Chapter 15

That Short Encounter

Siva woke up and found himself on the same place where he last remembered he was. In the place where he lost his consciousness during the fight.

Three pairs of eyes were looking at him with worry, one was wearing a smile, surrounding him awkwardly.

“Yo monster.” Fuma greeted him briskly. “You‘re asleep for 2 hours. The system detected that you are really sleeping so it didn‘t log you out.”

“Are you alright?” Thorn asked the question.

Siva looked around and saw that the monsters he had wanted to gather have been gathered in one place and he looked at them with expression of apology.

“I lost it. I‘m sorry for troubling you.”

At that reaction, Thorn, who had his impression at him exchanged glances with Loni, and Henna, who was closest to him, gave him a drink that Siva gladly took.

“Why?” Thorn’s question made Siva stop. “We were wondering why are you going so far as to endure that much pain for just a game? Are you rushing to make money or to establish fame?”

Siva paused to ponder. Looking only at the glass of water in his hands, the fire that lit their surroundings had lighted up the solemn expression he wore. Loni and Henna stared at his face, wondering just what kind of memory those words triggered.

But then, Siva closed his eyes and when he opened it again, he was already wearing the solid expression he had when he was fighting the monsters.

“It‘s not something for you to know.”

Siva stood up. He gave back the glass of water and thanked Henna for the trouble.

He pushed towards the direction of the pile and checked the map he had bought from the shop to put a mark on his definitive location. Siva then summoned his truck from his inventory and this time, it looked like modern with a large legged machine to pull the weight.

“So that‘s it then?” Thorn exclaimed angrily. “Not as much as a thank you or an explanation?”

“I‘ve said my thanks and I apologized for the trouble I caused you, is that not enough?”

On Siva’s words, Thorn paused and pondered. He was taken aback by the truth on the man’s statement. If he were to point out what was wrong, that would be on his part because he went towards the wrong direction to where he should have gone through.

The lifting of the loot to the legged truck was as easy as it took for him to gather it. And at the middle of his activity, Loni finally spoke up.

“Wait, I have a…proposition for you.”

Siva looked at her and then to Thorn. His face wore full of irritation but the look of resolve in the woman’s eyes spoke of something else. Something he might regret if he didn’t listen.

“What is it?” He said and faced them. “Speak.”

Loni looked at her companions and paused to receive Thorns nod. When she finally got the strength, she told Siva the whole reason.

“We saved you from the big monster because we thought you can be invited to join us.”

Siva smirked and replied sarcastically. “You? You want me join you? What are you, a guild?”

“That‘s the plan.” Thorn butted in. “Look, I‘m sorry if my approach is bad but all I wanted to say is that, if it‘s possible, would you consider joining a party? Will you consider joining us?”

“No.” With no hesitation, Siva replied with a firm expression. “Firstly, I’m going to be your worst enemy when the time comes. Secondly, what I’m after is a lot different from what you guys want. I might look like a selfish bastard to you now, but my answer is no. I have my reasons so please, leave me be.”

“Then tell us.” Henna, butted in. Her face told Siva that she honestly just wants to know. “Tell us what your reason for going so far as to risk that amount of pain for just a game.”

On her words, a strike of pain draw from his face. It may have been just a moment’s surprise, but it did not escape Loni’s observant eyes.

Siva swallowed, turning his back on them. “It was a personal matter.” And he continued on his activity.

“If it has something to do with loot, we can always talk it over.” Thorn said and he offered an open palm.

The act made Siva thought of a business offer. It was an offer that he might not get ever again. Truthfully, he saw how these people fight, they are definitely strong.

To take on an S-rank monster with only four people, it would require not only skills and experience on high end combat but also equipments that offer additional stats and damage. And for one, inventing or even just the act of gathering the materials for an equipment that can defeat an S-ranked monster would take so many months, if not years.

But there is a strong shackle that he cannot, even just the thought, ignore. This shackle is holding him to the deal that he made with Augustus. And he himself know that even without his warning, he would have to deal with the deal’s rules his own way.

At this, Siva finally let down his sarcastic face and looked at Thorn with understanding eyes.

