One more time - 5

After feeling the pain from the slap, I somehow recalled myself.

Dude, am I that easy to seduce? To be lead by another girl?

From just a kiss? From her almost perfect body proportions?

This is probably just infatuation, and I don't believe that I'll fall for someone else that easily.

But now that I think about it, my relationship with Esyllt hadn't even reached two weeks before she broke up with me.

"Fuck..."

"Oh, he's swearing."

"Brian, would you give me a..."

I looked towards him and saw his large and thick hand.

"Give you what?"

Thinking back, I probably don't need THAT much of a slap back towards reality, or just to clear my head. That hand might literally blow up my head instead.

...

I went home and I wasn't that much late, so I immediately did my usual routine.

BlackStar17 and StarQuincy09 were together right at the spawn point, and I just got agitated and quickly started to type on the general chat.

Me [are you gonna hunt for a leg!?]

StarQuincy09 [dude u just came]

StarQuincy09 [how did u know?]

Me [nope]

StarQuincy09 [also do I know u?]

Me [was using an assassin with Stealth earlier]

Me [eh?]

StarQuincy09 [well we need help yea]

Me [ur at my friend list, right?]

StarQuincy09 [we're going for 2 more legs]

Me [count me in]

StarQuincy09 [then]

Me [2 more?]

StarQuincy09 [oh right]

Me [don't you have the last one already?]

StarQuincy09 [!?!?]

StarQuincy09 [dude ur creepy]

Me [eh?]

What's with his attitude? The first time we met he already had almost everything except for the last one?

Did I somehow affect the timeline?

BlackStar17 [fortunately]

BlackStar17 [you're actually correct]

StarQuincy09 [shutup man, he dont need to know]

Me [oh... really]

BlackStar17 [he only needs the last one]

BlackStar17 [you're not secretly a hacker are you?]

StarQuincy09 [hes like a hacker yea]

Me [lol no]

If I was, then I would steal all of his legendaries already. I only have a single legendary item, and it's the main armor for my GK.

In a way, it's good that he actually doesn't know me since it would make that Esyllt and this guy aren't one and the same person, which made me heave a sigh of relief.

Me [look man]

Me [I'm not an assassin for nothing]

Me [and I've been looking at the forums, too]

StarQuincy09 [sure]

Me [let's just say that I know more than you think you do]

BlackStar17 [oof]

BlackStar17 [dude's probably an info broker]

StarQuincy09 [lmao thats ur reason?]

BlackStar17 [better not mess with him]

StarQuincy09 [...]

StarQuincy09 [well if u say so]

Me [I also have a leg, just so u know]

Me [I have experience hunting for mats]

Me [just offering my services, if I may]

The chat suddenly stopped, and I waited for their replies. They were probably private messaging so I let my character sit for a while.

BlackStar17 [what leg do u have?]

Me [I have a Coiled Lightning Alloy leg armor]

It took about a minute before the next replies came.

BlackStar17 [that's usually used by GK's right?]

BlackStar17 [it's also the hardest one to obtain]

Duh? If it wasn't then I didn't even bother to farm for it. Without letting out my inner thoughts, I replied.

StarQuincy09 [well if u can show us your GK]

BlackStar17 [why not use it btw?]

StarQuincy09 [we'll believe]

Me [if u don't want the help]

Me [then I'll just go away and pretend nothing happened]

Me [I'll give u 30 secs before I log out]

Usually, these threats are effective when it comes to hunting mobs with high rarity. The risk is high and players wouldn't usually help others because it's really time consuming and the payment they give could be acquired by selling other items.

There is also competition on the grinding spots from the other guilds, which they may even PK someone if they really wanted to have a monopoly on the materials.

Luckily my guild is good enough and one of the infamous ones that are known because of our PVE abilities. The others might focus on PVP and just kill everyone, but if a boss monster was very strong then a PVP guild won't be good enough. This is one reason I still don't leave my guild even if we're mostly inactive because everyone got their own lives since last year when the game was at its peak.

