Chapter 84 - RARE INVITATION

LUO YAN and Luo Jin were once again back at Matlock Town.  They were inside one of the private box of the restaurant Moonriver.  After ordering some food, Luo Yan took the treasure chest they got from the dungeon raid and then opened it.  Inside were a big bag of crystal coins, some large potions, some kind of envelope that looked like an invitation of sorts, and what looked like three blocks of white stone.

Luo Yan automatically ignored the first three and stared fixedly at the block of stone.  He put one of the block of stone in his Items Tab to check if it was really what he thought it was.

Saspalt

- A special material that has a powerful integration effect.  If you combine it with other materials used in crafting items (i.e. weapons, armors, accessories), those materials would have an almost perfect integration.  Yielding a more resilient and better than normal items.  

- This particular material could be found in selected dungeons.  But the probability of getting it as a reward could only be considered medium at most.

Luo Yan happily picked the other two saspalt and gave it to Luo Jin.  "Ah Jin, put these in your Items Tab."

"What exactly is this stone?" Luo Jin asked but still put the two remaining saspalt in his Items Tab.   

"It's a good material for weapons crafting.  Once we find other materials, we could look for a Blacksmith to craft our weapons.  Of course, we should only choose the best one.  The best materials wouldn't do us any good if we leave it to a Blacksmith with a poor skill," Luo Yan explained.

"Do you already have someone in mind?  A Blackmith, I mean."

Luo Yan shook his head.  "I plan to search in the forums.  I'm sure a lot of players know the best one among all the famous Blacksmiths in this game." He pushed the rest of the rewards towards Luo Jin.  "Ah Jin, you can keep the rest."

Luo Jin had no reason to refuse since he knew for a fact that his second brother had more crystal coins than him.  And also a lot of all kinds of potions for that matter.  So he put the two in his Items Tab.  Then he looked at the envelope and picked it up.  "How about this one?"

Now that Luo Jin mentioned it, Luo Yan finally looked properly at the envelope.  There was nothing written on it.  It looked just like an ordinary envelope.  If not for the seal closing it.  

It had the symbol of Arcadia.   The letter 'A' with a crescent moon beside it.

"Let me have a look," he said, reaching out his hand.

Luo Jin put the envelope on his second brother's palm.  Luo Yan opened it and took the card inside.  He read what was written on it.

[You are cordially invited to the King's annual party that will be held at his famous Selene Palace.  You may bring as many as two companions with you.  A carriage will be waiting at the Black Lake at exactly 6 o'clock in the evening on the 15th of August.  Be sure not to be late or you'll missed this one in a year chance.]

"An invitation to a party?  But who is this 'King' exactly?" Luo Jin asked after hearing what Luo Yan just read.

"Wait- I'll check it in my Items Tab.  Let's see if it will give some information."

Luo Yan then put the envelope in his Items Tab.

Rare Invitation

- Invitation to the birthday party of the King of Arcadia.  It's a special instance that could give very rare items to the players who managed to get their hands on this invitation.  

- A player could get this item as a reward in only two dungeons; the Infernal Chasm and the Lunar Labyrinth.  Or you could directly ask the Duke of Hearts to give you one.  Although it's a known fact that that one was pretty temperamental.

He told Luo Jin what he just read.  Because of this invitation, Luo Yan suddenly thought of those three who tried to scam them.  Was this invitation their goal from the start?  According to the description he just read, it was obvious that this birthday party was quite the big event here in this VR version of the game.  Because he would definitely remember something like this if it was available in the PC version.

"I didn't know Arcadia has a King," Luo Jin commented.

"It's my first time hearing about it too."

When he was playing the PC version, he never encountered a 'King' NPC.  So it's probably an NPC developed in the VR version.

"So, are we going to attend?" asked Luo Jin.

Luo Yan smiled, feeling somewhat excited.  "Of course we will."

How could he just miss this once in a year chance?

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Country M.

Shen Ji Yun was sitting on the backseat of a car, his uncle was beside him.  The car they were in was currently travelling towards the site of the convention.  Today was the last day.  His uncle still had meetings for the next two days, so they could only leave after that.  They'll probably arrive back at Country Z by Sunday.  Which meant that he wouldn't be able to play Arcadia until then.

For almost two weeks that he'd been here, he couldn't help thinking from time to time if the rabbit sent him a message.  After all, he asked him to send him one if ever he encountered any problems in the game.  If the rabbit did and Shen Ji Yun didn't answer him, wouldn't he think that he's ignoring him?  Would he be disappointed?  Or perhaps… would he sulk?

Thinking of the rabbit sulking, he couldn't help but imagine his face – his real one, pouting.  With those big peach blossom eyes gazing up at him and his pinkish lips pouting, all he could think of was; [Cute…]

He shook his head.  What was he thinking?

But despite that worry, he didn't regret coming here one bit.  Because he learned a lot from the past two days of the convention.  Especially from the people who gave a lot of interesting talks – people considered as the leaders of the gaming industry.  There were also a lot of interesting exhibits.  Even two days were not enough to go over each and every last one of them.

The car finally stopped.  Shen Ji Yun was the first one to get out, followed by his uncle.  He was about to walked towards the convention hall when he noticed that his uncle was not following behind.  He looked back and saw that he was just standing in place and looking at a certain direction.

"Uncle, is something wrong?" he asked.

Shen Yi Mu woke up from his reverie.  He shook his head.  "Nothing.  I thought I just saw someone I know." He tried to smile at his nephew.  "Let's go?"

He walked forward and smiled bitterly.  There's no way that person could be here.  After all, didn't he swear that he would never ever appear in front of him again?