Chapter 51

~ Meeting Her ~

SW/SW/SW

The waiting room was more like a big tavern, complete with several alchemy stations and smiths in one place. The smiths were in the corner of the room and were packed with players who eagerly used them to manually enhance their weapons. Mithril and adamantite ingots were needed to upgrade a weapon by one level. Beyond level ten, however, the material was totally different. The higher the level, the harder it was to upgrade the weapon and here the blacksmithing skill played a significant role.

The tavern was quite merry as usual. Beverages were passed, clinks sounds were heard as the players toasted, laughter echoed—everyone created a relaxed atmosphere despite the fact that they were about to enter a big battle.

The waiting room door was never empty. In every one minute, there was always someone going in. Two high leveled warriors stepped in, merrily greeting the masses. The greeting was quickly reciprocated. A second later a shy mage trotted in, followed by a band of low-leveled players.

“I leveled up my spells just for this!” a blue haired mage exclaimed enthusiastically to his friend, who was eating the mouthwatering beef steak ala waiting room. It raised his maxHP and strength. “Just you wait, you scum! I’ll skewer you with my thunder spells!”

“I know. That stupid guild beat us to pulp in the previous battle,” his friend laughed heartily, stopping ever now and then to eat. “But today it’s different. I bought myself a premium greatsword for a payback time. We’ll kick their sorry ass and rank up!”

“Dammit, I can’t wait to beat them to pulp!” the mage lifted his fist in the air.

“By the way, how many Travonka members are participating? It was really a mistake to underestimate that stupid guild…”

“Not sure, but I guess it’s around 120.We lost in numbers, sure, but at least we’ve got ourselves pro players.”

“Just like the guild master.”

The mage nodded, “Yep, the guild mas—” his voice trailed off as he felt something weird coming closer. Suddenly he shivered, feeling scared. The back of his mind told him to run away from this place.

Laughter that had been echoing in the tavern gradually subsided as heavy clank sounds closing in. Waiting in a baited breath, no one dared to leave their sight on the door.

Then he appeared.

He was clad in a heavy, black armor. The cloak danced menacingly behind him as he walked, creating some sort of sinister shadow behind his already malevolent appearance. His hair, the same color of his armor, looked messy and the long bangs half-covered his right eye. A scowl, a sign of hostility, was plastered across his thin lips. There was no way this guy would smile.

His red eyes darted across the tavern, seemingly looking for someone, but then he took a seat in the far corner of the room. Arms crossed in front of his chest and a gaze directed to the outside of the window were all everyone needed to know that this man neither wanted company nor small talk.

“…BloodAce? Never seen him before…”

“…who’s that guy?”

“…isn’t that Azariel’s armor? How did he get that?”

“…it must’ve been a limited edition armor set, huh?”

The new face, BloodAce, did not seem to mind everyone whispering about him. He continued to gaze ahead, keeping his face free from any emotions. There was something off about him that everyone in the tavern could not name and it scared them a little.

0000

“Still suspicious of AceKivras?” Maria asked as they shared a comfortable silence in Travonka Guild Master’s Room.

Leaping out from his trance, DPS looked up to meet Maria’s neutral gaze and opened his mouth, “Always.”

It took Maria a moment to ask a question, “Why are you so interested in him? From the way I see him, he is just a normal player. Everything about him is ordinary. To put it simply, he lacks experience in online gaming. Why bother?”

“I don’t know. Something’s just off. I feel bad when I see him…”

DPS just could not shake that uneasiness ever since he had met Ace in that pond. He saw them, those visions, and they kept haunting him. He wanted to know what those meant at any cost. A part of him was scared, but his undying thirst of answer pushed him to stand tall.

“…how’s his progress, by the way?”

“He leveled up quite fast from the last boss battle. It was the Scylla Queen. I don’t know why my friend prefers that boss over the others. She doesn’t drop any equipment whatsoever and is quite unpopular with players, but I stayed quiet the whole time. I felt that it was impolite to ask.”

“For healing items, obviously. Her lair is full of intermediate healing potions and scrolls. What level is he now?” DPS leaned further against his comfy armchair like a boss he was, looking up at Maria who gave him an odd stare.

“You have your own guild member list. You can see it for yourself, can’t you?” Maria sighed but summoned her guild member list nonetheless. She just couldn’t get angry with him. There she typed AceKivras on the search bar.

…then confusion marred her beautiful face.

“What’s wrong?”

Maria put a hand on her chin and typed AceKivras’ name again. A second later her frown deepened.

“Hey,” DPS called, not too happy to be ignored.

