Chapter 145 Preparing for a New Dungeon

Ye Ci was too embarrassed to even ask Fluttering Red Feather about the final outcome of the First Blood for Blitz Cavern.

In her battle against Fleeting Time the other day, he had disconnected at the last second while still holding the flag. The system declared the battle as a draw.

For a dungeon like Blitz Cavern, there could only be 2 outcomes for the players. They would either need to fight against each other once again, or if either side chose to give up, both parties would be teleported out of the dungeon and had to settle the score on another day.

The battle had taken a huge toll on both Black Plum Guild and Awing the Heavens, forcing both of them to give up on the fight.

They would face off against each other another day.

Ye Ci had wanted to join Black Plum Guild for a second time in Blitz Cavern to have a rematch against Fleeting Time. Fluttering Red Feather, however, tactfully declined her offer. He had received news from Awing the Heavens that they would never hire Fleeting Time to fight for them again as their gains by doing so were heavily outweighed by their losses.

Since that was the case, Ye Ci immediately gave up on going to Blitz Cavern with Black Plum Guild. For her, the contents of the dungeon were not important. Her one and only goal was to have a duel against Fleeting Time. Although she was very unsatisfied with the outcome of the duel, Fleeting Time, who was suddenly disconnected from the game, must’ve felt worse.

Ye Ci was immediately delighted when she realized that Fleeting Time would definitely feel bad about the ordeal.

It was one of the rare moments that Ye Ci’s thoughts wandered elsewhere when she was in class. She had totally ignored whatever the lecturer was teaching in class. When the class was over, Ye Ci packed her stuff while humming to herself, preparing to head to the canteen. Fang Susu ran after Ye Ci and laughed after overhearing Ye Ci’s humming, “Yo yo yo, what happened? You seem to be in a good mood.”

Ye Ci looked at Fang Susu. She had grown even prettier than before. Fang Susu originally was a good looking girl. Although she was not slim and slender like the current beauty trend, she had her own charm. In the short period that she began dating, Fang Susu was lively and radiating youth. It was no wonder that people claimed that girls in love would practically “glow.” Despite not having experienced it, Ye Ci could see the glow clearly on Fang Susu.

“Aiyaya, what skincare products have you been using? Your face looks nice!” Ye Ci narrowed her eyes at Fang Susu while teasing the girl.

“Ah? I’ve been using the same ones that I’ve always used.” Fang Susu, who was oblivious to Ye Ci’s teasing, stroked her face.

“Says who? I think you’ve been applying a cosmetic called ‘Love’.”

“Y-you minx! W-what are you talking about?” Fang Susu blushed after catching on to the meaning of Ye Ci’s words. Even her neck was covered in a few shades of red. She immediately chased after Ye Ci.

The duo raced each other jovially. Ye Ci, who noticed that Fang Susu had followed her to the canteen, was curious, “Eh? Aren’t you eating with Qin Churuo today? Why are you with me?”

“Says who? I’ve been eating with our classmates as well alright? You on the other hand, have been going home to eat with your cousin! You’re the one who with the problem!”

Ye Ci did not deny Fang Susu’s words. Bai Mo did not have as many classes as Ye Ci and he was very obsessed with experimenting with different dishes in the kitchen. It wouldn’t be nice if she didn’t show him some support. She shrugged, “Exactly. But the cook went out to watch the E-Sports Tournament. Since there’s nobody cooking for me, I can only eat at the canteen.”

“Eh? Your cousin went as well?” Fang Susu’s face was full of curiosity, “Churuo went there too. He even grumbled that the event would be a bore without King this year.”

King. It was King again.

Ye Ci didn’t know much about the E-sports scene. The Virtual Reality genre had already been out in the market for quite some time now, and Ye Ci had started her gaming life with playing VR games. She didn’t have much knowledge about the games included in the E-Games Tournament. Bai Mo, however, was different. Ye Ci’s uncle was an E-Sports enthusiast, but his gaming skills could only bring him as far as the provincial level. He had never taken part in any competitions on the national level. Bai Mo used to brag to Ye Ci that he literally grew up watching his father play while sitting on his lap. That was why he had a passion for E-Sports that Ye Ci could not understand.

“Do you know who King is?” Although Fang Susu was a gamer, she was merely a PvE player. She had never paid much attention to the E-Sports scene. It was natural for the names of the stars to be unknown to her. Ye Ci at least knew more than Fang Susu. Although E-Sports was not her cup of tea, it was still a game. As long as it was a game, Ye Ci would at least have some limited knowledge of the topic.

“He was a God-tier player who has won the World Championship for the last 5 years in a row.” This was all the information Ye Ci had. She was not as knowledgeable as Tan Polang and Bai Mo when it came to the E-Sports players. They could even remember trivial and unimportant stuff about the players clearly.

“He must be a real pro then?”

“Yup, he’s very good.” No shit Sherlock. He was a world champion. It meant that he was the best player in the world. He was the champion for 5 years straight. He was an expert among experts.

