½ Prince

The End Of The Birth Of A Prince

I slowly got to my feet and, grasping my knife tightly, looked straight at the wolves all over the riverbank.

Don’t be scared, I thought, They’re not that different from chickens, ducks, fish or any other type of meat, so they shouldn’t be too hard for someone with my culinary experience to handle. Come on then! It’s time to start cooking… With a fierce glint in my eyes, I darted towards the closest wolf.

Just as I was wondering how to take it down, I thought of my Buddha’s Mountain’s Phantom Kick and Continuous Attack, as well as that PS13 fighting game that I had been playing with my brother recently. Combine these three things together and what do you get?

Aiming at the wolf’s throat, I remembered, kick upwards, and then kick from the side. Next, a spin kick, and finally kick it back to the ground with my heel. Odd, why did I suddenly feel kind of like Chun Li…?

Still not dead? I raised my knife and, gripping it with both hands, drove it into the skull of the dying wolf.

“My god, with just his leg…” Li’l Strong looked at me with astonishment again, worship evident in his eyes.

“Unbelievable…” Legolas muttered with an odd twist to his lips.

“Why does it remind me of the moves used by a particular character from a fighting game…” Pretty boy, that is, For Healing Only, said with a knowing smile.

“So cool…” murmured Rose and a chill ran down my spine even as she spoke.

All that kicking had worn me out, but just then I thought of the method I usually use to prepare fish: All I needed to do was simply slice their bellies open and all their innards would come slithering out. With that in mind, I smiled faintly and headed for the next wolf.

Just like before, I kicked upwards, lifting the wolf into the air and, with a swift upward stroke, drew an arc in the air with the knife. As I watched, the ground became stained with red and white matter, and I found myself wondering, Might wolves’ intestines be tastier than pigs’ intestines? Still wondering, I stalked towards the next wolf.

(Later, when I looked back on my combat history, I couldn’t help but be awed. Second Life, this game with its realism level of 99%, made it possible for anyone – with enough speed and precision – to finish off their opponent without spilling even a drop of their own blood. This had a huge bearing on my fighting style later on.)

By this point, Rose no longer dared to look. As a matter of fact, she’d covered her eyes after seeing me gut my first wolf. As for the others, their faces were pale as sheets as they watched me prepare the food – uh, no, I mean, kill the mobs.

(Feng Wu Qing: The moral of the lesson is, one should never, ever cross a woman, especially one who has lots of experience in the kitchen, or you might share the same fate as those unsuspecting vegetables…)

I leveled up? So quickly? I took a look at the contents of my pouch and saw that I had already gotten ten wolf fangs. Wahaha, I can finally change class, joy! I walked back towards Rose and company cheerfully.

Whew, cooking really is a tiring chore! I’m so tired that even my steps feel sluggish. And so I shouted to Rose from afar, “Rose, I’m done with the quest.”

Rose slowly lowered her hands from her eyes. She stared, tongue-tied, at the bodies strewn everywhere, the river filled with bloody water, the floor littered with red and white matter, and the blood-soaked elf before her – me – holding a knife in his right hand and slowly walking towards them.

“Blood…Elf!” Rose half-shouted in a strangled voice.

In the days to come, when my name became famous, I would receive numerous nicknames, but only two would ever be widely-known. They were Ultra-Gorgeous Prince and… Blood Elf.

After bidding farewell to Rose and company, I ventured back to the village on my own to change my class. Once I entered the village, I rushed to find the warrior class’s NPC. “Uncle, I’ve collected ten wolf fangs already, can you change my class now?”

“That’s quick! As they say, Yangtze swells with each new wave, shore becomes the waves’ mass grave…” Seeing Uncle was about to start yet another long-winded discussion, I hurriedly headed him off.

“Yes, yes, yes, you’re right as usual, but could you first help little me change class?”

“All right, all right! Young people these days…” Mumbling non-stop, the NPC uncle took the wolf fangs from me.

