Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 217 First Five (Part 2)

As always, the names of the party members who secured First Five appeared in the World Channel. As one of the last players to join the party, Ye Ci’s name appeared last. It was easy to miss the name “Gongzi You” if one was not pay attention.

However, even if Ye Ci herself missed the name, players in the World Channel did not. Before long, some of the players with sharp eyes found Gongzi You among Upwards Ho!’s party roster, and a heated discussion began in the World Channel.

“Question: Am I hallucinating? I seemed to have seen Gongzi You’s name just now.”

“Eh, I saw it as well, but it was flooded by other messages. I was not sure if it was really her.”

“Are you for real? How is that possible? Didn’t Gongzi You leave the game? You must’ve gotten it wrong! Just think about it… How many fake Gongzi Yous appeared since the disappearance of the real one?”

“But… It doesn’t look like an impostor to me…”

“Are you kidding me? Will a fake Gongzi You appear in Upwards Ho!? Even if the world is filled with fake copies of Gongzi You, do you think that it’s possible for one to be in Upwards Ho!?”

“Ehhhh? Did yet another Gongzi You appear again?”

“You fools! Didn’t Gongzi You die a long time ago? How can the dead log into the game?”

“Who said that Gongzi You is dead? She’s the god-tier player of our continent! She won’t die that easily!”

“They made an analysis about this in the forums. As a professional player, it’s impossible for Gongzi You to have quit the game just like that. There’s only one possible reasoning behind this. Even if she’s not dead, she definitely won’t still be alive!”

“Bullshit! What if she ran into some sort of trouble in real life? I know you maggots in the Western Continent wish for her death, which is why you embraced such a conclusion happily!”

“Exactly! Long live Gongzi You! Long live Gongzi You!”

……

As Upwards Ho! members were still flabbergasted by their dogshit luck, the World Channel had already exploded into chaos. The players, who were surprised by the appearance of Gongzi You, initially expressed their shock about Gongzi You’s return, but the conversation eventually degraded into a mudslinging contest between players from all four continents.

Ye Ci, who was the focus of their discussion, was oblivious to the uproar she had caused in the World Channel. At that moment, she was standing beside the slain BOSS, praying earnestly to God, hoping that good Hunter equipment would be included in the loot drop. At that point, the loot did not matter to her. If the BOSS did not yield any drops for the Hunter class, Ye Ci would definitely be frowned upon by the Hunters in Upwards Ho!.

Fruit Jelly who was known as a Red Hand walked up to Ye Ci who was praying to God. “Gongzi, I told you a long time ago, there’s use clasping the Buddha’s feet when danger arises. You should’ve gone to the Archbishop a long time ago and taken a dip in the Holy Fountain to wash away your bad luck.” said Fruit Jelly with a smirk.

Ye Ci rolled her eyes at Fruit Jelly, “Nobody will mistake you for a mute if you keep quiet.”

“Alright, alright! I’ll shut up.” sighed Fruit Jelly. She stared at Ye Ci with an expression full of disdain and waved her hand dismissively, “Off with you. I don’t want you anywhere near me when I loot the corpse. I might get some of your bad luck, you know.”

“Oi.. Oi.. Oi..” Ye Ci’s face twitched.

“Don’t you dare threaten me. Take a look, all the Hunters are glaring at you now. For your own safety, I suggest that you back off.”

Ye Ci stole a glance at the Hunters who were staring at her with bitter expressions. Guilt flooded her heart. I did not ask for this bad luck! I want to be lucky for once as well!

“Guild leader, can you stand away from the corpse?” one of the Rogues in the party spoke up as Ye Ci began sobbing internally. It was the last straw for her. She walked away from the BOSS’s corpse, and silently knelt at a corner, tracing circles with her finger.

Those words were just too hurtful.

I want to have good luck as well! I want to be someone who is lucky as well! thought Ye Ci as she sobbed.

The guild members gathered around Fruit Jelly, praying for a good loot drop. Some of them even began lighting up incense. They were looking forward to the bountiful loot yielded by obtaining the First Five for slaying a final boss in Expert difficulty.

Ye Ci stared at her party members with eyes full of hatred, “Curse you all! You will never get any equipment from this BOSS! You will never roll more than 10 points with the RNG! And I hope that all the loot drops are skill books for the Hunter class….”

