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.'

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