Alex ran towards the little girl, and pinched her cute rosy cheeks. “Didn’t I promise that I’ll go back? Ezekiel, this is…” Alex stopped pinching the little girl’s cheeks as she actually forgot to ask for her name.

“Lili!” The little girl showed a beaming smile saying her name. 

“Lili!! And Lili, this is Ezekiel. She sells a lot of different kinds of potions. What do you think we need right now??” Alex asked Ezekiel since he is better at these kinds of things than her.

“Hmmm, what do you have there?” When he thinks about it, they really don’t need potions this early in the game. With him being the healer, they can save a lot of money from healing potions. 

“We have healing potions, mana potions, poison potions…” Lili showed all of her stocks 

If Alex let him decide where to use their money. Then he will use it to buy a new armor with better quality. After all, his armor broke in the duel.

After Ezekiel asked his guide A.I. why his armor got suddenly destroyed from Akkar’s attack. He realized how vital armors are to the players. It is because objects that aren’t soul-bonded to the players have hidden durability. And once the durability reaches 0, it will disintegrate into thin air.

“Little girl, you see… we don’t really need to buy potions with our current situation.” Ezekiel bends his knees to match Lili’s height so that he won’t look too intimidating.

“I see…” Lili murmured as she looked down, avoiding Ezekiel’s eyes.

Seeing Lili’s teary eyes, Alex wouldn’t let Ezekiel bully this cute bun in front of her. Even though Lili looks even more adorable with her saddened eyes. Alex grabbed Ezekiel’s ears and pulled him away from Lili. 

“What?” Ezekiel muttered.

“I promised Lili to buy something when I return. Please don’t make this hard for me and make her upset. Do something… Besides, I did not see anything worth buying when I took a stroll earlier.” Alex whispered in Ezekiel’s ears.

“Haystt…” Ezekiel scratched his head. 

“Fine…” Alex was right. With her current stats, there is no way that players still in level 1 can beat her. That is why the only thing he saw worth buying is armor and probably a dagger for Alex’s weapon. 

Ezekiel bent his knees again to match Lili’s height. “Lili, right? Sorry for what I said earlier, but can you recommend us a potion? No matter how much expensive it is, then we will buy it if it’s good.” 

Lili’s face instantly became brighter the moment she heard Ezekiel saying that they will buy anything. “Then big bro, big bro, the most essential potion right now and the cheapest is this…” Lili grabbed a red potion and raised it in front of Ezekiel’s face. 

“Health potion is crucial  if you are a group of two or solo when you don’t know any guardian that is a healer.”

“Actually, I am a healer…” Ezekiel scratched his head. That is why they don’t need potions.

“Ahhhh… Then you need this…” Lili grabbed a blue potion and present it to Ezekiel. “Mama said healers need a lot of mana, so a mana potion is essential for you, big bro.”

Ezekiel scratched his head again. “Sorry, but I also don’t need mana potions…” With his 2x mana regeneration, he regenerates  2 mana every second. And [Rejuvenation] requires 10 mana with 5 seconds cooldown, so he doesn’t even lose 1 mana.

Seeing Ezekiel reject all of Lili’s suggestions. Alex stared at him and let out a small amount of bloodlust she’s hiding, enough to only affect Ezekiel.

Ezekiel suddenly felt a chill running on his back. He knew Alex is not satisfied with what he is doing. But they really don’t need any potions. “Do you have any other potions you can recommend??” 

“I have one, but mother said that grandpa chief only gives 100 silver to every guardian. So mother doesn’t want to recommend this. But, but it is definitely an important potion you need to not die…” Lili then grabbed a purple potion and showed it to Ezekiel.

“This is??” 

“An antidote for weak poisons.”

“But it is worth 500 silver,” Lili mumbled softly said. 

“Why an antidote??” It’s not like he and Alex are going to fight poisonous enemies right off the bat. And he should be able to cope up with poison until it the duration ran out. 500 silver sounds like a rip off of their money.

“Poison is deadly in this world.” Lili softly said.

“Why?” Alex asked and moved closer to Lili as she felt pain in her voice.

“It’s a long story, but my father died from a poison.” Lili suddenly felt her eyes getting wet as tears fell on her eyes.

The moment Alex saw Lili’s tears fell to the ground, she immediately hugged her and buried Lili’s face on her chest. “It’s alright now… it’s alright.” Alex’s heart feels like being stabbed right now. She gently patted her on her back with one broad palm as if she was handling a fragile glass. 

While Ezekiel just stood there staring at the two of them. He knows what Lili felt right now because he also lost his mother, but having Alex comfort her is definitely better than him. After all, Alex is also the one who showed him the light in his darkest times.

It only took a couple of seconds before Alex managed to smooth out her breathing, but she was afraid to startle her, so Alex did not move yet.

When Lili finally calmed down, she decided to continue her story. “When papa went to a forest for a mission… He unexpectedly got hit by a goblin’s poisonous dart…”

Alex gently caresses Lili’s back every time she pauses and takes deep breathes. While patiently listened to her story.

“After they have beaten the goblins with his companions… Papa drank the only antidote with them… They only have one for the whole group because it takes a long time for mother to create one…”

Lili took a very deep breathe first before continuing to the last part of her story. “On their, way home papa… unluckily stepped on a poisonous grass-colored snake…”

“Poisons will always last for at least 24 hours without an antidote. And with papa having only health potions to keep him alive… They were already too late before they arrived in the village…” Lili’s eyes were red, and her tears wouldn’t stop flowing. 

“There… there… let it all out… it’s alright… it’s alright…” Alex also felt her eyes tearing up, but she tried to stay strong for Lili’s sake. 

Ezekiel watched the little girl as he felt unbearable pain in his heart. Even though she is clearly just an NPC, a game character that is not real. Ezekiel felt her anguish deep in his heart, because he felt that no matter if decades already went by. The feeling of losing someone will always feel the same.

Ezekiel walked towards Lili and patted her head.

He knew that patting her is more than enough.

Because he feels that she is a lot stronger than him…