All of a sudden, a white light enveloped me and I heard the system’s voice speaking.

I hurriedly called out, “System.”

“Little fellow, as the rule goes, you get a free weapon and three free abilities!” The NPC uncle proceeded to elaborate. “For your weapon, you get to choose from daggers, dao, rapiers, broadswords, axes, etc. Fate alone will decide whether you get something good or something lousy.

“There are a total of ten abilities you can choose from. Passive skills include Continuous Attack, Increased Strength, Reinforced Defense, Litheness, and Life Extension while offensive abilities include Heavy Blow (for two-handed weapons only, will use up 20 mana), Inferno s***h (for one-handed weapons only, will use up 20 mana), Fatal Blow (for small weapons only, will use up 20 mana), Blazing Determination (will use up 80 mana, attack power +100%, lasts 20 minutes) and Impenetrable Wall (will use up 80 mana, defense +100%, lasts 20 minutes).”

“Weapon… A chopping knife?” I mused.

“Huh?” The NPC uncle looked puzzled.

“Uh, dao.” Even though I felt more comfortable with a chopping knife…for the sake of my beautiful image, I decided to forego my own preference and picked a dao instead.

“A dao-wielding elf sure is a rare sight. There you go; it’s already in your inventory.”

Hearing that, I hurriedly opened my pouch, and slowly drew out a black dao. Why did I call it a black dao? Was it because both the handle and the sheath were black? No, actually the main reason was because written there on the sheath in gold lettering were two words: Black Dao.

I thought of the swordsmen of bygone days who would, at such a moment, slowly draw out the sword and then raise the sword high. Under the light of the sun, the gleaming blade would reflect the brilliant sunlight. How cool! With that thought, I too, slowly drew the dao, but as I drew out the blade, I suddenly discovered that this dao was…unbelievably…black. Even the blade was black!

God **** it, how the hell am I supposed to reflect back the light of the sun with this? GAAAH, That totally ruined my chance to act cool, damn it! I stowed the dao away, ticked off.

“Hey, little fellow, have you decided which abilities you want?”

“Wait, wait, let me think!” I want to learn Increased Strength, Litheness, Life Extension, and Inferno s***h, but I can only pick three! What a quandary, I thought, furrowing my eyebrows. “I guess I’ll take Increased Strength, Litheness, and Inferno Slash.” After all, I hadn’t missed once when I was fighting wolves with Rose and company. With the speed that I’m taking down mobs right now, my HP ought to be sufficient for the time being.

What’s going on? I wondered. I’d better log off and see what the ruckus is about.

The instant I removed the game helmet, I heard my brother roaring thunderously. “GAAAH! Sis, when on Earth are you going to start cooking? It’s already 9PM. Do you want me to starve to death!?”

I should explain here that, at the time, it was summer break. My parents had gone abroad for yet another holiday, leaving my brother and I to fend for ourselves. Also, if the question were to arise, I would much rather eat a man-eating slime than something prepared by my brother – and I’m sure he feels the same. So the chore of cooking three meals a day fell largely on me.

“Fine, I’ll go and cook noodles!”

Twenty minutes later, I sat across from my brother and, as we ate our noodles, we began discussing the game.

“Sis, I’m already level fifteen! What level are you?” You damn Yang Ming, only daring to provoke me after getting your noodles…

Reluctantly, I replied, “I’m level eleven! But I’ve been training on my own…”

He laughed. “As I said, it’s impossible for you to level up faster than me!”

“Che, if not for the fact that I’m too handsome, you wouldn’t have been able to train faster than me!”

“Huh? Too handsome? What are you talking about?” My brother looked confused.

Then, I told him the entire story…and got scolded, again. Waaah!

“Are you an i***t? You had one wish and, just like that, you used it to change your gender? Honestly, you could have wished for a godly weapon, or a godly pet, or for more skill points, but nooo, you went and used it to become a tranny!” my brother fumed, his expression both mournful and incensed.

