Chapter 14

~ Travonka ~

SW/SW/SW

“Sir, why are you hesitating?” a bespectacled woman enquired. “The CD contains advance coding has already been activated. We should capture him right this instant.”

The boss laughed. His warm voice hid his rotten ibtentions well. “Impatient now, aren't we? Everything isn’t ready yet. It’s just been three or four days since the activation. Besides, we should give him more time. He couldn’t possibly be an expert in such few days. Be patient.”

The woman sighed at her boss’ decision, but remained silent. She averted her eyes to the huge monitor on the wall and gritted her teeth.

It had Kail’s identity displayed on it.

0000

“Are you sure this is your first time playing online games?” Ace queried as they walked in the streets of Dragonis. Elvaria pouted, seemingly annoyed by the repeated question.

“I told you, dimwit! I have zero experience in games!”

“Well, surely you must’ve played one in cell phone…”

“No!”

“Then are you familiar with GeaOnline’s basic?” Ace sat on a bench near a fountain.

Elvaria crossed her arms and frowned, “Well, there’s this HP and MP. HP represents my health and MP my mana, whatever that is. Umm, so when my health reaches zero, I will unable to fight.”

“Right,” Ace gave her a genuine smile. “To make it simple, just take care not to let your HP goes below 50 percent or you’ll die.”

“D-Die…?” Elvaria’s expression was of a pure horror, “die? As in goes to heaven?”

Hearing her answer, Ace couldn’t help but laugh, “No, no. Alice told me that we’ll revive in Dragonis when we are defeated in battles. Unless we’re level five above, there’s no penalty in dying.”

“Pe… nalty?”

Ace nodded. “Yep. In RPG games, the penalties of dying usually involve EXP reduction, loss of items or even equipment. But in this game, it is EXP reduction.”

“…this EXP has something to do with level up, right?”

“Yeah. Once your EXP reaches a certain amount, you’ll level up and get stronger,” actually there was more to it, such as attributes, attributes potential, and such. Ace took it easy, however. Elvaria couldn’t digest so much information in a day.

Now that he thought about it, this game mechanism similar to those rogue-like games...

“I see. In short, I have to get stronger while keeping an eye on my HP, right?”

“Yep. That practically sums it up,” Ace nodded. “Are you ready to go to the Guild Hall?”

Elvaria smiled enthusiastically, “Mh-hmm!”

0000

The Guild Hall was a high-class place. Big, golden chandeliers hung above them, the ground was covered in thick, red carpet, and intricate chairs and round tables gave the place a sophisticated feeling. Everything was covered in rich golden and red colors.

Directly in front of the entrance was a square shaped desk with five NPCs behind it. Many adventurers swarmed the guild staff, ranging from newbies to advance-looking players. Ace didn’t know what they were doing, but assumed that they were looking for guild quests.

Ace made a mental note to talk to the NPC later.

Past the square shaped desk, there were four doors. The first one was decorated in golden banners, signifying the champion, while the rest was just given silver banners.

“Guild Hall?” Elvaria was in awe from the amount of players inside, “what is this place for?”

Ace knew sooner or later she’d ask something like that. “I’m new myself, so there’s a probability that my answer is wrong. From what I understood is that Guild Hall is a place to create a guild.”

“What is a guild?”

“In most games, guild is a place for people with mutual interest gather, like Warrior Guild or Mage Guild. Usually they have many quests for you, but in this game I’m not so sure. It may be different.”

They followed the dot in Ace’s map and climbed the stairs. The interior wasn’t any different from the one below. There were many doors inside, as well, but they didn’t have banners.

Ace approached a door that was labeled as Travonka.

“This must be the place,” he remarked.

“Wait, so we’re going to join a guild?” Elvaria tilted her head, seemingly confused. “What for?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m as confused as you are, but I think we should at least go inside. I’m sure there’re people who are eager to answer our questions. Besides, you could also get some help with this game’s mechanism. It’s worth checking out.”

Elvaria nodded, seemingly reaching an understanding.

Ace then used the key. The door was opened easily and they went inside.

Travonka Guild was a spacious place with decorations that screamed homey. The first thing they saw was a big, burning hearth. In front of it were comfy pink sofas, a chocolate table, and a rug underneath. There were paintings scattered on the wall here and there, but were placed in an orderly way.

Their sudden appearance shocked the only female mage in the room. She rushed to the two, asking, “Vho are you? Are you a new recruit?”

Wow, what a unique accent.

“Uh… no? One of your members gave us the key,” Ace answered truthfully.

“Vho?”

Elvaria opened her mouth, “A guy with dark-green hair. He was in white from top to toe.”

