Chapter 61: Back in Game
The fight wasn’t over. But one thing was clear as the seconds passed and the four men kept glancing at each other from time to time...he wasn’t just some casual civilian and was worthy of entering.
He belonged in the Inner Wall.
Maybe.
One of the four men pressed a button under his sleeve, and in the next moment, he whispered," He passes, he is very good at fighting, and I can feel that he is even hiding a thing or two."
The old man above couldn’t help but wave his hand as he pressed a few buttons on the screen in front of him and uttered through the communication device," Hmm, you sure that’s what you felt? From up here, we think he is ordinary and just a bit decent."
The younger one nodded at the old man’s words. "If this level of fighting is passable, isn’t our world doomed?" An ugly expression crossed his face as he clenched his fists tightly.
The same man who was fighting Yone while also talking with the two above couldn’t help but chuckle," Old friend, you paid me a lot to test everyone who enters, do you think I don’t know what I’m doing? Let him, you are vastly underestimating the potential of ’those’ people.’
The old man thought about it for a second before he pressed a button, and the whole chamber vanished as Yone appeared in a white room the size of a football court, as two people stood behind a glass barrier ahead of him.
Yone frowned but didn’t dare speak without permission and only raised his hand.
The old man gestured for him to speak with an amused smile,’ Not bad, he is even careful with this although he just buying a piece of land.’
"Your men, can I hire them for my own use?"
Yone’s words shocked everyone, as even the old man’s mouth opened and closed several times. He had made several assumptions about what the young man would ask, some related to the test, others to the Inner Wall and their identities.
But this question was the last thing he expected. Caught off guard, he found himself asking, "Why?"
"Not arrogant, truly a surprise." Even Yone was as stunned as the others; he’d expected an outright refusal, not a calm, clear-headed question.
"As you may have expected but my current skills are brought upon by my in-game fights inside of Eclipse Online, and I’m currently gonna create my own guild. I can promise you that these men’s skills will reach new heights with me," He spoke the truth as lying had no benefits in such situations.
Silence...
The old man was silent for some time as he locked eyes with a specific man among the four and wrote a message," Is this what you meant by your words?"
"Yes, Eclipse Online isn’t merely a game, and many of my friends who tried it for fun in the first few hours of their sleep became addicted to it since they felt their combat standards were rising at an astonishing level."
The old man caressed his long white beard for several minutes before he typed another message, not bothered by the fact that everyone would think of him as rude for making them wait for so long.
"Your friends, I assume, logged off and told you about this earlier tonight and even asked you to join them, right?" It was already 8 am, and the game had been running for 16 hours, from what the old man knew at least.
"Yes, but I refused." The man replied casually.
"Reason?" The old man raised his long eyebrow in surprise.
"Not promising enough."
"What about this young man?"
"If he reached this level of in real life movements by a simple game at his age in a matter of 16 hours, he is not bad but no," With that, the old man typed a few more things and ended the conversation there, then focused his gaze on Yone and spoke to the man beside him.
"Your vote?"
"I accept," The young man next to him spoke as he bit his tongue in frustration after reading a certain message.
"Yone, sorry to inform you, but my men won’t be working for you. As for your house, you already got it."
"Just follow the woman in grey that you will find after leaving through the door behind you, and she will walk you through everything you need to know."
Yone nodded and left. Inwardly, however, he was terrified by everything he was seeing from the very moment he entered the inner wall,’ No wonder my father was fearful, I shouldn’t interact much with these people if possible.’
Yone vowed as he left the white room and headed to finish the rest of the paperwork and finally get to his new house.
Breakfast that day was a huge feast with his family as they spent a whole hour interacting with them, explaining several things about the game and his future plans, and even promising to guide Shen once he starts playing.
As the family bonded and spoke about many things, all the pressure from the lack of money, sicknesses, and several other problems, such as debts and things along those lines, was gone. And was instead replaced by light shoulders and joyful feelings.
Yone felt anew this day, and the smiles from his parents and his little brother, with their occasional praise of him becoming a true man, warmed his heart as it bounced with joy. This is truly the moment he had sought since forever, and he was getting it.
"I swear to keep this moment for the rest of our lives!"
***
After spending some quality time with his family, Yone knew that he couldn’t go any further than that as time was gold on Eclipse Online, and now wasn’t the time for this.
If he wanted to keep this happiness on everyone’s faces and his little brother’s look of pride, he needed to work even harder.
Therefore, he immediately went to his room, closed the door tightly behind him, put on his helmet, and dived into the game.