VRMMO: Passing of the Sword

“Do you have money? Food here is really expensive.” Blue Snow knew how expensive the food here was. She had probably eaten here before, and regretted afterwards.

“Can we not pawn our equipment?” Blue Maple answered indifferently, but Blue Snow took his words seriously.

“Ah? No. Then we aren’t going to eat here.” Blue Snow sounded and looked like she no longer wanted to eat here, and wanted to leave at once.

“Are you stupid?” Blue Maple spoke as he placed his palm on his forehead.

“Eh?” Blue Snow looked dumbfounded, and still didn’t know what was going on.

“Don’t worry. Order as you like,” Blue Maple said in exasperation.

“Ah. So, you do have money!” Blue Snow wasn’t stupid, after all, but her reactions were a little slow at times.

Blue Maple didn’t say anything this time, and just fiddled with the straw in his cup.

“Hmph! Since you lied to me, I’m going to order the most expensive dishes.” Blue Snow was indignant as she spoke, and she flipped the menu as she went over the more expensive dishes.

Blue Snow chose several dishes, and she was about to hand her order to the waiter she suddenly stopped.

“Hey, gangster. You do have money, right? The dishes I’ve ordered are very expensive.” Blue Snow was still worried that Blue Maple didn’t have enough money.

“Did I not say that we could trade our equipment?” Blue Maple’s voice oozed laziness, but Blue Snow could tell that this fellow said that because he had a lot more money than the average wealthy person did.

“Hmph. Those are your words!” proclaimed Blue Snow as she handed the menu to the waiter, who had been waiting beside them for a long time.

Blue Maple had enough money to buy himself a restaurant, let alone have a meal in this place.

Their food arrived and was served. Blue Maple enjoyed his food quietly, but Blue Snow couldn’t sit still and kept talking. She asked Blue Maple about what he had been doing recently, about how he had gotten so much money. Of course, she was most concerned about White Cherry, because all young girls liked to gossip.

However, Blue Maple answered most of her questions with ‘oh’, ‘yes’, ‘I’ve forgotten’, and whatnot. Blue Snow was so upset with his responses that she could only stop talking and eat.

So, the two of them just enjoyed their expensive lunch in silence…

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“What’s the quest?” Blue Maple started inquiring about the quest as soon as he finished his meal.

“Oh, it’s not easy to explain. I’ll just share the quest’s information with you,” answered Blue Snow, and she shared her quest with Blue Maple.

[The Lost Azeriyan Treasure]: Many cities have their own unique treasures and whatnot, but Azeriya’s treasure disappeared a month ago for unknown reasons. One of Azeriya’s wealthy merchants safeguarded it in his home, and concluded that a thief didn’t steal it, because the treasure wouldn’t have much value if sold on the market. This treasure only had one purpose: forecasting the weather.

Forecast the weather? A thief wouldn’t go through so much trouble to steal that thing, because wealthy buyers don’t really care about the weather. Blue Maple was starting to feel interested.

A treasure which could forecast the weather had disappeared for some unknown reason. If a thief stole it, he was able to do so discreetly, without alerting the guards inside the wealthy merchant’s home. A thief formidable enough to do that probably wouldn’t even put any value on this object.

“What is the treasure, roughly?” Blue Maple didn’t know why the treasure was stolen, so he had to see what the treasure was itself. Perhaps, he could think of something.

“I know this one. I think it’s a mirror, and a person can look into the mirror to see any day’s rough weather a certain period into the future.” Blue Snow was making decent progress with her quest, and a Boss had halted her progress.

If this was done a month ago, that fellow is probably not the culprit, thought Blue Maple. He didn’t voice his thoughts, clearly thinking about Four Stones. Four Stones was very unconventional when it came to stealing things, but he was apparently not the culprit if this happened a month ago.

“What’s your situation now?” Blue Maple couldn’t guess what was hindering Blue Snow’s progress in a quest like this.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I followed the quest’s clues and pointers to search, and I discovered that the next clue lies with a Boss. I can’t defeat it, it’s too powerful. Furthermore, the quest only allows three players to participate, so I decided to look for you,” Blue Snow said with a melancholic look on her face.

