Chapter 231 Is That Possible? (Part 2)
Ye Ci took in a deep breath, before the rain falls, she then called out her minimap, and continued advancing towards the unexplored parts of the Bloody Wilderness. I hope that I can locate Vo'sok before the rain falls.
The sky grew darker and darker, and the bright red sky turned into a darker shade of red. The dark red sky made Ye Ci restless. As she listened to the distant thunder and stared into the dark red sky, she felt as if there were furious cats trying to claw their way out of her heart.
She would occasionally pull the Goblin Compass out from her pocket, but the refused to reveal the location of Vo'sok.
"Huff…" Ye Ci was exhausted. She studied her surroundings carefully, and found a fallen tree. She walked up to the tree and sat leaning on its trunk.. She had to replenish her strength by consuming food, and it was something that she had been doing since her arrival. After all, stealth was an ability that drained her Stamina even faster than running. That was why she was forced to take stops and consume some food to maintain her ability to remain in stealth.
Ye Ci's heart sank as she saw the rain cloud in the sky.
Fleeting Time was standing in the workshop in Light Saint City, which was one of the busiest place in the entire Western Continent.
With the increase in average player level and the appearance of better equipment and gems, business was good for the workshop. Different gems in Fate would offer additional buffs such as Strength, Agility, Critical Rate, Health, and Speed to players.
The quality of gems were divided into several different grades: Shattered, Cracked, Complete, Flawed, Flawless, and Perfect.
A player could then hire an NPC to merge nine inferior quality gems into a gem of higher quality, with a 100% success rate but a very high price to place. Despite the cost, the workshop was still full of customers. After all, there were limited gem slots in an equipment, and it would be logical to enhance an equipment with the highest quality gems.
The drop rate of inferior gems were relatively high. They could be dropped by the common mobs in any dungeons, and any monsters that were above the level of 30. The gems with superior quality, however, would only be dropped by Elites and higher tier monsters with a very low drop rate.
Fleeting Time was able to gain three higher quality gems by consuming a bottle of Balm of Blessings. He would be lucky to walk off with a single piece of Flawed Gem without the balm.
The three NPCs in the workshop were swarmed by hundreds of players. Even a player with high Strength would have trouble shoving his or her way to the NPC.
Even if Fleeting Time was famous in the Western Continent, the gem merging NPCs operated under a first-come-first serve basis, which meant that he was also required to force his way to the NPC. He would usually be able to squeeze his way through the crowd with his high Agility, but he was distracted by a certain brooch that he saw on a certain Rogue earlier on.
"Where are you now?" Fleeting Time received a message from Absalom as he was deep in thought.
"I'm at the gem merging workshop."
"You've been there for an hour! Do you really have that many gems?"
"I'm still queueing up. There's a lot of people, you know?" Fleeting Time was distressed when his train of thoughts was distracted by Absalom. The answer was just at the tips of his finger.
"Queueing up? As a Hunter? Is your high level of Agility for show?" Absalom expressed his disdain at Fleeting Time, "By the way, my wife has a question for you. Are you coming back on New Year this time?"
Fleeting Time was momentarily stunned. Why would Absalom's wife even bother with something like that? There must be something going on.
"Don't beat around the bush."
"Hehe… You know what I'm trying to say… That… Person…" it was apparent that Absalom was forced to ask such a question by his wife, and that he was troubled by the topic.
"She's not married yet?" the impatience was clear in Fleeting Time's voice. He hated it when people just refused to get straight to the point.
"She has liked you for so many years! Why can't you just reciprocate her feelings? It's not easy for a girl to like you and only you for so many years. Don't you think you're hurting her?" Absalom sighed. He had expected such a response from Fleeting Time.
"So if a pig had feelings for you, and has liked you for 10 years, are you going to respond to that pig's feelings?" Fleeting Time snorted.
"Hey! She's not a pig, alright? She's a beautiful young lady! Fleeting Time, even if you're a jackass most of the time, can't you just have some propriety in your speech?" after all, the girl was a good friend of Absalom's wife, "Even if you refuse to even acknowledge her presence in the game, can you at least be more courteous in real life? She's a good friend of my wife, please don't make this awkward for us."
