½ Prince

Chapter 7: Blood Tiara – translated by Erihppas

In order to avenge my dragon’s XX in the upcoming Adventurers’ Tournament, we – Odd Squad – wiped out all the mobs in Raging Dragon Valley and Centaurs’ Prairie during the month before the competition. After we had completed all our preparations, we even went on to defeat a twenty-meter-tall Lake Monster with dozens of tentacles, greatly increasing our combat ability.

Once again, I pored over all the various famous fighting games, shounen manga, and wuxia novels, greatly improving my fighting skills by devising five new greater ultimate attacks and ten lesser ultimate attacks. My techniques were guaranteed to completely surprise my adversaries, especially my Buddha Mountain’s Phantom Leg ability. The damage it could inflict was actually on par with my regular dao attacks.

My weapon, Black Dao, had reached level twenty-eight and had an attack power of eighty-five. Although it might not be as strong as a godly weapon, it could still be considered a top-grade weapon. Now, about my pet, Meatbun… After Dog Beating Technique, Poisonous Meatbun, and Double Kill, Meatbun had also come up with numerous new abilities…which I won’t reveal for now.

<Name: Prince>

<Level: 52 | Class: Warrior | Health: 4200 | Mana: 750 | Strength: 70 + 85 | Agility: 65 | Physique: 40 | Abilities: ??? >

<Pet: Meat Bun | Level: 38 | Abilities: ??? >

As for Lolidragon, she has been perfecting the art of stealth attacks, researching about the ways of the ninja in Japan, the arts of assassins in the West, the blow dart techniques of the South, and last but not least, the whole range of secret weapons used in Ancient China… Sigh!

Monsters she faced often died in mysterious ways, including those people who dared to oppose her – most of whom did not even know how they turned into a pillar of light – causing our team’s reputation to be perpetually decreasing. Her agility had increased to the point where her walking speed was about the same as our running speed, while her running speed practically seemed like teleporting …Lolidragon, if I catch you sneaking up and hiding behind me again, I’m going to get really pissed off!

<Name: Lolidragon>

<Level: 50 | Class: Thief | Health: 2800 | Mana: 900 | Strength: 45 + 40 | Agility: 95 | Abilities: ??? >

Wolf-dàgē had learned the spell Heal Party, which would make future healing easier. In addition, Dàgē had also learned a bunch of useful abilities, although most of them were offensive abilities… Dàgē, please remember that you are a priest– Hey, Dàgē! Killing monsters is my job, so could you please stop charging forward and sending the mobs flying with a kick? You’re making me – the warrior – lose face. Also, stop secretly increasing your strength; you’re supposed to place your points in willpower and intelligence, you hear? Kicking again?!

I should also mention that Dàgē and Yu Lian are now husband and wife…

<Name: Ugly Wolf>

<Level: 52 | Class: Priest | Health: 2500 | Mana: 2000 | Strength: 50 + 25 | Willpower: 56 | Intelligence: 60 | Abilities: ??? >

Doll, on the other hand, had been frightened by the skeletons that she summoned on numerous occasions. Her skeletons’ current appearances look…even I’d freaked out a couple of times. Doll has also been able to summon an undead even more powerful than her skeletons. Unfortunately, the first time she attempted to summon it, she fainted straightaway from terror, and has never since gathered enough courage to summon it again. Sigh!Doll, if you only had more courage, your skeletons would have become the main pillar of support for our team by now.

<Name: Doll>

<Level: 48 | Class: Necromancer | Health: 2300 | Mana: 2800 | Willpower: 70 | Intelligence: 75 | Abilities: ??? >

As for Gui, his level would have been the same as mine…if I hadn’t killed him twice. After causing his level to drop twice, I received a warning from the rest of the team: I was allowed to berate him, thrash him, or torture him (even slicing pieces of flesh off him was no problem) so long as it didn’t affect the team’s standard. Causing him to lose levels was prohibited.

I agreed, although I felt I had been misunderstood… It’s not like I wanted to kill him either! The first time, it was him who suddenly wrapped me in a tight embrace, causing my heart to prance like a lively deer. Then I remembered that of all things, he happened to be a gay… That made me so mad that I couldn’t help but thrash him to death.

(Lolidragon: He only hugged you because you were about to get dragged into the lake by that lake monster…)

The second time, he blew gently into my ear and caused me to blush, so…

(Ugly Wolf: He was just trying to tell you that you hadn’t done up your zipper…)

In any case, Gui had learned quite a lot of supportive abilities, all of which would be very useful in battle.

