[SWalker: Greetings, Archer. Have you slept well?]
Jake chuckled.
The first message sounded so much like NPC that Jake recalled SWalker's formal tone. It seemed this man was either too uptight or enjoyed this kind of conduct.
Jake didn't mind it in the slightest.
While he was usually himself in The Legend Enigma Online, it was still a game that could bring his other side. He'd often show that against annoying players like assassins and player killers, but that was so common that Jake didn't think of himself as someone special.
Meanwhile, players like SWalker, who entirely comported so differently in the game world, were rarer.
[Archer: It wasn't easy to fall asleep, but I'm doing much better now. It's not like yesterday was a terrible day. I learned a lot and improved, so I look forward to the future. I can't stop training my skills. I spent the whole morning practicing moves.]
[SWalker: It appears we're one of a kind. I found a spot outside the capital and pushed my newest skill to its limits. I'm enjoying it.]
The swordsman was so on the spot here.
Most players would have gone to level up in dungeons or highly amassed with monsters leveling zones. But Jake and SWalker didn't even think of it and instead kept their noses to the grindstones in their own training areas to practice their newest gains.
It wasn't like players like them were unique or rare, but meeting so many of them at once and becoming acquainted with them was pretty lucky.
Because of that, Jake and SWalker mainly talked about their skills and others. Jake told him that he didn't feel any grudge against Last Coin and that he respected him, which increased SWalker's opinion of him.
They also casually learned that both of them had ditched their classes today, making them laugh like the teenagers they were.
Their conversation ended after Jake's stamina regenerated enough for him to resume his practice.
An hour later, Jake crawled to his fourth companion.
Sensing his presence, Medusa peeked from the nest of his clothes and looked at him.
Jake smiled. "Aren't you lonely?"
He could understand her hiss. She was content with her lifestyle.
Jake took her into his palm. "Well, I'm going out to the boys. What's your plan?"
Jake nodded. "Yeah... well, you should say 'It's been', cause you know, grammar."
Ender looked away.
Jake grinned. "Thanks, guys. You are always looking out for me. I'm fine because I talked about it with my father and others, so I think I can help you with your pride issue, Ender. It's subjective and situational—each person has pride depending on their upbringing. You four might take a lot after me because I have had you since you were so little.
I will make it clear—my pride is to keep going forward! It's so terrible! Haha!"
Jake has been this way for as long as he can remember.
Once he set his eyes on something, he'd do it until perfecting it.
He'd do it in his own way and persistently stick to it.
Just thinking about it made Jake recall his stubbornness on The Tutorial Island and how Richard helped him take a different path.
"My path is shapeless, like mana of this world," Jake said, aware that he allowed others to help him as he understood that there were people much better than him to learn from. It was that belief that allowed him to stick to his path. "And I have you guys here, so I always have you looking out for me! I'll never stop this path to the top. My pride is to never stop!"
A loud and heavy wind passed through them.
A moment later, Ender said, "It doesn't sound so wild."
"You don't go after Elizabeth's vocab," Jake replied, his eyes squinted.
Ender stared at him, "That low woman said I am incapable of full growth."
"That woman? ...ah!" Jake realized a few seconds later who Ender was talking about.
Ender said, "I shall take pride in becoming the one. Me, the one."
"Yeah, I know you'll be the one," Jake smiled as he petted Ender's head.
Ender's quest was sudden.
It also meant that anyone with Ender's unique traces could have received that quest by now. Ender's life was at stake, much more than other Jake's companions.
Jake would never allow himself to lose this little, prideful eagle.