Chapter 17

~ A Tiring Day ~

SW/SW/SW

“Kail? What’s wrong?” Alisa cast a worried look at Kail, who was literally dragging his feet to the school building. His body was slumped, looking tired and somewhat sad.

“He’s been acting like that since morning,” Nia whispered in Alisa's ear. “He isn’t sick. Maybe he’s lost something important.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Alisa offered.

“Well… can you keep watch over him? Just text me if something happens.”

The corner of Alisa’s lips curved upwards, “Leave it to me.”

0000

How could he be so stupid? He used his very first Perk for something that had no value at all in his current level. On top of that, it was irreversible! He couldn’t even find an Undo button and stuck with that useless Perk for the rest of his life!

He really should have used his brain instead of letting his emotion ruled his judgment. What use did the Ancient Force do for a newbie? Knowing the legendary equipment, they must’ve had attributes requirement! Maybe one of the equipment had 100 STR minimum or something. Someone with crappy attributes like him couldn’t even equip it!

Goddammit. He was so stupid…

Frustrated, he ran a hand through his black hair. The act only aggravated him even more.

No, he shouldn’t act like a brat. It was just a game. Losing a Perk wasn’t the end of the world. He still had many Perks remaining until he could no longer level up.

Yeah, GeaOnline was just a game.

It was just a game.

Kail then decided to browse the GeaOnline wikia again, believing that the information could distract him from the misery somehow…

He slumped, his upper body was on the desk, hands dangling on the edge. In one of his hands was his old cell phone. Activating the wi-fi on his phone, Kail began scanning through the history. He found what he was looking for and pressed a button on the phone.

Now that he was browsing the wikia, what should he search for?

Oh, yeah. Kail was kind of curious about Lord_DPS. Those PKs said that he ranked five in the arena. Or was it four? Maybe if Kail clicked on the Arena, then his name might come out…

The page about the Arena mainly talked about PvP and type of arenas used in GeaOnline. Kail learned that the Arena was a place for fighters to duel each other till they were dead.

“Looks like a brutal place…” Kail murmured, quickly losing interest. He didn’t know. Violence didn’t suit him at all. It just reminded him of Wawan and he hated it.

He didn’t know why, but he was back on the boss section. Their designs helped him forget about his stupidity. There was this boss who looked like a giant mosquito. Oh man, it was disgusting! And there was one who looked like a minotaur, with a heavy armor and a huge axe in his hands. Kail wished that he didn’t have to fight him…

Quickly, Kail came to the top of the boss list and found a familiar, level 390 boss there. He looked scary as always, with that black heavy armor and horned helmet. The unique, huge sword attracted Kail’s attention.

He wanted it. If he had that, protecting Agriella would be as easy as pie. Agriella wouldn’t have to suffer horrible death like yesterday. It was his fault to begin with. If he wasn’t that weak, Agriella wouldn’t have died. That was why he wanted to get legendary equipment. With them, Kail believed that he’d be stronger.

Yeah, the equipment would give him strength.

He wondered if the heavy armor was a drop item, too, beside the sword.

“Hey, Kail,” he straightened himself too forcefully that he almost fell to the floor with the chair along with him. He quickly balanced himself by latching one hand to the desk and faced the newcomer with wide eyes, panting heavily.

“A-Alisa! What’re you doing there?! Where did you come from?”

Alisa’s cheek ballooned as she answered, “That’s rude! I was here all along, you know? You looked pretty serious that you didn’t even notice me.”

“R-Really…? Uh, sorry…” Kail then faced his cell phone again, this time with Alisa along.

“What is that?” she lifted a finger towards GeaOnline’s final boss. “A human? It looks weird.”

“This one is a boss.”

“Boss? Like some sort of CEO?” she queried further.

Kail grimaced inwardly. Alisa didn’t play games and obviously didn’t know game terms.

“Yeah. That sort of thing…” Kail then closed his phone to better focusing his attention to Alisa. He didn’t want the square thing to erect a wall between them. It was rude to play with his phone while someone was talking to him.

When he put the phone back inside his pants pocket, Alisa murmured something, “It looks lonely, the boss.”

“Huh?” Kail turned his head inquisitively. “What did you just say?”

Alisa shook her head gently and smiled, “Nothing. Just thinking out loud. By the way, have you studied?”

Kail leaned back against the wall, “Study…? Why? Is there a quiz or something? Didn’t hear anything these days.”

“Kail, how could you forget? Today we’re having World History quiz!”

He laughed, “Haha! That’s a good joke!”

“I’m not joking! Did you remember what the teacher said several days ago? There’d be a quiz in the next meeting and that quiz is going to happen now in the first period!”

Before Kail opened his mouth, the said teacher came into the class, “Alright, take a seat, everyone. No papers on the desk. If I catch you cheating, you’re out.”

Alisa disappeared through the crowd of buzzing students, leaving Kail alone agape.

HOLY SHIT!!

There really was a quiz!!

0000

“Okay. I’m dead,” Kail whimpered, “my mom is definitely going to kill me. I feel I’m going to fail this quiz.”

Alisa patted him on the back, “It’s okay, Kail. You can retake it if you fail. Our teacher isn’t some kind of horrible monster, you see.”

Her words made him feel better, “Thanks, Alisa. You’re so kind.”

Apparently, his unintentional praise set a flame on her face. It was so bright red and she quickly looked away to hide it.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Kail reached out to touch her forehead, but Alisa was already on her feet.

“N-No, I’m not sick! I just feel hot all of a sudden! Sorry, I-I have to go to the bathroom!”

With that she ran from the classroom. Thank god the teacher hadn’t arrived. If they had, Alisa would be forced to hold it until the lesson was over.

But that was unusual. She was so red like a forest on fire. Kail wondered if she was okay…

Kail laughed at the idea of Alisa getting sick. There’d be no way a runner like her got sick!

Finally the school’s out. Kail hastily made his way back to his home. Nia couldn’t come, saying that she had another study session. Man, his sister sure was smart. This was the third study sessions she had with her friends.

Kail smiled sadly. If he was as bright as her, then everything would be fine. No more hating parents and no more red marks. It wasn’t like he didn’t try hard. He tried, but he reached the limit of his brain real quick. It wasn’t suited to studying hard, much to his annoyance.

“I’m home,” Kail spoke aloud while taking off his shoes. There was no one in the house. This was Friday, so her mom must be on her regular visit to Aunt Martha’s house, gossiping and all.

Kail cooked three cups of rice. While waiting for the rice cooker to make a ding sound, he made a simple omelet and croquette dish. Everything was ready once he rinsed the croquette. The omelet and croquette were so delicious.

Satisfied, he went to his room after washing the dishes. He changed into comfortable clothes and put GeaOnline’s helmet on his head.

He’d play for two hours while waiting for his family to come home.