Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Kid, it’s you?” Lin Jie was still rather stumped at what he saw.
The Potion Maniac was back, and all this because of his son? But wait, how did this kid get into the game? The New Age had only allowed people who were 18 years old and above to play in the game.
Sad to say, just like how the law “Under-aged teenagers are not allowed into cybercafes” were always ignored by people, this rule was also equally tuned out by many people, especially those of special statuses. However, the game had then set another rule in place which specifically stated that under-aged teenagers were not allowed to spend more than six hours in the game per day, to prevent being over-addicted to the game.
In any case, this type of holographic games which required players to stay more than 10 plus hours each time they logged in meant that no young children would have enough energy or time to keep up with the mainstream players’ progress. Most kids would just log in and take a tour around, viewing the game’s scenery, and that should be about it.
This kid’s game ID was simply ‘Kid’, and that was how Lin Jie had addressed him by when they first met. Lin Jie felt he could understand why this little guy had named himself as such, and he appreciated his kind gesture.
Kid nodded obediently and said smilingly, “Well, my school had experiential gaming equipment for all to try. However, all of us are only allowed to play in the game for three hours each day.”
Following that, Kid bowed to Bella and Seven Ears. “Big Brother, Big Sister, hello! It’s so nice to see you all!”
“Oh my, such a cute boy…” Bella hugged Kid. Her motherly instinct was aroused when she first saw Kid—but her full bosom suffocated Kid when she hugged him, making him cough several times.
‘Er, actually Star Kill and Kid are about the same age, but it’s just that they look way different for their age. I wonder what Star Kill will think if he knows that Kid got a hug from Bella just by having an adorable kid-like face…’
“Father.” Kid remembered what he was here for, and got out of Bella’s embrace. He looked intently at Potion Maniac with his bright, clear eyes.
Potion Maniac remained silent. He lowered his head, as if deep in thoughts.
“Father! I won’t ever talk to you again if you continue behaving like this! Who taught me before that a guy must own up to his actions? Who taught me before that a guy should know best to assert or submit himself as the occasion requires? Who told me…”
“I am sorry,” said Potion Maniac in a low voice as he bowed deeply to the three of them. “Sorry!”
Seven Ears was about to help him up, but Kid pushed away his hands and shook his head vehemently as he commented, “No, my father should apologize, he must apologize. You all don’t stop him.”
Lin Jie didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at this situation. Wasn’t this scene before him just an exact replica of how parents would act like if they were being called to see their children’s teachers when their children had misbehaved at school? The difference was that now it was the child getting his parent to apologize instead, and it seemed real… sardonic.
Kid motioned to his father to stand up straight again after a full three minutes. He beamed at Potion Maniac and said, “Ah, that’s how a man should behave. A man should own up to his mistakes! Great job, Father!”
Potion Maniac’s lips twitched—he was feeling quite embarrassed for being lectured by his overly-matured son in front of so many people.
Lin Jie, however, could clearly sense his awkwardness. He hugged Potion Maniac’s shoulders and commented, “Oh well, it’s great that you decided to come back after everything. However, I won’t increase your wages—it will still follow our old contract.”
“Sure, Boss,” Potion Maniac did not seem like he wanted to discuss this topic further, and he rushed upstairs to start his potion-making process, easing his discomfort.
Lin Jie looked at Kid, tousled his hair, and said, “Do you feel like eating something?”
“Yes!”
“Come on, I will treat you to some good food.”
After bidding goodbye to Bella and Seven Ears, Lin Jie and Kid left the Sky Provisions Shop and walked onto the brisk streets within City of Light. Lin Jie brought Kid to the Imperial City Restaurant and ordered a lavish ‘Half-Dragon Set’ for him.
The set came with a set of Barbequed Fire Dragon, a set of Fried Dragon Scorpion, two bowls of Snowland’s Snowy Rice, a bowl of Giant Whale Soup. All these cost just one gold coin—it was considered rather economical for such a set.
“The food in the game is so delicious!” Kid ate freely, and though his plump face had already become rounder, he still stuffed generous portions of the food into his mouth. He said in a muffled voice, “Big Brother, I told you before that my father would betray you sooner or later. Do you believe me now?”
