". . ."
Ren couldn't react for a moment. He forgot that the outside world could still call you even if you're inside COVENANT.
Ren's heart thumped widely as he stared at the name that was flashing on his screen.
Once upon a time, he and Leonel were the best of friends together with Saya and Mike. The four of them were inseparable during their high school years, and they even promised to go to the same university together.
Ren even liked Saya in the past but gave way to Mike since he'd rather keep their friendship than lose it on a girl with who he knew he wouldn't end up in the end.
Saya's parents owned a chain of restaurants, and they were actually wealthy, while Mike's family owned a real estate company. So Saya's parents preferred Mike over Ren. The only reason why they were in Zone C in the first place was because of their parents' business.
It was not like Ren wanted to compete in the first place. There was nothing to compete with. Ren couldn't bring her to those Michelin awarded restaurants that she frequented and buy her pieces of luxury bags and makeup which she loved to do.
But Mike could.
Ren gave way to their love while maintaining their friendship, and it worked out in the end.
It was Leonel who supported him through those heartbreak days, and it was thanks to him that Ren managed to get over from Saya's charms.
Even after Leonel was admitted to Zephyr Academy, because he did not pass the entrance exam at Fate, he continued to hang out and stay in touch, .
It was a thirty minutes train ride from his school to Ren's, and Leonel always made time to meet and catch up with everyone.
By contrast, Saya and Mike, who attended the same school as Ren, began to distance themselves. Their excuse was that being in different departments made it difficult to align their schedules.
In truth, Ren knew the real reason: Saya and Mike were embarrassed by him, since he had nothing to his name. It hadn't mattered in high school, where they were among the few wealthy students and could do whatever they pleased.
College was a different story. At Fate Academy, where most students came from wealthy and influential families, everything changed. When the nickname "Ren the Rat" began circulating on campus, Saya and Mike distanced themselves from him entirely.
Ren understood and didn't take it personally. Saya and Mike had to stay close to their wealthy peers for connections and advantages. After all, they were thinking about their futures, and aligning with the rich and powerful was the surest path to success.
Contrary to everyone's beliefs. The rich didn't hate the poor.
No.
They simply didn't care.
Ren figured it was better for them to hate him than to see him as invisible. At least their resentment showed they still recognized him as human.
Since he had nothing to offer, everyone treated him like he wasn't there. No one wanted to do anything with him.
He was that one guy at the side that could disappear, and no one would care.
When Ren's father died, it was Leonel who stayed by his side. Ren even forgot how many times Leonel helped him both financially and emotionally, even though he wasn't that well off either.
However, when Ren entered the game, he became even busier, and he forgot about Leonel and the others.
How long had it been?
Ten years? More than ten years?
Ren pressed
However, a call would only go thru in the game once you're alone. If you're not alone, a notification would still pop saying of an incoming call and that you could only answer once you're alone.
This was because you'd be temporarily logged out from the game as you received the call.
"Hey, Ren! Remember that VR game we talked about?! Its opening is today! We have been dupe! You have to go to the nearest café and rent a pod now!"
Ren swallowed the lump in his throat. He opened his mouth, but no words left his lips.
He had forgotten Leonel's deep and slow voice that it felt foreign to him now.
"Ren?! Are you listening?" Leonel said, huffing as he did. He was running to the nearest café at his place to log in to the game while the others were still unaware and blissfully sleeping.
"Y-yeah." Ren could only manage that much without his voice breaking.
Ren was always a cold and detached person, so Leonel didn't find anything wrong with his voice.
"Do you have access to a café right now? You have to go there before others got wind of the information, and they jammed every café."
Ren remembered that Leonel had asked him the same question in the past, but he just brushed him off and ended the call saying that he was sleepy and needed to find a part-time job tomorrow.
Ren was actually annoyed in the past when Leonel called because he had disturbed his sleep.
"I'm going to finally become a Dwarf and experience being small for once!" Leonel continued talking on the other side while panting to catch his breath.
Ren blinked.
