Zhan Long
chapter-314

Around midnight, I returned to Liu Hua University and stood in front of the girls dorm. I gave Wan Er a call, and after a few rings the call went through. However, I was met with the sound of a monster’s roar. Clearly she was in the game——

“Wan Er, I’ve returned to the university.”

“Alright, Dong Cheng and I are grinding levels. Where are you?”

“I’m at the bottom of the girls dorm.”

“Just give me a sec, I’ll be offline soon and then we can get a snack. I’ve got something to tell you….”

“Okay!”

……

Not long after, the two girls snuck down the stairs. Curfew was at 12, so the two girls were breaking the rules, but they probably didn’t really care.

Wan Er jogged over, then carefully looked at me. After she finished making sure I was all in one piece, she asked, “How was it? Was your task successfully completed?”

I nodded and said, “It went without a hitch. Let’s go and eat something!”

“Yup.”

Ten minutes later we arrived at the Midnight Bite, a small on-campus restaurant. There we ordered twenty lamb kabobs, twenty veggie kabobs and two roast oysters each. Looking at all of the piping hot and delicious food, I was speechless. I looked over at the two girls and said, “Aren’t you girls afraid of getting fat from eating like this?”

Wan Er forcefully pried the cap off the bottle of beer, then looked up and said, “Not really. No matter how much I eat, I won’t get fat…”

“What about you, Dong Cheng?”

Dong Cheng Yue stuck her chest out and said, “It’s not a problem for me either. Eating this much is nothing. Besides, even if I get fat, all of it goes to my chest, so I need to eat more to catch up to Wan Er…”

I looked at the two girls’ chests, then laughed and said, “I’m afraid that’ll be very hard…”

Dong Cheng Yue cried, “Wuwu, go die, you won’t even support me one bit…”

I poured out a cup of beer and said, “Why should I support you? There’s nothing in it for me if I do…”

Dong Cheng Yue smiled and said, “Says who? If you encourage me, your reward would be knowing two beautiful girls with 34D’s. Don’t you think that’s already worth a fortune?”

The corners of my mouth twitched and I said, “That’s enough from you…”

The nearby uncle’s eyes bulged as he overheard our conversation; he almost started drooling. Wan Er, on the other hand, just kept calmly eating; she was already used to Dong Cheng Yue’s odd personality.

“Why don’t you tell me now? Wan Er said that she had something important to tell me. I hope it wasn’t just to take you guys out to eat and fatten your breasts?”

“No!”

Wan Er chugged the rest of her drink, “Thirty minutes ago, [Destiny] released another game-wide system announcement. Their first Chinese Server tournament will officially begin. I’ve heard that this event will be named the ‘Rise of the Heroes’ Tournament. It’s also being called the Heroes’ Tournament. Players from the three big cities will be competing against each other and in the end, the top three will be the victors. I heard that the rewards will be extremely generous!”

“Players from all three of the major cities will compete against each other to claim the top three spots. The rewards are rumored to be extremely great.”

I couldn’t help but smile, “Oh? What are the specifics? One-on-one, or a group melee?”

Dong Cheng Yue laughed, “The Rise of the Heroes event will be a one-on-one fight, so some have dubbed it the World of Mages, Swordsmen, Assassins, and Archers.* Which is not unreasonable given that third advancement Mages have the ability to use [Dimensional Leap] three times. It’s extremely possible that they’ll be the winners of the tournament. Of course, it also depends on their opponents. Right now, you are a top Swordsman; only a few Mages would be able win against you, right?”

*Gamer Note: Non-dps classes are often bad with 1on1 fights.

“One-on-one…..”

I muttered to myself, “This is a great opportunity. When does it begin?”

“The preliminaries will begin in three days at noon, and you can start signing up tomorrow. By the way, the registration fee is 1G…..”

“That isn’t too expensive; it really is a good chance….”

Wan Er smiled at me and asked, “A good chance for what?”

“Rise of the Heroes is a great opportunity for anyone, especially me. No matter how strong I am, the only name I have made for myself is ‘The Dark Horse of Ba Huang City’. Even though I have defeated Jian Feng Han before, nobody thinks that I am better than him since he has such an established reputation. So, if people see me defeat a lot of experts in the tournament, they will no longer doubt me, and I’ll become a star overnight!”

Wan Er’s beautiful, mesmerizing eyes looked at me as she smiled, “Good luck! Dong Cheng and I are in the same situation since we need to prove ourselves at this tournament as well…”

I nodded and said, “It’s too bad that you two are still part of [Hero’s Mound]. Otherwise, you would be able to participate under [Zhan Long]’s insignia.”

“It’s alright, we’ll defect soon enough…” Wan Er pursed her lips, then smiled and said, “Hm… I heard that on the [Zhan Long] forums, there’s a new page called ‘Zhan Long Hall’. And you, the founder, are the only person on the page. If Dong Cheng and I join [Zhan Long], how do we get inducted into the hall?”

I couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Our lady Cang Tong actually cares about superficial things like that?”

“Of course I care…” Wan Er pouted and said, “I… I can’t be beaten by Yue Qing Qian, Yue Wei Liang, or Matcha, now can I?”

I resisted another laugh and said, “Alright, good luck to you Wan Er. There are a lot of ways to join Zhan Long Hall. You just have to do something big and noteworthy. For example, you could lead troops into triumphant victory, or kill an extremely difficult BOSS. You could even try getting a high rank in some big competition. Each time you rise above and beyond, you can try to apply to join Zhan Long Hall. You can show your worth in the Rise of the Heroes Tournament as well. If you represent [Zhan Long] and are able to claim one of the top three spots, then I don’t see any problem with having you inducted into Zhan Long Hall. However, you do need Yue Qing Qian, Li Mu, Wolf and myself to agree before anything happens.”

