Everyone entered the building. The building was divided into two sections, with a beautiful garden at the center. Prince Rhemos and other natives took one of the sections while the players took the other section. Each section had several bedrooms. Each of the bedrooms had two beds, allowing two people to stay together. Jack and Domon took the same room.
Almost everyone rested inside the building, except for Jack, Giant Steve, Gruff, and David. These four decided to go out for a walk. This was not the first time Gruff came here, so he knew the place better. The old warrior offered to be the tour guide.
Jack and Giant Steve agreed, David said he preferred to explore by himself. Gruff reminded him to return before noon.
They then walked around the place, enjoying the beauty and tranquility of the landscape. Jack could see a lot of care was given to every plant and tree in this place. It was truly a magnificent garden.
Gruff also took them to one of the traversable edges of the place, where they could see the scenery below. When they were there, they realized how high they were. They were truly on top of a steep mountain. Jack wondered how they built this place up here.
Gruff took them to a bridge made of wood and rope that went across a ravine. When Jack looked down from the bridge, he couldn’t see the land. There was a white cloud covering the view down there. Giant Steve refused to walk over the bridge, afraid that the fragile-looking bridge couldn’t bear his heavy frame. Gruff assured him that the bridge was sturdy, but Steve was adamant about not crossing. He ended up taking the long roundabout way to reach the other side.
When they came to the giant face statues. Jack marveled at the details. He knocked on the surface, it was very hard. There was no visible mark on the surface. Jack asked Gruff how long had these statues been built. Gruff replied they were as old as this place itself. Hearing that, Jack understood the material used to construct these statues must be special, considering that he couldn’t see any defect despite them being ancients.
They also saw David during their walk. The guy just walked around and looked at things. Steve pointed out that he must be a guy that enjoyed traveling and visiting scenic places. Jack reminded Steve that the guy came from a mercenary guild. Bowler had also informed that David was an ex-soldier. Jack said it was more likely that David was scouting this place out, trying to understand the terrain, just in case.
Jack chatted with the natives hanging around the garden. Steve did the same, but the natives’ reaction was generally more friendly to Jack. Steve wondered why it was so. Jack chuckled and told him it was most likely due to his Diplomacy and Influence skills being higher. Although both of Jack’s skills were only at Advanced Apprentice, they were still higher than most other players. Most others still had the skill at Basic or Intermediate Apprentice, especially their Influence skill. Most players didn’t bother communicating with natives.
While they were walking, a group of people with loud noises walked the same street from the opposite direction.
“Move aside! Move aside! Our goddess wants to pass!” One of the people at the front uttered.
Jack had known this group to be players from his radar. Additionally, only players will be this obnoxious. The street might not be large, but it was still wide enough for their two groups to walk on each side. What’s the need for asking others to move aside?
When Jack made no attempt to move, the guy who had made the demand threw a hostile glare. Jack noticed that this group was all of the elven race. Five men were crowding around one woman. Jack assumed they must have been the players representing Aurebor Dynasty.
The other four men, when seeing their authority being challenged, came forward and put on antagonistic postures.
“Don’t make trouble, you might cause us to get disqualified,” the woman said.
“Goddess, these people are being unreasonable. They don’t want to move aside even when you are in their present,” one of the men said.
‘What the f*ck! Who is being unreasonable?’ Jack thought. These people were asking for a beating.
“There is enough room to walk here, step aside!” The woman said.
The men moved unwillingly as the woman came into view. Jack could see now why they called her a goddess. She was indeed stunning. She had long black hair framing the most beautiful face Jack had ever seen. Her figure would no doubt cause lewd men to start whistling. She was wearing a tight-fitting medium armor. Jack thought that her suit was too tight for her, especially around the chest area. The girl might be a supermodel in the real life.
The woman gave Jack a glance, whose eyes just happened to fall upon her chest area. Jack didn’t mean to be improper. He was simply observing the woman and when she glanced, it was just unfortunate that Jack’s eyes happened to be there. His eyes didn’t even stay there for half a second.
“Lecher!” The woman scolded.
