Chapter 21

The First Meeting (1)

It was still two hours inside the game for the planned meeting, Siva went directly to the old man’s shop.

“Hmm? Oh! It‘s you young man. Perfect timing. I‘m finished with the adjustments you wanted me to do. And let me tell you mate, these are the last adjustments we can give to your weapon.”

“Did the durability increase?”

“Yeah.” The old man scratched his nose. “I was sure surprised to learn that. Where did you learn that draping it with Cuar blood in the middle of forging will fortify the bond and strengthen the Heron bone material?”

“I read a lot of books.”

“Hahaha…good to know a lot of things eh? Anyway, I also happen to see a few adjustment slots in there after finishing your request so as a courtesy for a regular, I put on some personal touches of mine from the years that I‘ve been here.”

“Much appreciated.”

“Naaa, it‘s alright. Besides, with our last adjustments on this baby, it‘s now a unique C-Class weapon. Of all the weapon requests I‘ve seen, this is the first of its class so be proud of it, boy.”

“Thank you.”

Siva equipped the Cassius Clay and examined its now new form. It was smaller but had more durability, lighter, but definitely stronger, and its functions’ output were improved tremendously with the last adjustments.

By using highest grade C-rank materials, Cassius Clay had been improved greatly, it made him smile.

Then, when he examined the Ender, he was also pleased with the improved durability, sharpness, and the strengthened frame that corresponds with increase of damage output.

It was worth all those trouble he had against fifty or so top-rank C-ranked monsters.

But then, when he held in his hands his beloved very own uniquely designed, marvel of Terroa Engineering, Eibon and Steve —the Twin Guns, his happiness could not be put into words.

The black golden shine of Steve was as sinister as he last saw it and Eibon’s majestic silvery crimson color was as tantalizing to the eyes as it ever been. Both had been improved. Their barrels are sturdier than before, and in front of the muzzle was as an extension that gave the looks as if the guns were longer than their original designs.

But then he asked the old man, “Where is the thing you said you improved with your personal touches?”

Hearing him made the old man laugh. “Hehe, you‘ll know it when you feed manna into it.”

“Manna? But if I use my manna in the guns, doesn‘t that make me a magician?”

“Hahahaha…you‘ll see.”

Siva could only shake his head as he left the NPC shop and his next destination was the library. There, as soon as his feet landed on the solid ground floor of the building, his concentration on the target was eating up all of the other people’s attention.

Wearing silver polo, black slacks, and a white sword reversely stacked on his back with the scabbard (a pair of metal clip) on his left shoulder and the hilt on his right waist.

And when he finally got into the 4th floor, he did not let the female NPC finish her words as he instantly told her what book he wanted.

And then, in the fifth floor, facing the giant Book of Legends, he spoke up.

“Search: Providence.”

TING!

[No search results]

As soon as he saw the message, he felt that his world collapsed. No. He felt that it was understandable but it was still a shock. Of course the map to a treasure can’t be existing on the Book of Legends. It was a book older than the novel Clemente’s Demise itself. Even older than the generation at which the author existed.

But still, he tried to randomize the search.

“Search: Find The Providence!”

No results. He also tried to randomize the letters but still failed. And so, at the end of his two hour time before the designated meeting time, frustration and a big lug of disappointment had befallen on his shoulders.

There was no answer except for one.

“This is not a keyword in the Book of Legends, this is a message directly from the author.”

Yes. He could only think about that. The author was an avid supporter of the late Clemente. From the way the book was written, it was clear that he despised the rumors of his late great leader’s past. For him, it was a degrading conduct that he even noted in the end of his book that he will find them all.

For Siva, it doesn’t make any sense, but then for the author, it was his life.

Siva was frustrated over one thing, “Another dead end.” and this thought was making his hunger worse.

Outside the library, there were eateries lined one after another. It was as if the developers knew that users will always flock around the library and so they set up a whole lot of them to help users spend their money and make the company rich.

Siva had been spending a few of his breaks in here. He most liked one place where an old man was cooking a cheap set of food, foot long sausage between breads and burgers with drinks. It only costs 200Zentra but the flavor and satisfaction was enough for poor people like him. He chose to be one, despite his ability to give himself a better life inside the game.

And then, this particular day, the old man attending the stall tried to have the normal conversations he always had with Siva.

“You look disjointed.”

“I am?” Siva raised a brow while munching angrily at the foot long sausage burger.

“Yes you are. Something bothering you kid?”

“The Providence.” Siva answered nonchalantly. It was a famous trigger for a quest on most games. Once an NPC tried to have a conversation, it is sometimes a trigger to some quest. And if the player is lucky, he might end up with a high grade quest or mission.

But alas, the NPC said, “What‘s that?” with a very clear indication of bewilderment. “Well, whatever it is, I know you will find this thing or whatever it is.”

Siva shrugged and finished his meal. In the plaza, he sat down on the bench and waited for the familiar faces while wearing his cloak and a mask covering his face. In his back, the sword can be seen vaguely since the cloak does not actually cover up the whole body and the tip of the clip that held the weapon protruded.

His sitting in the plaza cross armed had actually been turned into a commotion. The cloak and the mask has been used too many times often and those who were familiar with it always bringing loads and loads of dead monsters in a tractor started the gossips.

At first the crowd was just a few hunters, but then as the minutes passed by, they became tens or maybe reaching hundreds.

Some people took pictures, some videos, but still, there are those who settled themselves on the exchange of stories while whispering with each other, not aware that they were actually worsening the situation. But then a louder commotion came from the direction of the gates. People were telling names and titles but Siva did never butt any care about it for he was too absorbed in his thoughts to be minding things.

And then as the commotion became louder, that’s where Siva saw Matt’s face protruding from the crowd of middle sized players.

