The Difference Between an Amateur and a Pro

After tidying up the bottles that had been scattered on the table, Ye Ci began to walk out of the room. She stared at Bai Mo with disdain on her way out, "First of all, you're not the one who watched over me as I grew up. Before you came here, we only met during the summer and winter holidays. And secondly, the one who held me like a precious baby and was afraid to drop me was my dad, not you." After saying that, she tossed a couple of Medium Strength Potions to Bai Mo.

Bai Mo reflexively caught the object thrown at him by Ye Ci. After studying the item, he could not hold back his amazement. It was a miracle potion for slaying BOSSes and clearing dungeons!

"You're just riding on my coattails, pretending to be a floral protector [1]. Stop being so shameless!"

"Floral protector?" Bai Mo tilted his head at Ye Ci and snickered. "What kind of flower are you then? A Tyrant Flower[2]?"

Ye Ci immediately glared at Bai Mo. This guy sure had a sharp tongue. "A Tyrant Flower is a flower as well!"

"Alright, a Tyrant Flower is a flower as well." Bai Mo nodded. As a gentleman, he would never argue about something so trivial with the ladies. When he saw Ye Ci heading to the guild conference room, he could not hold back the question on the tip of his tongue. "Oi, Tyrant Flower, where are you going?"

"What does it have to do with you?" Ye Ci rolled her eyes and continued heading for the conference room without even looking back.

Bai Mo smiled at Ye Ci. She had always been a girl that was tough on the outside but soft on the inside. She was actually more worried about the dungeon's progress than Mi Lu and Overflowing Ink. She did not let any of her grievances show on her face when Wolf Pack defeated the 4th BOSS. Despite the grumbling and all the worrying from the guild members, Ye Ci would tell them that they would be able to clear the dungeon eventually. Bai Mo knew that she was very anxious despite her calm demeanor.

The girl had always been like this. She was very bad at expressing herself and so arrogant that it made her cute.

The officers were having a meeting in the conference room, thinking of a way to defeat the 4th BOSS. She must've been worried about them.

Ye Ci stood silently at the entrance, observing the ongoing debate among the officers, with no intention of entering the room. Just then, Ideal Height 1.7m stood up. *cough cough* Of course, she was standing on a chair, or no one would be able to spot her.

"I have an idea!" There were bags beneath her eyes. Apparently she had not slept since the day before. "We keep trying to figure out how to remove the BOSS's debuff, but we've come up with nothing so far. What if we've been thinking in the wrong direction?"

Overflowing Ink was momentarily stunned after listening to Ideal Height 1.7m. He shared a look with Mi Lu and the duo spoke out together. "Ideal, go on."

Ideal Height 1.7m was more of a follower than a leader. Although she was a good damage dealer, she was quite inept when it came to leading. She became nervous after being questioned by the two commanders.

Let Go Of That Girl, who was by her side, offered her words of encouragement. "Don't be afraid. Just say it out loud."

"I remembered something that Little You used to say to me. We might not necessarily have to always be reactive to problems we face in the games. We must sometimes take the initiative. It might produce more results for us that way. I've been thinking… We seem to be very passive when it comes to problem solving." She then continued after a pause. "I've come to realize that Little You would always go on the offensive to solve problems when she led us in clearing dungeons, while we simply react to the problem. We must be more proactive this time to solve the problem we're currently facing!"

Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu sank into deep thought after listening to her words. It was a fact that they had such a problem. A problem that they were not aware of. A problem that had been very real despite their ignorance. Mi Lu could even remember the sense of fulfilment he felt when he was praised by players when he uploaded his and Overflowing Ink's dungeon-clearing videos onto the forum.

There was one comment however, which had upset Mi Lu and Overflowing Ink. Mi Lu could still remember the exact content of the comment that was posted anonymously, "The teamwork is good, and the commanders are quite apt. But, you are still not quite there yet as a good commander, and you have a long way to go before you can become an expert."

Despite keeping it a secret, the two were deeply mindful of that comment. They could not understand what they did wrong. Just what were they missing? Today, Ideal Height 1.7m had just given them the answer.

"Please don't be angry, I'm not saying that you're bad." Ideal Height 1.7m grabbed at her hair when the two remained silent. She felt that she had offended them, "Y-you see… We've always tried to remove the debuff after the spell was cast by the BOSS. However, since we are unable to solve this problem, we always fail and get annihilated in the end."

