He Jin stayed in his prototype form during this whole time, so as long as Fire used the “follow” command, he didn’t really need to do anything. While on land, he would automatically trail after Fire, and once they entered flying state, the system would place him on Fire’s arm by default, and he would end up hanging on him like a flying mouse.
So, while they were flying, He Jin used this time to search for the dungeon’s background and layout–as a straight-A student, He Jin had developed a habit of thoroughly understanding every detail in any given situation… Although he was merely a rice weevil right now. (=_=)
Once he was done, He Jin found out that Fire had taken him into Yan Mountain.
He took a glance at the group chat, and saw there were several new messages there-
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “Gege, being Spirit pet is wonderful ah. You don’t have to fly yourself, and can just hang on your master’s body.”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “Do you want to play as spirit pet? I can domesticate you.”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “It is very interesting, maybe I’ll make a side account later.”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “Okay.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “Hello, you two please pay attention to the game! -_-#”
He Jin: “…”
He Jin then sent a message to the team -“Everyone hello, I am Xiao Xian-Jin.”
And a private chat to Fire: “Wild Crane and Leisure Cloud are brothers?”
〖 Private Chat Fire Ruthless〗: “I don’t think so, maybe they call each other brother casually.”
Meanwhile, the team chat had turned lively.
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “Yo, the wife finally spoke.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “Haha, Xiao Bai sister-in-law, do you want to introduce yourself?”
He Jin was feeling embarrassed, not sure how he should introduce himself. While he was still pondering, Fire sent him a message – “If you don’t want to talk, then you don’t have to. I will handle them.”
〖 Team〗 – Fire Ruthless: “Don’t gossip, my wife is shy. She wants to remain mysterious.”
Looking at that sentence, He Jin suddenly felt a little moved. He put his hands on the keyboard, and typed out a few words.
〖 Team〗 – Xiao Xian-Jin: “I am the wife Fire Ruthless, and still in university. Please take care of me everyone.”
He Jin’s fingers trembled slightly as he typed the word “wife”. It felt like his integrity has dropped once again…
Indeed, there was no need to mention too much personal information in a game, but saying some little facts, like profession, or the general region where you lived, might be able to deepen the connection other people felt toward you.
Seeing him introducing himself, the rest of the team also followed suit.
The enthusiastic Nine Hall His Highness was first: “I’m also still in university. Just call me Your Highness~o (n_n) o~”
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “Nine ~ Be careful, don’t overdo your Meng [1]act. This is Ruthless’s wife, not some unknown person. Don’t court your death ah.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall Hiss Highness: “…”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “Ah Jin hello, I am Wild Crane. Leisure Cloud is my brother, we are already working.”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “Hello :)”
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “Ah Jin, I am your husband’s official BLCP.”
〖 Team〗 – Fire Ruthless:
“(￣_￣| | |)… ”
〖 Team〗 – Xiao Xian-Jin: “What is BLCP?”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “haha hahaha haha ha ha!”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “Boys Love Couple Pairing, a match between two men.”
He Jin: “…”
The rest of the team (excluding Fire) started to laugh, and He Jin looked on with a small smile of his own. Somehow, he felt indebted to these people, because they were the ones who had been accompanying Fire during all these years.
They went into the dark tunnel of Blazing Prison. The farther they went, the brighter the cave wall appeared to be. The gravel along the way burned red, with red centipedes crawling all over it. There were also unknown blue flying insects around. The view, combined with the game’s background sound, blended perfectly to create an eerie atmosphere.
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “Say, do you think the holographic version will still have these centipedes?”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “I think so.”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “No way! Then who’d dare to come in? It’s horrible!”
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “I don’t think insects are terrible. I’m more worried about the temperature, it’s full of fire here, must be hot.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “Noooo, I’m most afraid of heat.”
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “You can try wearing fewer clothes before coming online.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “Will it help?”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶:”That’s futile. I have seen the principle behind the holographic version. It said that the system would stimulate our brain’s sensory areas through the helmet, similar to hypnosis. So, you will still feel hot even if you play stark naked.”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “…”
While talking, the team had reached the first pass point of the dungeon. Although the Yan Mountain’s Blazing Prison was said to be one of the most difficult dungeons, with the server’s top five masters here, passing it was only a matter of time. Therefore, the atmosphere between them was very relaxed, with them talking and laughing all along the way.
Dead Water looked at He Jin’s level and said in the team: “Her blood volume is so little, and you actually dare to let her do such a difficult dungeon? She’ll die easily ah…”
He Jin was now a level seven Spiritual Pet, equivalent to 70 in other occupations. Doing a level 90 dungeon was indeed suicidal for him.
Fire Ruthless: “It’s fine, let her have fun.”
Everyone: “…” what fun? Have fun being dead? Orz…
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “I’m a bit pressured”
In addition to the three core races, each race also had its own major occupation. Some occupations were unique, like He Jin’s Spiritual Pet, but there were more common ones, such as wizards, archers, sword masters, healers, and so on.
He Jin still had some memories of the occupations during Spirit Fairy’s era. Although the game had changed a lot, the main theme was still the same. For example, it was easy to guess that Nine Hall His Highness was an archer from the bow and arrow on his back. However, it wasn’t that obvious to see in his other team members. He Jin could only take a blind guess based on their skills.
At this time, Fire suddenly sent a private chat to him: “Hide yourself for now, Leisure Cloud is a healer, he will pay attention to your blood.”
He Jin replied: “Okay.”
