Chapter 17: Chapter 16 - The Unbeatable Gamer

CHAPTER 16

The Unbeatable Gamer

“Blue Mountain coffee is considered among the best of brews,” Yuriel began to explain. “It was a rare product of a place called Jamaica, of the Old Era. The climate of the region was cool and misty with high rainfall, while the soil was rich with excellent drainage.”

“This combination of climate and soil is considered ideal for coffee. Only, in the past great battles, the Blue Mountains were blasted by some powerful figures’ battles, thus nearly making the Blue Mountains coffee extinct. It is still sold today, though modern Blue Mountain is a simulated approximation of the real thing. They have to reproduce the conditions on former era Jamaica, and that contributes to its higher cost.”

“So it’s like that...” Tianjue nodded in understanding, then continued to savor the harmonious, dignified taste.

Yuriel herself also returned her attention to the cup in her hand. The milk tea was indeed delicious as expected, with a creamy cheese texture and a scent of sweet lavender interlaced with soft milk and refreshing tea. At some point, she couldn’t help taking a glance at Tianjue, who was savoring his drink with his eyes half-closed, as if he were drunk from the coffee.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore, directly tapping the holo-menu, ordering an empty china coffee cup just like Tianjue’s. A cup quickly materialized on the table.

Tianjue raised his eyebrows at Yuriel.

“I see that there’s a whole big pot of it there,” Yuriel shrugged. “I figured that you wouldn’t be able to finish this exceptional brew alone, so I might as well help you drink it.”

“What helping me, you just want to rob me off my Blue Mountain coffee!” Tang Tianjue said with feigned anger.

“What is this, I can’t believe my goodwill is seen as such a lowly act like robbery!” Yuriel said indignantly.

“Yu’er, I can’t believe that you have such a personality!”

“I’m just helping you! If such a rare coffee isn’t properly appreciated, it is a form of blasphemy towards it!”

“Less nonsense! Just say you want to have a taste of my Blue Mountain coffee!”

“How stingy! I was the one who told you how extraordinary this coffee is, yet now after knowing its worth, you aren’t willing to share even a drop of it!”

“Fine! Then I’ll let you drink a drop!”

“Ruthless!” Yuriel snarled.

“What, now you’re accusing me of being ruthless? You’re the one who’s ruthless!”

“What ruthlessness can I have? I’m clearly a refined young lady who’s elegant and gentle.”

The two bickered, displaying a youthful playfullness they should originally have. A few guests who heard them all restrained their urge to laugh as they heard the two youngsters bickering, their voices getting louder and louder by the second. Fortunately, they were still self-conscious, and didn’t reach the point of yelling.

In the end, the two reached a consensus: Yuriel would just drink a cup.

As the silk-like liquid rolled on Yuriel’s tongue, she revealed a similarly intoxicated look as the ‘stingy, ruthless, and narcistic’ guy opposite her. The two drank in silence, not wasting their breath on idle chatter. As Yuriel said, this kind of rare coffee should be properly appreciated, or else it would be a form of blasphemy towards it.

They sat in that kind of serenity, occasionally stealing glances at the other. Before long, however, they ran out of drinks.

“Let’s… pay.” Yuriel muttered, reluctantly.

Tianjue nodded, also reluctantly. They reached out toward the holo-menu floating above the table, about to settle the bill…

When suddenly, the holo screen blinked and turned a complete blank black. The next moment, a cyan-colored sentence appeared before them: ‘Oy, Twin Stars of Cosmos. On your next date, remember not to use your heaven-defying powers… ~Hermes.’

In an instant, Tianjue’s face showed a multitude of expressions—first, his face flushed, then he paled, eyes widening and pupils narrowing and all… And then he panicked. A million of thoughts raced through his mind.

‘Is it Teacher? Did he hire the Master of Technology, Hermes, to track me down? If so, has he known about Yuriel? What will he do, now that he knew it? It’s my fault! I got too emotional, not thinking about Yuriel’s safety before deciding to meet her. What should I do? What should I do?!’

“Hey, it’s okay,” Yuriel’s voice woke him up. “He’s my friend.”

Tianjue’s eyes focused on the girl in front of him. Her reassuring look instantly calmed his heart.

“Let’s go.” she smiled, gesturing at the holo screen.

Tianjue glanced at it, finding a new sentence which had appeared below the first one: ‘Let’s meet at my branch. I’ve taken care of the payment.’

He took a deep breath, nodding. For the first time since meeting her, he showed her his daily look—indifferent, cold, yet sharp.

