Proudly Running!

Cheng Xiu gaped at the notification in front of her.

Fight 10 bloody experts of the game? Did Maya think that Cheng Xiu was some kind of great expert herself? And did these Experts not have anything else to do? Bullying a newbie. Shameful.

'No thank you, Maya. Leave the Arena.'

[You can not leave Grandmaster's Arena without the permission of a Grandmaster. Only those who have activated the Arena have the power to do so]

Cheng Xiu felt the ire in her rise.

'Log out then. I would rather never play this game ever again than let myself be bullied into something I don't want to do.'

[You can not Log out during Grandmaster's Arena until you die or fight against at least 5 Grandmasters, whichever comes first.]

'That's unfair!'

[I'm sorry you think so. But, they did pay for it, so their opinion gets priority]

'What if this match goes on for days! I'm a Qiless! I only have 12 hours!'

[If the Grandmasters do not defeat you before you're Log out period, then you will be declared the winner and be given the most expensive Items from your opponents.]

Cheng Xiu sighed. She didn't like the fact that these people were forcing her into this.

She looked on as the Violet-haired woman came to the forefront.

The white-robed woman with the whip strapped to her hips exuded the aura of boredom, and distaste.

"Why are you doing this?" Cheng Xiu asked. "I understand that you think that what I did was wrong, but that did not require such a drastic measure."

The woman smiled. "My name is Lotus, Captain of the Lightning Sect. My power is Lightning and thunderstorm. I've been playing this game for the past three years."

Cheng Xiu blinked. "Um…okay?"

Why was this woman telling her these things?

The woman removed the whip from her hip. "After I've killed you, I want you to join my Sect. Would you?"

"Huh?"

"Lotus!" Star Phoenix screamed. "That wasn't the plan!"

Lotus smirked. "The plan was that the first person to fight her would get the chance to recruit her. It was your idea, Brother Phoenix."

"I didn't know you were weaker than me!"

Lotus rolled her eyes. "You should know that you were stronger than me at level 10, it's only after level 50 that I outdid you. And Grandmaster's Arena is at Level 10."

Star Phoenix cursed.

Lotus turned to Cheng Xiu. "So, what do you say? Want to join me?"

Cheng Xiu felt like she was in some alternate universe where her luck was so miserable that she somehow gained the attention of the masters of the game. She refused to believe that this was her own reality and that her luck was so bad.

"I should have a choice in this too. This is not a good way to invite someone to your Sect!"

Lotus chuckled. "That is exactly what Brother Long said."

"You should listen to him!"

"But you did killsteal from us," EverHill said, annoyance on his face. "And used my RynHeart for it too. This is just an act of small revenge. At least it's not all of us taking turns to kill you. That's what Sister Yue wanted."

"You make it sound so nefarious," Yue sighed. "I just wanted to see how she would respond to various opponents. You are lucky though."

"How?" Cheng Xiu asked in annoyance.

"Brother Lu WenXian wanted to battle you until your energy was really low and then heal you again so that the battle could continue," the blue and gold haired woman said to her in a monotone.

Cheng Xiu glared at Lu WenXian. He really was out to get her.

Lu WenXian sweatdropped. "Sister Frost, I was just joking."

[Battle Countdown.

3

2

1

Go!]

Lotus didn't move, waiting to see what Cheng Xiu would do.

Cheng Xiu stared at the woman in front of her and then at the experts around her.

It would be so easy to just let herself be killed.

But she couldn't.

She could almost feel her mother's disapproval of her decision.

'You are smart, so why do you always let your pride get in the way of logic?' her mother had asked when she punched the class leader in the face when she was 10-years-old.

'Because otherwise, they will think I'm easy to bully like A'Shu!'

That was her biggest downfall. Pride. She wouldn't just go with things because it was easier. She couldn't.

'You have a large ego,' Gu Shu had said to her when they first met.

And she did have a large ego. But she never thought of it as a bad trait to have.

Until now

Cheng Xiu sighed and stood straight. "Let's go!"

Lotus smiled, and raised her whip. "Even at level 10, my whip was strong enough to bring level 20 experts down. And I am a Level 70 expert now, regardless of the game's attempt to nerf me. This will be over quickly, so don't be so worried!"

"Thank you, senior Lotus," Cheng Xiu said and looked around them. "But I really don't want to know what death feels like so I will try my best to kill you."

Cheng Xiu wondered how large the border of the Arena was and how different level 10 was from Level 1.

The difference would affect her ability to fight this woman. She didn't think she had a better chance now.

Lotus laughed. "As you should! I'll try not to die then! Let's go!"

Cheng Xiu turned and ran into the forest.

Lotus stared at the spot the girl stood moments ago in a daze.

