Chapter Twelve: The Gathering of Girls

Yi Shen had acquired a new skill and was contemplating how best to further enhance his own strength.

Meanwhile, Zhu Qing and Zhu You had left the Snowfield Desert and returned to the city. After a night of intense effort, the two of them had earned over seven hundred contribution points. This was already after the price of venom sacs had begun to drop; otherwise, their earnings would have been even higher. More and more people had caught on to this business opportunity, and during the day, the Snowfield Desert saw a surge of visitors. Zhu Qing and Zhu You had simply seized the advantage of timing; in another couple of days, the price of venom sacs would undoubtedly be oversupplied and completely depressed.

...

“Big sister, second sister, you two were out all night. Mom was so worried she didn’t sleep a wink,” Zhu Ke said. “I thought you’d be back in a few hours, but it’s already midday the next day.”

The Zhu family lived in a shabby alley in the Jingmen Safety Zone. Their father had bought the place over a decade ago—not large, but still within the city, unlike the slums, which were riskier. The small alley had three rooms: their mother occupied one, the two older sisters shared another, and Zhu Ke, the youngest, had a room to herself.

She knew her sisters had gone out to earn money last night, but hadn’t expected them to return so late. She had already prepared the meal at home, and after a few words of nagging, their mother had gone to rest.

“We met a high-ranking explorer yesterday. He slew a lot of monsters, and we followed behind picking up loot. Basically, we earned your tuition for half the year,” Zhu Qing said. “How did your exam go? Getting into Qiqiang Martial School shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Though Zhu Qing was tired, she wanted a bite to eat before resting. Zhu You, on the other hand, was still excited—it was her first time making so much money.

The three sisters sat at the dining table, forming a striking scene. The eldest wore her usual dark red clothes, her high ponytail now let down. The second sister, Zhu You, had short hair and had changed into pale pink pajamas; she was the thinnest in the family, weighing barely eighty pounds. Zhu Ke wore a black hoodie and had her hair in a bun. She hadn’t grown tall yet and looked petite, but in terms of physical development, she was the best of the three.

Sometimes, when they bathed together, her sisters would tease her and show envy.

“Mm...” Zhu Ke’s tone softened when her sister asked about martial school. “Getting into Qiqiang Martial School shouldn’t be a problem...” She hesitated, then decided to speak. “My grades at school are actually decent. I changed my first choice to the First Martial School...”

Previously, her sisters’ plan was for all three to attend the same martial school, so they could look out for each other. But in the end, Zhu Ke changed her preference.

“You changed your choice?” Zhu Qing was stunned; her normally obedient sister had suddenly made this unexpected decision.

The First Martial School was the officially backed Jingmen Safety Zone’s top martial school—the strongest around. Zhu Qing had considered encouraging her sister to try for it, but hadn’t expected Zhu Ke to take the initiative.

“Yeah, I have a classmate I like. He’ll probably get into the First Martial School. I confessed to him yesterday. I don’t know if he’ll accept, but I want to go to the same school as him.” Zhu Ke hesitated, but her resolve was clear. After all, she had to tell her sisters about this.

“Huh?”

Both sisters looked surprised, their curiosity piqued.

“I’ve mentioned him before. Back in first year, we were desk mates for a while. I was bullied by some boys, and he stood up for me,” Zhu Ke explained. “He’s got great grades and is a good person. A big reason I studied and trained hard was to catch up to him. So I confessed, hoping to be with him after we get into martial school.”

She was worried her sisters would be upset, but instead, the eldest simply told her to keep studying and improving herself, no matter what.

Her sisters began gossiping, lowering their voices so as not to wake their resting mother.

“Hehe, actually, the boy we met last night was really handsome too. He’s about our age, but he charged into hundreds of monsters without blinking,” Zhu You said, scooping up a mouthful of rice. “I thought he’d be aloof, but once we got to know him, he was actually quite nice.”

Zhu You was talking about Yi Shen, whom they’d met the previous night. Though most of the conversation had been between Yi Shen and the eldest, Zhu You had also been drawn to his aura.

The sisters laughed and chatted. Zhu Ke urged her sisters to make a move and bring home a handsome brother for her.

At that moment, none of the three realized that the person they were all discussing was the same individual.

...

Yi Shen was unaware that three troublesome women had their sights on him.

He returned home and immediately collapsed into sleep, not waking until seven or eight hours had passed.

Although the world had become a realm of data, sleep remained vital for humans. The system’s interface only highlighted basic attributes—bodily functions and mental strength—but subtler changes weren’t reflected there.

According to his father’s message, his parents would be home around midday tomorrow. Yi Shen planned to raise his level to ten before then, and afterward discuss his upgrade path with them.

His parents were formidable—level fifty or sixty. With their help, leveling up would be easy; if not, perhaps he could ask for some contribution points to buy skill books.

A single D-grade skill had already given Yi Shen tremendous assistance. If he could acquire higher-level mage skills or good equipment, he might even be able to defeat monsters above his level.

For now, his next goal was to return to the Snowfield Desert and seek out the Frozen Canyon secret realm.

Secret realms were unusual phenomena in the worlds beyond the dimensional gates. They weren’t isolated spaces, but rather, when different people entered, small pocket worlds would form.

To use gaming terms, they were special instances.

However, these secret realms couldn’t be reset and farmed endlessly. They needed a period to reset all spatial traces.

Monsters within the secret realms were generally stronger than those outside. Usually, a team of up to ten of the same level was needed to fully explore and claim the rewards.

Yi Shen’s plan was to use his no-cooldown skill to attempt solo runs through these secret realms.