School was in an uproar, especially because of the video that Adele Mitty, no, Aveye uploaded. The only things he could hear in the lecture hall pre-lesson were in no specific order, ‘Adele Mitty’, ‘Blue Fist’ and ‘Honduria-Caerheim War’. More precisely, they were discussing the legitimacy of the video clip.

“Did you guys see that? That Blue Fist and his group are the ones who resolved the war. He even fought a Qqer!”

“Bullshit. Lifey is the one who resolved the war!”

“Yea she defended Loyderidge throughout the war so she deserves credit. Besides, it is so obvious that Honduria retreated because it was a futile effort to siege anymore.”

“That video is obviously fake! I don’t understand a single thing in it.”

“Why are they fighting over some stupid item?”

“It looked doctored.”

“And there is no way he could fight a Qqer and survive.”

“How else would you explain that NPCs from the same faction would suddenly attack each other then? If Lifey could cause them to go crazy from Loyderidge then she must be hacking.”

“The forums are right, it was a revolt.”

“Why are they fighting over some stupid item? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Is that even a Qqer?”

“You’ve never heard of Alpyrius? That alpaca duo is infamous for being ruthless in the trading world.”

“Then explain why the video uploader felt the need to censor his face? If Blue Fist is a hero, he should just step up and show us who he is.”

“He has something to hide!”

“What class is he? That skill seems like a self-buff but it could be more.”

“It could be that Blue Fist was just lucky to be there at that time. The real cause might be another thing entirely.”

“Zombie outbreak?”

“Stop your stupid speculations.”

It was a total divide. None of them were able to reach a definite consensus, not even with the video clip as proof. There were three distinct camps, the first being that Lifey’s group was the main contributor to Caerheim’s victory, due to the coincidental retreat of the vanguard. The second school of thought and also the one with the most people was that Blue Fist and his companions triggered a revolt in Vanguard Pass and thus forced the Hondurian Vanguard back. The third and smallest camp was a conspiracy theorist haven, where the entire event was a sham made by Yashita Corps to generate more publicity.

Blue Fist – That was the name they had taken to calling him, mainly due to Aveye shouting out ‘Blue Fist’ whenever he punched with maximum infused Chi. It was nothing fancy like those callsigns that famous world class gamers go by and Sebast felt a little miffed that of all the English vocabulary available to them, they named him something so average.

Then he reminded himself that he was not even supposed to have an alter-ego in the first place.

Lifey was mobbed by students as usual, mainly being pestered with questions regarding the war. Sebast bemusedly noted that the poor girl was as confused as the people asking her were, her face being in a perpetual scowl at being asked questions she had no answers to. She might also be a little angry that someone had surfaced from literally unheard of anonymity to steal part of her credit for defending Caerheim.

Cast to the side were the members of her guild Proctor Initialis, of which Xiang Jun is part of. Sebast caught the archer’s eye and gave the motion of slitting his throat to which the latter gulped and nodded. After being threatened not to reveal his identity to anyone else, Sebast has total confidence that Xiang Jun would keep his mouth shut.

If not, well… he knew where Xiang Jun stayed after all…

As usual, he was sitting alone at the corner of the furthest row away from the front of the hall, preferring to be by himself while the rest are congregated near the middle of the lecture theater. Sebast had no wish to mingle and gossip with the rest of his less-informed course mates, having already known much of the background details of the recent developments. This was of course interpreted by the rest as him being anti-social.

“That Sebast Koh, he doesn’t want to talk huh? Not even about something else other than the war in Ages Online. ”

“Just leave him alone. He has always been this way since ages ago.”

“Bah, snob…”

Even if they were perfectly audible as per their original intentions to rile him up, Sebast shrugged it off. He never cared about other people’s opinions so why would he start now? Folding his arms behind his head, he was about to lapse back into a quick nap when someone suddenly sat down beside him, uninvited.

“Care for a conversation, Beast-kun?”

