Chapter 247 We Shall Meet Again (Part 2)

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Ye Ci, who was holding on to Orthus, blushed, “Fleeting Time, you bastard! You bastard! You bastard! You’re the most shameless person I’ve ever known!”

Despite being on the receiving end of Ye Ci’s verbal abuse, Fleeting Time was still able to somehow produce a piece of satin and waved it at her, “Until next time! I’ll definitely miss you!”

Ye Ci continued shouting at Fleeting Time, but her voice was not able to reach his ears over the loud noise of Orthus’s machine. Her expression, however, was a telltale sign that her words were not exactly pleasing to the ears.

Sour Apple could feel goosebumps popping up all over her body. Dear lord! she could not believe her eyes and ears, will Fleeting Time even do something like that if he’s not interested in that girl?

This is too scary…

She pinched her face, and the pain told her that it was not a dream. Since when is Fleeting Time like this? Why do I not know anybody about it? Sour Apple was about to throw some mockery at Fleeting Time when she noticed that the man’s expression had grown cold the moment he retracted his gaze.

Sour Apple immediately swallowed her words. She knew the reason behind Fleeting Time’s behavior.

A smile formed on Sour Apple’s lips, “What? You’re missing her already?” she sighed.

Even when he was a man and she a woman, and despite their somewhat rocky relationship because of White Fairytale, Sour Apple had known Fleeting Time for more than a decade. She knew what was going on in his mind. He was merely sparing himself from the feeling of loneliness.

Fleeting Time narrowed his eyes at Sour Apple, “Why? Planning to tell a certain someone about what you saw?” his expression became that of a sly fox in the blink of an eye. He was fiddling with the reigns of the unicorn that he did not managed to give away, but there was an unmistaken killing intent in his eyes.

This was a behavior that was rarely displayed by Fleeting Time. He would usually remain indifferent and ignore Sour Apple at the mention of White Fairytale’s name. This time, however, was different. The killing intent and the cold expression on Fleeting Time’s face was something that was not familiar to Sour Apple. She came to the realization that Gongzi You meant more to Fleeting Time that she had ever imagined. “I’ll never involve myself in the thing between you and White Fairytale ever again.”

“There’s nothing going on between us.” Fleeting Time had always maintained a clear standing in this matter, “She’s just a former schoolmate of mine.” his expression grew colder, “I wish that I’ve never knew her.”

“It’s my bad.” Sour Apple grimaced, “I’ll never meddle with White Fairytale’s affairs again. Are you satisfied with this answer?”

“It has nothing to do with me.” Fleeting Time mounted his unicorn, “thank you for coming all the way here to deliver the skillbook.” and he began to leave.

But how could Sour Apple allow him to leave so easily? She immediately called out to Fleeting Time, “Do you care a lot about that Gongzi You?”

Fleeting Time stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face Sour Apple after a slight pause, “She’s the woman I like.” he said with an arrogant smile.

With that, Fleeting Time left towards the direction of Saint Light City.

Sour Apple was left dumbfounded. She let out a long sigh when she thought of Gongzi You, and then of Fleeting Time’s behavior. Some things are just full of mystery, and they could not be changed.

With a smile, she mounted her black warhorse and headed back to Saint Light City as well.

Silence once against settled in the Bloody Wilderness.

With its incredible speed, Orthus’s flying machine was able to reach the Southern Continent side of the Tempest Ravine in a very short amount of time.

The sky was already darkening, shrouding the land with shadows. Orthus stood on a pillar of the bridge and stared at Ye Ci, “You did better than expected, Elf.”

“Can I take that as a compliment?” Ye Ci shrugged with a smile.

This prompted drew a smile from Orthus. His facial features were even uglier than the rest of his kin, which made discerning the Goblin’s thoughts hard for Ye Ci whenever he made an expression. Of course, Orthus wasted no time in continuing the subject. He pulled a gold gilded book out of his pack and threw it at Ye Ci, “I really have nothing that I can thank you with, but it will make us Goblins look bad if I don’t thank you properly. This book is for you.”

The book was immediately snatched out of the air by Ye Ci. It was way thicker than the book given to her by De’frei. The words “Goblin Engineering: Siege Engines” were embroiled on the brown cover of the book, and its pages were not made with paper, and was instead thin goatskin. Despite the obvious traces that the book was often used by its previous owner, its pages were not torn nor were they worn.

Ye Ci’s heart skipped a beat when she noticed the title of the book.

Oh my God! Goblin Siege Engines!

In Ye Ci’s last life, a fragment of the book first appeared in the game six years after the launch of Fate in a chest behind a very powerful BOSS. It took 30 fragments to make a complete book, but the drop rate of the fragment was very low, and the dungeon was very difficult to clear. Even at the time of her reincarnation, there was only of few of such books in Fate.

But in her current life, Ye Ci was able to obtain a full copy of the book after only a single year, and this was a great source of joy for her.

By the time the third expansion pack was introduced to Fate in Ye Ci’s last life, players from all over the world had swarmed into the game. The siege battle system of Fate was already refined at that point in time which brought more rewards to players. In its undeveloped stage, a siege battle in Fate was fought with human waves tactics, and this meant that the odds were heavily stacked against the players on the attacking side. With the introduction of <Goblin Engineering: Siege Engines>, siege battles were made significantly easier. The human waves tactic that was previously employed was immediately replaced with the deployment of powerful siege engines.

Engineering players were able to prosper as the demand for siege engines rose. At the later state of the game, Engineers were a finite resources that was highly sought after.