This idiot should have accepted this quest this morning. She has managed to find the clues which don’t involve fighting, so she doesn’t seem so stupid after all. Blue Snow didn’t know what Blue Maple was thinking about, because she would probably have wanted to fight Blue Maple for calling her stupid.

“Alright. Let’s kill the Boss, then,” said Blue Maple in a very direct and domineering tone. From Blue Maple’s perspective, the Icy Snow Wolf King was the only Boss that had not been easy to deal with, and he hadn’t encountered any other Bosses that were difficult to handle.

“That’s fantastic! Let’s go, right now. I was almost killed in the morning, so I have to take revenge this time.” Blue Snow was almost gritting her teeth as she spoke, and waved her little fists furiously.

Ding! Announcement: You are looking for the lost Meteorological Jade Mirror. The mirror itself doesn’t have much value, but there seems to be something else going on. Perhaps it can give reward you in an unexpected way. Blue Snow has already found part of the clues, but she first needs to kill the Boss guarding a cave somewhere on Wolf King Peak to continue.

“Let’s go.” Blue Maple got to his feet and was about to pay the bill.

I have more questions to ask about the quest, but I’ll leave them for the road. This idiot probably won’t stop talking along the way, anyway. Blue Maple brought Blue Snow down the stairs to pay the bill.

“Hello. That will be 1,130 gold coins, please.” Blue Snow clearly took a step away fearfully when she heard the cashier’s words, afraid that Blue Maple would flip.

What a joke. She could buy a relatively decent house with the money from eating two meals in this place, and was starting to regret if her orders were a little too expensive.

“Use this.” Blue Maple seemed very calm as he casually passed a card that Blue Snow had never seen before to the NPC. It was a silver metal card with strange patterns on its surface.

The Maria Chamber of Commerce’s auction that Blue Maple had participated in within Maria City had given this bank card to him when he was withdrawing ten thousand gold coins. Cards like these could be used anywhere, as long as those places allowed swiping. Clearly, an upscale restaurant like this place allowed card-swiping.

Of course, Blue Maple could also use this to withdraw money from a commercial bank. However, Blue Maple still had several hundred gold coins which could be used as spare change and whatnot, so he didn’t withdraw any cash.

“Alright, please wait.” The NPC politely took the metal card to collect payment.

“What card is that, gangster? Can it be used like money?” Blue Snow asked with a curious look on her face.

“I thought you’ve seen books from the 21st century? Do you not know what credit cards are?” Blue Maple answered plainly. Bank cards had become obsolete since the 22nd century began, while a virtual internet system had replaced everything related to payments. Everybody could authorize payments using their fingerprints, retinas, and whatnot.

“Oh, oh. How did you know that I’ve seen books from the 21st century?” Blue Snow finally recalled that those books did talk about things like bank cards.

“Did you not mention that last time?” Blue Maple answered with another question.

“Last time?” Blue Snow contemplated confusedly about when she had mentioned this to Blue Maple, but she only thought for a few moments when her face turned red.

“You are not allowed to talk about that. Otherwise, otherwise…” Blue Snow’s face was red like a tomato as she said fiercely to Blue Maple, and she sounded a little incoherent.

During the episode at a toilet inside one of Novice Village’s restaurant, Blue Snow had questioned Blue Maple whether he had seen books from over two hundred years ago. Blue Maple hadn’t actually read any, except he had seen records of bank cards when he was browsing history-related books.

“Hello, sir. The payment has been processed,” said the NPC as he politely handed Blue Maple’s card back to him.

“Alright, fine. I thought you have forgotten all about that. Here, take this. Aren’t you a little strapped for money?” Blue Maple ignored Blue Snow’s furious look as he handed the metal card to her.

“Hmph. I don’t want your money!” Blue Snow still seemed angry as she turned her head to one side and pouted indignantly.

