The Immortal Player

Pedro handed over several more bronze coins to Neerak Axutar for them to buy more food to their heart's content. That said, Pedro simply leaned upon a brick wall of an establishment to relax while waiting for Neerak and the three village soldiers to return with food that they bought at the small stalls along the street. 

"I am starting to run low of budget…" Pedro scratched the back of his head after seeing 2 gold coins, 40 silver coins, and 130 bronze coins were left inside his inventory bag. Then, he opened his player interface and said, "I wonder if cousin was able to rebuild the gold farming team already?"

He navigated to his friend list and found out that his aunt was still online in the game. He can't help but smirk as his fingers started to move on their own—typing the message he wanted to convey to his cousin, Weyron.

[Death (Pedro): Aunt Veronica, do you have any news about the gold farming team of cousin? I would be needing a lot of coins soon. Do tell me if there is a problem. I'll try my best to help.]

Surprisingly, Pedro got a reply from his Aunt Veronica immediately.

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): You are just on time, Nephew! Your cousin and I are having a discussion about whether to recruit other local gaming organizations under us.]

Before Pedro could reply, his aunt added message after message—consequently revealing information one bit at a time.

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): Remember I said to you that your cousin went to the north? He somehow encountered a local guild under the leadership of a Filipina referred to as Guild Leader Meen. One of the players in the top 10 rankings beside you and your friends.]

"This…" Pedro can't help but gasp as he immediately navigated through his player interface—from his friend list to the continental quest rankings.

[Quest: Protect the Aquari Continent!]

Rating: A-ratedcontemporary romance

Mission: Kill the monsters that start to dominate the Aquari Continent! Each monster killed will have an equivalent point that can be exchanged for items after the event.

Your Kill count: 673,151

Players with the highest monster kill-count would get special rewards.

The top 1 player will get a Gold-rated offensive skill. 

The top 10 players will get randomly generated Silver-rated skill. 

The top 100 players will get randomly generated Bronze-rated Skill.

Continental Quest Player Ranking

1. Death [Kill Count: 673,151]

2. Killer Looks [Kill Count: 62,552]

3. Gentle Breeze [Kill Count: 21,089]

4. Killer Smile [Kill Count: 9,433]

5. Arvedar [Kill Count: 2,765]

6. Hey_JoeCorporation [Kill Count: 287]

7. Wazzap_JoeCorporation [Kill Count: 239]

8. …

9. …

10. Meen [Kill Count: 221]

Quest Duration: ???

[Quest participation is optional. Once a player killed a monster, the kill count will automatically start.]

~~~

Pedro was supposed to only check Meen's rank and Kill Count in the continental quest. That said, he can't help but notice his… and Talia's absurdly high Kill Count.

He can't help but shook his head and say, "What's that little girl doing? If not for the dungeon, I won't even be somewhere near her kill count? How terrifying! She even went past through Sabrina's Kill Count?!"

After a few seconds, Pedro could only shake his head in response—returning his attention back to checking the player named "Meen" and the seemingly non-stop messages of his aunt. He glanced to Meen's kill count and said, "Two hundred twenty-one? Not bad… She's just tens of kills away from catching up to the Americans in this server. But… I wonder why aunt and cousin were deliberating whether to put them under us or not. Perhaps, there is a problem."

Pedro navigated back to his friend list and continued reading the message of his aunt from where he left.

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): Your cousin told me that Guild Leader Meen was asking for 10 Million Philippine Pesos for them to merge into our guild. I know how important this game was, for you. But the 10 Million Philippine Pesos is not something that we could agree upon without your consent. Besides…]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): We only have 2 Million Pesos left in our budget. We even need to take care of the gaming camp that we would use for the important players of both guilds.]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): So, it all really depends on your final decision, because you are the one who would be able to estimate whether we would be able to afford the 10 Million Pesos, and, at the same time, you would be the one to provide the money for it.]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): In any case, your cousin is against recruiting them for the hefty price of 10 Million Pesos. That said, he is keeping a friendly relationship with Guild Leader Meen until you make your final decision. But you know your cousin… He is a bit short-tempered, so… I suggest that you inform me as soon as you can if you want to push through the deal. I am worried that things might go south if your cousin's patience reaches its limit.]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): Please don't get him wrong, though. It's not that I am also against recruiting them to either guild of ours, but… Even I never heard of a deal concerning Virtual Reality games—reaching this absurd amount.]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): Still… We would like to leave the final decisions to you because you are the owner of both gaming orgs. Forgive me for leaving heavy decisions to be made under your shoulder—despite you needing rest because of your body's current situation in real life.]

Pedro can't help but force out a smile. Then, he rubbed his chin and pondered, 'Ten Million Pesos is not something that they could decide by themselves. After all, the budget would come mostly from my wallet. Mom and Dad would just probably give me some money to let me do what I want—after the accident and this coma stuff. But I doubt that they would tolerate me spending such huge money in one go! So… Aunt and Cousin are right. This amount is absurd. But… Recruiting someone who was in the top player rankings in the continental event... And for only Ten Million Pesos? This is a deal that I should not miss.'

At this moment, he glanced to his inventory bag and took out a skill page, while thinking, 'As for where I would get the Ten Million Pesos… The answer lies to this skill page in my hand.'

Pedro smirked as he mailed the skill to his Aunt together with a message.

[Death (Pedro): Aunt, agree to her terms. But tell her that the payment would only be transferred to them once they would be able to transfer and settle to our gaming camp. As for the money, you don't need to worry about it. I sent a skill page to you. It's the wolf transformation skill I was able to luckily obtain. Conduct an auction in real life as soon as possible, and set the minimum bid to 300,000 US Dollars. Then, We'll use that money to slowly build the two gaming organizations.]

[Purple Jade (Aunt Veronica): 300,000 US Dollars?! I am a bit concerned if there would be someone who would bid that high for this skill? Nephew, are you sure about this? I mean… Our identity would even be revealed to the world? Isn't it dangerous to do that this early in the game? Please think twice about that, Nephew.]

Pedro simply smirked in response. Then, he replied to her Aunt, filled with confidence.

[Pedro (Death): I understand your concern, Aunt. But… Such things were bound to happen if we wanted to become the strongest organization in Bearth Online. It was only a matter of time before enemies rise and attack us. That is why we need to increase the strength of our organizations as much as possible.

It is the hurdle that we must face when we wanted to become the strongest. There would definitely be opposing forces that would want to take the topmost seat. We could only do our best to keep sitting on it. Besides… If we can't hold it for now, how can we hold it later on?

As for the price of the wolf transformation skill… Kindly follow what I said. There were more people eyeing the game, more than you know it. And I assure you… The starting bid that I set is just a small amount to some of them.]

Pedro's Aunt was hopeless in convincing him to think otherwise. Thus, she could only put his trust in him and simply follow his arrangements. After all, he was still her boss.

Since she had a lot of things to handle offline—concerning the auction that Pedro ordered her to conduct, Aunt Veronica said a couple of words to Pedro before going offline. Unfortunately, even Pedro was washed along with the excitement that the recruitment of Meen and the wolf transformation skill auction had brought to them to the point that he forgot about the gold issue that he initially asked.

It was only when her Aunt went offline did he remember about it. He can't help but force out a smile and say, "Oh well… It's not that I am in immediate need of coins after all!" 

done.co