Chapter 229 Orthus (Part 2)

Golden Era was a name so notorious that it was widely known.

They were like locusts that would leave destruction in their wake.

Wang Jiangnan was momentarily stunned when he heard Ye Ci’s question, and his expression darkened slightly, “It’s a decision made by the higher ups. A developer like me can do nothing about it.”

“So tell me.. How are we supposed to brave this storm? The average level of my guild members are at lvl 40! The level cap will be raised when the new expansion is released! How do you expect small guilds like us and individual players to survive?” Ye Ci raised her eyebrows.

“You got me there. I’ve been thinking about this as well.” Wang Jiangnan grimaced, “I know the decision to release the expansion is rushed, but…” he let out a sigh, “Why don’t you give me a suggestion, and tell me what to do instead?”

Ye Ci was dismayed when she saw Wang Jiangnan’s expression. It seemed that the coming storm was inevitable. With the release of the expansion creeping closer and closer, she would lose her initiative, “You want my suggestion? For what? For after Golden Era is done messing up your game?”

“Heh! Can you not be that pessimistic?” despite the smile of Wang Jiangnan’s face, it was obvious that he was actually saying the words with a heavy heart.

“Can I not be pessimistic? Let me tell you something.. Pessimists are the ones that bring change to this world!” Ye Ci rolled her eyes at Wang Jiangnan.

“Fine.. What would you do if you’re standing in my shoes?” Wang Jiangnan was very sincere with his question. It was not the first time he pondered such a question. He knew that his life would be turned upside down as a developer, just like what would happen to Fate. Will his hopes and dreams be destroyed because of this incident?

Ye Ci held up 2 of her fingers “You have two options. You can either leave, or you can lead a miserable life.” In truth, this was also the fate that awaited the rest of the players.

“Is there a third option?” Wang Jiangnan had long considered the two options, but he refused to give up just like that.

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. The third option… The third option was something that she wanted to do, but it was something that she was not sure if she could accomplish.

“There is…” Ye Ci let out a sigh, “Of course there is.”

“What is it?”

“Have you heard of the saying ‘drive somebody into desperation and he will find aspiration’?” Ye Ci let out another sigh.

She wished that Golden Era would not be arriving so soon, but on the other hand, she wished that they would be here as soon as possible so that the problem could be dealt with.

Even when the outcome was known, it could still be changed when all the variables in the process that led to the outcome remained unknown.

She could still remember how Wang Jiangnan was able to save Fate from the coming storm. Wasn’t her action of securing the Mithril ore vein something that will affect the outcome as well? She must acquire the rights to mine the Mithril from the Black Iron Dwarves within a month. Then again, where would she acquire the manpower to mine the ores? Even if she had the manpower, how would she defend the mine from her enemies? Upwards Ho! was a guild with less than 100,000 members. Even when all its members were mobilize, they might still lose control of the mine.

Besides, even if Golden Era did not attempt to seize the mine from Upwards Ho!, will the other major guilds not intervene?

Ye Ci doubted that her friendship with the leaders of other major guilds would help in this situation. After all, the only thing that would remain unchanged in this world was a human’s desire to secure more benefits.

She knew that she was placing herself in a desperate situation the moment she made the situation to mine the Mithril ore vein. But will she find aspiration in this situation? It was something that even Ye Ci herself did not know.

The curtain of night fell upon the land. Ye Ci sat in the dark, and glanced at the timer. There was 10 seconds left before it was 12am.

Ten, nine, eight, seven….. three, two, one.

“Pwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” the sound produced by the whistle was very unique. It was something that Ye Ci had never heard before. The shrill sound of the whistle was like a sharp dagger in the dark, slicing through the silence of the night..

Ye Ci covered her eardrums as her ears were assaulted by the whistle sound. She then stood up, and began studying her surroundings. However, there was not a single person in sight.

Have I forgotten something important? Ye Ci immediately began reading up her quest description, but was unable to find any clues. Just as she continued to survey her surroundings, Ye Ci heard a hoarse voice coming from above her, “Heh, so it’s an Elf!”

Ye Ci looked up at the source of the voice, and saw a black silhouette on one of the support beams of the bridge. Ye Ci could not even detect the stats of the figure shrouded in shadows.

Race: Unknown. Class: Unknown. Alignment: Unknown.

