4 Do you wish to join this guild? [Y/N]

If Lance's emotion could be summed up in one word, it would be 'fear'.

It was not the first time he received pity from others, his fourth owner was a grandmother who wanted to raise him like her lost grandson. However she was powerless to protect him when his fifth owner snatched him from her. To go back to the grandmother he ran away from the mansion, only to find himself in jail. He tried to run away whenever he got a new owner, and that led him to being auctioned off for the 6th time.

Now that he was rescued by a group of young teenagers, he was even more worried that something bad might befall them.

Lance looked at his status as he led the group to a safe inn, status was a gift to all creatures by the mighty System, only later on did players learn that NPCs and wild monsters can also see their statuses.

Lance (Half elf - Half lycanthrope)

Age: 10 Lv: 10

HP: 9,200/10,000 (Weak)

Weak: User has to eat food or decrease of -100 HP per hour.

STR (Strength): 12 AGI (Agility): 15

INT (Intelligence): 15 DEF (Defense): 10

LUK (Luck): 5 MDEF (Magic Defense): 10

As a ten years old boy, his agility and intelligence was quite high, as an average human would have 10 for all stats except luck.

'I need to become stronger... At least stronger than the auctioneer..' With a solemn vow Lance entered the inn.

The inn was old, really really old. The Sign board was loosely hanging above the door frame, ready to fall on a customer. The walls were grey, while some parts of the wall contained yellow. The inn was two stories high, which is quite low for an inn in the city.

"Wow, I didn't expect your recommend inn to be so... unique" Jessica could not hide her surprise, the building being old aside, she was surprised that such a building could actually pay their rents.

"Haha this is a secret inn I found during one of my previous attempt at escaping" Lance laughed bitterly, knowing full well how bad his recommendation was.

'Secret inn? does this inn actually look good inside?' With such thoughts the group entered the inn, and discovered that the inside was..

Even older looking than the outside.

"Haha! What a surprise! To think the cub survived and came back!" A small cat shouted when he saw Lance at the front of the group.

"Hello Mr. Nyanta, these are my benefactors" Lance faintly smiled. This grey cat with a cane have once hid Lance in the attic for a night while he was on the run.

Momo quickly used identify to get information on the cat.

[NPC] Old Nyanta (Neko Race)

Age: ??? Lv: ???

HP: ????/????

Info: ????

'Huh?' Momo frowned as she saw the display.

"Tsk, were you never told to be polite to your elders? Recklessly looking up my status like that, it seems you are one of those sky freaks" Mr. Nyanta's eyes grew cold as he glared at Momo.

"I... I am truly sorry sir" Momo was truly frightened, she did not think that there were NPCs that actually new what status were!

"Hmph, the last guy who did that is still here" he pointed at a man in plate armor laying quietly in a corner as he said this. Players who were killed by NPCs will automatically go to Judgment Hall, as NPC would not kill without any good reasons.

"Now then, what would you like to order?" Mr. Nyanta asked with a yawn.

The group was frozen in fear until Lance broke the silence, "Sir, I would like to ask if you could hide us for the night.. These sky people saved me while i was up on stage, and I don't want to see them captured by the guards" Lance asked politely.

"Hmm.. This is why you should have stayed and helped out at my inn, nobody can touch a single hair of yours if you had stayed here" the cat grumbled and walked away, before stopping abruptly.

"I will give you kids two rooms upstairs, but first come to the tables to have a meal" With that the old cat went into the kitchen.

"The cat is surprisingly a tsundere" Jessica whispered to Momo.

"I was so scared just now, how did he know what statuses are? Isn't he a NPC?" Momo whispered back.

"What is NPC?" Lance interjected.

"Uh.. It is what we call you guys who always lived here, just like how you guys call us 'sky people'" Ryu explained while pulling back a seat at the table.

"...." Shizuka sat on the chair that Ryu pulled back.

"Hey! That was my chair!" Ryu complained, before sitting on the chair beside Shizuka.

After everyone took their seats, Mr. Nyanta came out of the kitchen with shrimp pastas covered in Alfredo sauce. He went back and forth, bringing out enough food for everyone.

"Eat up" he said, before snuggling on a nearby chair.

"Thank you!" After thanking the cat they started devouring the food. This was especially the case for Lance, who had a weak status. Soon he was able to recover from the said status, becoming healthy once again.

After they were done their meal, Ryu asked Mr. Nyanta, "Sir, do you know a way to destroy the pact between Lance and his owner? I know that with the pact in place, it is only a matter of time before he gets captured again."

Between a slave and its master there always existed a special pact, stating the conditions that both sides agrees to. Of course, a slave contract mostly benefits the owner, with little to no binding on the master.

"Hmm.. the best way is to go find the owner and kill him, or make him spit out the contract" Nyanta claimed, before shaking his head. "However that method is likely to be impossible for Lance, he is simply too expensive to give up. You should know that Lance was bought for 18 silvers last time, and I heard that sky people are all poor, isn't that right?" Nyanta tilted his head slightly and looked at Momo. He knew from the start that Momo was the leader in this group, since her level was the highest.

Everyone at the scene gulped at the sound of '18 silvers'. They had to pay 77 bronze to get inside the city, and 1000 bronze is 1 silver, hence Lance's worth is at 18000 bronze, an astronomical value for poor players who just reached Lv 10.

"Are there no other options?" Momo was starting to get worried, nobody in their group had such wealth, and at this rate guards will come looking for them.

"Well... there is a way..." Nyanta faintly smiled. "You just need to get him into your guild."

"Huh? Can NPC... I mean Lance join a guild?" Everyone was stupefied, they never heard of any game where NPCs joined a player's guild.

"Yes of course, Lance can join the guild, however because he does not have any occupation at the moment, the guild will have to pay 5 bronze everyday to keep him in the guild"

Everyone's face immediately brightened up, there was a way for them to save Lance!

"Lance! Join our Moonlight Guild! Then you will be free!!" Jessica jumped up and down while clapping her hand.

'Free...? I can be free? Will I be able to find my father?' various thoughts popped up in his head. He always dreamed about becoming free, and right now he gained the chance to be liberated from his chains, even though he still had the broken chains cuffed around his arms.

"Here!" Momo sent him a guild invitation, which then popped up in front of Lance.

[System Notification: [Momo] invites you to her guild: Moonlight]

[Do you accept? [Y/N]]

Without hesitation Lance clicked [Y].

The moment he pressed [Y], foul black aura shot out from his body, congealing together to form a piece of parchment, the parchment then shattered, before disintegrating into nothing. A system notification then popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations, you have become a trial member of [Moonlight]]