“Just treat this as I’m lending it to you.” Blue Maple didn’t care about what she was doing as he pushed the card into Blue Snow’s hands and started walking out.

Blue Snow stuck out her cute little tongue at Blue Maple as she watched him leave.

“How much money is in this card?” Blue Snow asked the NPC who had just swiped the card. Clearly, she was concerned about her wealth in the future.

How about returning the money? Neither of them probably considered that. First, they both didn’t care much about money, and Blue Maple didn’t want those twenty gold coins back from her from the last time, so he probably wouldn’t this time. However, Blue Snow was momentarily stunned when the NPC showed her the card’s balance.

“Hello, miss. That mister’s card has 8,870 cold coins remaining,” answered the NPC respectfully, a faint smile on his face.

“So much…” Blue Snow covered her small mouth in surprise.

------

Wolf King Peak was the Wild Wolves Mountain Range’s main peak.

“Is this the cave entrance?” Blue Maple asked as he surveyed the four-meter plus cave entrance in front of him. It appeared larger than the average cave.

“Yes. The Boss is inside, but I don’t think it’ll come out from this cave. I ran out of the cave this morning and it stopped attacking me. Otherwise, I might have died here.” Blue Snow sounded a little afraid as she patted her chest.

Before this Boss, Blue Snow had spoken with several NPCs and subsequently killed several elite-tier wild monsters to obtain miscellaneous clues before she got stuck at this large cave.

“Let’s go.” Blue Maple’s words were simple, and his meaning was also very simple. He just wanted to kill the Boss and get this over with.

The light didn’t become dimmer as they continued deeper into the cave, as there were glowing things on the walls. The cave also became increasingly spacious, but there was nothing else except for all kinds of craggy rocks.

“We’re about to arrive at the Boss’ location,” Blue Snow warned him carefully, but realized that her warning didn’t seem to do anything. Blue Maple still looked like he was glancing around carefreely.

“Hey, I know you’re powerful, but it’s always better to be a little more [email protected]” Blue Snow lectured him impolitely.

“Ah!...” Blue Maple yawned. “We won’t truly die, anyway. Why should we care so much?” Blue Maple answered lazily.

“But…” Blue Snow wanted to say something, but couldn’t find a reason to dispute Blue Maple’s words, because he didn’t seem to care at all. Blue Snow could say something about how death would greatly hinder a player’s level, but that would probably be entirely ineffective against him.

Blue Maple’s expression suddenly turned serious, which startled her.

Blue Maple said suddenly, “It’s coming.”

“What? The Boss? How do you know?” Blue Snow was shocked; she didn’t know how Blue Maple could tell.

“I can feel the Boss’ murderousness. I can’t explain that to you. Did you say that you can’t see the Boss’ attributes?” Blue Maple was too lazy to explain, and just asked a simple question.

“Correct, I can’t see its attributes. Furthermore, I can feel a lot of pressure coming from it.” Blue Snow didn’t ask anymore after she answered Blue Maple’s question. She and other normal players couldn’t see the attributes of monsters and Bosses that were at least ten ranks higher.

“This quest is quite interesting.” Blue Maple’s expression was still very plain. However, Blue Snow almost felt like Blue Maple was laughing, and found that very strange.

The reason why Blue Maple said that was because even he could feel some pressure. Even though this Boss wasn’t as powerful as the Icy Snow Wolf King, Blue Maple was also a lot weaker back then. This Boss was at least on the same level as the Icy Snow Wolf King, or it could even be on a higher level!

An enormous figure suddenly appeared soundlessly before the two of them.

===

[Samurai Warlord] (Rank 55 Elite Boss)

Attack: 701-924

Defense: 495-632

Magic Defense: 248-354

HP: 500,000

Skills: Furious Slash, Total Annihilation, Charge, Warcry, Earth-rending Chop.

Introduction: The body is dead, but the spirit remains! The Samurai Warlord defends its master forever!

===

“Elite Boss…”

Blue Snow covered her mouth in shock, and her beautiful eyes flowed with fright...