Chapter 20

Problem Solved

“What is this?” Elsie’s brows curled in puzzlement and Rio and Matt got curious so they also peeked in.

“What are those words?”

“What are those words?”

The two looked at each other as the same words came out of their mouths at the same time. Then they did a loud hmp with each other and continued to check the list of words.

At that, Anna came back and handed Matt his glass of water. Matt received the glass and in his place, Anna squeezed in on the two.

“What are these words?” She asked.

“It’s something I picked up in the internet.” Rex answered. “I was looking for treasure maps so I tried to surf the net and then I came across this weird rumor and tried to investigate it. So when I heard Matt earlier…”

“Ah!” Matt let out a sound as if he had realized something. “So…oh…I see…from the sound of it, you seem to be a Book Gamer.”

“Book Gamer?” Anna asked, tilting her head. And even Rex wasn’t familiar of the term.

“These are gamers who first plan how they are going to play the game.” Matt lent an open hand as he started to explain. “Usually these are gamers that first research the game, write down their strategy plan, then adjust on that plan according to how they have decided to play the game. But this list…Dex, are you perhaps already playing Terroa?”

“Oh…well I‘m…ah…” On that short pause, Matt had a strange glint on his eyes before a victorious smile emerged on his lips.

“Oh no.”

“Not again.”

Elsie had the narrow eyed expression looking at Matt while Anna kept on staring at the list of words. When Matt got close to Rex, he had his hand lowered to him in a way that made him look like a prince reaching for a weakened knight.

“Dex, if it is possible…would you like me to be your private engineer?”

“Engineer?”

The term itself sounded fresh but it was not new since Rex himself had been called like that by the NPC shop keeper.

Engineers are the newest trend of players in Terroa. Swordsmen, Mages, Archers, these are all the classes that’s already been tried and tested throughout the gaming generations.

But no other game except RPG: Terroa had actually given players the freedom to wield and create their own specific weapons. In that regard, the versatile weapons experts (players with 2 or more weapons) are officially called Engineers. And Engineers aren’t only limited as fighters.

Though it was given that there is no smith job in the game, but once a player created a weapon from the NPC shops, then automatically, he can always sell that weapon. Thus, business and Arms Trading are made.

“Don‘t listen to him!” Rio interrupted. “I‘ll engineer your weapons! What type of fighter are you? Are you a hyper melee? A ranger? A Wizard? Or all of it?”

“Heh! As if your designing skills are in par with mine? All you can do is design basic functioning things that can be made by everyone.”

“Hey! Not everyone can use my designs!”

“Oh yeah I forgot, they can be made by everyone but no one can use them!”

“Compared to yours! Not only they‘re exclusive for melee fighters, the materials for them are all too rare to a normal hunter to find! In short, they‘re a lot worse than my designs!”

“Correction! Not worse…SUPERIOR!”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

“Yeah because you‘re the first and last customer you ever had!”

“What?! And have you had your own customer?”

“…”

“Thought so.”

“Oh you two…you do know you’re both on the same boat there, right?”

“…”

Rex honestly had a laugh on that one. When was the last time he had these kind of people around? He can’t actually remember. But he honestly knew he missed it.

Elsie saw him smiling with her comment and so did an open gesture of gladness, “So what about it? You can go from both of them you know. We’re all in the same party and all of our equipments are made by these two.”

“Really?” Rex wondered honestly.

“Yup.” Rio answered him. “I specialize in ranged equipments.”

Then Matt interrupted. “I can create awesome melee weapons! My motto is ‘Strong men use the sword!’.” which made Rio glare at him again.

“Heh! You mean suicidal men use swords!”

“But cowards use ranged weapons…”

“What did you say?”

“You heard me!”

As the two started to quarrel again, Elsie put an immediate stop to their developing tension.

“You two, both your equipments are superb, okay, but if I should honestly put my thoughts into it, no offense, but your designs are really not only expensive and the materials very hard to gather, but it‘s also not meant for beginners. Not even for intermediate users.”

And so the verdict was given and peace came.

“Wait. What do you mean by that Elsie?”

“You mean to their designs?”

“Yes.”

To Rex’s fast inquiry, Rio and Matt’s attention was abruptly caught. They looked at him and studied his expression and from that honest curiosity alone, it was enough to make them smile. But then, there was a feeling alongside with it. A feeling that felt so deep, it seemed…sadistic.

Even so, their happiness to learn that he is interested were enough to overcast the doubts. The two’s eyes had a strange glow that could only be directed to a certain enthusiasm: Gadget Freaks.

“So what are your preferential?” Matt asked.

“Tell me your style, I‘ll get right on it.” Rio adds and the two’s eyes were filled with life, different from when they are fighting with each other.

Rex was overwhelmed by their spirit that their faces were too close to him, overshadowing his entire being.

But then, a joyful sound like a TING! came from the youngest of their group and they all looked at her with a look of bewilderment. Anna, however had just realized that she was missing out of something.

“What?” She could only say.

Matt walked towards her and checked where her attention was all these time. “What were you doing?”

“I solved the puzzle.”

“Huh?” Rio tilted her head in confusion.

“What puzzle are you talking about?” Elsie inquired.

Then Anna took the holo panel as if a thin solid paper and flipped it to show its contents.

“I solved your puzzle Dex.” She innocently said.

“You can‘t be serious…right?” Rex was skeptic. He had spent weeks over it, over a hundred ways to solve it, hours of concentrated attention, but once, he never got ahead of those endless words. So of course, Anna, in just a few minutes, solving that puzzle that no one else had ever done, it just sounded really impossible.

“No.” But her face was really serious. “Look. It has this repetitive message.”

“What repetitive message?” Curiously, Rex snatched up another browser and saw what magic Anna made and true enough, his eyes widened in surprise.