<Name: Guiliastes>

<Level: 50 | Class: Bard | Health: 2500 | Mana: 3000 | Willpower: 60 | Intelligence: 60 | Physique: 35 (This is so he can survive Prince’s attacks for a little longer.) | Abilities: ??? >

Yu Lian…is currently known as Yu Lian-dàsăo. She spent a month glued to Wolf-dàgē, flirting non-stop until the rest of us couldn’t take it anymore. We then decided to tie up Wolf-dàgē with chains and sent him to the wedding chapel. With our kidnap— I mean, blessings, the two of them finally got married and are now indulging in the sugary, joined-at-the-hip behavior of newlyweds.

<Name: Yu Lian>

<Level: 48 | Class: Mage | Health: 2300 | Mana: 3200 | Willpower: 70 | Intelligence: 65 | Abilities: ??? >

In the real world…

“Sis, I’m telling you, my team is going to participate in the Adventurers’ Tournament!” My younger brother, Yang Ming, bragged with a superior look on his face.

“Oh… Team Rose, huh!” I felt slightly troubled. Wouldn’t the situation be really awkward if we had to face Team Rose? Thinking of my good sister, Rose… I don’t think I’d have the heart to fight. Plus there’s also the highwaywoman Fairsky and my brother… Sigh! How am I supposed to fight?

“Nope, I left Team Rose a while ago.”

I was stunned. “Why?”

My brother’s face was mottled with anger. “It’s because that beauty, Snow White Rose, actually rejected me, saying something about her heart belonging to someone else. And that Fairsky! I heard she ran off chasing after him too. That damnable, interfering Prince has cost me two beauties!”

“…” I lowered my head and continued eating my noodles.

“Forget it. In any case, while my current team may not have any beauties for me to chase, my current team members are actually really good players. We’ll probably be one of the top teams in the Adventurers’ Tournament.”

“Which team is that?” I asked, curious.

“Dark Emperor. Coincidentally enough, their sworn enemy is Prince too. I’m gonna beat the crap out of him ‘til he cries for mercy this time.”

“…No supper for you tonight.”

“What?! But I didn’t do anything to you!” my brother whined.

Meanwhile, with Dark Emperor…

“Hmph! I’m going to make sure that damned sissy and that perverted Gui know how powerful we are! We shall crush them under our heel!” Ming Huang roared, his lovely face contorting in fury.

“That’s right. Besides, I must let that bard know that archers are the real ranged attackers,” Ambusher added in a resentful tone.

“Me, all I want is to see that gorgeous elf thief again…” Playboy Lord submerged himself once again into images of Lolidragon’s beautiful face and sexy body. (Ming Huang and Black Lily: “Everyone, beat up that traitor!”)

“We must defeat Odd Squad and emerge the champions!” The three members of Dark Emperor roared.

“…” Wicked said nothing.

Meanwhile, with Rose Team…

“Rose, do you think Prince would really fall in love with us?” Fairsky asked.

“Of course, Fairsky. As long as we try our best and never give up, Prince will definitely be touched by our efforts,” Rose replied positively. No matter what, we will make Prince accept us.

“…” Broken Sword, Legolas, Li’l Strong, and For Healing Only could only look on helplessly.

Time passed quickly as each team busied itself with its preparations, and soon the day of Second Life’s first Adventurers’ Tournament arrived.

“Prince, draw a number for our team!” Wolf-dàgē said to me, after we had registered our team.

“Okay…” I extended my hand into the box, searched around for a moment and grabbed a piece of paper. This is it, I thought, and decided to take it out of the box.

Lolidragon asked enthusiastically, “How’s it? What number is it?”

I unfolded the paper slowly. “The fourth division… Number 4444.”

“…”

“…In any case, shall we go and see who our opponents are?” Wolf-dàgē suggested.

In single file, we walked over to where the chart with the list of competitors was. The chart felt like it was as long as the Great Wall of China as we tried to figure out where our squad’s name was. The place was so crowded that we all decided to simply let Wolf-dàgē open the way for us. We hid behind his broad back and discussed the details of the competition… Although, to be more accurate, it was just Lolidragon explaining to me the bits that I didn’t know…

“Sigh! Why are there so many people participating in this competition?” I grumbled.

“Isn’t it obvious? The winning team gets to own a piece of land, plus there’s the fame – the team’s name will be known throughout Second Life. And on top of that, participants get to earn experience points!” Lolidragon provided the explanation, as usual.

