Rising Phoenix Peak (2)

"Lord Grim?"

"Snow Lotus?"

Ran Zhifei and Chen Guo muttered aloud and as they heard each other's word, they replied in sync.

"Oh, you know them?"

"This...how could this be?!" Ran Zhifei was astounded. She had even read the announcement multiple times word by word in order to make sure that she had read it correctly the first time.

"Snow Lotus...wasn't that Xuelian?" Zhifei had unconsciously muttered aloud in confusion. 

Impossible! How could Xuelian possibly clear a dungeon this fast?! Besides, it wasn't any dungeon! Not to mention that they were a two person party...Xuelian was absolutely new to Glory! 

Chen Guo upon hearing Zhifei mention that Snow Lotus was Xuelian, her mind also spiraled out of control. "What? Snow Lotus is Xuelian? Didn't you say she never played Glory before?"

"This...she really hasn't!" Zhifei was absolutely sure of this fact. When Xuelian moved to China, she had never seen her play games at all, let alone Glory.

That was when Zhifei realized something. There was someone else in the party, Lord Grim! That was when she recalled how Chen Guo showed an incomprehensible expression at the name. "Right Guoguo, you muttered aloud Lord Grim earlier, do you know who he is?"

"He's a new worker hired! As a night-shift manager…" Chen Guo immediately recounted the story of how Ye Xiu came to her cafe looking for a job.

"Ye Xiu? Could he be God Ye Qiu?" Zhifei eyes gleamed in admiration at the mention of her idol.

However Chen Guo poured cold water breaking the illusion of Zhifei with a shake of her head. "No, when he came to look for a job, he also wanted to get on a computer, I checked his ID, his name genuinely is Ye Xiu."

"Ah…" Zhifei knew that if was highly unlikely but was still sad to hear that Lord Grim wasn't God Ye Qiu.

"Then how did the two of them clear it? Even the big guilds don't even dare to enter it!" Chen Guo didn't understand at all, thinking about it made her furious. How come she couldn't have spawned in the same city as that little brat?!

"Right, let's go ask them!" Zhifei suddenly stood up, interrupting Chen Guo's chain of thoughts.

It was then that Chen Guo slapped herself on the thigh. "Ah! I totally forgot that they were here, let's go!"

Thus the two girls went to the other side of the cafe only to find Xuelian and Ye Xiu sitting next to each other playing Glory.

Chen Guo was the first to walk up boldy as she slapped Ye Xiu on the back. "Hey! Little brat, not bad. First clear on the Golden Crow. Let me tell you, not even the big guilds dare to enter the dungeon with a party of 5 right now, yet you actually beaten it with just you two! Were you guys hacking?!" 

Although she had asked the question, she knew that the game's security was extremely top-notch. Hacking into Glory? What a joke, throughout the 10 years since it's launch, there has never been a person who was able to hack the game.

Zhifei also chimed in with Chen Guo. "Yeah, Xuexue, how'd you do it? You're amazing!"

The two girls were more enthusiastic than the ones who actually released the rewards! 

Luckily, Xuelian had already predicted that they would come over, thus she surmised a plan with Ye Xiu to brush it off. 

Glancing at Ye Xiu who gave Xuelian a slight nod, she quickly came up with the excuse they had came up with earlier. "We discovered a spot where the Golden Crow could be trapped in, so we lured him there and stuck him in there with a few skills! In the area, the Golden Crow could only shoot out fireballs, but we were able to easily dodge them."

While repeating the reason they had came up with together, even Xuelian and Ye Xiu had a hard time believing it. What was this nonsense about trapping and luring the Phoenix?! Everyone knew Glory was a game with little flaws.

Chen Guo and Zhifei looked at each other before casting a doubtful glance towards Xuelian and Ye Xiu.

"Ah?" For a moment, the two of them didn't know what to say. Although it felt like an excuse to thwart them off, they really couldn't respond to that.

Although impractical, it seemed logical. There was no other way the two of them could clear the dungeon otherwise…

Just look at their level and equipment! It was impossible to clear with just the two of them!

Thinking like this, the two girls gradually composed themselves as they believed the excuse. 

"En, but still, you're quite lucky! I'm so envious, did you guys get any drops?" Chen Guo wanted to see what they had obtained. A two person party obtaining a first kill on a boss of a high level dungeon, the rewards must be exceptional!

"That's right, the rewards!" Hearing this Xuelian looked over towards Ye Xiu as he sent a trade request over to Snow Lotus.

Opening the trade window, Ye Xiu placed everything he had obtained from the Golden Crow onto the tab, shocking all 4 of them including Ye Xiu.

When he had picked up the items, the mountain was collapsing so he hadn't read over the item and stats, but looking at them now, weren't they a little...too overpowered?! 

Zhifei and Chen Guo upon reading the items, they couldn't help but stare enviously.

Besides the rare materials, they had obtained a 4 pieces of blue-tiered equipment. 

"T-t-this…3 pieces of blue equipment, how lucky are you guys?!" Zhifei had only managed to voice out a sentence before dropping her mouth in shock.

