Second World

”Hold!” the lead girl called out. ”Mister Storm Wind, we are not your enemies.”

Jack didnʼt lower his stance. He observed the three. The lead girl was an elegant-looking beauty with a mature temperament. She was wearing light armor with a hood that looked kind of modern considering the medieval setting of this world, it accentuated her attractive body curves.

The two men behind her, one was wearing heavy armor while the other was wearing a fancy white coat with its collar so high up it covered half of his lower face. The eyes of the ones with the coat were cold and drifting away as if not seeing Jack as someone worth noting.

Jack used Inspect on the three of them.

Wilted Tree (Technocraft, level: 34)

HP: 1600

Handsome Joe (Mage Knight, level: 34)

HP: 1940

Anotherday (Hidden Weapon Specialist, level: 35)

HP: 1690

Jack was rather astounded. All of them were very high in level. Rivaling his guildmates who had followed him during the army expedition. Especially the man in a white coat, Anotherday, was the highest in level. Jack felt like he had heard this alias somewhere. His level of 35 was the same as Fierce Flame when he left Heavenly Citadel four days ago.

Fierce Flameʼs high level was due to the help from the expedition army added with her fierce grinding and the exp acquired from the undead horde during their headquarters defense. He wondered what method these three here used to achieve a similar result.

But the most surprising fact from the three was all of them were already elite classes.

While Jack was trying to hide his astonishment, he was hit by another surprise due to the lead girl, Wilted Treeʼs words. ”Cloak of Shadow, no wonder I canʼt inspect you. You are pretty good to get super rare equipment this early. Do you mind telling me what your level is? For both your classes?”

Although his Cloak of Shadow had a distinctive appearance. He had never told his cloakʼs name to anybody. To be able to discern the name of his cloak accurately meaning she had seen the same cloak somewhere else.

”Why would I tell my enemies anything?” Jack replied.

”Hey, boy! Didnʼt you hear what she said just now?” The Mage Knight, Handsome Joe, uttered. ”We are not your enemies. But if you prefer us to be one, I donʼt mind entertaining you.”

”Side character please be quiet,” Jack copied Johnʼs saying.

”You! Are you looking for a fight?!” Handsome Joe exclaimed.

Wilted Tree gestured at Handsome Joe to calm down. She then said, ”You are as brash as I heard. But I also hear you are capable enough to give World Maker some trouble.”

”You are not with them?” Jack asked.

”We are not. In fact, we are their enemies. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Isnʼt that make us friends then?”

”Well, I also heard people say donʼt trust a stranger. So, I canʼt be sure that you are the enemy of my enemy. For all I know, my enemy probably has no other enemy, you are the friend of my enemy pretending to be the enemy of my enemy to be my friend while in truth you are my enemy.”

Wilted Tree giggled, while Handsome Joe was still trying to make sense of what Jack just said.

”If we are your enemies, we wouldnʼt have come to you in the open like this,” Wilted Tree said. ”Iʼm capable of hiding my information just as you do.”

She took out an orb. It flashed for a bit. She then said, ”try inspecting us again.”

Jack did so. The results on all three were now only question marks. Not only that, but their presence on Jackʼs radar also disappeared.

”I didnʼt do so to show you that we come in good intention,” Wilted Tree said.

”Thatʼs an Orb of Concealment, a Unique Artifact,” Peniel, who perched on Jackʼs shoulder, said.

Only now did Wilted Tree pay attention to Peniel on Jackʼs shoulder. ”A high fairy?” Her eyes showed surprise, and then she said, ”How do you know what this is?”

”Lady, this high fairy of mine knows everything there is to this world,” Jack said.

”Really? A high fairy shouldnʼt have that kind of knowledge.”

”She is not just any high fairy. She has the fountain of knowledge in her.”

Wilted Tree gave Jack a confused expression, she seemed to be in deep contemplation.

ʼHey, you seemed to have disconcerted her,ʼ Jack said to Peniel through his mind. ʼWeird, she seemed so sure of herself all this time.ʼ

ʼShe was probably awed by my presence,ʼ Peniel replied.

