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The next day, QiYao and XiaoYu trained separately . QiYao couldn’t spend all his time by XiaoYu’s side after all, unless he didn’t want to level up . Also, with him around, XiaoYu wouldn’t have an easy time grinding as well .

It was just a piece of candy yesterday and it was enough for them to get lovestruck for half-day . Afterwards, QiYao still wasn’t satisfied . He commented how surprisingly delicious the candy would be when shared . He insisted on looking for another Santa Poring . XiaoYu was blus.h.i.+ng so hard by the end of it and stomped his feet . He proactively objected and said he didn’t want another candy . He just wanted to head back to Prole to sleep . A rare sight indeed .

Thus, after a honey-sweet morning kiss, XiaoYu swiftly ran away, with the help of a Haste spell, to the Pyramids in search of the Healer Squad . QiYao was left behind on the comfortable bed in the inn, helpless to XiaoYu’s escape . Did he dote on XiaoYu so much that the other started to be a little spoiled? But that’s fine . He’s the one who spoiled XiaoYu . Anything the other did was okay . It might even add a little spice to their relations.h.i.+p .

The couple might fight their own battles apart during the day but they would always have dinner together . That was a habit they’ve developed ever since they started dating .

“Do you still want to go grind later?” QiYao asked .

“Mn . I want to sell off the stuff I got earlier first . If I have time afterwards, I’ll go train a little more,” XiaoYu replied .

“I’ll come look for you after my meeting . Be careful . ”

“Okay . ”

“Right . These are for you . ” As QiYao said so, he stuffed a few pieces of candy in XiaoYu’s hands .

When XiaoYu saw the candy, he felt his cheeks flus.h.i.+ng . Weren’t these the culprits that ruined their grind session yesterday?

“You can have some when you’re training . It’ll be a minor insurance . But…” QiYao leaned in close to XiaoYu’s ear . “Leave one for us to share . ”

Daily teasing of a blus.h.i.+ng lover is so very fun . ╮(╯▽╰)╭

The two split up . QiYao gathered some of their guild’s researchers to sort through the information on the new updates . XiaoYu went around with the tiny cat and cleared their inventories of the day’s drops while replenis.h.i.+ng their supplies .

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Once everything was settled, it was only past eight . XiaoYu decided to train for two more hours and teleported straight to the Pyramids . His proficiency at Teleport was very high now . Not only can he maintain all the portals he needed for the Guild Wars, he could even save one slot for his own personal use .

The first floor of the Pyramids was a maze . However, after the players mapped out the whole dungeon, the maze lost its meaning . All it did now was act as a buffer floor between the mummies upstairs and the Berserk Mummies downstairs . The monsters on this level weren’t that strong, bats that die in a few hits and little Porings that only knew to be cute and pick up loot .

XiaoYu buffed himself up and hurried through the maze to the floor above . Along the way, he smacked away the few bats attracted by his presence .

“Hm?” Out of the corner of his eye, XiaoYu spotted a large shadow to his left . He turned to find an Evil Santa Claus standing not far away . It was looking around at a cross-junction with its back to XiaoYu . The maze seemed to have confused it .

He raised his hands and chanted Holy Light . Soon, a sock should be his .

All of a sudden, right before his spell hit the monster, a fireball came streaking from a hallway blocked from XiaoYu’s sight by the maze’s walls and struck the Evil Santa Claus too .

It would be hard to tell which spell hit the mob first, so they had to rely on the game’s judgement . The one who hit it first would have priority in collecting the EXP and loot dropped .

From the way the small cat went sprinting for the sock, XiaoYu knew the game decided his spell struck first . What a pity for this unknown other player .

“Where did this ratty cat come from? Die!” shouted a female voice . Another fireball was casted and headed straight for the little kitten .

Fortunately, the kitten was very fast at picking up loot . It was also very good at retreating fast . Therefore, the fireball didn’t hit it at all . It merely brushed by the cat’s tail and struck the floor . It did scare the unsuspecting little one . It immediately charged back to XiaoYu and hid behind his legs .

