Chapter 21

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“She’s already long gone, and you’re still staring.” Lin Xinyan got on her car between puffy breaths.

Nie Fan threw his arms up—he was only admiring Xu Xiaoshuang’s sports car.

Sometimes, women are really hard to understand.

As Lin Xinyan started her car ignition and jammed her foot on the throttle, her Lamborghini shot off like a raging bull.

“Slow down!” Nie Fan yelled nervously. ‘Why is this girl driving so fast? Does she have a death wish?’

“What are you afraid of? Haven’t you heard of automatic collision avoidance system?” Lin Xinyan rolled her eyes at Nie Fan in disdain. It was normal acceleration—he was being dramatic.

“There are times when machines fail,” Nie Fan said as his face went white. He had felt dizzy before when riding on Lin Xinyan’s car, and he did not expect that she would drive even faster.

‘So inhuman! Is she really a girl!?’

“Full AI control, automatic recovery even if any malfunction would occur.” Lin Xinyan appeared very calm.

The Lamborghini finally reached the front gates of her house around twenty minutes later. Nie Fan threw up the moment he got of the car, collapsing on the lawn.

“Are you actually carsick? You’re so weak! I was just driving up to one-eighty miles per hour. The speed limit for the collision avoidance system is three hundred—what would happen to you at that speed?” Lin Xinyan laughed.

1

“I never liked riding cars ever since I was a child. You might as well kill me at three hundred.” Nie Fan heaved.

“To think you were showing off at the basketball court just now, sending three people flying alone, and now you’re carsick—what a freak.” Lin Xinyan rolled her eyes at him, finding him cute even though he had collapsed and about to turn white-eyed. In comparison, the other boys would either pretend to be a gentleman or feign maturity, not to mention that Nie Fan’s plain and affable attitude made her remember their carefree days as children.

He really didn’t change, Lin Xinyan thought then, a nostalgic familiarity and intimacy appearing in her heart.

“Getting carsick is normal. It happens to a lot of people, and you were driving very fast.” Nie Fan replied. It made sense for him to get carsick since he rarely traveled around in one, although he would become immune if he got used to it over the next few days.

“I told you, one-eighty isn’t fast. The others drive at two hundred, at least!” Lin Xinyan exclaimed, irritated. “Or are you having me drive at eighty?”

“The speed when you drove last time was fine!”

“That’s during rush hour. There’s heavy traffic!”

“Fine, fine!” Nie Fan waved her off and climbed to his feet on his soft legs. He returned to his room for a bath: after sweating all over, he needed one good scrubbing to feel comfortable.

Later, Lin Xinyan told Nie Fan that she would eat with him again, and so he had to go with her to buy groceries. They talked and joked around almost like when they were younger, the only difference being that they wouldn’t suddenly start fighting over something unreasonable. It was indeed a little funny when they remembered those days.

It had been some time since Lin Xinyan went to a food market. She found it a fresh experience to watch Nie Fan bargain with the vendors, and joined him occasionally too.

“It’s so fun being with you, Nie Fan. This is the first time I found buying food so interesting.” Like a happy hare, Lin Xinyan was leaping around in front of Nie Fan.

He rolled his eyes. A rich daughter like her naturally didn’t have to do such things personally—it would be interesting the first time, but she would find it dull soon enough if she came every day.

“Why are you acting like you just got out of prison? It’s just buying food.”

“You’re the one acting like that. Dear god, please send lightning and strike down this killjoy.” Lin Xinyan had been feeling a rare homeliness when Nie Fan soured the atmosphere.

Didn’t he know how to get on a girl’s good side? She even felt a little frantic at that.

After carrying what they bought home, Lin Xinyan offered to cook but burnt whatever she was making. Helpless, Nie Fan decided to cook by himself, and they went out for a stroll after dinner, returning when it was almost time for him to meet with Xue Yu and Lin Suyue online.

“I should be playing the game now.” Nie Fan told her.

“Alright.” Lin Xinyan headed to her own room, but turned around, pursing her lips in a smile as she remembered something. “Nie Fan, it has been a good day.”

Her smile was vibrant and stirring, leaving Nie Fan a little blank as he watched her entering her room. Still, he quickly shook his head.

‘Oh, Nie Fan. Don’t go senile just because the beauty lives under the same roof with you—she’s Uncle Lin’s daughter, don’t find trouble.’

Hence, punctually putting on his headgear, Nie Fan appeared in-game, exchanging greetings with both Xue Yu and Lin Suyue who were already online and waiting.

“Word has it that there are level twenty players now, and going beyond that would be difficult.” Xue Yu told him the latest news he had just received.

“The gamers from the studios must be busy leveling up for the whole day. There’s no telling how much out of the thirty-six hours reserve period they had used up, but even so, their progress isn’t too quick and we could quickly catch up.” Nie Fan told them. Using so much reserved time was simply extravagant, and those gamers are going to be sulking when the month ends.

“Nie Fan, where are we going now?”

Both Lin Suyue and Xue Yu were waiting for his orders since they drew a blank about where they should go farming monsters, and could only follow him.

