"Uh, what? How?!"

"You"re a mage, aren"t you? Shoot a spell!"

"Right." I fumbled around with my staff and aimed it at the ma.s.sive dragon that reared over us with a roar. Flames combusted around its mouth as it prepared to unleash an area of effect attack upon us.

Looked like I was too late.

"Everyone, stay behind me!" Ban Zhang shouted as he waded forward in his heavy Paladin armor. Hoisting up his shield, he slammed it onto the ground and erected a ma.s.sive barrier that shimmered around us.

Whoosh!

The flames washed around us, directed away by the gleaming forcefield that Ban Zhang had created.

"Nice job!" Tong Xue shouted. The moment the flames died down, Ban Zhang slumped down and the barrier vanished. "You can leave it to me!"

Tong Xue darted out, his figure almost invisible because of his black garb, and he slashed down with his dagger. Thanks to his a.s.sa.s.sin cla.s.s, he was able to deal bonus damage and deliver a critical strike.

"RUOOOOR!"

The dragon flailed about as it staggered back, blood spurting from its wounds. It lashed out with its tail and struck poor Tong Xue before he could evade, sending him crashing onto the ground.

"Gah!"

Tong Xue writhed about, and I watched in dismay as his health dropped into the red.

"Xue!"

Lian Rou rushed toward him, her priestly robes rustling. Taking a deep breath, she clasped her hands in prayer and began whispering something under her breath. A golden glow suffused Tong Xue and his health bar began shooting back up, turning green once again.

"Thanks, Rou!"

Wiping the blood from his mouth, Tong Xue climbed back to his feet again. Glaring at the dragon he shook his dagger at it.

"d.a.m.n, we"ve been chipping away at its HP for so long, but we still can"t bring it down!?"

"Well, keep trying!"

Tang Qi Hong stepped forward and swept her mage cloak to the side. Pointing her scepter at the dragon, she unleashed a hail of fireb.a.l.l.s that crashed down from the heavens and denoated against the dragon"s armored scales.

The final boss shrieked and flailed about, but swung its claws out to eviscerate us. Again, Ban Zhang was up to the task, rushing forward to tank the hit with his shield.

"Ugh…!" he moaned as he dug his heels in, and I saw the HP bar above his figure dip a little.

"Don"t worry! I"ll heal you!"

Lian Rou quickly stepped forward and began casting another prayer-based healing spell, allowing Ban Zhang to recover his HP.

"Hey, Wu! Why are you just standing around there for? Help me attack the d.a.m.ned dragon!"

"Oh…right!"

Snapping out of my stupor when Tang Qi Hong shouted at me, I turned around and unleashed a barrage of icicles that pelted the dragon. Above, fireb.a.l.l.s plummeted down on the dragon and exploded again, causing it to stumble back from the impact.

"No, don"t attack!" Tang Qi Hong shouted at me. "You"re using the wrong spell!"

I stared at her dumbly. "What spell am I supposed to use then?"

The dragon cut in, roaring before she could say anything and unleashing its own flaming attacks that forced Ban Zhang to create another shield again. The flames washed around us, but ate away at poor Ban Zhang"s HP and MP. Fortunately, we had Lian Rou around to heal him, but I saw the blue bar indicating her MP falling.

We couldn"t keep this up.

"Wu, you"re supposed to paralyze and entrap the dragon," Tong Xue explained patiently.

"Oh…sorry."

I thought the fastet way would be to bring the dragon"s HP down to zero, but evidently I wasn"t doing it right. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and conjured the menu screen, scrolling through it to see what repertoire of ice spells I had.

"Must be this one!"

The moment the dragon ceased its attack and the perspiring Ban Zhang lowered his shield, I threw my staff out and launched a freezing attack.

Millennial Ice Tomb!

"RUOOR!?"

The dragon was suddenly shrouded in ice, its limbs encased in glacial tombs. The ice rapidly spread over its ma.s.sive body, locking its movements. The dragon tensed and struggled, but found itself held fast, even as the ice raced toward its neck.

"Excellent!"

Tong Xue leapt out and slashed the dragon"s neck a couple of times before he was forced to jump back to the ground.

"And now for the finishing move! h.e.l.lish Armageddon!"

