It was really late, but I went online. It was time to fulfill my promise.
Swhoos.h.!.+
I appeared in the inn of Sky City and walked out while carrying the Purgatory Sword. I went to the auction house first to sell off the remaining fifty or so items I had failed to sell before the birthday party. I set most of the prices to automatic valuation except those that added Attack and Tactics. This way, I wouldn"t make a loss.
……
Beep!
System Notice: Player "Legendary Brave" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?
I confirmed the request, and the ID "Legendary Brave" appeared in my friend list. I immediately spotted a warrior in blue metal armor at the distance even before I reached the plaza. He was hugging a glowing sword and leaning lazily against a wall. He was holding a blade of leaf in his mouth, and his eyes were missing the kind of sharpness you would expect from a top-tier player. And yet for all his attempt to keep a low profile, he still managed to give off an unusual vibe.
I was surprised. He really was Legendary Brave, the legendary Dragon Warrior. Despite being a famous profile in Sky City, he was a real enigma. Most people didn"t even know how he looked like, let alone the leveling maps he frequented, his skill, his equipment and so on.
I walked up to him and greeted him with a smile, "I"m here, Brave!"
"Hi there, boss!"
Legendary Brave straightened himself and patted away the dust on his cape. He asked, "So, how do I look? Not bad, right?"
I swept him a glance and smiled. "This sword is Purple Gold–grade, right? And your chest armor is probably Outstanding Dark Gold–grade."
"Haha, well spotted!" Legendary Brave smiled approvingly. "I got this sword from a Level 95 boss. Its Attack is pretty good, although it"s a shame that it isn"t Outstanding equipment, making it much weaker than your Purgatory Sword. And yes, this metal armor is 1-star Outstanding and Dark Gold–grade. Its Defense is as strong as you imagine it to be."
I nodded and sent him a guild invitation.
Ding~!
Guild Notice: Player "Legendary Brave" has joined your guild!
……
An uproar immediately broke out in the guild channel—
Chaos Moon: Wow! Did Legendary Brave really join our guild?"
Xu Yang: "Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Brother Chengfeng!"
Wolf Fang: "What can"t we do now that we have the Dragon Warrior on our side?"
Legendary Brave: "Hehe, h.e.l.lo everyone! You can call me Brave. Dragon Warrior sounds cool, but it"s really not that impressive to be honest. The cla.s.s adds a couple of offensive skills, but in essence it"s the same as your standard warrior. It"s really inferior to both Undead Swordsman and Undead Knight…"
I said, "You"re pretty humble, I shan"t stop you from mingling with the others any longer. Seriously though, it"s really late already, and you all should go to sleep soon… Actually, why are you still awake, Chaos Moon?"
Chaos Moon: "I"m too excited to fall asleep right now…"
"..."
Legendary Brave let out a laugh before teasing me. "Boss, you seem pretty popular with the girls in the guild, huh? Looks like the Protoss Genius Falling Dust is as loved as the rumors say…"
I replied embarra.s.sedly, "f.u.c.k, et tu, Brave?"
"Haha!"
Legendary Brave then pulled out his sword and said, "Boss, I"m heading off to grind some levels if there"s nothing else. I have to catch a flight to Beijing tomorrow, and I"m planning to grind now and sleep on the plane later. Also… it"s best if you leave me out of any level-grinding events. I"m more used to grinding alone."
I rolled my eyes at him. "No way! You"re our Dragon Warrior, the future pillar of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! It"s not right for you to skip events!"
"Hahaha, it"s fine, I"m not good with such events, so it"s better if you leave me out of this!"
Legendary Brave smiled and looked at me. "Also, this is exactly why I joined you. Falling Dust will definitely carry Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top, so all I need to do is enjoy the guild"s fruits of labor. Hmm? The guild has a buff? War Holy Temple… 10% attack power boost? Haha, this is awesome! I had definitely made the right decision!"
I nodded. Suddenly, I turned serious and asked, "Brave, Ancient Sword is destined to be enemies with Candle Dragon. Aren"t you afraid of Candlelight Shadow?"
Legendary Brave replied with a calm smile, "Candlelight Shadow? Who"s that?"
"Hahaha!" I laughed at his response.
"Hahaha…"
Unfortunately, only the two of us knew what we were laughing about, so the stall owners around us stared at us and muttered to themselves, "f.u.c.k, these two high-level players must be crazy or something…"
Li Chengfeng left to go grind levels, and I went straight for the inn to log off. After spending half a day battling for the divine site and getting involved in a real fight in real life, I was so tired I could die to say the least. Before I logged off, I checked the system window and noted that all four divine sites had been occupied by a guild. War Holy Temple belonged to Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls, Pegasus Spring belonged to Snowy Cathaya, Dragon Blood Fortress belonged to Warsky Alliance, and Giant Rock Cave belonged to Hegemon Palace. The poor veteran guilds of Floating Ice City—G.o.ds of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Flower Room—got nothing despite throwing all their manpower into the contest. Not only that, they all lost a considerable amount of manpower, levels, and equipment because of it.
I fell asleep the second I logged out of the game.