Before Ye Ci could finish her sentence, the temperature of her surroundings plunged. Her guild members were shooting daggers at her with their icy glares, “What? I’m already very far away from the corpse!” asked Ye Ci in an innocent tone.

“I think we should gag her up before we loot any BOSSes in the future.” said Let Go Of That Girl to Bai Mo.

“Oi.. Oi..” Ye Ci immediately voiced her protest.

Which, of course, fell on deaf ears as the party members nodded their heads in agreement. “What the heck? I’ve already lost my right to be near the corpse! What else do you...”

Before Ye Ci could complete her sentence, she was surrounded by the Hunters in the party, who were staring at her with adoration clear in their expressions. “What are you guys doing?” Ye Ci was uncomfortable with the situation.

“Guild leader… The next time they loot the BOSS for any drops, please place a jinx on them so that the BOSS will yield only items for the Hunter class.” said Naturally Cute as she stared at Ye Ci, which earned her the approval of the rest of the Hunters. “Yes! We’re counting on you, guild leader!”

The corner of Ye Ci’s mouth twitched, “I don’t think it’s possible…”

“It is! It’ll be great if all of those skill books are Hunter’s Mark. We need it! If the BOSS can drop 9 of them, it’ll b awesome!”

Ye Ci silently turned away from the Hunters. Her heart was filled with sorrow. What the heck? It’s rare enough for the BOSS to have multiple skillbooks of the same class! The chances of it yielding several copies of the same skillbook is next to zero…

Relief came to the members of the party after Fruit Jelly looted the BOSS, and the drops were distributed to each member by Bai Mo. However, not everybody in the party had the luck of enjoying part of the loot. Bai Mo patted Ye Ci on her shoulder, expressing his endless sympathy for Ye Ci’s bad luck.

Upwards Ho! began clearing the dungeon as frequent as they could after securing a spot in the First Five. As sponsored dungeon clearing of the Castle Ruins Expert difficulty would begin in a month, they had to pick up the pace so that Upwards Ho! members could obtain better equipment in preparation for the sponsored dungeon clearing.

As the commander of the second squadron, Purity Essence was able to familiarize himself with the members of his party. The second squadron was able to clear the Castle Ruins on Normal difficulty, and was making preparations to challenge the dungeon on its Expert difficulty.

Purity Essence would naturally come to Ye Ci’s mind whenever the second squadron was mentioned. She have not interacted with Purity Essence since he joined Upwards Ho!, and was away from the game for an entire month. The only information she had about the progress of Purity Essence was from Let Go Of That Girl.

In truth, due to the incident at the Swamp of Sorrows, many of the guild’s officers and most of its members were dissatisfied when Purity Essence was appointed as the commander of the second squadron.

Ye Ci herself was worried that Purity Essence would suffer as a result of the gossip about him that was circulating amongst the guild members. She even paid extra attention to Purity Essence of out worry. However, after the injury she suffered, Ye Ci was unable to log into the game for an entire month, and she lost track of Purity Essence’s progress of settling into the guild. To her surprise, Let Go Of That Girl who was initially hostile to Purity Essence was now showering him with praise. It was a shock to Ye Ci.

“That guy is pretty good. He’s humble and very hardworking.” such was the assessment of Let Go Of That Girl on Purity Essence. At that time, Purity Essence was appointed as the commander of the second squadron as there was already two commanders in the first squadron. It was unnecessary to assign yet another commander to the first squadron. Other than that, the members of the first squadron were made up of the guild’s officers and elites, and Ye Ci was worried that conflict might arise between the two parties. The most important reason Purity Essence was assigned to the second squadron, however, was because of the fact that it was impossible for Upwards Ho! to grow with only the first squadron. At that time, the second squadron did not have a fixed roster, and a charismatic commander was needed to lead the scattered members of the second squadron.

Because of those reasons, Purity Essence was assigned to the second squadron upon joining Upwards Ho!. He faced an unprecedented problem when he took charge of the second squadron. Its members were undisciplined, and were equipped with grossly inferior equipment. Members of the second squadron saw the first squadron as the main force of Upwards Ho!, and came to a conclusion that they were mere substitutes. Many of the second squadron members even gave up on improving themselves. Purity Essence did not even blink in the face of such a difficult problem. He began training and guiding his party members, while slowly reorganizing the second squadron. It took him two weeks to finally organize a fixed roster for the second squadron, and another two weeks to improve the combat potential of the party. Under his leadership, the second squadron was able to clear Castle Ruins at Normal difficulty.

