He scrolled past the video and into the comment section, where people were going nuts. Heart pounding, he bit his lip and read through them, hoping for a good reaction.
[Aaaah!!! My Emperor!!!]
[I… feel so bad for little Pallas… He’s already so clumsy in reality and now he’s stumbling even in an ad QAQ]
[+1 But it’s so cute!]
[Lololol look at Bloody! He’s so happy to fight!]
[Where there’s Blood, there’s Snow… Red Snow CP >w<]
[Stupid shippers]
[The Emperor’s coat looks so inconvenient lol]
[I want that jacket! It’s so cute! I gotta buy it (°_°)]
“Red Snow CP?” Jian Lin tilted his head, looking at the unfamiliar phrase. He knew what a CP was, at least – a couple. Shipping, too, had something to do with imagining two people as a couple or something. There were couple-names and all kinds of stuff.
Because he didn’t browse the forums often, Jian Lin hadn’t encountered this particular CP yet. He wasn’t interested in it, either.
Mindless, he moved past it and skimmed more comments. It seemed that people had a generally positive view on the story-like advertisement, although there was a weird fight going. One side kept on screaming about a CP, the other side kept on screaming about shippers destroying a beautiful bromance.
Anyway, nothing that involved him.
Jian Lin unlocked his phone. It took him a while, but he finally found the second part of the video in his gallery. After it had been done, a copy had been sent to him.
The second video started with a fade-in. The whole area that was shown was filled with monster corpses, the heavily breathing party in the middle.
The couple from before was rummaging through the corpses, gathering something that looked like crystals. They crushed them and a little light appeared. Once the light had faded, they looked at some kind of item in their hands in relief.
The event was the kind where you killed monsters to gather a currency that could be exchanged for certain items. The video was only showing the mountain as having this event, but in fact it would be the whole world of Haven.
In the video, the Ice Emperor crushed a crystal. The light illuminated his profile, giving him an ethereal glow. He looked up at the sky with a frown.
Everyone gathered around a campfire to rest when the wind picked up. The snow howled and the scenery grew darker and darker until it was swallowed up by the stormclouds.
In white font that looked like ice crystals, the text appeared:
[Event: Crystal Gathering]
[Duration 04/01-04/30]
[Can you survive the cold to gain what you want?]
Alright.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Aljc Olc geyyfv tlr obgftfjv.
This was indeed blatantly hinting at the mountain situation. Even the blizzard and the possibility of hiding from it was shown.
Ktf sbecu wjc kgbaf j delmx wfrrjuf ab Wl Tjcu, ktb gfrqbcvfv klat j megrf ja cba tjnlcu cbalmfv atja tlwrfio. Qjr Oerjccj Jbgq ubccj tlvf tlcar lc jii bo atf rabgs mbwwfgmljir ogbw cbk bc? Lf kjr ubccj ub mbwqijlc ab tlr wjcjufg gluta jkjs. Po atja kjr atf mjrf, tf kjcafv ab qjgalmlqjaf lc jr wjcs mbwwfgmljir jr qbrrlyif.
Minutes later, a call came through. Jian Lin accepted it and Xi Yang’s voice sounded through the room. In the background, you could hear Xi Yun saying something.
“I just went through all scripts I’ve been sent so far but none of the others are hinting at something I’m noticing. That marriage temple ad doesn’t seem to be telling any story at least…”
The marriage temple advertisement had been suggested to several players. It wasn’t easy finding two who would cooperate, so the company had gathered opinions first. Both Jian Lin and Xi Yang had rejected it.
The advertisement for the temple had shown a marriage ceremony, complete with exchanging rings and a kiss. Jian Lin didn’t even think twice and directly refused – he didn’t like the thought of faking a marriage, not even in a game. He took relationships very seriously.
It wasn’t exactly a story advertisement, but it had a more distinct script than any of the other ads so far. Those had been quite classic, simply showing off the feature and being done with it.
“I don’t see how they could hide anything in that ad”, Jian Lin bluntly replied.
“That’s true. It’s a bit too simple. Back on the topic of the mountain though, do you have a plan? Or do we just want to try and storm to the top again? I mean, it worked once already.”
That Haven had advanced AIs had all kinds of effects. For example, monsters roamed freely in certain areas to hunt or sleep, which made it possible to sneak past them. You could even have times when you didn’t encounter monsters at all or every single step.
Sneaking past monsters was a valid strategy, but normally people used it in places with lots of cover like forests, not an open snowfield.
