Substitutes

The system message naturally did not have the shock value of something like First Blood. Not many people lamented over it.

However, to Ye Ci, it carried a different meaning.

"You are the first outsider to join our Red Lake City. I will definitely reward you well." The official seemed extremely happy and took out a medal from the box on the office table, giving it to Ye Ci.

Ye Ci received the medal and took a look. It was a citizen's medal.

Red Lake City Citizen's Medal: 5 HP regeneration per second.

The medal appeared to be related to the Prestige within the city. The greater the Prestige, the better the bonuses the medal provided. Although the stats of the medal was average, it was better than nothing. Ye Ci immediately stuck it on her chest.

Afterwards, the official urged Ye Ci again, "There are not enough people in the Military Department. Gongzi You, are you perhaps interested in helping?"

Here it is.

Ye Ci had worked so hard and so long just for this question.

Before her, there were two options: yes or no.

If she replied yes, she would activate her own Military Rank System. If she replied no, the Military Rank System would not have any connection with her ever again.

She obviously answered yes. Next, Ye Xi was sent to the Military Department by the official.

"Gongzi You, you now are a citizen of Red Lake City. Do you want to protect this city?"

Naturally, Ye Ci's answer was again yes. Afterwards, the Military Officer immediately helped Ye Ci with her registration, and her Citizen's Medal was switched to a lvl 1 Soldier's Medal. Although the medal was changed, he stats remained the same.

After becoming a lvl 1 Soldier, Ye Ci received a quest from the Military Officer— patrol Red Lake City. If your immediate superior instructed you, you must directly follow their orders. The quest seemed easy, but it actually proved to be very hard upon attempting to complete it.

A patrol officer had a lot of duties to fulfill . From protecting the citizens, to maintaining order, to cleaning, the patrol officer was required to do everything. Although it was only one patrol a day, it would take at least an hour. It was tiring as hell and about as relaxing as fighting a BOSS.

After the patrol was complete, Ye Ci could go to the Military Officer to collect the Salary Pack of the Day. Inside were fifty silver coins and fifty Military Honor points.

Military Honor points were needed for promotions. Other than doing the Military Officer's quests every day, there were no other ways of obtaining it. If one wanted to be promoted, they would need to patiently bear with the oppression.

After finishing the day's worth of oppressive work, Ye Ci left the Administration Office, and accepted another few simple quests, conveniently raising her to lvl 15. Afterwards, she traveled towards the Hunter Instructor.

The Combat Skills in Fate do not require mastery like the Life Skills. As long as the lvl of a character fit the requirements, one can always level up a Combat Skill as long as the fees were paid.

Since Ye Ci's reached lvl 15, she could level up all her skills. She could even learn a skill at lvl 15, a very important one - Mount.

Quite a lot of players were already riding horses. With them galloping at full speed with their hoofs, it was a glamorous sight. Even Ye Ci felt quite tempted to ride one. She wasted no time in learning the skill right after she hit lvl 15.

Skills that could be learned by spending money were never cheap, and Mount was especially expensive. Ye Ci spent almost 30 gold coins in the process of leveling up her skills and acquiring the skill Mount. With her wealth, Ye Ci did not even flinch at the price, but any other average player would be able to feel the pain for a long time.

The next step after learning Mount was to get a horse. Horses were cheap. They only cost 10 gold coins each. After almost half a day of 'careful selection', Ye Ci finally bought a small maroon colored horse, and rode around Red Lake City happily.

Something that ran on four legs was obviously faster than someone with two legs. Despite only increasing movement speed by 40%, the horse that costed 10 gold was a way better alternative than walkingon foot.

After showing off her horse, Ye Ci noted that it was late. She logged out of the game and did her school work.

Life of a college student was tough, isn't it true! With loads of school work every day, isn't it! Can't miss a class! Isn't it true! Isn't it true!

Ye Ci went online early in the morning the following day. She immediately received a mail. It was the bandages from Flutter n' Sway.

With the fresh bandages, Ye Ci took out a series of potion from her storage and headed to the guild staging area.

Ye Ci thought that she was already early, but she realized that it was nothing to be proud of when she arrived at the guild staging area, as hundreds of players had already gathered there.