Jack rolled his eyes at her. Wilted Tree seemed to have regained her composure. She said, ”Where did you find this High Fairy, their kinds should not be accessible by us players at this stage.”

”Sorry, thatʼs my secret. You seem to know a lot about this world, just like those World Maker people. So excuse me if my suspicion of the three of you is not exactly lessened. You donʼt suppose to know about how all of us have been brought over to this game world, do you? How about you tell me about that? Then maybe I can consider about us being friends.”

Wilted Tree smiled and said, ”Iʼm sorry, I canʼt say anything about that.”

Jack shrugged. He didnʼt expect these strangers to just provide him with an explanation either. ”So, from what you have been saying, looks like you come here specifically for me. Mind telling me how you find my exact location and why are you looking for me?”

”Sorry, how we find you are our secret.” Wilted Tree returned Jackʼs words at him. ”About why we find you. We want to make sure you are strong enough to carry the Lightning God Blessing.”

ʼSo, they know about that as well,ʼ Jack thought. But he had been displaying that move a lot of time, the news about that could have easily spread. ”How are you going to determine that Iʼm strong enough? I guess in the end, you still want a fight, eh?”

”It is just a friendly bout,” Wilted Tree said. ”Donʼt worry, we will try to stop when your HP is low. I hope you wonʼt use the Lightning God Barrage as well.”

”I certainly wonʼt waste using Lightning God Barrage against three players. However, I canʼt promise I can stop when your HP is low. You know the saying, blade doesnʼt have eyes.”

”Heh, you certainly think too much of yourself,” Handsome Joe scoffed. ”You must be getting cocky because of having two classes. Donʼt think you are invincible just because your attributes are higher.”

Jack shrugged. ”Donʼt care. If you want to fight, then letʼs fight. I never turn down a challenge. But if you challenge me, then you better be willing to accept the consequences.”

Wilted Tree nodded. ”All right, and since you have dual classes, I hope you donʼt mind if the two of us fight against you.”

”Two? I thought the three of you will go at me together.”

”We are just wasting time with him,” Handsome Joe said. ”I donʼt believe this cocky man to worth anything for our cause. He might instead allow Master to get the divine treasure. Letʼs just proceed with the contingency plan.”

”We will burn that bridge only if we have to,” Wilted Tree said to him. She then turned to Anotherday who had been silent all this time. ”Can I trouble you to test him?”

”Not interested,” Anotherday answered.

”You know he will never bother unless the opponent is qualified enough,” Handsome Joe said.

”Well, then itʼs you and me then,” Wilted Tree said to Joe as she took off the hood that covered her hair.

Jack was given another surprise as the girl unhood because the girl had two pointed ears, something that was the basic characteristic of a certain fantasy race. As Jack took a closer look, the three of them had very clean skin. Handsome Joeʼs ears were hidden by his helmet, while Anotherday had long hair that covered his ears, but Jack could slightly see a small sharp protrusion of his ears from his hair.

”You three are elves?” Jack asked.

”We are,” Wilted Tree replied.

”How did you get here? The elven country… Whatʼs the name again?” Jack turned to Peniel.

”Aurebor Dynasty,” Peniel answered.

”Yeah, that one. It is supposed to be far from here, ainʼt it? How do you travel all the way here?”

”We have our way. Shall we begin?” Wilted Tree asked as her hand revealed a pistol weapon.

ʼAinʼt Technocraft branched out from Rogue? They can use a gun?ʼ Jack asked Peniel in his mind.

ʼThey can. They donʼt receive any gun skill, but they receive a 10% bonus for using mechanical weapons, for which a gun was one such weapon. It is a good choice to support her techno golem from a distance.ʼ

These three just gave him more questions than answers, which annoyed Jack. He guessed he would just beat them up to alleviate his annoyance.

”Make your move,” Jack said while in his mind he said to Peniel, ʼdescribe to me their skill sets.”

😉