“Hey, you should look at it this way: sooner or later someone will have a godly weapon or own a godly pet, and anyone can get more skill points so long as they level up, but there’ll never be another tranny aside from me!” I answered with a laugh.

“…Sigh, I can’t be bothered with you.” My brother’s face was still the picture of sorrow. I bet that he’s wishing that he was the one who received that wish…

“What’s your nick? I’ll PM you tomorrow when I log on.”

“Not telling.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll use it to blackmail me… Like for instance, if I refuse to cook for you, you’ll probably threaten to reveal my identity as a transvestite, so on and so forth.” I know you too well, Bro.

“How did you guess– Ah, no, how could you possibly distrust your own brother so?!”

Stupid brother, putting on that sad expression, che! You might be able to deceive those naïve little girls into falling for you, but trying to trick the sister who has known you for nineteen years? Forget it!

“Hmph!”

“Fine! Forget I asked then.” Feng Yang Ming thumbed his nose at me; looked like his plan to blackmail me had failed.

“Wash the bowls once you’re done, or else you won’t get to eat breakfast tomorrow!”

“You’re going to play Second Life?”

“No, I’m going to play ‘King of Fighters 100’ on your PS13.” I’m going to properly research, so as to develop more moves and become a genuine Chun Li.

My brother stared at me in disbelief. He watched as I really took out the PS13 and started playing, muttering, “Odd… When did Sis start to like fighting games? In the past it was only because I couldn’t find anyone else to play with me, so she was forced to play as well.”

After experimenting for over two hours as “Chun Li”, I confidently returned to Second Life, planning to begin leveling up like mad. Heh heh, just you wait, you stupid brother. I’ll out-level you soon and we’ll see if you still dare to laugh at me! Time to go and cook some wolves – ah, no, kill some wolves, I mean…

However, just as I was about to pass through the western gate, I was suddenly given a solid cuff on the head and began to see stars.

Huh? Lolidragon… Bloody hell, the GM is assaulting people! I want to complain! Unfortunately, before I could so much as speak, Lolidragon had begun to berate me loudly.

“I told you to PM me, but nooo, you just had to forget to, finally forcing me to search all over for you – and why are you even wearing that silly mask? If not for the fact that we argued for two hours, deciding your height and hairstyle, I would never have been able to recognize you!”

I turned around to look at Lolidragon, only to see an ultra-beauty wearing the newbie outfit and looking not at all like a GM. I found myself wondering, Why do the GMs look so ordinary in this game? If they look like this, then how are we supposed to distinguish the GMs from the players?

“Lolidragon, why are you dressed like this? Aren’t you a G—” Without waiting for me to finish my sentence, Lolidragon hurriedly covered my mouth and hauled me to the nearby woods. My god, what are you trying to do!?

“Shh! Are you trying to tell the world that I’m a GM?” Lolidragon fumed.

A GM who’s afraid of being recognized as a GM? What sort of situation is this? My head was nearly bursting with questions.

“Listen up. I’m actually a hidden GM!” Lolidragon, knowing that I hadn’t so much as looked at the official website, began to explain in detail.

“A hidden GM is generally no different from a regular player, except that we have an important task: We are to report any shortcomings in the game – player complaints, bugs etc. – during the course of our gameplay. Moreover, because we’re mingling with ordinary players, we can find stuff out that’s not easily discovered by regular GMs.”

“But wouldn’t that be extremely unfair?” I protested. In that case, wouldn’t all the top players be hidden GMs?

“As if. We may be hidden GMs, but the company doesn’t offer us any special privileges, so we’re just like normal players.” Lolidragon swatted my head again.

“Oh…” I get it. That is to say, Lolidragon is no different from a normal player, hahaha. Then I won’t have to be afraid of pissing her off, heh heh heh!

“Did you have some bu