A door was knocked. Lautiria, who was reading a book, glanced down over the fence of the second floor. Both of her eyebrows raised up since a guest wasn’t something she actually received while staying in this temporary house.

Yaereene, who also had the same thought as her master, stood in front of a bookcase. She stared at the front door. It took her a few seconds to ran over to the door and opened it up.

“You?” said Yaereene with her eyes kept blinking rapidly.

Kevin stood in front of her with a smile, while behind him, Streev peeked out to the side.

“Hamastra?” Yaereene was confused, seeing a Hamastra tagging along behind Kevin.

“Hi, can we come in?” said Kevin.

Yaereene stood there staring before the voice of her master reached out to her.

“Who is it, Yaereene?” asked Lautiria standing behind the second-floor fence.

“It’s the human and a Hamastra,” said Yaereene.

Lautiria’s eyes narrowed. Kevin was the least she expected to see in front of her doorstep.

“Let them in,” said Lautiria.

Yaereene invited the two in. She looked around for a while as the house never had a place for guests. It was more like a library filled with books and research documents.

In the end, the duo sat on a chair. Kevin was leaning back while Streev sat with his back straight with both his hands on his knees.

Streev couldn’t help but keeping his eyes straight on the floor. He had never been to an alva’s house before.

Lautiria came down the stairs eyeing these two guests of hers. Yaereene prepared a seat for her master, and Lautiria took her seat. She glanced around the duo.

“To what I owe this sudden visit?” she asked.

“Before that, I’ll like to introduce you to Streev, a friend of mine,” said Kevin.

Lautiria took a glance at Streev with her chin a bit tilted upwards. Then she looked back at Kevin.

“So?” she asked.

“I want to ask for your help,” said Kevin.

Lautiria frowned.

“You do know I am already tied with what you had asked last night,” said Lautiria.

“Hmm, then you wouldn’t mind if I ask for Yaereene’s help?” Kevin turned to the disciple who stood behind Lautiria.

“Eh?” it caught her off guard.

It didn’t take long for the master to agreed as the experience from last night still haunted her mind.

“Yaereene, attend to his wishes,” Lautiria stood up, leaving her dumbstruck disciple behind.

“Wait, Master…” her words fell silent, seeing her master had given up on her. She still couldn’t forget the thing that they had done to Kevin last night, and she didn’t want to be involved with whatever Kevin was planning until their scheduled time during the night.

“My body still feels weary, I need rest, my disciple,” said Lautiria. A blatant excuse just to avoid Kevin.

The lost expression on Yaereene turned into a glare. She was cursing at her master deep inside.

In the end, three people were walking side by side with Kevin in the middle.

“Where are we going?” Yaereene asked.

“That’s what I’m about to ask,” said Kevin.

“What?” Yaereene didn’t even hide the apparent frown on her head as it was utterly ridiculous to her ears.

“Do you know any place with a high-concentrated amount of mana?” Kevin asked.

“You are searching for a mana node? Said Yaereene.

Kevin nodded. Back in the game, the term mana node was also used. He thought it would be different in alva’s term, but it was the same.

Her gaze focused at Kevin as she wondered why he was searching for such a location.

“Do you know any near the city?” he asked.

“I have to inform you, heading to a mana node is dangerous. Unknown to you, it’s a favorite spot for monsters,” said Yaereene, “and compare to the usual, the monsters who live there are more powerful.”

A direct warning to the clueless Kevin, or so thought the alva maiden.

Oh, I forgot about that. In the game, higher level monsters use to inhabit those kinds of places.

“It’s fine, we’re just going to visit the edges,” said Kevin.

Yaereene sighed as she just accepted the fact that this human was a foolish and crazy one. At least she had done her part of warning him.

“Mr.Kevin, are you sure about this? The gracious lady said it’s dangerous,” said Streev.

Even though Streev was striving to be a knight, he still couldn’t shake off the fear. He was paled with his eyes frozen open. He didn’t think Kevin would lead him to such a dangerous path.

“Get it together Streev, a real knight won’t back down over a simple fear,” said Kevin as he flashed a smile at the frightened little Hamastra.

The mentioned of a knight suddenly bolstered Streev’s will to continue. Clenching his fist and teeth, Streev made up his mind.

“I will follow you, Mr.Kevin!” Streev shouted.