“I get what you are saying,” He said and showed the group his modified weapon. “Tell me then, if what you are saying is true. Then are you willing to give me all of the MODs you can get while I‘m with you?”

At those words, Loni’s expression changed but it was different than the expression her companions had when they heard Siva’s words.

“Your silence tells me that you can’t. See?”

“But…Destroyer,” Fuma cut off. “Sure its normal that you ask for any special compensation, but MODs, I think it‘s not something that we can give out freely.”

“I know.” Siva nodded. “Most players are like me, they want MODs so they can sell it for real money. Most of the users of Terroa aren‘t like the others that spend a lot of money for leisure. Like me, or maybe like you, I am not as rich as them.” And at this point, Siva’s face were painted with a painful expression. “I‘m here not because I wanted to but because I had to and one of my reasons for being here is for those MODs.”

Those words did not make any sense. As Siva turned his back to them and boarded his truck, Thorn and the rest were left pondering on the meaning of his words.

But the most disturbed of them all was Loni. She was staring at his back and was pondering on a thought she only had just a few moments ago.

Could it be?

So before Siva left them, Loni ran over and asked in a haste, “I want an honest answer, are you part of the masked organization?”

Siva’s eyes were wide in surprise but before he could let go of his mental rope, he said, “No.” and shook his head. “I will never be a part of such foolishness.”

And he kicked the accelerator that made the legged truck pull the cargo away from the place.

Their distance widened, Loni and the rest were left in a daze, trying to swallow the bad results of their bold move. And then, Thorn leaned back at them, his face in an expression that told them the open truth.

“At least we know he‘s not part of them.”

“But leader…”

“It‘s alright, Henna. I expected as much, Loni?”

“Yes. I think it‘s alright to gather everyone. We have to tell them about him. I feel that in the near future, his words are going to be some sort of warning to us all.”

“I feel the same.” As Thorn nodded, Fuma, Henna, and Loni also nodded in confirmation. Then, they each took out a Z500K worth quick transfer module and said the same words all at the same time.

““Alderney.””

And the stone disintegrated. All of them vanished in a bluish light that hugged them in the dark oblivion, and the moment they opened their eyes, they were already inside the city of Alderney, in the Northern Empire, a sovereign country under the flag of Splitzen.

***

Inside the game, a day spent is just 8 hours in real life. And so, Rex were brave to spend 36 hours straight inside the game. Each time he wakes up, his head is hurting. It is because for the past three weeks, he’s been doing nothing but hunting.

He hunts because he wants to get familiar with the world and its system. Even now, he was still in the part of adjustment. But unlike before where he felt dizzy after every dive, now, the headaches were lighter that it was almost non-existent. But still, the worst case is his right leg.

Every time he wakes up, his leg would always kill him. The pain of not moving it for 12 hours is pulling himself to his limits. But still, there was nothing more painful than the pain of not seeing Baron for the past three weeks. Even though Graham had said he could visit him, the doctors that were assigned to take care of his therapy are conducting it in the house instead.

He literally can’t leave the house.

Medicines were delivered by schedule.

The care taker are doing her job. The old woman was never a sociable person and so even though he tried to start a conversation, she would only agree with him and not answer back with enthusiasm.

Foods are also sort of in a diet. The stocks available are only good for two days. Milk is given to him once every week and so he had to conserve it for two days.

If he didn’t know, he was being given a message. In a businessman’s perspective, three months’ time before the initial investment’s profits come are a humongously long time than consciously waiting the day pass by.

He knew he had to hurry.

Searching the internet, he landed on some rumors of unsolved cases, mysteries, and folklores from the game that until now haven’t been solved. But then, the problem is their location.

Some are located in the North Continent, some in the East, then the closest one is on the South Territory, the Kingdom of Alexandria. There are also those from the Empire of Splitzen, and then in the Kingdom of Heroe, there was a rumor about the Gold Chariot of Eris from a group of adventurers.

Unfortunately, all of these rumors were all far away from him that it would take him not only vast amount of resources to get there but also large amount of time.

And so, he had no choice but to stick to the place he is close with. Aarun. In the South Territory, or South Dominion to some conservative adventurers, there are not that many known legends. Even if he did spend an entire day researching in the library, all he could land on are parts of history with no such unsolved rumors.

