"Confirm the trade." said Ye Ci. Remote Depths was still recovering from the excitement of meeting Gongzi You in person. He hadn't even noticed what Ye Ci had put into the trade column. He slowly shifted his gaze to what was being traded after a reminder from Ye Ci. His legs almost gave way.
Swordback Hold:
Purple Equipment
Defense: 271-347
Required level: 0
Required Strength: 105
Special attribute: 64% of physical attacks blocked, 52% chance of blocking magic attacks, bonus 80-110 defense, increased 20% block chance.
Special attribute: All skills level +1.
Special attribute: Increases mana by 10.
Special attribute: Bonus 10 resistance to Burn, Frost and Poison damage.
Class: Warrior, Knight.
(T/N: Name totes not borrowed from a certain game XD)
"M-miss, I-I-I d-don't h-have that m-m-m-m-much money…" Remote Depths stuttered even more.
"Hurry up and accept the trade." Ye Ci was puzzled to see Bai Mo's reaction. Poor thing, to be so overexcited because of a shield, he must've never seen a truly top-notch piece of equipment before.
"I r-really d-don't have that m-much money…" Remote Depths's face reddened even further, "C-can y-you w-wait for a moment? I-I-I w-will borrow some m-money from m-m-my sister."
"For me to lend you some money just so that you can buy something from me? Am I the idiot or are you the idiot?" Ye Ci decided that she had enough fun with Remote Depths and revealed her true identity.
Remote Depths was once again dumbfounded. He stared at Ye Ci for a full 3 minutes, as if he was studying an alien. He then asked in a meek voice, "Ye Ci?"
"What?"
Remote Depths let out a breath. The next thing he did was something that Ye Ci hadn't expected. He 'gracefully' accepted the shield and said, "Silly girl, do you have any money? Give me some. I'll go buy some equipment."
...
What defines a shameless person? Just look at Remote Depths.
Ye Ci's lips formed a slight smile, "You like it?"
"Of course I do! You're just too goddamned amazing!" Remote Depths even kissed the shield. If he could hug it as he slept, he definitely would.
"I got this right from under Wandering Cloud's nose. If you're going to walk around in Tang Dynasty with that thing…" Ye Ci let out a mischievous laugh.
"Oh?" Wandering cloud was Tang Dynasty's MT and the vice guild leader as well. His equipment was awesome and his character was equally 'awesome' as well. Remote Depths' curiosity was immediately aroused after learning that Ye Ci had snatched the shield away from Wandering Cloud.
Ye Ci gave a brief explanation to Remote Depths, minus the part about her past life and also gave him some words of caution, "You're in Tang Dynasty right now. Don't just walk around with that shield casually. He might do something to you."
Remote Depths laughed. He stored the shield into his inventory and ruffled Ye Ci's hair. She slapped his hand away, and he yelped in pain. "I'm not as skillful as you, but I'm not afraid of him. Don't worry about me. Besides, Tang Dynasty is just a guild, not a friggin bank vault. I can just leave anytime I want."
Ye Ci was about to continue her conversation with Remote Depths when she received a pigeon from Zero Arsenic, asking her to report to the guild encampment. She creased her eyebrows. She left on her steed, not forgetting to once again advise Remote Depths to not show off the Swordback Hold.
Remote Depths mumbled his reply and left to clear some quests. Meanwhile, Ye Ci headed to the teleportation NPC and teleported into the guild encampment. She headed straight to the guild conference room.
It was crowded.
Most of them were people that Ye Ci had met before. People like MT's and main healers from the first and second squadron, as well as Peacock Blue, Thousand Sunsets and Crimson Millions. There were, of course, some unfamiliar faces too.
Zero Arsenic introduced them to Ye Ci with a smile. One of them was Little Dan, the person in command of the first squadron, and the other two were White Shallows and DuDu, also DPS players from the first squadron.
After all of them were seated, Zero Arsenic began a short briefing about the guild's expedition to explore the Chilly Ruins. "Gongzi, I know that you are still not very familiar with certain members, so that's why I've gathered everybody here. You can take this chance to interact with them and perhaps discuss a plan to clear the Chilly Ruins in the shortest time possible."
The elites of Steel-Blooded Battle Spear were deeply impressed by Ye Ci after she helped the guild secure two of the First Five. They no longer spoke to Ye Ci in an arrogant manner.
"There's nothing much to it. Fate Officials have released a notice stating that the mobs in Chilly Ruins have the ice attribute. I think we should all prepare some Ice Resistance Potions." Of course, Ye Ci couldn't directly tell them about the way to clear the dungeon as nobody had ever set foot in the dungeon yet.
Hence, she could only remind them to create the potions needed to clear the dungeon.
