Sound of Your Heart

03: GRINDING IS ALSO A TYPE OF SPECIAL SKILL

CHAPTER 03:

GRINDING IS ALSO A KIND OF SPECIAL SKILL

NOW, THERE'S a saying that meeting between two people is kind of fate and will bring along with it a series of pleasing surprises... But what do you do when your meeting is as ill-fated as injuring someone every time you do?

Those are the thoughts going around Violet's head at the moment as she carefully eyed a certain man holding an ice pack on his forehead. Tightly clutching her violin case and hiding in the darkest corners she could find in this hall, she dared not to come closer to him. For all she knew, he might really decide to return her a 'favor' and end her life.

Such an ill-fated meeting, indeed.

But in her defense, she was truly innocent regarding this case.

Although she's read a lot of books and played some games, it doesn't change the fact that she never really interacted with strangers. Although she had knowledge on sassy replies from books and decent replies one should use, how can it be so convenient to actually remember them the moment you need them? If you're lucky, it will take you just a day to do so!

And in books, conversations are decided by the author itself, so you don't need to predict what they'll say on your own!

The games are even worse! You chat with strangers, but you as teammates have a shared common goal and all of you know the game stuff you're talking about! Not to mention that most of the times it's just a load of cursing in game chats or complaining about game company, bugs or boss drops.

Therefore, no matter how knowledgeable Violet is, she can't put that knowledge to the practice.

She really didn't know whether to cry or laugh at that. Today was certainly but a load of misfortunes to her!

She didn't even think of apologizing even though she knew it's a proper etiquette, because she forgot!

"If I could rewind time and begin today anew, I'll certainly change everything," she mused to herself.

"What did you say?" Daniel, who was cooling his head on a nearby chair asked. Similarly to her, he was also lost in thoughts and with his terrible hearing included, he only heard some low whispers from her.

"Who, I? Nothing, nothing at all!"

"..."

Sister, I just casually asked, no need to panic that much!

Sighing, he moved to face her and recalled the scene from earlier. He was so tired that he couldn't catch his breath earlier yet he clearly heard her music as he skated. It was the first time after so long that he was finally able to experience that thrill.

However, that also left him confused. Could it be that his problem is healed now or is this girl special?

...this girl special...ate

...special...

He really couldn't see anything special about this woman, so he could only test his theory again. But...

"Seeing as it's your fault that my head is in such paint even migraine would cover in shame from, you have to compensate me somehow," even if his ears were fine, his head wasn't.

She jumped in fright.

"As expected, you're a molester! You want to do something indecent, don't you?!"

His eyebrow twitched.

"The only indecent thought I have about you is about burying you six feet under the ground, so don't worry about it," yes, he truly wondered if he should just go ahead and end her.

"..."

"I say, how is that not something to not worry about? I think I should worry even more, on that note," tightly gripping her violin case, she was prepared for another bout of swinging it around. Even if she had to fall, she'll go down with a fight!

Don't underestimate her willpower, although she isn't strongest on the server in her games, she challenged the God (best player) many times. Even if she had to die twenty times just to bring him down with her once, she would do it without batting an eye.

She always felt that the God was her number one enemy — there was also a reason why he was called a God by everyone in her game, that guy was so strong that you can be considered to have cleared the game the moment you could one-shot him — but she now felt that this guy is even more loathsome than him.

"Don't sweat the small things, as I said you owe me a favor," this girl was so unpredictable that he was sure if he decided to let her go now, he won't be able to see her ever again.

"I'm not gonna sell my body," she bluntly replied and he almost choked on his saliva.

"I don't need your body, you damn woman, I just need you to come here tomorrow again!" He was at his wits end. He might actually kill her for real if this goes on.

"Ah, so you plan to prepare for some sacrifice tomorrow and I'm the lamb that shall be cut into pieces?"

"..."

It was rare to make him speechless or angry to the point of wanting to kill someone, but this girl just managed to do so in a mere instant.

"No," He paused taking a deep breath, "I want you to come here tomorrow and play your violin once again. I won't sacrifice you nor will I use your music to summon a demon or whatnot - hold your thoughts, I just need you to play your violin once and that is. I won't ask of anything else after that."

He patiently waited to hear what kind of a nonsense will she say next, but to his amazement, she only nodded her head.

"Can we do it today, though. I won't be here tomorrow."

"Oh, you're leaving this place?" He only now recalled his suitcase she dragged with her. Seems like she's going on a trip or something.

"Yeah, I originally intended to stay here and study, but now I can't do it anymore," the more she recalled this morning, the more miserable she became. It's all because she lost that stupid letter.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Daniel himself haven't noticed the strong spark in his eyes as she looked at her. Subconsciously, she was his hope. If he could really skate again to her music, then perhaps his dream...

"A great misfortune, really," she said.

...won't have to remain just a dream anymore.

"Oh, well despite my looks I'm actually someone who knows a few influential people. I might be able to help you somehow," if nothing else, by making her owe him few favors, she'll have to stay and play music for him.

"I don't think you can, and even if I could get your help, I want to be recognized for my own effort," she didn't think much of when her grandma sent her here with a recommendation letter. But when she came to that university without it and principal scolded her for wanting to use her "nonexistent" connections to pave her way to success, she truly blanked out.

