MMORPG: The Elementalist

Xin Yu"s surgery date would not be confirmed until her observation is complete. The success rate of the operation was high. After that, she will need to stay in the hospital for further observation and recuperation.

On the phone, Xin Yu told Qin Ruo to treat her with extra “care” after she was well and kicking. She wanted to make up for all the time that she had been spending in the hospital. She also told Qin Ruo to stand out in H&G. She wanted him to be someone powerful enough so that she could hitch a ride on his name. It would be nice for everyone in the game to proactively address her as Young Mistress Xin Yu.

Qin Ruo happily hung up the phone and wiped his nose. This little madam was a ray of suns.h.i.+ne. Any Tom, d.i.c.k, and Harry would be nervous and anxious when expecting to have a surgery. Xin Yu, however, was no ordinary person. Before the operation was even scheduled, she had already decided on her long term future plan with Qin Ruo. He did not even have to console or advise her in the face of the surgery.

Nonetheless, it was all good. For the first time since he had played the game, Qin Ruo could finally log into the game, solely to enjoy the game with no additional motives.

That was the first time he felt that the childish behavior of all his colleagues was amusing. On the other hand, Brother Da"s annoying behavior of sticking his nose everywhere had gotten worse.

Despite that, he was over the moon. He was all smiling and happy. There was even a spring in his steps like he was walking to the tune of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”.

“Xiaoxiao, how is your leveling progress?”

With his work with Xin Yu completed, Qin Ruo started to think like a player and remembered that he had not logged in for two days. Xiaoxiao should be training alone.

“Ah?”

Xiaoxiao was beside him. She glanced at Qin Ruo and thought about how different he looked. When Qin Ruo turned to her and looked into her eyes, Xiaoxiao blushed madly and whispered, “I am only at level 31.”

Being the airhead he was, Qin Ruo did not notice anything wrong. All he heard was Xiaoxiao"s acknowledgment of his question and answer. He staggered a little and said, “That"s the pinnacle of Tier 3!”

He burst into a cold sweat and continued, “So fast?! Where did you grind your level?”

Xiaoxiao had only started the game three days ago and had reached Level 31. This was not leveling anymore. She had basically taken a ride in an all-you-can-eat feast for free!

“I didn"t go anywhere in particular. I just went to Bailey Town where you took me the first time.”

Xiaoxiao kept cool and explained, “There was a post on the forum saying that Killer Bees are weak against water elemental magic. With that, I chose to grind levels there… There are not many people there, so leveling was pretty fast.”

“Pretty fast?! That"s not “pretty fast”! Do you know how long I took to reach Level 35?” Qin Ruo smiled bitterly with his eyes widely open. Xiaoxiao laughed. Though she quickly stifled her laugh and shyly said, “That I know the answer to. It is twenty days. Brother Da told me.”

“Urgh! That backstabber!”

Qin Ruo let himself fall into the chair as he sighed heavily, regretting even thinking of considering himself as a true comrade.

“Did you say something about me?”

Out of nowhere, a chubby face slid next to Qin Ruo, appearing at point blank range.

“…”

A few moments later…

“Your face is big…”

It was not the first time Brother Da use this trick to frighten him. However, Qin Ruo managed to “return the favor”.

Brother Da hurriedly took out a mirror and observed his own reflection nervously. After he was satisfied with his own appearance, he put away the mirror and growled at Qin Ruo.

“d.a.m.n you dude, if you envy my handsome face then tell me! Are you trying to mentally a.s.sault me?! Hmph!”

The response that Brother Da got was two long middle fingers from Qin Ruo, disdaining Brother Da"s narcissism. Then, Qin Ruo continued talking to Xiaoxiao.

Listening to the conversation of the two, Brother Da was stunned. He looked at Xiaoxiao, his eyes widened, asking her about her level progress. He face-palmed himself and said, “Oh my G.o.d! You two young couple are too overwhelming. One with good luck and good skill. Another has super leveling speed… Xiaoxiao, are you sure that you have only played for a while every night?”

Xiaoxiao smiled but did not mind Brother Da"s use of the word “couple” to describe her and Qin Ruo. She put down the things in her hand and nodded.

“Those two days were weekends. I had spent two whole days and one night to reach Tier 3.”

“Oh lord… Looks like the young bud will replace the old tree. Last time, I was also the top ‘Leveling Prince" in the company,” he paused and cleared his throat before continuing, “It seems like I need to pa.s.s this t.i.tle to you.”

Brother shook his head wildly and acted like a senior. His funny act amused Xiaoxiao a little.

“You are the Leveling Prince? I think that the little tiger I saw yesterday was much stronger.”

“What?”

Brother Da looked at Xiaoxiao with sadness in his eyes and said, “Xiaoxiao, how can you compare Brother Da with an animal…”

When he was finished, he suddenly realized something and asked Xiaoxiao, “Did you say little tiger? What kind of tiger?”

Qin Ruo was startled by that response and also realized something odd. He quickly straightened up and asked nervously, “Could you clarify a little more? By little tiger, did you mean someone who brought a pet into the field to train?”

“Yeah.” Xiaoxiao nodded.

