17. The beauty

Xu Lei dragged his feet as he made his way to the convenience store. When he finally arrived at the entrance, he saw the reflection of the sun in the glass door, which was covered by notices from various guilds. It reminded him of his plan to join one of them, which he had forgotten due to an unexpected quest.

"I need to start looking for a guild," he made a mental note before entering the shop.

"Good morning, Mr. Lee!" he greeted the owner, who was leaning on the counter, staring at the rows of shelves ahead of him.

"Oh, thank Buddha! You are my little savior Xu Lei! Let me get out of this place. I suffered enough!" exclaimed the owner, almost jumping to his feet with a wide smile.

"That is my duty, sir!" Xu Lei saluted. "Let me take over so you can get some well-deserved rest."

Mr. Lee laughed out loud and headed to the backroom of the shop. Soon after, the sound of the backdoor opening could be heard.

"Poor man. Staying here all night… I know how it feels," Xu Lei thought as he got behind the counter. He sighed and walked to the backroom to grab his apron.

As the morning shift progressed, more clients came, making the atmosphere livelier. Xu Lei served them to the best of his ability, but his mind was somewhere else. In his free time, he looked at photos of guild notices, deciding which gathering to visit. He even made a plan for the whole week.

As the afternoon approached, Asher Wong, a familiar teenager, entered the shop, and Xu Lei couldn't be happier.

"Hello," the teenager greeted him, then bowed politely.

"Great!" Xu Lei exclaimed upon seeing him, which took Asher by surprise. "You can take over. Just remember to clean the floors at the end of your shift."

"Brother Xu Lei, please wait!" Asher stopped him, rushing to the counter before Xu Lei could leave.

He already had his apron half taken off.

"What is it? Something happened?" Xu Lei asked, freezing in his spot and looking at the teenager.

"Uhm... Could you help me a little? Mister Lee told me you would show me how to do everything, but you didn't, and I had to figure everything out myself. I didn't know how to use the cash register, so I wrote everything down on a piece of paper as I was selling to the customers, and when Mister Lee came back, he scolded me. He told me that you would help me and..." the student started explaining, his eyes gradually getting lower and lower, eventually stopping on his own feet.

"I'll help you!" Xu Lei interrupted him because he could feel an unpleasant feeling in his stomach, a mix of anger and pity. 'That old snake. He throws everything at me,' went through his head as he gestured for Asher to come closer.

Over the next half an hour, he proceeded to show the student everything. He got to learn that the student was very polite, calm, and collected. He was also smart and a massive fan of The Elysia but didn't have the machine to play.

As he left the shop, he had to run to make it to the first of many guild gatherings, which was not far away, but this didn't change the fact that he was late.

It was inside a small conference hall above a restaurant, which also provided catering for the event. The place was cleaned up, and instead of a table, they had rows of chairs for people to sit down while a speaker made a presentation and later answered some questions. The place was quite crowded, but he managed to find a spot for himself in the back.

He listened for only a quarter of an hour. 'These people have no idea what they are doing,' he deemed, getting up from his chair and heading towards the door. He ran down the stairs and went straight to the exit, ending up on the street. The colder air hit him just as the sounds of the cars, passing by.

'This is The Elysia, not Heroes Road. Can't they see the differences? Thinking everything will be the same is stupid. They deliberately made changes to make everybody have a similar start in the game. It should be obvious as soon as you get to the character creation,' he thought, then sighed. 'The similarities are the bait for those who can't see past them.'

With his hands in his pockets, he made his way toward his apartment, lost in thought. But then something caught his eye, and he stopped dead in his tracks. A doll-like girl in a black dress with long, flowing blue hair was standing just a few feet away from him. She was stunning, breathtakingly beautiful, and he couldn't take his eyes off her.

'Is she a model?' he wondered, but then he noticed the leaflets in her hand. She was clearly looking for people to hand them to, and as he got closer, she held out a leaflet to him. He blushed, feeling nervous and shy, and took the leaflet from her hand.

"Please take one, brother," she said with an angelic voice, and he felt a surge of electricity run through his body as he looked into her eyes. She smiled at him, and then continued on her way, leaving him standing there, mesmerized.

As he shook the feeling off, deciding to walk towards his apartment, he couldn't stop thinking about the girl and the leaflet in his pocket. It was an invitation to a guild. Despite his initial reluctance, he decided to give it a try.

Upon reaching his apartment, and opening the door, he immediately noticed the machine in the corner. His mind was still clouded by the images of the gorgeous beauty flashing each tie he tried to think about something else, but this view made him feel a sudden clarity of mind.

He knew he had a mission to complete, and he was determined to see it through. With renewed focus, he set his mind to the task at hand, knowing that nothing would distract him from his goal.