Frost [BL]

Chapter 25

Tranquility. It's not a word that one would normally use to describe a popular MMORPG, but Valley of Light had its ways to cater to many different needs.

Want to go on a killing rampage? Start a guild war, pick fights with like-minded players, become an assassin, or go to the arena.

Just want to make a friend? Go to one of the capital cities, yell out in World Chat, or join a guild.

Your goal is to be rich? Farm materials, sell profession items, grind dungeons, start a business, become an assassin, and take player requests.

Valley of Light's profession system caught Xiao Yi's attention nearly a decade after joining the game. He had found himself at a loss of things to do when V was busy with the company and unable to find him a gig as an accompanying player and he didn't have anything he wanted to do.

Running dungeons was boring if you were constantly joining random teams.

Guilds were too annoying, they expected far too much and he wasn't a talkative person.

He didn't feel like taking assassination hits for ten hours straight.

His alt accounts were already maxed out, other than marrying someone and grinding up intimacy points and the currency that came from marriage, the only thing left for him to do was start professions.

The profession system had tiers and quickly became time-consuming. Fishing, gathering, cooking, archeology [mining], alchemy, and forging weapons and armor. Each system had fifty-five levels and as it leveled, one would need to craft higher gear and go to another continent to level it.

Xiao Yi had already maxed out his fishing level after spending months going from one body of water to the other, at one point his second house's storage of 1000 slots stackable to 100 was filled with fish and he still hadn't reached the max! That didn't include his third house's storage with loot and rewards other than fish that he found himself snagging while fishing...

Needless to say, Xiao Yi's account had a lot of points with the fisherman's market. He could only be thankful that the profession system was shared between all characters on his account or he'd likely cry at the thought of having to do it all over on another character.

Sleepy made his way around the main house, following a stone path that had taken half a day to forge and place down. It was a short walk surrounded by various flowers until he made his way to a rustic bridge overlooking a small pond that led to a stream and out of view. Perhaps, this was his favorite spot on the property.

Alas, he had a mission and after looking off the bridge for a moment, he continued through the white jade garden on the other side of the bridge until he passed a gazebo and a small garden enclosed by a wooden gate appeared before him.

Xiao Yi smiled as he glanced at his plants - almost everything he had planted had finished growing and by the time he picked the ripe fruit they'd be ready! He guided his character to gather the ingredients, thankful that he didn't have to make any stops to clean out his pockets previously.

It was extremely peaceful, and one of his favorite things to do in the game currently. If his previous teammates or fans saw him like this they'd likely be taken aback - the bloodthirsty assassin gardening? Did an alien take over him, or did his account get hacked?

Nope, he just loved it. He didn't mind running dungeons and killing world bosses, especially when he needed materials or gold but he'd run them so many times that they were engraved into his mind. The specific cracks in the walls of dungeons, the boss's movements before attacks, hell, he could even recite the dialog of every single boss.

After plucking the last apple from the tree and double-checking that he'd picked all the herbs, he turned around, closed the gate, and pressed a button next to the gate. This activated sprinklers that watered the plants on a timed system.

He then jumped a few times and glided over the pond and onto the second-floor balcony that wrapped around the main house and proceeded to put away the ingredients.

A moment later, Xiao Yi tapped his index finger against the table and tilted his head slightly.

To cook anything and make money from his dishes, he needed two things. One, ingredients that he had already stocked up on. Two, gold.

He grabbed a few weapons from the storage and threw out the entry-level sword. A set of duo swords, throwing knives, and throwing shurikens. A moment later, he nodded before turning away and left his house.

Why did he choose this location for his house? Well, quite frankly, a job board was only a few steps to the left of his front door and he was too lazy to go to another one.

His finger reached out to touch the 'enter' button and a UI opened in front of him, showcasing many players asking for specific weapons, armor, materials, and ingredients or looking to hire others for businesses, guild events, dungeons, and companionship. Anything that could be asked for was requested, but a small little button at the bottom of the list opened a whole other request area that ordinary players could only request off, but not see requests.

Assassination Requests. Only Assassins could truly see what was written there, who was being targeted, what their rank was, and how much was being offered.

The mouse on the screen wasted no time clicking the small translucent icon shaped like a dagger. 

I fell and hit my head pretty badly yesterday so Patreon early access will resume on Monday instead of today. Thankfully no one is inconvenienced as the ones affected are member-less but I still felt like updating.

On top of that, as a Valentine's treat I've made 5 chapters of 'With You' public over on my Patreon if you're curious to figure out what's coming up after OOTTY and TSP.