Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 58: Rock from Loda

As expected, Ivan felt dizzy immediately after the wine flowed down his throat.

FarawayWind then refilled everyone’s glass, "Leo, thank you. If it wasn’t for you, who knows when we would have got together. A toast to Leo!”

"Cheers!"

After drinking two glasses of wine, Ivan was dizzy, but that didn’t stop anyone from having another glass. After all, it was the first time that everyone from the Pursuer Guild was together since they disbanded.

StrongCurrent raised his glass, "Don't forget our Lord! Ivan, cheers!”

Ivan had to pick up the glass again, and that was when he blacked out.

It was dusk when Ivan woke up again. He looked around and confirmed that he was still in the restaurant but instead of sitting at a table, he was lying in a bed. He slowly got up and tried to wave his limbs, surprisingly he didn’t feel hungover after being drunk. Again, it confirmed to him how advanced the game was, they wanted to make sure players spent more time on mission and not feeling sick. 

When he arrived in the lobby of the restaurant, he saw Rose behind the checkout counter. He quickly said, “Hello, Rose! Where is everyone?”

Rose looked up and smiled charmingly, "They left when you got drunk"

Ivan lowered his head with embarrassment. It was obvious he was mixing up real players with NPC, they were too realistically designed for the game. Although Rose was designed in an extremely clever way, it still didn’t change the fact that she was just computer data.

After spending weeks playing the game, Ivan learned that he had to cooperate with NPC, or it would be extremely hard to complete a mission. For example, when he killed Mirage with Fiona, it seemed that he should spend more time with different NPCs.

Fiona…oh, Fiona, I almost forgot her! Ivan recalled. He had only hugged her once but her tiny waist and sexy hips made him smile. Thankfully, she didn’t kill him on the spot considering he offended Loda’s successor.

Before starting to drink, Ivan had added everyone to his Friend list. However, when he opened the system to send messages, he was disappointed to see that no one was online.

“Even Leo is offline? He must be preparing dinner with Claire,” As Ivan was about to exit the game, he saw a familiar figure enter through the gate.

Seeing the brown hair, Ivan immediately recognized Loda’s Captain of Guard, Rock. He also noticed Ivan and walked toward him, “My Lord, I hope you have been doing well.”

"Hello, Captain Rock," Upon closer check, Ivan was surprised to find that Rock had reached Level 58.

Were all NPCs in the game upgraded so fast, Ivan wondered. If he remembered correctly, the last time he saw Rock, he was only around Level 40.

"Captain Rock, congratulations! You’ve reached Level 58? How do you level up so quickly?” Ivan inquired.

Instead of saying anything, Rock simply rolled up his sleeves, revealing all kinds of scars. Wounds from knives, fire, and axes covered both arms, and there were even two deep scars spreading from his right arm to his chest.

Ivan was shocked, "What happened?"

Rock didn’t rush to answer Ivan’s question. He finished his drink, then said, “I was sent to Divion City for a secret mission.”

Ivan noticed that Rock looked to the direction of Rose when he said Divion City.

Ivan then turned his head to Rock again and patted on his shoulder, "Not bad! You know scars are the best way to prove someone’s strength and ability. I can say most of us are jealous to see what level you are at.”

"Yeah?" Rock took another sip of his drink. Actually, he was not as excited as Ivan imagined

Rose had finished her work and began to walk to the backyard of the restaurant. On her way by, she glanced at Ivan but did not say a word. Ivan understood though and found an excuse to end his conversation with Rock and follow her.

"What happened?" Ivan asked Rose.

Rose looked down the hall, then whispered, “You should be careful talking to Rock. He is nothing like what you think.”

She didn’t say anything else, she just turned and walked away, leaving Ivan puzzled.

“Not like what I think? Come on! Can the Captain from Loda be more dangerous than a strange woman?” Ivan mumbled to himself. He remembered how much effort Rock put in to train the military in Leaf Town.

“Oh, I get it! She told me that because she wants to divide Loda and Leaf Town. If it weren’t for Rock, Rose may have done something terrible to Leaf Town without me even realizing it. Be careful with Rock? I guess I should be more careful, but with her! I can’t be fooled!” Ivan told himself confidently before exiting the game.

As soon as he took of his gaming helmet, the smell of food wafted toward Ivan. He didn’t know who was cooking though because it smelt delicious. When Ivan reached the kitchen, he was shocked to see Claire wearing an apron and standing in front of the stove.  

"Claire, where have you been this afternoon? Taking some cooking class?” Ivan asked cautiously.

She jumped when she heard Ivan speak but then proudly said, “Come on! I was born a chef!”

"Yeah, you almost got me! I might believe you if I hadn’t eaten your fried egg. However, I will give this a try,” Ivan said as he grabbed meat out of the pan and shoved it in his mouth, “Wow! No way! That is amazing!”

Ivan frowned, as he would never believe anyone could go from making horrible eggs to a chef in one day. He looked over at the garbage and saw take out boxes.

“Hey, hey, you’re cheating! You ordered the food!” Ivan laughed. He heard someone at the door, he turned to see Leo holding a cold beer.  

Leo asked, “Um? What is that burning?”

Claire suddenly began to panic when Leo questioned again, “Claire, what is wrong with you? I only asked you to heat the food up, not cook it!”

Ivan and Leo both roared loudly as Claire blushed.