Leonel was over six feet in height. He was stall and lanky and bad at sports. Many people teased him because of it, saying that his height was useless if he was so clumsy and couldn't use it to his advantage.
In people's eyes, if you're tall, then you have to be good in sports, or your height is useless.
This made Leonel feel conscious about his height. And the only reason why he entered the game was that he wanted to become smaller.
Leonel was also playing as a Dwarf Defender in his past life. But since he wasn't playing seriously like the rest, he was easily overtaken. He didn't know any strategy, and his equipment was always inferior. Besides that, he was always dying. Hence his ATP was still in the two digits even in the mid part of the game.
No one would party with him, and no one wanted to take him into their guilds. Pressed with the only option of playing solo, his quests were limited, he couldn't enter dungeons or fight bosses, and his ATP suffered tremendously.
Leonel often asked for Ren's help in the past since he had so much information about the game.
However, Ren was busy working for a guild and juggling his part-time to actually bother about Leonel. He even blocked him in the past.
And he lost all communication with him.
Ren sighed and shook his head, a bitter smile on his face.
He lent a hand to those people who only used him and didn't help the only person who stayed true to him and helped him during his difficult times.
He was such an asshole.
"Ren, I'm already here at a café and going to enter a pod. Where are you right now?"
Ren thought for a moment. Leonel was still in Zone C, and he didn't know that he had just bought a pod. It would be troublesome if he asked about the pod and reported it to his parents.
Ren decided to hide things for now.
But of course, he wouldn't tell Leonel about him being revived into the past.
Ren answered without blinking, "I'm changing right now. I'm already here at Zone A, and it'll probably take me at least fifteen minutes to reach the nearest café."
"That's great! I'll wait for you in the newbie village!"
Ren sighed.
Leonel didn't even know that players were distributed across hundreds of newbie villages.
All these newbie villages provided the same quests and Hidden Bosses at the start of the game. Even Pii could be acquired at some other newbie village if someone else acquired first blood with the Midnight Phantom.
There was Midnight Phantom as well on the other Newbie forest. It was the first Newbie Hidden Boss.
It was to make sure that everyone was given the same chance at the start of the game.
And after that, everything would start from there.
However, once the [Mysterious Creature] was caught or gone, it wouldn't appear anymore across the hundreds of newbie villages.
Pii was a unique pet. A one of a kind. And only a single player could have a chance of acquiring him.
The same with World/Epic Quest, which could only be triggered one time.
It was a race on who could find them first.
"Leo," Ren called.
"Yeah?"
Ren pressed his lips tight before he said, "Nothing. Meet you at the village."
Leonel stifled a laugh. "Weirdo. I'll call Saya and Mike too so the four of us can play together!"
The call ended, and time resumed in the game. The call didn't even last ten minutes, but time in-game had already moved to an hour.
Ren just stared at his screen for a while.
Saya and Mike . . .
Ren was in a daze. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to meet those two.
Saya became a Sprite White Mage to support Mike, who was a Human Swordsman. Both of them were mediocre players who wanted to enter the top guilds.
Saya even approached Ren and asked for his help in the past. And since Ren still had lingering feelings for her, he offered to help them acquire rare equipment and items, which was against his contract.
And when he was found out and was kicked out of the guild because of it, Saya and Mike pretended that they didn't know him once more.
No guild was willing to take him in for months because of his tainted record of giving out information.
Feeling lost and dejected and without a job, Ren was tempted to end his life.
But it was Leonel who helped him again with just an envelope of cash in his mailbox.
Ren's record was marred by a history of selling information. That reputation made the top guild he later joined—and eventually rose within, in the Information Gathering Department—fear that he might leak the World Quest data to rival guilds. Their solution: assassinate him.
Ren's eyes burned ablaze.
Ren acknowledged hard work and perseverance the most. However, he was well aware that others simply climbed the ladder of success by just using their resources and connections.
But if Leonel wanted to be a Dwarf Defender, then Ren promised to make him the strongest Tank class in the entire COVENANT, and every top guild would prostrate before his feet.
That's a promise.