XiaoYu frowned . This voice…it reminded him of very unpleasant memories .

“Where are you running to…it’s you!” the other player yelled .

Frankly, XiaoYu didn’t want to see her either . The past two times they met, they’d parted on bad terms . The two seemed destined to be enemies .

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“Hmph . I was wondering why that darned cat looked so familiar . So it’s you, you arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d . ”

“Why did you hurt my cat?” XiaoYu didn’t care much for the verbal jabs aimed at him . He just didn’t like Snow’s att.i.tude towards his precious cat .

“Did you need to ask? It stole my sock!”

“The game is the judge . ”

“This…!” Snow was rendered speechless . When the kitten bounced out and grabbed the sock, it hadn’t click in her mind yet . She soon realised if the game hadn’t decided it was XiaoYu who hit the monster first, the cat couldn’t have grabbed the sock, not with the loot protection still active . But the words she had thrown out on impulse were already spoken . Even if she wanted to take it back, she couldn’t . She didn’t want to admit she was in the wrong before this hateful healer anyway .

When Snow didn’t reply, XiaoYu didn’t feel like saying anything anymore . He wasn’t the kind to force others to do something anyway . He was just a little angry at seeing his little cat being nearly hurt .

“There’s another behind you,” XiaoYu said . He had been about to turn and leave when he spotted an Evil Santa Claus sp.a.w.n right behind Snow, so he pointed it out to her . Then, he turned to leave . He didn’t want it . Why not just let the other have it? They’ll be even then .

“Freeze! I don’t need your charity!” Unfortunately, some people loved to think badly of others, especially because Snow always had some biases against XiaoYu . No matter what he did, she would be upset .

XiaoYu, on the other hand, was unsurprised by Snow’s ridiculous tantrum . The consequences of acknowledging her back at the Zombie Cave was nearly being 3v1-ed . So, he ignored the frustrated and irritated shouts . He checked his position on the map and continued towards the staircase connecting this floor and the above .

However, Snow had always been the one ignoring others . Being ignored was a hard pill for her to swallow . In a fit of rage, she flung out a fireball . Of course, she didn’t aim for XiaoYu . She merely aimed for the spell to brush past him and hit the ground before him . That would be more threatening .

XiaoYu had to stop and turn around at that . He wasn’t afraid of being killed, but he didn’t want to turn his back on an attacker . That would only be bad for him .

“I’m warning you . Don’t think you’re all that just because you’re a healer,” Snow threatened .

XiaoYu had never thought he was superior in any way . The communication gap between them was way too big .

“Aren’t you going to hit it?” XiaoYu asked, pointing to the Evil Santa Claus behind Snow once more . The mob was about to leave the range for magic attacks .

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“I don’t have to hit it just because you let me!” Snow snarled .

“…” If XiaoYu understood that correctly, that meant she didn’t want that monster . It’s not rational for him to ignore a present that’s inviting him to open it .

“!!!” Snow didn’t think XiaoYu would immediately start chanting Holy Light . While the chant took over two seconds (XiaoYu’s more proficient in the skill now), she didn’t react in time . All she could do was stare as the cross-shaped light flew past her and hit the Evil Santa Claus behind her . Then, a tiny black shadow dashed over before bouncing back to XiaoYu .

“W-Who said you could hit it?” Snow might’ve said she didn’t care about the mob, but it has been two days since the event started and Snow didn’t have a single sock . Today was the first time she’s seen an Evil Santa Claus . How could she not panic? But the more emotional one was, the harder it was for her to make the right decision . A tiny temper tantrum and she missed out on a sock .

At that, she lashed out on an impulse .

Suddenly, XiaoYu felt like this whole situation was rather laughable . If not for the fact this game was only open to adults, he would’ve thought Snow was a primary school student . He’d be insane to argue with such an illogical person .

“How dare you laugh at me!” Snow shouted .

Was XiaoYu really smiling? XiaoYu raised a hand and touched the corners of his mouth .

