“ARRGH! THAT BOSS JIN! Always coming up with these surprises! How am I supposed to find myself a girlfriend if he always does that?” Bu Dong complained as he took another look at the Pandamonium newsletter while waiting for the other Pandawans to arrive. Xiong Da and Ruo Ying were, unfortunately, going to miss out on the limited raid instance for Christmas.
According to his girlfriend on their Pandawan chat group, the lawyer had been moaning about it during their entire flight to their holiday resort in Boracay. He apparently had even looked up prices for a quick one day flight to return just to be able to try it out. (Ruo Ying had quickly shattered these plans though with a bit of … ‘girl’ magic.)
“You just have to sacrifice one of those priorities. Besides you’re still in school, you should have plenty of time finding a girl for you there … I’ve kind of given up hope a long time ago.” Deng Long shrugged his shoulders as he and Bu Dong had become an unlikely duo because of the robot skirmishes they both participated in together.
“But you don’t look bad yourself. You’re a respectable policeman so you should attract the ladies. At this rate, I’ll be wondering if you prefer men or something.” Bu Dong teased, and Deng Long just laughed a little.
“You’ll understand when you grow older.” Suddenly Deng Long remembered how Bu Dong was way richer than any other Pandawan (except Xiong Da). Not to mention he had quite the high cultivation for his young age as well.
“… Maybe not.” He whispered to himself as they saw Yue Han, the Bat Cultivator come along with his girlfriend, Xing Li, the Hedgehog Cultivator. (The other (and potentially the main) reason for both of Bu Dong and Deng Long to bond over each other.)
“Merry Christmas Bu Dong! And Deng Long Sir!” Xing Li waved happily towards them. The two greeted her back even though it was merely Christmas Eve.
“Don’t worry. I can afford the dungeon this time.” Yue Han joked towards Bu Dong as the latter was eyeing at him.
“Heh, you better.” Bu Dong grinned as they were still waiting for the Venus Four. Se Lang couldn’t come as he was head over heels buried in paperwork. With the overtime pay being two times more during the festive season, he had taken all the overtime he could. Besides, Se Lang needed that money sorely to recuperate for the presents he bought for his …two girlfriends.
Many who knew about this ménage à trois (especially within the Pandawan circle) were rather surprised that all of them were still together. They thought it would be just a passing loving season, but the bonds between those three only got stronger with time.
Se Lang was proving to be a reliable boyfriend who brought them out for meals, either together or separately. At times, the Wolf Cultivator felt more like a brother to them compared to a boyfriend, yet perhaps that was an aspect which kept the relationship going. It was more than just the physical interaction but a pillar to rely on.
Deng Long while initially envious to high heavens of his buddy (supposedly many straw puppets were nailed), he respected his bro’s dedication as he saw how Se Lang increased the number of overtime the wolf took in order to cover the expenses he spent on the two girls.
Nevertheless, it was not just a one way street. The two girls also took on part time jobs in order to help out with the finances. Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator, was so encouraged by their attitude that she ended up interviewing at the same place as her friends and was also hired there. (Selling bubble teas)
“Oh, they are finally here.” Deng Long said as Bu Dong was boasting about some of the Supa Robot Warz missions he had experienced to Yue Han.
“Hi guys! I hope we are not too late.” Shi Hui said as she waved at Deng Long. Judging by their outfits, they came directly from their part time job and rushed to Jin’s store as soon as they could. With all of them gathered together, they decided to have some early dinner at the Restaurant Instance.
“The first form may be the easiest to defeat, but we can’t underestimate it. According to the constant forum updates, we will be teleported to one of three possible locations. Either in front, behind or inside the house itself.” Bu Dong started to explain as soon as they had ordered Lynn’s latest dishes that were available in conjunction with the new instance.
“If we are lucky enough to get teleported behind his house, the elves will be busy packing ‘gifts’, and we can disrupt them by destroying the power generator. That is the most ideal situation as those elves that he possessed will build those annoying Spartans we saw in the WunderPanda Theme Park instance.”
“How will destroying the power generator help?” Yue Han asked and Deng Long who also read up on some of the information available answered that the power generator provided electricity for the entire house. By removing the generator, it will shut down the house’s defences temporarily before the backup generator activates them again.
“It will give us enough time to enter and get rid of the small fries as soon as possible without the need to worry about the generator and defences of the house.” Deng Long added that after killing 30 spartan toy soldiers, Evil Santa would appear.
“Then I guess the worst case scenario is getting teleported directly into the Santa’s house?” Jia Ying asked as she received her drink.
“Yes and no. Considering most of us are Pandawans, we should be capable of overcoming the house’ defences and defeating the elves before Santa appears.” Bu Dong replied, and she was slightly confused.
“Before Santa comes? Didn’t you just say we have to kill 30 spartan toy soldiers for Evil Santa to arrive?” Shi Hui interrupted.
“That’s only the case if the alarm signals have been disabled. Though we could always get lucky enough to be teleported into a place where there are no elves in sight. It’s unlikely but not impossible.” Bu Dong said as he had watched footage of a cultivator raid team that managed to pick them off one by one without raising the alarm.
“Actually, should we even know all this information? Kind of spoils the overall experience in my opinion. Like knowing the answer to a riddle before having the time to try and figure it out for ourselves.” Yue Wen wondered and Jing Ru, the Giraffe Cultivator, nodded her head in agreement.
“While it would be nice to get the first clear again, I feel like something’s been different ever since the Deep One Dungeon Instance. We’re always trying to aim for the top and get the first clear bonus, but we don’t necessarily seem to be enjoying it as much.” Jin Ru spoke out to the entire gang.
“Back when Boss Jin had just opened, we merely played for the fun of it. If we managed to get a first clear, it was a bonus. Now that Boss Jin has put so much work into improving his dungeon instances, to the point where we have to look up ideal ways how to overcome a dungeon, it feels like more of a chore. Like we have to meet some kind of expectations.” Jing Ru continued to voice her concern out loud, and it hit Bu Dong hard.
When he thought about it, he too hadn’t been enjoying the dungeons as much compared to the Supa Robot Warz which did not have these rankings or a first clear bonus. It was just a mini game where he enjoyed fighting alongside Deng Long.
He remembered how expensive it was to play the mini game that he had to squeeze every bit of a single play session dry until Jin changed the pricing. And even then, he still enjoyed the experience a hell lot.
Not to mention being awarded so much game points for being the subscribers for the initial pricing list, which allowed Bu Dong to have fun due to the variety of robot parts for him to experiment. Sure there was some sort of achievements as motivations, but those were just optional.
“…I get where you are coming from… Alright, if everyone thinks this way, we shall go in with only that much information and figure out the rest by ourselves.” Bu Dong placed his phone down, and everyone seemed happy with this idea.
By then, their food arrived, and they enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner together with the company they had found in this particular shop.
