“Egh? Is he leaving? But what about his share of the treasure?” Rox asked, confused when Ren was turning into pixels.
“It’s fine. He doesn’t want it,” Evie answered with a low voice containing a hint of anger.
“Egh?” Roxy’s eyes widened. “But he was the one who did all the work. Now, I feel bad for taking all the loots without even doing much.”
“I said its fine,” Evie snapped, tone with an edge containing finality.
Both Rox and Roxy’s mouths shut tight. They were surprised that the usual calm and expressionless Evie would get angry. Did she and Ren had a fight? They didn’t see it, though. They didn’t even see the two talk for more than a minute. Did they have a fight through eye contact alone?
Looking at Ren turning into pixels before disappearing completely, Evie touched the Brooch on her neck. She forgot to give it back to him together with the interest. But for some reason, she refused to give back the Brooch. She felt that if she did, that was it . . . their connection was lost.
Even if she didn’t know Ren or even saw his face, she felt a connection with him. It was like she knew him but couldn’t recall where and when. And she liked the peace he brought with his presence. Like no matter what happened, everything would be alright as long as he was around.
She felt at ease with Ren, and not many could illicit that kind of feeling from her especially coming from a man.
Evie sighed, and she wondered if the reason why Ren didn’t want to associate with her anymore was that she was weak.
Was that it?
Wasn’t she helpful enough?
Maybe that was the reason why? He was annoyed when she couldn’t defeat Rakusha the first time. She wasn’t helpful and useful to him.
A sad smile made way to Evie’s lips. It was definitely the reason. If only she were useful and strong enough, Ren might come to her for help. Or they could have done numerous quests together. But because she was weak, she was baggage. He didn’t want to associate himself with weak players.
It was the only reason Evie could think with Ren’s sudden changed in attitude.
She felt depressed, but behind it was also a light of desire to get stronger that kept pushing amidst the darkness. And maybe one day, it would be Ren who would ask for her help.
That desire grew stronger and money would soon follow if her name resounded throughout the world.
. . . And then it would be Ren who would seek her.
Evie liked the idea, and her mood lightened a bit.
On the side, Ragnar was worrying about his exposed identity. Now that some people knew who he was in the game, it’d only be a matter of time before the others would come after him.
It wasn’t his intention to expose himself like that. But his promise to Evie made him speak his secret. Moreover, he was also furious that the others stole their kill. So that also adds up.
Maybe he needed another item that would hide his identity just like Ren?
Wait . . . Ren owed him one for keeping his secret. Then maybe he could ask him about an item that could hide an appearance, and they would call it even?
Ragnar was all smiling at the thought, and he immediately messages his lawyer to meet at his office to draft a contract for Ren.
While Ragnar was basking in his brilliant idea, Evie went to his side and spoke in a soft voice.
“Thank you for getting the chests back.”
Ragnar’s eyes went to Evie. She still had that expressionless face, but he saw a slight smile on the corner of her lips. Evie would be prettier if only she could portray emotions. But having a mysterious and aloof personality added to her appeal.
“Don’t mention it. I did promise to get you that item.”
“But . . .” Evie briefly bit her lip. “We didn’t get the EXP and gil.”
“It’s fine. We got the other loots. Besides, we can just grind to get those. But these chests are hard to come by.”
“Aren’t you going to get in trouble, though?” Evie asked after a short silence.
“You mean me using my family’s power?” Ragnar stifled a laugh. “It’s fine. Trust me. It’s all good. The Abalone is rich, yes, but when compared to us, they’re considered in the lower class.”
Evie looked dead to the side. All she knew was the rich and the poor. But who knew that once you become rich, there’s another hierarchy? It was there was no end to it.
People were insatiable.
Not far from the two, Roxy waved at them. “Hey, you two! Let’s get out of here and go back to the inn.”
“Yeah. I can’t wait to find out what we got from the chests. Too bad about the EXP and gil, but at least we got the loots back.”
“I know, right.” The siblings grinned at each other. In times like this that they weren’t in each other’s throats.
Evie and Ragnar shared a look before they pressed log out and entered into the nearest village.
—-
Meanwhile, Ren didn’t waste any more time and returned to mining nonstop like his life depended on it. He only took breaks if he needed the toilet and fill his stomach.
He was shut in his rented apartment and only came out to buy food. Not even Scar taking the spot of clearing Vulcan’s Cave Hard difficulty could stop him from hammering for stones.
Though Black Lion finally got what they wanted after days of defeat, the sweet victory of finally clearing Vulcan’s Cave hard difficulty. At that point, no one cared. The people were paying more attention to their defeat than their victory. They were more interested in the drama, and everyone quickly lost interest once Scar cleared the Cave.
Adding to that, COVENANT announced the Festival of Gil that hyped the players. It was a one-week event in the game before the update occurred. Everyone was talking about it and making conjectures of what it was, but the developers were tight lips. Only saying that it was going to be a surprise.
Whatever it was, it was all the forums and chat ever talk about, drowning Scar’s victory in its shadows.
Ren didn’t care about it, though. He was not going to that festival. It was just a waste of time and money. It was a bogus event. Its main purpose was to deplete all of the players’ gil.
It was nothing but a scam!
“Whoa there. Easy Ren, you might detach your arms from how hard you swung that thing.” Leonel laughed. He felt Ren’s mood was worsening at each strike of the pickaxe.
“It seems like any minute now, you’ll reach another layer of this earth’s crust with how fast you mine,” he joked and gave Ren a toothy grin. “Aren’t you tired of doing the same thing over and over?”
“No. And Leo, have you done what I asked you to do?”
Leonel’s smile fell right off his face, and he released an audible breath. “Yeah. As you said, I resigned from work and went to New Era’s Bank to apply for a loan. My Pod would arrive after the update since there’s still a shortage of it. For the meantime, I’m stuck at the café.”
“Good.”
“What do you mean, GOOD?!” Leonel almost went out of his skin. “I have never applied for a loan that big in my entire life! I even stopped working to focus on this game. If my parents know about this . . .”
Leonel shuddered, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, just imagining his parents’ reaction when he quit his jobs, applied for a loan, and bet all his future on this game.
“Don’t worry. You’ll become a millionaire overnight after the update.”
“It better be so . . . I’m sick of eating instant noodles every day.”
Despite Ren’s grumpy mood, he managed to laugh a little. “Don’t worry. Just be patient. After a week, you can now eat ramen noodles in an authentic ramen house.”
Leonel thought about it, and his saliva dropped to the side of his lips. He immediately wiped it off and shook his head to come out from his daze.
“Ren . . . don’t you think that this is a bit risky? Betting our future on a game?”
The strikes of Ren’s pickaxe against the stones halted, and he looked Leonel straight in the eyes.
“Leo, everything has risk. If we want to change our lives, we have to take the risk. If we do the same thing, nothing will change.”
“Yeah . . . but . . . on a game? Never in my life that I think of becoming a gamer. It’s just supposed to be for fun.”
Ren got back to mining. “You can have some fun while earning millions. It’s more fun that way.”
” . . . I guess?” Leonel was still feeling scared, just remembering his loan. Never in his life that he thought he would have a huge debt and if ever that he couldn’t repay it . . . it was certain death.
Leonel gulped and got back to mining. Like Ren, his speed also increased like his life depended on it.
In this case, his life really depended on it!