Iliya and Wolf happily parted with Wicker and they left their third challenge game. Only one more to go before they would finally become full players. Iliya wasn’t sure what that entailed and when he asked Wolf if he knew, the other man just shrugged. As promised, Iliya treated Wolf to some coffee at a local shop near Iliya’s apartment. It was still pretty early in the morning, only around ten, so the shop was empty aside from Iliya and Wolf, aside from the employees in the shop. Every once in a while customers would rush in and grab to go orders but no one scrutinized Wolf and Iliya.

The coffee shop was one of those modern places with overpriced cold brew drinks and fair trade beans. The furniture was mostly reclaimed wood, and the room was smoky dark. Even though the coffee was more expensive than the Dunkin’ Donuts on the corner, Iliya thought his choice of store was justified due to Wolf’s profession as a chef. The man could probably taste the difference in quality or something. Iliya wasn’t sure, but he did want to impress him.

The two men were mostly silent aside from their sips and the sound of the ceramic cups hitting the wooden table. It was hard to tell if Wolf was enjoying the coffee or not. He wasn’t a very expressive person. But sometimes he smiled at Iliya so kindly, and that was enough for him.

Iliya was on his phone, analyzing the game’s app. Wolf was on his phone too, and Iliya assumed he was doing the same thing. There were three more tabs Iliya still was yet to unlock. At the moment, he had access to the game, player, friends and mail tabs. Iliya fiddled around with the interface, but didn’t notice any changes aside from the circus and lottery tickets that were in his inventory. He was hoping there would have been a way to message other challengers and players, but if it was there it wasn’t available yet.

“Have you done an item lottery yet? Want to try it out?” Iliya suggested.

“I haven’t done it yet. I have two.” Wolf said. He must have had the app recommended to him too, if he had two tickets like Iliya.

“Want to go first? Or should I? We can do one and one.” Iliya was quickly getting tired as the adrenaline was fading fast from his body, but there were still tinges of excitement keeping him awake. As a lover of the gacha game, he couldn’t resist an item lottery. He wondered what kind of items they would get. Weapons? Medicine? Power-ups?

“You go first,” Wolf smiled at Iliya. The smaller man’s wide eyed excitement betrayed his polite offer towards Wolf. Iliya sheepishly clicked on one of the lottery tickets. His phone vibrated once, twice, three times and then a menu button popped up.

Congratulations, Challenger Red! You have received A Bag of Monster Food. Please go to your inventory to read the item description and/or use it!

“I got a bag of monster food,” Iliya dutifully reported. He then went to his inventory to see what it was.

Item: A Bag of Monster Food

Description: A bag of snacks monsters simply cannot resist! Giving monsters a snack will make them more likely to want to be your friend. This item can only be used in game and has five uses.

Uses Left: 5/5

So the item he pulled was directly related to his skill and ability. Would all items he pulled from a draw be like this, or were there more common items in the lot too? His lips pulled into a frown. Hopefully he could get something better on his next draw. Iliya encouraged Wolf to do a draw to test his hypothesis about the items being related to their abilities.

Wolf quickly did his own draw. After a few moments, Wolf pressed something on his phone screen and a pair of heavy brass knuckles materialized on Wolf’s hands. Wolf held up the hand that wasn’t holding his phone and turned it left right. It looked like he was admiring them.

“Are they good?” Iliya didn’t know anything about weapons. Plus, he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with the ability to summon weapons outside of the game. Iliya remembered poor Roman and his fate. He didn’t want to fight with other players whether it was in or outside the game. And if they did have to fight outside the game, he was practically defenseless.

“Perfect fit. Well made,” Wolf commented. He pressed down on his phone again, and the brass knuckles disappeared. “Your turn.”

This time, Iliya was hoping for something that could be useful even outside of a game. He did his second lottery.

Congratulations, Challenger Red! You have received a Cat Bell. Please go to your inventory to read the item description and/or use it!

A cat bell? Iliya thought about Peaches. It better not just be an accessory for her, or a toy for her to play with. He anxiously checked the description.

Item: Cat Bell

Description: Ring ring ring! This loud bell can help alert one ally of your choice to your location. This item can be used both in and outside of games. It has a cooldown period of twelve hours.

Uses: Ready to be used!

Well, it wasn’t an item he had wanted but Iliya could see the use in it. He wished he got a weapon though, like Wolf had gotten... He snuck a peak at Wolf over his phone. He was watching Iliya rather intently and when he noticed Iliya look up, he blinked. Iliya smiled, it kind of reminded him of Peaches. “This time I got a cat bell,” he shared.

“For Peaches?” Wolf asked.

“No, for me!” Iliya laughed. “It can share my location with allies if we’re separated.”

Wolf nodded. “Useful.” Then he pressed the button to play his next lottery ticket. Unlike the first time, he didn’t summon whatever he got in the lottery.

“So?” Iliya wondered, curious. Was it another weapon, something more visible and dangerous this time? What if it was something like a gun?

Wolf took another sip of his coffee, unhurried. “A chef’s knife,” he finally told Iliya. He didn’t look that interested. Well, the man did have a restaurant. He probably had dozens of knives. “I’ll test its viability later.”

Iliya pressed his lips together. Viability? What kind of viability? Viability in the kitchen, or viability in a fight? He was unsure if he wanted Wolf to specify. He decided to change the topic. “Now that’s over, I remember you said you knew about the next challenge?”

“My friend who recommended the app to me told me what to expect.” Wolf paused. “He is a good man. A bit dumb, but goodhearted. He felt bad.”

Iliya looked down at his phone. Even though he wanted to, he couldn’t feel too much enmity towards Dassi. He hoped she was alright. “So what’s it like?”

Wolf looked up, as if trying to remember exactly what had been passed on to him. “He said it was a mystery to solve. It is difficult. But he is dumb,” Wolf repeated.

If this was how Wolf treated his good friends, Iliya sure as hell didn’t want to become an enemy. “We can’t go together, right?”

Wolf shook his head. “No.” He had an expression on his face that was inscuitable to Iliya. “If I pass I will come find you. I would like to play more games with you.”

Warmth rushed into Iliya’s cheeks. Not only did Wolf assume he would pass the next game, he wanted to continue working with him! “I’m sure you’ll pass,” Iliya tried to assure Wolf.

Again, Wolf shook his head. His dark hair shifted with the movement, revealing an eyebrow piercing Iliya hadn’t noticed before. Iliya suddenly felt a bit more self conscious. He wasn’t exactly someone who could be called cool, with his oversized sweaters, video game habit and obscene hours spent studying. Wolf though, he was cool.

“I’m not very good at puzzles,” Wolf admitted. So even Wolf had something he wasn’t good at. It made Iliya feel a little better about himself. He also felt the beginnings of worry rise up his throat.

Iliya wanted to offer some comforting words, but he didn’t know how. “Well if your dumb friend could pass, I’m sure you can too.” Iliya offered with an awkward smile.

Wolf looked down at his hands and snorted. “Thanks,” he said, sarcastic. He looked back up with Iliya. “And you avoided my question.”

His question? Oh, the one about working with him. “Of course I’d like to work with you,” Iliya blurted out, louder than he intended. “I think you’re so cool!” Oops. He did not mean to let that bit out.

But it was worth it. A small smile creeped on to Wolf’s lips, and his eyes lost some of that expressionless, cool sheen. It was nice, Iliya thought, how Wolf was starting to open up to him.

“I’m glad.” Wolf said, smile growing into something sweet and lopsided. They passed the rest of the morning in a comfortable quiet until Wolf finally had to go to work. Iliya took the rest of the day off to decompress.

The next day, he began his final beginner’s challenge.