certainly not him. "Roaming Wind, Wandering Sound," Called Xinya, causing the two of them to stop eating and look at him curiously. "Did you two, perhaps, and please say that you did, restock your potions supply while you were out yesterday?" Seeing the looks on their faces, Xinya knew for sure that they didn''t. As he was about to speak, Wandering Sound said, "Although we didn''t buy more, we still have some in our inventory, but I am low on mana potions." "Same here I have a lot of health potions, but I''m low on stamina ones," Wei told him. Xinya felt relieved knowing that, for some reason, he thought that they had no potions on them. It was probably because of when they got their inventories locked and was scrambling for potions that confused him. Turning to look at Melting Snow who was gobbling down a chocolate souffle, he asked, "What about you, Melting Snow? Do you have enough potions on you?" "Yeah, I have tons, about 50 of each." Melting Snow replied after swallowing a bite of the souffle. "Why do you ask? Did you talk to Junip¨¨re?" Xinya just smiled, "It seemed that I didn''t have to, but we will be meeting the Mayor anyway." "Really? How did this happen?" Wandering Sound asked. He and Roaming Wind were only gone for a while, but it looked like Drifting Cloud and Melting Snow came up with something without them. He didn''t know how to feel about that. Xinya started telling them about what Junip¨¨re said and how the Mayor would be coming over to their table later on tonight to eat cake with them. The tree suddenly became aware of why Xinya was asking them their potions now. "When the so-called Mayor comes, what are we supposed to do?" Wandering Sound begins. "I suspect that we need to trigger a quest somehow if there is one." "Don''t worry, I already have an idea about how we will go about doing that," Xinya said while gesturing for them to move in closer so he could whisper his plan to them. ~ All the guests in the banquet hall including Xinya and his party had finished their desserts. After the servants finished clearing away all of the dirty dishes from all the tables, the Mayor once again stood up. Walking down from the table of honor he made his way to the center of the room. With his guest''s eyes following him, he snapped his fingers. The cake that Xinya made was placed on a small table and wheeled in front of the Mayor by Junip¨¨re. Junip¨¨re stood on the side of the table as the Mayor began speaking, "Ladies and gentlemen, this night is about to come to an end, but we should leave it on a spectacular note. This cake before you all is what I had custom made for this celebration. So before we part ways on this beautiful night, let''s enjoy some cake and wine." There was loud applause from everyone in the hall, and Junip¨¨re started to cut the cake, putting slices on tiny plates than placing them on the table. Summoning some servants, he said something to them before walking over to Xinya''s table. "Hello, I''m Mayor Ian Kingsley," the Mayor stated as soon as he arrived at their table. "May I have the pleasure of knowing which one you helped make that marvelous cake over there?" "I did," Xinya replied while standing up and holding out his hand for the fake mayor to shake. As they shook hands, Xinya could feel how cold it was. Xinya knew that even if Haven Online was a game the NPCs were very human-like and when a player touches them they were always warm. After taking his hand away the Mayor said, "I would like to thank you for your hard work. As a reward, you may have the honor of me eating the cake you made while sitting at your table." Xinya was speechless for a moment as well as everyone else at the table, before reluctantly saying, "Thank you very much for the honor." "Your welcome, the Mayor said cheerfully, while motioning to a servant who was panting holding a golden chair. The servant places the chair in an empty spot at their table before leaving. Sitting down, the Mayor once again snapped his fingers and three servants came into view holding a plate of cake in their hands. Placing a piece down in front of everyone at the table, they then left as fast as they came. Opening up party chat he said: DC: Everyone knows what needs to be done, right? WS: Don''t worry, we know what to do. RW: Yeah what Wandering Sound said. MS: Leave it to us! Everyone begins eating their cake, and Xinya wondered how he was going to begin the process of making the Mayor shows his true colors to everyone when the Mayor begin speaking. "So my lovely citizens, what were you conversing about before I graced you with my presence?" The Mayor asked and Xinya could only smile at this perfect opportunity. "We were talking about the great war, between the monsters and the humans" Xinya stated. "Oh, is that so?" The Mayor responded. "What were you discussing, about it?" Xinya smirked at the Mayor and replied, "We were just discussing how the monsters were idiots in thinking they could ever beat us, humans." "That''s correct, young man. How could they ever beat us." The Mayor said, but Xinya saw his eyes flash red for a second and he knew the rest of his friends did too from what they were saying in party chat. MS: Did you see his eyes change? RW: I did! WS: He seems to not like this topic. DC: Than let''s talk about it some more. MS: Let''s trigger him to death. RW: Hehe.. let''s! The conversation went on like this for awhile the four of them playing off of each other. They could see their words were making the fake Mayor more and more upset, but it wasn''t until Xinya said, that the only thing those monsters could do, is to be manure in his garden was when the Mayor finally snapped. The lights in the banquet hall blew out, only leaving the candles to light up the room. The monster in the Mayor''s body begins to show his true form, the creature ripped the skin that covered its body off piece by piece, revealing a black shadowy monster that was as tall as a man, with red eyes and sharp razor-like teeth. Screams were heard all around them and people begin running towards the exit. Only to find that the doors have been locked and they were trapped inside the room. Moving as far away from the monster as they could the NPC guest just stood and watched, hoping someone would save them. "You finally revealed your true self," Xinya said moving away from the table with the rest of his party. "So you knew all along and was baiting me," The tall man said while grinning evilly. "No matter, once you and everyone in this hall are dead, nobody will ever know." [Quest Triggered!] Chapter 110: The Banquet Pt 6 "And you, young Dryad, will be the first to die by my hands!" The Tall Man cackles maniacally. There an evil gleam in the monster''s eyes, it felt as if the monster was looking forward to tearing Xinya apart and devouring him with its razor-like teeth. After the Tall Man spoke a notification appeared, the quest that Xinya was waiting for had finally come. [Quest Created -Town Event pt1 ] A monster called the Tall Man has infiltrated the town of Errinisworth in an attempt to bring it under the monster rule. After taking over this town, the Tall Man plans on spreading his influence to other towns, until all of Haven is under the monster rule. You need to destroy the Tall Man, only then will you be able to save this town and the world of Haven. *This quest is sharable up to five people. [Reward: 2000000 exp / 5 gold coins] Quickly Xinya shared the quest with the rest of his friends, even before they got the quest they were on their guard. They had their weapons out and ready, Wei had her guns cocked, Wandering Sound flute was already to his lips, and Melting Snow had his swords out. He also called out his Flare Dog, with its white and black enormous body. Standing next to Melting Snow, it snarled at the monster in front of it, waiting for Melting Snow to command it to attack. Xinya couldn''t help but approve of how fast they were ready for action. Xinya moved back from the Tall Man, so he wasn''t in reaching distance and said, "Who''s to say it won''t be you dying by my hand." "Dying by your hand, little Dryad? I would like to see that," Clapping his shadowy clawed hands, the Tall Man summoned tiny wisp-like creatures from the shadows. "Go, my shadow children, and kill everyone in this hall, but leave these four to me." The wisp-like creatures started to scatter, heading to the scared NPCs that were huddled together by the wall farthest away from the Tall Man. Xinya and his friends were about to head over and help them when they saw the other players that were invited to the banquet had started fighting the tiny wisp monsters. Seeing how the players had everything handled, Xinya and his friends turned their attention back to the Tall Man. What they didn''t know was those players, once Xinya got his quest, received a quest of their own. They were tasked to protect the NPCs and would receive 100 bronze coins for each NPC that was alive by the end of the battle. Checking to see how much health the monster had, Xinya saw that it was a little over 50k. It was way less than Wyatt''s, much to Xinya''s relief, but less health doesn''t make killing a monster easier, which Xinya soon found out. Opening the party voice chat, Xinya said, "Alright guys, spread out. We don''t know what type of skills the monster have." "Way ahead of you," Wei said, already backing up from the Tall Man. Since she was a ranged fighter, she didn''t need to be close to the monster for her attacks to work. "Easier said than done," Melting Snow said. "I''m a close combat fighter, remember." Wandering Sound shot a glance to Melting Snow, saying, "Well I hope your quick on your feet little puppy, I don''t think this monster is close combat friendly. Wondering what Wandering Sound was talking about Xinya turned his attention back to the Tall Man, only to see that Tall man had shadowy tentacles emerging from its body. These long and phallic-shaped tentacles, with a metal claw at the end, surrounded the Tall Man poised attack. Moving a tentacle closer to Xinya, the Tall Man maliciously grinned, "I will enjoy it so when I impale you on my sharp long tentacle, your death will bring me bliss." Xinya ignored the Tall Man, taking out a combat potion, he casually tossed it up and down in the air a couple of times, before throwing it straight at the monster. Petals begin wrapping themselves all around Tall Man, causing him to become immobile. "How are you going to impale me now?" After throwing a mini-fireball potion at the Tall Man, it was as if Xinya gave the signal for the rest of his party to start attacking the monster. Melting Snow was the first to jump forward, becoming a blur as he slashed at the monster with his swords. His flare dog also joined the fight, the two of them started attacking the Tall Man in tandem. Once Xinya''s potion wore off, one of the Tall Man''s tentacles grabbed Melting Snow and another one grabbed his Flare dog and slam them to the floor before throwing them. The sound when Melting Snow landed was a sickening crunch. The Tall Man turned his attention to Xinya and using his tentacles like whips the Tall Man attacked him. The Tall Man was attacking him so fast, that Xinya could barely dodge, let alone take out a potion to defend himself with. Seeing that Xinya was in trouble Wei used her light skill to knock the monster away from him. While she kept using her skill to knock back the monster, Melting Snow once again entered the fight. He was running quickly around the monster, attacking from every side never staying in one place too long, so the monster couldn''t lock on to him. Xinya on the other hand while Melting Snow and Wei were attacking, threw a combination of the Flora Attack and Mini-fireball potion at the Tall Man to keep it immobile and do some damage to it. Sadly, his Dreaming Dust potion didn''t work on this type of monster. Wandering Sound watch as the health of the monster went down and felt a little down that he couldn''t contribute much, two of his four attacks weren''t working on the Tall Man. He was using Soprano Blast this whole fight and that skill wasn''t damaging the monster that much. He wanted to use Liturgy of the Damned, but with that being such a mana killer, he could only use it in emergencies. While the four of them focused on the fighting the Tall Man they didn''t see some of the wisp-like creatures sneak up behind them. One of them grabbed Wei by the hair and threw her hard enough that she hit the wall. The impact cost her over 150 health, hearing Wei scream, Xinya became distracted and didn''t throw the Flora attack potion on time, which led to the Tall Man once again breaking free. The Tall Man proceeded to quickly shoot a red substance from its tentacle at Xinya, which caused him to fall back on the floor in a confused state. He felt as if he was drugged, making his movement difficult. [The Tall Man used D¨¦sorienter Goo on you! You will be addled for 2 minutes!] "Drifting Cloud, what wrong? Why aren''t you getting up?" Wandering Sound asked as he attacked the tiny wisps creatures that were coming towards them. "The monster did something to me, I won''t be able to move for two minutes," Xinya replied. As Xinya lied on the floor he could see, Wei fighting off two of the wisp monsters, Melting Snow trying to handle the Tall Man by himself, and five little wisp monster coming closer to him and Wandering Sound. The only thing he could think of at that moment was, ''shit!'' Chapter 111: The Banquet Pt 7 As Xinya was lying there wondering what they were going to do a beautiful melody sounded in his ears, followed by a bright white light. Wandering Sound had used his skill Liturgy of the Damned, destroying the wisp-like monsters that were going to attack them. Wandering Sound was about to go help Wei when he saw that she could handle the shadowy wisp monsters on her own. So instead of helping her, he ran towards the Tall Man. The bright light of his shield started damaging the monster, distracting it away from Melting Snow. The Tall Man tried to swat Wandering Sound away, but his shield was too strong and it only caused pain to itself. As Xinya watched, he was grateful that Wandering Sound had this skill, he didn''t know what would have happened if he hadn''t been here. By this time Wei had already dealt with the two tiny monsters and had run over to Xinya who was still unable to move. More of those wisp monsters had started appearing and the other players couldn''t handle them all, some begin to come over to where Xinya and his group were at. While Xinya was incapacitated, Wei made sure to protect him by shooting any and every wisp monster that came in her sights. While she was doing that, Wandering Sound mana was draining quickly, in another couple of seconds his shield would break and Melting Snow would be in trouble. Knowing that his shield was about to give out, Wandering Sound called out to Wei, "Roaming Wind, come switch places with me. I''ll protect Drifting Cloud, while you help Melting Snow. Killing off two wisp monsters that were attacking her, she checked to make sure no more was coming before aiming her guns at the Tall Man. Taking the shot, she knocked him back, allowing Wandering Sound to put down his shield and drink a mana potion. Between looking out for Xinya, and the shadowy wisps, they brought down the Tall Man''s health to 50%. At that time the D¨¦sorienter Goo that the Tall Man hit Xinya with wore off. With Xinya back in the fight, they knew they would be able to take out the monster no problem. It seemed that they spoke too soon, one of Wei''s shots missed, allowing the monster to attack. One of the Tall Man''s tentacles stabbed right through the neck of Melting Snow''s Flare dog. It was a critical hit draining the dog''s health, much to the dismay of Melting Snow. The Flare dog wasn''t permanently dead, once a partner loses 99% of its health it is placed in a crystal orb and sent to its owner''s inventory. A partner can only be revived three times by a beast tamer before it can no longer be saved. To revive a partner is also very expensive, so most players would rather just get a new one, especially if the partner was a low leveled monster. Although his flare dog wasn''t dead, Melting Snow was still distracted by it''s lost, allowing the Tall Man to hit him with a sneak attack. Five of the Tall Man''s tentacles came at Melting Snow stabbing him in the stomach, it was like he became a pincushion. Melting Snow screamed at the pain, Xinya hurried and threw a floral attack potion at the Tall Man, while Wei shot it, knocking it back. Wei kept shooting it as Xinya rushed to Melting Snow, luckily he was left with 6 health. Pulling out a potion Xinya, gave it to Melting Snow to drink. Once his health was back to full, Melting Snow was ready to dissect the Tall Man into pieces. As Melting Snow was about to rush back into the fray, one of the Tall Man''s tentacles lashed out at Wei knocking her gun away. The Tall Man than let out a loud roar, causing the floor beneath them to move around them. It was so strong that it caused them to lose their balance and fall down hard against the floor. Once the floor stopped moving, the four of them got to their feet, only to notice the Tall Man had stopped attacking for the most part. Six of its tentacles were still on the defensive and Xinya knew if they were to attack the Tall Man now its tentacles would lash out at them. Xinya didn''t care if they did since something much worse seemed to be happening, four of the tentacles behind the Tall Man started transforming. Gone was the sharp metal claw, it was replaced with a red-ish spheroid. These red-ish spheroid begin to glow, slowly moving around the Tall Man''s body in strange gyrating motions, and a low rhythmic sound started to emanate from them. Wei went to shoot it, thinking it was preparing for a strong attack but when she did her attack was stopped by a force field of some kind. Melting Snow and Xinya also tried only to be stopped in the same way. This was unprecedented, they couldn''t understand why they couldn''t attack the monster. The one good thing was that it seemed that the Tall Man couldn''t attack them either. "What''s going on?" Melting Snow asked. Shaking her head, Wei said, "I don''t know, but I have a feeling that we won''t like it." "Get ready," Xinya begins. "We need to prepare for the worst." To their shock and disbelief, the worst did happen, but not how they expected it too. There was no giant attack like they thought, what happened was a lot more terrible. Wandering Sound noticed it first and pointed it out to everyone else. It seemed that the red-ish spheroid tentacles had begun healing the Tall Man. The Tall Man''s health that was at 18k was going up, and as it went up they saw all their hard work up until now going down the drain. After seeing the monster''s health become full once more, Wei was so pissed that she shot at it, only for her attack to actually hit. "The force field is down, attack it with all you got!" Wei shouted while shooting it some more. Xinya saw that the monster''s red-ish spheroid tentacles didn''t transform back and saw that they were still healing the Tall Man even now without the force field. Knowing that if the tentacles kept healing the monster they would never be able to kill it, he shouted, "Melting Snow slice off those tentacles on his back!" Melting Snow who was just about to go attack the monster, looked at Xinya weirdly for a moment before going to do what he said. Only when he was close enough did he understand why he wanted him to cut them off. With a smirk on his face, Melting Snow started attacking. "Let''s see if you can heal yourself now." Melting Snow said as he slashed down at the Tall Man. Chapter 112: The Tall Man鈥檚 Death Just as Melting Snow was about to slash off one of the Tall Man''s red-ish spheroid tentacles, Wei used her light skill attack on the Tall Man, knocking him backward. This caused Melting Snow to miss. Sucking his teeth at Wei''s bad timing, Melting Snow dashed back towards the Tall Man, once again aiming for the monster healing tentacles. Seeing how Wei''s skill was hindering Melting Snow''s progress as he tried to cut off the tentacles that were currently obstructing them from killing the monster, Xinya while speaking in their party''s voice chat said, "Roaming Wind use another skill to attack the Tall Man!" "Why?" Wei asked, confused as to why Xinya wanted her to use another skill. Especially, since her light skill did double the damage on the monster. Using another skill would be stupid and a waste of time in her opinion. "Because your attacks aren''t helping at the moment, if anything they are impeding us," Melting Snow said while dodging a particularly fast tentacle, "The knockbacks your skill does is stopping me from getting the red-ish spheroid tentacles, that is still healing the Tall Man. If I don''t cut them off we won''t be able to kill this thing." Wei looked over to Xinya to see if Melting Snow was being for real, seeing Xinya confirmation she started using her other skills. They wouldn''t do as much damage, but they would keep the Tall Man distracted. The Tall Man had both Wei and Melting Snow on their toes, from dodging it''s sharp deadly metal claws and the hazardous substances that it squirted from its tentacles. Wei already had two close calls from being hit with the D¨¦sorienter Goo that Xinya got hit with. If it wasn''t for her quick reflexes she would have been in a confused state already. Knowing how dangerous the monster''s goo was Xinya wanted to throw a floral attack potion to bind it, but he knew he couldn''t. If he did the monster''s whole body would be covered head to toe in petal similar to a mummy and Melting Snow wouldn''t be able to get to the tentacles that were healing it. Therefore while Wei and Melting Snow were double-teaming the Tall Man he split his attention between helping Wandering Sound, with the wisp-like monsters and throwing mini-fireball potions when an attack of the Tall Man''s go to close to the two. ~ Melting Snow sped between the attacking tentacles, that always seemed to grow back as soon as Roaming Wind shot one-off. He had already sliced off two of the Tall Man''s red-ish spheroid healing tentacles. He just needed to get the last two before they could completely destroy this monster. This was proving difficult because every time he cut one of them off the tentacles attacking became faster. Jumping to the left, Melting Snow barely missed getting stabbed by one of its metal claws, but it seemed that the Tall Man was leading him into a trap. When he jumped to the left, the Tall Man using immense speed attacked him twice, once in the arm and the other in the leg, causing him to groan in pain. As the monster was about to strike him for the third time, he was saved by Drifting Cloud throwing one of his Mini-fireball potions at the tentacles. The potion spread two the other tentacles, buying him enough time to dash away. Those two hits did cost, Melting Snow a lot of damage, checking his health he saw that his HP was down to 300. He knew if he gets hit a couple more times, he would die, so he needed to be more careful as he proceeds in destroying the other two tentacles. Skirting between the tentacles that were coming at him, he saw an opening. Using his swords as a springboard, he jumped up high above the Tall Man doing one spinning flip in the air. Melting Snow then proceeded to use a sword attack in the air to slice off the last two tentacles. Once his attack ended, Melting Snow flipped down to the ground and begin attacking the monster in earnest. Seeing that Melting Snow had destroyed all of the tentacles, he shouted, "Roaming Wind, use your light attack now. It won''t be able to heal itself now!" "Good, let''s take this bastard down!" Wei said, cocking her guns. She was already sick and tired of fighting this thing. "Hurry and take care of it!" Wandering Sound said while he was attacking the nearby wisp monsters with his Soprano Blast. "I will take care of these pests, so you won''t have to worry about them." Noticing that Wandering Sound could handle the wisp-like monsters by himself, Xinya gave his full attention to taking down the Tall Man. With Xinya throwing the Flora Attack potion that bound the monster for 25 seconds while doing damage, Wei with her light attack that did double the damage and Melting Snow running around attacking the Tall Man with clean, concise movements, it wasn''t long before they depleted the monsters health. Just as the Tall man was about to die, it started laughing evilly, "Do you think it will be over will my death? You have now doomed this whole entire town!" Tired of listening to him, Xinya threw one last potion at the Tall Man completely killing the monster. Instead of dissipating like other monsters, it burst apart like a glass shattering and billowy black smoke ascended above them before dissipating in the air. That''s when a notification appeared in front of the party. [Quest has been Complete!] [Reward: 2000000 exp / 5 gold coins] [You have leveled up!] With the Tall Man dead the wisp-like monsters begin disappearing back into the shadows, and the doors in the Banquet Hall started opening. As the players who were fighting with the wisp monsters cheered the NPCs begin leaving quickly. Just as Xinya and his friends congratulating each other on a job well done, an announcement sounded which everyone in the Ziam region could hear. [Drifting Cloud, Melting Snow, Roaming Wind, and Wandering Sound have completed the first part in the Errinisworth town event quest activating the new update, town siege! In 24 hours a horde of monsters will swarm the town of Errinisworth. Any party who destroys the most monsters and saves the most townspeople will be able to collect 1% of the taxes of the town for one month!] This announcement was repeated twice more causing an uproar in the region of Ziam. All around the Ziam region, players stopped what they were doing and begin hurrying to Errinisworth as fast as they could. Even Xinya and his friends were shocked when they heard the announcement. Before they could say anything another quest appeared in front of them: [Quest Created -Town Event pt 2 ] The Tall Man is dead, but the Mayor is still missing. Somewhere in this mansion, the Mayor has been hidden in an unknown state. You have 23 hours to find the Mayor and along with his daughter and escort them out of town. Once out of town, take them to the Danlases, a military town and alert them of what is happening in Errinisworth. [Reward: 1000000 Experience / 2 Gold / Unknown Reward Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest HP: 325/325 (+15) Level: 22 MP: 275/275 (+15) EXP:800600/1300000 Stamina: 275/275 (+15) Skill points: 21 Str: 19 (+15) Dex: 27(+15) Int: 19 (+15) Luck: 26 (+15) Coins: 9 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 4 Chapter 113: Interlude Frozen Ice *Updated When Melting Snow''s brother interface broadcast the announcement of the Errinisworth town event, he was in the middle of a meeting with his group of rankers. It was certainly surprising to hear his little brother''s name in a region announcement. His little brother had only left a couple of days ago and now here he was, getting his name out there faster than he ever could. As the announcement faded away, everyone in the meeting room turned to face Frozen Ice. They couldn''t believe that someone they knew triggered this sort of event, it was mind-blowing, and it would still be so even if it had nothing to do with Frozen Ice little brother. Even with the partial sponsorship, their group had because of Frozen Ice, they still weren''t making a whole lot, compared to him. If they were able to collect 1% from the taxes of the town for an entire month, that would be wonderful for everyone in the room, well except Silken Envy who was rich already. They could upgrade their armor and weapons, so they would be able to wear it for a longer time. Instead of having to resell them so often to buy new ones. "Frozen Ice, are we going to participate in the town siege." Silken Envy, Frozen Ice''s girlfriend asked. This was something every member wanted to know, so they awaited Frozen Ice answer eagerly. Frozen Ice wasn''t paying attention to what was going on around him, those names that were mentioned with his brother he recognized them and wondered how they were connected to his brother. When he heard Silken Envy question, he became was a tad startled. Making sure to hide the irritation he felt every time he heard speak, he said, "Yes, we are going right away. Which one of you has the fastest vehicle?" "I do," A dragonkin in fiery armor said. "My UFO cloud can get us there in two hours." "UFO Cloud? What is that?" Asked the lovely blue-haired siren who was sitting next Silken Envy. The dragonkin just rolled his eyes at the girl, when he first joined this group he had very strong feelings for her, but now he knew better. That girl was a green tea bitch like that chick Rose Lilly. They were both extremely manipulative and were only after one thing. "It''s exactly what it sounds like." The dragonkin told her, before completely ignoring her. "You.." The girl angrily started before being interrupted by Frozen Ice. Frozen Ice already knew all about the infighting in this group, but he just let it happened. He didn''t care, either way, this group to him was only a means to an end. Since he already got his means it was time to end. He didn''t need stupid people, who couldn''t see the big picture. His sponsor was finding other rankers for him to join up with, in a couple of weeks, everyone besides Rose Lilly and Silken envy will be replaced. He didn''t mind letting them have this since their income will be gone soon. "Will your vehicle fit all of us?" Frozen Ice asked. The dragonkin looked around the room doing a headcount before saying, "It will fit all except one of us." All the members of the group looked at each other wondering who would have to stay behind. They hoped that they wouldn''t be the person chosen to stay behind and miss out on earning that sweet coin. Just as the group was murmuring to themselves on who was going to be left behind, Silken Envy said, "I will stay behind. I am not playing for the coin anyway, so I don''t mind staying here and relaxing." Everyone gave their thanks to her, they had a feeling that it would have turned into a big argument if she hadn''t stepped in. The members gave her grateful smiles, even Frozen Ice gave her one, which made her extremely happy. Once that was solved, everyone started to leave and get prepared for the battle in Errinisworth. Silken Envy stayed behind in the meeting room wanting to talk to Frozen Ice but got shooed away with the excuse that he needed to call his brother and find out what was going on. When Frozen Ice was alone, he opened his interface and tried to video call his brother only to find the line was busy. After trying 3 more times he gave up and called Rose Lilly. After one ding his call was answered and he was face to face with her. "What''s going on?" Frozen Ice asked. "From what you told me a couple of hours ago, Melting Snow was going to have dinner with his friend. How did dinner become a town event quest?" Rose Lilly knew she had to play this right, she knew that Frozen Ice was extremely interested in Melting Snow''s friend. Even more so now, because only an idiot wouldn''t realize that the names that were announced were the same as the ones from the Baldahurh Forest quest. Knowing Frozen Ice he must have put it together that Melting Snow''s friend is one of those people. Luckily Melting Snow had sent her a message, telling her where he was going last night, that way she will be able to spin this into her favor, "He was going to have dinner with his friend." "What happened then?" Frozen Ice asked. "Didn''t you stay with him?" "I wanted to, but his friend was wary of strangers, so I followed them instead. Nothing happened as they walked through town, besides them bumping into a pastry chef making him drop his cake." Rose Lilly said. "A pastry chef?" Frozen Ice asked wondering what that got to do with the town event quest. Nodding her head, Rose Lilly said, "Yeah, a pastry chef. They talked for a while before they once again went their way. I kept following them until they reached a rented boathouse. After waiting for a long time, four people came out carrying a huge cake, which they took to this town Mayor''s Mansion." "So it was a cooking quest." Stated Frozen Ice. "But that still doesn''t explain how my brother got the town event quest." "After they came out of the mansion, I got closer to them without their knowledge and heard them talk about getting invited to the Banquet the Mayor was having." Rose Lilly said. "That''s where the whole thing took place. You know your brother always wanting adventure, he probably triggered something." Frozen Ice felt that reasoning was logical, nobody knew how his brother was better than himself. There were many times where his brother would stray from the path when they were doing dungeons together, that landed the group in strange predicaments. He was 50% sure that his brother was the one who started the whole quest, but he also had a 50% feel that one of those people that his brother was hanging out with might have done it. He had already mentally discarded Melting Snow''s dryad friend, he might have been the one who leads them to the quest, but there was no way someone who chose to be a dryad and got the cooking skill, would be triggering these big quests. After he ends the call with Rose Lilly he continued to sit in the meeting room for a while saying the names of the three people to himself in an attempt to figure out which one could be the catalyst to all these events, and once he finds them he will keep them in his grasp. Chapter 114: Nascent Soul Helps In a room dimly lit by the candles and fireplace, there was the sound of metal being hit. The clanging sound echoed throughout the room in a steady rhythm, as if it was set to some invisible beat. The person who was creating the sound was a shirtless man, he glistened with sweat that dripped down his body from all the heat that was in the room. He was standing over a forge heating a piece of wrought iron, until the metal became soft enough for him to shape with one of his hand tools, such as a hammer or an anvil. Just as he was finished working with the piece of metal his interface popped open broadcasting an announcement of how four players activated the mini update, town siege. When the man saw the name Melting Snow he smiled, shaking his head in disbelief. "He did say his friend always finds the best adventures for them," Nascent Soul chuckles to himself. "I feel bad for doubting him." Once the broadcast faded, he got in touch with his guild. Before he could even speak a word his second in command already stopped him. He was informed that everyone was already getting ready and they were setting up the teleportation device and in an hour it would be ready to use. Smirking Nascent Soul closed the voice chat, he could always rely on his second in command Xafnir. He was with him since the beginning and was the only one in the guild to know his true persona in-game. This was because they knew each other in real life. They were best friends who grew up together and had similar circumstances, he and Xafnir aimed to get a better life for their families. They were extremely similar to each other except whereas Nascent Soul was calm and collective, Xafnir was more cold and logical. One day he hopes that Xafnir will find someone to break that cold mask of his, but for now, at least he has the guild work to keep him busy. Nascent Soul stopped thinking about his friend''s love life, since he couldn''t talk, with him not having a semblance of one himself. Opening his interface he video called Melting Snow wondering if he would like to join him fighting the monster horde. He could bring his friends along and they could meet in person, plus he wanted to see the other two people Melting Snow was with. He might be somewhat overprotective of Melting Snow, but there are some creeps in this game. This game might seem safe, but criminals play this game. There are many prisons, who use convicts to farm money for them, from his connections Nascent Soul knew that well. Plus there is the fact that even though he knew their names, he never saw how they looked like, he could pass them while walking through town without realizing that they were the people that the broadcast was about. Sometimes he wished the players had their names above their heads for all to see. After the video call dinged three times, Melting Snow''s face appeared on the screen. From Nascent Soul''s point of view, it looked like he was frantically looking for someone in a dingy-looking area. He was quickly running about looking every which way, not even paying any attention to the call. "What are you looking for Melting Snow?" Nascent Soul couldn''t help but chuckle at how much Melting Snow looked like a puppy searching for his bone. Glancing at the screen, Melting Snow said, "I''m trying to find the Mayor." Melting Snow had been searching for about an hour with Drifting Cloud for the Mayor. When they got the second part of the town event quest, he thought it would be very easy. All they had to do was find the Mayor and his daughter and escort the two to safety. They found the Mayor''s daughter quite easily, although that could be attributed to her being the only NPC left in the Banquet hall asking where her father was. Melting Snow should have known a quest like this wouldn''t be easy as they thought it would be. After they found the Mayor''s daughter, they split up into two groups. Wandering Sound and Roaming Wind took the Mayor''s daughter and went to search the above floors, while he and Drifting Cloud search the floors below. So far no one in the party found anything, although he and Drifting Cloud did find a promising lead when they found a door leading downstairs to the mansion''s dungeon. Melting Snow was sure they would be able to find the Mayor here, but so far the two of them still had no luck. "Kiddo, I''m going to need more information than that." Nascent soul said with a slight smile. Melting Snow begins explaining to him everything that has happened since they last talked and how he ended up here. He couldn''t help but brag about the awesome quest that he was on to his cousin. Before he could continue he heard Drifting Cloud calling out to him in party chat. "Melting Snow! Follow your map to me, I found something." Xinya said. Rushing out the area he was in, Melting Snow quickly went to the place where Drifting Cloud was located. When he found him, he was standing in one of the dungeon cells standing next to a dark open space that appeared to be a hidden room. Melting Snow gawked at the hidden room and was certain that this was where the Mayor was hidden, "How did you find this place Drifting Cloud?" "While I was searching, I saw all the chains on the beds were rusted, but when I came to this room the chains on this bed looked like they have been used often. I just knew there had to be more to this room." Xinya explained. Melting Snow was amazed by Drifting Cloud, he would have never noticed small things like that, on the other hand, Nascent Soul who had been listening, the entire time was very impressed with Melting Snow''s friend. He couldn''t help but feel that there was more to him than what he first thought. As they walked into the hidden room that was lit by the light of a single candle, they saw the Mayor, lying on the ground in terrible shape. Rushing over to him, Xinya saw that the Mayor was badly bruised and his legs seemed to be broken. Xinya didn''t know what to do, he could give the Mayor a health potion but that would only replenish his HP and not heal him. He wished he had a first aid skill right, not knowing that he said the sentence out loud. Melting Snow who was standing next to Xinya wondering what they should do, listened as his cousin spoke, before repeating it to Drifting Cloud, "My cousin said he has the first aid skill." "You''re on a video call right now?" Xinya asked before shaking his head, he knew that wasn''t important right now, "That doesn''t matter. Tell your cousin, that his first aid skill is no use to us, as he can''t use it, with being so far away." Nascent Soul just snorted before telling Melting Snow to let him speak to Drifting Cloud. Once Drifting Cloud could hear him he said, "Since none of your party has the heal or the first aid skill, make a gurney so you can carry him out. Just keep using health potions on him so he doesn''t bleed out." "Thank you for your help," Xinya said reluctantly. It was a great plan, he just wished he hadn''t been so rude to the man before he gave it to him. "Melting Snow go back to the banquet hall and get one of those tables, I''ll stay here and give the Mayor some health potions." "Alright," Melting Snow says, happy to be of help. Before he ran out of the room he thanked his cousin for his and told him that he would talk to him later, before cutting the call. After the video call ended, Nascent Soul, contacted Xafnir once again to ask him how much longer until the transportation device would be ready. Chapter 115: Gurney Xinya watched as Melting Snow ran out of the dimly lit cell to get the table he requested from the Banquet Hall, this left Xinya alone with the badly bruised Mayor. The Mayor who looked like he was about to knock on death''s door. His pitiful appearance made Xinya winch, he could only imagine the pain that the Mayor was in. It was a shame that he didn''t have the first aid skill, although he knew that he didn''t need it since player''s bodies couldn''t be covered in wounds, but it would still be good to have since he might run into this type of situation again. After informing Wei and Wandering Sound that he located the Mayor via party chat, Xinya begins checking the status of the Mayor''s health bar, only to find that it was slowly depleting. He had to do something fast or the Mayor would die here and now. Which would be horrible, because they would fail their quest. Positioning himself by the Mayor''s head, he took out one of his high-quality potions from his inventory to give to the Mayor. The high-quality potion would give the Mayor more HP but also keep giving him HP for a certain period of time. This would put the worry Xinya had that the Mayor might die before the rest of his party arrives. As Xinya was about to pour the potion into the Mayor''s mouth he saw that it was shut tight. Setting the potion bottle to the side, Xinya tried to see if he could shake the man awake, because of the man''s unconscious state, this endeavor proved to be pointless. He tried many different ways to awaken the Mayor from his comatose state, from lightly tapping his face to outright slapping him, which he truly regretted having to do, but nothing worked. Realizing that he had no other choice but to try to force-feed him the potions, Xinya couldn''t help but sigh. Bringing his hands to the Mayor''s mouth he begins trying to pry open the man''s mouth. He thought that it would be an easy task, that even someone with his meager strength would be able to do it. That wasn''t the case at all, it was like the Mayor jaw was locked shut, it wouldn''t open no matter how hard Xinya pulled. After a couple of attempts at it, Xinya became irritated that it wasn''t opening. Stopping the futile action, he began thinking of another way to get the Mayor''s mouth open. As he thought, he could see that the Mayor''s health bar was almost depleted, making him very anxious. After a couple of seconds, it came to him, like a shot in the dark. He almost slapped himself on the forehead, for being so simple. Xinya continued to silently berate himself as he grabbed the Mayor''s nose and pinched it closed. It didn''t take long for the Mayor to open his mouth to take in a breath of air. Letting go of his nose, Xinya held his head up once more and begin pouring the high-quality potion into the Mayor''s mouth. As Xinya expected, it didn''t heal him at all, but the Mayor no longer looked the deathly shade of grey as he did before and with the extra health he seemed to be coming around. The Mayor begin groaning as he came to, struggling wildly in Xinya''s arms, "P..please let me go...let me go..let me." "It''s alright, your okay, I have come to rescue you." The begging voice of the Mayor struck a nerve in Xinya''s heart. Rubbing the man''s hair, Xinya did the best he could to soothe him as he waited for the others to arrive. Minutes passed as Xinya sat there in the dark decrepit cell trying to calm the frightened man. Just as he was about to open his interface and contact his friends through party chat, Melting Snow came running in, carrying one of the long rectangular tables from the Banquet hall that from what Xinya could see, was just the right size for the Mayor to lay on. Entering the room, Melting Snow laid the table on the ground right near the Mayor, before kneeling next to Xinya with a worried expression, "Is he doing better?" "Yeah, I gave him a potion, he should be stable for now, but his health is still going down," Xinya replied. Just as Melting Snow was about to speak again, a cry echoed throughout the cell. It was so loud that it startled the Mayor awake. He began shaking in fear and groaning due to the pain. As Xinya calmed the Mayor, Xinya looked up to see who was the cause of the noise, only to see that it was the Mayor''s daughter, Elaine. She had arrived along with Wei and Wandering Sound. The young girl looked wretched as she stared at her father''s broken body. Xinya could see that the young girl was shaken up just by looking at the state she was in. Gone was her noble poise, leaving only a scared little girl who was worried about her father. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she ran to her father''s side, "Daddy?" The Mayor calmed down at the sound of his daughter''s voice. Turning his head to look at her, he struggled to move his arm, very slowly he brought it up to caress her face. An unknown expression appeared in his eyes before his hand fell and he passed out again. "Daddy! Please wake up! Daddy!" Elaine shouted while looking around as if to search for help. Checking the man''s health, Xinya saw that the Mayor was alright. "Your father just passed out." "My father will be fine, right?" Elaine asked while looking at Xinya with teary eyes. "He won''t die will he?" Xinya shook his head, "As long as we get him patched up he will be fine, but none of us have any first aid kits to do so." At this moment all Elaine wanted to do was to burst into tears while hugging her father tightly, but she wasn''t a young girl anymore and her father needed her to be strong, putting on a brave face she asked, "What do we need to do to be able to save my father?" "First, we need to get your father out of this cell," Xinya stated. "Afterwards we get him patched up, then we need to get him out of this town and inform the military about what''s going on." As if something Xinya said triggered a response in the girl, Elaine quickly stood up, "I know! We could use the emergency escape tunnel." "The what?" Melting Snow asked confused about what the girl was going on about. "The emergency escape tunnel, my father built it, just in case something happens to the town and we needed a way to leave the mansion unnoticed. It leads out of the mansion to the harbor where we keep a ship." Elaine explains. After hearing about the escape tunnel and the ship, Xinya let out a sigh of relief. He thought that they would have to carry the Mayor to Danlases on a gurney. Logically speaking that wouldn''t make any sense, but in this game, Xinya knew anything was possible. If there was one thing that Xinya knew for sure, it was that if they had to walk to Danlass carrying the Mayor, there was a good chance that the man would be dead before they arrived. It was the Mayor steadily decreasing health bar that made him very clear on that. "Alright then, once we load the Mayor onto this makeshift gurney, Elaine will take us to where the emergency tunnel is located," Xinya told everyone. Wandering Sound just looked at the Mayor, who looked like he was around 220 pounds and back at Drifting Cloud, "Do you think we can lift him? Because I tell you now my strength is low." "Oh..um," Xinya replied, this was a problem if he couldn''t open the man''s mouth, there was certainly no way he would be able to lift the man, even with Wandering Sound help. "I can do it!" Melting Snow said as he gently picked up the Mayor before anyone could stop him. "I have a lot of strength." Watching as Melting Snow held the Mayor''s body as if it weighed nothing, was an amazing sight to behold. It also made him want to put some points into strength himself, but Xinya knew that he didn''t need that stat and at this level, it would be just a waste of points. "Do we still need the gurney?" Wei asked. "Melting Snow can carry the Mayor just fine." "Yes, we do. Although it would be easier to get him to the ship with Melting Snow carrying him, the problem is that his health is dropping faster now that he''s not laying down." Xinya told everyone. After making Melting Snow lay the Mayor gently on the gurney, Xinya poured another health potion down his throat. Checking the Mayor''s health bar, he saw that it was dropping at a slow pace once again. "Okay, let''s go," Xinya said, grabbing the homemade gurney along with Melting Snow and Wandering Sound. With the girls leading the way they made their way to the emergency tunnel. Chapter 116: Emergency Tunnel With Elaine leading, Xinya and his party made their way out of the hidden room and through the basement dungeon. Although carrying the Mayor was quite difficult, no accidents happened along the way. After being led pass the many cell rooms in the dungeon, they finally reached a staircase. Xinya recognized it, it was the one that he and Melting Snow first came down when they discovered that there was a lower floor. Assuming that they would have to go back to the main floor to get to the emergency exit, Xinya was already mentally preparing to take out another potion bottle from his inventory, just in case an accident occurred on the stairs and the Mayor''s body was jolted, causing his health to descend. This assumption was proven wrong when Elaine just bypassed the staircase all together and walked over to the corner wall that was a few feet away from it. The wall that she went to was completely bare except for a painting and an empty candlestick holder. Getting a closer look Xinya saw that the painting was very well made, it was something that he wouldn''t mind having hanging in his home. The picture it portrayed wasn''t anything elegant, it was just a simple drawing of two people on a sailboat, that was out to sea on a rainy day. "Why did you lead us here?" Melting Snow asked. "Where is the emergency exit?" Turning her head back to look at Melting Snow, Elaine replied, "This is it, right here." The group watched as the girl stretched out her arm and touched one of the people''s faces that were in the sailboat painting. A loud creaking sound could be heard after she did that, and Xinya stared raptly at the stone wall that was opening right before his eyes. "That was so cool," Wei said, exploring secret rooms, and hidden passageways intrigued her very much. The rest of the group nodded in agreement at her statement but wasn''t as enthusiastic about it as she was. They became used to these types of things, during their time playing Haven online, although it was cool, they were a little desensitized to it. Once the wall was completely opened, Xinya''s party could see exactly what the emergency tunnel looked like. The only thing Xinya could see was a pitch-black tunnel completely void of any light. He knew this wasn''t a desirable situation, especially for Melting Snow, who was afraid of the dark. Just as Xinya was about to check his inventory to see if he had anymore glow flowers left, he saw Elaine move to the empty candlestick holder. Elaine pulled the empty candlestick holder down like it was a lever, and suddenly the inside of the tunnel began to light up. From what Xinya could see, torches were hanging along the wall of the tunnel, and they begin to light up one by one. Now that he could properly see inside of it, Xinya found it to be just an ordinary tunnel made of stone. Although as he looked into the tunnel, he had a feeling that it would be quite long. Xinya hoped that he had enough of those high-quality potions left to keep the Mayor stable until they reached the ship. "This is the emergency tunnel, it is very long, so we must hurry through it so that my father can be taken care of," Elaine said as she stood by the tunnel''s entrance. "How long is it?" Wandering Sound asked, looking worriedly at the Mayor. He had been checking the man''s status and saw how his health was depleting. Thinking for a moment, Elaine said, "It shouldn''t take too long about 20-25 minutes at most, but with you carrying my father it could take longer." "Don''t worry, I can keep the Mayor stable until we reach the exit," Xinya told everyone. He could tell by their expressions that they were worried that the Mayor would die and they would fail the quest, so Xinya took this opportunity to reassure them all, including the man''s daughter. Elaine gave Xinya a watery smile before leading them inside the tunnel, the walk through the tunnel was harder than expected. The ground of the tunnel was made up of loose rocks, which caused a catastrophic mishap at the beginning of their journey. The entire group was rushing because they wanted to make it the ship quickly. In their rush, they didn''t pay attention to where they were walking and Wandering Sound tripped on one of the loose rocks and fell. This caused the makeshift gurney to tilt, and the Mayor who was laying on top of it rolled off and fell to the ground with a loud thump. The sound made Elaine and Wei turn around, and when they saw the Mayor''s body lying prone on the tunnel''s rocky ground, their faces took on two drastic different expressions. Wei became worried that the Mayor was dead and they would fail their quest. While Elaine was extremely fearful of her father''s life. "What happened?!" Elaine frantically asked. "Is my daddy alright?" Melting Snow and Xinya quickly set the table down before rushing towards the man''s side. The accident happened so fast that there was no way that they could have stopped the man''s body from rolling to the ground. Checking the Mayor''s status, Xinya saw that his health was descending faster than before. He quickly commanded Melting Snow to put him back on the makeshift gurney before feeding him another potion. "He is alright for now, but that fall, opened his wounds up more. His health is decreasing at a quicker pace now." Xinya said. Getting up, Wandering Sound began apologizing, "I''m so sorry, it''s all my fault. I should have been watching my footing." "It''s not your fault, there are a lot of loose rocks in this tunnel, it could have happened to anyone," Xinya said trying to reassure him. Picking the gurney back, the group began walking again, this time being careful about where they step. Throughout their journey through the tunnel, the group had to stop three times, so that Xinya could administer potions to the battered man. After walking for around 45 minutes, the group arrived at a stone wall, knowing that this must be the exit they let out a sigh of relief. Wei and Wandering Sound were extremely worried that another accident would occur or something would pop out and attack them. Making it to the exit with no other problems appearing made them very happy. On the other hand, Melting Snow and Xinya weren''t worried at all that something else would happen. Keeping the man alive was hard enough so they knew that while they were in the tunnel nothing else would happen. All they needed to do was focus on getting the man to the ship. Elaine touched a blue-ish stone that was located in the center of the wall which opened the exit to the tunnel. The stone wall in front of them began to slide open slowly, Xinya could see tiny rays of sunlight began to seep through the crack, until the wall was completely opened, revealing the bright blue sky. Chapter 117: First Aid Kit As they exited the tunnel, Xinya shut his eyes on reflex, because of the brightness of the sun. Once he opened his eyes again he saw that besides an endless blue sea and large rocks, the only thing around was a lone Schooner ship, which was docked at a custom port. "That''s our ship, it''s called the Scoilteoir Tonn," Elaine told the group while pointing at the boat. Tilting her head in confusion Wei asked, "What does that mean?" "It means Wave Splitter in old galish," Xinya answered, causing everyone in his party to look at him weirdly, before looking at Elaine to see if he was correct. "He is right, that is what the name means," replied Elaine. This caused the rest of the party to look back at him, Xinya could tell from their eyes that they were wondering how he knew what it meant, shrugging he said, "I enjoy learning different languages." "I never knew that," Wei said softly, but she could acknowledge that there was still a lot thing that she didn''t know about him, despite being his best friend. It made her a little sad, but she understood that everyone had secrets. She could wait until he feels comfortable enough to tell them to her. "It never came up," Xinya said. "But enough dallying, we need to get the Mayor to the ship and patch him up." Melting Snow nodded, wanting to hurry and get on the cool looking ship, "Yeah, what Drifting Cloud said, let''s get moving. The Mayor needs saving." Heeding to what Xinya and Melting Snow said, the group began walking to the ship. The closer they got the clearer Xinya could see how it looked. He found the ship to be simply magnificent, just a wonderful sight to behold. ~ As they boarded the ship, Xinya saw that there was no crew on the ship. He couldn''t help but wonder how they were going to use this ship to get to Danlases if nobody knew how to sail. Sighing, he hopes that this wasn''t the quest trying to make things difficult for them since going through the tunnel was so easy. "Quick, follow me to the room below, there is a first aid kit in the cabinets down there," Elaine said, hurrying down the few steps that led to the room. Wei followed after her first than Xinya, along with the other''s who were carrying the Mayor, carefully followed afterward, making sure nothing happened on the steps. Once they entered the room, they saw that Elaine was holding the first aid kit, waiting. After they placed the Mayor on the bed, Elaine walked over to Xinya and handed him the first aid kit. Xinya just looked at her in confusion for a minute, since he didn''t have the first skill, but looking into her trusting eyes, he took the kit from her. Luckily for her, first aid was a skill that is learned by trying and not through an NPC. Sitting on the bed next to the Mayor, Xinya opened the first aid kit, inside there was a bottle of ointment, some cleaning cloths, scissors and tons of bandages. "Do you need any help?" Melting Snow asked. Xinya turned to see everyone watching him and just shook his head, "It''s fine I think I know what to do." Grabbing the scissors, Xinya begins cutting off the Mayor''s clothes, only to hear a gasp. Looking up, he saw that it was Elaine, who was in the middle of covering her eyes. "Roaming Wind can you escort Miss Elaine out of the room, please?" Xinya asked, not sure if a noble lady of her delicate sensibilities should be witnessing her father being undress. Shaking her head frantically, Elaine said, "No, I want to stay, I need to make sure that my father is alright." "Don''t worry, Miss Elaine. As soon as Drifting Cloud is finished patching up your father, we will come and inform you." Wandering sound said, trying to calm her down. Nodding her head at the two of them, she allowed Wei to escort her out of the room, but not before saying, "Please take good care of my father" Once the two women were gone, Xinya continued cutting off the man''s clothes. When they were removed, Xinya could finally see the full extent of the damage that the Mayor sustained at the hands of the Tall Man. From what he could see, there was a lot of damage. Open wounds were covering his arms chest and legs. He couldn''t see the man''s back but he would bet that there were some wounds there too. Despite what he said earlier he would indeed need some help, moving the man''s body around. "Melting Snow, I think I do need your help," Xinya said. Cocking his head at Xinya, Melting Snow said, "How can I help?" "Can you sit the Mayor up for me? I want to see if he has any wounds on his back." Walking over to the other side of the bed, Melting Snow crawled next to the Mayor and proceeded to sit him up. While Melting Snow was holding him up Xinya checked his back and saw that besides a few scratches it was fine. "Okay, Melting Snow, you can lay him back down," Xinya told him. After Melting Snow gently laid the man back down on the bed, Xinya took the ointment and cleaning cloth from the first aid kit. Opening up the ointment bottle, Xinya squirted some of the orange liquid onto one of the cloths. With a cloth, Xinya proceeded to dap the ointment onto the Mayor''s wounds. As he did so the wounds started to magically heal themselves. It wasn''t to the point where they closed up completely, but from what Xinya could tell it was very close. After putting ointment on every wound he could see, he grabbed the bandages out of the first aid kit. "Melting Snow, for this part I will need your help once again in moving his body around." "No problem!" Melting Snow replied, happy to help. Working as a team, Xinya begins bandaging the Mayor''s body up, while Melting Snow helped move the man''s body around for him. In no time at all, they had the Mayor all bandaged up. Checking the man''s status, Xinya saw that his health bar had stopped declining. Just as he was about to get up off the bed a notification appeared: [You have learned the first aid skill!!] First Aid: If a person is in an accident or a battle of some kind they will often sustain wounds that need to be treated before medical aid can be obtained, this is where the first aid skills can be of use. Be warned when you use first aid on a person their HP will not restore. "He is completely stable now, we should go inform Elaine," Xinya told them. "Let me go," Wandering Sound said. "I haven''t done much to help." Just as he was about to leave, the boat lurched forward, making the three of them have to catch their balance. Before they could wonder what was happening, Wei bounced into the room. "Are you guys done?" Wei asked. "Elaine has already begun sailing the ship to Danlases." "Really?!" Xinya said surprised, not understanding why he was. He should have figured she knew how to sail, the quest would have equipped the NPC with it. This being a lower level town an all. "Yeah, I just told her that the quicker we get to Danlases the safer her father would be, and she started prepping the ship all by herself," Wei explains. Nodding his head, Xinya said, "That''s great. Let''s go up and see if she needs any help." Chapter 118: Danlases Leaving the Mayor in the room alone, Xinya and the others followed Wei as she took them to where Elaine was at. As Xinya walked along the ship, with the others, he was grateful that none of them suffered from seasickness. He was certain if they did, with the way the ship was moving, this would be one unpleasant trip. As they walked, Wei explained to them that she was taking them to the wheelhouse. Xinya, just nodded knowingly, he had read up on boats, it was one of the things he wanted to buy in the future in the game. So he knew exactly what a wheelhouse was, but never saw one with his own eyes. Even the houseboat that Wandering Sound rented didn''t have one since it wasn''t able to be used as transportation. Once they arrived, just as Xinya expected, the wheelhouse was just a small enclosure that housed the steering wheel. As soon as they walked inside of the enclosure, Elaine turned to them with a hopeful expression on her face. "Is my father alright now?" Elaine asked. "Yes, he is stable now. Once we get to Danlases and he receives treatment from a healer, he should be perfectly fine." Xinya replied. With tears appearing in her eyes out of gratitude, Elaine said, "Thank you, thank you so much." "Your welcome," Xinya said, while Wei walked over and patted the girl on the shoulders in a comforting manner. After Elaine calmed down, she wiped her tears from her eyes and started informing them of what they needed to do to maintain the ship as she sailed it. Once everyone had their jobs, they set off to work, so no mishaps would happen along the way. Their journey to Danlases wasn''t long or eventful, in Xinya opinion it went very smoothly, with the group mostly took in the sights until they arrived. For Xinya this was an easy quest, and he would enjoy it because he knew that there would be harder quests waiting for him. ~ The journey from Errinisworth to Danlases took over two hours, once they arrived at the port there was a group of soldiers standing there waiting for them. Xinya assumed that they saw the ship from far away and was told to come and meet it. After they docked, three of the soldiers came aboard the ship, weapons in hand. They didn''t appear to be hostile, just cautious. Seeing this, Xinya made sure to tell his party to not take out their weapons, he had a feeling if they did they would trigger the soldiers into attacking. "Who are you and what brings you to these parts?" A red-headed soldier, who seemed to be in charge asked. Elaine walked out of the wheelhouse, with her noble attitude at the forefront, "I am Eliane Kingsley, the daughter of Ian Kingsley, the Mayor of Errinisworth. I have come to seek your assistance." "My lady, please excuse my rude behavior," The redhead said while giving Elaine a slight bow along with the other two soldiers behind him. "How may we be of service?" "Something terrible has happened in Errinisworth, and my father was injured. If it wasn''t for these four people my father and I would be dead." Elaine said while pointing at Xinya and his party. The redhead soldier gave Xinya''s group a good once over, before turning back to Elaine, "Where is your father now?" "He is in the room down below," replied Elaine. "Private Smith and Jacobs, go with Lady Elaine to where her father is being kept and check his condition." The red-haired man said. "Yes, sir," The two soldiers said together, before following Elaine to the room that the Mayor was in. Turning his attention to Xinya and his group, the red-haired soldier said, "I am first Lieutenant Jones, of Errinisworth defense calvary. Can you tell me who you are and how you came in contact with the Mayor?" "My name is Drifting Cloud, and these are my friends, Melting Snow, Roaming Wind, and Wandering Sound," Xinya said while pointing to each of his friends in turn. "We met the Mayor at his Banquet, or at least the person we thought to be him." Before Xinya could continue one of the soldiers from earlier returned, he informed Lieutenant Jones about the terrible state that the Mayor was in. This shocked Jones, who couldn''t help but wonder what happened in Errinisworth that would leave the Mayor in such a state. Jones had a feeling that whatever happened, was something that his captain needed to know about. From what he could gather from the Dryad before he was cut off, something terrible happened at the Mayor''s Banquet. "Private, go and get a few more soldiers, I will need you to move the Mayor to our medbay," Jones ordered. "Yes, sir." The soldier replied, before running off to do what he was told. "You four, follow me," Jones told Xinya and his group. "I''m going to take you to my captain, so you can explain to him what happened in Errinisworth." Following the lieutenant, Xinya''s group walked through Danlases Village only to see that it wasn''t a village at all, but instead a military camp. Everywhere they looked they saw soldiers going about their day, doing different tasks, such as training, farming, etc. It didn''t take long before they reached the largest domicile in the whole village. Xinya was certain that this was were the Captain lived, because no other person''s station should be high enough to be able to have this type of residence. "Captain, please come out, there is something I need to report!" Lieutenant Jones yelled from outside the residence. A couple of seconds passed and the entrance of the domicile was opened to reveal a strong-looking man with bear ears, he began to frown at Jones when he saw the four strangers that he brought with him. "Who are these people and why did you bring them here?" The bear-like captain growled. "Captain, something terrible happens in Errinisworth. The Mayor was badly wounded, I had him taken to medbay, along with his daughter to get him healed." Lieutenant Jones explained. The Captain''s face turned serious, "Tell me, what happened?!" "I don''t know, that why I brought these four, they were there when everything took place," replied Lieutenant Jones. Turning to the Xinya group, the Captain said, "I am Captain Valentine of Errinisworth defense calvary, please tell me everything you know." "It all started at the Mayor''s Banquet¡­" Xinya started explaining everything that happened while they were at the Banquet. From the Tall Man pretending to be the Mayor to rescuing the Mayor from the dungeon. "Is that all of it?" Captain Valentine asked. "No, that''s not all, a horde of monsters will be arriving in Errinisworth," Xinya said, before looking at his clock. "In 18 more hours." Captain Valentine and Lieutenant Jones were shocked at what they heard, they shared a glance between them, it was as if they could read each other''s thoughts by just using their eyes. After a moment of intense staring, Lieutenant Jones rushed away to inform the soldiers to get ready for battle. After he left the Captain proceeded to thank Xinya''s party. "I would like to thank you for saving the Mayor and bringing this information to us. You can stay in the village if you want, you will be safe here, but for now, I will need you to leave my residence. I have to start preparing for battle." The Captain said shooing them away, before going back inside his domicile. Once the man disappeared the four of them just looked at each other in bewilderment. They were very confused because the quest didn''t complete. Xinya couldn''t help but wonder if there were some sort of bug. "Guys, what''s going on, didn''t we complete the quest?" Melting Snow asked. "Maybe we didn''t." Wandering Sound replied, just as Melting Snow was going to ask what he meant, they saw Elaine running over towards them with a wide smile on her face. "I''m so glad that you haven''t left yet," Elaine said. "My father has been healed and would like to talk to the ones who saved him." Chapter 119: Rhiannon鈥檚 bracelet Xinya along with the other''s begin following Elaine to the medbay. The walk itself was very short and they arrived at the red and white tent in no time at all. Walking inside the medbay, Xinya looked around and saw that it looks like a small hospital. Still following Elaine, he walked over to the bed where the Mayor was lying in. A female soldier was by his side, making sure he was covered completely by a blanket before leaving. The Mayor hearing the group''s footsteps, turned his head towards them, a smile gracing his face when he saw his daughter. Gesturing his hand, he motioned for her to quickly come over to him. Elaine proceeded to walk quickly over to her father''s side, happy to see him doing better than he was before when he told her to bring the group who saved him. With a bright smile on her face, she begins introducing Xinya''s group to her father. "Father, these are the people who saved you," Elaine told her father while pointing to Xinya and his friends. The Mayor looked at the four of them and smiled, "I would like to thank you all for what has done for me. If it wasn''t for you four the Tall Man would be still pretending that he was me, and the town would have become utterly ruined. I offer you my most sincere gratitude." "You are welcome, we are just happy that we could help, "Xinya told the Mayor, with a polite smile on his face. "Yes, what, Drifting Cloud said," The rest of the group said in tandem. The Mayor thought that this group of youngsters was truly kind individuals and wanted to reward them for their help. That''s when he remembers the bracelet he got when he was younger from saving a young fae from danger. The fae said it would transport him to somewhere special, but he could never figure out how it works. He thought that these youngsters might be able to. "I would still like to thank you for what you did for me and the town, please accept this as a reward." The Mayor said as he removed a silver bracelet from his arm with a floral design, holding it out to the youngsters. Walking forward, Xinya took the bracelet from the man''s hand, with a thank you. Once the bracelet was in Xinya''s hand a notification appeared: [Quest has been Complete!] [You have leveled up!] [You have received Rhiannon''s bracelet!] [Reward: 1000000 Experience / 2 Gold / Unknown Reward] Rhiannon''s bracelet: This bracelet with grant up to five people at a time access to a very special shop. The bracelet will only work once, so when you decide to use it, make sure you have enough coins to spend. To activate it, you need to stand in the center of a fairy ring on a full moon. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest HP: 325/325 (+15) Level: 23 MP: 275/275 (+15) EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina: 275/275 (+15) Skill points: 25 Str: 19 (+15) Dex: 27(+15) Int: 19 (+15) Luck: 26 (+15) Coins: 6 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 8 After talking for about thirty minutes, the group once again thanked the man for his kind reward, before saying farewell and parting from Elaine and the Mayor. Leaving the medbay the group was feeling happy that they completed the quest. It had been a long ordeal for all of them and they were glad that it was finally over. As they walked together aimlessly through the village, Wei asked, "What kind of shop do you think the bracelet will give us access too?" "I don''t know, but I bet it will have wonderful items." Wandering Sound said. "Me too," Melting Snow said, bouncing around the three of them. "I hope it has all kinds of rare monster pets." "Well we need to save up some coin before activating it, I have a feeling that the items inside the shop will be expensive," Xinya told them. Knowing that Xinya was right, Wei said, "What should we do now, that we finished the quest?" "Well, we still need to complete the treasure dungeon and to do that we need to backtrack to Errinisworth. How about we log out for now before we start heading back." Xinya said. The group felt that it was a good idea since they all needed to log out soon anyway. After saying goodbye to each other, they each begin to log out of the game. ~ Xinya and Wei were both sitting in the living room looking at their cell phones. After coming out of the VR pod, ten minutes ago, the two of them began talking about the treasure dungeon and what they would be facing in a low level one. Neither of them knew since they only watched videos on the higher tier ones, so Wei took it upon herself binge-watch a couple before they went back into the game. Xinya, on the other hand, wanted to check the forums, because this was the second time he participated in a game-changing quest. Xinya wanted to see if anyone was talking about him and his friends, as he scrolled through the forums, what he saw made him very glad that players names weren''t visible to other people. Posts were asking to buy information on the four of them, people who were leaving their ingame name so that his group could add them in the game, but that wasn''t the worst of it. People knew who Wandering Sound was and was putting his picture up on the forums, Xinya knew that when he logs back on the game he will have to convince Wandering Sound to get a mask. If he doesn''t they would all be recognized sooner or later, which Xinya didn''t want happening right now. Putting down his cell in a huff, he decided to just go to the kitchen and make himself something to eat before he heads back into the game. He would worry about Wandering Sound being too recognizable later. Chapter 120: Off to Laetus forest Finishing off the last bite of food he had on his plate from the spicy pork and spinach dumplings with soy dipping sauce he made earlier, Xinya glanced at the clock. After seeing that one hour has already passed, he went into the living room, to see if Wei was still glued to her cell, only to find it empty. There was only a plate devoid of food, left on the glass table in front of the couch. Knowing that she must have already gone back to the game, Xinya just rolled his eyes and gathered up the dish to the kitchen to be clean with the others. Once in the kitchen, Xinya grabbed the dish bucket off the counter and started stacking the dishes he used into it, before carrying it over to the dishwasher to be cleaned. After they were loaded, he proceeded to wipe the table, stove and counter down of any mess left on them. Looking at the sparkly clean kitchen, he smiled to himself. He felt proud for some reason, it wasn''t new for him to do these types of chores, but still, it was a job well done. Now that everything was clean, he felt that it was alright to head back inside of the game. Getting into the pod, Xinya once more logged into Haven Online. When he appeared he saw that everyone was waiting for him. They were all standing near the harbor where they had logged off at. Wei and Wandering Sound were talking to each other about, from what Xinya could make out, the treasure dungeon, while Melting Snow was looking into the water at something. "Hey guys," Xinya said as a greeting. Hearing his voice everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. Melting Snow after seeing Drifting Cloud, bounce over to him and said, "I''m so glad you have finally logged back on, I thought I would be stuck here with the flirting duo for longer." "Hey! We can hear you!" Wei shouted Melting Snow with no real anger. "I know," Melting Snow said as he made a face at them. "That''s why I said it." Laughing at Melting Snow''s silliness, Xinya pretended to scold him, "Now, now, don''t make fun of the two lovebirds." "Come on guys, stop teasing us," Wandering Sound told them, secretly liking the way Roaming Wind was blushing. Wei just looked at Wandering Sound knowingly, "Let''s stop messing around. Drifting Cloud, how near is the treasure dungeon to Errinisworth, because with what''s going on there now, maybe we should wait." Xinya knew that Wei was trying to change the subject, and he was fine with it. They did need to start talking about the treasure dungeon, he felt that it was long overdue. With everything that happened to them in the Baldahurh forest and now with Errinisworth. With the fighting that was now happening in Errinisworth, because of the monster horde, Xinya knew that if the treasure dungeon was in close vicinity of Errinishworth than it wouldn''t be advisable for them to be going there now. Luckily for them, it wasn''t, from what he read on the map it was located in the very outer edge of the town in Laetus forest. "Don''t worry, the place where the dungeon is located, we won''t see hide nor hair of the horde," Xinya told them. "Where is the place, your talking about?" Wandering Soul asked. "Laetus forest," Xinya said, "It''s located by the borderline of Errinisworth and Garmsby, the town that is known for its beer." Curious, Melting Snow asked, "Is the beer in Garmsby that good?" "It''s not like you can have any, so you don''t need to know," Wei told him. "It''s virtual beer, of course, I can have some." Melting Snow told her snootily. Smiling, Xinya rubbed Melting Snow''s head, before saying, "I doubt, your brother or cousin would like it if you did so." "Let''s see if they could stop me." Melting Snow said as he batted Drifting Cloud hands away from his head playfully. "Whatever you say, Melting Snow," Xinya said while lightly laughing. "So I think we need to start walking, It will probably take a whole day or two to get there." "Would we be able to get there by ship?" Wandering Sound asked." After checking his map, Xinya said, "Yeah, we would be able to, why do you ask?" Smirking Wandering Sound took out a familiar rectangular looking object and pressed its button. The bunny-shaped house boathouse from Errinisworth appeared right in front of them again. Xinya felt extremely confused as to why Wandering Sound brought it out and how he did so when it was the property of Errinisworth. The confusion must have shown on his face because Wandering Sound said, "I didn''t tell you two when I rented it but this houseboat is a transformable one. It can either be stationary or it can turn into a boat that can be used as transportation." "Why didn''t you tell us?" Wei asked. "I wanted it to be a surprise," Wandering Sound said. "I wanted to see your faces when you felt the boat move, as we relaxed inside." "So, you know how to sail a boat?" asked Melting Snow. Shaking his head Wandering Sound, "Nope, but I don''t have to, the boat is computer operated. You just have to punch in the coordinates and it will take you straight there. It''s too bad players can''t buy these types of boats, it would make sailing a lot easier." "Your right about that," Xinya said. He would love to have one of these types of boats, it would be great to have when he got his fishing level high enough to do scuba diving. He guessed he would have to learn sailing after all. Xinya watched as Wandering Sound pressed the rectangular button once more and the bunny boathouse became longer until a wheelhouse appeared. He had thought the house part of the boat would have disappeared, but that didn''t seem like the case. He was glad that it wasn''t, this way he could restock his potion supply in the comfort of the boathouse instead of on the road where he would have a harder time concentrating. Plus the rest of his party would be able to train some before they arrive at the forest. ~ Getting onboard the houseboat, Wei took Melting Snow inside to show him how the living room can transform into a gym, while Wandering Sound took Xinya to the wheelhouse. Once they were there, Xinya saw that it looks the same as the one on the Mayor''s boat, the only difference was instead of a steering wheel, there was just a panel of buttons. Wandering Sound went over to the panel and typed something in, before looking to Drifting Cloud, "Just punch in the coordinates and we will be all set." Moving closer to Wandering Sound, Xinya looked down at the panel and put in the coordinates that would take them to Laetus forest. As soon as he did, the boat engine roared to life and begin to move. As they were about to exit the wheelhouse, Xinya held Wandering Sound back. "Wandering Sound, I need to talk to you." "What about?" Wandering Sound asked. He was confused as to why Drifting Cloud needed to talk to him alone like this. "About who you were before you joined up with us," Xinya said. From the shocked expression on Wandering Sound''s face, Xinya could tell he knew what he meant. Chapter 121: Talking to Wandering Sound Different thoughts begin to circle through Wandering Sound''s head, but the one that was forefront in his mind was, ''When did Drifting Cloud figure out who he was?'' This question was so plainly written on his face, that he didn''t even need to speak to ask it. "I know you''re wondering when I learned your identity," Xinya told him. "It was fairly recent, Melting Snow told me who you are." "He knew?! But, he acted so normally around me..." Wandering Sound trailed off, he couldn''t believe that little boy was just pretending not to know him all along. "I told him too, I figured there was an important reason why you haven''t told us yet and I didn''t want to rush you," Xinya explained. Rubbing the back of his neck, Wandering Sound looked Xinya in the eye, asking, "Does Roaming Wind know about me? "No, I didn''t tell her. I thought that you would like to do that yourself." Xinya replied. "Thank you." Wandering Sound said as he sagged against the wall of the wheelhouse. As he watched the tension disappear from Wandering Sound''s body when he told him that he didn''t tell Wei about him being a famous singer. This made Xinya realize just how much Wandering Sound liked her. "You should just tell her," Xinya said trying to convince him. "She won''t be like your fangirls and treat you differently." Wandering Sound flinched from Xinya words. He wanted to believe that they were true, that when he told Wei she wouldn''t treat him any different, but he just couldn''t bring himself to do so. Not yet, anyway. Shaking his head, Wandering Sound said, "Please give me time, once I know for sure that she likes me for me, I will tell her." Xinya understood what Wandering Sound was going through. Being famous isn''t always great on an interpersonal level, but he also knows that there are people who don''t care if a person is famous or not. Take him for example, he didn''t matter to him that Wandering Sound was a star and he didn''t think it would matter to Wei either. "Alright, I will give you time," Xinya begins. "But until you tell her, you''re going to need to wear a mask, no even after you tell her you still going to need to wear one." Frowning, Wandering Sound asked, "Why?" "Well, after Baldahurh forest incident and now with the Errinishworth town event quest, our names are well known. Which wouldn''t be a problem for us since they don''t know how we look, but because your famous, people will know your face, and with you being with us all the time..." Wandering Sound nodded his head knowingly, with him being as famous as he is, sooner or later somebody will recognize him. Although he usually keeps his head down for this exact reason, buying a mask wouldn''t hurt. He was even thinking about buying one for himself, a few days ago anyway. "Alright, next time we are in town, I will make sure to get one." Wandering Sound to Xinya. Patting him on the shoulder, Xinya said, "Good, now let''s go see what Roaming Wind and Melting Snow are up too." "Let''s go." Wandering Sound said, leaving the wheelhouse with Xinya. ~ Entering the living room, of the boathouse, Xinya and Wandering Sound wasn''t even phased at all by what they saw. Wei was running on a treadmill, while Melting Snow was lifting weights with two giant dumbbells, that was bigger than his body. Xinya thought, as he watched Melting Snow lift the humongous dumbbells over his head with ease, that he should be shocked by this scene. He wasn''t though, and that was probably because he saw Melting Snow pick up a 220-pound man like he was a baby a couple of hours ago. "Having fun?" Xinya said, smiling at how hard the two of them were training. Turning around at the sound of Drifting Cloud''s voice, Melting Cloud put down the dumbbell, saying, "Yeah, this houseboat is awesome. I didn''t know I could train my stats by just lifting weights." "Now you do," Wandering Sound said while going over to the treadmill next to Roaming Wind. "Are you going to train to Drifting Cloud?" Wei asked, after smiling at Wandering Sound who sidled up next to her. Shaking his head at her, Xinya said, "No, I''m going to go make some potions before we reach Laetus forest." "You still going to make me my fancy dessert right?" Melting Snow asked him. "Of course I will, as soon as I finished making the potions, I will make a snack that we can eat before we head into the dungeon," Xinya said. "Awesome!" Melting Snow exclaimed, beaming at Xinya. ~ After leaving his friends to their training, Xinya entered the potions lab. This was his first time seeing the houseboat version of it and found it to be quite different from the potion lab he used in Bellport. It was way more modernized, for one thing, the white walls were lined with shelves filled with glass jars. These glass jars had all sorts of items inside of them, but when Xinya tried to open one the jar was completely sealed. Xinya could tell that they were just there for decoration. Going over to the black table in the middle of the room, Xinya opened his inventory so that he could take out his cauldron and ingredients needed for his potions. After laying everything out on the table neatly, Xinya was ready to begin his potion-making. Deciding to make health potions first he grabbed the Ennunise and Awegella first, otherwise known as the red and green herb and got to work. Health potions were the easiest to make, so after around 20 minutes he had a stack of 100 high-quality health potions ready to go. After repeating the process with the Mana and Stamina potions, he got to work on his combat potions. These potions were the most difficult to make for him, and he needed to concentrate very hard while doing so. It took him 2 hours and 4 explosions, but he finally had a stack of 50 or more of Dreaming Dust, Mini Fireball, and Flora Attack potion. While he was making his combat potions, he noticed that he could make them a lot faster than he could before. This made him very happy, it seems all that potion making in his previous life was working in his favor. As he started cleaning up the potion lab, he couldn''t help but wonder what was happening in Errinisworth, as he thought about checking the forum, a knock on the door interrupted him. "Drifting Cloud, Wandering Sound says that in an hour we will arrive at Laetus forest!" Melting Snow shouted through the door. Walking over to the door, Xinya opened it, revealing Melting Snow who had his hand half raised as to knock once again, "Only an hour, then let''s go make that fancy dessert." "Okay!!" Melting Snow replied, already bouncing over to the kitchen. As the party sailed to Laetus forest with no worries, they were oblivious to what was occurring in Errinisworth at this very moment. If they knew, they would be shocked to see the changes the monster horde has wrought, since the last time they were there. Chapter 122: Battle Interlude Death scorches the air, he could smell the stench of it all around him, the horrid aroma of blood and charred flesh. Everywhere he looked bodies of NPCs were scattered all over the place, the carcasses of men, women, and children were lying bleeding, littering the ground. Screams of the living, echoed around him as if they were on an endless loop. The harshness of the sound was painful to hear. From where he stood he could see players trying to save NPCs, while simultaneously trying to fight the incoming monsters. With most of them failing, leaving the NPC to be torn apart. If he had known that it would be like this he would have dialed back the realistic setting on his interface. The only thing that was keeping him sane while he looked at this bloody scene, was knowing that this wasn''t real, that these people were only computer-generated. "Nascent Soul! Are you alright?" Xafnir asked. "I have been calling out to you for the last minute." "Yeah, man. I''m all right, it''s just¡­" Nascent Soul trailed off, gesturing to the multitude of dead bodies on the ground near him." Rolling his eyes, Xafnir said, "I told you when we were leaving to turn your realistic settings down. I bet you listen to me next time." "Whatever. What is the status of the NPCs we saved earlier?" Nascent Soul asked. "They are fine, all 200 of them had been escorted to safety. Our party is now at the top of the ranking boards, with how many NPCs we saved so far." Xafnir replied. Smirking, Nascent Soul said, "Good, once we win this event, let''s see if those other guilds will keep looking down on us." "Soul, even if our save ranking is high, our party''s monster kill ranking is extremely low," Xafnir told him. "It won''t be that way for long." Nascent Soul says as he takes out his disguised weapon. "Tell the elites, that its time to play." "You know how they are, they will destroy this town," Xafnir said. Glancing at the burning, and half-destroyed buildings, Nascent Soul just shrugged his shoulders, "Look around, how can they hurt this town any more than it already is." "Your right, I will call them right over," Xafnir said, staring at Nascent Soul who was ready for action. "You be safe out there, it would be embarrassing if our guild leader was to die." "Don''t worry about me, if I die I''m taking 20 monsters with me." Nascent Soul said as he summoned ghostly wings on his back, and began flying towards the nearest and most powerful monster. Xafnir just shook his head as he watched his friend fly away, he kind of wishes he chose the Soul Weaver class also, if only for those cool looking wings. Sighing, at the missed opportunity he began calling their guild''s elites. ~ Back on the houseboat "Drifting Cloud, what are you going to make for me?" Melting Snow asked while leaning against one of the counters in the kitchen. Looking at his collected recipes, Xinya said, "Let me see." Xinya looked through his recipes, checking to see which one would take the least amount of time to make, but would also be helpful when they are in the treasure dungeon. After looking at many different ones, he found the perfect recipe to make. Puff Pastry Fruit Pizza: it looks like a fancy dessert that would be perfect for an elegant party, but it''s super easy to make! *For four hours, it will give: Mana +50 HP+50 Str+ 21 Sta+50. This dessert would boost the stats, that everyone in the party needed to use, and with it being only a 3-star dish, it would be extremely easy for Xinya to make. Besides that, Xinya knew that Melting Snow would enjoy eating it. "I decided, I''m going to make a puff pastry fruit pizza," Xinya said. Melting Snow''s eyes begin to sparkle as he said, "That sounds delicious, I can''t wait to eat it." Taking out the ingredients he would need, Xinya started preparing to start making the dish. After he had all the equipment and ingredients prepared to make the dessert laid out on the counter, he began to cook. First, Xinya went over and preheated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, he took out a baking sheet and lined it with some parchment paper. Placing the baking sheet to one side he grabbed a bowl and placed some strawberries that he cut up inside of it, he sprinkled some sugar on top of them, after giving them a stir he set the bowl aside. "Do you need any help?" Melting Snow asked as he watched Xinya cook. Shaking his head, Xinya said, "Not right now, how about you snack on these leftover strawberries while you watch me." "Okay," Melting Snow replied, while happily taking the leftover fruit over to a table to munch on. Getting back to work, Xinya layout some puff pastry dough on a cutting board so that it was in one flat piece. Using a sharp knife, he cut the dough into four equal squares. After that he used the same knife to cut into the dough and run the knife down each side of the dough square until he was about 1/4-inch away from the edge of the dough, he repeated this on all four sides. When he was done, he had a 1/4-inch square frame around the dough. Using a fork, he repeatedly pierces the center of the dough, inside the frame. Xinya than repeated this with the remaining dough squares, before transferring the dough to his prepared baking sheet. Putting it in the oven, he set the timer for 15 minutes, while the pastry was baking, Xinya started preparing the cheese filling. Getting a medium mixing bowl, he began mixing cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until it was smooth. While adding 2 tablespoons of milk to thin out the filling a little to his desired consistency, before setting it aside. While he was doing that, 15 minutes passed and his timer dinged. Taking the pastries out of the oven, he transfers them to a serving platter. Putting the filling into a pastry bag, he proceeded to place 1/4 of the filling in the center of each pastry. He then used the back of a spoon to spread out the filling until he reached the edge of the inner square. After he finished doing that, he began layering the 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries on top of each pastry so they look pretty. To finish them off he sprinkled the tops of the strawberries with powdered sugar. Once the sugar was on each of the pastries a ding sounded: [Puff Pastry Fruit Pizza has been completed!!] [Puff Pastry Fruit Pizza evaluation: Taste 4 stars/ Quality 3.5 stars/ Presentation 4.5 stars!] Seeing the Xinya was done, cooking, Melting Snow looked at the pastries with hunger, "They look delicious, I can''t wait to taste it." "Well you will have to," Xinya said, amused by the naked want on Melting Snow''s face. "We can only eat this before we go inside the dungeon." "Eh?! I''m going to go ask Wandering Sound, how much time we have before we arrive." Melting Snow said, running out the kitchen as Xinya put the dessert into his inventory. Chapter 123: Laetus Forest Swallowing back his laughter, Xinya watched as Melting Snow rushes out of the kitchen, his white fluffy tail wagging behind him as he left. Biting his lip, to keep from smiling at the adorable sight, Xinya began to tidy up the kitchen. The process was quite fast unlike when he does it in real life, all he had to do was wipe down everything with the game''s kitchen cloth and in a matter of seconds, all the dirt and grime around him faded away. Before he knew it the kitchen looked sparkly clean like it was completely new. Putting down the green cloth, Xinya left the kitchen, preparing to go find Melting Snow and the rest of his party. Seeing that they weren''t inside the houseboat, he went out onto the deck, only to be hit by a passing breeze of saltwater that was in the air. Walking over to the railing of the ship, Xinya looked down to see a couple of large pinkish fish with purple specks, playfully swimming around in the beautiful clear water. How he wished he had time to relax and go fishing, he bet that he would catch some very unique fish. While Xinya was in the midst of staring at the interesting looking fish, that was swimming below, he heard the pitter-patter of feet coming towards him. Xinya turned away from the water to see who was approaching, only to catch sight of Melting Snow running up to him as Wei and Wandering Sound followed behind. "Drifting Cloud, guess what?!" Melting Snow asked when he was in front of him. "Wandering Sound says that we are about to arrive." Xinya looked over Melting Snow''s head to Wandering Sound, seeing the man nod in agreement, Xinya said, "I guess it''s time to begin our treasure hunt than." ~ Walking into Laetus forest was like walking into another type of game, or so Xinya thought. It was completely different from the other forests that Xinya been inside. For one thing, it didn''t look like a normal forest, but something that came out of a four-year-old''s imagination. The forest was a hodgepodge of enormous, radiant, and brightly colored fir trees. Coiling glowing plants, were wrapped around many of the trees, thus lightening up the space and a variety of flowers, which glittery shined were found hanging on different parts of each tree-like ornaments, it was like something out of a fairytale. The colors of the trees are what most stood out to Xinya, with them being a very dazzling shade of canary yellow, bubblegum pink, and sky blue. These three colors were spread across the forest as far as his eye could see. The vividness of the colors of the trees was difficult for Xinya to stomach. "My eyes!!" Melting Snow said he felt blinded by how horrendously bright the forest was. "How could the devs make something like this." "What''s wrong with it, I think it''s very pretty," Wei said, looking around in awe, at the beautiful looking trees. Rolling his eyes at her, Melting Snow said, "Of course you would think so." "What are you trying to say?" Wei asked, defensively. "Nothing, nothing." Melting Snow said, holding up his hands in surrender. He knew better than to start an argument with a girl. That would be more trouble than it was worth. "He''s saying that this place looks like a unicorn ate a rainbow and threw it up on this forest." Xinya honestly told her. Melting Snow looked at Xinya in awe, wondering how he knew what he was thinking, while Wandering Sound silently agreed from behind Wei''s back. Xinya, on the other hand, was worried about Wei''s eyesight and was considering taking her to get them checked. "Come on, individually these colors are really pretty," Wei said, trying to get him to agree with her. "The keyword is individual," Xinya said while looking at her. "If you ever buy something for our apartment, please run it by me first." Wandering Sound snorted once Xinya said that, causing Wei to elbow him in the side. Melting Snow didn''t care at all and just started laughing full out. Wei was a little miffed at the three guys, she will get them to see the brilliance of this color scheme one day. "So, which way do we go from here?" Wandering Sound asked Xinya. Opening his interface, Xinya opened his world map, after adjusting it so it showed Laetus forest, he went to the map settings and connected the treasure map. After it was connected, all Xinya had to do was follow the path that would lead him and party to the treasure dungeon. "Follow me," Xinya tells them, before following the map, that would lead them through the eastern part of the forest. "Do you think we should take our weapons out, just in case?" Wei asked while looking around. Glancing back at Wei, Melting Snow asked, "You didn''t have them out already?" "Well, with the monster''s all going over to Errinisworth to attack it, I wasn''t sure they are needed right now," she explained. "I think the monster''s that are attacking Errinishworth aren''t from the surrounding forests," Xinya told her. "It is best if you had your guns out and ready." "I''m still trying to imagine what type of monsters, would be living in this forest," Wandering Sound said. Tilting his head to the side, Melting Snow said, "Me too! What do you think they would look like Drifting Cloud?" "I have no idea, but from looking at the map, it seems that we are about to find out. Well if you want, we could also just steer clear of them." Xinya said. "I want to see how the monster looks, but I don''t think we should waste any time trying to fight it." Wandering Sound said. Wei and Melting Snow also agreed with his statement, they felt that it would just prolong their journey to the dungeon. Seeing that everyone agreed with Wandering Sound, Xinya said, "That''s fine, I can get us close to the monster without aggroing it." ~ As they walked further into the woods they could see the monster that Xinya was talking about. The appearance it had was just as weird and brightly colored as the forest it lived in. The monster was a neon green caterpillar, with the head of a hamster and instead of legs, it had ten tiny orange wheels connected to it. "Wow," Was all Melting Snow could say as he looked at it. He thought he had already seen a lot of weird stuff in this game, Drifting Cloud fighting with giant cutlery to name one, but this takes the actual cake. Everyone besides Melting Snow was at a loss for words, this monster felt like it was something out of a mad man''s fevered dream. Xinya took a picture of it, so he would have proof if someone ever asks him about the craziest looking monster in the game. Melting Snow must have the same idea, because he said, "I''m going to send a picture of that monster to my cousin. I bet he gets a kick out of it." "I bet he would," Xinya said while looking at the sky, "We should hurry and find the dungeon before it gets dark. We can set up camp by it, and go inside when it''s daylight." The rest of the party gave a sign of agreement, before once again continuing their journey through Laetus forest. Chapter 124: Dungeon Found The deeper the group traveled into Laetus forest, the stranger the scenery around them became. The brightly colored fir trees from before, became sparse, replaced by giant orange flowers that were taller than everyone in the group put together. These flowers glittered and shone like they were disco balls. Although they looked out of place in this wacky forest, Xinya felt that they were a vast improvement over the fir trees. Basically anything would be in his opinion. It wasn''t just the scenery that changed, the monsters did too. Xinya couldn''t believe that there could be stranger monsters than that caterpillar-hamster hybrid they saw earlier. To his disbelief, there were, as he walked he saw that the monsters became more peculiar-looking than even he could have expected. Xinya couldn''t even start describing how they looked if someone asked him to describe the monsters he seen in the Laetus Forest, he would say that they ranged from something out of a Dr. Seuss nightmare to a Tim Burton''s wet dream. All in all, Xinya was very impressed by the monster designs of this forest. If he had to make a guess as to why this forest was so out of the norm, he would presume that it was the production team did. He figured they asked the designers to think outside the box as they were making this place, and out of spite, because of their meddling they decided to just throw the whole box away. Xinya smile at that thought of the designers getting so pissed at the production team and decided to do whatever. ''They probably just got drunk while they were making this place, and when they saw what they had done, they decided to roll with it.'' He thought to himself, amused. "This place is simply amazing, It''s like we are on another planet." Xinya heard Melting Snow mummer next to him. He couldn''t help but agree silently. "Who would want to live on a planet like this," Xinya asked, turning to look at him. Smirking, Melting Snow cocked his head towards the only female in their group, "Roaming Wind would love living here." "I bet she would," Xinya said, laughing slightly. Hearing the sound of Xinya''s laughter, Wei turned her head to look at him. What she saw brought a small smile to her face. She loved how much Xinya was enjoying playing this game. He was more carefree now than he ever been in the past. She was glad he found a friend that could bring out that childish side of his. Although she was glad that he was happy, she was also a tad envious of Melting Snow, for being able to get Xinya to smile like that. She knows she makes him happy too, but she feels like he is always taking care of her when they should be taking care of each other. Inside the game and outside of it, Xinya has been helping her in some sort of fashion. Even when he was trapped in that house with that ''woman'', he inadvertently helped her by not trying to contact. If he did, she knew his stepmother would have made trouble for her and her mom. Although she appreciates his help, she feels useless. She had previously talked to Wandering Sound about how she was feeling, and he told her that maybe she was subconsciously relying on Drifting Cloud and she needed to experience the game on her own. She thought about what Wandering Sound told her really hard and realized that it was the truth. After they finish with this dungeon, she will sit down and talk to Xinya about parting ways and go with Wandering Sound to gain experience on her own. Once she was stronger and could match up to Xinya, is when she would rejoin him. As if sensing that she was thinking about him, Xinya turned to look at her. Giving him a bright smile she asked, "What are you two laughing about over there?" "Nothing at all," Melting Snow quickly said. "Isn''t that right Drifting Cloud." "If you say so," Xinya said laughing at how silly the boy was being. He wondered if Melting Snow was really scared of Roaming Wind. Cocking her eyebrow at the two of them, she said, "Sure, have your little secrets." Wandering Sound who was walking a little behind the three, smiled at the interaction between them. He could tell that Roaming Wind was a little jealous of how close Melting Snow was to Drifting Cloud. He saw the signs all the way back in Errinishworth. He wouldn''t tell her this, but he found it really cute. The way she was acting was similar to how a child acts when they get a new sibling and have to share their parents'' attention. Walking to her side, Wandering Sound nudged her, before giving her a knowing smile. ~ Xinya watched Wei and Wandering Sound playfully poke each other for a minute, before turning back towards his map. It looked as though they were close to where the dungeon was located. Only a couple more miles and they would be there. They continued walking for quite a while, the brightly colored fir trees made a second appearance, this time they were densely packed together than before. Which made it more difficult to walk through, without aggroing the monsters within them. Just as Xinya was about to check the map once more he heard Melting Snow gasp. Turning to see what was wrong, he saw that Melting Snow was looking at something in the distance. Xinya looked in the direction he was facing and saw an amazing sight. There was a tall purple tree that stood above the rest, it was pulsating slightly with a yellow glow and fluttering all around it was the largest butterflies that he had ever seen. "That''s where we need to go," Xinya told everyone, while still looking at the beautiful looking tree. With a bright smile, Melting Snow said, "Then let''s go! What are we waiting for." Melting Snow took off running before Xinya could even speak, dumbfounded he turned and looked at Wandering Sound and Wei as if to say, ''What am I going to do with that kid.'' Wei just gave a small shrug, before rushing off also. Laughing at her antics, Xinya and Wandering Sound followed behind. They ran through the forest quickly, making sure to bypass any monsters they saw on the way until they made it to a clearing. The clearing was huge, and in the center of it, stood the purple tree in all of its magnificence. Now that they were closer, Xinya could see why the tree was larger than the others, It was growing on top of something. "It''s a temple," Wei said as they got nearer to the tree. Xinya could see that Wei was right it was a temple of some kind, a ruined one at that. He could tell, even in its ruined state that at one point the temple was very beautiful. Even with a large tree growing over it, he still thought it was lovely, but in a different way. "I found the entrance!" Melting Snow yelled from the other side of the tree. Going over to where he was, Xinya saw that Melting Snow did find the entrance. There was a dark opening hidden in between the giant roots of the tree. It was completely dark inside the opening, and Xinya had a feeling that his glow flowers would come in handy, while they were in the dungeon. Giving him a pat on the head, he said, "Good Job, let''s set up camp here for the night and go inside the dungeon in the morning." "Alright, I''ll go get some firewood." Melting Snow said, before rushing off. Wandering Sound had already started building the fire pit, while they were talking. As Xinya was about to go over to help him, he was stopped by Wei. "Drifting Cloud, I saw a small pond over on the other side of the temple, do you need to soak your feet?" Wei asked. Looking at his interface, Xinya realized that he should go soak his feet, his bar was very low. "Thank you for reminding me." "No problem, you go soak your feet, I will help finish setting up the camp. Afterward, maybe we can fish together." Wei said. "That would be great," Xinya told her, walking in the direction of the pond. As she watched him go, Wei gave a small smile, before turning to help Wandering Sound set up camp. Chapter 125: Intermission As Xinya begin to walk to the pond, the sky begins to darken, the orange glow that was left of sunset had already faded into blackness. Pausing midstep, he was about to bring a glow flower out from his inventory, when the fir trees around him began to glow brightly. Each of the different flowers that were growing on the fir trees lit up, lightening up the clearing with their lovely white light. Xinya gasped at the sight around him, to him it looked as if there were thousands of Christmas trees surrounding him. The beauty of the environment left him speechless, he couldn''t believe how those blindly ugly trees could become so beautiful at night. Although he could still see their color, because of the darkness they became dull, making the color more bearable to the eye. Taking a quick picture of the wooded area, Xinya continued walking to the pond, while glancing at the trees now and then. Along the way, he began thinking about what could be inside the treasure dungeon. With all of the weird sights, he had seen today, he wouldn''t put it past the creators if the design for the dungeon is some convoluted mess. He was sort of expecting it to be very nonsensical an extremely difficult. He hoped that it wasn''t like that since this was a low tier dungeon. Although, even though this dungeon was low tier it did have a gold chain symbol. Chain dungeons should be harder than normal ones because they would lead to higher rewards. Deciding to not worry about it right now, he quickened his pace to the pond. Once he arrived, he almost laughed at the sight before him. It seemed that even a pond wasn''t normal in this forest. Instead of the normal blue water that most bodies of water had, the pond was the color of razzmatazz, with glittery gamboge specks on top of it. Bemused, he just shook his head at the sight in front of him, before taking a seat at the edge of the pond. Rolling up the pants of his armor, he submerged his feet in the bright pink water. Knowing that he would be here for a while he took out his fishing pole from his inventory. Setting it to the side, he opened his interface to change his title, when he realized he still hadn''t updated his stats yet. He had amassed a total of 8 points that he needed to use. While looking at his stats, he thought long and hard about where he should put them. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Saviors of Baldahurh Forest HP: 325/325 (+15) Level: 23 MP: 275/275 (+15) EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina: 275/275(+15) Skill points: 25 Str: 19 (+15) Dex: 27(+15) Int: 19 (+15) Luck: 26 (+15) Coins: 6 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 8 Knowing that he put all his points into HP last time, he decided to put one point towards it this time. He would give MP two points along with Stamina and for the rest, he would put it in Dex. Once he was finished setting his stats, he changed his title to Fisherman''s Recognition which gave him a five percent fishing bonus and an extra two percent chance of catching an item. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 320/320 Level: 23 MP: 280/280 EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina: 280/280 Skill points: 25 Str: 4 Dex: 15 Int: 4 Luck: 11 Coins: 6 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 Picking up his fishing rod, Xinya threw his line into the water and began to fish. As he fished, he could hear snippets of conversation and quiet laughter coming from the campsite. Turning around slightly, he could see that Wei and Wandering Sound were huddled together talking about something. A small graced his face, he knew that it was unlikely that Wei would want to join him now. He wasn''t upset by it, she was in the midst of a budding romance, of course, she would want to spend time with her crush. Giving one last look at the two of them, he turned away and continued fishing. With his full concentration back on the water, he didn''t even realize that someone was standing next to him until Melting Snow sat down next to him. Startled by his presence, Xinya almost dropped his fishing pole to the ground. "Did I scare you?" Melting Snow asked with a smirk. Shaking his head, Xinya said, "No, I wasn''t scared, just mildly startled." "Sure, startled." Melting Snow said, laughing. "So did you catch anything yet?" "Not yet, I just started fishing only a couple of minutes ago," Xinya explained. Taking out a black fishing rod, Melting Snow plopped it into the water, "Well, I''m going to join you. Who knows what kinds of weird fish we could find in this pond." "Although they might look weird, they could taste good," Xinya said. "Like a pig fish." Stated Melting Snow. Tilting his head to the side, Xinya pursed his lips, "A pig fish? What''s that?" "It''s a half pig and half fish and it tastes like pork." Melting Snow explained. Xinya never heard of that type of fish in this game before, but then again he wasn''t an expert on the different types of fish in Haven Online, so he doesn''t know if Melting Snow was making it up or not. "Who told you that there was a pigfish?" "Nobody told me about it, I just made it up," Melting Snow said while looking at Xinya as if he should have already known that. "But with how strange this forest is, who can say if it''s true or not. I might even catch one." Xinya started to laugh loudly at Melting Snow''s words, the imagination of the boy was something else. Playfully, Xinya bumped his shoulder against Melting Snow before going back to focusing on his fishing. "The trees, sure look beautiful now." Melting Snow said while gazing at them in child-like wonder. Smiling softly at him, Xinya said, "They sure are." In complete silence they sat there together at the edge of the pond, staring at the lovely glittering white lights of the flowers as they fished. No words needed to be spoken as they enjoyed the ambience and each other''s company. ~ "Are you sure you want to separate from Drifting Cloud?" Wandering Sound asked. He had already asked this question multiple times, but he wanted to make sure that she knew what she was doing." Sighing in exasperation, Wei said, "Yes, we talked about this before. Why do you keep asking me the same thing?" "I just want to make sure you know what your doing," Wandering Sound explained to her calmly. "I know that you feel that you''re depending too much on Drifting Cloud, but you got to remember that you''re still new to this game." "Yes, I am new, but so is he. We both just started, but if you compare him to me, he is more self-reliant." Wei told him sadly. Wandering Sound understood where Roaming Wind was coming from, all their successes came from following him. Even this treasure dungeon was something that Drifting Cloud found and decided that it would be a good experience for Roaming Wind since she is a treasure hunter. Although he was leaning towards Roaming Wind''s way of thinking, because she did need to try to make it in this game on her own, he was hesitant. Wandering Sound knew that there was no way Drifting Cloud would let Roaming Wind go off with him unless he told her who he was. He didn''t think he was ready to do that yet. "Well before you decide on anything, it would be best to talk to Drifting Cloud about this first." Wandering Sound told her. He hoped that Drifting Cloud would set her straight, and they could revisit this idea later. "I will," Wei said, glancing over to the pond when she heard Xinya''s laughter. "The next time we log out, I will talk with him." Chapter 126: Entering the Dungeon As the group dawdled around the clearing, the night sky began to fade into the greyish blue of morning. All around them the flowers of the fir trees, which gave them their light source during the evening, started to dim. Once again, the brightly colored trees were out on display, much to the disappointment of Xinya. He sighed at the unbearable sight, before checking to see if his water bar was full. When he saw that it was he was glad, since he wouldn''t have to worry about it for quite a while. "This sucks, why haven''t we caught any fish?" Melting Snow asked, pouting at the empty bucket next to him. "I think that our fishing skill is too low for this pond," Xinya started. "Plus you didn''t even use any bait." Slapped himself on the forehead, Melting Snow yelled, "What...why didn''t you tell me?!" "I thought you were trying something new," Xinya told him why laughing. "You did try to catch fish with your hands once upon a time." "Well, I still think I could have caught some that way. But now we will never know since you made me use a fishing pole." Melting Snow said while sticking his tongue out at him. Snickering, Xinya put his fishing supplies away, before getting up off of the ground. The day had finally come, and it was time to explore the treasure dungeon. Opening his interface he made sure that his title was changed back to Saviors of Baldahurh Forest, before turning to look at Melting Snow. "What are you still sitting there for? It''s time to go inside the dungeon." Xinya said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Melting Snow''s face transformed entirely. His pout had completely disappeared and all that was left was a large toothy smile. After putting away his fishing rod, Melting Snow bounced up from the spot where was sitting, and started to quickly walk over to the other two members of their group. "Come on, Drifting Cloud! The faster we help them take down the campsite, the faster we can explore the dungeon." Melting Snow said as he walked towards Wei and Wandering Sound, who had already started to clean up the fire pit. While smiling softly to himself, Xinya stretched his arms above his head before following after Melting Snow at a slower pace. By the time he made it over to the rest of his group, everything was already cleared up. Xinya had to admit, he liked how that worked out for him. "Is everyone set to go into the dungeon?" Xinya asked them all. "I am," Wei said. "My Hp is full, I upgraded my skills, and I have the potions you gave me in an easy to grab place, in my inventory." Wandering Sound nodded his head in agreement, "I''m all set too." "What about you, Melting Snow are you ready?" Xinya asked after he didn''t reply. "I was born ready." Melting Snow said smiling gleefully. "I always wanted to say that." The whole group started to chuckle, at how cute Melting Snow was. Once there laughter died Xinya begin to lead them to the dungeon entrance. As he was walking he remembered something and stopped dead in his tracks, and turning back around towards the group. "Roaming Wind, did you put some extra potions in your pouch?" Xinya asked. "You know just in case something happens like it did in the Baldahurh forest." "Oh!," Wei exclaimed, taking some potions out of inventory to put them into the pouch that was hanging from her hip. "I forgot all about that." Xinya just nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders," It''s fine, I had already put a couple of stacks in my combat potion slot bar. I just wanted us to be prepared in case we get split up." As Wei watched Xinya turn away from her and continued to walk towards the dungeon entrance her face crumbled slightly, feeling useless. She threw a glance at Wandering Sound, which allowed him to see her expression. Going over to her he gave her a quick side hug to cheer her up, seeing her smile he nudged her to continue walking. He didn''t understand what upset her though, from his point of view it was something that should have been asked. If they were adventuring on their own he would also ask her the same question. ~ Once they were at the entrance of the dungeon, Xinya took out four glow flowers from his inventory. After handing one to everyone in the group, he proceeded to wrap the stem of the glow flower around his neck. Melting Snow, on the other hand, made his glow flower into a headband, while Wei and Wandering Sound wrapped theirs around their arms. Once everyone had their glow flower equipt, they climbed through the thick tree roots and inside the dark hole that was the dungeon entrance. Once he was completely inside, his first impression was of the darkness, it was as if sunlight never existed in this place before. Even the glow flowers could barely pierce the darkness that he was in. This was the complete opposite of his expectations. Instead of the crazy and colorful atmosphere he imagined, this place was dark, deary, and a bit alarming. With what little Xinya could see with the help of the glow light, they were in a small square room, with a large door with a distorted looking head on the far wall. What made him alarmed was that the walls looked and felt as if they were made up of stretched out flesh. "Is the wall made out of what I think its made out of?" Wei asked, shocked. Moving towards the wall to get a closer look, Xinya saw that the wall was indeed made out of skin. It wasn''t old dried out flesh either, but flesh that looked as though it was torn off someone''s body just this very day. Creeped out by this place, he said, "Let''s just go inside the actual dungeon." "Yeah, let''s." Melting Snow said, ready and waiting. Xinya and his group carefully walked across the hard floor to the eerie door that was on the opposite side of the room. They made sure to take their time in case there were any hidden traps, dying before even starting would be very embarrassing. Once they made it to the door, they could see the head attached to it in more detail. They were taken aback about how grotesque it looked. Its appearance was somewhat reptilian with it had large ears, a snout full of fanged teeth, and a stubby nose. Since the head was facing downwards, they couldn''t see every aspect of it. Trying to get a closer look moved a little closer towards it only for the head to suddenly lift and looked at them with piercing orange eyes. This startled the startled Xinya making him jump back. The squeak he heard from Wei, let him know that he wasn''t the only one affected by the movement. Xinya wondered if he had activated some sort of trap when the gremlin looking head began to speak in a croaky voice. The foolish four ventur''d within Seeketh''rs of death those gents has''t be Just glints of gold awaketh their sin And cousin shall turneth to foe, I see Dang''r awaits at ev''ry turn And what they seeketh remains unknown And gre''d shalt starteth to lurk within And once t''s out, just death is seen When the poem was complete the gnarled face looked at each one of them, it''s lips upturned in a malicious smile, "Do you still dareth to enter?" A notification popped up in front of everyone: [Would you like to enter Mormantul lordului nebun? Yes or No?] "The tomb of the mad lord," Xinya whispered, translating the dungeon''s name. " Well, this will be fun." Read author note: Chapter 127: Mormantul Lordului Nebun "Yes, we dare to enter," Xinya told the grotesque-looking head, as he pressed yes on the notification. Giving the group a vile smirk the distorted head snidely said, "As you wish." As those words left its mouth the room began to shake and all around them torturous screams could be heard. The head started to laugh maniacally, amused by the pain it caused as it opens the dungeon''s door. As the door slowly inched open a tearing sound could be heard echoing all around the room. Xinya looked every which way to see where the tearing sound was coming from when he noticed that it was the walls. The stretched out skin that made up the wall had begun ripping and small drops of blood had begun to seep through in between the tears. The more the door opened, the louder the screams became, terrible, painful screams that sounded as if they were snatched from someone''s soul. Xinya could only barely withstand the sound, it took everything in him not to just cover his ears with his hands. Looking around he could see that Wei and Wandering Sound was managing quite well also, the only one he was worried about was Melting Snow. He looked very shaken, he had buried himself into Xinya''s side, covering his ears with his hands. Xinya knew he was scared, and tried to comfort him the best he could. This was why younger children needed to play this game with their guardians. Some things in this game weren''t suitable for children under a certain age. No matter how mature they seem to be. The constant screaming lasted for what seemed like an eternity before the door was completely opened. The light that shone through the door lit up the room and Xinya could finally see it in its entirety. What he saw almost made Xinya throw up a little in his mouth, even though it was impossible since this was a game. The sights around him were horrifying. The walls seemed alive, pulsating, and in a state of disrepair. Some parts were beginning to form huge scabs while others looked infected. Pus oozed out, slowing trickling down the walls in various shades of yellow. Making sure that Melting Snow''s eyes were covered he rushed them through the open door. He knew that Melting Snow might already be desensitized to most things, but Xinya thought it is best to spare him from witnessing that. Wandering Sound and Wei must have had the same idea because they quickly rushed inside as well. Immediately after the whole group was inside the dungeon, the door behind them slammed shut and a notification popped up before them. [You have entered Mormantul lordului nebun dungeon! You won''t be able to leave this dungeon until it''s complete or you die!] "Wow look at this place," Melting Snow said, finally escaping from Xinya''s side. Xinya had to admit, as he looked around at his surroundings, that this would be a place where he could imagine treasure being hidden. The dungeon itself seemed to be underground, the rocky ceiling above him could be a testament to that. There were very old fashioned lanterns hanging from the walls, giving them that much-needed light, while the walls themselves were made up of dried out body parts of different corpses. They were packed together as if they were bricks. Xinya looked over to Melting Snow to see if he was alright, but it seemed as if his concern was for naught. Melting Snow was curiously poking at the corpses like they were nothing. His mouth dropped open at the scene, and disbelief crossed his features. ''He is scared of the dark, and loud noises frighten him, but dead bodies get no reaction.'' Xinya thought to himself as he watched Melting Snow stick his finger into one of the corpse''s empty eye sockets. "It seems to be just one long corridor," Wei said. She was straining her eyes from where she stood to see if the long hallway led somewhere. "I don''t think so," Wandering sound told her. "You know how dungeons are, it won''t be that easy. Pulling Melting Snow away from the dead bodies, Xinya said, "Why are we speculating, let''s just go and see for ourselves. Nodding in agreement, the four of them started to walk down the long body filled corridor. They walked slowly and carefully, eyes peeled for any sort of traps. Wei had her guns drawn, Wandering Sound flute was to his lips and Melting Snow was grasping his swords tightly. Overall the walk thus far was quite easy and no problems occurred, they soon realized why it was that way after a couple of minutes. The corridor led to an unbelievably large maze, and as they stepped inside of it a notification appeared. [You have entered room 1/1 of Mormantul lordului nebun dungeon! ] "It had to be a maze." Sighed Xinya. He was terrible at mazes, he used to do virtual ones with his mother when she was still alive and he would get lost all the time, his mother had to lead him out every time. Wandering Sound laughed at Xinya''s expression, "Mazes aren''t so hard, all we have to do is keep our hand on the wall. Doing that will help us find the exit, without getting lost." "I don''t think it will be as easy as that," Melting Snow told him. "There could be all sorts of dangers lurking inside the maze. How are we going to fight if we got one hand on the wall the entire time?" "I hate to say it, but Melting Snow got a point," Wei said. "Only one of us needs to do it." Wandering Sound explained to her. Looking around at the group, Xinya realized that only he would be able to do it. Everyone else needed both of their hands for their weapons, and he didn''t, it was as simple as that. It didn''t mean he had to like it, the walls were made up of decayed bodies, who in their right mind would want to touch that, besides Melting Snow that is. Letting out a deep breath, Xinya said, "Since I''m the only one who can fight one-handed I guess it''s up to me." "Don''t worry Drifting Cloud, the bodies don''t feel squishy at all." Melting Snow said in comforting tone after seeing Xinya disgusted face at the prospect of touching the body wall. Xinya almost laughed at Melting Snow''s attempt at comforting him, placing his fingertips against the wall he said, "Alright let''s do this." As they began journeying through the maze, they were hyper-aware of their surroundings in front of them. They didn''t believe that this was just a simple maze, there had to be traps and monsters hidden within this place. What the group didn''t know was that as soon as they stepped into the maze a curse was activated. Ghastly black smoke seeped out one of the mouths of a body on the wall and made its way towards the group. It analyzed them as they walked through the maze, studying them on an internal level, searching for the mentally weakest in the group. At first, it had thought it would be the youngest, children always were the easiest to control, but it was wrong. It wasn''t the youngest, but the female. After locating its target, it took off faster than the eye it crept up upon the woman, hovering just behind her. Before the girl could even blink it moved quickly and went up inside her nostrils. Wei started coughing, which caused the group to stop walking and look back at her. "Are you alright Wei?" Xinya asked, wondering what could make her cough inside the game. Smiling slightly, she said, "Yeah I''m fine, I just remembered the room we came from earlier and it caused me to gagged a little." "Urg, don''t remind me." Xinya paled at the mention of the skin room from earlier. The group continued inside the maze, not noticing the crazed look that graced Wei face from time to time behind them. Chapter 128: Wei Madness "This wasn''t what I was expecting at all from a treasure dungeon," Melting Snow said as he walked next to Xinya. Cocking his head to look at him, Xinya asked, "What did you expect?" "Something more than this, I guess," Melting Snow begins. "I thought that there would be traps and monsters around every corner. We have been walking for 30 minutes and nothing exciting has happened at all." "Maybe the maze is the only challenge in this dungeon. I really wouldn''t mind that, we can finally have a nice and easy adventure." Wandering Sound said, smiling slightly. Shaking his head, Xinya said, "While I do wish that this would be an easy adventure, I sincerely doubt that we will be that lucky. Some kind of monster is bound to pop up." "I know," Wandering Sound sighed. "It was just wishful thinking." "I don''t know, Drifting Cloud. I think that Wandering Sound might be right." Melting Snow said. Rubbing Melting Snow''s head with his free hand, Xinya said, "Just because nothing exciting is happening now, doesn''t mean it won''t later." "Your right," Melting Snow said while nodding to himself, "I bet all we have to do is wait until we find the treasure, then the big bad to come out and attack us." "The big bad?" Wandering Sound asked Melting Snow with furrowed eyebrows. Smirking, Melting Snow said, "You know a boss monster, or if we are extremely lucky all of the bodies on the wall will come to life and attack us." "Tell me, how would thousands of bodies attacking us be lucky?," Wandering Sound asked, with his mouth gaped open. "Hmm... I have no clue," Melting Snow said while scratching his head. "But It would be the greatest experience I have ever had." The three men continued to talk happily together about random things as they walked not noticing how quiet Wei was being. If they did then they would have realized that something was very wrong with her. She may have appeared normal on the surface as she continued to walk behind the group, but in reality, her mind was a complete mess. Thoughts that wasn''t her own kept swirling around her brain, these thoughts were horrifying and slowly eating her up from the inside. She wanted to talk to Xinya and tell him that something wasn''t right, but every time she tried it was as if her words would get caught in her throat. No, it was more than that, to her it felt like something had invaded her mind and was messing with her. Every time she tried to fight whatever was trying to take control of her, the thoughts in her head became louder. So loud that it drowned out every rational thought that she had. Like a broken record player these thoughts kept repeating themselves over and over again. She started to succumb and started to think that maybe there was some credence to these thoughts. How she not when they made perfect sense to her. They think you are worthless. You can''t do anything on your own. You are always causing problems for others. They don''t need you. They are planning to get rid of you soon. They plan to kill you and keep the treasure for themselves. Wei began to mouth these words repeatedly to herself, the more she did it the more her outlook changed. Soon the thoughts changed, becoming even more horrible until her mind felt as if it wasn''t her own anymore. Everything around her became so jumbled, it got to the point where being near the others made her feel weary. The light conversation that was going on around her became distorted when it reached her ears, taking on a sinister tone. Paranoia was starting to set in, slowly distorting every last bit of her reason. Everything that was once clear to her only a few minutes ago, became cloudy. All trust she had for her friends disappeared up in smoke and the only thing that prominent in her mind was that they were out to get her. ''I won''t let that happen,'' she thought to herself, gripping the butt of her guns more tightly. She would be ready for them, she would show them that she didn''t need them and then once they were dead, she would take the treasure for herself. ~ "I just remembered! You never gave me my fancy dessert."Melting Snow exclaimed stopping right in his tracks. "Your right," gasped