The meaning of a trivial, instinctive action would always change in the eyes of the petty . Snow was always bad-tempered . The only reason she didn’t attack XiaoYu the past two times was because there were more rational players by her side . Today, she had been made a fool of over and over again before the healer she hated . What little drops of patience she had were long since gone . When emotions overruled logic, she forgot all about the Healers Alliance . There was no way she could show her face in AO if she didn’t punish him!

The basic skill of a mage could be casted within milliseconds, but it wasn’t that powerful and there were no proficiency levels to upgrade it with . When faced against healers whose builds also relied heavily on Intelligence, this party trick did as much damage as a tickle . That’s why XiaoYu’s mind didn’t understand what the tiny sparks clas.h.i.+ng into him were until he saw the familiar notification from the game . He was being pulled into a PvP fight .

“Player Snow has attacked you . PvP  mode activated . You can retaliate within the next 10 minutes and your nametag won’t change colours . ”

Even instantaneous spells had cooldowns . Snow usually switched between the instant-cast spells and those that needed to be chanted . She was currently chanting Fire Arrow, a more threatening spell .

Did she think XiaoYu would just stand there like an idiot and let her cast her spell? That’s impossible . XiaoYu used the time Snow spent chanting to buff himself up . Against mages and wizards, the Acolyte tree had a skill that technically wasn’t an attack, but it would make the enemy grit their teeth in anger .

Silence: Inflicts Silence status on a target by chance . When Silenced, the enemy won’t be able to use their skills for a given period of time . Improved with Proficiency . (Ineffective against Boss monsters)

Of course, the Magician tree had an item to counter Silence – Cough Drops bought from the Item Shop . It could cure Silence and grants immunity to the status effect for five seconds .

XiaoYu had never used Silence before so the success rate was very low, but he patiently casted spell after spell as he dodged attacks . He did get stabbed by a Fire Arrow or two, but he could never be instantly killed . This PvP duel couldn’t really be called a fight . They were locked in a stalemate .

Snow didn’t dare use her high-level spells all w.i.l.l.y-nilly . Without a tank, her chanting would be interrupted . She started to regret being greedy and just levelled up her attack spells . The Dark spells meant to protect her were very low-level . Otherwise, she could cast a high-level Dark Barrier and she could chant all the spells as she pleased to torture this d.a.m.ned healer to death .

“Ding . Spell successful . Proficiency +1 . ”

Accompanying the pleasant ding of a system notification, a series of ellipses appeared above Snow . It told everyone the Silence spell was a success . Snow was halfway through her chant for the next Fire Arrow spell when it fizzled out . Snow had the urge to yell and scream, but something seemed stuck in her throat and preventing her from saying anything, even if it wasn’t to chant a spell . What’s worse is that she didn’t have the habit of bringing Cough Drops with her everywhere she went, even though she was a wizard . There was no way she could cure herself of this status effect . She could only stand and stare at the fifteen-second timer .

By this time, XiaoYu too realised Snow didn’t have any Cough Drops on her . He could do a lot with these fifteen seconds . He could have hit Snow with five Holy Light spells . He could even replenish his health back to full, buff himself back up and ready himself for the next round of attacks . He could even leave Snow behind in the dust and continued with his grind session .

“I don’t know just what you misunderstood of me, but I don’t want to fight you . If possible, I hope we can each go our own way after the debuff ends,” said XiaoYu .

Snow’s unruly temper hadn’t given XiaoYu even a chance to speak up . This was a rare chance . He had to use this opportunity to communicate his thoughts to her . Of course, if she wasn’t willing to listen, he’ll continue with the fight . After all, he didn’t like to kill .

What Snow heard instead was a taunt . She clenched her teeth and waited out the timer . “Stop pretending,” she spat out . “One of us will die today!”

It seemed like there was no way for them to talk it out . XiaoYu internally sighed and continued tossing out Silences . His level was higher than Snow’s and his gear was better than hers . The walls of the maze meant he could avoid being locked on by her spells . Strictly speaking, this round of PvP was just a meaningless battle . There was no way of telling just how long it’ll last .

Translator’s Notes:

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