Ye Ci remained wary even when it was clearly stated in the quest description that the figure would be key to the next stage of her quest. After all, there was too many uncertainties in an Epic-tier quest. Every single course of action she took had the potential of leading the quest to a different outcome. Due to the nature of the situation, Ye Ci remained cautious as ever.

“Greetings. The mayor of Dark Clay City handed this whistle to me.” Ye Ci bowed at the figure, “He told me that this whistle will lead me to the next part of my mission.” Ye Ci had the habit of giving the initiative to any quest-giving NPCs. The gesture that seemed meaningless would often give Ye Ci an edge when it came to dealing with the NPCs.

The black figure on the bridge chuckled upon hearing Ye Ci’s words, “He’s still alive?”

Ye Ci was momentarily stunned when she heard his words. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong about this sentence, but she couldn't put her finger on the reason why.. Despite her confusion, Ye Ci remained silent. NPCs involved in Epic-tier quests possessed high levels of intelligence, and were more cunning. She might get tricked by the NPC for saying the wrong thing. The only way to prevent this from happening was to listen attentively to what an NPC had to say and remain quiet. After all, silence is golden. The more you talk, the likely you are going to mess up.

The silhouette was satisfied with how untalkative Ye Ci was. His weird voice was terrifying in the quiet night, “You’re rather quiet for an Elf.”

Is that a compliment?

“Let’s go. Come with me, I’ll get you across.” the silhouette leaped down from the beams, and the silvery moonlight illuminated his entire form. He was a Goblin.

The Goblin, with his green skin, pointed ears, and a pair of bulging eyes had a weird appearance. The one thing that stood out the most of the Goblin’s appearance was his long hands that reached beyond his knees. He was only as tall as Ye Ci’s waist, but was agile with his movements.

Goblins were a special race in Fate. Despite their ugly appearance, Goblins were highly intelligent. They were the creators of some of the most advanced machineries and potions in the entire Jiama Continent. The Goblins were also geniuses when it came to making profit.

This was why the Goblins were one of the wealthiest races in the entire Jiama Continent. However, Goblins in general loathed the interaction with other races. They chose to remain neutral in the affairs of the land. When the Jiama Continent remained as a whole, the Goblins maintained limited contact with members of other races, but it all changed when the continent was split into four parts. The Goblins went into hiding after the incident, and only few merchants for the other races knew of their whereabouts, and Goblin-made products would usually fetch a high price in the market.

Ye Ci was excited to see the Goblin. Goblins were a high-tier race that was exceptionally useful in siege battles. The combat potential of her guild will be increased exponentially if she was able to secure the allegiance of a Goblin. But.. The question is… How should she befriend the Goblin?

It was a question that Ye Ci pondered continuously as she followed close behind the Goblin. Unlike Gnomes, Goblins was a prideful race. A mistake in her choice of words could potentially spell trouble.

“What’s the matter, Elf? Are you thinking of what sort of benefits you can get from this Goblin?” chuckled the Goblin as he noticed Ye Ci’s silence.

Despite her surprise, Ye Ci was able to keep her expression neutral, “We Elves are not a greedy race.” she said in a calm voice.

“You’re right! You Elves are not like those damned Orcs and Dwarves!” the Goblin nodded his agreement. He then stopped abruptly and blew hard at a whistle. The flapping of wings could be heard in the quiet night. She lifted her head, and found a large bird flying at their direction.

It appeared to be an eagle. Ye Ci narrowed her eyes, and confirmed with the Elf’s superior night vision that it was indeed an eagle. But when the eagle flew closer, Ye Ci was shocked. It was indeed an eagle, but it was an eagle made out of mechanical parts!

The Goblin noticed Ye Ci’s astonished expression, “What do you think? It’s a beauty, isn’t it?” he said in a voice filled with pride.

“It’s amazing!” Ye Ci was not stingy with her praise, “As expected of Goblin Engineering! It’s so beautiful!”

The Goblin’s expression immediately changed when he heard Ye Ci’s words, “Goblin Engineering? What is Goblin Engineering without me, Orthus?”

“Orthus?” Ye Ci was stunned to hear the name. According the the in the National Library, Orthus was the apprentice of the great Goblin Engineer, DeFrei. But when DeFrei disappeared without a trace, Orthus distanced himself from the world and disappeared as well.