"If I'm not interested in her, then she's no different from a pig to me." engaging in a conversation that he held no interest in was a waste of time for Fleeting Time, "By the way, there's something I want to ask?" and he began to steer the conversation away.
"What is it?" Absalom was thinking of ways to safely relay Fleeting Time's decision to his wife. How troublesome. Women are so troublesome.
"There's probably not a lot of players who would wear a brooch, am I right?"
"Yup."
"What do you think of this brooch?" Fleeting Time began describing the brooch he saw on the Rogue.
"How the hell would I know? You should go talk to my wife if it's about jewelleries." to a person like Absalom, a brooch was just a brooch no matter how well Fleeting Time described it. He was not interested in jewelleries, and would naturally not be able to help Fleeting Time out in this situation.
Fleeting Time immediately disconnected from his chat with Absalom. He was a person who would not waste a single word on someone who was useless to him.
Absalom's expression darkened when Fleeting Time disconnected the call. What the heck? You hung up on me just because I can't be of use to you? He then turned to face a Sorceress in fiery red robes after a moment of silence and scratched his head.
"So how did it go? Is he coming back in the New Year?" the Sorceress, Sour Apple, who was also Absalom's wife was staring at him expectantly. The glitter in her eyes exerted immeasurable amounts of pressure on ABsalom.
"Honey, it's September, don't you think it's too early for that?" said Absalom after a long moment of silence.
Sour Apple glared at her husband and pursed her lips, "What do you mean it's early? New Year very close now. We can already start the preparations for…"
"It's okay Apple, you don't have to do this for me." said a Cleric in white robes who were standing behind Sour Apple. She was White Fairytale. Her heart was devoid of any feelings as she heard Absalom's words. Am I hurting? Perhaps. But I've already grown numb at this point.
White Fairytale was friends with Fleeting Time, Absalom, and Sour Apple since junior high school. She began developing feelings for Fleeting Time the first time she met the boy who seemed to not care about anything around him. She dismissed her feelings at first as some fancy thoughts. But as she grew older, her feelings for Fleeting Time grew as well. She would always imagine herself becoming a couple with Fleeting Time just like how Absalom and Sour Apple fell in love with each other.
However, Fleeting Time began treating her coldly when he learned of her feelings for him. At that time, Sour Apple told her that Fleeting Time was just too shy , and would begin to accept her feelings when as time passes, but they have only grown more and more distant over the years. He would never reciprocate her feelings, and would only treat her as his former high school classmate.
From the cold looks Fleeting Time would cast her way, White Fairytale knew that, deep down, Fleeting Time might not even be willing to acknowledge the fact that they even knew each other.
She would always think to herself: Maybe… I'll continue loving him forever. Even to the day he was married, and to the day I ended up with a husband, I will still love him. Pain gripped her heart whenever the thought surfaced in her mind. She could not even breath as she thought of such a future.
Of course, Sour Apple and Absalom knew about the thoughts of White Fairytale, and they tried their best to play matchmaker for her, but to no avail. Their efforts were ignored by Fleeting Time every single time, and Sour Apple could only vent her frustrations on Absalom.
When Sour Apple heard that Fleeting Time was interested in playing Fate, she tried once again to play matchmaker in the game. She was able to discreetly find out that Fleeting Time would be playing as a Warrior, and immediately made the suggestion for White Fairytale to be playing as a Cleric as the two classes would always work closely together in the game. Just as Sour Apple thought that she would have her way, she found out that Fleeting Time chose the Hunter class instead. She almost coughed up blood when she received the news.
She would never forget that day when she confronted Fleeting Time, "I like it." was the answer Fleeting Time offered as he chuckled at her.
Sour Apple almost passed out due to anger after hearing the three words. That man was hiding the truth from her from the beginning. She learned an important lesson on that day: She would never be able to outsmart Fleeting Time, who was as sly as a fox. This was how Absalom ended up as a middle man between both sides.
