Move Forward Part V

“So annoying!” A person shouted as he walked in. It was Tan who held on to his grudge.

Everyone turned their gazes to him and Blanche. Among everyone were his enemy and his gang. The leader of the gang made a rather exaggerated mocking face as soon as he saw Tan.

“You…! Hahaha, have you married a goblin yet?” He continued to mock.

Tan did not seem to be bothered by that. He grinned as he spoke, “Keep that mouth to lick my shoes.”

With a loud bang, the knight slammed his fist on a table. “You are asking for trouble. ‘Hashtag’ let’s fight ‘A-F.’”

Tan and Blanche narrowed their eyes and looked at each other. He could not understand the knight’s words. “What language are you speaking?” Blanche shook his head and added, “Your parents would be embarrassed to death if they heard what you said.”

“Don’t just stand and brag. It seems like you haven’t learned your lesson. Fine…! I’ll teach you a lesson as a celebration for me rising to level 14,” The knight said as he activated a battle mode.

Tan picked his lips with his fingers as if he was scared. “So scary…” He was not scared like he said as he entered the fight.

Luck was not on the knight’s side as Tan drew the Wicked Wolf first, followed by the Shining Bird…

“Summon! Summon!” With that, two monsters, Shining Bird and Wicked Wolf were summoned. As for the knight, it was not important anymore to mention what he would do.

“1,980!”

“751!”

The Shining Bird and the Wicked Wolf performed an attack together. The result was revealed at that moment…The enemy had died. Tan watched as the knight fell to the ground.

“I remember once someone said that ‘don’t get too cocky if you’re just a noob’.” He giggled and seemed to be satisfied with what he did.

Everything inside the tavern was a mess—a liquor cabinet was destroyed. Everyone was shocked. The high-level Shining Bird was so impressive, accompanying it was a Wicked Wolf. No one dared to make a sound except for one which made Tan tremble in fear. It was scarier than any monster he had met.

Player Tanthai caused damage to the NPC’s tavern. The system has taken 12,412 Gil from the player as a penalty…

Tan widened his eyes as he heard the voice.

“No…………!” “Noooo…………!”

He groaned. Blanche covered his face with his hand and shook his head to the scene.

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“3,200…” Tan talked to Blanche as they left the starter town. “That’s what I have now,” he continued.

Blanche secretly smiled and said, “I’ve got about 18,000 Gil. I can share it with you. After all, we’re in the same party.”

Tan stared at his friend as he walked across the main street which led to the Capital of Caldia, the biggest city within this area. The city was going to host a tournament in which players could compete against each other to win the Area Card, Caldia Castle.

“Leech off a woman is bad enough, and now you want me to leech off a dude?” Tan shook his head as he spoke. Blanche was not surprised by that. He knew that Tan was not going to accept his offer.

“They say a man who triumphs over a man is the real conqueror.” Blanche rushed to his side and said with an indifferent expression.

Tan subconsciously jumped away from Blanche. He stooped down a bit and looked at his friend suspiciously. “Don’t come near me or I’ll kick you!”

Blanche stared at Tan with a serious expression before smiling, “Hahaha, seems like this time I can fool you. I was just joking,” He giggled.

However, Tan was still alarmed as he kept his distance from the other. “I think we should stay away from each other. I don’t feel safe now,” he hesitated.

Blanche widened his eyes and walked towards his friend, “Dude…! I said I was just joking! I’m not like that.” Tan jumped away from his friend like an Olympic-winning frog. He still doubted his friend.

“There’s a grain of truth in every joke,” Tan stated as he carefully examined his friend.

Blanche shook his head and sighed. “What’s wrong with you? It was a pure joke,” he confided. “You’re crazy…” Blanche muttered as he prepared himself to fight with the monsters ahead of him. Tan saw them too. He stopped overreacting and prepared himself for a fight.

Five minutes went by, seven level-13 monsters were easily executed. The drops were useless to Tan and Blanche. On the way to Caldia, they encountered a dozen groups of monsters at about the same level as the first group. As they approached the city gate, Blanche had risen to level 20.

“I rose to level 20 now…” Blanche said calmly as he checked his status panel. Tan made no progress as he gained little to no EXP from killing monsters much lower level than him.

“Are you sure you are not like that?” Tan asked his friend who was looking at his status panel. Blanche narrowed his eyes and looked at Tan in a puzzled manner.

“Not what...?” He asked.

“The conqueror, you seem like one.”

Blanche laughed… “Nonsense, you still cling on to that? Rest assured, I like women. I had a girlfriend before,” he went on. Tan was surprised by that.

“You? Girlfriend?” Tan pointed at Blanche. “That’s crazy!” He burst out into laughter and suddenly stopped himself like pressing a brake when a car was moving 200 km/hr.

“Are you sure you’re not changing your mind after dating a girl?” Tan put on a serious face.

Blanche sighed and shook his head. Dispiritedly, he walked past Caldia’s entrance and muttered, “I’m not going to pull a joke like that anymore.”

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Tan reluctantly followed his friend to the city. The reason he acted this way was actually that he had trauma with his gay friend. However, all the thoughts had dispersed from his heart as soon as he saw Caldia’s Castle…

“Holy moly!” He hollered.

Blanche looked at his friend whose reaction was that of a small-town boy visiting the city for the first time. “Surprised, are you?” he smiled and asked.

Tan nodded as he looked around. A white castle stood on a hill located at the heart of the city. Surrounded it were houses painted in white with roofs painted in blue. To the north, there was a cathedral where players who chose Priest Job used to perform rituals and advance their Jobs. The building that attracted Tan the most was…

…A gigantic colosseum made of white bricks.

“Can’t believe there’s a place like this in this one judging from the town we left, the town I can’t even remember its name.” Tan looked around as he appreciated the beauty of the city.

Blanche looked at his friend while smiling. It seemed like he was sure that his friend would react this way. He was about to say something but then had to stop.

“Ouch!”

Something hit him in the back. Blanche hurriedly turned to look. Tan heard the sound of armor clanging.

“Sorry…” a soft voice sounded from a short brown hair player. The tiny player dressed nicely in a long-sleeve shirt and pants. “I was rushing.”

“It’s alright,” Blanche who nearly fell to the ground replied.

“You two came here to join the tournament, right?”

“Yes, that’s why we came,” Blanche answered as Tan frowned and looked at the player.

“Can I join your party?!” The player who had delicate skin and red cherry lips asked.

“I must ask my friend first,” Blanche said as he looked at Tan who was walking towards him. “Can we let this brother join our party?”

Tan did not reply. He gestured to Blanche to stop himself then walked straight to the little player. “Blanche…” He said in a high-pitched voice. “You dump TV-series character.” Blanche could not understand his words. Tan reached out his hand and touched the tiny player’s chest.

“Kyahhhh!” The player screamed while hugging her chest tight. The squeaky screaming and the reaction made it clear that the player was a girl. “You pervert!”

“What…?” Blanche’s jaw dropped.

“That’s why I call you a dump TV-series character. Everyone can see right through a girl who disguises herself as a man this way, except for the main character in a TV series,” explained Tan.

And then he got slapped hard in the face…!