Lin Jie picked up a Fried Dragon Scorpion, which was fried to a golden crisp, and he let out a bitter smile as he bit into it, giving off cackling sounds. “I believe you now.”
“Actually, I hope you won’t blame him. My father did not have an easy life these years.” Kid swallowed the food in his mouth, took a deep breath, and said, “My mother ran away when I was just three months old. Since then, my father felt like the whole world had betrayed him, and only I seem somewhat trustworthy to him. He taught me a lot of morals and rules which I should learn, but he never abides by them. Until one day, one of my teachers told me that my father became like this just to use himself as a bad example so that I will have a deeper impression of what not to be… After that, I seemed to grow up and become more mature than other kids.”
Lin Jie tousled his hair. “You didn’t have it easy either.”
“Hehe, my father’s very protective of me, so actually I do lead quite a comfortable life.” Kid secretly forked a piece of dragon meat from Lin Jie’s bowl and snuck it into his mouth. After all, he was just a young child and was still playful at heart.
Lin Jie was happy to play with him too. He pretended to fight for food with Kid, and made him squeal out loud several times throughout their meal.
Following that, Lin Jie took Kid on a tour around City of Light and decided to call it a day. After all, he still had his own matters to take care of—the task of achieving first-clear of the Epidemic Pond dungeon was like a great mountain weighing down on him.
“Big Brother, are you going to play in a dungeon now? Do you mind me tagging along?”
“Oh no, that I cannot. It’s very dangerous in a dungeon. Besides, my team is full now and has no other positions. Sorry, I have to turn you down on this request,” said Lin Jie in a somewhat apologetic tone.
At this moment, Lin Jie suddenly received a call from Wine God Youngster, “Wine God Elder most probably won’t be able to be online for the next few months.”
“Why?” replied Lin Jie in surprise.
“For you!” Wine God Youngster hung up the call after this comment.
Lin Jie furrowed his brows. ‘What? ‘For me?’ Argh, I am not gay, okay?! Or can it be due to Dead Dog and his gang?’
“Kid, you’re in luck. I was just informed that a position’s free in my team. Let’s go take a look at a dungeon, shall we? But first things first—you need to promise me you’ll be careful.” Lin Jie pulled Kid into his team and proceeded towards the War of Light dungeon-group with him.
————
“Is this your younger brother?”
“A newbie? What is he doing here?”
“Leader, surely you are not planning to send him to his death?”
When his team saw Kid, other than the few girls who started to play with him, the rest of his team questioned him with furrowed expressions.
Lin Jie said, “Wine God Elder will be leaving the game for a while, and I can’t find any replacements for him. In any case, we are not proceeding further with the dungeon. If we are just going to remain at the first stage of the dungeon, it doesn’t matter if we are short of one person. This kid here just wants to see how dungeons are like, and there’s a position in our team, so I brought him here.”
Indeed, the Savage Blade team had become so sick of playing the first stage of the Epidemic Pond. They could even swear that they would be able to complete this stage while closing their eyes!
After 20 plus days had passed, the Savage Blade team had gathered 15 sets of Blasphemer Sets and other equipment, and they were unafraid of even the Death Potions. However, Lin Jie wanted them to play safe, and hence he insisted that they would only proceed further into the dungeon after everyone got a Blasphemer Set.
This was the strategy used by the Ordinary People Team in Lin Jie’s previous life. In his memory, there was still about one week more to when the first clear of the dungeon would be obtained.
Although everyone was somewhat depressed about Wine God Elder’s departure, they gathered their spirits fast enough and continued tackling the dungeon, while Kid tagged along.
Meanwhile, Lei Zhika still stood eerily in the corner of the dungeon with his grotesque-looking face. He would definitely become the nightmare of any ordinary young children should they ever see him.
“Steady the defense, keep up healing, beware the mites.”
Lin Jie kept his instructions short and sweet. After all, everyone in the team was familiar with the initial developments of Lei Zhika’s monsters.