"Ideal, we understand what you're trying to say, but I have a question. Have you ever thought about the fact that we're unable to disrupt the BOSS's spell casting?" asked Fruit Jelly.

"I've thought about this. The key is not to remove the debuff with healers or the other support classes. The key is to take out whoever was affected by the debuff." said Ideal Height 1.7m.

"You're saying that we should kill the person who was debuffed by the BOSS?" asked an astonished Overflowing Ink.

"Yup." Ideal Height 1.7m nodded. "Since the debuffed member would die anyway and spread the debuff to the other members of the party. We should just kill the person when the BOSS calls out his or her name. The BOSS will call out a name every 3 to 5 minutes. As long as we keep dishing out damage to the BOSS, we can slay the BOSS within 20 minutes and only have 7 casualties at most. Besides, the BOSS has a very low movement speed and low attack damage. As long as we can work together and make up for our losses in numbers, we should be able to prevail."

Ideal Height 1.7m's words sent everyone deep into thought. It was indeed a strategy that was unheard of. They began whispering among themselves and discussed the possibilities of such a strategy in groups.

Ye Ci smiled as she observed the situation within the conference room, and she turned around and left. Ideal Height 1.7m had discovered the way to defeat the BOSS by pure coincidence. Looks like Ye Ci was in luck today. The 4th BOSS would soon be defeated by Upwards Ho!, which meant that Ye Ci no longer had anything to worry about. Besides, Ideal Height 1.7m's words would definitely be a source of enlightenment for Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu, as it showed them how far away they were from becoming an expert commander. They might even be able to become the top commanders in the game.

"Why did you not go in?" asked Bai Mo who had just arrived.

"They've solved the problem on their own, so my intervention is not necessary." Ye Ci smiled and patted Bai Mo on the shoulder. "Mr.Guild Leader, you can just wait for the First Five of the 4th BOSS to fall into our hands."

Bai Mo raised his eyebrows and looked at Ye Ci with his face full of surprise, "Eh? You're that sure?"

Ye Ci did not respond to his question, but instead walked towards the teleportation NPC, "You're right, staying in the guild encampment all day long is not what Gongzi You would do."

"Where are you going this time?"

"Who knows."

In truth, Ye Ci intended to go to the Dark Clay City in the Swamp of Sorrows to look for the city's lord, Lord Moore. After all, it would be wasteful for her to just ignore Sha'gar's Epic-tier Quest.

The weather was nice, and everything in the guild was going well. There was nothing else left for her to worry about. It would be a waste if she wasted away this fine and wonderful day.

Red Lake City was quite close to Dark Clay City, but only if one traveled in a straight line. There was, however, an ashen mountain range separating the two cities. Before the flying system was enabled, players had to traverse through at least a dozen maps in order to reach Dark Clay City.

Dark Clay City was one of the neutral cities in the Eastern Continent. The city's lord, Moore, had chosen to remain neutral. It was not a rare occurance to see players from other continents in the city, and fights between players were a very common sight.

Ye Ci was not afraid of being involved in PK, but she knew that the quest would not be an easy one. Before she left, she made all the necessary preparations and brought along everything she deemed necessary. She'll be damned if she left something behind and was forced to return to Red Lake City to retrieve it halfway through her quest.

Ye Ci summoned Ol' Four and climbed onto his back. She then shoved pieces of roasted meat into his mouth. A satisfied Ol' Four happily complied to Ye Ci's commands.

Perhaps because of Ol' Four's appearance, Ye Ci would constantly receive stares from players as she rode Ol' Four down the streets of Red Lake City. Although Ye Ci did not mind the attention, Ol' Four was enjoying it. The more people stared at him, the more excited he became.

Before Ye Ci could protest from being jolted up and down by Ol' Four, she received a private message from a stranger. "Gongzi You, are you free right now?"

Translator's notes:

[1]Floral protector (护花使者): A man who looks after/protects pretty ladies.

[2]Tyrant flower (霸王花): "霸王花" is the chinese name for a parisitic plant called the "Rafflesia". The author is making a play of word here, with Bai Mo making fun of Ye Ci, hinting that she is a violent person.