Thousand Sunsets immediately instructed Peacock Blue to oversee the process of creating the potions, while the others began discussing their different views of the dungeon. Ye Ci merely sat at a corner, letting her mind wander.
Was there any meaning to sheer theoretical discussion? The more practical way would be heading out to the dungeon in person.
Ye Ci immediately left the conference room after the boring meeting. She saw Dong Yin, who immediately stood up from her sitting position beside the flowerbed. She waved at Ye Ci, "Little Ci."
Ye Ci greeted her as well, "You're waiting for Thousand Sunsets?"
"No, I'm waiting for you. You want to go for a walk?" Dong Yin proceeded to drag Ye Ci towards the flower garden.
Ye Ci didn't decline. She looked Dong Yin up and down. Perhaps it was because of Thousand Sunsets, but her equipment was way better than Liu Chang and Yi Cang. Dong Yin strolled around the garden with Ye Ci in tow, gossipping here and there and occasionally talking about the scenery.
Ye Ci was very familiar with every blade of grass and every single tree in Fate. She didn't care for the scenery. She was only there with Dong Yin for two reasons. One, it was already late and she didn't have the time to do anything else. Two, she was interested in finding out what Dong Yin wanted her for.
After quite a while, Dong Yin stopped walking and studied Ye Ci, "Little Ci, why are you so quiet?"
"I don't talk much. You guys know that."
Dong Yin pouted and her eyebrows creased. If it was the past Ye Ci, she might've asked her friend what was distressing her. But the current Ye Ci knew what was going on.
She wanted nothing more to do with Thousand Sunsets.
Hence, she refused to speak.
"Little Ci, congratulations for getting First Blood on the Armored Giant Tortoise. You're really amazing!" Dong Yin finally said with a smile. Ye Ci could see the sincerity in her smile. It was the sincerity of a friend.
"It's merely a coincidence." Ye Ci nodded. As expected, it was all about that shield.
"Uhh…" Dong Yin immediately fell into a dilemma after congratulating Ye Ci. Even if it was hard for her, she still had to say it, "Uhh… was something called the 'Swordback Hold' included in the loot dropped from the Armored Giant Tortoise?"
Would Dong Yin know about the Swordback Hold? Of course not. Thousand Sunsets was obviously the one who knew about the Swordback Hold.
Ye Ci was stunned. She knew about the item from her past life, while Wandering Cloud bought the information from the black market. How did Thousand Sunsets learn about it? There were no mentions of the shield on the official websites about the loot drops of Wild BOSSes.
"Swordback Hold? What's that?" Ye Ci pretended that she had no knowledge of the shield.
"It is a shield. Used by a Warrior."
"What about it?"
"If you have it with you, T-Thousand would like to buy it." Dong Yin's voice became very quiet. She knew that Thousand Sunsets treated her better than everybody else because of Ye Ci. She was bitter at the ugly truth, "With real-world currency."
"I have never seen that thing before." Ye Ci stared at Dong Yin, her voice cold as usual.
"Oh…" Dong Yin let out a breath. She then continued, "T-then, do you have any guides on how to defeat the Armored Giant Tortoise? With your current level, you m-must have exploited some sort of BUG right… C-can y-you show it to me? I-I can pay you…" Dong Yin could no longer bring herself to continue. Her face was pale and tears began to cloud her vision.
At that moment, Ye Ci knew that she could no longer stay in Steel-Blooded Battle Spear. It wasn't just for herself, but for Dong Yin's sake as well. She had her own values and Dong Yin had somewhere she belonged too. They were not the same type of people. If she stayed, it wouldn't be a problem for her. She was tough. But Dong Yin would definitely get hurt.
3 First Bloods and 2 First Fives. She had repaid her past life's debt to Steel-Blooded Battle Spear. It was enough.
"There was no BUG. I simply kited it with the help of Frost Trap." Ye Ci told her the truth.
She was pained to see Dong Yin's tears that had almost rolled down her cheeks.
"Oh, I-I see." Dong Yin nodded with a little hint of gratitude.
"Dong Yin, how is Thousand Sunsets treating you?" Although Ye Ci preferred to not mind other people's business, she could no longer hold herself back after seeing Dong Yin's expression.
"H-he's a good person." Dong Yin replied meekly; she couldn't look Ye Ci in the eyes.
"It doesn't matter if he's a good person. The most important thing is: Does he treat you well?" Asked Ye Ci slowly with a soft voice.
Dong Yin lowered her head and answered after a short pause. "Yes."
Ye Ci didn't waste any time in trying to determine the truth. She caressed Dong Yin's hair and said, "I have class tomorrow. I'll go to sleep now."
With that, she turned around and left.
It wasn't because Ye Ci did not care about her. Everybody had to grow up at some point. They had to pay the price for the choices they made and pain was one of the prices to pay for someone to grow up.