Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 83 Gaming and Life

The party channel was filled with alarmed cries the instant Ye Ci disappeared into the swarm of skeletons. Overflowing Ink shouted out, “What are you panicking for? Do your part! Keep it together!”

Ye Ci was impressed by Overflowing Ink. She had noticed that he was good when it came to PvE, but had not expected him to be able to handle a PvP situation just as well. This guy could be groomed into a successful commander, Ye Ci had thought. Alas, it was not the time to be thinking of such matters. Ye Ci activated Charge and dashed out towards Crimson Twilight.

Charge had a range of 20m. When the effect ended, Ye Ci was already at the rear of Crimson Twilight’s party. She drew out her Venomous Scorpion Stinger and slew a Cleric with a few hits.

Crimson Twilight was a PvP veteran, so he immediately directed several melee players to gang up on Ye Ci and drive her away from their midst. After all, when one was within 8 yards of a Huntress, she would lose much of her damage-dealing capability.

However, there was something that Crimson Twilight had overlooked. A Warlock shouted, “Twilight, the skeletons!”

Crimson Twilight then saw the skeletons that were chasing after Ye Ci and immediately gave the order.: “Don’t kill her, just drag her away or something.”

A Priest who was standing quite a distance away cast a Priest’s unique skill, Binding Chains at Ye Ci, pulling her to his side. “I got her!”

Crimson Twilight was very mad as his party suffered loss after loss. He said through gritted teeth, “Focus all your attacks on that Huntress.” Ye Ci who was caught by the Priest, however, smiled. She looked at the skeletons swarming towards her and took out a bottle of Novice Invisibility Potion that she had bought at a high price from the auction house and drank it.

She disappeared.

The Priest was shocked, “Twilight, she’s gone.”

Crimson Twilight was alarmed by Ye Ci’s sudden disappearance as well. He cast spells at the swarm of skeletons that were charging at his party in an attempt to catch up with Ye Ci. Most of their melee players were already engaged in combat. There was nobody around to help protect the mage players from the skeletons.

He immediately shouted, “Fall back! Get to a safe spot! Stop casting skills, beware of the aggro!”

It was too late. A lot of Crimson Twilight’s party members were unable to react in time. They had cast their skills, and it attracted the skeleton horde. They swarmed at the party. It was a decisive turning point of that entire battle.

Panic appeared to be something contagious. The state of panic that was plaguing Upward Ho! had infected Crimson Twilight’s party. They were thrown into disarray by the skeletons. A lot of the members had even lost the ability to save themselves.

Ye Ci was still invisible. A player who consumed a Novice Invisibility Potion would be invisible for a duration of 20 seconds while having his or her movement speed reduced by 50%. She moved slowly back to Upward Ho!’s side.

The most fatal thing in a PvP was: Confusion

Especially when it came to group PK with mobs roaming about. If the players panicked and were unable to recover from it quickly enough, they risked attracting the attention of monsters around them, which would cause the annihilation of the entire party.

Crimson Twilight’s party had originally managed to avoid attracting aggro from nearby monsters, but the sudden onslaught by the group of skeletons smashed through their defences. They panicked and started fleeing, no longer paying any attention to the details that they normally would.

One by one, the members of Crimson Twilight’s party disappeared into flashes of white light.

The members of Upward Ho! could not believe that they’d won in a PvP fight. They erupted into cheers of joy. Ye Ci’s words were able to settle them down, “We must leave this place quickly. More and more monsters are spawning. We’ll be in a pinch if we don’t leave soon.”

The party members immediately reigned in their excitement and left the place hastily.

Although emerging victorious in the battle, Upward Ho!’s victory was a pyrrhic one. 13 of them had died in the battle and lost half of their current level’s total experience points.

“Unless you’re dead set on being a Life Player, the need to fight against other players will arise sooner or later. Even if you’re not the one who provoked a fight, people will still find all sorts of excuses just to mess with you. That’s why I hope you guys don’t let this minor setback get to you. We will not make the same mistake twice.” Although they were joyful because of their victory, there was a lot of hidden sadness in the party members who had lost their experience points. Ye Ci took the opportunity to console the bunch.

A strong team must not only be good in PvE, it must also be able to hold its own in PvP as well.

After all, one was playing against AI in PvE. Only through PvP would you get to fight against other players. Wasn’t there a famous quote by Chairman Mao? To battle with people is great fun. That was why Ye Ci was imbuing such a concept in the minds of her still newbie team.

“Guild leader, what do we need to do?” Dragon Battling Heavens asked after a long silence. He was the only one who had died twice in the battle. Despite Fruit Jelly’s Resurrection spell, his level had dropped by 1. His eyes brimmed with tears from the humiliation.

Ye Ci smiled and pointed at the arena in the middle of the guild encampment, “You can spar against each other here. You won’t die in a duel. Help each other out. Of course, what is most important is that you must thoroughly understand the class that you’re playing.”

With this, Ye Ci looked up, deep in thought. “There was a saying. It’s been around ever since the dawn of online games. I’ve always believed it. You might’ve heard of it, but I hope that you can believe it just like I do.”

Facing the inquisitive gaze of the members of the guild, Ye Ci smiled, “There’s no garbage classes, only garbage players.”