……
When I woke up the next day, it was already 8:30 in the morning. I walked out only to be greeted by the sight of He Yi"s empty room. Not only was she gone, she didn"t leave even an article of clothing behind.
Caught off-guard, it took me a while to recover and say, "She left? Why didn"t she wake me up…"
"Because she"s afraid of you, duh." Murong Mingyue chuckled from behind me.
I turned around to face her and asked, "She"s afraid of me? Why?"
Murong Mingyue shot me a long look before replying, "She"s afraid that you"ll tell her to stay when her last line of rationale is almost non-existent in the first place. Do you have idea how close she was to abandoning everything and opting to stay with you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d..."
I pressed my lips together but said nothing.
Now it was Murong Mingyue"s turn to glare at me. "For f.u.c.k"s sake, what"s with the sour expression? Eve may be gone, but I"m still here, right?"
"It"s nothing…"
"Well, tell me your plans. Eve is gone, so it"s up to us vice leaders to take care of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. You don"t want her to return to a devastated guild, right?"
I thought for a moment before answering, "For now, the guild is doing very well. The War Holy Temple buff should help everyone level up quickly for the upcoming month, and we"re recently joined by new blood such as High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Legendary Brave. All in all, the guild"s developing healthily. For now, my only plan is to seek out Xinran at the Violet Empire and see if I can find a cla.s.s trainer there. It"s been a long time since I learned a new skill from a trainer…"
Murong Mingyue smiled teasingly. "Oh, you poor pitiful child. Is that your plan for the morning?"
"Actually, no. I"m going to go to a 4S automotive shop and buy a car. I don"t want to have to borrow your car every time I need to drive."
"Oh, that"s cool. What are you going to buy? Should I come with you and help haggle down the price?"
"Sure. I"m going to buy a BMW X12…"
Really? That"s quite expensive. The deluxe model will cost you around 1.2 million, you know?"
"It"s fine. I like it fancy…"
Murong Mingyue watched me warily. "d.a.m.n, you"re not planning to use it to catch some girls in the university, are you?"
"Of course not…" I stared at her. "All the girls in Frost Cloud workshop are top-cla.s.s beauties. Why on earth would I opt for some less attractive women in the university instead?"
"I know right? Glad to see you haven"t lost all your conscience!"
……
An extremely busy morning later, I finally managed to drive my brand new black-colored X12 into the district"s parking lot. Long story short, the car was fast, cool, and handsome, so much so that Beiming Xue let out a girlish scream and dove straight into the pa.s.senger"s seat, eager to test out the ride herself.
"How much is this car, Sister Mingyue?" Beiming Xue asked.
Murong Mingyue replied, "9.74 million."
"OMG, that"s expensive…"
"No worries, your brother can afford it."
Me: "..."
Well, she was speaking the truth. I was one of the best players in Heavenblessed be it in terms of level, equipment, or both, and income wasn"t a problem as long as I maintained my lead, a problem that I wasn"t worried about at all. Right now Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was as bright as the sun in Sky City, and I was absolutely confident in our ability to protect ourselves even if Candle Dragon were to attack us right now!
My biggest source of confidence came from our top-tier experts, namely Legendary Brave, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and so on. If Candle Dragon dared to show their faces, I promise to chase them for a thousand miles and kick them out of our borders!
……
I took Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue for a spin around the city in my brand new X12. Then, we ate lunch at a dry pot shop.
My phone suddenly rang while we were eating. It was Lin Yixin!
"Hey, Yiyi. What is it?"
Lin Yixin sounded incredibly urgent. "Lu Chen, you got into a fight last night, didn"t you? It"s all over the forums, you know. How are you doing? Are you still in the detention room?"
I replied in astonishment, "Uh, no? I"m eating duck head dry pot at Renmin Road right now…"
Lin Yixin: "..."
"Yiyi? What"s wrong?"
Lin Yixin groaned. "You… you! I was so worried I almost cried, and you"re telling me that you"re eating duck head dry pot without me? Bring me with you next time…"
"Uh, right, right…"
"Well, that"s all I have to say, I guess. Talk to you later after you come online!"
"Yeah."
……
I hung up the call and looked up. I was immediately greeted by a knowing grin from Murong Mingyue. "Wow, he got a mistress the second Eve left the house…"
I said, "It"s just Lin Yixin, dammit."
"Look at him protecting his "food" like an overeager dog…"
"Seriously, less talking, more eating!"
"Hehe!"
It looked like teasing me had become one of Murong Mingyue"s biggest pleasures in life. Heck, it might even have evolved into one of her life pursuits at this point. Had I not developed sufficient resistance through contact with super beauties like Lin Yixin and He Yi, I would"ve succ.u.mbed to this pretty and voluptuous woman a long time ago.
……
By the time we returned to the workshop, it was already past 1 pm. After logging into the game, I immediately set my sights on Violet Empire, the new city of Blood Dance Legion. I was curious to know how they were doing right now, and as a member of the Blood Dance Legion myself, surely someone in the Violet Empire would take me in as their disciple, right?
Here I come, high-level Undead Swordsman skills!