"What do you mean? Isn't it great if he comes back? We can all go out and have some fun!" Sour Apple winked at White Fairytale.
A sorrowful smile appeared on White Fairytale's face. She had conflicting feelings in her heart. She was giving up on salvaging her relationship with Fleeting Time, but Sour Apple's attempts at playing matchmaker were igniting little sparks of hope in her.
She did not utter a single word after listening to Sour Apple's words. It was apparent that she was looking forward to such an chance.
Absalom was powerless in this situation. He knew of the temperament Fleeting Time. He also knew that White Fairytale had no chance with Fleeting Time, and that her obsession with him would only hurt herself.
"By the way, we're heading into a dungeon today. I'll assign you into his party. You can be his personal healer." said Sour Apple with a smile.
White Fairytale's expression darkened. There was a secret that even Sour Apple was unaware else. Due to the high standards imposed on the healers in Genesis, the Clerics of the guild were forced to learn to prioritize their healing targets to avoid an overheal. White Fairytale had always been assigned to the same party with Fleeting Time, but she did not even have the chance to heal him up. The reason was simple: Fleeting Time refused to give her the chance. He was always trying his best to avoid even a single point of damage.
"I-I'll get in touch with you later tonight, there's something I need to sell at the auction house…" White Fairytale turned around and left.
Absalom could no longer hold himself back as he stared at the lonely girl, "Fairytale!"
White Fairtytale stopped dead in her tracks, and turned around to face Absalom.
"Truth to be told… Fleeting Time is an asshole. What's so good about him? There's so many good people in our guild! Just tell me who you like…Aiya!" Sour Apple hit Absalom on his head before he could finish his sentence.
White Fairytale grimaced at Absalom's unspoken words and left.
"What are you doing?" Sour Apple glared at Absalom, "Can't you see how sad she is? How could you say something like that?"
"Honey, don't you think that your act of giving her hope just to see the hope crushed by Fleeting Time the most cruel act?" Absalom sighed.
Sour Apple knew that her husband was correct, "I know! But.. If you can she how much she loves Fleeting Time, you will definitely be moved to help her out."
A person's name appeared in Absalom's mind. He could still remember the intense and intimidating aura of that person. She was just like Fleeting Time. Is he serious about her? Or is it all just game to him?
"Just stop trying to play the matchmaker for those two. It's meaningless." said Absalom. He could still remember the high spirits of Fleeting Time when he talked about the girl.
Just where have I seen that damn thing?
Fleeting Time crossed his arms against his chest and drummed his fingers on his arms after handing his gems to the NPC. He lifted his head, and saw an Elven Huntress walking on the streets. A sudden thought flashed across his mind.
He could finally remember where he had seen the brooch!
It was pinned in front of Gongzi You's chest!
He paid no heed to the brooch when he first seen it during his first battle against Gongzi You in the Dragon Dance Competition. That was why he could not immediately make the connection when he saw the same brooch on the Rogue's chest.
Come to think of it… Gongzi You has been equipping that brooch for a long time. She had never taken the brooch down for nearly 10 months. The brooch was so plain that a person would not notice its presence when he or she was not paying attention. Even the people who were close to Gongzi You would not notice the brooch.
A brooch that was used and was not replaced for 10 months by Gongzi You must be very special. Why would something so special appear on a random Rogue? Did he acquire it by sheer dumb luck?
Or… Could it be that…
Fleeting Time could not bring himself to believe that conclusion that he had reached in his mind.
Is that possible? Is that even possible?
Is it possible for a person to venture into a hostile continent alone? That person had even managed to reach the Bloody Wilderness, which is adjacent to the Light Saint City!
It actually is possible…
As long as the person is Gongzi You, nothing is impossible!
Hiya minnsan! Here’s another chapter of the awesomsauce novel translated by an awesomtacular translator! Hope you people enjoyed the novel!
Urghh… How’s everybody doing? Wednesday people! It’s wednesday! Just 2 more days until we get TGIF!!! Oorah!! Hang it there people! We’re going to have a nice weekend soon! XD
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