...

After having a festive meal, the girls went back to their place to finally have their beauty rest after two stressful days while the boys immediately went to their respective rooms after cleaning the living room and taking care of the dishes.

​​

When Shin got back to his room, he did some light exercise to cool down his body before taking a quick shower before heading to his Gaming Cabin. They didn't have anything important to do for the next few days since their classes were going to start next week.

So, for now, he could do anything he needed inside the game.

Swoosh!

Right after logging back inside the game, he immediately appeared inside his room in the Mayor's Residence of the Caderock Village.

Ding!

And right after he appeared, his ear was immediately assaulted by a repeated notification sound of the system. Due to that, he quickly turned the sound off and opened the notification window immediately after.

System: Urgent Alert! Your sleeping Retainer was about to exhaust its lifeforce! And if you didn't hurry and find a suitable rebirthing place for it, the said retainer would perish forever.

System: Time remaining before all of the remaining life force was fully exhausted: 47:59:59.

The system notification was repeated multiple times which signified its importance.

"Sh*t! I completely forgot about this guy!" cursed Shin the moment he read the notification.

Due to the series of events that happened consecutively, Shin almost forgot this particular quest that he had. And if he didn't hurry, he would surely lose an Elemental Companion for good. And that was going to be a total waste, especially that this particular Elemental Spirit seemed to be a mutated one given that it was born after fusing two different spirits.

"What should I do?" muttered Shin as he tried to think of a way to escape this predicament. "I have a deal with Ms. Charlotte about this one, I wonder if she is free right now."

Having that thought, Shin quickly opened his friend list and looked for Charlotte to check whether she was online or not.

Fortunately, her name was lit up which meant that she was currently online. And without further ado, he quickly contacted her with his cover identity.

Nameless Swordsman: Mr. Charlotte, are you free for today? Can we do our contract right now?

He didn't wait long to receive a reply from her.

Mysterious Elementalist: Hunting boss monsters? We can do it now, but let me do some preparation first.

"I guess she is also using her special item to cover her identity now," muttered Shin to himself before quickly giving his reply.

Nameless Swordsman: That is one, but can we also proceed with the other deal?

Understanding what he was saying, Charlotte immediately replied.

Mysterious Elementalist: About the Rebirthing Place for your Elemental Companion, am I right? Are you in a hurry right now?

Nameless Swordsman: To be honest, I'm really running out of time. So, if possible, can we at least head to the place that you are talking about first?"

Mysterious Elementalist: That shouldn't be a problem, but the place is in the Elven Kingdom. So, I need to do more preparations. And let me warn you, Elven Organizations are not friendly with Humans.

Nameless Swordsman: I'm the Envoy of the Sun and Moon Church which is an ally of the Elven Council, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Mysterious Elementalist: Then let's meet at the Teleportation Hall of the Holy City after we are done with our respective preparations.

After that, Shin gave his reply which was saying that he agreed with her before walking out of the room to prepare everything that he needed for this particular mission.

With all of the events that happened recently, Shin got quite a lot of materials that he needed already. He might delay some of them but he at least got most of it. And after organizing that list that he got from Black Hammer, he just learned that he was only lacking a few materials on it.

Taking out all of the materials that he already had, he was now only lacking 3 major materials which could be found from level-150 Overlord Bosses.

If it was before, hunting down those bosses was going to be hard. But with Shin's current strength and battle capabilities, it was pretty confident that he could take those kinds of monsters down alone.

When he was done preparing everything, Shin went out of the Mayor's Residence secretly and quickly headed to the Holy City.

The current Holy City was much livelier compared to before. It also had quite a lot of players roaming around compared to before. There were also some advanced carriages that indicated the current rank of the city. The buildings were also quite advanced and larger compared to the other cities. A single look at it was more than enough to identify that it was a Capital City.

"Quite a nice environment," muttered Shin as he looked around the city. And from time to time, he was also taking note of some places, especially the layout of the most popular spots of the city; he was thinking that he might get some ideas that he could use in the future.

Not long after, he arrived at the Teleportation Hall of the Holy City which was pretty crowded due to players that kept on entering and exiting from it.

Whistle~!

"Such a busy and lively place," muttered Shin as he looked at the crowded entrance.

He stood on his spot for a few moments before turning his gaze at the plaza nearby. It was also a busy place that looked like a festival market in the real world. The sight of the loud vendors who were shouting from their stalls and the busy players roaming around to look for some good equipment reminded Shin of his first experience inside the game.

"I wonder what those guys from HeadHunter Guild are up to," he muttered to himself as he recalled the battle that put him in the spotlight.

After that, he looked for a corner where he could sit while waiting for Charlotte to arrive. He didn't need to wait that long since he immediately received a message from her not long after he took his spot.

Mysterious Elementalist: I'm here. Where are you?

Reading the message, Shin immediately told her his spot before looking around to find her. And not long after, they managed to find each other and grouped up.

"Have you done all of your preparations?" asked Shin right after greeting her.

Charlotte couldn't help but stare at Shin for a few moments since she could sense how strong he became since the last time they had met. 'This guy really became ridiculously strong since that time. He also seems to be much stronger compared to the time when he battled against Immortal.'

After observing him for a moment, Charlotte nodded her head and said. "Yeah, I'm already done with everything, so we can leave now if you want."

"Then we should get going now. As I said earlier, I really don't have much time left," said Shin while nodding his head.

Hearing that, Charlotte gathered some of her Elemental Mana on her eyes to take a look at Shin's Elemental Spirits. And when she did, she was immediately shocked at what she had discovered – Shin now had three more Elemental Companions since the last time they met.

'What's with this guy's fortune? Did he receive all of the blessings of the 'Goddess of Luck' to be this lucky?' thought Charlotte to herself after seeing the seven specks of lights that were circling around Shin.

She suppressed the twitching of her mouth before focusing her gaze at a particular Elemental Spirit which had an alternating gold and grey color.

And when she saw the state that it was currently in, she couldn't help but knit her eyebrows and said. "This Elemental Spirit is in the state of deep slumber for way too long – it only has a little time left before it fully dissipates."

"That is what I am talking about," replied Shin with a twitching face.

"You have good luck at finding these good companions yet you never have treated them fairly. You are wasting their powers a little too much," said Charlotte with a sharp tone, trying to criticize Shin.

Shin wore a weird look on his face when he heard those words. He wanted to defend himself but he couldn't find the right words to argue with her since he knew that he was also quite wrong. Though, he at least tried to find some excuses. "Well, a lot happened recently so I don't have much time to look after them properly."

Hearing that, Charlotte released a helpless sigh before waving at him to follow her. "Let's go. I still need to report to the Elven Council when we arrive there, so you still need to wait a bit before we proceed to the place that I am talking about."

"But you also don't have to worry much about that. It will not take that long, so I can at least assure you that we will make it in time," she added while turning around.

Meanwhile, Shin followed behind her silently while thinking to himself. 'Is it just me or has this girl's attitude improved quite a bit?'

...