Yuriel’s gaze softened. She recognized it, that look—cold and detatched, hiding the bitter turmoil inside. And at times like that, she had always wished for someone to just hold her hand gently, and comfort her. No words. Just… silence. So she stood up, went to his side, and did so.

Tianjue’s hand twitched, shocked by the sudden warmth. He looked up, finding her smiling softly at him. She nodded reassuringly.

His mind blanked for a second. What a foreign, yet familiar feeling…

He was woken up by a slight tug. He cleared his throat awkwardly and stood up. His hand naturally took Yuriel’s warm hand, holding it gently.

In silence, the two walked out of the café, their hearts beating fast. Neither showed any signs of letting go, though.

Neon lights floated above the street, while warm lights flowed from the stalls, cafés, shops, and restaurants which lined along the street, illuminating the crowd. The two walked in silence, appreciating the view and liveliness of the city. Even though it was a large metropolitan city, this night the majority of people chose to walk on the ground and not use their hovercars or other vehicles, chosing to properly enjoy the night the ‘mortal’ way.

Walking through the river of humans, Tianjue and Yuriel held hands, occasionally stealing glances yet again.

Tianjue suddenly remembered something, and though reluctant, broke the silence, “Uh... Do you know where his branch is?”

“Kinda...” Yuriel blushed, pulling her hand out of his grip.

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A small translucent box appeared on her palm, which she opened, revealing a pair of smartlenses inside. The tips of her right hand’s fingers blazed with small flames, wiping away all the dirt and sweat on their surface. Then, she put the smartlenses on her eyes.

Tianjue considerately put a hand on her shoulder, navigating her through the crowd as the girl randomly tapped on the screen—which was only visible to her—before her.

Soon, she found what she was looking for—the Zeus’ Electronics’ branch in the city. She then guided Tianjue to a mall called ‘Galactic Realm’, not bothering to tell him to stop holding her shoulder.

To their disappointment, it didn’t take long for them to reach the mall, as it wasn’t that far away from the previous café.

“Well, well, well…” a blonde-haired young man smirked at them, leaning against the glass door of the white-blue-themed Zeus’ Electronics.

“What?” Yuriel’s face reddened.

Tianjue cleared his throat, lightning-quickly removing his hand from Yuriel’s shoulder.

“Come in.” Lee Jihoon glanced at the two, smiling knowingly.

When he turned, however, Tianjue could see a trace of sadness and self-ridicule. His mind clicked on something.

“When did you meet him?” he asked Yuriel quietly as they followed the person in question into the shop.

“On my—our birthday.” Yuriel smiled.

Tianjue smiled, too, and didn’t say anything more.

Lee Jihoon took them into a secret room at the back of the shop, where two people could be seen. The one standing was Tie Li, while the other, sitting on the guest sofa, was a girl about the same age as Tianjue and Yuriel.

She was tall, with a pair of big eyes, long dirty blond hair, and fair skin, wearing a light denim vest over an oversized white T-shirt, short black denim pants, and white boots. Pink-colored accessories adorned her from head-to-toe, and she had also applied pink-shaded makeup.

At the moment, she was holding a game console, eyes focused on the holo screen in front of her.

“You’re back?” the girl said without turning.

“Of course.” Lee Jihoon snapped. “What are you doing?”

“Playing some game.”

Lee Jihoon turned at Tie Li, only to find the guy standing motionless with his eyes staring blankly at nothing.

“What did you do to him?!” he rushed forward, snatching the game console from the girl’s hands rather rudely.

“He didn’t want me to use your console, so I told him to just stand there quietly.” the girl shrugged innocently.

“You demoness! Get him back to normal!”

“I don’t want to.”

“You—!”

“What? What will you do?” the girl stuck her tongue at him.

Tianjue glanced at Yuriel in confusion with a look that seemed to ask, ‘What’s going on? Should we do something?’—to which Yuriel answered with a mysterious smile that seemed to say, ‘Don’t worry, just watch…’.

Meanwhile, Lee Jihoon was clutching the girl’s wrist, saying in a low voice, “Elanor Dubois, you can do whatever you want, but don’t you ever lay a finger on my friends.”

“Well, I want to. What can you do?” the girl, Elanor Dubois, smirked.

“Don’t think I don’t dare to kill you.”

“Do you think I don’t dare to kill you?!”

“Oh, so now you’re threathening me?”

“I am. What, scared now?”

“You wish! Do you even know who I am?”

“Unless you are the Star of Cosmos or the Master of Technology, I don’t give a damn of who you are!”