“Yep. If my memory served me correctly, his name was Lord_DPS,” Ace added.

The female mage nodded in understanding, “Oh, him. If he gave you ze key, he must’ve trusted you, huh?”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Ace frowned.

“I don’t know, but he haz ze eye to spot ze right person. I didn’t mean zat you vere untrustvorthy. Sorry if you misunderstood my meaning. By the vay, vhat level are you guys?”

“It’s embarrassing, but we are just starting out,” said Ace, glancing above her HP and MP bars to find her name.

She was called TongsisQueeN.

…another weird name showed up…

“Umm, what should we call you?” asked Elvaria nervously.

TongsisQueeN laughed like a villain in shoujou mangas, “Call me QueeN!”

“Eeh… I prefer Tongsis instead,” Ace interjected. “By the way, I’m Ace.”

TongsisQueeN had her arms folded below her bosom and gave each of them an appraisal look, “Ace, huh? Und you are Elvaria. Right, right. A Warrior and a Summoner, hmm? A vunderbar combo. I trust zat you know how to pull, Elvaria?”

The look on the elf’s face was priceless. Her eyes were staring blankly at the mage and her mouth was slightly ajar. A weak ‘eh?’ then came out from her mouth.

“You don’t know how to? You are… not online gamers, aren’t you?” QueeN leaned to Elvaria, who quickly shook her head. QueeN straightened her posture and sighed, “God… I zink DPS ist vrong this time. You guyz are complete noobs.”

“Noobs…?”

“Newbies. It’z kind of gamers’ slang,”

“It seems you are having fun, TongsisQueeN,” suddenly a soft, motherly voice joined in.

The three of them turned their heads to find a woman dressed in black. Her long, black hair was braided and reached to her lower back. There was a pair of black wings tucked behind her. She wore an equally black gown that hugged her figure. It wasn’t revealing, but still gave her an elegant look.

“Ah, Maria!” TongsisQueeN beamed.

“New members?”

“Nein. They said DPS just handed ze key over,” QueeN answered. Suddenly she looked at the newcomers, “Sie ist Maria, ze one in charge here!”

Maria arched her brows, “You should not confuse the new recruits, TongsisQueeN. I am the vice.”

“But it’z you who sorts out all ze guild’s problem, isn’t it? Ze Guild Master hardly does anything.”

“It is part of my job and I’d prefer you to not badmouth him.” Maria then focused her attention to Ace and Elvaria. Her eyes were closed the entire time and it was a wonder how she could perfectly see her surroundings well. “Excuse our ramblings. As TongsisQueeN mentioned before, I am Maria, the vice Guild Master of Travonka.”

She lifted a hand to touch her cheek, “Oh, dear me… if this was the real world, I’d have prepared you some snacks and tea…” her worried expression disappeared as she smiled, “but make yourself at home.”

Ace didn’t know why, but the way Maria spoke warmed his heart. He felt like he spoke to a loving mother. Did the lack of a motherly figure play a big part in this?

In any case, he wanted to know her better…

Spoiler: Status

AceKivras

EXP Chart*

Atk: 5

HP (180/180)

Level 2

227/765

Def: 3

MP(200/245)

Human

538 to lv. 3

M.Atk: 19

Eiredrahl the Impure*

Summoner

5 Coins

M. Def: 13

Independent

Minimum piety

ATTRIBUTES

POTENTIAL

Equipment

No perks or abilities*

STR

5

Worst

Head

Circlet

VIT

7

Bad

Neck

Amulet

DEX

7

Bad

Body

Robe

PER

8

Bad

Back

-

INT

18

Superb

Arm (main)

Staff

WIS

11

Best

Arm

-

WILL

11

Best

Waist

-

CHA

16

Superb

Legs

Pants

* (tap to see)

Feet

Shoes

(Help)

Skill

Description

Level

Healing

VIT

Lets you recover your HP over time

2.667

Staff

VIT

How proficient you are swinging your staff

2.098

Running

VIT

Affects your running speed

3.004

Light Armor

DEX

How effectively you act while wearing Light Armor

7.145

Evasion

DEX

Helps you to evade attacks easily

8.430

Casting

INT

This skill helps you power up your spells

5.610

Meditation

INT

Gradually recovers your MP

6.214

Herbology

INT

Lets you identify any herb to its fullest potential

6.078

Control Magic

WIS

Prevents your ally to get hit by your spells

2.819

Memorization

WIS

This skill slows down the decay of your unused skills

4.005

Literacy

WIS

Allows you to read more difficult spellbooks

6.175

Control Beast

CHA

Lets you control higher-level Summon Beasts

7.931