Hunting for legendaries was a different matter too, but this guy only needs the last one yet he doesn't look like he's using them. I'm not even sure why he collected everything and that he had the time for it, but I still helped him.

I can't remember how exactly what happened the first time he asked help from me, but this time I wonder why BlackStar17 is even here. Is it really because I was late for only a few minutes?

Seeing that they weren't responding, I logged out my character without hesitation.

"Tch. Now how do I approach Esyllt? I know it was stupid but it was really hard to farm for those legs. I'm not willing to go through that path again just to get to know her."

I'm also sure that there would be more opportunities later on.

Later did I know that things would not really go well, and that hunting for the legendaries might have been that step for me to even have a chance to talk to Esyllt.

...

It was already 11 PM, and it was the time where StarQuincy09 shoul've been finished grinding for his last legendary, but he's still online.

"What's keeping him up?"

I messaged him out of interest, but I also didn't make myself in a disadvantage.

Me [how did it go?]

A minute passed and he didn't reply so I sent another message.

Me [just tell me if you want my services]

Message failed to send.

Did he just log out?

She should be coming, then.

I got excited just by waiting, and before I knew it an hour had already passed and the day already moved towards February 11.

"Man, it's Thursday already. Why isn't she still online?"

Fuck. He probably didn't got the leg which made him grind until late.

If that was the case, and he just suddenly logged out... his bandwidth probably ran out, giving no chance for Esyllt to log in.

"Shit! Why didn't I think about it!?"

I slapped myself once more as I regretted my decision to forcefully help them instead.

"Well if I also helped and the materials didn't drop within time, then it would be the same result. My luck was good back then, but I'm not sure now. The chances for drops aren't going to favor anyone just because they wanted an item anyway..."

With all of that wasted time of waiting and making my emotions get the best of me, I retreated to my bed after shutting the PC off.

What a day... or night.

What should have been a moment for us to meet became something entirely different, as if she's out of my life this time.

I couldn't help but feel restless on my bed, unable to sleep as I kept spinning and turning before I finally heard my alarm.

"Oh, fuck..."

I didn't get any sleep.

No matter what happens later, I don't think I'll be able to establish a relationship with her again, and it's only making me depressed.

I felt like skipping school, but this can't go on forever. I can't stay looming over some dreadful thing forever, and make plans instead. Who knows, I might have some chance later.

Being sleep deprived, I still pushed myself to go out and buy some bread and do my usual routine.

"Bad sleep?"

The girl on the counter greeted me as I handed over the exact amount of payment.

"Yeah. No sleep."

"Have some of these then... just pay me later."

"Sure, thanks."

Monotonously, I replied and went back home to take a bath before going to school once more.

Supposedly I'd just sleep as soon as I came but Moriana was there again.

"Early again? Wow."

I couldn't bother to reply towards her and ate the bread instead. It would be a waste if it cooled down and its taste decrease in quality.

The bread I usually made was still fine, and it made me slightly better. Then I took out the one that she gave and had a bite. It looked like it was an old bread, the texture was rough, and it was almost cold. Biting on it was a bit difficult, and munching on it made me thirsty, yet there was a sweet and spicy taste inside that made my eyes open up.

"What, is that good?"

"You bet. I'm sleepy today and not feeling well, so I'll give you a piece."

I tore a biteful of the bread and held my hand towards her.

"What, no. Creep. No, take that back... Well, if you insist... But... okay!"

Tch. Just stop talking and get it while there's still an iota of warmth in it.

She took that small chunk and popped it into her mouth, chewing it. Gradually, her eyes also slowly opened wider.

"Where did you buy this!?"

Her hands were holding mine, and I almost dropped the bread and luckily balanced it on both hands.

"...Near my house."

She realized what she's done and quickly released my hands from her grasp.

"I-I see..."

"Since you like it that much, and I've had enough already... you can have a third of this."

"Really!? Ehem... Thank you."

I took out an imperfect third portion of the bread and handed it to her, before she turned away quickly.

"Welcome."

With that I drooped over my desk and was about to take a nap when suddenly...

"Wait!"