"Did…did she just run away?" Lotus asked.

The others laughed.

"I guess she did," Expert Yue said. "Better go catch her, Sister Lotus."

"But she said she was going to try to kill me?"

"She was lying," Lu WenXian said to the violet haired woman, pity in his voice.

Lotus cursed and ran in the direction Cheng Xiu did.

In the far off distance, three shadows emerged from the ground and turned into people. One of them had a green crystal floating above them, whereas the other two had blue crystals.

Diana let go of the shoulders of the two men.

Yaksha observed the golden dome in front of them.

"The girl is inside that structure," Luther said to him.

"Hmmm. Buy a Display talisman for the Grandmaster's Arena."

Luther blinked. "Grandmaster's?" He looked at the Golden dome in surprise. "Why is it Golden in colour?"

"Because there are more than two Grandmasters in there."

Luther looked at him in horror. "More than two! How is that fair! Young Master! That's horrible! Why would they do that!"

Yaksha sighed. "I think Yue has something to do with it."

Luther froze. "Young Miss?"

"And Lu WenXian."

Luther's eyebrows twitched. Was this some kind of family reunion that he hadn't been aware of?

Diana looked at them in surprise. "Brother Yaksha's sister? Isn't that me?"

Yaksha smiled. "Yes. But Yue is my sister too."

"Oh. I would like to meet her!" Diana said with a childish smile.

"Done!" Luther said and handed Yaksha a green talisman. "It should be big enough!"

Yaksha closed his eyes and ignited the paper with his Qi.

A hologram screen appeared in front of them.

On the Virtual screen, a blue-robed girl was running through the woods of the forest.

"She is running away," Diana noted in disappointment.

Yaksha frowned. He watched as the figure skidded through slopes, jumped over boulders and branches and waded through the waters of rivers. There were even places where the girl jumped over branches and climbed the trees.

"It makes sense," Luther said to Diana. "This SelaXiu is a weak girl. She can not hope to outrun experts! She is trying to hold on as long as she could so that she can get Stat points! Am I right, Yaksha?"

"No," Yaksha said, his eyes trained on the thin-framed girl. His crimson pupils trembled in excitement. "She is not running away."

"She is not?" Luther asked. He turned to the screen again. The girl jumped over a few high bushes. "It really looks like she is desperately running though."

Yaksha smiled. "The Grandmaster's Arena downgrades a player to level 10. All the players are at level 10. Their stats is the same as it was when they were at that point."

Luther looked at the girl in surprise. "She is running to get used to the downgrade in her power then! Smart move!"

"Upgraded," Diana said.

Luther looked at the NPC. "Upgraded? What upgraded?"

Diana pointed to the light blue-robed girl on the screen. "Her movements show she is not used to her speed. Her sense of direction is off at various places that someone who is used to high speed would not have. She nearly hit that tree in front of her because she is not used to seeing things move so fast. The girl has been upgraded."

Yaksha's eyes glinted with interest. "She adapted quickly to the power difference though."

Diana nodded. "A quick mind. I would rank it above B. But would need more information to say what her actual rank is."

Luther felt dizzy. "Are you telling me that a girl below level 10 took down the Emperor Spirit? then it's no wonder that the experts are so angry at her that they would pull her into a Grandmaster fight! She killstealed from them! I bet that the Monster was near its death when she did it!"

Yaksha frowned. "A player below level 10….regardless of how close to death the Spirit was, it shouldn't be that easy for her to take it down. To take it down near its death would still require a player to be at least of Level 30 in terms of raw power."

Luther paled. "Are you telling me that a player below level 10 has the power of someone of Level 30? Isn't that a bit too fantastical?"

"She would have to be someone of a higher rank than most people," Diana said. "Her starting point would have to be at a different level than the rest."

Luther frowned. "What Rank do you think she started with to be able to kill an Emperor Spirit?"

"S Rank," Yaksha and Diana said together.

Diana grinned. "Brother Yaksha and I are of the same mind!"

Luther rolled his eyes. There she went, ass-kissing again. His eyes went to the girl on the screen. "S Ranked? Where the hell did this expert come from!"

"Hm. Diana," Yaksha called.

"Yes, Brother?"

"Go to Veritas and enquire about SelaXiu," Yaksha ordered.

"Okay!"

"Wait!" Luther said to her.

The purple-clad woman glared at him. "What?"

Luther turned to Yaksha. "What about Selafia, Young Master? Didn't you want to find out if she was-"

"Diana, leave."

The woman looked at them curiously. "Okay…bye brother Yaksha!"

The woman melted into the shadows and disappeared.

"Young Master?"

Yaksha stared at the girl on the screen, running towards the centre again. "Something tells me, I'll find her easily this time."