“This doesn’t make sense…” Maria murmured, typing Ace’s name again.

The system showed error.

“…we don’t have a member named AceKivras,” Maria informed grimly. “I did add him and his name was on the list, but now it is gone. Can you take a look on your member list? Mine seems to be… bugged, I’m afraid.”

DPS sure took his time summoning his guild member list. His hawk-like eyes glanced through the list of names and stopped at a peculiar name.

Blood Ace Level Unknown Job Unknwon

“…do you know this guy?” it was the most obvious question DPS voiced right away.

Maria opened her eyes and was quite taken aback at what she saw.

“Know or not?”

“I haven’t added anyone by that name…”

“Then why is he a Travonka member? What’s this, going against the system by adding members behind my back?” DPS pressed further with a voice heavily seasoned with anger.

“DPS, I swear I don’t know!” Maria retaliated with the same force. “I’m proud of my acute memory and I don’t even recall inviting someone like him, much less inviting members without your approval!”

He pointed a finger at the name, demanding her answer as a guild master. “Then care to explain this? A stranger in our guild?”

Anyone couldn’t just ask for Travonka membership as they like. They had to be at least teamed up with him five or six times, during which he analyzed their personalities and playstyle before making the final decision. There’d always be one who charged rashly without regards of their teammates, or someone who prefer to watch their teams from afar, doing nothing. He wanted to make sure Travonka did not have rotten members.

When Maria went mute, DPS let out a sigh and stared at the ceiling. As far as he knew, Maria had no talent of lying, at least in front of him. If she said that she did not know, she really meant what she said.

…but who invited a stranger without him knowing?

He turned his head to Maria and spoke, “I’ll see if this guy is worth of Travonka’s name. If he isn’t, I’ll kick him ASAP.”

0000

Kail swallowed his nervousness as he made an entrance to the waiting room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and focused their attention solely on him, as if he was a truly exotic human being ever existed.

How he wished he could delete that stupid [Imposing] Perk. Everyone was staring. They did not even bat an eyelash either! His perk made him really impossible to ignore.

Kail took a seat far in the corner of the room, hoping that they would somehow pretend that he was not there, but it backfired. They whispered about him right in front of him, making a fuss about his appearance and identity.

Damn, how Kail wanted everyone to disappear. From the corner of his eyes, he could feel their intense stares. He did his best to ignore them, but the consciousness of being the center of attention elevated his nervous level.

Damn them.

He felt his nervousness level rising again so he crossed his arms and stared at the scenery outside. The tranquility of the garden gradually helped him relax.

There was a reason why he could change his name and hid his level. It was Etherios. Without her, everyone would’ve freaked out by now. He took a brief glance to the ring Etherios gave him and thankful that she had stopped him several days ago, right before the start of players raid.

0000

“Your Majesty,” a blue sentence materialized in front of him. Kail read it for a while and turned around to face the darkness, in where Etherios hid, once more.

A ring and a white feather appeared out of nowhere, hovering in front of his eye level. He took them in one hand, gently touching the feather as not to ruin the delicate thing. “…and these are...?”

“The ring is the one you requested a week ago, Your Majesty—the Ring of Personae. It will hide your identity as long as you are wearing it and the feather… it is a necessary item to summon me to your aid. No, please… don’t use it as a pen.”

Kail somehow felt that Etherios was rather… exasperated for some reason, but he quickly buried the curiosity. He did not know her well enough to ask.

“Hide how? Does it automatically change my name or something?”

A grey sentence appeared in front of him, “…sadly I do not know, Your Majesty. I have never tested the ring myself, but I do know that it will hide your identity. I have always been in this place as far as I can remember, only to venture out when the adventurers are attacking.”

Then it changed into blue, “As for the feather… hold it close to your heart and whisper my name. I shall respond to your calling, provided that I am free. I am not gods and I still have needs…”

Kail felt the sudden urge to embarrass her, “What kind of needs?”

A rather pinkish sentence appeared, signaling his success, “…n-not sex, Your Majesty… Basic needs such as hunger, thirst… You wouldn’t want me to reply you with my mouth full of food, would you?”

“What do you eat, anyway? Humans?”

“Gods heaven, no!” this time a red-colored sentence appeared, before changing into its usual blue color, “I do eat meat, but not human’s…”

Kail let out an understanding hum and stashed the gifts in his inventory, “My bad—I mean, sorry for the horrid joke. It was really rude of me. About these gifts… thank you. Now is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“No, Your Majesty. That would be all. If there is anything you’d need, just send me a message or we can talk via private chat.”

