Chapter 23

This time Leonel was calling via the games messaging interface, which incorporated real-life phone numbers to enable your friends and relatives to call you when youre both playing in the game.

Rens heart thumped once more, and he answered the call with jumbled thoughts.

Ren! Where are you? Im already in the game. Are you here yet?

Ren cleared his throat and said, Yeah. Im at Euclid Village.

Huh? Theres another village? Im at Ironto village. Where is this? asked Leonel with a scratch on his head.

Ren sighed. Yep. Leonel didnt change. Not one bit. There is. There are hundreds of newbie villages, and the one youre in is miles away from me.

Oh, no! Does that mean we cant play together?

Just wait there. Ill go to you via the Teleportation Crystal.

Teleportation Crystal? Whats that?

Ren sighed, and he shook his head. Leave it to Leonel, who didnt read even just one paragraph of the guide. He was the type of guy that would venture into the unknown unprepared and enjoy the thrill of the surprised.

While I hate surprises.

Ill explain to you as soon I get there. Dont leave the village and wait for me.

Alright. Hurry. Others are already getting firstbloods here and there. Were already soooo behind!

Ren ended the call and hurried to the entrance of Euclid Village. Along the way, he even spotted Silvia entering the village, and he unconsciously avoided his eyes even though Silvia couldnt recognize him.

The woman didnt even bother to spare him a glance as she zoomed past him and went straight to a woman with pink hair tied in twin buns standing at the side whose beautiful face was coated in worry. She looked lost from how her head was moving left and right while her blue eyes shook like she was about to cry.

And based on her get-up, white Robes, and staff, she was a White Mage.

Pamela!

Ren heard Silvia say before he went out of the village.

Pamela. Ren thought. He knew who she was. She was Silvias best friend. Whether in the game or real life, the two were often seen together.

Ren shrugged the women off his mind. He would retrieve his hundred dollars from Silvia once he made an account with New Era tomorrow.

Ren placed his palms on the Crystal post glowing at the entrance of Euclid Village. A warm light enveloped his palms, and the game automatically saved his stop. So that if he died unexpectedly, hed be resp.a.w.ned to Euclid Village.

The game system listed the available newbie villages, and Ren pressed [Ironto Village] before being engulfed with blinding white light.

When he came to, he was at the entrance of Ironto village. The newbie villages all had the same NPCs and quests, so Ren didnt bother with the NPCs here and went straight to Leonel with shaking steps.

Along the way, Ren thought of Leonels cla.s.s. A Dwarf Defender. The only Race that was a tank cla.s.s. And due to the dwarfs short height and robust physique, not many took this Race. Not to mention that no one wanted to be a Tank. A cla.s.s with a lot of responsibility on the front lines and often the blame in a group but none the fame.

Due to this, Dwarf Defenders were rare and sought after by guilds, especially skilled ones. More so than an attack cla.s.s. But since Leonel was just playing for the fun of it, he was left behind by the others, and no guild wanted to take him in because he himself didnt know his skills nor what a Tanks main responsibility was.

Leonel just wanted to be short, so he chose the Dwarf Defender on a whim.

Ren slightly shook his head and chuckled.

No matter. He would make sure to personally guide Leonel to become the greatest Tank there is in the world of ARCADIA.

There were many scenarios in Rens head as to what his and Leonels encounter would be like after ten years of not seeing the guy. But Ren never would have thought that the first thing he felt upon laying eyes on his best friend was . . . dread.

The excitement and happiness he felt all took a dive at Leonels appearance. Leonel took the short height of a Dwarf and its robust physique, but his good looks didnt match the Dwarven Race at all. Not to mention that he added a thick beard on his baby face that only appeared like it was pasted on his lips and jaw.

All pa.s.sers-by were looking at him while holding their laughter. But Leonel was indifferent to it all. He just stood there, blue eyes s.h.i.+ning, face beaming with excitement.

Ren was about to turn back when Leonel spotted him.

Ren! Ren! REN! Leonel waved his hand and jumped on his toes.

Upon Leonels voice, every attention flickered at Ren, and the latter could only lower his head and look at the ground in hopes that everyone wouldnt see his face.

Man! What took you so long? Leonel said, grinning from ear to ear. He then twirled front and back, left to right. Look at this! I really became short! Now everyone has to look down on me while I dont have to be wary if I step onto something anymore!

Rens face was indignant, and he asked with a monotone voice, Leo . . . why did you add a beard?

Eh? This? Leonel rubbed his long thick beard, chest forward, beaming with pride. As a Dwarf, you have to have the beard. Its a staple for this Race! Dont you know? And here I thought that you know everything!

. . .

He then winked and posed in front of Ren. Does it look good on me?

. . . Ren wanted to whack his head. But only managed a wry sigh.

This was also Leonels past appearance, but Ren didnt care at that time.

Ren thought that something would change in this time due to him making ripples with the events and really thought that Leonel wouldnt choose a beard in this timeline, only to be left disappointed.

Leonel was actually a good looking guy, but due to his weird taste and . . . even more bizarre mindset, girls distance themselves from him.

Saya and Mike said that theyll enter the game tomorrow. And they wanted us to accompany them buy their gaming pod.

Rens heart thudded hard against his chest.

Have you received their message to meet up at Highland Mall?

Ren shook his head. I didnt check my phone.

Leonel placed his hand on his hips. Ill be flying to Zone A tomorrow, and they said to meet up for lunch. Then we can enter the game together after we finish buying their gaming pod!

. . . Ren didnt speak. If he did, hed only disagree with meeting with Saya, and Mike and Leonel would never stop asking why.

In this timeline, the four of them were still close.

Leonel didnt overthink Rens silence since he was indeed a quiet guy, to begin with.

Ren, lets go! Lets do some quests together. Leonel grabbed Rens hand and pulled him to every NPC he saw.

This was also the reason why Ren didnt do the normal/errand quests in Euclid village. He wanted to do the quests with Leonel so he wouldnt suspect that he entered the game way before him.

In the end, Ren still became an errand boy for the NPCs together with Leonel.