1588

That night, I logged into the game half an hour before the preliminaries began. Participants were required to fight 5 opponents or 5 matches in a row. A newcomer might find this taxing, but it was nothing for those who had fought a dozen or so matches in a row in the first WEL.

The white light before my eyes faded away to reveal Sky City.

The first thing I did was to repair my equipment, stock up on Health Potions and Magic Consumables, and check that I had the cards necessary to compete. You could use cards to buff yourself in the WEL, so it was very important to carry some with me. I had chosen to bring cards that buffed my HP and Attack this time. My delay was horrifying, so there was no chance I could defeat a first-rate player with pure technique. In that case, I could only gear-smash…

……

I added the girls into my party after they logged into the game. Then, I sat at the square and sold a couple pieces of equipment for 20 minutes or so. The 5,000+ RMB I earned sure did wonders to my mood. Ten minutes before the preliminaries began, we all received a system notice saying: Your opponent will be chosen soon. Please enter the arena now!

Swhoosh!

We teleported into the battle arena after tapping the confirmation button. This time, the battle arena was set at the center of an ancient temple. The platform where the battle would take place was 100 yards in radius. When our opponent had been found, they would be teleported to this arena so that the battle could take place. There were countless instanced arenas like this.

"Try to keep your nerves, people. We fought on bigger stages than this, and generally speaking, the first match shouldn’t be too difficult…" He Yi gave a small speech to the girls.

However, Murong Mingyue shot her a glance and said, "You say that, but your hands are shaking."

"I’m not shaking, I’m devising a strategy for the upcoming battle…"

"Really? It sure doesn’t look like it!"

"All dissenters shall die!"

"My lord is wise…"

A few minutes later, the system had chosen our first opponent. Their names appeared on the interface—

Prime Minister Li Si LV-255 Mage

Prime Minister Xiao He LV-255 Berserker

Prime Minister Lü Buwei LV-255 Archer

Prime Minister Wei Zheng LV-255 Warrior

……

"Ahem, I don’t think we should call our opponents noobs when they’re all Level 255," I jested.

Lian Xin said, "Let’s decide our line-up, big brother Lu Chen. The main question is, who’s going to fight in the 2v2?"

I replied without hesitation, "It’s simple. You and Lil Beiming. Just kill them all with superior firepower. They can’t even damage you since you can fly beyond their range!"

"Yeah!"

I had decided to fight the first battle, and my opponent was the archer, Prime Minister Lü Buwei. Lü Buwei was a villain during his time, so it was my natural duty to slay him as quickly as possible!

Swhoosh!

I waited quietly for the match to begin after teleporting onto the platform. I also buffed myself with the Hunter Card and released the Phantom Wolf King. I had set its attack mode to Auto because even just blindly charging at the enemy would be better than me trying to control it with my 2.7-second delay…

Lü Buwei wielded a rattan short bow when he teleported into the platform. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Sigh. I cannot believe that I ran into Ancient Sword’s first seed on the very first match, much less fight against the Little Heavenly King himself. Thank goodness the preliminaries have a double-elimination format, or we would be GG already. Please be gentle, Falling Dust…"

I grinned. "Come at me!"

The moment the countdown hit zero, Summon the Storm, Myriad Swords Obliteration and a bunch of Ancient Seals immediately slapped down on top of the archer. Naturally, he immediately shattered into many cold and itty bitty pieces.

When he teleported back onto the platform for the second round, his expression grew even more dumbfounded. "You promised you would be gentle…"

I shrugged. "I am, dude…"

He curled his lips. "In that case, please be as brutal as you can…"

1.5 seconds before the countdown ended, I acted to cast the Xuanyuan Art and slid to the side. I knew for certain he would advance toward me because he couldn’t avoid my AoE skills even if he moved backward. My prediction was correct, and the archer died a second time to my Ancient Seal. As it turned out, it wasn’t impossible to overcome a 2.7-second brain delay…

……

I was able to finish the first match with a clean 2:0 score. Lian Xin let out a laugh after I returned. "Well done, big brother! The next match is mine!"

