"Holy shit! Why's this guy got such a vicious temper?" Ye Fengxing quietly put himself on guard. He had already witnessed Adaric's terrifying damage output. With his current level and equipment, even a casual tap from the fellow would kill him outright.
Fortunately, old Adaric was only putting on a show to scare him-the fellow had just 4 HP left, even worse than before! Once Ye Fengxing got a clear look at his health, he felt thoroughly depressed...
Goddammit! Do you think healing with Clearflow Mending is easy for a Mage like me? I spent over a fucking hour restoring fifty thousand HP, and now we're right back to square one! Great! Just fucking brilliant!
Swearing aside, he still had work to do, and he had to keep casting Clearflow Mending... This time, however, things were a little different. That damned Ghostly Knight Commander hadn't died for nothing. He had actually left a curse on Adaric-Flesh Rot.
The curse's effect was rather nasty. It prevented the afflicted person's wounds from healing and made them keep festering, leaving the victim perpetually weakened.
None of that was the main problem. The biggest headache was... Adaric, that stupid bull, kept his name red and flatly refused to accept Ye Fengxing's healing!
Not only that, but he kept spouting extremely uncivilized expressions, every single one involving a certain reproductive organ. Listening to him, Ye Fengxing began to wonder whether the fellow really was just a collection of data...
After all, certain designers at Blue Star loved personally playing NPCs, sometimes even insignificant little ones, such as the general goods merchants found everywhere.
If you spoke politely to these "bastards," they might casually hand you a reward. Conversely... some of the more ill-tempered designers would secretly screw you over, usually with methods so ingenious that you could rack your brains forever without figuring out what had happened.
They wouldn't go too far, though. After all, they were afraid of complaints if they overdid it. Players might not know who was responsible, but people inside the company could investigate without much difficulty. Playing an NPC was ultimately just a bit of entertainment. If the "higher-ups" learned about any retaliatory behavior, things would get very ugly.
Adaric's remarkably advanced AI made Ye Fengxing vaguely suspect that some "bastard" was controlling him behind the scenes... Still, it was hard to tell, and even guessing correctly wouldn't amount to much-no designer would be stupid enough to admit his identity in the game unless he no longer wanted the job and was ready to pack up and get out.
People always talked about being "bullheaded" or "stubborn as an ox." Sure enough, once this Tauren dug his heels in, nobody could do a thing about him...
Ye Fengxing spent ages patiently trying to persuade Adaric, but the fellow refused to appreciate it. He insisted that Ye Fengxing "get the hell away" and said things like, "A frail little Mage doesn't deserve to fight by my side."
The "bullheaded bull" brought out Ye Fengxing's own stubborn streak. He tore a strip of cloth straight from the hem of his Mage robe, spat on it, and stuffed it into Adaric's mouth in a few quick motions...
"Mmph-mmph-" The poor Tauren could only make muffled grunts that sounded rather like someone being forcibly screwed.
As the saying went, even a dragon in shallow water could be mocked by shrimp, and even a tiger stranded on the plains could be bullied by dogs. Poor old Adaric had all the badass abilities of a level 83 fighter, yet under his "Near Death" status, he had no choice but to meekly endure every sort of "bullying" from the "vicious dog" called Ye Fengxing. (Near Death: a debuff with several variants. The one affecting Adaric reduced all his attributes to their absolute minimum, making even standing extremely difficult.)
Ye Fengxing drew his little level 10 dagger, the Scarab Sting, cut a pile of branches and several lengths of vine, and made a crude drag stretcher. Adaric realized what he intended. The proud minotaur fighter clearly refused to accept help he considered humiliating, making his throat rumble in protest.
Naturally, Ye Fengxing couldn't care less whether he protested. He simply used force. Even after being put on the stretcher, Adaric kept squirming. Ye Fengxing didn't get angry; he just cut a few thicker vines and trussed the Tauren up tightly.
At last, the world was peaceful...
Ye Fengxing was no saint. His old nicknames had included plenty of things like "Bandit Ye" and "Fengxing the Robber." He had always hated whiners. He might let it slide with a woman, but if a grown man acted like that, he certainly wasn't going to indulge him.
An hour or so later, Adaric finally stopped struggling and making those muffled noises. That he still had the strength to struggle and shout in such a weakened condition was practically a miracle... Unfortunately, he wasn't made of iron either. Once he exhausted himself, he naturally shut up.
Only when he saw the stubborn bull's name turn yellow again did Ye Fengxing untie him. Adaric stopped shouting and cursing, settling for cold remarks instead. Ye Fengxing didn't mind and even traded barbs with him now and then, treating it as a diversion from the dull business of grinding monsters.
With his name yellow, healing him should have been possible in principle. However, Ye Fengxing couldn't remove the Flesh Rot debuff. After all, he was only a Mage, not a Priest.
