[BONUS]

"By the way, aren't we going to take on missions for this event?"

"No," Ren said. "By that time, most guilds will be broke. The event is right after the Guild Wars, and they will have exhausted most of their resources for that. Besides, the compensation is probably not worth the hassle."

"Instead, the prize money the game offers is more enticing. Not to mention the other rewards we can get," added Ren.

"That makes sense. But let's not choose the scariest server, alright? I don't want to have nightmares for life."

Ren looked at his screen before replying, "We'll decide where to go by treasures. The event will last for seven days, and we should be able to clear two. If we're fast enough, we might even clear three."

"Isn't that too little?"

"I estimate that each server has a storyline that must be completed and a map that must be explored, so a day won't cut it. There's also the four hours a day time limit restriction."

In his past life, Ren remembered that there was one server that took a month to complete, which was equivalent to four days in real-time.

"It's safe to say that maybe a month in game time," Ren muttered.

"A-a month?" Leonel gulped. "We're going to be trapped in those horrors for a month?"

"We could log out whenever we want and resume the next day again. I think they would freeze our stats, items, and everything before that."

"So the world of Arcadia wouldn't be accessible at that time?" Leonel was curious about that. Because back at the Festival of Gil, they were given an option of whether to attend or not.

"I guess not. They want to maintain fairness. The rules stated that Arcadia wouldn't be available during the event. This is to prevent buying of items and getting unlimited supply in the guild storage."

Ren squinted his eyes and clicked the rules to enlarge them. "There's also a set number of players in each group. Once registered, changing members isn't allowed. And there's no revival whatsoever. A group is terminated once everyone is wiped out.

"A guild can only have one group with ten players max. And . . . we can only bring a maximum of ten items with us. There are shops scattered throughout the map in each server, though, so we can resupply there."

"I can see why they did that," Leonel muttered. "Most players are just regular everyday dudes, while some guilds were enormous. Those rules were to give everyone a chance."

"It's also to encourage smaller guilds and solo players to play the game since it evens out the battlefield," added Ren.

"So, who will be going with us?" Leonel asked, tone excited, despite his fear of the prospect of being trapped in a haunted mansion.

"All of us," Ren replied with a dead tone. "Have you forgotten that our numbers don't even reach ten?"

"Oh, really? I thought some players applied?"

"They're not qualified," Ren simply said.

Leonel sighed on the other line. "You and your high standards.

"If I don't set a standard, then our group's reputation will suffer."

"Yeah. Yeah . . ."

There was a short silence before Leonel spoke again.

"Ren . . ."

Ren paused and turned to Leonel. There was a certain seriousness in the latter's voice, making him think about whether there was something wrong. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure that you just don't want to tell Evie about it?"

". . ."

Ren took a mouthful of air, but no matter how deep he breathed, it felt like there wasn't enough air to fill his lungs.

Of course, he thought about it multiple times. But he was scared of what Evie might do if she learned about it, more than being with Saya for a month.

"Forget it, Leo."

"But . . . shouldn't we tell her though and let her decide? She's the one involved here, after all. I think she has the right to know. And what if Evie would rather reveal herself? Have you thought about it?"

Ren closed his eyes shut. "That's what I'm scared about."

"Huh?"

"Think about it. Evie is slowly becoming well-known. She's even more popular than us because she's a woman hiding her identity behind a mask. People are intrigued by her real face. Evie isn't a man like us who could walk on the streets and not be harassed. She also doesn't have any family here or a powerful dad that would protect her. What do you think will happen if she showed that beautiful face of hers in public?"

". . . Er . . . I can only imagine. But . . ."

Leonel paused, and after a few seconds Ren felt annoyed and urged the other party to continue, "But?"

"But . . . Even if Evie didn't have a family or a powerful dad, she still has you. And I know that you would protect her no matter what, like what you're doing right now."

". . ." Ren shook his head with a smile on his face. "Stop being so cheesy. It's giving me the hives."

"You're lying," Leonel said. "I can tell that you're considering my suggestion."

"Let's stop talking about this topic and focus on the event instead."

Ren immediately ended the call.

He had to get back into the game, but he couldn't log in right away because of the maintenance. The server would be down for a few hours to update it for the Guild Wars.

As usual, he headed for school. When he found that Evie was absent, he couldn't help but worry for her. This was the first time that she was absent, and he wondered if she was sick.

Ren controlled his urge to call or message her, thinking that he would look like a creep. Besides, it was none of his business. Evie could skip class whenever she wanted.

After classes, he headed home and waited for COVENANT to be back online. Upon logging in, he appeared inside World Conqueror's headquarters and immediately looked for Evie's figure.

Unfortunately, he only saw Alice sweeping the floor like always.

She looked up when he entered the room. Her face lit up like a candle. "You're here!" exclaimed Alice happily.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)