Chapter 19 - Elegant's Bond

"In the field of daisies, be a wildflower." - Unknown.

Most people teach you to be yourself and to be unique. But no one ever tells us to be prosaic, do they? I understood that to be exceptional' I had to be distinctive. I could be unique, but what about ordinary? There is no such thing as usual if everyone is unique. Or are we all the same, and no one is unique? To be honest, I'm unsure. So, if the quotation says to be a daisy in a field of wildflowers, I'd say it's ideal to be a daisy in a meadow of wildflowers for today's generation. Don't you ever feel that you're too average to live in this world? Sometimes I think I'm too mundane to exist in a world brimming with possibilities. I want to hide in a room and devour a zillion of books. Yeol, on the other hand, was as innocent in the shrewd gaming world as a daisy in a field of wildflowers.

"NPC Xu? Is that you? Are you back?" Yeol said as she waited outside his cave.

"Yeol, My Lucky Child, what brings you here?" said NPC Xu.

"I should leave now, Xu. Yeol was seeking for you, so give her some time, and I will depart." Hearing Yeol's voice, Fairy Lu refrained from saying anything about the map and walked off in a hurry, waving farewell to Yeol and Xu.

"Hey, Xu, what happened to Lu? She went off in a hurry. More importantly, where have you been?" said Yeol as she sensed an unpleasant air of secrecy in the atmosphere.

"Well, I'm back, so Fairy Lu returned. She was my proxy in this map of 'The Grandhall,' she went back to her map of 'Xiyun City.' As for where I've been, that's a long story. I'd go back again and need to investigate some matters. By the way, What are you here for?" NPC Xu avoided answering Yeol's question in some way. The lines of fallacies on his forehead were readily visible despite this.

"Are you returning as well?" Yeol expressed bemusement.

"Yes, this time it's serious," Xu said, his gesture concerned. 'I know Yeol needed to know what was happening in-game, even if I am required to execute my job. However, I want to make sure of the truth first.' Xu thought to himself.

"I see...could you tell me where I may obtain the mail IDs of the characters that have left the game?" Yeol requested Anonymous' email address in the hopes of contacting him.

"That's only for MOD APKs (modified mobile applications), Yeol. You won't be able to access it. I'm sorry I can't assist you with that."

"You're also the Mod? Are you unable to do so?"

"No, I am not exactly like MOD. I am a non-player character, which means I am an in-game AI system that assists players in better understanding the game and identifying programming bugs." NPC XU explained to the helpless Yeol.

"So you're not a genuine character, but an AI," Yeol groaned, disappointed.

After getting unsatisfactory responses, Yeol decided to abandon the issue of Anonymous for the time being and focus on the in-game dungeons that awaited her appearance. She asked about the Escort Quest, pivotal for her in-game advancement.

NPC Xu remarked in the depths of his voice with lustful expressions, " Escort Quest is the most favorite quest of mine. It's extremely wonderful to escort beauties of immortal destiny. I can go to my dreamy ooh la la land with beauties of heaven."

"Umm...NPC Xu, you are drooling," Yeol said with the least exciting expression.

"Who wouldn't swoon at the prospect of escorting beauty?"

"Uhuh...but you are an AI."

"That's why an AI drools over the beauty of the AI."

"AI appears to be perverts as well. Hmph..." remarked Yeol.

The simplest way to prevent NPC Xu's delusion was to leave him alone for his good. Instead of drooling over some beauties, she left NPC alone to fulfill his desires and went on to slay some bosses to make the day more fruitful.

As Yeol returned from the NPC cave, there was a long list of conversations going on in the global chat. It appeared to be an altercation, maybe over a lady.

"Here you go again, fighting for Manami?" With a sigh of annoyance, Yeol commented.

"No, Yeol, this time is serious. I am willing to battle Rush for the place I require in Manami's heart, "Jayson wrote with a strong sense of responsibility.

"Let's go ahead and see who wins and is capable of winning her."

In 40 hours together, Yeol had become accustomed to these dramas over Manami, who was the beauty queen of her server. Even if Yeol has lavender tints in her wonderfully curled hair and a dash of pink on her immaculate white complexion, there was no denying the fact that she was beautiful. Manami couldn't stand a chance in front of her magnificence. However, Yeol was self-conscious about her face being viral on the internet. She never appeared on any social media platforms except for discord which was again due to the game. To keep every player informed about merging and maintenance events, developers used the game's discord channel.

*System Notice* Congratulations, Elegant, on signing a partnership bond with David.

David, who joined the game a few hours earlier, was already in seventh place on the server scoreboard. Perhaps at first, we all believed him to be a MOD. Subsequently, he was only abusing his financial position. Later that day, David moved up to the second place, which is why Elegant chose him to be his partner, even though technically, Elegant was a female player in the game. He wanted a stronger person, and at first, he might have asked Anonymous for that, but because of his unexpected absence, he fell from first to tenth place. Therefore, Elegant decides to collaborate with David.

"Congratulation Ms. Elegant." Manami wrote.

"Congrats, bro," wrote Jayson.

"Congrats, Leader," wrote Tiger.

"Woohoo...Congrats" wrote Novo.

"Congrats, My lady, so when were we hosting our partnership party?" wrote David with excitement.

"Probably today by 14:00 serve time? Is that okay for everyone?" Elegant confirmed timings with us.

"Indeed, that's okay for us. Congrats, hope you grow stronger just like this," Yeol gave warm wishes.

"Okay then, see you all at 14:00 today. You all are welcome at the bond celebration." David invited everyone.

To be continued...