Reign of the Hunters
chapter-283-2

Chapter 283 Hero City (Part 2)

Ye Ci’s principle in life was to avoid unnecessary trouble. She had already exchanged her steed with the Barbarian, and she would be an idiot to engage him in a conversation.

This was why she turned away from the Barbarian, and ignored his words.

But the Barbarian was unfazed by her action.

His barrage of words continued even when he received the cold shoulder from Ye Ci, “I saw what you did back there! You were holding onto the leash when you mounted your steed. Can you accomplish that beautiful arc by grabbing onto the reins?”

“Oh, by the way, Elf. What do I have to do to land perfectly? You have to teach me how to do it! There will be a lot of pretty girls at the landing point in the Middle Continent. I’ll be able to win over a lot of hearts if you can teach me how to land.”

“Oh come on, Elf. Teach me. I’ll pay, generously.”

As the Barbarian Warrior continued to jabber on and on, Ye Ci tried her best to ignore his words.

She was slightly impressed with his patience. The man was able to continue the conversation even when he was ignored by the other party. He would even change the topic of the conversation so that he would not feel lonely or bored talking to himself.

“Wow! Where are we now? It’s so beautiful! I’ve never been here before!”

“Ahh, the wind is so cold here. I should wear more clothes next time.”

“Ah! Why is the Gryphon ascending vertically? Will we fall? Will we fall??”

As the Gryphons would fly through the same route at the same speed, and players were not allowed in any way to prematurely end their trip, Ye Ci could only beart with the constant yapping of the Barbarian.

To make matters worse for Ye Ci, he would always shout his words out whenever he spoke. Almost shouting out every word would not deal damage to a player’s character, but it was dealing critical damage to Ye Ci’s mental well being. She was beginning to regret her decision to fly up into the sky immediately. Wouldn’t it have been nice if I waited for a minute or two and took off after he did?

“Hey Elf, look at that! We’re so high up in the sky right now! We’re literally flying through the clouds! I can touch them with the tips of my fingers! This is so cool!”

“Look down there, Elf! Is that the sea? It’s so wonderful up here! It would be nice if I can have a beautiful girl with me along on this ride. It’ll make a very romantic date.”

“Woooow! Look at that thing in front of us, Elf! Is that the Middle Continent?”

After three hours of nonstop noise pollution, Ye Ci was finally at her limits. “Shut the f*ck up!” she turned around and shouted at the Barbarian Warrior.

The Barbarian Warrior, who had grown used to Ye Ci’s long silence, was caught off guard by her sudden outburst. He was stunned for a mere few moments before finally continuing his chatter with renewed vigor, “Ah! So you’ve been listening to me all along! I thought you couldn't hear me from there!”

Ye Ci rolled her eyes. She even wished that she was deaf at that very moment, just so that she would not suffer through his endless yapping along their entire flight. Only an idiot would talk to him.

“The name’s Lotus Supercenter. What is your name?” the Barbarian offered his name, ignoring the fact that Ye Ci had been paying no attention to his words the entire time.

Lotus Supercenter? Isn’t that the name of a supermarket? Ye Ci glanced at the Barbarian, and revealed her name after some slight hesitation, “Gongzi You.”

“Eh?” Lotus Supercenter was momentarily stunned, and his annoying voice disappeared. He craned his neck and stared at Ye Ci’s face, causing her great discomfort. She turned around and glared at the man, and Lotus Supercenter immediately averted his gaze. After a few awkward moments and some chuckles after his breath, the man shouted as if he had seen a ghost, “You’re Gongzi You???”

Ye Ci stared off into the space ahead, her heart filled with regret. I shouldn’t have talked to him. Now I’m in more trouble!

But Ye Ci’s lack of response did not affect Lotus Supercenter by one bit. He continued his chatter, and his topic was now focused on the gossip about Ye Ci.

“Gongzi You, is it true that there’s something going on between you and Fleeting Time of the Western Continent?”

“Gongzi You, is it true that your love transcends the difference in race?”

“Gongzi You, how did you and Fleeting Time come to know each other? Was he the one who tried to woo you first or was it the other way around?”

“Gongzi You, will you and Fleeting Time ever get married? Will you still be in separate continents after the marriage? Or will one of you move?”

“Gongzi You, don’t forget to invite me to your wedding with Fleeting Time. I’ll help collect the red packets for you. I’m very good at maths.”

Ye Ci’s head was at the verge of exploding. Where did this guy come from? He’s so dang annoying! “Keep talking if you want me to place a one-month bounty on you.” said Ye Ci with a dark expression.

She was successful in shutting Lotus Supercenter up. He stared at Ye Ci, and noticed that he had truly angered Gongzi You. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “Well I was just curious. A person is not truly famous without some gossip. It’s good to have gossip about you!”

Ye Ci glared daggers at Locus Supercenter, who immediately raised his hands in defence, “Alright! Alright! I get it! I’ll not talk about Fleeting Time again.”

With tranquility finally returning, Ye Ci let out a sigh of relief. It would take one more hour to reach the Middle Continent’s Hero City, and when she was there, she could finally rid herself of Locus Supercenter for good. It was a happy thought in her mind.

