Chapter 166: Going Back to the Game
Chapter 166: Going Back to the Game
Bloom woke up after a few hours when Antoan returned. He didn't need sleep as much as rest, so when Antoan approached the room, he was woken up by his footsteps alone.
"Sorry, didn't know you are sleeping, "Antoan apologized before turning to leave.
"Yawn," Bloom took a long yawn before stopping Antoan, "I'm already sleeping in the capsule all the time," he laughed before glancing all around. "It's morning already? How long have you gone?"
"Five hours," Antoan said, "you should need rest."
"I need it," Bloom nodded before standing, stretching his body, and yawning again, "but I have many stressing matters to arrange."
He fixed his gaze upon his butler before adding, "speaking of urgent matters, have you managed to deliver the message?"
"Indeed."
"And the response?"
"The maid gave me her in-game username," Antoan smiled before adding, "her name inside is Peri."
Bloom smiled as he already figured this out a long time ago. "Have you told them I'll get in touch with her soon?"
"I did," Antoan helplessly smiled, "this maid tried to squeeze me for info about your ID." He glanced at his master before sighing, "I can tell you already this girl is falling into your net."
"Hahaha, I'm not trying to fish her," Bloom laughed amusingly.
"You should aim for her master, not the main, tsk," Antoan complained before mumbling, "leave the maids to the butlers."
"Keep your own dreams off my girls," Bloom said as he gently warned his butler.
"She isn't my type."
"She is my type."
"Your type should be her master."
"The two are my type."
"Since when you are a womanizer?" Antoan gave him a deep glance, "you were interested in women before, but not to this degree."
"Hahaha, I told you I got reincarnated."
"Yeah, I know, this old joke of yours."
Bloom didn't know what else to say except shrugging. Even telling the truth wouldn't help him here. "C'mon, go into the game and start leveling up fast."
"In less than two days I'll be there next to you with my people."
Bloom knew his butler meant his words, and so he casually waved his hand. "Send me breakfast before I go inside."
"Right away."
Bloom had his French omelet meal before getting into his capsule.
As he entered the game again, his mind had already a long list of things he needed to do first.
And the first thing he did was to send a message to Muna, asking about the recent developments in the Panty's side.
"No news, master. He is still fetching everyone out to bring as many strong players as he could like crazy!"
He heard this from her before shaking his head. "This might get a little overboard without their help," he knew his enemy would be rash in securing his next big quest.
"Yet not like this! I'm not going to kill your mother dumbass!!" he sighed before opening his friend list and calling the second farmost important person there.
"Finally gotten back online," Nara welcomed his call with this long shout.
"Sorry, I had to rest and eat."
"You can do both inside the game," she laughed before adding, "anyway I finally found the missing leveler. Where are you now?"
Bloom turned around him while adding, "in the village, and you?"
"I'm outside, leveling up. I'll send you our coordinates."
"Good," Bloom nodded before adding, "I've another quest to do later, so won't level up for much time now."
"Again?" she hurriedly shouted, "This soon?!! C'mon, tell me your secret. Do you have a gf in the NPCs of this village or what?"
He laughed at her wild imagination. "It's my own secret," he smiled and didn't give her a clue about anything.
"Damn! I wish I have half the luck you own," she sighed while adding, "don't be late then, after all we wasted much time looking for these and our levels are still stagnant."
"What's the mainstream level of players here?"
She paused for a moment before saying: "In the entire game, thirteen and fourteen is the common standard of elites. The highest level I ever heard of so far is fifteen, and the mainstream players' level varies. Here in the empire and the village, the mainstream level is eleven."
"Hmm" he went into silence as he knew the level of Nara's team was around twelve and thirteen. "You aren't that far from the elites of the game then," he commented.
"But we could have been higher if we didn't waste much time looking for these idiots," she took a deep breath as this matter seemed to really annoy her.
"Chill out, soon you'll kiss my feet for my wisdom," he laughed on her expression which turned funnier after hearing his remark. "Look for a dungeon around you, and in less than one hour we'll hit it."
"Finally some good news," she was excited to hear that before adding, "I heard legends about your ability to clear dungeons."
He instantly knew how she learnt these legends, yet he feigned ignorance and asked: "How did you know such a thing?"
His sudden question startled her as she realized she made a slip here. "Oh, just from the forums," she found her excuse finally, "yeah, many posts about your deeds in the beginner zone had videos and news about the dungeons you cleared."
He knew she was lying, and he resisted the urge to laugh on her. "Alright, I'll give you a real close up ticket for my show then," he smiled as he added, "one hour and we'll meet. Look for a nice dungeon for us then."
"I will," she said before he closed the call and heaved a long sigh of relief. "It's too hard dealing with the same person with two identities," he said before pausing, "wait, or is it three?" he laughed while thinking about his next step.
"I need to contact Peri and arrange things with her," he glanced around before adding, "as far as I can recall, the Cyan studio in the past was famous for their lifestyle players. I have to be ready for her then."
He knew his options were limited to just one meeting with her. He had to make sure she would approve at the moment, and not put him on hold and waste more time.
"Losing this studio in the upcoming battle will limit many of my choices here," he sighed before moving towards the auction house.
"This is just a daylight steal!!" he cursed while moving outside the auction house. "Level fifteen grade green gear is sold in thousands of coins there! Damn!"
He went to the auction house and checked the gears there for his Pandora box. He had such a great item that could break down any gear into gold and materials; something he could easily use to tempt Peri.
"Sigh, I have no way then," he checked his inventory. Previously he had tens of high level gears stored there, yet right now he had only five. "I have to seek more caravans to hit then," he decided before thinking deeper, "like this I can't meet her except after ending the dungeon run with Nara."
As he closed up his inventory, he had nothing left but to check his black market. "Hmm not bad," he muttered while checking the two hundred thousand dark points he had in his account. "These quests are really golden mines."
He closed the market and then headed towards the gates of the village. As he was thinking deeply about his next moves and options, many players already spotted him.
And the news of his appearance in the village spread everywhere. Many powers were eyeing him, even those far away currently from the village.
For many, he was a rising star and threat, while he only considered how to damage Panty and make him lose.
He walked outside the village where he met many on his way eyeing him in a strange way. At first he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, yet with time he noticed what was going on.
"Is there anything wrong about me recently in the village or forums?" he sent this brief message to Nara who replied in a few moments.
"Did you forget what Panty put on your head as a prize? He also put a high value on stopping you from achieving anything major for that challenge."
He patted his forehead as he totally forgot about this. "Amazing," he smiled before adding, "I nearly forgot about this."
Just as he walked forward, heading towards the coordinates of Nara and others, he received a message from Antoan telling him how many levels they reached so far.
"Level three."
"Good, keep pushing harder."
Bloom knew this was nothing as most of earlier levels could be crossed easily in mere hours.
What he didn't know was that his way of fighting and leveling up became a classic. Even Antoan was now leveling up with his gang according to one of the many manuals players provided in the forums based on Bloom's fights and brilliant performance.