Chapter 1
Once Again, with Feeling
Ye Xiu could already feel the beginning of a headache as he tried, in vain, to come up with a suitable name for his new character. Embarrassingly enough, he has already spent the last 20 minutes on this arduous task, writing out potential IDs and then crossing them out one after the other when none of them seemed to fit. He had already tried One Summer Leaf, Summer's Leaf, Spring's Leaf and other such combinations but no use, he just wasn't satisfied. And to think that he had came up with Lord Grim so easily the first time, why was he having so much difficulty this time around?
Ye Xiu wasn't a perfectionist at heart mind you - at least, not like Ye Qiu was - but a part of him wanted this name to be carefully thought out, meaningful; a name that could give justice to the miraculous second chance he had been given.
Ye Xiu passed a tired hand through his shoulder-length black hair, a little annoyed that his mind wasn't working as well as he hoped it would be.
Ye Xiu thought about choosing a female name as he was, all things considered, now a female gamer and controlling a female character. But unfortunately, Ye Xiu's only experience coming up with female names was still back when Su Mu Qiu was still alive and trying to come up with a name for Su Mu Cheng's Launcher. He could ask Mu Cheng of course - he knew her number by heart and she would know what to do in this situation - but Ye Xiu still hasn't thought up a good way to tell her that he had somehow come back to life in a different body without scaring her or making her think he was a fraud. With that in mind, he decided to put that idea on hold for now.
What should I do? So many possibilities and so little time.
Just as he was about to pull his hair out in frustration, his concentration was disrupted when a familiar voice uttered a surprised "Ye Chung?".
Ye Xiu turned around.
"Ye Ling," he recognized his brother's familiar figure, standing near the bedroom's open door, looking in with a strange expression on his face. He was wearing a different t-shirt, his hair wet from the shower,and carrying what smelled like a steaming cup of really strong coffee. He was obviously intending to stay up tonight.
"When did you start playing Glory?" Ye Ling asked, attention still focused on Ye Xiu's screen. Was that excitement in his tone? Ye Chung wondered.
"Father got a card reader and account card from a client so decided to give it to me since you already have one," Ye Xiu explained, laying out everything that had happened on to the table, "I didn't want father's gift to go to waste so I decided to give it a shot. You did mention something about the 11th server opening tonight."
"I did," Ye Ling agreed, none of his earlier arrogance present in his voice. He actually sounded like a decent human being, much to Ye Xiu's surprise. "I'll be moving my character, Blazing Tornado, from the 10th server to the 11th once it opens."
Ye Ling hesitated for one second before asking: "Do you want me to help you out for your first time? You can stick with me. I have a few online friends who will also play on the 11th server. We can tackle dungeons together."
Ye Xiu thought about it for a second before shrugging. That sounded pretty helpful actually. Ye Xiu knew from past experience how difficult it was to find a good dungeon team when most people around you were new to the game. If Ye Ling wasn't shy to offer him a ready-made team, Ye Xiu won't be shy either to accept it. And as for what motivations Ye Ling might have for doing this? Ye Xiu didn't care. He never looked a gift horse in the mouth.
"Sure, thanks big brother."
Ye Ling nodded.
"You know my ID. I'll wait for you near the players spawn point. Come find me then."
Without another word, Ye Ling turned on his heels and left the room, similar to this afternoon after he had made sure that Ye Xiu was awake.
Bemused, Ye Xiu shook his head.
Could it be that Ye Ling wasn't as bad as he had initially thought?
How weird…
Ye Xiu shook his head to clear his thoughts, deciding to let go of this mystery for now. Instead, he turned his attention back to his computer and pursed his lips in thought, eyes fixed on the Glory Character Creation page displayed on his 22 inch High Definition gaming monitor - the fact that Ye Chung had a top of the line gaming monitor when she never played games was a waste in Ye Xiu's opinion, but since this monitor was also the same make and model Ye Ling used, Ye Xiu figured this was probably the parents' attempt at equality between their daughter and their son.
If only my parents were like this, Ye Xiu couldn't help but think, his good mood dampening a little. But as soon as the thought came, Ye Xiu forced it away. It wasn't time to wonder about the past. He still had a lot to do before the 11th server opened tonight.
He returned his attention to his screen.
What to do…
Perhaps…
A sudden idea entered his mind; an idea so simple and yet so effective, that it actually made him smirk.
This could work.
If he used this name, it would definitely create some waves. And Ye Xiu so loved creating waves wherever he went.
Without any more hesitation, Ye Xiu typed quickly in to the name box and clicked Confirm. Almost an eye blink later, a system notification popped up.
Congratulations, your character Lady Grim has been successfully created.
Similar to 2 years ago, for the opening of the 10th server, Ye Xiu stole some energy drinks and food from the kitchen to help him combat sleepiness so he could stay up until 12 in order to be among the first players to log in. His character Lady Grim - whom he decided was going to be unspecialized like Lord Grim, if he could find a weapon suitable for such a character - was ready to go and only waiting for the Connect button to turn from inactive-grey to clickable-red.
As time slowly approached 12 o'clock, Ye Xiu couldn't help but feel tendrils of excitement slowly engulfing his entire body, causing his heart rate to speed up and his palm to sweat a little.
This, he mumbled to himself, a small grin tugging at his lips as he remembered, clear as day, Chen Guo's words from 4 years ago as he sat in Happy Cafe, surrounded by fellow Glory players waiting for the 10th server to open, was the beauty of Glory.
And finally…
"It's open!"
Ye Xiu didn't know who had yelled out those words - him or Ye Ling from the neighboring room - but he didn't care. The 11th server was finally online, meaning that Ye Xiu' road to glory had finally begun.
TBC