A cool sassy female voice resounded softly in his left ear, accompanied by the elusive scent of a light fragrance of lavender… or was it rosemary?

Sebast wanted to brush her off at first, but half a second later his mind registered the fact that she used his in-game name and was thus someone he should probably take note of.

Snapping wide awake, he found himself staring face-to-face with a sunglasses-wearing beauty that he had never seen before in his entire life. Sebast found his eyes instinctively travel down to her assets accented by a form-fitting black long sleeve overcoat and long black pants. From the gaps that her clothing did not cover, he could see smooth unmarred skin. With classy locks of dyed brown hair and an exotic jaw line of part Asian and part Western heritage, she easily fits the ‘ideal’ woman type for most men in the world.

“Are you checking me out?” She suddenly pursed her lips to ask.

“Yes… I mean no, miss?” He trailed off, a little embarrassed at being called out. He had a slight suspicion as to who this lady might be.

She gently laughed, a melodious chime to Sebast’s ears, as she removed her sunglasses to reveal the most mischievous green eyes he had ever seen. It was the very same pair of eyes that he had been familiar with for at least a day in Ages Online, even if most of her face had been covered by a leather helmet.

“Mitty. Adele Mitty.”

Bingo. The way she addressed him was a dead giveaway, although the pitch was an octave higher than that in-game.

“Aveye… no, Adele.” He corrected. “Why are you here? How did you know I would be here?”

The first emotion he felt was indignation.

He had a whole lot of questions he wanted to ask when they would finally meet in-game, but since the person he had wanted to confront had suddenly appeared before him, it was the perfect opportunity to demand for explanations. “What was that for?” He asked, a little too heatedly. ‘That’ was of course referring to that video she had uploaded.

She held a finger to his lips, hushing him.

“Let’s talk outside.” Putting back on her sunglasses, the radio personality stood up.

With a sashay of her hips and the classy steps of her black stilettos, Adele exited the lecture hall through the backdoor. With his burning questions begging to be answered, Sebast had no choice but to follow her out. While they had been mostly unnoticed, it did not prevent some degree of rumours from spreading across the student population.

“Who is that with Sebast? Such a hot lady, man… She is top class!”

“His girlfriend? They looked pretty intimate.”

“Isn’t that Adele Mitty?”

“Adele Mitty? Impossible! Why would a celebrity associate herself with such a snob?”

“You must have been mistaken dude. That isn’t Adele.”

“That anti-social probably doesn’t even know who Adele is. Don’t be stupid.”

The rumours died quickly, squashed by the self-beliefs of Sebast’s course mates.

……………….

“So… how did you find me here?”

They have moved to a secluded corner near the lecture hall in the school compound. Tables and benches aplenty were left around by the school committee for students to study at, making no lack of places for them to continue their conversation in peace.

Adele disinterestedly punched in a few letters on her phone. “Naomi-chan of course.”

“N-naomi?”

“Yea. It was not that hard to make her give me your real name, and tracking you down here afterwards is but a piece of cake.”

Sebast blinked. If ‘tracking’ meant finding out the exact class and exact schedule he had, then… this person is really dangerous. In his mind, his imagination ran wild, thinking of the various torture methods that must have been employed to force Naomi to cough up his information, something he had absolute belief that Adele would have no qualms on using.

“Anyway I told her where we are. She is coming over now.”

“What?”

So Naomi had been compromised.

“You heard me. I figured having someone you know around would make you trust me more on what I am about to say so I invited her along.”

Sebast narrowed his eyes. “What are you going to talk about that needs her?”

For the second time, Adele put her finger to Sebast’s lips.

“My my, impatient fellow aren’t you?” She teased with a twinkle in her eyes, shutting Sebast up in embarrassment. The result was a tense, awkward atmosphere, at least to Sebast anyway.

He was saved minutes later by a familiar voice.

“Hi guys!”

“Naomi-chan!”

“Wow, Adele you looked so pretty in real life.“

“Nao-” Sebast turned his head to greet his master, but was stunned by what he saw. “-mi?”