Yaereene, who saw this, shook her head side to side as she glanced at Streev.

This Hamastra is quite efficient in his Alva. He might have a bright future if he pursues the path of diplomatic relations. But alas, the war is raging, and now he succumbed to the devilish whispers of this human. I pity him. Thought Yaereene.

The trio walked out of the safe perimeter of Edelstein. They were now walking through a huge tunnel with a high ceiling.

“Woah,” said Kevin.

“This is one of the underground tunnels we found, some of its path leads to the surface while most of them are dead ends,” said Yaereene.

“Are they any monsters?” Kevin asked.

“There is, but they are low level, and it would not be a problem,” said Yaereene.

Let’s try not to kill one. I can’t pursue my ideal plan if I start leveling up now.

“The mana node?” Kevin asked.

“This way,” said Yaereene as she led the group.

Streev, who buckled himself up, was still fearing for the unknown. He stuck close to Kevin, with his eyes shifting side to side.

Kevin too gulped down a mouthful as getting out of the safe zone for the first time was rather exciting in a way. Different from the day he encountered a huge boar and a boulder troll, he just hoped that the one he would accidentally meet wouldn’t be that vicious.

Yaereene led the duo to a forked path. She proceeded to the right with no hesitation. She had been through one of these tunnels along with her master for research purposes. It amazed Yaereene of how diligent her master was, even when they were in a state of running from their enemies.

Then her eyes opened wide.

“Step back!” she said.

Kevin and Streev halted in their steps as their heart started beating like mad.

A pitbull-sized ground beetle came dropping from the ceiling and flew towards the group. The buzzing sound of its wings bounced back within this tunnel, echoing in Kevin’s eardrums.

A coal beetle?

After realizing that this world was the exact imitation of the game he loved, he finally saw the familiarity in the pixel three-dimensional creature to a real one. He didn’t see it with his eyes and mind when encountering the huge boar and the boulder troll, but now he was able to.

He was smiling despite the rapidly beating heart. A calm and clear mind could do wondrous things in letting him seeing it at a different angle.

Streev, on the other hand, had his body already turned halfway towards the back while his eyes lingered at the sight of the incoming coal beetle.

Yaereene was calm as she took two pieces of rods from the back of her belt. She connected the rods together as it formed by itself into a bow with a string twirling itself attaching to the other end on its own.

Kevin’s smile turned broader, seeing the interesting mechanism of the bow.

I didn’t think an acolyte would use a bow, or is she not a normal acolyte?

While Kevin questioned Yaereene’s class. She, on the other hand, pulled the bowstring as mana started to concentrate on the bow. A white-yellowish arrow was formed as Yaereene uttered.

“Light Arrow,” she said.

Her fingers let go of the string as the illuminating arrow flew in the air. The erratic flying pattern of the coal beetle was read by Yaereene as the arrow struck right at its head.

The coal beetle dropped on the ground as the momentum slid it further towards the trio. It stopped inches away from Streev. The poor Hamastra was about to run, but he froze at the last second.

Streev stood still staring at the dead coal beetle that laid right in front of him. It looked big in comparison as he was a lot shorter than these two companions of his. It wouldn’t be odd for him to be scared at this coal beetle.

Then he felt a touch over his shoulder. He turned and saw Kevin smiling at him.

“Relax, this is just the first one,” said Kevin.

“Y-ye-yes! Mr.Kevin!” said Streev.

“Let us go,” said Yaereene.

Yaereene led the group, and in time after a few more skirmishes with the common coal beetles, they finally reached their destination. Out from a tunnel, they came into a cavernous space with a high ceiling that was unseeable through the naked eye. The glowing moss was sparsely growing in this huge space, limiting their vision to an extent.

“This is the edge of the mana node,” said Yaereene. “I would hasten the pace if I was you.”

Kevin let the subtle warning slid as he had other interests in mind. His eyes wandered around the dark cavern space. He didn’t detect any sort of hint for this place to be a mana node. But since Yaereene the alva had spoken, he might as well put his trust on her.

“Okay, now we can start,” said Kevin as he bumped his fist at Streev’s shoulder, which only increased the confusion of the Hamastra. Fist bumping wasn’t actually a thing in Dunia. Even Yaereene was scowling at the misunderstood slight aggression of Kevin.

“Miss, can you please sing?” he asked out of the blue.