Her opponent was a Level 255 mage. Unfortunately for the guy, he stood no chance at surviving Lian Xin’s attacks, much less beating her. One Ice Spiral Matrix was all it took for her to shatter the enemy’s Magic Shield, and a couple of Fireballs later, Prime Minister Li Si was as dead as a dodo. Throughout this time, the poor guy had only managed to cast Touch of the Dragonkiss and Ice Howl that deleted 17% of Little Xin’s shield durability. There was just now way our powerful mage could lose.

Lian Xin also got a 2:0 sweep and won us another point.

The third match was He Yi’s, and again, she was able to defeat Prime Minister Wei Zheng with ease. We could’ve ended the battle then, but out of respect for our opponents and our desire for the MVP spot, we decided to fight out the fourth and fifth match. Beiming Xue’s opponent was the berserker Prime Minister Xiao He, and he wielded a fiery red war axe. He stared arrogantly at Beiming Xue and sneered, "Dark Archer Beiming Xue, you really are as pretty as the posters show. Do you know that you are the lover of many of my brothers’ dreams?"

Beiming Xue’s complexion turned a shade of red and purple. "Shameless…"

"Hehe, you will know what true shamelessness is very soon!"

Xiao He let out a roar to give himself a powerful buff. Then, he raised his axe and charged straight toward Beiming Xue!

The Dark Archer floated a few steps backward and drew her bow suddenly. Occasional whines escaped her throat as a cyclone of energy gathered around her. She was charging up a skill. After all this time, she finally got a charging skill of her own!

Swhoosh!

An arrow charged with lightning energy escaped her bow and slammed into the berserker’s chest!

Bang!

13,126,768!

It was a critical hit! Prime Minister Xiao He sure was an unfortunate child. Normally speaking, you would never see an archer one-shot a warrior. Then again, this was Beiming Xue’s furious retaliation for his teasing. Of course it was powerful!

Xiao He teleported back into the arena as soon as he was able and yelled angrily, "You couldn’t give me some face, girl? Also, how is this Thunder Arrow so strong? It’s unscientific!"

Beiming Xue smirked while floating about two meters above the ground. "Idiot…"

"What did you call me??"

A furious Xiao He Charged Beiming Xue in an attempt to make her pay, but all he achieved was getting one-shot by Thunder Arrow again. She only dealt around 7.11 million damage this time, but it was still enough to one-shot a buff-less berserker. As long as she had the Xuanming Bow, one might say that Beiming Xue’s ranged attack was unbeatable!

The score turned 4:0. Everything was going as smooth as butter!

The fifth match was a 2v2, and it ended even faster and more decisively than the previous matches. Our two divine beauties easily shredded the enemy team’s warrior duo into tiny pieces and gave us a perfect 5:0 score. With that, we entered the winners’ bracket and continued plowing through the opposition!

……

The next four matches were just as easy as the first, although we had to cut down one ally—an all-female party belonging to Twelve Musicians—to do so. I was constantly frustrated and impeded by my brain lag, but even at this state the noobs were no match for me. When the clock ticked past 11 pm, the preliminaries of the first day were finally over. We didn’t lose a single fight, although many other teams such as Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and more boasted the same results as well. Countless teams were participating in the preliminaries after all. It would take a prodigious amount of bad luck to run into another team who rivaled their strength.

Late night at the auction house of Sky City.

I spent a long time going through the items at the auction house until something finally caught my eye. I called Beiming over with a smile on my face, "Beiming, look. There’s a Level 240 Ancient Immortal-grade ring here that increases physical attack stun rate by 11%. It’s perfect for you. Ideally, you should get a stun with a single cast of Evil Spirit Volley…"

He Yi and Beiming Xue leaned over to take a look, but the former stuck out her tongue and said, "It’s rather overpriced though. 400k RMB for Ancient Immortal-grade equipment?"

I shook my head. "No, it’s not. 11% stun rate is really good, you know? Maybe I would agree with you if it couldn’t be stacked, but it is. Also, I remember that Beiming has a passive that increases her physical attack stun rate by 0.7%."

Beiming Xue said while holding my arm, "That was Rank 1, big bro. At Rank 10, the skill increases stun rate by 7%!"

I smiled. "That’s even better then! Combined with this ring, you’ll have a total stun rate of 18%! Who can defeat you and Little Xin in a 2v2 if you have this ring? I doubt that even Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi will be a match for you two. You can’t outrun an arrow, no matter how fast you are."

