"What the hell! This player Yuan is clearly already at endgame while the rest of us are still picking herbs just to earn barely enough money for a common weapon!"
"The game hasn’t even been out for a week and he is already obtaining things that will probably take months, even years of grinding!"
"Can he even be considered a player at this point anymore? He is ahead of the entire player-base—and not by a small margin!"
"At this rate, couldn’t he potentially rule over everybody at some point?"
"This asshole must be cheating! There is no way he can obtain all these things so quickly. Even the current best players are nowhere near him, and I refuse to believe that some no-name can possibly be so far ahead of everyone else without cheating!"
"That’s right! He’s clearly cheating! Where are the admins? What about the game creators? He needs to be punished!"
"He either has balls that are hard as steel or he’s completely nuts. To cheat so openly, does he think it wouldn’t raise even a little bit of suspicion?"
Rumors of Yuan cheating in the game began spreading like wildfire across the internet.
Cheaters nowadays, especially in popular games, are punished more severely than older times where cheating would only be frowned upon but nobody really tries anything major to stop them.
Furthermore, if you are caught cheating, then there is a high possibility of receiving a fine that is more expensive than ten years of rent for housing, and there are even many cases of cheaters being jailed for up to four years.
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With so many risks involved, only those who are rich and really don’t care would be willing to cheat.
However, even these types of people wouldn’t cheat so openly. So in Yuan’s case, people could only assume that he was completely nuts to be so obvious in the current most popular game in the world!
—
"Cheating, huh. What do you think, White Lotus? Do you also believe this Yuan to be a cheater?" A handsome young man in purple robes kicked the decapitated wolf head by his feet to the side. In his grasp was a steel sword with a black handle, and blue lightning snakes would coil around the blade every so often that was dripping with fresh blood.
Beside him stood two other people, both beautiful ladies.
The beautiful young lady with elegant features by his side silently stared at the announcement in the sky. "Whether he is cheating or not does not concern me," she said a moment later, her gaze switching from the announcement to the large black cat beside her. "But I am interested in what a Divine-rank Servant would look like..."
Her Two-tailed Black Cat is a normal monster without a grade, but it has great agility and powerful attacks. If compared to Cultivators, then its power would be equivalent to a Fourth Level Spirit Apprentice.
"This Divine-grade Servant... with this, his influence within and outside the game is massive and can no longer be ignored, and his actions could very well greatly impact the world..."
"What’s this? Is the Lightning Emperor, ranked third in the Legacy Ranking, feeling pressure from a no-name?" The other beautiful lady laughed charmingly.
"Do you feel nothing regarding our situation, Fiery Queen?" Lightning Emperor looked at her with a serious expression. "This is not a joking matter. Forget about me, the entire Legacy Ranking may be thrown into disorder because of this Yuan."
"I’d be lying if I say I am not interested in this Player, but the entire Legacy Ranking? That’s an exaggeration. He’s is probably just another cheater."
"What if he turns out to be the real deal, someone with extreme luck and skills? What will you do then?"
The cheerful expression on Fiery Queen’s face turned serious after his question. "Then I will obviously do what I have to and recruit him."
"Hah! Do you think you are the only one with that thought? Forget about the Feng Family who is currently ranked first, every family within the Legacy Ranking is actively looking for him even as we speak!"
"Che. I know that already. But it doesn’t matter how many are looking for him. As long I find him first, then he will be mine!"
Lightning Emperor only snorted at her words. "Talking to you is a waste of breath."
—
"We’re here... the Skeleton Graveyard." Lightning Emperor readied his sword, his awareness alert.
In front of the current three top players was a large graveyard with many skeletons walking around awkwardly, like wooden puppets with stiff movements.
"Let’s quickly finish this. I am feeling sick just from your presence," said Fiery Queen.
"You willingly followed us..."
"Only because we happen to have accepted the same quest."
"Che. Let’s go. They have already noticed us."
Fiery Queen retrieved her weapon, which was a long whip. White Lotus followed, holding a normal-looking sword in front of her.
Despite being top players, neither of them had any chance to obtain weapons with a grade, so they can only put up with these normal weapons with no grade.
"Lightning Element." Lightning Emperor caressed his sword, causing the lightning snakes to return, coiling around the blade as though it was dancing.
"Body Enhancement—Speed." Fiery Queen’s supple body glowed blue, and her body could no longer feel any weight, feeling as though she has become as light as a feather.
"Xu Hei." White Lotus said softly, and the black cat stood in front of her.
"Let’s go!" Lightning Emperor kicked his feet, flying towards the skeletons at a quick speed.
"Don’t order me around!" Fiery Queen also charged forward, followed by White Lotus and her Servant.
—
"Xiao Hua... you..." Yuan was shocked upon seeing her character status. Although he doesn’t understand what they meant, they were obviously not ordinary.
"To have a companion this powerful so early on in the game... Isn’t this technically cheating?" Yuan was aware of the advantage he currently has over all the other players, but because he isn’t playing for competitive reasons, he doesn’t on planning to use this advantage.
"Say, Xiao Hua. Compared to a Spirit Apprentice cultivator, how much stronger are you as a Spirit King?" He asked her so he could better comprehend the differences between them.
"..." Xiao Hua looked at him weirdly for a moment before saying, "one thousand... ten thousand...? Brother Yuan, they cannot be compared because the difference is too vast."
"The difference is too vast? How so?"
"Hmmm... That mountain over there... Xiao Hua can make it disappear with one attack." She pointed at the large mountain at the horizon and said casually.
"Disappear with one attack?" Yuan’s eyes popped when he heard her confident words. If what she said was true, wouldn’t that make her a walking bomb with destructive power equivalent to a nuke? One that can be used multiple times? How could she possibly be a mere Servant? Wouldn’t her existence be considered a bit unbalanced for a game? Or are all cultivators this powerful once they reach a certain stage?
Yuan couldn’t help but wonder what the game creators were thinking when they thought that giving such a small girl like her so much power would be a great idea.
"Xiao Hua, do not use your powers recklessly, okay? I don’t want to see you accidentally destroy a city or a piece of land—" He suddenly turned to look at the earth fissure, his eyes wide open.
"X...Xiao Hua... did you do this?" He asked her after having a feeling that it wasn’t the two cultivators who had created this mess.
"Un." She nodded calmly, seemingly thinking nothing much of it.
"Aiii!" Yuan sighed loudly. "What if you had accidentally hit somebody with that? Xiao Hua, listen up. Do not use your power unless I give you permission, okay?"
"Un." She accepted his request quite easily.
"Good." Yuan looked at the earth fissure one more time before turning away with a bitter smile on his face. "Let’s go, Xiao Hua. It’d be bad if someone were to see us here right now..."
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Thus, the two began walking further from the crime scene.
—
"Xiao Hua, what will you do now that you have become my Servant?" Yuan asked her, still unsure of what the purpose of Servants is in this game.
"Xiao Hua will follow Brother Yuan wherever he goes," she answered quickly. "And she will lead you to the next realm."
"Huh? Lead me to the next realm?"
"Un."
"Well... nevermind that for now. What about your family? What will they say if you decide to leave home to follow me?"
"Brother Yuan is Xiao Hua’s family now, so there are no problems." She looked at him with flickering eyes.
"I don’t think that logic would work..." He shook his head, unsure of what to do with her.
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Taking a child who he met only a few days ago away from her family would cause countless problems if this was the real world, but Yuan recalled that he was in a game and she is only an NPC, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
"Alright, do as you wish, Xiao Hua." He finally said with a forfeiting smile.