“It seems to be called the Evil Frost Tiger. I heard people saying that the owner of the tiger is called Scarlet Bauhinia … Well, his equipment seemed to be very good… Ruo Ruo, is he someone famous?”

Qin Ruo and Brother Da exchanged a look, and replied at the same time, “Very.”

“After all, he is one of the six most famous men in H&G…” (One of the League Masters is actually a woman.)

Xiaoxiao wavered a little before her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped as she covered her mouth.

“He"s that famous?”

“Of course! He is the big boss of the Bauhinia League. It is only natural for him to be famous! Hmm… Evil Frost Tiger huh, not sure if it is a Boss level pet.”

Brother Da sighed.

“Our captain, Slayer"s Heart is just a foot soldier under his flag! Sigh… Ruo Ruo, I finally understood why those League could be so famous. I mean, even Captain Slayer"s Heart, a man with strong skills, and Sister Orchid, a prolific player, are just normal foot soldier under the banner of Bauhinia League. Just how strong are Field Commanders? 50,000 League members means 50,000 super soldiers! They could easily destroy millions of ordinary players.”

Looking at Brother Da"s explanation was an exaggeration and misleading, Qin Ruo wiped away his cold sweat and said, “Don"t overthink things. It is not that exaggerated. Not everyone is that strong.”

“Is it though?”

Brother Da glanced at him doubtfully. He thought that the reason Slayer"s Heart was not a Field Commander was that there were many powerful players in the League. That, or Scarlet Bauhinia did not know how to use talented people. However, Scarlet Bauhinia was one of the three major League Masters in Angel Faction. So it was obviously not the former.

Besides, with the name of the League and the strict review system for new members, needless to say, Brother Da was completely in awe.

“Yes. Did you forget? I killed a Radiant Priest from Netherspirit"s Claw. Can you say that that priest is also strong?”

It turned out that Brother Da did not believe him at all.

“Hey dude, you got lucky. Do you think your strength would be any lesser than that of the people of that League? I already know that you had always kept a low profile. But you"re almost at the same level as Slayer"s Heart. In my opinion, you can be a semi Field Commander of the League.”

‘Semi?"

Qin Ruo burst into cold sweat once again. Brother Da"s words became more and more irrelevant and soon he fabled the League members and Qin Ruo. After all, Qin Ruo was not as strong as Brother Da thought. He could only perform well under very special circ.u.mstances.

Just as Qin Ruo was about to tell Brother Da that Slayer"s Heart was once the strongest Field Commander n in Bauhinia League, Xiaoxiao interjected and countered Brother Da"s opinion, “It shouldn"t be that powerful, yesterday… The people around Scarlet Bauhinia invited me to join them.”

Both of them thought that they had misheard the sentence and exclaimed at the same time, “What?!”

“You said that the Bauhinia League Master agreed with that person"s suggestion and invited you to join Bauhinia Clan?”

“Xiaoxiao, are you sure that you are not joking? You said that the guy is called ‘Homme Fatale". If I am not mistaken, he should be the Field Commander of Bauhinia Clan, a 50-level Electromancer! A Tier 5 Supreme Champion!”

“Xiaoxiao, don"t be angry, I didn"t mean anything else. I mean, there are a lot of scammers in this game… What? They sent you an invitation? And you joined Bauhinia Clan?”

“No?! You rejected?!”

Initially, Brother Da could not believe Xiaoxiao. But when he heard that Xiaoxiao actually refused Homme Fatale"s invitation, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“How can you… you, you! That is the Bauhinia Clan! A League! You refused! Xiaoxiao you…”

“That"s what I thought at that time. I didn"t believe them at that moment. Besides, they are so gallant. Inviting me, a rookie, to join their League? There must be something wrong, therefore I did not dare to accept the offer at that moment…”

Brother Da twitched for a while and his protruding fingers trembled and clicked. It was not easy for him to calm down.

“And then?” He suppressed his emotions and continued to ask.

“Then? Then they left and told me that if one day I changed my mind, I can contact him again and I can join them anytime.”

Xiaoxiao"s words put Brother Da and Qin Ruo into a trance-like state.

‘Looks like there"s such a thing as a miracle from the heavens."

However, once they snapped out of it, both Qin Ruo and Brother Da thought it over and tried to figure out the reason behind Xiaoxiao"s statement.

‘Inviting a rookie-level Tier 3 Aquamancer to join the Clan? That r.e.t.a.r.ded Homme Fatale is surely a f*ckboy! Perhaps he was only targeting her for her beauty! Hah! That must be it!"

“Xiaoxiao, you need to remember, just ignore him!

“No, no, no! Anyway, that guy must be a liar. He must have had some ulterior motive. Please forget what I said earlier.”

When Brother Da was done ranting, the Field Commander of Bauhinia League ‘Homme Fatale" was immediately registered in Xiaoxiao"s mental blacklist.

Qin Ruo was a bit more optimistic. After all, Slayer"s Heart was a member of Bauhinia League.

“I am free in the afternoon. Please allow me to accompany you. If they are still there, I would like to see how it would turn out.”

“That"s nice!”

Xiaoxiao"s eyes suddenly widened. She immediately agreed with Qin Ruo"s suggestion. She had been looking forward to the days where she could be “together” with Qin Ruo.