What the…? So this woman knew the existence of private chat? So that meant Hathor, too, knew about it? What a discovery!

“…right. I’ll be leaving, then,” Kail shook the disbelief out of his mind and turned around, ready to leave.

…as he walked out, little did he realize the movements of extremely long legs in the shadow of the cavernous room…

0000

As soon as he was teleported somewhere, he wore the ring before anyone could catch a glimpse on his name. The ring changed his name, but unfortunately hid his job and level. It would definitely make him stand out like a rotten tomato amongst a sack of grain. Well, whatever. As long as he could remain hidden, although not completely…

Didn’t he want to go home?

Yes, he wanted to return to see his sister and Alisa, and to escape the game where meeting Hilda/Elvaria would be possible. He hated that bitch. So hateful that he loathed to walk on the same soil as she was. But what can a pitiful human being like him do? He had only one life and he did not want to end up in jail because of her.

…but not in this place.

Kail’s eyes widened a little.

Yes, that was right.

In this world, he was not human anymore. He had power unmatched to normal players. His wealth was unlimited and he had everything to his disposal. He was strong, stronger than any other being. He was immortal, undying. Any death would grant him a new life.

…he was strong.

He was the pinnacle of power.

But why was he hiding? Shouldn’t he take off that ring and show it to the whole world that he was a human, trapped in the world of game? Why was he hiding? Was he afraid of being woken up from this utopia, in which he was the strongest, only to be reborn as a helpless boy in the other world? Was he scared of being compared to someone again? Was he tired of fulfilling his parents’ expectations?

…do I want to go home?

…or not?

He was utterly confused.

Suddenly a small window appeared in front of him.

[Your Beloved :3] wants to talk

Accept Reject

Ugh, that emoticon… He ignored that completely, in a dire need of distraction, and pushed the ‘Accept’ button. A breathless, needy alto voice greeted him immediately.

[[What are you doing in Dragonis?]]

[[How did you know?]] Kail asked back.

[[I can see your whereabouts clearly in the friend list. What, are you taking a walk? Isn’t that several continents away from here?]]

Kail opened his friend list to see several names in there, complete with ‘job, level, place’ columns. Hathor was in the very first list, with her location revealed: Floating Castle, Difterion.

So that was how she was able to find him.

Oh, but wait… There was a Relationship column on the very right on the table. His relationship with Hathor was 78 percent, while it was 91 percent with Etherios. He and other players did not have relationship level.

What was this, a dating sim?

[[…do you need something from me, Hathor?]] somehow Kail got the feeling that she wanted something… unusual.

[[I’m wearing panties right now.]]

[[…ah?]]

[[Don’t you want to see my perfectly glorious body? It’s a limited edition, you know, since I’m on my panties right now. These are quite expensive and I love the design, but I wish these were crotchless… Oh, but then again I can’t wear them during my monthly period!]]

[[…]] he knew that Hathor was clearly something, but she had always made him speechless.

[[Usually I don’t need my stupid underwear, but this is a special monthly occasion where I’ll be forced to wear one. I need something to attach my pad on. Changing it every three hours is so bothersome. Oh, by the way, do you want me to send you a pic—]]

[[…no, thank you.]] he interrupted.

[[Why? Do you prefer my breasts instead? I have hundred pictures of them in really, really stimulating poses. Ah, talking about this makes me so needy… I need cum…]]

This woman was in need of a brain surgery. All she could think about was sex.

[[This woman is mad. All she could think about is sex.]] It wasn’t him who spoke. It was Hathor instead!

[[How in the world did she know what I was thinking about?]] she continued, seemingly bored the more she spoke. [[Being belittled and insulted for so long gave me wisdom unattainable by mere means, Lord Husband. I know exactly what you are thinking.]]

This sent an alarming revelation to him. This woman was dangerous. One wrong move and he would lose control over her…

[[That aside, how are you feeling?]] Kail knew the tactic was cheap, but he did not care as long as he could steer the subject away.

[[Hmm, what a low diverting tactic, but I’ll play along with you. I am fine, thank you. My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, but I still have to drink potions every now and then. Ah, I wish I had a normal monthly cycle…]]

From the corner of his eyes, Kail felt a figure walking closer. It was a blur until Kail moved his head.

In an instant, there was a lump of dirt in his throat.

[[Hmm, why are you quiet? Is something wrong?]]

Standing in front of him was a familiar pink-haired elf with the same face as his sister. She donned a different light armor with intricate elven-style embroideries. A scabbard hung tightly against her left thigh.

“Is this seat taken?” she smiled at him, but it worsened his now foul mood.

It was Elvaria.