Like most virtual games, the World of Fate had no true night — but the sky in the real world was gradually darkening. Dusk was drawing near.
To the west of the Windfall Plains lay a leveling ground occupied by the Divine Domain Pact.
Once the Divine Domain Pact’s name had been put out, no other player dared set foot in the broad region around it; none could help fearing what that name represented. And at the same time, no one would have imagined that the Pact Master himself was among them.
“Young master… just now, that Xietian has climbed to third on the Level Rankings!” Divine Domain Ying appeared behind Zangshen, his face full of shock. Given the Pact’s interest in Xietian, the moment the Level Rankings opened they had searched for his name at once, and found him at 178th.
But a mere few hours later, when Divine Domain Ying opened the rankings again, he found Xietian’s name had reached seventh. He could scarcely believe his eyes.
Anyone who broke into the top hundred was a leveling fanatic with formidable strength and attributes; not one of them would have paused in that span. This was an arena where no one rested — and yet this man called Xietian, who had cleared the Abyss trial alone, was climbing as if with divine aid, treading over the heads of one powerhouse after another.
How is this possible… What method is he using…
“Third already?” The silver dagger in Zangshen’s hand drew a silver thread through the air, and the giant lizard before him emptied of health and toppled over. He turned, brows knitting, and opened the Level Rankings. The speed of Xietian’s ascent had reached a point beyond comprehension; he could not help but pay attention.
His gaze swept the top ten — and the brow already knitted suddenly sank hard, his eyes fixing on the topmost position, unmoving.
Zangshen’s reaction left Divine Domain Ying uneasy. “Young master, what is it? Has he—”
“Open the rankings and see for yourself.” Zangshen said expressionlessly, then turned slowly away, staring ahead with his brow drawn tight. “Xietian…” he murmured — the name of a man he could not possibly ignore.
Divine Domain Ying did as told and opened the Level Rankings. His gaze traveled upward, and further up… and further still…
“F-first?!” Seeing the name at the very top, Divine Domain Ying’s eyes flew wide, and a startled cry escaped him.
Level Rankings — First Place: Xietian. Level 11. Class: None!
“Impossible… how is this possible… He was third only a moment ago!” Divine Domain Ying stammered, unable to come back to himself for a long while, once again doubting what his own eyes showed him. A minute ago he had been third, and in the blink of an eye he had trodden past the former first and second to seize the summit… This was not climbing from ten-million-and-third to ten-million-and-first, nor from a hundred and third to a hundred and first… This was third to first, which simply could not be accomplished in so short a time!
“He must have killed a BOSS just now and gained a great deal of experience.” Zangshen said coolly, his back to him. He lifted his head slightly and murmured, “What I find more interesting is why he has no class at all. Did he deliberately refuse to advance… or is there some other reason… Ying, have the Pact’s people watch his movements as closely as they can. I want to understand this man to the greatest degree possible.”
Thud…
A three-star Little Raccoon Chief toppled under nearly twenty of Ye Tianxie’s strikes, its considerable bulk slamming into the ground with a dull thump.
Ye Tianxie let out a small breath. He didn’t hurry to pick up the gear on the ground, but summoned the Level Rankings with a thought and looked, thoroughly pleased, at his own name hanging atop them.
A board that ordinary players couldn’t crack with the most desperate effort was, to him, as simple as reaching into a bag. The experience from a single Level 15 three-star mini-BOSS had carried him, amid the shock of countless players, in one great stride to the summit.
The Little Raccoon Chief (is there any difference from the Little Raccoon Chieftain? Is there? Is there…? Well — one is a chieftain and one is a chief… mm, no, no difference at all. But why is one two-star and the other three-star? How should I know! Don’t ask me such complicated questions.) dropped two pieces of equipment in all: one a Level 15 plain-stat piece of the sort sold in shops, the other a bronze-colored pair of greaves.
Resilient Greaves — Level 15 Bronze. Use Requirement: Level 15 melee class. Defense +15, Strength +5, Constitution +5. Greaves that feel very hard to the touch; they ought to offer decent defense.
“Ding… Someone is calling for you in the real world. Exit game?”
The prompt sounded in his ears. Ye Tianxie returned the Resilient Greaves to his backpack, calculated roughly how long he’d been in, and chose to log out.
His vision had scarcely cleared when Ye Tianxie caught sight of a slender figure. A girl in a tight purple top was bent at the waist, staring unblinkingly at him where he lay half-reclined on the sofa. Up close, her figure was graceful and enticing, and the purple top, being too tight, strained across her chest. Her arms were long and snow-white, her waist slender and delicate, and her long legs above all were a pleasure to the eye every time his gaze touched them, stirring an impulse to reach out and touch. Her soft, lovely form trembled faintly with her breathing. A figure this close to perfect would set anyone’s imagination running the moment their eyes met it.
Seeing Ye Tianxie open his eyes, Su Feifei — who had been secretly watching him for quite some time — showed a flash of panic, as though caught out in a secret. But she recovered at once, straightened up, folded her arms, and wrinkled her nose. “It’s already dark out and you’re only just surfacing. Aren’t you afraid of starving to death?”
Ye Tianxie stretched without answering, glanced up at the digital clock on the wall, and only then realized it was eight in the evening. He had barely risen to his feet when he noticed at once how utterly different everything around him was.
That smell he had grown so used to had all but vanished. Traces of it lingered — the kind that couldn’t be scrubbed out in so short a time — but most of it was masked now beneath a faint floral scent. At a glance, the once-filthy floor was as smooth as a mirror, without an inch left of that old blackness; every visible pane of glass had turned crystal clear. Nor was that all. Right before him, the table that had been heaped with clutter was now spotlessly cleared, and the television, once buried under a thick layer of dust, had plainly been carefully and thoroughly wiped down, without a speck left on it.
As master of this house, he knew perfectly well how filthy it had been before. And now what lay before him was a tidiness he could scarcely believe — as though he had stepped into another world entirely.
(End of Chapter 89)