All of us glanced up when the enormous fireball materialized above the dragon. Tang Qi Hong was chuckling maniacally now as she raised both hands, getting ready to smash it on the dragon. Even our enemy was taken aback by the terrifying sight, its eyes going wide and its draconic jaws dropping. I actually felt sorry for the great beast.

"DIE!"

Tang Qi Hong swung both of her hands down, cackling like the witch she appeared to be. The dragon squealed uncharacteristically before it vanished underneath the enormous fireball, incinerated instantly.

"That had better do it," I muttered as I glanced at my empty MP bar. Similarly, Tang Qi Hong had just burned all of her MP using that ultimate attack, so she would need several turns of drinking potions before she could recover her MP to use such large spells again.

We wouldn"t last that many turns…

"Huff…huff…"

Ban Zhang, despite being at full health, was also out of MP and SP. Similarly, Lian Rou"s MP bar was almost empty. She only had enough left for two healing spells at most. When that happened, we would be sitting ducks.

Only Tong Xue still had the SP to fight, but it was getting dangerously low after he executed two of his most powerful a.s.sa.s.sination attacks.

"Guoo…"

"!!!"

We all stared anxiously at the smoke, unable to believe that we had failed to slay the dragon. The majestic beast dragged its charred body out of the inferno, snarling defiantly…

…and then fell over. Glancing up, I saw that its HP bar had now reached zero.

"…phew…"

The moment I exhaled, the dragon exploded into countless golden pixels, and coins and items began raining down on us, along with a notification that screamed "VICTORY!" the triumphant music blared out all around us, but I was too weary to pay attention.

"We did it! We got the Dark Dragon Dagger!" Tong Xue crowed as he grabbed one of the drop items, weeping with joy.

"Nice…this will boost my fire magic," Tang Qi Hong was remaking as she held up a great, ruby encrusted bracelet to inspect it.

Everyone was gathering whatever loot they want, except me, who was standing there dumbly. Tang Qi Hong caught sight of me looking around blankly and sighed exaggeratedly.

"What are you doing?!" she reached out and shoved a gemstone into my hand. The menu immediately indicated that it was a Draconic Sapphire Gemstone that enhanced ice magic. "You should take this."

"Right…thanks." I glanced around and shook my head. "I"m not used to this. I only play shooter games and strategy games, after all."

"No one else plays shooter games," Tang Qi Hong pointed out, annoyed. "We"ll all get mowed down in a second, except you."

"Actually, I would probably get shot first," I chuckled. "I"m not a very good player."

"This is the only way we can all get into the same party and play together," Tong Xue reminded us. Then he tilted his head. "Speaking of party…we should log off and get ready for it."

"Yeah."

"Let"s go."

All around me, my party members raised their hands and conjured up their menus before clicking on the log off b.u.t.ton. They then vanished from the virtual reality s.p.a.ce, and I followed suit. Except that when I conjured my own menu, I didn"t see the Log Off b.u.t.ton.

My heart skipped a beat. You"re kidding, right?

Oh, G.o.d…don"t tell me this is going to suddenly turn into a story where I"m trapped in a virtual reality death game, and have to climb up one hundred levels to beat the game in order to survive. And I hope I don"t end up gaining a harem along the way despite claiming that my one true love is the vice-captain of the most powerful guild…

"Why are you still online, Wu?"

Tang Qi Hong"s voice came from somewhere. I glanced up, but other than a speaker icon that appeared in front of me, I couldn"t see her.

"Um…there"s a bug. I can"t log out."

"It should be at the bottom of your menu screen."

"I know, I"ve been trying to look for it, but it"s missing. I think it"s a bug."

"Oh, for the love of…" I suddenly felt a premonition. Before I could protest, I felt a sudden jerk, and the virtual reality environment was suddenly replaced by my booth. Tang Qi Hong was standing in front of me, holding the helmet-visor thing.

"Whoa!"

I gaped at her in disbelief.

"See? You"re offline now."

"B…but…" I spluttered. "What if that ended up killing me?!"

Tang Qi Hong gave me a strange look. "Why would that kill you?"

…never mind. It appeared that I had been reading way too much Sword Art Online. Of course such things didn"t happen in the real world. Why would the helmet-visor thing fry my brain, and what reason would the creator of the game Fantasy Party Online have for trapping gamers in the game for years?