Instead of the baggy gi and hakama that Sebast was accustomed to seeing in the Penguin Dojo or the unflattering leather armour in-game, Naomi was wearing a fashionable white spaghetti strap top with a pair of sky blue hot pants that displayed her toned athletic figure. Her black hair, usually tied up in a ponytail was let down to her shoulders, under which she was carrying a cream coloured tote bag.

It was a totally different Naomi he had never seen.

The first thing she did when she sat down was to clap her hands together and bow her head towards him in an apologetic posture.

“I am sorry Sebast!”

“Huh? What for?” Sebast was still trying to reconcile the Naomi at the present with the Naomi he knew.

“I should have been faster in healing you. I… caused your death.”

Sebast needed a second before he realized what she was talking about. “Oh. It’s alright.” He replied without breaking a sweat.

Really, he never felt the need to blame Naomi for his death. She could not possibly out-heal the poison damage anyway and the recovery status spell takes time to take effect. By then, he would still be dead.

“Okay.”

Sebast watched Naomi for any darkening expression, but found nothing. Well then, that was quickly settled. At least it went better than that time with Kiki.

“Well then, let’s get down to business.” Adele spoke up, having finished whatever business she was conducting with her phone messenger client. “I am sure you have seen the video, yes?”

At Sebast’s affirming nod, she continued. “After you died, Beast-kun, I revealed my true identity to Shadun and Naomi-chan and negotiated a deal with them. You see, with what had transpired there is no way I would not upload my video onto the net.”

“Adele asked us for our permissions to use the video for herself.” Naomi helpfully added.

It was not surprising, considering the amount of commotion that one video had stirred up.

“Yes. So I get to upload my video of the whole process of the infiltration with the conditions that none of you guys would be named and exposed, not even in my radio program. In return, I will pay each of you a thousand dollars each for the trouble.”

“A thousand-!” Sebast could not wrap his mind around the fact that he is getting so much for doing so little.

“Yes, one thousand. If you are concerned about the money, don’t worry. I am making several times more from the advertisements money generated by the view counts.” Adele nonchalantly explained.

“I know that this is a little backwards, but please give me your permission to use the video.”

At that, she pushed an envelope towards Sebast.

“You seem to be forgetting something.” With terms like this, he found it hard to stay angry at Adele, but he still wanted a formal apology at the very least. He was not about to let it slide just like that.

“I am sorry?” Adele meekly said, doing her best impression of her puppy-dog eyes. She catches up on things fast.

“F-fine, apology accepted.”

With that out of the way, Sebast spared no glance at the fat packet of notes as he pocketed it without hesitation. There was no need to think over it. After all, the video had already been uploaded. Shadun and Naomi had already given their permission. Even if he forced Adele to take it down, others would just re-upload it again. As the saying goes, what has been posted on the Internet lives forever.

“Nice! I like your style. It took me longer to convince the others that this was real. Alright, that settles our current business deal.”

Sebast idly noted that she used the word ‘current’.

“So Beast-kun, I am thinking of using the name Blue Fist to create a new mystery figure for future videos and discussion topics that people can chase after and wonder about. This last video has already proven that to be a successful formula to work with. Besides, things around you seem to be unexpected and fun, so I feel that we can have a go at it.”

Her phone rang and Adele silenced it with a flick of her slender fingers. She seemed like a busy person.

“Of course, you will be adequately compensated, as will everyone else who appears in the videos.” She glanced at Naomi as she spoke. “The terms still apply - your appearance and in-game name will be covered up and in my radio program we will simply refer to you as the Blue Fist. You are not required to explicitly manage anything as well, only that I will continue staying by your side as Aveye and be responsible for the recording the footage as well as the video editing. All you need to do is to agree. What do you think?”

“… How much?”

“You have a good mind for asking.” Adele held out both her hands, showcasing her pink polished nails.

“Ten percent?”

The radio deejay nodded. “Of course, the actual amount will be determined by the view counts garnered by the video but I can guarantee you a higher number than what we have this time round. So do we have a deal?”

