A Level 25 wanderer clad in blue armor was standing beneath the icy walls and looking at me calmly. He wielded a s.h.i.+ny blade, and his equipment was clearly extraordinary. One might even say that it rivaled my own.
The ID floating above his head—Dominating Heaven Blade LV-25.
I was caught by surprise for a moment. This Dominating Heaven Blade was no ordinary player, and the people standing behind him—the Level 26 warrior, Dominating Warrior G.o.d and the Level 26 magic knight, Dominating Knight G.o.d—were listed on the Heavenly Ranking!
Are they from the Domination Clan?
I frowned. At this point, it was obvious who this Dominating Heaven Blade was. He was the boss of the Domination Clan and the future leader of the Domination Guild!
"Do you have business with me, brother?"
I asked while showing them a lazy smile. So what if they were a king who covered the sky, or a pro with absolute strength? It didn"t matter to me because... I was just a Glutinous Rice Ball seller.
Dominating Heaven Blade smiled apologetically at me and said, "Brother, you were selling Rank 2 Magic Consumables, Glutinous Rice b.a.l.l.s, weren"t you?"
"Yep. Would you like to buy them?" I asked.
"Of course!" Dominating Heaven Blade laughed. "I can see that you"re a candid person. That"s right, our clan may be planning an activity or two in the near future, and there are more buyers than there are players with Rank 2 Magic Cooking right now! How many Glutinous Rice b.a.l.l.s do you have, brother?"
"100, or 10 stacks. It should be enough for 10 Mages or Priests."
"Ah? That many…"
Dominating Heaven Blade"s eyes lit up. "I"m willing to buy them all off you. Would you be willing to give me a discount?"
I nodded. "Sure. Does -10% discount sound alright to you?"
"Ah?!" Dominating Heaven Blade was clearly caught off-guard by my intent to slaughter his wallet. The Domination Clan planned to reign over Floating Ice City, so they would definitely become an obstacle in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" path in the future. Therefore, any opportunity to weaken them was an opportunity not to be missed!
"-10%, huh…" Dominating Heaven Blade thought for a moment before replying, "Very well, -10% it is. Let"s trade right away!"
"Alright!"
I opened the trade window and selected 10 stacks of Glutinous Rice b.a.l.l.s. Dominating Heaven Blade placed his 11 gold coins. Tsk tsk, he"s definitely overflowing with riches!
Once our trade was complete, Dominating Heaven Blade asked, "So, brother, are you interested in cooperating with us?"
"No."
I replied indifferently before walking away from Floating Ice City. I was sure that Rank 2 Cooking would become fairly common in a couple of days, not to mention that I wasn"t willing to supply high grade food to my compet.i.tors either.
Dominating Knight G.o.d suddenly rushed over and brandished his spear in anger. "Don"t you think you"re being a bit rude, brat? Our boss is talking to you! Don"t you think you"re some hot s.h.i.+t just because you"re number two on the Heavenly Ranking!"
By now I was outside of the city zone, and my name had turned red in color. I shot Dominating Knight G.o.d a look and asked in a cold tone, "What, you want to fight me?"
The knight looked hesitant, but Dominating Warrior G.o.d rushed me while shouting, "Less talking, more fighting! We"re not afraid of you!"
Dominating Warrior G.o.d raised his sword and attacked me. His footsteps were clean, and his movements were perfectly smooth. I didn"t think that a brawny man like him would be able to move this well.
Rustle rustle…
I spun on my feet and dodged Dominating Warrior G.o.d"s sword strike with inches to spare. Then, I raised my right hand slightly and hit him on the back of his head with a glowing red palm.
Slap!
118!
My barehanded attack completely broke through his defense!
Dominating Warrior G.o.d stared at me with wide-eyed astonishment. "You… you… h-how is this possible?"
It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade slowly walked over while chiding his subordinate, "What are you doing, Three? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is our friend! Calm yourself!"
"Boss? I…"
Dominating Warrior G.o.d couldn"t say anything. In fact, he looked rather ashamed. By now, some of the players around us had recognized us and started pointing fingers, chattering.