Beiming Xue pouted. "It’s still pretty expensive though. 400k is enough to buy half a house in the suburbs…"

Maybe, but I didn’t mind it. "It’s fine, I’ll just buy it for you!"

Ding! 400k RMB vanished from my bank account, and the ring appeared in my hand right after. I passed it to Beiming Xue and said, "Here. Now that we’re past the first day’s preliminaries, my point is no longer secure. You, Little Xin and Eve will have to make up for my weakness."

Beiming Xue giggled. "Is it okay for you to give me a free gift for no reason though, big bro?"

I hummed for a second before replying, "Let’s just call it your Valentine’s Day gift then…"

"But I’m your little sister, aren’t I?"

"Yeah, and every little sister is the lover the older brother missed during his past life…" I laughed.

He Yi shook her head with a wry smile. "Oh no, I don’t think Beiming will be catching any sleep tonight…"

I clapped my hands together and checked out the auction house a bit more. After confirming that there was no other piece of equipment worth using, I said, "It’s getting pretty late, so you all should get to bed soon. Remember to log back into the game at 7 pm tomorrow. Look forward to some Rank 15 Health Potions the next time we meet. Yes, you heard me right. Yiyi messaged me yesterday that she had managed to make a batch. They can restore 33% HP instantly. Amazing, right?"

He Yi’s mouth fell open. "Wow! That is a bit OP!"

"I know right?"

……

After the girls logged out of the game, I opened the friend list and selected Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, can you make some Rank 15 potions for me?"

She replied quickly, "Sure, but I’m lacking some ingredients right now. Do you want to go on a trip to Immortal Cloud Ice Cave with me in the afternoon? I saw a thread on the forums saying that there are Rank 15 herbs in there."

"Sure. Well, you should log out now. I’m coming over to your room in a moment…"

"Okay…"

alyschu's Thoughts

Nabuch Note: I'm sure you guys have figured it out, but these chapters are already the epilogue, reminding us about all the elements of the novel. Questing, killing bosses, WEL, selling equipment, browsing the auction, finding stuff for Yiyi to make potions out of. Author is taking us down the memory lane before the inevitable end.

That night, I logged into the game half an hour before the preliminaries began. Participants were required to fight 5 opponents or 5 matches in a row. A newcomer might find this taxing, but it was nothing for those who had fought a dozen or so matches in a row in the first WEL.

The white light before my eyes faded away to reveal Sky City.

The first thing I did was to repair my equipment, stock up on Health Potions and Magic Consumables, and check that I had the cards necessary to compete. You could use cards to buff yourself in the WEL, so it was very important to carry some with me. I had chosen to bring cards that buffed my HP and Attack this time. My delay was horrifying, so there was no chance I could defeat a first-rate player with pure technique. In that case, I could only gear-smash…

……

I added the girls into my party after they logged into the game. Then, I sat at the square and sold a couple pieces of equipment for 20 minutes or so. The 5,000+ RMB I earned sure did wonders to my mood. Ten minutes before the preliminaries began, we all received a system notice saying: Your opponent will be chosen soon. Please enter the arena now!

Swhoosh!

We teleported into the battle arena after tapping the confirmation button. This time, the battle arena was set at the center of an ancient temple. The platform where the battle would take place was 100 yards in radius. When our opponent had been found, they would be teleported to this arena so that the battle could take place. There were countless instanced arenas like this.

"Try to keep your nerves, people. We fought on bigger stages than this, and generally speaking, the first match shouldn’t be too difficult…" He Yi gave a small speech to the girls.

However, Murong Mingyue shot her a glance and said, "You say that, but your hands are shaking."

"I’m not shaking, I’m devising a strategy for the upcoming battle…"

"Really? It sure doesn’t look like it!"

"All dissenters shall die!"

"My lord is wise…"

A few minutes later, the system had chosen our first opponent. Their names appeared on the interface—

Prime Minister Li Si LV-255 Mage

Prime Minister Xiao He LV-255 Berserker

Prime Minister Lü Buwei LV-255 Archer

Prime Minister Wei Zheng LV-255 Warrior

……

"Ahem, I don’t think we should call our opponents noobs when they’re all Level 255," I jested.

Lian Xin said, "Let’s decide our line-up, big brother Lu Chen. The main question is, who’s going to fight in the 2v2?"