But the silence was all but temporary. Locus Supercenter was not willing to give up on the chance to talk to Gongzi You, the legend of the Eastern Continent. It did not take long for the chatterbox to once again pepper Ye Ci with a torrent of words.

Of course, he was smart enough to avoid any topic about Fleeting Time.

“Those Northern Continent players are so petty. How could they place a bounty on you? Three months! Don’t you think that they’re very despicable?”

“Aiya, these people are just looking for trouble, aren’t they? Is the bounty troubling you, Gongzi You?”

Ye Ci lowered her head and grimaced. She finally understood the saying “the cowardly fears the valiant, and the valiant fears those who have no regard for their lives.”. Lotus Supercenter was a prime example of such a person.

She was as silent as the dead throughout the rest of the journey, while Lotus Supercenter grew more and more excited as he babbled on.

When she finally arrived in Hero City, Ye Ci pulled on the reins of her steed, and circled it around the air on top of the Flight Manager before slowly descending to a spot beside the Trainer. She leapt down from her steed and immediately disappeared into the crowd.

Lotus Supercenter was not as adept as Ye Ci in the handling of a flying steed. He struggled to control his landing in the air for quite some time that ended in a rough landing beside the Trainer. He jumped down from his steed and studied his surroundings, but Gongzi You was nowhere to be found, “Aiya, I’ve forgot to add her into my friendlist. What a shame!”

“Lotus, you’re here as well?” a voice called out to him as he was still looking around for Ye Ci.

He turned around, and walked towards the source of the voice, “Damn right. Have you been here for long?”

The man responded with a smile as well, “Yeah. What took you so long?”

“Ah, I was caught up with something in Champion City just now.” Lotus Supercenter scratched his head, not willing to tell the tale of his argument with the Trainer about the size of his steed. “Where did the guild leader create his character?”

“The guild has divided itself into four sections stationed in each continent. The leader and Death Blossom have not joined the guild yet, so we do not know which continent they will be in. Our men have started their grind for experience points. Go lead a dungeon expedition if you have the time.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” Lotus Supercenter patted his chest, “But I want to explore Hero City for now, and see if there’s anything new.”

His companion sighed, “You’re just looking for pretty ladies, aren’t you?”

Lotus Supercenter let out a hearty laugh and waved the man goodbye before heading into Hero City.

Ye Ci headed straight for the Job Center after leaving the Flight Manager.

Players from all four continents flocked to Hero City for different reasons. Some of them were here for the sight, and to explore the new continent. But Ye Ci was here to increase her level cap.

With the release of the new patch, the level cap of players was increased to lvl100. The experience points to advance through these 40 levels was greater than that of the previous 60 levels. Players were unable to increase their level cap in their home continent, and could only do so by visiting specific NPCs in Hero City. Despite the increase in level cap, there was still not many players who have reached the level of 60.

Despite the huge number of players in Hero City, the Job Center was relatively empty.

To accommodate the players from all four continents, Hero City was built to be larger than the capitals of all four continents. The Job Center was a white building situation in the middle of a wisteria garden on the eastern side of the city. The contrast between the purplish garden and the white of the building gave off an air of otherworldly beauty.

Bards and poets could be found around the wisteria garden, singing and reciting songs and poems from the olden days as they played with their instruments.

The combination of falling wisteria buds, bards and poets, as well as tables filled with fruits and cups of wine formed a beautiful scenery. Many of the female players who passed through the garden stopped and began taking pictures of the place.

Ye Ci made her way through the garden and into the Job Center. Of all the players in the area, she was the only one who seemed to be in a hurry.

She could still remember how mesmerized she was by the same scenery when she first visited the garden. But as time passed, she had grown numb to its beauty.

“It was a night just like tonight. The beautiful moonlight was shining down on us. You told me that you will embark on a long journey; and I gave you my promise, that I will await your return. You promised me the prettiest bellflower from the Missia Summit as a decoration for my wedding gown. I’ve waited, oh have I waited for you.. My wedding dress has been ready for many years but oh my hero when will you return?”

“I want not the bellflowers from the Missia Summit. I want not the most beautiful decoration for my wedding dress.”

“My hero, do you know that...”

“That your love is the most precious gem to me?”

“Please do not let war slow down your pace, and the wild flowers cloud your eyes, and return to me… Oh my hero…”

One of the bards was reciting a poem that was different from the rest, and even Ye Ci stopped dead in her tracks to listen to the bard who was standing below a wisteria tree with a crowd of players gathered around him.

She drummed her fingers against her arm, trying her best to remember the quest that was related to the poem.

Each poem and songs of every bard in the wisteria garden had origins of their own. They would often lead to a new quest, but such a fact was still not known by players. Ye Ci herself only knew about the secret behind them because of the experiences in her last life.

That particular poem was related to a preliminary quest for a particular dungeon. But due to the passing of time, Ye Ci could no longer recall the name of the dungeon. She gave up with a sigh, and decided to settle the matter at hand first.

With that thought in mind, she immediately headed into the Job Center.