Xinya, stopping right next to Melting Snow. "Do you want to eat it now as we walk?" Licking his lips, Melting Snow said, "Can I really?" "Sure, the dessert I made for you doesn''t need a plate, so we can eat it as we walk," Xinya said, already taking the puff pastry fruit pizza out of his inventory. "They look delicious," Wandering Sound said, moving closer to the two. Seeing how eager Wandering Sound was to have one of his desserts made him laugh a little. After Xinya handed one of the puff pizza pastries to Melting Snow he took out one for himself, before handing the box to Wandering Snow. "Make sure to share it with Roaming Wind," Xinya said as he took a bite of pastry. Xinya did notice how quiet she had been on the walk through the maze and wondered if she felt left out because of all the guy talk. Once they log out he will make it up to her, maybe they could watch a movie together and rate all the cute boys in it. When he had first moved in with her they spent the entire second night of his stay doing just that. He found it quite amusing, especially since Wei would make up strange criteria for the men to have. Coming out of his musings he finished his last bite of the puff pastry pizza and saw a notification pop up: [Puff pastry fruit pizza buff has been activated, for four hours you will have: Mana +50 HP+50 Str+ 21 Sta+50] Closing the notification he saw that Melting Snow was looking at him with a pout on his face. Seeing that Melting Snow had already finished his pastry, Xinya realized that he had probably wanted some of his. Smiling at the boy, he was going to tell him that he would make more for him later when he heard Wei''s yell. "You want to poison me, is that what you plan to do?!" Wei yelled accusingly at Wandering Sound, who now had Xinya''s pastry all over him. Confused, Xinya ran over to the two of them, "What is going on here?" "I know what you are trying to do! You think I''m worthless and want to get rid of me! You want to cut me out from having a part of the treasure!" She screamed half-crazed. "But I won''t allow that to happen." Before Xinya could get a word out to deny those accusations, Wei had her guns pointed at all of them. That''s when Xinya noticed that Wei''s eyes were completely red. Chapter 129: Aberration Once Xinya saw Wei''s eyes, he let out a gasp, taking a step back away from her he quickly opened up the party interface. Right away it was apparent that Wei was no longer herself. Usually, when he opens the party interface their player names is a light green color, but as he looked at Wei''s name, it was a dark red. The only beings in Haven Online with red-colored names are the monsters. Seeing as Wei was focused on Wandering Sound at the moment, he quickly checked to see how she became like this. Clicking on Wei''s name to enlarge her status bar, he looked at it to see if he could figure out what was wrong. Immediately after enlarging her status bar, he saw the problem. Right underneath her health and mana, there was a small square box with a red skull inside. Hurriedly he begins to read what it said, only to be shocked by the contents. He knew that this dungeon wouldn''t be easy. "Wandering Sound back away from Roaming Wind, she has been cursed!" Xinya said in party chat after disconnecting Wei from it. Turning his quickly to look at Xinya, Wandering Sound said, "What do you mean? What kind of curse?!" "She has been cursed with aberration," Xinya said, quickly sending the details of it to Wandering Sound and Melting Snow. Aberration: is a targeted curse that will afflict the most weak-minded player in a group. When the curse takes hold, it will amplify the player''s weakness to the extreme, breaking their minds. Once the curse is in full control, the player won''t be able to tell friend from foe and will try to kill all perceived threats. *This curse will last until everyone in the party is dead, the curse holder dies, or the curse is cured. "How did she get cursed?" Melting Snow asked confused. "We were next to her the entire time." Xinya had already asked himself the very same thing, and he still couldn''t understand how Wei got afflicted with this curse. As he continued to think about it he suddenly remembered the first verse from the poem the grotesque gremlin head spoke to them: The foolish four ventur''d within Seeketh''rs of death those gents has''t be Just glints of gold awaketh their sin And cousin shall turneth to foe, I see "Just the glint of gold will awaken their sin, and friend shall turn in to foe." whispering the line to himself, Xinya finally understood that it was a warning. He had a feeling that Wei got cursed as soon as they walked into the dungeon and nobody noticed. Xinya didn''t know what to do in this situation, he wanted to calm Wei down, but in the state, she was in, that wouldn''t be possible. The only thing he could do for her was to find the cure, and he had a hunch that it would be in the same place as the treasure. Wei began to wildly wave her pistols around at them, they were being too quiet for her liking. She had a strong feeling that they were talking through party chat. That way they could sneakily plan a way to take her out without her knowledge. They thought they were so clever, but she wasn''t as stupid as they thought she was. "I know that all of you are talking about me!" She screamed crazily at the three men. "I know what you want to do, but I will not let it happen." Wandering Sound tried to move closer to Wei but was stopped by her gun, "Roaming Wind, we aren''t going to do anything to you. Please put your guns down." "Do you think I''m stupid? I know what your plan is, as soon as I put my guns down you will try to kill me, isn''t that right?" Wei shouted at him completely deranged. As she looked at these people who she thought were her friends, their faces began to change right before her eyes. Their expressions transformed from what seemed like genuine concern until it became something very nefarious. She felt like they had finally revealed their true colors, she knew it was only a matter of time before they did. She began to laugh maniacally at the irony of it all, everything that she thought was actually true. A cold resolve came over her, she wouldn''t let them get their way, she wouldn''t let them kill her. All she needed to do was kill them first. [Player roaming wind has been fully taken over by the curse aberration! If you are attacked by the player Roaming Wind you won''t be able to heal! To find the cure, get to the center of the maze and dunk her in the spring of recovery!] As the notification appeared, Xinya couldn''t help but to cuss, not being able to heal would be troublesome. He didn''t want to kill Wei, he didn''t think he could do it, even if his life was on the line, so leading her to cure was the only option. He really hopes he will be able to do it before she kills one of them. Which was very likely since the madness had already taken hold of her. Even without the notification, he was quite certain that it did, because there was a terrible glint in her eyes, an unrecognizable look that he had never seen before on her, that''s when he knew that Wei had completely lost it. Noticing the murderous rage in her eyes Xinya tried to warn Wandering Sound, he could tell that something bad was about to happen, but he was too late. Before the words could even escape his mouth, Wei had both of her guns aimed at him. Using her best skill, Soul Shot, she fired at Wandering Sound''s body before he could even react. As Wandering Sound''s body flew back, Xinya regretfully threw a Floral Attack potion at Wei, binding her. Running over to the wall where Wandering Sound''s body fell, he asked, "Are you okay?" "Yeah," Wandering Sound said while struggling to get up. "Luckily, it seems that the damage of her skill isn''t as high when it''s directed at a player." Checking the party interface, Xinya saw that Wandering Sound was correct, his potion attack was only doing -5 damage on her. Relieved, Xinya threw another one at her to keep her bound longer. "What are we going to do?" Melting Snow asked a little upset. When he asked for excitement, he didn''t mean this kind. Turning towards him, Xinya said, "We are going to go and find the center of the maze, so we can find the spring that will cure Roaming Wind." "You want to leave her here all by herself?" Wandering Sound worriedly asked. "Do you think she will just stay here? Once she is free from her bindings, she will be coming after us." Xinya explained. "Let''s get going, so we will have a head start." Xinya putting his hand back on the wall, started to run, he was driven to find the center of the maze so that he could save Wei from the curse. He didn''t want this game to mess with her head more than it already has. As he ran, he didn''t notice Melting Snow running next to him, looking at him with a worried expression. While Xinya and Melting Snow running, trying to find their way through the maze, Wandering Sound gave the flower wrapped body of Roaming Wind a look of regret, promising himself that he wouldn''t let this happen again, he started running after his party members. Chapter 130: Melting Snow is Smart Trailing his fingertips lightly along the disgusting wall that was made out of bodies, Xinya ran through the intricate underground labyrinthine, with Wandering Sound and Melting Snow at his side. The trio of boys sped through the maze as fast as their legs could carry them in hopes of finding the center. Once they found it they could save Wei from the madness that overtook her. Although their determination is high, locating the center of this maze was a very tasking endeavor. The maze itself seemed endless to Xinya, and the two boys running alongside him. No matter how far they ran, there were always more paths to explore. Even though this maze was maddening, both literally and figuratively, Xinya wouldn''t give up. No matter how hard he had to search, he would find the spring that would cure Wei. A part of him felt as though it was his fault that this occurred anyway. He had known that there were psychological aspects to Haven Online, but he never thought in a million years that they would encounter this aspect of the game this soon. If his memory served him right about everything he watched pertaining to this game in his previous life. The only video he saw where players were attacked with psychological aspects was when he was watching higher-end players that were over level 150+ explore a hidden land covered in mist. Although he felt as if he should have warned everyone of the possibility, He wouldn''t blame himself for this. He might have had knowledge about things like this because of his previous life, but he had no way of knowing that it could happen in a low-level treasure dungeon. Even if it was a gold chain one. Shaking his head to clear it, he focused on the task at hand. No one was the blame for this, well maybe the devs for using psychological aspects in the game, but even so once he found the spring this would all be over. "How big do you think the maze is?" Wandering Sound asked as he tried to keep pace with Xinya and Melting Snow''s fast speed. Turning his head around to look back at him, Xinya said, "I have no idea, but my guess would be that it is huge." After running into another dead end, the trio started to backtrack, when they heard a loud rage-filled scream echoed throughout the maze. Xinya recognized that voice, it was Wei. It seemed that the duration of his floral attack potion must have ended, allowing her to be free. "She''s free," stated Melting Snow, looking every which way, as if she would pop out of thin air. "Yes, she is." Wandering Sound replied, "And she will be coming after us." Xinya was worried, if Wei really did kill one of them, it would affect her badly once her sanity is restored and she finds out what she did. He couldn''t let that happen. "Let''s hurry then, the longer we stand around the faster she will catch up to us." "Your right, let''s go." Wandering Sound said. As the trio backtracked through the maze they could hear Wei angry shouts getting nearer. This really made Xinya wish that maps were allowed in dungeons if they were he knew that it would be so much easier than just running around blindly like they were. That alone was probably the reason why they weren''t allowed, he had a feeling that the devs got off on making things more difficult for players. While he was longing for the use of his map, Xinya remembered something. He knew that when a player opens a map from inside of a dungeon, the map screen will show up as completely blank, except for the green dots that show the positions of each of the party members. Usually, that wouldn''t be helpful, but in this case, he could use it to see how close Wei was to them. Tapping the interface button, he clicked on the map function to open it. The map itself was completely greyed out, the only thing that Xinya could see on it was their positions and Wei''s. Who was getting closer to them as he looked. "We need to move carefully, Roaming Wind is gaining on us, so she could come from anywhere," Xinya told stopping suddenly in place. Stopping as well, Wandering Sound moved closer to him while asking, "How do you know?" "I checked the map out of curiosity, to see if it showed me anything. It does the members of our party and where they at." Xinya replied. At Drifting Cloud''s explanation, Wandering Sound had a sudden thought, "Is that how she is finding us so fast." "That''s the only reason I can think of that makes sense, unless the curse is guiding her towards us somehow," Xinya said. "Fuck!" Wandering Sound yelled, hitting the nearest wall with his fist. "What should we do?" "The same thing we have been doing, trying to find the center of this maze," Xinya said. As Wandering Sound and Xinya talked, they didn''t notice how Melting Snow was looking at the wall of bodies with a thoughtful expression. During their trek through the maze, he had noticed something weird with the hands of the corpses. When they were going the right way the hand would be open, but when they were going the wrong way the hands would be closed. He wasn''t sure that his assumption was correct at first, but after running into multiple dead ends, and seeing how the hands changed, he was completely sure that it meant something. Gasping at the realization of his discovery, Melting Snow ran over to Xinya, "Drifting Cloud I think I found the trick to the maze." "Really?!" Wandering Sound shouted before Xinya could even speak. "What is it?" "Yes! It''s¡­" Melting Snow said, explaining to the two of them what he saw happening with the hands on the wall. How they were open or close depending on which direction they went in. Going over to body wall, Xinya saw that the hands were open since they were heading away from the dead end, but to make sure he ran down the wrong way, and sure enough, the hands were closed. He couldn''t believe how smart Melting Snow was, if it had just been him in this maze, he would have never figured out this. Rushing back to the group, Xinya gave Melting Snow a big hug, before letting go and rubbing his head. "Your incredible Melting Snow, I would have never figured that out myself." "I told you, I was smart." Melting Snow said a bit bashfully. While they were celebrating the fact that they now had a way of getting to the center of the maze without any problems, they had a blind eye to the danger they were in. They didn''t notice it, but Wei was quickly coming upon them, while they weren''t looking. "I have finally found you!!" Wei yelled crazily, startling the trio from their celebration. "You won''t be able to escape from my clutches again." Laughing maniacally at the fact that they would be dead soon, Wei lifted her guns and pointed them straight at the three boys. They wouldn''t be able to betray her if they were corpses, was the last thing she thought before she began to fire her gun at them wildly. Chapter 131: Wandering Sound is a Fool "I have finally found you!!" Wei yelled crazily. "You won''t be able to escape from my clutches again." Separating quickly at the sound of her voice, the three boys turned around to see Wei standing there, driven by her madness, wildly waving her guns at them. With her red eyes and crazed expression, the trio was one hundred percent sure that this was no longer the Wei they knew. Xinya stood there frozen as he looked at Wei in this state, he had no idea how she had snuck upon them. The last time he had checked the map he had saw that she was close to them but it wasn''t that close to finding them this quick. He knew that it was their own fault for letting their guard down, but they were just so excited about finding the trick to this maze. Maybe his previous notion was correct, the curse could be leading her towards them. Glancing quickly at Melting Snow and Wandering Sound he saw that they already had their weapons in hand, prepared to fight. Although he felt reluctant to harm Wei, he knew it must be done so they could get to the center of the maze to cure her. Taking out another floral attack potion from his quick slot, he was prepared to throw it at her, but before he could even think about it, Wei began to shoot her guns at them. With her being controlled by madness, her aim was completely ruined. This gave Wandering Sound a chance to put up his shield, protecting Drifting Cloud and Melting Snow from the spray of bullets. Xinya wanted to bind Wei once more with his potion, but he knew if he moved from behind Wandering Sound he would get hit. Wandering Sound also realized that there was no way Drifting Cloud could get a throw-in, with how fast Roaming Wind was firing at them. He hoped that with the way that she was shooting that her stamina would run out before his mana did. He sincerely doubted that would happen, so Wandering Sound decided that he needed to do something drastic before his shield began to weaken. Not wanting to be riddled to death by bullets, Wandering Sound with his shield still up, rushed towards her as fast as he could. The closer he got to her, the more damage the light from his shield did. The light blinded her, causing her to stop firing her guns so she could cover her eyes. Her pained screams were light knives to Wandering Sound''s heart. "Don''t falter, keep attacking!" Xinya yelled as he saw Wandering Sound about to back away from Wei. While Wandering Sound had her at bay, Xinya ran forward potion in hand and bound her with a floral attack potion once again. As soon as she was bound, Wandering Sound hurried and took down his shield, and stood there staring at Wei, with a face full of devastation. "I didn''t want to hurt her." Wandering Sound whispered, the sadness apparent in his voice. "I know you didn''t," Xinya told him. "But it was either you attacking her, or she would have killed us. Which one do you think would have hurt her more." Wandering Sound knew that he was right, but it still didn''t stop the pain he felt in his chest. He had hurt the woman he liked and that just left a sour taste in his mouth, he wished that there was another way he could have stopped her. Seeing as Wandering Sound was just standing there wasting their time dwelling on this matter, Melting Snow went over to him and gave him a hard push. "Stop standing there moping! We had to subdue her or we would all be dead by now. Stop acting like your the only one who cares about her, don''t you think it hurts Drifting Cloud just as much when he has to bind her!" "Melting Snow is right, although blunt about how he said it," Xinya said, giving a sidelong glance to the boy. "You need to stop acting stupid, we can''t be wasting time here. The sooner we get to the center, the sooner this will be over." Xinya knew they were wasting valuable time trying to console Wandering Sound right now when they could have been finding the center of the maze. Throwing another floral attack potion at Wei, he grabbed Melting Snow''s hand and begin to rush through the maze, not caring if Wandering Sound was following them or not. It wasn''t his job to take care of the man, there were more pressing matters at hand. He should know better than this, him hurting Wei wasn''t dire, not finding the cure was. If Wandering Sound wanted to act like a lovelorn fool, he would let him. With the knowledge they gained, Xinya and Melting Snow started to make their way through the maze with ease. ~ Wandering Sound watched as Drifting cloud and Melting Snow left. He knew he should have followed them, all he needed to do was get to the spring and find the cure and Roaming Wind would be fine, but he couldn''t bring himself to do so. He felt as if he needed to stay here with Roaming Wind so that she wouldn''t be alone in her madness. A part of him knew that it was the guilt for hurting her that was taking away his common sense, but he didn''t care. Seconds passed and the binding from Drifting Cloud, floral attack potion faded away. Roaming Wind was released and started to wildly look around herself before her eyes settled on Wandering Sound. "So they left you here to finish the job?" Wei asked, angrily. Frantically shaking his head, Wandering Sound said, "No, that''s not it at all. We want to help you Roaming Wind." "Help me?!" She questioned with a hysterical laugh. "You called attacking me, helping? I''m not stupid you know!" "In our defense, you did try to kill us." Wandering Sound said as calmly as he could. With rage in her eyes, she stared fiercely at him, raising her guns at him once more. "Than you should have died." Using her strongest skill Soul Shot, she shot at Wandering Sound knocking him back against the wall. The impact of the shot was so strong that it stunned him while taking almost all of his HP only leaving one point left. Since Wandering Sound was in a stunned state, Wei in her madness thought that he was dead and took off to find the others. It would be quite easy since the curse gave her a red smokey trail to follow to find them. After Wei left, minutes passed before Wandering Sound''s stunned state disappear. Getting up quickly, he knew he needed to stall Roaming Wind before she reached the others. It was the least he could do, for being so stupid, this was his last thought as he ran to find her. Chapter 132: Wei is Saved A couple of minutes had already passed as Xinya and Melting Snow rushed through the maze when they heard the sound of a gunshot. Xinya checked the party interface, certain that Wandering Sound would be dead, only to be surprised to find that he wasn''t. He was in critical condition but he was still alive, Xinya did wonder how he was, but when he saw that he was in a stunned state, he could figure out why. Wei in her madness, was probably too far gone, that when she saw that he wasn''t moving, just assumed that he was dead. Xinya was glad about that, no matter how much a fool he thought Wandering Sound to be, he would blame himself if he did die. He was the one who just left him there, while he was in that state of mind, but between him and Wei, he would choose Wei every time. Checked his map, only to see that she was closing in on them fast, he knew they had to pick up the pace. While also making sure to pay attention to rather the hands were open on the wall, he begins to quicken the running speed even more. "Do you think we are almost there, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked. He was worried that Roaming Wind would catch up to them before they made it to the center. Knowing what Melting Snow worries were, he tried to console him, "Don''t worry as long as we keep to this speed, we will make it there soon." Melting Snow wanted to believe in Drifting Cloud''s optimism, he really did, but doubt kept seeping inside of his brain. This maze seemed like it was endless, there was barely enough light and everywhere he turned there were bodies everywhere. He was starting to feel a little claustrophobic, the maze was seriously starting to get to him. He could handle a lot of things, blood, monsters and the like, but this was different Even he could see that, with how Roaming Wind got cursed. It really shook him up, he didn''t know things like this could happen. Melting Snow knew that if it was Drifting Cloud who had gotten cursed, he wouldn''t be taking it as well as he was. That''s why he could understand what Drifting Cloud and Wandering Sound were going through. That didn''t mean, he didn''t think how Wandering Sound acted wasn''t stupid, because it was. If Drifting Cloud was the one cursed he wouldn''t be pussyfooting around, he would be looking for the center to cure him. When he had asked Drifting Cloud why he was being like that, he told him that when someone likes some as much as Wandering Sound did Roaming Wind they can become muddleheaded. Melting Snow''s only thought about that was, ''If that''s how a person acts when they like someone, I will hold off on finding a girlfriend for a long time''. He would also make sure to study this game more if this happened once it could happen again. If there was a next time he doesn''t want it to catch him unguarded like it did this time. That was the main reason it was affecting him so much, and now all he wanted to do was find the center and get out of here. ~ Half an hour had passed, and they still haven''t yet found the center of the maze. From the first moment, they arrived Xinya realized that this maze was huge, but he didn''t think it would be this gigantic. As they ran through the long twisty passageways, Xinya begins to question the possibility if there was actually an end. He knew he shouldn''t be thinking these types of thoughts, this dungeon was already a literal mind fuck, and he wouldn''t let it have it''s way with him anymore. He just needed to focus on finding that damn spring, so he could cure Wei. As he thought of her, he checked the map again. They already had a couple of close calls with her already. Just 10 minutes ago she had almost caught up to them, it was Melting Snow''s smart thinking that gave them an escape. Melting Snow used one of the intact corpses on the wall as a distraction. He had propped it up on the wall where they knew Wei would come from, with the thought that in her madness, she would think it was a living person and try to kill it. This worked brilliantly and brought them time to get farther away from her. They heard the sound of her gunshots echo throughout the passageways for a long time before it came to an end. Seeing as she was still far away, Xinya brought his attention back to the walls only to see something had changed. The walls a few feet away from them were bare, no bodies in sight. Xinya knew that this meant that they were coming to the center of the maze. Melting Snow looked at Drifting Cloud, with a giant smile on his face, "Look, there are no bodies up ahead! I think we are almost there!" "Me, too. See I told you we would make it." Xinya almost couldn''t contain his happiness. He couldn''t wait for this to be finally over, so they could get out of this maze. After running ten more minutes through various passageways, Xinya and Melting Snow had finally reached the center of the maze. As they walked inside, Xinya let out a gasp, It wasn''t anything at all like what he was expecting. With the walls of bodies, and semi-dark passageways, he was expecting a tomb of some kind, or a mass grave, but definitely not what he was seeing. It was as if they were transported to a museum. There was multiple artifacts display all around them, each of them looking more valuable than the last, but Xinya knew that they were just for show and paid them no mind. What he wanted was the spring, which he found in the middle of the room, gushing water. "We made it," Xinya said, happily. "We just need to Roaming Wind to get here." As soon as Xinya spoke, Wei rushed into the room, guns blazing, "Did you call me because here I am. Prepare to..." Before she could even finish her sentence, Xinya threw a floral attack potion at her binding her. "Melting Snow, find something to put the spring water in so we can throw it on her." Melting Snow rushed around the room, look everywhere until he found a large glass pitcher near the spring. Quickly he filled it with water and brought it over to where Xinya was standing and handed it to him. Taking the pitcher from Melting Snow, Xinya waited a few seconds for the effects of his potion attack to wear off. Once it did, he threw the spring water onto Wei before she could even think about moving. The water worked its magic swiftly before Xinya could even blink, Wei was writhing on the ground screaming. After a few moments passed a dark black smoke escaped her lips and proceeded to dissipate into the air. Leaving a gasping Wei laying confused on the floor. Rushing to her side, Xinya helped her up, all the while checking to see if she was alright. When a notification popped up: [The curse on Roaming Wind has been lifted!!] "What''s going on?" Wei asked confused while looking around the room. "How did I get here?" Melting Snow and Xinya gave each other a look, before turning back to Wei. "You don''t remember anything?" "No, the last thing I remember was walking with you guys, everything else is a blur." She told them while wondering what the hell was going on. "It''s good that you don''t remember," Melting Snow said. "This is probably the best outcome." As Xinya was nodding along with what Melting Snow was saying, Wandering Sound finally arrived. When he saw the Wei wasn''t under the curse anymore, he rushed over to her and grabbed her. "You''re alright! I''m so happy your, you now!" Wandering Sound said happily, giving her a big hug. While Wandering Sound hugged her, she looked at Xinya and Melting Snow who faces held similar relieved expressions and wondered what happened to make them look that way. Chapter 133: Dungeon Complete Moving away from Wandering Sound''s embrace, Wei looked around at the three boys slightly confused, "Would somebody tell me what is going on here?" "A lot of things went on here," Xinya told her. "But here''s the cliff notes version, you were cursed and tried to kill us." "Really?! But I have no memory of trying to do that!" exclaimed Wei. She tried to search through her memories to see if she could remember anything but she couldn''t. The only thing she could recall was walking with everyone and then seeing red. Wei thought that must have been the moment when the curse first took effect. She was a little glad that she couldn''t recollect anything from then to now. It would hurt her too much to know that she purposely stalked her friends with the intent to kill them. "Do you really not remember anything? Like how you felt or what it was like?" Melting Snow asked as he moved closer to her. Although he knew it was for the best, he couldn''t believe that the game could just wipe the memories from a person like that. After trying once again to dig deep into the recesses of her brain, she shook her head slowly, "I can''t remember a thing." "If you could, would you even want to remember?" Xinya asked. He had thought about why she couldn''t remember anything and had an idea of how that could happen. He wasn''t sure if his assumption was correct, but with the high tech world they lived in, maybe it could be. "I don''t¡­" Wei begins hesitantly, really thinking about it. "I don''t think I would want to." Wandering Sound and Melting Snow, who was standing near her nodded their heads in understanding. If they were in Roaming Wind''s shoes and tried to hurt the people they cared about. They wouldn''t want to remember the things that had transpired either. Xinya, on the other hand, could understand how Wei felt, but if it was him, he would want to remember. Not as a source of guilt or repentance, but he would want to know what he did, so it could never happen again. Since this was a game, where evil can be defeated, he had a feeling that Wei could have fought the curse if she had known there was a chance of it happening. "Roaming Wind, check your interface, just to make sure everything is back to normal," Xinya told her. Doing what Xinya said, Wei opened up her interface to make sure that everything was in working order. As she was checking, she saw a flashing white message symbol near her name. Opening it up, she began to read what it said: To Pan Wei, player name Roaming Wind: Because of the psychological nature of the curse, you were under and the way it affected your mental state, the game took it upon itself to remove the memories of the event from your mind. If you feel like you could handle them, they have been downloaded to your pod and you can retrieve them anytime you wish. Sincerely, Haven Online team. Wei was conflicted after reading what was sent, a small part of her wanted to know what happened from the moment when she saw red, but a bigger part of her didn''t want to know. She decided to wait until she dealt with her insecurity, before bringing more mental stress upon herself. After showing the letter to the group and telling them her thoughts about it, they finally left the subject alone. Xinya felt like there was more to say, but thought it would be best to respect her wishes at this point of time, plus he really wanted to leave this dungeon already. "So this is the end of the dungeon?" Wei said in lieu of not talking about what happened to her. "Yes, I think so," Wandering Sound said as he looked around the museum-like room they were in. "But no notifications have appeared yet." Xinya walked over to the different artifacts looking them over one by one. As he studied them he began to have a feeling that something wasn''t right, although the artifacts looked expensive, they didn''t seem real. They were like something a person would buy to decorate their homes. Curious to how it would feel, Xinya picked up the closest one to him. As soon as he lifted it a rumbling sound was heard, the entrance they came in was now sealed, and an empty stone pillar rose from the ground next to where the spring was located at. Before Xinya could even begin to wonder why a notification popped up in front of the group. [The second part of room 1/1 of Mormantul lordului nebun dungeon has begun, find the genuine artifact before the ten minutes has passed or prepare to die! ] "Drifting Cloud, what is going on?!" Melting Snow asked as he watched the walls around them start moving closer in on them. "This wasn''t the end of the dungeon," Xinya begin. "Everyone, look around the room, we need to find the real artifact or we going to die here." Panicking Wei looked around the room wondering where to start. There were over 100 artifacts in this room, how would they be able to tell which one was the true artifact. "What are we going to do? There way to many for us to check each and every one of them." "There must be a clue here somewhere, there is no way we could find it if there wasn''t." Wandering Sound said as he looked around the room for one. After hearing Wandering Sound words, a sudden idea popped into Xinya''s head. During this entire dungeon, there was one constant, to find the spring to cure Wei of her madness. Knowing that this whole dungeon revolves around madness and the spring is the key to sanity, with understanding the nature of this dungeon he knew exactly what the clue is. "The spring is the clue to finding the real artifact," Xinya told the group while explaining how he had come to that thought. Melting Snow thought that what Drifting Cloud said made tons of sense, but even with knowing the clue, how would it help them. "So are we looking for an artifact with a similar design as the spring?" "Yeah, Wei said. "How does that help us the real artifact?" "It narrows it down what we are looking for," Xinya explained. Wandering Sound who was looking over an artifact, turned his head to look at him, "Which is?" "An object that is able to hold water," Xinya said, he was certain that it had to be something like that. Knowing what they were looking for, the four of them spread out and started looking for any artifact that would be able to hold water. After six minutes of looking through the artifacts, they found three potential items that it could be, a chalice, a flask, and an urn. "Which one is it?" Melting Snow asked. Xinya really had no idea, "Let''s try them all. There was no rule against that." "Although there was no rule, you know how this game is, something bound to happen." Wandering Sound warned him. "Do you have a better idea?" Xinya asked. "If you do then I''m all ears." Wandering Sound shook his head, he had no idea''s to put forth, "Alright let''s do it." Grabbing the flask, he put it on the stone pillar. As soon as it touched the pillar the walls started to move faster in on them. Soon as he saw what was happening, he knew for sure they were screwed. "I told you something bad would happen!" Wandering Sound yelled. "We don''t have time to play the blame game right now," Xinya told him. "We need to hurry and find the true artifact." They quickly tried the other two artifacts only for them to be wrong as well. The walls started to close in on them faster than before. The artifacts that were all around them were being knocked to the floor and crushed. Xinya was so confused, he was sure that it had to be something that could hold the water spring. "What are we going to do? We are going to die in this dungeon!" Wei sad panicking. With an angry expression, Wandering Sound turned his gaze towards Xinya, "We shouldn''t have listened to you. Now we doomed!" "I didn''t hear no ideas coming from you." Melting Snow said angrily at Wandering Sound, he was still irritated at him from earlier. "Don''t blame Drifting Cloud for this." While the rest of the group was arguing among themselves an idea came to Xinya, and he really hoped that it would work. Moving quickly to the place where he set the glass jug, Melting Snow gave him to save Wei with, he picked it up and bring it over to the stone pillar. "What are you doing, Drifting Cloud?" Wei asked when she saw that he was about to put a random item on the pillar. Glancing at her quickly, he said, "I think that this must be the true artifact." "What if you''re wrong?" Wandering Sound asked. "If I''m wrong," begin Xinya as he placed the jug down on the pillar. "Then we will just die quicker." As soon as the jug was placed down, the walls stopped moving and a sidewall panel opened. Looking inside they could see a single treasure chest and they knew they had completed the dungeon even before the notification told them. [You have completed Mormantul lordului nebun dungeon!! Please collect your reward before you leave!] [System: Because you have completed this dungeon without any casualties, you rewarded with being able to skip a step in the chain!] "We did it!!" Melting Snow yelled happily, before going over Xinya and hugging him around the waist. Rubbing Melting Snow on his head, Xinya said, "We sure did, now let''s go get our treasure and get out of here." With big smiles on their faces, the four of them walked in the room that held a single treasure chest. They couldn''t wait to see what was inside of it. ~~~ A notification popped up for the readers: [Please read the Author note] [Don''t blame Momocatt if you don''t] Chapter 134: Holiday Bonus Pt 1 Part 1: Profiles MomoCatt: Welcome to my talk show. Today we will be interviewing five characters from the novel Haven Online, but before I bring them out to meet everyone let''s look at their character profiles: Yin Xinya Age: 18 General physical description: Standing 5''6 with white creamy skin, he has an aloof feel about him. He has friendly brown eyes and his short, wavy, black hair. He usually wears plain clothes that are fitted. Hometown: Guangzhou, China Type of home/ neighborhood: Rich neighborhood Relationship status: single Current family: dad/stepmother/baby brother Friends: Wei/Jun Other close relationships: Qiang Relationship with men: not at the moment Relationship with women: never Job: gamer Dress style: casual Favorite pastimes: Cooking Hobbies: Learning different languages Favorite sports: none Favorite foods: Spicy Pork and Spinach Dumplings with Soy Dipping Sauce Strongest positive personality trait: Protective Strongest negative personality trait: Modest Sense of humor: Wit-Wordplay Temper: mild Consideration for others: He is always thinking of others. How other people see him/her: someone who they can depend on. The opinion of him/herself: He knows your limits, he has a clear idea of what he is capable of or how good he is. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in the story: confident, loving, kind Ambitions: To make enough money live nicely for the rest of his life. Philosophy of life: There are times when even to live is an act of bravery. The most important thing to know about this character: He has been reborn. Pan Wei Age: 19 General physical description: Standing 5'' 6" tall, and slim with flawless skin, she has an enthusiastic feel about her. She has mysterious brown eyes and long, straight, black hair with a messy fringe. She usually wears casual clothes that are well-fitting. Hometown: Guangzhou, China Relationship status: Working on it. Current family: mother Friends: Xinya/Qiang Other close relationships: Jun Relationship with men: Working on it. Relationship with women: None Job: Gamer Dress style: Casual Favorite pastimes: Watching dramas Hobbies: Reading Favorite sports: None Favorite foods: Gingery beef lettuce wraps Strongest positive personality trait: Loyal Strongest negative personality trait: Prone to feeling inadequate Sense of humor: Observational Temper: none Consideration for others: Only for those, she cares about How other people see him/her: Someone who is helpful The opinion of him/herself: self-critical, she notices and talks about her own mistakes and bad qualities Other traits, especially those to be brought out in the story: sweet, caring, witty, self-assured Ambitions: To show her mother that she can make money while doing something she loves Philosophy of life: The need to raise itself above humanity is humanity''s main characteristic. The most important thing to know about this character: She is Xinya''s best friend. Nam Zixuan Age: 24 General physical description: Standing 6'' 5" tall, and muscular with tanned skin, this man has a controlling feel about him. He has deep brown eyes and his medium-length, thick, dark brown hair is un-styled. He usually wears practical clothes that are modest. Hometown: Daegu, Korea Type of home/ neighborhood: Nice home Relationship status: Single Current family: Mother/Father/Cousins Friends: Jun/Xafnir Other close relationships: not as yet Relationship with men: definitely Relationship with women: nope Job: Gamer/Designer Dress style: Casual Favorite pastimes: Blacksmithing Hobbies: Designing Favorite sports: Soccer Favorite foods: Bulgogi Beef Strongest positive personality trait: Devoted Strongest negative personality trait: Difficult to understand Sense of humor: Dark Temper: Mild Consideration for others: It depends on who they are. How other people see him/her: Someone who is capable The opinion of him/herself: He stands on his dignity, he makes it very clear to someone that they must treat them with respect. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in the story: Strong, Calm, Sweet, Helpful Ambitions: To help his family. Philosophy of life: Man''s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched: a tree does not know it is wretched. The most important thing to know about this character: He is the main lead Yoon Jun Age: 14 General physical description: Standing 5'' 4" tall, and slim with fair skin, he has a naive feel about him. He has friendly brown eyes and his medium short, curly, black hair is styled. He usually wears high-end clothes that are modest. Hometown: Daegu, Korea Type of home/ neighborhood: Good neighborhood Relationship status: Single Current family: Brother/Father/Cousin Friends: Zixuan/Xinya Other close relationships: Qiang/Wei Relationship with men: Nope Relationship with women: Yup Job: Gamer Dress style: Casual Favorite pastimes: Playing Hobbies: Reading Favorite sports: Soccer Favorite foods: Japchae Strongest positive personality trait: Lovable Strongest negative personality trait: Easily bored Sense of humor: Bodily, fart jokes are funny. Temper: Small one Consideration for others: Ofcourse How other people see him/her: Sweet, kind, adorable The opinion of him/herself: He thinks he''s wonderful. Other traits, especially those to be brought out in the story: determined, self-assured, loyal, caring Ambitions: To work and have fun Philosophy of life: Many who have learned much possess no sense. Shu Qiang Age: 25 General physical description: Standing 5'' 9" tall, and strapping with fair skin, this man has a likable feel about him. He has lovely brown eyes with short, thick, black styled hair. He usually wears perfectly pressed, sensible clothes that are loose-fitting. Hometown: Taipei, China Type of home/ neighborhood: Nice Neighborhood Relationship status: working on it. Current family: None Friends: Wei, Xinya, Jun Other close relationships: Lots Relationship with men: Nope Relationship with women: Yup Job: Singer/gamer Dress style: Casual Favorite pastimes: Singing Hobbies: playing the flute Favorite sports: nope Favorite foods: Egg Foo Young Strongest positive personality trait: Popular Strongest negative personality trait: Insecure Sense of humor: Observational Temper: none to little Consideration for others: always How other people see him/her: fun, wonderful, brilliant The opinion of him/herself: self-proclaimed Other traits, especially those to be brought out in the story: determined, sly, sincere, funny, loving Ambitions: To do things his own way. Philosophy of life: Between the meanings of consciousness and reality there yawns a veritable abyss. The most important thing to know about this character: He''s Wei''s sweetheart. Part 2: Talk Show MomoCatt: Now that we saw their profiles, let''s bring them to the stage to introduce themselves. Audience: Claps loudly *Five people walks out and sits down across from MomoCatt* MomoCatt: Welcome everyone! Xinya: Thanks for having us here. Wei: Nice to meet you. Zixuan: It''s a pleasure. Jun: Hii! Qiang: Good to see you. MomoCatt: Let''s get down to it, shall we? Question time!" *The audience screams loudly in glee.* MomoCatt: First question, super easy what is everyone''s favorite color? Xinya: blue Wei: yellow Zixuan: red Qiang: green Jun: black MomoCatt: What are your favorite animals? Xinya: Cat Wei: dog Zixuan: dog Qiang: bunny Jun: snake MomoCatt: Wow, Jun you''re quite brave aren''t you? Jun: I''m sure am! MomoCatt: So Xinya how did you first meet Jun. Xinya: A monster was chasing after him. MomoCatt: Are you happy you met him? Xinya: Yes, he is a dear friend to me. Wei: Aww Zixuan: That''s sweet. Qiang: I agree. Jun: I knew you loved me. MomoCatt: Jun, how did you like your first adventure with him? Jun: It was awesome, I always have the greatest fun with Xinya. MomoCatt: Wow, you fought a giant spider? Jun: Yeah it was awesome! Xinya: Only for you. Jun: What are you saying, you know it was cool. Xinya: Sure, sure. MomoCatt: What about you Wei, how was your first experience with Haven online? Wei: It was great, I had a dream of playing for so long and when I finally did, I felt so happy and excited. Qiang: That really happened? Xinya: It sure did. Wei: I still couldn''t believe how much that girl fooled me. MomoCatt: Xinya, what was the first real adventure you took Wei on? Xinya: I remember that well, hehe. It was murkmouths. Jun: Murkmouths what kind of monsters are those? Wei: Disgusting ones. Xinya: Especially the transformed ones. Jun: Wow, that must have been awesome. I want to fight at night with you too. Xinya: Hehe, maybe we will do it sometime. MomoCatt: Qiang, how did you meet Xinya and Wei? Qiang: Now that was a funny story. Jun: (laughing loudly) You got schooled by bunnies. Xinya: You didn''t see them, they were evil. Wei: I would like to see you handle them. -sticks her tongue at Jun- Qiang: I''m grateful for those bunnies, if it wasn''t for them I wouldn''t have met Wei. MomoCatt: Xinya what was your favorite food to make in the game? Xinya: There are so many to choose from, but if I had too than I would choose the first meal I made in the game. Jun: was I there? Xinya: In fact you were. Do you remember the Bellyborg stew? Jun: That was a delicious meal. Zixuan: I hope one day you can make a meal for me Xinya. Xinya: (blushes) Maybe you will one day. MomoCatt: So Xinya, what was the most emotional quest you had so far? Xinya: For me, it was the one where we saved Christopher from his abusive lover. Wei: That quest did strike a chord with me. I was so happy we set him. Xinya: I was too. When I learned what was at stake I knew I had to save him. Jun: Man, I wished I was there to help. Xinya: Well you know me, there will be another great adventure like that. Jun: Your right! It''s fine than. MomoCatt: How did it make you feel when saved Christopher? Xinya: It made me feel good inside like I was helping myself. Zixuan: What do you mean by that? Xinya: I rather not talk about it. Zixuan: I''m glad you were able to save him. Xinya: Yeah, me too. Chapter 135: Holiday Bonus Pt2 MomoCatt: Jun how did you get your first beast partner? Jun: Well, it was when I and Xinya were walking back from doing his dungeon quest. Xinya: Haha, I remember that you were such a scary cat. Jun: Hey, it was dark in that forest you know. Wei: Wow, I think I want a beast partner of my own. Jun: I can help you with that. Wei: Really that would be awesome. MomoCatt: Zixuan, if there was anything you want Xinya to cook for you? Zixuan: I would like anything he cooked for me, but I heard his black bean shrimp with gai-lan was very delicious. Xinya: Where did you hear that from? Zixuan: From Wei she told me all about it. Wei: It was just so good. Xinya: well I will make sure to make it for you, let me see if I can remember how to make it. Zixuan: I can''t wait to taste it. Xinya: (blushes) MomoCatt: Well that''s all the questions I have for now. I will see you next time on MomoCatt''s talk show hour. Part 3: Fanfiction Cherry Sweet Zixuan watched as his succulent lips devour the creamy tip, savoring it in his mouth, before swallowing it whole, only to repeat the process over and over again. It seemed to him that Xinya enjoyed the torture he was putting him through, with all the licking, sucking and nibbling. He was slowly driving Zixuan insane if he didn''t do something soon things might become drastic. Xinya must have felt Zixuan staring at him because he suddenly turned around and with a pout he asked. "What''s the matter Zixuan, do you want my cherry?" That innocent question spoken from those perfect pouting lips made him snap just a bit. With a smirk Zixuan replied. "Yes... I would love to have your cherry." "Well, I guess if you really want it you can have it ." He said while handing Zixuan one. Zixuan just laughed, it was funny how naive his Yaya was. "But Xinya ...," he says as he stalks over towards him." That wasn''t the cherry I was talking about." That''s was when he pounced, and before he claimed Xinya''s mouth he asked, "So can I still have it?" Looking at the hungry eyes that were staring down at him, Xinya swallowed, "Yes, you can. Zixuan quickly went to take off pulled off Xinya''s white dress shirt, but his fingers paused at the buttons. "You want this right?" Xinya nodded smiling, giving Zixuan full permission to continue. Zixuan slowly began to open his shirt buttons, while staring intently into Xinya''s eyes to ensure that he wanted this as much as he did. Once Xinya''s beautiful pale chest was revealed, Zixuan moves his head downwards to kiss the exposed skin lightly. When the shirt was completely opened, Zixuan started to caress his gently, before moving up to his nipples. As he began to rub his cute pink nipples, he asked, " Is this okay?" Xinya nodded but paused, gesturing to Zixuan sweater, he asked, "What about you?" Zixuan quickly pulled his sweater over his head, throwing it to the floor, before grabbing Xinya''s wrist gently. He raised Xinya''s hands to his chest and allowed him to touch. "Like it?" Xinya ran his hands over the muscular chest, his eyes wide. Turning his face so he was looking straight into Zixuan''s eyes, he said, "You can touch me some more if you want to." "I would have any if you didn''t say anything" Zixuan grinned. He tugged at the waist of Xinya''s pants. "Can we take these off?" Xinya reached down to unbutton them himself as an answer, only to have his fingers replaced by his boyfriend''s. Lifting Xinya''s hips Zixuan yanked the jeans down and off. Zixuan removed his clothing as he faced away from the bed, leaving just his boxers on. When he turned back, Xinya was staring at the ceiling, sprawled on the bed comfortably. His hair was disheveled slightly, splayed across the pillows. His boxer-briefs were obviously tented from his arousal. "You''re beautiful," Zixuan breathed. Xinya turned his head to face Zixuan. "What did you say?" "I said you look beautiful like that," Zixuan told him passionately. Xinya started to blush, his whole body turned pink as Zixuan stared at him. Zixuan crawled unto the bedspread to Xinya''s side, leaning over to kiss Xinya''s forehead. His hands danced over Xinya''s skin, tracing lines down his neck to his sides. His mouth followed, mouthing over the contours of muscle. Zixuan stroked Xinya''s collarbones lightly. Zixuan pressed a palm to Xinya''s chest. "Your heart is racing." He pulled Xinya''s hand to his own chest. "But that also how you make me feel." Lifting his arms, he grasped Zixuan''s face with his hands, bringing it to his own, capturing his lips in a heated kiss. "You''re the only one who makes me feel like this," Xinya breathed. Zixuan grinned, as he dipped his head back down and gave Xinya''s hand a gentle kiss. Not stopping there, he kissed Xinya''s wrist, moving to his shoulders and then to his neck. Moving lower he began to focus his attention on Xinya''s nipples, teasing it with his teeth, earning a gasp from Xinya. Kissing them softly, he moved lower. Kissing down Xinya''s chest, Zixuan only stopped when he was the band of his underwear. Passing over them, he gently rubbed a hand down Xinya''s legs and bringing one up to press a kiss to the bottom of his foot. "Every part of your body excites me," Zixuan said kissing behind his knees, "Every...," he kissed Xinya''s hands again, "last...," He kissed his neck, followed by his lips, "part of you." Smiling sensually Zixuan sat up a bit, kissing the palm of his hand he pressed it to Xinya''s heart. "But this is the part I love the most." Xinya''s hips twitched up, at those words, causing his clothed cock to rub against Zixuan. "That''s the part of you that I love the most also." "Well," Zixuan whispered," There is on part of you I haven''t had a chance to explore yet." Zixuan''s hands began to ghost over Xinya''s hips, pausing at his underwear. Xinya nodded, allowing Zixuan to slide them down off and tossed them to the floor. Looking at the beautiful sight before him, he slowly licked his lips. Faster than lightning, he took off his own as well. Before Xinya could process what was happening, Zixuan was kissing his upper thighs. His fingers traced around to the sides of his legs, edging on Xinya''s ass. "You''re so perfect, so very perfect and all mine." Zixuan breathed against the pale skin. He placed one hand between Xinya''s legs, nudging them open. He pressed open-mouthed kisses to the crease connecting his thigh to his pelvis, obviously avoiding Xinya''s cock. Xinya''s back arched off the bed. "Zixuan, please." Zixuan chuckled against the skin of Xinya''s thigh before suddenly licking a stripe up the underside of his cock. "Shit!" Xinya cussed loudly, before covering his mouth with his hands. Zixuan snickered at Xinya''s action, it was just too cute. In all the time they had been dating, Xinya rarely cussed, It was very encouraging for Zixuan, as he started sucking the head of Xinya''s cock like a lollipop. Xinya who was still covering his mouth, trying to hold back his whimpers, while using all his strength to prevent his body from convulsing. Zixuan flicked his tongue over the slit of Xinya''s cock before pulling back again. "Wait... why did you..." Xinya whined. Zixuan cut him off, his fingers probing lower between Xinya''s legs. "Can I?" he whispered. Xinya began to shake slightly. "Oh god. I mean... yes. Fuck yes." Zixuan pushed Xinya''s legs up, bending them and pushing them to his chest. Xinya responded by wrapping his arms around them quickly. Zixuan brushed a finger over Xinya''s thigh, down to his hole, teasing it slightly. "Top drawer," Xinya whimpered, throwing his head back. Zixuan rolled to the side, nearly yanking the drawer out of the nightstand. He closed his hand around the small bottle that was mostly full. "Have you done this before?" Zixuan quirked an eyebrow. Xinya bit his lip but nodded. Zixuan smirked, coating a finger as he rolled back and traced over his hole again. "What do you think about?" he asked. He pushed his finger forward slowly, breaching the rings of muscle, feeling Xinya squirm around him. "You," he gasped. Zixuan slammed his finger forward. "What about me?" he taunted, moving his finger around, stretching steadily. "You.." Xinya squeezed his eyes shut, "holding me from behind. Kissing m-my neck. Touching my ch-chest wh..." "Do you ever think about me doing this?" Zixuan grinned, adding a second finger. "Not unless I want to come right on the spot." Zixuan kissed Xinya''s thigh, scissoring three fingers now. "You have no idea how long I''ve wanted all of those things. This too." Xinya was whimpering loudly, throwing his head back. "Please... just..." "What?" Zixuan taunted. "I need you inside me." It was barely a whisper, more soft hiss, hardly breaking through the air. Zixuan positioned himself against Xinya before pressing in slowly. "Okay?" Zixuan breathed. "Perfect." Xinya beamed, forcing himself back a bit. Zixuan was settled completely when he leaned down, plastering their chests together. "I love you Xinya." He said, slotting their hands together so that their fingers were intertwined. "I love you more, Zixuan." Zixuan pulled out slightly, thrusting forward slowly. "You''re beautiful." Xinya moaned in reply. They moved together in harmony, their labored breathing filling the air. Zixuan grunted passionately with every thrust. Xinya gripped onto Zixuan''s hands as if they were his lifeline, trying his best to push back against him. "You''re beautiful," Zixuan whispered against Xinya''s skin. He peppered light kisses to Xinya''s neck, beginning to thrust faster. Before long, they were moving in less of a pattern, falling apart together. Their orgasms coming almost in sync. Pulling out as gently as he could, he wrapped himself against Xinya''s side and snuggled close to him. Xinya wrapped an arm around Zixuan, pulling his head up to rest on his chest. "For the record," Zixuan said, "You have the sweetest cherry." It''s all bananas It was after three when the photoshoot for an advertisement of Haven Online stopped for a lunch break. Following the staff luncheon area, Xinya and his group got their food and sat at a table together. Looking up Zixuan made sure that everyone was eating. He glanced at everyone, in turn, stopping at Xinya when he saw that he was just picking with his food. "Why aren''t you eating Xinya?," Zixuan said while poking Xinya with his chopsticks, "You know you need to keep your energy up." "Leave me alone," Xinya replied tiredly while he picked at his food, "I''m just too tired to eat right now." With his mouth still full of food Jun jumped into the conversation." Is something wrong? You should never be too tired to eat." "Unlike you, not everyone has an abundance of energy that allows you to eat everything in sight," Xinya said in a huff. "And don''t talk with your mouth full." Jun rolled his eyes while Wei and Wandering Sound and Xafnir just laughed whispering something about how he shouldn''t have cut in while grown-ups were talking. "Well at least eat something!" Zixuan said while brandishing a fat banana. He waved the fruit in front of Xinya''s face while ranting something fierce about getting his daily dose of vitamins B, C, and Z, before stuffing it into his hands. "He probably just wants to see him suck it," Xafnir loudly whispered from beside him making Wei giggle wildly. "I''m always hearing you talking about his great technique." "Shut up Xafnir, you know It''s not like that!" Zixuan cried, startling Xafnir into dropping his food. Xinya just ignored them all and began to peel the yellow fruit. Wandering Sound sniggered, adding in his two cents. "If you say so." Slowly, Xinya eased the banana between his parted lips. "But I didn''t!" A frown creased Zixuan''s mouth as he started to eat his food, "I just wanted him to eat something." "If that''s what you want to tell yourself, then okay Zixuan...holy fuck." said a surprised Wandering Sound. Mouths agape and eyes bugging, they all turned to watch as the last few inches of the slick yellow fruit slid down Xinya''s throat, and then back up. Xinya''s tongue darted around the flesh of the banana, softening it to a strange, milky shade. His eyes were shut and twitching with pleasure as he sucked; Xinya seemed to really get into it. Someone from the staff whooped; another person gagged; and Zixuan realized that as he and everyone were looking intently at the masturbation of a helpless banana, that he should have given Xinya an apple instead. Mine Forever "It seems like every night I have been lulled to sleep by a voice that only I can hear and within my slumber, I am serenaded by it''s a symphony of sound until it had filled every corner of my being with it exquisite vibrations. Yet when the sunrises, I awaken to find my dream has faded, and I''m left alone in these, my long waking hours with only the haunting echoes of its refrain, but now the dream has changed, there''s a person behind that voice and when I am with them I experience such a sense of peace as I have never known before. It comforts me somehow, making me feel safe to a point where I never want to awaken again." He said sadly, snuggling close to the person next to him. "I know you think it selfish of me, but I''m at the point where I just really don''t care. Extracting himself the person replied, "I know how you feel, I went through the same thing. The dreams are telling you that you''re ready." "What do you mean, ready for what?" he asked confused. "I already said too much..." the person said walking toward the door. "Sorry, Xinya but I can''t tell any more." Running towards the door Xinya yelled "Wei! Wait...what do you mean?! Wei!" But she was already gone, disappeared into the wind. "Where did she go?" Xinya whispered to nobody. [In another part of town] "It''s almost time Xafnir." a voice whispered to the person next to him. A chuckle. "He has to accept your first Zixuan." "Accept me? He has been mine since the day he was born, I waited long enough, I will make him mine. With or without his consent." he replied, walking off into the night. "Oh," I moaned aloud. There he was again, the person who has been haunting my dreams for more nights than I could count. But this time it was different, we stood facing each other in the middle of the pitch-black forest. He edged closer while stepping into a small glade that was smothered in the moonlight. The look of him was predatory to the point that I was becoming frightened, my breathing frenzied and my heart pounding. Stepping back slightly I asked, "Who are you?" His answer was a guttural growl than a pounce onto my body. I fell to the ground, landing on a soft pile of leaves. For some reason, I knew he didn''t intend to hurt me. His body felt heavy upon me, his long hair tickling against my exposed body, ''Wasn''t I wearing pajamas earlier'' he thought surprised. It was weird but as I looked up into his beautiful, eerie crimson eyes, I was strangely unaffected by the savage grin on his fanged mouth. Suddenly, he swooped down upon my neck, sucking up the flesh into his mouth, his teeth delicately holding the skin but not piercing it. His warm tongue licked between the fangs.'' This certainly doesn''t feel like a dream'' My insides churned, heat concentrated in my neck and connected with my lower body in a surprising rush. Moaning, I arched my back. I wanted... I didn''t know what I wanted. He released my neck moving down to my chest, latching on to my nipple with his tongue and gentle nips of his teeth, my body felt as if it was about to explode. I could see nothing but his crimson eyes, but I didn''t care to see as long as I could feel. His large cock bumped against my face. "Suck it" he whispered. I did as I was told until it was wet with my saliva, he motioned for me to stop. "Enough," he said pulling out my mouth. He then turned me around to lay on my stomach, spreading my cheeks wide he welcomes his hard length inside. It hurt at first then it felt unbelievable...it felt so good. It was like he belonged there inside of me. I was panting like an animal, I was horny as a bitch in heat, except when I was a boy. Thrusting myself onto him I urge him to go faster and faster, his thick staff filled me completely until an orgasm rippled through me and I moaned aloud. "Your mine now" he growled out while biting my neck as if marking me no, claiming me. No other shall have you now." I whimpered. "Who are you?" "My name is Zixuan...remember who you belong to Xinya...my Yaya," he said stroking my hair soothing me. "It time to wake up now, I''ll come for you soon" Abruptly, I was pitched into wakefulness in complete confusion. Where was I? For a second I looked around for the mysterious figure, but only to find the cozy interior of my room. Stretching, I was startled by the way my body ached. ''That was just a dream right?'' Walking slowly towards the bathroom I looked in the mirror to find a strange mark on my neck. "It was just a dream right?" I asked myself staring at the mirror in shock. "This can''t be real...." The Apron ''I should have waited... I never think things through. How could I be so dumb!! He''s been my best friend for God sake how long, I should know him by now. He would never do anything to hurt me like that. I feel stupid, so very stupid letting my temper get the best of me. This is much his fault as it is mine but it was my actions alone that might have caused me to lose him. Why does my heart hurts thinking of such a possibility? Just the thought of never seeing, speaking or touching again is too painful to even imagine. What have I done? Xinya''s P.O.V I woke up feeling very mischievous, I felt like I should do something today. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to have some fun with Zixuan. He''s always doing mean things to me he deserves to get a little payback. Just a small trick will be good, and if it freaks him out... all the better. I thought about what I should do for a while when it came to me. Zixuan really like creating different weapons. It is one of the things that made him so popular in KilloXA. His so-called Blacksmith groups loved those videos. So to honor his weapons that paved his way to his popularity he made a freaking shrine for them in his room. Every so often I pretend like I''m going to steal them away so that I can so I can find them a good home. I only really do it for shits and giggles, mostly to irritate Zixuan. It''s amusing as hell to annoy him, but I know how much those swords mean to him and knowing that I would never do that for real. Although that doesn''t mean I won''t let him think that I did. I can''t help but laugh just thinking about it. I hope Zixuan won''t be too angry. So my plan is, I''m going to sneak into Zixuan''s house and steal all his swords. I will make sure to be extra sneaky so that he will never suspect that I was the one who did it until it''s too late. I''m such a genius, there''s no way anything could go wrong. Well as long as Zixuan forgets to lock his backdoor, but he always does so I don''t think it will be a problem. I call Zixuan up and ask him to help me do a Vlog for my channel. He agrees and I hopped in my car and head to his house. Just like I predicted his backdoor is open. I go in to see that he is on the computer, we chat a bit and I learn he has something to do later, he needs to pick up something from the store. He asks me to come, but I made up some lame excuse about wanting to try a new recipe. I doubt he believes me but he let it go. I couldn''t help but think about how convenient my plan is going. I had to bite my lip or I feel that I might have started laughing uproariously. I still needed some fake shots for the Vlog I told Zixuan I was doing, so we decided to go to some restaurants. We had an awesome time there, so much so that I started to feel bad about what I''m going to do later. That feeling only lasted a moment though. About an hour or two later we leave the restaurant and go back to Zixuan''s house. We go inside and chat for a bit more than I grab some equipment and leave. I say goodbye to Zixuan and then head to my car. I don''t go anywhere I just wait inside my car until I see Zixuan''s car pull off. That''s when I make my move, I go back to his house praying the backdoor is open like always. Knowing my luck this would be the day Zixuan remembers to lock it. I reached the door and was happy to see that it was opened. I walk in his room, heading straight for the weapons when all of a sudden I heard Zixuan''s voice. I panicked and hid in the closet. It seems he forgot to bring his wallet with him. He leaves again and I let out a sigh of relief. I saw a bin in his closet, so I decided to use that as a way to transport the weapons. After I make sure they are all in, I rush to my car and load them in the backseat. I drive for a while until I reached one of those large trash cans that are behind stores. I get out of my car with the bin of weapons in my arms and with great care, I found a home'' all of Zixuan''s weapons. I made sure to play everything up for my KilloXA audience. Once the camera was off though I made sure to collect the weapons back. I can''t wait to see Zixuan''s reaction. I think I will keep them for a week or two before giving them back. I had a smile on my face just thinking about how this will go. Zixuan P.O.V Everything was going so well, I had a wonderful day with Xinya but when I came back from picking up some things from the store, to my utter surprise all my weapons that were in my room just this morning were gone. I was shocked, how could they just disappear? That makes no sense to me. Maybe Xafnir knows something about it. He could have sent them to get clean is the only logical explanation I can think of. "Xafnir", I shout as I make my way throughout my house. I finally find him in the kitchen preparing dinner, if I''m guessing right it''s going to taste horrible with the way he cooks. Even though I shouldn''t be focusing on that at the moment. Without looking up from what he is doing he replies, "What''s the matter Zixuan?" "The weapons in my room do you know what happened to them?" I asked desperately hoping that he would know something, but he only looked at me in confusion. "You mean the ones in your room?" he asks. I felt so hopeful for a moment. "Yeah those, did you go get them clean or something? " "No Zixuan, I''m sorry but I don''t know what happened to them," he says turning back to her cooking. With a disappointed sigh, I headed back to my room wondering where they could be. I decide to call Xinya maybe he would know something about it. Knowing him he might have told Xafnir to hide them away from me for a video or something. I call him to explain everything. He seems genuinely surprised. He suggested that maybe my cousin Jun could have had something to do with it. Which sort of makes sense, since I''m always bothering him when I make my videos. Since he''s staying over a friend tonight, I decided to ask him about it tomorrow. - The Next Day - I decided to make a video for my channel. I explain to my audience about what happened yesterday with my weapons. I tell them after asking everyone, I have come to suspect that my cousin was the one who did it. I make it known how once he gets home I''m going to confront him on camera. Since I don''t know when he is going to come, and I know Xinya will be over soon I decide to mess with him by trying to scare the living fuck out of him. He just so cute when he scared...wait why did I think that. I shake my head to clear it. The prank didn''t turn out as planned, much to my disappointment. Although I think the audience will still find it semi enjoyable. So I and Xinya goof around at my house for a bit after a while we decide to go to the mall to film. While in the car I and Xinya joke around, I always have so much fun with him. While in the mall Xinya is acting like such a dork but I can''t help but smile and just shake my head. I tease him for a while in one of the stores until he''s pouting. I don''t know why I feel the need to do it, he just brings out my sadistic tendencies. We leave the mall after a couple of hours and then he drops me off in front of my house. We say our goodbyes, I start walking away when he says "I love you. " I just look at him, like what the heck, but he just smiles and tells me to say it back. I walk back to his car and whisper, "I love you too." Before I could leave he stops me again and hands me a USB drive. "What is this?" I asked. "It''s a video file." "A video file? It better not be a video of you jerking off." I say jokingly. Xinya laughs with me and says, "Just watch it, and make sure to record yourself." We say our goodbyes once again and as I walk back towards my room I wonder what could be on the video. So I set up everything so that I can record myself before I put the USB in. I get comfortable and then I start the video. At first, I''m really confused about what is going on until I hear Xinya say he''s going to find my weapons a home. My mind went blank, I felt so angry and betrayed. I had a slight bit of hope that maybe Xinya was just trying to trick me. I know Xinya, there''s no way he doesn''t know how much those weapons mean to me. Maybe he was just going to keep them away from me. That small well of hope dried at the next scene of the video. Xinya throwing them away in a dumpster. I had no words, I think part of me broke after seeing that. All I can see is red. How could he do that? There are some things you just don''t do. I kept repeating to myself, that the weapons better still be there. I go to the location that was on the video only to find that the dumpster was empty. I was devastated and so pissed off at Xinya. The more I thought about what he did the angrier I got. It got to the point where the only thought in my head was to get him back. My last thought on the matter was, ''I have to hurt him as much as he hurt me.'' ~ It''s been a couple of days after the ''incident''. In which Xinya destroyed all of my weapons. It took me a while but I figured out how I''m going to get my revenge on him. I set up my camera so that one, I can have everything I''m about to do on film and two, so everyone will understand why not to mess with Nam Zixuan. Talking to my groupies I explained what is about to go down. I can''t help but feel a little sorry about my actions that will take place today, but that always disappears when I remember what Xinya did to my weapons. An all I can think is that he has this coming. I tell my audience how I am going to steal his most prized possession and burn it, which is his signed apron by his cooking idol. I am getting really worked up to find the camera that I could hardly speak. "You had this coming Xinya! You take my weapons, they are my most prized possessions and you just destroy them? What did you think there would be no consequences? Heh! How wrong you were. It''s only right that I get to destroy something of yours that means a lot to you." I yell passionately into the camera. I know my groupies won''t fault me for my actions today, with how betrayed Xinya made me feel. Continuing with the video I show my audience how Xinya just texted me. He wrote some bullshit asking, '' Are you alright? I just wanted to make sure we are still friends.'' "Although we are still friends, everything isn''t alright!"I shout into the camera. "But I''m going to make him think that it still is. So what I''m going to do is text him back with a sappy reply." I scratch and think about what I could say when it comes to me. I text back, ''Yeah man. Everything is alright. No hard feelings''. I even added an emoji so that he will think everything is fine because I need him to think everything is fine for my scheme to work. After a couple of minutes, Xinya texted me back saying, ''That''s cool. Are we still going to look at cars today?'' I shake my head at just how much Xinya trusts me. He should really know how I am by now. Although this is the ideal situation I want to be in that way it is easier to ruin his life. I know there''s a saying that two wrongs don''t make a right but fuck that. I''m so way past right, I''m going left. So my plan today is to go with Xinya to his favorite restaurant, I want to make sure that he thinks that everything is good between us. Then after that, I''m going to swing by my uncle''s store and tell him that Xinya no longer wants his apron cleaned. Then I''m going to burn it. I can''t help but laugh maniacally at the very thought of what Xinya''s expression will be. "You deserve this, after what you are done you had this coming," I say this at Xinya while looking in the camera. ~ I arrived in front of Xinya''s house in no time at all. I pulled up in front and texted him that I''m waiting outside. After a few minutes, he exits his house and I see that he is Vlogging. We joke around about how we are double Vlogging but he realizes that he forgot his wallet and goes back inside to get it. As he walks out of sight I can''t help but laugh and comment to my audience on how much an idiot he is. We head over to the auto mart and Xinya buys himself a car. I was really shocked that he actually brought one. But that''s not what is important at the moment, what''s important is my revenge. After Xinya got his car, we went back to his house. I must say my acting was on point, I made sure to joke around with him, we even played car games. It was like that incident never happened. Once we reached his house we said our goodbyes. With him saying that he loves me jokingly while trying to get me to say it back, but for some reason, I couldn''t and the closest thing I could come to it was olive juice. I guess that was good enough for him because he left afterward. ~ I leave Xinya''s house and go to my uncle''s store. Hopefully, my uncle will buy it when I tell him that Xinya no longer wants his apron cleaned and wants me to bring it to him today instead of tomorrow. Directing my attention to my audience I tell them how much Xinya loves cooking. It''s been a passion of his since he was young. He wanted to go to school to become a professional chef, but something happened and he couldn''t do it anymore. This apron represents what he could have been, and the cook he idolized. Like how much my weapons means to me is how much this apron means to him. I arrived at the shop and go in and thank goodness my uncle buys my bs and let me take the apron. That was such a rush my hands are literally shaking as I enter my car. I bring the apron back home to my backyard. I show it to the camera so everyone will know that it''s indeed real. I set up another camera for the best angle. I douse the whole apron with gasoline, then I hang it on a metal pole. I checked the cameras once more to make sure everything is in view. I take a lighter out of my pocket and go to stand by the apron. I look into the camera while saying, "I''m sorry Xinya that things had to come to this, but this is nothing but what you deserve." With that, I watched his apron burn. I would never admit it but just for a moment, I felt like I did something I could never take back. ~ Xinya''s P.O.V It''s been a couple of days since I and Zixuan went car shopping and everything has been good between us. Today is the day I get my apron back from being clean and I''m so excited. I decide to Vlog the whole thing for my channel and since Zixuan been so good I decided to give his weapons back and film his reaction. He freaking adores those weapons and even if he doesn''t say it, I know he was holding a grudge about it. So when I surprised him with this it will be epic. I grab my camera and tell my viewers my plans for today. I tell them Zixuan is already waiting outside for and once I put my shoes on we can go. I walk outside to see Zixuan''s car waiting for me by the curb. I glance up at the sky to see that it''s drizzling. I should have taken that as a warning about what was about to come. Zixuan looks at me from out his window and asks, "Are you filming today?" To which I reply, "I''m blogging bro!" Before he tells me to get my ass in the car I tell him that I have a surprise for him. Confused he says, "Me? A surprise?" "Yes, you, who else?" I responded with a laugh. Stopping me before I could go get it, he gives me my USB drive back while saying, "Here''s your USB back, there''s a new video on it that I need to watch.'' I take the drive telling him that I will watch it later but he needs to see my surprise first. "You sure?" He asks. I say, "Yeah, I have been dying to show you this for a while. Well not awhile but a few days but you deserved it. " I tell him to cover his eyes and hold the camera while I go get it. "Ok,'''' he says as I run back into my house and get the bin where all of the weapons were in. I rush back to Zixuan''s car and ask if he is ready. I take the camera back from him and show the audience me holding the toys. I tell him when I count down from three to open his eyes which he agrees too. "3,2,1... open your eyes! " I shouted. Zixuan''s eyes blinked open and I could tell that he was very shocked. He looked so emotional staring at them the way that he was. "They''re all here Zixuan! I didn''t throw away your weapons! No way would I do that!" I excitedly tell him. I explain to him how the whole thing was just a joke and I would never do something like that to him. He just looked at me speechless, there were so many conflicting emotions in his eyes when he looked at me that I couldn''t quite understand. He laid his head against the steering wheel while murmuring, "Xinya... no no no." It seemed weird but I just figured he was really emotional, but then he screamed at me asking me why I waited so long to tell him. I told him that it had only been a few days, and with all the pranks he pulled on me, he deserves a few days of misery. I proceed to put them in the trunk of Zixuan''s car, feeling good about making him happy. Although Zixuan is acting weird after I returned them to him like he really stressed about something. I get into the car feeling super pumped. I tell Zixuan to let''s go get my apron so this great day will be complete. "Xinya..." Zixuan started but couldn''t finish. "Were you really that shocked? " I asked him. "Yes, I''m fucking shocked Xinya! Why did you wait so long to tell me?" I snickered saying, "It''s only been a few days Zixuan. After everything you put me through..." Interrupting me he said, "Xinya we can''t get your apron." My cheery demeanor automatically disappears, "What do you mean? Why not?" "Look I will explain the apron thing later, but you need to give me the USB back right now." He says in a voice I never heard from him before. "But...why?" I asked. "Look I just need the USB back right now." He says. I feel so confused. "Let me get this straight, I come outside and you say you have a surprise for me and I say I have one for you. You then proceed to give me the USB and tell me to watch it..." Zixuan cuts me off saying, "No you can''t watch it." "No let me finish, I bring out the weapons and surprise you with them and you keep saying why you waited for so long. It''s only been a few days and now you want the USB back because you don''t think I should watch it." I reply to him feeling my anger rising. With a panicked expression, Zixuan replied, "You just can''t, we can''t get your apron back at the moment. Just give me the USB back and I will explain everything later." Giving Zixuan a look of sheer disbelief I said, " That''s not going to fly Zixuan, I want to get my apron..." "You won''t be able to get your apron Xinya!" Zixuan shouts cutting me off again. "Why not?" I asked him trying to stay calm. "I can''t say, just give me the USB back please Xinya." I try to calm myself down, but I couldn''t quite do it. I looked at him and with a deep breath, I tried to understand. "So let''s see if I have this right, I give my apron to your uncle to get cleaned because you said it would be cheaper. But now you saying that I can''t have it back and I can''t watch whatever is on this USB drive? " "Yes, that''s what exactly what I''m telling you." He replied. With an angry sigh, I tell him if he doesn''t tell me what''s going on I will go watch the video. "I can''t Xinya, I literally can''t tell you." He says desperately. With that, I stormed out the car with Zixuan hot on my heels yelling my name. Telling me to give him the USB. I rushed into my house locking the door behind me, I could hear Zixuan banging on the door begging for me to give him the USB. "Fuck off Zixuan!" I yell at the door. I felt so distraught, I didn''t know what was going on but I knew Zixuan did something. "Please Xinya open the door, let me explain," Zixuan screamed as he banged on the door. "Just go away, I don''t want to talk to you," I tell him as I grip the USB in my hand and head upstairs. I realize that I''m still filming, I was about to turn it off but decided I want to record this because it has something to do with my apron. I put in the USB he gave me and opened the video file. He named it, ''Karma is a bitch'' all I could think was ''What the fuck?'' I watched the video, I was so confused. I watched as Zixuan went to his uncle''s store to get my apron. I couldn''t believe when he compared some ''weapons'' with something as precious to me as that apron. That apron embodied my past struggles and hopes, for him to just dismiss that... I had no words. I continued to watch as he brought my apron back to his house, feeling more dread as the minutes went by. I watched as Zixuan lay my apron on the ground, I couldn''t help but start yelling at my computer. My yelling turned to tears when I watched as Zixuan start pouring gasoline on it. "What are you doing Zixuan? Please don''t" I begged even though I know nobody would hear me. It was the next part though that left me empty inside. Zixuan lit my apron on fire... the apron that was priceless to me and destroyed it. I lost my mind after witnessing that. All I remember is screaming at the screen. Tears were streaming down my face, I couldn''t believe Zixuan could do something like that to me. It still didn''t feel real, but deep down inside I knew it was. It''s only been fucking two days is all I could think and I didn''t even destroy his goddamn freaking weapons. I..I just can''t believe this shit. I felt so sad and angry right now. "Fuck this!" I say taking off my shirt which had Zixuan''s blacksmith logo on it. "Fuck that, fuck Zixuan." My tears were literally streaming down my face, I felt so hurt. Why would he do something like that me, to us, does he think I would think we''re even and forgive him? I just don''t know where this leaves me and him. I turn to the camera and say, "Zixuan if you''re watching this I don''t know where this leaves us... I don''t even feel like getting you back, I''m just so done." I said a quick farewell to my viewers and turned off my camera. As I laid down on my bed more tears started falling from my eyes. Zixuan meant so much to me and for him not to even consider that I wouldn''t do that to him, that I was such an evil person. Then what of all of our years of friendship did it mean nothing? ''Do I mean nothing to him?'' Was my last thought before I curled my small frame into a ball and just cried myself to sleep. ~ Zixuan P.O.V It''s been a few days now since I watched the video Xinya posted on his KilloXa channel. He looked so devastated, I still can''t believe I did that to him. I tried everything to get in touch with him so I could apologize. I tried calling, social media, going over his house multiple times but he just would not respond to me. I don''t know what to do, I need him to forgive me. I kept thinking about what if he decides that he doesn''t want to be around me anymore. Just the thought of that makes me so upset that I kick the desk in my room. My foot hurts like hell now, but I just don''t give a damn. Thinking of ways to get Xinya to talk to me is way more important. I miss him, it might have only been a couple of days but still, I missed him. Like how just looking at him makes me smile, how I feel the need to occupy his time, and how I think his pouts are cute when in reality I should think they were childish. At that moment it occurred to me that maybe this is not what best friends should be thinking about each other. I decide to think about that later and think of a way for Xinya to talk to me. After three hours, I have a plan, I called Xinya best friend. I explained everything to her and she said she would help me out. She will take Xinya''s car and stay with a friend for the night and leave the house keys in the mailbox. She also gave me a piece of advice, "You better not fuck this up! " I promised myself that I wouldn''t, I put a few things in an overnight bag because I wasn''t leaving until we resolve this. I thought about getting him something from his favorite restaurant but I doubt he wants anything from me right now. I head over to his place in a hurry and just like Xinya''s best friend said, his car was gone and the keys were in the mailbox. I open and close the door quietly, I don''t want Xinya to be aware of my presence in his house. I walk right up to his room because I know when he''s sad he likes to hide underneath his blankets and tune out the world. It seems that I was right because that was exactly what he was doing. I walk all the way into the room but not before I made sure to lock his room door. We are getting everything settled tonight. ****** Xinya p.o.v I felt someone ripped the covers off of me while saying my name. I get up to see Zixuan in my room. "What the hell are you doing here? I don''t want to see you!" I shouted at him. "Please Xinya, just hear me out. I beg of you." Zixuan said walking towards me. I laughed sarcastically, "Why should I let you after what you have done. I can barely look at you right now. "Xinya I genuinely thought you threw away my weapons, that''s the only reason I did it. You have to believe me." He said really wanting me to trust him. "How can your weapons compare with that apron Zixuan? Tell me I really like to know? " I say and when he remained silent for a while I continued. "While we on this subject, tell me how could you believe that I would ever destroy something that is precious to you?" My voice starts breaking at this point, tears creep up in my eyes. "Xinya, I''m..." Zixuan begins but I turn my back to him and cover my ears. I don''t want any fake platitudes, nothing he could say would make me feel better. I probably stayed like that for a few minutes. I can be stubborn when I want to. I heard a few loud thuds before I''m shockingly I feel two arms hug me from behind. I put my arms down only to hear Zixuan whispering, ''Don''t hate me'' against my neck. ~ Zixuan P.O.V Everything went blank after I heard the tears in Xinya''s voice, all I could think was that I was the one who caused that. I felt lower than dirt. I tried to say sorry but Xinya just covered his ears and turned away from me. It seemed I went too far and he was just done with me. I couldn''t let that happen Xinya can''t hate me. If he hates me he will never want to see me again. That was the only thing going on in my mind. As I gazed at him huddled on his bed, unaware of everything. Suddenly a new thought popped into my head as I stomped towards him it was, ''I will do anything for him not to leave me.'' ~ 3rd P.O.V The only thought that was running through Zixuan''s mind was that he couldn''t allow Xinya to hate him. At some point, he must have moved because he found himself mumbling against Xinya''s neck while holding him tightly. You could tell that Xinya was a little shocked since he stopped what he was doing, turning his head slightly towards Zixuan. "Zixuan...stop," Xinya said while trying to get out of his hold. "Please, Xinya just listen to me," Zixuan asked not letting go. Giving in like he always does when it comes to Zixuan, with a sigh Xinya said, "Alright let me go and I will listen to whatever you have to say." Zixuan slowly loosened his grip off of Xinya, making sure he didn''t change his mind and try to leave. "Xinya I know what I did was wrong, I am scum for burning your apron, no worse than that. There are no words to describe what I am. What''s worse is that I thought you could actually destroy my weapons. I should know you by now how could I think that." "Yes, Zixuan how could you believe I would do that to you. I forgive you every time when you do something to me. Yet you take my prize possession that you know means the world to me and fucking burned it!" Xinya shouted heatedly at Zixuan. "Xinya I know where you''re coming from, what I did was wrong I know... what can I do to make this right," Zixuan asked desperately. Shaking his head sadly Xinya replied, "I don''t know, I think it would be best if we don''t meet for a while." After hearing that something inside of Zixuan snapped. All he knew was that he was losing Xinya and nothing he could say would stop it. So he decided that maybe words were not needed. Chuckling to himself, Zixuan said, "We have been friends for 3 years and I mess up once you want to throw everything away. Do you think I would ever allow you to ruin our friendship or better yet do you think I would allow you to leave me?" Zixuan grabbed Xinya into a fiery kiss, while Xinya struggled in his embrace throughout it. After a few minutes, Zixuan finally stopped, both gasping for air. Xinya pushed him away, spluttering confusingly, "What the hell Zixuan?" Zixuan stared at Xinya, noticing the visible flush going down his neck. "What do you think?" "I really don''t know." He says distancing himself from Zixuan when he saw that he was stalking towards him. Zixuan just looks at him as if he was stupid. "I have always known you felt something for me. The things you say, how you look at me. I will be stupid if I didn''t." Xinya was dumbstruck, he couldn''t believe the words coming out of Zixuan''s mouth. "I bet you are wondering why I never said anything, it''s obvious that I didn''t want to hurt your feelings." Balling up his fists in anger Xinya shouted, "So what, you kiss me so I won''t leave you?!" "No that''s not what this is," Zixuan replied cornering Xinya to the wall. "Than what is it?" Caressing Xinya''s face Zixuan said, "This is me recognizing my feelings for you." The last thing Zixuan saw before he decided to kiss the breath out of Xinya was his surprised face. Zixuan pushed Xinya on the bed devouring his mouth. He started sucking on Xinya''s neck, trying to unbuttoning his shirt. Removing it and his own, Zixuan continued kissing his neck while playing with his nipples. Xinya let out breathy gasps of enjoyment. Zixuan started grinding their groins together and they both groaned at the sparks of pleasure. Removing the rest of their clothes, they were completely naked in front of each other for the first time. Xinya felt a little shy and couldn''t bring himself to look at him. "Xinya look at me. "Zixuan coaxed him. Although Zixuan''s body wasn''t the sexiest thing in the world to him it was perfect. Hesitantly Xinya kissed on the lips. Stopping him Zixuan asks if he has some lotion or something. Xinya hurries to the bathroom and grabs one of the lotions he never used before. Returning to the bed he sees Zixuan kneeling in the middle of it. Xinya hands Zixuan the bottle while getting back on the bed. "Do you know what you are doing?" "I been curious about it, I have watched some things that will help me figure it out." Zixuan smirks popping the cap and placing it somewhere in reach. ~ Sounds of pleasure floated through the air, mingling with the musky scent of sweat and sex. A high, faltering whine is occasionally interrupted by lower moans, the sound of skin slapping on the skin in the dark. A drop of sweat slid down one of the boy''s necks as his fingers clench tighter, digging into the lighter skin under his hands. When a word finally pierces the air, it''s in that same high whine, needy and desperate, coming from the plump, kiss-swollen lips of the boy on his hands and knees. "Zixuan!" As if saying his name was some sort of signal, the rhythm of flesh on flesh speeds up, which in turn increases the volume of the whine. Each thrust joins them together as close as possible until tight, hot, fuck is all that is running through Zixuan''s mind. Xinya is slamming his ass back onto Zixuan''s cock with each and every forward thrust of Zixuan''s hips, both of them lost to the pure, carnal pleasure coursing through their bodies. Zixuan never wants this to stop, the tightness of Xinya''s walls, the intense feeling of being completely enveloped on each thrust. He would do this forever, but his muscles are burning from the fast pace, his sweaty palms are slipping on Xinya''s skin, and he feels like he might explode if he doesn''t get to cum soon. "God baby, you feel so fucking amazing. It was like you were made for my dick." Xinya was close, so very close, Zixuan does twists his hips perfectly stroking his sweet spot making everything he was feeling explode. It was like a supernova of pleasure sending a shock wave through his body. A white light bursts behind his eyes and he is screaming his pleasure into the pillow under his face as his body bucks and thrashes against Zixuan''s dick, his muscles squeezing and clenching around Zixuan''s still thrusting cock as his own cock is shooting a flood of semen between his body and the sheets. Feeling Xinya come apart around him is the final straw for Zixuan as his own orgasm hits him, tearing a scream from his own lips as his cock explodes inside of Xinya, filling him up with his seed. He keeps thrusting until they are both milked dry, and Xinya is a dead weight in his arms. ~ It was the middle of the night when they awoke. They cuddled against each other in the dark, Zixuan was placing light kisses on Xinya''s neck when suddenly Xinya turned towards him and said, "I''m still a little upset about my apron." "I promise you I will replace it, baby," Zixuan replied giving him a deep kiss. Breathless Xinya said, "You better." The End Possessive vs Protective "You are so possessive," he says to me a pout forming on his face. Coming to him I ask "What do you mean I''m Possessive?" "What would you call it then?" he says curiously. "Well... I guess I would rather call it Protective." I say. Laughing he says "Protective huh.... give me some examples?" "Don''t laugh I will give you some very good examples" I replied smartly. "....Waiting" he said while giggling into his hand. "Okay... Example One: "You know how you''re always asking for people''s phone numbers,"I say. "I don''t ask for them they just give them to me," he says indifferently. "But you take them,"I reply. "If it makes you feel better you can erase all of them except the important ones." he huffs. "Fine... I will." I said smiling. Rolling his eyes he says "Done? Are you happy now?" "Yes. Hopefully, they will learn to stay away from my property from now on." I said smugly. "Your property? I''ve become a thing now?" he says while crossing his arms. Kissing him on the cheek I reply "Thing or not, you are mine." "... I''ll pretend I didn''t hear that. What does this have to do with you being protective again? He asked. "Oh, one thing or another," I say. "You don''t really sound sure," he says with an amused smile. "I am," I say. Licking his lips he says "You know something?" "What?" I say. "You sound jealous. Are you?" he asks with a wicked glint in his eyes. Laughing "Me...Jealous? Don''t joke with me." "Ok, so you''re not jealous. But you''re possessive, don''t even try to deny it no more," he says smirking. "I am is not possessive," I say. "Are too." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not." "Am not." "Are too," I say. "Gotcha," he says giggling. "So you have... I guess I am possessive but only towards you.. Xinya." I say while grabbing him by the waist and kissing him Passionately. The End. .... and that is why I don''t like sweet things. It was Saturday afternoon and four out of five players from the internationally known Haven Online could be currently found hiding in the bathroom closet. Now I know you are wondering why they are hiding in the closet and three out of four of them would say it was all Jun''s fault. So your now wondering how they knew it was his fault... well because when they ask who''s fault it was. With a guilty expression on his face, Jun said. "I''m sorry, I should have listened to Xinya when he said he didn''t like sweet things, but you have to believe me... I never thought it turn out this way." Once again I know what your thinking what could he possibly mean by that... well, let''s rewind a little and see. 2 hours earlier. "What?" Jun questioned in amazement? "You''ve never eaten sweet foods?" "I said rarely.....There''s a difference," protested Xinya. "Why? They are really good." Jun asked a little confused. Shaking his head Xinya started mumbling something about how he didn''t want to know. "Well, we''re gonna have to change that," Jun said completely ignoring Xinya''s mumblings. With that Jun disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back he was loaded down with 2 containers of ice cream, various candy bars, soda, and a package of sugar. "Ooh, goodies!" Qiang excitedly exclaimed while coming into the room with Wei. "Can we have some?" Putting down a load of goodies Jun shrugged his shoulders. "Sure...why not? Ok everyone, dig in!" Qiang and Jun started gobbling up the sweets in their mouths. Even Wei was letting himself indulge took a little. Glancing over at Xinya, Jun saw that he wasn''t eating anything. In fact, he was edging away from the table. Jun grabbed his hand and pulled him next to him on the couch. He poured a glass about 3/4 of the way with soda, raised the level about an inch with sugar, and added a scoop of ice cream. "Go on and try it!" Jun said, forcing Xinya to drink the concoction. Xinya swallowed the sugary substance. He looked thoughtful for a moment and they made himself another glass and drank it down. Several candy bars and spoonfuls of sugar followed that. He had shortly finished off 1/3 of the stash. "Wow...um...wow," Jun said after watching him. Xinya''s eyes were totally glazed over and he had a huge smile on his face. "Are you okay?" Wei asked him, waving his hand in front of his eyes. Xinya just nodded. With a big smile on his face, he jumped up from the couch and rushed out the door. They didn''t know it at the time but in a few minutes hell as they never knew it would descend upon them. Xinya ran into the kitchen and came back out with soda. From the couch, Jun spoke "Xinya, what are you going to do with that?" Xinya smirked, an evil one that graced his lips; soda in hand ¨C he shook up the soda. "Fire in the hole!" He yelled as he popped open the lid of the drink. Sprays of sticking carbonated liquid sprayed everyone, at this point, Qiang was really pissed. "What the hell Xinya!" He jumped from the couch, slipping on the previous soda drenched floor; he went face-first into a bowl of ice cream. As if it were planned, out of nowhere Xinya placed a cherry on top of Qiang''s head while dancing merrily screaming "Ice Cream Man! Icecream Man! Qi Qi is an Ice Cream man!" Wei and Jun busted out laughing, falling to the floor, their eyes tearing ¨C stomachs aching. Qiang stood up; his face had an "I''m going to kill you" expression. He was so angry that you could literally see steam pouring out of his ears, melting the ice cream on top of his head. Seeing this, the two started to laugh again, even harder this time. The so-called ''ice cream man'' had enough, wiping away the dissolved coconut ice cream from his eyes, he gave chase to Xinya. As the two ran back and forth Xinya was throwing random objects; this time he picked up Qiang''s stuffed dolphin Mushu and threw it at him in the middle of the forehead. Qiang screamed. "You Hurt Mushy¡­" He snatched up the discarded stuffed animal from off the floor and started petting it. "It''s okay ¡­ I''m sorry the bad man hurt you ¡­ he''s gone now ¡­ it''s okay ¡­ ssshhh!" He rocked back and forth comforting his little friend. Xinya was confused. "Why aren''t you playing anymore?" He asked. Qiang ignored him and continued to comfort himself and Mushy. Darn, now I have to find a new playmate ¡­"Hey Jun Jun!?" "Umm. .. Yeah, Xinya" Jun answered nervously. "Let''s play a game," Xinya said hiding something behind his back. Backing away slowly Jun cautiously spoke, "What kind of game?" "The shaving game", Xinya replied, brandishing a can of shaving cream and a razor from behind his back, while grinning. "Ohhh! Hell No!" Jun frantically yelped. With this, Xinya lunged at him; dodging him Jun took off running. "Come on Jun, you have too much hair! It''s the evil hair from Pluto that''s come to take over your body. .. I MUST SAVE YOU BY SHAVING IT ALL OFF, ALL OF IT!!!" Xinya yelled. "O.o;" Jun whipped his body around like a rocket and sped away from Xinya, who was right on his tale. Trying to get away Jun screamed "HELP ME WEI, OH PLEASE GOD HELP ME!!! It''s ¡­ Its Xinya ¡­ he''s ¡­ HE''S GONE BANANAS!!! The sugar hyper boy had now caught up to his prey and way making shaving noises with the razor. Running in circles around the chair, Jun started to become hysterical. Jun then realized that it was just an empty chair and that he had been talking to a mop. "Jun-Jun why are you calling Wei, she left a while ago, when we were playing in the bedroom." Said a giggling Xinya. "Now there is nobody who can help you while I save you from the evil hair empire! Muahahaha!!!" Clearly he had lost his mind. ~ Meanwhile At the Workshop Wei came through the door flustered. "Zixuan!" Hearing his name he stopped working, turning around he saw Wei who was looking distressed. "What''s wrong with Wei?!" Zixuan asked. "It ¡­ it wasn''t my fault!!! It was Jun¡­ he ¡­ he wanted to know why Xinya didn''t like sugar ¡­ so ¡­ he ¡­ gave him some ¡­ and then a lot ¡­ and then a lot more ¡­ I''ve never seen someone each much sugar!" "Are you telling me that Xinya is on a sugar high ¡­ oh¡­ this is bad!" Zixuan said worriedly. "Wait, has this happened before ¡­?" Wei asked. "Yes, a long time ago, a couple of months after we first met. But, there''s no time to get into that. Xinya is wreaking havoc right now, right?" Zixuan said, seeing Wei nod he went on. "There''s only one way I know to bring down Xinya from a sugar high ¡­ Wei I need you to go home and watch out for Jun and Qiang. I''ll be there as soon as I can, I need to get some stuff prepared." "Okay, but please hurry home!" Wei said while leaving. After he left Zixuan smiled evilly to himself, he whispered: "Well now isn''t this going to be fun!" 2 hours later Now that the flashback is over; we are back to realizing four out of five players from the internationally known Haven Online could be still found hiding in the bathroom closet, and two out of the four of them would still say it was Jun''s fault, while one with a suspicious smile would silently nod and agree with them hiding a large bad behind his back. "Zixuan, what are we going to do? I think Xinya is going to find us soon". Wei said while wringing his hands. With an eerily smile on his face Zixuan spoke, "Wei I need you to do something for me in five minutes, I''m going to distract Xinya. I need you to take Qiang and Jun out of here." Pulling out a credit card, he handed it to Wei who placed it into her pocket. "First take Jun to a stylist and fix his hair, then go stay over at a friend''s house and stay there until tomorrow." "Are you sure you''re going to be alright here by yourself, we are speaking of a sugar-crazed Xinya." Asked Qiang who was cuddling his dolphin Mushy. "Yes, I''m sure," Zixuan responded trying to hide his obvious smile. Now on the count of five going to go out there and distract Xinya while you ¡­" glancing at his friends, "get the hell out of here!" He continued. Nodding, Wei whispered an "okay, when everybody is out the door I''ll knock three times to let you know we''re out. "Okay everybody gets ready? Zixuan began, crouching by the door. "One ¡­ two ¡­ three ¡­ four ¡­ five!" With that Zixuan ran out of the closet and went into the living room only to find Xinya taking apart the TV. "Hey, Xinya what are you doing?" Zixuan asked cautiously. Looking up, he smiled a big smile and waved. "Hi Zixuan, I''m building a robot, wanna help?! Just then three knocks could be heard from the door, smirking evilly Zixuan said: "How about a game?" "What sort of game Zi Zi? Xinya asked while putting down the telephone pieces. "Is it going to be fun?" "It''s going to be really fun..." he said while pouring the contents of the bag out. "Um, Zixuan... what are you going to do with strawberries and whip cream? Is it part of the game?" He asked tilting his head to the side cutely. Smirking harder than one would think possible Zixuan said: " Yes it is we''re going play human sundae." "Oh, I remember that game we played it before!" Xinya said while clapping his hands together. "I''m so glad you remember, so do you want to be the sundae or should I be it again?" Asked Zixuan. Pouting Xinya said, "Nah un Zixuan that not fair you been the sundae already it''s my turn." With an almost scary glint in his eye, he said "whatever you want Xinya. Do you remember how to play?" but Xinya was already ahead of him walking towards the kitchen stripping along the way, picking up the whipped cream and strawberries he ran to catch up. Splayed upon the tabletop Xinya said: "I''m ready to play now Zi Zi." Zixuan begins to coat Xinya''s entire body in the white fluffy substance, making sure to pay extra attention when spraying it on the brunette''s cock and balls. His erection twitched at the feel of the fluff being put on his lower anatomy. Making a gasp spring from Xinya''s throat. "Did you like that," Zixuan spoke in a low tone, seeing the confused look on Xinya''s face he couldn''t help but think that he will. It was really turning him on to see Xinya like this. Getting a strawberry from the container, he dropped it onto Xinya''s stomach. Grabbing four more, he repeated his earlier action. He put the box down beside them, then picked up one of the strawberries on Xinya''s stomach. Smearing it around in the cream before he brought it to the others'' lips. "Come on have a taste of my yummy Ya ya sundae." Xinya opened is mouth and took the strawberry, along with Zixuan''s index and pointer fingers. He chewed around the two fingers, sucking on them when he swallowed the strawberry. "That was yummy Zixuan can I have some more," Xinya said, strawberry juices glistening on his chin. Zixuan moaned at the erotic sight before him before saying," Naughty Yaya this is my sundae I can''t let you eat it all. Zixuan started to move his hand down Xinya''s body as he started to suck the whipped cream off of Xinya''s stomach, deliberately avoiding the strawberries. Teasingly, Zixuan moved one of the wet digits over his lover''s entrance, coaxing a moan from the other. It slipped in, slowly moving as far as if could go, letting the raven adjust to the intruder before it began moving in and out at a steady pace. "Are you having fun yet Xinya?" Zixuan asked. "Yes... I''m ready to be eaten!" replied Xinya. Pulling his finger out so it was just barely rimming his lover''s entrance, Zixuan stuck a second beside the first and started to move inside of him again slowly as he moved to lick farther down on Xinya''s anatomy. The two fingers working Xinya''s entrance moved to stretch it, hoping to make it less painful for the other. A slight whimper reached Zixuan''s ears as the third finger sidled in with the other two while licking the last of the whipped cream from around his boyfriends'' swollen cock. Zixuan licked the head, slowly moving up to the tip as he pushed the three fingers in and out. He moved to take in the entire erection as he probed around the brunette''s insides, stimulating the small gland he knew resided within. Zixuan smiled around the dick within his mouth as he pressed Xinya''s a scream of pleasure was heard. Proceeding to stroke the spot within Xinya, Zixuan removed his head from around Xinya''s erection, then removing his fingers from within. Coating his erection with some cooking oil that was conveniently on the table Zixuan positioned himself so his tip was touching Xinya''s entrance. "Are you ready to be devoured," he panted. "Y..yes," the brunette sighed in pleasure. Slowly, Zixuan pushed, a slight pop signaling Xinya''s entrance. He entered slowly, pumping Xinya''s erection to try and remove the pain from his mind. When he reached as for in as he could go, Zixuan remained still, resisting the urge to pull out and roughly fuck his lover. Minutes passed before Xinya thrushes his hips downward, a slight moan eliciting from him. Zixuan took this as a sign and began moving. Pulling out slowly, to move in a little faster. A steady rhythm was formed, the sound of slapping skin throughout the house. Moans, groans, panting and mewling. Xinya leaned up, catching his arms around the back of Zixuan''s neck and pulled him into an extremely sloppy kiss. The brunette let go as a loud moan erupted from his mouth as Zixuan hit his prostate. Grabbing the pale hips, Zixuan began thrusting quickly into the spot he had before. Xinya continually moaned out loudly. "M..more, Zixuan, please," Xinya yelled amidst panting, a tone of begging. Zixuan felt his length harden even more as Xinya begged him. Feeling the beginnings of the hot coil slowly release in his stomach, he moved faster and harder within Xinya. If he thought his Xinya''s moaning was loud, this would be considered deafening. The brunette moved against his Zixuan, also feeling the tightening in his stomach begin to release. He tried to move faster, trying to reach completion. "Zixuan!" He screamed as spurt after spurt of a sticky white substance coated his and Zixuan''s stomachs as wave after wave of heavenly pleasure coursed through his body. Feeling the tight gripping of Xinya''s body around his cock, Zixuan thrushes as fast and hard as he possibly could, with a couple of more thrushes, he released his seed inside Xinya''s body. A loud shout of "Xinya!" could be heard before and he collapses upon the other. Waking up from his pleasure infused daze Zixuan looks at Xinya to find him dead to the world. "Look at you, you''re a mess," Zixuan whispered to a sleeping Xinya as he scooped him up and took him into the bathroom. 5 hours later Jun, Wei, and Qiang came back to a quiet and clean house, just in time to see Zixuan exiting the kitchen. "Hi guys your back, I see you fixed Jun''s hair," Zixuan replied cheerfully. "That doesn''t matter where''s Xinya?" asked a slightly scared Qiang. "Oh... he''s sleeping," Zixuan said airily. Dumbfounded Jun asked, " How were you able to calm him down?" "I just wore him out..." replied Zixuan as he walked away chuckling, making the other stare after him confounded. The End Chapter 136: Holiday Bonus pt 3 Fanfiction from pt 2 Continued: Cupcake Converse I stand in front of my house silently contemplating my life; I just got back from the mall, I had to do some last-minute school shopping. I will be a senior this year, so using the money I saved up I wanted to buy more clothes since most of them were old and out of date. So I splurged a bit. I was really happy because in nine more months I will finally be able to leave this place. It''s not like anyone wants me here anyway. I sigh as I stare at my house. It is a semi-small French colonial with a balcony that has a breathtaking view of the garden outside. My father had it built for my mother. I can''t even express how utterly gorgeous it is. But as they say, never trust a book by its cover, you might not like what you read. You see my family live in Crescent Hills, one of the three gated communities in town. Anybody who is anyone wants to live in crescent hills from self-made billionaires to politicians. My father worked really hard to get us here, all his life he has been poor. So he lied, cheated and blackmailed to get his way to the top but even so we are still on the fringes of what these people consider wealthy. My father is an ass kisser he worked so hard to get to where he is and doesn''t want any blemishes to his name, and the only blemish he sees is me. You must understand we were supposed to be this picturesque family of five with the stereotyped roles he tailored for us. His sons would be these perfect athletics and his daughter as the perfect princess. He was trying to get up in the world and even if he had to use us as his ladder it didn''t matter. My earliest memory was of my mother, I was cuddling against her inhaling her flowery scent. She was so loving and giving but she was also very sickly. She had to have a stay at home nurse who was named Ling. I was too small to notice it but the sicker my mother got the more distant my father became. Sometimes I would walk past my father''s office and see him and Ling hugging. But I was too young; my mind couldn''t connect the fact that what he was doing was wrong. Who knew that a short time later Ling would become my stepmother. You know that saying each parent has their favorite well my mother treated me and my brother the same and I loved her for that. Our father on the other hand even before he found out knew exactly who his favorite was. I think deep down my mother knew how I would turn out and how I would be treated because of it after she was gone from this earth because one day she called me to her room and gave me an envelope. She made me promise to hide it from my father and only open it on my 18th birthday. I was six when my mother died and a month later my father moved in Ling and her four-year-old daughter that looked just like him. I closed up after that, hiding from the world behind fake glasses, messy hair and grungy looking clothes. I decided the world within books were better than the one I''m living now. My father sent me to all sorts of therapists to break me out of my shell as he called it, what he really meant was that he wanted me to be exactly like my older brother. He gave up after two years after seeing no effect deciding it was just a waste of money. He still considered me a son than. Things changed on my thirteenth year that when I became just a mere servant. ~ I remember the event like yesterday, I was really stupid and curious and you know what they say about curiosity. I thought nobody would be home. We had sex ed recently about masturbation and what boys and girls do together but I was worried because girls didn''t make me feel that special type of way as described to me by my peers and, to be honest, I was more turned on by the boys in their gym clothes than anything. So making sure my room door was closed I turned on my laptop and searched ''boys kissing'' on OOgled there were hundreds of pictures and gifs and as I looked at each one I got turned on. I started to touch myself through my pants. I don''t know how long I was doing it for, but all of a sudden I heard a gasp, I turned around only to see my father was right behind me. He had such a look of disgust on his face I didn''t know what he would do. It wasn''t until the next day that things came to ahead. It started with a bleak morning, grey clouds and rain. I guess the sky gods felt my mood. I went through the motions of school and afterward I wandered around the park not caring if I got soaked. I didn''t want to go home; I knew something bad would happen. It felt like forever but I finally got the guts to go home only to open the door and see my stepmother on the couch waiting for me. She told me to hurry up and dry off and then meet my father in his study. I hurried and got changed approximately ten minutes later I was in front of my father''s study. With a deep breath, I knocked. "Come in" he replied. Opening the door I see my father seated behind his desk I walk forward towards him. He stares at me with a completely blank face as if I''m not worth more than the dirt beneath his feet than he begins to talk. "So from yesterday incident, it seems your one of those sorts of people... those faggots." He says calmly as if he''s talking about the weather. "You always were a blight against me and this family and now this. At first, I thought about sending you to one of those camps but I think it would be a waste of time like the therapists." The words faggot and blight against this family kept repeating over and over in my head. I didn''t want to listen to anymore but I knew I had too. "So boy listen up and listen good you no longer a member of this family I will feed, clothe and school you but once your 18 you''re dead to me. As of now, you''re one of the servant children we took in out of the kindness of our hearts. I have done all the paperwork, I gave you your mother''s last name so be grateful." He stares at me for a bit before continuing. "You may keep your room since it''s out of the way and the smallest. Also, the servant''s will no longer answer to you, so do not bother them. Now go I can''t stand to be near you." He dismissed me as I was nothing because to him I was nothing. I went to my room with a heavy heart; all I wanted to do was cry. As I was walking there I saw my brother coming he collided into me knocking me hard against the wall. As I looked at him all he said was "Next time stay out of my way fag.", and kept walking. I was dumbstruck for all of a minute until I realized I should have known. He was always a daddy''s boy. ~ Letting out a deep breath, l came away from those thoughts it did no good dwelling on the past; when the future is almost a breath away. The freedom it was so close I could taste it. I just need to keep telling myself in 3 more months and I will be 18 away from this hell and all of its inhabitants. I already had it worked out; I would stay with a friend until I go to college. My friend''s parents knew how my family treated me but didn''t have enough clout to take me away from them. Plus I knew if they tried my family would destroy them financially, my father has a lot of shady business friends. Gathering all my bags, I straighten myself up. I don''t know why I keep dwelling on the past, in 3 months it will mean nothing to me or at least I would like to think that way. I walk inside the house knowing it would be empty besides the servants; they smile at me as I walk past them to my room. Nothing my family could do would make them turn against me much to their utter disappointment. They still treated me as an unofficial young master of the house and I will always love them for that, but it was Yan who always looked out for me. She was an older maid in her mid-fifties, her hair just started to turn grey. She has such a vivacious personality, which my mother enjoyed when she was still alive. They were really close; more than friends like family. I would even dare say Yan was like a second mom to my mother. Yan took it hard when my mom passes but not as hard when she found out what my father did to me her sweet little boy as she loves to call me. I still remember the night following the incident she stormed into my room in righteous fury. I thought she was mad at me but she just held me tightly. When she let go she said something that I will hold dear to my heart always. "I don''t care if your straight, gay, blue, pink or alien you will always be my sweet little boy do you understand me." I could only nod as tears welled up in my eyes. "I will always love you," she said with a soft smile before giving me a kiss on my brow. A knock on the door brought me back to the present; Yan came in with a flustered expression on her face. "What''s wrong?" I asked concerned. "It''s your father he''s having the Ming''s over for dinner tonight, so we are going to need you to pretend tonight sweetie." She said sadly. With a small smile, I say, "It''s ok Yan, I''m used to it. Just give me ten minutes and I will be ready." "Ok sweetheart." She said giving me a pat on the head leaving me to my own devices. I fall onto my bed letting out a sigh. ''The Ming''s huh, how interesting'' I think to myself before I turn my head to the dresser beside my bed. It had a picture of my mother when she was still healthy, sitting in a field of flowers. With a baby version of me sitting in her lap; while she smiles sweetly down upon me. "So what do you think mom," I whisper to the picture. "I wonder will tonight be entertaining as always when father tries to suck up?" I smile softly to myself as I get up and start putting my clothes away. ~ A couple of minutes past before I entered the kitchen in my servant''s uniform, Yan was already there patiently waiting for me. She was with two of the kitchen staff who were busy puttering around getting things prepared. As I looked around at them, I thought about the only good thing that came out of this situation. I found a passion for cooking, and my passion led me to have the dream of becoming a world-famous chef. I will show my family I don''t need them. If I can get into the best cooking school in the world with them giving me a scholarship, I must be full of potential. "Alright Yan I''m here you can go help the others, I got this," I say with a confident smirk. She laughs and walks away. I turn to Wandan and Zilin the other two who were in the kitchen. Wandan was a short but feisty and always said what was on her mind. She was around my age working her way through college. Zilin, on the other hand, was a single mother of two with a deadbeat boyfriend who ran out on her. She still had hope that he comes back to her one day. I smile at them while saying, "Let''s do this!" Looking in the fridge and cabinets, I started listing off all of the things we would need but before I was done I was abruptly cut off by Wandan. "Wait a minute who are we cooking for Xinya?" she asks confused. She knew that Yan only makes me help out only if it''s someone really important coming over. When I told her that it was the Ming''s she was so shocked she looked like she was about to faint even Zilin dropped some of the items she had been carrying. I just stared bemusedly at the both of them. "How the hell did your father manage to get them over here for dinner," she asks me awestruck. The reason why they were both so stunned by this was that the Ming''s are like royalty. They are the richest most influential family in China; I would even dare say the world. Although unlike other influential people who associate themselves with them, they don''t try to flaunt their wealth, they are generally well-liked by all. Some say if a Ming wanted to run for president they would win by a landslide. Laughing slightly I reply, "I have no freaking clue, but I know one thing for sure we can''t mess up tonight." I sent Wandan out for all the things we didn''t already have in the house, while me and Zilin began getting the ingredients prepared. Tonight I decided to go all out on this meal with the recipes I created myself, Blue Cheese Crostini with Balsamic-Roasted Grapes for the appetizer,and for the entr¨¦e Chicken Scaloppine With Spinach and Linguine served with white wine and lastly for dessert a Raspberry Panna Cotta. I will make the Ming''s taste buds melt in pleasure than my family will learn that the word worthless doesn''t pertain to me. My father it seems would be bringing them here around 8 pm leaving me three hours to get everything ready. I wonder if he remembered to call the rest of his perfect family so they know to be here. A huge part of me hoped that he didn''t, but my hopes were dashed when exactly two hours later that my stepmother and two siblings walked through the door. They had numerous bags in their hands. I sigh as that small hope went up in smoke. As soon as they were inside the house they scampered up to their rooms, not to be seen for quite a while. I guess it took time to look perfect. ~ My stepmother was the first to come out, throwing out pointless orders to the staff which was ignored when she was out of view. Everyone despises her, it was like she was an evil Barbie doll come to life. She comes to the kitchen last walking around pretending to make sure that the food is up to par as if she would even know. She asks Zilin and Wandan what we are making after they tell her she then warns them that if it tastes even remotely bad she would fire them faster than they could say sorry. As she begins to walk out of the kitchen she looks over to me disgust clearly written upon her face, looking me up and down she snorts as if I wasn''t even worth her attention before leaving the kitchen entirely. If I wasn''t so much of the bigger person I would spit in her food. Calming the girls down, since they always get a little rattled when the bitch is near we continue cooking. I was so immersed with my cooking that I barely noticed hearing people walk through the door. I see my father first already babbling away trying to get on the Ming''s good side. Han Ming entered first with his tall and sturdy body. He had long black hair framing his handsome face even though I hate beards he pulls it off so well. He was followed by his wife Mok; I have never seen such a beautiful woman besides my mother of course. She was really lithe with curly brown hair and lovely brown eyes; she had the clearest complexion I''ve seen on a woman or ever. No wonder people say she can become a model even at her age. Then there was Zixuan all I could think was damn. Zixuan and I might go to the same school but we never shared any of the same classes or did any of the same activities, so this is my first time ever seeing him. I must say he is one gorgeous piece of man meat, with his toned body which I assumed came from all the sports he did and on top of that body was ahead with light brown hair, dark brown eyes; surrounded by a face that could be used in sculptors, but as I said before, never judge a book by its cover no matter how appealing that cover might be. The night started alright, well from my point of view. The kitchen was connected to the living room and dining room so I would be able to see and hear everything that would go on tonight. So I watched in amusement as my father tried to suck up to Mr. Ming. He looked like a dog trying to beg a treat out of his master. She bitch aka my stepmother was gushing to Mrs. Ming how she redid the house recently. It took everything in me to not laugh out loud at the bored face that Mrs. Ming was trying so hard to hide. My older brother was trying to engage Zixuan in some sports talk, while my little sister just made goo goo eyes at him. I decided that it was time to bring out the appetizers; my stepmother stopped talking long enough to glare at me and gesture where I should put the tray. I quickly took my leave; I didn''t want to be in there any longer than I had too. If anything would happen I would be the one to blame. Just as I made it into the kitchen I heard Mrs. Ming exclaim how delicious the appetizers were and how she never tasted anything like it. I heard her asked my father to bring out the chef so she could compliment them. I smiled to myself for a job well done as I watched the rest of the Ming family nod in agreement. "Chef?" I hear my brother say while snorting. "The person who made that was just my no-good little brother. The Ming''s looked confused. It was Mr. Ming who asked. "There''s another son in this family?" I could see my father start to sweat; he started motioning my brother to shut up. I guess my stepmother didn''t sense the situation because she just continued where my brother left off. "Yes, you see Huang''s previous wife had an affair, so he''s not really his son but out of the goodness of his heart he let him stay here even though he''s a dirty little fag. So we make him cook and clean it''s the least he could do." She said smugly as if she was doing some great service to me. I must say I didn''t know how stupid my stepmother was until now. Even if she didn''t hint at abusing a minor by making them a servant but she was deliberately showing the Ming''s how much of a homophobe she is. Everyone knows the Ming''s are activists in gay rights, that one of Mrs. Ming''s sisters was a lesbian. My father looked like he was about to faint. There was complete silence for about 10 seconds before Mr. Ming asked her in a hard tone. "What did you say?" ~ "I''m so sorry Mr. Ming about my wife." My father said scrambling to save the evening. "Don''t listen to anything she says, she a little homophobic, I have put her in therapy to see where it stems from. Fan will you please take your mother to her room, I have told her not to talk that way around polite company." He said to my sister, glaring at my stepmother as if daring her to do something. I must point out that my father was not an abusive man, well not physically at least. Not even to me, once I think he came close but stopped saying how he didn''t want to dirty his hands on me. For some reason I think that hurt worse than any beating he could have given me. The Ming''s decided to stay but the mood was a lot tenser than it was earlier, father was still apologizing every so often for my stepmother. He kept telling them how he treated me the same as the rest of my siblings and it was I who wanted to do things and help out. I so wanted to call him on his bull shit so bad. When my sister came back, my father commented that it was time to depart to the dining room signifying me that they were ready for the main course. Snapping my fingers at Wandan and Zilin we gathered up the food on trays and brought it out to them. I smiled politely at everyone with my gaze lingering on Zixuan a little more than necessary because I can see that he is smiling back at me. After everything is set down perfectly the girls and I decided to excuse ourselves, but before we could Mr. Ming looked over at my father and asked, "Aren''t you going to introduce me to your children''s brother Huang?" Wandan and Zilin quickly went back to the kitchen since they knew they weren''t needed in this discussion and all I could think as I watch them go was, ''Those lucky bitches.'' "Why of course Mr. Ming, Xinya come over here." My father replied, this the first time I heard my name from his lips in years I''m quite surprised he even remembered it. I walked over to where he was while forcing a smile upon my face. "Xinya this is Mr. Ming, a potential business associate, Mr. Ming this is Xinya he was the one who prepared tonight''s meal." Putting his hand out for me to shake, Mr. Ming said while smiling, "It''s very nice to meet you Xinya. I had enjoyed all your food thus far." Before I could even say anything Mrs. Ming chimed in. "I agree Xinya everything has just been simply delish, come join us I want to discuss your recipes." I sneak a glance at my father to see him giving me a dark look, so I hurry and make up an excuse. I give Mrs. Ming a sweet smile while saying, "Thank you for the kind offer, but I have to finish cooking dessert plus I promised a friend that I would meet up with them after I was done." It was all lies of course since I finished dessert ages ago and my only friend was at camp until school, but it''s not like she will know that. "That''s alright darling, maybe we can meet up one day and talk about it than. I''m sure Mr. Shen can give you our number," she said with a soft smile and gave me a look that I couldn''t quite decipher. "Of course I will!" my father says while patting me on the back a tad too hard. I grit my teeth at the action and with a quick goodbye, I made a hasty exit. I head back to the kitchen asking if Zilin and Wandan to handle the rest. Which they quickly agreed too, because from the look on my face they knew it would be better if I disappear for the rest of the night. Almost an hour had passed since I left the kitchen and went to my room, during that time I decided to watch a movie. It was some cheesy 80''s horror flick that I found on Netflix but I really enjoyed them for some reason I can''t quite understand. You see they are not too scary plus they are kind of funny in away. I really liked the special effects they had back then, you never see that type of stuff now of days. I guess I was really engrossed in the movie because I didn''t hear the door opening. There were two sharp knocks at my door. I jumped at the sound, putting my hand to my chest I could feel my heart beating fast. I guess the movie was frightening than I thought if the sound of knocking could startle me. I looked up to search for the source of my disturbance only to see Ming Zixuan looking at me from where he opened my door. "Excuse me; I''m sorry for bothering you," Zixuan said sheepishly. "But I heard noises from inside this room and thought someone would be able to help me. You see I was looking for the bathroom." I hurriedly get up from where I was sitting and walked over to him. I open my door all the way and point out where the bathroom is located to him. "It''s in that room over there to the left," I say just wanting him to leave, but it seems as if he has no intention of doing so. "Thank you for helping me." He says with a charming smile. "Although I can''t help but wonder why you are still here, I thought you were going out with a friend." I shrugged at him while replying, "She had to cancel, something came up, so I decided to hang in my room and watch movies instead." "You could have just come back out and joined us for dinner instead, instead of staying in your room by yourself. My mom would love to quiz