Then he saw Anna, with her black clad armor that resembled Black Widow in the movies and Rio who actually looked like an old ideal witch in purple drab clothing and a large triangle hat that can shelter two people. They were all being followed by a priestess, who, in all respect, was so Elsie with her reserved and cowardly look.

Seeing them, Siva understood why people were there around them, flocking like ants on sweets. It’s because from the looks of their equipments alone, it was no doubt that they are high ranked players. That’s actually the first thing that Siva noticed. But for these men, well, we could only honestly say that Siva’s eyes aren’t for looking at women.

And so, Siva raised and waved a hand that instantly grabbed Anna’s attention. She ran over and jumped at Siva with no regards to whatever the other users around would actually say.

“W-wait…how did you know it was me?” Siva asks and Anna only smiled at him pointing at the bench.

“You always sit the same way in your house.”

“I see.” With a sweat rolling down his cheeks, the rest of the team was approaching one by one and Matt bumped fists with Siva.

“Sorry we took so long, we didn‘t use our teleport devices to get here. How long are we late?”

“One hour, fifteen minutes, thirty two seconds.”

“All because of Rio‘s wardrobe.”

“It was so fast and windy, it actually almost ruined my hair. Hmp.”

“Come on, I was looking forward to this!”

As Matt explained, Elsie and Anna told their whines leaving Rio pouting as she brushed her hair.

This group of five, without them minding it, had just became the center of attention in the plaza. First, there was the eye catching Rio, a witch by all respect. Paired with her large hat, her short skirt, high heeled knee long boots, short cape that looked like mini wings divided on her shoulders and flattering in the wind, and the face on top of it that gave the impression of the bewitching beautiful witch.

Second was the tall Knight beside Siva. Matt was the simple explanation of a Paladin, though he doesn’t look like he uses a shield but the Claymore on his left side is enough to give him the impression. His armor was not to be told of jokes since aside from its bright chrome shine, the material used by his armor set was that of an S-ranked monster. So with him and the people around him, carrying his helmet on one arm looked like a Car Racer after a great race.

Then there was the simple white beauty of Elsie.

Although she gave the impression of a priestess, her clothes are still made from high grade materials but the design itself was not inclined to a priestess. It was just her way of carrying herself conservatively that gave the impression of the job. In fact, in Terroa, a priestess is more properly called a Healer.

Since there are no actual Church Priestess in Terroa, those who take up the noble profession of healing other people are called Healers, wielder of the very useful but MNA-INT stats, and Slot consuming Healing Magic.

Lastly, there was Anna.

Anna actually looked different here than in the real world. In Terroa, she was now called Hawkeye, as she have previously announced, and she is a pure ranger.

Her equipment is a technologically advanced bow made by Rio at which, it has the ability to fire off light arrows, instead of normal arrows. It was a laser module, very expensive, detailed, and very rare. It was only a possible feat all thanks to a rare MOD they discovered in one of their adventures. That MOD recharges Energy of the user 25% every minute.

But since the Magic Ornamental Device landed on Anna’s hand, she gets the privilege to choose how she wanted to use the item. And thus, Rio created a weapon that can give emphasis to the MOD’s special attribute.

All in all, this group of three woman and a guy was a group known throughout the continent as [explorers].

These people were famous for being solid fans of adventures and sight seeing. They aren‘t weak and also slightly very strong.

They are famous adventurers because of new places they discovered, taking videos and pictures of it, then posting it on their blog site. In a way, they are also a bit famous on tourist users and that’s the reason why they are gaining this kind of attention. Not only because this four had uniquely strong inventions as their equipment, their fighting style was also acclaimed by others.

But then there was another kind of topic circling around their group. It was all going around Siva.

People were wondering why “The Volume Hunter” were talking with them and they could only blame it all on the rumor of VH’s next haul.

And so they closed in to listen on their conversation.

“Call me Siva here.”

“Alright.” Said Matt. “I‘m Volt.”

Then Anna, “Hawkeye.”

Rio was “Samara” while Elsie was “Agatha”.

“Really…Siva? I didn‘t know you had a thing for masks. What made you wear one?”

On Volt’s remark, Siva began to be anxious of his surroundings. He looked at the people’s faces, to the ones whose been gossiping around, and then to the ones familiar to him since they were following him around for the past how many hours.

“This crowd is the reason why.”

“I could say the same.” Agatha added and they all agreed to go to a restaurant.

In there, though the people were lessened, Siva was still reluctant on removing his mask. Though he had lowered his hood to reveal his long hair and his skin complexion, he was still unwilling to remove the mask.

They ordered some foods and for the next moments that they were gathered, the girls were already staring at Siva and his mask.

This annoyed him so much that he did not enjoy the foods he ordered. Then, when the conversation finally got into an awkward silence, that’s where they all put their gazes on Siva.

“So what‘s with the mask?” Rio asked.

“Yeah.” Elsie seconded. “I thought they were meant for the crowd. What does that mean?”

“These people are gossip mongers. So far, I‘ve made up some sort of story around these parts and if I reveal my face here…”

Samara stared at him then to the people around with her piercing, studying glance. And when he pulled it back, she said, “Your personal gaming life might get affected by the rumors they would create.”

Siva nodded silently.

“Well,” Volt clapped his hands. “That’s it for the introduction part. I think I should ask this now, Siva, in regards to that secret, what are you planning to do with it after you found it?”

“Sell it.” Siva answered. “Then find another one.”

The four visitors looked at each other and they all placed a single look on their faces as if they had landed on a single unified thought. And when Volt opened his mouth again, he looked as if he doesn’t care.

“Alright. I‘ve decided, we will go along with you.”