“Ah… feels good to be back,” Liu Ye muttered as he took a deep breath of fresh air. One day in real life felt like forever compared to the game where he didn’t even notice the passing time.

He looked around in search for Xu Yue and Zhenzhen but they were yet to connect to the game. They weren’t the only ones lagging behind as the streets of the city were basically empty with random flashes of players appearing every other second.

It would take a couple minutes before the streets would fill, so Liu Ye used this opportunity and opened his profile to check his progress.

[Name: Grind God]

[Level: 29] [SP: 1]

[Exp: 500/250,000]

[HP: 780/780] [HP Regen: 2]

[MP: 140/140] [MP Regen: 2]

[Strength: 1]

[Intelligence: 14]

[Vitality: 1]

[Dexterity: 14]

[Wisdom: 5]

[Luck: 5]

[Physical Power: 10]

[Elemental Power: 100]

[Physical Defense: 50]

[Elemental Defense: 50]

[Elements: Water 88%]

[Arts: Waterbending]

[Abilities: Small Water Whips, Ice Projectile, Water Manipulation, Ice Wall, Water Boxing, Large Water Whip, Water Jet, Phase Change, Ice Bullets, Water Cloak, Water Bullet, Ice Spear, Ice Claws.]

They stopped grinding last night just when he hit level 29 and then returned back to the city right after. He didn’t even have time to spend his free Skill Point since they hurried back to avoid wasting time on another day.

Liu Ye didn’t hesitate much as he aimed to tap on the Intelligence but then paused as he gazed at the attributes he didn’t touch yet. Both his Strength and Vitality were still at the base level with only one point each. Investing in the latter seemed the most reasonable from the two as it provided him with more HP but then what was the point of increasing your strength?

“Big Bro.”

Just as Liu Ye wondered, he heard a familiar sweet voice and saw his girls peek at his profile screen. The data on the virtual window was blank for strangers but they were on his friend list so they could see everything clearly.

“Whoa, no wonder you are so strong. Look at your stats,” Xu Yue commented proudly. “Is that the bonus of your outfit?”

“Only the Defense and the HP,” Liu Ye replied casually after making sure no one else is close enough to hear them. “Do you perhaps know the benefits of adding points into Strength? Did you try it?”

“Oh, I did it. I thought martial arts were rendered useless after the nerf but some abilities scale pretty well with the Strength,” Xu Yue informed as she hugged his arm seamlessly. “My Flaming Fist for example scales with 40% Elemental Power and 60% Physical Power. It appears whenever the Ability involves kicking or punching.”

“I see… So my Ice Fist should also work the same way,” Liu Ye nodded and tapped on the Strength. He already planned to unlock a close combat Ability when he claims another Elemental Mastery Point.

He expected his Physical Power to increase by 5 just like the Elemental Power, but he was surprised by a full 20 points. “Wait, isn’t 20 points increase too overpowered? Won’t it scale like crazy?”

Xu Yue shook her head before Liu Ye finished the math in his head. “No, because you can only use Elemental Power for all Abilities while Physical Power is limited. It is still better to stack Elemental Power.”

“Yeah, I just calculated it. Even if I added 10 points into Strength, my Ice Fist would still be weaker than a strike from my Ice Claws. Unless it has an additional bonus—”

“It does,” Xu Yue cut him off with good news. “Your punch will carry the physical force you applied. You can easily knock someone back which will disrupt their bending. The only way to prevent it is stacking your Vitality but only tanks would do that.”

“Will see how it performs later then,” Liu Ye muttered as he motivated them to move. “Alright, let’s go.”

Many players began to appear around them and he could feel stares focusing on him. He already guessed his outfit would become well known if he began to kill people but that was unavoidable.

“Where are we going?” Zhenzhen questioned happily as she hopped next to them with Puffy on her shoulder.

“I can’t accompany you for now, but I will join you later for the Dungeon run,” Liu Ye informed. “Let’s visit the bank first.”

After a few steps, he discovered a bothersome weight still clinging to his arm. He gave Xu Yue a glance but she only smiled at him without any intentions to pull away from him.

“You can walk on your own,” Liu Ye suggested as he tried to shrug her off. “What if someone attacks us?”

“Fine, fine.” Xu Yue finally released him while pursing her lips. “I just felt like to hug you. Don’t mind me.”

Liu Ye raised his eyebrows. “Since when did you take a liking to hugging in public?”

Xu Yue only shrugged in response but Zhenzhen explained on her stead. “It’s because of Avi. She came to our room earlier which is why we were late.”

Both of them seemed to be in a good mood so Liu Ye didn’t overthink too much. “What did she want?”

There was nothing to gain for Avi if she tried to ruin his relationship with Xu Yue so he wasn’t worried.

“We mostly talked about you. Apparently you said you have a girlfriend when she massaged you too dangerously which she found funny,” Xu Yue replied with a rare smug. “Don’t worry, she is not trying to do anything weird.”

Liu Ye would argue about that fact but that would only worsen the situation. Avi was planning something but she was too clever to do anything about it. No matter what he tells her, she would still do anything she wanted.

“Alright, that’s good then,” Liu Ye nodded and pulled them into the Bank while changing the topic. “Let me get you an Elemental Stone.”

The main requirement to get the next Dungeon Key was getting a second Element. Now that they were finally together, they could awaken whatever element they lacked.

[Fire Stone]

[Description: A crystal containing pure Fire Element. One can use it to awaken Firebending Art or strengthen their Elemental Mastery. Success chance might change depending on the Player’s affinity with Fire Element.]

[Success Chance: 1%]

“Do you think we can awaken on the first try?” Xu Yue wondered as she observed a rare Water Stone in her hand. “I will go after you.”

The success chance was tragic but Liu Ye expected their great affinity would help them. He didn’t waste time and swallowed the Fire Stone he had from the beginning.

[Ding! Fire Stone has been consumed. Awakening has failed.]

“That’s it?” Liu Ye questioned disappointed, not expecting he wouldn’t even feel anything after eating it. “So much gold went down the drain.”

“This feels like gacha,” Xu Yue pointed out. “Players will have to spend a lot of money to get the second element.”

She visually stopped expecting anything and ate the Water Stone as if it was candy. Xu Yue didn’t show any signs but after a few seconds, her eyes brightened and she covered her mouth as she looked at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m happy for you,” Liu Ye assured as he withdrew an Earth Stone and tried again without much thought into it.

[Ding! Earth Stone has been consumed. Awakening has failed.]

“Here, you can try again. I got this one from the field boss,” Xu Yue suggested and she traded him another Earth Stone. “Third try is a charm.”

Liu Ye couldn’t help but imagine 40,000 gold being burned. He looked up at the ceiling and threatened the imaginary developers. “If I fail again, I will kill all the field bosses today and monopolize all Elemental Stones. Just so you know.”

“…”

“…”

The girls looked at him speechlessly but he ignored them and tried for the last time.