The scowl on her face worsened. The audacity of this human to asked of her to sing was beyond ridiculous. Indeed, the alva’s voice were known to be elegant and soft with a perfect soothing tone. They were hardly any alva with a baritone type of voice.

“I beg your pardon? There is a limit in pushing boundaries human, and this is pushing it,” said Yaereene.

“Oh,” Kevin’s brows were raised. He didn’t expect there would be a problem in mere singing.

“Hmm,” Kevin was thinking, and then it took him a second for a reply. “Then if you do this, I’ll also help you to obtain Dunia’s Acknowledgement.”

With her arms crossed over her chest, she was frowning with her lips pressed together. She knew that this human was capable of doing what he had spoken but did she had to forsake her privacy just for the sake of an Acknowledgement?

She gritted her teeth hard as she took a leap forward.

“I will accept then,” said Yaereene.

“Ehem,” she prepared herself for what she was about to do. She took a deep breath, her lips started to part.

A melodious tune emerged from Yaereene’s mouth. She sang with such grace and poise as her distinct tone was dreamy in nature.

Kevin, who heard this for the first time, felt the difference between in the game and in real life.

Damn, this is way too different. I guess alva are pretty good singers.

Unlike Kevin, who was mildly amused with that little grin, Streev, on the other hand, had his eyes twinkling like the stars. He turned to Kevin and trusted the man even more as to his knowledge an alva’ singing voice was forbidden to be heard outside of alva’s special ceremonies and festivals.

I’m going to follow you forever, Mr.Kevin. Thought Streev.

While the lady was singing, Yaereene questioned herself why she needed to do this in the middle of nowhere, but then she felt something. She who had been singing with her eyes closed opened up and saw little orbs of lights floating around her.

These orbs were colorful, from a bright bumblebee yellow shade to a darker one like purple sangria. Yet the moment Yaereene stopped singing, these orbs started to fade away.

“Don’t stop, you need to keep singing,” said Kevin.

To his reminder, Yaereene followed without question. At this point in time, she too was curious about this phenomenon. Some would have feared this new occurrence but living long enough with her curious master, her master’s trait subconsciously stuck on her.

She went on and on singing until the dark cavern started to glow brightly.

“You can stop now,” said Kevin.

Yaereene abided to his command, and now her sight was attracted by these orbs flying around them in a rather interesting way. Her eyes narrowed down, trying to figure out what these things were, but alas, they were nothing but flying glowing orbs.

“Ow,” said Streev.

Yaereene turned over and saw Streev rubbing his head in pain. She tilted her head to the side, seeing these two people playing rock, paper, and scissors. She didn’t actually know what it was as she stared at these two playing the same game over and over again.

The one taking the bad end of the straw was Streev. He kept on losing to Kevin as he barely knew a thing about this sudden game proposed by Kevin. As he was forced to play the game, he received the brunt of Kevin’s finger flick at his forehead.

What was odd about this was each time Kevin won, the man would let a joyful shout expressing his happiness to the fullest.

“Yes! I win again, haha,” said Kevin.

Kevin was readying his finger for another finger flick at the unfortunate Streev. But deep down, he was urging those orbs to do something.

Shit, hurry up! I can’t stand doing this cringe thing over and over again. I’m bad at acting, and this game isn’t that fun.

Kevin’s laughter rang in the air as then something flew in front of him.

“Oh,” said Kevin, staring at the violet orb. To his expectation, the bright glow that formed the orb started to fade. The violet color focused at the center until it formed into a shape of a little human.

“It can’t be!” Yaereene, who had been criticizing Kevin in the inside, had her eyes wide opened seeing the thing floating in front of Kevin.

The orb fully manifested itself into a flying little humanoid with butterfly wings on its back. The little humanoid rolled in the air as it giggled at Kevin as the three of them could hear it loud and clear.

Yaereene rushed over to Kevin’s side as she stared at this jolly-looking flying humanoid.

“The fable fae, but… how?” she turned to Kevin staring at him with her gaping jaw.

Then another surprise came, and all three stared at the air in front of them.

Title bestow upon you

The First in the Millennium, The Discoverer of Fae.

“Mr.Kevin, in front of me, this…” Streev lost his words.

While Yaereene still couldn’t believe it. Kevin, on the other hand, was smiling from ear to ear.

"Look alive, there's more."