Ye Ci took a look at her friend list. Yi Cang, Liu Chang, and Dong Yin were not online yet. Since she knew nobody else from the guild, she sat in an empty corner. The three logged into the game not long after.

Just as the four gathered, Peacock Blue's voice rang in the guild channel, "All participants please take note, please find out which party you belong to from the bulletin board and report to your party leader. Our mission today is to clear Cruel Pit, and achieve First Blood! Any party that clears the pit will be rewarded. The party leader will be awarded 10 DKP, while party members will be awarded 5 points each. If we can achieve First Blood, the party leader will be awarded 200 DKP, and the members 100 each!"

The players present were excited. 1 point = 100 bucks. Anybody would be excited!

Ye Ci was left speechless. He Xiao was truly willing to spend a lot. She thought that he was just someone who was slightly rich, but she did not expect him to be that wealthy. Even if they could not achieve First Blood for the Cruel Pit, he'd need to pay out hundreds of thousands RMB.

As expected of a rich person.

After taking a look at the bulletin board, Ye Ci was the only one of her friends left without a party.

Liu Chang creased her eyebrows, "Did they accidentally leave you out, why was your name not there?"

Ye Ci, of course, knew the truth. She stopped Liu Chang and said, "It's okay, you guys go on ahead. I'm fine."

"But…." Liu Chang was still unsatisfied, but Peacock Blue was already giving orders for party members to gather. Liu Chang had no choice but to leave for her party.

With her three friends gone, Ye Ci contacted Peacock Blue, "Peacock Blue, I did not see my name on the bulletin board."

"I've told you, you have insufficient GS, you're just a substitute. Stand aside. I'll call for you when somebody from a party left or was disconnected from the game." Peacock Blue retorted after realizing that it was Gongzi You.

"Can I form a party of my own then?"

"Do what you want, as long as it's not with some wild party [1]. Take whoever that's willing to go with you." Peacock Blue replied.

With that, Ye Ci immediately shouted in the guild channel, "Looking for party members for Cruel Pit. Need Tank, Healer, and DPS."

Two players immediately requested to join her party. It was a Dwarven Mage named Timely Rain and an Orcish Warlock named Pickled Pepper Phoenix Claw.

Ye Ci shook her head. Dwarves were meant to be Warriors or Knights, while Orcs were most suited to being Rogues, Rangers, Druids or Priests. A Dwarven Mage and an Orcish Warlock… It was a rather odd combination.

Both of them were lvl 12, and their equipments were a mess. They suffered greatly due to the odd combination of race and class and ended up as substitutes.

"Are we really going to the Cruel Pit?" asked Timely Rain right after joining the party.

"Can we clear it?" Pickled Pepper Phoenix Claw sounded desperate.

"Why not give it a try? We'll proceed if we can handle it and leave immediately if we can't." Ye Ci didn't like to make superficial promises , "Even if we can't clear the dungeon, we can at least get to know the map. It'd be easier to look for a party next time."

The two agreed immediately.

Nobody else joined their party.

Timely Rain and Pickled Pepper Phoenix Claw almost gave up, "Just forget about it, we'll just wait here as substitutes."

"If we can't find someone from the guild, we'll just find some random Tank and Healer."

"But Peacock Blue forbade us to form wild parties."

"The party belongs to our guild if more than half its members are from our guild." Ye Ci explained, "Come with me if you want. If not, you can leave the party."

The two did not leave the party. They've been benchwarmer for quite some time already. They would never easily let go of such an opportunity.

With all their doubts cleared, the two followed Ye Ci to the Cruel Pit.

Perhaps due to the fact that Cruel Pit was the focus of a lot of big guilds, the place was packed with players. Ye Ci shouted, "Cruel Pit, need a Tank and a Healer. Three people in the party, we'll start as soon as we have enough members!"

She immediately received requests. She was puzzled. She had thought that she would need at least half a day to form a complete party. Were Tanks and Healers so unpopular in this her current life?

But, as she looked carefully, Ye Ci was overcome with joy.

The people who joined her party were none other than Little Icy Cold Hands and Icy Cold Little Hands….

TL Notes:

[1] Wild party: party with members w/o a guild.

Phoenix Claw: a fancy way of calling "chicken feet". It's actually a delicacy though hmm…