Chapter Thirty-Four: Frostbound Severance

"Xue Han, if you get some gear, how about considering this bowl of egg noodles as your treat for me? That’s not too much to ask, is it?"

Xue Han smiled sweetly. “I was going to take you to Taste of Heaven for a meal, but since you insist, let’s do it your way.”

I was lost for words. Just then, Xu Lin stretched lazily as she came out of her room, muttering that sleep was the best beauty treatment before heading off to shower. By the time she finished, I had just finished eating, so we swapped places.

The bathroom was filled with bubbles and a faint, pleasant fragrance. After imagining Xu Lin’s scent for a moment, I took my own shower and went to bed.

...

Lying in bed, I found myself unable to sleep. It had been so long since I’d gone to bed before eleven.

Beep—

My phone rang. It was Xinyu. When I opened the message, my jaw nearly dropped.

“Lin Fan, are you asleep? I’m testing my phone’s vibration function—it feels so good~~ Too bad it’s not waterproof. The Yellow River’s about to flood.”

“Damn!” I muttered to myself. Xinyu could really kill a man sometimes. I thought for a second before replying, “Try using a condom next time, or the maintenance cost will be too high. I’m afraid your body can take it, but your finances can’t.”

A moment later, Xinyu replied, “Lin Fan, should I come to your room and keep you company?”

What an enormous temptation!

A surge of heat rushed through me, but I splashed cold water on my face and texted back: “No need, I still have Xue Han here. Don’t trouble yourself…”

I could hear Xinyu laughing playfully from the room across the hall.

With a sigh, I climbed into bed, closed my eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep.

...

“Lin Fan, get up for breakfast!” Xinyu’s voice called before I even opened my eyes.

Sunlight flooded the room. I’d completely forgotten my plan to wake up at five to play the game. “Xinyu, it’s still early. Let me sleep a bit longer…”

“Hurry up and eat! I’m waiting for that cloak with sixteen agility you promised me~”

“So that’s what you’re after. Come over here and help me up, then!”

Xinyu paused, then giggled as she draped her arm around my shoulder. “If you don’t get up soon, I’ll get the camera and take a few photos.”

How vicious!

I thought to myself as I grabbed my clothes and got dressed in front of her.

“Tsk, tsk. Didn’t expect you to have some muscle. Not bad at all.”

“Hey, hands off!”

...

The others had already eaten and logged in. Only Xinyu stayed with me, though her motives were obvious.

Her cooking was pretty good—the fried eggs and porridge were both delicious. She sat by, smiling demurely, a sharp contrast to her previous flirtatiousness.

“Xinyu, I might still be on another continent. It’ll take about an hour to get back to Hurricane City. You might have to wait.”

“That’s fine. I’ll start leveling up. If not, Xue Han and Sister Lin will leave me in the dust.”

...

After Xinyu left, I quickly finished breakfast, washed the dishes, and went back to my room to log in.

I was still on the ship, but now we were already near the northern coast of Hurricane City.

“Whew!”

The ship began to move away slowly…

“Wait! Wait!” I shouted, but no one responded. I quickly jumped from the deck to the shore—if I stayed on the ship, who knew how long it would take to return.

Swimming to shore, I hopped on a free ferry, feeling great. I used a return scroll—something I couldn’t do back in Via Village—and saved myself a lot of time.

“Xinyu, meet me at the east gate!”

She returned to the city right away, not far from me. I traded her the cloak and the mage robe for Xue Han. I felt a pang of regret—if I’d sold them, I’d be swimming in silver coins…

Xinyu immediately equipped the cloak. Only then did I realize it was a fiery red, matching her crimson breastplate perfectly. She looked stunning! Her longbow rested on the ground, her posture graceful, her ears long, her face beautiful—at this moment, Xinyu was undoubtedly the most alluring and radiant elven woman in the city.

She patted my shoulder, grinning mischievously. “Why did you give such good healing gear to me instead of the lovely Xue Han? If you’d given it to her, maybe you’d win her heart and spend the night in her room tonight~”

I laughed too. “I’m too pure-hearted for thoughts like that. Isn’t that your real plan?”

“Yeah, right. I’ll just tell Xue Han you begged me to give it to you and that you asked her to meet you at midnight.”

“Midnight? Are we summoning ghosts? Go join the others and don’t talk nonsense!”

“Oh? You seem to care about Xue Han quite a bit.”

“Say what you want. I’m off to do quests. You go meet up with Xue Han and the rest.”

“Give me a goodbye kiss…”

Xinyu puffed out her chest and closed her eyes.

...

Face flushed and heart pounding, I dashed into the vocational training hall, leaving behind the beautiful elf who’d just shouted about a goodbye kiss in the middle of the street—while I’d been too embarrassed to respond. The men around us looked like they’d seen a ghost.

I handed the letter to the swordsman trainer. He was so excited he announced my promotion on the spot—and took five gold coins from my pocket.

System message: You have successfully advanced. As the first player to advance as a warrior, you have gained the swordsman skill: Frost Slash!

Frost Slash?

I was both surprised and delighted. It was clear this was a powerful and practical skill!

I opened my skill panel:

Frost Slash: Strikes the enemy for 1.5 times normal attack damage, stunning them for 3 seconds and freezing them for 60 seconds, reducing movement speed by 50%. Cooldown: 3 minutes. The skill’s effects increase as the skill level rises.

Reducing movement speed by 50%—what does that mean? It’s the ultimate PK skill!

Frost Slash was a reward for being the first to advance as a swordsman. That must mean other classes have similar opportunities, but any swordsman after me will only be able to drool over this killer skill—no matter who they are, they won’t get it.

Should I tell Xu Lin and the others?

Better keep it a secret. It’ll be a great trump card in PK matches!

Above my head, my job title had changed from Apprentice Swordsman to Swordsman—that was already flashy enough…