I replied without hesitation, "It’s simple. You and Lil Beiming. Just kill them all with superior firepower. They can’t even damage you since you can fly beyond their range!"

"Yeah!"

I had decided to fight the first battle, and my opponent was the archer, Prime Minister Lü Buwei. Lü Buwei was a villain during his time, so it was my natural duty to slay him as quickly as possible!

Swhoosh!

I waited quietly for the match to begin after teleporting onto the platform. I also buffed myself with the Hunter Card and released the Phantom Wolf King. I had set its attack mode to Auto because even just blindly charging at the enemy would be better than me trying to control it with my 2.7-second delay…

Lü Buwei wielded a rattan short bow when he teleported into the platform. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Sigh. I cannot believe that I ran into Ancient Sword’s first seed on the very first match, much less fight against the Little Heavenly King himself. Thank goodness the preliminaries have a double-elimination format, or we would be GG already. Please be gentle, Falling Dust…"

I grinned. "Come at me!"

The moment the countdown hit zero, Summon the Storm, Myriad Swords Obliteration and a bunch of Ancient Seals immediately slapped down on top of the archer. Naturally, he immediately shattered into many cold and itty bitty pieces.

When he teleported back onto the platform for the second round, his expression grew even more dumbfounded. "You promised you would be gentle…"

I shrugged. "I am, dude…"

He curled his lips. "In that case, please be as brutal as you can…"

1.5 seconds before the countdown ended, I acted to cast the Xuanyuan Art and slid to the side. I knew for certain he would advance toward me because he couldn’t avoid my AoE skills even if he moved backward. My prediction was correct, and the archer died a second time to my Ancient Seal. As it turned out, it wasn’t impossible to overcome a 2.7-second brain delay…

……

I was able to finish the first match with a clean 2:0 score. Lian Xin let out a laugh after I returned. "Well done, big brother! The next match is mine!"

Her opponent was a Level 255 mage. Unfortunately for the guy, he stood no chance at surviving Lian Xin’s attacks, much less beating her. One Ice Spiral Matrix was all it took for her to shatter the enemy’s Magic Shield, and a couple of Fireballs later, Prime Minister Li Si was as dead as a dodo. Throughout this time, the poor guy had only managed to cast Touch of the Dragonkiss and Ice Howl that deleted 17% of Little Xin’s shield durability. There was just now way our powerful mage could lose.

Lian Xin also got a 2:0 sweep and won us another point.

The third match was He Yi’s, and again, she was able to defeat Prime Minister Wei Zheng with ease. We could’ve ended the battle then, but out of respect for our opponents and our desire for the MVP spot, we decided to fight out the fourth and fifth match. Beiming Xue’s opponent was the berserker Prime Minister Xiao He, and he wielded a fiery red war axe. He stared arrogantly at Beiming Xue and sneered, "Dark Archer Beiming Xue, you really are as pretty as the posters show. Do you know that you are the lover of many of my brothers’ dreams?"

Beiming Xue’s complexion turned a shade of red and purple. "Shameless…"

"Hehe, you will know what true shamelessness is very soon!"

Xiao He let out a roar to give himself a powerful buff. Then, he raised his axe and charged straight toward Beiming Xue!

The Dark Archer floated a few steps backward and drew her bow suddenly. Occasional whines escaped her throat as a cyclone of energy gathered around her. She was charging up a skill. After all this time, she finally got a charging skill of her own!

Swhoosh!

An arrow charged with lightning energy escaped her bow and slammed into the berserker’s chest!

Bang!

13,126,768!

It was a critical hit! Prime Minister Xiao He sure was an unfortunate child. Normally speaking, you would never see an archer one-shot a warrior. Then again, this was Beiming Xue’s furious retaliation for his teasing. Of course it was powerful!

Xiao He teleported back into the arena as soon as he was able and yelled angrily, "You couldn’t give me some face, girl? Also, how is this Thunder Arrow so strong? It’s unscientific!"

Beiming Xue smirked while floating about two meters above the ground. "Idiot…"

"What did you call me??"

