“Little Icy?”
Upon hearing Bubble’s suggestion, Rhode was taken aback. But he soon realized that it was actually not a bad suggestion.
The “Little Icy” that Bubble brought up was Icy Snow, whose name was Yue BingBing in person (Bing as in ‘ice’ in Mandarin, which probably explained the in-game name). Icy Snow was the number one archer in Starlight and undoubtedly the best among long-range classes in Dragon Soul Continent. Her mastery in archery put everyone in a frenzy. Although she was about the same age as Mini Bubble Gum, she played the game for much longer. She used to be Rhode’s neighbor. But as her parents weren’t home frequently, she was often in his care. Since she started going to school, her family moved to another city. Rhode gave a virtual-reality gaming helmet to her as a parting gift and thereafter, the little fella was lured into the gaming world of Dragon Soul Continent.
Icy Snow was the only player who had been with Rhode ever since he started playing Dragon Soul Continent. She was innocent, kind, but held a strict attitude. She was like a top student within the guild like Canary. Her results in school were excellent, where she was a champion to several national young-age-group competitions. However, there was something about her that bothered others. She valued the concept of time… A lot.
She was punctual to come online and go offline and would never extend her stay for any reasons. Even when they were in the midst of battling a BOSS, as long as time was up she would go offline immediately and never bother if the BOSS was defeated. This caused a lot of displeasure in the guild. It would be acceptable if they were on just an ordinary mission. But during raids, it was always inevitable to face delays for all sorts of reasons. Delaying the two hours that were agreed upon in raiding a dungeon to three to five hours were common occurrences. But Icy Snow apparently wasn’t mindful of that at all. Whenever she came online, she would inform everyone the time she would go offline on that day. Then, she would follow Rhode around to fight some monsters or complete missions before going offline. The cycle repeated itself and her timing was as accurate as a robot.
As a primary school student, it went without saying that Icy Snow didn’t have much time to play games. She basically came online for two hours each day before going offline to complete her assignments. Rhode had also memorized her timetable: eat for half an hour, come online after eating, play for two hours, go offline, spend two hours on assignments, take half an hour to shower, and prepare for bedtime. It was only during holidays and winter vacation when she extended her playing time to six hours: three in the morning and three in the afternoon.
If this was all to it, Icy Snow would only be one of the countless ordinary players in Dragon Soul Continent. Players had all sorts of quirks. For Icy Snow’s peculiarity, it almost cost her chances to join guild raids. No one could guarantee that they could completely raid a dungeon in two hours. A player who said: “Time’s up. I need to go offline to do my assignments” and went offline immediately during critical junctures was naturally unpopular among players.
However, Icy Snow had a special move that amazed everyone—Projectile Shooting.
As an archer, Icy Snow’s Projectile Shooting had reached perfection. What was so incredible about it was that whenever she used Projectile Shooting on monsters, the monsters wouldn’t retaliate. Even when the monster was a BOSS, it also rarely struck back. This raised controversies among players, where they suspected that Icy Snow used hacks. That wasn’t surprising since almost every player thought the same as soon as they witnessed videos of her battles.
The act that shot Icy Snow to fame was when she took on a level 30 berserk mage on Twilight Mountain alone. Back then, she was only level 20 and it was a challenge for her job advancement. She was 200 meters away from the berserk mage, where a forest stood between them. Without even gazing at the berserk mage, Icy Snow raised her bow high, aimed at the sky, and released the arrow. After more than 10 seconds, she lifted the bow again with a slightly adjusted angle and released her fingers again. In total, she did this three times. The level 30 berserk mage didn’t even spot Icy Snow and was defeated instantly. What was more shocking was that all the arrows punctured his skull as though a rain of arrows fell from heaven, penetrating and turning him into a hedgehog.
As Dragon Soul Continent was a virtual-reality game, there was a critical-attack system. So even though there was a difference of 10 levels between Icy Snow and the berserk mage, her damage output, element of surprise, as well as the unique critical damage from archers overwhelmed the berserk mage. This was a gamified result. If it were in reality, it didn’t matter even if one were in the Elite or Master Stage as an arrow puncturing the skull would leave one without any chances of survival.
This was one of the reasons why many players suspected Icy Snow of cheating. Even though all archers in the game possessed the [Projectile Shooting] skill, that was built within one’s horizon, after all. The archers had to first spot their targets before launching the attack. It was the same no matter what skill that was. However, Icy Snow was able to attack without seeing the enemy. Not only that, but her attacks were also all head-shots, so it was hard for people to not suspect she was hacking. Besides, the longest distance that arrows could go was 100 meters. Even though Projectile Shooting could increase the range, the farthest was only 150 meters. In Icy Snow’s case, she was about 200 meters away from the berserk mage, not to mention there was a forest between them. Despite that, all her arrows struck the target on the head. Either she was an evildoer or hacker, there was no other way around it.
Rhode was the only one who knew the truth because he was the one who synchronized with Icy Snow to validate this idea of hers. Just like Mini Bubble Gum’s ‘treating foes as friends’ tactic, Icy Snow also came up with some rare, bizarre ideas. For instance, this ultra-long-range Projectile Shooting was one of them. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t accomplished by Icy Snow herself. Back then, Rhode hid himself inside the forest and gave Icy Snow the coordinates of the berserk mage. Then, the little fella attacked solely through her own calculations. Frankly speaking, Rhode didn’t treat her idea too seriously. Even though it was possible in theory, in reality the chances were close to none, at least for Rhode, that is. But Icy Snow actually succeeded…
After Dragon Soul Continent’s officials confirmed that Icy Snow wasn’t cheating, she shot to fame instantly, becoming the idol of all archers. As she leveled up, she placed all her skill points into primarily range and secondarily critical rate, greatly increasing her threat to others. In the end, if there wasn’t any obstacle between her and the BOSS, she could stand at the entrance of the dungeon and shoot the BOSS to death. Of course, there were players who pestered her for the secret, but the most important factor was ‘calculation’. Not only must she calculate the target’s position, but she must also consider wind direction, weapon range, and whatnot. Therefore, even though Icy Snow revealed her secret Projectile Shooting on the forum, no one achieved the same result as her successfully. There were no special reasons for that. It was simply that one couldn’t possibly be as powerful in calculations as her.
If Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were the ‘double-spells’ duo on the battlefield that all players avoided, Icy Snow was the one who all players steered clear of at outdoor PK. She didn’t need to show up before the opponent and as long as she got the opponent’s coordinates, she would aim and release an arrow into the sky. At the next moment, the opponent would basically be struck in the head in a critical blow.
Of course, there were ways to flee from this disastrous Projectile Shooting. For instance, as long as one moved quickly enough or at a non-rhythmic pace to disrupt Icy Snow’s calculations. But as the little fella grew in level, her field of perception also expanded. In the later stages, Icy Snow didn’t need to rely on her eyes at all. She only needed to rely upon her perception to detect all presence within a range of 1500 meters, which was even more insane than dawn angels. What was even more deadly was that Icy Snow’s awakening realm was [Space Detection] and [Teleportation]…
This meant that Icy Snow could release an arrow from the Munn Kingdom and burst the head of a player in the Country of Darkness within three seconds. As a matter of fact, this ability would have little value if others were to own it. Fortunately for Icy Snow, her Projectile Shooting was simply divine and her arrows were entirely silent in travel. What was more crucial was that every time Icy Snow shot an arrow at her target, she didn’t care if it was a being or not. The murderous intent from her was basically non-existent and undetectable. Many players lost their lives due to this reason. In the later stages, Icy Snow had her very own title as the ‘Little God of Death’. There was a Chinese saying ‘when the God of Death wants you dead at midnight, no one dares to keep you alive any longer’. In addition to Icy Snow’s ‘loli’-like appearance, it wasn’t surprising that she was called the ‘Little God of Death’.
Of course, there was another origin for this title. There was once a mage who posted on the forum to berate Icy Snow and insulted her family. This enraged Icy Snow. Even though the post was removed for personal attacks, the mage was apparently unfazed. The mage continued to rain curses on Icy Snow on the main channel of the game. Everyone had their own temper and even Icy Snow couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
Whenever the mage came online, he would be annihilated by an arrow that came from nowhere. He couldn’t even step out of the city. As long as he went outdoors, he would turn into a corpse immediately. This happened repeatedly for months. After being instant-killed for several hundred times, the mage rage-quitted and deleted his character. That was when her title of ‘Little God of Death’ became widely known.
Icy Snow felt wronged. She wasn’t as violent as Mini Bubble Gum or enjoyed battles like Canary. The reason she played Dragon Soul Continent was just to meet Rhode. As for the players that she killed, she thought that they deserved it. They had either taunted or lay hands on her. No matter how righteous she felt, she wouldn’t stay around doing nothing, letting others humiliate and kill her while she scuttled to her mother crying.
Based on the current situation, Icy Snow was indeed the best choice. Not only could her [Space Detection] spy on and search for that Chaos Lord, but she could also destroy the Chaos Lord from here with a single arrow. In this case, Rhode’s group didn’t need to do a thing. But…
Rhode gazed at Mini Bubble Gum without doubtful eyes.
“Is it really because she is more suitable for the job?”
“Of course, Leader, I guarantee. You also think that Little Icy is suitable, isn’t it?”
Bubble’s eyes glinted, as pure as a hothouse flower. But no matter how Rhode looked at her, he felt like there must be something wrong.
“Alright, I got it.”
Even though he felt a little suspicious, he eventually nodded, gestured with his hand, and walked out of the room. According to the rules of phantom guardians, he had one slot left. Considering the fact that he didn’t have any long-range, talented attackers and his plan to groom Corina ran into difficulties, summoning Icy Snow was also a decent choice.
Upon entering another room, Rhode closed the door and lifted his head, where he saw the system prompt before him.
[Activate Sphere of Mystery———Phantom Guardian]
[Activated Phantom Guardian. Current Phantom Guardian Count 2/3 (+1). Change Cool-down time to 180 Days. Able to summon (1) Phantom Guardian. Please select]
“Icy Snow.”
This time, Rhode had no hesitation. He chose his target quickly.
[Phantom Guardian Activated———Icy Snow (95% Complete). Projection Began]
Shortly after, along with this system prompt, a white brilliance shone before Rhode and a snowy, petite figure coalesced within the radiance. It was an adorable little girl with a beautiful, oval face. She was petite in size, had pitch-black, bright eyes and small, light pink lips. What was most eye-catching about her was the two cat ears above her straight, long, black hair, as well as the swaying tail on her back.
“Huh…? Big Brother?”
Gazing at Rhode, the little girl revealed an embarrassed look. She covered her chest and body with her hands and was at a complete loss. Rhode smiled at the little girl and handed a robe over to her.
“Put this on first…”
Bang!
Before Rhode finished his sentence, someone kicked the door open. The startled duo turned to the door hurriedly. The two Mini Bubble Gum rushed into the room, bursting out in laughter. They each held a magic crystal in their hands to record the scene before them, while extending their arm to point at the confused Icy Snow.
“Hahaha, I knew she would be naked!”
“Hahaha, I’ve recorded everything! Let’s see what you will do about it! Come on, call me Big Sister!”
These two brats!
Gazing at the two Mini Bubble Gum, Rhode was entirely speechless.
