“Gone, gone…”

“Wow! So handsome. He’s my god!”

“Fuck, he’s gone just like that?!”

“What are those blue flames? That’s so cool! I’d like to get some of that for myself.”

“You? You’d probably be burned to death by those flames.”…

---

Crippled Feather watched Blue Maple disappear from in front of him, and he remained silent in place as moments passed.

“I don’t care who you are, I will destroy you, outrageous fellow! If I can’t beat you, what's the point of me choosing this name for myself!” Crippled Feather gritted his teeth as he clasped the dagger in his hands tightly.

He pushed through the crowd as he turned to leave.

Blue Snow wasn’t too surprised, except for the moment when flames started appearing on Blue Maple, and she continued drinking the beverage that Blue Maple had given her.

“The old man must be responsible for this. He’s doing all this nonsense every single minute of the day. But I have to say that the little gangster did seem very cool. No, he’s always been rather cool. Oh, no, no! Why am I thinking about such strange things? He’s just a rude gangster!” Blue Snow suddenly started blushing before she tossed her head violently from side to side as she drank her beverage quickly.

Brrng, brrng, brrng…

“Eh? I’ve finished it. But it does seem delicious. Should I buy some more?” Blue Snow turned to leave once she finished her drink as she muttered under her breath.”

“Yes, I have 20 coins. How should I sped them? I shall have a nice meal by the street, hehe! I don’t know when I’m going to see him again, so he’ll probably forget about the money and I don’t have to return it to him. Am I too evil? No, he’s the bad guy. He saved this money after a discount from buying equipment…” Blue Snow planned how to spend the twenty coins that she had just received as she gradually disappeared into the crowd…

------

Another headline appeared in the game’s forum: A mysterious player has completely dominated Crippled Feather, and Crippled Feather falls out of the Top 10 of the Ranking Leaderboard.

Blue Maple’s final move left a strong and mysterious impression on the players who knew about this… and there was also a certain charismatic charm about him…

But some others…

------

“Shit, it’s him again! He’s becoming increasingly powerful!” the Gentle Prince swore as he slammed the table.

“My lord, nobody knows who he is, but his opponent, Crippled Feather, should be a killer. He probably isn’t using his own codename. I can tell from the video that he has an aura of murder that he hasn’t been able to hide very well,” Thoughtless said to the Gentle Prince calmly.

“Hmph, I told you to check that fellow’s identity in real life. Have you found anything?” the Gentle Prince said coldly.

“I’m sorry, my lord! We have found nothing. It’s almost like he doesn’t exist,” Thoughtless replied, lowering his head while bending slightly.

“Nothing?! You know what he looks like, and you have found nothing?! What are you guys doing? Have I not asked the family for help?” the Gentle Prince roared as he slammed the table once more, an even darker look on his face.

Thoughtless remained bowed as he answered, “I’m sorry that we are useless. But both channels, through our bodyguard company and your family, have returned nothing.”

“Hmph, all of you are useless trash. I don’t even have an appetite to eat anymore. What are these things that we’re supposed to eat?” the Gentle Prince ranted angrily.

“We have no choice, my lord. This game has limited the outer world’s influence within the game after our entrance, and these food items are already the best in this place. Everything should be fine once we upgrade twice and reach Level 30.”

“Even though we haven’t discovered anything, I think you can consider hiring that person. That person should be able to find something out with your family’s help. Furthermore, that person has joined the game too, and probably has nothing to do. Your two families’ relationship should do the trick.” Thoughtless seemed to have made up his mind about this idea as he spoke naturally.

The Gentle Prince contemplated momentarily before responding, “That guy? Forget it. Even though we are acquainted, we have only given a little bit of help to his family in the beginning. He won’t even let me see him, so forget it.

“What is my father thinking? He has forced me into this game, and he doesn’t let me exit often. What’s the point of my family’s private spaceship? How can staying in this horrible game be any better than staying outside?” the Gentle Prince complained.

Thoughtless listened quietly to the Gentle Prince’s rants.

-------

The old man’s voice had rung out beside Blue Maple’s ears when he heard the system notice. The old man knew about what was going on over there, and told Blue Maple that he would transport him away when he was finished.

Blue Maple surveyed his surroundings, and he could only describe what he saw as a perfect and wonderfully scenic paradise.

“What do you think about my residence? Don’t be envious, because envy won’t let you stay here!” the old man teased from beside him.

Blue Maple glanced about once more before he asked plainly, “What about the quest?”

“You little rascal. Do you really not know how to appreciate something so beautiful? Ugh… why can’t you just praise and appreciate such a great place like this for a few moments?!” The old man ran out of things to say for a few moments before he continued chiding Blue Maple about the same thing without a trace of awkwardness at all.

“I’m here for the quest.” Blue Maple’s reply was plain, and he didn’t seem to care at all.

“Be patient. I have to prepare some things. Otherwise, you can’t accept my Blue Fire, and I’m talking about Heavenly Fire!” The old man could tell that chatting with Blue Maple about other things was utterly fruitless, and he became a little more serious.

“Let me tell you more about this fire. Otherwise, absorption will be difficult for you. Furthermore, you have to use it once you’ve absorbed it.