“Alright…” Wan Er looked down at the barbequed meat on her plate. Then she smiled and said, “Then I’ll work hard and get a good ranking in this tournament. If I do well, can I go straight into Zhan Long Hall when I join [Zhan Long]?”

“Sure!”

“Alright! It’s a deal!”

“Yup.” I reached my hand out and gave Wan Er a high five, but our hands didn’t separate. Instead, she grasped my hand, and I returned the squeeze. Her hand was slightly cold.

“Hm…?

Wan Er looked up at me, her eyes full of innocence and naïvety, as though she couldn’t see the dark side of the world. Her face turned into one of surprise as she said, “You bastard, why aren’t you letting go? Dong Cheng, he’s taking advantage of me…”

Dong Cheng Yue was wrestling with her oyster when she said, “Brother Xiao Yao is taking advantage of you? Uh… Meh, I don’t really care. Wan Er, you should be happy instead…”

Wan Er was speechless.

……

At that moment, my cell phone rang. The call came from Yue Qing Qian——

“Hello? Qing Qian?”

“Brother Xiao Yao!”

“What’s up? Why are you calling me so late at night?”

“Of course it’s for something important. Tomorrow, my mom, sister, and I are coming to Hangzhou. I was wondering if you had time to take me out to play? You said before that you’d take me to Xixi Wetlands park…”

I was delighted when I heard her news and quickly said, “Alright. It just so happens that, Wan Er, Dong Cheng Yue, and I were planning on going to Xixi Wetlands. Why don’t you bring Wei Liang over too?”

“Yup, then… how about we meet in front of Xixi Wetlands’ front gate at 1pm?”

“Alright, we can call each other when the time comes!”

“Yup! What color do you like girls wearing?”

“Blue!”

“Got it, then I’ll wear a pink dress!”

“Alright…”

……

After I hung up, I explained the situation to the girls, and they cheerfully agreed to the outing. The two didn’t feel threatened since they were both twenty year old beauties, whereas Yue Qing Qian and Yue Wei Liang were seventeen year old lolis. Thus, they would never lose in real life; they had at least that much self confidence. After all, these two were known as Liu Hua University’s most beautiful girls. Heaven knows how inflated their egos were in regards to their appearances!

On the next day, I went to grind my skills in Firestone Canyon until 11. After that, I got off to eat. I immediately got back on to register at 12 o’clock!

Ba Huang City was bustling with activity, as an NPC registrar for Rise of the Heroes spawned in each of the big cities. The guards were all dressed in colorful clothing, as though there was about to be a wedding. Crowds gathered around them; there were too many players that wanted to register in the afternoon. I also saw quite a few familiar faces: Li Mu, Thousand Suns Over Snowy Lands, and Jian Feng Han were all among the people waiting to register.

(TL Note: Chinese weddings are traditionally very colorful and filled with red outfits, as it is thought to bring good luck. Same applies for big events like tournaments and competitions. )

In the sea of people, Han Bei Song, who was carrying his longswords, was being pushed around like a stray wave. He did everything in his power to hold onto Who’s Blue so she wouldn’t be swept away. He then, when he was sure she was securely by his side, pushed forward and yelled out, “Hey Guild Master Xiao Yao, you also joining Rise of the Heroes?”

I nodded and said, “Yup, how can I miss such a big tournament? I heard that the rewards are also great….”

Han Bei Song’s face hardened as he said, “Damn. If you participate, then my ranking will definitely fall a spot. I was planning on aiming for the top 16. I just hope that we don’t meet before the last 16 rounds, or else dying at the hands of a comrade is just not right!”

“Don’t worry, it wouldn’t be that heart-wrenching!”

“Yup, then I’ll see you at the top 16……”

“Haha, then I wish you luck on making your way to the top 16….”

“Thanks! I can tell you truly mean it…..”

“Your hearing’s really good…..”

“Get out!”

……

Finally, I used my superhuman strength to push my way to the NPCs and took out 1G to register. The candid uncle laughed and said, “Alright, Xiao Yao Zi Zai. Congratulations on becoming one of the participants of the Rise of the Heroes Tournament. Good luck, and may you uphold the honor of Ba Huang City!”

Registering was a success, time to go offline!

I ran straight for the girls dorm, where Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue were already waiting. The three of us drove the TT and went straight towards Xixi Wetlands.

At 12:50, we made it to Xixi Wetlands and parked our car, and then walked together to the front gate. There were a lot of visitors today, and among all of the people coming, there were quite a few pretty women. But with Wan Er and Dong Cheng Yue by my side, those women all paled in comparison. I gained a lot of attention, especially from other young male visitors, who all seemed to want to kill me.

I was a little nervous and said, “Qing Qian said that she changed her appearance in the game a bit, but I don’t know what she looks like in real life…”

Wan Er lightly smiled and said, “She must be really pretty. See, isn’t that her over there?”

I looked over and discovered a girl in a pink skirt and white shirt. She was extremely cute, with delicate cheeks, long hair, and slender legs. One glance was enough for me to tell that she would grow up to become a great beauty. I also noticed that she carried a cucumber and was “Ka cha ka cha” biting it. When she looked over, her slim eyebrows suddenly raised and she said, “That… Why hasn’t Brother Xiao Yao come?!”

I shuddered and said, “F*ck, that Qing Qian, what’s up with that cucumber!?”