Many had heard of this saying before. But when it came from Ye Ci, the guild members felt a surge of emotion. They stared at Ye Ci, with her crossbow slung at her back and the smile on her face, they saw the truest portrayal of that saying represented by Ye Ci.

The weather had become colder. Ye Ci had her final exams for her first semester. To make sure that she would not fail her subjects as a reincarnator, Ye Ci went inactive in the game for a week. She studied hard and was able to end her first semester with a decent grade.

On the first day of winter holiday Ye Ci and Fang Susu were walking out of campus while carrying some books. Fang Susu was smiling happily, a shade of rosy red dotting her cheeks. She appeared to be in a good mood. Ye Ci was able to guess what was going on by the way Fang Susu spout out things about totally random stuff.

“Say, Ye Ci, do you think it’s too early for an 18 year old to go looking for a boyfriend?”

“Nope, unless you want to wait until you’re too old to date someone?”

“Erm… Uhh.. You see… Will you look down on a girl who starts dating at 18?”

“Being in a relationship is a good thing. A girl can learn a lot of stuff from it. Like how to be strong, be brave, and how to let go.” Ye Ci smiled at Fang Susu.

Fang Susu bit her lips as she stared at Ye Ci. This girl in front of her, with her black hair, fair skin, childish looking face, and her determined unyielding eyes was simply dazzling. She was a little bit in awe of Ye Ci. Her efficiency in getting things done, her ability to be far-sighted, her well-defined likes and dislikes about things, and her perseverance were all the traits that Fang Susu envied. She sighed, “Ye Ci, you sure know a lot.”

Ye Ci smiled. In reality, she didn’t know that much. She was merely speaking out of experience from her last life.

“Ye Ci, Senior Qin confessed to me.” Fang Susu suddenly spoke up, she was nervous, “you won’t think that I’m a bad girl right?”

Ye Ci laughed out loud, “What took Senior Qin so long? He’s slow. Isn’t he afraid of rivals? He’s not afraid that you’d get desperate during the long wait?”

“Ye Ci, Ye Ci, you’re making fun of me!” Fang Susu’s face reddened even further, and she chased after Ye Ci, swatting at her with her books.

The two girls chased after each other under a parasol tree, radiating youth. Ye Ci finally slowed down and laughed at Fang Susu, “You wouldn’t value your lover over your friend and sell me out, would you?” [Ed Note: If you don’t know what a parasol tree is like me… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmiana_simplex]

“What are you talking about? Do I look like that sort of person?” Fang Susu glared at Ye Ci. Before she could continued, somebody called out to her. “Susu!”

It was Qin Churuo. He was cycling towards the two, wearing a clean jacket.

“Susu, you’re carrying so many books, lemme send you home.”

“T-there’s no need…” Fang Susu’s face was as red as a steamed crab the moment she saw Qin Churuo. She then looked at Ye Ci, “I-I’m going back with Ye Ci.”

“Oh, Junior Ye can also come with us.” Qin Churuo looked at Ye Ci and offered her a warm smile.

Ye Ci immediately jumped to a side, “I ain’t going to be a light bulb!” She took a few steps away and waved at Fang Susu, “Susu, remember to call me later okay?” And then she ran off.

Qin Churuo smiled, “Your friend is quite observant.”

Fang Susu grew shy. She flipped her hair and walked in the campus with Qin Churuo. She suddenly spoke up, “Senior Qin, do you need me to contact Gongzi You for you?”

Qin Churuo shook his head and patted Fang Susu’s head, “You thinking that I’m dating you because of Gongzi You?”

Fang Susu felt embarrassed after her thought was spoken out loud by Qin Churuo.

“Silly, we need to draw a line between gaming and real life.” Qin Churuo looked up into the azure sky and let out a smile. “She was just part of the game. But Susu, you’re life.”

Translator’s note:

Be a lightbulb (当电灯泡): a Chinese slang for yanno, that person who ruins your date by being there and mess up your special moment

Hi people, I noticed quite some of you were complaining about the “minna-san” thingy. I love translating, and I enjoy it. I’m happy that people are able to enjoy Reign of the Hunters. I’ll try my best to be open-minded about all the criticism, and I will definitely do my best to improve myself and my work. I hope that even if you disagree with what I might do sometimes, heck, I beg of you, if you don’t like it, maybe turn a blind eye perhaps? Please? All the weeb bashing I got from chapter 82 is quite disheartening. Okay, I get it, maybe you don’t see the humor in it, sorry. If you have a problem with it, you can always track me down on discord or something and we can talk it out in a peaceful manner, I’m definitely okay with that. You see, translators are also humans, we’re not some robot working with pinpoint accuracy with 100% efficiency, we’re beings of flesh and bones and we have feelings as well. I would say I’m one of those who translate for fun and did it as a hobby, I’m not a slave that has to cater to your every whim and then receive your bashing just because I did something that you don’t like. Yeah, I might sound like an immature kid whining, but hey, I just want to share my peace of mind. Sorry for the long rant.

Special announcement:

A shoutout to those artistic souls out there who read this novel and love it, if you’re interested in drawing fanarts for Reign of the Hunters, you can always send them to me via e-mail. Fanarts will be posted along chapter releases! Thanks for your time!