The members of the second squadron shed tears of joy when they cleared the Castle Ruins, and Purity Essence himself cried out loud in the dungeon. It was a very touching moment that Ye Ci could only witness through recordings from the party members. Despite that, Ye Ci could feel that Purity Essence gave his all to the second squadron.

She was glad that she made the decision to recruit Purity Essence into Upwards Ho!.

Despite that, a brief episode happened when the second squadron cleared the Castle Ruins. After noticing the good performance of a number of players in the second squadron, Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu had a talk with Purity Essence in hopes that they could induct the players into the first squadron. Despite his reluctance, Purity Essence did not reject their request. But when Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu approached the players, they invitation was rejected.

“We’re members of the second squadron! We ain’t going to the first squadron.” This was the answer received by the two commanders.

Ye Ci smiled when she heard about the incident. Purity Essence was indeed a man of high caliber. However, Bai Mo was worried when he received the news.

“Isn’t that a good thing? Why are you worried?” Ye Ci was unable to come up with a reason for Bai Mo to be worried about it.

“From a commander’s point of view, it is indeed something good. This means that Purity Essence is a very capable commander, and that you’re a good judge of character. It is, however, quite bad for the development of the guild.” said Bai Mo as he chewed on a piece of roasted chicken. This was one of the wonderful features of Fate. As long as one has the money, one could purchase all sorts of delicacy from the NPCs.

“What do you mean?” asked Ye Ci. She eyed Bai Mo who was enjoying the roasted meat, and snatched a piece of roasted chicken away from him.

“Although Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu’s actions were rather uncourteous, the fact that those players chose to remain in the second squadron meant that they’ve begun developing a cadre mentality. If such thing is left unchecked, it will be bad for our guild.”

After giving Bai Mo’s words a moment of thought, Ye Ci stated her own views, “From your point of view, it is indeed a problem. But.. Think about it.. What if the members of the first squadron have such a mentality as well?”

Bai Mo stared at Ye Ci incredulously, “What do you mean?”

“The first squadron is comprised of the elites of our guild. They’re always the first to explore a dungeon. This means that they’re seen as the strongest group in our guild. Don’t you think that it will give them a sense of superiority?” Ye Ci snorted. Not everyone disinclined towards bullying those that they perceive to be inferior. It was something that Ye Ci herself did in her past life. She was not naive. She knew that such a situation would arise even in a new guild created when she reincarnated into a new life. The strong would always bully and prey on the weak.

In truth, such flaws had always existed in every human. There was nothing we could do to change that fact. The only thing we could do was to turn a blind eye to the occurrences that were happening all around us.

Bai Mo appeared to be deep in thought after listening to Ye Ci’s words.

“You can go talk to those players, and ask them why they rejected the offer to join the first squadron. Do you think that they are unaware of the fact that the first squadron is the main force of the guild? And that the first squadron is the elite of our guild? They’re not idiots! They know that they would receive more benefits by joining the first squadron. But why did they then reject the offer? You told me that they’re forming themselves into a cadre, but can’t you see the cause behind all that? Can’t you see that the members of the first squadron have once caused them to be scarred??”

Bai Mo stared at Ye Ci for a long, silent moment before finally speaking up, “Little Ci, you’re always so straightforward… You know… It will cause more harm than good at times.”

“Bai Mo, kindness is something that I lack in my character. This is why I tend to look at things from my own selfish perspective. I’m able to see how ugly things are, and it helps with spotting the root of many problems.”

Hiya minna-san! Here's another awesome chapter translated by an awesomtacular translator! (That's me, by the way). I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

How's everybody doing? I don't know if it's because of the weather, but I've been down with a slight fever and light flu these few days... Even had mild sore throat on Saturday... Ughh.. The weather's just too hot nowadays...

Also.. To my Malaysian brethren.. Any of you play Mobile Legends, and heard about the thing in MSC 2018? Lmao... I can't decide which is more embrassing:

1. Having to resort to cheating to win

2. Not smart enough to cheat in a subtle way.

Go ASYN!!! You guys did well by standing firm in the face of injustice!