Silver Shield, Mixed Breathless and The Heavenly Shield stood up against the monsters. Meanwhile, Lei Zhika started smashing all kinds of poisons on their shields, which could normally kill players instantly!
-324! (400 Damage is immuned)
-395! (420 Damage is immuned)
Damage figures jumped up from the MTs’ heads. Compared to the 1,000 plus damage which they would suffer from when they first attempted the dungeon, this was definitely a great improvement! Such was the prowess of the Gold Blasphemer Sets—resistance to poison! They would not suffer any real damage even if they were attacked head-on by Lei Zhika now.
Soon enough, Lei Zhika’s health points decreased to less than 10% of his health bar, and he summoned his first batch of monsters.
“See, there are some playthings again!”
After a coquettish cry, a scantily-dressed Pupilless Succubus emerged slowly from the Epidemic Pond.
“Damn it, the Pupilless Succubus again!” cursed The Heavenly Shield.
[Pupilless Succubus] (Boss)
Level: 30
Health Points: 200,000
Magic Attack: 458-685
Defense: 200
Special Feature: Confused Perception
The Pupilless Succubus was the most disgusting monster within the first stage of the dungeon. Although her Attack Power and Defense skills were mediocre, all the weird effects she could make players suffer were off-putting to the maximum! The Pupilless Succubus would randomly use the Confused Perception skill on players within a 10*10 meters area, making them be put into abnormal states like Speed Decrease, Stunned, Silenced, Confounded, etc. This would happen to players every 0.5 seconds on the average, and once their abnormal states were superimposed for 10 times, they would be given a debuff: double damage and this effect could be repeated unlimited times.
“Put forth your best attacks!” shouted Lin Jie.
Broken Blade thrust into the Pupilless Succubus’s body with cold blade auras, and brought about 1,000 plus Damage Dealt. Against the Pupilless Succubus, a team would need to attack with all their might—the shorter she survived, the fewer deaths the team would suffer from its Confused Perception skill’s effects!
Suddenly, the Succubus gathered up a dark purplish ball of energy within its eye socket and seemed to aim it in the far-off direction where Bu Yi was standing.
‘Damn it!’ Lin Jie’s heart skipped a beat. Bu Yi was the most important healing job within the team, and she could not be killed!
“Ziliang, push the Succubus away with your Gargoyle!”
“Big sister Bu Yi, run towards the northwest direction!” shouted Kid.
Bu Yi was shocked, but she heeded his words instinctively and ran towards the northwest direction. At this moment, the Confused Perception’s attack landed—it missed Bu Yi’s back just by an inch!
Lin Jie’s pupils constricted. ‘How did he do that?’
All the other team members were as shocked as him. They had killed the Pupilless Succubus for several tens of times, but they had never managed to discover any of its attack patterns!
Soon enough, the Succubus launched her second wave of Confused Perception attack!
Kid shouted, “All those standing in front of the Boss, back off to either side of her body. The perverted big brother who named yourself as Sophie, you don’t need to move—her stare won’t reach you.”
Everyone exchanged looks and followed Kid’s words. The Confused Perception skill shot out, but it was avoided by all! Codename Sophie stared wide-eyed, flabbergasted as the Confused Perception attack exploded right before him. He gulped nervously then—it would hit him if he was a few centimeters nearer!
Everyone was full of awe for Kid’s accurate judgment at once.
Lin Jie messaged Kid privately, “How did you distinguish the direction of her attacks?”
“Just take note of her eyes. She will make some actions there whenever she was conjuring her spells.”
“There’s no way to do so—she doesn’t have irises, and most of the time we can’t predict the direction of her stares by keeping track of the changes around her eye area unless she turned her head,” said Lin Jie.
Every expert would be able to judge a monster’s attack direction by observing their actions keenly, but how could one observe the direction of a Boss’ stares if he or she didn’t even have distinguishable irises to begin with?
“Oh, you can see from the direction of her eyelashes. Every time she was about to cast her spell in a specific direction, her eyelashes will flutter slightly in that direction due to the mustering of energies.” Kid’s innocent voice was like a hammer which thumped down heavily on Lin Jie’s chest.
Eye… eyelashes?