“We could use the snow to hide. Lie down, or something. Can’t we use the winter outfits and dye them completely white? It’s worth a try, at least? It won’t trick any of these things’ noses, but it might trick their eyes.”
“Aren’t there items for hiding your scent?”
“Uuh, let me think… Yeah? Wait, I’m looking it up. … Okay, so, there are items that do that, but the degree of how well they work varies. I have no idea what we’d need to hide from the mobs up there. The greatest problem is the inner ring anyway, so maybe we should fight our way up until there, wait for a blizzard, and dash the last bit?”
Xi Yang had spoken the words without thought, but as he was done, he paused. This didn’t seem like such a bad idea?
In the background, Xi Yun spoke into the silence. “Is this… in truth a stealth mission?”
“Oh god. I hate stealth missions. I’m the type who runs into the building with weapons drawn. This is going to be a pain in the ass! I’m a beastman, I can’t keep quiet for that long!”
“But it totally makes sense. Ice can give them the Fear debuff, so you might be supposed to use that time to flee rather than fight. Or maybe you’re supposed to use it to stall a certain enemy or something. Either way, doesn’t this sound right?”
Xi Yang howled desperately. “Can we not do it the stealthy way?!”
But Jian Lin was heartless. “I like stealth.”
He might be playing a fighting game, but by nature, he was someone who avoided conflict. Stealth-based games were very much to his liking.
It was the same when they returned to the mountain. White Light had come to the same conclusion after walking around a bit, and he looked quite delighted.
“Stealth is interesting”, he agreed with Ice.
Behind him, Absinth looked like she had eaten a bug. “You seriously want to stealth this?! Just how boring is that?”
“This isn’t about boring, though”, Blackstone countered. She looked up from the bag that White Light had brought her – it was filled with materials. Even if she was small, she was strong, and the bag didn’t bother her in the slightest. Spiderlily wordlessly helped her fix it on her back and Blackstone shot her a thankful smile. “This is about being efficient. You can’t win against a level 100 monster, can you? Not to mention the wild boss.”
“The wild boss doesn’t attack if it doesn’t notice you, by the way. Sight and sound. It looks like a pretty huge lizard just crawling over the snow, so you can’t miss it. I’ve got people following it to draw a map of its patrol.”
Ice glanced over to Knightrider, who was weirdly quiet. The man looked exhausted, even. It hadn’t been that long, so Absinth must have been very hard to bear.
“Cool. So, all of us are gonna try and find good stealth routes. In addition to that, we will try whether ice bombs do anything… Do you have some with you, Blackstone?”
“No, but I can make one.” The dwarf raised a thumb up. “That’s just mixing stuff together, I don’t even need a workbench for that!”
“Do alchemists usually make bombs without a workbench?”, Ice whispered towards Bloody, who had more experience with it due to his guild.
“No”, the beastman whispered back. “They need their equipment – scales and all that. The mixing itself isn’t complicated, but the weight of each ingredient is.”
Blackstone did not need scales.
She needed ten minutes and a tree stump.
Spiderlily had discarded her proud look and squatted next to the lifestyle player, her lips parted in wonder. Blackstone was kind enough to explain as she worked, originally thinking that only Spiderlily was interested but ending up with the Ice Emperor looking over her other shoulder and Little Droplet standing on the other side of the stump.
“How are you guessing the weight?”, Little Droplet asked in fascination, rolling the marble-sized little bomb around in their hands. It looked more like a little round package with a fuse, but it was quite destructive for its size.
“Practise”, Blackstone said proudly. “I like travelling, so I’ve learned how to do my craft even without a workshop. It’s like cooking!”
Quite the poisonous cooking, but not wrong.
“Okay, then I’ll be off again. I can create bombs and the like on a treestump, but I do need a workbench for potions. It’s no problem if a bomb hits harder than expected, but we all want a normal potion, right?” Blackstone laughed. Her voice didn’t quite suit her looks as a dwarf. Ice thought it was rather charming.
“I’ll take you”, Spiderlily offered in a quiet voice and Blackstone agreed happily. It seemed like they were starting to bond.
Absinth clicked her tongue and twirled her hair around her finger. “Are you done soon? Can we finally continue? Because if you guys keep on wasting time, I’ll go level again.”
“Then go”, White Light said in a tone that bordered rude. He quickly caught himself again and returned to a more polite voice. “We will contact you once we have set our route.”
Absinth humpfed and turned around on her heel to leave. White Light rubbed his eyes.
“Can we just… not contact her”, Bloody whispered with a little pout. He tugged at Ice’s sleeve. “Let’s move out.”