"Did you see them? They"re all players on the Heavenly Ranking! That one over there is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the number two player of today"s Heavenly Ranking! And those three are the experts of the Domination Clan!"
"Haha, how interesting. Did you guys see how Dominating Warrior G.o.d was defeated by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in one hit?"
"Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand clearly thinks that the Dominating Warrior G.o.d is beneath his attention. He would"ve one-shot his opponent had he used a weapon!"
"Hah, the Domination Clan has finally met their match!"
The crowd"s comments caused Dominating Warrior G.o.d"s face to turn even uglier. Dominating Heaven Blade immediately let out a laugh and tried to smooth things over. "It"s just a small misunderstanding. Sometimes you make friends with your opponents, right? Your skills are very impressive, brother! You look like a master of the art!"
I nodded and smiled at him. "Thank you."
I turned around and left after that. No one saw my face from the start until the end. The only identifiable feature on my person was my dark cyan cloak.
I sucked in a deep breath after I had left the danger zone and entered Frost Forest. Thank goodness no one tried to encourage the crowd to hunt me down, a red name, or I would"ve been in real danger.
It was time to return to Frost Mound and accept a quest or two from Sentinel Leader Fark. I wanted to reach Level 30 before anyone, get my second cla.s.s promotion and catch a pet as soon as possible!
I didn"t even bother to kill the monsters on my way back to Frost Mound.
However, I noticed that something was wrong when I returned to the zone. Normally, a couple of skeletal soldiers or two would be patrolling around the area, but today everyone was gone. In fact… that idiot Gui Guzi was missing as well!
Rustle rustle rustle...
When I entered the blood pool zone, someone suddenly sent me a message—
Gui Guzi: "Watch out! Wind Fantasy is here…"
Surprised, I looked up and saw everything I needed to understand the situation. Gui Guzi"s lifeless corpse was on the ground, and Wind Fantasy was standing right next to him. The wanderer in white cloak was toying with a dark green dagger, looking like he was waiting for something.
Eh? I thought Wind Fantasy is a sword user?
I was surprised. Since when did he use a dagger?
If there was one thing I was sure of, it would be that Gui Guzi was having a hard time. His corpse was currently at Level 17. Just how many times was he killed to drop this low?
I was both impressed and exasperated by Gui Guzi"s stubbornness. He never even sent me a message until I came back.
Suddenly, Wind Fantasy noticed me and turned around to stare at me. I felt his gaze settling on my person from behind the white cloak, causing chills to appear all over my body.
Beep!
He brought out his sword and pointed it toward me. The gesture seemed to say "You"ve finally returned. I"ve been waiting for you."
There was clearly no point in talking. Fight!
I pulled a skeleton out from the blood pool next to me and successfully activated Summon Undead. I then ordered the little skeleton to charge Wind Fantasy while I lurked around the sides.
"Keke!"
The brave and fearless little skeleton charged Wind Fantasy as ordered even though the latter was pouncing toward it like lightning. His sword was glowing silver with enigmatic energy just like my own was glowing red.
Thwack!
415!
A shocking amount of damage appeared above the little skeleton"s head. It was killed in a single hit!
Staying calm despite the loss, I executed a half-zigzag twice before attacking from opponent from an unexpected direction. The Weeping Fire Blade caught on fire, and a green glow surrounded it—Slayer Slas.h.!.+
Clang!
However, a dagger appeared in Wind Fantasy"s left hand, and he blocked the blow with uncanny accuracy. As a result, he only took about half the damage he should"ve received. His counterattack was swift and fierce, and it came from a tricky angle I couldn"t dodge at all. I had no choice but to take the hit.
Puchi!
287!
His sword plunged straight through my heart. How ruthless!
However, I also seized the opening to cut him across the neck. The attack dealt 311 damage, and I followed it up with a backhanded sweep that reduced my opponent"s HP to less than 20%!
Wind Fantasy retreated in a hurry after realizing that he was at a disadvantage. I, of course, pressed my advantage and chased after them!
Suddenly, something unexpected happened—
Wind Fantasy pulled out a blue card from his chest and tossed it at me. The card transformed into falling snow and encased even the ground in ice!
