51 Does she like me?

"Before anything else..." Pedro took out his tab and a form was shown in it.

"This is a contract! This is in order to protect the interest of everyone in the group!" Pedro sent copies to their phone thru a wireless connection.

...

The contract emphasized that any information given out to the team must not be disclosed to anyone because it may compromise things like tactics, techniques or even bug exploits that the team could capitalize and earn benefits. This takes effect even if one is not a member of the team anymore.

Secondly, Other than Ashley's one-month agreement, team members can request a termination of the contract and it would take effect after 10 days have passed from the day of request. Also, the member must delete his/her account when the termination took effect and pay compromising damage fee.

The last major emphasis of the contract was that when one was forced or voted to terminate their contract by the other member. The member, whom to terminate his/her contract because of mutual decision among team members, would not be required to delete his/her account and pay compromising damage fee.

There were other contents, but most of the contract focuses on the three rules. It was a safeguard that Pedro prepared to avoid the same things happening for the second time. At the same time, bug exploits he knew can be fully capitalized by their team without other teams learning about it.

...

Everyone read and imprinted their thumb mark as agreement to the electronic contract prepared by Pedro. Ashley got a different contract where it mainly emphasizes the information secrecy.

"Let's start! First, as soon as you logged in, gather together at "Kagat Village"! It is located in the mid-west part of the Aquari continent! I have a good favorability in an NPC there! Once, I added you as friends in-game, I will send something to you Sabrina as a proof to show to the NPC that you are acquainted with me! With that, the safety when you logged out is secured!" Sabrina nodded to Pedro as she took note of his instructions.

"Next! You might consider this as an absurd order but... Avoid contact with monsters as much as possible!" Ashley, Elisabeth, and Charlotte stared at Pedro, confused about what he said.

"Avoid contact? Then how would we gain levels! Experience points were only gained by killing monsters, right?" Ashley frowned in response because the typical method to gain strength in a game was thru leveling and killing monsters. If Pedro was distancing them from the source of development, It looked like Pedro wanted them to do the exact opposite of what they must do.

"What do you want us to do, then?" Ashley's raging eyes were fixated on Pedro as she stood in an abrupt manner.

"Hah... Cooking!" Everyone wore a stupefied look. Ashley didn't know whether to laugh or cry from what Pedro said.

"Cooking? How's that gonna help us?" Ashley raised her voice as she can't contemplate what Pedro wants to happen.

"Calm down Ashley! It is simple... Cook food... Sell them... Earn money! When you cook, you gain the cooking talent I had and improve it at the same time earning coins!" Ashley and Elisabeth's jaw dropped and their eyes were like going out of their sockets from shock. On the other hand, Charlotte burst in laughter.

"Hahaha! So you are the brother who got the first talent in-game!" Charlotte kept laughing that put the three non-Closed Beta Players to feel out of place.

"Yep!" Pedro nodded to Charlotte as he had a grin on his face.

'With the 'bombs' now all dropped! I guess they won't question my orders anymore!'

"Imagine the seven of us having the only talent in the game while those fools try to level up as much as they can! Won't we benefit that much money from them? We buy the materials and Ingredients from them at a cheap price while we sold cooked food at an affordable but profitable price. The profit we earn can be used to fund our equipment!" Pedro looked evilly as he explained it to everyone.

"Pedro... you said the thing about materials and ingredients... How can we secure those when we just started and had little to no money?" Sabrina pushed her glasses slightly upward and looked smart after asking Pedro a good question.

"Hehe... I'll handle it! I'll just send you those later... On a point, May I request the three of you to gather some herbs or wood as you go to Kagat Village?" He glanced to Charlotte, Elisabeth, and Ashley.

"It won't be a problem!" Ashley stood confidently as Charlotte and Elisabeth nodded in agreement.

"Then, we're all settled! See ya later then, in-game!" Pedro tapped his tab as he created a group chat for them to communicate. Everyone joined for convenience.

"Don't forget that all of these are our 'little secrets', ok!? By the way! If anyone of you had problems procuring VR Boxes, don't hesitate to tell me! I'd help you secure one before the Open beta start!" They all started packing their things and leave the room.

"I messaged my parents earlier, asking them to buy one, asap(as soon as possible), since it is 'needed' in school!" Aldo waved his phone and explained to Pedro.

"Our moms probably went to a nearby appliance or gaming center to buy one. When they heard about some detail on it from our professor, they went out together to look for one as they wait for us!" Loren and Sabrina's mom were close since they were classmates since highschool and somehow was living in the same district in the city.

"That's good to hear... I'll leave first, then!" Pedro was about to open the door when Sabrina held his harm.

"Eh?"

"Uhm... Pedro! Thanks!" Sabrina's face went full red as she shyly thanked Pedro.

'Aaaaaaah! What did I just do! There goes my hippocampus, acting on its own again!' Sabrina let goes of Pedro's arm as she tries to force a smile.

"It's nothing!" Pedro smiled back. The moment Pedro smiled back to her, Sabrina's world became slow as her heart skipped a beat. She was filled with unexplainable happiness as if seeing at last her knight in shining armor.

'What a beautiful smile...' Sabrina could only be utter less as Pedro walked out of the room.

"Look at them flirting! Tsk!" Charlotte held crossed arms as she was annoyed by the scene in front of her.

"Hehe... you're just jealous!" Elisabeth chuckled as she started teasing Charlotte.

"You!"

"Let's go!" Ashley stood coldly after she watched Sabrina as Pedro left.

...

Outside the room, Pedro was walking out of the building to his car.

Dug! Dug! Dug! His heart began beating faster the moment he left the room.

'What was that about? Does she like me? No, no, no! It's not good to assume things up! At any case, I must focus on the game first!' Pedro holds his arm where Sabrina held it earlier and shook his head.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

His phone suddenly rang. When he took his phone from his pocket, his dad was calling him.

"Dad! You need anything from me?" He answered the call and leaned his back to his car.

"The proposal you gave me last night... I approve of it!" Pedro jumped of happiness as if he passed a major exam.

"Let your mom handle the company matters, you handle other matters as soon as you get home! I gotta go, son! Take care!" His father ended the call and Pedro continued jumping like crazy.