The man who called himself Line had a rather peculiar avatar. He had brown hair and eyes that would be perceived as plain by anyone.
His skin tone was a bit tan, nothing out of the ordinary.
But precisely because his avatar was so plain by normal standards, he stood out like a sore thumb within the colorful and extravagant player base of Holyug Online.
"I am."
Alex gave a short reply.
They both sat there in silence for two or three seconds before Line spoke out,
"Let me clarify my identity then, I'm the Vice-President of the Freedom guild. Just to confirm one last time, you're the Alex that triggered the Tyrant event last night, correct?"
Just as he finished those words, an NPC lady brought a cup of milk and three slices of something resembling bread, putting it into the table in front of Alex.
"You got the correct guy and I hope you don't mind…"
"No, go ahead."
Alex took a sip of the hot milk through the grey mug, then looked at Line straight in the eyes.
"Mind if I ask how you knew?"
Without hesitation, Line simply replied,
"It's from Luke, he said you guys were companions. Ah, before you ask, I was able to figure out where your inn was thanks to him providing the information."
"Let me guess? You guys barely had to interrogate him?"
"No, we contacted him because of the same reason as I'm meeting you here and he just…told us about you. A lot about you, actually."
'Right, what else did I expect from him? Still, a lot huh? Just how much is that?'
It was safe to assume that Luke also told them about how Alex was a beta-tester
who reached the 25th floor. In that case, Line's reason for meeting him was pretty obvious.
"Then, your reason being?"
Alex was more or less certain about the reason but he felt like cutting to the chase.
In case his hunch was wrong, then they could quickly tackle it.
"I'm here to formally invite you to join our guild. Since you seem to be in a hurry and are in the middle of lunch, we can talk about the terms later if you want."
Beta-testers were valuable, especially those who reached the 25th floor in the beta. Adding the fact that there's a chance Luke also told them that he was a Main cast, it was no surprise the Vice-President himself came to invite him.
"There's something I wanted to ask."
Without changing his expression, Line grew quiet.
"Is it about the terms of the contract?"
As he probed, Alex quickly denied.
"No, it's a different matter. Last night, there was some stuff going on about the restriction of the First floor dungeon by the big guilds, is it true?"
He had checked the Public Chartroom on his way back from Kentel forest alongside Luke. It was through that that he came across the information about the restriction which he was too tired and maybe just…a bit lazy to verify.
"Yes, it's true. We'd like to avoid unnecessary deaths of our fellow players if possible."
As Line closely observed his reaction, Alex let out an involuntary chuckle.
"I guess you guys are altruistic in your own ways."
"I'm glad you understand."
It was a simple understanding.
Holyug Online had a feature called the limited resources feature. As the name implies, it means that at some point, resources or even Beasts and Monsters who drop resources will stop spawning.
Normally, it wouldn't be a problem to have limited resources but due to the Daily Tax system imposed by Alex, every resource was worth a life.
The guilds come into play here: Guilds with large members undoubtedly have stronger fireforce than guilds with less members. And, in a world like Holyug Online, that was what was necessary.
With stronger fireforce, they could negotiate to challenge or even fight over dungeons which usually contain massive amounts of loot.
Of course, players with no guild membership or backing won't be able to partake in this dungeon raid. The restriction of the First floor dungeon already served as an example of this.
Since no one knew how long it'd take to clear the game, each and every resource that could be sold in the store in exchange for Cheng was valuable.
So, thinking long term, it was a smart choice to be under the wings of at least a mid-tier guild.
Alex knew that. And Line knew that he did.
"I won't tease you, my answer is that I'm not joining your guild. No elaboration."
To Alex however, this economic problem is nothing of relevance.
"...Are you sure about this?"
Line asked again. Even now, his expression was unchanging and practically unreadable.
"Yeah, though I said no elaboration, here's a small hint: I don't like how you guys are doing things. That's all."
"I see," Getting up from his seat, Line glanced at Alex one last time, "Thank you for your time and, sorry for interrupting your breakfast."
As he aloofly watched Line's departing back, Alex finished his meal.
He then muttered in a low voice,
"Was that good enough?/"
***
Ding!
[You've slain D-rank
[40 EXP has been gained]
[Common D-rank
[Rare D-rank
[Common D-rank
Ding!
[Congratulations! You've reached Level 11]
Alex laid down on the warm land of the plains, beside him, a red boar-like creature twice the size of an adult male dematerialised into blue pixels.
The sun was currently hidden behind the puffy white clouds so at the very least, there was nothing killing Alex's eyes through its existence alone.
"Thanks for telling me where it was."
Alex voiced out to the women who cast her dull shadows upon his body.
She had messy purple hair and deep blue eyes, along with a clear-white complexion and a charming smile.
"Don't mind, it's just repayment for saving me from getting killed."
Long story short, Alex had saved this woman from getting mauled to death by a few Marthogs which were basically a weaker version of the Warthog he just killed.
The Warthog themselves had a low spawn rate but since killing them would give the player the skill Charge, Alex wanted to find one so that he could have less of a hard time when challenging the First floor dungeon.
That led to the event of now.
"Then I'm going somewhere else, bye and once again, thanks for the help."
"Okay, take care."
As Alex walked towards the yellow trail sandwiched between this Plain and the ocean, he suddenly felt like something was off.
Swiftly turning around, he noticed that the woman was gone.
"Right, I forgot to use my Title property on her."
Since it was practically impossible to just disappear like that during such a short time, the woman being a Main cast was the only conclusion Alex could come up with.
'I guess it wasn't combat oriented then since she needed to be saved and all.'
He wanted to leave the Plains so that he could be alone while training but now, since she was likely gone anyway, he might as well kill more Beasts until he levels up again.
***
"Man, you look lonely."