“Then… Is he better than you?” In the eyes of most people, his or her sweetheart would always be the best. But with the presence of such a gleaming beacon like Ye Ci, Fang Susu had never felt that Qin Churuo was an expert. In truth, Qin Churuo was a very decent player, but in Fang Susu’s eyes, Ye Ci was the best. Hence the question.

“There’s nothing to compare.” Ye Ci shook her head, “It’s an entirely different world. The game played in E-sports has its own set of rules, while Virtual Reality games go by its own mechanics.”

“Huh?” Fang Susu did not understand the difference between the 2 genres.

“It’s like comparing Professor Luo and a wealthy businessman.” Professor Luo was a very famous person in Ye Ci’s university. It was known that he was the holder of 10 patents. He was literally a mad scientist.

Fang Susu nodded her head. Apparently she finally understood the difference between Ye Ci and King.

Bai Mo came home in the evening. Ye Ci had already prepared a meal by then. “Damn, I get to it right after coming home. It must be my lucky day.” exclaimed Bai Mo.

It was obvious that Bai Mo was very excited because of the E-Sports tournament. He began sharing his ‘adventure’ with Ye Ci. Although she wasn’t very interested in E-Sports, Ye Ci wouldn’t turn down somebody who was willing to share their joy with her.

“I think Noland will be the champion this year. He’s been suppressed by King for years. He finally has a chance.” With that, Bai Mo let out a long sigh, “It’s a shame that King isn’t here this year.” He continued, “Oh yeah, that brat Polang seems to know King. I‘ll have to get some details out of him the next time he’s home.”

Noting that the conversation was at its end, Ye Ci stood up, “How’s the sponsored-clearing team doing?”

“Oh, business is good. Our second squadron is doing their best as well; they have almost cleared the Frosty Wasteland Inner Sanctum. As for our main dungeon clearing team… It’s up to you I guess.”

Ye Ci gave the matter some thought. There would be a long prologue mission after the Frosty Wasteland Inner Sanctum. One of the requirements of the prologue mission was to slay a Field BOSS, which meant that a party was required to complete the quest. With the BOSS slain, a dungeon called Castle Ruins would be unlocked. Players who cleared Castle Ruins would then receive a key that could be used to unlock the next dungeon cluster, the Scorching Plains.

“If the guild isn’t short on funds, we can stop our guild’s sponsored dungeon clearing for some time and prepare for the prologue quest of Castle Ruins.” said Ye Ci after a long pause.

“What about you?”

“I have some preparations to make. I’ll help out with the quest if I have the time.” Ye Ci let out a grin.

It had been quite a long time since Ye Ci last showed up in the guild encampment. She hadn’t had the chance to take a stroll in the compound for a long time. That was why she became a walking exhibit the moment she showed up in the Life Area. Clear Moon and Cutie Lemon immediately hugged Ye Ci tightly with tears streaming down their cheeks.

“W-what the heck?” Ye Ci nudged them aside and took in a long breath. The duo had nearly choked her to death.

“Sister, please, I beg of you, send that guy somewhere else, I beg of you!’ Clear Moon sniffed audibly and was about to break into tears.

Despite being slightly older, Cutie Lemon could not hold herself back as well. She strongly agreed to Clear Moon’s proposal, “Yes Gongzi, I beg of you, show us some mercy! Can you assign a different post for that guy and keep him away from the Life Area?”

Taking a glance at the direction the duo was pointing at, Ye Ci immediately knew who ‘that guy’ was. It was Carnivore.

The higher the grade of an equipment or a gem, the higher the chance for an equipment to be ruined when a Jeweller was setting the gem. Carnivore was leveling up as a Novice Jeweller with 40% progress. He was at the bottleneck, and the best way for him to level up was through setting gems into Blue Equipment. As a very unfortunate coincidence, Clear Moon and Cutie Lemon were the ones who could produce Blue Grade items. Didn’t it mean that they were Carnivore’s ideal ‘victims?’

Carnivore would walk into the tailor’s workshop and the forge every single day, grabbing as many products as he could. After his experiments depleted the products, he would the return to the Life Area for more. This caused distress to Clear Moon and Cutie Lemon. They, however, were too afraid to voice their anger at Carnivore. as he was given free reign by the guild. With Ye Ci here, they could finally voice their complaints.

Ye Ci responded with a grin, “Are you sure you don’t want to see him ever again?”

The duo nodded vigorously.

“Okay.” Ye Ci nodded, “I’ll just…”

Hi minna-san! *smiles sheepishly* I know it's been 4 days since I last released a chapter, I'm sorry! I've been sooooo busy these days, and with finals looming just over the horizon, I just can't find the time to TL much... Even TLing this chapter alone took me a few days.

ROTH release will probably be cut down drastically in October because I'll be having my finals and Rozen is busy as well so I hope you peeps can understand our difficulties T__T

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, teaser next page!

Oh, and I'll be taking part in a League tournament tomorrow (Saturday 1pm GMT+8) If I manage to get ahold of the stream's link I'll post it in the comments, do spectate and give Jimmi some cheers even if he feeds eh? :D