Why does this person look at people like that? Although I’ve long gotten used to being the center of attention, it’s still a bit overwhelming. But after all, he just saved me, so emotionally and logically... I’ll just let him look.

“Hey~~~~~~” Little Grace was clearly unhappy about being ignored by the two of us. “You two, stop staring. Let me introduce you. This is my sister—Grace. And this is currently the highest-level person among us, the soul-devouring mage who shakes the world. Now you know each other, right?”

Both of our faces flushed red. The way Grace blushed is something I’ll never forget in my life. I blushed because my feelings were exposed, but as for why she blushed, I have no idea. Even after she married me, Grace never spoke of it—that was her secret.

After chatting for a while, at least Grace no longer saw me as a pervert.

Anyone could see my admiration for Grace, but for Grace, there were too many people like that. It became a running joke among everyone. The two warriors, one called Wind Slayer, the other Executioner, were honest and quiet types, constantly being played by Little Grace—I really couldn’t handle this little devil. We chatted and fought monsters at the same time, it was really enjoyable. No wonder they say men and women working together don’t get tired, especially when it’s with someone you like.

Grace was level 18, Little Grace level 12, the two “Shas” were both level 18, Little Henry was level 19, and I was over level 21. We divided up the loot and used the teleport station to return to the city.

The city was really lively. Not everyone was there to play the game—some were just chatting, some were looking to pick up girls, and some were there to do business. Why was there such a crowd up ahead? It looked like there was a notice.

Announcement: After the first martial arts tournament, we will publish the Top Ten Experts list, the Wealth List, and the Top Ten Most Popular Beauties list. All players who make the lists will receive certain rewards. In addition, we are once again rewarding the player Soul-Devouring Mage, as the world’s first level 20 player, standing out from the rest, with a special reputation reward of 100.

Ah, it’s me again! Someone recognized me, causing a wave of discussion. Seeing Grace and Little Grace next to me, the place practically exploded. If it were before, I would have been too lazy to care, but now I suddenly felt it was pretty nice—after all, it brought us closer together!

We formed a leveling team called “Chasing the Sun.” I was the leader, Grace was the vice leader, Little Henry was the scout, the two “Shas” (our nickname for the two tanks) were attackers, and Little Grace was my secretary. This wasn’t my idea—it was Little Grace’s own request, saying all big shots have one. Under the assault of her innocent gaze, I gave in. This made Little Henry stomp his feet in frustration, muttering, “Pervert, not even sparing minors, pedophile…” My response was as classic as ever: “Watch my Foshan Shadowless Kick!” Ah~~~~, what a big shadow!

We went to the second level of the Ghost Cave to fight monsters, letting Little Henry lure the monsters to the corner where we stayed. Grace and I were inside, with Little Grace sandwiched in the middle, the two “Shas” blocking on the outside. Grace cast healing, I cast Blazing Fire and Lightning, and Little Grace’s job was to scream from time to time and then dive into my arms (which made everyone around us jealous—thankfully, Grace just shot me a glare, so it seemed she wasn’t mad at me), then she’d comment on the monsters: “This one’s too ugly,” “That one’s coming over,” and so on. It really livened up this gloomy place. Even the occasional lich was no longer a threat.

Once everyone reached level 20, to prepare for the upcoming tournament, with everyone’s approval, Grace and I trained alone. After these days together, we had both accepted each other, which made me feel energized every day. During this time, I went to the third level a few times, but the monsters there were too high-level—just liches and dark knights. Especially the dark knights: super fast, tough, and with high attack power, really intimidating. The monsters on each level of the Ghost Cave were very different and always higher-level, so you couldn’t just wander around.

Grace and I went to Sunset Canyon, where the monsters usually appeared alone and gave good experience. Although the level was a bit high, we could handle it, making it the best leveling spot for us now. Grace was pretty averse to the spiders here—ah, a common problem for women. I could only carry out a campaign of extermination.

During this time, Little Grace and the others were bullied in the Ghost Cave. That wouldn’t do, so Grace and I rushed back. With my powerful Hellfire and level 3 Lightning, we slaughtered a group called “Sister Across the Way, Look Over Here,” sending them all back to level 10 and making quite a splash. Heh, all that grinding finally paid off at the right time.

We also went to visit Old Man. I actually missed him after a few days. But something happened—Old Man told me he was going to retire. NPCs retire too? Anyway, he was going to close the shady shop, saying he didn’t have many friends, but got along with me, so before leaving, he gave me a gift. It was an ancient ring engraved with a ghost head, supposedly a rare artifact from ancient times, which he dug up while building the shop. I didn’t think much of it at the time, just thought, “You had good stuff and still charged us so much?” But seeing how pitiful he looked, my sympathy kicked in and I comforted him, even gave him ten gold coins. But after that, the shady shop really did close down.

Even though he swindled quite a bit of money from me, I still missed him when he was gone—a pitiful, lonely Old Man.