CHAPTER 49: “YOU AND ME”

Intimidating.

That was the word that perfectly described the vibe Ai got as he stood there in his pretty low leveled gear in a class that wasn’t at all suited for battles. He could feel the gazes of other players and he could tell that they already singled him out as an easy target to take out immediately. The predatory gazes made him step a little bit closer to his partner. At the very least having someone infamous as Morion lightened the gazes just a bit.

Looking around at the other players, he had a feeling that he was the player with the lowest level. The others were using fancy weapons that looked as if they were newly polished and armor with intricate and unique designs. They also gave off an aura of power that only came from high leveled, rare gear. All things that could be equipped and utilized by high leveled players.

The words were a little bit hard to believe, but Ai smiled anyway. Honestly he felt just a bit bad about being partnered with someone as skillful as Morion. He was a player who tackled many battles with mobs and players alike, he even had a reputation amongst other players for being someone who constantly won battles. Ah...what if this was the battle that he lost because he partnered with -

“Ai,” Morion tugged on the sleeve of Ai’s clothes to get his attention. He smiled, like always, and even gave him a light head pat. “We got this.”

The words and soft gesture offered him a bit of comfort but didn’t completely get rid of the wavering feelings he had. 

Ai slightly eyed Morion from the corner of his eyes. He had changed his armor again. He ditched his previously striking blue armor in exchange for a simple black one similar to the one he used to wear. Like the previous armor, it was a high leveled armor that was quite common in rarity, meaning it had lower stats than a rare or legendary armor. Usually someone as high leveled as him wouldn’t be wearing armor that mediocre, but Ai knew that Morion liked this kind of elegant and simple look, that was why he chose it.

He would laugh whenever he remembered that fact about this infamous player that other players dubbed as “Villain”.

Soon, the area that all the players were gathered in started to glow so brightly that it made you close your eyes. It was a glow that Ai was incredibly familiar with, he recognized it as the teleportation mechanism.

He expected to be dropped off at an arena and then the battle royale PvP would start right off the bat but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark space that was very similar to the dark space that you first went to when you booted the game for the very first time. Only, Aethera wasn’t there to greet him, instead Morion was standing next to him.

Being the experienced player that he was, he only took a little bit of time to gain his bearings while Ai took a bit more time to look around and be a little bit more cautious. 

The concept of the event was pretty straightforward and simple. All the pairs of players were thrown into one giant, limited time arena that could be accessed through the event. The pairs of players would then simply fight each other until one pair comes out on top. Before the event, players were given a few moments with their partner to sort through their skills, their items and strategize what they would do. Some pairs stuck together to join their strengths together and some might even split up for the sake of speed.

Before the event, Ai and Morion had gone on a trip to pick any sort of items they might’ve needed for the event like HP Potions, MP Potions, some buffs and scrolls. Any item that could cover their lack of restorative skills.

After that they strategized. Though Ai was a pretty easy target for those who wanted a quick kill, Morion was his partner, so in the end they came to a conclusion that the stronger players would really be the ones they needed to worry about. Yes, Morion was powerful and could easily take out the weaker players, but he was still one player that was prone to getting overwhelmed by numbers. In those situations, Ai wouldn’t be able to help him like a normal partner should. Which means they needed to take extra precautions and take advantage of the environment around them.

If worse comes to worse, they always have their third member.

Athens hooted then transformed into its beast form, gazing at the two of them with intent in its eyes.

Players were allowed to bring their pets along to the event. It wasn’t an easy task to tame one, so they were treated like a weapon or armor that a player had. Even so, Athens was a bit of a cheat that they had. Some pets had offensive capabilities, but the most they could do was maybe take out small mobs or distract bigger mobs for their owners. Athens was clearly much different than the other pets, or at least even Morion had never come across a pet who could so much and even had a ‘contract’ with its owners. Needless to say, the shadow shifter was an important part of their strategy.

At the end of their discussion, Morion took something out of his inventory. It fit inside his enclosed fist, so Ai couldn’t see what it was too well.

“Ai, do you have any materials you can use?”

He paused for a moment. A material…?

Racking through his memories, he remembered the wolf fur that he once got when Athens took down that giant wolf before they reached Oceanus. He had completely forgotten about the item. He took out the dark and smooth fur then handed it over without hesitation.

Morion opened his hand to show him the golden needle item that he had in his palm. He stuck the needle onto the fur, then they both watched as a warm glow surrounded the fur then slowly morphed it into what seemed to be a dark blue outfit.

“You always seemed to have random items all the time.” Ai noted, half jokingly, half impressed.

“When you play so much, you just get random items with random uses.”

A ding in the [Thought System] notified Ai that Morion was sending him something. The blue armor that he had transmuted was an armor very heavily focused on SPD rather than protective abilities. It reminded Ai of the time they first met, when Morion had said that a Mediator should focus on SPD as their main stat.

“Ah, I used an item that allowed you to transform any material with the stat that you want. Pretty useful, though it’s a consumable and not a tool.”

Ai almost sent the armor back. Consumable meant that it was a one time only item that disappeared once you used them, and he was completely sure that it was a rare item too!

Morion didn’t say anything and just gave him a smile that made him fidget a bit. Sighing, he defeatedly equipped the armor. Instantly, he felt a thousand times lighter, a side effect of the SPD stat the armor had. He did a slight twirl and moved around to get used to it. He felt incredibly nimble and could move even better than before.

“How is it?” 

Morion didn’t answer for a couple of seconds before he coughed and looked away. “It looks good.”

The dark space around them started to dissipate a few moments later. Light started to filter through, meaning that soon they would be transported to the actual event arena and the event had started.

Morion stood by Ai as they waited for the light to teleport them away. Before it completely showed up, he looked at the elf.

“Which one are you going to pick as your prize?”

Ai frowned. “We don’t even know if we’re going to win. Honestly I’m worried that this will be your first ever loss, thanks to me.”

Ai heard a chuckle before he was attacked by another headpat that the other player loved to do so much. This time he pouted and slapped the hand away which awarded him with a gentler laugh.

“Ai, I wouldn’t have asked you if I wasn’t sure we would win.”