Leonel's enthusiasm only lasted for an hour before he lazed around again. This time, he checked the messages on his notification.

He sent a message to Roz telling him to save his gil so that by the time the in-game currency was there. He would have a lot of money. The kid only replied one word.

[Roz: ok]

Not even a thank you. Leonel mused to himself. He suddenly got the feeling that Roz was avoiding him.

He's probably busy. Leonel thought and shrugged.

Leonel wanted to help Roz as much as he could. The boy was a good kid, and the more he got to know him, the more he like him.

Leonel was skeptical about the whole game and didn't know the bigger picture, unlike Ren, who went back in time, so that explained his no care attitude towards the game. And since the in-game currency wasn't established yet, Leonel didn't know how serious it was and threated COVENANT just for fun, just like with the other players.

If he had a skill/spell Book right now, he would probably give it to Ren since he didn't know what to do with it. Or, if he had a rare item that didn't fit well with his class, he would give it to his friends. That was how he saw the game a Game.

And Leonel didn't like asking for help for someone else. Ren and Roz were strangers. They didn't even meet. So asking Ren to help Roz, a stranger, was too much of a thick-skinned move even for him.

Heck! Even some relatives, blood and flesh, didn't help each other. What more strangers?

Leonel was the one who decided to help Roz, so it was his responsibility. Ren was already generous enough to provide that information about the Ice Troll without even caring on who he would take with him.

Leonel took a deep breath and sighed before forcing his attention back to his screen.

There was also a message from Isolde about the Festival of Gil, and this got Leonel's eyes sparkling in excitement.

Reading through the announcement, Leonel told Ren, "Hey, Ren. The game just announces what the Festival of Gil will be like.

"It said that players who will take part in the Festival will be transported into a magical place of fun and games. There are also rare items to be won and lots and lots of fun things to do. So we have to bring a lot of coins to this place. There's also free costumes too."

That was a lot of lots. Ren mused to himself after Leonel summarized the notice.

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Leonel was enjoying himself as he browsed the publication while Ren was having none of it.

"It's a scam, Leo. It's only there to deplete our gil. If you want to pay your loan, then don't ever go there."

"But . . ." Leonel pointed a finger on his chin, big eyes imploring. "It seems fun . . ."

"It's only temporary. And once it's over and you got nothing left, what comes after the fun is regret."

"Augh . . . Are you talking about that one time we went to a festival and lost all our money on a fishing game?"

Ren grumbled when he remembered that. "It's because it's a scam. The net was so thin, and the fish was so heavy."

Leonel scoffed and muttered with dead eyes, "Ren, you're just not fast enough to catch the fish,"

"Shut up!" Ren growled, face a little red before he changed the topic, "Anyway, don't go there."

Leone didn't seem to hear anything and said, "It will start tonight! Isolde is asking us to go with her to the Festival!"

"Tell her no," replied Ren with a stern voice.

". . ." Leonel finally peeled his eyes from his screen and looked over at Ren. The guy was working so hard to mine, and Leonel couldn't fault him.

They both grew up in low-income families, and their lifelong dream was to uplift their life. But . . . Ren was working so hard that he forgot to live the moment.

Work was important and all but too much and you'll lose sight of your original goal until it was too late.

"It's a one-week event in the game that only happens at night. Maybe we can go there on the last night?" Leonel bargained. "Surely, we accumulated enough gil by that time."

Ren was already in a bad mood, so what Leonel said seemed to irritate him. "Suit yourself. But I won't be going. It's a waste of time and money. And trust me, you'll regret going in there after you burn your hard-earned gil."

Leonel pressed his lips tight. He sensed that Ren was grumpy and not in the mood, so he didn't press the matter anymore. He knew better to keep his mouth shut when Ren was angry.

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He would open the topic again if Ren was feeling a lot better.

Though Leonel wondered what had happened for Ren to act that way. He was usually calm and kept his emotions to himself.

But Leonel guessed Ren was furious this time because the latter couldn't keep his feelings at bay. It showed on his face.

It just started when Ren returned from whatever he did, and his angry, depressive mood has never lessened even now.

I wondered what had happened. Leonel thought and shrugged.

Whatever it was, it was probably related to money.

Leonel snickered at the thought.

Then his smile disappeared when he didn't even receive any message from Saya and Mike.

The two must still be angry at him. Leonel shook his head and pouted. Fine then!

He didn't do anything wrong, and this time . . . he wouldn't apologize.

If Mike said that their friendship was over . . . then so be it!

Eventually, the Festival of Gil that everyone expected happened that night, and all were hyped at the surprise. No one knew what to expect, and every player was shocked when they were transported on top of a massive back of what seemed like a colossal walking turtle.

This turtle didn't have a round shell like regular turtles. It had a flat back that accommodated mountains, forests, streams, lakes, buildings, and thousands of players.

These turtles were hundreds in numbers to lodge all players, and they were numbered accordingly so friends could go to any vacant turtle without separating.

Inside this colossus were tons of activities for the players to try. There were inns, restaurants, pubs, food stalls, a marketplace, and tons of fun games with the aim of acquiring a rare item. In fact, the place was so big that it was impossible to try all the activities in one night.

There were also different races of NPCs scattered everywhere, ready to mingle with the players.

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Confetti and balloons flew in the dark sky, fireworks non-ending and vibrant. Music, so loud but never hurt their ears, was constantly playing in the background. There were songs and dances to entertain everyone as well as delicious food to go around the place.

Traditional outfits like Kimonos, Yukata, Hanbok, Sari, and a lot more were seen worn by the players. It was refreshing to go around and not be dragged by armors and such. The players felt like they were just in the real world, and this added to their excitement.

A special excitement and light feeling enveloped everyone as they saw many people enjoying the Festival. The feeling was the same with the approaching Christmas were everyone were busy buying gifts and food and going out at night to enjoy themselves from the many entertainment that Christmas brought.

Everyone was enjoying themselves every night except a lone Kobold who was still mining nonstop in Kartacol.

Ren didn't even know what day or time it was. All he knew was that . . . he only had this day left to mine because Leonel had told him a while ago that he would enjoy the last night of the Festival with Isolde. So that meant that it would also be his last night before the update occurred the next day.

He had no time to stop, even to breathe. He was in a hurry against time. He felt every second pass that even taking a short pause to breathe made him feel uneasy.

He even shouted at Leonel a few hours ago. Leonel was convincing him for what seemed like an hour to come with him and Isolde. Ragnar was there too.

Speaking of Ragnar, Ren already signed their contract a while back. The guy worked fast. In exchange for his silence, he wanted an item that would also hide his appearance now that some players knew who he was in the game.

Ragnar said that even a mask would do, and Ren thought of a perfect item for him.

But Ragnar could wait since he was busy at the moment. They would get that mask after the update.

Ren didn't mind the sweat tickling on his face. His eyes were sore, and his limbs were tired from mining for days. But he was numb to it all. All he thought was the money.

He would just take a rest when the update starts.

So far, he had already accumulated millions of gil, which meant millions in real money. He had to do his best to acquire more since this would be the last time these stones' prices reached thousands of gil. After the in-game currency, their price dropped drastically as well as the many things in the game.

Ren's pickaxe stroked the earth and stones, harder and faster. But he halted, hands mid-air at the incoming call flashing on his screen.

[Father is calling you!]

[ACCEPT]

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[DECLINE]