"Anyway, hurry up. The party is getting started."

"…right."

I followed Tang Qi Hong out of the net café. The rest of our party were waiting near the counter, having exited their booths quite some time ago.

"This is really your first time playing a VRMMORPG in a net café, huh?" Tong Xue grinned, amused. I scratched my head.

"Yeah…I"m more used to playing shooter games in a net café."

"Aren"t they still virtual reality games, though?" Ban Zhang frowned. "You shouldn"t have any problems handling the interface."

"There was a bug and I couldn"t log off."

"I helped him take off the visor and forced a shutdown," Tang Qi Hong explained. She then turned to the counter. "We should inform them of that booth."

After that was done, we proceeded to the barbeque restaurant where Tong Xue had reserved a table for us.

"That was fun!" Tong Xue stretched himself. "I haven"t had that much fun a long time!"

"Same," Ban Zhang agreed. "When was the last time I played a game?"

I didn"t voice my complaint that it had to be a role-playing game of all things. That genre really wasn"t my kind of thing, but I wasn"t antisocial enough to not read the mood and protest against the majority. Sometimes we should just go with the flow instead of being stubborn and self-centered and ruining the fun for others.

How did we end up playing a game in a net café, though? I wondered. Apparently we had some time before the celebration party, and we still had to wait for Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue, who were unexpectedly taking more time that we antic.i.p.ated. While waiting, we decided to hang out, and Tong Xue spotted the net café just two blocks away from the barbeque restaurant that he resereved a table in. With nothing else to do, we decided to have a quick game before the meal.

As it turned out, the game was a lot longer than quick, but fortunately, neither Zhu Jiao nor Bai Ning Xue had arrived yet. Still, the time was drawing close, so we had to end the session.

"Paying together or separately?" The cashier asked.

"Separately," we chorused. The cashier nodded, and proceeded to take our student cards one by one to register the fee deduction from our online accounts.

Once we completed the transactions, we then exited the net café and proceeded toward the barbeque restaurant. On the way there, we ran into Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue, who were approaching from the direction of the academy.

"Jiao! Ning Xue! Over here!"

Lian Rou called out to them and waved them over. The couple spotted us and hastened their pace. Zhu Jiao grinned and waved back.

"You guys done with whatever you needed to do?" Ban Zhang asked. Zhu Jiao nodded and retrieved a martial arts manual. We could see the characters "Mystical Earth Essence Formula" emblazoned across its cover in gold lettering.

"We also ran into Xin Xia on our way out." Zhu Jiao"s expression turned a little sad. "She was just about to enter isolation training."

"Xin Xia was against the attack on you, so she received the lightest punishment," Bai Ning Xue a.s.sured him. "We"ve done our best to consider the circ.u.mstances and will try to help her."

As the student council president, Bai Ning Xue had some influence and she put in a good word or two for Qing Xin Xia. She wasn"t able to absolve her completely of the match-rigging during the tournament, and Qing Xin Xia"s sentence remained at one month, but she was somehow able to restore the Green Dragon Sect disciple"s place in the student council.

She did not plan to do so for Li Chun Long, Gu Chun Song or any of the other condemned student council members.

"Thanks."

Zhu Jiao nodded. Bai Ning Xue smiled briefly, and then turned to the rest of us.

"Speaking of which, thanks to the actions of those who would degrade the prestige of the academy, I"ll need people to step up and replace them." her eyes settled on Tang Qi Hong. "Especially you, Qi Hong."

"Eh…"

Tang Qi Hong grimaced at the thought of responsibility.

"I apologize for the way the rest of the student council members treated you and Feng Tian Yong, but this time I"ll make sure neither of you are left out." Bai Ning Xue frowned. "I have no idea how they did it. They told me that you both rejected the posts…"

"That was partly my fault." Tang Qi Hong looked a little embarra.s.sed. "I made the declaration that I refuse to serve in the same student council as you, and they took that literally."

"I hope you"ll change your mind. I"ll need you." Bai Ning Xue sighed. "I"ve managed to convince Tian Yong to come back, and I still have Jiao to help me, but with Xin Xia in isolation training, we"re short on numbers."

"We also asked Du Lang to join as a student council member," Zhu Jiao reminded her, and then he glanced at me. "You too, Wu."