Seeing this, even Xuelian couldn't help but be stunned for awhile. Their luck was truly good. But then again, thinking about how they had cleared the first boss with just the two of them while also being the first ones to do so, at a severe level disadvantage, these rewards could be considered 'fair.'

[Thousand Infernal Saber] - Level 5

Weight: 3.5 kg, Attack Speed: 4

Physical Attack: 100

Effect: Has a chance of burning the enemy upon slicing a target.

Sabers were generally made for blademasters and considering Xuelian's speciality, there was no doubt that she wanted this weapon. 

Eagerly looking at Ye Xiu, she didn't even need to voice out her need as Ye Xiu already passed over the saber.

A wide grin appeared on Xuelian's face as she equipped her new weapon, swinging it randomly as if it was her new toy.

Because the other two blue-tier items weren't as good as the saber Xuelian had, she had given them both to Ye Xiu, to which he was contented with.

Although both of them were pieces of armor, it was still considered top-tier equipment at the current stage of the game, and if sold, the items could fetch for a lot of money.

[Pendant of the Golden Crow] - Level 5

Weight; 1.5 kg

Armor + 5, Magic Resistance + 10, Intelligence + 5

Effect: Fire based damage are reduced by 25%

This was an extremely good pendant as they were still in the middle of the dungeon. When fighting the next boss, this item would definitely increase their odds of winning.

The last item was a class restricted pair of boots only to Exorcists, this item had no use for them so they decided to sell it. Ye Xiu wanted to split the earnings in half but was rejected by Xuelian as she had already received a really good saber.

Besides those, there were rare materials. Those were given to Ye Xiu as well since Yerin had no use for them. Besides, she didn't even know if she would continue playing Glory after today.

Although it was fun, she was still reluctant to play. This feeling was also restricting part of her, preventing her from playing better.

Seeing that all the items were split, Zhifei and Chen Guo went back to their computers after wishing them good luck in the next part. However, deep down they knew that clearing the dungeon was impossible. 

Not to mention the fact that this was the second boss, they had only beaten the boss due to a glitch! 

The odds of them beating the last boss was practically zero. 

Luckily,  because of the fact that no one else was doing the dungeon let alone able to clear it, Xuelian and Ye Xiu weren't time strapped, therefore Ye Xiu who was called for repeatedly countless times one after another, was able to do his job while playing Glory.

They ultimately decided to take a break, a break for Xuelian that is, Ye Xiu was still busy buying drinks, fixing computers and doing other miscellaneous tasks.

...

Meanwhile inside the 10th server, a group of people were silently sitting before their computers, watching their party chat.

It took awhile before someone by the name of Blue River broke the silence. "What do you guys think of this situation?"

Immediately after hitting send, countless replies came in.

"Probably a glitch they exploited."

"Most likely, to be able to clear the Rising Phoenix Peak with just two people right now is impossible."

"Honestly, as of right now, are any of our guilds even able to clear it with a party of 5?"

The chat was silent for another two minutes as everyone was pondering over the previous question before a series of emoji's flooded the chat.

All of them had sent an emoji in some way that basically gave the answer as 'no.'

"Then there's no reason to pay attention to the two of them is there? They only made it this far with pure luck!"

The big guilds were all wondering what to do as some already made plans on testing out the two players, whereas some droppers the matter as they thought of it as a stroke of luck.

However, Xuelian and Ye Xiu knew none of this as they continued to advance further after 30 minutes.

While Ye Xiu was working, Xuelian was just browsing some korean dramas as she was bored.

When Ye Xiu came back to his computer, he saw Xuelian resting her head on one hand while watching her show. Even while sitting casually, her outstanding figure once again brought Ye Xiu into a daze. In fact there were other people in the Internet Cafe that saw her too, but none of them dared to walk up and disturb her. 

Seeing that Ye Xiu was sitting down next to her, he suddenly felt hundreds of angry glares directed towards him as a cold shiver ran down his spine. "Why was it so cold today? Was the AC on? How weird!"

Noticing that Ye Xiu returned, she asked in a tired voice as she yawned. "All done?"

"Yeah, I should have enough time to finish up, are you tired? We don't have to clear it you know, I estimate that no one is going to attempt it until a few days later." Ye Xiu couldn't help but advise her in a concerned tone for the first time.

"It's fine, the Korean drama was pretty boring, that's all. Let's go then!" Without letting Ye Xiu persuade her anymore, she had Snow Lotus advance through a tunnel that was shown after the mountain had collapsed.

Proceeding through the tunnel, small Crimson Wyverns continued to attack the two of them in groups, although they had eventually made it out, it still took another 30 minutes. 

If they had not obtained the loot from earlier, it would have taken them much longer! The two of them started wondering if they should just give up, how long would it take before they killed the next boss if they already took this long clearing out the little ones? 

Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back now. Since they had already gone this far, wouldn't be it a waste to turn their backs now? However long it would take, the dungeon would be cleared today! 

Their competitive spirits once again were re-ignited.