“Hold it.”

“Urk!” Leonel skidded to a stop and stumbled on the floor from the sudden force. He looked over at Ren and asked. “What? Don’t you want to go there and check it out now that you have your subclass?”

He then peeked at Ren from the corner of his squinted eyes. “You did acquire your subclass, right?”

Ren ignored him and explained, “The dungeons in this world are different. It doesn’t mean that it’s near newbie villages that it’s a newbie dungeon as well.”

“. . . It isn’t?”

Ren shook his head. It was another ploy of the developers’ to toy with the players. “Though it appeared like it because low-level monsters are crawling inside that cave, the final Boss, however, is a whole other level completely. And attempting to clear it this early in the game and with only six players . . .”

Ren smirked. “They’ll be wiped out in a matter of seconds, and the death penalty will surely be enormous that they’d be forced to recreate their account and start all over again.”

Leonel gasped. “T-that . . . that hard?”

Ren nodded.

Leonel’s eyes widened, and he looked over at Ren with a gaping mouth. “How do you know that? Ren could you be . . .”

“. . .” Ren had a bad feeling when Leonel stared at him seriously in the eyes. He swallowed hard, and a sweat ran from the side of his face.

“Could you be a beta tester? Did you apply in secret?”

Ren released a loud sigh and shook his head. “I told you. If you know where to look, this information is available on the net.” In the form of a Beta Tester guide.

Leonel chuckled and patted Ren’s back since he could no longer reach Ren’s head. As expected of our encyclopedia. Ren is really an excellent buddy to have. And very much quite handy!

Leonel looked at the group and shifted his eyes at Ren. “Should we warn them?”

“No. Are you an idiot? Nothing will come out good if you butt your nose in other people’s business. Your kindness will only be repaid by scorn and unwanted remarks. Besides, they might not even enter Thunder Cave at all.”

“Mm . . .” Leonel hesitated.

It was apparent on his face that he was keen on warning those groups, and Ren could only persuade him in another way.

Leonel was naïve and good hearted. But in this game, others would just take advantage of it. If he went and warned those groups not to enter the Thunder Cave, others would think that he was a beta tester and start to cling to him for information. At the same time, some would think of him as nothing but a crazy busybody who had other agenda for stopping their escapade into the dungeon.

“Leo, we should really log out from the game now. It’s already six in the morning in the real world, and you still have to pact and fly over to Zone A, right?”

“Geh!” Leonel stood straight in alarm, and he smacked his head with his big hand. “That’s right! Is that time already?!”

“Ren, I have to go ahead! My mother would kill me if he entered my room and found me gone!” Leonel accessed his screen and pressed [Log Out].

Ren opened his mouth, but Leonel’s body was already disappearing into particles, and before he was gone completely, he left one final sentence with a grin on his face.

“Don’t be late later! See you at Highland Mall!”

“. . .”

*sigh . . .

Ren could only wryly shake his head at Leonel’s short attention time frame.

He then looked over at the group once more. Ren didn’t tell Leonel about it, but someone in there had caught his eyes.

A woman with long straight black hair, big dark eyes, pointy ears, and a tall and alluring frame. She held a revolver in one hand, and a holster was strapped on her hips. And based on her appearance, she was an Elven Archer with a subclass [Sniper].

“Isolde . . . ,” Ren mumbled.

Once upon a time in the past, when Ren wanted to prove that he wasn’t a mediocre player, he ventured into DarkWood Forrest all by himself. A Forrest that shouldn’t be attempted alone.

Needless to say, he was severely injured in DarkWood’s Forrest and was about to die from the pointy end of a dead Troll’s bark. With impeccable timing, Isolde came with her big guns and put bullet holes on the Troll’s body, saving him in the process.

She was together with a group, and their plan all along was to let him die in the Dead Troll’s hands and KS his kill, but she defied them, saying it was an act of cowardice.

She was kicked out of her group that day. But she never cared nor blamed him.

NO . . . she didn’t even spare him the barest glance as she challenged everyone in her group to a PvP fight because she was pissed.

Ren really thought that she would lose because it was 1 Vs. 4. But against all odds, she came out as the victor.

After her group died in her hands and took her spoils of war, she disappeared deeper into the forest, and that was the last time Ren saw her. It was their first and last meeting with each other.

Ren chuckled.

He crossed his arms and tilted his head as he stared at Isolde, who was at the far end from the others. She stood out from the rest from her height alone. Hard face, strong back, and a very confident posture and expression.

She was rather . . . cool.

Even though it wasn’t intended, he owed her a life.

And he would repay it.

A life for a life.

Ren grabbed a player passing from the side and asked, “Hi. Do you happen to know where that group is going?”

The player was slightly surprised before he pointed at Isolde and her companions. “That group? They’re going to attempt Thunder Cave.”

As I thought. Ren mused and pondered for a moment.

The player must have thought that he wanted to join as well and he waved his hand and said with a sneer, “Don’t even think of joining those bunch. They’re arrogant as hell and wouldn’t let anyone with even a single-digit ATP in their group.”

Ren frowned.

Join them?

Who in their right mind would join a six-member party attempting to clear Thunder Cave that even top guilds have a hard time clearing?

They must be out of their minds or simply didn’t know and underestimated the shrewdness of the developers of COVENANT.

Numerous players were crying and cursing in the past when they were lured by weak monsters in the Elemental Caves, thinking that it was a newbie dungeon that they could clear.

But upon meeting the final Boss, they were reduced to nothing but crying and cursing adults’ respawn in newbie villages. The death penalty was so enormous that they were forced to forfeit their advantages and recreate a new account since their previous avatar’s ATP all went down to zero.

You can never cheat the death penalty of the game. Once one of your ATP hits zero, you have to pay the remaining with your other ATP until you complete all the EXP penalty.

It was better to recreate a new avatar at that point.

And after that, there was a petition signed to boycott the game if the developer didn’t restore their previous avatar’s ATP.

Though the petition never came to fruition with just a hundred signatures because mostly those who attempted the Elemental Dungeons were players who entered at the game’s opening — the children of the privilege and the Beta Testers. And now, everyone could catch up and even the playing field.

Ren shrugged. “I won’t.”

The player nodded before he went on his way.

Ren could hide his appearance and pretend that he was an Animist or Hunter with the [Phantom Cloak] and Pii, but he needed Isolde in the game since he didn’t want to form a guild or join a guild, for that matter. He would create a mercenary group.

A no-commitment kind of group that would just come together if they were free to reap the benefits of Dungeons and Quests that otherwise couldn’t be soloed.

And he was thinking of recruiting Isolde. Ren needed her skills and the explosive power of her firearms in the future.

Though Isolde would be part of the Gambino Guild that her family put up, his was just a no-commitment kind of thing that had equal sharing of EXP, gil, and items. She could totally join if she wanted to. Like a sideline.

Ren didn’t need pro players. What he wanted were loyal and earnest people like Leonel and Isolde, who wouldn’t backstab him with just a rare item.

Ren would ask them later about his plans, and for that to happen, Ren needed to show his real appearance to establish trust between him and Isolde.

But of course, Ren wouldn’t force them if they didn’t want to.

Ren took a large air intake before he went in Isolde’s direction.