ON top of a ragged cliff overlooking the ocean, a castle stood. Its architecture was similar to that of European old castles. With towers, turrets, stone steps, and massive oak doors. Because of the dense fog surrounding the whole area, the castle simply looked like one those castles used in old Western horror movies.

But unlike the creepy atmosphere outside, the inside of the castle was actually quite the opposite. It was brightly lit with modern and colorful decorations. It was almost like entering a huge mansion of the rich and famous. This castle was the headquarters of team Sanguis.

Inside one of the many entertainment rooms inside the castle, a young man wearing a crisp black suit lazily sat on a black velvet couch. He picked up a crystal goblet filled with dark red wine and drank it. The dark red liquid made his already red lips even redder. If there's someone there in the room with him right now, they would definitely be attracted by those red lips.

His pair of red eyes were downcast. His long eyelashes fanning his cold white cheeks. His skin looked very pale. But not the type of sickly pale, instead, like someone who's carved from jade. His whole body was exuding with so much pheromone that anyone would blush with just one glance from him. If there's one word that could perfectly describe him then it's temptation.

This was Xu Ru, the captain of team Sanguis.

He hadn't gone online for two days and the reason for that was actually quite annoying. Just thinking about it could still annoy the hell out of him.

It all started last weekend on Saturday to be exact. Qin Rushi suddenly invited him to do dungeon raiding. Of course, being the gentleman that he was, how could he refuse?

When he arrived at the place Qin Rushi, he was slightly surprised by the players she brought with her. A female newbie who just joined their team and two members from Yunyue Morganite and that gnome with black hair. He didn't expect to see the two there. But then he remembered that Qin Rushi actually knew Morganite in real life. So if he thought about it, the two from Yunyue being there shouldn't really be that shocking.

And his tragedy just began at that moment.

The dungeon they picked was a ravine. So most of the monsters were plant based. There were a lot of times when he almost got tangled by different plant monsters. He first attributed it to the newbie. Because almost every step of the way, she would entangle herself with him. No matter how much she messed up, he couldn't just push her away. Whether it's game or real life, he would never use violence towards a girl.

But then later, he realized that it was not the newbie that kept messing with him. It was the two from Yunyue. He didn't notice their little movements at first. But the fifth time that he was almost got tangled by some plant tentacles, he knew something was up. So he turned his attention towards the two.

He saw the gnome firing at the plant monsters nearest to him. Then that monster would go crazy for a second. It would be followed by Morganite firing spells that seemed to attack the monsters but would really just agitate them more. And thus, attacking him more fiercely. He didn't mind, really. Because he could handle it. Besides, he's not so childish that he would get mad because of something so petty.

Until they faced the boss dungeon, that is.

It was a huge Venus flytrap that secreted poison. Despite what the two did throughout their whole way there, he still didn't put his guard up. Which was a huge mistake on his part.

When he was fighting up close with the boss dungeon, Morganite suddenly blasted him with some kind of petrification spell. That's the only way he could explain why he couldn't move. Before he could even un-petrify himself, that gnome stood behind him and fired shots at the boss dungeon. When the monster was about to attack back, the gnome quickly jumped back. And Xu Ru ended up being eaten by the big Venus flytrap.

He had never been so humiliated.

Although he was also at fault for not taking things seriously, what happened was still irritating as hell. Especially considering his level and skill set. But he got careless and ended up in that embarrassing situation.

What he couldn't understand was why those two imps had it on him from the very start. Aside from meeting them on the Black Lake on the night of the King of Arcadia's birthday, he hadn't interacted with them elsewhere. So he had no idea just how on earth did he offend the two.

He was just glad that the other two that's with them on that raid were both his team mates. At least, he could be sure that that embarrassing moment wouldn't be spread around.

Unless those two little demons from Yunyue decided to do just that. He probably should start thinking of ways to save his image if ever that happened.

The door to the entertainment room suddenly opened. And a male beastkin came rushing in. He had grayish blue hair and metallic gray eyes. There's a wolf ears on top of his head, as well as a wolf tail behind his back. Both were the same color as his hair. When he smiled, a little tiger tooth was showing. Adding a wild charm to him.

His name was Tang Xun. Another member of team Sanguis.

"Brother Ru," he greeted sitting on the opposite couch. "Did you only log in now?"

Xu Ru only nodded.

"How many days did you not log in anyway?" Tang Xun asked again.

"Two days."

"I bet you went off somewhere with a girl," Tang Xun said with a knowing smile.

[If only that was the case.] But Xu Ru couldn't exactly tell Tang Xun that the reason was because he was too annoyed by what those two imps did that he wasn't in the mood to play. His image as the cool big brother would be ruined.

Then as if Tang Xun remembered something, he suddenly asked, "Then you haven't seen that advertis.e.m.e.nt?"

"What advertis.e.m.e.nt?"

"Wait- I'll send the video to you right now."

When Tang Xun was done sending the video, Xu Ru opened his Status Window to watch it.

He was first intrigued by the video's beautiful aesthetic. Then the pretty NPCs came into picture and it piqued his interest. But when the black haired elf appeared, he became totally intrigued. Not because he thought that the NPC was beautiful - no, he wouldn't stoop so low as to hit on things made up of data and codes but because he thought 'she' looked familiar. He was just not sure where he saw 'her' exactly. But that shouldn't be the case because 'she' was an NPC.

Or was 'she'?

"This was probably the first business of its kind in the game," Tang Xun said. "Should we go and take a look when it opened, Brother Ru?"

Xu Ru stared at the black haired elf and an interesting smile appeared on his lips. "Sure, why not?