you on the food you made. She has been gushing about it for the last pass hour." Zixuan said with a slight smile. "Maybe I wasn''t hungry," I say a little defensively. Sure his mom is nice and I wouldn''t mind staring at Zixuan all through the night, but I rather not have to deal with my father tomorrow. I''m almost free from this place; I don''t want my father doing anything to mess with that just out of spite. Zixuan was about to say something else but before he could we heard my brother voice coming from down the hall asking Zixuan did he find the toilet. I guess he didn''t see me yet, which I was grateful for because he would run back to daddy saying I was talking to his client''s son, he such a kiss ass. I could see Zixuan turning towards him saying "Yes I was about to head..." That was all I could catch since I slowly eased my door closed and headed back to my movie. I could help but be slightly disappointed that my brother had come it''s not every day you can talk to a rich, handsome guy who''s in the same grade as you. I laid down on my bed turning myself over I grabbed my mother''s picture from my dresser. While looking at it I said with a soft smile, "Mom I know I said I wanted today to be entertaining, but not like this." With a huff, I decided to watch a little more television before I went to bed. ~ The next day I made sure to ask Wandan and Zilin about what happens after I went to my bedroom the previous evening. It was just as I expected; Zilin told me how my father kept trying to suck up to Mr. & Mrs. Ming, while my brother tries his darndest to become best friends with Zixuan. As if that would happen I laughingly think. Although if it were to happen it would be such a letdown, I didn''t want to think of Zixuan as another brainless jock. Someone who is as rich and powerful as him that has my brother''s level of stupid, that wouldn''t make a good combination. Unless he was befriending him out of charity, you know to help the stupid and deprived. That thought right there made me smile a little. Then Wandan told me how my sister was acting. Wandan is one straightforward bitch but that honesty is what I like about her. "She was flashing so much skin last night at dinner it started to feel like a nude expo." Wandan said. "I''m not saying your sister was acting like a slut, but let''s be real she can count the people she''s had sex with on one hand...if that hand was holding a calculator." This wasn''t really surprising, since as everyone knows boys talk and the main place they do it in is in school. Fan is still my sister even if she doesn''t like me. So I didn''t want to jump to conclusions, but she flaunts around her sexual escapades like they are something to be proud of. Part of me thinks this is just a psychological need to gain attention by any means necessary, be it by reckless behavior or more often than naught some kind of sexual activity. It''s most likely to compensate for the lack of attention she receives from our father and her mother. What can you say they are not the best of parents. This is proven when I hear Zilin speak. "Maybe your father put her up to it." Zilin said. I just shrug I already knew the lengths the man would go to get what he wants. It was afternoon when my father awoke; from what Yan said my father got shit-faced drunk after the Ming''s left. As soon as he awoke though, he started to storm around the house. You could hear him arguing with my stepmother most of the day about her behavior, my brother and sister was smart enough to leave the house for the rest of the day. I decided it would be best for me to stay out of sight out of mind for the rest of the day. He never did give me Mrs. Ming''s number; I never expected he would. So it wasn''t a really big deal for me. The Ming''s never once came back over after that awful dinner so I never got to see Zixuan again. This was quite tragic, since he is such a wonderful fantasy material. Summer flew by rather quickly and before I knew it was the day before my birthday. My father had already started giving me these knowing looks the week before, I was kind of shocked he remembered my birthday, but then again, of course, he would remember the day he gets to kick me out. I guess my father told my brother because he started making snide comments, asking me what homeless shelter I would be living in. I just ignored him of course and kept my mouth shut. My father may have never hit me but the same can''t be said for my brother. Little by little I have been packing up my stuff all throughout the last two weeks. I knew I would be leaving soon so there would be no time for any dallying.Wei, who is my best friend, my sister from another mother had come home one week prior to my birthday from the International Music Camp. She has been slowly helping me move my stuff over to her house. It only took two trips in her SUV before I could say I was all moved out. I didn''t want my father getting the idea that I wanted to move out. Who knows he might find some way to make me stay longer, so I stayed until it was the day of my 18th birthday. Yan woke me up at 8 am with a light shake. I could see that she was smiling, she gave me a kiss on the forehead while saying, "Happy Birthday my sweet boy." I reply with a thank you as I get up to hug her. She hugs me back tightly before letting go. "Now go get your butt ready." She says before exiting my room. I laugh a little before I start to get ready for the day. As I''m about to leave my room, I turned around to glance at it one last time before closing the door. I head to the kitchen to see that Zilin and Wandan had already arrived; I am greeted with a chorus of Happy Birthdays and hugs. I smile and talk with them some before we start on breakfast. It''s my last time making one here so I decided to make it a little special; I will let my family see what they will be missing once I''m gone. The food was halfway done when my father walked into the kitchen. He looked around at all of us with a superior look before telling me to follow him to his office. I wiped my hands down on a nearby towel; while giving a quick smile, to reassure them I will be ok and to continue making the food without me. They give me worried looks before going about their business. My father had already started walking, and with a deep sigh, I started to follow him. We end up in his office; he goes to sit behind his desk leaving me to stand in front of him. I must say this brings back so many memories. "Xinya." He says to me as if my name leaves a disgusting taste in his mouth. "As you know, today is your 18th birthday and as I told you a long ago once you turn 18 you will be dead to me." He opened his desk drawer and pulled out some papers. "To show you I mean business these papers are proof that you were ever a Shen." With no emotion at all, my father shredded them. "By the way, I decided to take my family on an overnight trip to celebrate your eviction from our household. We will be back tomorrow at 12pm, I do not expect you to be here when we get back boy or you won''t like the consequences. Do I make myself clear?" I wanted to look him straight in the eye and say screw you I don''t need this place, but I''m not that brave instead I just meekly nod while saying "Yes sir." He dismissed me after that, but just as I reached the door he said cruelly "Oh and one more thing, Happy Birthday." I could hear him snicker as I left and returned to the kitchen. I must have had some sort of look on my face because Wandan hugged me and Zilin asked if I was ok. I said I was and we continued the breakfast preparations. The family that shamefully I had to call mine came down 15 minutes later after everything was done with overnight bags in their hands. They placed them by the front door before heading to the dining area. I guess they''re going to leave right after breakfast. Once they settled down me and Zilin went out to serve them, but when my stepmother saw me she immediately started whispering in my sister. Well, you really couldn''t call it whispering since everyone could hear it. "I''m so glad the ''Gaybage'' that has been stinking up the place for all these years is finally being thrown away." She and my stepsister started tittering like it was the funniest thing in the world. My brother just gave me a nasty smirk, while my father was blank to the whole thing. I had to endure 35 minutes of snide comments from the she-beast before they were on their way. As soon as the door closed, I let out a sigh of relief. I was finally free was all I could think. Yan came out and said that Wei just called and she is coming to pick me up in 20 minutes. I could hardly wait since I barely spent any time with her this summer that was just hanging out. So as I waited for her arrival, I decided to chat with Wandan about this and that until she shooed me away saying she had work to do. Zilin had to take care of something so I said goodbye to her earlier. The doorbell rang and I rushed to open it, there was Wei standing there. Just seeing her standing there, wearing the beautiful white dress that looked so lovely on her made me so happy. She looked like an angel to me taking me away from this hell. She even had her black hair in loose curls today with a cute white headband to top it off. It completed the picture of her I had of her in my mind so perfectly. "Happy Birthday! Wei said giving me a quick hug before pulling me towards her car. "Let''s get out of here." I laughingly follow her but not before glancing one last time at the house I grew up in for all these years. The End Chapter 137: Dungeon Reward Xinya and his three friends walked into the room that contained the treasure with exuberance and anticipation. They couldn''t wait to see what the chest held inside. They didn''t really expect much since this was a low tiered dungeon, but they hoped they would get something good since this dungeon could have mentally scarred them. As the group gathered around the large jeweled box that had their rewards hidden inside, they could barely hold back their enthusiasm. Xinya could barely keep his itchy palms at bay, he was really curious as to what was inside of the chest. "Drifting Cloud, what are you waiting for?! Open up the chest so we can see what we got," Wei told him with barely concealed excitement. Giving her a quick nod, Xinya bent down to the ground and opened the treasure chest up. As soon as the chest lid was opened, Xinya and his party were struck by a bright golden light. They quickly covered their eyes, shielding them until the blinding light faded away. Melting Snow, who was the first to remove his hands off of his eyes, let out a gasp at the sight before him. "Everyone, the light is gone the rewards we got are visible now." At Melting Snow''s words, the rest of the group removed their hands from their eyes. The sight before everyone made them smile, even if they didn''t know how much the items were worth. In the treasure chest, from what Xinya could see without moving the items around, was that there were four bracelets, another map, and some kind of mirror. Knowing they would divide the profits of this treasure evenly, Xinya picked up the bracelets, so they could be sorted first. "There are four bracelets and four of us, that means we each get one apiece," Xinya said. Wei looked at the bracelets curiously, "Do they do anything thing?" "I don''t know, usually a notification would pop up at this time," Xinya told her. "Maybe it already did." Wandering Sound begins. "We had to cover our eyes because of the blinding light, so maybe we missed it." After thinking about it real quick, Xinya agreed with Wandering Sound''s assumption, "Well we can check it later, each of you takes a bracelet for now." Once Xinya gave away three of the bracelets to his friends, he put the last one on his arm, only for a symbol of water to appear on it. That''s when a notification popped up: [Itemed gained: Bracelet of Requisite!] Bracelet of Requisite: This bracelet is connected to the four elements: water, wind, fire, and earth. Once the bracelet is equipt it will determine with element is most needed by the wearer. With the water element, the player will be connected to all water sources that are in Haven, just say the name of the water source to use. The fire element, the player can use the bracelet to light up the darkest places or warm up the coldest of nights. The wind element, allows a player to be able to move faster than the wind and the earth element lets a player create shields of mud and trees. The group looked at each other in shock once they read what the bracelets did. They knew that the bracelets would be extremely helpful to them in the long run, they could hardly wait to test them out. "Which element did you get?" Melting Snow asked the group. "I got the fire element! I''m so happy, now I don''t have to worry about going to dark places. "I got water," Xinya said while showing off his bracelet to Melting Snow. To Melting Snow, it made sense that Drifting Cloud got the water element. Out of everyone here he needed it the most, the same could be said with him getting the fire element. After checking out her bracelet, Wei said, "I got the wind element, which means that Wandering Sound got earth." "Yeah I did," Wandering Sound said. "But let''s hurry and see what else is in the treasure chest so we can go." Seeing how Wandering Sound was in a rush to leave this place, Xinya reached back inside the chest and pulled out the next item. It was a map, once Xinya grabbed it a notification popped up in front of him. [Item Gained: Tier 3 treasure map!] Tier 3 Treasure Map: because none of the party members died inside of this dungeon, you will be able to skip a chain without losing the reward. When you complete the tier 3 treasure dungeon, you and your party will be able to get double the rewards. *Don''t attempt this dungeon until your at least level 65. "We won''t be able to do that dungeon for a long time," Wei said after she finished reading the description that Xinya sent to them. "I''m fine with that." Wandering Sound said. "These treasure dungeons are dangerous, this way we have time to gain more skill." Melting Snow nodded his head at those words, "Wandering Sound is right, next time I come to one of these dungeons, I want to be more prepared." "I feel the same way," Xinya said as he bent down and picked up the last item in the treasure chest. [Item Gained: Mirror of Pandemonium!] Mirror of Pandemonium: There was a lord who lived around these parts who loved to collect all different types of artifacts. One day he found a mirror made out of obsidian, which is a shiny black stone that was unearthed by an earthquake. Enamored with how it looked he brought it back to his home, only to learn that it was dangerous. The mirror increased his deepest desire to the point of madness, his deepest desire being to collect the rarest artifacts in the world. *When sold to a crafter NPC it will be worth 250 gold coins. After sending the item description to everyone, Xinya continued to look at the mirror with a big smile on his face. They had made such a huge profit today, he could hardly believe that this ugly mirror could be worth so much, even though he was holding it in his hand. "That mirror is worth 250 gold coins?! That''s wonderful!" Melting Snow said as he ran over to Xinya''s side to take a better look at the mirror. "This is great!" Doing the math in her head Wei said, "So that''s like 62 gold and 50 silver for each of us, right?" Giving Wei a warm smile, Xinya said, "That''s correct!" "That''s awesome!" Wandering Sound exclaimed. "This is my first time earning this amount of money, without doing a concert." Xinya quickly turned to look at Wandering Sound than at Wei when he heard the slip-up. Wandering Sound was looking panicked, while Wei was looking all kinds of confused. Xinya knew that Wandering Sound didn''t want his past to come out like this, but Xinya thought it would be better this way and get everything out in the open. He didn''t want Wei to be the only one in the dark about who Wandering Sound was. "What do you mean concerts?" Wei asked. Looking everywhere else but at Wei, Wandering Sound said, "Um...you see...um." "Let''s talk about this when we are out of the dungeon alright?" Xinya said cutting off Wandering Sound''s sad attempts in explaining himself. "Your right," Wei stated. "Let''s get out of this place, we can talk about it later." With all the items they gained equipped or put into the inventory, the group made their way out of the dungeon. ~ Read the author note: Chapter 138: The Talk "I can''t believe that Wandering Sound never told me the truth about who he is," Wei vented as she paced back and forth in front of Xinya, who was seated on the couch in the living room of their apartment. "And I really can''t believe that I was the only one out of our group who didn''t know." After leaving the dungeon, Xinya and his group saw that it was already dark out, knowing that they wouldn''t be able to make it back to the boat they decided to set up camp. However, since it was close to the time when they would need to log out, the group decided it would be best for them to do so now. They would go eat and when they log back in they would head back to the boat and leave this place. Before they logged off, Wandering Sound pulled Wei to the side so they could talk. They had a lengthy discussion about who he was, with him showing her his music videos, Fanclub and everything else she asked to see. She was very confused, she couldn''t understand why he was hiding it, him being famous didn''t change how she saw him. In her eyes, he would always be the same, goofy, cute guy that he always was before. It just hurt her that he didn''t trust her enough to tell her the truth. She couldn''t figure out the reason why he would, no matter how hard she thought about it, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with her. Grabbing the nearest pillow cushion Xinya hugged it close to his chest, before admitting, "If it makes you feel any better it wasn''t Wandering Sound who told me, I learned it from Melting Snow." "But still, he should have told me. I thought we were close to becoming something more than what we are. We even talked about going away together." She confided. Xinya head snapped up in confusion at Wei''s words, what did she mean going away together. He couldn''t wrap his head around it, it was far too soon for them to be meeting up in real life and going on trips together. He knew that Wei wasn''t the type of girl who would rush a relationship, so unless she meant inside the game, he had no clue what ''going away together'' could indicate. "Going away together? To where?" Xinya asked. Wei stopped pacing once she heard Xinya''s question, her face contorting into a look disconcert. She didn''t mean for Xinya to find out this way, she had wanted to ease it to him gently and possibly over a longer period of time. Letting out a loud sigh, Wei knew it was time to rip this off like a bandaid. She walked over to the couch and sat down next to Xinya, after taking a deep breath she began to speak, "Xinya, I wanted to talk to you about this before, I think we should split up for a while, in-game I mean." "Why?" Xinya asked he was quite confused about all of this since it was coming straight out of the blue like this. He thought that Wei liked being with him, but it seemed that he was wrong about that. "It''s not you Xinya," Wei could tell from his expression what he was thinking and wanted to clear that up right away. "The problem is me, and I need to fix myself before I can be around you." "What do you mean?" Xinya asked, with a baffled expression on his face. She wondered how she could put her thoughts into words that made sense, after going through what she wanted to say in her head once again, she just spat it out. "Xinya both of us are newbies right?" "Yes," Xinya answered. "You only started one week before me, but you''re already so good at the game. I feel like most of the time I''m just riding off your coattails, not contributing anything. Even Melting Snow is better than me. When I started this game, my goal was to have fun and make a profit." Wei trailed off. Looking straight at her, Xinya blurted, "But you are, having fun and making a profit, right?" "Yes, playing with you has been a blast. I loved every minute of it, but I haven''t been making a profit on my own accord. All the money I made up to now was by your doing. I haven''t succeeded in doing anything on my own. Even if I pay my mother back, it won''t feel like it, since I had help getting it. Do you understand?" Wei said, desperately hoping that he did. "I do understand," Xinya said because he did understand where Wei was coming from. In her perspective, they were both new to Haven Online, but left and right he was finding maps, hidden quests, and bonuses. Hanging around a person like that could make someone feel either one of two ways, they could be like Melting Snow who didn''t care and just wants to go on the next adventure, or they might start feeling like they are not doing their part. Which is exactly how Wei was feeling. "Do you really?" Wei asked. She didn''t want him to think that she hated him or anything like that. She just wanted to get out from under his wing and grow as a player. "Your not mad are you?" Shaking his head, he said, "No, I''m not mad. To be perfectly honest, I was going to suggest you try to explore the game on your own for a while, once we reached Arkala." "You were?" Wei asked surprised. This was a turn around that she didn''t see coming. "Yeah," revealed Xinya. "Once I reached Arkala, I wanted to buy a house with some land and start a farm for myself. I knew that would take a long time to set up so I was going to let you continue treasuring hunting without me. Plus with Wandering Sound with you, I wouldn''t have to worry." Wei was gobsmacked, it seemed that Xinya had already planned to let her go out on her own and get more experience. She guessed everything worked out for the best in the end after all, even if the way to it was skewed. "That''s our next destination right?" Wei asked. Nodding his head, Xinya said, "It should be If nothing else comes up." "I was thinking, with the money we will get from the mirror, maybe we can go to that fairy store. One last activity as a group before we part." Wei said. "Yeah, we should," Xinya told her with a gentle smile. "I know for sure Melting Snow would enjoy going." "I think so too. I guess I should go and talk to Wandering Sound than." Wei stated. Agreeing with her, Xinya said, "You should, you did log out on bad terms." "Can you blame me?!" Wei inquired. "I just learned that the guy I have a crush on wasn''t telling me the truth." "So, you do have a crush on him." teased Xinya. Rolling her eyes at how childish Xinya was acting, she said, "That''s neither here nor there, the point is that he lied to me." "He didn''t lie per se, just withheld the truth is all," interjected Xinya. "Withheld, lie, it doesn''t matter, we still need to talk it out," Wei told him. Setting the pillow to the side, Xinya moved to sit in his wheelchair. Once he was seated he set it to hoover mode and went in the kitchen, but before he did, he said, "Go talk to him now, before we have to log back in the game. I don''t want no awkwardness around Melting Snow." "How can I do that, I don''t have his number," Wei said. "Our pods are connected to our cell phones," Xinya said while taking food out of the refrigerator. "As long as our friends are of age, we will be able to call them." "Really?!" Wei asked excitedly. Nodding his head, Xinya said, "Yes, really, now go call him while I cook us something to eat." Wei grabbed her cell off the table and ran into her room to talk to Wandering Sound, while Xinya made them something delicious to eat before they logged back in the game. ~ End of Volume 4 Chapter 139: Phone Call As Xinya puttered around the kitchen, making a cabbage stir fry with pork belly for them to dine on, Wei took her phone and went to her room. Connecting her pod USB to her cell, she downloaded the app that would allow her to be able to talk to any of her friends on her friend list when she isn''t in the pod. Once the app was fully installed, she disconnected her cell from her pod and moved to sit on her bed, that she hasn''t used in what seemed like forever. Making herself comfortable against the headboard, she opened the app up and scrolled down until she found Wandering Sound''s name. She stared at his name for a while, debating to herself on rather she should call him or not. Being able to talk to him out of the game felt very real to her, it was like she was taking and unknown step in their relationship. Taking a deep breath, she tapped his name and pressed the call button, just as she did so, she realized that he might not even have this app, and calling him would lead to nothing. Just as she was about to worry herself to death with that thought, a male''s voice could be heard on the other end of the line. "Hello? Roaming Wind?" Wandering Sound asked in disbelief. He couldn''t believe that she would talk to him outside of the game like this, especially after the talk they had earlier. He had thought it would take some time before she was willing to speak to him again. "Yeah, it''s me." She said nervously while picking fuzz balls off the sheet beside her. "I called because I think that we need to talk some more about things before we log back in the game. Nodding softly to himself, Wandering Sound agreed, "I also think that we need to." "Should we introduce ourselves?" Wei asked timidly. "It''s weird to be calling you Wandering Sound over the phone like this." "I don''t mind, as long as you''re comfortable with giving me your real name." Wandering Sound emphasized. He didn''t want to rush her into anything, but he also knew since she was willing to give him her name, she was on the road to forgiving him. Wei went silent for a moment, she began to ask herself if she was really comfortable with Wandering Sound knowing her real name, only to find that she was. Although she did know that there were people out there who would scam people out of their personal information, she knew that Wandering Sound wasn''t like that. "Yeah," Wei answered quietly. "I''m fine with it." Smiling to himself, he said, "Well let me introduce myself. My name is Shu Qiang." "Nice to meet you Shu Qiang, my name is Pan Wei." She said with a shy smile on her face. "That''s a beautiful name," Qiang told her. "It must be as beautiful as you are." "Oh.." Wei didn''t know what to say to that, was Qiang flirting with her, it felt like he was, although that made her happy they still hadn''t talked. She wanted to know what was going through his mind before they could move on to other things. Qiang knew he shouldn''t have teased her, it wasn''t the time for that. They needed to talk about what he had hidden from her. "So should we begin our talk about you know." "It really hurt me, you know. When I learned how you hid your true identity from me." Wei admitted to him. "You don''t understand, I didn''t mean to hide it from you," he explained. "It was just that I was so happy that you like me for me and not for my fame. I was going to tell you my true identity in the game, I was just waiting for the right moment." "And when would that have been? When another player came up to you for an autograph?" Wei sarcastically asked. Shaking his head, Qiang hurried to reply, "No, of course not. I like you, Wei, I just wanted to make sure you liked me for myself before I told you I was famous." "You ''like'' me?" Wei asked, pausing all movement. She wondered what type of like he meant. Did he mean as friends or something more? She had always thought he was just kidding all those times he flirted with her inside of the game, but now she is not so sure. "You should know how I feel about you by now, Wei," Qiang said calmly. "Your the only one I wouldn''t want to see hurt." "But you did hurt me. I planned so much with you, only to find that you were hiding things from me." divulged Wei. Giving the back of his neck a rub, Qiang said, "I know, and I''m sorry, but you must understand why I did it right?" "I do understand," Wei told him a matter of factly because she understood where he was coming from. Being lied to still hurt, but she could forgive it. She knew that if she was in his shoes that she would have probably have done the same as him. "And I forgive you, but please don''t withhold the truth from me again." "I promise, I won''t. This will be the first and last thing I will withhold from you, as long as I can help it." Qiang sincerely told her. A bright smile graced her face when she heard that, "That''s all I ask." The two of them continued talking, with Qiang telling her all about his life as a singer in the game and why he quit becoming an explorer. While Wei told him all about her mom and how she wanted to prove that she could support herself on her own while playing Haven Online. "That''s why I wanted to leave with you," Wei told him. For the last twenty minutes, they have been discussing if they should still split up from the group, with the way things are now. "Drifting Cloud even said that once we go to Arkala, he was settling down for a while, so I would have to go off on my own anyway." "Really?" Qiang asked. He was surprised that Drifting Cloud would let her go off without him, he knew how protective he was of her. "Yeah, he said that since you would be with me, he didn''t have to worry," explained Wei. Knowing that he had Drifting Cloud''s approval made him smile a little, "Than that''s fine, the next part of the treasure dungeon can''t be done until we level 65 anyway, by then I think you will be able to hold your own." "I think so too," Wei said. The two of them continued talking until Wei heard Xinya calling her to come and eat. After saying goodbye, Wei hung up her cell and left her room in a way better mood than how she entered it. Chapter 140: Planning "Xinya, the stir fry you made was extremely delicious. You need to teach me how to make it one day." Wei said as she helped Xinya clean up the kitchen. After putting the last dirty dish into the dishwasher, he turned his wheelchair around and gave Wei a big smile. "Of course I will just tell me when you want me to teach you. On second thought, you should learn to cook in the game, that way you can learn without wasting food." "I don''t know if I should," Wei reluctantly said. "Although it could be fun, cooking isn''t needed for anything." "That''s true, but think about it, you will be able to cook for Wandering Sound. You two will be exploring together on your own, and there will be a time when you have to stop and make camp. What''s more romantic than feeding the boy you like the food you made with your own two hands." Xinya appealed. Thinking about it, Wei thought what Xinya said made sense, it would be nice to be able to cook for Qiang, in-game and in real life. The only problem she had was that cooking wasn''t a money-making skill, which is why she was hesitant about getting it. Seeing that she was almost giving in, Xinya tried to push her a little more. In a couple of weeks with the new update, cooking will be a good money maker and since they would be apart at the time he wanted her to have something that could bring in the coins. "Remember it was my cooking skill, that led us to that big quest we recently did. Who''s to say that there can''t be more hidden like that. I bet the only reason that nobody ever found them was because most players think the cooking skill is a waste of effort to get." Xinya said. Tilting her head in acknowledgment, Wei realized that Xinya had a point. This game held so many mysterious, why was she writing one skill off when it could be useful in the future. With that thought in mind, she said, "You know what, I think I will get cooking. As soon as we make it to Arkala, I will set it as my hometown and before I set off with Wandering Sound I will get the skill." "That''s wonderful," Xinya responded, as he wiped the crumbs from their dinner off the table. Putting the dish rag away, he put his wheelchair in hover mode and went over towards her. "Since we are fed, and the kitchen is clean, lets log back in. I bet Wandering Sound and Melting Snow is waiting for us." "I bet your right, let us go," Wei said happily, she couldn''t wait to start playing again. ~ Just outside the dungeon "When do you think Drifting Cloud and Roaming Wind are going to log back on?" Melting Snow asked. It was boring for him, having to wait here with just Wandering Sound. They didn''t have anything in common, making the atmosphere around them awkward. Wandering Sound, wondered that himself as he leaned against the temple walls of where the finished dungeon was located, "I don''t know, but it shouldn''t be long now. Last time I talked to Roaming Wind she was about to eat and that was thirty minutes ago." Just as Melting Snow was about to speak again the two people that he was just talking about appeared right in front of him. As he bounced over to where Drifting Cloud was standing the only thought that went through his mind was, ''Finally I''m saved from boredom.'' "I''m so happy your here, that means we can finally leave the island," Melting Snow said. Smiling, Xinya tussled the boy''s hair, "That''s the plan. Then we can sail to the nearest town, I doubt there is much time left on Wandering Sound''s boat rental." "Your right," Wandering Sound said as he checked his interface. "There is at most a day left of the rental." "How many days would it take to get to Arkala?" Wei asked. Opening up his interface, Xinya checked his map. From where they were, he could see that for them to reach Arkala would take more time than they had left for the boat rental. "It would take two whole days on a boat, but since we don''t have two days I found the closest town to it. It will only take us one day to get there." "If we need an extra day I can always rent the boat for longer. I just need to find a port master NPC to do so." Wandering Sound suggested. "It''s fine," Xinya said while studying the map. "By the time we make it to the town I found, it will be close to the full moon. We can take the time while we are walking to find a fairy circle. That is if everyone wants to spend the coins we will get for the mirror on the special fairy shop." "I do!" Melting Snow said he had been curious about what could be in that special shop for the longest time now. He couldn''t wait to go. Wandering Sound just smiled in agreement, "Count me in. I bet I can get something nice for myself there." "Drifting Cloud already knows my answer," Wei told them. "I been wanting to spend the coins we will get on something special and here is my chance." With a laugh, Xinya and the group started to move, knowing that Wandering Sound only needed to be by a bank of water to summon the boat, Xinya found a shortcut through the forest that would only cost them 15 minutes. "What town are we heading to anyway?" Melting Snow asked curiously. "The nearest one to Arkala is a small village called Mirstone." Xinya begin. "I don''t think we should expect much from it, from what I can see it doesn''t have that many shops or anything interesting, but I think we can sell the mirror there." Giving Drifting Cloud a quick glance, Melting Snow asked, "You can see all of that on your map?" "I sure can, I upgraded it again, now I don''t have to be in a place to know what type of stores they have. I think it will come in handy." Xinya told them. "I think it will too, just imagine all the different ways you will be able to use it when your out of town exploring." Wandering Sound said. Laughing a little, Xinya boasted, "I don''t need to imagine, I''m already using it in different ways right now." As the group continued to playfully chat with each other as they walked to the closest body of water. They could only anticipate the wonders the fairy shop would hold for them and their excitement magnified. Chapter 141: Back on the boat Xinya couldn''t wait to be off this island which held so many fluorescently bright trees. He thought that he had already adjusted to the scenery of this place, during his first time walking through the forest, but know he knew he was wrong. Getting used to this type of place wasn''t a possibility. Trying to imagine a sane person who actually would want to come to a place like this gave him a headache. The only thing that was good about this Laetus forest was how it looks at night, and the nights were to short for that to mean anything. He was very grateful that he had found a shortcut on the map that would lead them to the nearest shore quickly. If he had to take a long way again, he would be very tempted to disable the color settings on his interface for a while. Bemused at the thought that this forest was enticing him to play with his settings, he quickens his walking speed. It was now his goal to get to that shore in less time than the map estimated. He knew the others would be very happy with this idea too, well except Wei who liked this place, but then again, there was something obviously wrong with her taste. Xinya made sure to bypass all the monsters they came across during their trek, there was no point in trying to fight something that they didn''t have too. Although he could have been persuaded, he was sort of curious as to what those strange-looking monsters dropped. Deciding to not sate his curiosity, Xinya and his party continued walking by the time they were able to reach the shore only 12 minutes had passed. Xinya felt quite proud about that, the estimated time to reach their destination was 30 minutes. It seemed to him that his navigation skills were top notch. There was also the fact that now they could finally leave this island, and never have to see it again. Well, that''s not true, Xinya thought he might see it again in one of his fever-induced nightmares. Hopefully, he wouldn''t get sick any time soon. Once all four of them were standing by the shore, Wandering Sound pulled out the square button from his inventory and quickly summoned the bunny boathouse. As he summoned it he made sure that it was positioned close to the land, so the group wouldn''t have any problem getting on board. When the boat appeared Wandering Sound couldn''t help but smile, he was really starting to like having a boat and was contemplating if he should buy a normal one for himself. He decided that if Arkala had a port captain NPC, he would look into learning the sailing skill before he left with Wei. The four of them boarded the bunny boathouse, with glee radiating off their bodies, they could hardly wait to head to the next town. When everyone had boarded, similar to the previous time they were on the boat they broke off into pairs. Melting Snow took Wei to play with the workout equipment, while Wandering Sound as he did before, lead Xinya to the wheelhouse. Immediately after entering the wheelhouse, Wandering Sound went to the panel of buttons that was the navigation system and put in his security code so that the boat could be activated. When that was done, he gestured to Xinya to put in the coordinates they needed to get to Mirstone Village. Skirting past Wandering Sound''s large frame, Xinya went to set the coordinates on the control panel. As soon as he was finished doing that he was ready to go and join Wei and Melting Snow in the living room. He was thinking about working out with them to build up his stats why he had time, but as he was about to make his move to the exit Wandering Sound stopped him. Seeing Wandering Sound block the exit with his body, made Xinya look at him with confusion written all across his face. "Drifting Cloud, I think we should talk for a moment." Wandering Sound said, with a serious expression on his face. Xinya couldn''t help but think what an interesting turn around this was since he was in Wandering Sound''s place the last time they were in this wheelhouse together. "What do we need to talk about?" "I know that Roaming Wind told you her plans, and she said you were fine with it, but I know how much you care about her and with that state of mind would just tell her what she wants to hear without meaning it." Wandering Sound pointed out. "What are you trying to say?" Xinya asked slightly confused. "Do you think I don''t actually want her to go or something?" Averting his eyes away from Xinya''s Wandering Sound looked down at his feet, "I just want to be sure, you know. Is it really okay with you?" "What I told Roaming Wind was the truth, I have always planned to let her go exploring by herself. Not for her sake but for mine too." Xinya honestly told him. "What do you mean?" Wandering Sound asked while looking up. "For your sake also?" "I know I can be overprotective, but I also know I can''t be around her all the time. Letting her go out into the world will help understand that she can look after herself." Xinya admitted. With what had happened to Wei in his previous life, he couldn''t help but feel worried for her all the time. But he also knew that being overprotective was unhealthy, plus he had already changed what would happen to her. He had always planned to separate from her once she was more familiar with the game. The time apart would help them both become more comfortable when the other wasn''t around. Wandering Sound knew that there was more to the story than what Xinya was saying, but he felt as though he pried enough for one day. He had already got the answer he needed so he didn''t need to ask for anymore. "No don''t get me wrong, I do want her to spread her wings and even though you seem like a trustworthy guy to go with her," Xinya begins as he slowly walks into Wandering Sound''s personal space. "But if you so much as hurt her in any way, I will find you and I will make you regret it. Do you understand?" The coldness in Xinya''s voice as he threatened him, made Wandering Sound shudder. Wandering Sound knew for certain that this was a promise and Drifting Cloud would rip him a new one if he so much as hurt Wei a little. Nodding frantically, Wandering said, "Yes, I understand." "I''m glad that you do," Xinya told him with a smile suddenly blooming on his face. It shook Wandering Sound at how fast he could change expressions. "Um¡­" Wandering Sound started, while looking away from Drifting Cloud. "Maybe we should head back to the others, they probably wondering what we are doing." Smiling brightly, Xinya said, "Let''s go then." As soon as the words left Xinya''s lips, Wandering Sound was out of the wheelhouse in a flash. He was a little afraid of Xinya after their confrontation, and as he walked to where the others were he made a promise to himself that he would never get on Xinya''s bad side. Watching Wandering Sound rush from the wheel house-made Xinya laugh, it was amusing how such a big guy like Wandering Sound was scared of such a little guy like himself. Although he had to admit that he wasn''t lying when he told Wandering Sound that he would regret it if he hurt Wei. He had some tricks up his sleeve that would make Wandering Sound rue the day he ever met him. He didn''t want to have to use them, but if he was pushed too far he definitely would. As he walked to the entrance of the house part of the boat, Xinya stopped in place when he saw a colorful fish jumped out of the water. This reminded him he still needed to find a master fisherman so he could level his fishing skill up to level 2. He would make it his mission to asked around Mirstone for one, he needed to hurry and work on that skill, he really wanted to get to level 5 before the big update happen. After making himself a reminder in his interface, he went to go join the others in the living room of the boathouse. Chapter 142: Making Bait "Drifting Cloud there you are, you are going to join our workout?" Melting Snow asked as soon as he saw Xinya enter the room. Looking about the room, Xinya could see each of the group doing something different. Wei and Wandering Sound were running side by side on the treadmills near the right side of the room while Melting Snow near the entrance on a weight machine. He was lifting those dumbbells once again. The sight of that cute little boy holding those gigantic things would always bring a smile to Xinya''s face. It looked so absurd like he was watching something out of a cartoon. "I was thinking about it," Xinya drawled as he walked over to where Melting Snow was. "But when I was out on the deck I saw some fish jumping out of the water, and I changed my mind." Tilting his head cutely to one side, Melting Snow asked, "So have you decided to go fishing instead of working out with us?" "Yeah I think I will do just that, but I need to make some bait first," Xinya told Melting Snow matter of factly. "Bait?" questioned Melting Snow with a bewildered look upon his face. He had no clue what Drifting Cloud meant when he said he was going to make bait. Although he had fished before he had never done it with bait, if he did, he would assume that he would use worms or something similar. Looking at Drifting Cloud''s face he could tell that wasn''t what he had in mind. "What do you mean?" "While I was shopping Errinisworth, I found this recipe for fish bait. It will give me a higher chance of catching fish and items. I have been meaning to try it out." Xinya explained to him. "I thought that you had a fishing title that does exactly that?" Melting Snow asked. Inclining his head in agreement, Xinya said, "Your right I do, but this bait will allow me to have a chance to catch fish and items that I wouldn''t be able to catch at my fishing level." "Ohh," Melting Snow exclaimed in understanding. It seemed to him that this bait was special, which made him eager to try the bait out. He had a feeling that if he used it he might catch something awesome. "Will you let me use some of it with you when you finish making it?" "Of course you can," Xinya told him as he ruffled the boy''s hair. "Now continue with your workout, I''m going to go make it now." "Alright." Melting Snow chimed happily at him before he restarted doing his reps with those humongous dumbbells he was holding, which made Xinya smile once again before he left to go to the kitchen. Once Xinya entered the kitchen he directly went to stand behind one of the nearest counters, knowing that he would need it to prepare his ingredients. Leaning against it, he opened up his interface and tapped his recipe book icon that was in front of him. After doing so a list of all the recipes that he had collected so far had popped up. Scrolling down through them, he begins looking for the recipe for the bait. It took a whole minute of looking through the list for him to finally find it. The recipe was underneath the KarryKarry recipe that he really wanted to try to make but couldn''t for ingredient related reasons. Ignoring that recipe, for now, he began reading the description of the one he sought out in the first place. The recipe which was called Welch''s fruity bait: Welch''s Fruity Bait: This bait is said to be a must-have item for wanna-be fishermen that wish to reel in a fish or item that could only be caught at a higher level. This bait is also famous for bringing in items as opposed to fish, and when this is used for fishing, the catch rate of fish and of items will double. Shaking his head in excitement at the description, he clicked on the recipe for Welch''s Fruity bait and watched as the ingredients and how to make it popped up on the transparent screen in front of him. Seeing how the bait didn''t need to be cooked in any way, Xinya knew that it would be very easy to make. The first thing he did was to gather the items he would need to make the bait out of his inventory. These items were bread, strawberry Jell-O, flour, and warm water. Lucky after his shopping spree in Errisworth he had everything he needed to make it. Taking out two medium-sized bowls, Xinya started to prepare the ingredients, he took 1 package of strawberry Jell-O that he had and mixed it together with the ? cup of warm water in one of the two bowls. Once that was mixed he set it to the side. Grabbing the other bowl he added ? cup of flour into it than he proceeded to pick up the 4 slices of bread, and tear them up into tiny little pieces, when they were small enough he added them into the bowl with the flour after making sure they were incorporated well together he picked up the other bowl. Slowly he begins to pour the Jell-O water into the bowl with the flour and bread and started mixing them together. He knew from what the recipe said it needed to be the consistency of play-doh, so he made sure to add a little more water into the mix until it felt exactly like that. Xinya really wished at the moment that he had tiny bug molds to put the concoction in, but since he didn''t he plopped the play-doh like bait onto the counter and used a rolling pin to flatten it out. Once it was completely rolled out he used a knife to cut it out into multiple pieces, before putting it neatly in a tin box he had. As soon as he placed the last piece of bait inside a notification popped up telling him he was done. [Welch''s Fruity Bait has been completed!!] [Welch''s Fruity Bait evaluation: Taste 3.2 stars/ Quality 3.6 stars/ Presentation 3.0 stars!] Xinya felt a little disappointed at the evaluation, but he knew that the easiest of recipes would always be the hardest to get a good score on. Something to do with a higher grading curve than the harder recipes. He would have to do his best to get a higher score next time. Putting the tin with the bait in his inventory, he began to clean up the mess he made before he even thought about going fishing. The cleanup process took him no time at all, barely five minutes had passed before he was done wiping down and putting away everything. "Drifting Cloud are you finished making the bait?" Melting Snow asked while running into the kitchen, only to see Xinya cleaning up. Xinya was just putting away the last of the ingredients back into his inventory when he heard Melting Snow''s voice. Turning towards the boy, Xinya gave him a big smile and said, "I''m sure am, are you ready to go fishing with me?" "Yup!" Melting Snow exclaimed happily. "I want to catch a whale." "A whale? I doubt we would ever be able to catch one of those." Xinya chuckled at the mere thought. Melting Snow just shrugged as the two walked out onto the deck. "You never know." Chapter 143: Wandering Sound鈥檚 Perspective "Um¡­" Wandering Sound started, while looking away from Drifting Cloud. "Maybe we should head back to the others, they are probably wondering where we are at." Smiling brightly, Xinya said, "We should go than before they get worried." Wandering Sound didn''t need Drifting Cloud to tell him twice, he was already out of the wheelhouse as soon as the words left the other man''s lips. He would''ve been lying if he said he wasn''t still slightly shaken up by the conversation the two of them had earlier. The way in which Drifting Cloud''s demeanor changed from one second to the next was still present in his mind. Just thinking about it was quite frightening to him. He had always felt that Drifting Cloud was a gentle soul that couldn''t hurt a fly, but now as he thought about it, maybe that was just a facade and what he saw today was Xinya''s true colors. Wandering Sound knew that he was just overthinking things and that Drifting Cloud was probably how he had first perceived him to be, but that didn''t change the fact that he could be scary as hell when he wanted to be. When he first realized he had a crush on Wei, he thought that if he met her in real life one day he would have to be wary of a protective father, but instead, he got a brother figure to worry about. Furthermore, he had a feeling that Drifting Cloud will be a lot more mindful about the two of them when they meet in the real world. ''Well, I would never even think about hurting Wei anyway,'' Wandering Sound thought as he hurried along the boat deck to where the entrance of the house part was. He wanted to reassure himself that he would never have a reason to bring Drifting Clouds ire down onto himself. He made a promise that he would be everything she ever wanted and more, he had already messed up by withholding things from her, he didn''t want to mess up again. Wandering Sound wanted to prove to her, Drifting Cloud and himself that they could be together with no trouble from his past. As those thoughts went through his mind, he couldn''t help but pause for a moment. He couldn''t believe how fast he had fallen, he wasn''t one to believe in love at first sight or love after a couple of days, but here he was acting like one of those girls in a romance drama. He found it quite odd, how did his feelings for Wei magnify to this extent already. When it happened, he didn''t know, but if he was honest with himself he didn''t dislike the feeling. He wanted to fan the warmth that he felt inside of his heart to a flame and he hoped that he could make embers of love burn inside of her as well. Wandering Sound finally reached the entrance of the boathouse, walking into the living room the first thing that he saw was Wei''s beautiful smile. His breath caught in his throat, she had such a beautiful smile it made her entire face become even lovelier if that was possible. That smile of hers was something that he always wanted to see on her face. It was sad to say, but he knew he would do anything to make that happen. Wandering Sound was so caught up in the brilliance of her smile that he didn''t even hear his name being called. "Wandering Sound, there you are!" Wei exclaimed. She knew it was him even before she saw him, the sound of his footsteps had always had a unique sound to them. Stopping the treadmill Wei turned around to ask if the navigation been set only to see Wandering Sound with a glazed expression on his face. Wondering if something was wrong with him, she took a hesitant step forward. Melting Snow who was at the weight machine looked over when he heard Roaming Wind yell, couldn''t help but roll his eyes at Wandering Sound''s expression. He was so darn obvious that it was sad. If a 14-year-old boy like himself could see through him than he really needs to work on his game. Ignoring the two lovebirds, Melting Snow continued working on his stats. He really hoped that Drifting Cloud would come soon, maybe they could work out together. That would be way more fun for him than having to watch these two in action. Concerned about why he was just standing there staring at her like that, Wei stopped faltering and quickly walked over to him. Once she was close enough to him, she waved her hand in front of his face, before asking, "Are you alright?" Hearing her voice so near to him snapped Wandering Sound out of whatever daze he was in. When he saw that her face was not far from his own he became flustered, taking an awkward step back he let out a nervous chuckle. He suddenly became aware that he had just been standing there staring at the girl he had a crush on like a fool. Not knowing what to do Wandering Sound tried to play the whole thing off cooly, "I''m perfectly alright, I was just so mesmerized by your beauty that I momentarily lost my senses." After hearing the words that came out of his mouth, Melting Snow just looked at Wandering Sound with an indescribable expression. He was completely stunned that something so cringy could come out of a person''s mouth. While Melting Snow was wanting to bash his head hard against something, Wei was dumbfounded. A beautiful pink tinge slowly started to spread across her face. Her hands quickly flew up to cover her face while she averted her eyes from his gaze. "Um¡­" She began shyly. "Thank you I guess?" Realizing what he just said, Wandering Sound started to mentally berate himself. How could something so utterly cheesy like that come out of his mouth? Even though he meant every word that he said, there were definitely better ways for him to have said it. Although he felt extremely embarrassed right now, he had to admit that he was very fond of the blush that was gracing Wei''s face. He wouldn''t mind saying those types of things all the time if it made her react like this. "So, how is your training going?" Wandering Sound asked, trying to change the subject to something she would be more comfortable with. Giving him a shy smile, Wei looked him in the eyes once more, "It''s going great, I finally got my stamina up another point." "That''s wonderful," Wandering Sound told her. "With the way you are improving, you will surpass me in no time at all." "I must disagree with you there, your skills are way better than mine," Wei stated while pushing playfully against Wandering Sound''s chest. At her touch, Wandering Sound face glowed with adoration, shining brighter than the noonday sun. "How about we go work out together, we need to build our stats up now before we go off on our on together." "Yeah, we should," Wei said, she just remembered that soon it will be only the two of them together. She will need to get used to being alone with him, she thought to herself completely forgetting Melting Snow was in the room. As the two of them went over to the two treadmills that were situated against the wall, quietly talking among themselves, Melting Snow just watched them shaking his head slowly. He really wishes there was a wall separating them. Just as he was debating on rather or not he should give up on working out Drifting Cloud walked into the room. Melting Snow never felt as happy when seeing him as he did right now. "Drifting Cloud there you are, you are going to join our workout?" Melting Snow asked. Words can''t express how happy he was to have Drifting Cloud take his mind off the ''too much PDA (Public Displays of Affection) couple over there. '' After Xinya told Melting Snow how he was going to go fishing, the only thing that he could say was, "Let me go too." 30 minutes later "Come on Drifting Cloud let''s go fish." Melting Snow said rushing out onto the deck. Anything to be away from that lovey-dovey nonsense that was going on in that room. Chapter 144: Let鈥檚 Fish With a bemused expression, Xinya looked on in bewilderment as Melting Snow rushed outside onto the deck. For the life of him, he couldn''t understand why the boy was so keen on going fishing with him. Xinya never thought that Melting Snow enjoyed fishing as much as he did while doing it in the normal way at least. Then again as he thought about it some more, it could be his company that Melting Snow was seeking. That boy was really attached to him, or so he would like to think. He was really fond of the way the boy would always tell him how much he enjoyed being around him because he felt exactly the same way about him. When Xinya looked at Melting Snow it was like he was looking at the living embodiment of the pureness and innocence that he had lost a very long time ago. He would never want to see Melting Snow lose his and would do anything in his power to protect it. He knew he was projecting himself onto the boy, but he didn''t care. When he looked at Melting Snow he could see what he could have been, no he saw what he wanted to be. He wanted to be happy and free of worries like that boy out there, and one day that dream would come true. Although for now, he just hopes that sweet little boy will continue to enjoy his time with him, and vice versa. Xinya had high expectations that they would be able to go on numerous fun adventures together for a long time to come. Not wanting to keep the little boy waiting, Xinya started to head out onto the deck, but before he did, he took a glance into the living room. He wanted to see if Wei and Wandering Sound was still training their stats or had they already stopped. Peeking into the living room, he saw that they were still running next to each other on the treadmills, but that wasn''t all that they were doing. Wandering Sound kept leaning over to whisper something in Wei''s ear that was making her have a noticeable blush all over her face and neck. Shaking his head at the two of them, Xinya decided to leave the two love birds to their own devices. Exiting the room quickly, Xinya started to have an inkling on why Melting Snow was so eager to go fishing with him now. He would certainly have to tease Wei about this the next time they log out. A smile played on his lips as he exited the room that led to the deck, only to be greeted by a soft and gentle breeze that came off of the water. Pausing, he closed his eyes and began to breathe in the water''s poignant salty breath. The feeling of the wind blowing through his hair was soothing, while also very refreshing. He knew he could spend hours out here, relaxing quietly on the deck on one of those comfortable lounge chairs, while the boat rocked him gently to sleep. Xinya only started imagining how relaxed he would be when he heard Melting Snow calling out to him. Opening his eyes, he turned his head in the direction of the voice, only to see Melting Snow waving him over towards him. "Drifting Cloud, what are you standing there for? Let''s go see if we can fish up something interesting." Melting Snow yelled from where he stood at the stern of the houseboat. He thought it would make the ideal spot for them to go fishing. It had two comfortable chairs close to the boat railing and a giant parasol that would help block the sun rays. They could lay back, look at the scenery while they fished, it was perfect. Walking to the spot Melting Snow picked, Xinya smiled before sitting down in one of the chairs, "You still want to catch a whale." "Naw," Melting Snow said with a snort. "I was just kidding with you, but I do want to catch a fish. So you can cook it into something delicious." "Oh, so you did have an actual reason for wanting to fish with me, and here I thought you just wanted to get away from the two in there," Xinya told him jokingly. With a sly smile, Melting Snow plopped down on the other chair and confirmed Xinya''s thoughts. "It''s a little of column A and a little of column B." Snorting in amusement, Xinya opened his interface and took out his fishing pole and the tin box filled with bait, that he made earlier from his inventory. After laying the tin box down on the small table that was next to his chair, he changed his title to Fisherman''s Recognition. Fisherman''s Recognition: 5% fishing bonus/ 2% more of a chance of catching an item. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 320/320 Level: 23 MP: 280/280 EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina: 280/280 Skill points: 25 Str: 4 Dex: 15 Int: 4 Luck: 11 Coins: 6 gold 997 silver 700 bronze Stat Points 0 After seeing how low his luck got once he took off the Saviors of Baldahurh Forest title, he was tempted to put it back on, but he knew that he was just fishing for the fun of it and wasn''t out here actually aiming for anything in particular. With that in mind, he closed his interface and put his thoughts toward fishing. Looking over at Melting Snow, Xinya saw that he already had his fishing rod out and was waiting for him. With a grin, Xinya grabbed the tin box and opened it only for a pungent smell to hit their noses. "Bloody hell, what is that smell!" gagged Melting Snow, as he covered his nose with his hands. Coughing because of the smell, Xinya said, "It''s the bait, it seems that it has fermented a bit while it was in my inventory." "A bit?!" Melting Snow exclaimed. "It doesn''t smell like a bit." Rolling his eyes at the boy, Xinya grabbed two pieces of the Welch''s Fruity Bait before quickly closing the tin up, "There you go, the smell is gone." "Not gone, but bearable," Melting Snow told him with a small whine, as he took one of the pieces of the bait out of Xinya''s hands and hooking it to his fishing rod. Xinya didn''t reply and just started baiting his own hook, he knew the boy wasn''t acting bratty on purpose, beastmen had sensitive noses. Besides their appetites, Xinya thought that was a potential flaw of the race. Hopefully using his potions, he could find something to combat that weakness. There were a lot of foul places and dungeons in Haven, and if they ever found themselves in such a place it would be terrible if Melting Snow was killed because he couldn''t handle the smell. Smirking at how funny they would be, Xinya cast his line out into the water, with Melting Snow following suit. Hearing the chair next to him squeak, Xinya gave a quick glance to Melting Snow with the side of his eyes. What he saw was just adorable, Melting Snow was bopping his head from side to side to a tune that Xinya couldn''t hear. Xinya knew for certain that he was using the interface to listen to music. He thought about doing the same but decided that listening to the lullaby of the ocean was just as good. Relaxing against the chair, Xinya begins to fish in earnest. Chapter 145: Fishing Frustration Looking out into the endless expanse of the dark blue water that was in front of him, Xinya took a long deep breath, filling up his lungs with the salty sea air. He glanced forlornly at his fishing rod, his mood contradicting the peaceful atmosphere that he was in. Relaxation is what he should be feeling, this was a given. From the clear blue sky above to the dark calming waters below, every inch of view could be called serene. Nevertheless, as the gentle wind blew playfully through his green leaf-like hair, all he could do was sigh. It had been over three hours since he and Melting Snow had partaken in this activity of fishing, and they have yet to catch a thing. Which being a seasoned fisherman that he would like to think he was, it was quite the frustrating thing. All his diligence in preparing for this endeavor seemed to have been wasted, and for the life of him he couldn''t figure out why. The bait was specially made to reel in a fish or an item that could only be caught at a higher fishing level. He wasn''t expecting much, he would have been happy if he caught one of the lowest-ranked fish in the water. To be quite honest, he would have been happy if he caught a guppy at this point. However, if he was being perfectly forthright, the real reason he was so frustrated, was that Melting Snow was able to catch a fish. It was a very small one, but still, it was a fish. A fish that he didn''t catch. The boy wasn''t even really taking it seriously, and he was able to catch one in the first 20 minutes of when they started. Xinya could barely believe his eyes when he saw the boy catch it. Taking a deep breath again, he reminded himself that he was only fishing for fun, this wasn''t a competition. Calming himself down wasn''t working, his dissatisfaction was growing. What was the point of the whole title and bait combo that he had going for him if it wasn''t bringing in the results? He wanted to tell himself that it was because he was level one, so of course, it would be hard for him to catch anything in these high-level waters, but then he would glance at the fish Melting Snow caught. Sighing softly to himself, Xinya thought it would probably be best if they stop trying to fish since it seemed sort of pointless. He began to wonder if Melting Snow was getting bored over there, so he took a peek at him to see how he was faring. Xinya let out a huff at what he saw, it seemed that Melting Snow didn''t have a care in the world as he jammed out to whatever music he was listening too while leaning back against his chair in leisure. Even though Melting Snow was enjoying his time out here, Xinya still had the urge to rage quit. While fishing he would mostly just zone out and use the time to clear his head, but that wasn''t what he needed right now. He was fishing for the enjoyment, the thrill of the catch, which he wasn''t experiencing. He really should have checked the level of these waters before he started. It would have given him an accurate percent on his chance to catch a fish. With the tiny fish Melting Snow had caught, he assumed that the chances were 99% to 1. After letting out another long breath, he decided that he would give fishing another chance for an extra hour before giving up. Although this time he would be following Melting Snow''s example and try to preoccupy himself by listening to some music while he fished. Putting his fishing rod to the side for a minute and opened up his interface. Xinya swiped through the main menu that contained his profile, the skill pages and all of the different icons that he used daily. Until he found the small blue box labeled internet. As he clicked on the light blue square another transparent window opened up in front of him revealing something he would see if he was using his phone or portable computer. After locating the search bar he typed in the name of his favorite radio station. The radio station was called JJ2BEAT.FM and it played all the classics from the early 2015''s to the late 2030s. The music this station played ranged from classical to pop and everything in between. The music back then was very different from how it was now in 2213. It had way more soul and character. It was an age where technology has become a staple in modern life and music was no longer relegated to just being on the radio. Anyone with a computer and a video camera could make music if they wanted to. There was no good or bad just, ''can they dance to it''. It was the age of Indie music. It was a very popular genre back then, but Xinya found indie to be a catch-all term, much like how Alternative was used in the 2000s. Most of the indie music from that time wasn''t awe-inspiring but he really liked a good portion of it. Wei couldn''t understand why he liked listening to that ancient music, but he did always believe that he had an old soul. Plus the music back then was way better than what they had, at least in his opinion, He could never figure out how, popping balloons and banging rocks together while screeching in a high pitch voice could be considered nice to listen to. It was either that he had a bad musical taste or just that the rest of the world was tone-deaf. His money was on the rest of the world because there was no way ''Stone Age Pop'' could be called music. Shaking his head, he started grooving to the lovely sound of the voice of his favorite singer. Just as he was getting into it a sudden ding interrupted his radio connection. Wondering what was going on, Xinya looked at the notification. [Ding!] [A mysterious wind has flown by triggering your luck. Who knows what sorts of unexplainable things could happen, you better be prepared!] After seeing that notification, Xinya sat up quickly and opened up his interface to quickly turn off the music he was listening to. He had a feeling that he was about to catch a really big fish and he needed to get prepared. Deciding that it would probably be better if he was standing up, he pushed away from the chair he was in and gripped the fishing rod handle tightly. He didn''t want to have his hopes up too much, but he couldn''t help but smile. His body was completely awash with excitement, all he wanted was to catch something that he would be able to cook up into a grand feast, like a giant lobster or clams. He was practically giddy with exhilaration as he waited for something to tug on his line. While Xinya was bubbling with joy, he didn''t know that at this moment a large black shadow was rising from water coming straight for the houseboat. Chapter 146: Diamondback Armored Ctenophore While in a hurry to get up from his chair, he didn''t notice that as he did the chair in which he was sitting knocked harshly against Melting Snow''s chair. Melting Snow who felt the bump of Drifting Cloud''s chair against his own, opened up his eyes from the nice daydream he had of being a famous pop star to see what was up. Once he did he saw that Drifting Cloud was no longer sitting peacefully beside him, instead, he was standing by the railing looking expectantly out at the water. Melting Snow became curious, wondering what was the reason for him to be standing over there like that. Although knowing Drifting Cloud as he did, something interesting was bound to take place. He sincerely doubted that one day could go by without Drifting Cloud finding some kind of trouble, but then again it was one of the reasons he liked the man. Opening up his interface, he turned off the music he was listening to, before getting off his seat. Laying his fishing rod down, Melting Snow strolled over to where Drifting Cloud was standing, all the while glancing off the side of the boat to see if anything was down there. "What are you doing over here?" Melting Snow asked when he was close enough to the green-haired man. Not hearing the boy move from his chair, Xinya was a little startled by his presence next to him. "I have a strange feeling that I''m about to catch something big." Xinya wasn''t sure if he should divulge information about him having the luck stat to Melting Snow as of yet. It wasn''t something he needed to hide, but he just felt as though he should for now. It wasn''t as if he didn''t trust Melting Snow, because he did. It was just that he knew how easy it was for someone to have a slip of the tongue. If that information got into the wrong hands, especially at this stage of the game. He wasn''t nearly ready to deal with the type of backlash that would cause. He knew for sure that his cooking skills would make a very wanted person for guilds after the update, but his luck stat would get him stalked. He could only shudder as he thought about it. Before telling anyone anything, he would get someone with the power to back him up. With someone strong backing him, he wouldn''t have to worry about those insidious people that would try to use him. He would have the time to just focus on his plans of making money, just as long as nobody finds out. Speculating about why Drifting Cloud would say that, Melting Snow leaned over the railing to get a better look at the dark blue water. Only to find that there wasn''t anything down there at all swimming around. From what he could see, the water was calm and peaceful, there wasn''t a fish in sight. Straightening himself up, he began to look at Drifting cloud in a curious manner. For the life of him, he couldn''t figure out why the man thought he was about to catch something big. Because where he was standing, there was nothing down there in the water. Sighing to himself, Melting Snow thought that maybe he was too hasty in thinking something interesting was going to happen. Just as he was about to go back to his chair and continue daydreaming, something bumped hard against the side of the houseboat. The force of the hit was so strong that it caused Drifting Cloud and himself to stumble back a little. Gripping the railing to brace himself, Melting Snow started looking every which way to see what had hit them. "What the hell¡­!" Melting Snow exclaimed loudly, shocked by the sudden hit. Xinya who had his eyes focused on the water the whole entire time said, "What the hell indeed." As soon as those words passed his lips a flashing red notification popped up in front of everybody that was on the houseboat: [A party member has just triggered the aggro of the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore! Your party will be attacked, until everyone is either dead or until your party destroys the creature!] Xinya couldn''t believe this, all he wanted was a giant lobster and here he was getting attacked by a freaking giant sea creature. He was beginning to wonder if the luck stat was as lucky as it was made out to be. "Wow, Drifting Cloud, when you say you''re going to catch something big, you really mean something big." Melting Snow told him while giggling to himself. Checking his inventory to make sure he still had a good number of potions, he quickly armed himself with his twin swords. Before he could say anything else, Wei and Wandering Sound came out the boathouse in a rush. They both were looking all around the area, searching for the threat, they couldn''t believe they would have to fight a monster in the middle of the sea. "What''s going on?" Wei asked as she ran over to where Melting Snow and Xinya was standing. "Where''s the monster?" As the question left her lips a loud roar was heard from underneath the water, followed by a splash. Suddenly right before their eyes, a humongous creature appeared from the depths of the water. It begins to float up and out of the water until it was suspended in the air right in front of them. The sight of it left them astounded, for it was beautiful in its simplicity. From what Xinya could tell the monster was modeled after a jellyfish, a freaking huge, scary one, but nonetheless a jellyfish. As he stared at it in awe, he could see that it was devoid of all color except for when the sun hits it, making it shine colorfully in the light. It was made up of a smooth, balloon-shaped body and had a tremendous amount of tentacles, which if Xinya knew anything should be armed with lethal stingers. He could also see that it had a largemouth that could be found smack dab in the center of the monster''s body. Which was only brought to his attention when the monster started squirting out a jet of water from out of it, propelling itself forward towards them. "Oh shit! Run for cover!" Xinya shouted at everyone as he dodged quickly from the incoming monster. Chapter 147: Let鈥檚 Swing The impact from the Diamondback Armored Ctenophores attack caused the houseboat to tilt dangerously to one side. This was followed by a sharp crack of splintering wood as the monster careened across the deck. This scared Xinya because he knew that there was a slight chance of the houseboat capsizing. As he held on for dear life behind one of the bolted-down patio sofas, he could faintly hear the movements of the others near him. He was certain that he heard the sound of Wei letting out a terrified shriek from a distance away. Xinya knew that they needed to think up a plan on how to deal with this giant sea creature that was out to kill them. Since time was of the essence, he opened up his interface, as quickly as he could, and turned on the party voice chat. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, he could already see from the party system that no one lost any health as of yet, but that didn''t mean they might not be close to falling overboard, with the way the boat was rocking back and forth. He was quite certain that nobody had yet to get the swimming skill, and there wasn''t anything more terrifying than drowning to death. "What the hell is going on?" Screeched Wei, as she dodged one of monsters tentacles. "Why are we getting attacked by a giant jellyfish?" Melting Snow who was trying to climb on top of the boathouse, lost his balance once again at the boat''s abrupt movement. He couldn''t help but giggle at how crazy this situation was, "It was all Drifting Cloud doing, he wanted to catch a big one. He just didn''t expect it to be this big." "Of course it was Drifting Cloud that got us into this mess," Wei huffed as she skidded alongside the boat, trying desperately to keep her footing. From his hiding place inside the wheelhouse, Wandering Sound could see the control system going berserk. With the way the monster was hitting the deck, the durability of the boat was going down fast. When he first purchased this boat the durability of it was 100%, but now after the constant attacks, it was down to 97%. If they don''t do something fast, the monster won''t have a chance to kill them, because the sea would. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Wandering Sound immediately informed the others. "Guys, we have no time to waste, the durability of the boat is falling because of the attacks to the boat. I don''t know about you guys but I haven''t learned the swimming skill yet." "I didn''t learn it yet either," Wei announced with a look of fear in her eyes. She was suddenly afraid that this monster would knock her straight into the water and she would just sink while trying to gasp for breath as she died in the dark, cold water. She knew that would be a traumatizing experience indeed. "I learned it," Melting Snow said as he was able to climb the ladder to the top, one step away from being on the roof of the houseboat. "I figured I need it since Drifting Cloud has to soak his feet once in a while. I thought I could swim and find treasure while waiting for him to fill up his water bar." Even with the dangerous situation they were in, Xinya couldn''t help but smile at how considerate the boy was. In spite of that knowing that Melting Snow could swim gave him an idea. "Everyone listen up, I got a plan." declared Xinya, knowing they needed to take out that damn jellyfish before their boat sunk. "Wandering Sound, I need you to stay in the wheelhouse for now and monitor the durability of the boat, as for Melting Snow I need you too¡­" "You really want me to do that?" Melting Snow asked pleasantly surprised at what Drifting Cloud wanted him to do. The idea never crossed his mind to do something so crazy, but since it was asked of him, who was he to deny the request. "Yes," Xinya replied, he could picture Melting Snow''s face, he bet the boy was vibrating with excitement. "And Roaming Wind I need you to find a good place to attack and then grab a rope and tie yourself off, just in case." With a concerned look on her face, she asked, "Are you sure that won''t restrict my movements?" "Don''t worry, the ropes on the boat are very long," Xinya told. Xinya began explaining his plan on how they should take down the monster to everyone as fast as he could. He knew he needed to be quick about it because at the moment the monster was knocking against the boat with the fury of a thousand storms. "Don''t worry, Drifting Cloud. I got this, I''m already in a position to make this happen." Melting Snow said while peeking up at the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore with an eager smile on his face. "Good," Xinya told the boy, while sneakily moving out of his hiding space, gripping the nearest sturdiest item so he wouldn''t fall. "Roaming Wind, did you find a good place to attack?" Since she could shoot her guns quite a distance, she didn''t need to be near the monster at all. Seeing how the jellyfish was adamant about attacking the deck and bow, she decided she would go to the stern. Grabbing a rope along the way, when she got there she tied herself to one of the ladders that were attached to the wall side. "I''m ready! I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I''ll go to it laughing." Wei quoted bravely. "I''ll ask what that is from later," Xinya told her while pulling out two combat potion bottles. "But for now let''s take this thing down." As Wandering Sound listened to them talk, he began to panic. The durability was constantly going down all the time. He couldn''t believe this was happening, it was lucky that this was an NPC boat and not his own, he wouldn''t want to have to pay for the damages that were caused by this monster. "Hey guys, not to rush you or anything, but the boat durability is down to 85%. Just thought you ought to know." Wandering Sound told them. Knowing that this was Wandering Sound''s way of saying ''get a move on it'', Xinya tried to move a little away from the jellyfish, but when he did it started moving with him, making him stop in place. It seems the monsters aggro was focused on him, which is why it was only attacking the part of the boat he was located at. Xinya knew he could use this to his advantage and hid once again, before signaling the others to attack, "Melting Snow, go! Roaming Wind, cover him!" With a large smile gracing his face, Melting Snow jumped off the ladder and onto the roof of the houseboat. He then proceeded to run as fast he could straight at the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore. When he reached the edge of the house boat''s roof he jumped off and with a somersault landed right onto one of the monster''s tentacles. Chapter 148: What a Spectacle Melting Snow felt as though he was in an action movie, everything slowed to a crawl as he propelled himself forward towards the gigantic sea creature. He could feel the adrenaline rush through him as he got closer to the tentacles of the monster. Jumping onto the nearest tentacle that was in front of him, he wrapped his arms and legs around it as tight as he could. It was of no use though, no matter how tightly he held on the monster was secreting a gooey clear slime that was dripping down its entire body. His hold on it was so slippery that he knew he would fall off if he didn''t do something fast. With the swiftness that only someone with the twin-blade class could have, he removed one of his arms from around the tentacle he was holding and stabbed deeply into it with his sword. Tightly latching on to the handle of his sword, Melting Snow felt that his hold on the tentacle was a lot more secure than it was before. Now that he had a firm grip he could enjoy the free ride he was getting from the creature, with how the jellyfish''s tentacles were moving around so wildly, attacking the boat. From his position behind a large piece of furniture on the deck, Xinya watched as Melting Snow laughed as the giant tentacle swung around, it was as if he were on a plaything. If they weren''t in the midst of battle, Xinya would have found it to be an extremely amusing sight. However, since they were in the middle of a fight, he had no time to think about it, and just quick rolled out of his hiding spot while chucking the two potions that were in his hands at the monster. He wanted to keep the monster''s attention on himself and not have it turn to the others. For reasons he didn''t understand, he didn''t think he would have to worry about that at all, with the way the monster was so focused on him. Although Xinya couldn''t figure out why the way the monster was acting didn''t make any sense to him. He could only think that this was because he was the one to summon it with his bait. Sadly, there was no time for him to ponder about it because right at the moment one of the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore''s tentacles was coming straight at him. Not able to dodge in time he got sideswiped against the wall of the boathouse. The impact of slamming against the wall by the huge tentacle was so hard that the breath was completely knocked out of him and his health fell down to 25%. Seeing that the slimy thick tentacle was about to hit him a second time, Xinya quickly darted away behind one of the pieces of furniture in front of him. Steadying herself from the blow to the boat, Wei took a quick glance at everyone''s status to make sure that everyone was alright. When she saw Xinya''s health bar plummet she became very worried. "Drifting Cloud what happen are you okay?" "I''m fine, I''m fine," Xinya replied breathlessly. "Use your soul shot on that thing, we need to stun it." "I''m on it," Wei told him as she aimed her guns straight at the monster. She had a feeling she would need to shoot it more than once, but she would get the job done, that monster pissed her off. Lining up her guns, she shot her skill four times at the monster. Just as she thought it was only on the fourth shot that monster became stunned. As the monster became completely immobile she stood and watched as Melting Snow begins having his fun. ~ Steadying his hold on the monster''s tentacles, Melting Snow began to look curiously around. He was so high up that he could see everything that was happening around him. It was quite lucky for him that because of the size of the monstrous jellyfish it didn''t even notice when he had jumped onto it. He was very happy with that fact, but with the way the monster was swinging its tentacles around, trying to destroy the boat and everyone in it, the best Melting Snow could do was cling tightly to it like a koala holding on a tree. This experience was very similar to riding on a giant roller coaster, but this roller coaster didn''t care about a person''s safety at all. He wasn''t going to lie, he did enjoy the thrill of it, but all this shaking was making him dizzy. He really wished those two hurry up, or he might mentally vomit. Just as that thought went through his mind, the monster was struck four times and on the fourth strike, the monster completely stopped moving. Smiling gleefully, he knew those two finally took action and now it was his turn to play. With his right hand clutching tightly to the handle of his sword, he quickly unwrapped his left arm from around the tentacle and moved so he was standing diagonally on it. Quickly as he could, he stabbed his other sword in the tentacle as well. Using one of his legs to gain momentum, he swung on the tentacle like it was a rope, causing it to be propelled forward. With a sequence of aerial acrobatics, Melting Snow began slashing off the nearest tentacle before jumping over to grab the next one near it. As this continued on, Melting Snow using all sorts of aerial skills, while completely destroying the monster tentacles. For the party members watching from down below it was an amazing spectacle to behold. With each and every series of quick strikes that Melting Snow used, a giant tentacle fell into the water around them and 50 points of the monster''s health went down. Only seconds had passed and already 7 out of the 15 tentacles were destroyed. What they didn''t know was that this was only possible because Melting Snow had activated a skill that would give him lightning-fast movements for a limited amount of time. Once this skill deactivated, Melting Snow would have trouble dealing with the appendages. Melting Snow intended to use the time he had to the best of his ability. Suddenly the monster began to move, and he knew that the stun was about to wear off. Using party chat he shouted, " Roaming Wind, shoot him again! The stun is almost over" Wei who was completely awestruck by Melting Snow fighting ability was startled when she heard her name. After hearing what the boy said, she started berating herself for letting her mind wander while they were in the middle of battle. Seeing how 350 points of the monster''s health were down out of the 2500 it had, Wei decided it is best to keep firing at it. Lining up her aim once again, Wei started to shoot at the creature, but it was already too late. The Diamondback Armored Ctenophore awoke from its stunned state and summoned its armor. It was now covered with a shiny metallic shell that Wei''s bullets weren''t able to pierce through. It let out a loud roar and swung what was left of its tentacles roughly, knocking Melting Snow who was decapitating his ninth tentacle off and into the water. "Are you alright, Melting Snow?" Xinya asked, running to the side of the boat to see if he could locate where the boy was. Spitting out a mouth full of water, Melting Snow said, "I''m fine, but it might be 10-15 minutes to reach the boat." "That''s fine as long as you''re alright," Xinya told him. He had noted something interesting when the boat was tilted sideways the last time. His fishing rod, which he left on the chair had tumbled over near him and he could see that the bait he had put on it was missing. Which could only mean the monster had eaten it. He would need to test his theory, but he was certain he was correct. If he was, then the monster would be easy pickings. Chapter 149: A Series of Thoughts After Melting Snow was thrown into the water by the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore, two of the party members felt particularly impacted by it. However, with no way of helping, they could only deal with it in their own unique way. While they stewed in their own uselessness, the person who was thrown from the boat was coming to terms with his predicament. The predicament of how to return to the boat in time to rejoin the fight. ~ Wandering Sound was left in awe at all of the damage the young boy dealt with the monster without any help from anyone. Compared to him, the boy was a real fighter. The only thing he did so far was hidden inside of the wheelhouse and monitor the durability of the boat. He knew he was asked to do so for the sake of the party, but how could he be called a man when he let a little kid fight for him. However, with the kind of skills that he had, he knew his limitations, that didn''t mean he wasn''t itching to go out and fight with the rest of them. How he wished the monster was a dark creature than he would have a legitimate reason to help fight it. It was truly to bad his shield was of no use in this fight. Shaking his head at his uselessness, Wandering Sound once again checked the status of the boathouse''s durability. When he saw that it was down to 60%, it snapped him out of his self-deprecation. He knew he had to inform the others, they were running out of time and they needed to find a way to kill that huge jellyfish before it took them down. Opening up the party voice chat, Wandering Sound begins informing everyone of the dire straits the boat condition was in. In this situation even though he would hate the damage cost, he would prefer if this was actually a player made vessel. If it was then they would at least have a boat shield and different types of weapons that he could use to fight the creature with. This made him even more determined to get the sailing skill and buy his own freaking boat. He knows for sure that after he and Roaming Wind finish traveling around the game on their own that when they come back he will need it for sure. As the ship swayed harshly once again under the force of the giant monster tentacle, Wandering Sound let out a small laugh. Next time this happens he will be ready, and for some strange reason, he couldn''t wait. ~ While Wandering Sound was mentally taking note of all the things he needed to do to be ready if they ever encountered a situation like this one again, Wei, who saw that Melting Snow had been knocked overboard was beside herself. All she could think was once again she screwed up. She didn''t want to be the pig teammate that was seen to be weak and does more harm to the party than the monster. What she wanted to be was someone who her party could depend on and look too when they were in trouble. However, wanting and taking action to make it happen are two different things. She was too caught up in the magnificence of the game to realize that this was a game, and she needed to use it to make money. Yes, she was sad that she had to leave her friend, but she had to. She was a complete noob, after seeing Melting Snow in action she could admit that to herself. Now she knew why she felt jealous of the boy, it was because he was a better partner to Xinya in this game than she could ever be. Shaking her head in denial, she retracted what she just said and amended it with, right now. He was only better than her right now, she would train herself diligently and once she comes back from her adventures with Wandering Sound, she will be better than ever. That thought alone brought a smile to her face, she could hardly wait to get started. Narrowing her eyes, she was about to try shooting the monster once again, hoping this time she could get past the armor, only to hear Wandering Sound''s voice. From what she could understand from the panic in his voice, the boat durability had sunk even lower and they needed to do something fast. Hearing that made her worry, so without a second thought, she begins firing her strongest skill, soul shot, at the creature. As she was doing so one of the monster''s tentacles hit the boat hard enough to make her lose her balance, this caused her to go skidding off the railing. From her position she looked down at the cold dark water and gave a sigh of relief, she was so thankful that Xinya made her tie herself off to something or she would have been a goner right now. Grabbing onto the rope she begins to pull herself back up and climbed over the railing. Once she was back onto the boat, she had to fight the urge to kiss the ground repeatedly. She didn''t even want to imagine what could have been, taking aim at the monster again, her only thought before firing was that she really needed to get the swimming skill. ~ Melting Snow after being thrown so far away from the boat by that tentacled jellyfish monstrosity was extremely pissed. He was going to miss out on all of the fun, from the tone in Drifting Cloud''s voice, he knew the man thought up something to defeat that overgrown fish. He knew he must hurry and swim his butt back over to the boat as quickly as he could or else he would miss out on everything. Although, one positive thing he got from being thrown overboard was the wonderful view he had of everything that was going down. It was like he was watching an extremely interactive action movie. When that notion crossed his mind, a sly smile appeared on his face. This would make a grand video for all of his fans, his channel would become even more popular if he were to capture everything that was happening. He couldn''t help but berate himself, if he had only thought of this earlier, that would have been even more awesome. All he wanted to do was slap himself when he thought of all the fantastical things he did while he was slashing off all of the monster''s tentacles. Sighing to himself, he quickly turned on the recording option on to 3rd person mode and began swimming back to the boat as fast as he could. There was no way he was going to let the monster die before he got some more licks in. He really hoped that whatever, Drifting Cloud was planning would take a while, so he could make it back to the boat. With that goal in mind, Melting Snow kicked his little legs and then swan faster than what was humanly possible. Chapter 150: Fusion After making sure that Melting Snow was alright after being thrown into the water by the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore, Xinya returned back to his hiding place under a piece of overturned bunny-shaped furniture that was attached to the wall. As he crawled underneath it the large sea creature tried it''s best to get to him. Once he was safely hidden, he decided to follow through on the hunch that he had. The hunch would seem quite strange to some, even by his standards he found it odd, but it was the only thing that made sense to him. When he had noticed that fishing rod was devoid of the bait that he had put on it. He knew for sure that when that giant jellyfish decided it wanted to play with them, it was because lured by the aroma of the bait. He was quite certain that it was the smell that attracted the monster and that''s why it was only after him and not the others. Although, there was a slight glitch in his hunch, and that glitch was Melting Snow. The boy had also used the same bait as him, so why wasn''t the monster going after him as well. The only way he could explain why the monster wasn''t targeting the boy was that Melting Snow had only used the bait once. After he had caught that small fish of his, Melting Snow had decided to go baitless. The scent of the bait was too pungent for his delicate nose so he decided to fish without using the bait. Feeling bad about how the bait had affected the boy when he needed to reapply the bait to his fishing rod, Xinya would move a little way away from Melting Snow when he did so. That way Melting Snow wouldn''t get hit with the smell once Xinya opened up the tin box the bait was in. He had to reapply the bait at least eleven times for about an hour or so as they fished. By the time of the monster''s arrival, Xinya would bet everything he had that his body would have been completely saturated with the scent of the Welch''s Fruity Bait. To that giant sea creature over there, he probably looked like a large piece of food ready to be eaten. However, this was only a hypothesis, he was only about 65% percent sure that he was correct about it. The other 35% of his logical mind still believed that the monster was only after him because he was the first thing it saw, so the aggro was immediately keyed to him. Soon he would see which theory was correct, taking out the tin box from his inventory, he opened it up. Just as he picked up a piece of the Welch''s Fruity Bait to throw to the monster, he heard Wandering Sound''s voice. He was informing them that houseboat durability had once again lowered, Xinya couldn''t believe how low it had gotten. He knew for sure that there was no time to waste, after confirming with Wandering Sound that he heard him loud and clear, he hurried and grabbed a piece of bait. Narrowing his eyes at the creature, as quick as he could he rolled out from his hiding place and threw the bait near the bow of the boat close to the creature before darting back. Peeking out from one of the holes the furniture he was under had, he saw the Ctenophore pause in its actions as if it smelled something. Giving a loud roar, the monster slapped a tentacle down onto the place where Xinya threw the bait. As the boat lurched to the side by the force of that action, Xinya gripped the furniture tightly as he watched the jellyfish take his armor down and then bring the tentacle to his mouth and eat the bait, before putting it''s armor back up. Xinya couldn''t believe it, his hunch was correct, all along it was his bait that the monster wanted. Now that he had that information, what could he do with it? Thinking as quickly as he could, multiple ideas came to mind. One idea was him throwing the bait again and once the monster takes away it''s armor to eat it, he could have Wei shoot at it, and stunning it. While it was stunned he and Wei can bombard it with their skills until it was dead. Although it was a good idea, he was worried that Wei wouldn''t be able to stun it in time before it could reapply its armor. As he thought about it he knew that there was an 80% chance that she wouldn''t be able to. He felt really bad in having such low confidence in her skills, but at this point in time, that percent seemed accurate to him. He could only sigh, as all his ideas amounted to nothing if only he could combine his potions with the bait. As that fleeting thought swept through his mind, he paused and began to really consider it. ''Why can''t I do just that, didn''t the woman apothecarist in beginner town tell me that the key to potion-making was experimentation? Then shouldn''t I do exactly that.'' Xinya thought to himself with determination. While taking out one of his mini fireball potions he also grabbed one the Welch''s Fruity Baits. The bait had the same consistency as moldable clay, so he thought the best way to do this was to make a hole in the center of the bait and then pour the potion inside. Afterward, he would smooth over the hole so that it would be covered and liquid wouldn''t spill out. With that plan in mind he put the potion down next to him and picked up the bait and molded it until there was a hole in the center, picking up the mini fireball potion, he poured it inside of the hole and then proceeded to cover it. As soon as he finished sealing the top a ding was heard and a notification appeared in front of him. [You have learned Reaction Fusion!! Congratulations on learning a hidden skill!] Reaction Fusion: Cooking and Potion Making are quite similar indeed, it''s only fitting for them to be used together. This is a skill that will allow you to fuse together any type of cooking or potions, but be careful, for the outcome of the fusion can create devastating results. [You have created a new dish called Welch''s Fruity Bomb! The recipe will be sent to your Fusion recipe book!] Welch''s Fruity Bomb: This strange creation is a mix of a Mini fireball potion and Welch''s Fruity Bait. It has a taste that nobody would be able to describe because once it''s eaten you won''t be alive. This strange creation does 300-400 damage depending on the quality of the potion and the food it was made from. [You have created an original recipe! Cooking experience + 500!] [Cooking has leveled up!] Xinya just smiled evilly and began to make more of the bait bombs. He couldn''t wait to test them out. Chapter 151: Playful Xinya It took Xinya less than a couple of minutes to create around six of the bait bombs, he was quite certain that would be more than enough to destroy the overgrown jellyfish. All he needed to do now was find a way to get the giant sea creature to eat them all at once. Xinya knew he wouldn''t be able to throw them all in a pile near the monster, he was worried that if he did the potion would spill out of them. The only other option was for him to quickly carry them over near the monster was. He somberly shook his head at that idea, which would basically be a suicide mission. Essentially, the monster took him as a giant piece of food, if he were to go over there he knew for sure he would get sideswiped again and this time he wouldn''t be as lucky as before. Just as he was considering calling over Wandering Sound or Wei to help him, he heard Melting Snow calling him via the party voice chat. It seemed that the boy had made it back to the boat in record time, Xinya just smiled, he knew nothing could keep Melting Snow away from a fight. "Drifting Cloud! I made it back, I''m on the left side of the deck of where you are at, throw down a rope so I can climb up." Melting Snow hurriedly, he was so glad that he made it back in time. Xinya started to look around, there were a lot of ropes mounted to the wall of the boathouse, but when the monster started attacking them, all of the ropes fell off onto the ground. After searching around his area he finally spotted one, was over by the railing on the verge of teetering off the edge. Glancing over to the monster, Xinya could see that it was being pushed back by Wei''s attacks, even though they were doing no damage to it at all. Waiting for the right moment, Xinya quickly ran over to the railing, when another one of Wei''s attacks distracted the creature. Once he was at the railing he quickly grabbed the rope on the ground and to unravel it. It must have been his good fortune, but this was the exact side of the boat where Melting Snow was waiting at. As he looked down into the water he could see Melting Snow waving his hand at him trying to get his attention, giving the boy a quick smile, as fast as he could, he tied off the rope and threw it down at him. Not waiting for him to climb up, Xinya rushed back to his hiding place, trying to get there before the monster noticed him. Sadly, he was too late, the monster smelled him as soon as he left his hidey-hole. Seeing how it''s delicious meal came out from where it was hiding, the monster knocked his tentacle hard against the boat, there was a pest shooting at it, and it hoped by capsizing this floating wooden thing, that it would stop and it would be able to eat its delicious meal in peace. It was already upset that it lost a bunch of its tentacles just because it wanted to eat something delicious. It would be disgraced if it would just leave now after everything that it has been through, one way or another it would get that delicious smelling food. The force of the hit the monster did to the boat tilted it dangerously to one side, Xinya thought for certain that it would flip over, but he was happily proven wrong. It seems NPC boats, were made of stronger stuff than a regular player boat. As the boat settled back down, Xinya made sure to dash back into his hiding spot. Once he was there he immediately connected to the party chat and asked how everyone was doing. "Is everyone alright?" Xinya asked worriedly. He really hoped that when the boat tilted that Melting Snow didn''t hit his head on it. He knew that if a player gets hit on the head enough by an object, they could enter a dizzy state. If they happen to Melting Snow he could drown. "I''m fine." Melting Snow said as he climbs up the rope to get back on board the boat. Gripping the railing tightly, Wei said, "I''m fine too, I thought I would fall off the boat once again, but I didn''t." "You fell off the boat?!" Xinya asked. "When did this happen?" "Don''t worry, because you told me to tie myself to something, I was completely fine," Wei told him. Sighing with relief, Xinya turned his attention to the person who didn''t answer yet, "What about you Wandering Sound? I everything alright on your end?" "Besides the durability going down by 20% everything is peachy," huffed Wandering Sound. Laughing a little at how Wandering Sound was acting, Xinya said, "Don''t fret, the monster is about to die." "Really?" Wandering Sound skeptically asked, "How are you going to pull that off?" "I''m glad you asked, but I''m not going to tell you, it''s a surprise," Xinya told him. Confused to why Xinya was playing around, Wandering Sound said, "Drifting Cloud, we have no time for games, if you can kill it do so." Climbing up the last couple of feet, Melting snow jumped over the boat railing and located Drifting Cloud. The man was hiding behind a large pink sofa, sprinting over towards him, Melting Snow positioned himself close to him. Startled by the boy''s sudden appearance, Xinya let out a frightened sound. "Oh my goodness, you scared me. Make some noise next time you sneak up on me." "You know that makes no sense right," Melting Snow laughed, "So what''s your plan, how are we going to kill the monster?" Xinya just smiled and picked up the bait bombs and handed it to the boy, once he was holding all six of them, he said, "I need you to take these and put them over by the edge of the boat for me." "Why are you giving me these stinky things?! Urg, the smell." Melting Snow''s eyes watered as he tried to hold the bait bombs as far away from his person as he could. "Quickly go do it, and hurry back." urged Xinya. "When you come back you will see something incredible. Curious as to what Drifting Cloud was planning, Melting Snow quickly took the disgusting smelling bait and put them near the edge of the ship close to the monster before hurrying back to where he was at. He really wanted to know what was going to happen. Chapter 152: Like a Firework While Melting Snow was rushing over to deliver his bombs to the ship''s edge, Xinya connected to the party voice chat once again. "Wei, I need you to stop attacking the monster," Xinya said, his plan wouldn''t work if she kept pushing the monster back. Wei was completely confused as to why Xinya asked her to stop attacking. "Is this something to do with the plan you won''t tell us about?" "Yes it does, but trust me, in a couple of minutes the monster will be dead. Just sit back and watch the show." Xinya said. "Alright, I will do as you say," Wei assured him, putting her hands which were holding her guns down. She would do as he asked of her, but if something goes wrong she will be ready. Wandering Sound who was listening to the conversation, really hoped that Drifting cloud knew what he was doing, he really wanted this battle to be over. Being knocked back and forth on this boat wasn''t a very fun experience, if one could get seasickness in this game, he bet everything he would have it by now. After Melting Snow finished setting the bait down where Drifting Cloud wanted them to be, he ran back over to where the man was and was about to ask him what was the next part of his plan when he saw the look on the man''s face. Drifting Cloud was staring out through one of the sofa''s holes with a look of childlike anticipation on his face. This made Melting Snow very curious as to what would put that expression on the man''s face. Following Drifting Cloud''s example, he stared out of another one of the holes at the monster. He watched as the monster paused, seemingly sniffing the air before one of its tentacles slapped down on the boat and grabbed up the bait that Drifting Cloud made him put over there. He continued to watch as the giant sea creature, speedily put down its armor and gobbled the bait into its mouth. Melting Snow wondered if this was Drifting Cloud''s plan to make the jellyfish take it''s armor so that he could attack, but after seeing no movement from the man, he knew he was wrong in that assumption and continued to watch slightly baffled. As Xinya peeked out through the hole from the safety of his hiding place, he could barely hold back his anticipation of what was to come. He felt quite devious as he watched the monster swallow all of his bait bombs, he bet this was prankers felt. Although this prank of his was way more deadly and aim at a monster, still it must be similar. Seeing as how the bait had been completely swallowed, he begins to wonder how long for it to take before the bombs took effect. He didn''t have to wonder for too long, because a couple of seconds after the humongous jellyfish gulp down the bait he made, a rumbling sound was heard. It started to become louder and louder until the explosion was heard. It was loud and fiery, but also so very enjoyable to watch. Everyone onboard the boat watched in awe as the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore exploded brightly like it was a firework. As multiple slimy bloody pieces of the huge jellyfish starting raining down on them, Xinya was grateful for the multi-use sofa that he was hiding behind. If it wasn''t for this sofa he would be covered with fish parts right now. [Congratulations! You have defeated the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore!] [You and your party have earned 50,000 exp!] [ A treasure chest will be added to each party member''s inventory! *Treasure chest reward is depended on how much damage each party member did.] Melting Snow turned to look at Drifting Cloud with awe, he couldn''t believe what had just transpired right in front of his eyes. Drifting Cloud blew up the monster using bait, he didn''t even know how that was possible. He was so glad he had recorded everything, he was so going to watch the entire thing again later. "How the hell did that happen?!" Melting Snow asked. As soon as the fish parts had stopped falling from the sky, he had crawled from out from behind the sofa and stood up to look around. Wei who had already untied herself had run over to the deck of the boat. When she heard Melting Snow asked that question she became curious too. "I would like to know as well." "You want to know?" Xinya asked playfully. After Wandering Sound joined the rest of the group he explained. "I tested something and gained a new skill." "What kind of skill?" Wandering Sound asked. "It''s called Reaction Fusion, it lets me combine food and potions to create something new," explained Xinya. Looking thoughtful, Wei said, "I never heard of that skill before, but it sounds like it could come in handy, especially against humanoid monsters." Xinya just smiled and nodded in agreement at her words, he was also thinking that way too. He thought that he would be able to use the creations he made on the dumber humanoid monsters as well as some of the normal ones. While he thought of all the ways he could use his Reaction Fusion the others pulled their treasure chests from their inventory. Melting Snow pulled out a silver treasure chest while Wei and Wandering took out a bronze one. Seeing how the others were about to open their rewards, Xinya decided to do the same and took out his treasure chest from his inventory. His chest was extremely different from the rest of theirs, it wasn''t just that it was golden, but it was also covered in all types of jewels. Xinya wished he could sell it, but he knew as soon as he opened and took the items out it would disappear. Xinya opened up the treasure chest only to be bombarded with notifications: [You have gained 5 gold, 30 silver, and 15 bronze coins!] [You have gained Mutated Ctenophores eggs!] Mutated Ctenophores eggs: These eggs are the babies of the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore, but it''s death they have been mutated. They will now only grow to the size of a plum and can be used for breeding. They can be used for food, or harvested for the toxin that they secret from their pores. *An artificial lake needed to grow them. [You have gained the Recipe Broiled Ctenophore tentacles!] Broiled Ctenophore tentacles: A strange recipe of unknown creation, seems to have a special magic effect. Once eaten a player will have the ability to talk to every creature underneath the sea. *special effect lasts 5 in-game days./ This effect will be able to be stacked with other food bonuses. [You have gained a map piece to the hidden land of Moo Moo Pow!] Moo Moo Pow: According to folklore, Moo Moo Pow is an underwater kingdom that is ruled by the great Lord Krishna. This is a place that is believed to be an old wives'' tale, a myth, that is until the clue was discovered. Xinya was immensely pleased with the items he got from his treasure chest, but it was the map piece that really interested him. He had never heard of an underwater kingdom being discovered and he would have known since things like that interested him. He was certain that this was the game way of telling him that he needed to level up his fishing skills quickly, so he could learn the Underwater Fishing skill. Chapter 153: What Your Reward? *Edited "Drifting Cloud, what did you get from your treasure chest?" Melting Snow asked. He was very curious as to what could have inside of that golden jeweled covered chest that the man obtained. He had gotten an awesome pair of enhanced aqua beast taming gloves that would draw capturable creatures of the sea to him and allow him to tame them and a poison coated short sword that came with its own black leather sheath. If the silver treasure chest had rewarded him with those incredible items, then he could only imagine what Drifting Cloud could have received from the chest that he had been given. "I would also like to know," Wei said. The only thing she got from her bronze chest was some coin and a tailoring pattern. The design of the pattern was for a fish scaled bodysuit, which would let the wearer be able to deflect against water-based attacks. "I only received some coins and a tailoring design." Wandering Sound exhaled softly threw his teeth when he heard Roaming Wind say she only got some coin and a tailoring design. He would have been satisfied if he had ''only'' received that, the only thing that was in his chest was 5 bronze coins. He wasn''t upset though, he understood why he was given so little, he basically didn''t do anything throughout the entire fight. So he was grateful for his 5 bronze coins and promised himself that during the next battle he would fight for all that he is worth. Turning his gaze to Drifting Cloud, Wandering Sound enjoined, "Yeah, tell us." As he looked around at all of his friends, who was eagerly awaiting him to reveal what his rewards were, Xinya gave an indulgent smile and opened his interface. He sent the descriptions of each of the items that he had received over to them so they could read it themselves. Following Drifting Cloud''s example, Melting Snow sent his items descriptions over to everyone as well. Once he did this, Wei felt that it was only right to show hers, so she sent the tailoring design around so everyone could see. "You were given some nice rewards, I''m especially curious about that map piece." Melting Snow revealed excitedly. He never knew that Haven Online had underwater cities, he never even thought of it as a possibility. Although there is swimming in the game, there is no means of transportation that would allow a player to travel under the water. Even if there were, there was no way they would be able to breathe down there. However, after looking at the items that Drifting Cloud had received, he was quite convinced that there had to be a way to do so. He started to wonder if a special monster would be able to give him that ability. Thinking of the taming gloves he had gotten, a goal formed in his head. He decided that he would need to catch a mermaid, there had been sightings of them all over the forums. They were a unique humanoid monster that was similar to the NPCs in this world. They could either be good or evil, depending on what breed of the mermaid. There was a rumor on the forums, that if a person is able to catch a mermaid they would be granted the ability to breathe underwater. After seeing everyone''s rewards, Melting Snow now had a feeling that maybe the rumor was true. Xinya agreed with Melting Snow, the map piece was very interesting indeed. "I''m also curious about it, later once I reach Arkala, and have some free time I will start researching it." "OK, that''s good," Melting Snow replied. Since he knew Drifting Cloud was in no rush, he would have more time to find a mermaid. Hearing his reply, Xinya looked over at the boy to see a mysterious smile playing on his face. Interested as to what could possibly be running through his head, he started to ask but was interrupted by Wei. "Do you think I should become a tailor?" Wei asked. After hearing Wei''s question, Xinya turned his attention to her. "Tailoring, I thought I convinced you to do potions like me?" "Potions do seem fun, but I think I could profit more from tailoring," Wei told him. "I have been kind of interested in trying it since Errinisworth when I helped that dressmaker. This design I received, just made me even more tempted to do so." "You should give it a shot if you''re really interested in it. If you don''t like it, the only thing you would waste is a few skill points." Wandering Sound advised. Xinya wanted to convince her that potions were the better option, but he knew he couldn''t. Right now, potions weren''t that profitable, the high-grade ones were, but he knew how hard they were to make. Like Wandering Sound said, it was best to let her try it, she can always change later if she wants too. He had a feeling that this was another butterfly effect he did, first, it was her class and now it was her side skill. Nodding his head slightly, Xinya agreed, "Yeah, what Wandering Sound said, give it a try if you want, but you should know it will be a hard road, there are many tailors in Haven." "I know, but I want to give it a shot. I might not be able to create my own designs, but I can totally find already made ones." Wei told him. Xinya thought about and that idea held merit, if she found rare game designs around the world that had special bonuses, she would be able to make a good profit. Maybe her wanting to be a tailor could turn into something good after all, and if it doesn''t she can always just do potions. Not really paying attention to what the other three members of his team were talking about, Melting Snow looked around the boat, once again noticing the giant mess around them. He begins to worry if the jellyfish guts that were everywhere would attract other monsters to them. "Hey guys, how are we going to clean up this mess?" Melting Snow asked, he really hoped that they wouldn''t have to do it manually. Once he heard Melting Snow''s question, Wandering Snow suddenly remembered one of the boat''s functions. "Don''t worry, this boat is able to clean itself. I will go back to the wheelhouse and program it to do so, you all should go inside the boathouse and relax." "Sounds like a plan." Melting Snow replied happily, he really needed to go edit the video he made anyway. As Xinya left the deck of the boathouse, to enter the living room he looked around the area one last time. He really hoped that his next fishing adventure would end way more neatly than this one did. If you want you can follow me on Twitter for novel updates: Chapter 154: Mythical Sea Creature Buff After seeing his party members disappear inside of the boathouse, Wandering Sound quickly spun on his heel and headed straight for the wheelhouse. The faster he arrived there and took care of the mess that covered the boat the better it would be for them all. Everywhere he looked as he walked along the deck was spattered by the entrails of the giant sea creature that they killed. Knowing that if it is left alone too long it would start to smell, making Wandering Sound quicken his pace up a bit. As he walked he took a brief look up at the sky, before emitting a long, deep, audible breath, when he saw the hot noonday sun glaring down. This made him speed up even more because if there is one thing he knew for certain, it was not to leave fish out to rot in the sun. Nearing the wheelhouse, he couldn''t help but feel amused. Earlier, he was all too eager to leave this place, but now he is going out of his way to reach it as quickly as he could. Letting out a small chuckle, Wandering Sound found it weird how things could change so quickly in less than an hour. Going inside the wheelhouse, Wandering Sound went over to the panel of buttons that was near the navigation system. These colorful buttons were made specifically for a variety of different functions that the houseboat held. Most of them couldn''t be used without having the sailing skill even if the boat was rented from an NPC. Luckily the skill he needed the boat to use didn''t need a player to have the sailing skill to be activated. Now, all Wandering Sound had to do was find the right button. After examining the different buttons closely, the young man finally found the one he was looking for. Wandering Sound honed on a large yellow button with the words ''Swabbing the Deck''. "Found you." Wandering Sound said quietly to himself before pressing down on the yellow button. [Swabbing the Deck has been pressed! Are you sure you want to activate this skill? Yes or No?] "Yes." Wandering Sound replied. [Swabbing the Deck is now being activated! Don''t leave the room that you are in for the next 10 minutes!] Seeing how he was stuck in the wheelhouse once again for a while, Wandering Sound decided to check how long it will take for them to reach MirStone Village. He was right by the navigation system anyway, so he thought he might as well. Tapping a few buttons on the screen, Wandering Sound became surprised by what popped up. He was quite certain that it would take at least 5-9 more hours before they were even close to MirStone Village, especially with how they were knocked off course because of that giant jellyfish. From the look of things, he could see that his assumption was wrong, they weren''t 5-9 hours away, far from it. As he stared at the navigation screen, Wandering Sound saw that the boat was only one hour away from their destination. ''How could this be?'' Wandering Sound pondered to himself as he gazed at the blue screen intensely in front of him. While he was thinking, he noticed that there was a strange symbol in the utmost corner. Squinting his eyes he tried to make it out, but because it was so tiny he couldn''t. Giving up, Wandering Sound tried clicking on it instead, only for a new screen to pop up. As he read the words on the screen, a smirk appeared on his face and he finally realized why their arrival time was cut down to an hour. Mythical Sea Creature Bonus Buff: Congratulations you defeated a legendary sea creature without destroying your boat! There are only a few people in this world that are able to say that and you are on that shortlist. As a special reward, your boat has been given a speed buff that will make it 60% faster than normal! *This buff can be made permanent. After a player gets his sailor license, all they need to do is mention this buff to their instructor. "It seems that I also got a reward from that giant jellyfish, even though I didn''t do anything to deserve it." Wandering Sound muttered to himself. Although even if he didn''t deserve it he was still happy to receive it. "I will just make sure, I didn''t get it for nothing." Seeing how the boat''s cleaning system was still activated, Wandering Sound opened up his interface. He wanted to check out the player made boats on the forums, and see how much it would set him back if he brought one. Leaning against the nearest wall, Wandering Sound began to scroll through the creator section of the forums. To his surprise, there weren''t a lot of boat makers, but then again he knew he shouldn''t really be surprised besides traveling to one place to another, boats are not really used for much. If it weren''t for Drifting Cloud and his ways of finding all types of adventures, he would have probably just settled for a regular houseboat and be done with it, but now he doesn''t want to settle. He wants something that can take a beating, while also providing shelter. Something that Roaming Wind would think is cute but was also built to kick major butt. As he was thinking about what he wanted, he stumbled upon something in the forums. It was a boat creator, who specialized in boat transformations and also took commissions. Wandering Sound became intrigued, clicking on the creator''s name, he began reading all the information that the creator left. ''Great reviews, low price, I think I found the place where I''m going to buy my boat.'' Wandering Sound thought with a bright smile on his face. ''But first I''m going to have to get my sailing license, no one will sell me a boat without it.'' Bookmarking the forum post, Wandering Sound closed his interface and took a quick look over to the boat''s navigation panel, only to see the large yellow button that activated the cleaning system had already stopped glowing. Knowing that the boat''s Swabbing the Deck skill had been completed, he was about to leave the wheelhouse and rejoin his friend, but before he did, he thought it would be best to check the estimated time of arrival (ETA) once more. Seeing how it was still the same, Wandering Sound left the wheelhouse only to be greeted by a sparkly clean deck. With a bounce in his step, the musician began whistling a lively tune as he walked back to where his friends were located. Chapter 155: Xinya and the others While Wandering Sound went to clean off the mess that was left on the boat by the death of the Diamondback Armored Ctenophore. The three remaining party members walked aimlessly into the living room of the boathouse with slightly glazed expressions. Well two of them did anyway, the third party member, who was also the youngest, just shook his head at the way the two adults were acting, before settling on a purple armchair and opening his interface. Xinya, who saw this action, just rolled his eyes at the endurance of youth and continued walking ahead in a daze. Who could blame him though, after the harrowing adventure he had experienced. Collapsing onto the nearest sofa, Xinya still couldn''t believe that he had just conquered and killed a giant jellyfish with a bait bomb today. That was just some next-level crazy shit right there, and he didn''t think he had the skill to comprehend it right now. For him, everything about today was just so gosh darn surreal. He knew it shouldn''t be, he was in a virtual reality game after all, but still, he was so putting this on his list of bizarre game experiences. As he laid there on the sofa staring up at the ceiling, he couldn''t help but let out a small giggle. So many things could have gone wrong today, but they didn''t. Earlier he was cursing his luck stat, but he had to wonder if it played a small part in their survival. Xinya did know that there was a survival rate in this game, he just never bothered to figure out which stat it came from, he might have to look that up sometime. Whilst Xinya was chuckling to himself softly, Wei and Melting Snowing were giving him a few worrying looks. Just as Xinya was about to assure them, that he didn''t lose his mind a system alert ranged out from around the room. [Swabbing the Deck is now being activated! Don''t leave the room that you are in for the next 10 minutes!] As soon as the system finished speaking, the doors and windows all around them began to close automatically, until they were completely trapped inside of the living room of the boathouse. This didn''t bother Xinya one bit, he didn''t want to move one single inch from his spot on the sofa anyway. It seemed that Wei and Melting Snow also shared the same idea, Xinya could tell from the way they didn''t even lift a brow when everything was going on around them. Wei just stayed curled up in the loveseat that she was on looking as if nothing could get her to move. While Melting Snow just continued lounging on his armchair, feet up and completely unbothered by everything around him. However unlike him, they were busy themselves with something, Xinya could tell this from the way their hands were moving in front of them. "What are you guys up too?" Xinya asked, slightly curious, but not really at all. Sending a brief glance his way, before turning her attention back to what she was doing Wei said, "Nothing much, just checking the forums. I told you before, about my interest in tailoring. I''m just getting a head start on it." "Oh," responded Xinya, too mentally exhausted to ask a follow-up question. To be completely honest, he just didn''t feel like worrying about her endeavors at the moment. "What about you Melting Snow?" "Working on another video for my channel." Melting Snow told him. "That''s nice," Xinya said with a gentle smile. If he had been in his right mind, he would have asked ''what type of video'', but he wasn''t and this would be something he would beat himself up about later. Right now, all Xinya really cared about was that the remainder of their trip to MirStone village would be a peaceful and extremely uneventful one. Because even though his avatar couldn''t get physically tired, the real-life person underneath this character was. Thinking about taking a quick nap, Xinya closed his eyes and relaxed into the sofa he was on. He had a strong feeling that once he left this boat he wouldn''t be able to have any downtime like this. Which was understandable with how busy he was going to be once he reached Arkala. There would be so much for him to do, such as farming, cooking, and potion-making. He would need to stockpile a whole lot of things before the update happens. He knows that it would be hard for him to do alone, he hopes he would be able to count on Melting Snow. If not he could always hire some NPC''s, which would be expensive, but he understood that a person had to spend money to make money. Sighing softly to himself, he shook his head clearing out all of the unnecessary thoughts in his head. He didn''t need to worry about them now anyway, all he had to do at the moment was relax and let the sea rock him gently to sleep. While Xinya was trying to nap, Wei continued checking out the tailoring guides that were on the forums. She wasn''t kidding in the least when she told Xinya about how she wanted to get a head start on it. Although she might fail at it, since she couldn''t draw for crap, and never touched a sewing needle in her life, she still wanted to try her hand at it. Just because she wouldn''t be the best at it at the start, didn''t mean she wouldn''t be good at it later on. Everyone in the world had to learn to crawl before they could even think to walk. She knew that it would take her a while before she could even be considered a novice in tailoring, but that wouldn''t stop her. From what she read on the forums, even though it would take her a while before she can even think about making clothes, she can still gain coin within this field. From what she read on the forums, it seems that tailoring materials are always needed, and the rarer the materials the more they would be worth it. With her class as a Treasure Hunter, she would be able to find a whole bunch of rare materials. A smile appeared on her face as she thought about it, she just knew she was going down the right path. She would be the best Treasure Hunter/Tailor that there ever was. While Wei was feeling giddy about her life choices, she didn''t notice that the boat had long finished it''s cleaning procedure and the windows and doors were unlocked once again until she heard footsteps entering the room. Turning her head towards the noise, a smile lit up her face once she saw Wandering Sound entering the room. Once he left the wheelhouse, Wandering Sound immediately went to go see what his friends were up too. He was certain he would find them discussing what they should do once they reached MirStone Village, but when he walked into the living room a lazy mood permeated around the room. Smirking at the relaxing scene he entered in, Wandering Sound glanced around the room, to find that only Roaming Wind noticed his presence. Making his way over to where she was seated, he gave a slight nudge to her legs when he saw that she only stared at him without moving. A pink tinge made its way onto Wei''s face, as she realized she was staring at Wandering Sound like a lovestruck simpleton. Playing it off awkwardly, she gave him a bright smile and moved over a bit so that Wandering Sound would have some room on the couch. "Thank you." He said as he sat down. Smiling gently at him, Wei said, "Your welcome." Hearing a new voice in the room made Xinya open his eyes. Seeing that Wandering Sound had arrived, he knew that the mess on the deck had been taken care of. He was about to continue his nap, but before that, he needed to ask the man a question. "Wandering Sound¡­" Xinya started, turning his gaze towards the man. "How long until we arrive at Mir Stone Village?" "Not long at all, we should be there in about an hour." Wandering Sound told him. Moving into a seated position, Xinya stared at Wandering Sound in disbelief, "Really?! I thought it would take longer to get there." "Me too, but when I checked the wheelhouse, I learned that the boat got a speed buff after we defeated that sea creature." Explained Wandering sound. "Ohh!" Xinya begins while getting off the sofa. It seems he doesn''t have time for a nap if they are arriving that soon. "Well, I might as well make some more potions, while I still got a free potion lab to do so." With that, Xinya rushed out of the living room once again leaving it with only three occupants. Chapter 156: The Video Pt 1 After Xinya rushed to the potions lab, Wandering Sound and Wei continued talking quietly to each other. All the while Melting Snow was sighing inwardly about being left alone again with the PDA couple. However, this time he wasn''t a fool, as to not be put in the same predicament as before of having to listen to their cringy flirting, Melting Snow quickly clicks on one the buttons located next to his profile tab. As soon as he did music from his personal radio station started to play, drowning out the voices of the couple near him. Seeing how well that worked, Melting Snow smiled before turning his attention back to the video he was editing. He wanted it to be