Glimpse of You a Thousand Times

Chapter 19: Prodigal Ne

"Damn!" She felt dizzy during that encounter. She definitely took a direct blow from that pervert and was caught off guard.

'Who the heck is he calling an idiot, huh? If he knew how high my IQ is, I bet he'll be on his knees sulking!'

In reality, she's the prodigy born in her family. Due to this, her daily life starting from her upbringing has been so strict. She was home schooled the entire time and was not allowed to go out. It turns out that her family is afraid that any contact from the outside world will corrupt her mind and will make her rebel against their will. With this, she felt isolated and empty inside.

If there is one thing that she regret in her life, it was this capability of hers. There was a time she felt happy though. Because of her skills, she was able to get through their house' security system and was able to encounter a platform where she can meet with people eventhough she's at home. That was the time she discovered online gaming that helped her relieve some of the pressure weighing in her heart.

She has to admit that she really sucked at it at first and gets killed all the time. She felt like that it was not meant for her and thus decided that she should just give up and try something else.

[Flashback]

"Damn no matter what I do, I am not getting the hang of this. Where did I go wrong?" her brows knitted and her grip on her mouse tightened. Her eyes were glued on her screen then sighed.

[You died. Do you wish to revive or leave instance?]

She gnashed her teeth and decided to log out. She hovered her cursor to the exit button but noticed a beaming tab in one of her channels so she clicked on it and saw an invite from a nobody to do the same instance together.

[Player Melancholic Chen invited you to do a team party for dungeon XXXX in Desolate Lands lvl 5-10 , would you like to accept or decline?]

She paused for a while and clicked on decline. In the next instant, she received a PM (Private Message) from that nobody who sent her the invitation.

Melancholic Chen: Hey, would you like to run this dungeon together?

Seeing his message, she massaged her temples then sent an emoticon giving a side eye. After a few moment of silence, she then added.

Prodigal Ne: Are you dumb? I just declined your invitation and you are asking if I would like to run this dungeon together with you?

Melancholic Chen: Uhh that. Hehe I was wondering, may I know why you don't want to run it together?

Prodigal Ne: I already did this instance and got quite a beating so I don't want to do it again.

Melancholic Chen: Haha I did that too and almost broke my keyboard when I died. I did not even make it to the second stage and died without fighting.

Knowing that she was far better off him, she felt at glee then shook her head for the poor guy. She felt relieved though. She realized that it was not only her who's having a dilemma in game and decided to accept his invitation to do her final run for the day.

Melancholic Chen: Hey, are you still there? Are we going to do it or not?

[Prodigal Ne is typing...]

Prodigal Ne: Invite.

"After all the waiting, she only sent me one word? I guess I came across a hard nut to crack," he mused from the other side of the game.

He clicked on that name then sent over an invitation.

[Player Melancholic Chen invited you to do a team party for dungeon XXXX in Desolate Lands lvl 5-10 , would you like to accept or decline?]

Jia Ne exhaled deeply before clicking accept and immersed herself in game. With sweating hands, she clicked on the controls of her character and made minimal mistakes this time around. She can't mess this up. A life depends on her and she has to think of ways to surpass this dungeon somehow.

Cold sweat was trickling down her back and her heart was thumping hard. One by one, they made their way to each stages and finally reached the Boss' lair. They were currently in a tight spot having 40% of their HP left at most. Apparently she chose a warrior class avatar for her character when she started playing the game. She does not know anything about this class at all but since the avatar looked tough and upright, she felt the urge to click on it. Sadly, she was not well-versed on this class and with her crappy equipment and weapon plus low damage, she always drags her half dead character to pass dungeons.

Having lost herself in thought, the boss dealt a critical strike on her and was currently attacked with the finishing blow. However, the boss' aggro was diverted away from her avatar that caused her teammate to directly confront the boss' backlash.

Seeing this scene unfold before her, she clenched her teeth together then scolded him in the midst of the battle.

"Why did you do that?!" she lashed out.

"You were in a pinch earlier so I came to save the goddess. I am a man after all!"

"You moron. You don't have to do that. This is a dead end either way," she retorted and saw that both of their characters finally dropped down.

[You died. Do you wish to revive or leave instance?]

"Haha well no matter what, that run was still awesome! Don't you think? We almost made it!"

"Ha- if you think about it that way, then I guess I have to agree with you," She replied.

"Then... what do you think? Since both of us enjoyed it together, how about we team up starting tomorrow?"

'Damn this dude is good at asking girls out, I see,' she thought.

"Alright," she replied.

"Great! Let me send you a friend request then!" he proposed.

"Is that necessary?" she asked skeptically.

"Of course it is! How will I know if you are online or not to do quests and dungeons, right?"

"You've got a point."

After a short while, a name appeared on her friends list for the first time. She does not know what she is feeling at that moment. But one thing she know is that she is extremely happy. Her soul was brought back to reality when a ding sound resonated in the entire room. She then clicked on that name and read his messages.

Melancholic Chen: I see that you've got a great name for your character. I feel quite envious.

Her eyes widened in surprise and instantly replied.

Prodigal Ne: Now that I think about it, your name is quite lame and does not suite you at all. What's up with that "Melancholic Chen"?

She smiled while typing out her words and thought that perhaps it's okay if she'll let herself be in game. She won't lose anything if at least for once, she'll be her real self.

Melancholic Chen: Do you think so? How about I change my name then?

Prodigal Ne: Up to you.

Melancholic Chen: Just give me a second to buy a change name card.

A few moments later...

"What do you think with my new name?" He inquired.

"Hmm... I guess it's better than the old one that you have," she replied.

"That's great!" he exclaimed.

After some thinking, Jia Ne made a following question.

"But why did you not use the word Legendary, though?"

"Ah! You see, I am a very humble so I decided to keep a low profile," he replied within seconds without flinching.

She stared at that name for a while and muttered to herself.

"Perhaps you can be awesome at some point which matches your IGN (in game name) then."