"Don"t wanna."

I sure as h.e.l.l didn"t want to have a ma.s.sive load of responsibilities dumped onto my shoulders. I wanted to do my own things, and I already had precious few free time as it was. Sighing, I scratched my head and turned away.

"I"m not cut out for the post."

"At least consider it for a few days. The offer still stands." Bai Ning Xue stared at me intently. I grimaced.

"I still have the Blood Blades thing to worry about…"

"W…well…" Tong Xue jumped in, trying to change the subject. "For now, let"s have fun! We"re here to celebrate Jiao"s victory and his winning the tournament! No talk of work or school or student council is allowed! Tonight, we dine in paradise!"

We all tramped into the restaurant and after clarifying his ident.i.ty, a waitress brought us to a table. Before long, we were all roasting meat over a grille and enjoying ourselves.

"We need more meat!"

"Chicken…I prefer chicken."

"Nah, beef is where it is at!"

"Why can"t you have both?" I interrupted when Tong Xue bickered with Zhu Jiao. They both stared at me, then glanced at each other.

"Good point!"

"Let"s have both!"

"Ugh…this is too much meat. I hope I don"t get fat…"

"You"re way too thin, Qi Hong!" Lian Rou reprimanded her before dropping a bunch of meat on her best friend"s plate. "Here! Have more!"

"Hey, shouldn"t you be more worried about yourself?!" Tang Qi Hong countered by dropping a spoonful of meat on her G.o.dsister"s plate. The two girls then giggled.

"Hmm, this is some good quality meat," Ban Zhang remarked as he savored a juicy piece after barbequing it to perfection.

"It has to go with this honey sauce!" I told him as I dipped my piece of meat into one of the bowls they offered, then plunged a spoonful of it into my mouth. Gosh, but this was just heavenly. If the restaurant wasn"t so expensive, I didn"t mind eating here everyday.

"How do you find the food here?" Zhu Jiao asked Bai Ning Xue, who had stayed silent thus far and ate beside him in a dignified manner. What the h.e.l.l was she supposd to be, some high-cla.s.s rich ojou-sama? Wait…that was exactly what she was. Never mind.

"Good," she replied with a nod. Though she must be used to more delicious and high-quality food than here, belonging to a rich household and major clan. They had professional chefs preparing her every meal at home.

"You should try this barbeque sauce!" Zhu Jiao told her, pushing one of the cups toward her. "It has quite a tangy taste."

"Sure."

Bai Ning Xue didn"t object and dipped her piece of meat slightly into the cup and ate it with small bites. I had to say, her way of eating was different from Tang Qi Hong"s, or Lian Rou"s. The two best friends were eating normally, though I had to admit that they were a d.a.m.ned sight more pleasant than the guys devouring and scarfing down their meat after plunging their pieces into sauces and bathing them with thick fluids.

I was one of those guys, to be honest, and I felt a little embarra.s.sed and awkward doing that in front of the girls. But since the other guys, including Zhu Jiao, didn"t restrain themselves, I saw no reason to hold back either.

While we relaxed and sat back, enjoying the meal and conversing happily, a sudden crash suddenly broke through the casual atmosphere. Within a few seconds, all the customers in the restaurant fell silent.

Then the silence was immediately broken by a shout.

"What kind of f.u.c.king meat did you serve me!?"

One guy, dressed in a gaudy white jacket and pants, with a pink shirt underneath and yellow-shaded gla.s.ses, was shouting. Despite his age, he was wearing golden rings on his fingers and displaying his opulent wealth openly. Around him were similarly dressed teenagers, all clad in flashy suits (that spoke volumes of their horrible fashion sense), jeweled chains hanging from pockets, golden b.u.t.tons, and all those cliché stuff.

"I"m sorry!"

A waitress was bowing her head humbly, her hands trembling as she clutched her now empty tray. Evidently, the white suited guy had swiped the plate of meat from her tray.

"Is this the best quality meat you can get? What kind of low cla.s.s restaurant is this?!" the guy continued to bawl.

"No…I"m sorry…I…"

"What"s the matter?"

The manager appeared and stared quizzically at the customers. He glanced at the waitress, and she quickly nodded when she got the hint. Bowing, she backed off to allow her manager to handle this.