"Not good!"
I felt my heart skip a beat. It was a Skill Card!
Bang bang bang!
Three icicles suddenly appeared beneath my feet and penetrated my body, dropping me to the ground instantly!
Beep!
Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" used "Ice and Snow Card"!
I died and dropped to Level 26. My soul was released from my body as a result.
Without any hesitation, I ran back to my body and revived!
Swoos.h.!.+
I charged toward my opponent again and clashed blades with him. During this time, I flung open my palm and threw a red card at him!
Fire Wolf Card, Blaze!
Boom!
A circle of fire appeared around Wind Fantasy. All he managed was a scream before he was burned to death. I had revived so quickly that he didn"t even have a chance to heal himself.
Thump!
I collapsed to the ground before grabbing the potions Wind Fantasy dropped after his death. Too bad he didn"t drop his equipment.
Gui Guzi chose this moment to revive before asking me in a determined tone, "Want to camp him?!"
I nodded. "Of course! We"ll camp him until the seas run dry, and the stones go soft! We"ll camp him until the end of time itself!"
"Alright!" Gui Guzi responded while clenching his fists angrily.
Wind Fantasy"s revive point—another frozen graveyard—was a short distance away from here, so it would take at least 10 minutes for his soul to show up. However, he didn"t revive even after 10 minutes had pa.s.sed. It was probably because he knew that he had no chance against the two of us together.
About an hour later, Gui Guzi let out a yawn and said, "f.u.c.k, I"m too tired. I"m going to bed…"
"You!"
I stared at him furiously. What a hopeless man! How could you sleep after you had been farmed all the way down to Level 17?!
That being said, Gui Guzi did look seriously exhausted. Oh well, I can do this myself!
And so, Gui Guzi climbed into his grave and went to bed.
A while later, a shadow suddenly entered my view. Wind Fantasy had revived!
I immediately charged toward him and instagibbed him with Slayer Slas.h.!.+
Wonderful, with that death Wind Fantasy dropped to Level 26 and lost his number one spot! Hahaha!
Another moment pa.s.sed, and Wind Fantasy came back to life again. But this time, he was faster than I was, and he hit me with a lightning fast double strike before I could do anything. The half-second delay in my brain was absolutely deadly, and I was killed before I could react at all.
I felt like my lungs were about to explode after I had dropped back to Level 25. Upon reviving, I immediately slipped underground with Earth Escape, burst out of the ground and killed Wind Fantasy with a basic attack and Slayer Slash.
The murderous exchange continued for a while. Before we knew it, both of us had dropped out of the Heavenly Ranking.
I was camping Wind Fantasy"s body as usual when a beep suddenly entered my ears.
System Notice: Player "Wind Fantasy" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?
I clicked "Yes" after a moment of surprise had pa.s.sed.
A few seconds later, he sent me a message—
"Let"s stop here. It doesn"t benefit you or me to PK each other all the way back to Level 0."
I gave his message some thought and decided that he was right. I replied, "Sure, but you"ve got to explain yourself. Did you come to Frost Mound again and again because of me?"
A few minutes later, Wind Fantasy replied, "Of course not. Who the h.e.l.l do you think you are?"
Angry, I was about to shoot him a scathing reply when Wind Fantasy interrupted me. "Do you live in Jiangsu? Let"s meet offline!"
I immediately replied, "I"m in Suzhou. What about you?"
"Same. Let"s meet up at 3 pm tomorrow at Silver Fir Cafe, the one on the opposite side of Suzhou University of Science and Technology, 1st floor." Wind Fantasy"s reply was clean, direct, and commanding.
He revived again. This was the first time we didn"t just kill each other upon contact.
I let out a snort and smiled at him. "I"m fine with the meeting, but if you don"t show me your face now you can forget it!"
Wind Fantasy replied a bit exasperatedly, "Fine!"
I opened my eyes wide and waited.
Wind Fantasy slowly pulled down his hood and revealed himself. Long hair poured down his—no, her—shoulders like waterfall, and her exquisite, purple pupils stared at me with deep hostility.