Clearflow Mending ticked away furiously on Adaric, but those 4 HP never increased. It gave Ye Fengxing a terrible headache... What was he supposed to do about this?
After brooding for a short while, Ye Fengxing came up with a solution. Motherfucker! I can't dispel it, but that bastard Brick should be able to, right?
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: What are you two doing? Still not done with your quest?
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: We just killed Babala. Two bosses left. They're seriously tough! We've wiped five times already! Oh, right, have you cleared the whole Ghostly Cave?
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: Yeah, finished ages ago. Ran it with Ironhead.
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Fuck! Why didn't you bring us?
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: I asked you. You said you hadn't finished the second stage of your quest.
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Fuck! Carry us, please!
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: In a bit. Come help me with a quest first.
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Bro, are you out of your mind? We're in a dungeon! Solo healing is practically making me puke blood. The party leader just said he wanted to swap in another healer and run with two. How am I supposed to leave?
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: Perfect. Drag Sky along too and let them run their two-healer setup. If they can't manage, tell Ironhead to help them.
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Hang on. Let me talk to them.
A moment later, Brick replied again.
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: All sorted. Sky's coming too. They called in some friends, apparently two powerful healers.
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: You need two healers for the Ghostly Cave?
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Bro, we're doing Hard Mode!
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: You need two healers for Hard Mode?
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: ...
[Brick to the Face][Whisper]: Bro, where might Your Excellency be?
[Whisper][Brick to the Face]: Coordinates "338,289." Hurry over!
Brick acknowledged that and stopped replying. He had to admit that a certain fellow named Ye was fucking devastating to talk to...
Meanwhile, Kuang Dao and his crew also picked up their pace...
"Bro Dao, how do we do this? All rush him together, or take turns wearing him down?" A Warrior watched the distant Mage and asked with a grin.
"Listen to yourself..." Kuang Dao laughed and smacked him on the head. "What crap. What do you mean, take turns wearing him down? We need that against trash like him? You're up. Go get him, and don't embarrass us."
"Not a chance." The Warrior thumped his chest, held the sword hilt at his waist, and crept forward in a crouch.
After the Warrior left, Kuang Dao patted an Assassin on the shoulder and tipped his chin forward. "Go. Follow him and keep an eye on things. If Little Sword can't handle it, give him a hand."
The Assassin nodded, slipped into the shadows, and followed. (This was the Assassin's universal skill-Stealth. Its effect resembled Wind Veil, hiding the user's body from sight.)
A Mage frowned. "Bro Dao, surely that's unnecessary? Little Sword got three pieces of blue Warrior gear this time. How could he fail to cut down one Mage?"
The Mage's doubts weren't unreasonable. Early in the game, Mages lacked combat stats and had pitifully few crowd-control skills... Warriors, on the other hand, were the classic combination of high attack, high defense, and high HP, known as the "triple-high crowd."
At this stage, a Warrior fighting a poorly equipped Mage could, bluntly speaking, kill that Mage stone dead in two or three slashes.
War Hero Yi Yan shook his head. "Not necessarily. That Mage's technique looks pretty exceptional to me."
"Really? Should I go over and take a look too? Bro Dao, what do you think?" a young man in a white robe asked uncertainly. He had always trusted their department head. If the department head said that Mage was a badass, then he had to be a genuine badass!
Had Brick to the Face seen the young man's outfit, he would certainly have sworn aloud, because it was plainly the exclusive set for a Missionary's advanced class-the Light's Blessing Set.
This equipment set was restricted to one class: Light Priest.
Missionaries had three advancement paths: Light Priest, Judgment Priest, and Judgment Knight. Of these, Light Priest had the fewest players, because it was a healer class. However, every team desperately needed Light Priests, because... it was a healer class...
This young man named Xiao Xiaoxian had advanced to Light Priest so early and wore fairly good equipment, too. Clearly, the team had given him special support. It couldn't be helped: early on, tanks and healers were bound to receive priority, while the miserable DPS players had to stand aside for now. ("DPS" here meant "damage dealer" rather than its original meaning. Most players liked calling them that, so we'll follow the crowd.)
Watching the young man their team had invested so heavily in, War Hero Yi Yan couldn't help finding it a little funny.
The kid was a college student who had just started his sophomore year. His experience of society was extremely limited, and he still lacked finesse in dealing with people. He probably hadn't realized that Kuang Dao was already angry...
Kuang Dao was a skilled PvP player, after all, and naturally had a discerning eye. How could he fail to see that the Mage had outstanding technique? But as one of their leaders, he had to build up their fighting spirit first-and build it up properly! Hadn't he sent an Assassin over as an extra precaution? That was precisely why he had waited until the Warrior left before sending someone else.
Yet this kid had gone and said that in front of everyone... Asking War Hero Yi Yan would have been one thing, but asking Kuang Dao himself was just begging for a tongue-lashing.
Besides, Kuang Dao had always found this little Light Priest just a tiny bit irritating...
Before you continue