Chapter 36: HTSCF CH 034 Distance never made me stronger…

After an afternoon of killing monsters, killing monsters, and, oh yeah, killing some more monsters, Jun finally reached level 99, which was something like a benchmark. Although the current level limit was 119, very few people had reached it. Those that did only made up 1% of the players. The reason for that was that starting from level 99, it became exponentially harder to level up, so he had caught up with the majority of players by reaching 99.

Now he could focus on trying to fix his luck. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any point in doing quests or dungeons, which is why he had been avoiding them. He had no plans to log back into the game for the rest of the day, though, because he was pretty worn out from the nonstop monster grinding.

The day ended quietly with Jun sending a message to ADAS’s development team with the suggestion to allow gender change. He was just testing the waters, not making a serious attempt in trying to complete the Hidden Mission. Other than the zombie apocalypse world, Azazel and Elior always found him right away, but this time he had yet to see a shadow of them.

What if they weren’t in this world?

At night Jun curled up in bed to sleep, unused to having so much extra space, and decided to not log into the game for a week. Playing an MMORPG made him realize how lonely he felt. More so than being by himself in real life, being surrounded by many strangers in VR felt worse.

During the week, Jun looked over Fei Lan’s coursework from the previous year. He hadn’t been in school for nearly 40 years now, so he needed to refresh his knowledge. Five years was enough to finish the last year of high school and college. This time, he should finish college, right?

There was a lot he had forgotten, but he felt he would be able to catch up by the time school started again. What he needed to do was to make himself a schedule and not get absorbed in playing ADAS now that he didn’t have to.

A week was enough to forget about him since he wasn’t a god-tier player, so when Jun logged back onto ADAS he was pleased to find no one trying to accost him. Oriana saw that he was online and immediately sent him a message.

[Boxers or briefs?: Sweetie, where have you been all week??]

[no milk tea, no life: I had to study.]

[Boxers or briefs?: You’re a student? How old are you?]

[no milk tea, no life: 17.]

[Boxers or briefs?: Ahhhh~!!! So young! You should call me older sister.]

[no milk tea, no life: …]

[Boxers or briefs?: What's the point of the … Just don’t respond! Anyway, want to do a dungeon run? You haven’t done one right? We have an open space in our party right now.]

[no milk tea, no life: Ok.]

Even though he knew his drops would be worthless, he was curious and needed the experience anyway. After accepting Oriana’s party invite, they entered the dungeon. Dungeon runs required a party with a minimum of 3 players and a maximum of 6 players. The one they’d be doing was a mid-level one. With Oriana there, 6 people weren’t necessary, but it would be a nice cushion for Jun, who was still new to the process.

Dungeons usually lasted about 5-15 minutes and had at least one boss, at the most 5. As they moved through the dungeon, they ran into many monsters and traps but easily took care of them. The first boss was a man-eating plant capable of spitting poison. Their party consisted of Oriana and Jun, both long-range DPS, two healers, a tank, and a support who could also provide buffs and deal some damage.

The second boss, a giant turtle, took a little longer because of its defense and massive HP. As for the third boss, a giant tree thing, it was annoying because it released a lot of negative status effects. When it froze him for the nth time, Jun was so fed up he put away his bow and arrow and went straight to doing direct physical attacks despite the Damage Received x3 buff, slapping, punching, kicking, and biting. One of the healers secretly recorded this while everyone watched with open mouths.

No class used their body to attack, so who knew that the last boss’s weakness was physical attacks? What should have taken a minute or two and a bunch of healing was finished in a matter of a few seconds.

“… Wow.” Someone muttered, speaking for everyone there. The healer, who was still recording, went over to check Jun’s drops, believing they ought to be good since he had finished the boss in such a strange way. Little did she know there was only disappointment waiting for her.

Twig, branch, leaf, twig…

What sort of drops were these!? Not only were they worth maybe a bronze coin at most if anything, but none of it was usable, much less useful. Never had she seen such drops, which were even worse than what new players received. It was so sad, so pitiful and the bemused expression on Jun’s face was so funny and charming, she burst out laughing. Jun didn’t mind, having grown used to it.

Oriana leaned over and whispered to the healer, “His luck is -250.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Check his player stats and look at what his route is.”

“What else can it be but Demon or Saint? You might as well just tell me—”

Half an hour later an updated post under the thread “Pretty boy Archer” quickly became the latest hot topic on the official ADAS forum, but by then Jun had already logged off. Thinking of the plot of this world, he was jealous of Li Jie. MMORPGs just weren’t fun without a partner, even if it was just an online lover.

However listless he may have felt, he still had to go to the supermarket to buy some food ingredients and other necessities. There was nothing left in the tiny fridge again. Would picking up some milk tea on the way home help his mood?

Thinking so, he gathered up his cellphone and sling backpack to leave. The world he was in was a little more advanced than any previous modern one, and most things could be easily delivered directly to home by robots, but Jun still preferred to go get his things himself.

I’m any case, if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been greeted by the sight of the man standing at his door when he pushed it open, directly into...

“… Hss!” Another man was standing on the side rubbing his red nose, and Jun winced apologetically. Had he known someone was right outside, he might have not opened his front door with such gusto.