Sebast had to be a fool not to take what he was offered.

……………

He was on his way home after school, still musing over what had happened after Adele left the compound grinning.

“So why are you here?” He asked.

Naomi looked up, revealing an envelope of her own. It was similar to the one that he had received from Adele. Sebast’s mouth form a silent ‘O’ in response and he nodded in enlightenment. So Naomi was there simply to collect her share and Adele had a familiar face which to persuade Sebast with. What a way to kill two birds with one stone.

Maybe he should start heading back to class.

“Sebast,” Naomi started suddenly, catching his attention. “Have you thought of how to appease your mother yet?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. He had no idea if she even needed appeasing. Every time they had quarreled, it just took some amount of time before they returned to talking conditions and the status quo.

“When you are going home later, take some money and buy some flowers for your mother. Girls love flowers the most. Or cakes. Definitely cakes.”

Sebast almost snorted, but held himself in time. It was not false to say that it was sound advice, but the expression she made when she suggested that seemed as though she was in her own fantasy of receiving her own bouquet from an imaginary prince, making Sebast wonder if she was speaking from her own point of view.

“I will think about it.” The perfect words of ambiguity that showed neither the acceptance nor refusal of a suggestion.

“What are you going to do with your money then?” He asked in an attempt at changing the topic.

“I am going to renovate my dojo!”

Sebast blinked. That sounded like it would take more than a thousand dollars to accomplish.

“But first I will treat myself to some good food. Maybe…”

Sebast blinked again.

After crashing his lectures for the day and eliciting weird stares from his course mates at this unknown girl who suddenly turned up in their class, Naomi had dragged him out to a patisserie to eat some ‘good food’ to celebrate their windfall of one thousand dollars, which included cakes, cakes and more cakes. At first, he questioned why he was even there in the first place, to which Naomi replied that she did not want to feel sinful by herself. Only after sampling no less than ten different types of artisan cakes did she release him, with a promise of more training at their next lesson to burn away the calories they had just taken in.

So here he was, with a stalk of sunflower in his hand, loitering in front of the door to his house, wondering if he should enter. He had ended up adopting Naomi’s advice and was wondering if one mere stalk was sufficient when the door opened. His mother stepped out of the house, prepared to water the potted plants outside their apartment as per her usual routine when she caught sight of Sebast looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

He half-expected her to break into an angry tirade and start berating him for his recent behavior, but none of that happened.

“Sebast.” She simply said.

“Mum.” Sebast replied, glad that the worst was over. “This is for you.”

He passed the sunflower to his mother, who took it and gave it a small whiff.

“Why, thank you. I will find a vase or something for it.”

She definitely seemed noticeably happier - the flowers were as effective as Naomi had said. That would be a good trick to know for the future.

“Then I will be in my room.”

His mother nodded before she returned to tending the plants. “Be back out for dinner at 6.30. I cooked your favourite fish today.”

“Okay!” He cheerfully answered, kicking his shoes off before entering the house with a smile.

At least the house would be at peace again for a little while.

…………..

Beast logged back into Ages Online, finding himself before a familiar plaza where a small fountain resides. It and its surroundings were worse for wear, with chipped porcelain and broken tiles littering the streets indicative of the storm that had just passed.

It seemed that he had re-spawned back in Vanguard Pass. Had the state of the town been chaotic still, he would probably have re-spawned in another nearby friendly town such as Port Lucke or Loyderidge. It was not crawling with soldiers like before and it was good to see that the town is slowly recovering its functions after the revolt; the basic shops for essentials were already reopened for business.

However, the first thing on Beast’s mind was not the state of the town, but the state of his own self.

“Status window.”