perfect, for he was sure that it would go viral just like the last one with the Bellyborg monsters. Although, unlike the Bellyborg monsters this was way more awesome. He was quite certain that they were the first players to fight a giant sea creature. Because the first thing he did after entering the living room of the boathouse and sitting down was to try and find people with a similar experience on the forums only to find nothing. The most he could find was speculations about giant sea creatures, but there was no definite proof that they actually existed. Well after he uploads this video there will be, just thinking about it almost made Melting Snow squeal in excitement. He knew for sure that after this his channel will be way more popular than before and he would get tons of subscribers. Even though he might not want to be ranker that didn''t mean he didn''t want to be famous. Melting Snow the adventurer extraordinaire, he could just picture it. Laughing quietly to himself he started looking for the perfect soundtrack to go along with the video he made. He wanted to make sure that it sounded as epic as it looked. The only thing about the video that he was truly upset about was that he didn''t record himself being a daredevil on the tentacles. How stupid he was to forget to record that, that could have been the highlight of the entire thing. ''Urg¡­ I wish I could go back in time.'' Melting Snow thought while letting out a sad sigh. Not wanting there to be a next time, he promises himself that at the first sign of an adventure he will press the record button. As for now he just needs to do the finishing touches on this video, there were some special things he needed to do to it before he could even think about uploading it. He needed to delete the part about the rewards he and the group had gotten, and any mention about which town they were heading to. He also made sure to muffle and blur the part about Drifting Cloud''s bait bomb and his new skill. Melting Snow was well aware that if anyone found out about that skill there could be problems, especially with his brother and other guilds. Knowing his brother as he did, he knew that he would try to use Drifting Cloud for his own nefarious purposes. He already had Rose Lily following him around, he didn''t want to know what his brother would do if he found out about this new skill. ''Well, what my brother doesn''t know can''t hurt him.'' Melting Snow thought as he pressed the upload button on the video. He couldn''t wait to see how everyone would react to it. Thinking that he made sure to send a link to the video to his cousin, he couldn''t help but want to brag a little to the man. Unbeknownst to Melting Snow, his video would make a bigger impact than even what he could imagine. -In another part of Haven Online- In a small meeting room, two men sat facing each other with serious expressions on their faces. They had reached a stalemate a long time ago and neither of the men wanted to back down. Letting out an irritable breath, the dark-haired man rolled his eyes at the man staring icily at him, " Can''t you just let it go?" "Let it go?" The man said angrily as if he couldn''t believe the man in front of him even spoke those words. "I warned you, about what would happen and you want me to let it go?!" "Xafnir.." the man began but was cut off as soon as he spoke. "Don''t Xafnir me, Soul," Xafnir shouted at the muscular man that was seated across from him. Knowing that there was no way he could appease the man, Zixuan thought it best just to give in to what he wanted. "Fine, I will make them help rebuild the town. Happy?" "Very," Xafnir said with a smug smile knowing that he won. If Soul had listened to him in the first place when he told him that the elites would destroy Errinisworth then they wouldn''t be having this argument right now. Although their guild had won the town siege and saved the most NPCs, the town was completely destroyed. With the town being demolished, the townspeople were moving away and with the NPC''s moving there would be no one to collect taxes from. So now the only way they could get the taxes was if their guild helped rebuild the town. Luckily for them their guild was full of crafters and fixing the town would be no problem. The only issue was that they needed abundant amounts of lumber, stone, and other materials and for some reason, the devs made it so they weren''t allowed to buy it. Xafnir had a feeling that the devs would pull something like this if they didn''t multiple guilds would want to try to siege a town all the time. This way they would think before they act because now they know if they destroy a town they would have to rebuild it. "Make sure to tell them to come to get their tasks pronto, we need to get the town rebuilt and up running again as soon as possible," Xafnir told him while getting up from his seat. "Fine, alright," Zixuan says flippantly, waving him away with the back of his hand. "I will tell them to do it." Walking to the door, Xafnir opened it up. Just before he was about to leave he turned back and said, "You better unless you don''t want the money the town will bring us." As soon as Xafnir left and the door was closed all the way, Zixuan smirked. He always enjoys the daily battle of wills he had with his friend, they were very enjoyable. He had always planned to make the elites go and help, but watching the man get so riled up was extremely fun. Opening his interface, he sent a quick message to each of his elites, getting it out of the way quickly. Just as he was about to close his interface once again, he saw a message sent to him from his cousin. Zixuan was confused at first as to why he didn''t notice when it was delivered, but he soon remembered that he had put his calls and messages on mute during the siege. After fixing his settings, he opened the message from Melting Snow, only to see it was a website link. Curious as to what the boy could be sending him, Zixaun leaned back in his chair and proceeded to open it. Chapter 157: The Video Pt 2 After relaxing back in his chair, Zixuan clicked on the link that his little cousin had given him, all the while wondering what website the boy was sending him to. It had better not be to one of those VR upgrade sites, buying him one of them was enough, he didn''t want to spoil the boy too much. Once the link was opened Zixuan was surprised when he saw that the website wasn''t the one he expected. Instead, the link sent him to the KiloXA website, straight to his little cousin''s channel. This was the first time Melting Snow let him view his channel, the boy always said he never wanted him to watch his videos. Thinking back to the one time he asked, Zixuan could clearly remember Melting Snow saying something about how his adventures were still too newbish to show him. Zixuan smirked at the memory of his cousin making him promise not to watch any of the videos he made until he said that he could. He would bet most of his coins that the boy wouldn''t even remember making him promise that. Giving his head a shake, Zixuan looked at the video description and began to read it aloud, "Melting Snow''s epic sea adventure. Some things can only be discovered if you are really lucky." Zixuan laughed after he read that, he wondered if the boy and his friends ran into a pirate ship or something because besides that there wasn''t anything really exciting to do while sailing on the sea. Either way, Zixuan was curious to see his little cousin in action, so without any more delay, he pressed the play button. When the video first began, it just showed an aerial shot of the water and Melting Snow swimming. At first, Zixuan was a little curious as to why his cousin was in the water in the first place, but as the video continued to play and Melting Snow took control of the camera and turned it towards his boat, any concern about why the boy was in the water flew out his mind. All he could think was that there were freaking giant sea creatures in the ocean. Zixuan was completely flabbergasted at this reveal and kind of envious. Continuing to view the video, he watched on in amazement at how the monster blew up as if it had swallowed a bomb of some kind. Whatever the skill they use to do it seemed to be quite peculiar. After rewatching it again Zixuan could tell that the video had been edited and some parts had been taken out. He was smart enough to know that this was Melting Snow doing, the boy had probably wanted to hide the skill that was used to take down the monster. The question was what skill needed such secrecy, there were a lot of hidden skills in Haven Online, but most weren''t as rare as people thought they were. He too had a bunch of hidden skills and out of all of them, there were only two that he deemed necessary to keep hidden. However, if his cousin wants to keep it hidden, he wouldn''t badger him about it, but he did want to know what rewards the boy had gotten from the sea creature. If they were valuable then he would have to try his luck out there on the open waters. Closing the video website, he opened up his messenger and scanned his friend list. After finding his cousin''s name he clicked the call button next to it, he had a lot of things to discuss with that child. ~ -In another part of Haven- In a pink crystal 18th-century flying carriage a beautiful woman sat staring out of the window at the gorgeous view of handsome men flying all around her. Just as she was about to call one of them over to entertain her, a notification alerted her to an incoming message. Opening up her interface, she clicked on her friend list to see that the message was from her little sister, the only other woman that she would bother to speak to in this game. Clicking on her sister''s name, she opened up the message and quickly read what was written. Smirking to herself, it seemed that her sister was more useful than she thought. She had been looking for some information about the Dryad since the only thing she had to go on was the last video with Bellyborg monsters. She still didn''t know the Dryad''s name or anything else about him, all she knew that with how weak that race was that it would be most likely that he would be in the same area he was in when the last video of him was shot. It turned out she was wrong, after promising to let her sister have one of her rare dresses if she looked into it for her, results finally arrived. Opening the link her sister gave her and watching the video, she learned that her little Dryad has made some powerful friends. Clenching her fists, the woman became angry. It seemed that the little Dryad would be more difficult to find than she first thought. Wondering where her elusive pet could be heading she scanned the comments of the video to see if there were any clues in them. [Shi Roi: DID I JUST SEE WHAT I THOUGHT I JUST SAW?! ] -[Vorondano: If you thought you saw a fight between players and a giant sea creature, then you did indeed see that.] -[Shi Roi: That''s what I thought I saw!! Omg, so they do exist...] [Lazy Kimi: I want to go and fight one too !! ] -[Artemis: Keep dreaming, you don''t even know how they made it appear.] -[Lazy Kimi: So What! X.X Who knows they might tell us how they did it.] -[ Distinct Sin: Like Artemis said Keep Dreaming, who in their right mind would tell how they did it, they would lose coins that way. -[Lazy Kimi: Your all mean (¡¨£¾£ß£¼;¡¨)] [DreamTea: Did you see how the monster just blew up?! What skill was that?] -[CreatorPing: There are many skills that could cause that, but I think I saw a musician with them. They have a skill that can blow up things.] -[Dream Tea: You right I just noticed the musician after rewatching, he must be strong. -[CreatorPing: Doesn''t he also look familiar?] -[Dream Tea: Omg, I just realized, isn''t that Wandering Sound.] -[CreatorPing: It is!! (Screams)] [Baby Whale: This water battle was so awesome!! w(¡ã£ï¡ã)w I want to be able to have one someday.] [NinjaKatTai: Look at that ariel shot, one of those landmasses looked familiar. Isn''t that the area near Merakit Port, that is a couple of hours away from Mirstone Village?!!] -[Quicksilver: Your right! I''m at Merakit Port right now. I can''t believe I was so close to the battle.] -[NinjaKatTai: You should go and see if there is an event or something over there. That could probably explain why a giant sea creature appeared.] -[ Agree +1] -[ Agree +2] -[ Agree + 15663828] The woman smiled when she learned the destination of her newest pet. Now all she has to do is figure out which town her newest pet would be heading after he left Mirstone Village. Opening her map, she looked at the places closest to the village until she knew exactly where he was heading next. She just had to get there before him, and she would do exactly that. Chapter 158: The Video Pt 3 While a mysterious woman was getting her men to change destinations, in another part of the world of Haven, a man who exuded anger strode into a small dark office followed by a petite woman. As soon as the door was shut, the man picked up the nearest item closest to him and slammed it against the wall shattering it into pieces. "Frozen Ice, please calm down." Rose Lilly exclaimed, frightened by the intense fury that the dark-haired man was giving off. Turning around, he glared fiercely at the woman in front of him before shouting, "Calm down, why the hell should I calm down. My team has been bested by a damn crafting guild. Do you know how weak that makes me look?!" "Sweetie," Rose Lilly softly spoke, as she walked over to where he stood. "You must have realized that they weren''t no ordinary crafting guild." "What do you mean?" His confusion at her words started to override his anger. Seeing that Frozen Ice was on the verge of calming down, Rose Lilly moved closer to him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she gave him a peck on the lips before saying, "What I mean is, that guild most likely brought in ringers. From what I gathered when I asked around, only five men did the most damage." "They must have been rankers, paid to participate." Frozen Ice guessed, understanding lighting his eyes. "Does everyone else think that way too?" "They might not at the moment, but I will make it so they do." Rose Lilly told him with a cunning smirk. Smiling brightly at her, he pulled her into a deep long kiss, devouring her lips until they were both breathless. Pulling away, he looked at her swollen lips, before saying, "I knew there was a reason why I love you so much." As Frozen Ice continued kissing her, his mouth moved away from her lips, landing on her neck. He wanted to mark, proclaim to the world that she was his, but this being a game there was no way he would be able to. Once he was financially set, and Silken Envy was out of the picture, he would show everyone that she was his. While Frozen Ice was trying to taste every part of Rose Lilly''s body, she was trying her hardest not to look disgusted. She hated his touch on her body more than anything in the world, she felt as though she was betraying Zixuan for allowing another man to touch her. However, she knew she had too. She had finally gotten Melting Snow on her side, as long as no mistakes occur she would be able to get Zixuan ingame name from him. She just has to keep this man happy for as long as she needs him. As Frozen Ice started to get a lot more handsy, Rose Lilly begins to quickly think of a way to remove herself from this situation. It seemed that luck was on her side because not a moment later a knock was heard on the door, causing them to jump apart. "Frozen Ice, are you in there?" A loud and boisterous voice, that could only belong to Silken Envy shouted from outside the door. A look of irritation appeared on Frozen Ice''s face when he heard it. Glancing at Rose Lilly, he could see the disappointment on her face, which made him even more angry at the interruption. Just as he was about to yell out, Rose Lilly laid a calming hand on his arm and shook her head. He understood what she was trying to tell him, even if she didn''t speak a word. The time to get rid of Silken Envy wasn''t here yet, he still needed that woman. Taking a calming breath, he walked behind his desk and sat down. "I''m here Silken, come in." Frozen Ice called out in an endearing voice. Opening the door, Silken Envy walked into the room. Looking around, she saw that Frozen Ice was seated at his desk looking at papers, while Rose Lily was looking through some books on the other side of the room. Smiling at the two of them she walked forward quickly. "Dearest, you won''t believe it! Your brother fought a giant sea creature!" Silken Envy excitedly told him. Disbelief entered Frozen Ice face as he looked up at Silken Envy, "What did you say?!" "Here take a look for yourself," Silken Envy said while sending the video link to Frozen Ice''s messenger. "You should ask him how he did it, that way the team can do it also." Watching the video, Frozen Ice clenches his fist together, he became upset at his brother for achieving something as momentous as this before him. This wasn''t even the first time that the little brat did so. With the town siege, he could believe that it was all a coincidence, but now this had him thinking that there was something more to it. He needed Rose Lilly to continue following his brother, with that in mind he sent her a private message telling her exactly that. However, he will still video call his brother and ask him how he was able to summon the sea creature, afterward he will get his location. "Don''t worry, Silken. I will ask him right away." Frozen Ice told her while opening his friend list. -Back on the houseboat- It had been almost an hour since he had uploaded his video, and Melting Snow still couldn''t believe how popular it became already. At first, he thought it was a good thing, but after a talk with his cousin, he now thought that he should have waited to post it. His cousin explained to him how a lot of people would be interested in him now. Besides discovering the giant sea creature he was also one of the people who completed the event to open town siege. Melting Snow wanted to smack himself upside the head when he recognized the truth in his cousin''s statement. He had no guild behind him, he couldn''t rely on his brother, and he wasn''t powerful enough to handle anyone on his own. Realizing by putting that video out there that he put himself in danger, he became aware of this when he got a call from his brother. Luckily for him, his cousin gave him the option of joining his guild. His brother wouldn''t like it if he knew about it, but Melting Snow had no plans of telling him anyway. If he joined his cousin guild, the guild who won the first town sieged, people would be wary of messing with him. Liking that idea a lot, he decided that he was going to join, and maybe he could even get Drifting Cloud to join as well. While Melting Snow was contemplating how he should broach the idea with Drifting Cloud, a voice startled him from his musings. Spinning towards the sound, he saw that Wandering Sound was saying something. Turning his music off, he sat up and asked the man to repeat what he just said. "I said I just received a notification that said that we are five minutes away from Mirstone Village port," Wandering Sound replied. "Really?!" Quickly getting up from the armchair, Melting Snow gave his arms a stretch before saying, "I will go and inform Drifting Cloud." After saying that the furry haired boy rushed off to the potion''s lab, he couldn''t wait to get off this boat and be on land once again. Chapter 159: MirStone Village Xinya had just finished brewing the Flora Attack potion and was beginning the bottling process when he heard a knock on the potion''s lab door. The sudden noise startled him, causing his hand to slip, which made the potion bottle he was holding crash to the floor. Cursing silently in his head, he moved hurriedly to mop up the green liquid that was spilled onto the floor with a rag that was nearby. "Who''s there?!" "It''s me, Melting Snow. Wandering Sound told me to tell you that we are only five minutes away from the port." The boy yelled through the door. "Really?!" Xinya couldn''t believe that an hour had already gone by so fast, it felt as though he had just entered the room. "I will be right out, just let me finish bottling the last of these potions." "Alright, I will be out on the deck if you need me," Melting Snow told him, before leaving to go see if he could make out the view of the village. Hearing Melting Snow receding footsteps, Xinya resumed what he was doing before he was interrupted, but this time at a quicker pace. By the time all the potions were bottled and stored in his inventory, he could hear his friends yelling outside about how they had arrived. Smiling to himself, Xinya left the potion''s lab and hurried towards the deck to join his friends. Once he arrived he was astonished by the sight in front of him, for it was not what he was expecting at all. When he had learned that they were heading to a village, he was expecting something small area with little wooden houses with straw roofs. He was also expecting to see large farms with simply dressed villagers tending to various types of livestock. What he saw was completely different from his expectations. The village itself looked grandiose. With its ironwood rooftops, redwood walls and rows upon rows of luscious trees, MirStone had a delightfully rich atmosphere. Opening his interface to the map function, Xinya began to read about the town. He found out that it has a flourishing economy, which is mainly supported by mining, leatherworking, and fishing. But their biggest strengths are complex crafting and prosperous mining. However, surprisingly the village lacks farming of any kind. Xinya guesses they didn''t need to have proficiency in it, they could just buy produce with the coin they make with their skills. While he was thinking that, he noticed that there was an actual NPC who taught leatherworking in town. He didn''t need to learn the skill, but he knew that Wei would need to learn it to be a better tailor. If she could learn to make leather, she would be able to make more original clothing. Being able to see which NPCs taught skills to players made Xinya very happy that he upgraded his map again. This map skill would be very helpful to him later on, that way he won''t have to go searching too hard when he wanted to learn something. "Drifting Cloud, come on!" Melting Snow exclaimed shocking Xinya out of his musings. Closing his map, he noticed that the boat had already docked, and Wei and Wandering Sound were already disembarking. Only Melting Snow had waited for him, even though he looked eager to leave as well. Smiling at the boy, Xinya ruffled his hair, before saying, "You didn''t need to wait for me, you could have left too." "No way," Melting Snow told him with a shake of his head. "I will always wait for you. Now let''s go." "Sure, sure. Let''s go." Chuckled Xinya, as he wrapped an arm around the boy''s shoulder and proceeded to walk off the boat together with him. As Xinya led Melting Snow over to where Wei and Wandering Sound was standing, he could see that they seemed to be discussing something. What it was, he did not know, but as he considered her slightly flushed cheeks, he could most likely guess. Pretending to clear his throat as to break up their conversation, Xinya watched as the two of them jumped apart. Snickering at his flustered looking friends, he waited until they were composed enough to speak. "Oh there you are Drifting Cloud," Wei begins, looking anywhere else than at the person she was speaking to. "I didn''t even notice your arrival." "I bet you didn''t." Melting Snow quietly snarked from beside Xinya. However, his words weren''t loud enough for either Wei or Wandering Sound to hear. Glancing towards the boy, Wandering Sound asked, "Did you say something Melting Snow?" "Nope, nothing at all." Melting Snow said as he squirmed to get away from Xinya who was poking him gently in the ribs. "What are we waiting for let''s go explore the village." "Wait, before we do that, don''t you think we should assign tasks?" Wei asked while looking at Xinya. Nodding his head in agreement, Xinya said, " Roaming Wind is right, we only came to this village to sell the Mirror of Pandemonium and to find out how to find a fairy circle." "How should we decide who does what?" Wandering Sound asked. "Well," Xinya begins, looking at each member of his party. "I think I should go sell the mirror along with Melting Snow since it will be easy for me to find a crafter NPC. While you, Wandering Sound who have higher social skills than the rest of us, should ask around about the fairy circle." Confused as to why Xinya didn''t include her with Wandering Sound, Wei asked, "What about me?!" "Don''t worry I didn''t leave you out. While looking at the map earlier I found out that you can learn leatherworking in this village. I think while you are still here, you should go learn, because who knows when you will have a chance to do so later." Xinya explained. Smiling gratefully at the green-haired man, Wei was happy that Xinya was taking her wanting to be a tailor seriously. She also knew that leatherworking would be very beneficial to her in the long run. She would be able to make all kinds of leather accessories, from belts to bracelets, and if she could find the right pattern, she would be able to make all sorts of holsters. Wei couldn''t help but feel thankful to Xinya for looking out for her. "Thank you, Drifting cloud for thinking of me," Wei told the green-haired man sincerely. Smiling gently at her, Xinya said, "Think nothing of it, that''s what friends are for." "Best friends," she reminded him quietly. "Yes, best friends," repeated Xinya. He could tell that she wanted to give him a hug but was stopping herself from doing so. He also wanted to hug her at this moment but knew that he wouldn''t be able to, instead, he slowly reached out and took her hand in his. Xinya had done this once before, but this time instead of regular hand-holding he entwined his fingers with hers. Wei looked shocked at his action, stilling her movements as if afraid that if she even twitched, she would ruin the moment. As she looked down at their joined hands, tears formed in her eyes, but she didn''t cry. She wanted to act as though this was a normal occurrence, so one day it would be. The other two in the party remained silent as they watched Xinya and Wei basked in the warm glow of friendship. However, time was of the essence and with a slight tug to Xinya pant leg by Melting Snow, the atmosphere was ruined. Removing his hand from Wei''s, Xinya turned to look at Melting Snow. He could see that the boy was ready to go. Ruffling the boy''s hair, he turned back to Wei and said, "I think we should go and complete what we need to do." "Your right," Wandering Sound replied in agreement. "Roaming Wind which way are you heading?" "That way," Wei told him, pointing in the direction of a cobbled road that would take her to the outskirts of town. Wandering Sound was quiet for a moment as if checking something, "What a coincidence that way will take me by the library. Do you want to go together?" "Yeah, the more the merrier," Wei said with a bright smile. "Then let''s go." Wandering Sound told her. Before they could leave, Xinya stopped them. "Wait! When you both are done let''s meet up at the village gate, alright?" "Great Idea," Wandering Sound said. "That way we can leave quickly." "Why do we need to leave this village so quickly?" Melting Snow asked confused. They had just arrived. He didn''t know why they couldn''t stay for a bit. Turning his attention towards the boy, Xinya explained, "It''s because the only way we can use the fairy bracelet is on a full moon. Which will appear in a couple of days, if we miss it we will have to wait another whole game month." "Ohh!!" exclaimed Melting Snow. "We need to hurry then." Laughing at the boy, Wei and Wandering Sound waved goodbye to them before heading off. Xinya watched as the two of them walked down the cobbled road together side by side, getting farther away from him. Chapter 160: Walking Around Melting Snow watched as his party members disappeared into the distance with a smirk on his face. He found it funny how Wandering Sound didn''t ask Drifting Cloud about what direction they were heading in. He wasn''t stupid though he knew exactly why the older man didn''t, it was because his thoughts were only focused on a certain person. Rolling his eyes at how transparent adults could be sometimes, Melting Snow looked over at Drifting Cloud. The green-haired man had his face turned away from him so that he couldn''t see his expression, but from the way he was holding himself, Melting Snow had a feeling that there was a lot going on in the man''s mind. "Drifting Cloud," Melting Snow started, trying to gain the man''s attention while pulling him out of his thoughts. "Where do we have to go to sell the mirror?" Snapping himself out of his dark thoughts, he turned to look at Melting Snow who was looking at him expectantly. Thinking for a moment, Xinya realized that he didn''t know himself where they needed to go. "Wait a minute, let me check and see," Xinya told him. Pulling up his interface, Xinya opened his map function. He knew that if he wanted to get the full 250 gold coins that the Mirror of Pandemonium was worth he would need to sell it to a crafter. The problem he was having was that he didn''t think that any crafter would do. He had a gut feeling that if he sold it to any old crafter he would get a lower price. For example, it wouldn''t make any sense if he took the mirror to a toymaker. A toymaker wouldn''t need to buy the mirror, because that isn''t what they sell. With that realization, he studied the various crafters on the map, before coming to a decision. The place that made the most sense to sell the mirror was a small shop called Genovesi Mirrors, run by a glass artisan. Setting it as his destination on the map, Xinya watched as a path that would take him straight there became visible before him. Making the map translucent so he could see in front of him, he started to follow the path, turning his body in the direction he needed to go. "Follow me, Melting Snow. We need to head this way." Xinya said before he began walking down a stone path that headed straight through the central hub of the village. "Alright," Melting Snow said, walking next to him. "But, where are we headed?" "We are going to a mirror shop called Genovese Mirrors," Xinya told him while looking around to make sure that what he was seeing was the same as it was on the map. Letting out an amused huff, Melting Snow said, "Of course, where else would we sell a mirror but at a mirror shop." The two boys walked down the stone road that led through the busiest part of town. It was still the afternoon, so there were tons of villagers out and active. Xinya and Melting Snow had to be very careful not to bump into anyone as they weaved their way through the crowd. While he walked next to Drifting Cloud, Melting Snow became entranced by the surroundings around him. There were so many things around him trying to catch his attention. Women standing in front of shops selling their wares, men lugging around sacks of grain or pulling various animals around taking them somewhere. For some reason, these realistic animals interest Melting Snow greatly. Maybe it was because unlike the other animals in Haven, they could be found in real life. Whatever the reason he was extremely curious about them, and as another cow passed by him, the boy felt the compulsive need to reach out and touch it. Smiling at the feel of its leathery skin, he turned towards Drifting Cloud with a thoughtful expression. "I think you should buy a cow." "Oh?" Drifting Cloud replied, taken aback by the randomness of that suggestion. "Why do you think I should get one?" "Well¡­" Melting Snow trailed off not knowing how to answer. Sighing he just glances over his shoulder to a black and white calf being pulled by a young villager, not continuing. Once the boy stopped speaking, Xinya who was checking the map turned his face towards him. He could tell that Melting Snow was distracted by something, curious as to what, Xinya looked to see what had captured the boy''s attention. Following Melting Snow''s line of sight, he found the cause of the boy''s randomness. ''So, that is the reason.'' Xinya thought while grinning. He wouldn''t have thought that ''real'' animals would hold an appeal to the boy. With all of these otherworldly creatures created for his world for him to tame. Xinya guessed that with so many fake monsters and animals, that animals that could be found outside the game were more interesting. Laughing softly to himself, Xinya said casually, "Well I was thinking about getting one or two when I buy myself a farm." "Really?!" exclaimed Melting Snowing, quickly turning his head towards Drifting Cloud. "Are you going to get other animals for your farm?" "I haven''t decided yet, it would be a lot of work taking care of those animals by myself," Xinya replied. Although Melting Snow agreed that it would take work, he still wanted Xinya to get them. "Don''t worry I will help you take care of them." "I''m sure you will," Xinya began. "But I need to see what size my farm will be before I even think about getting any animals." "You right, I got a little ahead of myself, but you''re certain you''re going to get a cow right?" Melting Snow asked. Nodding his head, the green-haired man said, "Yes, I''m definitely going to get a cow. It won''t take up much space, plus I need milk in a lot of my recipes." "Awesome." Melting Snow said brightly as he began to walk with a noticeable bounce in his step. "I was being serious, I will help you take care of it." Chuckling at the boy''s excitement, Xinya checked the map once again, before saying, " I know you will." After another ten minutes of walking, with Melting Snow happily talking Xinya''s ear off they finally reached the shop Genovesi Mirrors. Standing before it, the only thing that Xinya could think was how the shop seemed a little out of place in this small village. It had an air of elegance that the rest of the town didn''t have. Framed by black pine wood, but was mostly covered with curved rose stained glass, the store stood out like a swan among ducks. Although the shop looked strange sitting in the middle of this village, Xinya didn''t see the point in just standing in front of it just gaping. Grabbing Melting Snow''s hand, he pulled him forward into the store. Chapter 161: Genovesi Mirrors Walking into the shop, Xinya was struck by the beauty of all the well-crafted mirrors that were out for display. Big ones, small ones, plain ones, fancy ones, there was every sort of variation of mirrors, out for him to see. However, the one that drew his attention right away was a crystal blue medium-sized one. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing special about it, but the more he looked at it the more it seemed to transform into something wondrous. Disregarding why he came into the shop in the first place, Xinya still holding Melting Snow''s hand walked over to crystalized blue mirror as if he was in a trance. As he walked closer the surface of the mirror began to change, instead of his reflection it showed a luminous landscape unlike he ever seen before. [Quest Triggered!] Hearing the familiar ding, Xinya was about to reach out and pick up the mirror, knowing that it had to be a quest item when a voice stopped him. "I wouldn''t do that sonny." a boisterous voice warned. Lowering his hand from grabbing the mirror, Xinya turned to see a short but stocky older gentleman and a concerned looking Melting Snow looking at him. "Are you alright, Drifting Cloud? I was calling out to you, but it was like you were in a trance of some kind." Melting Snow asked worriedly. Still a little out of it, Xinya slowly nodded his head, "I''m fine, I think. I don''t know what happened back there." "I can tell you what happened." The older man who was near them said. Xinya turned his full attention towards the man, who after a second look with a clearer head, seemed to be one of the Dwarf races. This was the first time that Xinya saw one close up in this life and including his last one. Taking a closer look at the NPC, there weren''t any special identifying traits that most races have, like the elves, dragonkin or a Dryad like himself. The NPC just looked exactly like a human, just a small one. Even though the man had a small stature like most NPC''s in this game, he was very good looking. Looking him up and down, Xinya thought this NPC was probably very popular with his face. The pointed chin, a hooked nose, and full lips paired with his short, curly, brown hair and a goatee were great selling points. However, the man did have a fault which was his eyes which were very stern-looking. "Who are you?" Melting Snow asked, snapping Xinya out of his ogling session. Smiling widely the man said, "I am Ronald Genovesi the owner of this establishment." Holding out his hand, Xinya said, "It''s nice to meet you, sir, I am Drifting Cloud and this is my friend Melting Snow. "It''s nice to meet you, laddies," Ronald said, shaking each of their hands in turn. "May I ask why you come to my shop?" "I have this mirror that I need to sell, but got distracted when I came in," Xinya explained, glancing over his shoulder at the crystal blue mirror. Stroking his beard, Ronald looked at the mirror and in a grave voice intoned, "You''re not the first to be lured by that mirror and you won''t be the last." "Can you tell us about it?" Melting Snow asked curiously, wondering if the mirror was a danger or not. "It is called, Cermin Pantulan (Mirror of Reflection)," Ronald begins. Walking over towards it the man picked it up, before bringing it to the boys so they could better see it. "It was sold to me by an unknown traveler with the warning that it is cursed. He told me that it will entrance certain people, and once it''s in their possession it will take their soul." "And was what the traveler said for real?" Melting Snow asked stepping a bit back from the mirror. Bobbing his head at the boy, Ronald said, " He was. Every once in awhile this mirror will lure someone to buy it. I don''t know what happens when it leaves my shop but after a while, it will return with a new mark on it." Turning the mirror over on it''s back, Xinya and Melting Snow could dozens of snake-like lines covering the back surface. Xinya, knowing that this was a quest, realized that this was showing the number of people who died while trying to complete it. "When I first got it there were only five lines," Ronald told them with a sad shake of the head. Seeing how there had to be over 500 lines on the mirror now, Xinya was sure whatever the quest was, it was bound to be extremely hard. However, he also knew that difficult quests meant big rewards. Contemplating whether he should try it or not, he thought about his goals and decided that yes he did want to. "How much is the mirror?" Xinya asked the NPC who looked shocked that he still wanted to buy it after everything he told him. Jabbing Drifting Cloud''s side with his elbow, Melting Snow said, "Are you crazy, you heard what the man said." Melting Snow might be an adventure junkie but even he knew better than to lead himself to imminent death. He knew it was a quest of some kind, but it definitely had to be far out of the scope of their ability to complete it. He might talk big, but he knew his limits. "You should listen to your friend sonny, only death awaits if you buy this mirror." The dwarf stated, trying to warn him against buying it. "I understand that," Xinya started, and he did, but even if he buys the mirror now doesn''t mean he would attempt it immediately. He knew his limits, he would wait until he was a higher level and completely ready, before even thinking about it attempting it. "But I want to discover it''s secrets anyway." Seeing the seriousness in the green-haired boy''s words, Ronald inclined his head in agreement, "If you''re sure then, I will sell it to you for 10 gold." "Are you really sure you want to buy it, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked. "I''m sure," Xinya told the boy while ruffling his hair. He was sort of surprised that Melting Snow wasn''t excited with the prospect of them having a new adventure, but then again with their last two quests, Xinya could understand. "However, before I buy it, let me show you what I came here for." Taking out the Mirror of Pandemonium, Xinya showed it to Ronald while Melting Snow stood to the side thinking. He started to realize that when it comes to Drifting Cloud there were no small quests, understanding this he wants to persuade the man even more to join his cousin''s guild. He was going to wait until they reached Arkala to bring it up, but now he thinks he should bring it up on the walk there. Hopefully, there won''t be any earth-shattering quests on their journey there. He didn''t know why, but after his talk with his cousin, he was beginning to be cautious about everything. Melting Snow hopes this mature attitude of his passes soon. Letting out a sigh, he wondered how things were going on Wandering Sound''s and Roaming Wind''s side. Chapter 162: Completing Tasks After leaving their party members on the side of the road, Wei and Wandering Sound walked down the cobbled road until they reached a backroad that took them to the outskirts of town. Once they turned into that back road, the scenery around them completely changed. Where there were once happy villagers bustling all around trying to sell their wares, now there was nothing but silence. The villagers that they could see were but a few, around only three or four that looked to be of ill repute. It could have been the area they were in, but sights around them were dreary and bleak. The atmosphere was something that wouldn''t allow a person to keep their good spirits. The reason for that could have been that the outskirts of the village were where the villages took their animals to get slaughtered. This was made prevalent with the different butcher shops and the like that littered this area. Scrunching his face up in disgust at the foul odor that permeated the air, Wandering Sound glanced around at the streets that were drenched in blood and body parts. Turning his gaze towards Roaming Wind, he became surprised when it looked as though she didn''t notice the horrible surroundings they were walking through at all. From the way she was smiling, it was like she was walking through a field of flowers instead of the actual blood and guts that they were squishing below their feet. "You seem happy," Wandering Sound said while looking at the brightly smiling Roaming Wind who looked like she was a hot second away from staging a musical on the spot. "I''m very happy," Wei stated honestly. Anyone who saw her could tell that because when she walked there was a literal bounce in her step. She was bursting with happiness, the progress that she saw Xinya have, just made her feel over the moon. "It''s been a good day." Wandering Sound thought she was referring to how they survived the battle with that giant sea creature and how they made it to the village in one piece. When he thought about it like that he agreed with her. A lot of things could have gone wrong, and they were so close to dying just a couple of hours ago. "Your right, it has been a good day indeed." "Mhm." Wei hummed in assent. She knew that Wandering Sound probably made his own assumptions about why she was happy, but that was completely fine with her and she wouldn''t correct him. He didn''t need to know the real reason. Although she liked him, this was Xinya secret, so unless her friend tells Wandering Sound on his own, he wouldn''t learn it from her. Knowing her friend as she did, she would stay the only person who knows of it. "So," Wandering Sound begins, changing the subject while moving a little closer to her making her feel shy. "Where should we go after leaving Arkala?" Blushing at his close proximity, Wei said, "Well, I think we should head to¡­" As the couple continued discussing their plans, they were so caught in their conversation they didn''t even notice when they arrived at their destination. It wasn''t until Roaming Wind noticed that they were at a dead end that she checked the coordinates on her map realizing that they walked past the leatherworking shop. Laughing at their airheadedness, the couple walked back to the shop front, before opening the door and walking in. After escorting her inside, Wandering Sound waited until Wei was given the quest for learning the skill that she wanted, before deciding to leave. While Wei was in the midst of getting trained, Wandering Sound interrupted her by saying, "I''m going to go now and get the information we need. I will see you at the meeting place, okay?." "Alright, thank you for walking me here," Wei replied, waving goodbye to him. The large knife in her hand she was using to learn Skinning, dripped blood everywhere as she did so. A little weirded out at the sight, Wandering Sound left the leatherworking shop to head to his destination. He had lied earlier to everybody when he said that the village library was close to the leatherworking shop Roaming Wind needed to go. When in actuality that couldn''t be farther from the truth, in reality, he just wanted to spend more time with Roaming Wind. Even though he knows that soon they would be spending every hour of each day with her, he didn''t care, he was a man in love after all. Opening his map he changed the coordinates so that he would be able to find the library. Sighing, at how far away the library was from the position he was at right now, Wandering Sound began his long trek to the other side of the village. It took him around 30 minutes of roaming around the village before he finally arrived at his desired destination. Letting out a sigh of relief, Wandering Sound entered the small library, ready to get the information they needed. -Back with Xinya and Melting Snow- While Melting Snow was wondering how Roaming Wind and Wandering Sound tasks were going, Xinya was negotiating seriously with Ronald the shop owner. He was going to settle for the recommended price that the game set, but he saw the NPC eyes when he took out the mirror and changed his mind. The look on the dwarf''s face when he took out the Mirror of Pandemonium was one of extreme desire. It was only shown for a couple of seconds, but Xinya caught it and knew he could take advantage of it. What a lot of players knew, but most wouldn''t try was bargaining with the NPCs. Even though doing so could let players buy for cheap or sell for high, it could also go very wrong. What could go wrong, some may ask. Well, what could go wrong was that a player could make an NPC hate them. Which would, in turn, would make the NPC spread rumors about the said player, lowering their reputation in that town. With a lowered reputation, the player wouldn''t be able to get any quests, and prices in stores would be raised 50 percent for them. Because of that, no player would want to give bargaining a go. However, Xinya after seeing that gleam in Ronald''s eye decided to give it a shot. So after negotiating for 20 minutes with the dwarf, Xinya succeeded in his bargaining, selling the Mirror of Pandemonium for 100 gold coins over the estimated price and getting the crystal blue mirror for free. After collecting the coins, and allowing Ronald to pack up the mirror in a secure box, Xinya left the store followed by Melting Snow feeling quite good with himself. Chapter 163: Talking "You were amazing back there," Melting Snow exclaimed once they were outside the shop. He couldn''t believe that Xinya got an extra 100 gold coins from that exchange. "But you shouldn''t have risked it." Melting Snow saw all sorts of warnings on the forums about how players shouldn''t try to barter with the NPCs. It was said to be one of the hardest things to do, with only a 5% chance of being successful, and if a player fails then they better move to another town. He wondered if that''s the reason why Drifting Cloud took the chance since he knew that they would be leaving this village soon. Either way, even if what he did was amazing it was still very reckless. If the NPC had gotten upset and kicked them out of his shop, then they wouldn''t have been able to sell the mirror. Which would have been terrible, since they would have needed to find another town quickly. Melting Snow was certain they wouldn''t have been able to do, before the full moon. He would have been okay with waiting another month to visit the fairy place, but he had a feeling that their other two party members wouldn''t have been as complaisant. Once the rush of excitement left him, Xinya began to look back on his actions. He felt that Melting Snow was right, what he did was risky. He could have jeopardized them being able to go to fairyland this month when he took the initiative to haggle with the shopkeeper. Even though he knew he shouldn''t have, he still thinks he was correct in his decision to do so. He saw the look in Ronald''s eyes when he pulled out that mirror, the NPC was completely taken by it. His instincts were correct and he made an extra 100 gold coins from following it. He wasn''t going to use that to justify what he did, because things could have gone terribly wrong, but he couldn''t deny that following his gut this time was the right choice. "I was amazing wasn''t I," Xinya replied a bit playfully, pretending to ignore the second part of the boy''s sentence. Seeing through the older man''s antics, Melting Snow said trying to be serious, "Don''t forget risky." "How could I forget that," Walking in front of Melting Snow, Xinya brought his hands up and smushed to boy''s cheeks, erasing that serious look off his face. "What happened to the adventure-loving boy I first met? Are you maturing on me already?" Giggling at the exaggerated sad face that Xinya was making, Melting Snow just shook his head. "I''m not, I''m still that boy. Something just opened my eyes making me more aware, that''s all." "Aware of what," Xinya asked, removing his hands from the boy''s face. "That for other people," Melting Snow looked away from Xinya as he began. Moving his gaze to his feet. "this game is more about making money than it is for fun. I already knew that of course, but then I found out that there are people who are willing to do anything to make that money." Xinya could see the worry radiating off the boy, kneeling down in front of the child he grabbed his hands while saying, "Was this something you learned yourself or did someone warn you of this?" "My cousin did after I sent him the link to the video I made of our giant sea creature battle." the boy explained. Xinya did remember Melting Snow telling him how he was going to upload a video while they were on the boat, but didn''t think much of it at the time. "What did you show on the video." "Nothing really," Melting Snow quickly said, not wanting the man to think for a second that he would let out the party secrets. "I blurred and muffled all the skills used, the only thing that really showed was the monster dying." "Then no harm was done," Xinya told the boy with a gentle smile. He realized that the boy''s cousin had already given the boy an earful so there was no reason for him to do the same. As long as he realized that even though he hid what skills they used and the rewards they got, that people would still be curious. A monster like the one they battled was rare, so many people would think they got great rewards from it, even more so since they couldn''t see them. Most players would just speculate on the forums and not really bother them, but there were some players that would most likely want what they have. PVP (Player vs Player) wasn''t really that common in Haven Online, but like in the real world, there were people wanting to get rich quick everywhere. Killing other players was a way to do so because the killer would be able to loot five items out of the victim''s inventory. Although this was a good way to make coins quickly, it does come with a downside. Murderers in Haven will leak a murderous red aura for a week in real-world time, which was over a month in-game time. This aura would make it impossible to enter a town since the guards would try to arrest them. If they get arrested by the guards, they would then be sentenced to a year in one of the prisons. If that''s not bad enough, if they somehow made it into town without being caught, then the NPCs would treat them lower than dirt. They wouldn''t be able to sell, buy or get any quests until the aura is gone. When players learned how bad illegal PVP was, nobody but a small percentage was keen on doing it. However, for a big enough reward, Xinya knew that even the most reluctant would give it a shot. "Listen to me, Melting Snow," Xinya began, making the boy look him straight in the eyes. "It''s good that you learned to be more cautious, but you shouldn''t let that rule you. Let me worry about all of that, you just keep being the fun-loving boy that you are." "I will, but I''m just worried that something might happen to us now." Melting Snow told him. Xinya knows that once a person''s eyes are open to the truth around them, it will be hard to close them again. "Is there anything I could do to make you less worried?" "Actually, there is," The boy answered with unexpected quickness. Tilting his head to the side curiously at the boy, Xinya said, " Tell me." "Well," Melting Snow began, "If we join a guild, we would have people to back us up if something was to happen." "That''s a good idea, but I don''t want to rush to join a guild. I want to make sure I can trust the people in it first." Xinya told him. Nodding his head in thought, Melting Snow said, "So as long as you get along with the people and learn to trust them, you will be willing to join their guild?" "Yes," Xinya replied, letting go of the boy''s hands and getting up from the ground. Melting Snow watched as Xinya dust himself off while thinking of ways to get the man to become closer to his cousin so that they could become friends. ''Once they are friends, then we join his guild and I will feel more secure.'' Xinya laughed when he saw Melting Snow''s face scrunched up in thought. He wondered what could be going through his head. Xinya rubbed the boy''s hair, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Come on, let''s go to the meeting place and wait for the others." As the two of them started walking down the stone-covered road to where the village gate was, they didn''t notice a lone figure watching them from a distance. Chapter 164: Barbeque After leaving behind the shop of Genovesi Mirrors, Xinya and Melting Snow began walking leisurely through the bustling streets of the village. Their destination was MirStone''s defensive walls where the entry/exit gate was located. Xinya knew that his other two friends probably hadn''t finished their tasks yet, so he wasn''t in any hurry to arrive at the meeting place. With that in mind, strolled around, fully taking in the sights that the village had to offer. And what beautiful sights there were. It wasn''t just scenery, but the items that were out for display. Every store they passed, Xinya could see that MirStone''s craftsmanship was something that shouldn''t be looked down on. If he didn''t already have the skills that he wanted, he would have gone and learned a trade skill from one of these NPCs. Thinking about it, Xinya decided that maybe he would just do that one day. One day, after he maxed out his skills in cooking, farming, potion-making, and fishing, he might just find a fun skill to learn. He had always been quite curious about jewelry making. While he was lost in thought, a sudden tug on his pants, pulled him to a stop. Curious as to what caused him to stop, Xinya turned around to see that it was Melting Snow''s hand. The boy was standing in front of a snack stall, his bright eyes glistening, memorized by the food that was being sold. "Drifting Cloud, we should try this." Melting Snow said, his gaze never leaving the food. Going over to where the boy was standing, Xinya looked at the stall. He almost laughed out loud when he saw its name, ''Bertha''s beautifully barbequed beast tails''. However, he could admit the smell was very tantalizing. Seeing that the price was quite high at 10 silver, Xinya asked, "Are you sure you want to try it? It''s a little expensive for a snack." "I''m very sure," Melting Snow replied with a nod of his head. "It''s a local delicacy after all." "You don''t need to sell me on it, it''s your coin, after all, buy it if you want," Xinya told the boy with a smile. Grinning widely as the man, Melting Snow brought a bucket of barbeque beast tails. Once the food was in his grasp, he quickly tried one only to be taken aback by their deliciousness. "Drifting Cloud, you need to taste one." Melting Snow exclaimed while devouring the tail in his hand in its entirety. Looking at the boy''s blissed-out expression while he ate, Xinya became a little curious. "Are they that good?" "They are." Melting Snow told him while holding one for him to take. "Come on, try it. Xinya took the offered tail from the boy''s hand and took a bite. The rush of flavor hit him fast. The smokey, yet tangy flavor took over his taste buds, making him crave more. Before he realized it he had devoured the whole thing, and just as he finished swallowing the last bite a ding was heard. [Tasting has leveled up!] *Chapter 11 [Catering stat gain effects, Cooking''s base quality rate, Stability during cooking, and EXP provided from Cooking food will increase by 3%] [.02% of Bertha''s beautifully barbequed beast tails have been acquired.] When Xinya saw this he was a little surprised, out of all of his skills related to cooking, tasting had been the slowest to rank up. So far up until now, he had only been able to level it to 2 out of 100. However, it shot up straight to level 3 after he ate that barbeque tail, he didn''t get it. After cooking food himself he would always eat some, but the experience gained would be so little. He didn''t get why he got some much exp now. Thinking about it, he thought it might have something to do with eating other people''s food. Wanting to see if his theory was correct, he went up to the stall owner and brought his own bucket of barbeque tails. While he was doing that, Melting Snow was chowing down hard on his tails. He couldn''t believe how delicious they were, it was even on par with the Puff Pastry Fruit Pizza that Drifting Cloud made him. As Melting Snow devoured the fatty but savory snack, he started wondering if he could find a recipe that was similar to this. That way he could ask Drifting Cloud to make it for him. Putting that on his to-do list, the boy continued eating. Testing his theory, Xinya ate another one of the tails and saw that his Tasting exp did go up a lot, but not as much as the first time. It seemed the more he used to the taste of the barbeque tails the less exp he would get. By the time he was done eating his fifth tail, he was only getting 20 experience points for the skill. It was still better than he was getting before though, and now he knew how to raise the skill more efficiently, so he was happy. After finishing his last tail, he threw the trash away and looked to see if Melting Snow was ready to go. Only to find the boy smiling, face covered with sauce, patting his satisfied belly. Shaking his head in amusement, Xinya grabbed a couple of napkins from the stall. Using his Bracelet of Requisite he poured some water on it making it wet. "Melting Snow, use this and wipe your face before we go." Taking the now wet napkins from the man, he proceeded to wipe the sauce off his face. Once he was completely clean, the two of them continued walking to their destination. By the time they had arrived, the sun was about to set. Looking around the area, Xinya realized that besides them and a couple of other players, the other two members of their party weren''t there. "It seems that we are the first ones here," Melting Snow said while looking around the area curiously. "It seems like it," Xinya replied. "It will be dark soon anyway, even if they come now, we won''t be able to leave until morning." Looking up at the sky, Melting Snow agreed silently with what the man said. "Then should we set up camp, while we wait for the others?" "Yeah, we should," Xinya told him while looking around for the player campground area. Seeing one a little ways away, he said, "Over there, let''s do it over there." With a nod, Melting Snow followed Xinya over to the campground. Chapter 165: Waiting Pt1 As Xinya walked over to the campground, he could see other players scattered about. Glancing around, he found an empty spot located next to a small pond. While motioning to Melting Snow to follow him, he made his way there. "Should I go look for some firewood?" Melting Snow asked once he saw Xinya register their party at the firepit. Shaking his head, Xinya opened his interface and took some wood out from his inventory. "I got it covered." Once their campsite was completely set up, the two boys sat on the ground near fire and let themselves relax. While Xinya tended the fire, Melting Snow laid back, with his arms behind his head and looked up at the twinkling stars. "Do you think we should check on the other two, and see how they are getting along?" questioned Melting Snow after a couple of minutes went by. After poking a stick into the fire, Xinya answered, "We might as well, in any case, we could see how long it will take them to arrive." "Well," the boy started, before getting up and walking a couple of steps over to the pond. "I will leave that to you." With an amused shake of his head, Xinya turned his gaze away from the boy and opened up his interface. Finding the party tab, he clicked on it and opened the party''s voice chat before beginning to speak. "Hey, Wandering Sound, Roaming Wind, how''s it going with your tasks? Melting Snow and I have already finished ours." Xinya said via the party chat. ~ In a room lit only by candlelight, stood Wei working hard at a wooden table that was covered in various tools and materials. Standing by her side and patiently guiding her was an older man with glasses. His name was Redbourn, a kind man who had been doing leatherworking since the age of six. Wei had learned this when she was conversing with the man as she was working on one of the tasks he gave her. He told her stories about his youth, and how he once came across these monsters whose hides became the finest leather that could ever be seen. As he was telling her the story, a hidden quest was triggered. The quest was to find those monsters for Redbourn and collect 5 hides for him. The reward was only 2 gold coins and some experience, but Wei knew if she collects a lot of those leathers for herself, she would have a good way to make some coin. Once she got the information about the last place the NPC saw the monsters, she made sure to write it in her interface notes, before continuing learning skills from him. She couldn''t wait to tell Wandering Sound about the quest, because this could be the first place they go after leaving the party. While in the midst of tanning a hide Redbourn gave her to practice on, her party chat icon buzzed and Xinya name lit up. Drifting Cloud: "Hey, Wandering Sound, Roaming Wind, how''s it going with your tasks? Melting Snow and I have already finished ours." Wei looked up from what she was doing in surprise, she couldn''t believe that they sold the mirror already. She thought that it would take longer for some reason. Roaming Wind: "Really?! Already?" Melting Snow: "Yes, already, and guess what? We also made an extra 100 gold coins from the exchange." ~ Inside a small building that was wall to wall covered by books, Wandering Sound sat at a lone table reading. After leaving Wei at the leatherworking shop, he made his way quickly to the Algorithm Library. His plan was to just browse through the books until he found what he was searching for, but luckily he had sense enough to ask the librarian for help. If he hadn''t he would have been searching through all of the library''s books, without being able to find anything. The reason for that was that most of the books on fairies had been destroyed a long time ago. After talking to the librarian NPC he learned that anything real that pertained to fairies had disappeared from the world of Haven one day over 400 years ago. When he heard that, Wandering Sound thought that he might not be able to find the information they needed, and Drifting cloud might need to go back and asked the Mayor who gave it to him about it. Just as he was about to message the party, the old librarian told him something wonderful. She told him, that even though most things had disappeared the stories about them didn''t. The NPC told him about how one of her ancestors wrote a novel about fairies and how it was said to be based on true events. After some pleading and a lot of convincing, the NPC allowed Wandering Sound to borrow it, as long as he doesn''t leave the library. Giving his thanks, he took the book from the old woman and started to read. It was after 30 minutes of reading and constant note-taking when his party chat icon buzzed and Xinya name lit up. Drifting Cloud: "Hey, Wandering Sound, Roaming Wind, how''s it going with your tasks? Melting Snow and I have already finished ours." Roaming Wind: "Really?! Already?" Melting Snow: "Yes, already, and guess what? We also made an extra 100 gold coins from the exchange." Wandering Sound: "Wow, good job you two." Wandering Sound had to put down his book in shock when he heard that the two of them got an extra 100 gold coins. Wei, on the other hand, was ecstatic and couldn''t help but wonder how he did it. Roaming Wind: "That is awesome, how did you do it Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow: "It was because we sold it to a glass artisan. I think we got more because we sold it to the correct person." Melting Snow knew that Drifting Cloud would have told them honestly about how he got the extra coins. However, he didn''t want the man to be scolded by them so he just told them a little white lie. Xinya looked over to Melting Snow when he told them that lie, but seeing the praise me eyes the boy was giving him, Xinya just shrugged, not saying anything. Roaming Wind: "Oh, that makes sense. Well, for me I need to learn one more skill, so it will be about another hour before I can join you two." Wandering Sound: "Same with me, I think I found the answer, but I want to double-check it and make sure it''s correct." Drifting Cloud: "Alright, you two take your time. Melting Snow and I will be by the player campground that''s by the gate as we wait for you to get done." After saying their goodbyes, Xinya closed the party voice chat and turned to look at Melting Snow and said, "So why didn''t you want me to tell them the truth?" "I already scolded you, once was enough." The boy straightforwardly said. ''What a protective little sprout I picked up,'' Xinya thought in amusement before saying, "I guess you''re right." [Read Author Note] Chapter 166: Waiting Pt 2 Using some pebbles that he picked up off of the ground, Melting Snow tried to skip them across the surface of the water. ''Tried'' being the operative word, since the stones just sunk in the water every time he attempted it. Frustrated that he kept failing miserably, the furry haired boy decided to do something else. When he couldn''t think of anything, he turned to Drifting Cloud and asked, "So what should we do while we are waiting for those two to arrive." Xinya who was organizing the items in his inventory turned his head towards the bored sounding boy and smiled. The words, let''s do nothing was on the tip of his tongue but he knew that his little sprout had too much energy in him for that to be an option. "What do you think we should do?" Xinya replied, answering his question with one of his own. "I don''t know," Melting Snow shrugged, not knowing what they could possibly do at this campground to kill time. "That''s why I''m asking you." Standing up from his seated position near the fire, Xinya walked over to where Melting Snow who was standing by the pond. Once he was close enough, he glanced down at the water and saw that it was big enough to fish, which gave him an idea. "We can always fish while we wait," Xinya said to Melting Snow. He was filled with anticipation, the last time they went fishing there was the whole sea creature debacle, but this time it would be different. They could fish while relaxing, and knowing Melting Snow as he did, he will try to turn it into a fun little competition. While Xinya was thinking about how much fun they would have, Melting Snow was filled with dread. He kept thinking that Drifting Cloud ''specialness'' might kick in again and he would pull something awesome out of the pond. He would be all for it if they were out in the woods somewhere with no other people, but there were players around them. He didn''t want any two-faced people trying to be their friend just because of some strange item that Drifting Cloud manages to catch. Melting Snow realized he was being a little paranoid, since players in the campground were nowhere near them, but still there was a chance. "I think we shouldn''t fish, how about we just relax by the water and soak our feet. You probably need to do that by now right?" "Um," Xinya started, completely confused. Melting Snow wasn''t someone who would want to relax when there are other things around to do. "You know I don''t need to soak my feet anymore, now that I got the Bracelet of Requisite." With the Bracelet of Requisite, he would be connected to all water sources that were in the world of Haven. With that bracelet, he was no longer impeded by having to stop every 12 hours to find a place to soak his feet. "I know, but¡­ um¡­ the bait¡­ yes, the bait it''s too pungent. So we can''t fish." Melting Snow told him while thinking fast. Holding back a smirk that wanted to burst forth on his face. Xinya knew exactly what the boy was thinking, it was written all over his face. He knew the boy was worried about him catching something weird again, but with the type of pond that this was, the only thing he could even possibly catch was tiny fish. "Don''t worry, I don''t plan to waste that bait on such a small pond," Xinya told the boy while laughing inwardly. "Well," Seeing how that excuse failed, the boy pondered for a second before picking up some more pebbles off the ground, "We can fish anytime, how about you teach me to skip stones." Knowing the boy''s worries Xinya decided to stop teasing him, after rubbing Melting Snow''s furry ears he said, "Alright, that sounds fun too." Letting out a sigh of relief, Melting Snow sat down and dipped his feet into the pond''s water. Patting the spot next to him, he watched as Drifting Cloud followed his example with a bright smile on his face. ~ While the two boys were immersed in skipping stones, they didn''t notice a group of players setting up camp very close near them. These three high-level players came to the campground to rest after a very difficult quest. "I can''t believe we managed to finish that dungeon," The dragonkin said while starting a campfire." Nodding her head, the elf who was putting wooden chairs around the campfire said, "I know right, that ChiShanzie almost killed all of us at the end." "No way we would have died," Replied the siren, who was setting out some cards on a table. "With me there, how could we lose." Once they were finished setting up their campsite and was sitting comfortably around the fire they noticed the players next to them. Snorting at the sight of the two players, they couldn''t help but shake their head, silently belittling one of the players next to them. "Wow, some fool actually made a dryad." The siren said, not even try to whisper. Even though she agreed with what the siren said, the elf still had an image to maintain. "Don''t say that he''s probably a new player who didn''t know any better." "Not knowing any better or not, he is going to have a difficult time in this game." The dragonkin said. "Nobody is going to want to be in a team up with him, with the handicap dryads have." "What about that Dryad in the sea creature video, he seemed to have a good team," The elf told them sweetly. Rolling his eyes, the siren said, "Come on, that dryad is probably a rich young master who brought his way on that team. You saw that houseboat they were on, who would waste that much money to rent such an item." "How do you know it was rented?" The dragonkin asked. "All rented boats have a similar mark on their sides," The siren informed his two friends. "That video is being deeply analyzed by everyone on the forum right now, it was easy to find out." "In that case, I think you''re right, the only way a dryad can make it in this game is by buying themselves on a team." The elf said. Looking thoughtful, the dragonkin looked over at the player at the pond and said, "Maybe that Dryad over there is another rich person. We should offer our services to be brought." "Hell no!" the siren replied laughing. "We can get our own money without having someone drag us down." "Your right, it would be too troublesome." the dragonkin said while picking up the stack of cards. As the trio began their card game, putting the dryad next to them out of their mind. The duo who was sitting by the pond had heard everything, one with clenched fists, while the other just ignored their words as if what they said meant nothing to him. Chapter 167: Waiting Pt 3 Listening to those players talk badly about Drifting Cloud, pissed Melting Snow off so much that he wanted to go over there and give them a piece of his mind. It was only Drifting Clouds slight shake of the head that made him stop. When he saw the green-haired man''s uncaring face, Melting Snow wanted to let it go, but as the trio continued talking badly about the Dryad race and by proxy Drifting Cloud the angrier he got. He was seething when he heard them call his friend a fool, a lackey that could only buy his way into a team. He so badly wanted to inform them, that the Dryad that they are mocking is the same one who killed the giant sea creature, the same one who took down the king bellyborg, and one of the main saviors of the Baldahurh forest. Melting Snow would very much like to do just that, but he knew he couldn''t. The only thing he could do right now was to clench his fists and stew in his anger. One day he will show them all that his friend''s race isn''t worthless, and they will look back on this moment with pained faces. "It''s alright, just ignore them, Melting Snow," Xinya told the boy through the party voice chat while patting his furry head. Xinya knew that the boy was upset about what those players were saying about him, but it really didn''t bother him. He knew that once the update comes everybody is going to be singing a different tune. All the hate that Dryad race had is going to turn to appreciation. In other words, in a little over a month from now, everyone who belittled his race is going to have their words come back to slap them. And on that day Xinya is just going to smugly smile while not saying anything. Melting Snow: "I will, but I still want to go over there and smack them silly." Roaming Wind:"What''s going on?!" Wei had just finished gaining the leatherworking skill awhile ago and was headed towards the campground. On her way there, she ran into Wandering Sound who had also just finished getting the information they needed. It was a strange coincidence that they got finished around the same time, but Wei, the overly romantic girl that she is, thought it was fate working its magic or something along those lines. As they walked back to the campground their bubbly atmosphere was cut short when they heard the tone of Melting Snow''s voice. Melting Snow: "Some players are making fun of Drifting Cloud." Wei became extremely angry when she heard that someone dared to mess with her friend. All she could think was, who were these people that she would have to knock some sense into. Roaming Wind: "Who?! Cause I will PVP a bitch!" Wandering Sound was a little taken aback. This was the first time he saw this side of Roaming Wind. He was used to a sweet, caring girl, but this side of her, this protective, angry version of her¡­ He was not going to lie, it turned him on even more. Drifting Cloud: "Melting Snow they weren''t mocking me as a person, but my race. Which means they are small-minded people that you shouldn''t pay any mind to. And Roaming wind I love you, but they could kill you in a second. However, thanks for wanting to stand up for me." Roaming Wind: "Of course, always. But either way, why are they saying bad things about your race?" Drifting Cloud: "It''s because Dryads have to soak their feet every 12 hours." Wandering Sound: "I have to admit I never noticed it as a problem." Drifting Cloud: "That''s because I specifically choose this region since it''s very marshy and swamp-like. With all the water around me, I don''t have to stop as often cause I''m always stepping in a puddle somewhere. But, if I chose a desert or grassy region, then you would have noticed it more and probably be bothered by it." Melting Snow: "Don''t say that, even if we were in one of those regions, I would never think of you as a bother." Roaming Wind/Wandering Sound: "What he said!" After hearing how certain they sounded, Xinya smiled happily. He was glad that he found some reliable companions. He couldn''t help but wonder what would have been if he never met Melting Snow if Wei kept to the same path if they never ran into Wandering sound. Would he be as happy as he is now? Drifting Cloud: "Alright, alright, no need to yell. I know I would never be a bother to any of you." Roaming Wind: "You better know." Drifting Cloud: "I really do know, Roaming Wind." Hearing the sincerity in Xinya''s words made her smile a bit. She never wanted him to think that he was a bother to anyone. If anything she was the bother, with how she was acting in this game. As if sensing her thoughts, Wandering Sound reached over and clasp their hands together. Squeezing her hand, he gave her a gentle smile as if telling her without words to not doubt herself. However, this sweet atmosphere was interrupted when Xinya said: Drifting Cloud: So tell me, are you guys done yet?" Wandering Sound: "As a matter of fact we are. We are heading to the campground right now. However, I don''t think we would be able to reach you until daylight." Drifting Cloud: "It''s fine, take your time. If you can''t make it to the campground before the sun rises, Melting Snow and I will just meet you by the gate." Wandering Sound: "Alright, we''ll see you there then." ~ Wandering Sound''s prediction was correct, he and Wei didn''t make it to the campground by the time the sun rose. So just as they planned, Xinya and Melting Snow cleaned up their campsite before making their way to the gate. By the time they made it there, they could see Wei and Wandering Sound in the distance walking towards them. Chapter 168: Blooming Flower The sun was shining brightly once again in the clear blue sky when the four reunited with each other. Xinya smiled at the couple when they arrived, he couldn''t wait to leave this village and head to that special shop in the fairy world. He had been curious about it for a while now, and since they were finally on their way there he became even more excited. Xinya was really hoping that the shop has some interesting items, like plants or recipes that would be of some use to him. Now that he has some gold coins to spend, he bet he could buy something really good. Which reminds him, he should really divide the coins before they leave, so he won''t forget to do so later. "Hey guys," Wei said, once she and Wandering Sound reached Xinya and Melting Snow. "Are you ready to ditch this village?" "I''m sure am," Melting Snow replied. He was basically vibrating with excitement, knowing that their next stop would be to the fairy world. He kept thinking about how they would look and could only imagine tiny people with wings. Giving the two of them a fond smile, Xinya said, "Hold up, we need to know where we are going before we can leave." "Your right," Wei replied while turning towards Wandering Sound and asking. "So, where are we going?" Wandering Sound who was silent until now, gave his friends an affectionate grin before saying, "Well according to my research, we can find a fairy ring in Brimree grove. From what the librarian told me it is about 1000 miles away from this village." "Hmm¡­" Xinya began, trying to calculate how many hours it would take to reach the grove. Realizing that it would take over 10 hours, he said, "Do you know when it will be a full moon." "Yeah, I found out that it will be tomorrow night." Wandering Sound told him. "So soon? We need to hurry. It will take about 10 hours to reach the grove, and then we still have to find the fairy ring." Xinya explained. Hearing that, the Melting Snow became a little anxious. "Let''s go then, what are we waiting for?" "Yeah, what snow boy said," Wei exclaimed, ready to get a move on it. "Wait, before we head out," Xinya started opening his interface and tapping on the party trade button. "Let me divide the coins we made from the mirror." "That''s right, I almost forgot about the coins. You got 350 gold altogether from the sale right?" Wandering Sound said. Nodding his head, Xinya said, "That''s right, which means each of us gets 87 gold and 500 silver coins apiece." After making sure to give everyone in the party their fair share of the profit, Xinya inputted where they needed to go into his map, before signaling the party to head out.And with that, the quartet made their way out of the gate leaving MirStone village behind. ~ Once Xinya''s group was on the move, a small brown-haired girl in reddish-orange hanfu crept forward. She couldn''t believe that she had stumbled upon her idol by chance in this village. She had to thank her older brother later, if it wasn''t for him this would have never happened. And to think that she actually dragged her feet when her brother asked her to do this errand, if she could go back in time she would slap herself. Shaking her head at her past self, she quickly uses her camouflage skill and follows after the group. She was really glad now that she found that hidden quest that gave her this skill. Although it only lasts for thirty minutes, by the time it wears off, she knew she would be able to find a tree or something to hide behind. Leaving out of the gate, the girl let out a sigh of relief that there was a forest on one side of the path the group was taking. While following behind them, the girl begins to think about how she should introduce herself to her idol. She didn''t think just going up to him and asking to be his friend would work. She was a stranger after all. As she thought about what she should do, she discarded many plans, before coming up with a good idea. She would pretend like he was someone she knew, and after she apologizes for her mistake, she could start up a conversation. After patting herself mentally on the back for coming up with such a good idea, she continued to sneak behind her idol''s party. She was trying to be as quiet as she could as she followed the four so she wouldn''t get caught when a ringing sound from her interface startled her causing her to almost jump out of her skin. Calming her fast-beating heart, she opened her interface to see that she was getting a video call from her older brother. After letting her idol''s group get a little further ahead of her, she clicked accept on the call. "Brother, what do you want?" She asked anxiously, constantly making sure the group didn''t get too far ahead of her. "Blooming Flower, you know exactly what I want." A beautiful man in drag angrily replied, looking very upset at his little sister. "I sent you on that errand over four hours ago, it doesn''t take that long to go and get my custom dress order and return." Rolling her eyes in frustration at her older brother, Blooming Flower said, "Fluttering Wings, I promise that I will give you your dress later, but right now I have to do something." "And what pray tell is more important than my Andes Flair Cream dress? Do you know how rare it is for that dressmaker to sell her designs?" Fluttering Wings asked. "I saw him," Blooming Flower said, while she made sure the group didn''t leave her site. "The KiloXA streamer Melting Snow, I''m following him and his group right now." When Fluttering Wings heard that he let out a sigh. He knew that his little sister was obsessed with that streamer boy. From the first video when he was killing monsters with his older brother, she liked him, but it was that Bellyborg video that made her a true fan. After watching that video, she learned that there was more to this game than being high on the rankings. She learned that she could have fun and have adventures, which she did while dragging him along with her when he had time to spare. He wishes he had more time to spend with her, but his job as a merchant keeps him busy most of the time. Deciding to let her have her fun, he turned on her parental tracker, it cost a lot to get, but it was worth it to make sure his sister is safe. "Alright, do what you want. I know how much you like that boy. However, you better mail me my dress once you are in town." Nodding her head, the girl said, "Sure thing, g¨¥g¨¥. I promise to do so once I''m in a town." "Also, keep me posted," Fluttering Wings started seriously. "And if that boy is rude to you in any way, you better tell me." "Okay, okay, I will." Blooming Wind says while only half-listening to what her brother was saying. After saying her goodbyes, she continued to trail the group without their knowledge. Chapter 169: Brimree Grove The party of four walked through the hilly terrain passing by all sorts of interesting items, like the gigantic purplish rocks near them that glowed. Sadly, with how much of a hurry they were in, they had no time to take in their surroundings, if they did they would have seen all of the wondrous sights around them. Such as the forest that was a couple of feet away from where they were walking. If they were looking they would have seen that underneath the sun, the forest looked tremendous, light, and thriving. Its canopy being eclipsed by the lovely periwinkle leaves of the Wisteria tree. However, plenty of light still passed through their crowns for all sorts of shrubs to make use of and grow on the ground below. Bundled branches grasped most of the trees, and the apricot flower, which was common to this area only, stuck out against the otherwise dark forest grounds. There were also a hodgepodge of monster and animal sounds, most of which were fleeing animals, resonated through the air, and overpowered the rustling of the leaves and branches of the treetops in the wind. However all of this went over the head of the group, in their rush, they were only focused on going forward. Not to say that their journey was a solemn one, that would be far from the truth. The truth was even though Xinya and his party were hastily trying to get to their destination, the trip there was a harmonious one. If someone were listening to them they would hear a lively and light-hearted conversation between close friends. Cheerful laughter could be heard all throughout their expedition, making the long trip feel shorter than it actually was. As time flew by, and the group came closer and closer to their desired destination until Brimree Grove was right in front of them. "We finally made it!" Melting Snow exclaimed. Looking at the magical looking grove in wonder. Xinya couldn''t believe how quickly they made it here, checking the time he saw that it was only 3 pm. Not only did they make it to Brimree Grove, but they also arrived in less time than what he had calculated. "We did," Xinya said happily while looking around the area. "With 3 hours to spare until nightfall comes." Looking thoughtful, Wandering Sound asks, "Do you think we should look around for a bit before setting up camp for the night?" "I think we should since we don''t know how long it will take us to find the fairy ring," Xinya replied. "Should we split up?" Wei asked. "We would be able to cover more ground that way." Xinya knew that Wei was right, if they split up they would be able to find the fairy ring quicker, but seeing how the grove has level 26-35 monsters inside of it, he doesn''t think that would be a good idea. Who knows what would happen if they met one of those high-level monsters on their own. Shaking his head, Xinya said, "I don''t think that''s a good idea. We should stay together, or we might die if we come across one of the monsters in there." "Drifting Cloud is right," Melting Snow said in agreement. "If one of us dies, then none of us would be able to go to the fairy store." After listening to Xinya and Melting Snow, Wei realized that they made sense. Sticking together as they looked would be the best way to go about it. "You''re right, let''s start looking then." "Hold up!" exclaimed Wandering Sound, stopping the others when they began to make their way into the Grove. "Do anyone of you even know what the fairy ring looks like?" Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Xinya realized that he indeed did not know how a fairy ring looked. Feeling a little stupid for not asking earlier turned a to Wandering Sound with a questioning gaze. Looking at the bewildered eyes of his party, Wandering Sound let out a sigh, before starting to explain, "A fairy ring, also known as fair'' ie rin'', is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. Not any type of mushrooms, but Amanita muscaria. They are medium-size red mushrooms with white spots. They basically look like it was plucked straight from an Alice in Wonderland book." "I never read that book," Melting Snow told him with a grin. "But I get it, I just need to look for some weird looking red and white mushrooms." "Well if you must simplify what I said,'''' huffed Wandering Sound, watching as Drifting Cloud and Melting Snow headed into the grove. Laughing at the pouting man, Wei grabbed his hand pulling him along into the grove after the others. ~ As the group disappeared into Brimree Grove, Blooming Flower who was about ten feet from where Xinya''s party was standing, crept out from behind a tree. Reapplying her camouflage she headed in after them. Once the group was back in her sight, she continued to follow them from a distance. She wanted to get closer so she could hear what they were talking about, but since her camouflage skill only lasts for 30 minutes, she couldn''t risk it. Blooming Flower really wanted to though, she wanted to know why her idol came to this place. However, after seeing the monster level in this grove, she just assumed that they came here to gain experience. She had already guessed from the video''s that Melting Snow was a newish player, and this would be a great place for him to gain some experience. Thinking that she might have a chance to see her idol fight in real-time, made her smile widely. Suddenly she had a thought, she could revise her plan so that they could meet sooner. She thought that she could go with the old gimmick of aggroing a monster and pretend to need saving. However, she axed that idea after realizing how ridiculous it was. No one would believe that a level 55 spiritualist, who was number 60 on the worldwide rankings like herself would need someone to save her. She decided to just stick with her first plan. After following the group for another half an hour or so, Blooming Flower came to the realization that they weren''t in this grove to level themselves up. To her, it seemed as if they were looking for something. She was really curious as to what they were looking for, because as far as she knew there weren''t any rare items in this place. Thinking about it for a while, Blooming Flower looked at the dryad that ''her'' Melting snow was always with and remembered something. When she was following the two of them in Mirstone Village, she overheard them talking about food, and Melting Snow was asking the man to make him something. That must mean that he has the cooking skill. Knowing that, Blooming Flower came to the conclusion that they were looking for some kind of edible item. After coming to that conclusion, she smiled to herself while thinking about getting the cooking skill. It seems that her idol was a foodie, and everyone knows that the best way to a man''s heart was through his stomach. Blushing at the thought of Melting Snow eating her food, she started making plans as she continued to follow them through the grove. Chapter 170: Camping It had been three hours since Xinya and his friends had started their search for the red and white mushrooms that the fairy ring is made up of. However, even though the group made sure to carefully comb through every inch of the grove''s dense undergrowth they could get to during that time, they weren''t able to locate it. Xinya really hoped that they would be able to find it while they were in this area, where the lower level monsters were. Although he did use his map, to make sure that they wouldn''t accidentally aggro any, and even if they did it would be easier for them to take care of the low-level monsters than it would be with the higher-level ones. Sadly, luck wasn''t on his side and as the sun began to set Xinya knew they had to stop looking for now. He didn''t want to because they were short on time, but when he looked on his map, he saw they were about to enter the territory of creatures that were level 30 and up. Knowing that he and his friends probably wouldn''t be able to handle the transformed versions of the monsters that were exponentially stronger than how they are in the day, Xinya decided it would be best to start up their hunt again in the morning. Since they had searched about a quarter of the grove already, he knew that they would have plenty of time to find it once the sun came back up. "I think it would be best if we quit looking for now," Xinya announced, stopping his friends before they headed deeper into the grove. "We need to start setting up camp before it becomes too dark." "Aww, but I wanted to continue searching." Melting Snow said, with Wei nodding her head in agreement beside him. While glancing up at the sky, Wandering Sound said, "Drifting Cloud is right, we should start setting up camp now. Anyway, we have already made a lot of progress, we will definitely find it before the full moon tomorrow." Appeased by Wandering Sound''s words, Melting Sound stopped pouting and nodded his head in assent. He knew they were right, that setting up camp would be the best thing to do right now, but he was just so excited that it caused a lapse in his judgment. "It''s alright snow boy, we will just look for the mushroom ring harder in the morning," Wei told the boy when she saw him looking longingly into the deeper part of the grove. She also felt the same, she really wanted to hurry up and find out the entrance to the fairy world so she could see the world that was hidden inside. "Yeah, okay," Melting Snow said, before realizing what she had called him. "Don''t call me snow boy!" Laughing at the boy''s angry face, Wei replied, "Why not? You should be happy I came up with a nickname for you." "You¡­," Melting Snow began before picking up a twig with a bug on it and started to chase Wei with it causing her to scream. "You should be happy, I like you so much I found a gift for you." "Stay away from me!" Wei screamed while running in a circle with Melting Snow right on her tail. While the two of them playfully chased each other, Xinya and Wandering Sound just looked at each other before heading off to find a place to set up camp. After locating a clearing that was devoid of any creatures they did just that. The group, after being together for such a long time, automatically begins doing what they should so they could help set up the camp. It was silent as each member of the party focused on their task, so quiet in fact that the sounds that were natural to the grove became even more pronounced. From the creaking of branches to the snuffling of a nearby boar that was eating under combs of feathery moss, to the scurrying squirrels as they searched for food under bristles of wispy shrubs. These noises were around them, creating a sound that was purer than any other. ~ Night had completely fallen when the campsite was finally finished, leaving only the crackling of the fire as a light source in the otherwise dark surroundings. And besides the sounds of nature, the only noise around were the quiet chatter of Xinya''s friends. Looking up at the stars that were like twinkling fireflies scattered across the night sky, Xinya''s mind began to wander back to what could be inside of the fairies shop. There could be so many otherworldly things that could be inside of it, but his meager imagination wasn''t helping him think of what they could be. Turning his attention to his friends who were each doing their own thing, he asked, "What do you guys think would be in the fairy shop?" "Well," Wei started as she closed her interface. "I for one is hoping for pixie dust." "Pixie dust?" Melting Snow asked, confused. Seeing how everyone was looking at her in confusion, she realized they had no idea what that was in reference to. Shaking her head at them, she began to explain, "When I was younger, my mom told me a story called peter pan¡­" Wei told them the story of Peter Pan and his fairy friend called Tinkerbell as her mother told her. She explained that pixie dust is essential to fairies, as it grants them the ability to fly and the gift of magic. Also how the absence of pixie dust would cause a fairy to lose his or her ability to fly and deprive them of their innate magical talent until it is replenished. "Wow, that sounds awesome. If the shop has anything similar to what you said I would be ecstatic." Melting Snow exclaimed as he thought about the possibility of being able to fly without any sort of transportation item. Nodding his head in agreement, Xinya said, "That would be something amazing, and quite possible if you think about it. The Dragonkin race can fly around using their wings, if they are able to fly without using a transportation item then maybe there is a way for other players to do so as well." "That''s true and all, but don''t forget that is a racial skill." Wandering Sound stated. "Also they can only fly really slow." "Well, there could be a skill for it. There is a skill for everything else." Huffed Melting Snow, a little upset that Wandering Sound was being a dream killer. Wei agreed with the boy, in this fantasy world of Haven Online there was practically a skill for anything one imagines, who to say there can''t be a flying one."Melting Snow is right, maybe there is one. It could be a hidden skill or something." "I guess you''re right," Wandering Sound consented. He didn''t want to have a disagreement with Roaming wind about such a small thing, so he will just let them believe what they want to. However, he firmly believed that there was no such skill in this game. All throughout the night, the group continued on speculating about what could be inside of the shop. And by the time the sun rose they were more than eager to start looking for the fairy circle once again. Chapter 171: The Glade ''How could this have happened?'' Blooming Flower thought to herself as she looked over at the spot where Melting Snow and his friends once were. The campsite that was bustling with life just an hour ago, was now completely deserted. It was all the game fault for making her log out. That stupid 23-hour rule, because of that she became separated from her idol''s group. Punching the tree in front of her in anger, she knew that if she was younger she would be definitely throwing a tantrum at this moment. After bemoaning the situation she was in, she began to think about what she should do next. The first thing that came to mind was to look around and try to find them again. The grove was only so big, she understood that if she surveyed her surroundings that there was a high possibility of her running into them. However, Blooming Flower thought it would be best to nix that idea. Even if any monster would come across her, she would be able to take it out easily, the fight would draw attention to her. And to be honest that wasn''t something she wanted right now. Plus if Melting Snow and his party stumbled upon her suddenly, it would make her come off as suspicious. Especially since they had been carefully combing through this grove. If a random girl like herself popped up near them out of nowhere, she didn''t think that would go over well. No, she decided that she wouldn''t continue to try and go after them, but what she could do is be one step ahead of them. While she was following them, she heard snippets of their conversation and they mentioned where they were heading next. "What was it, Arzberg...Armeg¡­" Blooming Flower whispered to herself, as she leaned on the tree she was standing by. Tapping her hand against her head, she tried to remember the name of the town that she heard the elf girl say. "Arkala! That was it." Pleased with herself for remembering the name, Blooming Flower pulled up her interface and opened the map. After locating the town, she smiled and started walking in the direction of it. Although she was upset that she wouldn''t be able to keep following Melting Snow, she had to admit it was kind of better this way. She would have more time to work on her plan for the perfect way to make his acquaintance. With that thought in mind, she began following the map making her way out of the grove. While she was walking she made a note to herself to remember to mail her brother''s dress to him. ~ While Blooming Flower was on her way out of the grove, Xinya and his friends were already making their way deeper into it. All throughout the night, they had been firing themselves up about what wonders they would see in the fairy world, so as soon as they saw a speck of light in the sky, they quickly packed up their camp and resumed searching. As they ventured deeper into the undergrowth of this ancient grove. They wished really hard that they would be able to find those mushrooms in time. However, it felt like it wouldn''t be so easy, since the farther they went in the denser the trees became, blocking out the bright sun up above. Seeing how bleak the area had become, Xinya took out a couple of glow flowers and handed it to each member of the party, giving them that extra needed light. Since his focus was broken he took the time to look around only then did he realize that the grove became more mystical and spellbinding. There were huge tree roots that seemed to be lying spread-eagled on the ground, twisting like the great backs of prehistoric sea creatures. The foliage became thick and lush, forming an arch of fairytale-green above their heads. As they walked arthritic boughs, gnarled with age, dripped their bounty of nuts down from above. Briars, brambles and berry trees flanked the area as if there were impenetrable guards on every side. Shuffling noises of various monsters could be heard coming from the dark shadows of the trees, stepping on the abundant fallen leaves. A troupe of shambling Bok deer could also be seen crossing the winding trail in front of them at one point. They were just finishing up their early morning foraging when Xinya''s group passed by and startled them causing them to run away. The sights around him felt surreal, but there was no time for him to gawk at them, he needed to keep searching for those elusive mushrooms. Turning his gaze back down to the forest floor he continued scanning around for them. The search went on for the Amanita muscaria for quite a while, so long in fact that it was getting dark once again. Xinya couldn''t believe it; they had searched all day long and still didn''t discover the mushrooms. Beginning to worry they wouldn''t be able to find the mushrooms before the full moon was over he turned to Wandering Sound and asked, "Are you sure that librarian was reliable?" "I''m sure, we just have to keep looking. I''m sure we will be able to find them." Wandering Sound replied, with a tinge of doubt in his voice. Even though he was skeptical of what Wandering Sound said Xinya continued to look around anyway. While he was trying to convince himself to not be upset if they didn''t find the mushrooms, he heard Melting Snow calling for them from a couple of feet away. "Guys, quickly get over here!" Melting Snow yelled through the party''s voice chat. He couldn''t believe he had found the mushrooms. However, his happiness had to be on hold, cause there would be a problem getting to them. Wondering why Melting Snow used the party voice chat to call them, Xinya looked at his map which was transparent in front of him and locked in on his location. Along with Wei and Wandering Sound, he made his way to the boy''s destination. They arrived at a large glade, but before they could enter, Melting Snow pulled them to hide behind one of the large surrounding shrubs. However, before he did Xinya caught a glimpse of what was inside. Inside of the glade, there was only one tree, it was like the rest just disappeared since they paled in comparison to this one. The tree itself was luminously white glowing with ethereal light, and just below it was the ring of red and white mushrooms. This would have been a call for celebration, if there weren''t a giant boss monster that had just transformed right in front of it. Xinya couldn''t help but curse their luck. Chapter 172: Fairy Ring Pt 1 "This is unbelievable, we finally found the fairy ring and there is a boss monster guarding it." Muttered Melting Snow from his crouched position behind a bush. Xinya could only nod his head in agreement at Melting Snow''s words while peeking out at the monster from the giant shrub that was his hiding place. As he stared at the creature as it prowled back and forth in front of the tree the only thing Xinya could do was shake his head. The monster was freaking humongous, about 5x the size of a komodo dragon and had the look of one also. From it''s four sturdy legs to it''s huge, long powerful tail. However that was where the likeness ended, the creature which looked like it could kill them with just a look was called a Covert Atranoch. Standing upright, the monster had smooth skin covered in nothing but large scales, which was black, red and a light pink that sparkled in the light. Besides that, Xinya saw that it had long sharp claws and teeth that were dripping with what he assumed to be a poisonous substance. He had a feeling if any of that stuff touched them they would be dead faster than they could blink. If it was just a regular transformed monster then that would have been alright, but Xinya knew that there was no way they would be able to kill this thing in time. The full moon was already shining bright in the sky and night only stayed for two hours. If they try to fight it, they would definitely lose their chance to go to the fairy world shop. What they needed was a plan, a way to get to that mushroom ring without having to fight that monster. And as Xinya thought about it, he knew that the first step should be making the monster move away from that tree. "What do you think we should do?" Wei asked while glancing at the others. She couldn''t believe how terrible their luck was, she could only hope that someone had an idea on how they could deal with this situation. "We can''t fight it," Wandering Sound stated. "It would take time and we don''t have any to spare." Giving a hum of agreement, Melting Snow said, "He''s right, that thing probably has tons of HP. If we try to whittle it down it would take us forever. " "Then, we have no choice but to lure it away," Xinya announced suddenly. "Ah-ha!" Melting Snow exclaimed, realizing what the man had in mind. "You want one of us to aggro that beast, and have it chase us, right? Then after we lose it in the grove we can double back here." With a proud gaze, Xinya smiled at the boy. It always felt like Melting Snow was on the same wavelength that he was on. "You got everything right except for the last part." "Oh?" The boy said, looking at Xinya in confusion. "Well, it might take a long time to lose it. So instead of trying to do that, I think one of us should just lure it to the edge of the glade and I will use my Flora attack and Dreaming Dust potion on it. When it''s knocked out, I will quickly use the bracelet, to transport us quickly away." Xinya explained. "That might actually work," Wandering Sound said after some contemplation. "Which one of us do you think should go and aggro it." "Well obviously me, I''m the fastest runner here," Wei said, ignoring the snort from Melting Snow who was beside her. Xinya also thought Wei was the best choice for this task. With her knockback skill, she would be the only one of them who would be able to get the monster away from her if it comes within striking distance. Patting her lightly on her shoulder, Xinya said, "Then it''s up to you, Roaming Wind." Wei was completely surprised when Xinya patted her on the shoulder, sure he had been giving her lingering touches every now and then, but it was still quite shocking. However, that one touch made her even more eager to do it. She knew that she had messed up throughout most of the adventures they went on, but by doing this, she can show them just how useful she actually was. Getting up from the ground, she took out her guns getting ready. "Just lure it over here to me. Once you do I will immobilize it, and while I and Roaming wind are doing that." Xinya said, turning to Wandering Sound and Melting Snow. "You two should hurry and get to the fairy ring, and wait for us." After acknowledging Xinya''s plan, Melting Snow and Wandering Sound got up from their crouched positions on the ground and made themselves ready. Moving off to the side, they waited for his signal. "Is everybody ready?" Xinya asked, looking at each of them in turn. Nodding his head, Melting Snow said, "I am." "Me too." Wandering Sound told him while keeping his eye on the monster. "Yeah, ready and waiting," Wei stated, cocking her guns. "Let''s do this thing." Glancing at the menacing monster that was letting out low growls, Xinya while gripping his potion bottle tightly in his hand, before looking at the others saying, "Okay, let''s go!" As soon as those words were out of his mouth, Wei was already sprinting out into the glade. When she was within shooting distance of the monster, she used her Blazing Bullet skill. Once Wei''s attack impacted the monster it let out a loud murderous roar and started to run towards her, completely fixated on her now. Seeing the giant beast coming angrily towards her, Wei turned around and began to run in Xinya''s direction. While the monster was chasing after Wei, Melting Snow and Wandering Sound made their way to the tree that the fairy ring was under. Once there they stood in the center of the circle, watching nervously as their friends dealt with the monster. Chapter 173: Fairy Ring Pt 2 The monster was faster than Wei thought it would be, with those short stubby legs that it had, she was certain that it would only be able to move at a slow speed. She was wrong though, she had only run a couple of steps before the creature was within a hair''s breadth of her. If it wasn''t for Melting Snow, screaming out a warning, she would have been dead meat. Dodging as the monster slashed down with its poisonous claws, she did a barrel roll off to the side, escaping the monster''s attack just in time. Getting up quickly, Wei once again tried to maneuver her way towards Xinya, however, like before she had no luck. The monster wasn''t letting her escape, every move she made it stayed on her like white on rice. The only thing she was able to do was dodge, she couldn''t even use any of her attacks. That pissed her off the most, here she was thinking that she could be useful but this monster was proving her wrong. "Drifting Cloud, Roaming Wind needs help!" Shouted Wandering Sound who was watching what was going on bated breath. "I should go and help, I can use snail''s song on it." "You can''t, what if the monster''s aggro transfers over to you. You know you''re not too good at running and playing your flute yet." Xinya told him. Watching as Wei was struggling with the monster, he also wanted to go over there and help her out, but she was still too close to the tree. With how fast that monster was, if he were to bring its aggro over to himself, he would be dead faster than it takes to count to two. He really had to commend Wei, her agility was awesome, maybe it was because she was an elf that her speed was so high, but either way, she was doing great. Even so, it wasn''t good that she was only able to dodge, they needed the monster to be lured away. "Then what should we do?! We can''t just stand here doing nothing until she dies!" Wandering Sound yelled, getting a little angry. Melting Snow who had been quiet up until now had been studying the monster trying to think of something that could help them deal with it. They had no time to spare, and from what he saw he knew that Roaming Wind wouldn''t be able to go through with Drifting Clouds plan. Suddenly out of the blue, like a lightning strike, an idea hit him. "I got it! Drifting Cloud, let me exchange places with Roaming Wind. Once we exchange I will¡­." After explaining, Melting Snow looked over at Xinya with anticipation. He really hoped that the man would agree because this would be their best shot. "Let him do it! I don''t know for how much longer I can dodge this beast." Wei said tiredly. No matter how much it bemoaned her to say it, the boy plan was good, plus she was running out of stamina fast. "Alright, go for it Melting Snow," Xinya said as he watched the boy take off towards Wei and the creature. "And please don''t get hurt." Laughing at the man''s words, Melting Snow said, "I will try not too." ''Maybe I am a little bit of an action junkie.'' Melting Snow thought while smirking. Pulling out his twin blades, he ran gleefully towards the monster. When he was about a foot away he did a double flip onto the creature''s back, stabbing his swords down into the meaty flesh of its neck. The monster reared back in pain, letting out a savage roar that echoed throughout the grove. It began to widely buck its shoulders trying to get the boy off of it, but Melting Snow held on tightly. Wei sensing an opening, moved a little out of range of the beast. Seeing that Roaming Wind had shifted away from the monster''s line of sight, Melting Snow pulled out his swords and did a backflip off of the creature''s back and took off running. Even with Melting Snow''s head start the monster was already behind him, but this was what the boy had planned. Before the monster could even think about attacking him, Melting Snow dodged out of the way saying, "Do it now Roaming Wind." Wei who was following behind Melting Snow and the beast was already ready. As soon as the boy gave the word, Wei aimed her guns and used Soul Shot, knocking back the monster to where Xinya was standing. Xinya who was also prepared jumped out and threw two Flora Attack potions at the creature, causing it to become immobilized by a whole bunch of pink flower petals. While he was at it he also threw a shit ton of Dreaming Dust potions at it hoping the sleep time would stack. Sadly it didn''t, knowing that they needed to quickly leave this place, Xinya said, "Everyone hurry to the fairy circle." Not needing to be told twice, along with Xinya, Wei and Melting Snow rushed inside of the fairy circle. Once everyone was inside, Xinya took out Rhiannon''s bracelet and put it on. After fastening it onto his wrist, Xinya realized that he didn''t know how to activate the darn thing. "Shit." "What?!" Wei asked while keeping her eyes on the monster to make sure it was still immobilized. "I don''t know how to activate the bracelet," Xinya said, looking worried. "What?! Are you joking? Shouldn''t it be automatic!" Wandering Sound screeched. When he saw that Drifting Cloud wasn''t playing around he said, "Well hurry and figure it out!" Ignoring Wandering Sound''s snappy tone, Xinya looked down at the bracelet. Seeing that one of the crystals was glowing, he started fiddling with it, causing the crystal to turn. A golden light suddenly enveloped them and a notification from the system sounded. [You have activated Rhiannon''s bracelet! In one minute you and your party will be transported! If the circle is disturbed by anything the transportation will fail!] [Countdown will now be commenced!] [60] [59] "You did it Drifting Cloud!" Melting Snow exclaimed excitedly. "We are finally headed to the fairy world." [48] [47] The whole party was buzzing in excitement, they couldn''t believe that they were finally going there. It had been quite a while since they had gotten the bracelet, this was like getting a wonderful treat after a long journey. Just as everyone was basking in their elation, a loud roar was heard from the other side of the glade. Xinya''s attacks had worn off and the monster was free once again. With an angry growl, it looked around for its prey. [15] [14] Spotting its attackers, it bellowed ferociously making its way towards Xinya and his group at a fast pace. It couldn''t wait to tear them apart and feast on their bones. [5] [4] The creature ran towards them as fast as it could with only one thing on its mind, while Xinya and his friends were praying that the time would go faster. [3] [2] [1] Just as the timer reached one, the monster reached them, but it was already too late, and it only ended up attacking the air. All Xinya could think when the sparkly golden light transported them away was that he was glad he told his party to lure that monster to the edge of the glade. [Transportation complete!] [Welcome to Ildauland the land of the Fae!] Chapter 174: Ildauland the land of the Fae As a blinding golden light enveloped the party, they felt a strange tugging sensation, pulling them somewhere. They instinctively closed their eyes against the bright light as it spirited them away to an unknown place. Xinya thought that the teleportation would be instantaneous, but it wasn''t, no matter how he wished it was. Instead, it was quite long and frightening, if he had to liken it to something, he would say it was similar to riding a roller coaster. When he was younger, his mother allowed him to ride one using a virtual reality device. She had told him that it had been her most favorite pastime and he had begged her to let him try it. However, his experience riding that virtual roller coaster was completely different from what he imagined. The experience he had was an unequal mix of terrifying and exhilarating, with terrifying winning out over the other. He could still remember how his stomach churned, and the cold sweat he had after it was over. It was the exact feeling he was having now, he really wanted to open his eyes so that he could at least try to get his bearing, but something was warning him not to. He wondered if his friends were experiencing the same feelings that he was. However with how fast it began it ended just as fast, suddenly the tugging sensation was no more and he could feel that his feet were standing on solid ground. Just like that, all the discomfort that he was experiencing was gone and he felt as he did before teleporting. After the golden light that was around the party slowly evaporated, Xinya was finally able to open his eyes to view his surroundings. His first sight after that nausea-inducing trip left him completely speechless and borderline upset. ''Did the teleportation not work?'' Xinya thought with mild confusion because right in front of him was the same luminous white tree that was in the grove. ''No that''s not possible, we had to because the monster is gone.'' Looking around for real this time, he realized that they were indeed transported to somewhere else. Because from what he saw they were definitely not in Brimree Grove anymore. He knew they weren''t since when he looked around he didn''t just see one of those white trees, what he saw was a whole entire land was covered by them. There was also the fact that these trees were more majestic than the previous one he saw. Their trucks seemed a lot more to be thicker and sturdier than the one that had the fairy ring underneath it. Studying it further, Xinya also saw that it gave off a pulsing magical aura that was intensely strong. Xinya couldn''t help but wonder why they were transported into the middle of a forest unless the shop was hidden in these woods somewhere. Just as Xinya was about to discuss this with the others, he heard a gasp from Melting Snow. Turning to face the others, he saw that they were all looking up with awe on their faces. Curious as to what they were looking at Xinya looked up to see a wondrous sight. On top of the tall luminous white trees, there were otherworldly glass houses and what seemed like shops that were more exquisite than the next. Also, even though they were really far away, Xinya could see people walking on air as if gravity meant nothing to them. While the group was distracted with the sights up above, five armed guards slowly approached with their weapons out and ready. "Who goes there?!" a deep male voice demanded. Startled at the sudden noise, Xinya and his party quickly turned around towards the voice, only to see that they were surrounded by some of the most beautiful people that he ever had the pleasure of looking at. They each had beautiful obsidian black skin that seemed to sparkle when the light hit it, paired with unearthly green eyes that could draw even the most reluctant person in, and shimmering bluish-black hair, they were very incredibly striking beings. However because of this their tiny glittery translucent wings were overshadowed, and if Xinya wasn''t looking hard enough he wouldn''t even have noticed that they were there. Although they had similar attributes, their features differed from each other bringing out their own special brand of loveliness. If they weren''t so on guard, Xinya would have taken a picture of each of them, but he had a feeling that one false move could cost him his life. "I said, who goes there?!" The man in the red and gold tunic demanded once again. Xinya guessed that he was these guard''s leader, with how they seem to defer to him. Snapping out of the entrancement their beauty caused, Xinya said, "I am Drifting Cloud and these are my friends Melting Snow, Roaming Wind, and Wandering Sound. We came here to visit Rhiannon''s shop." "Rhiannon''s shop? As if we would allow outsiders such as yourselves to ever visit a prestigious place such as that." Scoffed the woman that was standing to the right of the man who spoke. "It makes me laugh to think about." "That''s enough, Mavis." The man said sternly to the woman. Sulking at being scolded, Mavis said, "But Fiore, I was just telling the truth." "What makes you think you will be able to go to Rhiannon''s shop?" Fiore asked Xinya, while completely ignoring the woman next to him. Without saying a word Xinya just held out the arm that the bracelet the Mayor gave him was on. The fairies became shocked once they saw it, for they knew that it was Rhiannon''s bracelet. Each and every member of the Fae had an item such as that bracelet, it encapsulates a small bit of their power, giving off an aura that is easy to identify. They might seem like trinkets, but they are something the Fae gives to the one they love. Every member of the Fae community heard the story of how Rhiannon traveled to the human realm out of curiosity and almost died due to some sort of danger causing her to lose her bracelet. Fiore knew that Fae without their special trinket would never be able to get married, but here it was, Rhiannon needed to know. "How did you get Rhiannon''s bracelet?!" the man next to Mavis harshly asked. Turning his head towards the man, Fiore said, "Calm down, Zairen. You know her bracelet wouldn''t lay peacefully on his arm if it was stolen." "Your right, Fiore," Zairen said, physically pulling himself together. How could he forget if one of their trinkets were stolen or even picked up without permission would cause terrible harm to the person who has it. "We will take them to Rhiannon, only she will be able to shine some light on this." Fiore told the guards around him, before turning to Xinya''s party and saying, "You all are coming with us." After saying that, Fiore signaled his guards, each one of them grabbed an outsider and with a flap of their wings they took off into the sky. Chapter 175: Arriving Xinya gasped when Zairen''s strong arms encircled his body, pulling him flush against his own, holding him tightly. If it weren''t for the cold look that was in the man''s eyes, he might have become a little smitten. Not that anyone could blame him, not with such a devastatingly handsome man holding him in his arms like this. Although reminding himself that this person was just an NPC and one he didn''t particularly care for, helped a lot. Even though players could have a romance with the NPCs if they raise their relationship, Xinya wasn''t someone who was into that sort of thing. He would rather have a living breathing man that he could see inside and out of this game. "Let''s be off!" Fiore yelled flying upward into the sky while signaling the others to begin their departure as well. Faster than he could even blink, Xinya was in the air, rising higher and higher. And as he was traveling upward, all he could think about was how surreal it was being suspended in the air at the mercy of someone he didn''t trust nor liked. It was also very horrifying as well. Xinya made sure to grip Zairen''s arms tightly, he didn''t trust the man after how he reacted when he saw the bracelet. Even though Fiore reassured him that the bracelet couldn''t be stolen, he still had some doubt in his eyes. He had a strong feeling that the man thought him to be a thief and it irked him. The disdain in the man''s eyes was very disconcerting. Deciding to ignore that feeling and the man who caused it, Xinya decided to check on the others. Discreetly opening up his interface he connected to the party voice chat. "Is everyone alright?" "Hell yeah! This is freaking awesome." Melting Snow said, clearly enjoying being lifted high in the air. He was itching to videotape this, but with what happened with the last video he uploaded he was reluctant to do so. However, after thinking about it for a bit, he realized he didn''t have to upload the footage right away, he could just put it in storage. Melting Snow smiled at that thought, and pressed the record button. He would only upload this after he and Drifting Cloud joined his cousin''s guild, that way people would think twice if they try to come after them. Wei who was immersed in taking in all of the beautiful sights around her wasn''t even bothered by how high in the air they were. "I''m better than alright, I''m wonderful." How could she not be, everywhere she was just breathtaking. From the silvery sun that was shining down on the many glasshouses to the mauve-colored sky that seem to go on forever. She could see everything more clearly now than she could when she was on the ground. She realized that the glasshouses got bigger and better the further away they were. And if she squinted her eyes she could make out what seemed to be a giant glass castle that was far in the distance. She doubted that it would happen but meeting the Fae queen would make one of the dreams she had when she was a little girl come true. On the other hand, Wandering Sound was freaking out big time. He wasn''t really a fan of heights especially when he wasn''t inside of something. He was so close to begging the woman who was holding him to bring him back down to the ground. If it wasn''t for the fact that he really wanted to see what was inside of that store, he would have done so already. Instead, he just closed his eyes, believing in that old childish saying of ''what a person can''t see, can''t hurt them''. "I''m alright," Wandering Sound said weakly. "I just want us to arrive there as soon as possible." "That''s good, and Wandering Sound don''t worry, soon we will be at Rhiannon''s shop," Xinya said. Xinya could hear how frightened the man was from the sound of his voice. He understood that feeling very well, being up in the air like this, not in control, left much to be desired. However, his fear wasn''t as extreme as Wandering Sound''s. He could still get some enjoyment out of it too, and what he enjoyed the most was the scenery. He felt that it would be extremely romantic if he was in the arms of someone he loved. Too bad he was stuck in the arms of this cold looking man. Sighing at his fate, he continued to look around at his surroundings while talking to his friends through party voice chat. ~ Xinya and his party had been flying in the arms of the guards for quite a while, and he still had no idea where Fiore was leading them. He was becoming extremely curious, especially now that the glasshouses were becoming sparse. When they first began their flight everywhere they looked there were glasshouses of every shape and form, but now they all but disappeared from sight. Xinya likens it to leaving the city and entering the countryside but in treehouse form. This was sort of worrying, his map didn''t work in this realm so he had no idea where the Fae was taking them. Just as he was about to question Zairen, he saw it, a small building that was completely unlike the rest. From the outside, the building looked grandiose. It had been built using a pink colored glass that was completely different from the clear glass he saw the other buildings have. He could also make out large crystalized flower decorations that were only placed in certain areas. There were also large, star-shaped windows that added to the overall look of the building and have been added in a mostly symmetric way. The building itself was square-shaped, surrounded by a clear glass platform. Xinya had a feeling that this small building was the shop they had been eagerly waiting for. His assumption was correct because Fiore was leading the group straight towards it. "We have arrived," Fiore announced after they all had landed on a platform. After signaling his guards to release Xinya''s party from their hold, he said, "Stay here, I will go and ask someone to summon Rhiannon." Chapter 176: Meeting Rhiannon "Oh my goodness, I can''t believe that we are finally here!" Wei exclaimed excitedly while still speaking in party chat. Nodding his head in agreement, Melting Snow joined in on the excitement. "I know right. I waited for so long, but even now it feels like a dream. I hope I will be able to buy something awesome." "You shouldn''t get too excited, not yet anyway." Wandering Sound told them warily while keeping an eye on the door that Fiore went through. "Rhiannon didn''t originally give the bracelet to Drifting Cloud, so the stipulation she put on it might not count anymore." "Don''t say that you might jinx it!" Melting Snow yelled, puffing out his cheeks angrily at the man. Wandering Sound just shrugged at the boy, after seeing how the Fae reacted when they saw the bracelet he became wary. He also really wanted to go inside the shop, but he held back that desire, he didn''t want to get disappointed if it turns out they couldn''t. "What''s wrong with you Wandering Sound?" Wei asked a little upset about what the man said. They came all this way and now he is questioning if they would be able to go in. She understood he was being cautious, but he could have said it before and not spring it on them when they are right in front of the shop. "Why would you say that?" Seeing the irritation in Roaming Wind''s eyes, Wandering Sound sighed. He didn''t mean to annoy her with his words, it was just that he didn''t want them to get their hopes up too much in case something goes wrong. "Well¡­" "He''s just trying to look out for us, even though he doesn''t need too," Xinya explained, cutting off what Wandering Sound was about to say. Xinya knew that the man was just wary about what had happened earlier. The Fae reaction to the bracelet was a little unnerving, it was as if it meant more to them than just a piece of jewelry that he thought it was. However, even if that was true it didn''t matter since it was something that was given to him. "Why do you say that? You saw how the fae was looking at us before." Wandering Sound said while looking towards Drifting Cloud. Sighing, Xinya walked over to Wandering Sound. Putting his arm around the man''s shoulders he said, "Don''t mistake this game for the real world. I got this bracelet as a quest reward, the agreement that was placed on it has been transferred over to me. There is no way we won''t be able to go into the shop." After listening to Drifting Cloud''s words, Wandering Sound realized how silly he was being. He had been thinking about this as if it was a real-world situation, instead of a game one. "Your right," Wandering Sound said, letting out a breath of relief when he came to that realization. "What was I thinking?" "Something stupid obviously," replied Melting Snow. Rolling his eyes at the boy, Wandering Sound said, "I was asking rhetorically." "And? Someone needed to say it out loud." Melting Snow explained while shrugging. Xinya was about to tell Melting Snow to stop antagonizing the poor man when the shop door opened revealing Fiore and a beautiful woman that could only be Rhiannon. As the two faes made their way over towards them, a sense of anticipation began to fill every one. ~ Rhiannon had been busy all day since her shop was so popular. It hadn''t been this way in the past when her father was running it, but after she took over things had changed. The reason for this was because of the changes she made to the store overall. This used to be a shop that only sold handcrafted nicknacks, but after experiencing the world outside with all of its wonders, she became intrigued with strange and unique things. She began to travel all over the fae world, even sneaking into forbidden areas and into the territories of the light fae to find interesting items. Even though that was why she started it wasn''t why she continued. Something dire had been happening in this world of hers and she needed to find something to save it. She had come close in her search but the item she found was dead. As she continued to look she had found many different items, but there were only a few that could be useful to her. So once her father retired and she became the owner the first thing she thought to do was sell the items she had been collecting for all this time. Who knew that just because she wanted to get rid of all of the clutter that built up over the years that her shop would become so popular that she would have to make a rule that only certain people who held prestige could come in, which was still a lot in her opinion. Letting out a tired yawn, she decided that in the little free time she had to start mapping out her next expedition. Just as she was about to go through her various maps, her office door was slammed opened and an out of breath figure rushed in. Seeing that it was her close friend, the anger of being interrupted was diffused and worry took its place. "What''s wrong Alvaria? Did something happen?" Concerned Rhiannon quickly stood up from her desk and made her way over to the girl who was holding her chest gasping for air. "Something unbelievable has happened," Alvaria began while still gasping, she had a terribly weak body since childhood and running up those stairs wasn''t the smartest idea, but she was just so happy. "The guard Fiore came and said that some outsiders had come with your bracelet." Rhiannon reared back in shock, she couldn''t believe it. She never really thought she would be able to see her bracelet again. She could still remember all those years ago when she was just a young child and was saved by that kind boy. She had been so grateful that she had given him her bracelet even when she knew she shouldn''t. Rhiannon was sure the boy would try to find her quickly since she would allow him to buy something from her shop. Even though at that time they only sold nicknacks, they were still fae made and would be worth a lot to those outsiders. However, after all these years Rhiannon began to think that the boy wasn''t able to find her world even though she gave him a clue to help him. She had been so upset thinking her bracelet had been lost forever, but now he was here. She could finally get it back while fulfilling her promise. She was so happy that she rushed out of the room without saying another word. Running down the steps, she hurried over to Fiore who was standing in front of the checkout desk. "Is it true?" "Yes, Miss Rhiannon, your bracelet has been found," Fiore said reassuringly to the flustered woman. "If you want I can take you to the person who has it." "Please do, I have been waiting for so long for this day," Rhiannon told him. With an incline of his head, Fiore led her to the outsiders. After walking outside and seeing the outsiders face to face, Rhiannon knew for certain that none of them was the little boy she gave her bracelet to and that made her curious. Going up to the green-haired boy who was wearing her bracelet she said, "May I ask who you are and how you obtained my bracelet?" - "Please allow me to introduce myself, " Xinya said in a calm manner. "My name is Drifting Cloud and these are my friends. As for your second question that is quite a long story and I think it would be best if we were sitting as I tell you." Seeing the sense in the boy''s words, Rhiannon said, "Of course how rude of me please follow me to my office. Also Fiore as thanks, you and your team may stay and browse the shop." "Really?! That would be wonderful." Exclaimed Mavis happily, only to get a stern look from Fiore. Bowing slightly, Fiore said, "Thank you, Miss Rhiannon, we would be delighted to." Fiore knew that she had only offered them this because she