A furious Xiao He Charged Beiming Xue in an attempt to make her pay, but all he achieved was getting one-shot by Thunder Arrow again. She only dealt around 7.11 million damage this time, but it was still enough to one-shot a buff-less berserker. As long as she had the Xuanming Bow, one might say that Beiming Xue’s ranged attack was unbeatable!

The score turned 4:0. Everything was going as smooth as butter!

The fifth match was a 2v2, and it ended even faster and more decisively than the previous matches. Our two divine beauties easily shredded the enemy team’s warrior duo into tiny pieces and gave us a perfect 5:0 score. With that, we entered the winners’ bracket and continued plowing through the opposition!

……

The next four matches were just as easy as the first, although we had to cut down one ally—an all-female party belonging to Twelve Musicians—to do so. I was constantly frustrated and impeded by my brain lag, but even at this state the noobs were no match for me. When the clock ticked past 11 pm, the preliminaries of the first day were finally over. We didn’t lose a single fight, although many other teams such as Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and more boasted the same results as well. Countless teams were participating in the preliminaries after all. It would take a prodigious amount of bad luck to run into another team who rivaled their strength.

Late night at the auction house of Sky City.

I spent a long time going through the items at the auction house until something finally caught my eye. I called Beiming over with a smile on my face, "Beiming, look. There’s a Level 240 Ancient Immortal-grade ring here that increases physical attack stun rate by 11%. It’s perfect for you. Ideally, you should get a stun with a single cast of Evil Spirit Volley…"

He Yi and Beiming Xue leaned over to take a look, but the former stuck out her tongue and said, "It’s rather overpriced though. 400k RMB for Ancient Immortal-grade equipment?"

I shook my head. "No, it’s not. 11% stun rate is really good, you know? Maybe I would agree with you if it couldn’t be stacked, but it is. Also, I remember that Beiming has a passive that increases her physical attack stun rate by 0.7%."

Beiming Xue said while holding my arm, "That was Rank 1, big bro. At Rank 10, the skill increases stun rate by 7%!"

I smiled. "That’s even better then! Combined with this ring, you’ll have a total stun rate of 18%! Who can defeat you and Little Xin in a 2v2 if you have this ring? I doubt that even Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi will be a match for you two. You can’t outrun an arrow, no matter how fast you are."

Beiming Xue pouted. "It’s still pretty expensive though. 400k is enough to buy half a house in the suburbs…"

Maybe, but I didn’t mind it. "It’s fine, I’ll just buy it for you!"

Ding! 400k RMB vanished from my bank account, and the ring appeared in my hand right after. I passed it to Beiming Xue and said, "Here. Now that we’re past the first day’s preliminaries, my point is no longer secure. You, Little Xin and Eve will have to make up for my weakness."

Beiming Xue giggled. "Is it okay for you to give me a free gift for no reason though, big bro?"

I hummed for a second before replying, "Let’s just call it your Valentine’s Day gift then…"

"But I’m your little sister, aren’t I?"

"Yeah, and every little sister is the lover the older brother missed during his past life…" I laughed.

He Yi shook her head with a wry smile. "Oh no, I don’t think Beiming will be catching any sleep tonight…"

I clapped my hands together and checked out the auction house a bit more. After confirming that there was no other piece of equipment worth using, I said, "It’s getting pretty late, so you all should get to bed soon. Remember to log back into the game at 7 pm tomorrow. Look forward to some Rank 15 Health Potions the next time we meet. Yes, you heard me right. Yiyi messaged me yesterday that she had managed to make a batch. They can restore 33% HP instantly. Amazing, right?"

He Yi’s mouth fell open. "Wow! That is a bit OP!"

"I know right?"

……

After the girls logged out of the game, I opened the friend list and selected Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, can you make some Rank 15 potions for me?"

She replied quickly, "Sure, but I’m lacking some ingredients right now. Do you want to go on a trip to Immortal Cloud Ice Cave with me in the afternoon? I saw a thread on the forums saying that there are Rank 15 herbs in there."

"Sure. Well, you should log out now. I’m coming over to your room in a moment…"

"Okay…"

alyschu's Thoughts

Nabuch Note: I'm sure you guys have figured it out, but these chapters are already the epilogue, reminding us about all the elements of the novel. Questing, killing bosses, WEL, selling equipment, browsing the auction, finding stuff for Yiyi to make potions out of. Author is taking us down the memory lane before the inevitable end.