Chapter 11

"Find him!"

Mollie Houns swept her gaze across the silent room. Her closest clan mates stared back, each as silent as the grave.

None of them could afford to buy their own space, and the RMT wasn't there yet, as the developers hadn't make it clear whether it would be introduced in Ascension or not, so they had to pay a pretty penny to rent one.

The palpable tension affected everyone in the enclosed space. The reason for that was simple—one of their clan members had stumbled on a unique yet difficult quest… to find an old mage named Ricky Armastrus, reportedly the only person who knew the way to the secret cave. The endgame would be to acquire an aiguière, a slender pitcher that once belonged to one of the nine Light Knights. Unfortunately, no one even knew which Floor Ricky might be on.

"Alright, that's it! The quest is ours either way. It's unique, for crying out loud. We just have to be patient. He'll turn up sooner or later. Chameleon," Kingmaker addressed the man who had discovered the quest's existence, "you hear me? Work on your lev-vel." She stumbled over the last word, which she hadn't quite learned to pronounce.

"Unknown player for your thought?" asked someone.

Yes, she remembered that mysterious player. When she saw him leveling up like crazy, she almost dropped her coffee mug...

"Who do you have to sleep with to get all this XP?" Mollie demanded. "It's not even funny anymore. Goddamn! Can anyone explain this? This dude, somehow, managed to kill a monster well above his level."

Everyone present replied with their variation of a puzzled look. The mysterious player was moving up fast. Level thirty… Crimson Berserker was level nineteen, and Mollie, along with her crew, had only just made it past level fifteen. It was an outrage.

"Right. Listen up! The first one to find this guy gets an item of their choosing. Skill book, weapon, I don't care, just find him! I need video proof. Tainerk, spread the word." She paused, then continued, "Anyone have anything about the key?"

"Nope, forums are empty. No videos, no comments, nothing. It hasn't come up yet, but our people are on it."

"I see. We have to lay our hands on it before anyone else does. Dismissed. I'll see you at the next one."

Everyone left, except Catalia — a good friend, and a rogue.

She patted Mollie's shoulder. "Mollie, are you alright?"

"Mhm." When they were alone, Mollie would always turn into a simple girl, without a clan, her parents' wealth, and connections. It seemed like Catalia, being Catherine in the real world, was nourishing the good in her.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're kinda hung up on that guy. You think you can recruit him?"

"Absolutely," said Mollie, her voice full of determination, "I want him to play for us. You know how badly we need talented players. He's our ticket up."

"What if he just got lucky?"

"We can't know that until we find out who he is."

"Assuming we do, what good are we to him? What do you have to offer to a guy whose rating is higher than all of ours put together?"

"That I don't know… yet."