The way he praised it, even if she wanted to use someone's name to get in, they wouldn't really recognize her as a real talent. A real artist should be free and strive to perfection rather than try to hide behind someone's else shadow and compete with true talented people.

So she thought and decided that this approach was perhaps wrong.

Even though it was her grandma who sent her and taught her everything she knew, she couldn't help but unconsciously believe that she was wrong.

"Perhaps, but success isn't something that can be achieved by hard work alone. If you don't have a good backing, you need to have few chance encounters, if nothing else," he explained. As someone who's been in competitive skating for years, he was more knowledgeable in this regards than her.

Is it really wrong to use connections to succeed in business? If it's to bribe judges or something, than it is. But when it comes to opportunities, then it's useless without someone with knowledge and experience behind you.

You clearly know that you're changing and no longer work alone. You clearly know that you're relying on someone else, but is that really wrong? What are sponsors? They are people you become dependent on who in turn give you opportunity to perform. Who are people that deal with performance sites? Is it wrong to know one or two that would talk with someone and give you a slot to prove yourself?

It isn't.

If Daniel relied on talent itself to get this far, he would probably never even have a chance to compete for gold. What could he possibly do without a coach behind him? Use a half-baked talent to teach himself and then perform on your average skate ring? If he didn't have people to deal with law and papers?

How could he possibly know all that?

So he didn't really mind lending her a helping hand. He won't go as far as to push her straight to the top, but he could recommend her to some people that evaluate talents and let them decide what to do from then on.

He heard her play, he had to admit that she was a good violinist. She didn't have the stance of a pro, but her heart was one with music. One cannot play with such passion otherwise.

His parents were pro musicians after all. He did have a firm knowledge on that field, but he clearly lacks passion. Skating was something that came above everything else after all.

"Is that so?" She titled her head in confusion. She's just been told that she was wrong today and now someone else told her that she wasn't

"Yeah, imagine you're in a game and you join a guild. There are some guild related dungeons you have to clear, but unless a guild leader opens them, you can't enter— oh, right, you probably don't play games."

He was a gamer. His daily routine consist of gaming, skating, teaching children to skate, dine when he remembers to do so and sleeping. Gaming once more before going to sleep too.

Back then he had a decent schedule because he had to take care of his body, competitive skating isn't a joke after all.

But now he skated when he had free time and after he's done teaching kids, so it was no big deal if he slept for just four hours or so.

On the other hand, Violet's eyes shone.

How could a girl survive living in a village without a single friend and surrounded by elderly on her own? She naturally indulged herself in the world of internet before being completely corrupted with social media and games.

Else she'd have gone crazy from listening those old folks gossiping and argue over who had a better grandchildren or what neighbor did with whom that and that night.

So his words just now, she clearly understood.

"I see, it's like grinding a boss for drops. It's better to kill a boss for item drops than a random mobs!"

If someone from the pro scene heard them compare the two with mobs, they'd probably get so mad they'll cough blood and die on spot.

"Oh, a fellow gamer? This is quite surprising, but yeah. Or better to say, if you're all alone in game, you can't know when the wild boss will spawn. In a guild, however, you have bunch of teammates to notify you and help you against others," he said, her example was kinda off marks, but she wasn't really wrong either. Wanting for a mob to drop a legendary or epic equipment is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. On the other hand, a boss has more chances to do so, so to say that connection is like a boss is actually quite decent.

"On that note, grinding can be considered a talent. The more you grind the better result. If you grind mobs, it would only be a waste of your time while grinding a boss will bear good harvest!"

Ah, how hard is it to find someone who speaks the common language.

"I see!" She nodded, how come she was unable to see something so simple. Who in their sane mine would grind mobs over bosses? They're only good to grind for experience points if nothing else.

Her eyes brightened.

"So I should only grind mobs for experience aka. to sharpen my skills while I should hunt bosses as my real target!"

"...yes," he replied. Good, he has her hooked, "So consider me as just one of many bosses and let me lend you a helping hand. After all, grinding is just another of special skills, you've long way to go if you want to beat the game."

"Grinding is another kind of special skill," somehow, she had a feeling that he spoke like someone she knew, but she couldn't quite remember.

"So you don't need to give up so fast," he's almost there, "Just leave it to me and I'll help you. Knowing you, you came here with a goal?" he'd be a fool if he let this chance slip.

She nodded.

"You have a dream you want to make come true?"

She nodded again. Well, it was her grandmother that asked her to come, but whatever. It still counts. She didn't want to disappoint her trust.

"Then why are you hesitating? Dreams aren't something you can just cancel and restart whenever you feel like doing so," he was like an evil old man trying to trick a kid for candies, when he himself felt that he was a hypocrite.

Didn't he give up on his dreams too just like that?

"Alright, I got it. You can count on me!" she exclaimed proudly.

"Good, then see you tomorrow around same time?" he asked, thinking that she fell into his trap a bit too easily.

"Yeah, see you tomorr-"

However, she came to realize that she had an even bigger problem now.

"Like I said earlier, is there a chance we can do today whatever you had in mind?"

"Why, aren't you staying here now?"

"Yeah, but you see I originally intended to stay in university dorms, but since I failed to even enter university, I can be considered homeless at the moment."

"..."

"Why don't you... Like, stay over at my place tonight then?"

"Y-you immoral—"

"Don't you dare continue that sentence or I'll finish you off with this skate!"

At that moment, that blade seemed to be really, really menacing in her eyes.