Reign of the Hunters

If she was not mistaken, the voice belonged to Customer Service No. 094, who she hadn’t seen for a long time. Wasn’t this an event? Shouldn’t it be handled by the Marketing Department instead of one of the developers?

Could it be that... Ye Ci couldn’t help but think, was he demoted?

Despite No. 094’s warning, it was impossible for the clash to stop. The members from both sides were still kicking and shoving at each other. Although Bai Mo and Thousand Sunsets were afraid that something might happen, there was no force in this world that could stop them.

“Gongzi You, Miss Gongzi You, please instruct your guild members to leave, or you’ll receive a formal warning from the System.” Ye Ci’s “beloved’ Customer Service No. 094 called out her name after he was ignored by the members of both guilds.

Ye Ci’s expression darkened. She gritted her teeth. This Wang Jiangnan... Did he hold a grudge against her? She was just slightly slow when helping him out with the BUG, did he really have to call her name out? But she was a player while he was taking control of an NPC, so she was totally powerless against him. Ye Ci could only concede defeat and wait for her chance for revenge.

The members of Upwards Ho! immediately stopped after they heard Ye Ci’s name. They retreated to a far corner and began discuss what they heard spiritedly.

“Aiya, aiya, why would the emcee of the competition know our guild leader?”

“Haven’t you heard? Our leader is freakin’ awesome! She’s famous!”

“Yep, yep, those Steel Blooded Battle Spear bastards are lucky this time.”

“We’ll get’em next time, there are plenty of chances...”

Although they were unclear about what really happened between Ye Ci and Steel Blooded Battle Spear, they’d heard a lot of stories from Timely Rain and Pickled Pepper Phoenix Claw that Ye Ci was treated unfairly back when she was in the guild. They felt angry because of that, and they’d found the perfect opportunity to get back at Steel Blooded Battle Spear today.

Ye Ci’s expression darkened even further after listening to the discussions. She did not wish to be famous. Although the things that she had done contributed to her fame, it did not mean that she agree to Wang Jiang Nan’s action of announcing her name and making her even more well-known... This... This...

“Go and grab more balls, there’s only 3 minutes left until the competition ends.” Noticing that they’d wasted a lot of time, Bai Mo was distressed. They were aiming for the reward as the champion of Heavyweight category: A lvl 5 guild encampment and the Epic tier title. It would be a shame if they got eliminated in the first round.

The guild members knew what was at stake. They immediately kept quiet and focused on grabbing more colored balls.

All the colored balls disappeared after the bell signifying the end of the round rang. The parties returned to their respective flags, and the system began counting the balls collected by each party.

It was a close call. With the difference of 3 balls, Upwards Ho! had managed to be part of the top 10. The guild members let out a collective sigh of relief. It was just too close. But what was even more embarrassing was that... The first 3 spots of the Dragon Dance competition were held by foreign guilds...

Players from the 3 other continents immediately ‘congratulated’ the players of the Eastern Continent.

“We of the Five Millennium guild wish to express our deepest condolences and greatest disdain to the Chinese players in the Eastern Continent in the stead of all the Chinese players in the Western Continent.”

......

“Good job, Blade of Abyss! You guys ranked no.1 in the Eastern Continent Dragon Dance competition, you make America proud!”

......

“Oi, Eastern Continent, aren’t you guys supposed to be like, freaking awesome? Didn’t you guys get First Blood like literally everyday? How could you lose to those Westerner bastards in Dragon Dance? What the f*ck are you guys doing?”

......

The Chinese players in the Eastern Continent did not respond to all the taunting in the World Channel. They were not the only ones who remained silent. Even the foreign guilds that had obtained top 3 were silent. The reason: They were busy opening the colored balls...

The pearls that players obtained from the Dragon Dance competition contained different items including: materials, potions, skill books, gold coins, and even weapons. It all depended heavily on luck.

However, the chances of getting good stuff from the pearls in the first round was low. Most of the items obtained from the pearls were potions, materials and gold coins. Ye Ci’s luck was not that great. After opening 30-40 balls, she obtained 30 unrefined copper ore and several thousand gold coins. Icy Cold Little Hands however, was very lucky. It took her 10 tries to obtain a Barbarian skill book and a Priest skill book. She was the officially made the ‘colored ball opener’ of the guild.

Her luck was really good. The Life Players in the guild cheered happily as she obtained a huge pile of Medium Tier materials from the colored balls. She had even gotten 3 blue equipment from the colored balls. One of them was a Warrior’s longsword, one was a Druid’s staff, while the other one was a Ranger’s dagger. The equipment was handed to Bai Mo, who stored them into the guild warehouse and would distribute them to the guild members once the competition was over.

