Starting from Zero

Book 3, Chapter 17

How The Devil Was Tempered

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Normally, Lucky's roars would travel for dozens of miles and carry a lot of momentum. It felt more so when done at the top of a mountain. Through the whole week we killed a great number of monsters in the snow mountain, after which me and my team all reach level 272. Now Lucky's roaring sounds even more imposing. It did not only shake all the creatures, even the mountain itself began to tremble.

"What's happening? Why is it shaking?" Rose grasped me to keep balance.

"Shit. Avalanche!!"

I saw a giant wave of snow pouring down from another mountain tip not far from us.

"RUN!" Rose tried to drag me running.

"No! We will never make it!"

I un-summoned Night Shade, Loong'er and Phantom. "Lucky! Drag me up. Phiona, take Rose with you!"

I skillfully crawled onto Lucky's back, while Phiona just grabbed Rose's shoulders and went upward. But we were still too slow. Lucky is too big to make a swift lift-off. The avalanche arrived as soon as we just left the ground. We were engulfed inside the white torrent and flushed downhill at a high speed.

Phiona is fast but she never actually practiced to carry someone. She rose high enough, however the snow still managed to catch Rose's legs and drag her down, which caused Phiona to lose her balance. With the disrupted air current, Phiona finally fell into the mess as well.

I only felt myself being pushed around by the snow, threw into the air by a giant force then slammed into the wave again. I already lost track of the positions of Phiona and Rose, Lucky is no where to be found as well. Looks like I'm dead meat for sure this time.

What I didn't know is that Lucky actually managed to pull himself out of the crisis, thanks to his brute dragon strength. Unlike Phiona's slim body, Lucky's wide and strong wings cannot be easily affected by the air. He fell mostly because he was surprised by the sudden disaster. After Lucky got into the air, he started to glide near the surface, looking for us.

The first one who got saved was Phiona--her black and shiny feathers stand out too much in these pure white waves.

Lucky skillfully dragged Phiona out using his front claws, allowing her to regain her posture. Next is Rose. The snow pushed her towards a small cliff shaped like a jumping board and sent her flying. Phiona caught her with a swift dive.

The poor me is left last. After countless spins and flips the whole world is circling around me. I can see stars now.

Pitiful.

When the avalanche reached the bottom I'm pretty much dead. My last memory is that I crashed into something, and went unconscious.

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"Boss! You're awake!"

...Why is Rose speaking like that?

I opened my eyes to see Wayne's face.

"Wayne? Why are you here?"

"That's my question! Why were you at the reviving point of Lost City?"

"Huh? I'm in Lost City?"

"Yes you are. I was grinding just outside Lost City and came back here to check for any scrolls I can buy. Then I saw your soul in the reviving hall. The resurrection wizard revived you. Oh and, it failed, so you lost 2 levels! You were just lying there so I carried you back here."

"Where exactly am I?" I look at the room. Nope, I don't know this place.

"Inside an inn of Lost City. I rented a room. Did you get killed by someone? Weren't you doing a quest? It failed?"

"I finished it long ago. I was leveling with a pretty girl back there, and there was an avalanche!"

"Holy crackers! YOU caused that avalanche at noon? I was wondering why your name turned soooo red. It's almost black! And blinking too!"

"What??" I immediately checked my status. "FUUUUUUCK!"

My Evilness is...126,322 !? And my gauntlets, armor, helmet and tasset which I borrowed from Clark, all gone! Only the rings and bracelets are still on me.

"So how much point did you get? Or rather, how many people did you kill? You're now redder than dark blood!"

"I killed people?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"...Just calm it. Listen." Wayne cleared his throat, as if some philology professor is going to give a long lecture.

"According to reliable sources, a great avalanche came down the snow mountain near the grinding spot outside Flowing Cloud City, at approximately 11 am. At that time a great number of players were gathered near the spot at the foot of the mountain. Due to the abruptness of the crisis, plus the fact that most players never witnessed such a situation before, they all forgot to use recall or teleportation scrolls, resulting the death of massive player groups who got buried alive under the snow."