“We earn experience points?” I looked at Lolidragon doubtfully.

“Because the tournament will probably take up a lot of time, Second Life came up with this scheme: as long as you win a match, you will gain experience points equivalent to killing monsters that are the same level as your opponents, multiplied by ten.”

“No wonder so many people participated. It’s worth it just as a way to gain experience,” I mused, finally seeing the light.

“Found it! Doll found it!” Doll shouted. Our gazes immediately followed the direction her finger was pointing.

“The fourth division, number 4444 – Odd Squad. That’s us all right,” Gui observed.

“Our opponent is the Perfect Princess Team,” Wolf-dàgē slowly intoned.

“…I have a bad feeling about this.” I felt a shiver run down my spine.

There were two more matches before our turn. I once again checked to make sure my boots were zipped up, tightened the cinches on my soft leather armor, and unsheathed my Black Dao and gave it couple of swings. Alright, I’m ready. I turned toward my teammates and received an “okay” signal from them.

At this moment, Lolidragon suddenly walked over to me and I saw that there was a broad smile on the others’ faces. Are they plotting something…?! Lolidragon took out an elegantly wrapped box. “Happy birthday, Prince. This is a present from all of us.”

“Tha… Thank you.” My voice choked as I took the package, touched. Aside from that, however, I thought, Crap, if I don’t bake a cake for my twin brother today, I won’t be having any peace for the rest of the year!

I quickly unwrapped the present. Opening it, I found that it contained a wine-red tiara with mysterious and intricate patterns engraved on it. Even though it wasn’t heavily decorated, it still looked extremely elegant. I love it! Realizing that my teammates wouldn’t gift me with a useless accessory, I quickly checked its stats.

<Blood Tiara: Growing-type accessory; strength +10, agility +10; Equip: HP recovery speed +10%; Defense: 10% of damage received negated>

I stared at it, dumfounded, thinking, This is a rare item!And it’s a rare item that’s practically designed for me!

“Hurry up and wear it, Prince! You’ll definitely look great in it!” Lolidragon said anxiously.

I put it on, feeling the cool metal slide perfectly into place on my forehead. I quickly asked, “How do I look?”

“Oh, you look simply splendid! It suits you perfectly, Your Highness! I knew it, buying a headgear for you was a great idea!” The adoration in Gui’s eyes was more intense than before.

I resisted the urge to give him a thrashing. Paaatieeeence, there are plenty of chances to beat him up after the competition…

“It really does look great on you. The wine-red color of the tiara is very similar to the color of your eyes, plus it compliments your fair skin and white hair…” Lolidragon! Kindly wipe the drool off your face.

“That’s why Doll insisted on pink!” Doll’s expression was one of determination.

Wolf-dàgē sighed. “It was so difficult just trying to agree on what to buy! Gui insisted on buying a crown so that you’d look like a true prince. Lolidragon thought only something exquisite could be worthy of your looks. Doll insisted that we get something pink because it’s pretty, and I thought usefulness was the key.”

“Later, I saw someone selling this tiara and I thought it was simply too suitable for you! So we bargained with the seller for a long time – we even used Lolidragon’s female charms and had Doll make puppy dog eyes… But we finally managed to buy it! Be sure to cherish it,” Yu Lian-dàsăo said tenderly as she patted my head.

Feeling embarrassed yet touched, I said, “It must be expensive! Thank you, everyone…”

Everyone smiled at me fondly. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, silently vowing that I would work hard, so that we would all be seated on the champion’s throne and create our own legend together. However, never would I have imagined that in the upcoming days, this crimson tiara would become one of the major traits of the Blood Elf, one of my nicknames, or that this tiara would come to be known as the Blood Tiara.

Footnotes

Blow dart: A blow dart is a weapon using a pipe to blow a projectile or dart to a target. The idea can be widely found in South East Asia and South America.

Yu Lian-dàsăo: The suffix is written in Chinese as “大嫂”, meaning “sister-in-law”. It is usually only used on the wife of one’s elder brother, however.

Number 4444: Chinese usually considers the number ‘four’ inauspicious because it is a homonym for ‘death’ in their language. To read up more about this, check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia.

Tiara: Although tiaras are usually worn on top of the head (like a mini-crown), the one that Prince is wearing is the type that’s a band around the forehead, as depicted in the manhua. It can still be considered a tiara, however.