Wings of Crystal Part IV

“What is it you want from us that causes you to rush to us so fast you’re out of breath?” He asked.

“Look at the town,” Edward said and pointed to the back. “It crumbled so badly that people decided to leave. Even though the system fixes it, it won’t be as crowded as before,” he explained.

The duo nodded with their arms crossed. “And…?” Tan asked.

“I want to go to a new town. Calip will do; it’s big enough,” Edward said. “Can you guys bring me with you?” He asked.

“Sure!” Tan was happy as he could repay for the 8-star War God’s Bow card he got. “What is your current level again?”

“5,” Edward answered confidently.

“5?!” Blanche repeated. The low-level player nodded in confirmation. “Ah…Edward, right?” Blanche asked politely and then continued when he saw Edward nod. “If you join our party, you will get very low EXP because of the condition of partying—if the levels of players in the same party differ too much, the low-level members of the party will receive as little EXP as the gap between players’ levels. Based on my calculation…You will get only about 2% of the EXP,” Blanche explained about how EXP was shared among party members.

“Not a problem at all, I don’t care about levels. Anyway, travel costs are on me!” Edward declared.

“How much money do you have?” Tan narrowed his eyes and asked.

“A hundred million or so,” Edward replied calmly.

“Cool…owning a hundred million, but still at level 5.” Tan nodded and gave his new companion a thumbs-up.

“Da! Da! Dah! Dah! Edward, preferred name, the millionaire from Caldia has joined your party!” It was not the system’s voice but Tan’s voice. He tried to mimic a famous RPG’s jingle that played whenever a new party member joined.

----------------

They left Caldia and headed west. Tan and Blanche walked past a plain field filled with level 30-40 monsters without any problem. That was the case with Tan and Blanche. Edward, on the other hand, did not do well in battle. He once slipped into a group of monsters, and the duo could not save him in time, so he was killed by the monsters and respawned at the church in Caldia.

Luckily, the Church of Traveler in Caldia was not destroyed during the invasion of the Iron Giant, otherwise, they would have had to start their journey from zero at Rindervel. Struggling, they finally arrived at Trunkus. Tan and Blanche did not level up, but Edward, who had fallen to level 1, had eventually risen to level 3.

“Can we move forward without me dying, please?” Edward was fed up with this point because he died twice already, and he had lost ten levels after his first death.

“I like that skill though. I think it is adaptable to use,” Tan said.

“Yeah, I think so. Your skill might be of an advantage if we know how to use it properly,” Blanche supported. “I think that skill has to last a bit longer,” he added.

The trio talked with each other as they approached the port town, Trunkus. They headed to a huge galleon ship at the port. Blanche heard a similar voice as he approached. It was the voice of their female member who just left the party. Nicki was angry at two soldiers responsible for the ship’s entrance.

“I’ve got money, and I’m heading to Calip! Why can’t I get on the ship?!” She yelled.

Tan turned to Blanche and smiled. “See? I told you she can’t get ahead of us because the soldier in Caldia asked me where I’m heading. After I told him that I wanted to get to Pieta, he said the king wanted to provide a ship to take us there,” Tan referred to the conversation with the soldier at Caldia.

“Just as you said…” Blanche nodded. Edward did not know what the two were talking about, but he obviously knew the girl who yelled at the soldier.

“Mean girl!” Tan shouted at the girl with a smile on his face.

Nicki immediately turned to him. The way he called her seemed to be very effective. “You guys?!” Nicki was surprised when she saw them.

It was then that the soldiers responsible for taking care of the ship shouted. “They’re here!” A voice rang out. When everyone saw Tan, they prepared to take off the ship. “Prepare to take off!” The captain ordered loudly.

Nicki looked at the ship and turned to Tan. “You knew from the start that it’s going to be like this, right?” She growled.

Tan smiled mischievously in response. “You want to leave us? That’s going to be way too hard…!” He teased and then laughed. As he boarded the ship, a party invitation screen popped up before Nicki.

Player Tanthai has sent you an invitation to join a party called ‘Let’s Go’.

Nicki shook her head before giggling. “Why that name though?” She voiced and accepted the invitation.

Player Nicki has joined the ‘Let’s Go’ party.

Nicki was taken by surprise when she joined the party. “Somchok?” She frowned. “Who is this Somchok?” Nicki wondered.

Blanche who now smiled widely pointed at Edward. “It’s Edward…” He answered.

“You!” Nicki screamed.

“Hey, Nicki. I didn’t expect to be at the same party as you.” He tried his best to look cool while he said.

“So, it’s you, Edward. Why does the system say you’re Somchok? Give back that name to your great-grandpa…” Nicki who came to be aware of his name was fooling around.

“I hate you, Nicki!” Edward cried out loud. They had a little chit-chat with each other before boarding the ship, heading for Calip…

The ship departed the port, and a voice rang out. “I hope you guys have a deck for fighting sea monsters…” Nicki asked the guys. She actually asked just Tan and Blanche because Edward would not be of any use in a battle…

“Blanche, do you have one?” Tan asked his mate.

Blanche shook his head. “I have never gone into the ocean before,” he replied.

“You guys are screwed,” Nicki said as she entered the cabin. “Quick, follow me! Do you want to die in the ocean…?”

They followed Nicki to the cabin. After learning about how to fight in the sea, the guys, including Edward the useless guy, had to rearrange their decks almost entirely.

Fighting on the sea differed from fighting on the land since it could only take place on the ship. If monsters attacked them from the sea unless their Summons were sea creatures, ranged attack monsters, or flying monsters, they could not fight back.

“If we don’t prepare a good strategy and deck for this, no matter how strong we are, all we’ll do is stand by and watch monsters attack us, right?” Tan said as he rearranged his deck. Edward gave him and Blanche ten or so cards while Nicki did not change anything in her deck.

She just used another new deck…

“I already have a deck specifically for that.” That was what she said.

Tan looked at his own deck and felt jealous. “How fancy…I want to have multiple decks too,” he muttered.

Blanche tapped on his shoulder. “Well…we are just newbies,” he consoled.

“Tell me beforehand next time…so I can prepare cards for you. Those are what I find useful right now and have on hand.” Edward glanced away from the communication panel where he talked to girls towards Blanche and Tan. He just gave them cards that could be useful in this situation.

“That’s what you get…for not telling me you are heading to the same destination.” Nicki sneered at Tan who told her nothing and left her waiting at the port.

“Edward…” Tan called. “How’s your deck right now? Did you manage to pull it off as we told you to?”

“Well…you’re so cute…silly,” Edward giggled and spoke in a childlike manner as he stared at the panel.

“Ed…” Tan narrowed his eyes while looking at the well-suited man who kept himself busy talking to a girl via the communication panel.

“Somchok…” Tan said calmly. That made the man turn to stare enraged at him.

“Hey! I told you not to call me by that name!” He yelled.

Tan turned to Blanche, and they sighed together.

“What do you want from me…?” Edward asked with displeasure.

“Your deck, did you rearrange it as we told you to?”