didn''t want to be alone with these outsider''s but he was still happy, he couldn''t wait to brag about this to the guards. With that said, Rhiannon began to lead Xinya, his friends and the fae guards into the shop. Chapter 177: Rhiannon鈥檚 Office As soon as the group was congregated inside of the pink glass shop, they began to marvel at it''s glorious looking interior. While they were doing that Rhiannon walked over to the counter where a young woman was standing behind. "Alvaria, I will be taking these individuals to my office for a discussion, can you please bring us some of your delicious holly tea?" Rhiannon asked. "Sure thing, Miss Rhiannon. I will be happy too," Alvaria began, blushing shyly while giving Fiore quick glances. "I will have it ready soon." "Thank you, very much Alvaria, but please do take your time," remarked Rhiannon worriedly. With a slight nod of her head, Alvaria replied, "Don''t worry, I won''t push myself this time." "Ladies and gentlemen if you would follow me," Rhiannon started after giving a small smile to her friend. "I will lead you to my office." Xinya and his friends begin to follow Rhiannon once more while being completely shocked by their surroundings. The place was even more lustrous on the inside than it was on the outside. That wasn''t what was shocking though, the group had been expecting that, no what they found shocking was that when they walked into the shop it was completely empty, without a single item that could be seen. It wasn''t like the other shops that Xinya had been in, where as soon as he walked in he would be able to see a multitude of items on display. Instead, besides a few couches and a counter, there was nothing else to be seen. Seeing the look of confusion on the faces of the outsiders, Rhiannon just smiled. She knew that they were wondering where the store merchandise was, but learning the answer depended on how that green-haired boy answered her question. Going up a flight of stairs, the entire group of Xinya''s party and the fae guards entered Rhiannon''s office. It was a lot bigger than what Xinya pictured it to be, he had thought that it would have been similar to Wynter''s the librarian who helped him learn more about Shilvak. However, it wasn''t a small office like hers''s, instead, it was incredibly large and probably could hold more than the 10 people that were already inside of it. Sitting down on an unrealistically soft couch next to his friends, Xinya waited for Rhiannon to speak. After making sure that everyone was comfortable, Rhiannon went and sat behind her large but messy desk. Leaning her hand against her cheek, she said, "So can you tell me now how you obtained my bracelet." "How to begin¡­," Xinya pondered, crossing his arms against his chest while looking straight at the woman. "Yes I know, it all started with a cake." Curious, Rhiannon asked, "A cake?" "Yes a cake," he replied with a slight smile on his face. Xinya begins to tell her and the rest of the fae the tale of a timid pastry chef, a disguised monster, a fierce battle, and a great rescue, with Melting Snow and the others chiming in every so often to add their perspective. "So you got invited to the Mayor''s ball just by delivering a cake?" asked a wide-eyed Rhiannon. Nodding his head, Xinya said, "Yes, I was also completely surprised by the invitation myself." Xinya continued talking until he got to the part where they discovered that the mayor was actually a creature in disguise. "Wait so he wasn''t really the mayor?" Fiore asked, slightly stupefied. "How could a monster fool so many people?" "We had no idea either, but Drifting Cloud figured it out on his own after a while." Melting Snow said while shrugging. Fiore turned to the green-haired boy looking very impressed with him. "Good job lad, at first I thought of you as a weakling but I have changed my viewpoint." Xinya nervously laughed, he knew that he wouldn''t have been able to figure out the monster''s disguise if he hadn''t had the knowledge he gained from the future. So he felt as though he was tricking Fiore since he didn''t use his own skill to figure it out. Continuing on with the story, Xinya told them about the fierce battle that took place and how everyone in his party helped him defeat the fraudulent mayor. "Wow, this little bean sprout really did all of that?" Mavis questioned in a surprised tone. Shooting the woman a quick glare, Melting Snow exclaimed, " Hey! I''m strong too!" The story continued on with Xinya telling them how they rescued the Mayor and his daughter and helped them escape. To being summoned by the man so that he could reward them. By the time the story was finished, two hours had passed and Xinya and his party felt completely drained. They had talked so much that their mouths felt dryer than the Sahara desert, and sadly the tea that Alvaria had brought while they were in the middle of everything was already gone. "I see because you saved that boy''s life, he gave you the bracelet in return. Is that correct?" Rhiannon asked, staring straight at the green-haired boy in front of her. "That is correct, Miss Rhiannon," Xinya responded calmly. "He told us how he had tried very hard to find the fairy world but wasn''t able to, so he gave it to me with the hope that I could." Rhiannon was happy that the little boy who once saved her was doing well, but she was a tad bit disappointed that she wasn''t able to see him again. However, this young man in front of her saved the life of the one who saved hers, so he deserved the reward she once offered that boy. "Thank you for telling me how you got my bracelet," Getting up from her desk she walked over to where Xinya was sitting, holding out her arm towards the boy she said, " I will give you the reward that I intended to give to that boy. You may look around my shop and buy one thing. However, you must give the bracelet back to me first." Xinya unclasped the bracelet that was on his arm and handed it to her without any hesitation. Once her bracelet was back in her hand, Rhiannon smiled brightly making her appear even more beautiful than before. Putting the bracelet on her wrist, Rhiannon said, "Alright everyone follows me, I will reveal to you my store''s items." Chapter 178: Let鈥檚 Shop Pt 1 Escorting them out of her office, Rhiannon led the group of nine back down the stairs to the room they first entered when they came into the building. She could see the confusion in everyone''s eyes when they led inside of the same luxurious but empty room as before with the lone girl standing behind the counter. Ignoring the questioning looks she was getting, Rhiannon snapped her fingers releasing the magic she put over the interior of the store. Making the once empty room become filled to the brim with all sorts of different objects. Seeing the look of awe on the faces of the outsiders and even the other Fae when she did so amused her greatly. Turning to the group who was memorized by all the marvelous items that were all around them, Rhiannon proudly announced, " I would like to officially welcome you all to my store TA Macu. Please feel free to browse around and if you find anything you like to purchase please bring it up to the counter. I will check you out personality." Once that was said, Rhiannon walked behind the counter and stood next to Alvaria. She would let her guests take their time while they are browsing her wares. ''Who knows, maybe they will come across one of my more interesting items.'' She thought before turning to converse with her friend. Xinya was completely shocked at the sudden transformation that took place in the room, just minutes ago it was completely empty with a glamorous aesthetic that was similar to being inside of a mansion, but now it looked like an overstuffed warehouse. He was honestly surprised that there was any room to maneuver in this mess. "Oh wow, there is so much stuff. Where should we even begin?" Wei asked, still using the party voice chat. Shrugging his shoulders at her, Wandering Sound couldn''t even begin to start answering that question. The abundance of items in this room was overwhelming to him. Just when an item catches his attention, he would see something else that looked even more interesting than the previous one. On the other hand, while the others were being enraptured by the multitude of objects all around them, Melting Snow took the initiative to traverse into a pile of items that were piled up in the left-most corner. He knew that they wouldn''t be able to spend all day here in this store, so it was better to strike while the iron is hot. "What are you all doing just standing around like that?!" Melting Snow exclaimed as he picked up an orb-shaped object, studying it for a bit before putting it back down. "Hurry up and start looking. We don''t have all day." Knowing that the boy was right, Xinya snapped out of his wonderment and started looking at the pile of items that was nearest to him. "Melting Snow is right, we don''t have the luxury of taking our sweet time here. Let''s start looking for something good." "How will we know if we can afford the item that we choose?" Wei asked, still a little hesitant as to where she should start looking first. "You don''t need to worry about that," Xinya told her while looking at an ancient-looking book. "As soon as you pick up an object the price appears in front of you." Wandering Sound who was drawn over to a glowing black Banhu, found Xinya''s words to be true. As soon as he touched the instrument, the price, and a description of what it does show up. As he began to read the description of the Banhu his eyes widened in shock, he now knew what a great reward it was to be able to buy something from this shop. The Niartei: This Banhu was carved from a tree, that was watered by the tears of a mourning queen who lost her daughter. Whosoever listens to its music falls into an inescapable melancholy until they beg for death. Fortunately, it has no effect on the musician and his or her''s allies. *This instrument can not be used with skills. Price: 500 gold coins. Wandering Sound could only shake his head in disappointment when he saw the price of it. He really wished he had more coins on him, if he was able to buy that then he would be a great help in any sort of battle. As Wandering Sound began to look around once more, Melting Snow found a mini jackpot. A pile that consisted of only eggs, and with him being the beast tamer that he was, he knew he had to get one. His eyes gleamed at the thought of having a beast partner that came from the fairy realm. He was certain that it would be incredibly unique and something that no other player would have ever seen before. Giggling like a madman to himself, Melting Snow started to inspect the different eggs. Seeing how everyone else was immersed in finding something to buy, Wei began to walk around the store trying to find something that would catch her eye. She didn''t know how long she had been roaming around until a glint of metal caught her attention. Curious about what it was, she wandered over to the pile of items it was coming from. After digging around in it for a while she was finally able to pull the item out only to see that it was a compass. Like Xinya said, as soon as she touched it the price and the description popped up, and after reading it Wei knew that she had to have it. The only sad thing was after she did she would be completely broke, but looking at the details of the compass once again she didn''t care. Compass of Ergon: Ergon the prince Elderwood from the day he was born had a horrible sense of direction. He would get lost going to the bathroom. The king took pity on the poor lad and had a magical compass crafted from him. However, the darn thing never worked, it was said it could only work in special places. *When used in treasure dungeons, it will always lead you down the correct path. When upgraded it will be able to spot and diffuse traps. Price: 86 gold 25 silver coins "I found what I''m going to buy," Wei told everyone excitedly. "Me too!" Melting Snow beamed while holding a blue and yellow-colored egg in his arms carefully almost as if he was afraid of dropping it. "I can''t wait to show you guys!" While going through another pile of objects, Xinya said, "Well if you want you can go to the counter and buy it. I have no clue what I want, I need to keep looking around." "That''s alright, I will wait until you find something too." Melting Snow stated while walking over to where Xinya was. Nodding her along with what Melting snow said, Wei, made her way over to Wandering Sound who was rummaging around near her. "Yeah, what he said, we will wait for you two." Chapter 179: Let鈥檚 Shop Pt 2 "So what did you decide on buying, Roaming Wind?" Wandering Sound asked while putting down another overpowered instrument that he wasn''t able to afford. Smiling at the man, Wei showed him the compass that she had found, letting him hold it so that he could read the description. "Isn''t it an awesome find?" "It sure is," Wandering Sound nodded earnestly after reading the details of the compass. "This is a one in a million find, and it will help you immensely while you hunt for treasures." "I know right, I was thinking the same thing when I first read the description of it," Wei told him after he handed her back the compass. Wandering Sound was happy that Roaming Wind was able to find such a great item like that, not only was it useful but it also fits perfectly with her job as a treasure hunter. He wishes he could get as lucky, but so far all of the instruments he looked at were way out of his price range. Even though he was changing his class to Explorer, Wandering Sound still wanted to use his music skills to fight. He was still a musician at heart and didn''t want his musical ability to get rusty just in case he decided later that he would return to being an idol. "So, what about you? Did anything catch your fancy yet?" questioned Wei. She had been watching Wandering Sound for a while now, as he picked up different instruments only to put them down just as fast. Sighing, softly, Wandering Sound shook his head in regret. "I wanted to find a new instrument but so far all the ones I found are too expensive for me. I think I should just give up looking at them." "Well, if you can''t find an instrument you could buy," Wei stated as she picked up a scroll and begin to read it''s description. "Why don''t you buy something similar." "What do you mean?" inquired Wandering Sound, turning his attention away from the pile of instruments and giving it Wei. Wei handed the scroll she was holding to the bewildered-looking man and said, "There is a whole pile of them over here." Curious Wandering Sound took the scroll from Wei''s hand and as he began to read the scroll''s details a small appeared on his face. ''It seems Roaming Wind has found me something just as helpful and a lot more affordable than the instruments.'' Briana''s Song: Sir Derrick had always been in love with Lady Briana, however one day when she and her parents were on their way to visit his house tragedy struck and everyone died except Lady Briana. Saddened by her family''s loss, she was never able to smile again. Wanting to help her, Sir Derrick had a musician compose a song for her, but happiness could not be faked. *This song has the power to stop a person and make them laugh gleefully until the music ends. **This music composition will turn into a skill once completely learned. Price: 89 gold 43 silver coins. "Thank you so much Roaming Wind," Wandering Sound said happily, pulling Wei into a quick hug that left her a blushing mess. "I''m sure I will be able to find something I like from these scrolls." "You don''t like the scroll that I gave you?" Wei asked her face still a little red from the hug from before. Shaking his head in denial, he said, "The scroll you gave me is good, but I want to see if I can find a better one that could be of more help to us during our trip." "Your right," Wei agreed while nodding her head at him. "You shouldn''t just settle on the first scroll I gave you without looking over the other ones. You should keep looking, I will help you." While Wei and Wandering Sound looked through the musical scrolls, Xinya was looking through another pile of items as Melting Snow watched him holding his newly discovered egg in his arms like a precious treasure. Not that Xinya could blame the boy, after reading the description of it, he would be doing the same. Panache: This is the egg of a Panche, a bird-like creature that can transform into an item that is only wearable to the player that is its owner. When wearing the Panche the owner will be given a +50 speed buff. Also when the Panche is in adulthood, it will be able to give the player the ability of flight and will transform into wings that the player can control on their own. *Beware the only food the Panache can eat is ones that are sweet and have a very cold temperature. Price: 83 gold 67 silver coins. Xinya was a little bit envious of Melting Snow since he had already found something that fit him perfectly. On the other hand, here he was not even knowing what he should get. At first, he thought about looking for a cookbook but decided against it since he knew he probably wouldn''t be able to make fairy food without ingredients from this realm. His second thought was to find some enhanced farming equipment that would be of use to him when he starts building his farm, but so far he found nothing like that here. He was about to scrap that idea and start looking for some fairy made armor when he heard Wandering Sound excited voice speaking to them over the party''s voice chat. "I found what I''m going to get!" exclaimed Wandering Sound, walking with Wei over to where Xinya and Melting Snow were. "I can''t believe I found something this incredible." "Me either, I thought something like that would cost way more," Wei said while smiling brightly. Curious as to what the man was so excited about, Melting Snow asked, "So, what is it?" "See for yourself." Wandering Sound handed the scroll in his hand to the boy, after telling him to pass it to Drifting Cloud after he finished reading. Magical Composition guide & Scroll (100): As with many musicians throughout history, there are times when a person wants to create their own music. They want to be able to express the stories and images of life through their own music. With the help of this Magical Composition guide and scroll, they will be able to create their own music. *Music created by using magical composition will turn into temporary skills that can be used up to 5 times before disappearing. If you are able to create a composition that is a masterpiece the skill created will become permanent. ** You can buy or make more scrolls. Price: 90 gold 80 silver. "This is a wonderful item, but are you sure you can afford it?" Xinya worriedly asked after looking at the price. "Don''t worry," Wandering Sound said with a smile. "I still have the coins I made when I was working as an idol." Giving the man a slight smile, Xinya turned back to the pile of items he was looking through and thought, ''Three down only me left. I hope I can find an object that is as good as theirs.'' Chapter 180: Let鈥檚 Shop Pt 3 "Do you have a general idea about what you want to buy?" Wandering Sound asked as he watched Drifting Cloud aimlessly look through the pile of objects that were in front of him. Sighing inwardly, Xinya glanced at Wandering Sound. The man was smiling happily, clutching the scroll he had found, for some reason, this made him annoyed. He wasn''t annoyed at his friend, but at his own inadequacy of finding something he liked in one of these piles. One by one all of his friends had found something that was great, while also being very suited to their class, but here he was just blindly flailing about with no idea what he should be looking for. He felt very frustrated at this situation, but there was nothing he could do but keep looking around. If luck was on his side, he might be able to stumble onto something that he would be of great use to him. However, after remembering all the trouble his luck brought him, he would rather have it stay far away from him while he was here in the fairy realm. Seeing how Wandering Sound was still waiting for him to answer, Xinya pulled himself out of his thoughts, giving the musician a fake smile, he muttered, "No, but I''m sure I will figure it out soon." "We can help you look, you know," Wei told him. She could tell, even though Xinya was trying to hide it, that he was a little upset that he was unable to find anything that suited him yet. "You might not know what you want, but with all of us looking together we might find an interesting object you might like." "Roaming Wind is right, surprisingly. Let us help you look." Melting Snow said in agreement. Wei smiled at the boy when she heard him agreeing with her, however, after a moment of reflection she yelled, "Hey what do you mean surprisingly, puppy boy?" "Exactly what I said," Melting Snow informed her in an amused tone. "Did you not understand the word?" Chuckling at their antics, Wandering Sound held back an irritated Wei who seemed like she was about to go over and give the boy a piece of her mind. He would really miss the back and forth between those two when he and Roaming Wind separate from the group. "Melting Snow, stop agitating her, we need to help Drifting Cloud look for something good." "Fine, I will stop," the boy said, glancing towards Drifting Cloud who was paying the group no mind as he was reading the description of the triangle shape object in his hand. Pretending to be properly chastised, Melting Snow went over to one of the item piles that was beside the green-haired man and began searching through it idly. He was only going through the motions of trying to find something for the man because he was 100% certain that Drifting Cloud would find something wonderful since he always manages to. Even though he didn''t mind helping his friend look around, to him this felt like a waste of time. He liked it to busy work that would keep them occupied while they were waiting. Melting Snow didn''t really mind, the objects in this store were interesting and he didn''t mind seeing what they could do. However, he knew that soon enough Drifting Cloud would be telling them about the epic item that he found. He really couldn''t wait to see what it would be. If Xinya could read Melting Snow''s mind at the moment, he probably wouldn''t know whether to laugh or cry at the boy''s unwavering faith that he would always find something amazing. It was too bad the boy didn''t know that Xinya could care less about finding an amazing object, instead, he just wanted something useful. While Xinya the group was busy trying to find anything that they thought might be good, they didn''t notice one of the guards walking over towards them. "Did any of you find something you want to buy yet?" Turning towards the sound of the voice, Xinya and his friends saw that it was Mavis, the female guard from before. ~ Mavis had been excited at first when she learned that she would be able to look at the items in Rhiannon''s shop, but after a while ''just looking'' became boring. Knowing that she wouldn''t be able to buy any of these objects put a damper on her mood. And it wasn''t even because she wasn''t privileged enough. Even though Rhiannon made the rule that only Fae who held prestige could come in and buy from her shop, she did allow the common Fae to come in to shop at a special time one week out of the year. However, after seeing the prices of these objects, even if she was to shop here she wouldn''t be able to afford it. She was only a border guard without rank, and her pay was only a mere pittance. So after looking at the overly expensive items in the shop that she would never be able to buy for a while, she became fed up and decided to see what the outsiders were up too. She might not be able to purchase anything, but she could at least check out what others were buying. Separating from her group, Mavis made her through the stacks of items to the other side of the shop where the outsiders were. As she got nearer, she could see that three of them were clutching something in their arms as he looked at other objects. She was smart enough to figure out that they were probably helping their green-haired friend look for something, but she was also curious about what they settled on. So once she was near enough to them she asked. ~ "Well most of us did," Wandering Sound responded, turning towards the beautiful Fae with a smile. "But, we are trying to help our friend find something as well." "That''s very kind of you all. You didn''t want to check out your items first?" Mavis asked. Shaking his head, Melting Snow said, "Nope, we decided that we would check out together." Mavis smiled at the cute boy, she really missed seeing young people playing about. Although the Fae lives are long, their ability to reproduce has decreased exponentially, especially now. Before she could even begin dwelling about it, the singsong voice of the elf girl snapped her out of it. "Do you mind telling us more about the Fae?" Wei asked, looking starry-eyed at the guard. "I have always been enamored by your kind since I was young, and would love to hear more about the Fae." Mavis blushed at the hero-worship in the girl''s eyes, feeling flattered she didn''t see any harm in telling the outsiders a little bit about them. Although, she was a tad worried about what the others would think. She gave a quick glance to her fellow guards that were behind her, when she saw how deeply immersed they were with the items they were looking at, she smiled feeling better. "Well, let me start off by telling you the name of the fairy realm." Chapter 181: Let鈥檚 Shop Pt 4 "The name of this realm is called Bergeb¨¦liard and it is inhabited by the Fae of dark and light." Mavis began as she looked around at the outsiders. Wei was confused, she never knew that there was more type of Fae in this world. She couldn''t wait to learn more about this realm. "So there''s a light and dark Fae?" "Yes, there is. I and everyone in this territory are a Dark Fae, also known as the Seelie." divulged Mavis. "Outside of our territory is where the light Fae dwell, they are known as the Unseelie." "Are the Seelie and the Unseelie Fae very different from each other?" Melting Snow asked curiously. He had long stopped looking through the item pile and was only focusing on the female Fae that was standing in front of him. Giving a small assenting hum, Mavis said, "We are completely different from each other, as the sun is to the moon. We Seelie are attuned with nature, from birth we are imprinted with the knowledge that the magic that all Fae are born with comes from the Mad¨¦r trees. Knowing that we Seelie have tried our best not to disrupt the natural balance." "Is that why you all live in trees?" Wei questioned since that would make sense. Instead of cutting down trees to build houses, they build them on top of the trees using a material that was in abundance and didn''t hold any importance. "Yes, you are correct," Mavis stated. "However, unlike us, the Unseelie are attuned with the abnormal. While we were the keepers of nature, they were the destroyers of the unclean. We used to work in harmony keeping are realm pure, but something happened a couple of hundred years ago and the Unseelie changed. At first, we didn''t notice but now¡­" "Now what?" Wandering Sound asked after Mavis trailed off. He had a feeling that something big was going on here but had no clue as to what it was. Shaking her head as if to clear it, Mavis said, "I have already said too much, outsiders shouldn''t know anymore." "Well, I''m already thankful that you told us this much," admitted Wei. She didn''t want to pry more into it in case they learn something they shouldn''t and get kicked out of the store before they could purchase their items. "You are welcome," Mavis said. She was really beginning to like the elven girl. "I almost forgot, I wanted to ask what object in the shop you three settled on." While Wei, Melting Snow, and Wandering Sound showed Mavis the items they picked out to buy, Xinya finally found something interesting. It was a seed packet and after reading the description Xinya knew that he had to get it. Rhiannon''s special seed packet: Throughout her travels through the different regions ofBergeb¨¦liard, Rhiannon found unknown seeds that didn''t seem to be growable. Saving one of each of the five types of seeds she found, she hoped that maybe one day the person buys them would be able to do what she couldn''t. *There will be a lot of pain and anguish trying to grow these seeds but the rewards will be satisfying. Price: 84 gold 30 silver. Although this packet of seeds wasn''t that great of an item like what his friends had found, Xinya was still intrigued by the packet. The fact that he would be able to grow plants that were from the fairy realm, was already enough of a reason for him to buy it. Just thinking about the unique stats and bonuses these plants would bring to his farm made him smile. Opening up his interface he checked his status, he wanted to make sure that even after buying this seed packet he would have enough to buy a farm once he reached Arkala. Name: Drifting Cloud Title: Fisherman''s Recognition HP: 320/320 Level: 23 MP: 280/280 EXP:500600/1300000 Stamina: 280/280 Skill points: 25 Str: 4 Dex: 15 Int: 4 Luck: 11 Coins: 94 gold 497 silver 700 bronze ''Once I buy this, I will only have 10 gold left. That would be more than enough to buy the farm I am aiming for.'' Xinya thought after closing his interface. Just as he was about to tell the others that he found the object that he wanted to buy, an unknown guard rushed into the shop in a hurry. The man was panting and out of breath, but he didn''t stop until he found Fiore and the other guards. "What''s going on?" Fiore asked the man. He knew that something terrible must have happened for this low ranked guard to rush into this prestigious shop like he did try to locate him. "Tell me quickly!" "Sir, the Unseelie were seen flying towards our territory borders bringing an army of over 100 thousand. Captain Leihelm, told me and 5 other guards to go fly to the nearest outposts in the Seelie territory and gather more guards before the inevitable fight begins" The guard explained in a rush. "Those damn Unseelie, how dare they!" Fiore bellowed angrily, clenching his hand into fists. "Let''s head out, we need to go to the barracks and prepare for war." Signaling to his subordinates, Fiore left the shop with a flourish, not even sparing a glance to Rhiannon or her assistant. Once the guards left the atmosphere of the shop changed, becoming gloomily. Xinya didn''t know what was going on, he didn''t remember reading about a fairy war in his last life. The person who got the bracelet in his last life either must not have divulged the details of his experience here or he came before it all happened. Xinya figured it was latter since it did take him a while before he and his party were able to get here. He really hoped that he wasn''t pulled into some quest because of this, because there was no way he and his friends were strong enough to be of any help in this situation. The best thing for them is to purchase their items and leave this realm. ~ Unknowingly to Xinya, Rhiannon was thinking the same thing. With the emanate threat of war hanging over their heads, she didn''t want these outsiders to somehow become entangled up with it. The best solution for that not happening was for her to get them to leave this realm as soon as possible. With that thought in mind, she left the counter and walked over to her four confused looking guests. Clearing her throat to get their attention, she said, "I''m sorry to rush you, but I think it would be best if you hurry up and pick out what you want to buy, so I can send you off back to your world." "There''s no need to be sorry," responded Xinya with a slight smile. "We have already picked out the items we wanted to buy, we were about to head to the counter when the guards left." "Oh, then follow me to the counter to purchase your items," Rhiannon said with a grin, she was pleased that they would be leaving soon. If something were to happen to them she would feel responsible, since they only came here because of her bracelet. Chapter 182: Something Unexpected With a graceful wave of the hand, Rhiannon spun on her heel and started walking back to the large crystalized counter expecting Xinya and his friends to follow her. Unbeknownst to her as she walked a lively chat that she wasn''t able to hear was taking place just behind her back. "Drifting Cloud, why did you say that?!" Wei exclaimed using the party''s voice chat. Nodding his head at her words, Melting Snow said, "Yeah, why did you? You still haven''t found anything for yourself yet." "Actually, I have," Xinya announced, holding up the seed packet in his hand as proof. "I was going to show you all it, but when that guard came running in to find the other guards, I had no time to do so." "What is it?" Wandering Sound asked, curious as to what the green-haired man had decided on getting. Xinya wasn''t able to share the seed package information with everyone since he didn''t own it yet, so instead, he read the details of it to them. From their faces, he could tell that they weren''t very impressed with what he picked out. "Are you sure that you want to settle on that. You can always just tell that lady that you changed your mind. I will help you beg for more time." Melting Snow sincerely told him. The furry eared boy really thought that the only reason why his friend picked that item was because they were being rushed by the store owner. He really hoped that wasn''t the case, he didn''t want his friend to be wronged. To be honest when Melting Snow saw that guard rush in he was almost certain that they would somehow trigger a quest. When that didn''t happen and the guards left he had a bad feeling something would happen. He knew that the others felt the same, so when Rhiannon walked over and began rushing them, he was one step away from digging through one of those items piles to help Drifting Cloud find something. So when Drifting Cloud told that woman that they were all set, he was taken aback. Melting Snow thought that his friend just gave up on finding something and was going to leave without getting anything. However, when he saw that Drifting Cloud did indeed get an item of his own, he was excited for him. But after learning that it was only a packet of seeds, he once again felt bad for the man. He could only assume that the man just settled on the last thing he was looking at when that woman came over. This made him upset, he didn''t want his friend to buy any old thing just because he felt he had to. Feeling touched and a little amused at the boy''s words, Xinya said, "It''s not like that, I actually want these seeds." "You''re not lying to us are you?" Wei asked. She knew how kind Xinya was, and how he wouldn''t want them to lose the objects that they had found. So him doing this for their sake was very possible. "It wouldn''t hurt to ask for more time if you need it." "Guys, I know what you are thinking, but did you forget that I want to set up a farm once we get to Arkala? I really want these seeds, they are not something I settled on." Xinya huffed assertedly. Feeling contrite, Wei and Melting Snow lowered his head. They felt ashamed for doubting him. However, in their defense, they just didn''t want their friend to settle on any old thing. Knowing that his two were probably pouting behind him, Xinya just grinned and continued following Rhiannon. It took about five minutes before the group reached the large crystalized counter. Trying to make his way through all of those item stacks had been difficult and he was a little jealous of lady Rhiannon who was able to fly over them. He really didn''t know why she just didn''t make the items disappear like before. ~ "Please have your items ready so that we can take care of you quickly," Rhiannon said once they were all at the counter. Xinya was really curious as to how the transaction would take place, but as quickly as he thought about it he found out. Rhiannon waved a glowing hand across the crystalized counter, and two crystal pillars raised up from it. "These are called converters, I had them installed a long time ago when I thought that a certain someone would come. This will allow your other realm money to be converted into our currency." "Don''t you use gold coins? That''s what it said when we checked the price of the different items." Questioned Wandering Sound, in confusion. "I assumed that is because of the translation device your group is using. " Rhiannon explained. "Since everything in this shop is written in the language of the Fae." "Does that mean the Fae can speak our world''s language?" Wei asked. She had thought that the game made the Fae speak the same language as everyone else, but now she wasn''t so sure. Shaking her head, Rhiannon said, "No we are not. We the Seelie are gifted with the ability to understand every creature of nature." Seeing as the outsiders had no more questions to ask and understood how the converter worked Rhiannon and her assistant started the process of checking them out, beginning with the fury eared boy and the musician. Taking the egg from the boy, Rhiannon placed it on top of the crystal pillar. As soon as the egg was placed down a white light surrounded it and a transparent screen appeared. On it was all of the egg details and an agreement contract. "What''s this?" Wandering Sound asked as he read through the same agreement that appeared when the assistant put his scrolls down on the other pillar. "They are magical contracts," Rhiannon explained, looking at them all seriously. "The products that you buy here are not to be used in an evil way. If they are used in that manner they will vanish from your possession." When Wandering Sound and the others heard Rhiannon''s words they nodded their heads in understanding. It was only right for Rhiannon to do this, if the things they were buying were in the hands of people who liked to do illegal PVP, without this safeguard who knew what could happen. While Melting Snow and Wandering Sound were busy signing and paying for their items, Xinya noticed a small strange-looking plant on the edge of the counter. Curious as to what kind of plant it was, Xinya went over towards it stretching out his hand to touch it. Rhiannon noticed that the boy was about to touch one of the dormant Mad¨¦r tree buds was about to yell and stop him. However before she could even get the words out, Xinya already picked it up. She could only look on as an aura of green particles burst forth from the bud in awe, and Xinya who was holding the plant heard a familiar notification that made him give a helpless smile. [Quest Triggered! ] Chapter 183: Mad茅r Tree Bud* A wry smile played across Xinya''s face as he held the pulsating plant in his hand. Glancing at his friends, he could only give a helpless shrug towards the looks that they were giving him. "You triggered a quest didn''t you?" Wandering Sound asked through party voice chat. He knew that the man did, he didn''t even know why he was asking. If there was one thing that he was sure of, it was Drifting Cloud''s ability to trigger all sorts of strange quests. Bobbing his head yes to Wandering Sound''s question, Xinya let out a small sigh. Melting Snow, who was looking at Drifting Cloud with gleaming eyes said, "Do you think it would be an adventure type one, like going to a Fae dungeon." "Do you think we are strong enough to handle that sort of thing?" Wei asked with a roll of her eyes. "And the quest might not even be sharable did you think of that?" As his friends talked in the background, Xinya looked over to the two Fae women who were staring at the plant in his hand as if it was their world he was holding, and wondered what was the story behind it. However, even though he was curious he knew he had to be cautious about accepting any quests in this realm. If it was anywhere else he wouldn''t have minded, but since it was here in this world, it made him feel a little wary. All of the NPC Fae he met so far was a very high level and he had a feeling that any kind of quest that was given to him would be a straight-up suicide mission. Xinya knew he was overthinking things, and the quest that he triggered could be just an easy one like the fetch and carry kind. But he thought back to a couple of minutes ago when the guards rushed out to get ready for war and had a feeling that it wouldn''t be that simple. So Xinya decided that he would just hear the Fae woman out and if the quest that he was given was too difficult he would just turn it down. Although, he really hoped that it would be something that he was capable of doing. ~ "H...how?" Rhiannon stuttered looking at the Mad¨¦r bud in wonderment and awe. Rushing out from behind the counter, Rhiannon made her way over to the green-haired boy never once taking her eyes off of the plant in his hand. Her eyes began to well up, but she desperately tried to hold back the tears of happiness that wanted to flow down her face. She had been searching for years for seeds of the Mad¨¦r tree, only to find this one dormant bud. No matter what she did she wasn''t able to awaken it, neither could the specialists that she hired to research it. For this random outsider to be able to awaken it was just mind-boggling to her. Rhiannon felt as though her three world views had been shaken. Needing to make sure what she was seeing was real, she snatched the Mad¨¦r bud out of the boy''s hand. However, as soon as she picked it up it became dormant once more. Seeing the Mad¨¦r bud that was just teeming with life just a few seconds ago revert back to this hollow state almost broke her. "Why?" Alvaria, who also knew the importance of that bud, rushed over to Rhiannon to see what was happening. Only to see her friend staring silently at the once more dormant Mad¨¦r bud in her hand. "What happened, Rhiannon?" Alvaria asked, looking very concerned. She knew how hard her friend had been searching all these years for the seeds of the Mad¨¦r tree only to find a dormant one. For her to see it come to life only to revert back after a minute must have been a devastating blow. "I don''t know," Rhiannon replied, shaking her head in a confused manner. "It was just alive." Looking at the bud, Alvaria turned her gaze to the green-haired boy who was staring at them silently. Looking closer at him, she realized something that she didn''t notice about him before. "Your a Dryad," breathed out Alvaria in surprise. Snapping her head up at her friend''s words, Rhiannon looked over to where the green-haired man was standing. She stared intensely at him, trying to see if what Alvaria said was correct. She had read all about the Dryad race a long time ago in the history books, they were said to be a very distant cousin of the Fae. They were also said to be the only beings of the other realm who were very much welcomed into theirs. However, a couple of thousand years ago the Dryad race stopped appearing and was said to have died out. There were no pictures of them, only a description of how they looked and their powers. From what she read she knew that dryads held strong power over plants, particularly trees and wood. A really powerful Dryads could make plants grow within seconds and can change a seed into a towering oak. They also had a special skill called Wood Manipulation that allows Dryads to call on the energy within the wood, even that of wood that was dead. When everything she read about the dryad race came flooding back into her mind, her eyes lit up with hope. Unable to help herself she stepped closer to Xinya, "Are you really a Dryad?" Although confused by the question, Xinya answered anyway, "Yes I am." Hearing his words, Alvaria gasped happily, while Rhiannon smiled in delight. She couldn''t believe her luck, her bracelet was returned by the one person who could save them. "Please can you help me?" Rhiannon began, her eyes filled with hope. "No, not just me, but my entire realm." Seeing the desperation in the woman''s eyes, he asked, "How can I help?" [Quest has been created!] The Fae realm needs your help. The Unseelie has become blinded and has disrupted nature''s balance. With them not stopping the anomalies from forming, impurities have begun building up destroying the magical essence of this realm. The magical essence comes from the Mad¨¦r trees, but they are all now slowly dying. If all of the Mad¨¦r trees die the Fae realm will collapse upon itself. Rhiannon wants you to completely awaken this Mad¨¦r bud, and only bring it back once the tree blooms fully. *It is advised to have Level 20 farming skill before attempting to plant this bud in the ground. Reward: ??? exp / ??? coins / ??? *Racial Skill Chapter 184: Finishing Up Xinya listened as Rhiannon began to reiterate what the quest summary had already told him. However, he didn''t mind hearing the details again, because the quest summary was just that, a summary and wouldn''t give him a real insight into what was going on in the Fae realm. From what Rhiannon told him, he learned that before the Unseelie began going against the natural order of things, a strange object fell from the sky. With the description that Rhiannon gave to him, Xinya could tell that it was a meteor of some kind. Inside of the meteor was a foreign substance that began to seep into the ground. The Unseelie was able to clean it up, but after a couple of days, they began to get sick. Rhiannon went on to tell him how the Seelie queen had tried to send some of her best Seelie healers to aid the Unseelie only for them to be stopped at the border. The Unseelie guards who were posted there told them that the Unseelie king didn''t want whatever illness that they contracted to spread. The Unseelie territory was sealed for ten years and once the seal was released all the Unseelie inside had been changed. Rhiannon told him that there weren''t any physical changes, but there were extreme mental ones. They became more aggressive, they stopped caring about the balance, and they began to covet the Seelie territory. The once peaceful relationship between the two Fae had crumbled until it became dust. Rhiannon believed that whatever was in that object that fell from the sky, was the cause for all of this. She told him that while she was traveling around she had snuck into the Unseelie territory and saw the landing sight of the object. She described seeing a forest of withered Mad¨¦r trees, that looked as if the life was sucked right out of them, and in the center of the forest was a bubbling aperture that was filled with an opaque looking substance. Rhiannon explained to Xinya, about how she wanted to get closer to get a better look at it, but when she tried a sharp pain pierced her skull and she felt as if someone or something was shouting ''NO'' at her. She believed that it was Lady Nature herself, stopping her from getting near the anomaly. From what Rhiannon was telling him, Xinya understood that she believed that Lady Nature is fighting against this unknown substance with the magic of this world and that is what was causing the depletion of magic in her Realm. That is why she wanted to find more Mad¨¦r tree seeds, she thinks that if she plants more of the trees it would bring more magic and help Lady Nature fight off the anomaly. Xinya felt that Rhiannon''s way of thinking was naive and the only way to bring magic back to normal was to destroy the cause of the depletion, but he also knew that she was just an NPC and that fighting the anomaly was probably part of another questline. Thinking that way, Xinya had a feeling that growing a Mad¨¦r was only step one, and once he came back to this realm he would be given another quest that pertains to fighting the substance. "So, will you help me by taking this Mad¨¦r bud to your realm, and make it grow until it blooms fully?" Rhiannon asked after she finished telling Xinya about what happened. "I know I''m asking a lot, but I don''t think it would be able to healthily grow in the Fae realm with how things are now." [Do you accept Rhiannon''s quest? Yes or NO?] Pressing the yes button, Xinya smiled at the Fae woman, "I will do my best to help you with this. "Thank you, thank you so much," exclaimed Rhiannon as she pushed the tree bud back into Xinya''s hand. She could only smile as the tree bud came back to life as soon as the boy was touching it. Wandering Sound who was using his arm to lean against the counter waiting for Drifting Cloud to finish getting his quest, elbow slipped making him fall against the counter causing a small ruckus. He started blushing in embarrassment at his small mishap, especially when everyone turned to look at him, although he did try his best to play it off as if it was nothing. However, because of Wandering Sound''s accident, Rhiannon realized how unprofessional she was acting, allowing her customers to be kept waiting like this. After giving a look to her friend, she walked back behind the counter and continued the check out process that was stopped. ~ It didn''t take long at all before Xinya and his friends had all signed and paid for their items. Everyone in the group was very happy that the items that they picked out truly belong to them now. They became even happier when after putting the item into their inventories they learned that it became exclusive to only them. This meant that if a monster or an illegal pvper killed them the item wouldn''t be able to be dropped or stolen. This was something the Xinya and Melting Snow wouldn''t really have to worry about, but for Wandering Sound and Wei this was a relief. Especially since they would be journeying all alone soon. Rhiannon who had just finished taking care of Xinya turned away from the counter to the crystal shelf that was just above her and picked up a pink-colored card-shaped object that was on it. Turning back around, she left the counter and walked over to Xinya. "Before I forget, please keep this in your possession," Rhiannon said, holding out the card towards him. Taking the shiny pink metallic card from the woman''s hand, Xinya asked, " What is this?" "This is Mariposa''s Key," Rhiannon began while snapping her fingers making all the items in the shop disappear. She then proceeded to snap her fingers once again making a large vine-covered door appear against the wall. "This key will allow you to create a door from your world to ours and vice versa. Once you have completed growing the Mad¨¦r bud that key will activate allowing you to make a door to come back to the fairy realm. Looking down at the card in his hand, Xinya was happy to know that he had an easy way of getting back to the world instead of doing that ritual again. "I understand, I will make sure to keep it safe." "Good. Also because I know that the tree will be hard to carry back on your own, I will allow you to bring up to 20 other people you trust back here to help you." Rhiannon told him generously. Xinya almost laughed when Rhiannon said those words because now he knew for sure that he was right and growing this bud was only going to be the first step, and sooner or later he would have to fight that substance that took over Unseelie once he returned. Waving her arm, the door in front of them opened revealing a swirl of colors, "This will lead you back to the place where you entered from." After giving Rhiannon their thanks, Xinya and his friends walked through the door leaving the Fae realm behind. As the door closed and disappeared, Rhiannon wondered if she should have told them that time works differently in the Fae realm and they would arrive back to their realm within a minute of when they left. Knowing that it was too late to do so anyway, Rhiannon just shook her head and disappeared the door with a snap of her fingers. Chapter 185: Let鈥檚 Fight Pt 1 Before walking through the enchanted door that Rhiannon made, Xinya and his friends closed their eyes. They all believed that as soon as they entered they would encounter the same blinding golden light and rollercoaster-like experience they had from before. However, what they thought would happen, didn''t much to Xinya''s relief. Instead of a stomach-churning ride through the blinding tunnel, there was only a quick tug and almost instantly they were back in Brimree Grove in the same place where they left. Hearing a loud roar close to him, Xinya opened his eyes to see that he was only centimeters away from the claw of the Covert Atranoch. Startled at the sight, Xinya tried to dodge, but it was already too late. The large beast jumped at him and clawed at his chest, knocking him back against the tree. [ -153 Hp] Xinya grunted from the attack, he was glad that he had his pain settings on low because he knew he would have lost his composure and started screaming from the pain. Seeing the monster was about to attack him again, he went to grab a potion only to be stopped by Wei, who used a Blazing Bullet, knocking the monster back and away from him. "Are you alright, Drifting Cloud?" Wei asked while cocking her guns, ready to shoot the creature again. Taking a Flora Attack potion out of his item slot, he threw it at the monster. The first one didn''t work, so he threw another one at it. As he watched the petals immobilize it, Xinya said, "Yeah I''m fine, but that was too close." "What in the world is going on?!" Melting Snow asked. Gripping the ice blue swords that were in his hands, he was alert and ready for action. "Why is it still night, and why is that monster aggro still on us?" "It''s because we were probably only gone a minute, instead of hours like we all thought." Wandering Sound explained. Giving the man a confused look, Melting Snow said, "What the heck does that mean?" "Although I would like to know as well," Xinya began, cutting off the furry eared boy. "I think we should get out of here. My potion won''t last for long.'''' "We aren''t going to fight it?" Wei asked. "Let''s discuss this from further away." Replied Xinya as he ran to the edge of the glade to the cover of trees. After a slight hesitation, Wei, Melting Snow, and Wandering Sound quickly followed. Only when they were all safely hidden behind the foliage of the grove, did Xinya begin to speak again. Looking towards the other''s, Xinya asks, "Do you all really want to try to take down this monster?" "I want to. I always wanted to kill a dragon, and this is close enough to one." Melting Snow stated excitedly. Surprisingly Wandering Sound nodded his head in agreement, "I also want to give it a go, I want to see if my skills improved." "Yeah, we can always run away if we can''t take it down," Wei told him. "Do you not want to?" "It''s not that, it''s just the monster is like five levels above us and a boss monster, if that''s not bad enough it''s also transformed. I feel like we are taking on more than we can chew." Explained Xinya. Wei agreed with Xinya, fighting this monster would be hard, but she also had a reason to do so. "I know it will be hard, but it will also be our last battle together as a group. If we can''t do it, we can run, but I want to try." Feeling sidelined by the emotional onslaught of her words, Xinya inwardly sighed. He knew that she was right, this would be their last battle together for a while, and with it being against a transformed boss would make it very memorable. "Alright, let''s do it but we need a plan. We can''t just go attacking this thing all half-assed." Xinya told them sternly. Everyone hummed in agreement, Xinya was always making them a plan first before attacking dangerous monsters. They didn''t expect any different this time either. Wandering Sound looked over to Drifting Cloud who had his brows furrowed deep in thought, he was about to offer his assistance, but Melting Snow stopped him before he could with a question. "Wandering Sound, what did you mean last time when you said that we were only in the fairy realm for a minute?" Questioned Melting Snow. Amused, Wandering Sound just looked at the boy. "Don''t you think we should be helping Drifting Cloud think up a plan, instead of thinking about trivial things like that?" "I mean we could help him," started Melting Snow while turning to the green-haired man who was studying the now free monster inside of the glade with a slight smile on his face. "But I don''t think that is necessary." Wei, who was listening to Melting Snow and Wandering Sound''s conversation, peaked at Xinya before inclining her head in consensus. "What Snow boy said is right, let Drifting Cloud think, we will offer our feedback later." Although he still thought they should help Drifting Cloud instead of relying on him to think of the plans by himself all the time, he was outvoted 2 to 1. So all Wandering Sound could do was explain his theory of pocket dimensions inside the game where time isn''t linear. Before he could go into more detail about it, Xinya began to speak. "I got an idea on how we should handle this beast," Xinya told them, jumping up in excitement. With an eager look in his eyes, Melting Snow exclaimed, "Tell us!" "Well, first we need to¡­," As Xinya began to explain his idea to the group, he forgot that he was now out in the open and not in the cover of the trees anymore. The Covert Atranoch who still hasn''t left its aggroed state spotted him, letting out a murderous roar it began to charge towards him and his group. Chapter 186: Let鈥檚 fight Pt 2 A loud roar echoed throughout the glade, rapidly catching Xinya and his friend''s attention. What they saw startled them, somehow the monster had found their position and was charging straight towards them. There was a sharp overtone of bloodlust that was directed at him, coming off of the creature. This came across quite clearly, especially with the way it looked as it barreled towards him, with its large sharp claws that appeared as if they were dripping poison and jagged metal teeth that looked as if they could bite his arm off. With the way the monster was focused on him, he could tell that his life was in peril. He was glad that this was just a game because if it wasn''t, he would already be dead. Then again if it was real life, there would be no way he would still be near enough for the monster to even see him. As he watched the monster get closer, he had a fleeting thought about how the monster found their hiding place. However, this thought left as quickly as it came, because he finally noticed that he was standing out in the open. Letting out a cuss, Xinya knew that he wouldn''t be able to finish telling the others his plan, he decided they would have to just go for it. Grabbing a dreaming dust potion from his item slot, he swiftly hurled it at the monster. However, it had no effect, except for pissing off the dragon-like beast even more. Stopping in its tracks, the Covert Atranoch begins to activate one of its skills. Xinya had a feeling that it would be something very destructive. ''''Scatter!'''' Xinya yelled, awakening the others from their stunned state, getting them moving. Not bothering to see where the others ran off to, Xinya scampered to find some cover. He felt slightly guilty about not worrying about his friends, but he also knew that he was the one who held the monster''s aggro making him it''s only prey at this time. This proved to be correct because when he tried to run, the monster stopped his attack and started chasing him once again. The creature was fast and Xinya knew he wouldn''t be able to outrun it. Taking out a couple of his Flora Attack potions he threw them at the monster to buy some time. If he could he would have just kept hurling that potion at the monster, while the others bombarded it with their skills, but he only had a limited supply of them and they honestly only worked 50% of the time. Once the monster was immobilized Xinya ran to the large white tree in the middle of the glade. Using his special racial skill Xinya blended himself against it. With his presence diminished, allowing him to look over the situation. "Drifting Cloud are you doing alright?" Wei asked from where she was hiding with Melting Snow. She could tell from the party screen that his HP was stable, but she couldn''t see his location. Trying his best not to move in case it disrupts his camouflage, Xinya said, "I''m fine, I''m using a skill to hide, but it won''t last long." "What should we do?" Melting Snow could see that Drifting Cloud was in a precarious predicament because once his skill duration was over that monster would be on him faster than he could blink his eyes. "To be honest," started Xinya, turning his eyes away from the immobilized creature to the area where his friends were hiding. "I don''t know." ~ As they were talking they didn''t notice that the potion on the Covert Atranoch had worn off. The monster howled angrily once it realized it had lost track of its prey again, however it knew it would find it again. A sudden gust of wind blew through the grove, and with it a particular scent that drew the creature''s attention. It seems that its prey was still here somewhere, the monster just had to find it. Following the scent, the monster found itself in front of the large tree in the middle of the glade. The scent was strongest here, but the monster didn''t see anything or feel any type of presence. ~ The others were getting worried, they could see that the creature was only a few steps away from where Drifting cloud was hiding. Xinya also felt concerned, he could see the creature looking at the tree in front of it with intelligent eyes that could sense that something was amiss. Xinya tried not to move, he did not want to give himself away, but he knew he would need to do something quickly because there were only 20 more seconds before his skill deactivated. If he knew this would happen he would have used some of his skill points to upgrade it when he had a chance. The atmosphere was becoming tenser with every passing second, and this irritated Melting Snow. He looked towards where Drifting Cloud was hiding and began wondering whether he should run out and start attacking the creature himself. ''''Be patient, snow boy,'''' Wei had already seen through the boy''s intentions but knew it would be bad if the boy just rushed in like he wanted to. She could understand him though, she too wanted to try and help Xinya somehow. Wei knew that it was only a matter of time before his skill timed out, but she also knew that even under pressure Xinya would come up with an idea on how they can take down this beast. Maybe she was being too optimistic, and they would have to make a run for it, but either way, she would be ready. Even before Xinya''s skill wore off the monster seemed to begin sensing his presence. The scales on its back stood up, revealing an orchid pattern with its black, red, and pink colors, and the strange substance on its claws became more prominent. The monster felt gleeful, it had once again located its prey. It had to admit it was smarter than the other prey that it had hunted, with the way it hid away, but even that wouldn''t be enough to stop it in getting its revenge. As the monster lifted its poisonous claw to strike down at the place where Xinya was hiding, Melting Snow, Wei, and Wandering Sound who was gripping their weapons tightly were all one second away from attacking. Chapter 187: Let鈥檚 fight Pt 3 Moving by instinct, Xinya ducked out of the way and avoided the poisonous claw by mere centimeters. It was pure luck. It felt like his mind was going 200 miles per hour. He had to think up something. If only to stave the monster off for a few more seconds. At that moment, Melting Snow and Wandering Sound jumped out of their hiding places, running over to him. They had higher HP and Xinya was sure they would be able to take care of themselves, but he didn''t want them to get hurt either. How he wished that he was able to make the resurrection potion or some other kind of buff potion to help everyone out. He felt a fire burning in his heart, once he got to Arkala he would make it his priority to create more useful potions. ''''Don''t get too close it''s claws are poisonous!" Xinya warned them through party chat. He needed to make sure the monster aggro stayed on him. He was not impulsive by any means, whether it be the real world or world of Haven. But at this moment, his pride and heart were stronger than his mind. ''''Since there is no time to create an elaborate plan, we can only go with the flow," Xinya told them as he took out two potions. "I will momentarily distract it with my Mini Fireballs potion, while you all ready your attacks. Since it came to this we aren''t going to give up.'''' Noticing the newcomers, the monster went to attack them, taking them as threats wanting to steal away it''s prey. It would not allow that to happen. The monster was unexpectedly agile despite its stubby legs and log-like body. It charged towards Melting Snow. Melting Snow was already ready for action, so when the monster ran towards him, he slashed his swords down, trying to injure the monster. However, the creature evaded the reckless attack with ease, making Melting Snow gnash his teeth. Seeing that the monster began attacking Melting Snow, Xinya hurriedly started flinging the Mini Fireball potions one after another at the monster, they didn''t do much damage to the monster''s 500k hp, but it did attract the monster''s attention back to him. When the monster turned back to him, Xinya could feel his heartbeat go through the roof. The adrenaline rush was hitting him hard, but it also brought clarity that he didn''t have before. At that moment, someone whizzed past him, taking a look he could see that it was only Roaming Wind. While running, she aimed her guns at the monster, trying to get in a good shot. She had wanted to stay hidden and just snipe the creature but with how it was moving she wasn''t able to aim. A loud bang sounded and a pair of red bullets sped towards the monster''s almost non-existent, meaty neck. The monster turned around, letting the bullets graze its scales. A sign that she shaved off some HP appeared, but the number was disappointing. While Wei was shooting at it, Xinya and Wandering Sound started attacking it together. Melting Snow wanted to help, but he knew if he joined in he would get poisoned by the monster''s claws. The three of them worked together, keeping the monster blinded as they slowly lowered its HP. Xinya thought he was worried for nothing, the monster Hp was already down to 400k and if they keep at it this way, it will be dead soon enough. However, it seemed he thought too soon because as soon as they got the monster''s Hp down another 50k a gust of greenish gas burst out of the monster''s throat and a notification popped up. [You''ve been poisoned!] [You will lose 50 Hp every ten seconds for a minute!] "Everyone move away!" Xinya yelled. He knew that if they stayed in the range of the gas the time they will be poisoned will just keep going higher. Everyone began rushing away from the monster and it''s gas, chugging down HP potions as they went. The gas spread quite a distance, way out of his throwing distance, and Wandering Sound attacks could reach. The only one who could keep attacking the monster was Wei, but her bullets didn''t do much damage. Melting Snow who was just watching couldn''t take it anymore decided to run in, not caring about the gas. He jumped high, just above the monster''s head, and buried his left blade into the creature''s shoulder, while the right blade made a cut from forehead downwards. The monster screeched enraged. One of its eyes was destroyed. Melting Snow''s continuous attacks on the monster combined with Wei''s, brought the monster''s Hp down to a little under 300k. Although Melting Snow''s efforts were great, the monster''s poison was bringing down his HP quickly. "Melting Snow hurry and drink an HP potion!" Xinya yelled impatiently, he couldn''t wait for the gas to dissipate so he could hurry and join back into the fray. Somersaulting off of the monster, Melting Snow moved away from the creature. His Hp was low and he was in a poisoned state, so all he could do was gulp down some health potions while Roaming Wind distracted the monster with her attacks. Once the gas had dispersed, Xinya and Wandering Sound jumped back into the fight. However this time the monster wasn''t going to allow itself to be ganged up upon. With a murderous howl, the monster went into berserk mode. Xinya couldn''t breathe for a moment as he watched the monster start to change colors. The scales turned moss green, the claws were dripping a liquid that was more corrosive than before; the rust-red droplets fell onto the ground and blackened the ground and ate away the vegetation. Right off, Xinya knew that if that poison as it was now touched them it would be instant death. His mind was swirling, but before he could even say or do anything, he heard a melody ringing behind him. A beautiful arrangement resembling the songs of sirens echoed through the glade. Xinya would later swear that he heard the sound of waves while listening to Wandering Sound''s Beguiling Song. When Wandering Sound saw the creature going into a berserk state, he was certain that they would all die. He didn''t want that to happen, no he wouldn''t let that happen. Emotions play a huge part in music, the stronger the emotion is the more it comes across in a musician''s playing. That''s a fact. Because of such a simple principle, the Beguiling Song attack worked. The monster entered a trance and stood simply in a place. Roaming Wind didn''t hesitate, desperate to hit. Before anyone had to tell her, she used Soul Shot. The bullet hit the monster right into the chest, inflicting maximum damage. It was also pushed 5 feet away from its original position. Breaking out of the trance, the monster came back to his mind and roared, breathing black fire. It didn''t move much, but the damage to the surrounding vegetation was horrible. Dead flowers, scorched soil, fallen trees, and burning bushes. ''''Everyone, attack we need to kill him quickly!'''' shouted Xinya, who was about to throw some potions at it. Melting Snow tried to sneak up behind it and attack it, but his sword was deflected, and instead of the creature he received some damage. Puffing in displeasure, he retreated a couple of steps to see the best angle to attack it was. Then he remembered his skill Sword of Vengeance. His ultimate attack! How could he forget, gaaah! Yet another melody merged with the ominous wailing of the Atranoch. A lullaby-like song flew in the air, making him slower with each intended step. Wandering Sound exerted his mana into the Snail Song, while Xinya took out the Dreaming Dust and flung it towards the monster. Yet, nothing happened. A brief silence cut through the calming song. The monster growled once again, startling all of them from stupefaction. ''''Shit, the Dreaming Dust is ineffective!'''' Roaming Wind shouted to overpower the growling of the animal in front of them. She was hoping that the dreaming dust potion would work since it would amplify their damage power. Wandering Sound resumed playing, but the effect was weakened. He could see that the monster was fighting against it, and soon would break free of it. At that moment, a light flew by them all. The clanging sound of blades hitting the monster didn''t stop. Melting Snow used Sonic Run. He seemed to fly, not stopping for a millisecond, brandishing his swords against the tough skin of the Atranoch, testing them both. Sparks flew in all directions from the friction, making it seem dangerous, but also entrancing at the same time. Full of energy and excitement, this deadly dance continued until they could see Melting Snow''s silhouette slowly retreating, a sign that the skill is wearing out. Wandering Sound put his flute to his lips and blew a tune that became sharper with each sound. Notes became entities of their own, piercing the monster, widening the wounds the blades made. A shrill sound that hurt the ears rang out as the final note landed unsuccessfully. The monster was free, thus it turned around and chased towards Wandering Sound. Wandering Sound had no choice but to use his last reserve of MP to let out a melody dripping with cries and curses, letting it form into a shield in front of him. He stood in front of Roaming Wind to protect her. His Liturgy of the Damned did well in enduring three successive attacks from the Atranoch. During that time, Roaming Wind cocked her guns and shot fiery ammunition once again, hitting him in the stomach, deepening one of the wounds the notes made. Thousand blazing swords appeared above the monster''s head. Melting Snow resembled a warrior when standing in front of the monster, commanding his weapon: "Swords of death, take your vengeance!'''' Blades mercilessly stabbed the monster before breaking into particles of light. As soon as his attack hit, it destroyed the last of the monster''s health. With one last roar, the monster fell to the ground dying. Chapter 188: Rock Paper Scissors Smiling triumphantly as the monster began to disintegrate into particles of light, Xinya could only think about how it had been a long, hard battle but with their combined effort they had defeated it. However, there was a certain point during the battle, when the monster was spewing poison, that he thought that the creature would get the best of them, but he was glad that he was proved wrong. It seems that over the course of time in which they traveled together, their teamwork had improved. Wei skills in fighting had improved, Melting Snow wasn''t as spontaneous as he was before, and Wandering Sound''s abilities with his flute had advanced tremendously. Xinya could still remember when they first entered Baldahurh Forest, and the man wasn''t even able to run while playing his flute. The man from then and the one from now was completely different, the same could be said for Melting Snow and Wei. They all had improved so much, even himself, and knowing this Xinya felt much better about Wei going off on her own. He didn''t show it, but he was a tad worried about letting her go off with Wandering Sound. However, after that battle, he was feeling better about it. She had come a long way from the amateur player that she was, she still has a long way to go but he could see the potential in her. "Oh my goodness, that battle took forever!" Wei exclaimed, she thought they would be fighting that creature for hours. Flopping to the ground, Melting Snow just nodded his head at Roaming Wind tiredly. That monster was way out of their league because one it was a higher level than they were, but also it was transformed. They had a lot of close calls while fighting that monster, at one point he was sure that one of them would die. "Tell me about it," stated Wandering Sound while working out the kinks in his neck. "But that monster gave me the experience I needed to level up to 30." "Me too! I''m now level 27!" Melting Snow exclaimed happily. Checking her own experience bar, Wei let out a sigh, "You two are lucky, I still need about 2000 more exp before I hit 21." "Same here, Roaming Wind. I''m still stuck on 25 as well." Xinya told her as he looked at how much experience points he had. Xinya felt like sighing too, all he needed was a mere 5 exp and he would have leveled up. At this moment he could really relate to the saying, ''so near, and yet so far''. That saying was exactly how he felt right now. Getting up from where he was seated, Melting Snow walked over to the dropped items. While he was basking in their victory he had all but forgotten about them, but now he was curious as to what the monster dropped. He knew that it had to be good since the creature was a boss that was transformed. Crossing his fingers he hoped that a sword had dropped, he really wanted new ones. The ones he had now we''re something that his brother got custom made for him and although they were great quality with high attack power, they weren''t something he got with his own effort. Noticing that Melting Snow was checking out what the monster had dropped, Wei said, "Did anything good drop, snow boy?" "I told you not to call me that!" Melting Snow exclaimed, pausing in the midst of grabbing one of the items that were on the ground. "And I don''t know I haven''t even looked at anything yet." After childishly making a face at the woman, Melting Snow turned back to the items the monster dropped. Each of the items looked exactly the same, small boxed shaped white cubes like always. It was only when a player picked them up that the item was revealed. Picking up the closest white box, Melting Snow saw that it was something none of them could use. After sending the information to all of them he set it back on the ground. They would divvy up the items after they all were revealed. It seemed that luck wasn''t on Melting Snow''s side today, the monster did not drop a sword for him, but it did drop something that would be very beneficial to him. Which was a gold tier armor set that was exclusive to his class. "I can''t believe it, after all that hard work we had to do to kill that monster, it only dropped one thing that one of us can use," Wei said regretfully as she looked at each item. Nodding in agreement at Roaming Winds words, Wandering Sound began reading the descriptions of the five items the monster dropped: Nori''s Battle Axe: This one-handed battle-ax was modeled after a weapon used by the supreme warrior Nori. Nori would always walk on the battlefield holding a spotless ax, only to leave with blood dripping one. It was said that the blood made his ax more powerful. [Attack damage: 450-600 Skill damage: +200 Special Skill: Bloodletting] *A player needs to be level 20 to use this ax. StarLight Microphone: A wireless microphone that glows as brightly as the stars. The delicate, iridescent design replicates the stars in the night sky. This microphone will amplify a player''s voice making it crisp and clear for all to hear. [Voice power + 50 Clarity of sound +50 Enchantment +55] *This microphone can only be used by sirens or players with level 20 singing ability. Tiger Claw Lance Blueprint: A blueprint for a lance with a plated tiger design. The tiger flashes at opponents unexpectedly, catching the opponent off-guard and leaving them open. While a lance can be used to attack enemies that are far away, it cannot be used to attack nearby enemies.*Only a player with the blacksmith skill level 25+ will be able to make this lance. Eye of the Covert Atranoch: The eye of a Covert Atranoch is a rare drop that can be used to create a power stone. This stone will greatly increase an alchemist''s power by tenfold. *Only an alchemist with the skill level of 50+ will be able to use this item. Homaru''s Silver Petal Armor set: Homaru was a weak lad, knowing that his father had an armor custom made for him to keep him safe. This upgradable silver and pink traditional hakama were made from the finest materials, such as the Iron blood silkworms, and the steel toe sheep. [Magic Protection +25 Defense +20 Attack +15 Speed +5] *Only a player with the Dual Blade class will be able to wear this armor. "Well we know which item Melting Snow is taking but what about the others?" Wei asked. "We might not be able to use them but they will bring in a pretty penny." "Let''s just roll for the first three items and we could all play rock paper scissors for the spare one." Wandering Sound suggested. Xinya thought what the man proposed sounded fair, what they get would be based on their own luck, so no one will be mad. "Alright, let''s do it your way." After Melting Snow took the armor the three of them rolled for the leftover items. With Xinya getting the microphone, Wei getting the battle-ax, and Wandering Sound getting the blueprint. Once that was done, the entire party played three rounds of RPS for the Eye of the Covert Atranoch, with Wei coming out as the victor. "Man, I almost won!" yelled Melting Snow who was staring at the hand that was showing scissors as if it betrayed him. Laughing victoriously at the pouting boy, Wei said, " But you didn''t, I did." Xinya who lost in the second round of the game just shook his head at the two of them. Opening his interface he checked his map for the best route out of the grove. "If everyone is ready, we should get going. I think we can make it to Arkala by tomorrow evening if we leave now." "I''m ready, let''s go!" announced an excited Melting Snow. He couldn''t wait to reach Arkala and see his cousin again. With smiles on their faces, the group followed behind Xinya as he led the way out of Brimree Grove. Chapter 189: Walking & Talking As the group began their trek through the woods, they could see that the sky had begun to lighten and the sun was starting to rise. It was like this day was reflecting their mood because from what they could see, it was going to be another bright and sunny day in the world of Haven. The group was still basking in the afterglow of their recent victory and the atmosphere around them was a very happy one. With Melting Snow doing a play by play of the fight as the rest listened, smiling fondly at the enthusiastic boy. However, even though they were successful in defeating a transformed boss creature they didn''t let it go to their head. They were still very much on the alert. These woods were very dangerous, this was made clear when they heard the different noises that echoed all around them. From the scampering sounds of woodland creatures that had awakened from their night''s slumber to the growls of the different monsters that were out hunting for their prey. They made sure to keep their guard up, they had learned from past experiences that danger can pop up anywhere. However, even knowing that wasn''t enough to deter them or dampen their mood. They also had a lot of faith that Xinya would be able to bypass any threats to their safety and was 90% sure that their journey would be clear of any problems. The 10% left was because they all knew of the green-haired man perchance for finding trouble. ~ Staring at the transparent map that was in front of him, Xinya grinned. The monster had been defeated, the rewards had been gained, the only thing that was left to do was head to Arkala. Xinya smiled happily at that thought, soon he would be able to start the second phase of his plan. Although he would miss wandering around like this getting into all kinds of crazy adventures. ''Well not that much.'' Xinya chuckled to himself as he thought back to the wild couple of days he had. Listening to the chatter of his friends, Xinya could hear that they were also reminiscing on the past adventures they had together. From the snippets of conversation he heard, Wei was telling Melting Snow about their battle with Wyatt. "You should have been there, snow boy. It was crazy, Wyatt was so powerful, I''m still kind of amazed that we were able to beat him." Wei said, telling the boy the blow by blow of what went down as he looked at her with glistening wide eyes. Xinya just shook his head when he thought of that battle. Out of all the battles he had so far that was the one that stood out the most to him. Clicking on his friend list, he found Christopher''s name under the NPC list. Biting his lip as he looked at the name, Xinya sighed inwardly. He had meant to stay in touch with the NPC, but he never had time to do so. He wondered if Christopher ever made it to his hometown and found his family. As soon as he made it to Arkala, Xinya decided to make getting in touch with the man his priority. Hopefully, if everything goes well he could get the man to visit him and increase their friendship. Although he didn''t want to get emotionally attached to NPC''s in case something happened and he wasn''t able to play this game anymore, Christopher was an exception. He felt as though he could relate to that NPC, and wanted to get to know him more. "Right, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked, snapping Xinya out of his thoughts. Xinya who wasn''t really paying attention to the conversation that was going on behind him said, "I''m sorry Melting Snow, I was thinking about something so I didn''t hear your question." "That''s alright, I''ll just ask it again," replied Melting Snow with a chipper tone. "I said, didn''t we come a long way from where the four of us started." Xinya could only assume that the boy was speaking metaphorically and not literally. Although he could be, both were possible. "What do you mean by that?" "You know! Look at how much better the team is. If you look back on when we fought the tall man until now, the difference is clear." Melting Snow explained earnestly. Laughing at the boy''s serious face, Wei poked him on his cheek. "Why do you sound like an old pro gamer that is judging our skill?" "But I''m right aren''t I?" Melting Snow stated, rolling his eyes at Roaming Wind. Xinya felt the same as Melting Snow did, looking back on all of their previous battles the group had grown exponentially from what it was like before. Thinking back to their battle with the Tall Man, the craziness that was the Mormantul Lordului Nebun dungeon, fighting that Diamondback Armored Ctenophore, and finally the most recent Convert Atranoch, Xinya could see everyone''s growth. "You are right," Xinya told the boy with a smile. "We all have come a long way." Wei didn''t know why, but after hearing Xinya agree with Melting Snow, it made her feel really happy. She knew that she was probably the weakest link in the group, but she had been trying to better herself, and she likes to think that she has. She had learned her lessons clearly and she promises herself that in the future she will be someone that doesn''t hold others back. ''This was just beginning,'' She thought, feeling proud of her development so far. "Although I agree with you both, I think we still have a long way to go." Wandering Sound said. He knows that he has improved a lot, but when he thinks back to the battle on the boat, he feels like he could be better. Shrugging his shoulders at Wandering Sound''s words, Melting Snow says, "Well as long as we go there together it doesn''t matter." "Well aren''t you profound," Laughing Wei slung her arm around the boy''s shoulder pulling him close. "Eww, girl germs," Melting Snow screeched half-heartedly trying to getaway. "Drifting Cloud, save me!" Xinya and the others just laughed at the boy''s antics as they continued walking to their destination. Chapter 190: Arkala The journey to Arkala would have been a long and hard one alone, but with his friends at his side cheerfully chattering away, time seemed to just fly by quickly. So quickly, that Xinya barely noticed the sun setting and rising again. This displacement of time wasn''t only due to his friends but the journey itself. Using the map as his guide, he tried his best to avoid the nearby monsters. To accomplish this the group had to traverse through dense trees and other troublesome places. Such as muddy bogs, swamps, and floral covered valleys. Xinya knew that most people wouldn''t see the problem with the last one, but if there was one thing that he learned during his time playing this game it was flowers can be deadly. He was right to be cautious, the valley was filled with Ahaetulla Nasuta also known as the rose vine snakes. These monsters were as beautiful as they were deadly. They are said to be in the same species as the Floret Buns. However, no one knows why besides the fact that they both had the earth element, but then again a lot of monsters did. Like the Floret Buns they would also drag a player off to be devoured, but unlike the Floret Buns they don''t drag their victims underground, they instead spit a toxic poison unto the player which paralyzes them. Once the player is paralyzed they will come out from plain sight where they were hiding and slither over to the prone person. They will then coil their bodies around their victims and force their way into their mouths. When they are inside of the player body they will eat them from the inside out. However since that would be a traumatizing experience, the game developers decided to allow the player to be considered dead as soon as the monster enter''s their mouth. Xinya shivered at the prospect of one of those flower snakes even getting that far. He made extra sure that everyone didn''t come in five feet of one of those things. Because not only were they a higher level than they were, he had no way to counter their poison yet. Although right now, they had already passed the valley of venomous flower snakes and were following a rocky path up a small mountain. They had been trekking up the steep incline for a while now, and their stamina was lowering with every step, but they didn''t care. They didn''t mind using up their supply of stamina potions if it meant getting to their destination faster. Even when they all knew that stopping and setting up camp would be the better idea and an easier way to restore their stats. They didn''t want to though knowing that would only slow them down. Their anticipation was too high and it was exactly that which was keeping them going. However, this determination of theirs did pay off. When the sun was high in the sky the group reached the top of the mountain and finally caught their first glimpse of Arkala. A startled gasp escaped all of their lips as they took in the beautiful view that was in front of them. There is was, right in front of them, the place that they journeyed so far to get to, and as they looked at the town they knew it was worth it. Even from this distance, they could already see that it was a wonderful place. Without a word between them, the four friends just stood there quietly taking it in the view of the town. The town of Arkala was located inside of a large gorge, with mountains surrounding it on all sides. Strategically, the town was in a great position, for it would be very hard for other players to raid. This was one of the reasons why Xinya chose it to make it his home base. One of the other reasons why he chose it was because it was close to water. Looking down at the town he could see that there was a large river that ran around and through the town. Even with how far away the group was they could still see ships sailing to and fro from the multiple ports that were around Arkala. The town itself looked as though it was taken from a picture of ancient China, and even though it shouldn''t have surprised them it did. It seemed that they had become too used to the victorian styled towns that they traveled through previously. Now looking at wooden buildings with their arched roofs with clay tiles and knowing that their ancestors once lived like this, gave them a visceral feeling. Especially Xinya, as he looked at the lush farmland that was separated from the main city by a large stone covered bridge. He couldn''t wait to purchase a house and start getting his hands dirty. He had always wondered how his ancestors did it, building their farms up without the help of machines. However, he knew he wouldn''t have to wonder for long, because he would soon find out. "There it is!" exclaimed Melting Snow, staring at the sight of the town in awe. "Yes, there it is," muttered Xinya, still taking in the town where he was going to make all his plans come into fruition. "There it is indeed." Wei just smiled as she looked down at the bustling town below. She could swear that even from where she was standing she could hear laughter and noises from the town''s trade area that probably never cease. She couldn''t wait to go inside and look around at all the shops and sights. "What are you all doing just standing here, let''s go!" The others could only watch as Wei took off running towards the city, leaving them all behind. Gobsmacked at her sudden action, the men just stared at her retreating back for a couple of seconds before coming to their senses. "Come on, Drifting Cloud and Wandering Sound! We can''t let her enter the town alone!" Melting Snow exclaimed before using his sonic run skill, trying to catch up with Wei. Laughing humorously at the childishness of it all, Wandering Sound and Xinya decided to also let go and begin racing each other towards the town. The light sounds of laughter and playful shouting could be heard as the group made their way to the town''s entrance gate. End of Arc 5 Chapter 191: First Step A bright smile appeared on his face as he descended the mountain towards the town of Arkala. He could feel his whole body working together as one, pushing him faster to his destination. His feet pounded heavily across the ground causing mud to splash up against his legs, not that he cared about the dirt splattering up onto his body because the euphoria of being able to run was taking over him. This joy wasn''t something he would be able to have in reality, with his leg being crippled and all. However inside of Haven Online, he didn''t have to worry about that, he could run, jump, skip to his utmost pleasure. He didn''t need to use a crutch or anything of the like since inside of virtual reality he had a healthy body with no problems. Thuds of footfalls could be heard coming from the rear, getting closer to him with each step. Xinya could tell that Wandering Sound was doing his best to catch up to him, but he wouldn''t let him. Looking up he could see Wei and Melting Snow, who had already made it to the gate and was watching them while cheering loudly for both of them to win. Goaded on, by the two Xinya quickened his pace until steps became leaps, he pulled further ahead leaving the musician in his dust. Out of breath, he pushed himself and gave one final sprint, Xinya made it to the town''s gate, way ahead of Wandering Sound. Stamina all but depleted, he looked at his two friends with gleaming eyes and said, "I won!" "Good Job," Melting Snow exclaimed, giving the green-haired man a high five. "But technically, I won and you came in third." "You only won because you cheated and used your skill," announced Wandering Sound who finally made it to them. Playfully glaring at the man, Melting Snow explained, "I didn''t cheat, I just used the things that were given to me to my advantage." "Whatever you say, Snow Boy, but we all know who the real winner is," Wei said haughtily. "Not you," replied Melting Snow, with a roll of his eyes. "You started running before anyone even knew what was going on." With a sly look at the two, Xinya said, "So from what I''m hearing, you both cheated and are disqualified. So as the only one who ran fairly I''m the real winner right?" Silence greeted him after he spoke, with Wei and Melting Snow avoiding his gaze. Only the sound of Wandering Sound''s hearty laughter broke through the quiet that his words caused. "Seeing as though they can''t find fault with your words, it seems you are the true winner, Drifting Cloud" Wandering Sound chuckled as he tried to avoid Wei who was elbowing him in his side to make him shut up. "Well it doesn''t really matter who won, the race was only for fun." Melting Snow started. He knew that he was the victor and none of these semantics was going to change his mind, but he wasn''t going to gripe about it. "Let''s forget about and head into the town. Xinya knew what was going through the boy''s head because it was written all over his face. Smirking, he walked to Melting Snow and gave his head a rub, "Your right let''s go in, there is a lot we need to do before we can settle down in this town." Wrinkling his nose at Drifting Cloud''s words he couldn''t help but wonder what he meant by having a lot of things to do before they could settle into town. Melting Snow couldn''t think of anything, the only thing he thought he needed to do was inform his cousin that he was here. Seeing the confusion on the boy''s face, Wei said, "He means that we have to give our transfer letters to the instructor of our class in this town. That way this will be our set town, and we have to come back here to learn new skills." "Oh!! Why didn''t anyone tell me," Melting Snow begins with a pout on his face. "If I knew I would have gotten a transfer letter before rejoining you guys." "You know you don''t have to make this your set town, just because we''re all doing it right?" Xinya asked. With a slight frown, Melting Snow looked at Drifting Cloud and said, "I know that, but my instructor is very far away, and I know I will be here with you most of the time." "Well," Wei started, trying to ease the situation. "Are you going to need a new skill anytime soon?" "I don''t think so, plus last time I talked to my instructor he told me not to bother him until I''m level 30." Melting Snow replied sheepishly. Poking the boy on the cheek, Wei said, "Well there you go, don''t worry about it for now. I''m sure when you''re ready to get a new skill, Drifting Cloud will take you to your instructor''s personality, and then you can get your transfer letter." Melting Snow knew that Roaming Wind was right, he wouldn''t be in need of his instructor for a while yet and with how much experience he needed to get to level 30 it would be a long while. However, he disagreed with her on one point, he didn''t want Drifting Cloud to go back with him. His instructor is located in the town where his brother''s party resided, and he would rather not have them meet. He didn''t trust his brother at all, and if something happens and Drifting Cloud triggers some epic quest in front of his brother, no he didn''t even want to think of the trouble that would bring. "Your right, let''s just get you all registered and worry about me later," Melting Snow said, as he grabbed Xinya''s hand pulling him along the wall, looking for the entrance. Xinya just shook his head at the Melting Snow, that boy''s mood changes faster than a hornet with ''roid rage. Although he had to admit he likes to watch the myriad of emotions that switches constantly on his face. Just like now, the boy''s expression changes from determination to confusion in a span of seconds, "Hey, Drifting Cloud which way do we go?" "Just follow me," Xinya told him with a smile, leading the way once again while never once letting go of Melting Snow''s hand. "Hey, wait for us you two!" Wei exclaimed as she watched the two of them leave her and Wandering Sound behind. "We need to go that way, also!" Chapter 192: Second Step Pulling Melting Snow along with him, Xinya walked along the large stone wall that enclosed the town until he reached a giant wooden gate. Pausing in his steps, Xinya studied the blockade that was impeding him from continuing on his way. A frown appeared on his lips, because from what he could see the gate doors in front of him were locked tight and there was no way they would be able to open it themselves. He could feel Melting Snow tugging on his arm, yet Xinya ignored him. To focus on how he and his friends would be able to get inside the town. He only began forming a speck of an idea when he heard the deep voice of a man shouting from up above. "Who goes there?" Tilting his head upwards towards the voice, Xinya was surprised to see two guards deck out in ancient Lamellar armor on top of the wall. He wondered if they had been watching them the whole time because they were looking down at him and friends very suspiciously. "What should we say?" Whispered Wei through the party''s voice chat. She had finally caught up with them after being left behind with Wandering Sound. "I know how to handle this," Giving Wei a playing wink, Xinya let go of Melting Snow''s hand and cleared his throat. Offering the guard his most sincere look and making himself appear harmless, Xinya begins to speak, "Kind sirs, we are but weary travelers who have come from a great distance and would like to take refuge in your humble town if we may." Snickering quietly into his hand, Wandering Sound was amused by the performance Drifting Cloud was putting on for the guards. He was even better than some newbie actors he knew. "Nicely done, Cloud." "Let them in, Changying, they are just a bunch of kids," Said an older looking guard who had a long black bread. He didn''t see the point about being suspicious about some innocuous-looking kids. Glaring at his fellow guard, Changying said, "This is why you won''t ever be promoted Guowei, you''re too damn trusting. They could be murderers in disguise and you would never know it!" "Hey! I''m not a murderer!" Melting Snow yelled, greatly offended by what the man accused them of. "Let them in!" Ignoring the young boy who was glaring angrily at him, Changying sternly told them, "You kids better be on your best behavior while in this town, we don''t take kindly to any ruffians." "Don''t worry sir, we won''t cause any trouble", Wei said with a sweet smile, making the paranoid guard ease up a bit. With the flip of a switch, the gates begin to open revealing their first view of the town that they traveled so long to get to, and what a sight it was. As Xinya walked through the gate with his friends, his first emotion was astonishment followed by awe. Because In front of him there was a breathtaking view of acres of fertile and verdant land that stretched out as far as his eyes could see. And only by squinting was he able to see the tall buildings of the town''s centre where the main shops and businesses were. Previously from his position on top of the mountain, he didn''t think that the farmland would be this sizable. Although now viewing it from this position and seeing the lush open land that seemed to go on for miles, he knew differently. As they begin to walk down the path that would take them to the central part of town, Xinya wondered if this was how Dorothy felt like when she transversed through the great plains of oz to reach the emerald city. He started snickering to himself at that thought because he did already have his own Toto, Scarecrow, and Tinman. All he needed now was a cowardly lion, however, on second thought, he would rather have a strong brave lion. He would like to have someone who wasn''t scared to help him deal with any wicked witches of the west that he came across in this huge world of Haven. ~ It had been a long day for Zixuan who had been working hard on a rare armor set, that a boss monster from the town siege in Errinisworth had dropped. Sadly for him, even though he had been working on it for the entire day he had only completed 1 percent of it. Letting out a long sigh he opened the door to his office and made his way over to his favorite blue lounge chair that was located by the window. Flopping down onto it, Zixuan got into a comfortable position ready to relax. Not even a second went by before the peaceful atmosphere he created for himself was interrupted by someone bursting through his door. He could only silently berate himself, he should have known better and locked his office door as soon as he was inside. However after seeing that it was only his friend Xafnir looking angrily flustered, his upset about being bothered disappeared. Watching his friend slowly go crazy was always a more enjoyable pastime. Sometimes he wondered if he was a sadist. "I told you time and time again to keep those miscreants in line, but you never listen do you!" Xafnir shouted as soon as he walked in,his face completely red. Smirking slightly, Zixuan continued to laze against his chair, casually saying, "What did they do now?" "What did they do?! What did they do?! I will tell you what they did!" Clenching his jaw, all Xafnir wanted to do right now was throttle his friend who was acting so nonchalant. "They stalked each and every high tiered member of the Fallen Blades guild and killed them, that''s what they did!" Leaning his head against his arm, Zixuan looked at his friend and said, "So? What''s the problem with that?" "What''s the problem, he says. Soul, if they figured out that it is people from our guild who is killing them, we might have a guild war on our hands!" Shouted Xafnir, not understanding what his friend isn''t getting. "Isn''t that what they want?" Zixuan asked thoughtfully. Sitting up in his chair, Zixuan stared at Xafnir questioningly. "The Fallen Blades hired professional player killers to hunt down our weak non-combatant guildmates and killed them. They then proceeded to camp their bodies until they lost five levels or left our guild. Since they did all of that, doesn''t that mean they want a guild war?" Shocked, Xafnir took a step back at the revelation that his friend gave him. "It was the Fallen Blades who ordered that?! But they were so friendly to us." "They were just pretending. They have been trying for ages to get me to merge my guild with theirs, but now that our guild won the town siege they are getting desperate." Zixuan told the man while laughing humorlessly. Xafnir was feeling a little panicked since Fallen Blades was a huge guild with tons of sponsors. However, he wouldn''t allow another guild to walk all over them, not now or ever. "What should we do?" "We are going to show them the true power of our crafting guild," Zixuan replied, malice glinting in his eyes. " They will soon learn that nobody messes with the Forged Connections guild." Chapter 193: Scenic view "Wow, it''s so huge!" exclaimed Melting Snow, staring around at the expansive farmland in wonder. "I can''t wait until you buy your cottage, Drifting Cloud. Then I will be able to play with all of the chickens and cows while you work." Snorting at the boy''s words, Wei said, "You''re not going to help him? Tsk, tsk, it seems Snow Boy is a laze-about." "I am not, I will be helping! Right, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked while scowling at Wei who was snickering at him. "Melting Snow is right, he will be helping me," Xinya announced with a small grin. The boy looked so cute, just like an angry puppy. All he wanted to do was pinch his cheeks, but he held back. "He will be in charge of taking care of all of the animals on my farm, that will be very helpful to me." "See, I told you." Melting Snow said, puffing out his chest at Wei proudly. Holding back the laugh that was so eagerly wanting to burst forth, Wei just nodded seriously at the cute boy in front of her. "It seems I was wrong, and you won''t be playing with the animals that Drifting Cloud will buy." "That''s right," Melting Snow began seriously. "I plan to get the Animal Husbandry skill, so I will be able to help Drifting Cloud out a bunch." Xinya, who was checking his map, turned his head around and looked at the furry-eared boy when he said that. He was aware that Melting Snow wanted to help him around his farm and they did talk about the different animals that the boy wanted him to get, but Xinya thought he would just play with the animals and wasn''t actually serious about helping take care of them. A bright smile crept onto Xinya''s face when he saw how serious the boy was about this. He had been planning to coax the boy later into getting that skill since after the update it would be one of the top skills to have. Regardless, seeing how determined the boy was to help him by getting the skill, made Xinya very happy. Even though as of right now, animal husbandry is considered to be a waste of points. From what he understood, the Animal Husbandry skill is a branch off of the monster taming skill line, but a player can also get it without having to learn it. In monster taming, a player needed to hunt, tame, and capture the monster, but they also needed to be able to feed it and take care of its health. Also, If they wanted to they could even breed it. That skill is similar to Animal Husbandry. With Animal Husbandry a player will be able to tame livestock, such as cows, chickens, horses, etc. Taming, in this case, means to allow the animal to grow a fondness for a player. Although, there are some animals that a player doesn''t need to gain the fondness of. They are the ones that are raised to be slaughtered if those animals'' fondness for the player becomes too high, the player will not be able to kill them. To get an animal''s fondness, a player needs to feed, clean, and make sure the animal is healthy. Once their fondness is at 100% a player would then be allowed to harvest materials from animals at their leisure. The skill would become very popular after the update when needing to eat became a must. That''s because this skill will allow players to breed the animal as well, but they would only be allowed to do that at a certain level. Xinya remembered that breeding livestock was one of the most lucrative professions for almost a year after the update until a big crafting guild took over the market for it. Despite that, players were still able to make a decent living using that skill, but they just didn''t make as much as they used to. The reason for why this stayed a lucrative profession was that eating livestock was a better choice of food for some players. Although monster meat was popular at first, it turned out to be unhealthy if eaten too much by certain races. Some races such as the Beastman, Dwarfs, and Giant''s hunger will grow faster than the others, the beastmen most of all, so eating a lot of monster meat wasn''t a problem for them. However, for the other races, eating too much monster meat especially if just barbecued over a campfire would cause them to gain weight. Gaining weight is troublesome because it will lower a player''s stamina, speed, and overall reaction time. This is something that most players would dread happening to them, especially the rankers and idols. Although they would be able to lose weight over time by eating vegetables, a faster way would be a diet potion. Xinya knew that stocking up and selling the diet potion would be a good way to make coins for a while, but he was in no rush to acquire the recipe though. One, it was extremely easy to get, and two, because one of the ingredients that were needed to make it was something he would only be able to grow when he had a higher farming level anyway. Giving Melting Snow''s head a rub, Xinya said, "I would be grateful for any help that you give me. You know that." "I sure wouldn''t have taken you for someone who does manual labor, Melting Snow," stated Wandering Sound jokingly. Although Wandering Sound was teasing Melting snow, he actually began to look at the boy in a different light. He felt that boy was a truly good friend, better than himself in some aspects, because he doubted that he would be willing to get such a useless skill like that. "Manual labor? I think not," started Melting Snow holding back a smirk. " If anything it''s a labor of love." The group started chuckling at the boy''s witty words, as they continued to talk about whatever came to mind whilst they traversed through the farmland, taking in the scenery around them. Chapter 194: Bridge* updated The scorching afternoon sun blazed overhead as Xinya and his friends made their way down the dirt road that would lead them to the town''s centre. Although their stamina bar was low, their spirits were high, and a lively conversation could be heard going on between the four of them as they traveled through the lush farmland. As the conversation began to lull, Xinya started to wonder how long it would take for them to pass through the rural district. Checking his map, he saw that it would be at least an hour before they even reached the bridge they needed to cross to get to leave this area. He could only sigh at this because in another hour it will be dusk and the class trainers always leave their post at night. Now they would most likely have to wait until sunrise to register with them. However, this setback really didn''t bother Xinya that much, because unlike the others he didn''t really have to register. The only thing he needed to do was locate his instructor Melvin and tell him he had arrived. Although this might not bother him, he wasn''t sure about the others. He had an inkling that Wei and Wandering Sound might be in a hurry to start their journey. He didn''t know why he felt that way since the two of them never said anything about wanting to leave after they finished their business in Arkala. However, for some reason, he was certain that they would, and he always trusts his instincts. Even though Xinya would miss them he was already prepared for their absence. It wasn''t like he would never see them again, plus he would get updates about what they are up to from Wei every time he logged out of the game. Seeing the thoughtful expression on the green-haired man''s face, Melting Snow asked, "What are you thinking about, Drifting Cloud?" "Me? "Xinya responded, suddenly noticing that everyone''s attention was on him. "Well, I just looked at the map and realized it will take a while before we will reach the town''s centre and wished that my cupcake covered wagon was functional." "That''s right, you have a wagon! I almost forgot about you buying that thing." Wei said. It completely slipped her mind that Xinya brought a transportation device, but it wasn''t like anyone could blame her, a lot of stuff happened since then when Xinya told them about it. Furrowing his brows, Wandering Sound asked, " Why isn''t it functional? I know that you told us before, but I can''t remember what you said. " "It''s because it''s animal-powered. So it would need something like a horse or some other creature big enough to pull it." Explained Xinya. "Oh. I see," Wandering Sound said, before questioning in a curious tone. "Are you going to buy some kind of animal for it?" While shaking his head, Xinya reached inside of his inventory and pulled out an egg, showing to others, " I have a Dianna Sidhe egg. Once I hatch it I''m going to use it to be my wagon''s mount. " "I know that egg!" Exclaimed Melting Snow in surprise. "Isn''t that the egg you got from the King Bellyborg?" "You are correct, this is the one," replied Xinya, a little bit stunned that the boy recognized the egg just by looking at it. "King Bellyborg? What''s that?" Wei asked, feeling a tad bewildered by the words coming out of their mouths. Melting Snow was flabbergasted, he couldn''t believe that she didn''t know what kind of monster a King Bellyborg was. The video he recorded of him and Drifting Cloud fighting it went viral, how could she not have heard of it. "You don''t watch my videos do you?" The furry eared boy questioned. "Nope, not at all," replied Wei, with a sheepish smile. Deciding to add his two cents into the conversation, Xinya said, "If it makes any difference, I didn''t watch the video either." "You don''t need to see the video, you already witnessed the events first hand. "Giving Drifting Cloud a quick look, Melting Snow rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Roaming Wind. There was an awkward silence, but a light chuckle from Xinya broke it. "I guess you''re right. Then how about you tell Roaming Wind about our adventure with the King Bellyborg since she wasn''t there." "Alright, I will. Roaming Wind, Wandering Sound listen up!" Melting Snow exclaimed. Glancing over at the excited boy, Wandering Sound said, "But I already saw the video, I already know what happened." "You did?! Well you didn''t hear me tell it. It''s a totally different experience, " Melting Snow told him. "It all started when I and Drifting Cloud were chasing after the regular bellyborgs trying to kill them..." While Melting Snow was telling the tale to Wei and Wandering Sound of how they summoned and defeated the King Bellyborg. Xinya took notice of the cottages they were passing by. When he first entered the town, he didn''t see any dwellings, but now he was starting to see quite a few scattered about. At least two every 4000 meters, because of this, he knew that most people would think that only a few players would be able to own farmland in Arkala. However, with the knowledge, he had from his rebirth he knew that this place would be able to host over a hundred thousand players. He knew that the farmland around them was actually for show and players would actually do their farming in an instanced space. This space was connected to the player''s cottage and was upgradable. However, the size of the space depended on what type of cottage a player has. For example, the player made cottages, start out with one acre of farmland, and can be upgraded to five. While the NPC ones start out with five acres and can be upgraded to twenty. Xinya knew he could do a lot with twenty acres of land, that''s why he really wanted to buy an NPC made cottage. It wasn''t just because of the land that he wanted an NPC made dwelling, there was another reason, which was that the NPC ones come with different kinds of buffs. The only problem was that an NPC cottage was quite difficult to acquire because NPC''s still live inside of them. And trying to talk them into selling their homes without a good reason was very hard to do. Although this wouldn''t be a problem for Xinya. He was certain that he would have no problem getting the cottage that he wants, and he will be able to buy it cheaply also. "Look there''s a bridge," Wei announced, startling Xinya out of his thoughts. "Yeah once we cross it, we will enter the urban area," Xinya said while looking at the stone bridge that was a couple of feet away. "Too bad it''s dark already, we have to wait until sunrise to find our instructors." "That''s alright. We don''t mind waiting a couple more hours," Wei told him with a smile. Seeing the others agree with Wei''s words, Xinya gave them all a slight grin. They were all about to cross the bridge when a notification went off. [ 22 hours and 50 minutes have passed! You have 10 minutes to log out!] "It seems we have to wait a little longer," Wandering Sound chuckled. "I guess so," Melting Snow sniggered. "But at least we have something to do while we wait out the night." Nodding her head, Wei said, "That''s true, and I will get to eat Drifting Cloud''s yummy food." "So what, he will make me some later too!" Melting Snow exclaimed while sticking his tongue out at Wei. As Melting Snow and Wei kept teasing each other, the group made their way over to an empty spot near the bridge. Saying a quick goodbye, they all began to log out of the game one by one. Chapter 195: Time displacement syndrome Only when everyone in the group exited the game, did Xinya feel that it was alright to do so as well. Opening his interface, he located the cerulean button with glaringly red numbers that were slowly counting down and pressed it. Closing his eyes he waited for the inevitable darkness to envelope him as the logout process transitioned him out of the game and into reality. A few moments had passed, and Xinya could once again see light fluttering in through his closed eyelids. Knowing that he was back in the real world, he opened his eyes. Turning on his side, Xinya found the control pad that was located on the inside of the pod. Pressing the correct sequence he opened the hatch that was keeping him locked inside. Pushing himself into a seated position, he pulled his wheelchair over towards himself positioning it in front of his pod. As he slowly began to maneuver himself into it, he couldn''t help but miss the feeling of being able to walk freely. He had these thoughts before whilst he was inside of the game, especially recently when he was racing against Wandering Sound down the mountain to reach Arkala''s town gate. And as he struggled to get into his chair those thoughts began to manifest once again. However, he also knew that he shouldn''t let thoughts overwhelm him since his situation could have been worse. He should just be grateful that he could still walk, even if it''s only with the use of a crutch. Locking away those harmful thoughts once more, Xinya made himself comfortable in his chair. Flipping a switch, Xinya activated the chair''s hoover mode, before making his way out of his room, and down the narrow hallway straight to the parlor. When he entered the living room his presence went completely unnoticed to Wei who was already there, lying lazily on the couch with her eyes closed. Feeling playful, Xinya slowly floated himself over to where she was laying, grabbing one of the small pillows that were on the loveseat along the way. Once he was close enough, he raised the pillow high in the air, and using half of his strength he smacked her on the butt with it. As soon as Wei felt the hit, her body reacted as though she was still inside of the game. Eyes snapping open, she jumped over the couch, it was only when she couldn''t find her guns did she realize where she was. "Not funny, Xinya!" Wei yelled, looking at the dark-haired man who was softly giggling to himself with ire. "Maybe not for you, but to me that was hilarious," Xinya told her, trying to hold back his amusement. "Why are you resting here anyway? You can''t be tired." Getting up from her crouched position behind the couch, Wei stretched her arms above her head. "I''m not, I was just having some weird thoughts." "Like what?" Xinya asked curiously. "Well, doesn''t it feel like it''s been longer than usual since we were here in the real world?" questioned Wei, with furrowed brows. "It just doesn''t seem real that so many days have passed in Haven online, but it''s only been 23 hours here in reality. This didn''t bother me before, but now.. it just seems so odd." After listening to Wei''s words, Xinya could tell exactly what was happening to her. She was experiencing time displacement syndrome. This was something 5 out of 10 new players encounter when they start playing Haven Online. Time displacement syndrome is one of the side effects that happen when people play VRMMO''s for a long period of time. Instead of adhering to the time changes, in reality, the time in the game world becomes more prominent to them. This somehow damages a player''s mentality when they log out into the real world. However, it isn''t as dangerous as some other problems that playing VRMMO''s might bring, and there is a cure for it. Xinya almost slapped himself upside his head. He couldn''t believe he forgot to tell her about this since it was one of the first things that she had told him about in his previous life. "I''m so sorry Wei, I forgot to tell you about that side effect. It''s called Time Displacement Syndrome, and all you have to do is sync your pod so that it shows our country''s date and time instead of Haven''s Online," Feeling contrite, Xinya started to explain everything he knew about the syndrome to her. "Oh! So that''s what that was. I thought I was going crazy. No wonder I was feeling that way," Wei told him with a look of relief. Seeing that he still looked upset about forgetting to tell her about it, she grinned at him while saying, "Don''t beat yourself up Xinya, you didn''t know that I would be one of the people who would get it." Xinya could only flash her a fake smile in response because he did know that she would get it and he stupidly forgot to tell her about it. However, he understood that nobody was perfect, he was bound to forget some things that had happened in his previous life. "Your right, I shouldn''t beat myself up. At least we caught it before you really started feeling the effects of it." Xinya said, reluctantly. "That''s right, plus it''s an easy fix," Wei cheerfully remarked. "Which I can go and do now, while you are off cooking." "So I guess that means you''re leaving me to cook all by myself without any help? '''' asked Xinya. Eyes fluttering closed, Wei flopped down on the sofa feigning illness, and in an extremely dramatic tone said, "How could I help in this state, I would only hold you back." "Alright, whatever you say," Xinya replied chuckling at her performance. "You are excused from helping. I will just call you when I''m done cooking." "Awesome!" Wei exclaimed, stopping her performance. Smiling brightly she hopped off of the couch and started to head back to her room. Before she was completely out of sight, Xinya stopped her by saying, "By the way, don''t ever quit your day job because your acting is horrendous." "Don''t worry, I won''t," Wei announced with a laugh, continuing to walk out of the room and down the hallway. Chapter 196: Pod Fixing Continuing to walk down the hall, the smile that graced Wei''s features just seconds ago disappeared and a bevy of new emotions appeared on her face. Entering her room, she couldn''t help but sigh, because once again she had caused her friend to needlessly worry about her. If only she had thought to bring up the issue, the last time they had logged out of Haven, even if she didn''t feel the time displacement as badly as she did now, she still felt as though she should have at least asked about it. It was just that when they had logged out previously they had been in a hurry to log back in the game, so she just paid it no mind. However, she knew that was an idiotic decision on her part. No matter what they needed to do in the game, her health should have come first. Plus she didn''t need any more mental hangups, she was already dealing with quite a few as is. "I won''t let this happen again," she whispered to herself with a sense of resolve. Wei knew that she had said these exact words a time or two before, in this type of context. And yet somehow she would always wind up repeating her actions, but this time different. She feels like she had grown, if this was before she probably would have been quiet about what she was feeling, and pretended to be strong. Wei knew herself well, she was certain that would be the case, and only when the pod caught it would she get help. At that thought, she began to wonder why the pod didn''t catch that she was developing time displacement syndrome. With all of the money that she had spent on it, the machine should be able to catch even the tiniest brain fluctuation that happens in her head. She understood that it couldn''t though, it was only a gaming pod not one of those high tech medical pods that the hospitals had. Even though it did have some elements of those medical pods, they were only the most basic ones. Shaking her head to clear her turbulent thoughts, Wei walked over to her pod. Rubbing her hand along the shiny metal encasing, she located where the exterior control panel was hidden and opened it up, revealing a lone red button. This button would activate the pod''s system manager without Wei having to get inside of it. The system manager will allow the owner to change some of the basic settings of the pod, like audio, or visual aesthetics. Anything else wasn''t allowed and only specialists had the override to do anything more in-depth. Pressing down on the red button, Wei watched as a transparent blue screen appeared in front of her. After a moment a ding sound was heard and a mechanical voice began to speak. [System: Do you wish to change certain settings of this pod?] "Yes." [System: Which system setting do you wish to change?] ''Crap,'' Wei thought. She just realized she didn''t know the name of the particular system setting that she wanted to change. Quickly going over to the nightstand that was on the other side of her pod, she opened up its drawer and started searching for the pod''s manual that she placed inside. Grabbing it, she opened it up and began to scan through the book''s many pages until she found the section on system commands. Finally finding the page she was searching for, she started to look through the commands on the page. Discovering the one she needed, she rushed back to the other side of the pod. However before she could say it, she was cut off by the system asking her the same question again. [System: Which system setting do you wish to change?] Glancing down at the command on the page, Wei said, "I would like to change time code 01-233-Haven Online." [System: Scanning... Are you sure you wish to switch the displayed time inside of the game?] "Yes." [System: This process will take 20 minutes, once completed the displayed time in Haven Online will show your region''s current time. Is that the time you wish to see?] Nodding her head at the voice, Wei said, "Yes it is." [System: Do not enter the pod until the update is over! Internalizing¡­ ] Wei watched as the transparent screen in front of her started counting down, changing from blue to red, while displaying the word updating on it. Seeing that there was no point in staying in her room waiting until it was finished she decided to check up on Xinya. However, before she could even turn her body away from the pod, she heard her cell phone ring. Wondering if it could be her mother calling her, she walked over to the green end table where she placed it and picked it up. Seeing Wandering Sound''s name on the screen, she became confused, wondering why he was calling her. They had just seen each other ten minutes ago, she hoped nothing had happened to him. Quickly answering it, she said, "Hey Qiang, why are you calling? Is something wrong? Are you.." "Calm down, nothing is wrong," Wandering Sound replied, cutting off her barrage of questions. He didn''t understand why but it made him feel good to hear that she was so worried about him. "I was just calling because I missed your voice." "How can you miss something you heard just a few minutes ago?" We asked, touching her flushed cheeks, a shy smile made its way across her face. Leaning back against his expensive leather couch, Wandering Sound started to imagine how Wei looked at this moment. He was sure that she was blushing right now, it was always so easy for him to get her to do so. Not that he would stop, he loved how cute she looked, blushing beautifully at his words. If only they could meet outside of the game, but he understood that she wanted to take things slow, and he would respect her wishes. Anyway soon they will be alone together, and they will be able to become a lot more closer to each other than they were before. "Every minute I don''t hear your voice feels like an eternity." "That was so cheesy," Wei giggled while blushing more at him corny words. "I can''t believe you said that." "Did you eat?" asked Wandering Sound, changing the subject. He did not want to tease her too much, especially since he couldn''t see her face. Walking over to a chair and sitting in it, Wei said, "Not yet, Drifting Cloud is making something now. What about you?" "Not yet, but I have a premade dinner in the oven. I have to say I''m a little jealous of you, getting a home-cooked meal from Drifting Cloud," Wandering Sound told her. "As you should be," She proudly responded. "Drifting Cloud cooks the best meals. I''m thinking about taking lessons." "When you do, will you cook for me?" he asked, with a sly grin. ''Cook for him?!'' Wei thought her mind spinning at his words. "Do you mean inside of the game?" "No," Wandering Sound answered, waiting for her to respond. "W.. well," Wei stuttered, finally understanding what Wandering Sound was asking her. "Maybe one day." Brightly smiling at her words, Wandering Sound continued to chat with her about random things, until he heard Drifting Cloud calling her to eat. Chapter 197: Hui Guo Rou With a smile on his face, Xinya watched as Wei completely left the living room before turning his chair around and heading to the kitchen. Still feeling slightly guilty about not informing Wei of the time displacement syndrome, he decided that he would make her something extra special for dinner. Going over to the refrigerator, he opened it to check what ingredients they had, only to find that there wasn''t much of anything at all. After checking the cabinets and the freezer, Xinya knew that they would need to restock up on food soon. It was silly, but knowing that he could buy any type of food that he wanted, put a smile on his face. In his previous life, he wasn''t able to buy a large number of groceries at a time, for one he didn''t have the money to do so, and secondly he wouldn''t have anywhere to place them in that hovel where he lived before. He would usually just go out every day to the corner store to buy something cheap to eat while he waited for his VR headset to cool. To him, knowing that he didn''t have to live like that anymore felt a bit surreal. However, the memories of his old life were still fresh in his mind, even if he didn''t want them to be. He could remember struggling every day in his previous life when he had to go out and buy something to eat. The memory of having to bring his wheelchair up and down the stairs of his dilapidated apartment, because the elevator broke down. He could only be thankful that his wheelchair no matter how cheap it was, was made from lightweight material. Although the fact was, it was him having to go out and buy food that led to his death. Even though he was grateful for the rebirth, he was still wary of something like that happening again. He knew he didn''t need to worry about going out and buying food himself, he was financially stable enough to sign up for the online delivery system. There was a special food delivery site that he knew of, that only players of VRMMOs could use. It was a little costly, but Xinya knew that it was one of the best sites of it''s kind out there. Besides having top-grade ingredients, the site also gives out recipes and also has top chefs all over the world giving video demonstrations. That wasn''t all, from what he had heard, the deliveries were made by a robot that is personally assigned to the customer. And the robot can be synced up with the customer''s log out schedule. Although, there wasn''t any hurry for him to sign up to the site, from what he could see after looking around the kitchen there was still enough food to last them a couple more days. He would just write a note to himself, to remind himself the next time he logged out of the game to sign up to the site before doing anything. Looking at the ingredients that were available to him he was quite certain that he would still be able to make something special for dinner. However, he needed to check and make sure. Opening one of the side compartments that was attached to his wheelchair, he reached in and took out his cell phone. After unlocking it, Xinya opened up the web browser and typed in Hui Guo Rou. When he was reminiscing about his life before his rebirth this dish had popped into his head. It was something that his mother had really enjoyed eating, which made him try really hard to learn how to make it, so that he could feel closer to her. However, he could only make it inside of the game in his previous life, since he couldn''t afford to make it in reality. Hui Guo Rou also is known as twice-cooked pork is one of the most famous dishes of Szechuan pork recipes. Xinya remembered his mother telling him about this dish when he was younger. She would always say that if he does not eat twice-cooked pork, then he would never be able to go to Sichuan. When he told her that he didn''t want to go to Sichuan, she would just laugh and pinch his cheeks. Xinya began to smile at that memory, he cherished all the ones he had with his mother. After she died they were the only things that kept him going. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looked at his phone, searching through the websites for one with a good recipe. After finding one, he began to check to see if he had all the items he needed to make the dish. Double checking that he did, he started to pull out everything he needed and place them on the counters. After washing his hands thoroughly in the sink, Xinya started to prepare the meal. Grabbing the large pot that he put on the counter, he placed a medium-sized pork belly into it. With the pork belly placed inside the pot, Xinya brought it over to the faucet and ran some cold water inside, but just enough that it was covering it. Once that was done, he added one green onion and five Sichuan peppercorn seeds. Taking the pot over to the stove, he placed it on high heat so that it could boil. While he was waiting for the water to boil, he went over to the counter and got some sprouts of garlic. Bringing them to another counter, Xinya after smashing the heads of garlic sprouts begins to cut the head part and leaves into 1.5-inch sections. Once he was done cutting them all, he placed the chopped sprouts into a bowl and set them aside. Moving on to the red peppers, he removed all of their seeds and then proceeded to cut them into pieces too. Seeing that pork belly was boiling, he turned off the heat. Draining the water from the pot, Xinya removed the pork belly, setting it on a plate near him. Putting the pot in the sink he grabbed a wok and went over to the stove, placing it on top of it. After turning the stove on, he begins to heat up one teaspoon of oil in the wok. When the oil was heated he picked up the pork belly off the plate and started to fry it for around two minutes until it began to lose oil and was slightly brown. When it was finished cooking, Xinya took it out of the wok, setting it off to the side. Leaving the oil inside of the wok only, he started to fry ginger, garlic, and scallions until he could smell their rich aroma. Placing in some other seasonings, he let it fry for another half minute, before returning the pork belly, giving a big stir fry to combine well. Lastly, he placed in more garlic sprouts and some soy sauce, combining everything together. Turning off the stove, he put a lid over the wok to keep the food warm while he went to steam some rice. Smelling the delicious aroma in the air, Xinya hoped that the rice would get done quickly so that he would be able to eat faster. Chapter 198: Logging back in As the delectable aroma of the cooked pork belly wafted throughout the kitchen, Xinya stomach gurgled in anticipation. But he could only hold back the desire to fill his gullet with the mouthwatering food that was just in reach. Knowing that he had to wait until the rice was finished, he stared at the steamer with expectation. While doing so he recalled an idiom that really fits how he was feeling right now. If he was remembering right, the idiom was ''a watched pot never boils.'' This meant that time seems to move more slowly when someone is anticipating something. To him, those words never rang more true, than they did at this exact moment. Even if he wasn''t watching a boiling pot, but a rice cooker instead, those words felt very accurate. While the ten minutes he had to wait for the rice to finish, felt as though it was slowing to a crawl, Xinya inevitably started berating himself. If only he had prepared the rice first before doing anything else, then he could have been eating right now. Since the smell of the pork belly was testing his patience, he decided to kill time by checking out the game auction site with his phone. A couple of days ago, which equated to weeks in Haven Online, he put 25 gold coins up for auction. He had meant to check if they had sold the last time he had logged out but forgot all about it. Usually he would have gotten a notification inside of the game, telling him that money had been deposited into his bank account. However, since he didn''t think he would need it at this point in time, it completely slipped his mind to turn on that feature. So to find out if his coins had indeed sold, he would have to check the site for himself manually. While he was logging into his account on the coin auction site, he made a note to himself to turn on the automatic notification feature as soon as he logged back into the game. Checking his account''s dashboard, he was happy to see that his coins had sold, and he was now $2,500 richer. Since he didn''t have automatic transferring on he needed to send the money into his bank himself. After pressing the transfer button, only a couple of seconds passed before he got a message from his bank saying the money had arrived. Logging onto his bank account, he saw that he now had $36,400. Furrowing his brows, Xinya felt as though that amount seemed a bit low. He could have sworn that he had more money than that. Clicking on the tab that would show him his purchases, he realized that it was correct. From buying the VR pod and all of it''s amenities to paying Wei six months of rent, and buying the upgraded wheelchair he only had $33,900 left out of the $100,000 he had started with. Adding the $2,500 that was just transferred in, $36,400 was his current balance. An ironic smile appeared on his face as he reflected on his past. This would have been a lot of money to him back then when he was living in the slums, but now it was just barely a drop in a bucket. Especially once the six months were over and he would have to start paying $100 monthly medical fee, and the $200 a week for a case of nutrient solution. There was also the fact that he needed enough to move to the elite area of the city. At first, he wanted to move there, so that he, Wei, and her mother could live somewhere nice. However, even though he said he didn''t want revenge on his father, he did want to show him that even if he was crippled he could live well without his help. As Xinya began to dwell on that prospect some more, the rice cooker suddenly beeped, clearing away any other thoughts besides eating. Putting his phone away, Xinya shouted, calling Wei to come and eat, before grabbing a couple of dishes, and making their plates. ~ "This is delicious Xinya," Wei gushed between bites. "What is it called?" After swallowing down a bite of the succulent tasting meat he made, Xinya replied, "It''s called Hui Guo Rou. It''s one of those Szechuan pork dishes." "Well it''s delicious, I can''t wait to brag about it Melting Snow," Wei told him gleefully. Chuckling, Xinya asked, "Why do you like antagonizing that poor boy so much?" "Poor boy my butt," Wei huffed, rolling her eyes at Xinya''s words. "He gives as much as he takes." "That is true, the boy can be a little stinker to you when he wants to be," he tells her with a smile, putting another bite of the scrumptious food into his mouth. Bobbing her head vigorously up and down, Wei said, "I know right! But even if he is a brat to me sometimes, I will miss him when I leave." "Now that you brought it up," Xinya started pausing in the midst of taking another bite of food. "When are you and Wandering Sound going to depart from Arkala?" "To be honest, I want us to go as soon as he and I have everything sorted out in the town," Wei announced in a quiet voice. She didn''t want Xinya to think that she was in a rush to leave, but like pulling off a bandaid she wanted to leave quickly. If she didn''t she might be tempted to stay with Xinya and Melting Snow longer, and probably be drawn into another adventure. No matter how much she would like that, she had to go and get stronger. Xinya, who had already guessed that it would be like this, showed no disappointment on his face, and told her, "That''s fine, but I will not allow you to leave together without a proper goodbye party." "A goodbye party?" Wei asks in bewilderment. "Yes, a goodbye party," Xinya begins with a smirk. "Well more like a goodbye picnic, but we will say it''s a party." With a thankful smile, Wei said, "Alright, I will be looking forward to it, plus I still have to say farewell to Snow boy properly anyway. Smiling at each other the two friends continued to talk about random things as they ate, before going back to their rooms to log back into the game. Chapter 199: Pudding Logging back into the game, the first thing that greeted Xinya was the blinding light of the golden sun that was shining high in the sky. Shielding his eyes from the radiance of the sun''s rays, he began to look around the area only to see that he and Wei were the first to arrive. This was a little surprising to him since usually after a logout session like this, as soon as he logs back in, Melting Snow would be there waiting for him with a welcoming smile. However, this time it seems as though the roles will be reversed, and he will be the one welcoming the boy back. "It appears that we are the first to arrive," stated Wei as she leaned against the railing that was positioned behind her. "I guess we are," Xinya responded while making himself comfortable against the railing next to her. "But knowing how those two are, they should be arriving shortly." As if he could predict the future, as soon as those words left his lips, Wandering Sound and Melting Snow appeared in front of them. The two boys turned to look at Xinya and Wei in surprise when they saw that they had already arrived. "How did you beat me here?" Melting Snow asked, mystified. "You never log on before I do. This is a travesty." Wei who was chortling at the boy''s dramatics said, "What is so surprising, you can''t always log on before Drifting Cloud does." "Tsk, a person who doesn''t know our system, shouldn''t put their two cents in," Melting Snow huffed. "We have a system?" Xinya asked with a grin. "Why didn''t I know anything about it." With a shrug of his shoulders the furry-eared boy replied, "Because you didn''t need to know since you were automatically doing it anyway." "So basically, from what I''m hearing, your system is something only you know of," Wandering Sound stated, finally joining in on the conversation. "Semantics," Melting Snow responded, waving the man''s words away. "It was my fault this time, I had to order out for my food, so the system was thrown into whack. It will be back in order next time." Holding in laughter, Xinya walked over to where Melting Snow was and gave him a gentle noogie that mussed up his hair. "Whatever you say you, silly boy." Batting away the bark-like hand that was messing up his hair, Melting Snow began to pout. He knew he wasn''t being silly, his system was tested many times and worked great. Every time he arrives before Drifting Cloud something amazing happens. Like getting invited to a banquet that is hosted by a monster or going fishing and having to fight a giant jellyfish. After thinking about it a bit, Melting Snow decided that it was probably for the best that his system was broken this time. They still haven''t joined his cousin''s guild yet, so until they do it probably wouldn''t be too good if Xinya was noticed too much. Succeeding in getting rid of Drifting Clouds hands that were rubbing his head, Melting Snow walked over to the bridge entrance, "Why are we just standing around, let''s go check out the other part of town." "You were the one going on and on about your system," smirked Wei, seeing that the boy was trying to change the subject. "We could have started walking ages ago if it wasn''t for that." "Well, I''m not talking about it now, so let''s go!" exclaimed Melting Snow, as he started to make his way across the bridge. With indulgent smiles, the group followed the boy across the bridge while laughing quietly to themselves. ~ As Xinya and his friends crossed over the stone covered bridge, large bursts of sound coming from the town could be heard. Like a pointy pin, it popped the quiet atmosphere that they had while walking through the farmland like a bubble. The tonal shift wasn''t as abrupt as Xinya thought it would be, but then again he was used to the ruckus that came with living in a bustling town. Although, as he and his friends walked fully into the town''s centre, he had to admit that this was way more than what he was used to. To him this part of Arkala seemed to be a vast, intricate, labyrinth of noisy streets and houses. All around him there was a multitude of noisy players and NPCs either milling around or going about their business. "We are finally, really here," Melting Snow stated in awe glancing around at the busy hodgepodge that was Arkala''s town centre. Nodding his head, Xinya agreed, "Yes we really are." Suddenly he could hear the sound of music starting to blare, and a crowd starting to yell enthusiastically in the distance. Xinya and his friends looked at each other questioningly, wondering what could be going on. Following the noise, the group weaves their way through the busy streets over to where a crowd of people was standing. They were watching some sort of performance. As Xinya watched he saw musicians playing instruments that could be seen in museums. The sounds that they were creating was majestic, creating a merry atmosphere. Seeing as there was a large group of people forming, the local food vendors started to move their wares closer trying to sell them to the crowd. Tantalizing scents wafted through the breeze, and even though Xinya just ate he started to feel hungry again. Nearby he saw a woman who was selling something called Carnauba pudding. Tempted by the smells in the air, he was about to call her over but was stopped by Melting Snow beating him to it. Xinya watched as the boy rushed over to the woman, only to come back with two bowls of pudding in his hands. "Here you go Drifting Cloud, I got pudding for you," announced Melting Snow while handing the sweet over to Xinya. Taking the bowl of pudding with a smile, Xinya thanked the boy. Looking at the purple and black concoction with interest, he spooned it into his mouth, only to savor the pudding''s sweet, creamy taste. Suddenly a notification popped up that tempted him to go get another one. [Tasting has leveled up!] [Catering stat gain effects, Cooking''s base quality rate, Stability during cooking, and EXP provided from Cooking food will increase by 3%] [.01% of Carnauba pudding has been acquired.] "This is very delightful," Xinya announced before eating a couple more bites. "I wish I knew the recipe." Looking at how Xinya and Melting Snow were enjoying the pudding, Wei became a little jealous. "Why didn''t you get me one Melting Snow?" "I only have two hands," the boy replied while scraping the last bit of pudding from the bowl. Holding back the urge to roll her eyes, Wei turned to Wandering Sound and said, " Come on Wandering Sound, let''s go get some of our own. I hope someone won''t be upset while they watch us eat, now that there''s are gone." "She does know that I could always get another one, right?" questioned Melting Snow as soon as the couple was out of sight. Xinya just gave the boy a smile that said ''I don''t know'', as he continued to eat the last of his pudding. Chapter 200: Dancers Xinya waved his hand in the air to signal Wei and Wandering Sound when he noticed them weaving their way through the large crowd looking for him and Melting Snow. Catching sight of his hand, Wei grabbed Wandering sound''s arm, pulling him over to where the others were standing. "It is as delicious as you said," Wei teased Melting Snow, taking a giant bite of her newly acquired pudding. Rolling his eyes at the elven woman''s display, Melting Snow noticed that there was another vendor close to him selling a different delicacy. Smirking the boy hurried over to the vendor, and brought two of the man''s scrumptious eatables before heading back to the group. "Yes that pudding was delicious, but it wasn''t as yummy as this meat pie," Melting Snow tittered while handing one over to Xinya. "Try it Drifting Cloud, although it was cheap, it''s really tasty." Xinya knew that Melting Snow just brought the meat pies to mess with Wei, and judging by her disgruntled expression it worked. But he wasn''t one to turn away free food, so with a smile and a thank you, he took the meat pie from the boy''s hand. He never had one before since it was more of a western delicacy and was quite curious as to what it would taste like. The only thing that he knew about was that it''s a pie with a filling of meat and other savory ingredients. Taking a tentative bite, Xinya almost moaned as the succulent flavor of the meat pie touched his tongue. The pie crust was excellent, rich, buttery, with just the right amount of flakiness, while the meat was superbly seasoned and very piquant. Immediately after swallowing down the bite, a notification popped up showing that his tasting had leveled up again and that he collected a percent of the meat pie recipe. With how good it tasted, Xinya knew he wouldn''t mind coming back later to buy more to collect the entire recipe. Continuing to eat the meat pie, Xinya turned his attention back to the performance that was going on in front of him. He saw that from behind the musicians, three dancers had emerged dressed in light-colored traditional garb. Xinya had to admit that the intricate but graceful way they danced was extremely lovely to look at. And by the way, the others in his group were staring in appreciation of the dancer''s ability they must have thought so as well. The three dancers moved fluidly making their garments flow around them with each spin and step that they made. The three of them were completely in tune with the musicians, it was as if the music being played was ingrained in the dancer''s souls. As the three girls begin to twirl and weave in opposing circles around each other faster than before, the crowd along with Xinya''s and his friends started to cheer. Smiles shone brightly on everyone''s face, as they carried on watching the girls swirl around beautifully. Entranced by the performance Xinya and his friends continued to watch the show for the next 30 minutes. They stayed like this snacking on the local cuisine and quietly chattering with each other until the performance was over and the crowd began to disperse. "That was beautiful," Wei commented. She felt enamored with the graceful and enchanting movements that were portrayed by the dancers. "I wish I was able to dance like that." "There''s nothing stopping you," Xinya responded, whilst looking at his map, pinning the places he needed to go too. While they were walking over the bridge to get to this part of town, he had upgraded his map. After upgrading it he had unlocked a new feature, which was the ability to pin places on the map. Being able to pin certain places on the map might not seem special, but it really was. As someone who cooked and made potions like Xinya did, being able to know where the ingredients were exactly was something he really needed. Even though his map already told him what items were located nearby, but that was only on a general scale. He would still have to comb through the entire area to find what he was looking for. However, now with this new feature, he could just pin the spot where the items he needed could be found. And the best part was that when he pinned a place, the map would show him the fastest route to get there. "Naw, it would be just a waste of skill points, since there is no good reason to learn," Wei replied with a shake of her, as she watched the dancers and musicians hop onto their wagon, heading off to probably their next performance venue. "I wouldn''t say that," Melting Snow began with a thoughtful look on his face. "There is a girl on my brother''s team who is a dance fighter and she is really cool." Although Melting Snow didn''t like his brother and his side chick much, he did like his brother''s teammates. They were always nice to him and tried to look after him when his brother wasn''t around. He felt bad when he learned of his brother''s plans to get rid of them, but he also thought that they would be better off without him. Especially the dance fighter, she was looked down on the most. Melting Snow didn''t get why though, he thought that she kicked ass. He remembered watching her in action once when they went to a dungeon together, the way she used her long sleeves to stun far away monsters was just awesome to him. "Maybe after I max my Treasure Hunter and Tailor skills, I will give it a try," Wei replied after listening to the boy''s words. With a sly smirk, Wandering Sound sidling up closer to Wei and in her ear whispered, "I wouldn''t mind seeing you dance for me." At his words, Wei lowered her head blushing, while Wandering Sound smiled tenderly at her. Witnessing the flirting of the couple, Melting Snow who wanted to gag turned to Drifting Cloud with pleading eyes, hoping he could stop them from ruining his innocence. "How about we get going," Xinya said while trying to hold back his smile at Melting Snow''s disgusted face. "We should head to the auction house to sell our stuff, before doing anything else." "That''s a good idea, let us go and do that!" exclaimed Melting Snow He was happy that they were finally doing something besides watching those two be all kissy-face with each other. Chapter 201: Auction House With Xinya in the lead, the group strolled through the extremely active town, bypassing people and transportation devices along the way. As they walked they couldn''t help but take in all of the beautiful sights that could be seen all around them. From the wonderful ancient Chinese architecture that the town''s buildings possessed, to the different colored Kakam boats that were floating along the nearby waterway, that was either empty or filled with passengers. These sights especially caught Xinya and Melting Snow''s attention, although for totally separate reasons. The reason it caught Xinya''s attention was that he was thinking it would be nice if he replicated the look of the buildings around him to fit his cottage. While Melting Snow was enjoying feeling like he was in a real-life wuxia, the only thing that upset him was that there were no cultivation skills he could practice in the game. On the other hand, Wei along with Wandering Sound was besotted by the lovely traditional garb that the NPCs were wearing. She really wanted a tailoring manual for them, since she had a feeling they would be big sellers in other parts of Haven. While Wandering Sound just wanted to know how Wei would look wearing one. It took the group ten minutes of going down narrow streets and a couple of dank alleyways before they reached their destination. When the auction house first came into view the group gasped, because it was completely out of their expectations. The outside of the building was completely different from the plain middle-sized building in Errinisworth. No, this building was magnificently elegant, decorated with green glazed tiles, gilded double-eaves, carved lattices, and vermilion pillars, with two large lion statues guarding the outside. "Wow, it''s so grand. I feel a little intimidated just standing in front of it," Wei said while staring at the luxurious building. "I feel the opposite," Melting Snow told her, looking at the large building with eager eyes. "I want to conquer it." Xinya turned and looked at Melting Snow thoughtfully, wondering if he had a future businessman in his midst. "In what way?" "Climbing it of course, wouldn''t I look totally gallant standing on top of the roof?" questioned the starry-eyed boy. The others just stared speechless at the boy for a couple of seconds, before unanimously walking towards the auction house leaving Melting Snow who was staring dreamingly at the building alone. Snapping out of his daze when he noticed that the others were leaving him behind, he followed them and shouted, "I would right? Guys?! Come on, answer me!!" ~ As Xinya entered the auction house he was a little disappointed, although the archaic-style halls were well-decorated, like in Bellport besides some interfaces it was completely bare inside. However, seeing as though there was a counter with a woman behind it, he figured that there might be more to this auction house than he thought. Before he could go over and ask her, Melting Snow stalked in staring at them with a petulant look. "You guys are mean." "You need to learn that when you say nonsensical things you will be ignored," Wei straightforwardly told him, causing Xinya to chuckle. "Et Tu Drifting Cloud?" asked Melting Snow dramatically, grabbing his chest as if he had been stabbed. Playing along, Xinya said, "Oh no my laughter has killed Melting Snow, I must get rid of the body. I will turn his body into hamburgers so I won''t get caught." "Hamburgers? If anything my body should be turned into steak, not some lousy hamburgers," Melting Snow said while trying to seem serious. Along with Melting Snow, the entire group begins to chuckle at these words. "Okay, okay no making you into hamburgers," declared Xinya giving the boy a fond smile. "Only the most top tier steak recipe for you." Giggling Melting Snow agreed, "Yes only the best for me. ~ As they walked over to the counter, the blonde hair woman behind it smiled at them before saying, "Welcome to Yueyang auction house, may I be of service?" Nodding his head, Xinya replied. "Yes, you can. We have some things that we want to sell. Is there anything we need to know about how to do so?" "Good question young man, as a matter of fact, there is," the woman began cheerfully. "There are three places where you can sell your items in this auction house, however, it depends on what kind of item you have." "What do you mean?" Wandering Sound asked curiously. "Well for starters this floor is for low tiered items that can be commonly found. The second floor is for rare items, the auction house will display them and even promote them by uploading the item to nearby countries databases as well. We do take a percentage of the profit though of course," the woman told them with a grin. "Of course," repeated Xinya, while staring at the NPC wondering if she was a highly evolved one since she knew about interfaces and databases. Knowing that would make sense that the devs made her that way since she had to run the auction house. "What about the third floor?" "The third floor is special, it is used to sell unique items. We will announce the item all over the world of Haven and then we will hold a live auction. However, once the item sells the auction house will take a 5% service fee. Sadly, we haven''t gotten to use the third floor for many years now." "Maybe you will be able to use it soon," Melting Snow muttered, shooting a quick glance to Drifting Cloud. He knew sooner or later the man would gain a unique item. "I hope so," the blonde-haired woman said. "Those auctions were always very amusing. Although Xinya never experienced one of them himself, he did read about how live auctions were on the forums in his last life. NPCs and players could buy tickets to join in on the bidding, they could either bid in person or via their interface. From what he read, the bidding wars could get very heated. It was lucky that the players'' features become blurred as soon as they join the auction, or there would be a lot more people not caring about the punishment that comes from PVP. "So what are the items you will be selling in Yueyang auction house today? I will check it''s circle rating for you." the woman said, reminding the quartet what they were here for. Chapter 202: Up for sale "Circle rating? What is that?" Wei asked with a frown, searching her memory to see if she could remember anything about that, only to come up with nothing. Immediately after she asked the question, there was a small noise, sounding like a snicker coming from Melting Snow''s direction. While Wandering Sound didn''t respond but gave Wei a surprised look. Confused about the strange expressions she was getting from the others, Wei asked, "What?!" Xinya understood the other''s reactions clearly though. The question which Wei asked was something anyone should know since it is one of the first things a player learns if they check out the game''s website. His brows furrowed, as he thought why she didn''t know what a simple thing as a circle rating was. Xinya knew for sure that she had been researching this game long before she even got her pod. However, that question made him once again realize just how new to this game Wei was. It also made him realize just how many things he had neglected telling her about what she needed to know about Haven Online. Although he understood that she would eventually learn these things on her own just by playing, still could, every now and then, give her little tidbits of information. And if she asks how he had got them, well he could play it off as someone told him or he just happened to learn it somewhere. Which was already believable, because since the day they had been traveling together they learned a lot of things just by stumbling upon it. And Xinya knew good and well that he stumbles a lot. Tilting her head cutely to the side, the blonde auctioneer answered, "It is a rating system that everyone in Haven uses to check the value of an item. Such as skills, recipes, plants, etc. It shows how rare an object is, for example, sheep''s wool that is used for tailoring clothes is rated as extremely common with a 1 star. The more circles an object has, means the more difficult it is to obtain." "So that''s the real name of it, I was calling it something different this entire time," Wei said, enlighted. Cocking his head to the side, Wandering Sound asked, "What were you calling it before?" "I''ll tell you later," Wei told him, a little embarrassed. She felt stupid since she had been calling it the worth checker this whole time. "That''s good that you already know what it is, but do remember that although you can see some items circle ratings you won''t be able to do so for all of them," the blonde woman explained. "Now please take out the items you wish to sell." "Oh right," Wei said sheepishly, sorry that she was holding up the woman from doing her job. Opening up her inventory she took out the reward item she got from the Covert Atranoch, while everyone else followed her lead taking out their items as well. Seeing that everyone had their items in hand the blonde auctioneer asked, "So who will go first?" "I will!" Wei exclaimed, before smugly saying while turning to look at the boys, "As you all know ladies always go first." Huffing, Melting Snow pushed Wei to the side while announcing, "Lady? I don''t see any lady." "You¡­" Wei started about to give the boy a good noogying but was stopped by a stern-looking Xinya. "Melting Snow, that wasn''t nice. You shouldn''t push people," Xinya scolded. He really had been too lenient with the boy, Wei was his elder and should be respected as one. "Tell her sorry and let her go first." This was the first time that his friend had straightforwardly admonished him, and Melting Snow really didn''t like it. He didn''t want Drifting Cloud to be upset at him. He could admit he was acting like a little brat, but for some reason, he always had an urge to poke fun at the elven woman. Although he really shouldn''t have pushed her, that was going too far. "I''m sorry," muttered Melting Snow, before going over to where Xinya was standing. Patting the boy on the head to show him that he wasn''t mad at him, Xinya said, "Go ahead Roaming Wind." Wei was going to say something else to the boy, but seeing how he was properly chastised by Xinya she closed her mouth. Turning back towards the woman behind the counter she passed the item she had which was the Nori Battle Axe to her. Taking the giant battle-ax from the young elven lady''s arms, the auctioneer placed it upon the counter. Once it was there, she slowly began to wave her hand over it, causing the silver ring that she was wearing to shine golden. Suddenly a projection like a screen appeared from her ring, showing the information of the battle-ax. However unlike before when the group read it last, it now showed a circle rating. [CR 2] Nori''s Battle Axe: This one-handed battle-ax was modeled after a weapon used by the supreme warrior Nori. Nori would always walk on the battlefield holding a spotless ax, only to leave with a blood-dripping one. It was said that the blood made his ax more powerful.[Attack damage: 450-600 Skill damage: +200Special Skill: Bloodletting] *A player needs to be level 20 to use this ax. "This battle-ax, although not extremely, is a common one, and can be sold on this floor," the woman straightforwardly told Wei. As the two women began to discuss the price that the battle-ax could be sold at, Xinya looked down at his own StarLight Microphone than at Wandering Sound questioning if he should give the mic to the man. Wandering Sound was a musician after all and had an actual use for it. Inching closer to the man, Xinya nudged him. When wandering Sound turned to look at him, he whispered, "Are you sure you don''t want this microphone? I know you can use it." "No, you won fair and square," Wandering Sound answered, not understanding why Drifting Cloud was asking him this right now when they were about to sell the items. "Anyway I have to use instruments to activate my skill, I can''t use the mic since don''t have any of the voice ones unlocked." "Alright if you''re sure," Xinya said. Seeing the man''s assent he turned his attention back to Wei and the lady at the counter. Once the pricing check on Wei''s item was completed. Wandering Sound, Xinya, and Melting Snow in that order went to get their items scanned. Besides Melting Snow''sEye of the Covert Atranoch, which turned out to be rare, the other items were CR 2 and 3 respectively. Which meant common but they still could get a decent price from it. After putting their items up for sale the group left the auction house with pleased expressions on their faces. Chapter 203: Off we go "Your so lucky Melting Snow," Wei said as soon as the group exited the auction house. "With your item being rare and all, you will be getting a lot of coins from it. Do you have any ideas on what you are going to spend it on?" After thinking about it for a bit, Melting Snow just shook his head, before answering, "Not really, but I do know that I will definitely upgrade my armor and swords. Besides that, I don''t think I want anything else." " Upgrading your items is a must, Melting Snow. You are going to need extra good equipment if you are going to be hanging out with Drifting Cloud," chuckled Wandering Sound. "Hey! what is that supposed to mean?" Xinya asked, pretending to be offended. He knew that he was a trouble magnet, but now that he was in Arkala the only thing he was planning to do was farm, experiment, and cook. With how busy he will be, there would be no time for him to get into any trouble. Giving the green-haired man a sidelong glance, Wei said, "You know exactly what Wandering Sound means, I''m like literally surprised you didn''t trigger some quest already just by walking through the town." "Drifting Cloud isn''t that bad," Melting Snow defended his friend weakly. Although he knew in his heart that the man was indeed that bad. "But even if he is, I don''t mind." "You don''t mind, because you''re an action junkie," Wei responded. Sticking out his tongue at her, the boy intoned childishly, "Am not!" "Are too!" Wei replied using the same inflection that Melting Snow had. "Children, children!" Xinya exclaimed, cutting in on the two before they really started bickering. "Let''s just agree to disagree." Also wanting to stop the sibling-like spat before it happened, Wandering Sound asked, "So what are we going to do next?" "Well I''m assumed that once we left the auction house, everyone would want to go and take care of whatever business they had in town," stated Melting Snow. "Melting Snow''s assumption is correct, we should split up and go take care of what we need to," Xinya remarked, there were a couple of things he needed to take care of, before the goodbye party. "I for one need to go meet my instructor and run some errands." "I also need to go to meet my new instructor and register with them. I''m really hoping to get some new treasure hunter skills," uttered Wei with an excited gleam in her eyes. Wandering Sound looked into Wei''s brightly shining eyes that held great eagerness and grinned. "Like Melting Snow I won''t be able to register with an instructor here yet. I still need to finish the class change quest, but I do want to check out the docks and talk with the NPC''s there." "Still interested in getting your own boat?" Wei asked. This was something that they had talked about during their phone call when they were logged out. However, in her opinion, she felt like a boat was a waste of coin, especially when he wouldn''t be using it often. With a hum of affirmation, Wandering Sound replied, "I really think that having one would be really useful to us. Also, remember that Drifting Cloud has that map piece to the hidden land of Moo Moo Pow." Xinya silently agreed with Wandering Sound, having someone with a boat could come in handy. Who knows where he might have to look to find those other pieces, they could be on different Haven continents for all he knows. "I think you should get one, Wandering Sound!" Melting Snow exclaimed excitedly. "It will be easier to hunt giant sea monsters if you buy a real ship and not one of those rented ones." "Cough adventure junkie cough," muttered Wei, while Melting Snow just stuck out his tongue at her without responding. Chuckling Xinya asked, "Well since everyone knows where they want to, how about we decide on where we should meet when we get finished." As if a lightbulb above her head had just flickered on, Wei said, "I know! Why don''t we meet at the place where we watched the dancers. It will probably be night by the time all of us are finished, so the area should be less crowded." "That''s a good idea, Roaming Wind," praised Wandering Sound, making the girl blush a little. "That is a good idea," a Xinya while opening his interface and pinning the spot where they would meet on his map. "Since that settled I guess we should be heading off." "Yeah, we should," Wei and Wandering Sound said in unison, causing them to turn to each other and smile. ~ After a quick goodbye, Xinya watched as Wei and Wandering Sound headed off into the crowd going in opposite directions of each other. Once they were completely out of view, he turned to Melting Snow and said, "It''s just me and you again." "Well...actually," Melting Snow began sheepishly, "I wanted to roam around the town by myself and check out the sights." "That''s fine, but are you sure you will be alright alone?" Xinya asked, sounding more like a concerned parent than a friend. He couldn''t help it though he was a little worried about the boy going off by himself in this crowded city. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust that Melting Snow could look after himself, but this game was very realistic. Even though most of the places in this area of town are fine for a young child like Melting Snow to go to, there are some other places that should be stayed away from. Like in the real world there are bars, and brothels were strewn about this town. It was another easy way to go about making coins, making a beautiful avatar, and selling its body for a couple of silver. He knew that he would never go down that route, even when he was at his lowest he didn''t consider it. Other players would say that all they had to do was turn off their settings and it was like they weren''t even there for it, but he knew that they would be mentally. Although those places are mostly hidden in the more seedy areas, if someone knows where to look they would be able to find it. And with Melting Snow''s inquisitive nature he might do just that. Bobbing his head, Melting Snow cheerfully replied, "I will be fine, and I promise that I will head to the meeting place before it gets too dark." "Okay, have fun but," started Xinya, in a serious tone. "If anything happens, I want you to voice call me immediately." "I will don''t worry," Melting Snow told him with a smile. It made him happy to know that Drifting Cloud would be worried about him. Smiling Xinya observed as Melting Snow rushed off down an alleyway waving goodbye to him as he did. Once he could no longer see a hide or hair of the boy, only then did he set off. ----------------------------------------------------- AN: [Quest for readers: read author note below.] Chapter 204: Sightseeing with Melting Snow Pt 1 Quickening his pace, the furry-eared boy sprinted down the dirty cobbled street of the darkly lit alleyway. Melting Snow couldn''t help but bemoan his directional choice, he was definitely not a fan of murky places like this, especially when he was alone in one. So going through an alleyway such as this one wasn''t the brightest move he could have made, but he made it so he would deal with it. He wasn''t a baby, he knew he needed to get over this irrational fear he had of the dark. ''But not right now,'' Melting Snow thought as he exited the alleyway to enter a busy street. Smiling he looked up only to shield his eyes from the blazing sun that was shining down from the clear blue sky. ''What a perfect day to have fun''. Once his eyes adjusted he turned his attention back to the area where he entered. As he looked around his smile became even bigger. He might not have had a single clue as to where he was, but that didn''t matter to him since there was so much to see. Everywhere he looked there were players, NPCs, and transportation devices crowding the streets. There were so many of them of every race coming in and out of buildings and shops or just going on their merry way. He quickly turned down his settings since their loud chattering that drowned out any other noises of the town overwhelmed his sensitive ears. Even though the crowd of people was loud they weren''t the loudest, no the loudest voices in his opinion came from the NPCs that were selling items from stalls. Their boisterous voices reigned supreme among the masses as they yelled out prices, special offers, trying to attract as many people as they could. From what he could tell it was working, seeing how a lot of people were going over to check out the trinkets the stalls were selling. Melting Snow thought it before when they just entered the town, but the sight was amazing to him, he couldn''t believe that there were this many people out and about at one time. He wasn''t a country bumpkin or anything of the sort, he had been to quite a few different towns in this game, but this was just on a whole nother level. He didn''t mind though, the more people there were, the more interesting this place would be. Also, there was more of a chance that he would find someone his own age to hang out with. It wasn''t as though he was getting tired of hanging out with Drifting Cloud or anything like that. It was just that he wanted to have someone who was on the same mental level that he was, someone to go around and be silly with. Now that he thought about it, Roaming Wind could fit that description well, but she was about to leave. There was also the fact that she was more like an irritating older sister to him than anything else. ''What if she was really my sister,'' Melting Snow shivered at the thought, knowing that they probably would be at each other''s throats nonstop if that was the case. Clearing that image from his mind, he decided to begin his sightseeing adventure. However, after thinking about how many people there were all around, he knew that he would probably be swept up in the tide of NPCs and players ruining any chance for him to clearly view the town in peace. While wondering what he should do, a fun idea came to his mind. Thinking back to when he was at the auction house with the others he remembered saying how he wanted to climb to the top of the auction house, which he still wanted to do. He would just file that away for another time when he needed something to do. Although, that idea can still be put to use. ''What was that saying?'' Melting Snow thought, tapping his fingers to his chin. Suddenly he smiled, remembering, ''That right, they said the best way to see something is from above''. Snickering mischievously to himself, the furry eared boy glanced around at the different sized buildings around him. He needed to find one that was low enough that he could jump onto the roof. Sadly he didn''t have the climbing skill, but while he was in town he would make sure to get it. Actually he would make sure that both he and Drifting Cloud gets it, who knows when they might need it. There were tons of mountains around this town, and they didn''t have any real mountain adventures yet. Who''s to say with all these NPCs that they wouldn''t find a quest where they had to transverse up a mountain. After that thought flitted through his brain, his eyes suddenly landed on a building. There wasn''t anything special about it, but hanging from one it''s beams was a rope. A rope that would assist him in getting up onto the roof. Now all he had to do was make his way over to the building. Looking at the crowd of people in front of him, Melting Snow let out a sigh, before trying to make his way through. He was right in thinking he wouldn''t be able to look around in peace, with his small body and with the massive amounts of people around, the only thing he could concentrate on was not bumping into someone. For some reason, this reminded him of an ancient game his dad was obsessed with at one point. If he remembered correctly it was called frogger and the object of the game was to direct the frogs to their homes one by one by crossing a busy road and navigating a river full of hazards. As he tried to weave his way through the crowd, he felt as though he had a small understanding of what the frog went through. Even though the building he was heading for was only about 20 steps away, it took him almost 10 minutes to get there. It was almost like he was fighting a current with how hard it was for him to make it to his destination, but he did make it. Smirking, he glanced around quickly, making sure that nobody was paying attention to him. Seeing as nobody was, he grabbed the rope, first tugging on it to make certain that it was secure, once he was sure it was he gripped it tightly around his arm, then he proceeded to pull himself up on top of the building''s roof. "Now I''m ready to have some fun," Melting Snow whispered to himself, just before activating his skill sonic run. Chapter 205: Sightseeing with Melting Snow Pt 2 Melting Snow joyfully ran across the rooftops of Arkala, taking in the view below as he did so. He was feeling quite pleased with himself for coming up with this brilliant idea, if he hadn''t he probably wouldn''t be able to see all of the wonderful sights the town had to offer like he was doing now. Wanting an even better view, he set his focus on a tall building with a steep roof that he could just make out from his position. Thinking that it would be the perfect place to view the town in greater detail, he made his way over towards it. Graceful like the ninja that he was pretending to be, Melting Snow dashed across multiple tiled rooftops until the gigantic red building that he was heading towards came into view. Activating his skill once more, he darted across the last few buildings using the momentum he gained to jump onto the higher rooftop. Steadying himself so he wouldn''t fall, Melting Snow looked back to see that it was only by a very narrow margin that he was able to make that jump. In other words, if he was just an inch off, he would be crashing to the ground with no health to his name. Wiping the nonexistent sweat from his brow, the only thought that came to his mind was, ''Maybe Drifting Cloud''s luck is rubbing off on me.'' Laughing a little at that notion, the boy walked to the center of the roof and began to look around. With dimples showing on his cheeks, he smiled smugly and said, "When I''m right, I''m right, things really do look better from above." As he looked down at the town below, he became spellbound at how vibrant and lively it was. The colors that made up the town reminded him of something that could only be found if he looked inside of a history book. Every red was copied and pasted to be the exact same shade of vermilion. While every brown was a beautiful caramel color, making him think of delicious chocolate. There were no trees in this part of town but there was foliage scattered about here and there. If he strained his eyes he would be able to just make out a garden filled to the brim with different colored flowers. The street-lamps that lined the streets were a very lovely canary yellow with etchings of black dragons drawn onto them. There was no pink, no amber, no chartreuse, or violet; making the town feel more realistic in its portrayal. For a long time, Melting Snow stood there, content to take in the view before him, but after a while, he started to become bored. So after taking one more glance, he decided to continue on with his sightseeing tour. He was hoping he would be able to find a restaurant that made food that was from whatever time period the town was supposed to be in. His mouth began to water as he thought about all of the delicacies that were here in this town, hiding from him. Filled with determination, the furry eared boy, activated sonic run once more. Setting off in a random direction, Melting Snow was eager to discover something good. ~ Melting Snow felt disappointed he had been heading south now for a good while now and besides the food stalls, he wasn''t able to find any restaurants. He didn''t count the taverns, the food that was served in those places were meager offerings, just a little something that would go well with alcohol. As someone who had visited a few of them when he had stayed with his brother''s team for those couple of weeks, he would know. While continuing to zip along the rooftops, he started to wonder if there were any real restaurants in Haven. He shook his head at the thought since that wouldn''t make any sense. The world of Haven was going for a realistic feel so there had to be at least one or two of them in town somewhere. Although, seeing how people didn''t need to eat and only did it for fun or an extra buff, the devs probably wouldn''t go out of their way in making one. Feeling tempted to just use his map and find out, Melting Snow sighed before deciding not to, he didn''t want to cheat himself out of an adventure by learning where he was. While thinking if he should consider changing directions, he noticed a bunch of red lanterns in the distance. Curious as to why they were out for display, he made his way towards the area they were in, only to find a back lane filled with brightly colored buildings. Pausing in his steps, Melting Snow looked around in confusion wondering what kind of place this was. He could see that these buildings looked different from the other houses he saw along the way. These were way more gaudy, decorated in a way that demanded attention. There was something about this place that made him feel weird, but he couldn''t quite place what it was. It could be the men and women who were walking around, although they were dressed in the same traditional clothing as the other NPCs around the town, there was a slight difference. They were all beautiful, so beautiful in fact, that he wouldn''t think for a second that they were real people. He would bet all the coins that he had, that if he were to go down there and look at one of their faces closely, there wouldn''t be a single imperfection insight. Besides that, these NPCs seem to give off some sort of strange aura, if he had to liken it to anything, he would say it was a similar feeling that Rose Lilly gives off when she is trying to manipulate his brother into doing something. Melting Snow started to become curious as to what these NPCs could be possibly selling in those shops of theirs, he had a feeling that it might be some sort of adult items, but that made him want to go and look even more. Just as he was about to jump down from the roof he was on there was a ding of an incoming voice call. Halting midleap Melting Snow opened his interface to see who was calling him. He was almost certain that it would be Drifting Cloud, with how worried he was when he left, but to his surprise, it was his cousin. With a big grin plastered on his face, he pressed accept and answered the call. Chapter 206: Plundering An evil glint lit up in Zixuan''s eyes as he watched his men destroy and plundered the Fallen Blade''s guild house. Although this destruction wasn''t caused by his actions, he wasn''t the one who started this war, but he made damn sure to finish it. They were the ones who assumed that just because his guild Forged Connections was made up of almost all crafters that they were weak and could be bullied. All he did was teach them how that wasn''t the case in a practical fashion. He did feel bad though, after all, he did make most of the lower-tiered guild members of the Fallen blades watch as he killed their guild leader and their elites back to level one, before making them hand over all their valuables. So he decided that it would only be nice of him to leave a note thanking them for their cooperation by proxy of their leader. Because when all''s said and done they did help him make his guild stronger. He snickered, picturing the face the Fallen Blades guild leaders would make when he read the note. This spurred him on more, and with a wicked smirk, he opened his interface and began to write. "What are you over here smiling about?" Questioned Xafnir. He was upset that while he was busy inventorying all of their newly gained spoils, his friend was over here doing nothing but watching. ''If only I had become the guild leader, I could be lazy as well.'' Pressing send on the message that he had just written, Zixuan said, "Nothing really, just happy that we can finally afford to upgrade our guild house." "I know what you are thinking, and no we can''t waste any coin on more equipment for the training room. The ones we have already are barely used," stated Xafnir sternly. Zixuan had been trying to con him into buying more for ages, but as the financial manager of the guild he wouldn''t let anyone, even the guild leader screw up their budget." "That''s because the equipment is for low-level players," Zixuan started before slyly smirking. " You know if we had upgraded equipment, then those four would have something to keep them busy when they are here andwould make less trouble and you would have fewer problems." "Hmph, as if I believe that. Those four would destroy the equipment the same day that it is brought." Xafnir informed him with a roll of his eyes. Zixuan couldn''t help but chuckle at that because he knew it to be true. Those four are too chaotic for their own good, he wonders if there were a person alive able to make them behave. If there was, he swears he would bow at their feet and kiss them. However, seeing how unlikely that was he would never have to keep that promise. "By the way, didn''t you tell me your cousin was arriving in Arkala soon?" asked Xafnir with a thoughtful look in his eye. "Are you still going to ask him to join your guild?" While giving the man his full attention, Zixuan answered, "Yes I am, why do you ask?" "I''m just worried about how his brother will react if he joins our guild," Xafnir responded, truthfully. He knew that Melting Snow''s brother had been building an elite team since he had started playing and wasn''t sure that if it came to it, they would be able to take them out as easily as they did the Fallen Blades guild. "Don''t worry about it, he won''t care," Zixuan told the man carelessly, brushing off his concern. "To him, what we are is just a good for nothing crafting guild." "He might have thought that before, but after winning the town siege in Errinisworth and if he learns about how we completely destroyed the Fallen Blades guild..," Xafnir started before getting cut off. "So what if he learns about it, I''m tired of having to pander to that man. One single incident that happened in childhood and he still can''t get over it. I have been trying to be patient with him since he has custody over Melting Snow, but soon that won''t be an issue anymore." "You finally found the evidence you needed?" Xafnir asked, hopefully. He knew how long his friend had been searching for some ever since he became suspicious about what happened to Melting Snow''s father. Leaning forward, Xafnir looked at him saying, "Not enough for a conviction, but I do have enough to make him realize that Melting Snow should live with me from now on." "It seems that fox can hide his tracks very well if you''re having this much trouble finding anything." Xafnir sighed, shaking his head. Zixuan was about to agree with his friend when the sound of something breaking could be heard nearby. Swiveling their heads towards the noise, the two men saw that one of their guild members had dropped what appeared to be an expensive vase on the ground. "Urg, be more careful!" Xafnir shouted at a blue-haired siren who was looking apologetic about the dropped item. Turning to his friend he said, "The devs really need to do something about this! Once a guild house is conquered their items should automatically go into guild storage!" Laughing as his friend worriedly stomped over towards two guild members who were in the process of bringing out a giant statue, Zixuan yelled, "If they did that it wouldn''t be as realistic." "Realistic my ass," Xafnir shouted back before ignoring him altogether and trying to help his two guildmates. Zixuan watched as his friend flittered around the guild members annoying them endlessly by telling them to be careful. He thought that it would probably be best if he went over and helped before one of them PKed the man. However, remembering their previous conversation, he decided to check up on his little cousin. He had been worried about him for a while now after that whole video debacle, and even though he managed to hammer some caution into the boy''s head, he knew how Jun was. The munchkin was a straight-up adventure junkie, and his new friend seems to be prone to stumbling onto them. Which made the boy''s friend quite intriguing to him, because he could use a little adventure in his life. Being a guild leader could be rather tedious at times, he was somewhat envious of his cousin, who was able to roam around the game freely. Clearing his head of those thoughts, Zixuan opened his interface once again. After scrolling through his friend list for a minute, he finally found Jun''s avatar name, clicking on the name he opened the boy''s profile before pressing the voice call button. Chapter 207: Let鈥檚 Meet Hi Zixuan!," Melting Snow loudly chirped, once he saw that the voice call had connected. The tall muscular man smiled brightly when he heard the beaming voice of his younger cousin, while also feeling slightly upset that he didn''t do a video call. He wanted to be able to see the boy''s face. "What have I told you about calling my real name inside of the game?" Queried Zixuan in a stern tone of voice. "But it''s not like there is anyone around to hear me say it, '''' Melting Snow pouted, but there was only a stringent silence that greeted his words. Not wanting to make his older cousin mad he quickly rephrased the previous sentence, "Right, right sorry. I meant hi Soul." "Even if there is no one around, it''s still better to call me by my in-game name. We talked about this before." Zixuan Stressed. He had a strong feeling that his cousin was rolling his eyes at him right now, but he would definitely be having a serious talk with the boy sometime later. Doing exactly what Zixuan thought, Melting Snow dismissed the man''s words with a slight scowl. He didn''t see anything wrong with calling his cousin by his name when they were alone. "So what''s up?" "Nothing much really, just organizing some new items my guild acquired." Zixuan began stealing a glance at his guildmates, who were carrying more items through the teleportation portal. "What about you? Have you arrived in Arkala yet?" The boy started to bob his head yes until he realized his cousin wouldn''t be able to see him. "Yeah! My friends and I have just arrived a couple of hours ago." "Oh? Where are they now?" Zixuan asked after recalling his cousin saying that he was alone. "There were some things that they needed to take care of, so I decided to do some sightseeing by myself, hoping to see if they got any interesting cuisine in this town," he explained. ''Of course, that will be the first thing he does,'' the man thought with a smirk. "So have you found any good food places so far?" Zixuan With a tilt of the head, Melting Snow looked down at the street below, watching as a woman beckoned a man over to her. He was too far away to hear what the woman said to the man but he thought it must have been something good because in a second the man fervently nodded before letting himself be pulled by the woman into one of the nearby buildings. "Food places¡­ no. But I did find a somewhat intriguing place," Melting Snow told the man. He was now even more curious to find out what was going on inside of those buildings. "Really now? What kind of place is it?" Zixuan asked while pondering about all of the places in the town that could interest the boy. Thinking that his cousin might know what the place was Melting Snow started describing what he was looking at. He was lucky that they weren''t on a video call, because unbeknownst to him with every word that he spoke his cousin''s face became grim and grimmer. "Melting Snow you better get your butt away from that place right this instant!" Zixuan yelled angrily. Taken aback by his older cousin''s tone, "Why? What''s wrong with the place?" "Just get away from there," the man started, calming down after hearing Melting Snow''s innocent confusion. "It''s not a good place for you to be. How about I take you to somewhere better, I know a place where they sell the best Water Snocket cookies." "You going to take me now?" Melting Snow asked, completely losing interest in the building. He never heard of Water Snocket cookies, but if his cousin, someone who barely eats snacks like them, they must be good. Taking a peek at Xafnir, who was immersed with directing the guild members, Zixuan snuck to the teleportation portal while saying, "Yeah, meet me at Xi¨¤ti¨¡n de y¨¨w¨£n park, you can find it on your map. I will find you there in 5-10 minutes." "Okay! See you there!" the boy exclaims, before exiting the call. Opening his interface, he pulled up his map and found the park. Activating his skill, he took off in its direction without so much of a glance at the building behind him. ~ Xinya had never been claustrophobic before, but as he tried to weave his way through the throng of people, he felt that he could sympathize with those who were. He could only moan to himself about the slow progress he was making. It had been almost a half-hour since he split with his friends and he was nowhere near the toy shop. He could only berate himself for not using one of those various Kamkams that were scattered along the waterside. Knowing that if he had he would probably be talking to Melvin right now instead of trying to avoid knocking into anyone as he walked. However he knew that he needed to save his coins, he didn''t have a lot left after he purchased those items from the fairy realm, and right spending even a bronze coin more wasn''t an option. Getting his farm was far more important to him than getting to see his instructor faster. He had to admit that this was the second time in the last few days that he wished his wagon was operational. Getting that egg hatched really needed to be prioritized it seems. Only then would he not have to worry about having to push his way through a crowd. ''No, once his wagon was set up people would be moving out of his way'', he smiled at the thought. Passerby A: "Is that a Dryad I see. Gosh someone was actually crazy enough to make one." Passerby B: :Giggle: "Shh.. he might hear you." Passerby A: "So what if he does! His race is trash and he should know it!" Sighing softly to himself, Xinya just ignored them like always. These comments have been coming more frequently as he has been walking. He felt that there was no need to pay their words any attention though because sooner or later they will be biting their tongue. Tuning out the people around him, Xinya looked at the transparent map in front of him. He was hoping that he would be able to find a quicker route to the toy store, however much to his disappointment, there wasn''t. Not letting that bring him down, he looked ahead with renewed vigor and continued trudging through the crowd. Chapter 208: Melvin鈥檚 Shop* Vigor, however, can only last so long before lethargy starts to set in. And in the two hours that it took him to plod through this rabble of people to make it to Melvin shop, that is exactly what happened. It wasn''t the walk itself that tired him out, no it was the multitude of stares and whispers directed at him. It might have started as just plain annoying, but at some point, it escalated to where he wanted to loudly announce to everyone how they were going to be eating their words soon. Instead, he just clenched his fists whilst pretending to be deaf to it all. Checking his map again for the 10th time in the last few hours, he saw that he was finally just a couple more blocks away from the toy store. Skirting his way through the massive crowd, Xinya made his way over to the nearby intersection. Turning the corner he walked three more blocks before becoming stunned by the sight in front of him. Although he doesn''t know why he was so shocked, this was something that he should have expected from Melvin. Only that man would be eccentric enough to decorate his shop totally against the norm of the town. While the building still had the familiar traditional Chinese elements like the others Xinya walked past on his way here. Such as the sweeping roofs, the screen windows, towering wood columns, and sculptures of figures, like dragons on clouds and etc. In contrast, the toy shop in front of him stood out completely. While the other buildings he saw were mostly dull reds and browns, Melvin''s store was colored in bold blues, greens and even included bright yellow ornamentation in different places. Even though the building looked absurd placed in the middle of this traditional town Xinya had to admit that it was eye-catching. Especially to kids with the way they seemed to be gravitating over towards the store. Just in the last few minutes that he was standing here, he saw about thirty of them. Twenty of them dragged their parents inside, while the other ten were leaving with big smiles and holding the toy of their choice. A part of him felt extremely proud of his instructor, and all of his success. Because in barely any time at all Melvin had created a very thriving business in another town. He couldn''t help but wonder if he would be able to do the same, after the update, would he become as busy as Melvin seems to be. He really hoped so, or all his planning would have been for naught. While clearing that bad thought from his mind, Xinya opened the door to the store and walked in. Only to be amazed by the inside like he was the out. The first thing he saw when he entered was a large circular room with a high-domed ceiling. As opposed to it''s outside with its colorful decadence, the inside was decorated in a plain golden brown wood. However, once he looked around some more he realized that the inside wasn''t as plain as he first thought. Around the walls were inlaid scenes from what appeared to be children''s books. These were made from thin slices of chalcedony, malachite, turquoise, jade, and the like, cut to shape, and chosen individually because of the surface pattern. These, too, were polished only near the bottom where children could reach, and especially near the faces. Turning his head away from the walls, his attention was drawn to the middle of the store, where a single spiral staircase was leading upwards like a tall tree. From what he could tell the staircase was carved in the Art Nouveau style, all leaves, and gently diverging curves, making it a very unique feature in the store. The farther he walked into the store the sadder he got that Melting Snow wasn''t here to appreciate these surroundings with him. He knew for sure that the boy would have loved this place very much, with all the different rooms full of toys everywhere who wouldn''t love it. A smile crept on his face as he imagined Melting Snow running through the rooms wildly, looking at each toy. He would totally have to make sure to bring the boy here later on sometime. As he walked through the store, he passed by many different rooms that were full of colorful toys, to the point where the room felt almost crowded. Xinya had a feeling that even if it looked messy, they were probably organized with care by some kind of theme that only Melvin had privy to. There were kites, masks, and puppets in one section, carved figures of animals in another. There was also a room full of musical instrument shaped toys for kids, like whistles, bamboo flutes, reed pipes, and colorful rattles. Across from the instrument room, he could see action figures for boys and dolls for girls. He couldn''t even begin to describe everything else that was around there was just too much to take in. But there was one thing that made him stop in his tracks and stare in wonderment. In the corner of the main room, a couple of feet away from the curving staircase stood a suit of ancient Chinese bronze polished armor, with a winged helmet, just the size of a child. ''Melting Snow would love this,'' Xinya thought as he opened his interface and took a picture of the antique armor, before messaging a copy to the boy. "You seem mighty intrigued by that armor," stated a boisterous voice from behind, startling Xinya so bad that he almost jumped out of his skin. "Was the armor I gave you not good enough?" Clutching his hand to his chest, Xinya quickly turned around only to see that it was Melvin standing behind him with that goofy smile on his face. He looked to his left and his right, but he had no clue where the man came from. Giving the man a look that indicated his confusion as to where he popped up from, Xinya replied, "No, the armor you gave me is wonderful. I''ll be able to use it for a while yet." "That''s good to hear. I know that most adventures are short on money, so I gave you the rose armor especially for that purpose," Melvin sincerely told him while inspecting how the armor looked on the Xinya. "Well I must thank you once again," Xinya stated, feeling a little shy about how intensely Melvin was looking him over. "This armor helped me a bunch through my travels." A look of interest appeared on Melvin''s face, "That''s right your travels, how about you tell me about them." Just as Xinya was about to respond three kids ran past him screaming and he could see that more was about to follow. Melvin just chuckled at the chaos that was ensuing around him, eyes lighting up at the sight of all the kids enjoying his store."I think it would be best if we finish talking about this in my office, don''t you?" "Yes I think that would be for the best as well," Xinya agreed with a nod of his head. Chapter 209: Recapping For Melvin While following Melvin up the dark brown spiral staircase, Xinya couldn''t help but trail his bark-like fingers along the wooden railing, marveling at the beautiful carvings that were etched onto it. As he roved his hand up the lustrous banister, he became captivated by the sight of it. The vine tendrils, that made up the banisters likeness, were very realistic looking. Especially when it became merged together with the whittlings of the railings other delicate carved nature decorations. However, besides just looking super realistic, the stairs also brought out elegance and gracefulness that didn''t really fit with the atmosphere of this toy store. Tearing his gaze away from the railing, Xinya fixed them to Melvin''s back while wondering what purpose the man had for designing the stairs in this way. Curious as he was, Xinya decided to hold back and ask that question on another occasion when he had more time to spare. He had been meaning to take a more in-depth gander at the inner workings of Melvin''s toy shop for some time. Now he has a reason to do so. After striding up the last few steps that led to the third floor of the shop, Xinya accompanied Melvin a couple more feet up to a red oak stained door. Only for the man to pause in his steps turning away from the door and face him with a smirk. Just when he was about to open his mouth to question Melvin as to why he had stopped, he was cut off by the brown-haired man giving a bow with a flourish before opening his office door. "Welcome to my office, I hope you enjoy your stay." Throwing the wire-framed man a strange glance, Xinya walked into the man''s office only to be taken aback by what he saw. He could clearly remember the last time he visited the man''s office in Bellport, and how much of a straight-up mess that it was. From what he could recollect from his time there the man''s office was completely cluttered up with all sorts of things. There were all sorts of different toy parts that were scattered about. As well as blueprints for new toys, and documents that littered the floor. However, as Xinya looked around the room he was a little shocked by how completely unlike this new office was to his old one. This new office was utterly neat and clean. Not only was it pristine and unblemished it seemed to be deliberately designed in the same art style as the staircase. "Isn''t it just lovely?" Melvin asked as he walked over to one of his flower embroidered couches and sat down. While nodding his head in agreement, Xinya replied, "It is very nice. Way better than your previous one." "Yes, I know. I worked very hard to get it exactly the way I wanted it and I would be terribly remiss if I dirty it in any way while it is still this new." Patting the spot on the couch next to him, he motioned for Xinya to come over and sit. Once Xinya was seated comfortably, Melvin said, "So tell me about your adventures so far." "Well... My adventures started after I left Bellport¡­," Xinya began, going into great detail about everything that he had experienced since they parted ways about three months ago in-game time. He told him how he learned more of Shilvak potions and by doing so he was able to save Christorpher from Wyatt and purify the entirety of the Baldahurh Forest. Afterward, Xinya went on to tell Melvin about his stay in Errinisworth and the battle he and his friends had faced during that farce of a banquet they had attended. "Did that really happen?" Melvin questioned seriously. "Did one of those vile creatures really pretend to be a human? Like one of us?!" "Yes. If I wasn''t lucky enough to figure it out in time as I did, I have a feeling that the town would have become corrupt." Xinya straightforwardly told the man. Getting up from the couch, Melvin begins to pace up and down the room while muttering to himself. He was talking much too quietly for Xinya to hear him but every now and then he was able to catch a word or two the brown-haired man said. "How dare they¡­ they are¡­ bold. I have¡­ to research what is ...Shilvak.... war.." It looked as though Melvin would have kept ranting if he didn''t come to his senses, noticing that Xinya was still there watching him. Visually calming himself down, Melvin sat back down on the couch. "Sorry for going off on a tangent like that, please continue on with your tale." With a bit of reluctance after seeing the way the man blew up, Xinya continued on, "Well after we got rid of the creature pretending to be the Mayor, we went to Laetus Forest. There was a treasure dungeon there and I wanted to help a friend complete it¡­" Xinya told him about the maze and how his friend lost herself to madness only to be saved by them in the end. He went on to tell him about catching a giant jellyfish and also crossing over to the fairy world. He made sure to tell him about everything he could think of that happened before he arrived at Arkala. With the way the brown-haired man had followed him to this town, Xinya was quite certain that the man had some sort of story quest for him. However, it seems that all the conditions to unlock it haven''t been achieved yet. He was hoping that if he told the man his adventures that it would help but that wasn''t the case at all. Xinya couldn''t help but feel a little disappointed about that. "Wow what an adventure you had, no wonder you feel stronger to me," observed Melvin. "But you need to become even stronger, only then will you be able to make Shilvak proud." "Don''t worry, I''m becoming stronger and stronger by the day. Soon I will be strong enough to take on Shilvak''s second dungeon," Xinya declared, hoping those words would trigger some sort of reaction in Melvin. And they did, Xinya watched as the man''s eyes gleamed at his words before quickly turning back to normal. That''s when he knew that he needed to complete the next potion dungeon to activate whatever quest Melvin had for him. Composing himself, Melvin looked at him curiously before asking, "So tell me what are your plans now that you''re in Arkala?" "It''s funny that you should ask," Xinya smiled. He was more than happy to talk to the man about his plans for the future. Who knows, since the man arrived months ago he might have some useful information at hand. "I''m planning on buying a farm." Chapter 210: Calling the Others "You''re planning on buying a farm?!" Melvin questioned, his eyes wide with the whites showing. Giving a slight bob of the head, Xinya replied, "Yes, I am. It was my main reason for coming to this town." "May I ask why Arkala, out of all places? Although the farming land in this town is good it''s not the best in the region." Melvin stated with confusion written all over his face. "If anything I would think that Eyola would be the best place." Xinya agreed with the man''s words, Eyola was indeed a better farming town but Arkala had more to offer. If he had just wanted to do pure farming and nothing else he wouldn''t have wasted his time coming here. However that wasn''t the only reason why he came, he came because this is the biggest trading town in this region. "It is a better place, I do agree with you on that, but I also want to start a business. No matter how much I would love to go around and help people with my Artisan skills, without money I won''t be able too," Xinya explained, pandering a bit to the man. Stroking his jaw thoughtfully, Melvin nodded in agreement with what Xinya said, "That''s a very good point that you have there. If there is anything I can help you with, pertaining to your business venture, please don''t be afraid to ask." "Don''t worry.." As Xinya was about to tell him that he wouldn''t be afraid to ask if needed to, he was cut off by the sound of Melvin''s office door opening. "I''m so sorry to interrupt," a very traditionally dressed woman holding a platter of tea and cakes in her hands squeaked out. " but I saw that you two have been in here for a while now and I thought that you might have become thirsty." Noticing a slight flush spreading across Melvin''s face as soon as the woman stepped in the room, Xinya suddenly figured out why the office room was so clean. Holding back a smirk, he turned to the woman to give her a good once over. When comparing her to the other women NPCs in the game she didn''t stand out much. She did however have a certain mousey charm that he knew most guys liked. Not him obviously, but from what he read in novels that seemed to be true. "My mouth was feeling a little peckish, thank you so much for bringing me this Fei Hong," Melvin told her, his ears completely red now. After placing the tray on the table, the woman looked shyly at her feet before saying, "It was no trouble." ''So the attraction is mutual,'' Xinya thought as he watched the two NPCs with interest. Seeing how the silence stretched a bit long between them, Xinya cleared his throat bringing their attention to him. "Oh right," Melvin started with an embarrassed laugh, "Let me introduce the two of you. Fei Hong this is Drifting Cloud my protege, Drifting Cloud this is Fei Hong, my assistant." Giving a bow of greeting, Fei Hong said, "It is very nice to meet you." "It''s nice to meet you as well," Xinya responded, getting up from his seat and bowing in kind. "Well I should be getting back, I shouldn''t leave the shop unattended while you''re busy in here," she said while excusing herself from the room. After she left the two men sat back down and continued with their chat. Discussing Xinya''s plans on why he wants to grow a farm. As Melvin listened to the green-haired boy''s ideas in detail, he thought that the boy was being smart, thinking ahead like he was. Although Melvin wanted to hear more he knew that he needed to get back to work. So after making Xinya promise that he would visit again soon, he walked him downstairs and escorted him out of the shop. "I''ll be waiting until your next visit," Melvin announced from his position leaning against the entrance door of his toy shop. "You better not have me waiting another couple of months as you did before." With a quiet chuckle, Xinya hopped down from the stone steps of the store''s entryway onto the cobbled street below, "Don''t worry, that won''t happen. I will make sure that you will see me often." "That''s good to hear! I wouldn''t want to have to go out of my way to find you and drag you back here myself," Melvin jokes, and with one final wave, he reentered his shop, leaving Xinya standing outside his toy store alone. With a wave, Xinya bid the man farewell and watched him until he was out of sight across the shop''s threshold. Once he was sure that Melvin had left, he opened his interface and pulled up his map. Using his finger he tapped the search bar and typed up, ''town''s property management office''. After seeing a building on the other side of town become highlighted, Xinya made sure to pin it. Now equipped with the quickest route, Xinya turned his attention to the crowded town streets. Well now that he was actually looking around, he could see the streets were far less crowded than they were before. Maybe it was because it was late afternoon, or there was some event grabbing everyone''s attention. Whatever it was that was causing the lack of people had his deepest gratitude. He was even contemplating on whether he should spend some of his coins to use one of those Kamkams, so it wouldn''t take him forever to get to his next destination. But now that the streets had cleared up some he wouldn''t need to waste any of the money he was saving to buy his farm. As he started to follow the transparent blue arrows that would lead the way to the town''s real estate office, Xinya began to wonder what the other''s were doing. He hoped that Wei and Wandering Sound would be able to take care of everything they needed to. Thinking that it would probably be a good idea if he checked in on the others, Xinya once again opened his interface and pressed the party tab. Selecting the voice call function, he pressed the call button. Chapter 211: The Others Pt 1 ~With Wei~ After she had parted with everyone Wei used the meager directional skills she acquired, courtesy of her map to make her way across town. Which was quite difficult since there were crowds of people lingering all about. Using the know-how and inner strength she gained from working as a maid for all these years she pushed her way through the mob to get to her destination. Which was strangely enough in a quieter part of town. And she wasn''t using the term quiet, loosely, with the meaning that there was just a less abundance of people, no she meant that there was not a single soul in sight. This made perfect sense to her though, since her desired destination was an old church in a remote graveyard. For the life of her, she couldn''t understand why her trainer would be in a place like this. Previously when she had to find her instructor all she had to do was look in a bar, but this place wasn''t even sort of an equivalent to that. Shaking her head in confusion, Wei carried on following her map to where it said her instructor was. She had a niggling feeling that the person might be of clerical nature, but as she walked around the back of the church that notion was quickly dismissed. Because right there in front of her was a dig site. Not just any old dig site, but what seems to be a very ancient one. Wei was certain that Its size alone could span at least three sports stadiums. It looked to be, in her opinion, the ruins of a Buddhist temple. She could tell by the stupas and the bell-shaped structures that seemed to contain something that looked like a holy relic. However, from where she was standing the temple appeared to be digged out about only ? of the way. She couldn''t help but wonder how long it has been since it has been discovered. Taking in the beauty of the archaeological site before her, Wei began to imagine what the Buddhist temple would have been like in its prime, whilst making sure to take pictures of it to show to her friends. While she was immersed in the visuals in front of her, she completely overlooked the handsome elven man behind her. He had been watching her for some time now with a speculative look on his face. As he looked at her, he started to have a kindred feeling. Wanting to know if the girl before him was really similar to him as he thought, he silently went up to her. "It''s beautiful isn''t it," he whispered close to her ear startling her. "But as beautiful as it is, that isn''t the reason why I''m digging it up." Turning hurriedly, Wei surveyed her surroundings to see an elf, who appeared to be a little older than she, standing next to her. He was very good-looking, but given that he was a similar type of elf that she was that would be an obvious assessment. "Treasure such as this should belong to the masses, but I always believed in the saying that what I find is mine until someone buys it and makes it theirs. Do you find that unaltruistic of me?" His peach blossom eyes glinted at her questioningly, while waiting for her reply. Knowing that this question had some purpose since it was coming from the NPC that would be her instructor, Wei quickly began to think. "No I don''t, if you work hard in searching for what''s hidden then it belongs to the person who found it. If other people want it all they have to do is buy is at a reasonable price." She stated with a strong conviction. Smiling at her with interest, the elf said, "So tell me, why are you here?" ~ ~With Wandering Sound~ Once he said farewell to his friends, Wandering Sound lumbered his way through the massive throng of people that were on the streets and headed straight for the docks. Only to be disappointed after arriving there. It took him having to go up and down the docks, talking to different NPCs while also getting rebutted by them for getting in their way to find the information he wanted, only for it to be bad news in the end. What he learned was that if he wanted to own a boat he would have to wait a while. Well not exactly wait, per se, he was still able to purchase a boat if he wanted to. Which he was thinking of doing, to have it at the ready. It was just that he had to wait if he wanted to receive the boating skill. This was told to him by one of the seaport captains that took pity on him when he was asking around. The man informed him that if he wanted to be able to sail a ship he would need to take a boating class. This was something that he didn''t mind doing at all, in fact, he thought it would be way better than reading a skill manual like he thought he would have too. Well, he wouldn''t have minded any other time, that is. However the class was way too long, it would take a week in-game time for him to learn the skill and another two weeks to get the actual license. Which was three weeks altogether, or one week in real life. He was certain that Wei wouldn''t want to wait that long for him to finish the course and even if she didn''t mind doing so, he wouldn''t want her to. He could always wait until they are finished with their journey to get it. Letting out a sigh, Wandering Sound felt as though he wasted his time walking all the way over here, he wished he had just stayed with Roaming Wind. With nothing else to do he pulled up his map and found the route back to their meeting place. Just as he was about to travel back there a notification popped up telling him that he had an incoming party voice call. Chapter 212: The Others Pt 2 ~With Melting Snow and Nascent Soul~ "These cookies must be really delicious," Melting Snow commented from his position in line. Which they had been waiting in for the last 20 minutes with no sign of their turn coming up anytime soon. He was trying to be patient but with all of the delicious smells enveloping him in this alleyway he was getting a little antsy. And yes the Water Snocket cookies his cousin told him about was located in an alleyway of sorts. After meeting his cousin at Xi¨¤ti¨¡n de y¨¨w¨£n park, the man had quickly packed him on the back of his transportation device which was a red and black motorcycle, which admittedly broke his immersion, and drove them to a hidden alleyway that was full of food stalls. As soon as he entered, he was tempted and tantalized by all the smells, but none of them could beat the smell coming from the cookie stall. He was taken aback as soon as that rich aroma filled his nostrils. That rich, buttery, scent of melted semi-sweet chocolate, with a hint of green mint, and the promise of crunchy nuts made his mouth water in anticipation. This scent was similar to a grandparent''s smile, hugs, and lap all rolled into one! He knew that he had to memorize the location of this place so he could bring Drifting Cloud back here later. Solemnly nodding his head, Zixuan said, "As I told you once before after you taste this cookie you will be ruined for any other snacks." "I doubt that," Melting Snow uttered skeptically. Although the smell was to die for, and his cousin swore that it was great, he still couldn''t quite believe that it was all that great. Especially as he remembered all of the delicious food that Drifting Cloud cooked for him. "I can''t wait to show you the real meaning of being ruined for other food." I will look forward to experience being ruined," Zixuan told him with a chuckle, thinking that his little cousin was thinking of the food made for him by his friend. Melting Snow had been telling him how great it is for the longest, but it always felt like an exaggeration to him. Sensing the doubt in his older cousin''s words, he turned back around with a pout. He will just have to get Xinya to make something for Zixuan to try. After all, seeing is believing, or in this case, tasting. Minutes passed as the two men continued to wait in the line. While doing so they begin to chat about random things to kill time, one of those things being Melting Snow jokingly asking his cousin to buy him a kid-sized ancient Chinese bronze polished suit of armor for him. "You want me to buy you a want?!" Zixuan asked in mild confusion. Opening his interface, Melting Snow showed him the picture that Xinya sent him earlier while he was waiting in the park of the child-sized ancient armor. "Isn''t it awesome?" "Although it looks nice, I doubt it''s functional," Zixuan told him, staring hard at the picture in front of him. His blacksmithing persona coming to the forefront. "But if you really want it, I can make you one. A better one at that." "Really?!" Melting Snow exclaimed excitedly. He had been just joking around about it, he couldn''t believe that his cousin would actually make one for him. Looking at the photo, Zixuan didn''t think it would be that difficult to make if he could gather the right material for it of course. Who knows after tinkering with the initial design he might be able to find other people who might want to buy it. "Yes, but you will have to work for it by gathering materials," Zixuan decided. He wouldn''t spoil his cousin by giving him anything he wants, he would have to work for it. "No problem! I can''t wait to tell Drifting Cloud!" Melting smiled, opening his interface to do just that, however as he was about to send the green-haired man a message he received a notification. "Oh speak of the devil." ~ ~Back With Wei~ Wei was all smiles as she headed to the meeting place, she had a good talk with her new instructor. He was very insightful about treasure hunting, more than she could have ever imagined. After their initial talk, she gave the man her transfer letter and officially became his protege. Which in her opinion was worth it, because as soon as it was official, he taught her three new skills. Not just any old skills either, but three that she greatly needed. A really good area of attack one and two skills that were for dodging. She can''t help but open up her interface and reread her new skills, she couldn''t wait to use our own out on the field on some monsters. Squealing with happiness she looked at her skill list once more. Over Shot: Treasure hunters need to avoid a multitude of dangerous creatures and traps in their line of work. This skill was created just for that purpose. Using dual guns a player will be able to fire at a target five times, while the player is propelled away. This stylish attack is great for getting a player out of danger. Compass shot: This skill allows a player to shoot a bullet at the ground, the blast will push them in their chosen direction out of harm''s ways. *While sailing through the air the gun damage will become 2x more potent. Storm of bullets: This skill will divide a player''s bullets into pieces and rain them down upon their chosen enemies. *If this skill combined with compass shot the output damage will be 5x more potent. With a giant smile on her face, she started walking faster, she was so excited that she could barely contain herself from skipping. She couldn''t wait to show Wandering Sound, however before she could go through with it a sudden notification of an incoming call popped up in front of her. Chapter 213: Nosy Zixuan* Moving his gaze away from the transparent blue screen that was directing him to the property management office, Xinya turned his attention to the corner of his interface window. Because this was where he could see the names of his friends on the party list. The others might have wondered why he never canceled the party since making it, but the answer was quite simple. Staying inside of a party is just good for a multitude of things. Such as it''s a good way to consistently know the health status of his friends, and because they are in a party with him, he would always be able to find them on his map. But besides that, he could also tell when they are connected to his call. Although it wasn''t the most useful of party skills he still thought it was handy. So as he walked down the cobbled road he kept an eye on all of their connection bars as they went from red to green with a smile on his face. Only to be startled seconds later by the loud sounds of chattering people and other background noises coming out over from their end, blasting in his ear. After turning down the call''s volume Xinya was about to speak when Melting Snow''s lively voice beat him to it. "I was just talking about you, Drifting Cloud, with my cousin!" the boy exclaimed from his place in line. It had finally started to move once he started the call, and he couldn''t wait until he was able to taste those cookies. Xinya let out a sigh of relief at the boy''s words, happy that Melting Snow wasn''t wandering around the town by himself. Although he could just regularly check the boy''s whereabouts on the map if he needed to, he knew that sometimes he would be too busy and only God knows what the boy could get up to during those moments. "Oh? Were you now?" Xinya asked a tad puzzled about why Melting Snow would be inserting him in his conversation with his cousin. Melting Snow bobbed his head ecstatically at Xinya''s words while moving up a space in the line. He could feel the anticipation rush through him as he started getting ever closer to the stall. "You know that he can''t see you, right kiddo?" Zixuan chuckled from his position next to the boy in the line. He couldn''t help but wonder if the boy knew that he had his call open for him to hear. Zixuan had a feeling that he didn''t, he will have to make sure to tell him later though. It would be bad if someone other than himself listened in on his conversations. He would be more worried now that someone could be listening in, but with how loud the chatter was in the alley and how low his cousin''s friends were speaking, he deemed it safe enough. Plus he kind of wanted to check out these people. "Oh right." gasped Melting Snow smacking himself on the forehead in embarrassment.Turning his attention back to the call, the boy with a sheepish grin said, "Yeah I was! I wanted to tell you something very exciting!" "Exciting, huh? Did something good happen to you, snow boy?" Questioned Wei in a teasing lilt. Wandering Sound who was walking towards their meeting place smiled at the happy voices of his friends. Glad that it seems that at least things were going alright for them. Deciding to chime in as well he said, "He probably found some delicious food that he wants Drifting Cloud to recreate." "I told you not to call me that, Roaming Wind, and no Wandering Sound the exciting thing isn''t about food this time," huffed Melting Snow. These words caused Zixuan who could hear everything to chuckle even more. Causing the furry eared boy at hIs side to realize that he still had the settings of his call open to everyone and his cousin didn''t tell him. Rolling his eyes at the nosy man, he tweaked his settings so that the call could only be heard by people he had on his friend list. Zixuan who was signaled to the change just smirked, raising an eyebrow. Melting Snow thought about just making it so that only he could hear the group chat, but he also wanted his cousin to see how nice his friends were. Especially Drifting Cloud since he wants them both to join the man''s guild. "Stop teasing him, you two." Xinya chided Wei and Wandering Sound gently. "Come on Melting Snow tell me your exciting news." A bright smile graced Melting Snow''s features as soon as he heard Drifting Cloud standing up for him. It was like he proved his nonexistent point that his friend was the best. "You know how you sent me that picture earlier of that child-sized ancient armor? Well, I showed my cousin it and he said he would make me one of my own!" Melting Snow told them excitedly. Unbeknownst to both of them, Zixuan who was listening in, unlike the previous time, felt a spark of interest light up within him. For some reason, he really wanted to get to know this Drifting Cloud person and see why he was acting so protective over his cousin. He really wants to know if the reasons were really pure or if it is something else entirely. Either way, since they will be staying in Arkala he will be able to find out soon. For his sake, he hopes that the man is as genuine as his cousin describes him to be. "That''s actually really awesome," Wei blurted out before Xinya could even speak. "It sure is!" exclaimed Xinya who was turning down a side street that would lead him to the property management office. "But wouldn''t he need the design pattern to do that?" Making his presence known once again, Wandering Sound said, "That''s not how it works. A blacksmith with a high enough level can create their own patterns." "Really? I never knew that. Would a tailor be able to do that as well?" Xinya asked while thinking of Wei. Melting Snow who was also curious turned to look at his cousin questioningly. When the man inclined his head yes for both questions, the boy took it upon himself to answer, "My cousin said that they would be able too." "That''s awesome, I can''t wait to be able to do that!" Wei exclaimed with a smile. Although she was terrible at drawing now, who knows after taking some classes she might become passable later. The group continued to chat, Wei telling them about her skills, Wandering Sound complaining about not being able to get the boating skill right now, and Melting Snow bragging about some delicious cookies he was finally able to get. This went on for 20 minutes until Xinya finally made it to the property management office building. "Guys I need to go, I arrived at my location," Xinya announced while looking at the glowing red dot on his map signaling that he had reached his destination. "I''ll call you all back once I''m done alright?" "Alright, you know where we will be. Well me and Wandering Sound at least," Wei said while practically skipping her way back to the meeting place. Melting Snow who was chowing down on the Water Snocket cookies knew that her words were meant for him, but just ignored her teasing, "Drifting Cloud are you going to take us to your farm after you buy it?" "Yeah, if it doesn''t be too dark," Xinya told the boy. "Awesome," replied Melting Snow with his mouth full. "I''ll get my cousin to drop me off at the meeting place as soon as we are done eating." Chapter 214: Property Management Office After saying his goodbyes to everyone in the party, Xinya disconnected from the call and closed his interface. Without the blue semi-transparent screen impairing his vision, he was finally able to get a proper good look at the property management office that was in front of him. As he took in the building before him, a look of sheer bewilderment crossed his features. With the hastiness that could only be seen in cartoons, he opened his interface back up and pulled out his map once again. Quickly as he could he double-checked the name that was imputed to make sure that this was really the building he was looking for. It took him completely by surprise when he saw that it actually was. Because in front of him, in between a busy pottery shop and antique mail office sat a small rundown wooden south-facing three-bay structure that was supposed to be the property management building. This confused him greatly since this wasn''t how he expected the office to look like at all. Although he had never seen one of the offices in his last life, he did read about the one in Arkala on the forums before. Following the update, when needing to eat became a must, a lot of eager people started to want to buy farms. So a very nice player went out of their way to write a proper guide on the subject. Which detailed everything from how to purchase a farm to the best seeds players should start off planting with. Although he might have not remembered much from the guide, he did recall that the property management office didn''t look like the one he was seeing. Even as he stood there staring at the building in confusion, he couldn''t help but wonder if after the update happened if the building would go through an upgrade as well. This sparked a memory in him of his previous life when new restaurants popped up in the town he was staying in during that time, making Xinya think that his assumption was probably correct. Giving a slight shrug at the establishment appearance, Xinya began to walk towards the main door. No matter how it looked on the outside, as long as he could buy his farm he really didn''t care all that much. Opening the giant brown door, the green-haired man stepped inside only to be surprised anew, at how different the inside looked from the out. It was as if he stepped into another place altogether. Besides having an NPC behind a counter and three terminals that showed tiny holographic houses above them, the inside of the Property management office was entirely bare. Bare as in the wall, the floor was without any type of detail at all, it gave Xinya a feeling of incompleteness somehow. ''Not like I can blame the devs for not putting much effort into this place, it''s not any players will try to use it at this time,'' Xinya thought as he walked fully into the office catching the NPC''s attention. "Well aren''t you a sight for sore eyes, sonny boy," the orange eyes Dragonkin beamed from behind the counter. "I haven''t had a customer come in person in years." Walking until he was right in front of the man, Xinya asked, "Really, in years?" "Yes siree, not in years. It happened after I put in the mailing system, which lets people buy and sell their houses through a catalog." the man replied regretfully in a southern twang. Xinya had a feeling that this was something that only NPC homeowners were privy to since he never heard about it before in his last life. Not that the catalogs mattered anyway since most players won''t be thinking about selling their homes once they get it, now renting it out was a whole other discussion altogether. Smiling Xinya said, "Then I will be very happy to be your very first customer after such a long time." "Same here, sonny," the man told him gleefully before becoming serious. "So tell me how can I, Lei Tengfei be of service to you?" "Well, I would like to buy some farmland. One with a cottage if I have enough coins. Can you help me with that?" Xinya asked, giving the man a hopeful look. Looking into the naive dark green eyes of the Dryad boy in front of him, Lei Tengfei wondered if the lad knew what he was getting into. Buying a farm wasn''t a simple matter, especially if a person is short on coins. Sighing to himself, Lei Tengfei had a feeling once the lad saw how expensive it was to own one, he would be leaving as quickly as he came, but until then he doesn''t mind having the conversation. "I can help you with that, but before I show what''s up for sale, I feel as though I need to educate you about the ins and outs of owning land," Lei Tengfei straightforwardly told him. Even though Xinya had a feeling that he would know most of the things the man would tell him, he didn''t mind getting a refresher. So with a nod of his head, he said, "Ok, tell me what I need to know." "First of all, what you really need to know is that after you purchase a lease that won''t be the end of the spending you will have to do for your farm," Lei Tengfei declared firmly, rubbing his scaly chin. The man went on to tell Xinya about how there were property taxes from the town''s bank that he needed to abide by. That every month he would need to pay 10% of what his land is worth at the time. "What happens if I don''t?" Xinya asked, wanting to make sure that he was thinking was right. Noticing that the boy was hanging off his every word, Lei Tengfei puffed out his chest. "Well, sonny, if you are ever overly late in paying your taxes you would go into debt, and once you are in debt, the collectors would come for¡­" "Collectors? Who are they?" Xinya asked, cutting the man off in the middle of his sentence. He felt that he was a little fuzzy on this aspect since, after all, he never did have the experience of owning land before so he didn''t really need to know this stuff. "They are creatures that you would never want to meet," Lei Tengfei told him seriously. "If you go into debt, these shadowed like beings called Khn m??d, that the bank controls, will come to your farm and take anything you have of value until they have collected enough items to accumulate to the amount your debt is." Xinya didn''t remember reading about this at all, but he was glad he knew about it now. However he was still curious about something, "How about if I have some farm animals would they take those too?" "Yes they would, when I said everything, I meant every single thing of value. But you will be able to get them back if you pay off your debt before 7 days," the orange-eyed replied. Letting out a sigh of relief, Xinya said, "That''s good to know." Xinya knew that there was a 99% chance that he would never have to worry about any of this but there was still that 1%. And no matter how small of a chance it was he wasn''t going to let it catch him by surprise. "So sonny," Lei Tengfei began with a curious look in his eye. "Do you still want to buy some land?" "Yes, I still would like to," Xinya announced determinedly. Chapter 215: Buy A Farm The orange-eyed man could hear the strong resolve of the boy''s words. He knew that nothing he could say would be able to sway the lad that buying a farm was an expensive endeavor and he should come back when he had more money saved. ''The boy will just have to learn the hard way, that life isn''t as easy as he thinks it is,'' Lei Tengfei thought while inwardly sighing. He had a feeling that once the green-haired youngster saw the actual prices of the farms he would leave this place embarrassed and disappointed. "Alright if you insist, I won''t stop you from looking," Lei Tengfei responded with a helpless smile. Suddenly he remembered the boy saying something about if he had enough coins, and asked, "May I know what your price range is?" "Well I was hoping that I would be able to find one very cheaply, under 10 gold coins if I''m lucky," Xinya announced shyly. An awkward silence followed his words, Xinya could tell from the disbelief on the NPC''s face that he didn''t believe that he would be able to find anything close to that amount. but he did have to give the man credit at least he was trying his best to hide his skepticism from him. Clearing his throat, to alleviate the weird mood, Lei Tengfei walked out from behind the counter saying, " Alright let me show you to the Noakes Visualizers. This device will aid you in your search for the farm of your dreams." With those words, the man escorted Xinya over towards three rectangular shaped pedestals. Each one of them was of a different color from the others, the colors being bronze, silver, and gold. On top of the pedestals were holographic houses, spinning slowly around. They were also different from each other, their sizes that are, with the bronze being the smallest and gold the largest. Xinya had a feeling that each color represented the pricing amount for the properties that it showed. This assumption of his proved correct when the NPC next to him began to speak again. "The properties that are for sale are separated into three price ranges; Homesteads which are 0-3,000 gold, Farmsteads that are 3000-10,000 gold and Estates that are 10,000+," Lei Tengfei explained while leading him to the bronze-colored one. "I think you''ll be needing this one." Nodding in agreement, Xinya said, "Hopefully I will be able to find what I''m looking for." "I hope so too sonny," muttered Lei Tengfei, while being incredibly doubtful that the boy would be able to. "Well, first let me activate the machine. Since there haven''t been any customers for a while, I have just been keeping them turned off. After this, it might be years before I will need to turn them on again." Xinya didn''t know whether to laugh or cry at the man''s words if only he knew how busy he would be soon. If he did he probably would be enjoying his downtime instead of despairing about it. Shaking his head he watched as the man walked up to the cheap bronze pedestal to open up a panel on the side. Then he proceeds to wave his hand over the panel causing the ring that Xinya just noticed to shine golden. Suddenly there was a series of beeps, the pedestal glows for a second, and the house hologram is replaced by a screen. "Isn''t dwarf technology amazing, they are truly ingenious creatures." Lei Tengfei laughed a little at himself for still being able to get awestruck by the dwarf''s technology. But he just couldn''t stop himself, it all felt so interesting to him. He hoped that one day he would be able to travel to the dwarf''s underground kingdom to see their workshops in person. "Now just follow the prompts on the screen and you will be able to do the rest yourself." the orange-eyed man said while heading back to his counter. After telling the man thank you for his help, Xinya turned towards the screen and pressed the big green button that said Begin. As soon as he did that the screen changed, showing him two pictures with the words Urban and Rural written on them. Knowing that he wanted a farm he clicked on the picture of wide-open land with the word rural written on it. Once he did this the screen changed immediately to two new pictures, one of an empty plot of land with the word Untouched written on it, and the other picture was of a small cottage surrounded by a farm with the word Prebuilt on it. Clicking on the prebuilt picture, the screen once again changed and Xinya wasn''t surprised to see that there were only two results. With one of them costing 2,000 gold, although that price was expected he almost choked when he saw it. The other one, on the other hand, was the one he knew he was looking for. It only cost 9 gold and 600 silver, plus it was labeled in red with the words: Damaged Property. Quickly clicking on the picture of the farm, Xinya watched as a 3D model of it popped up on the screen in front of him. It showed him the farm in its entirety or at least what was left of it and that wasn''t very much of anything. The farmland was only 2 acres (87,120 SQ), which would be really small once his cottage was set up, but he knew that inside the farming space would be a lot bigger. Especially since this was an NPC dwelling. He also saw that it was in a very remote area that was near the woods, which was a plus in Xinya''s book. He wouldn''t mind being shielded by trees, he wouldn''t have to worry about nearby neighbors bothering him all the time. However, besides that small little plus, everything else was negative, because the entire farm was completely burnt. Not just a little burnt either, no the land, cottage, surrounding trees were utterly charred. As in there was nothing but ash left. The amount alone that it would take to reconstruct everything would be astronomical. It was no wonder why the NPC who owned it, was selling it for so cheap. Although, Xinya was fine with that because he knew a secret about this farm and even if it cost a buttload of coins to rebuild it, he will still get back even more than what he lost in the long run. So with a quiet sorry to the player who owned this farm in his previous life he pressed the buy button. As soon as he did the pedestal glowed and the screen changed again. A picture of balloons and a banner saying congratulations were displayed with the words that said to go to the counter to pick up his deed. Lei Tengfei, who was minding his station like always, was shocked when he saw a deed, and some paperwork appeared in front of him out of nowhere. He really didn''t think the lad would be able to find something with his meager price range. "Well look at that, you proved me wrong,"the orange-eyed said, as he watched the boy walk over to him. "Come now, sonny, and fill out these documents for the bank and you will be all set." With a smile, Xinya took the pen from the man''s hands and began to sign the papers. Once he is done, Lei Tengfei waves the same metal ring he used to activate the pedestal over the papers making them disappear, before handing Xinya the deed to his farm. "Alright, you are all set! A copy of the paperwork will be sent to you soon," the man told him with a broad grin. "Thank you once again, sir. You know for all of your help," Xinya said, sincerely thanking the man again. Bashfully he waved the boys'' words off while saying, " It was my job to do so, but if you feel like you have to, please come and stop by some time, and tell me how your farm is going." "Will do," Xinya told the orange-eyed man before leaving the shop as he was system notification rung in his ear: [The Housing/Farming tab has been opened! You will now be able to use its functions!] [Arkala''s Bank has been connected to your interface You will now be able to use its functions!] Now that he finally brought his farm, it was time to go and meet the others. Chapter 216: Off to meeting the others Pt1 Walking towards the exit, Xinya went to pull open the wooden door in front of him, only to stop midway to glance back at the orange-eyed man behind the counter who was watching him. The man gave him a quick wave, which he returned with a smile, before turning back and fully opening the door. As he stepped across the threshold of the shop onto the cobbled street, a rush of accomplishment ran through him. He had finally managed to complete his goal of buying a farm. It had taken a shorter amount of time to do so than he thought, surprisingly. He had always figured that it would take him until a month before the update was to commence to get it, how wrong he was. Either way, he was finally here and he was ready to begin the objective he had since being reborn. And he would let nothing stand in his way. Staring up at the reddish-orange sky, Xinya clenches his fists in anticipation. ''This is only the first step though, there are still a lot of things I need to do and buy before my plan can really come into fruition.'' He started contemplating about all the items he would need to get to fix up the charred remains that were his farm. Knowing that once the farm was up and working, he would still need to buy even more stuff to get completely started. There was an expression that came to his mind that fit the situation perfectly, and it was even more relevant today as it was long ago. If he remembered correctly it was: ''You have to spend money to make money'', and Xinya felt that was completely true, especially now. However, at this moment he didn''t have a lot of coins left, so he wouldn''t be able to spend his money casually even if he wanted to. Hopefully, the item he put up for auction will sell soon and he will have a couple more hundred silver coins to play with. Because as of right now, he had no other way to make coins, since cooking and potions weren''t profitable at this point in time. He still had some quests, but because of their high difficulty, he wasn''t skilled enough to attempt them yet. Xinya bit his lip, as he thought about what would be the best course of action to take, only to decide that he should just worry about it later. The sun would be setting in approximately 30-40 in-game minutes and he knew he should head to the meeting place since the others would be waiting for him. ''But first I should tell them I''m on my way,'' he mused while opening up his interface. Tapping on his friend list, he opened the message function and wrote that he was coming soon before sending the note to all three of his friends. After the message was sent, he closed the tab and was about to open his map when his eyes locked onto his two new unlocked functions. He was extremely curious about them but felt that it was best to wait until later to look at them when he had more time. So ignoring the tabs, for now, he pulled up his map and found the pinned meeting place. As he tapped on the pin, a route to get there suddenly appeared along with a giant blue arrow to guide him. With one last look at the sky, he begins his long trek through town ready to meet back up with his friends. For he knew that after today two of them will be gone. ~ On a bench in front of the pavilion where the dancers performed, sat Wei and Wandering Sound quietly talking to each other. They had been there for a while going over their plans. "Did you get everything we will need, Wandering Sound?" Wei asked once again. She wanted to make sure they had every necessary item in case they came across something along the way. "Yes, I have everything," replied Wandering Sound with annoyance. He was becoming a little irritated at the repeated question. "I told you this before, Roaming Wind." Noticing that he was getting vexed at her, she moved closer to him and hugged his arm. Resting her head on his shoulder a pout forming on her lips, "Please, don''t be mad, I just don''t want anything to go wrong." Feeling the warmth from her body close to his made any irritation that he was feeling disappear. He knew that it wasn''t real, just the graphics of the game making him feel like it was, but he still cherishes this moment greatly. Just as he was about to wrap his arms around her body and pull her closer to him, he was notified that he got a message from Drifting Cloud. Wandering Sound could tell that Wei had gotten one since she jumped away from him like she was caught in the act by an angry father. "Drifting Cloud is on his way! He must have finished buying his farm," Wei announced excitedly even though she knew he got the message to. "Yeah, I saw," he said, before asking something he had always been curious about. "Roaming Wind do you know why Drifting Cloud became a Dryad and doing fishing, cooking, and potions?" Although Drifting Cloud''s class is badass, it just the skills he chose seem so random. It was as if he never heard about the game and just chose things that he liked. Wei understood what Wandering Sound was getting at, but she believed in Xinya and really thought that he knew what he was doing. "I really don''t know either, but I think it''s for the class he chose. If I knew how great it was I would have chosen it too." "I agree with you there," Wandering Sound said, thinking how great the green-haired man''s Artisan class was. ~ While munching on his second bag of Water Snocket cookies, Melting Snow was suddenly notified of a message. Opening his interface he clicked on the blinking mail icon in the corner of his screen. Seeing that it was Drifting Cloud he quickly read the contents to learn that he was on his way to the meeting place. Checking the time, Melting Snow became surprised at how late it had gotten. Turning to look at his cousin who was watching him curiously, he said, "Drifting Cloud just messaged me saying that he was heading back to the meeting place." "Oh?" he asked, nonchalantly. In which Melting Snow heard as ''What does that have to do with me?'' "Come on, you have to take me there!" the boy exclaimed, wanting to roll his eyes at his cousin. "You know you could have gotten there on time yourself if you didn''t want to get a second batch of those cookies," smirked Zixuan. Looking petulantly at the man, Melting Snow replied, "What can I say they were good." Where to?" Zixuan asked while chuckling, before whipping out his motorcycle from his inventory and getting on it. After telling the man the coordinates, Melting Snow jumped on the back of the bike, and wrapped his arms around his cousin''s waist, holding on tight. Once Zixuan knew that the boy was secured behind him he revved up the engine and took off flying through the streets of Arkala. Melting Snow was having a blast as they zipped down the streets on the sleek red and black motorcycle, like lightning. He couldn''t wait to tell Drifting Cloud all about it; maybe he could get his cousin to give the man a ride as well. Chapter 217: Off to meeting the others Pt 2 Looking at the transparent map in front of him, Zixuan could see that they were making a good time, but if he wanted to get Melting Snow to his meeting place before dark he had to go faster. With that thought in mind, the black-haired man pressed the green button that was just above the throttle. This made the motorcycle ripple, becoming visible to the crowd of players and NPCs walking along the streets for a moment, before disappearing once more. Once it was invisible to the naked eye again, the bike surged forward, going speeds so fast that if this was real life Zixuan knew he would be locked up. Hearing a delighted whoop of excitement from the adventure junkie seated behind him, Zixuan smirked feeling the exhilaration himself. This had always been his favorite transportation device, if only because he worked so hard to make it perfect. And it was perfect because no other transportation device in the world of Haven would be able to bend the space around its immediate area. This would make it so that nothing could get near it once it was in motion. He bet that if he auctioned it off it would go for thousands of gold coins. However, that was one thing he would never do, he would never sell his baby for anything. As he was checking the map to see how much farther they had to get to their destination, he suddenly felt Melting Snow''s arms loosen from around his waist. Taking his eyes off the road, Zixuan quickly took a glance at his side mirror. Only to see Melting Snow with his eyes closed, leaning back, his arms spread out wide. With the swiftness of a lion grabbing its prey, he reached one arm behind him and grabbed Melting Snow by his armor, pulling him back close to him, while sternly yelling, "Kiddo have you lost your damn mind?! If you fall off this thing at this speed you will die!" "I''m sorry Soul, I got lost in the moment," the furry-eared boy said apologetically. He didn''t really understand how harmful his actions were, he didn''t know that players could die from falling off transportation devices. "I won''t do it again." "You better not. Now hold on tight we are almost there," Zixuan said, turning his full attention back on the road. Nodding his head, when he felt the boy wrap his arms securely around his waist, he revved the engine once more, pushing his bike to go faster. He was glad that he had his map because the world around him was completely blurred. They were now on the last stretch of their ride, the pavilion was just ahead. Pressing the green button again, he slowed his bike down so as to not overshoot the designated stop. As the pavilion came into view, Zixuan could see two people sitting on a bench in front of it. Although he couldn''t make out their features as of yet, he could assume that these were the kiddo''s friends. So after zipping over there, he shifted the gears of the motorcycle and with a quick maneuver had the large chopper squealing to a fast stop. Parking his red and black motorcycle right in front of them. ~ One minute Wei was talking to Wandering Sound about the best way to get to their first destination, the town of Dewsbury. And the next, she was being startled out of wits by a gleaming black and red bike appearing out of nowhere before her. At first, she thought that maybe it was one of those special NPCs that roamed around the world only to reveal themselves once in a while to give quests. However, she realized that wasn''t the case when she caught a glimpse of Melting Snow sitting behind the muscular man who she assumed was an NPC. "Hey guys, I''m here," Melting Snow announced, waving excitedly at them. He then proceeded to hop off the bike he was on with the agility that only someone of the beastman race possesses. "What are you doing just standing there?! Come over and meet my cousin." ''So he is snow boy''s elusive cousin, he is a lot more handsome than I thought he would be,'' an intrigued Wei thought as she along with Wandering Sound moved towards the duo. It was a good thing that Wandering Sound couldn''t read Wei thoughts at this time, if he could he would have been feeling a little self-conscious. Because the man before him could be the definition of handsome. From his curly black hair that seemed to somehow sparkle in the light, his chiseled jaw that seemed hard enough to break diamonds, his glistening muscular chest that was semi-exposed, to his long sturdy legs that were straining against the black leather jeans they were in. Although he was a little enviousness of the man''s appearance, he also knew that players can make their avatars look any way they want. With that realization, any insecurities went away, since he knew that besides a few minor tweaks his avatar was exactly what he looked like in the real world. ~ Getting off of his motorcycle, Zixuan watched as the elven woman and male siren walked towards him. They looked quite different from what he expected, but then again he wasn''t really expecting much. Not in a mean way, it was just that when his little cousin talked about his friends, besides some passing words, they weren''t really mentioned. Melting Snow mostly only went on about his other friend the Dryad. "Roaming Wind, Wandering Sound," Melting Snow began when he saw that his friends were only a foot away from them. "Meet my cousin, Soul." Sticking out his hand to the elven woman, Zixuan said, "It''s actually Nascent Soul, only the kiddo here likes to shorten it." "It seems snow boy, can dish nicknames but can''t take them," Wei teased while grasping the man''s hand and shaking it. "I''m Roaming Wind, Melting Snow''s best pal." "If that''s what you want to think," the boy muttered, almost snorting loudly at the woman''s delusional words. While pulling a face at the boy, she yelled, "I heard that!" "Well, that''s good that you did!" Melting Snow said, pulling an ugly face right back at her. Ignoring Melting Snow''s and Wei''s usual bantering, Wandering Sound stuck out his hand to the black-haired man, saying, "It''s nice to meet you Nascent Soul I''m Wandering Sound." After firmly shaking the siren''s hand, Zixuan stood there and watched Melting Snow and his friends interact with a smile on his face. He could see now why they got along so well. The curvaceous elven girl who looked about his age was as childish as the kiddo was. While the siren who looked as though he was a complete pushover, was trying to stop the bantering between two of them but was hesitant because of his presence. As the teasing between the two of them went on for a couple of minutes, he was about to chime in and to break up the childishness, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. ~ Xinya had been walking to the meeting place for about 15 minutes now, and he was almost there. It was unbelievable since it took him way longer when he was going in the opposite direction. It seemed that without too many people on the street, this town was quite easy to traverse through. He made a mental note to himself, that if he ever needed to come to town and do some business he would make sure to set off when it''s late afternoon. As he got nearer to the pavilion, he started to hear the voices of his friends. He smirked, shaking his head a little when he heard the teasing voice of Wei. The two of them acted so much like siblings that it wasn''t even funny. He felt like he should warn her not to keep teasing the boy because everyone knows what little siblings do to big ones when they annoy them too much. Quickening his pace, Xinya walked until his friends were in sight, only to see a stranger among them. He was dumbfounded, he couldn''t figure out why Wei would be acting like this around some random player, and why wasn''t Wandering Sound wasn''t stopping her. "Roaming Wind, what did I tell you about teasing Melting Snow," Xinya said, as he walked the last couple of feet towards the group. Bringing a halt to the ruckus that was going on in front of him. A bright smile lit up Melting Snow''s face when he heard Drifting Cloud''s voice. He completely stopped goading Roaming Wind and bounced over excitedly towards the man, "Drifting Cloud, did you get it?!" "If you mean my farm," Xinya began, patting the boy gently on the head, "then yes, I did." "Really?! I can''t wait to see it!" the boy exclaimed, imagining all of the cows and horses he would be able to play with soon. Suddenly a snicker was heard from Wandering Sound, as he watched the boy become so immersed in talking to Drifting Cloud that he completely forgot about this cousin. "Melting Snow, did you forget about someone?" Wandering Sound asked while gesturing to Nascent Soul, who was observing Xinya and Melting Snow''s interactions with interest. "Oh, right," Melting Snow laughed sheepishly. Grabbing Drifting Cloud''s arm he pulled him over to Zixuan saying, "Come, meet my cousin! I think you two will get along really well." Chapter 218: See You Later Pt1 "Did you forget, Melting Snow," Xinya whispered to the furry-eared boy who was pulling him towards the stranger that he could now recognize as the kid''s cousin. "We have already met." "Not in person, you didn''t. So it doesn''t count," the boy muttered back to him cheekily. Fondly shaking his head at the Melting Snow, Xinya turned his focus to the leather-clad man the boy was leading him to. Only to be a little taken aback at how different he looked now, from how he did previously. Xinya remembered when they had met through Melting Snow''s video call during the rescue of the mayor in Errinisworth. At the time Melting Snow''s cousin had looked extremely haggard, to the point where even though he hadn''t really known him, he felt quite worried for the man. Even though this game was highly realistic, players weren''t able to get sick in Haven. So for the man''s avatar to appear that way, then he must have been really exhausted in real life. Now however it was as if his appearance did a complete 180. The cadaverous appearance he had was now gone, replaced with a healthy glow. But it was the sparkle in the man''s eyes, his greyish-brown phoenix shaped eyes that showed Xinya that his vigor was really renewed. As he viewed the man''s current appearance, Xinya could finally understand why Melting Snow talked about his cousin as he did. Because if that man''s avatar was displaying even a 10th of his real countenance, then he would still be an exceedingly handsome man. However, he wasn''t someone who gets easily flustered by a gorgeous face. He would rather like someone who wasn''t the normal standard of beauty, over a pretty face that hid evil intentions any day. The moment when that newfound conviction swept through his mind was the instant when he was brought right before the man by an excited Melting Snow. ~ While he watched the interaction between his cousin and the green-haired man, Zixuan smiled slightly feeling amused. It was no wonder the little brat forgot about him when he arrived, just by that small interchange between the two, he could tell that the Dryad saw Jun as a little brother. Especially when he saw the way the man''s green eyes softened as he talked to his cousin. He felt a tad silly now thinking otherwise, he really shouldn''t have doubted the boy''s ability to find friends that are good. Although, he still thought that it would be best to get to know the man more. This was only his first impression of him afterward, he could only be really sure after the second or third one. "Soul, this is Drifting Cloud," Melting Snow announced happily. He was very excited that his two favorite people were finally meeting inside of the game. "Drifting Cloud, this is my cousin Nascent Soul. I hope the two of you will get along well!" Zixuan inwardly shook his head at how excited the boy was for them to meet. He hoped that the man would live up to the expectations the boy had set up for him. Unknowingly, even after all of Zixuan''s skepticism, a small spark of interest still flashed through his eyes as he stretched out his hand towards the green-haired man, "It''s very nice to meet you, Drifting Cloud." "You as well," Xinya replied with a slight grin. He firmly shook the man''s hands, only for his hand to be completely enveloped inside the man''s larger ones. ~ Once Melting Snow saw that the introductions were over and that everyone knew each other. He turned his attention back to what was important, "So can we go and take a look at your farm now, Drifting Cloud?" "Not even going to let them get to know each other a bit more before we go?" Wei asked with a laugh. She thought this guy could be a potential friend for Xinya, and after she leaves it would be good for him to have someone around his age to talk to. Rolling his eyes at her, Melting Snow said, "They can always get to know each other later, but we are losing daylight here." "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow, Melting Snow," Wandering Sound told the boy while looking up at the darkening sky. "I think by the time we arrive at his farm it will be completely dark." "I guess you''re right," the furry-eared boy pouted, glancing at the sky. Not wanting to see his cousin upset, Zixuan inserted his way into their conversation, "Well if you want I can take you all there with one of my transportation devices." "We want! We want to!" Melting Snow exclaimed, bouncing over towards his cousin with excitement written all over his face. However, Xinya felt reluctant to take the man up on his offer, this was the second time that the man would be helping him out. And he didn''t want to take advantage of the man''s generosity. Turning his head towards Wei and Wandering Sound, he decided to get their opinion on the matter. But when he did he saw how eager they were to take Nascent Soul up on his offer. Knowing that refusing was out of the question now, he said "As long as it''s not any trouble, we will be thankful for your assistance. "It''s no trouble at all," Zixuan smiled, pulling out a large black and gold hover car from his inventory. ~ 20 Minutes Later When they arrived at the farm in Zixuan flying car there was still enough light in the sky for them to have a clear aerial view of Xinya''s recently bought land. Only to be surprised by the terrible state it was in. Wei, Melting Snow, and Wandering Sound had been picturing what kind of farm their green-haired friend would buy for days now. And as they looked down at the scorched land, all their expectations turned to dust. Once Zixuan landed his car, the three of them stumbled out with confusion written all over their faces. They couldn''t understand why their green-haired friend would buy this charred mess. "Drifting Cloud, what is going on?" Wei asked, her words dripping with sheer bewilderment. "What compelled you to buy this crappy piece of land?" Nodding his head emphatically at her words, Melting Snow said, "Yeah! How would the cows and horses be able to live here." "I know it seems bad," Xinya begins before being cut off by Wandering Sound. "Seems bad?" the musician asked sarcastically. "This place is a disaster." "I know what I''m doing guys. This land was cheap, it''s in a very good spot, and I know you won''t believe me when I say it, but fire can be really good for the soil," Xinya explained. Everyone stared at him with disbelieving eyes totally not buying any of the words he just said. Well everyone except Nascent Soul who from what he could make out had a thoughtful expression on his face. Xinya couldn''t help but wonder if the man knew about how after a fire the nutrients in the soil would increase. "Look, I know you don''t believe me now, but give me a while and I''ll show you how wonderful this farm can become," Xinya promises, determination shining bright in his eyes. Seeing how serious the man was, the group started to believe that he would make due on his promise. Taking another look around, they couldn''t help but try to imagine how the farm would look when it''s fixed up. "Alright, I will believe you," Wei started, giving the man the benefit of the doubt. "So by the time I and Wandering Sound come back from ourjourney, this place better look nice." "Nice," Xinya laughed, "No, once I''m done with this place it will look awesome." "Well, aren''t you confident. I feel like I should bet you on this," Wandering Sound chuckled. The three of them giggled together at the man''s words before continuing to talk amongst themselves. Chapter 219: See You Later Pt2 Zixuan felt even more intrigued by the green-haired man in front of him. It seemed the Dryad was playing this game his own way and didn''t care about how others perceived him. He had to admit that he was taken aback by how he was playing, because even rich young masters tried to get richer, or start-up businesses when they played this game. However, the man in front of him was wasting his coins on useless endeavors. Although from what his cousin told him, that was part of the Dryad''s charm. The man would do things other players wouldn''t and somehow land himself in epic quests. He still believed that those quests were purely coincidental, just the case of being in the right place at the right time. But he was kind of curious as to how this burnt up land would turn out. Hopefully, he would be able to get the chance to see it. Noticing that his cousin was looking towards him, Zixuan motioned him over toward him. "This is an interesting place that your friend had bought,'''' Zixuan whispered, once the boy was by his side. Melting Snow couldn''t help but snigger at that comment. "Well, what can I say, he''s an interesting fellow." Zixuan looked at the green-haired man who was busy telling his two other friends about what this place could be and said, "I''m seeing that now." ~ "So what about my goodbye picnic?" Wei suddenly asked. "Well how about instead of a picnic," Xinya started with a sly grin. "I''ll make you a goodbye feast." Melting Snow''s ears perked up at the word feast, "A feast, what kind of feast? And where are we going to have it?" "What he said," Wei guffawed. It was really amusing to her at how much of a foodie the boy was. "Right here of course," Xinya begins with a smile, pulling out one of the portable campsite boxes he got from Beginner town. "I have everything necessary to make it here in my inventory." Pulling the string on the side of the box, Xinya as well as everyone else watched as a medium-sized campsite appeared with a puff of smoke. There was an unlit fire pit, with 6 chairs around it and a small wooden table a couple of feet away. Taking out some wood he had handy in his spacial inventory, Xinya handed it to Wei. "Go light the fire while I take out the other things I need." "Alright," Wei said cheerfully, carrying the bundle of wood over to the firepit, with Wandering Sound and Melting Snow trailing behind her to help. While his friends were busy with the fire, Xinya proceeded to take out his Cupcake wagon from his inventory. Even though he wasn''t able to use it as transportation, he was able to use it as a functional kitchen. If Xinya had been paying attention to Zixuan at the time, he would have seen a flash of recognition cross his features when he pulled his wagon out. But he didn''t and the look was gone as fast as it came. ~ "Cousin, wait until you taste Drifting Cloud''s cooking. It''s better than anything you ever tasted," gushed Melting Snow from his seat next to him around the fire. "Really now?" Zixuan questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Even better than those cookies we had earlier today?" Smirking, Melting Snow just looked at him as if he said something amusing, "Those things can''t even compare." Turning his attention to the green-haired man standing behind his so-called failure of a transportation device, he began to wonder if his cooking was really that wonderful. However when the smell of the Braised Fish (Hong Shao Yu) he was making permeated the air, Zixuan''s appetite was whetted. Just when he was about to get up and ask if the man needed any help, and maybe sneak a taste if he could, a notification popped up in front of his face. Opening it, he saw that it was an urgent message from Xafnir asking him to hurry and return to guild headquarters because there was an emergency that he needed to handle. He could only sigh to himself while sending a sad glance at the delicious smelling food a little ways away. Telling his cousin that he wouldn''t be able to stay, Zixuan got up and began saying goodbye to everyone. However, he made sure to add everyone as friends before he took his leave. Sadly, for him as soon as he got in his car and flew off,was when the food was ready to be eaten. ~ All through the night, the four friends partied, eating the delicious dishes Xinya prepared while talking about anything and everything that came to their minds. They reminisce over previous battles, joked about the mishaps they caused, all the while enjoying the last hours that they would be together before they parted in the morning. Seeing the darkness of the night beginning to fade, Xinya stood up from his chair and walked a couple of steps in the direction of where the sun would rise. The others understanding his actions, followed him feeling a whelming of sadness. For they understood that this would be their last chance to watch the sunrise together in this game for a while. "I don''t know why," Xinya started as the sky began to get lighter. "But I''m sad that the sun is coming up right now." "I have to admit that I feel the same," Wei sniffled. She didn''t want to cry, she needed to be strong. This was her decision, so she wouldn''t let herself cry. Feeling the mood, Melting Snow gave everyone a wobbly smile, "Don''t be sad, Roaming Wind, Drifting Cloud. We will all be back together before you know it." "That''s right, Melting Snow. We won''t be gone for long, and once we''re back, we want to hear about everything you and Drifting Cloud got up to." "The same goes for you. I want to hear everything about your trip as well," Melting Snow said. "Knowing Drifting Cloud, I bet you guys will have tons more to talk about than we will," Wei quietly chuckled. Smirking at her words, "Doubtful, I plan to have a peaceful farming life until you two are back." "As if you could manage that," Wei snickered. The group continued to chat together as they watched the sunrise fully in the sky, only going silent once the sun was fully visible. They just stood there sadly, knowing that they would have to say their goodbyes soon. ''No, not goodbye,'' Xinya thought, as he slowly put his arm around Wei, much to her surprise. ''It''s just See you later.'' End Of Book 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Note: I would like to thank all my lovely readers who read Book 1 to the end here on Webnovel/dot/com. You are my peaches and I love you guys. I really want to make writing my full-time career, but at the moment it''s barely a part-time job~ (Moneywise). But I will continue to work hard for my dream. I also want you all to know I will be taking a month hiatus, I will start BK1.5 in Aug 2020. I hope you will be able to wait for me until then. If you want updates about the novel or other stuff, follow me on twitter the link will be below. Chapter 220: 1.5-1 It was time. Time for him and his friends to go their separate ways. For hours after the initial goodbye, it weighed on him, knowing that any minute now, his friends would decide that it was the right moment to leave. Xinya, if he had his way, would rather have their departure be like ripping off a bandaid, fast and only slightly painful. However, instead of being quick, Wei and Wandering Sound had decided to drag out their farewell for hours now. Prolonging a goodbye like this would only make it harder for the ones they were saying it to, even when they weren''t trying to do so. It seemed that it was up to Xinya to push them on their way, something he really didn''t want to do, but he knew he had to. After taking a glance at the sky, he didn''t need to open his interface and look at the clock to see that morning had long passed. He could tell clearly by the position of the bright yellow sun that was shining down on them from above. This was quite the pickle he was in; he could just let them keep delaying, then the night would be here again, and he would have more time to spend with them, or he could remind them of their plans. Knowing that the first option could backfire, with the couple finding ways to stall their journey every day, Xinya went with the second option. But as he watched his three friends chat happily with each other, he couldn''t make himself cut in, he didn''t want to say goodbye. Even though he was aware that this wasn''t really a goodbye, but just a see you later, he still felt quite saddened by their separation. He would miss them, well Wei more so than Wandering Sound, but he would still miss the musician''s presence. But, Wei was different, she was a baby sister to him, he would miss her a lot. Only one word could describe how he was behaving, and that was stupid. It wasn''t like he would never be able to see Wei again. All he had to do was log off the game when the 23 hours were up to do so in reality. Wei had promised him that while she was on her trip, she would make sure that their logout time would stay in sync. He knew that she was someone who always kept their promises, unlike some people he knew, so he had no doubt that she would do as she said. It was just that he got used to being around her for long periods of time. She was the first person he connected within this new life of his. She was something tangible, something that made him realize this wasn''t a dream. Wei was like his safety blanket. ''But she shouldn''t be,'' he thought sadly. Knowing that this separation might be useful for him as well. He needed to get used to her not being around all the time, he shouldn''t be treating her as his other crutch. "I think," Xinya began interrupting Wandering Sound''s spiel about what routes they were thinking of taking. "It''s time for you both to be heading off." As soon as those words left his lips, he wished he could take them back. The cheerful atmosphere that surrounded everyone just moments ago was now gone, replaced with a palpable silence. The mood might have been completely destroyed, but it had to be done, and he knew that his friends would understand his reasoning. It wasn''t like he wanted them to go, it was just that they had to. "Roaming wind, you told me that you and Wandering Sound would be leaving at first light, but it''s almost late afternoon. If you keep stalling, it will be night again," Xinya quietly said, as if explaining why he was pushing them to go. ~ The couple glanced at each other, they knew what Xinya said was right, but they still despaired at having to leave their friends behind. Wei more so than Wandering Sound. When Xinya had given her a one-arm hug, she was utterly shocked. At that moment, all she wanted to do was bawl her eyes out in happiness. Slowly but surely, her friend was healing from his traumatizing experience. She had to hold in her joy, though, as to not alert the others, but it also made her reluctant to leave. This was a significant milestone in Xinya''s recovery, for her to go right after it happened, she just couldn''t bring herself to do so. Plus, there was also the fact that she wasn''t even sure if her green-haired friend even realized he did it. It could have been that he was so emotional about her leaving that he did it unconsciously. However, she also understood that she had to leave on this journey. If she ever wanted to get stronger and stop holding back her friends with her stupid newbie mistakes, she needed to train on her own without Xinya. He was her support, and all though it was good for people to rely on their support, she knew that she did it too much. If he always worried about her, he would never be able to worry about himself, which would be very unacceptable. Xinya is always winding up in highly dangerous situations, that was just fact. The last few times he has triggered some crazy quest, it was still her that almost made everyone lose their lives. But that won''t happen anymore. She looked at her three friends in turn, only to see that each of them had varying degrees of sadness on their faces. ''I messed up again, I should have stuck to my plan and left as soon as the sun was up, but I didn''t and forced Xinya to bring it up.'' Silently she berated herself, for she could tell how hard it was for him to push her to leave, especially with how averse he was to her journeying alone with just Wandering Sound. "Your right, we should be on our way," Wei replied with a smile. She wanted to show him that she was excited to be going, and didn''t change her mind about it. Wei had to be the strong one this time. She wouldn''t let her emotions overwhelm her and give in to the urge to break down, overtake her. Clenching her fists, Wei made up her mind not to allow Xinya to worry about her. So when she left, she would show him how determined, able, and ready she was to begin this journey. ~ With the warm afternoon sun shining brightly down onto them, the four friends once again said goodbye to each other. However, this time there were no dillydallying of any sort, and with one final wave, Wei and Wandering Sound left Xinya''s farm and started on their journey. Xinya didn''t know how long he stood there, watching his two friends get farther away from him, but he couldn''t look away. It was only when he felt the small hand of Melting Snow take hold of his own, that he took his gaze away from the retreating backs of the couple. "Don''t worry, Drifting Cloud," the furry-eared boy said when he noticed that he had the man''s attention. "They will be back soon to bother us in no time." Cracking a smile, Xinya just squeezed Melting Snow''s hand before continuing to watch Wei and Wandering Sound until he could no longer see them in the distance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN: Hello my lovely peaches, I''m back! It''s time to start book 1.5, who knows what adventures lay in store for our group. Well, I know.... =^-^=; Anyway I hope you all enjoy what I have planned. Also please join my twitter @ https://twitter.com/Momocatt1 for special updates and surprises, such as pictures of our babies. Chapter 221: 1.5-2 Xinya silently stood there at the edge of his dilapidated farm, his rough bark-like hand clasping Melting Snow''s tiny one while staring out into the distance. It had already been twenty minutes since he saw Wandering Sound and Wei off on their journey, and as of right now, there wasn''t a hide nor hair of them to be seen, but he couldn''t make himself turn away. Previously when Wei told him about wanting to go off on her own with Wandering Sound, he had thought about how he would feel when she and the musician had actually left. At the time, he had figured that he would''ve been okay with it since he trusted the other man to keep Wei safe. It seemed that he had underestimated how overprotective he was of her. Because as he watched her leave with the blue-skinned man, he felt like an older brother giving his sister away on her wedding day. It was silly to feel that way, he knew that since the couple was barely together yet. But he couldn''t stop himself from feeling that way. Especially now that he wasn''t able to see how they were doing. ''God damn it,'' he muttered soundlessly to himself. He was very irritated, every part of him was itching to open his interface and check their position on his map. However, this was something he wasn''t able to do anymore. Right before they were about to set off on their journey, Wandering Sound and Wei left the party so that they could make one of their own. This made him even more anxious. Ever since they left his party, Xinya could only view his and Melting Snow''s health statuses. After all this time of being able to see everyone''s states anytime he wanted, it seemed very peculiar that he couldn''t. However, that wasn''t the only reason he was anxious. The world of Haven was a dangerous place, and he wasn''t just thinking about the monsters; no, they also needed to be wary of the people as well. Xinya could still recall the first day he and Wei actually played together. It was when he fished up a treasure map and found out that it was special because it had the gold chain symbol on it. It was after that when they first saw the evilness of players out on full display. He almost let out a snicker when he remembered how that fake white lotus tried to con them by using the ''I''m an innocent victim that needs help'' trap. At that time, Wei was very new and fell for the woman''s antics. She even thought that he was being mean for ignoring the cries of someone needing help. It amused him at the time, but If he hadn''t been there to use his racial skill to show her the woman''s true colors, who knows what might have happened. He couldn''t help but be worried since Wei could be very naive sometimes. He really hoped that this journey would firmly break those rose-colored glasses that she likes to put on. Feeling his hand being tugged, Xinya snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look down at Melting Snow. Only to smile at how adorably pitiful the boy appeared. With his ears folded against his head, drooping tail, and his big, round shining grey eyes staring up at him sadly. Xinya had to hold back the urge to give the boy a big hug since he doubted a boy Melting Snow''s age would appreciate it if he did so. ~ "What should we do now, Drifting Cloud?" Melting Snow asked a little forlornly. He really didn''t know what to do, he could tell that Drifting Cloud was upset about Roaming Wind and Wandering Sound leaving. This made him feel unsettled, as well. Not to say he wasn''t sad about the couple''s departure because he was. It didn''t matter how many times he teased Roaming Wind or made fun of Wandering Sound for his lovey-dovey behavior, he would still miss them. But he wouldn''t miss them as much as he knew Drifting Cloud would. The green-haired man seemed really close to Roaming Wind, too close, in fact. He had meant to ask if they were related somehow, but he didn''t want to pry. Zixuan had firmly talked to him about him being too nosy for his own good and how it could cause other people to become upset with him for poking into their business. With his cousin''s words in mind, he made sure to hold back on asking anything that he thought was too personal. ~ Gently smiling at the boy, Xinya released his hand and started to playfully rub the boy''s head. "What do you think we should do?" "Drifting Cloud!" the furry eared boy whined, batting away Xinya''s hand from his head. "You''re messing up my hair." Amused by the angry pout the boy displayed on his face, Xinya felt as though his mood was being lifted. That''s when a realization struck him; although his pseudo sister may no longer be around, he still had a little brother in-game to care for. "Alright, alright, I''ll stop. Now tell me what you think we should do now that it''s just the two of us?" Xinya asked, crossing his arm against his chest. He was seriously wondering since there was so much he needed to do. He really didn''t have any idea where he should start, so if Melting Snow had any opinions, that would really help him out a bunch. With the pout still on his face, Melting Snow combed his fingers through his hair, trying to fix the mess that Drifting Cloud made. While doing so, he started to ponder really hard about what they should be doing now, when it came to him. "How about we look around this burnt farmland of yours, and figure out what you have and what you might need." "Melting Snow, that''s a great idea!" Xinya exclaimed while looking at the boy in a new light. "It seems your way smarter thanyou give yourself credit for." "I have my moments," Melting Snow replied, trying to be modest. But Xinya could see his puffed-out chest and knew that the boy was incredibly proud of himself. Motioning for Melting Snow to follow him, Xinya walked back to where they had set up the campfire. That spot was where the NPC cottage was placed and where he would place his new one once the farmland was cleaned up some. Once they arrived back at the firepit, he turned and faced Melting Snow. "I want to check around the cottage area, would you mind using your super-speed to check out the wooded area for me." "I wouldn''t mind at all. Is there anything I should be on the lookout for?" Melting Snow curiously asked. "Not really," Xinya began. He wasn''t really expecting to find anything interesting on the farm until later when they started fixing it up. "Just make a note of any fascinating plants and animals you might find in the trees." ''Animals?!'' Melting Snow thought with surprise. He didn''t believe that there would be a chance for him to find any wild animals on this charred farm. But if Drifting Cloud is telling him to look out for some, then there must be. Feeling extremely eager now, Melting Snow activated his skill, and before leaving said, "I''m going off to look now! I will find something awesome just you wait." After watching the boy disappear into the woods, Xinya gave a slight shake of his head, knowing precisely what triggered him. He had a feeling that Melting Snow won''t be satisfied until he made him get two of every farm animal there were. As he walked over to the area where the NPC cottage once stood, a smile graced his face at the thought, and he began to hum the old children''s song, ''Old Mr. Wang.