219 Ally?
“I’ll consider it. I can’t give you an answer right now. The guild alliance system in this game is a bit complicated and the members of Everlasting should know about your request before I accept or reject it,” Hiro said, giving an explanation that was quite reasonable and acceptable to Ace and the others who had put their hopes in him.
“But, don’t worry. When you are in danger, you can contact us at any time. Because after all… one of the visions of Everlasting’s mission was to eliminate those terrorists and create a safe game world.” Hiro explained, nodding confidently.
Ace put on a smile. At a glance, he looked disappointed, but he couldn’t blame Hiro for the rejection he just got. For the first time in his perfect life, someone simply rejected him.
“Okay, I’ll wait for your answer,” Ace said in understanding.
Since they had nothing more to talk about in the place, Noah, Jacob, and Cara had already walked out of the door, leaving the common room with Alaric and Niklaus. Even Liberty had rushed out without saying anything. Only God knew what was bothering the girl.
Meanwhile, Hiro didn’t move and waited until the room was empty. It was just him and Ace now.
“Do you still have anything else to talk about?” Ace asked curiously. He arched an eyebrow and stood in front of the door after closing it from the inside. Hiro nodded. However, his eyes moved across the room to make sure that no one was recording their conversation or recording it in any way.
“Moonlight Tavern. Tomorrow night at 10 pm. I’ll show you something that might surprise you a bit.” Hiro explained, then patted Ace’s shoulder. He walked past him, leaving the room before Ace gave an answer as if he was sure that Ace would not refuse.
Liberty waited for Hiro outside the room while Noah, Jacob, and Cara had already left the building.
“Hiro, thank you. I really don’t know what to do if you didn’t come with me,” said the girl, a little hesitant. She fiddled with her index finger because she was nervous when she said it. The girl’s behaviour actually looked adorable in Hiro’s eyes. Hiro stroked Liberty’s long hair and brought his face closer to look at the girls’ eyes more closely.
“I knew something like this would happen. I can feel it when danger is approaching, as if I have a sensor for that one thing. Libe, if you see anything suspicious, you should contact me first. I won’t let anything bad happen to you even in this world,” said Hiro again, speaking softly. Then, he kissed the girl’s forehead to calm her down. At the same time, Ace came out of the room and caught them both.
“Take your time,” he said, then walked away, leaving Hiro and Liberty just like that. It was a signal that right now, Ace had entrusted his beloved sister to Hiro. Both Liberty and Hiro were surprised at Ace’s reaction, but Liberty reflexively chuckled.
“I didn’t expect to see Ace like that. It looks like he’s starting to like you, Hiro,” the girl whispered to Hiro. An information that made Hiro feel a little calmer.
…
Hiro checked his HUD system. This time, there was a new display that showed how much remaining nutrient supply he had, so he didn’t have to log out of the game. And the supply of nutrients was still showing a safe number. It seemed like Alice had just fed his body.
After having a pretty tiring day, Hiro and the three Everlasting members decided to return to the guild base and rest for a while. While the others decided to sleep, Hiro was more interested in reading the translated book from Ace again and finding out the next steps to collect the Forbidden One Armor.
“How are you?” Spyro asked, suddenly talking to him and crawling over to Hiro’s body, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room of the guild base, all alone.
“You’re finally back, Alice. I’m already feeling a little lonely.” Hiro kept his focus on reading his book and let Spyro take a peek at his reading.
“Recently, I checked something that I think is very suspicious. Don’t think I’m just lazing around, kid,” said the girl in annoyance. She read sentence by sentence in the book Hiro was holding through Spyro’s round eyes.
“You know, meeting him so many times here makes me a little confused. I still can’t believe that Yuujin is dead, yet he is still running his avatar here. How could that happen? I still can’t believe it.” Hiro closed his book and looked at Spyro’s green eyes, which were wide like balls.
“It’s science, kid. Nothing is impossible for science. Starting from inanimate objects to living things, with science, everything can be created.” Alice retorted. The girl suddenly sounded like a devotee of science. Hiro arched an eyebrow. He almost forgot that Alice was really smart because she always had a way to break through various forms of digital security protection as if they were her everyday toys.
“What if it turns out that the person we thought was Yuujin is not the Yuujin we know?” Hiro asked, starting to come up with a new theory that sounded so far-fetched. There was no way that it was not the Yuujin he knew, because the man’s memories were exactly the same. Even his attitude was like a clone.
“Tch… do you think that he is Yuujin from another universe? I didn’t know you were a believer in a multiverse.” Spyro laughed until its body flipped over Hiro’s chest like a child.
Hiro just realized that the dragon had gotten bigger, and it looked like it would soon evolve into an adult stage. It seemed he had to prepare these very rare evolutionary materials. However, a notification suddenly appeared, surprising him.
Ding!
[Phoenix’s ash in your inventory has reactivated]
[You must use it immediately before it can’t be used]
Hiro frowned. He straightened his back again and took the item out of his inventory.
But…
Ding!
[Item cannot be used]
[player can only use one pet at a time]
[choose your partner carefully]
[do you want to replace the night fury with Phoenix’s ash?]
Hiro looked at Spyro who looked back at him in confusion. Alice couldn’t see what he was looking at through his HUD system. However, if he was asked to choose between the dragon and the legendary bird, Hiro would still choose the dragon.
Because he knew that dragons gave physical buffs while phoenixes were more in magical buffs.
[you chose to keep the night fury]
[are you going to let Phoenix’s ash expire?]
Hiro took a deep breath. He didn’t know this would happen. However, Noah suddenly entered the room and called out to him.
“Nightfall, you have to see this!”
Ding!
[The phoenix’s soul inside its ash has found a potential partner]
[Would you like to give the Phoenix’s ash to player Noah?]
“Wait, what? How could that even be possible? I mean, how can this game work like this?”