Their first enemy was “Night Bamboo”, a fire-type insect who liked to fight in groups. Nine Hall His Highness took out his bow and arrow, while Fire went into combat mode; He Jin was forced to quit his “follow” state.
He hurriedly scurried off, looking for a safe place to hide. However, after only a few steps, a Night Bamboo suddenly appeared in front of him. Facing this creature, He Jin’s ferret character issued a “grumble” sound before it was hit full force. Its body was flung away, turning bloody as it finally fell down on the ground.
〖 Team〗: Player Xiao Xian-Jin has died.
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “…”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “…”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “…”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶: “Sorry, I was too late.”
〖 Team〗 – Xiao Xian-Jin: “I’m the one who should be sorry…”
In a moment, Fire Ruthless had already resurrected Ah Jin. He said to Leisure Cloud: “Don’t blame yourself, Ah Jin died before you had the chance to recover her blood. Don’t worry, I’ll resurrect her if she dies.”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶: “Right, you two are husband and wife, you can revive each other ah…”
〖 Team〗 – Nine Hall His Highness: “I also want to get married … TAT”
The game continued, fortunately, the rest of the team members had attracted the rage of the Night Bamboos, so He Jin was mostly safe after his resurrection. He treaded cautiously around the place while taking notes of his teammate’s skills, trying to analyze their occupation.
Leisure Cloud was a healer, he used a staff and was dressed in blue dragon-like attire. Wild Crane was a Sword Master, he wore a white satin robe with blue patterns, looking very valiant; Dead Water mainly used long-range attacks, and He Jin often saw him “singing”, each time he did that, a trap and magic circle would appear on the ground. He used a folding fan as weapon though, and He Jin wasn’t sure of its specific use.
The strangest one was Fire, He Jin couldn’t figure out his occupation. He was also equipped with a sword, so arguably, he should be a Sword Master like Wild Crane. However, he didn’t use his sword all the time, and would occasionally launch a direct magic attack instead. The only thing He Jin could be sure of was Fire Ruthless’s skills were mostly fire-attribute.
Fire-attribute players were at disadvantage when playing in Yan Mountain, because most monsters here were fire-resistant. Well, that should have been the normal logic, but the fact was, Fire Ruthless’s killing speed was even faster than Wild Crane. Is it because Fire Ruthless’s strength is so strong that the monster’s fire-resistant skill has become useless?
At the first pass point, except for the one time He Jin died, the rest of it went by very smoothly. At the second pass point, they had to kill “Witch Snake Monster “, and He Jin died two times. At the third pass point, after they killed the flying reptiles there, all the reptiles turned into ghosts. These ghosts seemed to know that He Jin was the weakest among them, and rushed to kill him!
From here on, He Jin couldn’t stop dying, he died over and over again…
Seeing this, Wild Crane finally couldn’t bear it anymore and said: “Geez, Ruthless, your wife is too pitiful ah. You should bring her here when her level is higher…”
As the team’s healer, Leisure Cloud felt slightly guilty and said: “Ah, I’m sorry.”
His highness: “I have been looking at Xiao Bai since the second pass point, and this place’s difficulty really is too hard for her. She has nowhere to hide here. Poor Xiao Bai~”
Dead Water joined in to scold him: “Even other people feel bad. How come you, as his husband, didn’t feel anything, you sadist!”
Once again, Fire Ruthless ignored them and asked He Jin: “Jin Er2, can you hold on? If not, we can stop now.”
Hearing Fire calling him “Jin Er”, He Jin almost fell out of his chair!
Nine Hall His Highness: “Eh, Ruthless, your voice is too sweet ah, I’ve turned all soft here…” (He Jin: +1)
〖 Team〗 – Xiao Xian-Jin: “It’s fine, just continue. I don’t want to be a bother.”
Although he felt a little bit depressed over his deaths, He Jin was even more embarrassed if he ended up dragging his teammate down.
Soon after he sent that message, He Jin heard Nine Hall His Highness’s voice coming from his headset, calling out to him in a mimicry of Fire’s voice: “Jin Er ~ Jin Er ~ Jin Er ~”
He Jin: “……..”
〖 Team〗 – Dead Water: “[Vomit]”
〖 Team〗 – Leisure Cloud丶:”[Vomit]”
〖 Team〗 – Wild Crane丶:”[Vomit]”
It was clearly the same words, but when it was said by Nine Hall His Highness, He Jin only felt funny hearing them…
Looking at these people, his mood finally brightened, and he quickly typed in the team channel,
〖 Team〗– Xiao Xian-Jin: “Jiu3 Er, what’s wrong?”
〖 Team〗– Nine Hall His Highness: “…”
Sounds of laughter soon followed this exchange. They never thought the usually quiet Xiao Xian-Jin expectedly also had the sense of humor to openly ridicule other people.
After they had finished laughing, Fire reminded them: “Pay attention, the boss will come out soon.”
〖 System〗 Huo Ming: “Who dares to enter my Yan Mountain’s Blazing Prison! Prepare to give up your life! ”
Not long after this system prompt showed up, the game’s image on the screen began to shake, and a tall figure appeared, surrounded by flames, and cladded in a red-dyed robe. It was the dungeon’s boss, who unexpectedly… looked quite similar to Fire Ruthless!
T/N:
[1]: Meng: Similar with moe in Japanese. Usually used to describe someone who is acting cute.
[2]: Er (儿): Literally translated as child or youngster, however in this case it is used as an affectionate way to call someone.
[3[: Jiu (九): Means Nine, I just feel using Jiu Er is much less awkward than Nine Er xD