Starting from the Dragon Tribe! - Chapter 50

Starting From the Dragon Tribe

Chapter 50: Erii no PSN

Chu Zihang was silent for a long time. He once thought that his experience was so bizarre that he would be considered crazy if he spoke about it, so he had never told anyone about it, only privately replaying that scene of the rain falling and pouring wildly every night in his mind.

But now that he was at Cassell College, and as his understanding of the Dragon Clan deepened, he suspected that he would one day encounter the Dragon King.

Perhaps it was out of fear of what would happen should the secret leak out, or it was out of a burning desire in his heart to personally behead the deity that he didn’t say it to anyone else.

But… friends?

From now on, I and Lu Chen are considered friends?

“Brother Chu, it’s alright if you don’t want to say it,” Lu Chen grabbed another fried chicken leg, saw the difficult look on Chu Zihang’s face, and decided not to probe further.

Just looking at Chu Zihang’s eyes were enough for Lu Chen to understand that this teenager had experienced a desperate situation that made him lament his own utter powerlessness.

It was that sorrowful, but within him also hid a lion.

He was the type to either be consumed by the fire of revenge and fall into hell or wield his blade to cut off the head of his nemesis in the end.

Chu Zihang remained silent.

“You desire to become strong?” Lu Chen opened his mouth again.

Chu Zihang reacted this time, his eyes burning with fire, and nodded.

“Aren’t you strong enough with Royal Blaze?”

“Not enough.”

“I understand,” Lu Chen nodded, then said, “You can go to Lionheart Society’s secret library: there will be stuff that can help you. With your current standing, I reckon no one will have any objection.”

Historically, only the president was able to peruse the Lionheart Secret Library, but Lu Chen was a very hands-off leader. Chu Zihang was the true manager.

“What’s in there?” Chu Zihang’s golden eyes inadvertently lit up.

“A technique that will make you stronger…” Lu Chen said as his expression became serious, “But I must warn you, only use that technique as a last resort. I’m giving you this as insurance for when you go off on solo missions.”

“It must be some sort of forbidden technique.” Chu Zihang’s face was expressionless.

Lu Chen nodded as he chewed on the chicken leg.

“Seems like you already used it.”

“Not yet. I don’t need it for the time being,” Lu Chen lied. He had already tried to refine his Mystic Blood of God, and the reason why he didn’t refine his dragonblood was because it was still too impure.

Just like what Lutecia once told him before, people with low blood purity were still considered worthless goods even if they turned into Death Servitors. As of now, refining his dragon bloodline was less effective than refining his Mystic Blood.

“Brother Lu, you are strong. You indeed do not need it,” Chu Zihang started to cut his steak that had grown cold.

“Strong? It’s just that I haven’t met someone stronger for now. Power… It’s only when you meet an enemy stronger than you that you think you don’t have enough of it.” Lu Chen shook his head.

Chu Zihang nodded. Their conversations were always like this.

Lu Chen himself was not considered a man of many words, but when the two of them were together, it seemed like he talked a lot, though sometimes they could understand each other without needing to say too much in order to interact.

Like tonight, Chu Zihang knew Lu Chen actually wanted to thank him for administrating the Lionheart Society, so he asked him out on this dinner. However, the latter was too embarrassed to say it straightforwardly. He got the message anyway.

***

***

“Junior Brother, you’re damn talented.”

Finger sat on a stool, leaning forward as he watched Lu Chen hold the PSN controller, smoothly controlling Kusanagi Kyo on the screen.

Recently, Finger recommended another game to Lu Chen: The King of Fighters ‘97. This type of hand-to-hand fighting combat fighting game, which also had extraordinary special effects, immediately attracted Lu Chen.

Compared to Call of Duty, which was full of hot weapons, this was preferred.

Lu Chen’s fingers flew: 212 Shiki: Kototsuki You, followed by 88 Shiki, then finishing with Saishu Kessen Ougi Mushiki, which magnificently knocked out the opponent’s Shiranui Mai. The enchanting sound of the K.O. blasted through the speakers.

After the match, his point rating rose again, this time entering him into the top 100 of rankings. This made Finger click his tongue in admiration.

Of course he played the games that he bought, but he usually just played against bots. The top ranks were full of pros; some play-styles were overwhelming, while others used dirty tactics, and the higher one climbed, it became more and more obscene. Bunch of fucking point slaves.

Which resulted in him hardly playing anymore; it just wasn’t fun.

But Lu Chen happened to really like playing ranked; he thought bots were too boring.

His superb reflexes allowed him to find the enemy’s opening and exploit it. Dirty tactics were nothing to him.

Actually, what Finger had said wasn’t entirely right. If he had climbed higher in the rankings, opponents would exhibit a “master’s demeanor”: there were less people who used dirty tactics, and in fact, the game just now was very entertaining.

“Tch, Senior Brother, this person’s pretty strong. Interesting. I wonder what sorts of monsters are at the top ranks,” Lu Chen had to use his last character in order to win just now.

He opened the point ranking, and saw that at the top was a person named Erii no PSN. It seemed to be a Japanese girl. How surprising, weren’t all the girls these days playing dress-up games. To play something hardcore like King of Fighters and be number one?

TL Note: Erii no PSN = Erii’s PSN

He entered the queue for another match, but matchmaking was very slow, so he went to the bathroom. Right when he was washing his hands, he heard Finger shout.

“Junior Brother! Junior Brother! You’re matched— matched with the number one!” Finger howled. Lu Chen hurriedly wiped his hands and came back. He looked at the screen, and the opponent’s name was “Erii no PSN,” the rank 1 that he had ridiculed just now.

Because the top 100 was a small group, there weren’t many who were online, so the system could only try its best to match someone “near” in ranking to himself. It wasn’t strange to be matched with someone with significantly more points.

Lu Chen cracked his knuckles and prepared to see for himself the top ranker of KoF.

In the first round, he chose Yamazaki Ryuuji. a very well-rounded fighter, who had strong moves, long reach, fast cooldown, small breakage window, and his continuous damage was terrible, not to mention high stun potential.

The other side was Blue Mary, who specialized in throws. If she managed to grab on, it was impossible to counter

In the face of the “number 1 master,” Lu Chen was still in admiration. He didn’t make big moves, and calmly exchanged damage. In a midrange fight, he had the advantage.

Mary’s health bar gradually decreased until she had 1 HP left. Just when Lu Chen was about to use Guillotine, Mary seized the gap of the move, closed the distance, and executed a magnificent upward throw. Instant K.O.

Lu Chen froze. He was careless.

“Junior Brother, you aren’t steady enough yet. What’s the hurry? You would’ve won if you kept trading damage,” Finger fanned the flames on the sidelines.

In the second round, he deployed Yagami, easily draining the rest of Mary’s HP. The other sent Leona. Heh, so you’re a high-risk player.

In the end, he won this round with ¼ of his health bar left. Yagami was a character that quite suited Lu Chen’s tastes. He could fulfill nearly every role, and his skillset was almost perfect. Not much skill was needed to confront Leona, as long as her D+V spam didn’t mess things up.

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