Chapter 429: Orc’s Spinning Tops Blade

“But before we leave…is there any way to do so without Ku Wai finding out?” Yang Ling asked as she peeked out of the partition walls momentarily to see if the coast was clear. Jin guessed that she just wanted to enjoy some personal freedom.

“Could you let go of my hand first?” Jin asked politely, which made Yang Ling quite disappointed. Perhaps she took things a bit too far and quickly released his hand while apologising to him.

“No, I… appreciate your gesture. Guess having a date every once in a while can’t be considered a bad thing.” Jin stated bluntly causing her cheeks suddenly flushed with redness. “But I need both hands to configure a few things with my phone to make sure we can get away without your guards seeing us.”

“…I… You…D..D..date?” Yang Ling never expected Jin to reciprocate her feelings that quickly. She merely grabbed his hand based on her impulse and now she was unsure on what to do next. Should she reject his perception even though it was true?

“It’s not? I am sorry, but when it comes to romance, I can be quite dense (two spying foxes would 100% agree).” Jin replied while checking his phone. If not for Pei scolding him privately like a mad fox the moment Yang Ling took his hand for not noticing the visible signs, Jin would have overlooked that Yang Ling was trying her best to hit on him.

Truth be told… he found it annoying when he realised it. There were so many things to do at the moment which made Jin feel that this was really not the right time to dabble with romance. However, his current predicament reminded him of something his grandpa Ming once said. A particular quote that rang true for him and had forever stayed on Jin’s mind.

~There is no such thing as ‘What If’s’. It’s either you missed the opportunity or you grabbed it by the throat and move on to the future.~

“At least you notice it.” Yang Ling voice became meek as she shyly stared at Jin’s eyes, and they were filled with determination that made him understand that she was not joking at all. He thought that she was fooling around, but right now, he did not need a psychic to tell him that her feelings were genuine.

“Man, why does she have to do this to me?” Jin scratched his head a little as he continued to double check on Ku Wai via the System. “System, please make a holograph of us chatting with each other so in case he comes up to us, he won’t have to worry.” Jin addressed it in his thoughts, and in a blink of an eye, it was like he saw his own reflection. (He guessed the System would do what it takes to make sure Jin get a baby out from somewhere…)

“Ah, clever. A decoy and it’s even speaking the same lines that we said just now.” Yang Ling became all excited seeing that Jin was prepared for such a situation. Maybe, he secretly wanted to go on such dates too himself!

“Though my hair is not that straight.” She teased him a little for creating the hologram. Jin knew that she was joking except he felt a tinge of annoyance because the System did create an exact replica of her.

“Yeah, hopefully, I can fix that hair problem in the future,” Jin responded back with a forced smile as he summoned a portal within the partition walls. Without further ado, he took the lead to grab her hand and pulled her into the portal as quickly as possible in order to avoid suspicion. (Although he knew that the System and Yang Ling inscription charms would have prevented any possible view from outside.)

“Oh my! Is that the portal that Ke Loong was talking about?!” Yang Ling asked with enthusiasm when she came out from the other side of the portal and Jin gave her a peculiar look of astonishment.

“It’s the same teleportation that can be done from an instance to another instance, not to mention within the same instance. It’s part of my admin rights.” Jin said which Yang Ling giggled in response.

“Exactly! I hear only a select few can perform such a feat easily even with technology. Less said about the amateurs out there.” Yang Ling readily acknowledged that for a young age, Jin was competent in the art of Dungeon Dimensions.

“Hahahaha! You think too highly of me!” Jin continued to hold her hand and brought her to the place he had in mind. “System, please inform me of this kind of stuff in the future…I will not be able to answer true, erm…authentic dungeon suppliers if they ask me such a question about portals.” Jin reminded the System.

“System will provide you answers should such an occasion arise again.” The System assured Jin as he proceeded to the game station where Yang Ling should feel excited watching and perhaps, she might even join in.

“Orcs’ Spinning Tops Blade?” Yang Ling looked at the building for a moment. There were two orc statues at the top of the building as if they were preparing to throw their spinning tops in into a small arena. She thought Jin would be more romantic and bring her to the Qixi Festival theme ride that Yang Ling saw when she came to spy on the dungeon supplier.

“Ehhh, we can spectate the matches that are happening right now. I doubt you will have seen something quite like it. If it’s not to your liking, you may choose our next destination. I will allow it.” Jin could sense her dislike the moment she spoke out.

“Alright.” Yang Ling smiled back and decided to give it a try since Jin purposely brought her here. His promise of letting her choose where to go next also helped make her happy again. That meant a longer date too! (Ku Wai will cry if he knew that she was missing for a long time.)

The Orc Spinning Tops Blade was indeed more than what it seemed at first. When Yang Ling first entered the building, it was a storefront selling various spinning top blade parts that came in many designs. What’s more was that the store was bustling with people browsing and buying the top’s pieces, causing the two of them to squeeze in order to reach the store’s exit furthermore to the Spinning top game entrance. Meanwhile, Jin wondered if it was the first day effect or whether it was really that popular to the cultivators.

This was because Jin usually had a storefront right beside the building like he had done for the Pet Card Arena. But he was worried that this game would not be as popular since it was not as flashy as the other two. So to boost the number of people surveying it, Jin had chosen to merge the store with the game’s building. Never did he imagine that it would become so crowded to the point people had to queue outside of the store with Wunder Pandits guiding them to pay for their goods. The System even had to employ a few additional Wunder Pandits as mobile cashiers to deal with the long queue.