“I’ll be logging off”, Little Droplet declared. “I have to rest, I’m pretty tired.”
“Rest well”, Ice said and everyone echoed it. Little Droplet’s figure vanished into little sparks of light.
“I’ve got time. We can go together today”, Knightrider suggested. Bloody’s hair stood up a bit, but he did not glare at the warrior.
“The same goes for me.” White Light didn’t back down. Ice watched, a bit confused, as the knight took a step to stand in between himself and Knightrider. Bloody touched his shoulder softly, almost as if to say he’d explain soon.
“On to the mountain!”, Bloody called out, pointing a finger towards the path.
Whether on purpose or not, White Light’s quick pace caused Knightrider to follow. When this afternoon it had been Little Droplet and Dead Rabbit trailing behind Ice, it was now Ice trailing behind others.
Bloodless Sunset placed a hand on his shoulder as they walked. “I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I guess White Light caught on. You don’t like Knightrider that much, do you? You know each other in reality?”
“Knew”, Ice corrected. “We were classmates. Things went… wrong, so our friendship broke apart. It’s not that I hate him, I’m just… feeling complicated.”
The main issue was that in the past years, Ice had begun to look out for how people treated him. He could stay on his own – he knew that now – so he didn’t want to be around people that didn’t make him feel comfortable. It wasn’t worth it.
It was because of that, that he realized in hindsight how casually controlling the person behind Knightrider was.
He wanted to avoid getting too close again.
“I’ve got my problems with White Light, but he’s a good guy. I think he can tell you aren’t comfortable with Knightrider, so he’ll probably try to keep him away from you. But don’t fall for it – he’s still trying to rope you into his guild! If you do join one, you gotta join mine!”
The Ice Emperor smiled slightly. “I know.”
“You two, stop cuddling! Bloody, we need the bomb!” White Light shouted from where he stood, looking a tad bit miffed. Bloody snickered and left Ice’s side to sprint to the other two warriors.
The two guys bickered for a while about who would throw the bomb at the nearby yeti. The discussion ended with Bloody throwing it while White Light was looking away.
It did not cause the Fear debuff. The players looked disappointed, but continued wandering up the mountain. As the sun had vanished, the cold settled in worse. It became harder and harder to see.
Several times, the two warriors wearing heavier armor would sink into gaps in the snow. Ice missed all of them out of sheer luck and while Bloody ran into one every couple of steps, he always managed to evade the last second.
“Okay. Okay, I’ve got enough”, Bloody whined after jumping away from another hole. “Ice!”
“Yes?” The Ice Emperor paused, tilting his head at the wolfman. Cheeks blown up angrily, the young man moved to stand behind Ice and clawed his hands into the soft, white cash shop cloak.
“Now you can walk.”
White Light laughed softly at seeing Bloodless Sunset follow after Ice like a little duckling.
Author’s Note
I’m bad at stealth.
Btw, I’m still growing as an author, so if there’s something you notice – feel free to point it out. For example plot holes, a character turning OOC, the pacing going completely haywire. Also if there’s something you’d like to see. I can’t get better without feedback after all, so I’d appreciate it!
Little Theater
Shipper 1: “Husband
Shipper 2: “Wife”
Shipper 1: “Husband!!!!”
Shipper 2: “Wife!!!”
Bloody: “Most beloved spouse. :)”
suspicious look I feel that the marriage ad does have some clues in it…. like being able to pass the mission only if the team members have super good relationships with each other….
OMG. the Big Guys fighting over Ice???? HAHAHAHA In another world/AU, we’ll have a harem ;P
And White Light standing inbetween Ice and Knightrider, I have a little more respect for White Light now XD
And also Bloody following behind Ice like that in the end, it’s so cute!!!
The marriage ad is mostly a callback to my shortstory (pilot story, in a way) for them xD
Also, no harem!!! Haze!!! xD Hands off my soulmate couples!!
“You two, stop cuddling!”
he knows dshfk
thanks for the chapter!
Why is Bloody so good at being cute? :3
Well, I’m in the husband x husband team xD I don’t like it when they call the buttom wife >____>
And yes, Ice you did good. No friends or people around you when you don’t feel comfortable with them. It isn’t worth it.
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
I kind of like the nickname of “Wifey” but I’m not doing it anymore because it feels odd to call a man a wife lol. It’s a man, so it’s a husband. xD Bloody is playing around because people are using “Husband” and “Wife” to determine their positions, so he’s basically going “None of your business. :)”
Bloody is right xD It’s none of their business ~
Most beloved spouse +1
Thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you for the chapter 💜