“What the…! Hey, lady, give me a break! You might be used to getting stared at, but don’t just assume everyone who looks at you has improper thoughts!” Jack scolded back.
“How dare you talk that way to our goddess!”
“Insolent! Apologize immediately!”
The men were immediately outraged after Jack’s words. They berated while making a gesture as if about to attack Jack.
“Stay back! Do you want to get thrown off this mountain?!” Gruff exclaimed. He asserted his presence between the groups. “If you people want to tussle, do it in the tournament!”
The elven men were about to retort, but when they found out that Gruff was a native and that they couldn’t inspect his level, they shut their mouths. They might be love-struck fools, but they were not common fools. Otherwise, they won’t get selected to join the tournament.
“Are you in the team battle or individual?” The woman asked.
“Team,” Jack answered.
“Hmph! Then we will meet in the tournament. I will teach you a lesson then, lecher!” The woman said.
Jack was irked. “Call me lecher one more time and I will really touch you improperly during the tournament!”
The woman’s followers were about to scold Jack back for his words, but Gruff was glaring at them which made them shrink back.
“What’s your name? I can’t use Inspect on you. I will remember it to make sure you get the lesson you deserved,” the woman asked.
“Heh! I would love to see how you give me a lesson. My name is Storm… Willow,” Jack uttered.
Giant Steve and Gruff turned to him at the same time. Storm Willow?
Jack was actually about to say his name, but he changed midway because he had used Inspect on the woman.
*
Unequaled Grace (Inquisitor, level 46)
HP: 3,090
*
“Hmph! Storm Willow. We will meet in the tournament then,” Grace uttered. She then walked away.
Her followers hurriedly followed after her. They didn’t forget to throw Jack a killing glare when they walked by.
“Storm Willow? What the heck kind of name is that? Why did you lie?” Giant Steve asked.
Jack didn’t answer. He was still staring at Grace’s back who was at a distance already.
‘She couldn’t be that Grace, right…?’ Jack thought.
While Jack was still deep in thought, he heard someone tapping his shoulder and called his real name. “Jack!”
Jack finally took his eyes away and looked back. Paytowin was standing behind him.
“I’ve been waiting for you ever since I saw your name in the tournament registry,” Paytowin said. “I went to the house they assigned to the Themisphere Kingdom but they said you are out for a walk. I have been searching around for you.”
“George?” Jack was still having trouble believing his eyes.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Paytowin came over.
“Your friend?” Giant Steve asked.
“Uh… Yeah. Hey! How do you get here? You are a human player. You can’t be representing the human team, right? Because that’s our team!” Jack uttered.
“Hehe, I know you will be surprised. Come! Let’s sit and talk,” Paytowin said.
“In that case, I will leave first. See you, Storm Willow,” Giant Steve said.
“Haha. Bye, Storm Willow,” Gruff said.
Ugh, these guys were using the name to make fun of him now. Jack was morose, he didn’t know why he changed his name. Even if the girl just now was the Grace he knew, she would still not recognize his current name. He had changed his name out of reflex.
“Don’t get in trouble!” Gruff said again. “Remember the bet! I won’t forgive you if you get disqualified because of stupid acts.”
“Damn! So that’s what you were worried about when you stepped in to deter those elven men?” Jack asked.
“Of course! I have to protect my benefit,” Gruff replied.
“Benefit my ass, go away!” Jack uttered.
After the two left, Paytowin gestured for Jack to follow him. Jack followed but his gaze went again to the elven group in the distance.
“I tried to find you so that I can warn you, you know. But it seems that you two still meet before I give you the heads-up,” Paytowin said when he saw Jack’s gaze.
“Are you saying… Do you mean, that is really Grace…? Our Grace?” Jack asked.
“The one and only,” Paytowin replied.
“But…”
“I told you already, right. She is a pretty one.”
“Why didn’t she just scan her real look to use on her past game’s avatar? That’s weird. Normally, people would try to make their in-game avatar as best looking as possible. At least better-looking than their real looks. Why does anyone make their in-game look less attractive than their real one instead?”
“That… Well, come sit.. I will tell you,” Paytowin said.