“Compared to the Card Pet Arena and Niu Lang’s Supa Robot Wars, the Orc’s Spinning Top Blades so far has garnered the highest popularity. Likewise, System admits that it did not expect such a phenomenon to happen.”

“Ehhh perhaps we have underestimated the nostalgia factor. It should have been a childhood game for most of us? I used that idea when I saw the Orcs did the same thing during their downtime.” Jin conjured his reasons which the System still found it hard to accept.

“Its fine, all that matters that we hope the popularity maintains,” Jin said to the System in his mind as he saw Yang Ling peer through the entrance doors to see an entire stadium of cultivators playing the spinning top blades.

“Hi, it will be two Panda Silver to enter the Spinning Top Blade Indoor Stadium. It’s a one-time fee and you can revisit us whenever you want within 24 hours of paying the fee. You two seem to be newcomers. If you would like to purchase a Spinning Top Blade starter set, that will be an additional three Panda Silvers.” The Wunder Pandit guarding the Indoor Stadium entrance reception informed to Yang Ling. She paid for the ticket and the starter set almost instantly. Jin was surprised as he was sure she would use cash to pay instead of medals.

“Don’t forget, I was the first one to correctly finish your Musical Theatre Instance. I got the first clear rewards even though I was not stated on the wall of fame.” Yang Ling pouted for a while befor grinning as she waved her handphone at him.

“Thank you for patronage. Now please pick a ball from this box.” The Wunder Pandit acknowledged her payment and took a lottery box out with numbered balls in it. Yang Ling proceeded to put her hand into the lottery box and started to fiddle the balls around before she decided to pick one up.

“Number 27.” The Wunder Pandit confirmed the number by showing it to the Tiger Princess before he showed her the piece of the brochure that listed the things that could be won from the lottery box.

“You have received a Standard Spinning Top with an accelerated spinning pull charger.” The Wunder Pandit presented two small boxes to Yang Ling. As stated, it was a basic spinning top in one of the boxes and the other had a picture of a pull charger. She immediately gave a blank look at Jin and that expression was easy to understand. She had no idea what to do with it.

“Hahah don’t you worry. I can help you with this. For now, let’s watch the matches that are happening.” Jin smiled as the Wunder Pandit subsequently opened the doors to the indoor stadium for them to enter. It was rather gigantic, and if Yang Ling was not mistaken, it should be as large as the Bejing Stadium that they had once experimented with their Gearbox.

But unlike the Beijing Stadium, this particular indoor stadium had been partitioned into tens of areas to allocate competitive Spinning Top matches. That way hundreds of cultivators got the chance to play simultaneously while the people in the spectator’s stands waited for their turn.

When both Jin and Yang Ling randomly took a seat in the spectator’s stand, she began to observe the surroundings of the indoor stadium. The first thing that attracted her attention was a small sized tablet looking TV at the front of her seat. It allowed her to choose one of the live matches to watch. There was also a set of four display screens at the hanging at the centre of the indoor stadium which replayed the highlights of fascinating matches.

They noticed that some of the cultivators were just here to enjoy the matches, while others were either learning or waiting their turn. Jin told her that there was even an open concept workshop that allowed cultivators to refine or rebuild their Spinning Tops. “If the parts were too damaged, they have to replace them and that is also a place for them to test their spinning tops. There are computer AI’s to calculate and measure each Spinning Top strength, speed and durability if the cultivators needed more information.”

Yang Ling acknowledged Jin’s explanation, but what they were most interested was apparently the centre stage, the one Jin told Yang Ling to be the Champion’s Arena.

“I’ve designed it in such a way that a reigning champion stays in that ring as long as possible,” Jin commented and Yang Ling realised that it was something similar to the King of the Hill.

“Yeap, befitting to that name, that cultivator who stays at the top has to compete with every competitor that comes forth to challenge him. Beating the reigning champion will yield you a number of Spinning points and some panda medals according to the number of matches he stayed on.” Jin explained.

“So that entrance ticket that I bought, do I still need to pay more to play or something?” Yang Ling asked as a Wunder Pandit came to them, offering to sell beverages and snacks. Jin decided to get a small packet of chips while Yang Ling asked for a beer. (He chose to pay for the snacks on their first date and not because of Yang Ling’s question.)

“Nah, paying that two silver is all that’s needed. You can play here as long as you want if you got the spinning tops…but if you want to place bets…that is another story.” Jin answered as he pointed to the betting section on the King of the Hill game. All they had to do was to access the tablet right in front of them to notify the System how much they were willing to bet for either the king or the challenger.

“No wonder they’re so many people here, hoping to earn a quick buck.” Yang Ling concluded as they can see old folks came just to try their luck. “Somehow, with this WunderPanda theme park, you managed to create a mini ecosystem for your Panda Medals to be circulated around.”

“Hmm, maybe that is why it is so popular… Maybe I should copy the concept for Pet Card Instance when I start the mini tournaments.” Jin mumbled to himself and Yang Ling was able to catch wind of it.

“Hahaha, always thinking about how to earn more money even on a supposed date. You truly have the workings of a true businessman.” Yang Ling giggled.

“Heh, anyways a challenger is coming. You might understand why this is not your regular spinning top game.” Jin said as he brought the two tablets in front of him nearer. The two tablets connected together and became a wider screen for both Yang Ling and Jin to watch. The spectators nearby did not know they could do that and began to imitate that trick.

It subsequently spread throughout the spectator stands in the indoor stadium awaiting the match of the day — reigning champion Se Lang who had been holding his title for six matches and challenger Xiong Da.

“Did not expect to see my Pandawans compete against each other on the very first day.” Jin sniggered to himself.

“It should be a fairly interesting match to watch.”