Fishing Competition

Time and distance are the finest catalysts for emotion. In the past, Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao had spent nearly all their time glued together, yet neither had truly realized their feelings for the other. Only after Zhang Yao appeared and forced Zhang Buyao to return home did the two separate. Catalyzed by time and distance, they gradually came to understand what lay between them and realized they had fallen for each other. If Yu Xian's love with Nora was a romance of youth, then his bond with Zhang Buyao was the love of kindred spirits. Both understood each other's preferences, effortlessly embraced each other's strengths and flaws, and could fool around together, fret together, or simply slack off like salted fish together. This was why Zhang Buyao leaned on Yu Xian so heavily now. She was overjoyed to reunite with him and had countless things she wanted to tell him—her past trials and adventures, the people and sights she had encountered, and how deeply she had missed him. The night passed in silence. Early the next morning, Yu Xian rose from bed, washed up, and stepped out of his room. He walked over to the room where Zhang Buyao was resting and banged loudly on the door. "Yaoyao, wake up!" he shouted. After a short wait, Zhang Buyao opened the door with her hair in a mess, then turned back inside to wash up. "Still the Slime Plains today?" Zhang Buyao asked. Yu Xian nodded. "Yeah. We're still a long way from leveling up anyway, so there's no point in hunting other mobs." Once Zhang Buyao finished getting ready, the two left the inn together. They grabbed breakfast at a nearby shop before heading out of Novice City. Yu Xian had assumed Pie Face and his crowd might try to cause trouble, but the group turned out to be utterly inept, bungling whatever they touched. Without the backing of either Gong Yinhu or Fathe'aim, they were entirely at a loss. Indeed. They didn't even think of weaponizing public opinion; after a night's sleep, they simply gave up. Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao returned to the Slime Plains and resumed their daily mob-grinding. They dispatched slimes with practiced ease, and Yu Xian kept experimenting with new ways to deal with them. At first, he used the Wolf-Tooth Umbrella, but then he tried using skills. Though Forward Shield could only block attacks coming from the front, it was still a shield. He charged straight ahead behind it, using Forward Shield to slam into the slimes. To his surprise, it worked remarkably well. Every slime he rammed died instantly in a single blow. And so, a bizarre sight played out on the Slime Plains: Yu Xian rampaged wildly across the grasslands behind a gleaming golden shield, sending waves of slimes flying with every impact. The most terrifying moments came when he sent Dung Slimes airborne, because Dung Slimes exploded the second they hit the ground, splattering filth in all directions. Fortunately, he ran fast enough to stay well clear of their blast radius. Horrifying as Dung Slimes were, they posed little real threat to him. "Yaoyao, you try it too!" Growing tired from running, Yu Xian cast Forward Shield directly onto Zhang Buyao. The best part about the skill was that it could be applied to oneself or an ally. If it could eventually be upgraded into a group skill, the effect would be staggering: an entire line of players advancing side-by-side behind Forward Shields would be an unstoppable force, cutting down anything in their path. Zhang Buyao gave it a try. In a single sprint, she crushed several slimes to death. Her eyes instantly lit up—Yu Xian's Forward Shield was far more fun and effective than her flying daggers. With that, she took off across the Slime Plains in high spirits, bowling over slimes of every sort along her path. *** Time flew. In the blink of an eye, a week went by. Despite an entire week of hard grinding, Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao were still Level 1. However, once they mastered the proper technique for using Forward Shield, their mob-clearing speed skyrocketed, and the pair had become a fixture of the Slime Plains. Every day, they appeared on the plains together, sprinting side-by-side to obliterate every slime blocking their way. They had even earned nicknames: Yu Xian was the "Semi-Truck," while Zhang Buyao was the "Locomotive." Naturally, neither of them would ever acknowledge such titles. "Leveling in this game is way too hard." On Monday, Zhang Buyao and Yu Xian appeared on the Slime Plains once more. Surveying the slimes around them, Zhang Buyao grumbled in weary exasperation. After ramming slimes for an entire week, she felt like she had turned into a mountain goat, eager to headbutt anything that crossed her sight. Yu Xian also felt leveling was excessively brutal, but since he was the developer behind it, he could only offer a sheepish, wry smile at her complaints. "Forward Shield!" Waiting until Zhang Buyao's mood settled, Yu Xian cast the shield onto her first before applying one to himself. Forward Shield was an ability of the Order discipline. Currently on the Slime Plains, only one kind of slime was capable of depleting its durability: the Chaos Slime. Yet Chaos Slimes were extraordinarily rare; one might not spawn even once a day. Consequently, Forward Shield was exceptionally durable. Casting it twice a day was enough to keep it active until bedtime. In fact, they usually had to dispel the shield manually when resting, or else it would simply stay up indefinitely until its durability was fully worn down. The two resumed their charge across the Slime Plains. A few newcomers watched them with curious eyes, but after explanations from veteran players, everyone quickly learned who the sprinting pair were. A good number of players recognized Yu Xian, but most possessed enough sense not to act recklessly. As long as nobody took the lead to stir up trouble, the rest preferred to watch from the sidelines rather than stick their necks out. *Ding-dong!* *【The Fishing Competition has officially begun! Players may return to the city to find the Fishing Master and enter the event grounds. The top ten players each day based on fishing results will receive massive experience and substantial funds. After seven days, a Fishing Champion will be crowned, with even more lavish rewards awaiting you!】* Around nine o'clock, a translucent light screen suddenly materialized before everyone, accompanied by a booming, gravelly voice roaring in their ears. Yu Xian was somewhat speechless. That voice undoubtedly belonged to Chi Feihong. True to his nature as an avid angler, the very first event he thought of had to be fishing. "Salty Fish, are we joining?" Zhang Buyao asked as they ran. Yu Xian grinned. "Of course we are. If we can break into the top ten, our leveling speed should be way faster than this grind. Come on, let's find the Fishing Master!" Neither of them dared to stop, because the moment they halted, the splashback from exploding slimes they had launched into the air might spray all over them. Even if it wasn't a Dung Slime, the acidic slime of regular ones was still rather disgusting. And so, they sprinted all the way back to Novice City. Many other players did the same, swarming into the streets in search of the Fishing Master. At last, beside a pond in the city, the crowd located the Fishing Master and rushed to register. Entering was simple: one only had to shout "I want to enter the competition!" near the Fishing Master, and they would be teleported to the event map in the next instant. Because of this, the crowd encircling the Fishing Master thinned out at an astonishing rate. Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao hurried over. Calling out "I want to enter the competition!" together, both vanished in flashes of white light.