The first man, the unharmed one, had neat silver hair, a healthy tan, and those familiar crimson red eyes. He was wearing a form-fitting gray suit. He held out a business card. “I am—”

Jun knew who the man was. How could he not? 15 years he hadn’t seen him, and he found himself unable to contain his joy and happily hugged the man. “Azel, you’re here.”

Instinctively, the man wrapped his arms around the youth and rested his chin on his shoulder, and didn’t question the nickname. It sounded just right. “I’m here.”

Not to be outdone or left out, the other man, the one dressed in a dark suit with neat golden hair, golden eyes, and an equally healthy tan if not a shade darker, also embraced the youth. “I’m here too…” He hesitated for a single second. “Baby.”

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Jun laughed and stroked the other man’s cheek with curved eyes. “Eli.”

What followed was the two men reluctantly letting go to present their business cards to Jun, who looked them over with a raised eyebrow. At the sight of their names, he felt a bit nostalgic.

Azazel Schwarz
President
Monsoon Entertainment, Inc.

Elior Renaud
Chief Executive Officer
Monsoon Entertainment, Inc.

On the back of the cards were their handwritten private phone numbers. Wasn’t Monsoon the game developer company behind ADAS? For the two highest-ranked people to come and personally see him, it wasn’t because of the suggestion he sent out to the company a week ago, was it?

“Oh… Nice to meet you.”

Elior chuckled, the sound low. “You seem to know us already?”

Jun nodded. “I do. I’ve always known.” His words were vague, implying something else, but they somehow understood his meaning.

“Where are you going?” Azazel asked.

“The supermarket.”

“We’ll come with,” Elior spoke for the two of them, then casually put his arm around Jun’s slender shoulders. “Lead the way.”

In a small supermarket nearby, the sight of a trio consisting of a slender and adorable youth accompanied by two tall and handsome foreigners was too eye-catching. All but a few people were lucky enough to witness the striking sight, as it was during a time when most were at work, and the market could only accommodate so many people anyway.

The cashier was looking at the two men with starry eyes while they only had eyes for the youth, who was holding out his cellphone to pay. Seeing this, Azazel gently held the hand holding the cellphone and handed over his own to pay. The trio walked out, the men each holding a bag of groceries and only Jun had free hands.

They stopped by the milk tea shop on the way back to Jun’s apartment and the familiar sweet taste made Elior purse his lips. This was the milk tea his beloved enjoyed so much, but he could not stand the taste. He didn’t know how that cousin of his, Azazel, could tolerate it and even seemed to like it.

While laughing, Jun said, “I’ll brew you some coffee at home.” He had bought a French press at the market, knowing that Elior preferred the strong taste of black coffee. This he learned from the world with Theodore.

Home. Azazel and Elior felt like they had once had a home with the youth a long time ago. It was a strange feeling, one that tugged and squeezed at their hearts.

Back at the apartment, Jun blushed with some embarrassment as he invited Azazel and Elior in. “Sorry, it’s a bit small.”

Both were thinking the same thing: No, small is perfect, so you can be within my sight at all times.

Jun’s apartment was rectangular and only had two “rooms.” The main room started from the entrance, where shoes were placed, to the living room and kitchen to the “bedroom” and closet. To the right of the entrance was a door leading to the second room, a decent-sized bathroom. Jun had the two men sit on the small sofa that barely fit both of them while he went to make Elior some coffee.

It wasn’t long before the nostalgic smell of coffee covered the apartment and Jun thought to himself, ‘Milk tea never tasted so good.’

When the coffee was done, Jun sat on the floor cushion at the coffee table across from the two on the sofa.

Azazel stood up. “You sit here.”

“No, I like sitting on the ground.” Jun wasn’t lying when he said this. Azazel sat back down and drank some of his milk tea. Contrary to his image, he had a sweet tooth worse than Jun.

They were quiet for some time, all three enjoying the warm, comfortable and familiar feeling. Then Jun asked, “Why are you here?”

The two men remembered that they had come for a reason. Actually, it became an excuse the instant they laid eyes on Jun. Seeing him in person was different from seeing him on the screen. Ahem. Not that they had been secretly searching up anything and everything related to him in the past week, of course. Definitely not.

“We’re here because of your suggestion.” Elior finally responded. The two highest-ranked people from Monsoon came to see him because of a little suggestion. As if he’d believe that.

“What about it?” Jun asked.

Elior continued. “Why do you want to change your gender?”

Choking on the milk tea a little, Jun wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “It’s not for me.”

“Then who…?”

“Just in general. Since each person is only allowed one avatar in the game, it’s strange that everything except gender change is available…”

—

A/N: And they have officially reunited!!! Yeah, that didn’t take long ???? Chapter title is inspired by the song “Electric Indigo” by The Paper Kites. Some lyrics:

Distance never made me stronger
It tore us apart (I'm calling, I'm calling to you)
And I know I left you questions and a lonely heart
But you've been waiting long enough to let it go
I'll do you right
'Cause time is just a remedy covered in disguise

And all I know
Is that I want you so
Heavy on my mind
And the feelings grow
When you're dancing slow
I see your fire go
Electric indigo

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