“My Blue Fire is actually a combination of Heavenly Fire and Earthly Fire. However, your weak body can only sustain Heavenly Fire that has been sealed weakly, let alone a fusion of Heavenly Fire and Earthly Fire. Don’t worry, Heavenly Fire is blue. Uh, Earthly Fire is also blue. I can’t explain why it’s not red or yellow.

“Heavenly Fire and Earthly Fire that have been sealed are still too much for your body. Thus, I need some materials to help protect you when you’re absorbing that Heavenly Fire, to prevent you from being burned to ashes.”

“As for these materials, I should have prepared them for you. Ahem, but I think I should give you another test, so you can collect these materials yourself. I will tell you where to find them.” The old man seemed a little unnatural as he said that.

“You must have been unprepared because you didn’t expect me to level up so quickly,” Blue Maple commented mercilessly.

“No way. You should have a quest whenever you change your class, so this is your quest!” the old man tried to argue in a righteous fashion.

Blue Maple threw the old man a doubting look.

“Ahem, that Heavenly Fire’s laws start with fire, then space, and ends with light. Earthly Fire also starts with fire, followed by the rest of the five elements, and ends with light. However, the law of light isn’t as strong compared to Heavenly Fire. They’re quite similar in terms of their overall laws, but even though both fires are very scorching, Heavenly Fire leans towards Yang while Earthly Fire leans towards Yin. Therefore, you’re more suitable to absorb Heavenly Fire. As for Earthly Fire, you should wait until you’ve become stronger to absorb it, or under other suitable circumstances.

“As for your physical attributes bonus, Heavenly Fire and Earthly Fire can enhance your attack power, but Heavenly Fire grants an explosive effect, while Earthly Fire grants a continuously burning effect. Heavenly Fire can also boost your Agility because of its law of space, while Earthly Fire’s five elements can boost your other attributes holistically.

“Finally, Heavenly Fire can be used to temper a weapon to strengthen its attack power, and because it uniquely possesses the law of space, you can smelt all your equipment into your body. You can merge your armor into your skin, just as your weapons can be absorbed into your body. Because of its law of light, you can make your blades invisible, and you can combine that with the law of space such that there are no spatial undulations at all.

“But don’t think that you can wear another set of armor outside after fusing your armor into your skin. Heavenly Fire has a spirit of its own, and armor that has been fused through Heavenly Fire has very strong resistance, so your original fused set will reject your external armor. Heavenly Fire will only recognize that set of armor that it has fused with, and Heavenly Fire will destroy other sets of armor that it has rejected with its flames.

“Heavenly Fire can only fuse a single set of equipment at any one time. However, you’ll be fine if you wear things like magic robes, but they can’t be of better quality than your armor, or your Heavenly Fire will burn them away. You will be able to control your Heavenly Fire’s tendency to reject once you’re strong enough to control Heavenly Fire completely. You still can’t wear two sets of armor, though, heh, because your internal armor will take its own initiative to reject the outer set,” the old man explained teasingly.

There didn’t seem to be any loopholes.

“Finally, the set of armor that the Heavenly Fire has fused with will not be powerless. Even though it doesn’t increase your Defense and other attributes, its spatial capabilities enable every piece of your fused armor to enhance your movement, including your attack speed and movement speed.

“As for Earthly Fire, because it contains the five elements, it can accommodate any set of equipment. Earthly Fire can enhance every one of the set’s attributes to a certain extent, while weapons tempered with Earthly Fire will possess several special effects that can happen by chance. It’s not easy to make a weapon invisible after tempering it with Earthly Fire, because its law of light isn’t as strong as Heavenly Fire. You should be able to guess how powerful or weak those special effects are.

“You have to find out for yourself what Heavenly Fire’s other characteristics are. Perhaps you can discover something and strengthen it better than I can. There’s nothing you can do about Earthly Fire for now, so that will be explained when you are absorbing that in the future. Alright, I’m done explaining about Blue Flame. You should get ready to complete your quest.” The old man was about to give a hippie smiley face after he finished his explanation.

“Begin.” Blue Maple was always prepared, anywhere, and anytime.

“Alright, let me send you to where you have to gather these materials. I will give you instructions.” The old man finished speaking, and the quest sprang out.

[Snow Lotus Flower] (SSS-Rank Quest): Venture towards Ji Ling Snow Mountain to pick the Snow Lotus Flower. However, the Snow Lotus Flower is protected by the Icy Snow Wolf King, and you have to slay the Icy Snow Wolf King if you wish to obtain the Snow Lotus Flower. (The Icy Snow Wolf King is very dangerous for you right now, please be careful when you accept this quest!)

“I accept!” Blue Maple agreed without any hesitation.

The old man probably wants me to go to other places to collect materials. Otherwise, if I let him help me gather those materials, that should be easy for him, and he could probably whisk away the Snow Lotus Flower without alerting the Icy Snow Wolf King.

Blue Maple was right. The old man should have prepared those materials beforehand, but Blue Maple leveled up a little too quickly. Otherwise, the old man would have prepared other quests for him, or perhaps, Blue Maple no longer needed quests to test his ability.

Rank SSS, huh? I wonder if the old man’s quest is Rank SSS for normal players, or Rank SSS for me, Blue Maple thought to himself before the old man tossed a long robe on him and sent him away.

------

The old man watched Blue Maple being teleported away as he muttered under his breath, “Am I messing around with my disciple a little too much? Forget it. He should have no problems...”

The old man vanished in flames.