One day, in his frustration, all he did was to hunt and kill monsters. He had even made a name as “Masked Traveler” from the conservative players that see him in the road on his way to the city.

These users are always crowding over him, asking a few questions regarding how to hunt, why the monsters he brings had either crushed heads or missing eyes.

No cuts can be seen on his victims. And even if there are, it would only be a shallow one, made by a rock.

In the end, as two in game months passed by, alone, he made no progress on discovering what secrets he should be chasing after. His time is running out and he was in a panic. In his desperation, he even went to the Guilds and tried to ask for Quests and Missions but he only landed on the minor ones with E-rank. He did once get a D-rank mission but as soon as he completed it, he had nowhere else to go but to hunt again.

Missions were a lot different than Quests.

Whenever an NPC gives him one, it would always be inclined to hunting down specific monsters, there are times that it multiplied in numbers, but mostly, it’s just errands and personal matters of the NPCs.

He wondered if Fame had something to do with the NPC’s behaviour towards him or if he was missing a kind of key ingredient on getting a high ranked quest. In all his pondering, he always ends up investigating some of the information he received in the library and would always end up in a dead end. Eventually, the next two weeks were wasted like this, with only him gathering a few materials and resources, freezing them, exchanging money, killing monsters, and doing it again and again.

He had adjusted his Cassius Clay four times, giving it a lot of essential boosts and lowering its we. He even went as far as putting an accelerator on its function.

The boots were also improved and with a month’s worth of gathered materials and items, he spent it all to improve its durability and add a new function as far as it can go. This new function is the ability to use the compressed air as a means of an Air Jump.

He discovered a valuable information when he was talking with the NPC shop’s owner. In the city, he was the only one Siva had the good vibes to talk to.

The NPC shop owner told him that when he reaches the A-class fighter rank (players that can hunt A-rank monsters) he will be given the authority to hunt down rare ingredients for improving equipments. These rare ingredients are called Elemental Stones.

With the help of technology, right weapon design, and the right use of its elemental attribute, a weapon can be improved in such ways that it can also be lined amongst the ranks of unique equipments. This news caused Siva to feel excited. Still, he was a long way to go. With his current hunter rank of “C” which is in the mid-level zone, even hunting B-ranked monsters is going to be a whole lot of challenge.

Unlike the first three ranks of monsters, B-rank ones are almost three times as difficult as C-rank monsters.

Not only their sizes are different, but according to his general understanding, B-rank monsters have larger amounts of dedicated memory so their AIs are expected to be a lot fiercer and more savage than the mediocre monsters in C-rank.

Even him, with all his confidence and his boasts, is in a lot of thinking trying to enter the B-rank monster infested forest in the North Gate.

Siva was pondering inside the third floor of the city’s library, no books in hand, just using the silence to think clearly and concentrate more on what he had missed. In his mind, he thought of all the information he had been gathering until now. But an hour passed, two, three, no fresh idea came up in his mind and he was so frustrated that he hunted in the C-rank monster forest for the rest of the night.

When morning came, it marked his two months and three weeks since he’s been in Terroa.

Though there were still significant amount of time until his deadline, it was never in his nature to relax, not until he passed his requirements before the limit.

At that, he went upstairs to the fourth floor, wanting to unwind all his stress for a new start. Upon seeing the NPC woman with her smile, Siva paused again as he remembered the same dilemma he had been before.

And so he replied, “Clemente‘s Demise.”

He entered the fourth floor room, went towards the fifth floor and searched for the keyword he wanted to know the information of.

“Search: The Hero of Sparta.”

His search resulted in 355 items, all varying in the time scale at which he had heard the words.

It’s too many and too varied…not enough time.

“Redefine search. The death of the Hero of Sparta.”

This time the search even became 509 items. It was clear that there are more news about his death than the time when he was alive. It was somehow a punch to his chin if ever his descendants were aware of this. But to Siva, it was an unnecessary information.

At that moment, the commander of the SWAT team posted in the fifth floor to guard the Book Of Legends came and ignored the players that was looking at the giant book.