Chapter 220 The Ash

Hiro called Noah to come closer after seeing a strange notification that appeared for the first time. He then looked at Noah in silence, hoping that there would be additional information he could get from his HUD system. However, he couldn’t find anything. After thinking for a while, if Phoenix Ash could produce a legendary pet, it would be very suitable for mana users, especially Noah.

“What do you want from me, NightFall?” Noah snapped curiously because Hiro had been silent for too long. He decided to sit beside Hiro and wait for the answer he needed. Hiro was still silent. He looked back at the pet shaped like a dove that Noah had been using. He was sure that the bird hadn’t changed one bit from the start since he saw Noah had it.

“Noah, I have something for you,” said Hiro after he was sure of his decision. After all, by helping to increase Noah’s progressive, he would also get the benefit because his party power would increase. So did the power of Everlasting. A smile spread across his face. He was grateful that the notification told him. It seemed that he had just missed a certain notification about the items that could be gifted to other players.

“Is that true? What do you have? Don’t waste my time, NightFall,” Noah said, still maintaining his usual arrogance. Hiro was already very used to it.

[Are you sure you want to give Phoenix Ash to player Noah as a gift?]

“Yes, give it to him.”

Ding!

[Phoenix Ash has been gifted to player Noah]

After getting the notification of receiving a gift from Hiro, Noah arched an eyebrow. He seemed interested when he read the name of the item he had just received.

Ding!

[Your affinity with player Noah has been increased]

[Noah affinity (Friend) + 100]

Hiro arched an eyebrow. The notification that appeared had changed from before. There was even player status information in the notification. Friend? Did I skip something new?

“Wow! Is this really for me?!” Noah shouted, looking very disbelieving of what he had just got. He reflexively stood up and looked back at Hiro with wide eyes. Hiro nodded briefly, and Noah’s smile grew wider.

“Holy shit, Nightfall! How can you get two legendary pets at once? And Phoenix Ash? I’ve been looking for it everywhere until I thought it never existed. But… you had it all along?” Noah was suddenly annoyed again. However, that quickly brushed away because he knew that it was now his no matter what.

“I got it from defeating the phoenix monster while looking for the stone for my sword. I almost forgot that it was in the bag.” Hiro’s explanation surprised Noah again. The two of them fell silent once more, but Hiro already had a question in his head.

“Is this affinity for friends? Do you know anything?” he asked Noah. Hiro knew that Noah had a hobby of reading, and the man certainly wouldn’t miss the information.

“Yeah, it just updated yesterday when you disappeared. Didn’t you receive the notification?” Noah asked instead. Hiro just shrugged his shoulders.

“There is a feature to date or get married officially. You know, that boring feature that always comes with in a game like this?” Noah added, making Hiro open his mouth. To be honest, Hiro had been waiting for that feature, because this time he had Liberty in this game.

“What do you get from getting married in this game?” Hiro asked once again, better to ask someone who had read it first than read a notification that he didn’t know where it got stuck. He definitely didn’t accept it.

“Buffs, of course. If you are in the same dungeon as your partner, your strength will increase. However, as far as I know, in the notification yesterday, there were many types of relationships that the system had prepared. Starting from bonding, soulmates, to life partners,” Noah explained as he recalled his reading, which he had only read once. At the same time, Cara joined the room.

“Wait—are you guys planning to get married?” The girl’s thoughts, as Hiro and Noah’s hardline shipper, were simply spoken in a loud voice when she had just entered the room. Hiro and Noah, who were tired of hearing Cara’s imagination, just let out a long sigh, ignoring the girl.

“What? Don’t you know that it’s also allowed in this game? I even planned to marry Wheelie before the girl was taken by someone else,” Cara explained bluntly, before jumping on the sofa in Noah’s place.

“Do as you please, Cara,” Hiro replied, uninterested. He was more interested in seeing the shape of a phoenix that would soon be born from its ashes. However, it seemed he had to be disappointed because Noah had to go to the pet tamer to give birth to the phoenix.

“I will be right back.” Noah said, making a promise. Hiro was reluctant to go with him this time. He was more interested in doing something that he hadn’t finished before. Meanwhile, Cara did not immediately leave the room. The girl stared at Hiro in silence instead.

“What do you want from me, Cara? Stop looking at me like that, you’ll never get it.” Hiro muttered, feeling uncomfortable being watched like that by the girl.

“Actually, it’s about your brother,” Cara said, suddenly lowering her voice. Hiro closed his book right away, and his eyes immediately focused on Cara’s gaze. Even Alice, who was still there with them, was also looking at Cara through Spyro’s eyes.

“My father is one of the detectives working to investigate the case of your brother’s death, NightFall. I’m sorry for informing you late about this, but even if I had told you from the start, nothing would have changed because the latest information was just obtained by them. It hasn’t been released to the public yet,” Cara explained, still in a whisper, so no one could hear her voice other than Hiro and Spyro.

“What happened?”

Cara shared the information she learned from eavesdropping on her father’s conversation with the members of the case investigation. From the information she got, the detectives who were still voluntarily investigating this case found a letter of agreement with the signatures of Yamaguchi Yuujin and nine players who were the members of the E-nfinity agency with Ninecent.

In the letter of agreement, the ten of them agreed to bear all the bad risks and consequences that could result in death and exchanged their lives for money and life insurance for their family members, which was valid for life. However, based on the information that was also obtained by Cara, the insurance was kept a secret from the public, and Ninecent actually hid the original sheet of the agreement, as if they did not want to be responsible for what had happened to E-nifity members.

Hiro squeezed the sofa’s shoulder, and he accidentally smashed it when he heard all of that. Besides, who were the nine players that Cara mentioned? It was impossible if they died too, right? Because it would really attract the attention of the world. Then, where were they now? What were they doing?