Of course, this was something that happened in the later stage of the game.

Based on Ye Ci’s memory of her last life, the player who completed the same Epic-tier quest had not received this book.The player did not reveal the content of the quest completion reward, but one thing was certain: if he did received the book as a reward, siege engines would be introduced fairly early into the game.

In Ye Ci’s last life, this Epic-tier quest was the first quest of the same tier to be completed two years after Fate was launched. The player completed this quest slightly later than Ye Ci, but the <Goblin Engineering: Siege Engines> fragments surfaced six years after Fate was launched. If the anonymous player received the book, he would never allow it to go to waste even if it was not of use to him. He would definitely sell the book to a major guild for a handsome price.

Such an occurrence, however, did not happen. This meant that the player in Ye Ci’s last life had failed in obtaining this book. This was probably related to the completion rate of the quest. thought Ye Ci to herself. She knew nothing about the details of the party that explored Vo’sok in her last life, but she was glad that she was able to obtain such an overpowered item as a reward by not abandoning Ciel.

She began reading the description of the book.

<Goblin Engineering: Siege Engines>: The most treasured knowledge of the Goblins. It is the pinnacle of Goblin technology. Rarity: Epic. This items can be passed to up to 20 users with unlimited. Numbers of usage: Unlimited. Class required: Master Goblin Engineer.

An Epic-tier item! Even when the book is not an equippable item, the impact that it could bring to the game is colossal! It’s a shame that the requirement to use this item is too high… Only a Master Goblin Engineer can read this book. There’s not even many Expert Engineers in this game yet!

Whatever, I’ll just hold on to it. I’m guaranteed to get rich with this thing around!

This was the best reward to Ye Ci ever since she started the quest. She happily placed the book into her inventory and cast a glance at Orthus, “Thank you for the gift.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I wouldn’t have given it to you if Vo’sok was not destroyed” said Orthus with a dismissive wave.

I knew it! This has something to do with the completion rate!

“With Vo’sok destroyed and the Goblin race scattered throughout the land, we won’t be using this for a very long time. I might as well give it to you while we’re at it. I hope that this book will be of use to you. We Goblins love it when our machines are able to bring change into the lives of others.” Orthus’ expression softened. The bad tempered Goblin appeared gentle as he talked about his hobby.

Orthus stood up and said to Ye Ci, “Go tell Moore that I will try my best to get the job done.”

I knew it! There’s something unusual about Moore! He was in contact with the Doran Thieves Guild and a neutral race like the Goblins…. Just what is he up to? Moore is good friends with the lord of Red Lake City as well. I wonder what’s going on between them…

The completion of the quest in Ye Ci last life brought little to no change to Fate. This time however, was different. Ye Ci could already start to see the change.

Despite her suspicions, Ye Ci replied with a polite tone, “I will deliver your words to Lord Moore, Mr.Orthus.” and she turned around to leave.

Just then, Orthus called out to her.

“Hey, Elf…”

“What is it, Mr.Orthus?” Ye Ci turned around to face Orthus once again. Ye Ci’s common sense told her that there should be no more quests from Orthus, but she was always happy to respond to a special NPC like him.

“I’ve heard from my teacher that you were talking to Ciel about the Dragonia?” asked Orthus after much hesitation.

Ye Ci was alarmed. The Dragonia was only mentioned by many NPCs in the game after the introduction of the new patch. She had never encountered any NPCs in her past life that would talk about the race before the patch. Could Orthus’ words be some sort of hint?

Despite her thoughts, Ye Ci was still able to maintain a smile on her face, “You’re correct.”

“Where exactly have you seen a Dragon?”

Orthus had apparently not been in a major city. The Dragonia had been mentioned in many of the books in the libraries, and the bones of a Dragon could often be seen in museums. This was why players knew about the existence of the Dragonia despite their limited knowledge of the race.

“There have been mentions about the Dragonia in the libraries of the main city of each continent. Even if little was recorded about the race, it’s still an interesting read.” said Ye Ci with a smile. She spoke up again when Orthus nodded and was about to end the conversation, “But I’ve seen Altera with my own eyes before.”

“What?!” exclaimed Orthus. The Goblin was apparently shocked by Ye Ci’s sudden revelation as he stared at her with mouth agape, "Are you talking about Altera, the Queen of the Dragonia?”

“I did not know who she was, but… She’s beautiful.” Ye Ci’s subtly reminded Orthus that he had said too much with a smile on her face.

“H-how do you know that it’s Altera?” from the weariness in Orthus’ eyes, it was easy to tell that he did not wish to let Ye Ci in on more secrets.

“She was covered with red scales, and there was silvery feathers between her eyes. It’s all written in the National Library. I’m certain that it was her. There’s not many of them with feathers, and a Dragon with feathers between its eyes was quite unique.” the smile remained on Ye Ci’s face.

Orthus spoke up softly after a long moment, “Tell me, Elf… Where did you see Altera?”

“In Dark Clay City.” nodded Ye Ci, “Altera was flying past the Swamp of Sorrows to the direction of the Middle Continent.

“What the hell has Moore done?” Orthus was enraged, but the Goblin waved his hand dismissively after realizing his slip, “Alright! Off you go, Elf. Farewell.” and the Goblin vanished into thin air.

The Doran Thieves Guild, the Goblins, and even the Dragonia… Orthus was not the only one who was concerned about Moore’s intentions. Even Ye Ci herself could feel a strong sense of curiosity welling within her. Just what the hell is the lord of the Dark Clay City up to?