Status WindowName:BeastLevel:58Profession:Lore KeeperRace:HumanGender:MaleTitles:Genocider

+15 to all statsFame:155-Health:2270 (+220)Mana:1720 (+800)Strength:234 (+15)Intelligence:110 (+60)Dexterity:246 (+15)Wisdom:114 (+30)Stamina:144 (+15)Luck:45 (+15)Bare Hand Mastery, +22% to bare hand damage, +3% critical damage

Iron Body, +12% resistance to all damage, +230 HPEquipment EffectsVanadic Tome of Artifacts: +500 mana

Vanadic Signet Ring, +10 Intelligence

Sundered Gloves of the Conquerer, +35 Intelligence/ +15 Wisdom/ +300 ManaRelationsCaerheim: 86

Scelenia: 200

That one death since a while had cost him dearly in 7 stat points in strength. As a slight consolation, he had leveled somehow along the way, probably from punching some of those Hondurian soldiers. Beast wondered if the stat loss from death is in any way related to the length of time gone without dying. It did seem that way, but that would probably belong in the domains of a conspiracy theorist.

What Beast could not stomach however, was that his Bare-handed Mastery decreased a level to Intermediate 3, which meant hours of grinding it back up again.

A quick check of his inventory told him that he was left with a single measly gold coin after Alpyrius had used the Extortion skill on him. One single gold coin and it was probably from catching one of those coin projectiles the merchant had been flinging. That Extortion was one wicked skill if he had anything to say about it. Even if he was not as money-grubbing as many other people out there, it was still a painful blow to his wallet.

At least, he only lost the ring he took from Fyrzen, which amounted to an almost zero net gain item wise. His poisoned spears were running low from that spam attack on Alpyrius while his potions stock remained healthy. He still had 60 more uses of Toxxi-venom to go… No, wait, there was something else missing from his inventory – His Antroach Mandibles!

A quick double check confirmed that they are indeed nowhere to be seen.

Beast slumped down onto the hard pavement in defeat.

His hard-earned artifact. Gone. The gold he lost could not even compare to this.

He slammed his fist into the ground, ignoring the pain that reverberated through his bones from the impact.

Curse that darned merchant and his alpaca.

Before he could descend into darker thoughts, a bright boyish voice sounded behind him.

“Looking for these? I really wonder where you got them. It would make a good story.”

“I have to admit I am curious too.”

“This is-!”

A distinctively familiar pair of large mandibles belonging to a fusion between an ant and a cockroach floated in front of him, held up by a smooth slender hand. That was right, he did not die while in enemy hands, so whatever item he dropped would have been picked up by his comrades!

Beast jerked an entire hundred and eighty –degrees to meet face-to-face with a grinning Aveye the archer. Beside him… her… it - he had no idea how to address her any more- the rest of the party was present, Shadun with his stoic face and death spewing mouth and Naomi who is seemingly preoccupied by the reparation work being conducted on the town’s damaged buildings.

“You guys actually waited for me?” There was a warm and fuzzy feeling blossoming in his chest…

“Not really.” Shadun wasted no time in crushing it. “It is just that we were holed up in the house Naomi found for us for the entire duration of the revolt until just now. It was boring. Naomi was complaining the entire time.”

“Huh?” Naomi asked from her preoccupation, having heard her name.

“Never mind.” Shadun and Beast both answered. Without any further part in the conversation, Naomi returned to watching the soldiers work. Was this where she got her renovations ideas from?

Beast shrugged.

“So where are Mealgar and the rest then?”

“They left for Loyderidge just a while ago ahead of us. We are supposed to travel back and find Trigent in Loyderidge, but someone was dead and had to respawn…”

“…I heard that. Anyway, give those mandibles back, Aveye.”

Pon.

Aveye wants to register as friends!

Yes/No

Beast raised a questioning eyebrow at the person who simply dangled his Mandibles in front of him like a hostage.

“You know you didn’t have to do that, right?” He stated with a wry smile.

Immediately, Sebast pushed the ‘yes’ button to a sound of confirmation and got his artifact back for his trouble, while Aveye broke out into a cheer.

“Let this mark the beginning of a productive business relationship! Onwards!”

And with that, they departed from the town of Vanguard Pass.