“It really is a repetitive message.”

In truth, all Anna did wasn’t much. Since the words were already stacked together, top to bottom, beginning from the earliest to the 305th word, what was left for her to tinker was just to circle out all of the first letters of the words. Thus, a repetitive message is revealed.

Rio and Elsie was also in shock. Of course they will be. Anyone will. It’s because from just a first glance of those words, there’s already the head-aching impression of a puzzle. But then Anna…in just those short time, she actually managed to solve a puzzle without so much as a single clue.

“The answer was there all along!” Rex shouted in delight as he clenched his fist. In his happiness, he shook Anna’s hand that almost tore up her shoulders.

“Wait, Dex, why are you so happy?”

“Yeah. Is that puzzle really that important to your game?”

Rex could only look at Rio and Matt with surprise as he had failed to hide his excitement. Too late for any kind of cover up, and so he had no choice but to create another lie to cover a lie.

“Ah well, you see, you know that my parents are dead, right…?” The four exchanged glances and they all nodded. “And you know that I am like this, under the care of my guardian, right?”

Again the three girls nodded.

“So?”

On Matt’s prompt, Rex took a deep breath and let it go in a long sigh. When it seemed that he had built up the right atmosphere, he said, “I have a younger brother, he‘s the only family I had left. Our guardian is not a relative and so if you can imagine my situation, I know you will come to think that someday, I will have to repay that man of all the money he had spent on taking care of us. And since I don‘t have money, I could only go for a living by selling treasures.”

“I see.” Matt nodded and the three girls looked at him while waiting for a reply. “Basically, what you‘re planning is to sell whatever this puzzle may lead to, a treasure, right? But Dex…solving this puzzle doesn‘t make any sense. I mean…Find The Providence? What does that even mean?”

“Everything, Matt, everything.”

“A jump board?”

“Precisely!”

Seeing the determined look in his eyes, what ever the words they all wanted to say vanished in the blue veil of resolve. They can feel a deep emotion coming from the eyes of the man. Is that why he kept on standing?

Is it the reason why he felt so distant?

As different thoughts started to swell in their minds, questions also started to rise. But then, there is that one thought that they all wanted to confirm and basing from what his reply going to be, it might actually affect the bond they were just starting to create.

But them, as young adults, doesn’t have the guts to ask away. All of them, except Anna.

“But Dex, where‘s your brother?”

Rex widened his eyes in surprise to her question. He averted his gaze from her and clenched his fists. It trembled on his lap and caused Elsie to worry, even Matt who seemed to be carefree and headstrong saw the strikes of sadness in his eyes. So he pulled Anna closer and shook his head to her bewildered expression.

“Well, I‘m not really good at talking about him yet.“

“I see. I‘m sorry if we asked.”

Rex shook his head, but then when he looked at the browser window again, his mood lightened up.

“Well, anyways, I‘m surprised to learn you were also a player of Terroa. Would you perhaps like to join us?”

On Matt’s attempt to change the mood, Elsie also had a guess that it might work and so she nodded and pitched in her own words. “Yes! Would you like to? We play only for fun and adventure. We don‘t actually care about other guilds and such.”

“What‘s your goal in playing the game?” Rex asked.

The four exchanged glances, then, Rio took a piece of metal, Matt showed his muscle, Elsie stood up with both hands on her waist, and Anna looked afar. All of them were in their pose as they all said, one by one:

“My goal is to become the best enchanted weapon‘s inventor! I will use modern technological designs using magical runes and functioning as magical artifacts!”

“I want to create the best and the strongest weapon of destruction! Bwahahaha…”

“I‘m just here to heal them. As long as I am alive, no member of this team shall die.”

“I love Hawkeye of the Avengers so my goal is to be like him. I will be the best sniper in the game!”

Rex could have laughed them off but seeing their face full of life and energy, he couldn’t pull himself to do so. More like, he was drawn to their passion so much that he thought that he could trust them. Maybe.

“What about you?” Matt suddenly asked and Rex was taken aback.

“Me?”

“Yes. Are you really only looking at Terroa as some kind of money making game?”

Money making game?

Somehow, Rex was hurt by those words. He didn’t know why or how, but he felt emptied of all his safety belt when he pondered on that one question. What was that? He don’t know the answer. Somewhere on the line while thinking about this puzzle and to how much he can make from selling off excess treasures he can find, he lost the answer to that question.

—No.

More like, there is only one answer to that question.

“Yes.” He answered with a hollowed expression. “I don‘t have anything else of use for Terroa.”

On that answer, the dark veil of emptiness shrouded the face of the four visitors. Seemingly feeling the awkward tension, Matt was the one who patted Rex’s shoulder while saying, “It‘s decided then. You‘re coming with us.”

And the four stood up, leaving Rex. “Wait! What is that? What do you mean?”

And when the four of them were already at the gate, Matt leaned back and told him casually, “Just exactly what you heard. We are all from Central Continent. Are you somewhere close?”

“Aarun.” Rex shakily said.

“Alright. An hour from now, let‘s meet up in the central plaza of Aarun, near the fountain.”

“W-Wait! I haven‘t said yes to anything!”

“You don‘t have to. As friends, it‘s all we can do to cheer you up. Oh, and also, eat plenty. We might hunt for the whole night.”

And then Matt left with them while wearing a wide grin. Rex was still standing, trying to decipher what had just happened. While the floating holo panel in front of him had the words that Anna had just solved, Rex was thinking of the lingering presences of his visitors.

Friends.

He was sure he was called like that. Since when was the last time he called anyone a friend?

He can’t remember.

And as he slumped back to the bench, the smell of Afritada entered his nose. And as he looked to the right…he commented upon himself.

“Weird…I‘m smiling…”