Ye Ci was saddened when she read about the incident in her past life, as it meant that the best of the Goblin Engineering had disappeared from the continent. However, fate seemed to be playing a joke on Ye Ci. She ran into Orthus in this life, when she had least expected it.

“What? You’ve heard of my name before?”

“Yes. I’ve read about you and your mentor, DeFrei in one of the books in the National Library.” answered Ye Ci truthfully.

“Oh? Now that’s amusing. I can’t believe an Elf knew about me when almost all of the Goblins have forgotten all about me.” Otrhus’ voice was laced with sarcasm. He waved at the mechanical eagle, and it landed on the edge of the cliff. Orthus mounted the eagle and said to Ye Ci, “Hop on, Elf! I’ll get you to the other side!”

Ye Ci nodded, and mounted the mechanical eagle as well. “Hold on tight!” shouted orthus as the mechanical eagle launched itself into the night sky.

This was not the first time Ye Ci boarded a flying machine in Fate, but this was definitely one of the fastest and the most stable machines she had ever ridden in the game. Despite the strong winds, the mechanical eagle was able to keep a steady flight as it soared through the clouds.

“What’s that mad Goblin doing with his damned bird this time?” said the Western Continent sentries as the saw the mechanical eagle. It was apparent that they were used to such a scene.

“Who knows? He refused to let us anywhere near that damned bird. I nearly got my ass beaten by that damned Goblin once for trying to mount his bird.”

“Hahahahaha! You’re afraid of that Goblin? How strong can he be? If the captain finds out about this, he’s definitely going to punish you dearly.”

“What do you know? Goblins are a neutral race! I might get into trouble for picking a fight with him!” the sentry snorted, “If he can make that damned bird, who knows what else he’s got with him? Things could go real bad for me for all I know!”

……

The two sentries continued their conversation, totally oblivious to the fact that Orthus had smuggled an Eastern Continent player across.

Ye Ci looked down at the ground below.

She could tell that they were at a high altitude, “Can’t the sentries see me?” Ye Ci was curious.

“Why not? They’re not blind.” Orthus rolled his eyes.

“Then how are you getting me across?”

“It’s a trade secret.” snorted Orthus. It was apparent that he was reluctant to share the secrets of his mechanical eagle with Ye Ci.

Since Orthus made his stance clear, Ye Ci did not pursue the topic. She stood silently behind Orthus, patiently waiting for the eagle to finally land. After a long moment of wait, Ye Ci could feel the mechanical eagle descending. She immediately steadied herself and lowered her body so that she would not be thrown off the mechanical eagle as it landed.

As expected of a creation of Orthus, the eagle’s landing was smooth and silent. It immediately deactivated itself upon landing, and became as still as a statue.

Orthus jumped down from the mechanical eagle, followed closely by Ye Ci.

“Since you know about my mentor and I, I’ll not waste time on introducing myself. So you have a very simple task. Find my mentor, and rescue him.” said Orthus as he stood in front of Ye Ci.

Ye Ci was puzzled when she heard about her mission. According to the History of Goblins, DeFrei had already disappeared, and the reason behind his disappearance was not recorded at all.

Due to the importance of the quest, Ye Ci had to be sure, “Dear Mr. Orthus, even if I know about you and your mentor, DeFrei, I do not know where to find him! The was only a short mention about his disappearance in the book!”

“It’s not recorded at all?” Orthus was baffled, but was quick to recover from his shock, “Indeed, it would be weird if it was recorded. Of course they would not want something as vile as this to be remembered.”

It was clear that Orthus was very upset. He paced back and forth while swinging his fists in the air, “Damn those Goblins! And damn you too, Ciel! May all of you rot in hell!”

Ye Ci watched Orthus silently, waiting patiently for the next stage of her quest to be triggered.

Hiya minna-san! Here's another awesome chapter of the awesomesauce novel translated by an awesomtacular translator(which is me, by theway)! Enjoy!!

I hope everybody's doing well, as I have been! Hung out with some of my friends last night, and it was fun! We went to a all-you-can-eat steamboat restaurant and the food was really, really nice! (Yes, I'm Chinese, we like steamboat a lot!) Dumping fishballs and meatballs into tomyam soup while grilling marinated mutton and chicken strips.... My tummy was so full by the time we're done...

Hmm... Goblins you say?? Goblins mentioned in this chapter???

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