“Let’s get up to level twenty and get two other players to join us at the Heartlands of the Wood Nymphs’ Forest. But we have to get some better equipment before all else—the stuff we have now is too crude.” Nie Fan replied after some thought.

“Are we going to continue leveling up around here?” Xue Yu asked, looking around.

They were still at the spawn point of the Fire Goblins.

“No, let’s move to another place.” Nie Fan shook his head. It would take hours for them to level up if they farmed monsters of the same level, but that rate would multiply if they farmed monsters three levels above themselves, although it would be significantly more dangerous too. Nonetheless, those issues would be solved with a Level 5 skill and two Level 4 skills in their possession.

Meanwhile, Nie Fan downloaded the detailed map of the Blood Shade Plains from his father’s website to study it and check for places where they could farm for monsters.

“How is it? Are there any nice places nearby for leveling?” Xue Yu asked after watching Nie Fan stay silent for a while.

“There is: a Blazing Goblin tribe, five minutes’ walk from here, but it could be dangerous.”

“Blazing Goblins? Like, evolved Fire Goblins?”

“Yes.” Nie Fan nodded.

“Level?”

“Twenty-five.”

“How confident are you about fighting level twenty-five monsters, then?” Xue Yu asked—he and Lin Suyue would be a little unhelpful against such high-level monsters.

“One casting of Bloodthirsty Vines and a combo of Black Oil and Mini Fireball should kill one.” Nie Fan said after some thought, but it was not as if he was worried that he couldn’t handle the Blazing Goblins. There were a few markers left in his father’s map which indicated that they could get some nice item drops at the tribe, although it might not prove easy either: even his father had died three times at Level 16 before managing to claim those item drops.

One could imagine the difficulty if his father had to die three times for that.

“Ring of Fate.” He muttered then.

“What Ring of Fate?” Xue Yu did a double take—they were just discussing farming monsters, why was Nie Fan talking about some ring?

Beside them, Lin Suyue was also staring blankly at Nie Fan.

“It’s nothing.” Nie Fan was still conflicted as he weighed whether they should go to the tribe. He was much inferior in skill compared to his father and heading there might be just going off to die, but missing out on getting the Ring of Fate would mean losing an item vital for the future, and that he might never become a Divine Druid.

He turned to glance at Xue Yu and Lin Suyue, whereupon he suddenly felt an inspiration. “Xue Yu, Suyue, I might have a few things I need your help with.

“Do tell. We’ll do it if we can.” Xue Yu replied without hesitation.

“You might die.”

“Nothing’s more normal than dying in a game, since we are at our current levels because you helped us.” Lin Suyue smiled nonchalantly.

“She’s right. We’re on the same boat.”

“Okay, I’ll take you two to level up then.” Nie Fan said and dashed towards the tribe of blazing goblins.

Three figures hence streaked through the plains.

***

Back then, Nie Fan’s father had invaded the Blazing Goblins’ tribe alone when he played in the closed testing phase of Blade of Tyranny. Even if Nie Fan was not as skilled as his father was, he has two dependable friends!

Nie Fan grinned at that very thought.

He just might assume a different path than his father’s.

Later, Xue Yu gasped as they looked deep into the settlement of the Blazing Goblins’ tribe, where huts built from straws went on as far as the eye could see.

It was quite a huge area.

A goblin which body was burning in crimson flames and dragging along a massive axe appeared within their sights. It was waist-tall to humans, but that axe it was pulling was extraordinarily massive, even dragging out a shallow ditch behind itself.

Soon, it noticed the trio, shrieking as it lunged towards them.

Bloodthirsty Vines!

A red vine shot out of the ground and bound it with a vice-grip, and the Blazing Goblin could not free itself no matter how it kept struggling.

Black Oil!

Mini Fireball!

Nie Fan determinedly casted all three spells direct and efficiently. His improvement was obvious in the dozen hours of playing that he could now proficiently use every skill he had on hand, with his control becoming much smoother.

Ultimately, the Blazing Goblin was quickly slain since they were just a normal Level 25 monster.

In turn, the EXP points worth over six hundred that each of them shared was quite rewarding.

They ventured deeper into the settlement step-by-step after collecting the goblin’s dropped items. There weren’t many other players around since not even the elites of the gaming studios would be brave enough to form parties and level up here.

As they moved along a small abandoned path, they found a rundown straw hut standing beside it. As Nie Fan attacked a wandering Blazing Goblin wandering nearby, he turned towards Xue Yu and Lin Suyue as well. “Go check that hut, see if you can find anything.”

Nie Fan looked inside to ensure that there were no monsters before lowering himself to enter. He found the inside a messy pile of random things and wooden blocks, but when he thought to himself that there was nothing inside, Xue Yu suddenly looked up to find an empty bookshelf on the eastern wall of the hut. His eyes then settled on a tome lying quietly at the edge of the shelf—it had a white cover and was emanating faint but warm white light.

His heart skipped a beat then, and he made his way to the tome.

He held it in his hands to feel gentle power reaching out from it, and he checked its status.

[Sacred Lunar Shield: Rare Skill Tome]

“Found anything?” Lin Suyue asked when she saw Xue Yu holding something in his hand.

“It’s a rare skill for Holy Knights!” Xue Yu exclaimed excitedly.