After a short break, the second round of the competition started. The top 3 parties from the competition would be taking part in the third round of the competition. Upwards Ho! was in an awkward position, as they ranked 10th in the first round and the points for each round were cumulative.

They were still required to grab the colored balls in the second round, but this time instead of competing on a flat plain, the arena was a huge lake which was covered by a layer of ice with uneven thickness. The rules were the same: All usage of weapons and skills were prohibited.

This round was way harder than the last round.

Because of the uneven thickness of the ice, if players stepped on the thin portion of the ice and fell into the lake, they would be eliminated.

“Those with the cat claws please take note, try your best to get more of those red and golden colored balls. Those 2 give the highest points.” Ye Ci reminded the party as they tread carefully across the surface of the lake.

In this round, the one at the second position was no longer Ideal Height 1.7m, but a Rogue called Milk Popsicle instead. He had high Perception, which allowed him to detect hidden danger in front of him. He would then warn Bai Mo who was at the head to steer clear of dangerous areas.

Everybody wanted a spot in the third round, and every party gave their all to grab the red and golden colored balls. This led to the constant sound of cracking ice. If the players were able to react fast enough they were able to continue competing, while those who were unable to escape dropped into the lake and were eliminated.

Ye Ci waved her cat claw around, grabbing all the multi-colored pearls within her sight.

3 guilds from the Eastern Continent were eliminated after falling into the water. With the help of their cat claws, Upwards Ho! was able to squeeze their way into the fourth place despite having a horrible performance in the first round.

Wolf Pack, Steel Blooded Battle Spear and Blade of Abyss were ahead of them in terms of score.

Ye Ci observed her surroundings. A lot of guilds were forced together because of the cracking ice, and Upwards Ho! was forced together with Steel Blooded Battle Spear once again.

“Popsicle, is there a thinner layer of ice at our 2 o’clock?” Asked Ye Ci after eyeing the position of Steel Blooded Battle Spear.

Milk Popsicle took a glance and replied, “Yes, the ice beneath the red ball and that golden ball is thin.”

Steel Blooded Battle Spear could of course detect what Milk Popsicle had detected. Their score was in an awkward position. Blade of Abyss and Upwards Ho! were very close to overtaking them with just 1-2 red balls. They need to secure their position. They could not afford to let go of those 2 balls.

But after their run in with Upwards Ho! in the first round, Thousand Sunsets was wary of the guild. He ordered 2 Gnomish Rogues to try and retrieve the balls while the Rangers kept an eye out for Upwards Ho! in case they attempted to foil the plans of his guild.

Upwards Ho! was at a position with more balls. While her guild members were busy grabbing the balls, Ye Ci narrowed her eyes and glanced at Steel Blooded Battle Spear. If she did not act, Upwards Ho! would definitely lose their chance at winning the grand prize when Steel Blooded Battle Spear obtained the 2 balls. She was fast to spot the 2 Gnomish Rogues that Thousand Sunsets sent to retrieve the balls.

Gnomes were the lightest among all the races. As long as they tread lightly on the thin ice, it would not break, and with the Rogue’s high movement speed, they were the best people for the job. Steel Blooded Battle Spear had even swapped a Ranger to the dragon tail’s position to ‘conduct surveillance’ on Upwards Ho!.

Ye Ci sneered at Thousand Sunsets’ narrow-minded behavior. She had originally decided to leave Steel Blooded Battle Spear alone. But with their attitude, she would be sorry if she did not act.

She flipped the object in her hand: a crude iron brick.

It belonged to Pea Cake. His inventory was full of the ‘products’ of Engineering that were junk in the eyes of an outsider. The piece of crude iron brick became Ye Ci’s precious treasure.

It came from where it was supposed to come from, and went to where it was meant to be.

Ye Ci casually tossed something out and in the blink of an eye she was grabbing more colored balls with full concentration. Her movement was so fluid as fast that nobody saw what happened.

“Oh by the way, guild leader, why did you want my brick?” Asked Pea Cake.

“It was nothing.” Ye Ci replied with a smile.

Right after Ye Ci spoke, a loud “pop” was followed closely by the cracking sound of the ice and then the splashing of water and angry strings of curses.

......

The members of Upwards Ho! turned their heads towards the source of the sound. There was only a huge hole left at the spot where Steel Blooded Battle Spear was supposed to be.

Hayooo! Second Double Chapters in a row! Ooorah!

Calling out to all the talented and artistic souls out there, are you people interested in drawing some fanart for Reign of the Hunters? You can always send your work to me and they’ll be featured in ROTH chapters.

email:

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And to those who suggested Tales Of Zestiria to me, thank you guys so much! It’s a fun game, enjoyed it immensely!

Aaaaaaaand.... The first in the comment, you know the drill, type FIRST BLOOD!