However…

"Who says you can go?!"

The guy"s hand shot out and seized her wrist, causing the waitress to shriek in shock.

"Please, Mr. Customer…if you have any complaints, you can give them to me. I hope you will not give trouble to my staff."

The manager was handling this with the air of an experienced man who had dealt with such cases several times before. I had to admire his patience and politeness.

"In the meantime, I ask you to release my staff…"

"Eh? Do you not know who I am?" the guy sneered as he rose to his foot, while pulling the poor waitress toward him.

"The eldest son of the Mu Clan," Tong Xue muttered darkly as he watched from his seat. Most of us had stopped eating, having lost our appet.i.te at the disgraceful scene.

"The Mu Clan?" I asked.

"Do you seriously not know who the Mu Clan is?" Tong Xue responded with a scowl. "You"ve been in Martial City for three years now! Surely you"ve heard of them!"

"They"re a major clan, one of the more influential ones in Martial City," Tang Qi Hong replied softly as she shot a glare in the Mu son"s direction. "That person is Mu Jiao Ao. His father is the police superintendent of the city."

"That"s why he thinks he can get away with anything." Ban Zhang shook his head, his expression dark. "This isn"t the first time…I think he"s trying to extort a free meal from this restaurant."

"I also heard that his mother runs a restaurant, so he"s using his father"s authority to back up his actions while shaming the other restaurants and damaging their reputation." Lian Rou"s shoulders slumped as she was unable to look at them.

Meanwhile, the manager was handling the situation fine. He seemed aware of Mu Jiao Ao"s reputation, and knew how to respond.

"I apologize if you think our meat isn"t up to your expectations. I"ll just refund you for this meal then and ask that you leave quietly."

"Hmph. What a terrible restaurant. One of the best barbeque restaurants in Martial City? You"re noehere near my mom"s cooking!"

The manager seemed to be resisting the urge to say, "Why don"t you eat at your mom"s f.u.c.king restaurant then?" but he was more professional than that. Instead, he lowered his head apologetically.

"Again, I apologize…"

"You shouldn"t be the one apologizing!"

Everyone turned to see Zhu Jiao approaching the group of rich, gaudy guys and the manager (as well as the poor waitress). He jabbed a finger at Mu Jiao Ao.

"Let go of her."

"Huh?" Mu Jiao Ao stared at him in disbelief, and tightened his grip on the hapless waitress as rage filled his eyes. "Do you know who you"re talking to, punk?"

"The son of the police superintendent?" Zhu Jiao shrugged. "So what? You think I"ll be afraid of you because your dad is a policeman? That doesn"t change the fact that what you"re doing is wrong! You"re abusing your authority!"

"Huh?" Mu Jiao Ao sneered. Letting go of the waitress, who fell forward – fortunately, the manager was on hand to catch her before she hit the ground with her face, he stomped toward Zhu Jiao. "Who do you think you are, trash?"

Did that idiot seriously just call the champion of this year"s Wu Ling Academy tournament trash? Oh, gosh…the irony.

"Since you want to die so much, let"s get him!"

Mu Jiao Ao gestured for his friends and they all stood up.

"If you want to fight, can you please take it outside?" the manager began to ask, only for Mu Jiao Ao to suddenly lash out and cause him to stumble. Fortunately, Zhu Jiao was on hand to block his fist. The collision of qi blasted out and shattered the gla.s.s on the surrounding tables, causing customers to cry out.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up, old b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Mu Jiao Ao snapped.

"Hey!" Zhu Jiao growled. "There"s no need to drag innocent people into this…"

"Do I look like I care?!"

With a roar, Mu Jiao Ao flipped the table up, and his friends all pounced when he attacked, the lot of them seeking to overwhelm Zhu Jiao with sheer numbers.

"!!!"

Zhu Jiao managed to activate his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor in time, and he managed to deflect the first few attacks, but…

"Whoa!"

"Argh!"

Several of Mu Jiao Ao"s comrades were repelled, skidding backward when they found their strikes blocked.

"Geez, Jiao, you…"

Tong Xue was shaking his head as he stepped forward, a cynical smile spreading over his face. He stepped to the side.

"…you just can"t help sticking your nose into other people"s businesses, can you?"