“Well, I’ll tell you—I am Hermes, and these two are the Twin Stars of Cosmos.” Lee Jihoon said with a smug smile on his face.

“What the hell, Jihoon—didn’t you agree not to tell others of my identity? You’re lucky she’s not our enemy.” Yuriel grumbled.

“Eh… Sorry, sorry.” Lee Jihoon muttered in embarrassment.

In front of him, Elanor was staring at the nearby Twin Stars of Cosmos with her eyes narrowed in caution.

“You don’t believe me? Ask them yourself.” Lee Jihoon smirked.

“Lift the mind control I put on him and I’ll believe it.” the girl said at Tianjue and Yuriel while gesturing at Tie Li.

“Why should we, just to prove our identity to a random girl?” Tianjue raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, and it isn’t like he’s in any danger.” Yuriel shrugged.

“I can make him die with just a thought!” Elanor held her head high.

“You can try and see, girl, who is faster—you or me.” Lee Jihoon said in a low, dangerous voice—one which Yuriel had never heard.

Elanor also noticed his tone, and didn’t dare speak anymore.

“Alright, let’s not waste time.” Yuriel said.

She proceeded to raise her hand, but Tianjue held her arm.

“Let me.” he said, smiling gently. “You just broke through—your natural power isn’t stable yet.”

Yuriel nodded, face warm.

Tianjue pointed at the center of Tie Li’s forehead, sending a beam of silvery pale-blue light. Tie Li’s eyes flashed with the same light, and a moment later, his gaze cleared, returning to normal.

Elanor watched the whole thing in silence. Slowly, she turned at Tianjue and Yuriel, eyes filled with shock and fear.

“Tie Li, I suggest you try your breakthrough now.” Yuriel said, then turned at Lee Jihoon, “Send him to your base.”

Tie Li studied Tianjue for a while before nodding, “Thanks.”

Tianjue was taken aback—how did the guy know it was him who helped him? If he had guessed it from the aura of his power, then his senses were quite impressive. And so were his composure and deductive ability.

Thinking all these, Tianjue nodded back at Tie Li.

“Mad Iron, do you want to break through now?” Lee Jihoon asked.

Tie Li nodded. Seeing this, Lee Jihoon didn’t say anything more and directly snapped his fingers—Tie Li disappeared in a flash of cyan light.

“A-are you really Hermes? Like, the Hermes?” Elanor suddenly asked in a small voice, studying Lee Jihoon quietly.

“What do you think?” Lee Jihoon rolled his eyes.

“Then why was I able to beat you in the competition?” Elanor blinked.

“Y-you—!” Lee Jihoon grinded his teeth, suppressing his anger.

“What competition? An international game competition?” Yuriel casually asked as she and Tianjue sat on the sofas.

“The Unbeatable Gamer World Cup!” Elanor immediately said with sparkling eyes. “When I saw a participant nicknamed ‘Hermes’, I thought I was going to lose for sure—who knew I ended up winning first place, earning this year’s Unbeatable Gamer Cup! But then a rude guy suddenly pulled me to the side and brought me here, interrogating me harshly!”

“Rude guy, you actually got beaten by someone younger.” Yuriel grinned, randomly fidgeting with a tiny purple-gold flame.

“Yeah! I really didn’t expect that I could actually beat the Master of Technology!" Elanor giggled.

“It’s only a gaming competition,” Lee Jihoon grumbled. “I’m the Master of Technology, not the Master of Game.”

“But a master of technology should be able to master any kind of technology.” Elanor stuck her tongue.

“Shut it, will you?!” Lee Jihoon snapped.

Elanor once again stuck her tongue at him ridiculingly.

“Alright, alright.” Yuriel laughed lightly. “Anyway, Jihoon, why did you want us to come here?”

Lee Jihoon’s face turned serious. He glanced at Tianjue, then at Yuriel.

“You guys are really too reckless!” he shook his head. “First that cutting-through-space power, then that time-bending power. And if that’s not enough, you also used your King-ranked speed to rush through the city!”

Tianjue and Yuriel exchanged a half-embarrassed, half-amused smile.

“You still have the face to smile?” Lee Jihoon couldn’t believe his eyes. “Do you know that half the world’s upper echelons are tracking you down?! If not for me covering your tracks, you’d be hunted down three cities and a half by now!”

“So you lost because you were helping them?” Elanor frowned.

“Yeah! What?!” Lee Jihoon snapped.

Elanor sniffed. “So I didn’t actually win?!”