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An:Please do vote! It helps me a lot. Chapter 222: 1.5-3 ''I wonder what awesome farm animal I will be able to find in here,'' Melting Snow thought happily as he used his Sonic Run skill to speed through the wooded area of Drifting Cloud''s farm. That excitement only lasted so long, though, because there was nothing else to be seen after minutes of running apart from a charred landscape. The only thing around Melting Snow was scorched trees, rocks, and grass, which wasn''t very appealing to look at. He must have been running for a while because without noticing his stamina became depleted, this caused his Sonic Run skill to end prematurely. He thought about chugging down a Stamina potion but decided against it and let it refill slowly on its own. Now that he was slowed to walking speed, he could really see everything around him in more detail. What really stood out to him was the ground, it looked strange, he wondered why he didn''t notice it before. Well, he knew why he didn''t, it was really dark when they first arrived and when it became daytime, there were other more important things for him to care about than paying attention to the ground. But as he looked at it now, he became extremely interested in it, because of how odd it was. It wasn''t odd in some crazy way, it was just that the land was totally blackened. Melting Snow thought it looked like one of those aftermath pictures of those ancient volcano eruptions that he saw when he was browsing the net that one time he was bored. He remembered reading about how the ground would turn super hard afterward and was suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity. ''Would it feel the same way?'' As soon as the thought went through his head, he knew that he had to find out. Stopping in his tracks, Melting Snow squatted down and gave the dirt a quick poke, only to be surprised by how it felt. Using his fingers, he played with it for a bit before gathering some in his hand. It wasn''t hard like a rock as he thought it would be; instead, it felt coarse and kind of brittle. The feeling of it between his fingers was strange to him, the texture was completely different from what he was used to. Giving in to another weird urge of his, he lifted the handful of dirt to his nose and gave it a quick sniff. When the aroma of it fully hit him, Melting Snow knew that if he could, he would have gagged because the smell it gave off was genuinely horrible. ''Oh my goodness! Why does this stuff smell so putrid,'' he thought to himself as he tossed the dirt far away from his body. Jumping to his feet, Melting Snow began wiping the excess dirt off his hands and onto his pants, wrinkling his nose at the smell that was still permeating around him. He really wanted to get the scent out of his nose. Although he couldn''t clearly describe what it smelt like, it was still terrible. And it was something that he didn''t want to try actively sniffing again. Seeing that his stamina was filled back up, he once again activated his skill, hoping that the wind would clear the smell from his nostrils. It was only after running a couple more minutes that the smell was gone, and he finally saw something different apart from the burnt landscape that had been a constant for a while now. Instead of the charred wood, he was getting used to, he could see some actual green. Although not a lot, it seemed that some specks of life actually survived. "This is promising," Melting Snow muttered to himself, quickly deactivating his skill. He came to a halt in front of two rows of trees that had been entirely untouched by the fire. "It seems the fire didn''t get the whole entire farm." As he inspected the trees, Melting Snow noticed that something was dangling from them. Getting a closer look, he could tell that it was some sort of fruit, but had no idea what kind they were. ''If Drifting Cloud was here, he would know,'' Melting Snow thought, before plucking one of the round hairy fruits off the tree and stashing it into his inventory. He knew that the green-haired man would be happy to learn that some produce survived the fire. Opening his interface, the furry-eared boy decided that it would be best to note everything he finds and their coordinates. That way, when he goes back to give Drifting Cloud the report of everything he saw, the man would know exactly where to look later on. ''I always knew I was a smart cookie.'' Melting Snow smirked while mentally patting himself on the back at his brilliant idea. After he finished writing down the fruit tree coordinates, Melting Snow once more activated his skill and started running straight ahead. However, it only took mere seconds before he almost hit a mountain wall. Hurriedly he canceled his skill, realizing he had run to the end of Drifting Cloud''s property. Looking around, he observed that besides the mountain that seemed to surround the farmland, there was also a small stream that was on the land. After looking at it closer, Melting Snow saw that the waterway was only 3-4inches in width and only about 6-7 inches deep. He could only huff at the mere idea of labeling it a stream. At most, it could be called a slightly significant trickle of water. Chuckling, Melting Snow shook his head while thinking, ''I guess Drifting Cloud wasn''t lucky enough to have his own personal fishing spot on his farm.'' "Or maybe he will," Melting Snow said when he realized that the trickle of water had to be coming from somewhere. Following the stream, the boy began to imagine where it would lead him to. For some reason, he kept picturing a misty pond with some unknown animal living in it. Knowing Drifting Cloud, as he did, he was quite sure that it could happen. It wasn''t long, only about ten minutes had passed until he reached the place where the water came from. From what Melting Snow could tell the water was coming out a small hole from the side of a mountain. Melting Snow had a feeling that there might be something special on the other side of that rock wall. This was Drifting Cloud''s property after all, and just like the green-haired man, the things he owns are always just as interesting. Walking up to the mountainside, the boy decided to make the hole bigger to peer inside. He was hoping that he would be able to discover something awesome, like iron or gold. Feeling excited at the notion of discovering something like that, Melting Snow quickly took out his swords. Stepping back a bit, he activated one of his many sword attacks and aimed it at the hole. However, the attack was too powerful and shattered all the nearby rocks into pieces. It was only after the dust settled that Melting Snow realized that he mistakenly created an entrance to a hidden cave on his friend''s property. "I just knew I wouldn''t be let down," sniggered Melting Snow as he stared into the newly discovered cavern''s darkness that seemed to go on forever. Chapter 223: 1.5-4 Although Melting Snow had the undeniable yearning to explore the cave that held unknown secrets waiting inside for him to discover, he restrained himself from doing so. He knew that this was unlike him; usually, if there was some adventure waiting in front of him, he would rush in headfirst without thinking. This was precisely what he wanted to do, but he couldn''t make himself do so. If someone he knew saw him right now, hesitating about going into an uncharted cave that could be hiding all sorts of fun mysteries, they would assume that he had matured. With the way he was scolded by his cousin after the whole jellyfish video debacle, which was really stupid since it brought unneeded attention to their group, they would think that he had learned to think about the consequences of his actions first before doing anything stupid. However, Melting Snow knew the real reason he was reluctant to go into the cavern wasn''t because of any newfound maturity or anything of the sort. No, the reason was actually the exact opposite of that; it was because of his immaturity that he was hesitating to go in. Inside the cave, it was completely pitch black, there wasn''t a single light to be seen, and no matter how brave he was when it came to monsters, being in the dark, especially by himself, scared the bejesus out of him. "I really need to try and rid myself of this fear. I can''t keep being scared of the dark," Melting Snow muttered bravely, but as he stared into the cavern''s blackness, his confidence disappeared as quickly as it came. "But not today." He knew that he shouldn''t allow this fear to keep hindering him like this, because who knows when there might be a time when it obstructs him when he is doing a quest. Not wanting that to ever happen, he promises himself that while he was here in Arkala, helping Drifting Cloud with his farm, he will try his best to get over it. Melting Snow let out a small sigh, before looking regretfully at the cave entrance. He so dearly wanted to go in, but all he could do was open his interface and write down the coordinates of the cave, so he could tell Drifting Cloud it''s location. He already knew that the green-haired man would be happy to learn about him finding the fruit trees, but he would be ecstatic when he told him about the cave. Melting Snow couldn''t wait to see the look on the older man''s face when he hears about it. Just thinking about it brought a big smile to Melting Snow''s face, and because of that, he no longer felt sad about leaving the cave entrance. He knew he would be able to explore it later with his friend, which would be a lot more fun than doing it alone. Disregarding the cave, for now, the boy turned around and surveyed his surroundings, while checking his position on the map. From the looks of it, he had already thoroughly explored the entire western side of the farm, and it was only the eastern side that remained unsearched. He was glad that he followed Drifting Cloud''s example and upgraded his map to the point where Melting Snow could see the places where he had traveled already. He knew that if he ever lost track of the man on a quest, it would come in real handy. After walking over to the area that had not been investigated yet, the boy took off into a sprint. He was determined to run normally this time without the use of his speed skill. He didn''t want to take the chance of missing out on anything interesting he might come across along the way. There might be another incredible find out there waiting for him to stumble upon it, and it would be a travesty if he was to miss it because everything appeared as a blur. And when he thought of an incredible find, he meant the farm animal that Drifting Cloud hinted at. However, now that he has time to think about it, he had a feeling that the green-haired man might have been speculating to him about the things he might be able to find on the farm. It could have been that his excitement on finding some sort of cute farm animal made him miss the casual tone the man said it in. ''I''m such an idiot,'' the furry-eared boy thought while facepalming mentally. ''Maybe I should give up on finding an animal out here. It''s fine anyway, Drifting Cloud promised me a cow.'' Even though he said he gave up finding any animals, he still held onto a smidgen of hope that there might be one around. With the elephant ton of luck his friend had, he believed that Drifting Cloud''s throwaway words could become real, and one might appear. With that hopeful thought in his head, Melting Snow ran along the mountainside wall in a zigzag pattern. While doing so, he thoroughly checked his surroundings for any little thing that could be deemed relevant. It had been 10-15 minutes now since he started running, the fruit trees were long behind him, and he was once more surrounded by the charred landscape. His hope was dwindling because he doubted that there would be anything alive here. He kept a special eye out for any animals as he was running, but he didn''t see any, not even a bird. Just as he was about to give up and activate his skill to zoom pass this area, he heard a strange sound coming from somewhere. Meep! As if lightning struck him, Melting Snow quickly halted in his tracks and began to look around the area frantically searching for what could have made that sound. He examined the field for what seemed like forever, but no matter where he looked, he couldn''t find anything. With drooping shoulders, Melting Snow finally gave up. Taking the sound as his mind playing tricks on him since he wanted to find a farm animal one so badly. Feeling a little desolate, Melting Snow was just about an inch away from activating his skill when he heard the noise again. That when he realized that the sound was coming from the mountain above him. Meep! Spinning on his heel, he looked up towards the mountainside, and to his surprise, a small fluffy white baby goat was standing on a cliff. "I didn''t even know that goats were able to climb," Melting Snow uttered in awe. Wondering how it was able to survive the fire and being by itself without its mother for all this time. But then he let the thought slide away since this was a game after all, and the impossible can become possible. Feeling extremely excited about this new find, even more so than the cave one, the furry-eared boy couldn''t wait to bring it back to show Drifting Cloud. Only to realize something, "How to get it down from there?" Melting Snow didn''t have the climbing skill yet, so he knew he wouldn''t be able to just climb up there and grab it. And even if he could, he didn''t have any of the stuff he needed to tame farm animals yet anyway. Sighing sadly to himself, he knew he would have to wait to bring the baby goat back. Although he was upset he had to leave it behind, for now, he was still glad he was able to find any animal at all. Opening up his interface, he marked down the goat''s coordinates while feeling proud of himself for finding so many good things. He could hardly wait to tell the green-haired man about it. Vibrating with happiness, Melting Snow activated his skill and quickly rushed back to where he left Drifting Cloud, making sure to continue looking out for stuff along the way. Chapter 224: 1.5-5 45 minutes earlier W¨¢ng l¨£o xi¨¡n sh¨¥ng y¨¯u ku¨¤i ti¨¢n, y¨© ya y¨© ya y¨­ (Old Mr. Wang had a farm, EIEIO) t¨¡ z¨¤i ti¨¢n bi¨¡n y¨£ng xi¨£o g¨¯u, y¨© ya y¨© ya y¨­ (On his farm he kept little dogs, EIEIO) zh¨¨ l¨« w¨¡ng w¨¡ng, n¨¤ l¨« w¨¡ng w¨¡ng, (With a woof woof here, and a woof woof there,) While humming the childish song under his breath, Xinya watched Melting Snow disappear into his farm''s wooded area. There was a slight smile on his face as he did so; he really hoped that there was an animal back there for the boy to discover. Turning his attention over to the pile of burnt rubble, where the NPC cottage once stood, Xinya knowing that he wouldn''t find anything there, decided to do something more productive like checking out his two new interface icons. Doing exactly that, he opened up his interface, and only had to glance around the screen a bit before locating them. It did help that they were the only icons that were glowing since they were new. While looking at his newly acquired icons, he started to have memories of his past life when he was still struggling to survive in that dump of an apartment selling potions to make a living. He used to, when his cheap VR helmet was cooling, stalk the Haven Online forums looking at player''s houses and farms. He would dream of the day when he had finally saved enough coin to get one of his own. While he did that, he noticed that the players with farms would always put an extreme emphasis on the exact two icons he was looking at right now. If he remembered correctly, the players called the icons the holy duo. If one wanted to make farming a profitable business, one must become very familiar with them. Now that Xinya finally has a farm of his own, he would finally be able to see why the Bank and Farming/Housing icons were so important. Clicking on the Arkala bank icon first, Xinya was surprised to see a large brown and white screen pop up in front of him. It was in a completely different color from what he was used to seeing. This made him feel that the bank icon wasn''t a part of his interface and was only linked to it. Which would make sense if he thought about it clearly. There were many different banks in the world of Haven, and like in real life, the banks aren''t connected. So hypothetically, if he ever wanted to leave Arkala and move to a new town, as in reality, he would have to change his bank. This means only linking a town''s bank to player''s interfaces, instead of making it permanent was a smart move since they can be unlinked. Well, at least he thought it was, anyway. Clearing his head of his random thoughts, Xinya focused on the screen that was in front of him. The first thing that caught his eye was the words'' Welcome to Arkala''s Bank'', displayed in big, glittering, bold letters. The second thing that caught his eye was his account details. Which stated his name, bank id number, and amount of coins he had in the bank. Name: Drifting Cloud Bank ID: D147852 Coins: 0g 0s 0b However, below that information was something that really grabbed his attention, and that was six tabs. Instead of words, each one of the six tabs had a picture to show what it represented. Which was a money sign, a percent sign, an outline of a check, a scroll, a quill, and a trunk. Curious about what each of the tabs meant, Xinya clicked on the tab with the money sign right away. Only to see that it represented the bank''s money system. The bank tab showed how many coins he had inside the bank and two spaces below with buttons beside them, indicating where he could enter the amount he wanted to deposit or withdraw. 0 Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze ______ [Deposit] ______ [Withdraw] Seeing a small glowing question mark at the top of the window, Xinya clicked it, and information about the tab popped up. Direct Bank Transaction: Allows a player to deposit and withdraw gold to the bank directly from their inventory. Xinya thought about and decided that it would be a good idea to put his money in the bank. Although there was no need to do so since players can carry unlimited amounts of coin, he knew it would be best to. He always gets into dangerous situations, and if he dies, he will lose 5% of his coin amount. But if his money is in the bank, there would be nothing to take from his inventory. Well, unless they take another item that is around the amount he would be losing. But he doubts that the DEVs would be that cruel. Determined to transfer his money to the bank the next time he goes off an adventure, Xinya opens the next tab. Which only showed him the property tax he owed and rather or not he was in debt. Property tax owed: 0/5 bronze coins per month. Collection Agency: Not in debt Clicking the information button, he began reading: Property Tax: Property owners pay property tax calculated by the town''s bank where the property is located. Property tax is based on the property''s value, the real estate, and the tangible personal items on the property. ''This means in layman''s terms, that the better my farm becomes, the higher the tax will grow,'' Xinya thought. Although this was something, he already knew, seeing it written out struck a chord in him. The next three tabs weren''t essential to him at this point in time, so he didn''t really pay much attention to them. Even so, he did read the information about them. Check Creation: Although a player can just transfer large amounts of coins to other players, that isn''t the case with NPCs. So transferring large sums of money to NPCs can only be done via check creation. Loan Application: Housing or business loan application rates and approval depend on the loan amount and duration. Proper permission for applicable loans must be approved by bank managers. Repayment and prices to be decided by the bank. *Depending on the loan size, the time limit to pay it back will be 30 days-1 year. Business Contract: Only applicable for registered players with guilds above rank 5, and capital of 100g 50b with a qualified guarantor. The bank reserves the right to reject business contract applications that do not fulfill the requirements. The last tab, however, he found to be very intriguing. It was a storage tab, and like how depositing his money would be useful to him while on an adventure, the same can be said for storing some of his items. Wanting to see if there were any hidden catches, Xinya clicked on the tab''s information via a glowing question mark. Storage: Enables storage function for player''s items that won''t drop when they die via PVE. These items are also unattainable to collect when a player is killed by PVP. Storage can only hold up to five things, but it can be upgraded to ten for a small fee. *Depositing an item costs a small fee: 2.5% of the item''s NPC purchase price. Charges will be deducted from the player''s bank coin balance. If the player balance is insufficient to cover a payment, the outstanding amount will be taken from the player inventory. If the total amount of coin in the player''s bank and stock is not enough to cover a fee, the deposit will be rejected. ''Now that''s a useful expenditure that I wouldn''t mind paying for,'' smirked Xinya after he finished reading all of the details. He had a couple of items in his inventory that would cause him to become distraught if he died and lost them. Even the thought of it made him shudder slightly. Chapter 225: 1.5-6 Crossing his fingers, Xinya hoped that his luck would continue to be reliable, and such an event would never come to pass. Shooing away the bad vibes he released into the world with his thoughts, he exited the bank screen before turning his attention to the other icon. Xinya couldn''t hide his glee as he looked at the sparkling blue Housing/Farming icon. Because for a wannabe farmer as himself, he was very interested in learning all about how the system will work. Although the Banking system had some unique features that he would surely be using, it would never be as useful to him as he knew the Housing/Farming system would be. Sadly, that was the straight naked truth of the matter. "Well, it is as far as I know, anyway," Xinya muttered to himself while stretching his hand out to click the blue icon button. He didn''t know why, but he felt a strong sense of anticipation radiating through his body as he did so. Even though he didn''t have any first-hand knowledge about what help the Housing/Farming system would give him, he had a feeling that it would be very beneficial to him. After everything he heard about it, he had very high expectations. He is not usually someone who takes what other people have said and sees it as fact. That would be naive, and he long passed the point of being that wide-eyed youth that he used to be. But he also knew that soon he would see for himself if what the people on the forums said was accurate with his own two eyes. And he would know once and for all if the Farming/Housing system was as fantastic as it had been made out to be. Clicking on the icon, a new window popped up in front of him even before he could move his finger away from his interface screen. The new window was outlined in blue like all of his other interface screens, but other than that, it looked completely different. For one, it''s border was decorated with plants and tools. Secondly, the screen was divided into two different sections. The topmost section of the semi-transparent screen displayed a mini model of his farm. Although it wasn''t very detailed, it did show him the state his farmland was in. Seeing how every area of the farm model was blinking red, Xinya could only smirk knowingly, "Every part of my farm needs work." On the other hand, the bottom-most part had ten tabs in different shades of greens and browns on full display. Looking at all of them, Xinya had to admit that he was a little surprised by how many features there were in the Housing/Farming window. Noticing something, Xinya saw that, like with the bank, the tabs had symbols on the top of them, but unlike the bank, the Farming/Housing tabs had the names of what they were written down horizontally on them. Reading the names of each one in order, Xinya saw that there were ten of them. They were Cottage upgrade, Farm upgrade, Farm Hands, State of the farm, Areas that need attention, Planting timers, Farm buff, Produce Storage, Tools/materials, and Furniture. Once he was sure that he had checked out everything on the main page, he clicked on the first tab, which was Cottage Upgrade, and opened it. When he did so, a separate window popped up. The first thing Xinya noticed as he looked at the screen was the projected image of a charred land with debris scattered around. Without even thinking about it, he knew for certain that it was showing the area where his cottage should be standing. Wondering if the image was projecting in real-time, Xinya walked closer to where the cottage once stood while never taking his eye off the image. Sadly, he learned that was not the case at all. "That''s too bad, having real-time monitoring set up would have been cool." Shaking his head in disappointment, he suddenly noticed the time. Twenty-five minutes had passed since he had started checking out his new icons. Knowing that Melting Snow might be back anytime now and that it would take too long to give each tab an in-depth look through, he decided to just read the description of each tab for now. ''I will have plenty of time to thoroughly inspect each and every one of them later.'' With that thought in mind, Xinya begins to rapidly go through each of the ten tabs reading their descriptions. Cottage upgrade: Upgrading one''s cottage is necessary for two reasons: A player won''t be able to insert their upgraded furniture if their cottage isn''t upgraded to the same level. *The higher the upgrade impacts the quality of furniture that can be placed within. The upgraded level of a player cottage will coincide with how ample their farming space will be. *Please note a cottage can only be upgraded 5 times. Also, player built cottages will only have 1-5 acres of land, while NPC constructed ones will have up to 5-20 acres of land in their farming space. Farm upgrade: Upgrading one''s farm can be very beneficial for a farmer in more ways than they might know. There are many great rewards to be had, such as having more fertile soil at level 2, better quality products at level 4, and faster-growing times at level 6. So be sure to upgrade! Farm Hands: Even the most dedicated farmers wouldn''t be able to run a farm entirely by themselves. With this feature, they won''t have to. Players will be able to hire either NPC or player farmhands to help them with their farm. *Please note that when one employs people, it is only right to train them as well. State of farm: New or Old, farmers always tend to worry about their farm''s state. Well, their worries can cease; this feature will help monitor a player farm for them. It will clearly show if the player''s farm is good or bad, and if it is bad, give advice on how to correctly fix the farm''s state. Areas that need attention: Players are not able to be everywhere at once, but with this feature, they won''t need to. With ''Areas that need attention,'' players will be able to see what needs to be taken care of on their farm, from watering and fertilizing plants to cleaning and feeding animals and everything else in between. Planting timers: There are tons of inexperienced farmers who want to try their hand at farming for the very first time. To help them on their way to becoming master farmers, we have equipped players with this nifty planting timer. It will allow players to tell when their produce is ready to be harvested. Farm buff: This feature will players the buffs that are equipped and active and how long until they expire. *Please note that farm buffs are not able to be stacked. Produce Storage: Every player knows that most produce can go off quickly. However, this feature will allow a player to put them in a storage area built to keep them fresh for more extended periods while also showing exactly when the food expires. Tools/materials: There are all sorts of handy tools and materials a player will need to maintain a farm, so many in fact that they could get in one way if not careful. But with this feature, there will be no need to worry about that; with this handy dandy storage, all tools can be stored here once they are finished being used. Furniture: Furniture is an essential part of every home, it gives it style and a personality of its own. However, Haven''s online furniture is unique; besides looking pretty, it also gives buffs to the player''s farm. The more the furniture is upgraded, the better the buffs will become. After reading all ten of the tabs descriptions twice, he realized that what was said on the forum was correct. The farming system was extremely useful and would become a great asset to him once his farm was up and running. Smiling to himself, Xinya started envisioning what his farm would look like once it wasn''t just a charred piece of land anymore. He couldn''t wait to see that day, but first, he needed to fix up this place so that his imagination could become a reality. Chapter 226: 1.5-7 ''How did the player who bought this place in my last life transform it back to its previous state?'' Xinya pondered while exiting out of the Housing/Farming window. At first, Xinya thought that the player might have hired some professional farmhands to help him fix up the land. It made the most sense to him after learning from the Farmhand tab description that it was possible to hire farmworkers. To him, that appeared to be the most likely answer, but he quickly threw out the idea after thinking about it for a bit. The reason why was because if that player had that much coin to waste hiring workers, he could have bought a way better piece of land than this burnt one. Unless the player was like him and foresaw how great it would become. But Xinya doubted that there could be someone else who could be reborn again like he was. Something like that should be an occurrence that only happens once every lifetime. ''No, it could only mean that the player had fixed up the farm by himself,'' he thought to himself as he ran his hand through his leafy green hair. ''But the question is, how?'' Realizing that there was no possible way for him to figure out how that player did it, Xinya thought that the only course of action left for him would be researching the subject independently. "I guess it''s off to the library once Melting Snow comes back from searching around." Wondering how far along the boy got in his exploration of the tree grove,he opened his map to take a glimpse. Looking for the red dot that represented the furry-eared boy, Xinya zoomed in on the map, so that it was only showing the area of his farm. From what he could see from the red dot, Melting Snow was slowly heading back towards him. Too slowly, in fact, much to the confusion of Xinya. This made him curious to know what the boy had found to make him stop using his speed skill. ''Well, I will find out soon,'' Xinya mused while estimating that it would take up to 15-20 minutes before the boy returns. Knowing that Xinya decided that he might as well check out the cottage''s remains like he said he would. ~ Walking around the burnt outline of where the cottage once was, Xinya started to scan around the area to see if there was anything left. Although he was expecting to find nothing at all, with the way, the fire had ravaged this farm. If there was any part of the cottage that wasn''t destroyed, then he would be totally stunned. As he looked closer to the wreckage, it was just as he thought, there was nothing left but debris and ash. Xinya confirmed something that he already knew, and it was that he would need to rebuild everything from scratch. He didn''t mind, though, since the cottage would still classify as an NPC made one instead of a player built one. However, he didn''t know how to go about rebuilding it. Well, actually, he did, and that would be with a house blueprint. Which was quite easy to find if one knew where to look, and he knew exactly where to. He remembered reading somewhere that there were many NPC architects all around Haven who sell their designs through a housing board. A housing board could be found in any housing supply shop, and like the auction house, it was connected to all places in Haven. It sold everything needed for homes, such as blueprints, furniture, and etc. The only problem with using the housing board was that the wares within it were basic NPC made ones. He had no problem with NPC made house items because some could be really nice looking. However, he wants his cottage to be unique and very aesthetically pleasing to his tastes since he was going to have to look at it for a long time. This meant that he would have to design something himself, which wouldn''t be good because he couldn''t even draw a circle. As he was wondering what he should do, an idea struck him out of the blue. He had a good amount of money in his bank now; with it, he could hire someone on the forums to design a cottage of his dreams. This way, he would be able to have a cottage created to match his exact specifications. The next time he logs out, he would have to ask Wei to look through different cottage pictures with him to help him choose the perfect one he should get. Still, once he gets the blueprint, he would need carpenters and other workers to build it for him, which would surely cost him a pretty penny. Also, he couldn''t forget that he was sure to need some special type of equipment to help him take care of his farm. "I don''t think the coin I will get from the auction of my StarLight Microphone will cover all of that," Sighing, Xinya started to worry about how he would get enough coin to fix up a place. He could only hope that he could find another quest that would give him another excellent item to sell or he would have to go out and grind on some high-level mobs for a while. Groaning at the thought, Xinya kicked at one of the charred debris nearby only to see something glinting in the sunlight. Questioning what it could be, he squatted down and started to use his hands to move all of the other debris out of the way. After clearing all of the brunt wood and ash away, he got a surprise of a lifetime, for it seemed that something survived the fire after all. And that thing was a metal hatch that could lead to a basement of some kind. "Is this my luck working for me again?!" wondered Xinya as he went to grab its handle. However, before he could open it, he was stopped by someone calling out to him. Letting go of the handle, Xinya turned towards the voice, only to see that it was Melting Snow excitedly running towards him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN: Please Vote it helps me a lot!! My peaches I have made something for all of you, it''s called ''Melting Snow''s theater - A preview'' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahHieW89y8E) Tell me if I should continue. Also, for my Kofi subscribers, the entire Haven Online family chibi pictures are available for download if you want them. [https://ko-fi.com/momocatt] Update schedule: Sun-ThursWill not be uploading onFri-Sat. Starting Aug. 9th Chapter 227: 1.5-8 Melting Snow was in a jovial mood as he skittered past the last few burnt fruit trees exiting the grove. He couldn''t wait to tell Drifting Cloud all about the amazing things he had found while he was out exploring. ''I bet Drifting Cloud will be over the moon when I share my findings with him,'' The boy could already picture the man''s reaction when he tells him about the grove''s hidden treasures. After breaking through the tree line and reaching the open terrain, Melting Snow''s view was no longer hindered, and he could finally see Drifting Cloud. From his position, it appeared as though the man was rummaging through what was left of the farm''s destroyed cottage. "Drifting Cloud! I''m back!" Melting Snow excitedly shouted as he walked towards the green-haired man. Getting up out of his squatting position Xinya turned towards the furry-eared boy with a smile on his face. "Welcome back, Melting Snow. Did you discover anything of interest out there in those trees?" "Did I discover anything?" Walking up to the man, Melting Snow let out an amused huff at Xinya''s words. "The question you should be asking is what I didn''t discover." "Oh, do tell. Did you find an animal out there or something?" Xinya asked. Although he had told the boy that there might be some things to find out there in the grove, Xinya never thought that he would be able to find anything. But from the excited look on Melting Snow''s face, it seemed that he was proven wrong. If anything, Melting Snow''s smile got bigger once Xinya had asked that. "Yes, I did! I found a baby goat! There was a freaking baby goat on your farm, Drifting Cloud!" "Really? You found a goat, what a wonderful find. Did you bring it back?" Xinya asked, peering around the area as if the goat would pop out from somewhere. "Well, there was a tiny problem with bringing it back," Melting Snow begins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. " The baby goat had climbed up really high onto a cliff that was on the side of the mountain, and I was unable to get to it. I absolutely need to get the climbing skill." Xinya had forgotten all about the climbing skill, this was one skill he needed to get as well. If not for the other goats, he would get, because goat milk was a thing, then for all the different types of plants that grow on cliffs. "But why didn''t you just try luring the goat to you, with some food from your inventory? Because I know you have some in there," Xinya asked. He had a feeling that the goat was probably surviving by eating bits of plants, it could find underneath the rocks on the mountain and would have been interested in a more better substantial meal. "I didn''t have anything in my inventory to lure it..." Eyes widening, Melting Snow stopped speaking mid-sentence, and with a shake of the head, he slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, for crying out loud, how could I be such an idiot." Melting Snow felt like such a dunce; he couldn''t believe that he forgot all about the fruits he had found. He had written it down and everything. Sighing to himself, he opened up his interface and pulled out the strange fruit he found and showed it to Drifting Cloud. "This was one of the other things I found back there. There are three rows of untouched fruit trees at the very edge of your farm. While handing the fruit over to the man, Melting Snow wondered if he should go back and grabbed another one to lure the goat with. "I know what you''re thinking Melting Snow, leave the goat be for now," Xinya stated while taking the fruit from the boy''s hand. "We don''t have nowhere to keep it yet. We should head to town, and buy a cage for it first before bringing it back." As he stared at the reddish-green hairy fruit in his palm, the sudden ding of a system notification sounded. [System: A rare ingredient has been discovered! Check your ingredient menu to learn more about it!] Ingredient menu? Xinya didn''t remember having one of those. Opening his interface, he started to search for it as Melting Snow continued talking. "That''s a good idea I wouldn''t want the baby goat to get hurt by these burnt pieces of wood that are everywhere?" Melting Snow told him. He thought that it would be a great idea, and while they were in town, he would be able to stock up on taming supplies. "Now, you said you found these fruits while you were exploring?" Xinya frantically asked. After finding the ingredient menu on his interface, he read the strange fruit description and was in disbelief over what it said. "And there were more of them, right?" "Yes, as I said, there were three rows of five trees that were untouched by the fire. What kind of fruit are they anyway?" Melting Snow questioned, wondering why Drifting Cloud was this excited about it. Staring at the fruit in wonder, Xinya turned to Melting Snow and said, " This is a fruit called Rambutan. In reality, it can only grow in tropical climates, such as in Malaysia and Indonesia. But in the game, I guess it can flourish in any climate." "Is it something good? Melting Snow curiously asked. "Good, no. That word can''t even come close to how excellent this fruit is. I can''t believe I have fifteen trees worth of them." Opening his interface Xinya shared the fruit description with Melting Snow. Rambutan: This fruit name comes from the Malay word for hair because the golf-ball-sized fruit has a hairy red and green shell. This unmistakable appearance is often compared to that of a sea urchin. Rambutan is very nutritious and can offer many benefits if used correctly, from healing and weight loss to increased poison resistance. With this fruit, Xinya would not only be able to create weight-loss potions to sell, but he could also experiment with making better healing potions with it. He always wanted to try creating an area of effect healing potion since that would be great for when his party is in the midst of battle and cannot stop to chug down an HP potion. "Wow, that is awesome. Having a way to resist poison from monsters would be very useful,and here I thought the cave that I found was my best discovery," Melting Snow calmly stated looking at the fruit that was in Xinya''s hand with a new light. "Yes, it is a very good... Wait! You found a cave?!?" Xinya exclaimed, wondering what other surprises he should expect to find on this damaged farm of his. Chapter 228: 1.5-9 "Oh, did I forget to mention that?" Melting Snow distractedly asked, his gaze still on the strange aquatic-like fruit in Drifting Cloud''s hand. When he had first found it, he didn''t think much of it besides something that could be given to his friend to make a new delicious snack. However, after he read its description, he was starting to look at it in a new light. Melting Snow knew for sure that the poison resistance would come in handy for their future adventures. He could only think back to some of their past battles when being poison resistant would have helped. The furry-eared boy thought back to one of his and Drifting Cloud''s earliest adventures together. He was helping the green-haired man with a dungeon to find a recipe to create a combat potion. In one of the dungeon''s rooms, they got sprayed in the face by some poisonous smoke. They were lucky, that time. Since both he and Drifting Cloud had a sufficient amount of HP and was stocked to the gills with potions. If the poison took more than -1 health at the time or they couldn''t drink a health potion fast enough, they could have died. Noticing that his friend was trying to get his attention, Melting Snow looked up only to see Drifting Cloud snapping his fingers at him. ~ ''Did he forget to mention it, he says. How can someone forget about something like that.'' Xinya mutters to himself while subtly shaking his head. As he looked over at the distracted child, Xinya didn''t know whether he should laugh or cry. With a sigh, Xinya stashed the Rambutan away in his inventory before trying to snap the boy out of whatever thoughts he was having. Once he saw that he had the boy''s attention, he began to question him. "So, are you going to tell me about the cave you found or not?" "Right the cave, I meant to tell you about that," Melting Snow chuckled amused by his forgetfulness. "So this is what happened. While I was exploring the tree grove with my speed skill, I found a small spring at the edge of your land." "A spring?" Xinya questioned. He began to wonder if the player who owned the farm previously omitted some things about it when he bragged about his purchase on the forum. It would be something he would do, but then again, he wouldn''t have boasted in the first place. ''Well, that doesn''t matter, since either way, I might have a potential place to fish on this farm.'' "I know what you are thinking, and no, you won''t be able to fish there.Giving it the name spring gives it too much justice; if anything, it''s just a mere trickle of water." Melting Snow explained, bursting Xinya''s bubble. Xinya was a little disappointed, but he knew he couldn''t have everything. "I see, that''s too bad." "Anyway, once I found that trickle of water," Melting Snow continued, becoming more animated while telling his story. "I became curious about where it would lead. I kept imagining all sorts of things as I followed it, but what I found was out of my expectations." "What were you imagining? Was it a giant pond with a mermaid living in it?" asked Xinya teasingly. Knowing the boy as he did, he was probably picturing a scene out of King Authur and the lady of the lake. Playfully sticking his tongue out at Xinya, Melting Snow said, "No, I didn''t imagine that. And for your information, mermaids only live in the sea." "That''s right, they do. How could I have forgotten," Holding back his laughter, Xinya just nodded at the boy with a serious look on his face. "As I was saying, before being interrupted," pouted Melting Snow. He had a strange feeling that Drifting Cloud didn''t believe him about the mermaids. "While I was following the trickle of water, I ran into something unexpected, which was the side of the mountain." When the boy said that, Xinya got a strange image of the boy running splat against the wall like something he would see in a cartoon. He couldn''t help but abruptly snicker at the thought. After giving the man a strange look for his sudden laughter, Melting Snow continued on with his story, "So after I stopped myself from hitting the wall, I noticed that the water was dripping from a small hole in the rock wall. And you know me, I became intrigued and wanted to know if there was something on the other side of the wall. Being the ingenious boy that I am, I used one of my skills to make the hole bigger to look inside of it. However, instead of doing that, I shattered the whole thing into pieces and uncovered the entrance to a hidden cave." Once the furry-eared boy finished his story, he gave Xinya a look that literally said, ''Didn''t I do good'' while puffing out his chest. Which made it hard for him to resist the urge to go over there and tussle the boy''s hair. Even though it was hard, he did resist, because Melting Snow''s actions worried him. With the way, the boy just blasted open the cave without taking precautions. Who''s to say that there couldn''t have been a giant monster on the other side of the cave wall waiting to attack. Although other people might say he was worried about nothing, and the boy was safe since he was in the farm''s boundary. But what they failed to understand is that those mountains weren''t a part of his farm. He might use them and take items from them, but he doesn''t own them. "Melting Snow, although I''m happy with your discovery. I''m very upset about how you went about it," Xinya told the boy sternly. Confused about why Drifting Cloud was upset, Melting Snow said, "Why are you upset? I thought you would be happy." "I am happy, but you need to understand those mountains aren''t a part of my farm. Although I doubt that there are any monsters located on top of the mountain ranges, I can''t say the same about the inside of them," emphasized Xinya. The boy could now see why his friend was a little worried. It never crossed his mind that a monster could be in the cave, but it did make plenty of sense since there are monsters seemingly everywhere in Haven. Feeling contrite, Melting Snow said, "Your right, Drifting Cloud. That was a mistake on my part. Next time I come across something like that, I will make sure to inform you. That way, we can explore it together, okay?" "It''s a promise then, I''m just glad you were cautious enough not to go in," Xinya smiled, giving the boy''s hair a quick pat. "Right...that was me being cautious, alright," Melting Snow replied, smoothing out his hair before changing the subject. "So what about you? Did you find anything while exploring the cottage area?" "As a matter of fact, I did." Remembering the hatch, Xinya walked back towards it while motioning Melting Snow to follow him. Chapter 229: 1.5-10 After learning that he had Rambutan trees, a goat, and a cave on his farm, the hatch had just slipped his mind. It wasn''t as great of a find to him as those other things, so it was quite easy to forget. Logically, Xinya knew that the only thing that could be underneath the hatch was a storage area of some kind. Even though it wasn''t something as exciting as finding a hidden cave, it was still good in his book. Extra space to put things was always needed, especially on a farm. And depending on how big the area down there was, Xinya might be able to put in a potions lab. He might have become a little spoiled by the one that was on Wandering Sound''s rented boat, but having space where he could experiment in peace was really ideal. Plus, having a contained room would be great for the off chance he ever blows up any of those test potions. Starting another fire and having to rebuild his farm again because of a potion accident wasn''t something he ever wanted happening. ''I might cry if it did.'' "So, this is what you found?" asked Melting Snow, snapping Xinya out of his thoughts. "Yes, I stumbled upon the hatch while I was surveying the area around the cottage to see if there were anything besides ashes left from the fire," Xinya explained. "I was going to check out what was inside, but you arrived before I got around to it." Tilting his head cutely to the side Melting Snow stared down at the metal hatch wondering where it led. "Do you think it will lead to a hidden room full of treasures?" "If it did, I would be pleasantly surprised," Xinya laughed as he grabbed the hatch''s handle. "If anything, the hatch will lead to a food storage area. Which would be a wonderful edition if it''s not burnt up as well. But we won''t know until we can go inside and see." However, no matter how hard Xinya tugged at the hatch, it just wouldn''t open.He tried using his full strength while using two hands to pull at it, but no matter what he did, the hatch wouldn''t budge an inch. Sighing, Xinya blamed the fact that his class didn''t need STR, and that was the reason he was so weak. After giving the hatch the stink eye, he glanced at Melting Snow, hoping that the boy would offer his assistance. After watching his friend''s pitiful attempt at trying to open the hatch, Melting Snow was eager to step in. He was going to offer his help to the man, but after dealing with his brother for all these years in and out of the game, he knew how fragile the male ego was. Instead, he just watched as the man struggled with the metal door until he gave up. Noticing his friend''s glance, he knew that it was the time to ask. "Do you want me to give it a try?As you know, I do have more strength than you." "Go for it," Xinya tiredly said, while gesturing for the boy to take his place. His stamina was already nearly depleted from using all his might to try and pull that thing open. "After all, you once said you are my brawn as long as I cook for you." "I did say that, didn''t I? Well, in that case, after we explore what''s inside of this hatch, I want a yummy snack." With those words, Melting Snow begins tugging on the handle with an exaggerated ferocity. It only took two hard tugs from the boy before the hatch door was pulled open. Much to the surprise of Xinya and Melting Snow, as soon as the door was opened, a cool breeze hit them, causing them to shiver. Looking down into the hatch''s opening, the only thing Xinya was able to see was darkness. Not even the light from the afternoon sun could pierce its cold blackness. "Drifting Cloud, why is the air that is coming out the opening so cold," Melting Snow asked while peering down and wondering why all the fun places must be so dark and scary. Xinya was wondering that as well when he suddenly remembered something. He once read on the forums about how players who didn''t have the coin to buy refrigeration units to keep their products from spoiling, started using a cheap ancient method. "That''s because this hatch leads to a root cellar," Xinya explained with complete certainty. "A root cellar?" Melting Snow questioned, trying to recall if he ever heard of that term before in his life. "What''s that?" "Well, from my understanding, a root cellar is a structure that is usually underground. It is used to store vegetables, fruits, nuts, or other foods," recited Xinya from memory. Nodding his head at Drifting Cloud''s words, Melting Snow now understood what a root cellar was, but something was still bugging him. "Okay, I get that it''s for storing food, but that doesn''t tell me why it''s cold down there." "That''s because it''s underground and the farther underground you go, the colder it becomes. Unless you go too far down, then, it becomes scorching since it is closer to the earth''s core," As Xinya was talking, he realized that the explanation didn''t sound as good as it did in his head. "Um, Drifting Cloud," Melting Snow begins while being very confused by the answer his friend gave. "That really didn''t make any sense, you know?" Patting the boy on the head, Xinya soothingly said, "I know, but that''s because the world doesn''t make any sense." "I see...," Melting Snow had a feeling that his friend was simply making up stuff and made a mental note to ask his cousin about it later. "So should we go down and explore?" asked Xinya as he opened his interface and took out two glow flowers. "If we wait too long, it will be dark, and I don''t know about you, but heading into dark, creepy basements at night is not very ideal. Xinya was mostly saying this for Melting Snow''s benefit since he knew how scared of the dark the boy was. All the while, adding lights to his mental list of things he would need to buy first. "Sure, let''s go!" exclaimed Melting Snow as he grabbed the Glow flower from Xinya''s hand and wrapped it around his head. Peering down into the opening again, the boy smiled to himself. ''With a light, the dark is always less scary.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 230: 1.5-11 Xinya, who was kneeling beside the hatch, lowered his Glow flower down into the opening to see if there was a method for them to use, like stairs, ladder, or rope to reach the bottom. As soon as the flower was inside the pitch-black hole, it pierced through the veil of darkness, exposing everything hidden. Xinya couldn''t help but think how similar it was to him, flipping on a light switch in real life. Now that there was light, he could see that there was a long stone staircase leading down to a green door. He was really surprised by how far down he could see, usually, when he used a Glow Flower, their luminosity is only as bright as a flashlight, but this one felt like a high powered lantern. Questioning why that was, Xinya took the flower out of the opening to look at its details. Melting Snow, who noticed something strange with the flower as well, said, "Hey, why is your Glow flower so much better than mine?" "It seems," Xinya begins after reading the details of his flower. "That this is the evolved form of the Glow flower. I must have picked it up with the others without even noticing." Scratching his head in bewilderment, Melting Snow looked at Xinya for a moment before glancing at the flower. "Plants can evolve?" "Of course they can, they are similar to pets. The higher level they are, the better they become," Xinya explained. Melting Snow had no clue that plants could evolve, but then again, he never really cared that much about the farming aspects of this game before. Suddenly a strange thought went through his head that made him look at the green-eyed man again. "Does that mean when you cook with evolved ingredients, the food will taste better?" Xinya couldn''t help but laugh at the boy''s question, his little wolf pup was such a foodie. "You guessed it. The more high-grade quality of ingredients I use, the tastier the food I prepare with them will be." Those words sealed it. Melting Snow now knew what he needed to do, and that was to get the farming skill. That way, he could help Drifting Cloud take care of his crops so that they can evolve faster.For the sake of delicious food, it must be done. "It will be dark soon, let''s hurry and check out what''s down there," Xinya said while standing up and wrapping the Glow flower around his head. "Okay," Melting Snow replied, standing up as well. "Let''s go!" ~ With Xinya leading the way, the duo slowly descended down the stone steps. On their way down, Xinya made sure to examine every step just in case the stone stairs weren''t safe and were on the verge of crumbling. Some may say that he is overly cautious, but he would rather be called that than have one of these stones break, causing Melting Snow and him to tumble down the stairs like Jack and Jill. That would just be embarrassing. Although, because he tested each step before venturing down to the next one, it did take them a good ten minutes before they arrived at the bottom.Which, in turn, wasted a lot of their time. "I told you that you didn''t need to test the stairs. Stone doesn''t rot like wood." Melting Snow could only sigh at his friend''s mindfulness. Pushing open the large green door that was in front of him, Xinya walked through and shrugged. "It''s better to be safe than sorry." The first thing Xinya noticed when he walked into the room was that this was a root cellar like he expected. But it wasn''t a normal one; just with a glance, he could see that the NPC who owned this land before him must have spent a lot of coins on this room. "Wow, this place is huge!" Exclaimed Melting Snow as he walked into the room. Immediately after, he started to sneeze, his ears twitching with everyone. "God, this place is so full of dust! And it''s so dry¡­'''' After this, he sneezed a couple more times before settling down. Although Xinya heard Melting Snow''s words, he wasn''t really listening; instead, he was trying to take in every detail of the cellar. From the barrel vault ceiling, which had to be very difficult to build underground, to the stone walls covered with light brown plaster, which he knew had to be there to keep the dampness out. He could see some marks on the plaster it was like something scratched it. Did the owner try repairing a part of it? Did the fire cause it? Every small detail showed just how much effort the NPC who had owned this cottage previously put into this place. As he looked around some more, he saw that there were rows of dusty, lacquered, wooden hickory shelves filled with pickled fruit. Just looking at them, Xinya knew they had gone bad. Since pickled fruit can only last about 5-6 months, and he knew that this farm had been up for sale for way longer than that. As he looked down, he saw that the floor was made from large slabs of obsidian, which sadly appeared to have cracked with age. At one time, the stone floor must have been shiny, but now it was only a dull luster. With some cleaning and filling, this floor would be as good as new, but he would need help with that. Some polishing afterward wouldn''t hurt either. ''It looked as if my luck once again gave me something good,'' Xinya thought to himself as he walked further into the root cellar looking at the shelves of moldy pickled fruits. So far, this cellar looked completely different from the small cheaply made ones he had seen on the forums. The only thing he could think as he peered around the room was that this was the freaking king of root cellars. He could see that it hasn''t been opened for a long time. Not mentioning the moldy pickled fruit, there were also spider webs behind the shelves and the shelves themselves were shaky. It''s possible that some other bugs might have gotten in and have eaten through them. But the wood was high quality so it held up. The dry smell of the cellar mixed in with some acidity of the pickled fruits. He noticed that one of the jars was cracked and some of the mixtures was dripping out. Melting Snow, who had gotten over his awe of the enormous cellar and the obstacle called dust, rushed over to the green-haired man who was looking at the shelves. Picking up one of the nearest glass jars, he begins to shake it curiously while peering inside it. "What is inside of these jars?" "They are pickled fruits," Xinya began while picking up one of the jars himself. "Pickling fruits are necessary for farmers, it''s a way to preserve food for more extended periods of time.'''' "Oh, I see. So these fruits are still edible?" Melting Snow asked innocently, not knowing how long is an extended period of time. Giving a chortle, Xinya shook his head, "The only way they would still be edible is if they were made to be poison." While Xinya was being amused by his own wittiness, Melting Snow smiled mischievously and swiftly put one of the jars into his inventory. ''I so found a gift for Rose Lily.'' Placing the fruit jar back where he found it, Xinya continued to explore the cellar. After passing by twenty wooden shelves full of pickled fruit that were placed along both sides of the wall, he came upon some red alder wine racks. To be exact, eight of them all lined up across from some sort of weird metal machine. However, as Xinya got closer to it, he saw that the shape was familiar. ''That''s what it looks like... a huge wine barrel.'' The only thing that set it apart was that it was metal, had tons of buttons everywhere, and there was a long pipe with a funnel attached to it. "What kind of machine is this, Drifting Cloud? Is this what you need to use to pickle fruit?" Questioned Melting Snow, looking at the buttons with great interest. "To be honest, I really don''t have any clue," Xinya replied with a grin. "But I know for certain that it''s not for the fruits." "What do you think it would be for then?" Melting Snow asked curiously. Glancing at the empty wine racks, Xinya suddenly had a thought. "I think it might be a machine for making wine." "Making wine..." Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. "You should learn how to do that, Drifting Cloud." "Oh? Why do you think I should?" Xinya asked. He had never come across any information about wine that would be useful, but maybe Melting Snow knew something he didn''t. Gazing away from the machine, Melting Snow seriously looked at his friend. "Because I heard that meat tastes better with wine. Although I can''t drink it in reality, it would be alright in-game, and I want to see if it''s actually true." ''I should have known it would be something to do with food,'' Xinya thought with a sweatdrop. "I''ll think about it." Chapter 231: 1.5-12 Melting Snow knew that most of the time and ''I''ll think about it'' meant a big fat no, but in this case, he was sure that it was an affirmative. Why he thought that was simple, Drifting Cloud could use wine for cooking. Although he still had no clue why his friend was so into cooking, he wasn''t against it. In fact, in a way, him suggesting that Drifting Cloud should learn wine-making was a way for him to help his friend with his hobby. While Melting Snow was telling himself that, food images begin to float around in Melting Snow''s head. "Steak marinated in wine... Creamy chicken in wine sauce... Spaghetti with a chilled glass of wine on the side...," drooled Melting Snow. It would be so difficult for him to pick which one to ask his friend to make first. Even though it would be hard, he couldn''t wait to get his first taste of wine. He really wishes he had someone his age to brag too. Suddenly a mischievous smile showed on his lips. There was still Roaming Wind, he could write to her and talk about all of the yummy things that he got to eat while she was away. With a raised brow, Xinya looked at Melting Snow, who was utterly lost in his own imagination. "You do know I didn''t say that I would actually learn the skill, right? I only said I would think about it." "Everyone knows that an ''I''ll think about it'' is just a yes in disguise," Melting Snow replied matter of factly. He then proceeded to wander off, continuing to think of all the food combinations that would suit wine. Shaking his head in a slightly amused fashion, Xinya watched as the boy went over to the wine racks and began to trail his fingers over them. He knew for sure that Melting Snow was picturing them full of bottles that he would be able to drink. Xinya couldn''t fault the boy for thinking that his ''I think about it'' meant yes because it sort of did. Although he didn''t see the use in getting the wine-making skill besides being able to cook more sophisticated dishes, it might be useful later on. Besides, he already had this niffy wine-making machine and a bunch of wine racks at his disposal. If he didn''t learn the wine-making skill, then it would just be a waste. But first, he should make sure that this weird metal device was really a wine-making machine like he assumed it was. Because he knew from experience that even if something looks recognizable, like a flower, for instance, it can turn out to be something completely different, like a monster. So before he decided to commit to learning wine-making, he needed to make sure. Opening up his interface, Xinya pulled up his inventory, and with just a mere touch, the massive machine disappeared. Xinya had to admit that he was thankful that the DEVs didn''t make putting items into player inventories realistic. Being able to just touch heavy objects and have them wind up in his inventory was a godsend. Just the thought of players having to move massive monster drops into their inventories while in a dangerous area that was full of easy aggro monsters made him grin. The DEVs would be spammed with complaints and death threats. ''I would be with the death threat group,'' Xinya mused while clicking on the strange metal machine and reading its details. Vigneron: This is model WB1999 of the Vigneron series. This model can make everything from traditional to fruit wines. This model is able to press, boil, sieve, process, ferment, and everything in between to create a tasty wine. *Please note that some fruits will require extra steps to be turned into wine. *This model can only make up to thirteen gallons of wine at a time. It was just as Xinya thought, this Vigneron machine was a faster way to make wine. And ten gallons was no joke, that was 50 bottles of wine at one time. ''Maybe if I become a high enough level, I can sell them to NPCs,'' Xinya pondered, wondering if he should go to the local taverns to see which wines are the best sellers. As Xinya made a note to do just that, he was interrupted by a surprised gasp from Melting Snow. "Drifting Cloud! Come over here, I found something strange!" Melting Snow exclaimed while waving Xinya over. Intrigued, Xinya begins to walk towards the boy, all the while wondering what he had found to make him so excited like this. As he got closer to the furry-eared boy, he saw exactly what the excitement was all about. Right behind one of the red alder wine racks was a small black lever. And from the look on Melting Snow''s face, Xinya knew precisely what the boy was thinking. "There''s a secret room, isn''t there? With your luck, I know it is! I bet it is full of priceless treasure or something equally amazing," Babbled Melting Snow with an excited gleam in his eye. Chuckling at the boy''s words, Xinya replied, "Melting Snow, this is a farm, there''s no way there would be any priceless treasure here." "Hehe, you just jinxed yourself," Grinned Melting Snow. If anything, the gleam in the boy''s eyes got brighter. "When someone says that there is no way they will find something, then they will definitely find something great." "You know that only happens in stories, right?" Sometimes Xinya wonders what things the boy watches when he isn''t playing Haven. Melting Snow just shrugged off Drifting Cloud''s words, he has been with the man long enough to know mysterious levers always lead to somewhere fascinating. "Look, we won''t know that until you pull the lever, so until then, I''m going to dream big." "Alright, keep dreaming big. Maybe it will turn out as you said," Xinya chuckled, giving the boy''s hair a rub. "Now, let''s see what this lever does." Grasping the small black lever in his hand, Xinya pulled it down, only to be taken aback by a loud screeching sound coming from somewhere nearby. "Gosh, it''s like nails on a chalkboard," As Melting Snow lifted his hands to cover his sensitive ears, he made a mental note to turn down his game settings. Xinya looked around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. That''s when he noticed a wall sliding open close to where the Vigneron once was. "I told you, Drifting Cloud!" Melting Snow exclaimed once the wall was completely opened. "There was a hidden room!" "I guess you were right," Xinya said as he began walking over to the wall with a very excited Melting Snow trailing behind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MomoCatt''s Theater: MS: What are you drinking? Juice? That''s for babies! Xinya: Actually it''s a kid-size wine box. MS: huh? Xinya: The author did the math and 13 gallons gave 49 liters and 210mls of wine, I''m drinking the leftover, she just made some tweaks to it so it''s an even number! DEAD SERIOUS I''m helping her get rid of the leftovers 15 min later Xinya: hic my stepmohicther and that motherfuhiccker are aaaaassezzzzz Update schedule: Sun-ThursWill not be uploading onFri-Sat. Starting: Aug. 9th Chapter 232: 1.5-13 Melting Snow was anticipating that there would be something incredible in this hidden room. Although he knew he shouldn''t get his hopes up, because like Drifting Cloud said, this was a farmhouse cellar, but he just couldn''t help himself. Especially after he had found all of those awesome things earlier in the tree grove. Right now, his expectations were soaring through the sky as he walked closer towards the opening. However, the closer he came towards the opening, the more he wanted to recoil away from it. There was a distinct musty smell coming out from the hole, and it was beginning to overwhelm him. The scent was a lot stronger than the dusty smell that the overall cellar had. It was as if it was more concentrated. Not wanting the smell to overpower him, Melting Snow halted in his steps, not daring to get closer. He tried to use his hands to cover his nose, but the damage was already done, and he began to violently cough. They were so severe that his entire body began to shake with them. It was similar to the time when he was five and decided to see what pepper smelled like. Although he was young when it happened, he remembered the burning sensation in his nose vividly. That''s when he learned that a person shouldn''t try to smell certain things. Which made Melting Snow curious as to why he chose the Beastman race. He knew that this race''s senses were more sensitive than any other species. They had enhanced hearing, eyesight, taste, and, most importantly, smell. He usually keeps his enhanced senses settings on medium, and only puts them on low if the place is sensory overloaded. But there are times when he likes to put it on high, which is when he is eating Drifting Cloud food. It''s a very high-end experience, but sadly this time, he forgot to put his settings back to normal, and he is paying for it. Hearing his friend''s worried voice, he knew he needed to rectify his mistake. Swiftly opening his interface, Melting Snow found the settings icon and clicked on it. After turning down his senses, he felt as though he could finally breathe again. ~ Leaving the red alder wine racks behind, Xinya walked over to the mysterious wall opening, ready to explore the room on the other side. However, just as he was close enough to peer inside the dark opening, a powerful cough from behind made him pause mid-step. Startled, he turned around only to see that Melting Snow had stopped about a foot away from him with no intention of moving closer. His hands were covering his nose, and he looked as though he was about to cough up a lung. If Xinya didn''t know any better, he would say that the boy had gotten sick somehow, but he did know better. Something like getting sick was utterly impossible in this game. Even though this game was incredibly realistic, he knew for sure that the DEVs weren''t stupid enough to add any kind of illnesses to this game. Well, real ones. Players were able to get ailments from certain monsters, but he knew that wasn''t the case here. "Are you alright, Melting Snow? What''s wrong?" Xinya asked worriedly, walking back over towards the boy. But Melting Snow stopped him from coming closer with an outstretched hand. Xinya could tell that the boy was doing something inside of his interface because the boy became entirely well after a couple of seconds later. "I had had my sense of smell turned up on high, and the moldy smell coming out from the opening was too much for me to take. But after turning it down, I''m fine now," As if to prove his point, Melting Snow took a big sniff. "See, completely fine,so let''s go check out the room." "Are you sure you will be alright to go inside?" Xinya asked, still a little worried about the boy. From his understanding of the beastman race, their senses were very keen. Even in the lowest setting, their senses were still above the other races. This meant that if something smelled gross to him, it would be unbearable to the boy. "Don''t worry, I''m fine. I put my setting on high when you were cooking the goodbye picnic and just forgot to put it back to normal," Melting Snow stated, before grabbing Xinya''s hand and pulling him towards the opening. ~ The first thing Xinya noticed when he was pulled through the wall''s opening was that the new room they were in was an office. A very luxurious office at that. Taking in the entire room, Xinya saw that there was a writing table made of lacquered birch that was positioned in the far left corner of the darkest part of the room, the black leather chair behind it facing the wall. On top of the desk was a small golden lantern; next to it, there was a tower of parchments, not papers but curled yellow parchments. This indicated that the office, or the NPC who had used this office, had an abundance of coins. This surprised Xinya, for he thought that the NPC who lived here was a simple farmer, but he had an inkling that he was wrong. And the more he looked around, the more prominent that feeling became. There was a big piece of processed animal skin that hung on the wall next to the writing desk. Similar to a bulletin board, the animal skin had a bunch of parchments stuck to it. At the distance where Xinya stood, the writing was intelligible, since the letters were quite small. Although curious as to what was written on them, he wanted to take in everything first. Continuing to look around, he saw that on the ceiling that there were little pumps that could circulate the air inside and warm the office during winter. In the middle of the office, a sofa was filled with small handmade pillows and laid on top of a soft rug. In front of it was a small round coffee table that only reached up to Melting Snow''s knees. And the walls were filled with shelves, which made sense since there were no windows underground. There were 5 shelves filled with books and documents, one shelf was filled with ceramic glasses and some kind expensive liquor. The only reason why he knew that it was expensive liquor and not the cheap kind was because of that vile stepmother of his. Xinya could still remember her whining to his father about how their friends served them some cheap rum, and she could only drink the clearest of liquors. Shaking his head in remembrance, he looked over at the other shelf. This shelf held more books, but what caught his eye was an antique silver jewelry box with a jeweled lock sitting in the middle.He was quite interested in what could be inside of it. Deciding to find out, Xinya walked over to the shelf, as he did so, Melting Snow, who was also checking out the room, let out a sigh of disappointment. ''I guess Drifting Cloud was right. There''s nothing exciting down here,'' Melting Snow sighed, his expectations crushed. But then he thought about it. ''Although there is nothing mysterious down here, maybe there is learning material.'' Melting Snow still wanted to learn to farm, and he believed that one of these books would give him some insight into where to start.So with that thought in mind, he went over to one of the book-filled shelves on the opposite side of Xinya and began to read the book titles. Chapter 233: 1.5-14 Bypassing the nearby furniture, Xinya ambled over to the silver jewelry box that caught his attention. Carefully picking it up, he used the light from his Glow fruit to thoroughly examine it. The jewelry box had a very ornate design with a shiny and antiqued silver finish from what he could see. It was also adorned with sparkling green gems, what type they were he had no clue. Although, just by looking at them, he had a hunch that they might be precious stones. Xinya decided to take the box to the auction house to sell, hoping that he might get lucky and get an ample amount of coin from it. Even though he understood that players wouldn''t be interested in the box, he was very confident that NPCs would be. There were tons of aristocrats in the world of Haven Online that would buy these types of useless knick-knacks for large amounts of silver coins, and if an object was valuable enough, they would even fork out gold ones. He still remembered the story he read on the forums about how a player found a gem-studded chess set. The player was going to keep it at first since he knew no other player would want to waste their coins buying such a thing. But one day out of the blue, the player decided that he wanted to know how much the chess set was worth if he sold it straight to an NPC. So he took it to an auction house so that the auctioneer could appraise it for him. Only to learn that his chess set was worth more than he thought. After signing up for one of the special auctions, the player walked away with over one hundred gold coins. This story went viral all over the forums, and because of that one lucky incident, players started to appraise their seemingly useless items before throwing them away. And this is precisely what Xinya would do after he opens the jewelry box to check its contents. He really wants to know if there was something else inside he could sell. Xinya acknowledges that he appears very money-hungry, but he also knows that he will need a lot of coins if he wants to fix up the farm. To do that, he required coins and lots of them. Even so, he had a good feeling that he would find something useful in this locked box. Because everyone knows that people only ever lock up expensive or important items. So the jewelry box must hold either one or the other, and he was so hoping that it was the expensive other. But first, he needed to get the box open, which was a problem since he didn''t know where the key was. He understood that he could just break the lock, but that would run the risk of damaging the jewelry box, and he didn''t want that to happen. ''What to do,'' Xinya pondered while glancing around the room, wishing that the key would just magically appear. ''Maybe it would be somewhere inside of the desk.'' Although he doubted that the key would be there since no sane person would leave a key to an expensive or essential item inside a desk.But he was hoping that the NPC who owned this place before was stupid enough to do that. With the jewelry box in hand, Xinya walked over to the writing desk.And after placing it down on the desktop, he began to rummage through the table''s drawers. ~ Melting Snow had been looking at the book titles for a while now, but there had been none that dealt with farming. About 90% of them were on how to make the best wine, while the other 10% were on how to make quality fertilizer. Sighing to himself, Melting Snow grabbed one of the books on fertilizer off the shelf. Although it wasn''t about farming, it was close enough. Plus, learning how to make fertilizer would be useful for him since he would be in charge of taking care of all the animals his friend will buy. This way, he could find out which animals produce the best waste to make into fertilizer. Rejuvenated by that thought, he opened the hefty blue tome only to be given a shock. The inside of the book had been hollowed out, and at the bottom of the empty ledger laid a small silver key. The key intrigued him, and his former thoughts of a hidden treasure had once again resurfaced. "Drifting Cloud, look at what I found!" Melting Snow exclaimed, dropping the book to the ground in his haste to locate his friend. "There might be a treasure here, after all!" ~ After scouring through all of the drawers on the desk, Xinya realized that his first assumption was correct only an idiot would leave and an important key in a writing table for anyone to find. And it seemed that the original owner wasn''t one. ''It was times like these that I wish I had the lock picking skill.'' The only thing he could do was keep looking, and if he still wasn''t able to find the key, he would just have to spend a couple of bronze coins to get a new one made. ''Now, If I was a rich wine-making farmer NPC, where would I hide a key?'' That thought had just barely crossed his mind when he heard Melting Snow calling out to him. "Drifting Cloud, look! I found something amazing!" Melting Snow announced excitedly, waving a small silver key encrusted with gems right in front of the man''s face. At first, Xinya couldn''t understand what the boy was trying to show him since he was waving the item back and forth so fast that the only thing he could see was a blur.But when he heard the word key, he couldn''t help but grab the boy''s hand and stare at it. Xinya couldn''t believe that the boy had found the exact key that he had been looking for. For these last few hours, it felt like Melting Snow was his own special four-leaf clover. "Melting Snow, I could kiss you! I have been looking for this," Xinya smiled while taking the key from the boy''s hand. "Please don''t, I''m not a baby!" Melting Snow exclaimed before his eyes brightened once he realized what Xinya had said. "Why have you been looking for it? Did you find the treasure chest that it goes to?!" Chuckling, Xinya, walked back over to where he left the jewelry box and picked it up, showing it to the boy. "It doesn''t go to a treasure chest, but it does go to a jewelry box." "Well, that''s better than nothing," Melting Snow says with a grin. "Open it and see what''s inside." Giving the boy a swift nod of agreement, Xinya inserted the key into the lock, and with one quick turn, it was opened. Chapter 234: 1.5-15 Anyone who knew Xinya would not be able to conceive the thought of him being a sadist. Even though he had to admit to himself as he watched his anxious expression as he slowly lifted the jewelry box lid, he might have a little sadism in him. It was just so extremely amusing for him to watch as the stark anticipation continued to build in those bright grey eyes. Watching as the adorable boy tried to contain himself from snatching the box right out of his hands. "Drifting Cloud..." whined Melting Snow, clenching his fists in order to stop himself from taking the box from his friend. "Hurry up and open it, I want to see what''s inside." Looking into the Melting Snow''s over eager eyes, Xinya decided to stop teasing the boy and just open the box, especially since he felt that if he didn''t, the boy might snap.Although that was interesting to see, he did need to keep the box intact. "Alright, already. I plan to sell this box, so I didn''t want to open it too fast in case it is fragile," Xinya explained, continuing to open the box slowly but at a faster pace than before. Not knowing that he was duped, Melting Snow tried to calm himself. He couldn''t wait to find out what was in the box, his imagination was overflowing with ideas. The lid was lifted inch by inch until the object concealed inside the bejeweled box was revealed. And just like that, Melting Snow''s anticipation turned into crushing disappointment. "It''s another book," muttered Melting Snow with drooping shoulders and a bitter smile. Once again, his hopes of great treasure were dashed as quickly as they had come. Chuckling at the furry-eared boy''s depressed expression, Xinya took the leather-bound book out from the jewelry box and began examining it. "Melting Snow, you should know that some books can be just as interesting as treasure." "That''s where you''re wrong. Nothing is more exciting than treasure. Well, there are cows and other baby animals, but they are the exception," replied Melting Snow indignantly. Xinya didn''t know whether to laugh or cry at the boy''s words. Deciding to do neither, he opened his interface and pulled up his inventory. Placing the jewelry box inside of it for safekeeping, he brought his attention back to the book in his hand. He was extremely interested to know why a book would need to be under lock and key. However, just as he started to open the book''s cover, a system announcement completely halted his actions. [Quest Triggered!] "What''s going on? How did we get a quest?" asked Melting Snow, looking at Xinya in a completely dumbfounded manner. But as soon as the question crossed his lips, it was answered by another system announcement. [System: By finding Song Lingchen''s journal, Drifting Cloud and Melting Snow have activated DEV-M chain quest-The mystery of Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s farm! The quest will officially start once the players have found the first clue!] Xinya knew it! Ever since he read about this farm on the forums, he had an inkling that there was something peculiar about it. Because there was no way that an NPC would set fire to their farm by mistake. While he began to contemplate the mystery that could surround this farm, Melting Snow was in a shocked stupor. He should have known better to be disappointed in what they found because he knew that 99% of the time, any random object in Xinya''s general area becomes an amazing quest. It was true for the Mayor''s cake, and it was true this time as well. Although he might not have gotten his treasure, he sure did get the start of a fantastic adventure¡ªan incredible adventure in which he would get to play a detective. But one thing was bothering him. How did they get a quest when there are no NPC''s around? Could the NPC''s be invisible? He should really ask Drifting Cloud this. "Drifting Cloud, do you know who this Dev-M is and why he gave us a quest?" questioned Melting Snow, slightly wondering if there was really an invisible NPC down here somewhere. Snapping out of his thoughts, Xinya turned and looked at Melting Snow''s confused face.And had the realization that the boy didn''t know anything about these types of quests. But then again, these quests were extremely rare, and players who got them weren''t going to brag about it, since that meant more people trying to get them. The only reason he knew about them was the simple fact they were leaked out to the public by the staff. Haven Online was nearly sentient, besides the overall world design, and a bit of a guiding hand from the DEVs. But besides that, the game developers had no control over what quests the NPCs gave out. So because they wanted to be a part of the game in another way, they created some special quests in the world. "No, I don''t know who DEV-M is, but I do know he''s not an NPC but agame developer," Xinya replied matter of factly. Scratching his temple, Melting Snow asked, "That''s strange, why would a game developer give us a quest? Do they give them out a lot?" "No, these types of quests are rare," Xinya patiently explained. "The only way you can get a DEV quest is if you find a random item that belongs to a dead NPCs with unfinished business. The quest will come in steps and could take weeks to months to complete. But that depends on rank the DEV quest is. The higher the rank, the higher the reward will be for each step of the quest." "Oh, I see. But how do you know all this?I never came across anything like this before on the Haven Online sites." "Well..." Xinya started, not knowing how to respond. He had messed up, this was something he shouldn''t have known. Biting his lip, Xinya thought about all the things he could tell the boy that wouldn''t seem like a lie. Xinya knew for certain that he couldn''t say he saw it on the forums since he knows the boy goes on them all the time looking up things. What would he do if Melting Snow asked him for a link, no he had to come up with something else. That''s when the perfect lie came to him. "Well, I have a penpal in America who plays this game too. He told me about it." Xinya explained, looking everywhere but in Melting Snow''s eyes. ''I really hate having to lie like this.'' "Oh, I see. Luckily, you knew someone who came across this before, or we would probably be in the dark about this quest," Melting Snow replied. From those words alone, Xinya could see the unwavering trust the boy had in him, and it made him feel guilty for lying like this. But the truth was even more unbelievable. Averting his gaze away from Melting Snow''s big puppy dog eyes, Xinya said, "Right. Without him, I wouldn''t know most of the things that I do." "So, should we start looking for the first clue?" Melting Snow asked. "I think the journal holds the first clue," Xinya told him. "How about we go back upstairs and set up camp. Then we can see what''s inside of this journal." "Sounds like a plan! Don''t forget, you still owe me a snack." Laughing as he walked out of the office room with the boy, Xinya said, "How could I forget that, I already got something special planned." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 235: 1.5-16 The first thing Xinya noticed as he stepped out from the root cellar was the warm breeze on his skin. Compared to the coldness of the cellar, it felt quite pleasant. Stretching his arms up above his head, Xinya let out a sigh of pleasure, because it had been a good day. They had found so many great discoveries on this damaged farm of his that he couldn''t help but feel completely satisfied with his purchase. Although he still felt a tinge of guilt about stealing this land from the player who would have bought it in his previous life. But as the saying goes, first come first serve. "Drifting Cloud, what kind of snack are you going to make for me?" Melting Snow asked as he skipped up the last few steps of the cellar stairs and over to his friend''s side. Looking over towards his greedy wolf pup, Xinya pondered that himself. Wondering which one of his recipes he should try to make. "Something delicious, of course," he stated, going over to the cellar hatch and resealing it before walking back towards the campsite. "But before I can make anything, we should reset our camp." "Leave it to me!" Melting Snow exclaimed jogging past Xinya to where the fire pit was. "I will get everything on this end ready; just focus on cooking." With a shake of his head, Xinya smiled in bemusement as he watched the boy. If Melting Snow was this big of a glutton now, he could only imagine how he will be after the update. ''I need to upgrade my farm before then, so I will be able to plant more things,'' Xinya mused while glancing up at the darkening sky. Checking the time, he realized that they were down there for longer than he thought. But it did work out in his favor since after he cooks the snack for Melting Snow, they could head into town when the sun rises. ~ "Can I help you with anything?" Melting Snow asked while running over to where Xinya was standing. He had just finished setting up the camp and saw that the green-haired man had transformed his cupcake wagon into a makeshift kitchen again. "You sure can," smiled Xinya, waving for the boy to come closer to him. "I''m always in need of a good assistant chef." "Well, that''s me! So what do you need me to do?" Questioned Melting Snow as he looked down at all the ingredients laid out on the counter in wonder. "Before doing anything, I need to double-check to see if I have all the ingredients I will need," Xinya replied while clicking on the recipe icon in his interface. After a couple of seconds of scrolling through his recipe list, he finally found what he was looking for. Sweet Orange Butter Cream Bun: This is an orange-peel flavored bread dough filled with delicious melted buttercream. It has a butter base that is well balanced by the refreshing orange zest. This small sweet bun is excellent to eat on cold days with a cup of black tea. *+70 Sta +10 Hp Ingredients Needed: 180g bread flour, 20g top flour, 25g fine sugar, 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast ... Xinya made sure he had everything he needed laying out in front of him before turning his attention back to the boy. "Alright, Melting Snow, this is what I need you to do," Xinya said as he handed the furry-eared boy some measuring tools. "I''m going to need you to measure each of the items exactly as I say. Can you do it?" "You can count on me! There is one thing I don''t mess around with, and that is food." Melting Snow replied seriously. It took a couple of minutes to measure all of the ingredients since there were many of them, but working together, the two of them got it done faster than Xinya ever could have alone. "There you go, everything is measured perfectly," Melting Snow stated proudly. "Is there anything else I can help with?" "No, I can take it from here, But thank you for all your help," Xinya replied, giving the boy a gentle pat on the head. Giving the green-haired man a beaming smile, Melting Snow said, "It was no problem at all. If you need me for anything else, I will be by the fire catching up on the latest gossip in the forums." "Alright, have fun. I will call you when the buns are done," Xinya chuckled as he watched the boy skip over to one of the chairs by the fire pit. ~ Since this was only his second time making this dessert, Xinya decided to turn Assist mode on that was located in his recipe list. Assist mode was handy because it would read the recipe out to him so that he doesn''t have to keep looking at the instructions while cooking. He really wished he knew about the recipe menu before. It would have helped him a lot when he was making that giant cake. ''Oh well, you live, and you learn.'' While listening to the mechanical voice of the system, he began to cook. The first thing Xinya did was collect the fresh orange peels that he had Melting Snow prepare and started to cut them into thin strips. Once they were finely chopped, he put them to the side in a bowl. Opening the small pink fridge that was nearby, Xinya grabbed a bottle of cold fresh milk.Pouring the liquid into his handy rice cooker, he pressed the ''Keep warm'' function, knowing that it would take up to 6 minutes before the milk would become condensed. Once six minutes had passed, he removed the milk from the cooker and put it in another bowl. After checking the milk with a cooking thermometer, to make sure that it did not exceed 38 degrees Celsius. He sprinkled some dry yeast over the surface of the milk mixture. Covering the bowl with a lid, Xinya put it off to the side, letting it stand for about 10 minutes. Switching on some music, he listened to it while he waited. When the 10 minutes had gone by, he grabbed a large bowl and started to mix the other ingredients together, while slowly pouring in the milk mixture. He stirred the dough in one direction until it started to form into a lump. While waiting for the batter to rise, he continued to pick out songs for his fishing playlist. After 15 minutes had gone by, he transferred the dough to the floured worktop he prepared and began kneading the mixture until it became smooth. Rolling out the dough, Xinya added the softened butter to it. And once again begin to knead so that he could incorporate the butter fully into the dough. When that was complete, he placed the dough in a greased mixing bowl and set it to the side so he could prepare the filling. In a new bowl, he began to cream some softened butter with a hand whisk until it looked a very light yellow. He added in some fine sugar and salt and whisked it until it was light and fluffy. Once it was fluffy enough, he added in a beaten egg and blended it well. When the egg was incorporated, he proceeded to add in some corn starch and mixed that in as well. When it was thoroughly mixed, he transferred the filling into a piping bag. Then using a metal tray, he made two long horizontal cylinder shapes. Because he needed the buttercream to harden, he stored them in his kitchen flash freezer for a minute. After they had hardened, he divided the buttercream into 10 equal portions and put them to the side. Picking up the bowl, he left the dough in, he took it out and placed it onto the floured tabletop. Rolling it out, he divided it into 10 equal portions as well. Once they were divided, he rolled out each of the portions and placed the hardened buttermilk in the middle of the dough. Sealing the dough tightly, so the buttercream was no longer able to be seen, Xinya began to shape the raw dough within his palm. When all ten of the doughs were shaped, he placed them in paper liners and put them on a tin tray. He had already preheated the oven, so after brushing a coat of egg wash over the dough''s surface, he stuck them straight in the oven. After setting his timer for 20 minutes, Xinya once again began to search for songs while he waited. ''Hopefully, these buns will taste as good as they did when I first made them.'' ~ AN: I hope you are hungry! Chapter 236: 1.5-17 45 minutes earlier with Melting Snow Flushed with happiness, Melting Snow bounced over to the fire pit and found himself a seat. The euphoria from the praise he got Drifting Cloud still hadn''t faded. ''Maybe I should learn cooking as well,'' Melting Snow mused while smoothing out his hair. ''On second thought, it would be wrong of me to intrude on his favorite past time... which is feeding me.'' Running his fingers through his dark locks, Melting Snow begins grumbling to himself about how some people are always messing up his hair, but deep down, he knew he was just putting on an act. Although he always complained about the head pats and hair rubs he got from the green-eyed man, in reality, he really enjoyed them a whole lot. He didn''t know how or when it began, but for a while now, he had come to see Drifting Cloud as an older brother. Someone who would take care of him, play with him, and just generally be there for him. Drifting Cloud had somehow, without him knowing, was put in a similar category as his cousin. Although nowadays, since his dad had been in a comatose state, Zixuan had become more like a father figure to him than anything else. It saddened Melting Snow a bit to realize that his real brother wasn''t someone he could depend on and that a stranger he only realistically met a few days ago was able to take over his place in his heart so easily. But with the way his brother acted towards him, Melting Snow had a feeling he wouldn''t care anyway. Even so, it still hurt him to know that his brother rather trusts that two-timing harlot than his own flesh and blood. ''Well, he will learn soon enough that the woman he loves never loved him back.'' He was looking forward to the pain his brother would feel because he would then understand how he felt all those times he had neglected him. Slightly irritated by the thought of his brother, Melting Snow decided to explore the forums like he said he would, but before he could click on his interface to open it up, a notification sounded. It seemed as though somebody was voice calling, curious to see who it was, he quickly opened his interface only to be disappointed. ''Ugh, when you speak of the devil, it will come a-knocking.'' Melting Snow mused when he saw his brother''s name flashing on the screen. ''I better answer him before he gets pissed and comes to talk to me in person.'' Sighing to himself, Melting Snow pressed the connect button. "What?!" "Why are you saying ''what'' to me?" Frozen Ice asked, miffed at the disrespect his brother was showing him. "Can''t I check up on my brother." "Sure, I''m alive, healthy, and will be having a snack soon, are we good now?" "No, we are not good," Frozen Ice huffed, getting more and more pissed off. "Tell me where you are?!" "I''m in my pod, where else would I be?" Stated Melting Snow with a roll of his eyes. Frozen Ice knew for sure that he would have throttled his brother if he was near him right now. But the only thing he could do was take a deep breath and calm himself. "You know exactly what I mean, Jun! Don''t play around, tell me!" "Fine! If you must know, I''m in Arkala right now. Just exploring the city, you know working on leveling. Why do you want to know? You''re not coming to find me, are you?" Melting Snow questioned, starting to become concerned. "No, I''m not. But you know you can''t be without adult supervision in this game. I''m going to send Rose Lily to you again so that she can keep watch over you. This time don''t try and lose her!" "Why are you sending her? Isn''t she important for your party? Plus, I already have adult supervision. Ask Zixuan, he was with me today!" Melting Snow exclaimed. He was so sure that he got rid of her, but he should have known better; cockroaches will always come back. She will be sorry that she chose to follow him again once he was through with her. "You were with that pig bastard! Didn''t I tell you to stay away from him!" Frozen Ice was foaming at the mouth at the thought of his brother hanging out with that detestable man. Frozen Ice seethed just thinking about his so-called cousin and what he did to him. The echoes of that embarrassment still lingered with him. One day soon, he would find a way to destroy that man. He wouldn''t let some half breed best him. ''Wow, look at the foul language my brother uses. I really wish I could grab some soap and scrub his tongue with it. Zixuan never speaks like that in front of me,'' Melting Snow peevishly thought. "Well, his guild is located here, you know. I can''t help it if I run into him while I''m in Arkala." "That''s right, his crappy crafting guild is based there." Frozen Ice went quiet for a few seconds before saying, "How long are you going to stay in Arkala?" "Umm," Melting Snow paused "for a while, I guess. I''m helping my friend with something. But after that, I''ll need to leave to go get some new skills from my trainer." "Your friend? You mean that Dryad you hang around with?" Frozen ice begins with barely concealed distaste in his voice. "What are you helping him with?" "He recently bought some land and wanted to try farming. So I was helping him get established." "Bought land, huh, it seems your friend is even more foolish than I thought he was. First, he chose a useless race, and now he is wasting money on farmland. Is he a rich young master or something..." Trailing off a lightbulb suddenly went off in Frozen Ice head. He suddenly realized that would make the most sense. His brother''s friend had to be someone who had money, which means he was someone he could use. ''Maybe I should get my brother to introduce us.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN: If you want to send me gifts pls do it by https://ko-fi.com/momocatt Webnovel takes a huge cut out of everything I earn, even your precious gifts. So please send them via Kofi instead. Chapter 237: 1.5-18 Noticing that his brother had trailed off, Melting Snow realized quickly that he had screwed up. He shouldn''t have told Frozen Ice about Drifting Cloud buying a farm. Now his brother will think that the man was rich and had some influence outside of the game. Melting Snow knew that wasn''t true, but he didn''t want his brother trying to get close to his friend even if it was. Thinking quickly, he knew he needed to salvage this situation soon. "How do you know farming will be dumb, I think it will be fun. Plus, my friend is going to get tons of cool animals," Melting Snow started distracting his brother before segueing into ridding his brother of his idea. "Plus, the only reason my friend was able to buy a farm was by saving the coins he got from that special quest in Errinisworth. You should know the one." "Thanks for reminding me of that. You never did tell me what you got as a reward from it," replied Frozen Ice, wondering if his brother got any rare items from it. In annoyance, Melting Snow rolled his eyes at the interface screen. He knew exactly what his brother was thinking. It was a little scary how well he knew him, with them being estranged and all. ''Well, we are siblings, after all.'' "Nothing much, just a couple of gold coins. It wasn''t a lot. The only thing my friend could buy with them was a very damaged farm.'' Melting Snow hoped that his brother would get the hint and won''t try to corrupt his friendship. It already happened once, but he will make sure that it won''t happen again. With just those few words, Frozen Ice''s interest with his brother''s friend disappeared with the wind, but he became curious about something else. ''Why would someone waste money on damaged property, when they can just save up for a better one. It makes no sense.'' deliberated Frozen Ice. ''There have to be something more to it.'' As his brother kept silent, Melting Snow grew worried. He didn''t know if he should say something more or not. Why did his brother have to be like this? Growing impatient, Melting Snow said, "Was this enough of a check-in? I know it''s been so long since you last called, but I''m still busy helping my friend right now, you know." "Yes, we''re done, but before I go, I want to remind you that Rose Lily will be coming, so when she calls you, answer her." "I told you, I don''t need her! I have Zixuan to look after me!" Melting, Snow quietly yelled. "That reminds me," began Frozen Ice, completely ignoring what his brother previously said. "I want you to keep a close eye on Zixuan for me. Tell me what he and his misfits are up too." This caught Melting Snow off guard. His brother was actually asking him to be near his cousin. Although it was for illicit reasons, it was still a chance for him to be able to spend time with Zixuan without worry. "Fine, if this is your way of giving me permission to spend more time with Zixuan, I''ll take it. Bye." Melting Snow rushed to disconnect the call before his brother could bother him anymore. ''Why must my brother be so freaking stupid. But this way he can''t say anything when I join Zixuan''s guild. He did want information after all, and the best way to get it is, of course, by infiltration.'' Melting Snow snickered mischievously. ~ With Frozen Ice Frozen ice gritted his teeth at his brother''s insolence, "How dare he hang up on me!" Angrily closing his interface, he had a very strong urge to log out of this game and shake some sense into his brother. He should do it, and teach that little brat who is in charge around here. "Don''t be upset, sweetie," Rose Lily said while sauntering up to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She had been silently listening to their conversation for a while, and the only thing she felt was elation. ''Frozen Ice finally did something useful, by telling that brat to stay close to her Zixuan.'' Rose Lily was glad that she suggested following the boy because it paid off big time. She needed to be close to the boy to watch him, and by proxy, she can get close to her love. First, she needed to calm down this imbecile before he did something stupid like grounding Melting Snow. Bringing her body closer to his, she grazes her lips on his collar bone and whispers, "You know how your brother is, but he will always do as you say." "He better, if he knows what''s good for him," Frozen Ice murmurs huskily, heat rushing through his veins as Rose Lily rubs her body against his. "Don''t worry," Rose Lily seductively whispered as she left a trail of hickeys way up to the corner of his mouth. "He will listen to your commands, I will make sure of it." Losing the last shred of his self-control, Frozen Ice slammed his lips against hers, hard enough to knock all the air from her lungs. Rose Lily only had a moment to react before he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips, demanding access. His tongue delved inside of her mouth, plundering the insides as if to swallow her whole. Tightening her arms around his neck, Rose Lily arched up into his broad chest, moaning in pleasure as their lower bodies rubbed together before she drew back from his lips. Stopping the man from pulling her back into another intense kiss, she said, "You know there is something we haven''t done in this game yet." "What is that?" Frozen Ice asked, confused as his head was muddled by her luscious scent. Licking her lips, she gave him a seductive smile before slowly lowering herself to her knees. Hearing his intake of breath, she smirked, belittling him in her mind. ''The things I do for my Zixuan.'' Chapter 238: 1.5-19 Ding! Immersed in the music he was listening to via his interface, Xinya was utterly startled by the sudden sound. Realizing that it was just the dinging of his cooking timer, he hastily turned off his fishing playlist and grabbed a nearby oven mitt. As he opened the oven''s door, the scent of freshly baked buns hit him square in the face. It was a clean, slightly sweet, yeasty aroma that somehow smelled warm. The smell reminded him of comfort; it was like inhaling a warm blanket on a cold winter''s day. After placing the tray of Sweet Orange Butter Cream Buns on the counter, Xinya went to grab the Chill-o-Matic or cooling lid as he likes to call it from the cabinet. The Chill-o-Matic was one of the items he bought while he was on that spending spree in Beginner town. It did exactly as the name suggests, i.e., chills down hot food to a warm temperature. It was an unnecessary purchase, and he knows it. He has a mouth, and he certainly knew how to use it to blow. But why must he have to when he doesn''t need to? A minute passed. With a smile on his face, Xinya lifted the lid of the Chill-o-Matic and saw that the buns were no longer hot to the touch. Picking up the tray, he walked over to the table that was near the fire pit and set it down. Feeling that it was odd that Melting Snow wasn''t running over and trying to snag one of his baked goods, Xinya turned to look at him. Peering at the boy, he became shocked at how pensive the child appeared to be. Gone was his happy go lucky puppy, and in his place was this serious-looking cinnamon roll. Walking over to him, Xinya knelt by his side. Not once did the boy notice his presence, not with how deeply he was absorbed in his thoughts. With a concerned expression, Xinya tapped the furry-eared boy on his shoulders and said, "Are you alright, Melting Snow?" ~ At first, after cutting the call with his brother, Melting Snow felt glee that he would be able to spend more time with his cousin. But once he thought about the situation more, he realized something was up. Why did his brother want him to spy on Zixuan? Did he have something planned for his cousin? Those questions invaded his mind making him feel very anxious. Even though Kyung was his brother, he would never let him do anything to hurt Zixuan and what he worked to build. He loathed to say it out loud, but at this point in time, he cared about his cousin more than his brother. ''I guess it''s good that Rose Lily is coming, I can find out from her what is my brother''s plan,'' Although the mere thought of joining hands with that woman disgusted him, he would do it for the greater good. He would also need to inform his cousin about this situation and get his opinion about this matter. ''I will make sure to do just that while I''m in town with Drifting Cloud later.'' As he thought of Drifting Cloud, he was reminded of that pause his brother gave when he told him about how the man bought a farm. Knowing his brother as he did, Melting Snow knew he had to keep the man away from his friend while also trying to be on the lookout for any kind of dastardly scheme his brother was concocting for his cousin. ''Why must my life be a soap opera,'' Pondered Melting Snow as he thought about the mess he was in. So engrossed in his thoughts, he didn''t even notice as Drifting Cloud came towards him. Which was why he was so startled that he fell off his chair when the green-eyed man tapped him on the shoulder. "Ahhhh!" THUMP! As he laid on the charred soil in embarrassment, he could hear a concerned Drifting Cloud asking if he was alright. "Yeah, the only thing that was hurt was my pride," Melting Snow forced a laugh as he hopped up off the ground. He didn''t want Drifting Cloud to worry or get mixed up in his problems with his brother. It would be best if the man didn''t know anything about his family drama. It was bad enough that his brother was interested in the green-eyed man. ~ "I''m sorry that I scared you," Xinya said as he got up from his position kneeling on the ground. "I wasn''t scared!" Melting Snow began, feeling insulted at the assumption."I was just too lost in my head that I became startled, that''s all." "Oh? What were you thinking about?" Giving a small shrug, Melting Snow reseated himself in his chair. "It was nothing really, I was just thinking about something that I spoke about with my brother while I was waiting for you to get done cooking." As Xinya stared at Melting Snow, he could tell that the boy was speaking the truth. But he still had a feeling that he was hiding something from him as well. "Well, don''t think so hard that you''re not aware of your surrounding; that''s how Player killer''s get you," Xinya joked while patting the boy on his head. "There''s no way anyone would PK someone inside of a town," Melting Snow said, finally breaking out into a real smile. "So, that means I can think all I want." "You never know," Xinya smiled mischievously before starting a tickle war with the boy. Shrieking loudly, Melting Snow ran around to the other side of the fire, laughing. "You''ll never be able to get me!" As the two of them playfully chased each other, Xinya was just glad that his adorable puppy was feeling better.For now, he wouldn''t push the boy to tell him what was wrong if he didn''t want to talk about it. He had a feeling that it was a personal family problem, and he had no right to get involved. Well, not yet anyway. If whatever dilemma the boy was facing became too much for him to handle, he would find a way to help the child without him knowing. He could always get in contact with that cousin of his; after all, they were friends now. Chapter 239: 1.5-20 [Tasting has leveled up!] ''This has to be the most enjoyable skill to level up in the entire game,'' Xinya thought as he wiped the crumbs from his second buttercream bun off his hands. ''I better level it while I still can.'' He knew that it would be hell trying to level Tasting once the update happens. Diet potions would become his drug, and he would be his own supplier. Smirking slightly at the image he created in his mind, Xinya glanced up at the sky. Only to see that the first light of dawn had finally started to pierce through the night sky. Soon there will be enough light to start heading out. Getting up from his seat, Xinya made his way over to his modified Cupcake cart kitchen. Pressing the button on the side, he transformed it back to its natural form before putting it back in his inventory. Turning back around to where Melting Snow was seated, he started to speak but paused once he saw the sight that was in front of him. Smiling, Xinya quickly opened his interface and tapped on the camera function, taking a picture of the boy. He looked so adorable with his cheeks stuffed full of food just like a squirrel. ''I''ll send this to Wei later.'' He knew that she would get a kick out of how cute it was as much as he did. "Are you ready to go, Melting Snow?" "Yup, I was born ready!" Melting Snow exclaimed, bouncing up from his seat and kicking some dirt in the fire pit to put it out. Clicking his map icon, Xinya put in the coordinates that would lead them back to town. "Then let''s be off!" With the glow of the early morning sun shining down on them, Xinya and Melting Snow traversed through the extensive, expansive farmland to the road that would lead them to their destination. "These buns are so delicious! I just can''t stop eating them!" Melting Snow emitted while taking a big bite out of one of the leftover giant buns in his hands. "I''m glad you like them, but you might want to take it easy; that''s your fifth one already." Xinya grinned, happy that the boy was enjoying the food he made. "If you are not careful, you will get fat." "Fat?! Don''t be silly Drifting Cloud; you can''t get fat in this game. That would be crazy!" Melting Snow chuckled, shaking his head at his friend''s outlandish remark. "You never know," Xinya mumbled quietly to himself, as he thought about all of the people who would be rioting on the forums in a couple of months. But Melting Snow was right; he wouldn''t have to worry about getting fat; no, he will have the opposite problem. He would have to worry about starving to death. Pausing mid-bite, Melting Snow turned to look at Xinya, asking, "By the way, where are we heading first when we reach the town?" "I want to go to the library. I need to find some books on agriculture to acquire the Farming skill, and I also need to research how to fix that burnt farmland of mine." "Wait... You can get farming skills from the library?" Melting Snow asked, clearly befuddled. "Are you sure?" With his gaze directed at the boy, Xinya replied, "Yes, I''m 100% certain. I looked it up on the Haven Online skill website. It said that the Farming skill can be taught, or self-learned through books." "When you say taught, do you mean by an NPC?" "Yes, I do," Xinya begins, inclining his head in agreement. "From what I read on the website, if I had an NPC to show me, then I would be able to start off on a higher skill level. But having to find an NPC who farms while also trying to get in their good graces would just take too long. It''s better for me to just learn the skill from a book." Although Xinya understood that starting from a higher level and having a chance of learning a secret farming technique would be better in the long run, he didn''t have the time. Time was a luxury for him now, something that he just couldn''t afford if he wanted to have everything up and running before the update. So for this skill, he would have to take the easy way instead of the right way. "I see, well, learning the skill through a book will be fine for us. With just the two of us working on the farm, we will level the skill in no time," Melting Snow told him, optimistically. "Your right..." trailing off mid-word, Xinya turned to look at the boy in confusion. "What do you mean by us?" "Obviously, I need to learn how to farm as well. There''s no way you could take care of your land yourself," Melting Snow explained, while secretly thinking, ''The faster the plants grow, the faster the food will get made.'' "Are you sure? I don''t want you to waste your skill points." Shaking his head, Melting Snow waved Xinya''s words away. "Don''t worry, I got tons of them. Besides using them for Beast Taming and Animal Husbandry, I don''t have any other hobby skills." Smiling, Xinya pulled the boy into a quick side hug, "Thanks for always helping me, Melting Snow." "No thanks needed," Melting Snow replied bashfully. "Helping you is fun for me. I will get to play with cute animals and eat yummy food. I''m honestly doing it for selfish reasons." "Whatever you say," Xinya laughed, knowing the boy was just saying that because he was shy. Feeling the need to change the subject, Melting Snow said, "By the way, what about the quest we got in the root cellar? Are you going to look up some information about your farm at the library as well?" "Thanks for reminding me! I think that''s a good idea, but I think we would need to find the first clue to activate the quest before we are able to find the other ones." "Well," Melting Snow begins as he bit into another buttercream bun. "It''s going to take us a while before we reach town since we are on foot anyway. So you can read that journal you found as we walk." "And while I''m reading, what will you do?" Xinya asked with a raised eyebrow. Giving the man a bright smile, Melting Snow said, "I will play around on the forums, of course." Chapter 240: 1.5-21 Xinya let out a small silent laugh at Melting Snow''s words, but even he could admit that the child was right. He really should read the journal to find the clue that would activate the DEV''s quest. Since when the quest is activated, he would be able to finish up a couple of the mini-quests before he became too busy with important matters. Such as fixing up his farm. However, Xinya foresaw a problem with trying to read the journal as he walked. The problem of how he would be able to watch where he was going as he was reading. This question spun around in his head as he turned his attention back towards his interface. ''I guess I should try anyway, and if I start tripping over my own feet, I can always use Melting Snow as my seeing-eye puppy.'' While laughing at the ridiculous idea of Melting Snow leading him along by the hand, Xinya pulled up his inventory. After scrolling through the various objects, he had inside, he finally found the journal. As he tapped on it to take it out of his inventory, a pop up appeared with two options. They were Manually and Virtually. Wondering what these options meant, Xinya clicked on the small question mark on the top left corner of the pop-up box and began to read. Manually: Do you like the feeling of reading a book the old fashioned way, then this option is for you. So sit back and relax in a nice comfy chair and start reading. Virtually: Do you like reading on the go? Then download the contents of your book to your interface. You can read it on the screen, or the text can be converted to audio. *Except for quest items, the downloaded book will be destroyed with this option. Xinya was glad he read the information options. Reading the journal using the Virtually option would be helpful to him, but was he willing to take the chance of the book being destroyed? Although the journal was the trigger for the Dev''s quest, he didn''t think it was a quest object. Usually, when an item is a quest object, it is labeled that way, but the journal was not. Sighing to himself, he decided to risk it, since the information inside would still be available to him anyway. Pressing the Virtually option, Xinya watched as the leather-bound journal in his inventory began to sparkle. This lasted for a couple of seconds before he got a system prompt. [System: Song Lingchen''s journal has been downloaded to your interface! You can find it under reading material!] To his surprise, the journal didn''t disappear at all and was still completely intact. ''Maybe DEV quest objects are different from the normal ones.'' Shrugging, Xinya clicked off his inventory and found the reading material icon. Once he opened it, he tapped on the digital cover and watched as the first entry of Song Lingchen''s journal appeared on his transparent screen. 