"Auren!!!" I shouted while running into her cave.
"Yes?" came her voice from inside the cave.
I immediately stopped in my track as I gaped into the darkness within the cave.
"..."
A while later, Aurendiria came out with the little boy nestled snugly in her arms. He was sleeping peacefully while leaning on Aurendiria's shoulder.
"Girl, is everything alright???" Alcyone asked in disbelief. She looked Aurendiria up and down but the latter was completely unscathed.
"Yeah I am fine, I..."
Before Aurendiria could finish explaining what happened, the mechanical voice boomed again. This time with another congratulation.
"Congratulations on completing the game. Please pick your rewards!"
Six translucent cards spun in the air and landed in front of each of us, hovering mysteriously in the air. I took mine and the card flashed with the number seven. Then, it completely disappeared into thin air and the number flew into my user interface screen.
After we all finished picking our rewards, the map around us dissolved and we landed in a closed-off space that looked a lot like a circus tent. The circus music was heard coming from outside. Spherical lamps stood on top of meter columns, their soft light illuminating the insides of the tent. Blue, thick curtains stood rigid, acting as walls within the tent.
The carnival NPC was there, standing next to a huge bowl of glowing golden orbs.
"Hello everyone, welcome back! Please take one orb to proceed to the next stage," the NPC announced cheerfully.
We all exchanged glances.
Ninja scoffed. He stepped forward and took an orb from within the huge bowl. As soon as his hand left the bowl with an orb, the orb started to glow and floated into the air. It then unfurled itself into a fiery tarot card. The card extinguished itself and fell gently toward the ground. I picked it up and we all leaned in to take a better look. It was The Empress.
"Dear Adventurers, I notice that one of you is carrying a token from the Snow Wolves. Would you like to trade it against a free pass?"
We all stared at Aurendiria. She opened her palm and showed us something. The little snow wolf that she took out of the cave had turned into a snow wolf pin in her hand.
"Free pass? Uh..."
"Wonderful! Say yes," Ninja urged. "It is a free pass!"
"Wait," I said. "Do we have to trade the token now?" I asked the NPC.
"You can trade the token anytime after clearing a stage. Free passes could be used before a game commences or in the middle of the game when you are stuck in the stage."
"What about when we need it in the middle of the game? Can we still trade it on spot?" Kratos queried.
"Unfortunately no. You cannot trade it while the game is still going on."
"What are you waiting for?" Ninja urged further. "Just trade it for now. We don't know what is waiting for us in the next stages!"
Aurendiria clutched at the pin in her palm. She shook her head firmly.
"I will hold on to it for now," she declared.
Ninja pursed his lips. "You will regret not trading it. What if we encounter the Dimensional Master???"
"The Empress card is linked to Red Asura," I argued. "The next boss is Red Asura, not the Dimensional Master. After we clear the Red Asura, we have plenty of chances to trade the token against a free pass. Besides, it is Auren's token. She can do with it whatever she wants."
Ninja groaned. PrecisionShot scowled. Alcyone and Kratos kept quiet but I could see disappointment all over their faces.
Aurendiria bit into her lip.
"Thanks, Antares," she sincerely said when she looked at me.
"Eh, I am just stating the truth," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Ok, shall we proceed?" Ninja asked with a crumpled face. It was clear that he was very dissatisfied with Aurendiria's decision.
"Wait," Aurendiria said. "I know that everyone is angry at me for not trading the wolf token away. In return, I want to tell what happened to me inside the cave."
pαпᵈα-noνɐ1·сoМ We all quickly shut up and diverted our attention to Aurendiria.
"When I entered the cave, the grandmother attacked me. But then the game told me to persuade them so uh I talked to the grandmother."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Everyone was staring at Aurendiria as if she were crazy. I didn't think that I had a better expression on my face.
"So... you talked to the Snow Wolf?" PrecisionShot asked in disbelief.
"Uh, yeah." Aurendiria flushed. "And um, the Snow Wolf answered."
"Really." Ninja crossed his arms before his chest and stared at Aurendiria. "What did she say then?"
"She um... she gave me a quiz."
"..."
"..."
"What quiz?"
"It was a multiple-choice quiz. All of the questions revolved around Chinatown."
"Such as?"
"Who is the NPC at the entrance of the level 90 raid?"
Princess Shi Ran.
"Who is the final boss at the level 90 raid?"
The Dark Fairy.
"What is the color of the Dark Fairy's wings?"
Rainbow.
Well, those were easy.
"So all you did was talk to the wolf and then she gave you a quiz...?" Alcyone gaped at Aurendiria.
"Uhh yes."
"And then?"
"After I answered all the questions, she said that I managed to convince her. She then handed over her little grandson to me, telling me to take care of him. And then she left."
"And that grandson became a pin. Goddamnit, why did I not think about that!" Ninja cursed.
Well, none of us thought about that.
PrecisionShot looked at Aurendiria with narrowed eyes. "Hey, Aurendiria, you must be an A-grade student at school."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"She listens to instructions and follows them to the t. I am just saying that this is the trait of A-grade students. Am I wrong?" PrecisionShot said while laughing.
"Nerd," Ninja whispered in a low voice with a sneer.
Aurendiria turned a shade redder.
"Hey, don't be mean!" I shouted. "Auren is kind enough to tell us how to get the pin. Instead of being grateful, you are mocking her!"
"Oh lighten up, Antares. It is nothing worth sweating about. Aurendiria has been the primadonna of the Afterlife Dream for a long time. Being a nerd will not lessen her reputation even a little bit."
I stepped closer to Ninja, ready to land a punch across his cheek, but then Aurendiria pulled me back. "Antares," she whispered quietly. "Leave it be."
I swore, this was the last run I would ever run with this duo. They were too despicable.
We entered the Red Asura stage a while later. This time we landed in Red Asura's cave right away. The Red Asura was pacing back and forth under the cliff, and the little girl from the Second Job Advancement Test was there, locked up in a cage. The mechanical voice announced our mission almost immediately.
"Dear Adventurers, please defeat Red Asura to complete the stage."
With that, the timer lit up again, showing that we had exactly 10 minutes to complete the mission.
"Finally, a no-bullshit no-talk mission, just kill and be done with it," Ninja muttered.
He crouched to the ground and felt the edge of the cliff eagerly.
"Dude," he said after a while. "Isn't there supposed to be a rope to go down there?"
I furrowed my brows. "Of course there was. It has to be around here..."
I started to tap around the edge of the cliff as well, but I could not find it at all.
"Impossible, I am sure that it was somewhere around here..."
"Let us help," Kratos and Alcyone offered.
"Me too," Aurendiria offered.
PrecisionShot silently went to her knees next to Ninja to help him.
All of us went to tap at the edge of the cliff from one end to another but we could not find anything to go down there.
Note that the cliff was at least twenty meters high. There was no way for us to go down there without a rope. Unless...
"Well..."
Aurendiria looked at me, apparently sharing the same notion as mine.
"Antares, we could fly down."
"Or you know, just teleport down," I added.
"Wonderful, can you guys solo the Red Asura then?" Kratos asked. "So sorry that we won't be able to help."
The Red Asura was the boss from the Second Job Advancement. Of course, we could do that without any problem.
"Ok," I agreed. I extended my hand toward Aurendiria. "Let's go?"
The girl nodded and took my hand. We decided to go down by using Angel Wings just to be safe.
As expected, we easily descended to the level where the Red Asura was pacing back and forth.
But then, halfway on our flight, our wings disappeared! Aurendiria and I widened our eyes in terror as our bodies started to accelerate toward the ground.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" We both screamed in fright.
The rocky ground quickly came up to meet us...
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