"That"s why we"re friends, to be honest," I replied as I came up at Zhu Jiao"s right side, shaking my sizzling hands. Those rich kids might be arrogant punks, but they certainly had the power to back up their att.i.tude and boasting.

"You guys…" Zhu Jiao glanced at me, Tong Xue and even Ban Zhang, who had also helped to ward off several of these attacks.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Mu Jiao Ao roared. "I"ll get my father to arrest all of you! I"ll make sure you all get thrown into jail for this! You"ll regret this…!"

"I"m sorry for dragging you guys into this mess," Zhu Jiao remarked, blatantly ignoring Mu Jiao Ao"s raving and ranting. "I should have handled this better…"

"Nah, one for all and all for one, right?" Tong Xue grinned.

"Besides, like Wu said, we"re friends," Ban Zhang agreed. "We can"t just abandon you."

"And it was high time an arrogant young master appeared in this story," I added. Everyone turned to stare at me.

"Arrogant young master?"

"What?"

"The h.e.l.l you"re talking about?"

"Um…I mean, isn"t an arrogant young master a staple in these sort of stories?" I asked with a tilt of my head. "The guy boasting about his clan and father, and abusing his authority to bully others? I was finding it weird that we haven"t run into an actual one this late into the story…"

"What the f.u.c.k are you guys blabbering about?! Get them!"

Mu Jiao Ao ordered, and his cronies all sprang forward once again…

…only for them to retreat when a wall of lightning burst into being.

"This…!"

"What the h.e.l.l is this?!"

The electric barrier was so potent that the rich kids realized they couldn"t just carelessly approach it. They studied it warily and exchanged puzzled glances. Upon realizing that none of us four guys had created the lightning barrier, their confusion increased.

"Who…?"

"You"re all interrupting our meal. Leave."

Bai Ning Xue stepped out from our table and glared at Mu Jiao Ao and his posse. At first, the superintendent"s son"s face darkened in rage and his eyes bulged in fury when he turned to glare at the person with the audacity to order him about, but the moment he saw who she was, he turned frightfully pale, his mouth flapping open like a goldfish"s.

"You…you…you…!"

"What are you waiting for?" Bai Ning Xue asked icily.

"N…nothing! I"m very sorry for interrupting your meal, Miss Bai!"

Mu Jiao Ao was comically falling over now, unable to withstand her glacial gaze. He quickly spun around, gesturing to his comrades.

"Go! Let"s go!"

"…right!"

"Hurry!"

Clearly Mu Jiao Ao"s friends recognized Bai Ning Xue as well, for they were also hastily running out of the restaurant.

"One more thing," Bai Ning Xue added, causing the entire group to freeze in the middle of their retreat.

"W…what is it?" Mu Jiao Ao gulped, not daring to turn around to look at her.

"I don"t mind if you tell your father about this," she declared. "But I"ll be giving my own version of the events."

"N…no, I wouldn"t dare mention this to anybody!"

Bowing profusely, Mu Jiao Ao then beat it out of the restaurant, his entourage trailing him as closely as they could.

"Whoa…"

That was unexpected, I thought. Normally we guys would be teaching the arrogant young master through violence, only to have him and his father come to take revenge, but Zhu Jiao would somehow defeat even the father himself, and then the entire Mu Clan would come and try all sorts of nonsensical methods to kill him. It was unrealistic that a major, rich clan would waste all that time, effort and money to kill a kid who was still in high school and wasn"t really a threat economically or socially, but wuxia and xianxia antagonists never operated on logic.

On the other hand, Bai Ning Xue solved that problem without resorting to any kind of violence and even forestalled any motive Mu Jiao Ao might have to get his father and entire clan involved in some sort of absurd revenge plot that revolved killing the protagonist (Zhu Jiao) for no reason other than because he was the protagonist and needed a bunch of antagonists to kill.

I couldn"t help but admit that I was impressed. Not just me. All the other guys were amazed too. Even the other two girls, Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou, were staring at Bai Ning Xue in disbelief. The four of us exchanged glances, not knowing what to make of this unexpected situation.

We all turned to stare at Bai Ning Xue, who was returning to her seat in that usual cool, elegant manner of hers.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked, glancing at us with a quizzical expression as if nothing had happened. "Let"s return to eating. We still have a lot of meat left."