Fire Crowns

"They don't give you choices? Like, give you an invitation to join their guild?" Nicole asked.

"Yes, however, we just want a free life, without being ordered around. At least in the game, we want to live a peaceful life. Is it too much?" Evelyn asked.

"Of course, not. However, like you who want to have control over your own life in the game, there are people who want to control others when they have the chance and power. It's an ironic reality, but many rich people who currently don't hold power in the real world surely want to hold power in the game," Nicole said in helplessness.

"Yeah, I understand what you wanted to say. However, are there no other ways? The NPCs that hold power in the village also didn't do anything even if they saw their arrogance in front of their eyes. It is as if they gave them permission to do that," Evelyn said.

"Maybe they also see it for the best of all. I mean, because many players were busy hunting monsters, many of them ignored some village's quests right? Maybe they think if the guardians are united in a few guilds, it will benefit the village in the long run. They can negotiate with the leaders of the guilds to do some important quests. It will be more efficient and effective." Nicole explained her view.

"...," Evelyn was silent.

"If you want to reset your character, it will be better if you choose production jobs. At least, you won't experience so much discrimination," Nicole stopped as they were already in front of Alex's house.

"Thanks, Nicole. I will think about it once more. Come on Irene! See you tomorrow Nicole! George!" Evelyn then held her daughter to go to their home and waved to Nicole and George.

Irene also said goodbye to them and followed her mother home.

***

<Guys, I think I saw a lake. A big lake. maybe it's what Adrian has said,> Sofia's voice was transmitted via the party channel.

One hour before, Sofia on Red's back also with Blue who followed along flew to find the place that Adrian had mentioned. After leveling up to level 11, Red's body grew up 4 times her initial size. She became 10 meters wide and 16 meters long.

Blue at another hand became 2 x 3.2 meters. Unlike Red who was 5 times larger than him, Blue was way faster and his attacks were more deadly. Sofia said that it was normal for the female flying skate to be bigger than the male, but the two's differences were too much.

However, Sofia said that she had anticipated it since she chose them. She said that the two had a chance to evolve in the future. However, unlike Jumpy, the books in the library said that their species didn't have any special diets that could help them to evolve. It was entirely based on bloodline and luck. Blue and Red had a good bloodline, the rest depended on their luck.

-257

-175

Two cards hit a chicken-like monster. Then, it retreated into the thick mist.

<Okay, We will go to your direction immediately. Please inspect the area around the lake! Make sure to get as much as information you can get,> Ace said while fighting two chicken-like monsters.

[Fire crown, Level: 12]

After everyone in the party was at level 11, they decided to leave the ant's territory. When they were at the border, they were attacked by dozens of ants. Fortunately, they could escape successfully.

They were some kind of monsters that they had encountered after entering Misty Forest. There were some giant wolves, some horned rabbits, some agile big rats, etc. They could defeat them or just chase them away with their trained teamwork.

Ace was pretty annoyed at the environment of the forest. Because his sight was limited by the mist. Fortunately, his other senses could still work normally, so they could avoid some big groups of monsters.

*wuzz*

A blue fireball that had targeted him passed a few centimeters from his head. Fortunately, he could avoid it by moving sideways. The fireball that just appeared from the thick mist caught him off guard, almost hit him. He could still feel the heat on his cheek.

"F**k!" He cursed. Since becoming a father, he had tried hard to change some of his bad habits. However, some of it sometimes appeared when he was caught off guard.

Among the monsters that they had met these days, fire crowns were the most annoying monsters. They were called fire crowns because they had a blue fire on top of their heads. 

Ace must admit they were beautiful birds. With blue feathers that covered their bodies, they looked majestic. They could shoot blue fires and they dealt pretty nasty damage. They were also pretty agile, although, not as fast as Ace. However, their vengeful behavior made them not cute at all. 

<Are they attacking you again?> Ace heard his wife's voice again through the party channel. 

Before he could answer, he heard another person's voice, it was Geo's voice <Should we return the egg?> he said with an unwilling tone.

Actually, they were a pretty timid species. However, when Ace's group saw a big egg under a dead tree that was guarded by its mother. Sofia said that fire crown could evolve into blaze pheasant, a powerful elite fire monster if eating some chores from fire-type monsters.

And, if the blaze pheasant was lucky, it would evolve into Phoenix, the legendary firebird. Because of that, the party wanted to steal the egg.

After Ace successfully attracted the mother's attention, Nara took the egg from the nest quickly. She then gave the egg to Geo who was waiting for them at a pretty far place with the rest members of the party. 

However, they never thought its parents could successfully find them in a short time. After that, they always attacked the party when they were not ready. At their first attack, Ace successfully reduced one of them's HP to below 30%. It made them decide to retreat.

After that, they only harassed the party and then retreated when one of them's HP reduced at some point. After being harassed a few times, Ace decided to eliminate them. 

At first, Sofia said that fire crown was a pretty rare monster. Because of that, she suggested to just steal the egg without killing the parents. 

However, hunted them was several times harder than chasing them away. Because they had adapted to a misty environment well, they always succeeded to escape from Ace's chasing. It made him helpless.

So they could only wait for two birds' attacks every few hours. Their persistence made all members of the party pretty annoyed. Only when they activated a protective array when they want to log off, the birds couldn't attack.

So when Geo suggested them to give away the egg, the others were silent. If the suggestion was spoken the day before, probably some of them would object. However, it was apparent, the two birds wouldn't give up until their egg was submitted.

<Or, you can talk to them,> Cloud suggested.

<What do you mean, grandma?> Geo asked.

<That we want to make their kid a stronger species. Not to harm it. Maybe they will let it go. Because all parents want the best for their kid,> Cloud said.

Everyone was silent. Ace thought Cloud's idea was too shameless. Just imagine, someone kidnapped a kid. After he was founded out and the parents wanted to call the police, he said that it was for the kid's good. He did that so the kid would get a brilliant future.

Would the parents give their kid to the man? Ace thought it was impossible.

<Okay, I will do that,>  Geo said. Ace knew that his son really wanted to keep the egg.

As a parent, what can Ace do? He would support Geo the best he could. He also would make sure that his son was safe during the talk.

Ace stopped his attack and then ran towards other members of his party that were at defense formation.

After saying their decision to Adrian and his family, Ace asked Geo to be ready. With a nod, he then put out the egg from his inventory and walked out the formation. Ace accompanied his son to protect him.

At first, some fireballs were still launched from inside of the mist. However, after Geo and Ace walked a few meters from the rest, the attacks stopped.

Ace and Geo continued to walk until they couldn't be seen by the others. Finally, the two birds showed themselves.

They were a meter high each. Ace could still see hostility from their eyes, but he didn't care much.

After their distance was only 5 meters, Geo started to talk with them with only eye contact. Ace couldn't comprehend what they were discussing. 

After waiting for the strange communication for a few minutes, Ace saw the two birds retreated. It made Ace open his eyes wide. 

"Is it a success?" Ace couldn't help but ask after seeing the two birds enter the mist.

Geo nodded while looking in the direction where the two fire crowns left with a grateful and determined look.

***