3rd day of Autumn, ZhouXia Dynasty year 22. Dearest Journal, I have been married to my darling Ling for almost a week now. The contentment I feel now that we are wedded courses throughout my entire being. From the first day we met all those years ago, I knew we were perfect for each other. I will not let her regret the day she became my wife. With my words as my vow, I promise to make her proud of me. Using the farm that my parents gifted to us on our wedding day, I will become a successful entrepreneur that my sweet Ling believes that I can be. My apprenticeship under Huang Xiaoming''s father won''t go to waste. I will turn this pile of dirt into a giant fortune. ''So, the farm was a wedding gift,'' Xinya thought as he scrolled down to the next entry. 14th day of Autumn, ZhouXia Dynasty year 22. Dearest Journal, Sadly, I had come across a mild setback whilst I was getting the soil ready for planting. A neighboring landowner came over to our farm to welcome us. While we were exchanging pleasantries, he noticed that the dirt I was plowing was odd-looking and suggested that it might be clay soil. As he was a stranger to me and may have some illicit intentions, I thanked him kindly for his insight and proceeded to check it out myself. Bottling up some of the soil, I rode to town to see a geological specialist. Only to learn that what my neighbor said was correct. It was Clay soil. This small setback won''t deter me, though. The geological specialist gave a great solution; it will just cost a few more coins than I have. But that is what loans are for. Xinya, who was completely inept with the different aspects of farming, was confused as to why clay soil was terrible. But luckily for him, his interface was one step ahead of him and made it so he could access more information about it. Tapping on the word, he began to read: Clay is the smallest particle amongst the other two types of soil. The particles in this soil are tightly packed together with each other with very little or no airspace. This soil has excellent water storage qualities and makes it hard for moisture and air to penetrate it. It is very sticky to the touch when wet, but smooth when dried. Clay is the densest and heaviest type of soil that does not drain well or provides space for plant roots to flourish. After reading about how hard it is to grow anything in clay soil, Xinya became curious about how the NPC had solved that particular problem. Scrolling down, he continued reading all the entries. He uncovered a lot about the NPC who owned the farm before him. He learned that the NPC had big dreams of making money with his wife, but even after fixing the clay soil problem, the quality of the produce he grew was terrible. The farm started to hemorrhage money; the more coins they put into it, the less they got in return. Their marriage suffered because of it, but one day the NPC had an idea. He was going to use the little bit of money he had left and would turn this farm of his to a vineyard to make and sell wine. At first, this idea failed as well, because no matter what he did, his wines never tasted right. Not wanting to give up, the NPC planted some seeds that a friend gave him along with some other fruit and created a new wine. But it was also a failure, knowing that nobody would want to buy it; he poured it into his fertilizer. In his own words, he did it because, in his mind, that was where shit belongs. While using that same fertilizer, which he poured the wine in on his plants, he saw something amazing happened. The plants that he used that exact fertilizer on quality became magnificent to the point that the market he was selling them to was begging him to let them buy. Seeing how exceptional the fertilizer he created was, the NPC begins using that mixture on all of his plants. The produce he grew became so famous among the populace that all the stores only wanted to buy from his farm. Reading up to that point, Xinya realized that the NPC must have created a special fertilizer with the wine he made. He hoped that the NPC left the recipe for it somewhere, but as he scrolled down to the last entry of the journal, he was disappointed. 25th day of Spring, ZhouXia Dynasty year 26. Dearest Journal, I have finally kept my promise to my sweet Ling; we are living the lives we dreamt of. Unfortunately, we have received a lot of hate from the other farm owners. Only my close friend and neighbor are still civil with us, but lately, even he has been giving me the evil eye, especially when I denied him the right to know the secret of my success. Although I don''t mind sharing it with my friend, my wife asked me to wait until we saved up enough capital to do so. I also believe that would be the best course of action. I think winter would be long enough, and I can give him the recipe as a New Year gift. Until then, the formula will stay locked up tight in my brain. As Xinya read the last word of the entry, a familiar ding sounded: [Quest Created] Chapter 241: 1.5-22* [Quest Created -The mystery of Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s farm Pt 1] Information is knowledge, and knowledge is key to cracking this mystery. Now that you have read Song Lingchen''s journal and understand how a poor farmer became a rich one, you must figure out how that success turned into ash. The first step is to find out what happened to Song Lingchen and his wife. [Reward: 100000 EXP/ 10 Silver Coins] "You read that entire journal already?!" a startled Melting Snow asked as he began to read the quest box that popped up in front of him, blocking the forum post he had been reading. "It''s only been thirty minutes." "What can I say, I''m a fast reader," Xinya replied as he finished reading the quest''s contents. While accepting the quest, Melting Snow let out a small huff. "You can say that again. So what did you learn? Why are we trying to find out what happened to this Song Lingchen person and his wife?" "Well, Song Lingchen is the NPC who previously owned my farm," Xinya explained as he started to relay everything he learned from the journal to the boy. "So, you''re telling me that the man wasn''t drinking that wine but using it to make manure?" Xinya could only laugh at the appalled look on Melting Snow''s face. He should have known that would have been the thing that would have triggered the boy. "If it makes you feel better, he only did it because the wine tasted terrible," Xinya said. "Plus, from what I gathered, it made the produce extra delicious." "That''s right, you did say that it was so good that the other NPCs were begging to buy it. Man, what I would give to have tasted it. Did you get the recipe on how to make it?" asked a hopeful Melting Snow. Shaking his head mournfully, Xinya replied, "No, it wasn''t in the journal, but I think if we solve this mystery, we will stand a chance of getting it." "Do you really think so?" "I do," Xinya replied in a confident tone. "Otherwise, I don''t think the journal would have gone on about it as it did." "I really hope you are right, Drifting Cloud because that would be fantastic. Not only for me, but you will be able to profit off your farm by selling fruits to NPCs," Melting Snow smiled. Melting Snow was delighted to know that Drifting Cloud might have another way to profit from his farm besides potions. He knew that potions wouldn''t net much money, but that and selling some ultra-delicious fruits and vegetables can net him a considerable amount each harvest. "That would be great, but we need to complete this part of the quest first and figure out what happened to the NPC and his wife. " Xinya said. "That shouldn''t be hard, surely the town''s library can help us with that. They should have records going back ages," Melting Snow decreed smartly, before glancing at the time. "How long will it take us to reach town anyway?" "About another two hours if we keep going at this speed," Xinya replied. Sighing softly to himself about the long walk he had ahead, Melting Snow said, "You really need to get your cart up and running." "I know," muttered Xinya. ~ Another half hour went by as the duo continued their walk through the many farmlands. They strolled together in complete silence, each one busy with their own personal activity. Xinya rereading the journal to make notes of any important details he could find, while Melting Snow was immersed in reading the latest forum posts. The atmosphere that surrounded the two was quite peaceful until they started walking past some cornfields. That''s when Xinya heard a sound that he hadn''t heard since he lured that Diamondback Armored Ctenophore out of the water. Ding! [A mysterious wind has flown by triggering your luck. Who knows what sorts of unexplainable things could happen, You better be prepared!] As soon as Xinya saw the notification appear in front of him, he paused dead in his tracks, while pulling Melting Snow to a halt as well. "What''s going on?" asked Melting Snow in a whisper. At first, he was confused as to why the man pulled him to a stop, but when he saw how the green-haired man was wildly glancing around as if he was looking for someone or something, he became more alert. "I thought I heard something," Xinya replied, not knowing what else to say. He certainly couldn''t tell the boy that his godly luck stat was triggered, and he needs to be on the lookout for something that might pop out at them. Raising an eyebrow at the man''s words, Melting Snow appeared skeptical. As the one with enhanced hearing, he knew that if he didn''t hear anything, then there was nothing to hear. Deciding to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, Melting Snow quickly adjusted his settings and turned up his hearing. Initially, he couldn''t hear anything, but as the seconds passed, he heard a deep male voice coming from somewhere deep in the cornfield. Glancing at Drifting Cloud, Melting Snow wondered how the man could hear that person''s voice from so far away. ''Does the dryad race have enhanced senses too?'' "I heard it too," Melting Snow said, pointing to the cornfield on the left side. "A man''s voice is coming from somewhere deep within it." "Does the man sound like he needs help?" Xinya asked, wondering if the man in the cornfield is where his luck wants him to go. Cocking his head to the side, as if he was listening to something that was very far away, Melting Snow said, "Well, he sounds very disgruntled." "Either way, we should go and check it out," Xinya said while staring at the tall green stalks of golden corn. "Who knows the person might be lost inside of it." "Like it could be one of those corn mazes? I''m great at figuring out mazes, as you should know, from when we were in that treasure dungeon," Melting Snow told him excitedly, looking forward to the search and rescue. While giving the boy a fond smile, Xinya said, "Maybe, but we won''t know until we go look and see." "Then let''s go see!" Melting Snow exclaimed, about to rush into the cornfield only to be stopped by Xinya''s hand. "Wait! We shouldn''t rush into the cornfield," Xinya told him while thinking back to the last dangerous situation his luck got him in. "We should approach this carefully since we don''t know if the man is friend or foe." ''What kind of foe would try to hurt us while we are in town?'' pondered Melting Snow as he gave a nod of agreement. He sometimes thought his friend''s vigilance was too much. ''Like what could try to kill us in a cornfield, an evil scarecrow or something? That''s just ridiculous.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 242: 1.5-23 Cautiously, Xinya followed behind Melting Snow as the boy led them into the vast sea of golden corn.It was a sight to behold, for neither of them had ever been this close to actual growing corn before. They couldn''t help but be in awe at the sheer size of the tall green stalks that seemed to reach upwards to 7-8 feet. This was a learning experience for Xinya, who, although wanted to farm, knew next to nothing about the different types of crops and how they grew. Xinya was alarmed that he might bend or even break the vibrant green stalks since he had to push them out of his way as he walked. He was worried that he might somehow cause damage to someone else''s property. So he made sure to be extra careful and told Melting Snow to do the same. What he didn''t know was that corn stalks are thick and strong; they are about 0.8¨C3 m long and 2¨C4.5 cm wide (diameter) with visible nodes and internodes. And when he reads up about all the different crops and their attributes, he would later look back at this moment and feel very silly. The further they walked through the cornfield, the more ominous the atmosphere became for some reason. The idea that corn could be scary never once crossed Xinya''s mind, but at this very moment, it was. There were many reasons why he was feeling this way. One speculation would be that it was because of the feeling of being surrounded all around by tall towering plants.And although he might be out in the open, there was still a sense of claustrophobia. But if someone had asked him, he would have said it was because of the sound. Every time he pushed one aside, he could hear the half-dry leaves of the corn stalks creak and rustle. It was even worse when the wind picked up and blew across the entire field. Shivering a little at the sound, he somehow felt that a cornfield could be an excellent setting for a horror movie. ''Maybe I should pitch the idea to Wei and get some feedback,'' Xinya thought, getting more amused by the idea. ''I would call it ''The Dryad of the Corn.'' Covering his mouth with his hand, Xinya tried desperately to smother the laugh that was building. He didn''t want Melting Snow to think he was crazy, laughing at corn. Shaking his head, he let go of the movie idea,it wasn''t like anyone other than himself would be creeped out by corn. ''As if anyone would be crazy enough to buy the rights to a movie about corn, it''s not even that scary.'' ~ It had been twenty minutes since they had set off into the corn, and Xinya was finally getting used to being in the field. He became more curious about the plant''s growing process and began examining each stalk they walked by. While Xinya was interested in the ripe corn with its silk hanging off, Melting Snow, on the other hand, was growing more irritated with every step he took. He thought that these corn stalks were nothing but a hassle. Although Drifting Cloud told him to be gentle with them, all he wanted to do was chop them all down with his twin swords. They were messing with his visibility, and he was irritated that they were taller than he was. They weren''t even trees! Only trees were supposed to be bigger than him, not something he can eat. With a huff, he glared at the seemingly endless rows of corn and wished he could pull them up by the roots. While grabbing a stalk that was about to hit him tightly in his hand, he suddenly changed his mind. ''Hmm, these things aren''t as fragile as Drifting Cloud said they were. They probably could make a nice makeshift weapon,'' Melting Snow thought with a smile as he imagines himself brandishing a stalk of corn at an enemy. ''That be hilarious.'' "Melting Snow, are we getting closer to the man you heard?" asked Xinya, startling the boy out his thoughts. "Let me check," replied Melting Snow, tilting his head to the side as if honing in on a particular sound. His furry ears twitching as if to show that they picked up a signal. "Yeah, the person sounds a lot closer than before, I think we will soon cross paths with him." Nodding his head at the answer, Xinya gestured for Melting Snow to continue leading the way. "That''s good news; let''s hurry so we can find him soon." ~ The duo continued their trip through the cornfield for another 20 minutes or so until Xinya was stopped by Melting Snow''s subtle signal. "He''s right up ahead," Melting Snow whispered, waving the green-haired man over so he could take a look. Sneaking over to the furry-eared boy''s side, Xinya peered out through the tall stalks to see where his luck had led him. To his surprise, it wasn''t some dangerous situation or even a unique hidden place. Instead, all he saw was a distraught old man who was clearly upset about his injured donkey. "My sweet P¨ªnggu¨¯, whatever should I do," questioned the grey-haired man who was trying to soothe his pet. "It was entirely my fault. If only if I didn''t try to take a shortcut, you would never have been hurt." Xinya and Melting Snow, who had been listening to the man''s sad spiel, slowly glanced at each other. Confused by the man''s words, Melting Snow mouthed ''shortcut?'' To which Xinya could only shrug since he had no clue how a cornfield could be a short cut. But noticing the overturned wagon and spilled fruits and vegetables, Xinya could piece together what happened. He presumed that the old man had been rushing to town to sell his produce and tried to use this field as a shortcut, but sadly an accident befell him. "What should I do? I need to go get help, but I also can''t leave you alone like this," the old man muttered sorrowfully to the donkey he was petting. Taking that as his cue, Xinya grabbed Melting Snow by the hand and pulled him out from where they were hidden in the corn stalks and over to the small crop circle, where the old man was standing. "Maybe we can be of some assistance," Xinya said once he saw that the man had noticed them. [Quest Triggered!] It means apple. Chapter 243: 1.5-24 Startled by the sudden appearance of two strangers that suddenly came out of nowhere, the older man stood up from where he was kneeling next to his beloved donkey and took a wary step forward. From the old man''s actions, it looked as though he was trying to protect the donkey from them, at the risk of his own safety. Xinya could tell the man loved his donkey dearly. Because with every painful bray, the animal would emit Xinya could see the old man flinch. The sound of a creature in pain would be heartbreaking to anyone, but especially to someone who truly cared for it. Xinya pitied the hurt animal, and by the subtle tugs on his hand, he could tell Melting Snow did as well. Giving the boy a quick glance, Xinya saw that he was wide-eyed and worried, his gaze entirely focused on the hurt animal. After giving the boy''s hand a quick squeeze, he turned his gaze back to the old man. Only to notice how leary the man was of them. Realizing that the way he and Melting Snow appeared out of nowhere could have deemed questionable. Xinya released the child''s hand so he could hold both of his hands up in front of him in a placating manner. Looking the old man straight in the eye, he said, "We don''t mean no harm; we are really here to help you and your donkey." The old man stared intensely into Xinya and Melting Snow''s eyes, trying to determine if the two boys were as sincere as they appeared to be. When the older man saw that they were harmless, and not some thieves that came to rob him, his suspicious eyes changed to optimistic ones. "You really can help my poor P¨ªnggu¨¯?" "Yes, I can," Xinya began giving the older man a kind smile. "Your donkey will be safe in my hands." "Yeah! You can trust Drifting Cloud, he will make your donkey as good as new," nodded Melting Snow. After listening to the green-haired man''s and the wolf boy''s words, something told the old man he could trust them. That with their help, his darling P¨ªnggu¨¯ would be ship-shape in no time. He had been so worried that his donkey would become lame, and he would have to put it down. But now he has hope that worry won''t come to fruition. The old man walked over to the two boys with shining eyes, grabbing the green-eyed man''s hand, he began to shake it vigorously. "Where are my manners, my name is Tan Quan, and I would be extremely grateful if you could help P¨ªnggu¨¯ for me." [Quest Created!] Old Man Tan had woken up late this morning. In his hurry to send over some produce he promised to bring to his daughter''s store, he tried to use his wheat field as a shortcut. The trip was going well until his donkey tripped over a rock and injured itself, causing the Old man''s wagon to overturn, spilling his produce to the ground. Help Old Man Tan by healing his donkey so he can make it to town on time. [Reward: 20,000 EXP/ 100 bronze coin/ Old Man Tan''s Friendship] "You don''t have to be thankful, helping a hurt animal is something any kind-hearted person would do. And my friend Drifting Cloud is the kindest," Melting Snow told the man. Nodding his head at the boy''s words, the old man said, "I''m thankful that he is." "It''s nothing really," Xinya bashfully said, knowing that if it wasn''t for his luck, he wouldn''t even have known they were there. "Please show me to the animal so I can see where he is hurt." "Of course, of course, right this way." The old man said before leading Xinya over to his precious donkey and pointing out where it was injured. Squatting down next to the donkey, he began to examine it. The animal had a nasty gash on its leg and maybe a torn ligament from what he could tell. Xinya really hoped that the process of healing animals was similar to healing humans, or he would be in trouble. Seeing the serious look on Xinya''s face, the old man began to worry. "How is it? Will P¨ªnggu¨¯ be alright?" "I will try my hardest to make sure it is," Xinya replied consolingly. "Melting Snow, how about you take Mr. Tan off to the side so I can begin healing his donkey." Nodding with understanding, the furry-eared boy grabbed the old man by the arm and walked him away so that Xinya was no longer in his line of sight. As they walked away, Xinya could hear Melting Snow reassuring the man, telling him how great of a healer his friend was and that he would quickly fix up his donkey. Shaking his head at the boy''s total faith in him, Xinya opened his interface and pulled up his inventory. He took out a couple of potions as well as a first-aid kit he bought during one of his shopping sprees. ''I''m so glad I bought one after the whole Mayor incident.'' Closing out of his inventory, Xinya peered at the donkey to check its health status, like the Mayor in Errinisworth he could see an HP bar on top of its head. He could see that the donkey''s health bar was slowly depleting but not quickly enough to worry him. Signing in relief, he rubbed the donkey gently on the head, trying to calm it down. "You will be alright P¨ªnggu¨¯, I just need to give you something to make you feel better." Picking up one of the HP potions he took out from his inventory, he fed it to the donkey while praying softly that it would work. As the donkey drank the red liquid down, Xinya was relieved to see that its HP went back up. Only when the donkey''s health was stable, was when he gave his full attention to the donkey''s bloody injuries. Opening the first aid kit next to him, he took out some supplies and started cleaning up the donkey''s wounds. Just as he deemed the cuts clean enough and was readying for the next step, the sound of a notification went off. [First Aid has leveled up!] [You Have Learned the Mend skill!] Mend: is an essential skill from a branch of the first aid skill line. This skill allows you to instantly mend any wounds on any living creature. *Cooldown 10 minutes - decreases per level. ''Now, this will come in handy!'' Xinya thought happily. Deciding to test out his new skill, Xinya put his hands over the animal''s wound and said Mend. Suddenly a green glow emerged from his palms, and the donkey''s large gash started to knit together like a sweater for Christmas. Xinya was in awe at his new skill, the donkey now looked as if it was never injured. If it wasn''t for its semi depleted health bar, he would think it never was. Feeding the donkey another HP potion and a stamina one just in case Xinya grabbed it by its reins and pulled it upright in one smooth motion. Noticing that his donkey was looking completely well now, Old Man Tan ran over and hugged it around its neck in almost tears. "I knew you would be alright P¨ªnggu¨¯, I just knew it!" Melting Snow, who also just realized the donkey was better, ran back over to Xinya with a bright smile and gave him two thumbs up while mouthing ''Good Job.'' "Thank you so much, boy, for saving my sweet P¨ªnggu¨¯; how could I ever repay you?" Mr. Tan asked, turning towards Xinya and giving him a grateful smile. "You don''t have to repay me, It was the least I could do." "No, I must do something, my darling P¨ªnggu¨¯ means the world to me. Where are you headed, I can give you a ride." The old man said, genuinely wanting to repay them. [Quest Completed!] [Reward: 20,000 EXP/ 100 bronze coin/ Old Man Tan''s Friendship] [You are now friends with Tan Quan! ] [Tan Quan is now registered on your friend list!] "That would be great, we were heading to town when we came across you!" Xinya told the man with a smile. Glad that he could return the favor, Mr. Tan said, "Same as me! Just let me reload my wagon, and then we can be on our way. "I will help!" Melting Snow said, bouncing over to the overturned wagon. "I don''t think you''re strong enough too..." Mr. Tan trailed off in shock as he watched the small boy lift his wagon and set it upright all by himself. ''What in the heck does that boy eat to be so strong.'' Seeing the shocked look on the old man''s face almost made Xinya giggle. "Don''t worry about Melting Snow, he''s stronger than he looks." The old man just nodded slowly as he watched the young man pick up a wooden barrel full of fruit like it weighed nothing at all. Chapter 244: 1.5-25 With Xinya refilling the wooden barrels with the produce that had fallen onto the ground and Melting Snow lifting them into the back of the wagon, they were ready to go in no time at all. "Alright, boys, it''s time to head out," Old man Tan said after he reattached the donkey''s harness to the wagon. Nodding their heads, Xinya and Melting Snow waited until the old man was seated before hopping into one of the empty spaces that were on his sides. After taking a quick glance at the boys to make sure they were completely settled, Mr. Tan yelled, ''Giddy up'' and with a crack of the reins, they were finally on their way. Xinya couldn''t believe how fast the donkey was, although it wasn''t even a tenth as fast as Melting Snow''s cousin''s flying car, he could tell that it was at least 2x their walking speed. Because even though it took them around 20 minutes of walking to reach the place where the old man was inside of the cornfield, it only took the old man 5 minutes to drive back to their starting point that was the road. Curious as to what their estimated time of arrival would be now that they were no longer walking, Xinya slightly turned his body so he could reopen his interface without the NPC noticing. Pulling up his map, he clicked on his travel route and saw that an hour was scratched off from their arrival time. ''Riding on the wagon is definitely a lot faster than walking, and that was for darn sure.'' Xinya thought with a slight shake of his head. ''As soon as I''m in town, I''m so going to start the hatching process of my egg before I forget to do it again.'' ~ Looking at the two boys who were quietly watching the scenery go by, Mr. Tan decided to try to make some polite conversation since he knew it would be a long trip. Plus, he thought that it would be nice to talk to someone while he was driving, besides his dear P¨ªnggu¨¯. Even though he loved his donkey, he did miss having conversations with humans. After his wife had died and his daughter got married and moved to town, he was quite lonely. "So, what are you two boys doing around these parts?" Mr. Tan asks with curiosity. The sudden question startled Xinya, causing him to flinch and almost fall out the wagon. Gripping his seat tightly, Xinya turned his body towards the old man and forced a smile. "Well, I want to start a business in food, and I don''t believe that anyone grows the type of produce I require, so I decided to grow them myself and bought a farm." Melting Snow, who had been listening from the other side, was surprised, he had no clue that Drifting Cloud was planning to actually sell the food he made, but it did make sense. He was just wondering how he was going to sell it. "Oh? Which farm did you buy?" Mr. Tan asked, hoping that it was one of the empty plots near him so he would have some company. "It''s the one about a mile away from the cornfield," Xinya begins while watching the old man closely. Thinking that maybe this is the reason his luck led him to the man. "It''s called Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s farm." Just like he thought, as soon as he said the farm''s name, the old man''s eyes flickered as if he knew something. "Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s Farm? I didn''t think anyone would have bought that farm after the terrible tragedy that happened there," the old man exclaimed. Melting Snow had gone back to sightseeing sometime during the conversation, but his ears twitched when he heard the word tragedy. Turning his head towards the man with interest, he said, "What do you mean? What tragedy?" "I don''t know if I should say," Mr. Tan fretted while nervously glancing back and forth between the two boys. He didn''t want the young man to regret his purchase. "It''s alright, you can tell us," cajoled Xinya, knowing that whatever the old man told them would have something to do with what happened to Song Lingchen and his wife. "We aren''t superstitious or anything." Hearing the sincerity of the boy''s words, the old man inclined his head in agreement. "Alright, I will tell you. I was just a lad when it happened, but I remember my mother talking about it. Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s Farm was very prosperous and was the envy of everyone, but as the saying goes, the higher one flies, the farther they will fall." "What happened?" Wide-eyed Melting Snow asked. "That''s the thing nobody knows. One day the farm was there flourishing beautifully, and the next, it was utterly destroyed by a fire. From what I remember overhearing, my mother said the investigators of the case expected it to be a robbery gone wrong. It was said that they found evidence that the previous owner and his wife were dead long before the fire even started." [Find out what happened to Song Lingchen and his wife is complete!] [Reward: 100000 EXP/ 10 Silver Coins] [Part 2 of The mystery of Q¨©ngch¨² Ni¨£o''s farm will begin in 24 hours!] ''So, the couple did die in the fire as I guessed,'' Xinya thought with a slight shake of his head. "Did they ever find out who did it?" Shaking his head slowly, the old man said, "Sadly, they never did, which is why nobody ever bought the farm. They were worried that the spirits of Song Lingchen and his wife still lingered there, waiting for their revenge." Melting Snow shivered at the thought, he might be an adventure junkie, but there were some things he would not mess with, and that was ghosts. He didn''t want those things possessing his body and giving him ghost cooties. "It was a terrible thing that happened to the couple, but it''s more of a tragedy to let the farm that they worked so hard to build, sit there and rot. I think if I were to make their farm great again, their spirits would be able to rest in peace," Xinya honestly told the man. The old man was taken aback by the sincerity in the green-haired man''s words. Because he knew that if it was him that had built up his farm from nothing and made it prosperous only to have it destroyed in a blaze of fire, he wouldn''t be able to rest in peace either. But if someone fixed it back to its original state, his legacy could live on, and he could enjoy the rest of his afterlife. "I think you''re right; if there is anything I could do to help you with it, please ask. Because, with the state that the farm is in, you will have a lot of work cut out for you." Giving a hum of agreement, Xinya said, "I know. That''s why I''m heading to town. I''m going to the library for research so that I can learn what I need to do to fix my farm''s burnt land." "Don''t forget that we''re also going there so we can learn how to farm as well," Melting Snow announced, jumping into the conversation. "What?! Are you telling me that you two know nothing about farming?" The old man asked, slightly aghast. How could someone who knew nothing about farming buy a farm? Acting embarrassed, Xinya rubbed the back of his neck and lowered his gaze for a moment before showing one of determination. He knew if he played his cards right, he might be able to get the man to teach him. He didn''t understand why he didn''t think of the idea before. "Sadly, that is correct, it had been a dream of mine to own a farm since I young when I knew I wanted to start my own restaurant. But, as I lived in a city, I never got the chance to get any experience on how to grow things, besides the small flower garden I had. But growing flowers is different from growing things that are edible." Seeing the resolution on the boy''s face, Mr. Tan knew that the man would work hard to see his dream through, and suddenly like a lightning strike, he knew how to pay the green-haired man back for saving his sweet P¨ªnggu¨¯. "I think I finally have a way to repay you," the old man begins with a satisfied expression on his face. "How about you become my apprentice and I can teach you everything about farming." [You have been offered to be Tan Quan''s apprentice! Do you accept it? YES/NO] After sneakily tapping on the yes, Xinya gave the old man a smile of appreciation. "Really? That would be great! I will make sure to work hard and learn everything." [You are now Tan Quan''s apprentice! ] [The Apprentice Tab is available now!] "Wait, what about me?" Melting Snow, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, asked. "Can I be an apprentice too? I want to learn how to farm as well." "I''m sorry, youngling, but due to my age, I''m only able to teach one person at a time, but once your friend has learned everything, I think he will be willing to teach it to you," Mr. Tan replied. Xinya understood that NPCs could only take one official apprentice at a time, so this excuse was probably something that the old man was programmed with, in case this exact situation ever happened. "He''s right, Melting Snow, once I finish learning everything I need to, I will teach you myself," Xinya said, remembering the farmhand feature in his Housing/Farming Tab. Giving the green-haired man a smile, Melting Snow silently agreed. He would prefer to learn how to farm from his friend anyway. Plus, while Drifting Cloud was learning how to farm, he could take some time and level his Animal Husbandry by playing with the baby goat he found. Chapter 245: 1.5-26 "Now you must understand," Mr. Tan lectured, looking thoughtfully at the green-haired man. "While soil is frequently referred to as the ''fertile substrate,'' not all soils are suitable for growing crops. Ideal soils for agriculture are balanced in contributions from mineral components." "So what are the most ideal types of soil," Xinya asked, intrigued. He couldn''t believe how much he had learned during his short time with the old man riding in the wagon. Mr. Tan could only smile at the man''s appetite for knowledge. When the green-haired man said he wanted to learn, he actually did mean it. As Mr. Tan began to explain the different types of soils, the boy, the one thing that kept running through his head is that he lucked out by finding a great apprentice. The lad was so very eager to learn that he had been asking him all sorts of farming questions during their travel to town. He would be lying if he said that it didn''t make him feel good inside to finally have found someone to share his expertise with. This was always the one thing in his life that he despaired about. Which was never having a successor to pass down his wisdom of farming too. Although he had a daughter, she was too much like her mother. His wife never liked living in a rural area since she was born a city girl, and like his wife, his daughter turned out the same way. She felt that owning a business was better than being a farmer. No matter how much he tried to persuade her to give farming a chance, she wouldn''t have it. But now he had an apprentice of his own, someone who would look up to him and, most importantly, someone who he can share all his farm secrets with. That way, he would be able to live on even after death. Because as everyone knows, as long as someone remembers you, you can never truly die. Since he was so occupied listening to and answering all of the young lad''s questions, Mr. Tan didn''t even notice how quickly the time had flown by. However, even though his attention wasn''t focused on the road, the old man still led the wagon straight to the town''s bridge. But even though he didn''t notice their arrival, it didn''t mean that the others riding with him lacked awareness. ~ When Melting Snow noticed that the town was just ahead, a radiant smile appeared on his face. He was so happy that he would be able to escape the boring conversation about soil that had been going on for the last 40 minutes. "Drifting Cloud, look! We are almost at the town!" Melting Snow exclaimed while pointing at the stone bridge that was a couple of feet away. Startled by the sudden shout, the question Xinya was about to ask the old man died on his lips. Closing his mouth with a snap, he turned his head to face frontwards. ''The saying is true, time flies while you are having fun.'' Mr. Tan, who had been deeply engaged in his conversation with Xinya, was a little surprised himself when he saw that they were already there. But he also knew that his sweet P¨ªnggu¨¯ knew the way to town like the back of its hoof, and even if he were sleeping, they would have made it to town with no trouble. ~ As they were crossing the bridge, Xinya saw that there was another wagon coming towards them in the opposite direction that began to slow down once they were close enough to them. Just as he wondered if this was someone the old man knew, the tall, stocky man in the other wagon began to speak. "Hey old man, I see you have some company today; what''s the matter did you get bored of only being able to talk to your donkey." the stocky man jokes, letting out a loud laugh. Rolling his eyes, Mr. Tan sarcastically said, "Haw haw haw, very funny. But I know you''re just jealous that not even a donkey would want to be around someone who baths in manure." Knowing that he was bested, the tall, stocky man sneered at Mr. Tan before cracking his whip and going on his way. "It seems as if the two of you really dislike each other," Melting Snow said once they crossed the bridge and entered the town. "I guess you can say that. It all started when I denied him the privilege of asking my daughter for her hand in marriage. Although he is well off, he has multiple wives, no father in their right mind would let their daughter marry into that." "You have a daughter?" questioned Xinya, feigning interest. Even though he already knew that the old man had a daughter from the quest info, he pretended not to know since the old man never mentioned her. "Oh, did I forget to mention her?" the old man asked. "She is the one I''m delivering my produce to." "With the number of fruits and vegetables you are taking to her, she must run a shop of some kind," Melting Snow said smartly. Smiling proudly at the thought of his daughter''s achievements, the old man puffed out his chest. "Yes, she does. She worked two jobs and saved up enough to buy her own grocery store without any help on my part. Even though I wanted to help her with her dream, she wouldn''t have it, telling me that ''one shouldn''t mix business with family.'' If it wasn''t for her regular produce provider plants withering, she would never have contacted me for help." Xinya felt terrible for the old man because he could see that behind his pride was a sadness that was lingering within him. He could see the loneliness that the old man was trying so desperately to hide. While he felt sorry for the older man, he also realized that something Mr. Tan had said had struck a chord in him. For some reason, when he heard the word withered, something was triggered within him, but he couldn''t understand why. "Withered? What do you mean?" Xinya asked, hoping the old man could spark his memory. "There has been some kind of disease that has been sweeping the neighboring towns'' crops. Nobody knows where it started from, but I just pray that it doesn''t reach Arkala," Mr. Tan explained. "I hope it doesn''t either," Xinya said, still trying to remember why this situation sounded so familiar to him. Chapter 246: 1.5-27 In Haven Online, crops can begin to wither because of various reasons, and Xinya knew this to be a fact. The most common causes would be if the plants were exposed to environmental stresses such as lack of water, fertilization or if they were not harvested in the allotted time. However, there had to be something more to the deterioration of these plants. It would be ridiculous for Xinya to assume that it was as simple as farmers forgetting to water their crops. For one, if he understood what old man Tan had said, this was happening to professional farmers with businesses to run. So they would definitely not forget to take care of their land. Secondly, Xinya knew that unless the farmers worked in a glacial or desert environment, the ingame climate would not be a major factor in their crops'' growth. There had to be something more going on, but it was the ''what'' that was eluding him. What the old man described sounded so familiar; it was like he heard or read about it before. But the memory of it just kept escaping through the recesses of his mind. ''Come on, Xinya, think! Whatever it is must be very important. I''m sure it has something to do with the game...'' Out of nowhere, the answer came to him like sunlight piercing through clouds on a rainy day. If he had been alone at that very moment, he would have slapped himself. He couldn''t believe that he had forgotten about the 2nd mini-update trigger quest. The details about it came flooding into his mind, and he knew that the withering was just the beginning of the terrible things that would start to happen. Thankfully, this withering of produce wouldn''t touch Arkala; no, this plague will only affect the towns in Haven''s rural areas. After the Tall Man failed to conquer Errinisworth, the other Tall Man monsters that were stationed in the other major towns of Haven were destroyed. This caused the leader of monsters to rethink its plan. This time it decided to begin small and take over areas where there are fewer people. So it sent a monster similar to the Tall Man to do the job, and the first step of this new monster''s plan involved the withering of the crops. Xinya knew that he would have to take care of this problem soon because it could affect the town''s trading economy if it became too bad. ''I will go in three weeks when things are kind of sorted here.'' So immersed in his thoughts, Xinya wouldn''t have noticed that they arrived at the center of the town if it wasn''t for Mr. Tan speaking up. "This is where I have to leave you. My daughter''s store is on the west side of town, quite far from the library where you said you were heading," stated Mr. Tan as he shifted his hand inside of the satchel that was tied to his waist. Pulling out a metal pin with an emblem of a cornstalk on it, he handed it to Xinya. "Take this; it will show everyone that you are my apprentice." [You have received an apprentice emblem!] After getting down from the wagon, Xinya took the shiny metal pin from the old man''s calloused fingers and began to examine it. It was beautifully detailed, and the quality of the workmanship was terrific. Xinya could only wonder where the old man had it crafted. "Wow, that pin sure is nice," Melting Snow said, as he stared at it from Xinya''s side. Seeing the awed look on both of the lad''s faces as they examined the pin, Mr. Tan couldn''t help but feel proud; it had taken his wife days to create it for him, but it was worth it with how wonderful it turned out. Mr. Tan never thought he would be able to use it, and as he watched the green-haired boy pin it to his trousers, he knew that his wife would be happy that it would no longer be sitting on the bottom of his bag collecting dust. "Beautiful isn''t it, but it isn''t just for looks; it will show individual shop owners that you are my apprentice. It won''t matter in most shops, but if you go to N¨®ngy¨¨ sh¨¡ngch¨£ng, the best store for farming equipment, and tell Wen Gui that I sent you. He will give you a 35% discount on all of the items you need to buy." ''Sometimes I really love my luck,'' Xinya thought while taking a glance over to Melting Snow, who was still admiring his pin. "Thank you so much, Mr. Tan, for all your help, I don''t know what to say." "You don''t need to thank me, is you hadn''t saved my P¨ªnggu¨¯, I would have been heartbroken. What you did for me and what I''m doing for you can''t compare," Mr. Tan told him. Hearing the truth in the old man''s words, Xinya just nodded, giving the man a gentle smile. Just as the old man was about to give the reins a snap so he could continue on to his daughter''s shop, he remembered something very important. "Oh, before I forget," The old man said, digging inside of his satchel once again for something. "Here is my farm''s address; meet me there at sun up, and I will start training you in the basics." After taking the small yellow business card with flowers all over it from the man''s hand, Xinya gave it a once-over before sending the man a strange look. "I know what you''re thinking, but my daughter made the business cards for me," Mr. Tan sighed, giving Xinya a look of ''What could I do?.'' Grabbing the card out of Xinya''s hand, Melting Snow looked it over. He didn''t see anything wrong with it; although it was a bit girly, it was way better than the boring ones his brother uses. "I like it! It''s very cheerful and would make me think that the person who gave it to me is a nice guy." "Well, I do like to think that I''m a nice guy," Mr. Tan laughed heartily. He really liked how sweet and bubbly the wolf boy was. He hopes that Drifting Cloud will bring him along when he comes over tomorrow. Chapter 247: 1.5-28 As the dull greyness of the early morning sky receded, it was replaced by the orange glow of the sun shining brightly in the air, which breathed life into the drab, empty town that they entered. This became more apparent the longer they stood in the center of the city. When they had first arrived, besides a few townsfolk walking around and a couple of carts riding past them, the town hadn''t seemed to be awake yet. But, since they have been stopped here, Xinya noticed that the streets started to bustle with life as time went by. It seemed that the old man must have noticed the atmosphere change as well since he quickly pulled out a round golden object from inside his plaid shirt. Peering at the object the old man was staring at, Xinya realized that it was an old-timey pocket watch. It was also known as the Nuremberg egg, a type of small ornamental spring-driven clock made to be worn around the neck, produced in Nuremberg in the mid-to-late 16th century. For a second, Xinya was confused about how a farmer from a clearly eastern town got a hold of a pocket watch from a European country. But then he remembered that trading was a thing and felt silly. ''It must be because I have too many things on my mind,'' Xinya thought, as he watched the old man snap the watch closed and tuck it back underneath his shirt. When Mr. Tan saw what time it was, he knew he couldn''t dilly dally here any longer. He needed to get these fruits and vegetables to his daughter fast. "I''m sorry, boys, but I need to make haste. The time grows late, and I must be off to deliver this produce. Goodbye for now. I will see you tomorrow," Mr. Tan said, and without waiting for a reply, he snapped the reins of his donkey and was off. ~ Xinya was quite flabbergasted with how fast the old man had left. He couldn''t even utter a word of goodbye. He glanced over to Melting Snow to see what the boy thought of the situation, only to receive a bewildered shrug in reply. "I suspect he was in a rush," Xinya muttered, watching as the old man''s wagon disappeared into the throng of people. "I suspect that as well," Melting Snow laughed before turning to face Xinya. "So, where are we headed?" "To the library, of course," Xinya teasingly stated the obvious. Rolling his eyes at the green-haired man, Melting Snow said, "You know what I mean, which direction are we heading." Smiling, Xinya pulled the map up on his interface. Locating the library was easy, especially with his upgraded map. After punching in the coordinates, a few seconds passed before the route appeared in front of him. As the blue arrows appeared on the transparent screen, pointing him in the correct direction, he saw that the old man was right; the library was in the opposite direction. "It''s this way," Xinya said while grabbing Melting Snow''s hand so he wouldn''t lose him in the steadily growing crowd. ~ The walk to the library wasn''t as long as Xinya thought it would be, especially now that there were crowds of people everywhere. To his surprise, it only took about 15 minutes of sidestepping various obstacles before they arrived at the library''s entrance. Now, as someone who lives in the year 2213, he is used to incredible looking buildings, but as he stared up at the library, they suddenly didn''t seem all that great. "Wow, this place looks phenomenal!" gushed Melting Snow, staring up at the building in awe. He knew he said that he wanted to conquer the auction, but he was having other thoughts after seeing this mysterious place. ''If I want to conquer another building, would I be cheating on the auction house?'' Xinya could only nod in agreement as he stared at the building because it truly was precisely that ... phenomenal. Compared to the one in Bellport, this library was grandiose, and even that was an understatement. Like most ancient Chinese architecture, the building had a symmetrical layout, with the main building standing on the north-south axis and the secondary buildings standing on both sides in east-west pairs. The main entrance was supported by two pillars carved with a beautiful floral theme that represented health and prosperity. These same pillars also held up a balcony that, from the looks of it, didn''t seem like it could be accessed. Above the balcony, just below the roof, was a sign made of the finest gold, and carved on it (in exquisite calligraphy) was the word ''T¨²sh¨± gu¨£n.'' Each of the buildings was two-stories high, and from what he could see, the second story had guardrails that prevented people from falling on the roof above where the red lanterns that flew with the wind, chiming the melody that assured anyone who entered that they''re safe. Xinya knew that the second story wasn''t just there to look pretty. No, the second story was where the most valuable books were held, such as historical records that were meant to be hidden from the public. These were the books that no player would be able to see unless they had a close relationship with the higher-ups in town. Knowing that he had been staring at the building too long, he started to walk inside the court area. As Xinya and Melting Snow walked across the stone blocks that covered the ground and would lead them to the entrance, they could see that they were etched with marks from the past. Xinya began to wonder if it was deliberate on the DEVs part since, besides the stone''s scratches, there were brownish-red stains that should have been cleaned but never were, and now they were forever stuck there. There was probably a quest here, Xinya was certain of that, but he wouldn''t try to get it. Well, not yet anyway, maybe when he had completed some of the quests he already had. Shaking his head at the thought of getting another quest, Xinya walked up the stone steps to the entrance. Sliding open the heavy wooden door, he went into the library with Melting Snow following behind him. Chapter 248: 1.5-29 Row after row of meticulously cared for books neatly lined up with their spines facing outward was the sight that greeted Xinya as he entered the library. It was a beautiful sight to behold, for him anyway, he couldn''t speak for anyone else. But to him, these books were untapped knowledge that was just waiting for someone to absorb it. Just as he said before when he was at the library in Bellport searching for information about Shilvak. That when he starts to earn passive income from his ventures and is able to relax, that''s when he will go all around the world of Haven to explore every library there is. ''With all of the languages I know, I probably could visit each player region without any trouble,'' Xinya mused as he stared at the books like they held the secrets to the universe. He would have probably continued staring at them some more if it wasn''t for the sound of Melting Snow, letting out a small gasp, bringing his attention back to the present. Curious as to what could have caused such a reaction, Xinya took a quick glance at the boy, only to find him gawking straight ahead at something in admiration. "Gosh, that guy looks like he stepped out one of those ancient kung-fu movies," Melting Snow whispered gleefully while nudging Xinya''s side. "Doesn''t he?" The boy couldn''t believe how similar the man looked to the actors in the movies his father used to show him. He would bet that if his dad was here, he would get a flip out of it. Sneakily taking a picture, Melting Snow saved it to his interface. Hopefully, if his dad ever wakes up, he will be able to show it to him. ~ Wondering who Melting Snow was talking about, Xinya turned his gaze towards the direction the boy was looking. That''s when he noticed a young-looking man that appeared to be in his late twenties walking towards them inquiringly in a lovely white Qipao with blue accents. "Hello," the man said once he was near enough to them. "Welcome to T¨²sh¨± gu¨£n library; my name is Pan Yingjie. May I be of some assistance?" "Fitting name." Xinya heard Melting Snow murmur from beside him, and he couldn''t help but agree with the boy; the man did look like a gallant hero that he was named for. "Yes, I''m researching information on how to repair destroyed soil. Do you have any books pertaining to that?" Xinya politely asked. "I''m sure that I do, but let me double-check to make sure," Pan Yingjie said as he walked over to some tall mahogany cabinets next to a desk that Xinya just noticed was there. Xinya watched as the NPC searched vigorously through some small yellow-stained cards for a while before pulling one out and walking back towards them. "Please follow me," Pan Yingjie began, leading them down a long corridor. "What you are looking for can be found in the west wing of this library." ~ In the span of 20 minutes from when they first arrived, the librarian had escorted them to the west wing, located the books Xinya needed and one for Melting Snow, before settling them down at a hardwood table situated near the back against a window. "Is there anything else you need before I go?" questioned the NPC as he watched the two boys sit down. With a slight shake of his head, Xinya replied, "This is all we need; thank you so much for your help." "Yes, thank you, Mr. librarian," Melting Snow breezily said, excited by the book of exotic animals that the librarian had found for him. Giving them a small nod, Pan Yingjie walked away from the table and went back to the main hall leaving the two boys alone in the west wing. ~ Before opening up the thick tome, conveniently titled ''Repairing Damaged Soil,'' Xinya looked at Melting Snow and asked, "It might take me a while to read this, are you sure you won''t get bored?" "I won''t get bored," Melting Snow told him while lifting up the book in his hand. "I have this to read, so take your time." Still a little worried, Xinya watched Melting Snow for a bit, and only when he saw that the boy was genuinely engrossed in his book did he turn his attention to his own and seriously began to read. ~ After reading through tons of irrelevant information, Xinya finally found what he was looking for within the book. Swiftly, he opened up his interface so he could take notes and began to read: What can you do to help pasture recovery? If you had a massive fire to your land, your aim would be to try to return the pasture back to its original density and productivity. However, your options coincide with the intensity of the burn to the land: For a cool¨Cmoderate burn, the pasture should recover to its original density during the following year, given adequate moisture and the absence of soil nutrient deficiencies. For a hot burn, manage the recovering pasture to maximize flowering and seed set for subsequent years. For a scorching burn, almost all plant material will be dead, so the area should be cropped or resown to pasture following the fire. After reading the passage, Xinya concluded that he would need to dig up the soil''s burnt layer and replace it since his farm has a scorching burn. He would also need to uproot the unburnt trees and store them away until he clears out the burnt ones. While he speculated about how much that would cost him, Xinya continued reading through the several options to use to improve the recovery of the farmland once the soil had been cleared. ~ Forty minutes had passed since Melting Snow had started reading this book on exotic animals, and as Drifting Cloud had said, he became extremely bored with it. Melting Snow really thought that he wouldn''t have since he loves animals so much. But reading about and playing with animals is two different things as he found out. ''I should just go look for something else to read,'' he thought while getting up from his seat. He was going to inform Drifting Cloud that he was leaving but seeing how the man was so immersed with his reading, Melting Snow just silently excused himself from the table where the two of them were sitting. Walking past the aisles of books, Melting Snow couldn''t remember which one was the section for animals, so he decided to go down one randomly. ''Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...'' He thought playfully while pointing to the third aisle on the right. ''I guess I''m going down that one.'' As he walked down the random aisle, Melting Snow could only hope that he would find something interesting to read. ~ 15 minutes later He didn''t know how long he had been looking, but as Melting Snow trailed his fingers along the books'' spines, so far, there had been no titles that could interest him. Especially the one he was looking at that very second. ''Who would want to read ''Waiting for Wheat to Grow: Upgrade Your Experience'' I might want to help Drifting Cloud farm, but there is no way I am reading that.'' Just as he was about to give up in defeat and just finish reading the animal book that he left behind, there was a glint of light from above that caught his attention. Peering up at the bookcase, he searches around until he sees it, a thick orange tome emitting a reddish glow from the very top shelf. ''Now isn''t that curious. Why is that book glowing?'' Chapter 249: 1.5-30 Never once in his whole entire life did Melting Snow ever disdain his short stature, but as he peered up at the glowing orange book that was perched on the topmost shelf of the towering bookcase, he was beginning to. Melting Snow could only bemoan the situation he was in because there was a literal gleaming book that held all sorts of hidden secrets just a few feet away. It was figuratively calling out to him to look inside of it, and he couldn''t even reach it; how sad was that. The smart move would be to retrace his steps and locate Drifting Cloud. He knew that he would be able to count on the green-haired man to think of a way to get the book down. But Melting Snow felt reluctant to do so. He had a strange feeling inside him that told him he would never be able to find the book again if he were to leave now. If he only trusted one thing, it would always be his instincts; they were right about that conniving Rose Lily and the corpse hands in the Mormantul Lordului Nebun dungeon. So he knew that his best bet was to figure out how to get the book himself. Furrowing his brow, Melting Snow stared at the bookcase thoughtfully. There had to be some way for him to be able to get up there, but how? That''s when it hit him, like a ton of bricks, and as the smile spread across his face, he finally understood that the best method was always the simplest. And in this case, it was climbing. ''Why didn''t I think of it before,'' Melting Snow pondered as his fingers made contact with the coarse brown wood of the bookshelf. ''It looks like it will be sturdy enough to hold me.'' Cautiously as if to test the structure, Melting Snow began to climb slowly up the bookshelf, making sure that it could hold his weight. When he was convinced that it could, only then did he start to pick up his speed. Humming happily to himself as he scaled the bookcase, Melting Snow was inwardly gloating to himself about his cleverness when halfway up, he realized that he could have always just called Drifting Cloud to him using the party function. ''All well, it is too late now.'' he concluded as he continued to climb up the wooden bookshelf. At the pace he was going, it didn''t take long before the orange tome was within his grasp. He just needed to climb only one more step, and it would be all his. As soon as he snagged the book off the shelf, a blindingly bright grin flashed across Melting Snow''s face, because as soon as his fingers brushed the book''s cover, a familiar notification sounded in his ear. [Quest Triggered!] "Yippie!" Melting Snow exclaimed, waving the book around excitedly, imagining the adventure that awaited him once he read it. ''I guess just being in the same proximity as Drifting Cloud will cause entertaining things to happen.'' Amused at that notion, Melting Snow clutched the book tightly to his chest, while gripping the shelf with his other hand. He was glad that this bookcase was as sturdy as he thought it would be, or he would have some trouble getting down. However, even before that thought could altogether leave his mind, the shelf he was stepping on let out a loud creak before collapsing from his weight. ''I guess I spoke too soon.'' As Melting Snow dangled by one arm 20 feet in the air, he flailed his legs, trying to reach the shelf below to steady himself. It never occurred to him in his panicked state that he could have just jumped down. Before his feet could even reach the hardwood of the shelf to stabilize himself, the bookshelf began to wobble violently before, to his horror toppling over. Surprised at the sudden shift of movement, Melting Snow''s grip loosened, and the last thing he thought as the books rained down on him knocking him out was, ''I should have just called, Drifting Cloud.'' Boom! ~ Out of nowhere, Xinya was disturbed out of his readings by a loud deafening boom that echoed throughout the entire west wing of the library. Puzzled by what could have caused such a sound, he looked around for the source. It was only then that he realized that Melting Snow was nowhere to be seen. Knowing straight away that the boy had to be the cause of the commotion, Xinya leaped out of his seat and pulled up his map so he could use the party function to locate the boy in the library. After finding the furry-eared boy''s position, Xinya made sure to take a quick glance at the boy''s health status to check if he was alright, only to be shocked that Melting Snow''s health bar was yellow, meaning that he was in a stunned state. ''What could have happened!'' Xinya thought as he followed the map, sprinting to where the boy was. ''I never heard of there ever being any monsters in the library.'' While he ran through the forest of bookcases, he noticed that Pan Yingjie had somehow appeared out of nowhere next to him and was now running alongside him. Xinya found this a bit odd because even though the sound was loud, there was no way the man could have heard it from the central part of the library. However, he put that thought in the back of his head, for now, he was too worried about Melting Snow at the moment to be bothered by anything else. Since they were running, It only took a couple of minutes before the two of them were skidding to a stop where the disaster took place. ~ Without even realizing it, Xinya let out a sharp, shocked intake of breath at the sight before him. He didn''t think it was possible, but the scene was somehow fascinating in its horrificness. One of the large bookcases had toppled over, but luckily it had been stopped from crashing to the ground by the bookshelf across from it. However, from what Xinya could see, this didn''t stop the books falling out of the shelves, and from what he could tell, burying Melting Snow underneath them. After giving a swift glance to the librarian, who seemed as if he would start steaming out of his ears at any moment, Xinya checked Melting Snow''s health status once more. Once he knew that the boy was alright, he let out a sigh of relief, before going over and digging him out. ''What did you get yourself into, puppy.'' Chapter 250: 1.5-31 "Uuuggghhh," groaned Melting Snow, while rubbing his hand against his forehead in confusion. ''Why the heck does my head hurt so much?'' Even though the boy was dazed and not entirely aware of his surroundings, he could still sense a menacing presence nearby. Feeling that his life might be in danger, he quickly moved to get up only to be stopped by a pair of familiar hands. "Slowly, Melting Snow. You still have a couple of seconds left before your stunned state completely disappears," Xinya whispers soothingly in the boy''s ear before wrapping an arm around his waist to help him to sit upright. It took a couple of seconds of leaning against Drifting Cloud for the dizziness that came with being stunned to fade. Opening his grey eyes for the first time since he was knocked out, Melting Snow took in the destruction around him. ''What a mess I made.'' "Can someone tell me," Pan Yinjie, the librarian began through gritted teeth, looking like he was visibly trying to calm himself down. "Why shouldn''t I just kick you both out of my library right this instant?!" Melting Snow now understood where the ominous presence he felt earlier when he first came too, had come from. Looking away from the dark looks the NPC was throwing him, Melting Snow slowly peered down at the glowing orange book clenched tightly in his right arm. With how angry the man was at him, he started to worry that all that trouble he went through to get it was all for nothing. Noticing that the wolf-eared boy''s attention was wavering, Pan Yingjie started to tap his foot impatiently. "Speak now before I decide that I care naught for your excuses!" "Mr. Pan...," Pulling Melting Snow up along with him as he stood, Xinya tried to swiftly come up with some justification for this mess. Even though he had nothing to do with what happened here, Xinya felt that it was his duty to shoulder the blame since he was the older one. However, before he could continue trying to think of how to bullshit his way out of this problem, he was stopped by Melting Snow. The boy hastily inserted his body in front of Xinya before giving the NPC a 90-degree bow. Melting Snow couldn''t allow Drifting Cloud to get in trouble because of something he did. This was his fault, and if anybody was going to be blamed, it would be him and only him. "Sir, It was all my fault; please don''t blame Drifting Cloud, he had nothing to do with what happened here." Melting Snow said contritely. With his gaze still locked on the ground, Melting Snow didn''t notice that for a split second, a pleased look appeared on the librarian''s face before disappearing just as fast as it came. Even though the boy didn''t notice, that didn''t mean that Xinya didn''t. "I''ll give you one chance to tell me what happened; if I don''t like your answer, I will ban you both," threatened Pan Yingjie. Xinya, who had been watching the NPC for a while now, felt that there was something up with the man. Because there was no way any librarian worth their grain of salt wouldn''t have already kicked them out after their book had been violated like this. He had a feeling that this had to be a set up for some kind of quest, and it most likely had something to do with this NPC. Before Xinya could warn Melting Snow to be careful about his response, the boy began to speak. ~ Even though he might not be the brightest bulb on the shelf, Melting Snow understood that it would be stupid of him to tell the NPC that he destroyed the library because he was curious about a glowing book. "What happened was," Melting Snow began to rack his brain to think of an excellent plausible excuse that the man would buy. "After reading the animal book you gave me for a while, I started to get bored..." "So, you wrecked my library because you were bored?" Questioned the librarian, cutting Melting Snow off mid-sentence. Quickly shaking his head, Melting Snow replied, "No! No, it wasn''t like that." "Then what was it like?" Pan Yingjie asked. Suddenly Melting Snow could hear Drifting Cloud speaking to him through the party''s voice chat: DC: Be careful about what you say, Melting Snow, something more is going on here. I have a feeling you triggered some quest. Slightly so that NPC wouldn''t notice but the green-haired man would, Melting Snow nodded his head to say that he understood. "I love animals, but the book you gave me to read was about exotic ones I would never see. Knowing that the book wouldn''t be useful to me, I went searching for a new one. But being unfamiliar with the library, I got lost and stumbled across this aisle." Narrowing his eyes, Pan Yingjie just looked at the boy and said, "That still doesn''t tell me what happened here." "Well, while I was walking down this aisle, I noticed this book on the top shelf," Melting Snow held out the book he was grasping and showed it to the man. "I felt drawn to it and wanted to read it, but I couldn''t reach it and decided to try an alternative method of getting it." "Was that method knocking the bookcase over?" Pan Yingjie sarcastically asked. Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, the boy looked anywhere but at the librarian. "No, sir, nothing that drastic. I just scaled the shelf... I''m really sorry! I should have known better not to do it; I promise to clean everything up and make it look like it did before. Please don''t kick us out." Pan Yingjie knew that not just anyone would be able to find that particular book that the boy was holding. Only people with certain qualities were worthy of finding it. And as he gazed into the boy''s glistening puppy dog eyes, Pan Yingjie had a feeling that he had those qualities. Especially after witnessing how he stood up for his friend, but the boy still had to be tested. He might have loyalty, but does he have the dedication to go through on what he promises. ~~~~~~ AN: Sorry that I didn''t update Friday. I was having a bad week I was about to rage quit at one point. If you follow me on twitter you know. I''m looking for another editor: If you like Litrpgs /Rebirth novel please DM me on Twitter. Also, if you like food porn and system check out my new novel Sweet Chef: Fan Jiali and tell me what you think. Chapter 251: 1.5-32 Pan Yingjie knew that not just anyone would be able to find that particular book that the boy was holding. Only people with certain qualities were worthy of finding it. And as he gazed into the boy''s glistening puppy dog eyes, Pan Yingjie had a feeling that he had those qualities. Especially after witnessing how he stood up for his friend, but the boy still had to be tested. He might have loyalty, but does he have the dedication to go through on what he promises. "Fine, I will give you one hour and not a second more to clean up this mess and put everything back precisely where it was. If this place isn''t clean by the time I come back, then no matter how you plead, you and your friend will be banned from this library." Pan Yinjie announced as he snatched the book, the boy was still clutching out of his hands. After giving the boy, another long, hard stare Pan Yingjie stalks away with the book tightly gripped in his hand. ~ As soon as the man left, Melting Snow let out a long drawn out sigh before turning towards Xinya. "I''m so sorry that you are in this mess, Drifting Cloud. I should have just stayed seated, but instead got us both in trouble." "It''s okay, Melting Snow. With how many dangerous situations I get us in, I can''t hold this against you. But I do want to know what was so important about that tattered brown book that you had to go to so much trouble to get it?" Xinya questioned. "Brown tattered book... What are you talking about, Drifting Cloud? Did you not see the book I was holding?" Xinya was utterly bewildered about what Melting Snow was going on about. "I did see it. It was a raggedly, old brown book." "What the heck?! What old brown book?" Melting Snow was astounded that the man wasn''t able to see the book the way he did. "The book was not old or brown, it was orange, looked like it was just printed and was freaking glowing! You really did not see that?" "I''m sorry, but that wasn''t what I saw when I looked at it. Maybe it''s a special object that only the player who finds it first can see...," Suddenly Xinya was struck by a memory. "Melting Snow, did you trigger a quest when you touched it?" "Yeah, I did. Do you know anything about this?" Luckily he still had his interface up; that way, he would be able to quickly pull up the games'' forums. He needed to find a particular post by a player that was once in this similar situation. Xinya knew that in the future, a year or two after the update, that another strange object like the one Melting Snow discovered would be found, and the player would document the quests she received. For a time, the player became a viral star; but her fame only blossomed further after she completed the entire questline. The reason why she became so popular and sought after by sponsors and guilds was that the object she found was the key to getting a hidden class. But as they say: ''the higher one rises, the faster they will fall,'' which happened to that player. Power begets jealousy, and she had a lot of power. However, she was dense and told everyone about it, which sadly led to her downfall. Although she was the most well-known player that found an object that would unseal a hidden class, she wasn''t the first. No, that honor went to a player in the European region. Xinya really hoped that the man had already found the object and posted about it. He really doesn''t want to lie to the boy about where he learned the information from. ''Good that event happened already.''Xinya thought with relief as he clicked on a post that read: ''Mysterious Object + Weird Quests = ??'' Taking a glance at Melting Snow, who was staring at him curiously, Xinya clicked the box that was in the lower-left corner and shared his screen so the boy could see it. "I think what''s happening with the book is similar to what happened to SharkBabii in the European region." With furrowed brows, Melting Snow walked closer to Xinya''s interface screen. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" "Don''t you remember SharkBabii? The guy who swore he found a glowing teacup, but all his friends only saw an old cracked one. It wasn''t until he used POV mode to take a picture and posted it to believe him." "Oh, I remember that! It happened when I was still too young to play. But I remember it causing quite a buzz and following the forum post religiously; it was a shame that the guy failed at the end." Melting Snow said, letting out a pitiful sigh until it struck him where Xinya was going with that statement. "Wait, are you saying that the object I found is like the one that guy found?" "That''s exactly what I''m saying," Xinya replied. "But I don''t know for sure." ~ Melting Snow couldn''t believe that he found a similar object like SharkBabii''s in a library. He still could remember two years ago following the story and boasting to his brother how he would have been able to complete the quest if it was him. And now he has a chance to do precisely that; it was just too unreal. But putting his money where his mouth will be hard, since from what he could recall, once the quest started, he would have to do everything alone and wouldn''t be allowed physical help from anyone. "Melting Snow, after the book was taken away, did a quest pertaining to the librarian pop up? "Actually, one did... but I didn''t check it." Noticing the look Drifting Cloud was giving him, Melting Snow hurried and pulled up his interface, sharing his quest with the man. [Quest: Library Clean up You have angered Pan Yingjie, and he has given you approximately 1 hour to fix the bookcase and organize the books. Each book must be put in its proper place. No one can offer you help! Books: 0/200 [Reward: 0 EXP/ 0 Gold/ Read: The tome of Chang Jiayi The greatest Shaolin monk to ever grace the world. [Time left: 55 minutes 29 seconds] "Oh crap, I need to get a move one it!" exclaimed Melting Snow as he rushed over to the fallen bookshelf. Chapter 252: 1.5-33 With an amused shake of his head, Xinya watched as the furry-eared boy rushed over to the fallen bookcase and started to lift it up. Xinya knew that he should be mad that he might be banned from the library, but he just couldn''t be angry. Melting Snow was just following the rubric that he had learned from him. Which was to randomly stumble onto an epic quest that had significant consequences. He hated to admit it, but either he taught the child too well, or some of his luck had rubbed off on the boy. ''I bet it was my luck.'' Xinya didn''t mean his game luck when he thought this; he meant his actual luck. Before his rebirth, Xinya would have said that his luck was zero to nonexistence, but now he thinks differently. Although some might say that all the good things that happened to him in-game happened because of his ''lucky stat,'' but he would have to ask them how much did that stat actually help him. Hearing the sound of something scraping against the wooden floor, Xinya turned his attention back to Melting Snow, only to him sliding the giant bookcase back in place. It seemed like the boy was having trouble matching the shelf up with the outline of it on the floor. Seeing the boy struggle for a bit, he wanted to go over there and help him, but he knew he couldn''t. This type of quest that Melting Snow triggered could only be done alone with no bodily assistant from anyone else. Xinya knew that if anyone were to intervene in any way, the quest would become null and void. He didn''t want that to happen, plus he couldn''t help anyway since he still needed to finish taking notes on how to deal with the extreme damage that his farmland had. Although he believes that Melting Snow will be able to complete the NPC task, there is still a slim chance that he might not be able to. He despises thinking that way, but he had to for his sake and his future profits. This was the only library in town, and he didn''t have time to go find another one right now. The next closest library would take at least 2-3 days to reach from the information he obtained from his map. So just as a precaution and a little peace of mind, Xinya thought it would be best to get all the information he needed before the hour was up. Looking towards the boy who had just finished straightening the bookcase back in it''s designated spot, Xinya said, "Melting Snow, since I''m not able to help, I''m going to go back and continue reading. If you need me for anything, just send a message through the party chat. Alright?" ~ "I will, and I want to say that I''m sorry about all of this," Melting Snow replied with regret. Melting Snow couldn''t stop himself from feeling genuinely horrible about all of this. He knew that it was all his fault, that it was because of the mess he created, that there was a chance that the NPC would kick them out and never let them come back. Even though in the back of his mind, he knew that trying to find where this quest led him to would be amazing, but he also knew that Drifting Cloud needed to get information about his farm, while also not forgetting that they still had that mystery quest that needed solving. If he screws this up, a nearby information source will be gone. "It''s fine, puppy," Xinya gently smiled; he knew that the boy was probably beating himself up about what happened, and didn''t want him to do so. "Sometimes, a quest just has to come first before anything else. But please do your best to complete the task." "I will try my hardest to do so," Melting Snow said as he watched the green-haired man begin to walk back in the direction he came from. As soon as the man was out of sight, Melting Snow clenched his fists tightly while staring at the bookcase, promising himself that he would not let his friend down. He will give this quest his all and complete it to his best ability. After double-checking that the bookshelf was in the exact place that it was in before, only then did Melting Snow turn his attention to the tons of books scattered about on the floor. Quick as he could, Melting Snow stacked up all the books up in groups of tens, that way, it would be easier for him to maneuver. Only when all 200 books were stacked neatly off to the side did he check the time he had remaining for the cleanup quest. [Time left: 40 minutes 16 seconds] ''40 minutes that will be plenty of time to reshelve the bookcase...'' Melting Snow trailed off in mid-thought as he looked up at the gigantic bookshelf. ''Well, it would be plenty of time for the first 6 shelves, the rest I got to think of away since climbing would be a no go.'' Not wanting to waste his valuable time thinking, when he could be putting books away, Melting Snow decided to shelve the books until he couldn''t do it without standing on his tippy toes. Knowing that he didn''t know when he would come up with an idea on how he would shelf the higher shelves, Melting Snow activated his Sonic Speed skill. That way, he would be able to get done faster and think about what he should do. Barely five minutes had passed before Melting Snow had completely reshelved the books on the lower part of the bookcase. While doing so, he started to remember a battle he took part in before. It was when he was hanging out with his brother''s group for a couple of weeks. They were running a dungeon, and they needed to find the right key to unlock the door, but there were hundreds of keys hanging around the room they were in at different heights. Melting Snow doesn''t know what made him think back to that dungeon, but because he did, an idea came to him on how he should tackle the higher shelves. But before he decided to put his plan into action, he wanted to see how many books he had already put away. Opening up his quest log once again, he looked at the book count, only to be utterly surprised by what it said. Books: 2/200 "What the heck is going on?" Melting Snow questioned, staring at the number in bewilderment. ~~~~ AN: Sorry that I didn''t update. If you follow me on twitter you already know the reason. If not, well, it was personal reasons. Chapter 253: 1.5-34 As Melting Snow stared at the number displayed for the total of books he collected thus far in complete and utter confusion, he couldn''t help but think the game might be bugged. That would be the only explanation why, after filling up six shelves, the quest counter would say that he only put back two. ''There''s no way this quest is bugged; if it was then, it wouldn''t have counted any of the books.'' Rubbing his chin, Melting Snow thoughtfully looked at the shelves. ''Maybe I should read the quest once again. I could have missed something.'' Glancing away from the bookcase, the furry-eared boy turned his focus back on the transparent blue screen that was in front of him. Using his finger, Melting Snow scrolled upward so that he could reread the quest from the beginning. [You have angered Pan Yingjie, and he has given you approximately 1 hour to fix the bookcase and organize the books. Each book must be put in its ''PROPER'' place. No one can offer you help!] After rereading the quest description once again, Melting Snow realized his mistake. He thought that the NPC just wanted the books to be put back neatly, but he should have known that it couldn''t be as simple as that. His understanding from that second reading was that the Pan Yingjie wanted him to the books back in the exact order they were in before they fell. With how rare this quest is, that would make more sense than what he was doing. But even if the difficulty of this quest made sense, Melting Snow still didn''t know how he would be able to complete it. ''Omg, I can''t believe this! How will I know where they go? I''m not a librarian.'' Sighing softly to himself, Melting Snow picked up one of the books nearest to him and began thoroughly searching it. Tapping into the knowledge he gained from doing multiple quests, he knew that NPCs wouldn''t just tell a player to do some sort of outlandish thing above their skill level without leaving a hint. However, the only thing he could find was five lines of letters and numbers written very tiny on the book''s back cover. And after checking a few of the others, Melting Snow saw that they had the numbers there as well. This didn''t help him, though; it only confused him more. Melting Snow was a 23rd-century boy, after all. He has no idea what the numbers on the back of the book meant since all books can now be read digitally. Melting Snow began racking his brain, trying to come up with an idea on how to put the books back in their precise place. While he was thinking, he so happened to catch a glimpse of the quest timer. [Time left: 36 minutes 48 seconds] ''Oh crap, what to do? My time is going to run out before I think of anything.'' Melting Snow inwardly screamed as he tugged on his ears in worry. The grey-eyed boy was starting to panic; he didn''t know what he should do at all. Melting Snow knew that if he failed this quest, it would be over; he and Drifting Cloud would be kicked out of this place. ''Drifting Cloud, that''s right! I can ask him for help.'' Melting Snow could slap himself for being so stupid. Although he couldn''t get any physical help on the quest doesn''t mean he couldn''t get mental. Quick as he could, Melting Snow opened the party chat function and connected the voice chat. ''Come on, Drifting Cloud, hurry, and pickup.'' ~ As soon as Xinya got back to his table, he put himself to work, copying all the useful material from the books the librarian had gathered for him. Even though he had great hope that Melting Snow could complete his task, there was still a sliver of doubt. So using his time wisely, Xinya deviated his time from taking pictures of certain important pages to taking shorthand on things that might not be so important. While he was reading about why an established lucerne will survive, even a scorching burn because of the massive underground root reserves and growing points, he got a voice call through party chat. Knowing that it could only be Melting Snow, Xinya hurriedly picked up the call and answered. "Hello?" ~ "Drifting Cloud, I need your help!! When that librarian NPC said to put the books back, he didn''t mean just to put them back neatly in place; he wanted them in exact order!" exclaimed Melting Snow in a panic tone. "Calm down, we will figure this out," Xinya replied soothingly. He had a feeling that the NPC would pull some sneaky trick, and he was right. Listening to what the green-eyed man said, Melting Snow, started to calm down. If the man was this calm, he must have some idea of how to help him. After giving the matter some thought, Xinya asks, "Do the books have call numbers on them?" "Call numbers? What is that?" asked Melting Snow, totally bewildered. Xinya should have expected this. No one, especially a young boy of Melting Snow''s age, would know an obscure library system from hundreds of years ago. "A call number is an address on books that help people locate materials in the library." Xinya sighed, "But since you had to ask, there''s no point in going that route." "Then what should I do?" Xinya wondered that too. Since he needs the boy to complete his quest, he needs to think hard. Suddenly an idea hit him, it was a stupid one, but he knew it could work. "Melting Snow, I got an idea, but first, I need you to remove all the books, if any, you already put on the shelf. Then, using your fastest speed, I want you to try all the books one at a time in a spot until the quest says the book counted for your quest. You are going to have to do that over and over again until the entire shelf is filled. Is that something you can do?" asked Xinya. Melting Snow thought about his friend''s plan and had to agree it was a stupid idea, but he also knew it would work. "Yeah, I can do it. Thank you so much for the idea. I''m going to go start on it right now!" Before Xinya could even reply, Melting Snow had already hung up the call and started taking the books off the shelves. "I didn''t even get to ask about how he will be reaching the top shelves of the bookcase," Xinya said softly before going back to his books. Chapter 254: 1.5-35 Pan Yingjie felt speechless; hundreds of people come to this library on a weekly basis, and not one of them in all of his years working caused quite the calamity to the place as that child did. It wasn''t only surprising that it happened in the first place; it was mysterious, as well, because there is no way that child could have caused the bookcase to fall. Even with the boy climbing it the way he did, it shouldn''t have felled, not with his master''s talismans placed on it. Those types of talismans can last up to ten years at a time, so unless there was some kind of tampering, those enchantments shouldn''t have failed. ''Was it the power of the book that meddled with my master''s talismans?'' This was Pan Yinjie''s first thought, but he quickly discarded it. He knew that this book didn''t even have 1/10 of the power his master possessed. ''Than what could have happened?'' ''You still didn''t figure it out?'' Grabbing his head in pain as a sharp booming voice echoed throughout his mind. The librarian started to glance around wildly, "Master, is that you?" Pan Yinjie couldn''t believe it; he hasn''t heard his master''s voice in hundreds of years since the man went into seclusion after the great monster war. ''I see that you have been neglecting your training. You no longer can handle my inner voice.'' An orotund voice states with apparent disappointment. "I''m sorry, Master," Pan Yinjie says while clutching his head. "With no other disciples to practice with, my inner mind has deteriorated. ''That will soon change.'' That short sentence enlightened Pan Yingjie, and he finally understood that the fallen bookcase was his master''s doing. He should have known that was the case; how else would the book be discovered so simply. "So it was you who lured that child to the book? But why him? Even though I saw some elements within him, that would make him worthy of it, but he is still a child." ''Haven''t I taught you to never judge a book by its cover. Although that boy is just a child, he has the most enormous fighting spirit that I have ever come across for someone at that age. As soon as he walked into the library, I felt it, and it awoke me out of my seclusion.'' "He is that strong?" Pan Yingjie asked, slightly confused. The boy didn''t seem all that powerful to him, but then again, that was why he was the disciple and not the master. In a secluded temple made out of jade located behind the library walls, an old man sat stroking his long white beard. His bald head gleamed in the candlelight; standing up, he dusted off his orange and green Kasaya robe and walked over to a large bronze bowl filled with water. The old man waved a calloused hand over the bowl, and the clear liquid started to change. Similar to a television screen, the water broadcasted in real-time what was happening inside the library. Using his hands as a guide, the old man commanded the water to show him the young lad of interest. Watching the furry-eared boy quick movements as he reshelved the books on the bookcase, the old man knew he was right to test this one. ''Yes, he is that strong, and not just physically but mentally as well.'' The old man replied while continuing to watch the boy. There was something about him that made him hope he could complete the book task and become his new disciple. ''When he finishes the task you gave him, don''t forget to give him the book.'' "I won''t forget master," assured Pan Yinjie. He really hopes that the boy won''t fail this first task and let his master down. ''Also find out more about the Dryad the boy came with.'' Confused as to why his master cared about someone so irrelevant, Pan Yinjie had to ask, "Why do you want to know about him?" ''Just do what I asked!'' demanded the old man, turning his attention away from the furry-eared boy to the leafy-haired man who was reading. He didn''t quite understand why he was curious about the Dryad either; it was just something about the man that felt familiar, and he needed to know why. ~ [Time left: 28 minutes 38 seconds] Glancing at the quest timer, Melting Snow realized that it had been barely ten minutes since he had disconnected the call with Drifting Cloud and started putting the man''s plan into action. With excellent results, he would say if he was one to boast. Just in those few minutes, he had already filled six out of the twenty shelves that the bookcase had. The seventh shelf should be just as easy to fill, but after that is when the problem of reach will start. Luckily, he thought of a solution for this; although he can''t climb, he could still jump. Times like this, he was grateful that he chose the beastman class, a wolf type at that. When he was with his brother''s team for those few weeks, he learned something useful while running a dungeon with them, and that was he could jump really high. And he didn''t mean when he runs and jumps, no he was talking about a standing jump. Melting Snow learned that he could propel himself upwards to extraordinary heights if he tried, which made him curious. So he did some research and discovered that male wolves can run up to 56 kilometers (35 miles) per hour and jump up to 3.6 meters (12 feet) in real life. He was astounded when he found out about those statics and couldn''t wait to test it out. However, the opportune moment to do so never came up, and he never had the chance to give his jumping height a thorough overlook. But as he stared up at the higher shelves of the gigantic bookshelf, a smile appeared on his face because he knew he got the chance to do so now. In blur like speed, Melting Snow quickly filled out the seventh bookshelf before he turned his attention to the eighth. Taking a deep breath, the boy bent his knees and jumped. Whoosh Melting Snow''s body flew upwards higher than he intended, completely passing the eighth self and landing at the sixteenth one. "I didn''t even put that much effort into that jump," Melting Snow muttered once he was on the floor again. "This might be harder than I imagined." After wasting four minutes to practice his jumping, Melting Snow finally got the hang of how much force he had to put into his jumps to get him where he needed to reach. Now he was definitely ready to finish this quest. [Time left: 24 minutes 12 seconds] With determination in his eyes and two books gripped tightly in his hands, Melting Snow once again jumped. Reaching the targeted shelf, using his lightning speed, he swiftly places the book smoothly on the shelf before checking the book count. Seeing how it didn''t move, he took it out and tried the book in his second hand before falling down back to the ground where the stacks of books were and started testing each of them one by one until the number changed. He continued to do so until that shelf was utterly filled before moving on to the next one. Chapter 255: 1.5-36 After the talk with his master, Pan Yinjie didn''t know what to do. It seemed that his master was putting a lot of importance on that child without even considering that he might not even make it past the first task. Reorganizing the library books back on the shelf may appear to be an easy task, but it was not in reality. If the person putting them back wasn''t aware of the correct methods to sort the books, then putting them back would be a very tiresome job indeed. Moreover, Pan Yinjie felt that the young wolf boy would not have any idea of the correct method. If that was so, then his master would be incredibly let down. Worriedly he glanced at the clock on the wall with immense trepidation to see that there were only 10 minutes left before the boys hour was up. Massaging his forehead with his hand Pan Yinjie started picturing all sorts of terrible outcomes. Such as, when the hour was up, he would go and find that the boy was still standing in a pile of books with a look of bewilderment written across his face. ''What to do?'' sighed Pan Yingjie helplessly to himself. He really didn''t want his master to be let down, but his gut told him that it might happen. He knew that he should trust in his master''s judgment, but he started to feel antsy as he watched the seconds tick by on the clock. After seeing that another minute had passed, Pan Yingjie could no longer take it; he had to know how the boy was doing. As he walked out of the central part of the library and headed towards the west wing where he left the boy, Pan Yingjie hoped he was wrong in his assumption, and the boy would surprise him. ''Please don''t let my master be wrong about you.'' ~ Gracefully landing back down on the hardwood floor, Melting Snow turned around to see that he only had only one stack of five books to go, and he would be finished. His eyes sparkled with happiness, knowing that he would be able to finish on time. ''Or would I?'' As that fleeting thought crossed his mind, he immediately checked the time. [Time left: 8 minutes 18 seconds] Melting Snow let out a massive sigh of relief once he saw that there was still plenty of time left. Grabbing the next two books from the pile, he once again used his incredible agility to jump up to the 20th shelf on the bookcase. Faster than the eye could see, he places the books in different spots until the number that the quest showed changed. This was the new method he thought of after realizing that the system that Drifting Cloud came up with was taking way too long. The idea wasn''t entirely new; it only deviated a little from the concept the green-haired man gave him. The only difference was that instead of placing the books one at a time, he discovered that it was better to quickly try them at different spots on the shelf until he saw the number on the quest log change. He had been doing it that way for the last couple of shelves with gratifying results. Once those two books were correctly placed, he did the same with the next two books until there was only one left. A big smile came over his features as he picked up the last book; as soon as he placed it on the shelf, he would be finished, and he would still have some time to spare. He couldn''t wait to see the librarian''s face when he showed up at his desk minutes before the hour was up. Jumping up once again for the final time, Melting Snow placed the book in the last empty spot with great satisfaction. ''I did it!'' After landing nimbly back on the ground, the furry-eared boy stood back and took in the view of a job well done. If it hadn''t looked so strange, he would have patted himself on the back; oh well, he could always do it mentally. Beaming ear to ear in delight, Melting Snow closed out of his quest screen and tapped the party icon. Before he went to find the librarian, he wanted to tell Drifting Cloud that he had completed the task he was given. He couldn''t wait to see the look on the man''s face when he told him that they wouldn''t be kicked out of the library. Melting Snow felt so happy that he wouldn''t have let the man down. Just as he was about to press the button that would connect them through party chat, he was interrupted by the unexpected voice of the librarian NPC. "You have finished already?" The librarian asked in what appeared to be amazement. ~ Pan Yinjie finally understood how stupid he was to ever even think about doubting his master. There was a proverb he learned from a foreign traveler years ago that fits this situation flawlessly, it went ''Seeing is believing.'' This meant that a person needs to see something before they can accept that it really exists or transpires. As Pan Yingjie looked at the bookcase that was upright and was filled with neatly shelved books that, from what he could see, appeared to be in the right order, he can surely say that he can fully see the boy''s potential. He had passed the first test, and he will get the book just like his master had said. ~ Melting Snow jumped, startled by the sudden sound of the man''s voice. Turning his head towards the noise, he was shocked to see that the librarian was standing right next to him. ''How is that possible with my advanced senses he shouldn''t have been able to sneak up on me!'' Melting Snow gazed at the man with absolute curiosity, with a dash of confusion. ''What kind of stealth technology did this man possess.'' As Melting Snow studied the man, he saw that the librarian wasn''t even looking at him but at the bookcase that was in front of him with deep concentration. After pretending to clear his throat to get the NPC''s attention, Melting Snow said, "So is everything correct?" "Yes, from what I can see, all the books on the shelves are in the right order," Pan Yingjie replied, still a little shocked that the boy had done it ahead of time. "Does that mean you won''t kick us out?!" Turning his head away from the gigantic shelf, the NPC nodded and gave the boy a genuine smile. "You have completed the task I gave to you, so no, I won''t be banning you or your friend." As soon as the NPC said those words, a familiar ding sounded in Melting Snow''s ears. [Quest complete!] [Reward: 0 EXP/ 0 Gold/ Read: The tome of Chang Jiayi The greatest Shaolin monk to ever grace the world.] Chapter 256: 1.5-37 "I must go now," Pan Yingjie stated, sensing that someone had come in the main entrance of the library from the talisman connected to the door. Sadly his work had officially put a halt to the long conversation he was having with the boy. "Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any problems." Melting Snow nodded rapidly at the man''s words, clutching the thick orange tome tightly in his arms. "Don''t worry, I will. Thank you so much for allowing me to read the book, I promise to be careful with it." After giving him the book, the librarian told Melting Snow some information about it. Like how unique it was and how there was only one like it in the entire world. The NPC made him promise to be cautious when holding it and hinted that he needed to carefully read the words. Although the NPC didn''t tell him anything that he didn''t already know, Melting Snow was still thankful to him. He could tell that this NPC would be crucial to whatever quest he would get from the book. He had a gut feeling that the NPC knew about the hidden class the book held, so chumming up to him was a must. "No thanks needed, you earned it." Pan Yingjie gave him a gentle smile at him before sauntering away. Once he saw the librarian disappear behind one of the bookshelves, Melting Snow looked down at the book he was holding in his hands and let loose the excited squeal he was keeping inside for a while now. He couldn''t wait to show the book to Drifting Cloud and give him the excellent news. Smiling gaily to himself, he started to make his way through the maze of bookcases with the thick orange tome clutched to his chest. As the furry-eared boy walked back to where his friend was located, he began to think about something else the NPC had talked to him about. At the time, he didn''t pay it any mind, but he does have to wonder why the NPC asked about Drifting Cloud. ''But with the question he asked, he was probably just wondering if he was my guardian,'' thought Melting Snow, convincing himself that was it. ~ Five Minutes Later Hearing the telltale signs of feet running towards him, Xinya looked away from the book he was reading and towards the sound. Only to see that it was Melting Snow grinning widely with that tattered brown book tucked in his arms. "Drifting Cloud, guess what!" exclaimed Melting Snow once he was near. From the happiness displayed on the boy''s face, Xinya could already tell that he had completed the quest, but decided to play along. Xinya cocked his head to the side and widened his eyes, trying to obtain the appearance of someone who was clueless. "What?" "I finished the task the librarian gave me! I got the book, and we won''t be banned!" "That wonderful, Melting Snow," Xinya gushed, giving the boy a swift pat on the head. "I knew you could do it!" Smiling, Xinya watched the boy puff out his chest at the praise; he was delighted that everything had worked out in their favor, and they wouldn''t be banned from the library. This was there an only good source of information for miles, and he would have been upset if he couldn''t have used it. "By the way, where is the librarian?" questioned Xinya, a little confused as to why the NPC didn''t come back with the boy. Shrugging, Melting Snow put the book down on the table and sat down. "I don''t know he said he had to go do something." "Oh, did you at least talk to him before he left?" Xinya wondered if the NPC had some information about the book. "Yes, we talked for a while," Melting Snow began to recount everything the librarian informed him about the book gleefully. "He even added me as a friend!" Xinya felt that it was strange that the NPC added the boy as a friend just like that; usually, when an NPC adds a player as a friend, it''s either something to do with a quest or their goodwill towards the player is really high. So he found it odd that the librarian would do that with how mad he was when Melting Snow toppled the bookcase. However, after thinking about it for a bit, Xinya speculates that the hidden class quest might have something to do with the NPC. And if that was so, adding the boy as a friend would be an excellent way to keep track of him without looking too suspicious. ''Maybe the librarian is this class instructor for the Monk hidden class.'' Xinya thinks that it could be a possibility; after all, his class instructor is a certified toymaker. "That''s good, make sure you keep in close contact with him," Xinya said knowingly. "From what SharkBabii wrote, the hidden class quests are challenging. The librarian might be connected to all of this, and could give out hints." "I know, don''t worry; I will keep my goodwill with the NPC high." Smiling slightly, Xinya asked, "So, are you going to start reading the book now?" "Yeah, if you don''t mind waiting for me." Melting Snow hesitantly replied, worried that Xinya might already be finished with his reading and wouldn''t want to wait for him. "No, it''s fine; I was rushing before; this way, I can go through my notes and check to see if I missed anything important. Also, there is something else I want to research while we are here." "What is that?" Melting Snow curiously asked. "Well, while we were on our way here, I realized that having a vehicle of some kind is essential, so I want to start the egg hatching process and learn more about the species before we go." Melting Snow nodded in understanding at the man''s words; they really did need a vehicle of some kind. Although he had super speed, he knew that he wouldn''t be able to keep using it endlessly for longer trips because he eats at his stamina. Getting Drifting Cloud''s wagon up and running was the best plan, but he knew that eggs take a long time to hatch. Altogether it could take up to 5-7 days ''real-world time'' before the egg will hatch depending on how rare it is. With the type of luck his friend had, Melting Snow had a feeling that the animal inside that egg was a rare one. Knowing that he decided that since he almost got them kicked out, he would go meet up with his cousin after they leave the library and ask to borrow one of his vehicles. He needed to visit him anyway to inform him of his brother''s silliness of wanting him to be a spy; this way, he would be killing two birds with one stone. "That sounds good. Are you going to research winemaking while you''re here as well?" Shaking his head, Xinya said, "No, there is no need to do that yet. I will worry about researching that once the farm is up and running." "That makes sense," Melting Snow agreed before pulling the golden tome closer to him and opening it up to read. Chapter 257: 1.5-38 ''Sickle, shovel, spade, axe, pickaxe, hoe...'' Xinya muttered to himself as he double-checked his list, making sure that he had written down all the items he would need to rebuild his farm. When Xinya was confident that he had recorded everything he would need in his notes, only then was he ready to move on to the next thing on his agenda. After closing the massive tome in front of him and stacking it neatly with the others, the green-eyed stole a glance at the clock on the very top left-hand corner of the interface. Xinya was a little surprised by what he saw. From the time displayed, he could tell that a little over an hour had passed since Melting Snow returned, and they had started to read their respective books. He couldn''t believe how fast the time had flown by. While he had been waiting to hear back from Melting Snow on whether or not he completed the quest the NPC had given him, it felt as though time had slowed to a crawl. ''I guess it is true, time does fly by when you''re not worried, or however that saying goes,'' Xinya mused with a shake of his head and a quirk of his lips. After moving the stack of books to the middle of the table, Xinya turned his gaze to Melting Snow. He was curious to see how he was fairing with the book he acquired. He knew that the boy was one to get bored easily, and Xinya wouldn''t expect a book detailing the history of the Shaolin arts would be entertaining. But as Xinya peered at Melting Snow, he was amazed. The boy looked to be totally engrossed in that tattered brown tome, so much so that he was almost halfway done with it. ''I guess the book must be more interesting than I thought, or he just wants the hidden class that much.'' Perceiving that it would take a while before the boy would be done with his book, Xinya decided that he might as well begin researching his egg since he had some time. And he knew that the best place to start with that is to read the information the beast tamer gave him. However, as he was about to take out the book from his inventory, he paused in reflection. ''Before I do anything, I should start the egg''s hatching process in case I forget to do it later.'' Giving some thought on whether or not he should start it, he came to the conclusion that he might as well. ''There''s no time like the present, after all.'' After scrolling through his inventory and bypassing the various things inside, Xinya finally located the small incubator he bought in Errinisworth. With care, Xinya gingerly placed the medium-sized round metal object on the table so he wouldn''t disturb Melting Snow''s reading. Once the incubator was in position, only then did he take out the shiny black egg that housed the Fianna Sidhe. Opening the incubator, Xinya gently placed the egg into the designated slot before closing it tightly. As soon as he sealed the lid shut, a warm light emerged from the incubator, followed by a ding and three system announcements. [The Hatching Process of you Fianna Sidhe has begun!] [Your Fianna Sidhe will hatch in 12 days 23 hours 59 minutes!] [The Pet tab has been activated! You will now be able to use its functions!] Just seconds after the system announcement had disappeared, an animal paw icon appeared on the interface screen, making Xinya grin. He had almost forgotten about this function. The Pet tab wasn''t anything special, but it did allow the player to have a separate place to put all the items they needed for their tamed monsters. That way, they wouldn''t have to go looking for it in their regular inventory. Besides that, it was the place where their unsummoned tamed monsters would go. While the monsters were in their unsummoned state, players would be able to take care of them, either by feeding or healing them, without having to summon them. In a situation where it would be dangerous to have your tamed animal out in the open, it was an excellent option to have. Using the ''quick find'' button in the Pet tab, Xinya moved all the items he bought from that beast tamer''s shop from his regular inventory to the pet one, before moving the incubator inside of it as well. With all the items easy to find now, he quickly located the book the lion man gave him and took it out, placing it down on the table. ~ ''Exceptional Beasts Around the World.'' Using his fingers, Xinya traced the title''s beautiful golden script as he read it under his breath. Not just the title, the entire book was lovely to look at. Which wasn''t surprising since it was bound in thick, black leather that had animal paw prints embossed on it. However, no matter how nice it was to look, it wouldn''t matter if the book wasn''t informative. Hoping that wasn''t the case, Xinya opened the book and found the table of contents. Fortunately for him, it looked as though he wouldn''t have to search hard for what he was looking for since the beasts were categorized in alphabetical order. ''Fake Ogres, Fangtongue Carver, Fenhaunt, Fennel Rainbow Crayfish,''Xinya muttered as he scrolled down the list of names in the book. ''There it is, Fianna Sidhe page 524.'' After flipping through the pages for a while, Xinya finally located the section he was searching for. The first thing he noticed as he looked down at the page was a beautifully drawn picture of a Fianna Sidhe. He was utterly astounded with how gorgeous it looked. Initially, when he saw the picture, he was a little disappointed since he thought it was just some kind of horse. But as he stared at the drawing, he knew that the Fianna Sidhe was more than that. For one thing, although it looked like a horse, it''s body was translucent like it was made from liquid, and its mane and tail weren''t made from hair like one would expect, but from either kelp or seaweed. Although it wasn''t some fantastic, mythical creature, Xinya didn''t mind since it perfectly fits his aesthetics. Smiling, he began to read the information about it. Fianna Sidhe: A Fianna Sidhe is a water sprite that dwells around areas with lakes and rivers of regions that have warm climates. These beasts are very peaceful and only become aggressive when they and their territory is threatened. They live together in small herds of 10-25 and only reproduce every 15-30 years. These beasts are able to run up to 95mph (Maximum, Sprint), grow up to 12 feet, weighing over 3000 pounds. A lot isn''t known about these animals since they are very dangerous. They might look like horses, but they have the ability to drown a person from a mile away. However, it is said that these horse-like beasts are led by a king and the king and only the king is able to adopt human form. ''Was that all?'' wondered Xinya, turning the page of the book only to see that was all the information the book provided for it. ''Urg, I guess I will need to bother the librarian for a more in-depth book about them. Putting the waste of money that was the book back in his inventory, Xinya glanced at Melting Snow to ensure he was still reading before getting up from the table to find the librarian. Chapter 258: Author Note: Open With Fast Pass! While my computer was down, I had some time to think and I realized I didn''t like where this story is going. I haven''t since the start of the banquet. At that time the novel was doing well, so I just charge ahead. But in the back of my head, I always wanted to rewrite the novel and change things. Did you know that Melting Snow''s brother was supposed to be the ML? He was new (before I changed it) and Xinya had just restarted. They were going to become friends and have way more screentime together. But you all know that I read the comments, and one comment guessed it, and I was like damn I guess I better change that than. Also Wandering Sound was going to have a special quest, I foreshadowed it when he first showed up. But you guys kept hating on Wei, but that was my fault. I tend to ramble, and even though it was only like 1-2 weeks since she has begun playing the game ever, it was like 100 chapters to you guys and it might have seemed longer to everyone. I understood, so I just wrote her out of the novel, along with Wandering Sound since they were a pair deal. Sadly that took away the mysterious city/treasure hunt storyline I had. Also, I felt like Xinya needed more money before he started his farm and wanted him to get it one month before the update that way I would be able to gloss over the rebuilding of the farm, and time skip to the update. But now I''m adding quests since I don''t think he has enough money and also adding cheats that I didn''t want to. I feel like he started on hard mode and after the banquet, it became easy mode. So I was like well I want to rewrite it, even though it''s not as popular it still my baby. But you can''t delete prem chapters. So I was like I just start anew and rewrite Haven as a whole new novel. I asked my webnovel editor if I could but she said it would break the contract. I was sad that I couldn''t and I was about to abandon this story. But then my editor told me that it won''t break the contract if I change the character''s names, and tweak the plot some. It would be a whole new novel after all. Meaning all I have to do is change the game''s plot, Xinya, Melting Snow''s backstory since they were the most important. The elements of getting rich, farming, class, and race can stay since they are tropes you can see in other game novels. Although I might change Dryad and give it another name. Just to be safe. I would like to thank everyone who read so far I really appreciate you and would have dropped this long time ago if it wasn''t for you all. But I know this story can be better and I want to make it better. Also for my non-bl readers, I would like to thank you for giving this story a chance and not leaving mean comments as the others did. To thank you I started working on another litrpg novel. It is called NetherSky and it will slightly similar to this novel but also very different. To my fellow BL readers, I would like to thank you for being so patient with me, and I''m sorry you will never see the MC and the MC together, but I promise in the new version they will know each other sooner. Even just as friends, don''t expect much I''m a shounen-ai writer. ^///^ So I created a new webnovel account. My new name shall be Maomi. I also made a new Twitter. https://twitter.com/Maomi87122133 When I start anew I really start anew. When I start the new version it will be announced there. I would once again like to thank all of you. =^-^= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don''t pay attention to this~ just need 400 more words to post this. The loup garou, fue follet and cauchemar - fearsome or malicious spirits which followed French settlers to Louisiana hundreds of years ago - still haunt the bayou darkness, folklorists say. At least they''ve found the spirits still exist in some folks'' minds. ¡åLately, there was a student who left school because he said there was a cauchemar in the dorm. And he wasn''t staying where there was a cauchemar,¡å said Dr. Patricia Rickles of the University of Southwestern Louisiana. The cauchemar - pronounced koosh''-mahr - is a nightmare spirit that chokes and suffocates people in their beds, said Rickles, a folklore specialist in USL''s English department. She said she has interviewed hundreds of people over the past 30 years and some still believe in the cauchemar and feu follet (fee''-fo-lay) - a malicious spirit known in English-speaking countries as the will o'' the wisp. ¡åThis is a little demon or spirit which takes the form of a light,¡å Rickles said. ¡åIt''s mischievous and makes people get lost. They think they see a house or camp, go toward it, and they get lost or drown. ¡åIt seems to happen most when someone has had a few drinks.¡å Around Bayou Lafourche, a few people still believe in the loup garou or rougarou - a human who has been turned into an animal, said Patricia Perrin of Nicholls State University. ¡åPeople have very serious arguments about whether it''s ''rougarou'' (roo''- guh-roo'') or ''loup garou'' (loo'' guh-roo''),¡å said Mrs. Perrin. And there''s a third variant: warou, pronounced wah''-roo. Whatever you call them, it''s not easy to find people willing to admit they believe in the spirits. ¡åIt''s kind of hard to walk up and say, ''Do you believe in the rougarou'' and have them say, ''Oh, absolutely,? Mrs. Perrin said. ¡åBut they always tell you about people who have had an experience with one. And they seem to be affected, themselves, by the tales.¡å The loup garou is most often a wolf, she said. Even though ¡åloup¡å is French for ¡åwolf,¡å the spirit is sometimes a white pig, said Mrs. Perrin, and loup garou dogs and chickens have been described. Most often they are white, but other colors occur. Although some loup garous are out for blood, she said, most are people who just want to be released from the spell which changes them into animals and forces them to wander aimlessly by night. Chapter 259: Author Note 11/10: Open with FAST PASS Some of you asked me to tellyou when I start my new book, so here it is: NetherSky by Maomii If anyone had asked Xao Yuning, the richest young master in Z City, if he was happy with how his life was going right now, he would have smiled shyly and nodded. It was a shame that this happiness and life was ended by a piano. Luckily he didn''t stay dead; somehow, by a twist of fate, he was transmigrated into the broken body of a boy who shared his name¡­ A boy who lived in the distant future of 2525¡­ A boy who is unable to speak a word¡­A boy who had no income to his name¡­ A boy who has a younger sister depending on him¡­ A boy who has only a year to live... Xao Yuning couldn''t understand how his life became like this, but that didn''t mean he would give up. He will find a way to save this new life of his, by any means possible. ''What?! You can make good money from playing a virtual game called Nethersky? This young master has played a computer game called that in his old life¡­wait, it''s the same game?!'' It is a VRMMO novel but It won''t be similar to Haven i.e no farming/bl in this book. If the summary piques your interest please do search it up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don''t read just need to make it 1k words In theory, making wine is very simple. Yeast meets grape juice in an environment that allows fermentation. Just nature being nature. No doubt wine was first discovered by happy accident thousands of years ago: Natural yeasts, blowing in the wind, settled down upon a bunch of squashed grapes, whose juice was pooling in the shaded bowl of a rock; soon after, some lucky passerby stops and stoops down for a taste...and likes what she''s discovered. From there, the process of winemaking will be refined, as you can imagine, and the environment carefully controlled, to the point where winemaking becomes both science and art. And DIY home winemaking? Well, it probably falls somewhere between the curious stone-age wanderer and the modern vintner who applies artful science to the process. Let''s take a look. Red wine and carafe | Photo by Meredith How to Make Homemade Wine Winemaking at home requires several pieces of inexpensive equipment, serious cleanliness, and a mess of patience. Turns out, Tom Petty was right: "The waiting is the hardest part." Equipment Checklist: One 4-gallon food-grade-quality plastic bucket and lid to serve as the primary fermentation vat Three 1-gallon glass jugs to use as secondary fermentation containers A funnel that fits into the mouth of the glass bottles Three airlocks (fermentation traps) A rubber cork (or bung) to fit into the secondary fermentation container Large straining bag of nylon mesh About 6 feet of clear half-inch plastic tubing About 20 wine bottles (you''ll need 5 bottles per gallon of wine) Number 9-size, pre-sanitized corks Hand corker (ask about renting these from the wine supply store) A Hydrometer to measure sugar levels Ingredient Checklist: Lots and lots of wine grapes Granulated sugar Filtered water Wine yeast To the above basic list you can refine the process by adding such things as Campden tablets to help prevent oxidation, yeast nutrients, enzymes, tannins, acids, and other fancy ingredients to better control your wine production. Making Wine Part 1 Ensure your equipment is thoroughly sterilized and then rinsed clean. (Ask at the wine supply store about special detergents, bleaches, etc.). It''s best to clean and rinse your equipment immediately before using. Select your grapes, tossing out rotten or peculiar-looking grapes. Wash your grapes thoroughly. Remove the stems. Crush the grapes to release the juice (called "must") into the primary fermentation container. Your hands will work here as well as anything. Or go old school and stomp with your feet. If you''re making a lot of wine, you might look into renting a fruit press from a wine supply store. Add wine yeast. Insert the hydrometer into the must. If it reads less than 1.010, consider adding sugar. If you''re adding sugar, first dissolve granulated sugar in pure filtered water (adding sugar helps boost low alcohol levels). Stir the must thoroughly. Cover primary fermentation bucket with cloth; allow must to ferment for one week to 10 days. Over the course of days, fermentation will cause a froth to develop on top and sediment to fall to the bottom. Part 2 Gently strain the liquid to remove the sediment and froth. Run the juice through a funnel into sanitized glass secondary fermentation containers. Fill to the top to reduce the amount of air reaching the wine. Fit the containers with airlocks. Allow the juice to ferment for several weeks. Use the plastic tube to siphon the wine into clean glass secondary fermentation containers. Again, the purpose here is to separate the wine from sediment that forms as the wine ferments. Continue to siphon the wine off the sediment periodically (this is called "racking") for 2 or 3 months until the wine is running clear. Part 3 Run the wine into bottles (using the cleaned plastic tubing), leaving space for the cork plus about a half inch or so of extra room. Insert corks. Store the wine upright for the first three days. After three days, store the wine on its side at, ideally, 55 degrees F. For red wine, age for at least 1 year. White wine can be ready to drink after only 6 months. Enjoy! Wine Recipes Here''s a recipe for making wine that calls for frozen juice concentrate -- and another that turns pesky dandelions into a tasty beverage. Homemade Wine Dandelion Wine The Best Wine and Food Pairings: Discover the best recipes to pair with Cabernet Sauvignon. These 12 recipes go gaga for Pinot Grigio. Here are the best recipes to pair with Chardonnay. Find the right wines to Pair with Appetizers. These simple recipes prove that Champagne Pairs with Almost Everything. Chapter 260: Author Note 4/21-Open with Fast Pass Hello guys, I doubt anyone is still keeping an eye on this story, but if you are I have started the remake. Although I changed everything and only kept the farming and cooking elements. Here is the summary if you are interested in reading it: Falin Saga Welcome to Falin Saga! The only game where you can choose the fantasy life of your dreams. Want to be a samurai with a dark past? You can! A pampered child of a noble family? Go for it! Want to be an artist that is worshiped by millions? It''s attainable! Anything is possible in the world, Falin! You just have to go out and grasp it! There was no other chance, or rather choice, for Nanyi. His hand that was ruined, destroyed by the maliciousness of a former friend, throbbed. Virtual reality could be his second chance to follow his dreams. The place where he can practice and enhance his skills. The place where he can scatter that bitch''s ashes into the sea and destroy her reputation as the current best. He will sear and saute, slice and dice, steam, and boil until his skills are at their peak. Only then could he cause her pain as much as she did to him by roasting her as she marinated in her own tears. ...As a chef, of course. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A snippet of the first chapter: It had begun. The blanket of the darkness that had been covering the night sky had finally started to recede, chased away by the light of the incoming dawn. After bidding the stars goodnight, the sun finally decided to make an appearance, bringing with it a canopy of gold that looked bright amid the blueish-grey of the morning sky. Once again, color had returned to the dreary skies and streets of this small rural town. No, not just color but light as well. It was a wondrous sight to behold. Sadly most of the people in the small town weren''t awake to see it. Very sad indeed, since they wouldn''t be able to witness how the sky would slowly begin to brighten each passing minute; as the sun rose higher into the air. They wouldn''t see how the sun''s light would spill out onto the different neighborhoods of the town¡ªshining its majesty down upon everything, not even sparing shadows in its time of dominance. This overflux of light began to seep into the windows of the different households, lightening up each of the rooms with its calming greyish-blue glow while gently nudging the inhabitants that were sleeping inside into wakefulness. However, in one particular household, a pale, slender black-haired man met the morning light''s gentle nudge with whimpers instead of pleasantries. Because even though light could penetrate through the darkest of nights, it wasn''t able to pierce through the depressing darkness of the nightmare that had ensnared him. The light could only shine down onto the young man as he soundlessly whimpered, curling himself into a ball. ~ "No!" The black-haired cried out in his sleep, wrapping his arms tighter around himself as the dream he had countless times before started once more. ~~~+++~~~ [''It was another busy day at H¨¥i M¨¦igu¨©, the finest restaurant in all J city and the place where he was interning. As he walked into the kitchen, he saw that it was bustling full of people trying to prepare their dishes. But he had no time to worry about them. He had his own task to do. Going over to his workstation, he began doing what was asked of him. The assignment he was tasked with was to separate the meat from a duck''s breast. He needed to hurry because the executive chef was arriving soon and he had no time to waste. Every second was precious, or he would have the head workstation group on his ass. Glancing over at his groupmate, Nanyi saw that he had already finished making the sauce for the recipe. He couldn''t help but feel some envy. Why did he have to get the hardest task? Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder, turning around he saw that it was that woman. She was asking for his help again, but it wasn''t ''help'' that she was looking for.''] ~~~+++~~~ As the young man lay sleeping on the small twin-sized wooden bed, tears dripped down his pallid face, letting out more quiet whimpers from time to time. Curling his body up tighter, the black-haired man unconsciously started shaking fear, for his body remembered what happened next along with his mind. ~~+++~~~ [''He knew he shouldn''t keep helping her, but they were friends once. "This is the last time," he told her, walking over to her workstation.''] ~~~+++~~~ The man saw himself walking towards a vat of boiling oil in the dream. Suddenly the smell of charred meat enveloped him. He would never forget that smell, not until his dying day. The black-haired boy''s shaking became even more pronounced. It was as if he plunged into a bath full of ice. ~~~+++~~~ [''Oh, no! What was that weird smell? Was something burning?'' He wondered as he walked speedily towards that woman''s workstation, only to find himself floating. Somehow he became separated from his body. Before he could be shocked by the strangeness of it all, he saw something that chilled him to his very bones. It was himself, lying on the floor, with his hand in the vat full of boiling oil. The strange smell... the smell of frying meat...it was his hand. His hand... His hand! His HAND! No, no, no- ] ~~~+++~~~ As the man dreamt, he started thrashing against the bed as if feeling the burn. He wept in agony, although he felt no pain. The body remembered, the soul remembered. The hand...it remembered. ~~~+++~~~ [''Ahhhh!'' he screamed, suddenly back in his body, quickly removing his blistering hand full of pus from the sizzling oil. At the sound of his scream, all the chefs stopped what they were doing and stared down at him. That woman stepped out from the crowd and giggled maliciously. She stared down at him while he clutched his burnt hand with glee glinting in her eyes before laughingly saying, "Oh what a shame, your hand appears to be ruined." "It''s ruined," a chef nearby agrees, staring at him with disgust. Suddenly the other chefs and interns start to chime in. Chanting that he is useless as they circled him while pointing and laughing.] ~~~+++~~~ "No, I''m not!" The black-haired man awoke with a silent shriek, gasping as he jumped from the bed to the floor, collapsing on his knees, cradling his left arm against his chest. ''''No, no, no, no... Just a dream, just a dream, dream, my ha-hand is still...'''' As he looked down, he stilled, both with his words and with his movements. A leftover scar from the burn was plainly in sight. Tears dripped down his face as he stared at it. Even after all this time, there was still a scar left. It was a constant reminder of that incident, something that would never let him forget what ''SHE'' did. 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