Looking at Qin Churuo, Ye Ci could only smile bitterly.
Some things could never be avoided even after she had been reborn.
"Have you guys heard about that started 20 days ago?"
It was an age when only gaming was popular among youth. Everybody, of course, have heard about the Fate that was very popular. Almost the entire class answered in unison when Fate was mentioned, "Yes!"
A feeling surfaced within Ye Ci. It was good to be young!
When the students heard about the World Conqueror Guild, they were excited. You could be playing solo without a guild, but there was no way one could not know about the top 20 guilds in the nation. It was a symbol of strength, the metaphor for legends.
All of their attention was focused on Qin Churuo as they waited for him to continue his speech.
"We of the Word Conqueror guild have officially entered during its open beta test and we have already formed our guild in the game. I'm here today to invite all of you to join World Conqueror, a guild of our own campus. Let us fight for our campus, and let us fight for our glory!"
Excitement boiled within the class. Every student had their own question for Qin Churuo.
"President, where do I join the guild? In game or in real life?"
"President, which dungeons have you guys cleared? I'm already lv11 but I don't have a guild yet! Can I join up?"
"President, are there any benefits after joining World Conqueror?"
"President, which character class do you guys need? Are there any limitations against the more unpopular character classes…."
"President…"
Ye Ci looked at Fang ShuShu. She seemed to be asking Qin Churuo something, and her face was a shade of red.
At that moment, Ye Ci had a sense of déjà vu.
It was as if she had never been reborn, as if she had never grown up and was still in her youth.
Ye Ci faintly remembered something from a long time ago, something she never had the courage to remember. It was a ridiculous and imaginary relationship between the three of them. She kept Fang ShuShu and Qin Churuo apart from each other, using them for her own benefit and then selling them out time after time.
What had she done in her past life….?
"Ye Ci, Ye Ci, you're in a daze!" Fang ShuShu shook her hands in front of Ye Ci after receiving no response from her.
"What?"
Ye Ci was pulled back into reality. She blinked and stared at Fang ShuShu. She was still young and innocent, just like the first time they had met in Ye Ci's past life.
"Ah, why are your hands so cold? Are you sick?" Fang ShuShu held on to Ye Ci's hands, she was surprised by how cold they were. It was September and the weather was unrelenting!
"No, nothing, I've always been like this." Ye Ci immediately hid her emotion, attempting to erase the bad memory from her mind. She smiled at Fang ShuShu, "Don't you worry. What do you need from me?"
"Ye Ci, do you play Fate?"
"Of course."
"Me too!" Fang ShuShu was happy, as if she had found her soulmate. "Let's join the World Conqueror guild!"
Ye Ci shook her head with a smile, "Sorry, I am already in a guild."
Aww, what a pity. We're so congenial, it's a shame that we can't be in the same guild. "How about I —"
Fang ShuShu's train of thoughts was interrupted by Ye Ci who shook her head. "It's okay. World Conqueror is our campus's own guild. You can consider joining them. I've already made a promise to my childhood friends to join my current guild. I won't be leaving it so soon."
Fang ShuShu did not insist after listening to Ye Ci's explanation, although she was feeling slightly intricate about the matter. "I've finally met a girl that plays games. If only we could play together."
"Well, we can add each other in game, my IGN (in-game name) is Gongzi You."
"Ah, your name is nice. It's like the name of an ancient warrior!" Fang ShuShu was the only one who praised Ye Ci's name. "My name's Flutter n' Sway. Don't forget to add me in-game!"
Ye Ci nodded.
Flutter n' Sway. It was a name Ye Ci would never forget.
Qin Churuo's method of recruitment was very effective. Almost all the students signed up for World Conqueror. Even among the freshmen, at least 70% of them had joined World Conqueror with the exception of the 30% who did not play the game.
With an institution such as the university where every one of them eat and sleep together, a person's character could easily be determined. The good ones and the bad ones could easily be identified. It also fostered a sense of belonging as the students interacted together on a daily basis. Even after they graduated, they would never leave the guild as they already had deep ties with it.
It was basically shackling them to the guild.
The schedule for the first years was more packed. Although it was nothing for Ye Ci, she still had to go to classes for her attendance, which greatly reduced her gaming time.
On this day, she received a pigeon from Four Seas right after she logged into the game, "Say, when are you going to unmute your chat? Was that incident not over yet?"
It made sense to Ye Ci. It had been 20 days since she cleared the Hard difficulty Icy Cave. Many would have already forgotten about it. She unmuted her personal channel and word channel, immediately sending a message to Four Seas, "The semester has started, I was so busy that I've forgotten about it."
"Are you still a student?"
"Yes." Technically….
"Are you free to go to Hard Difficulty Stone Forest 3 days from now?"
It was a weekend. "I'm free." replied Ye Ci.
"Good, I'll contact you after 3 days." Four Seas was not long winded, and the conversation ended shortly.
"Wow, sister, you finally unmuted your private message channel?" A voice rang in Ye Ci's ears right after Four Seas ended his conversation with her. It was Clear Moon.
Ye Ci was curious. His timing was too perfect. "How did you know I've unmuted my private message channel?"
"I've been sending you messages everyday, and it finally got through today!" Clear Moon was very happy.
Clear Moon would look for Ye Ci everyday ever since she gifted him the arrows. All he wanted to do was to talk to her and tell her the stories of his exploits and adventures in the game.
Although his leveling progress was slow, he completed every single quest patiently without complaint. He had even received a Hidden Quest and was rewarded with the skill "Mining" upon completing the quest. He would mine for ores everyday with his pickaxe aside from questing and leveling up.
Before Ye Ci could direct a question at him, Clear Moon told her about everything he had come across in the past two days as if he was delivering a report.
He was getting better and better at mining ores.
Ye Ci was not bored by such talk that others would normally find petty. Instead, she was intrigued.
In her past life, should anyone nag at her nonstop, she would have been pissed off, but the new Ye Ci felt warmth. It was the kind of warmth one would feel from the dependency of others.
She did not interrupt Clear Moon.
"Oh yes, sister, the blacksmith gave me another quest!"
Another Hidden Quest?
"What is the quest about?"
"The blacksmith said that if I could give him 100 ores with the quality of 20 and above, he would teach me the skill, Forging," Clear Moon was jovial, "I am 2 ores away from acquiring the skill!"
Ye Ci was surprised. A newbie learning the skill Mining in the newbie village was already surprising enough, but Clear Moon could even learn Forging!
Ye Ci had always thought that she knew a lot about the game. It seemed to her that her knowledge regarding Fate was only the tip of the iceberg.
Clear Moon was persistent, but it was his persistence that allowed him to acquire two skills that no one had ever expected to learn.
Clear Moon let out a surprised yelp which startled Ye Ci. "What happened?"
"Sister! I've gotten another piece of ore with the quality above 20! I need only 1 more! Talk to you later, I'm going to resume mining!"
With that, Clear Moon cut off the voice connection and continued mining. Meanwhile, Ye Ci decided to have a look at Sandy Plains….