When Lily got out of her Pod, she screamed into her pillow so loud her entire body shook. She was never this frustrated and angry in her entire life. To the point that she didn’t even know what to do with her emotions but cry in anger and irritation.
The last time she remembered crying and screaming her lungs out was when her parents refused to buy her a tea cup kitten and a pug. She got sick for days until her parents finally did what she asked. It was so long ago. So long but she remembered it vividly like it just happened yesterday.
After that, it never happened again . . . until today that is.
All her life, she was never faced with a setback. All her wants and needs were given to her and so much more with just a simple dimple smile on her lips.
Never did she expect that there would be a point in her life that she would face someone so rude, so unsympathetic, so unfeeling, and so . . . cold.
Was he even human?
She just wanted Pii! What was so wrong with that?
It was not like he couldn’t get another one of those.
Lily bit her bottom lip. “Ren,” she hissed through the gap of her gnashing teeth. Why was he so stingy? And why wouldn’t her charms work against him?
Was he even human?
The big ball of blazing anger never dissipated no matter what Lily did, so she messaged Zach and the others.
Ignoring their hundreds of messages and calls and their insurmountable worry for her, she typed.
[Lily: I was killed by Ren]
Lily smirked. Let’s see if he wouldn’t have a hard time now. She bet that all her friends would go against Ren now.
Better yet . . . why don’t she just post it to her legions of fans?
Too bad that she didn’t have a picture of Ren. There were no camera features in the game which she would complain later to the developers.
[Zach: WHAT?! That asshole!]
[Kylie: What happened?]
[Josh: Where are you? Are you okay?]
[Zach: What exactly happened?]
[Kylie: Are you in your house? I’m coming right now]
Lily didn’t reply and turned off the message box. The more her friends didn’t know what happened, the more they would become furious at Ren.
Lily released a deep breath and somehow calmed down and regained her bearing. After she did that, she left her room and went to the next room beside hers.
She knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds before she heard a baritone tone ushering her to come in.
“Brother, are you busy?” Lily asked the moment she opened the door and stumbled upon a man with clean cut black hair, a sharp jaw, piercing eyes, and an unblemished handsome face. He looked like a strict military man even though he was just wearing a simple shirt and pajamas. His hair was still wet while he was studying something on his table.
“Brother Scar?” Lily called. “Are you still studying that cave?”
Scar lifted his head from the papers on his table and looked at his little sister. “Lily. Did you just get back from the game? How’s Salty Pink Desert?”
At the memory, Lily pouted, and it didn’t escape Scar’s notice.
“I see that something happened?” Scar knew his little sister, and no one could make Lily pout like that but him and their parents.
Something must have really upset her. Scar thought and braced himself.
It was only a moment that an emotion slipped on Lily’s face before she said in a low and slow voice, “I met a player named Ren.”
At the mention of the name, Scar’s eyelid twitched. For some reason, his mind drifted to the man together with Mike and Saya. The Ren who was an Arcanist.
And then, he suddenly think of the Ren that Nikolai told him. The one he was about to call.
Was it just a coincidence?
Scar shook his head and huffed a laugh. That couldn’t be. There were so many Ren in the game, and he couldn’t be the man his little sister said. Such would be too much of a coincidence.
“And?” Scar urged for Lily to continue.
“That man had a pet. Like a really cute pet. A very cute pet. A very, very adorable pet.”
“Alright. Alright. I got it.” Scar stifled a laugh. “And let me guess. You really wanted his pet, but he didn’t give it to you?”
Lily’s eyes went wide, and she nodded her head vigorously. Leave it to her brother to know everything.
“Yes. Please go to this man and ask him to give his pet to me.”
Scar looked Lily in the eyes before he shook his head a little. Since young Lily was spoiled because she was so cute and angelic, even the coldest heart would melt upon her smile and charming, innocent face.
Their parents and even he succumb to her every whim with just a cry from her lips.
“Are you sure this Ren isn’t an NPC?” Scar asked, amused since no one could resist her little sister’s charms.
Lily immediately shook her head. “I watched him fight ten Tieflings alone.”
That got Scar’s attention. “Ten Tieflings?”
“Scary human with horns.”
“I know what they are. I’m asking if those Tieflings were strong. Did you fight one? What numbers are their ATPs?”
If this Ren turned out to be a player whose ATP was already high to solo those ten Tieflings, then . . . he might recruit him to his guild.
However, Lily elegantly shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t fight one. They’re scary.”
Scar sighed. “And you want me to convince this Ren to give his pet to you?”
Lily nodded. “You’re the leader of Black Lion. You can do it, brother. Everyone follows your orders.”
“What’s he even look like? Do you have his game number so I could call him?”
“No. He didn’t accept my friend request. And his face is hidden by a hood. But his pet is so cute.”
Scar’s eyes widened upon hearing that. There was actually a man who declined Lily’s friend request?
Scar wanted to laugh, but his sister’s cheeks were already pouting evident that she was very upset.
“I can’t help you if you don’t even know his face or have his number.”
“But . . .” Lily’s eyes shook, and her chin crumpled, while Scar’s heart melted.
“However, I will have someone look for this Ren you speak of,” Scar immediately said so Lily wouldn’t burst out crying.
Though that would be hard without any lead but the man’s pet. Scar thought to himself.
Lily’s downcast face immediately brightened. “Thank you, brother. You’re the best!” she jumped into Scar and circled her arms around his neck while rubbing her cheeks against his.
“Tell me the appearance of his pet at least.”
Lily tried to recall, finger over her chin as she said, “Hmm . . . it’s black. It has a beck like a bird but has a body of a dragon or serpent and . . . it has fluffy ears, tail and . . . it has wings . . .”
Lily sighed. “And It’s so cute . . .”
“I see. I will look into it as soon as I can.” Scar rubbed Lily’s head while he thought of something. A hunter or animist that already has a pet?
That’s interesting. Scar’s urge to rope this Ren into his guild intensified even more.
“Oh, and by the way,” Lily added, “I think he is a mage.”
“. . .” Scar was silent, processing what he heard before he asked with an unsure voice, “Mage . . . that had a pet?”
Lily nodded. “Yes. I saw him use Water spells so many times.” She didn’t know anything about the game, so she didn’t realize that what she said was unusual. She just entered it because she wanted to see mystical and fantastical cute beasts.
Scar’s interest in Ren intensified. A mage that had a pet. Or he must be a dark mage like him that already managed to level his class into a [Conjurer]. A Conjured Beast?
Scar shook his head. That wasn’t possible this early in the game. The [Conjurer] was the final evolve class of a Dark Mage. There was no way that the man had already reached that amount of ATP to upgrade his class.
Then . . . a rare class perhaps?
Scar’s eyes shone.
Lily was still talking nonstop about her experience in the desert, but she might as well be invisible since Scar’s entire focus was on this man, Ren. He even momentarily forgot about his problem with Vulcan’s Cave.
If Ren indeed had a rare class, then Scar wanted to find him all the more. If he recruited a player with a rare class, his guild would surely benefit from it.
“Tell me, where is this Ren going?” Scar asked, eager to find out that he even cut Lily from her speech.
Lily was shocked that her brother suddenly butted in while she was still talking before she thought for a moment.
“Hmm . . . if I heard it right . . . I think he asked that pig about going to . . . Kar . . . lol . . .”
“Kartacol?” finished Scar.
Lily immediately nodded. “Yes. That’s the place.”
Scar’s smile widened, and he called the guild to have someone go to Kartacol and find this Ren, a mage with a strange black pet.