"...Seriously? How many players did it get?"

Before Wayne tried to answer I covered his mouth. Cause I'm hearing a system notice.

"Attention to all players. Attention to all players. This is a system announcement.

Regarding the top1 evil player, Ziri, whose Evilness just exceeded one hundred thousand. A wanted order has been officially issued within the game region of China, to hunt down this player. Any player who is able to eliminate Ziri will obtain a random reward from the system, 1,000 Reputation points, and a bounty reward which shall be donated by other players."

And it was played for five times.

Son of a biscuit! Now I'm a public enemy!!

"Woah boss. Impressive! That's my boss, even when you do evil stuff you do it like no one ever could! Regards man!"

When I'm trying to think it over, my private chat came up.

"Hey Ziri! Where are you?" It's Crimson Rose.

"The Lost City!"

"Did you get red named?"

"Red name? Oh hoho no. I'd call it black name now!" I joked at myself.

"Then how did you get into a city? My name is red too! The NPCs in cities now attack me when they see me, and there are a lot of players after me too!"

"Where are you now? Tell me you position!"

I used my teleport to reach her. And yes I'm seeing a lot of pursuers, so I quickly brought her back to Wayne's room.

Wayne greeted her with much enthusiasm: "You must be my sister-in-law! My name is Soulless. But you can just call me Wayne, sister! I'm close friend with my boss here from very young ages. Um, If you got any...available besties, be sure to introduce them to me!"

Rose however is dazed by Wayne's absurd lines. And the "sister-in-law" part must have embarrassed her much, because her face is red again.

"Hello, I'm Crimson Rose, just call me Rose. I'm not, I mean, I don't--we're not that kind of relation!"

"No explanation needed! I already see what my boss means. So I'll leave the world to you two, laters!"

He ran out without giving us much chance to say anything.

And I'm not in the mood to play with Wayne now so I asked Rose to sit down. "Your name is pretty shiny too I see. How much Evilness?"

"30k plus!"

"Only thing I can remember is I was buried by the snow. How did I become the number 1 evil when I woke up?"

"I think it's because the avalanche was caused by Lucky, so the dead players were all counted as his kills, then you're Lucky's master so...Besides we were in a party, I got some bonuses too."

"I can't believe it!"

"It should be that way. I got five levels in the process, which must have been from the monsters and players that were killed. That also explains why we're red."

"I understand now. Oh right, speaking of which, why were you near the Flowing Cloud City? I got sent back to the Lost City when I died."

"The Lost City?"

"Yep. You can see it as a criminal village. Only for those serious criminals though. With our Evilness we would be sent here for sure."

"I see. But I didn't die."

"Huh? You survived that?"

"I was saved!" She told me how Phiona saved her. "...then Phiona just disappeared in mid-air, probably because you died. But the avalanche was almost done do I lived to the end."

"You were really lucky." I suddenly lowered my head. "I'm sorry! It was me who made you a red name!"

"Don't worry. You didn't create that avalanche on purpose right? By the way I should say sorry as well."

"For what?"

"Do you remember my name when we first met?"

"Lica Lin right? I remember."

"That was a lie. My real name is Charon."

"You planned to keep it a secret I guess? Why are you telling me now?"

"Because we've been together long enough for me to appreciate you. As my granny said, people on the Internet show their true selves without having to obey all kinds of regulations and laws. Whoever appears to be educated and polite in real life may turn into a true jerk in here. For example, what kind of character do you think I am?"

"You are...lively, smile much, and helpful to people? Oh and, you must be good at business too. You have a sense of a trader."

"Out there I'm a quiet girl. Most friends of mine would see me as a well-behaved good girl. But this one is my true self! You know why I call myself Crimson Rose? To let off my ambition to resist. I want to get rid of the image of a weak girl. I can laugh however I like, fight however I like. No one knows who I am. It's not likely to run into anyone close with me in real life here, so I don't have to be responsible for whatever actions I may take. This is what I call freedom!"

I looked at the girl in front of me and realized she can be one of the many best friends I may encounter in my life, that I definitely shouldn't miss.

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