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Chapter 007: Bay Walk

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When Angus heard this name, his eyes went wide as he stared at Howard, "You don't say. Is he really a 'Kingsley' that should have died at the accident?"

The traffic on the toll gate was long and there are still three cars before him. But as soon as he heard this news, he punched the steering wheel and the horn sounded, drawing displeasure to the drivers on the front side.

Even the traffic officers frowned at him with one of them walking towards his direction, making his mood plummet even deeper.

"Sir, did you know that blowing your horn in a toll gate is not allowed?" the man spoke at the driver's window after a knock, pointing at the [sign] not too far away from them.

But instead of pulling out his 'checker log', he only slightly inserted his hand on the small opening on the car door's sliding window.

This was a signal. It's either the issue becomes big or Angus pays for the officer's silence. Violation is violation and even with his money and authority, he might still need 2 days to settle the matter. It was a troublesome task.

As such, Angus obviously chose the latter.

Pulling a silvery-blue paper bill —the highest kind of paper bill— Angus folded it and told the officer with 'sincere' apology, "I'm really sorry, officer, I was just having a bad day from work." When he spoke, he secretly put the folded paper bill to the officer's hand.

Contented, the officer knocked once on the sliding window before speaking, "Just don't let it happen a second time."

After that, he gave a hand signal and secretly put the harvest into a breast pocket. Angus pulled up the window then roared inside the car.

"FUCK THIIIIIIIIISSSSS!!!"

Howard saw this but there was nothing he could do about it but only wait for the matter to settle quietly.

"I know that already!"

"The Conclave..." as Angus murmured, he pulled up the driver's compartment and saw there a little red envelop.

It was the invitation to this year's conclave.

A smile broke out of Angus's face, sinister and evil.

"Just to be sure, have you sent men to follow him home, right?"

"Then why wait until the Conclave? Let's just make it easier and kidnap him."

"Why wait until then? The Conclave in five days is a bit special. I don't want to waste time on him so we can just kidnap him and kill him. I wanna torture him myself."

"I will never let this humiliation go... I swear..."

Just thinking about the fact that he pissed his own pants in front of Amanda was making his patience short and his fuse brightly lit.

He went past the toll gate then he drove off home to get changed. The call ended after the two of them talked about the plans after knowing Rex's address. It was then when he was close to home that he received another message. The sender is someone known as «Zola». Angus felt a shiver run on his spine at the thought of the matter the other day regarding a certain deal.

This time, the message in the email made him look up front with a renewed smile of confidence.

"My offline and online life should be different." He said as he parked his red custom Camaro to a slot.

*****

Jeremiah was in the middle of a buzz, two days has passed since the invasion and it was the last dregs of the minute that the intense battles for the 'mark' of a King Candidate that's about to end are having a flashy conclusion all over the city.

Many guilds have been summoned, forces from all sides wanted to get a piece of the pie.

Even professional gamers didn't miss this chance for this may get them unimaginable benefits as well as future prospects once their names are known.

At this moment, a bluish circle of light emerged in the middle of a square; a figure walked out wearing the clothes of a player.

Randall was a new Gonn avatar —newly bought.

And as soon as he logged in, he moved through the city as if he was already an expert and headed to a secret location that only a select few are lucky enough to be chosen to know of.

It was in the warehouse district, and it was a vacant warehouse bought by a player in the name of The Wall of Jeremiah through official channels.

When he got in the huge warehouse doors, he raised his glove-covered hand and knocked in the predetermined pattern, waited for a while, before a small opening his head's height opened with two sharp eyes eyeing him like some criminal.

"Password." The eyes' owner commanded.

"Fucking what? There's no password." Randall said flatly, contrary to his words. His thoughts spoke of it otherwise.

"Randall Lowell?"

"Aye."

It turns out that it was the password. Whoever had thought of it actually didn't pay too much attention into thinking of something more memorable to the readers.

The small opening closed and an unlocking sound rung as a personnel door opened at the side with a Tekz Player beckoning for him to enter.

After entering the warehouse, there were already at least fifty of other newly created avatars in there and all of them belonged to all the races available for choosing; male and female, all of them unique and special on their own rights.

Randall smiled seeing the ladies and their curves that could provoke lust to just about anybody.

But he wasn't here for the ladies. He was here for the fun of this special summon... a summon that was first in every way and lager in every scale.

"Just on time." Spoke a knight in a white uniform of the Wall of Jeremiah. Behind the man were twenty strong-looking assistants —the aides— as spoken to from the message on the phone. He was the leader of this joint? Looks weak...

Standing in front of this group was the dashing and cool Zelga... or Prince Zola in real life. Randall may have insulted him on his mind but he would never dare to utter a fart of it out loud in any place.

After all, even though Prince Zola is a "Prince" of a real world Kingdom, his 'Kingdom' was still a vassal demesne under the umbrella of the Uglya Kingdom —a World Noble.

Randall wasn't stupid enough to provoke the ire of any one of the two given 'Kingdoms' by disdaining the 'host' of this joint... no matter how small he may be in the world stage.

A small politician family like the Gregory's will never dare to clash against a World Noble Family... they wouldn't even dare complain if they were ordered to breathe their farts if it meant that their Gregory Family would rise in standing from a small country's politician family to the world stage.

"Now, that's the last of it. And he's just in time." the host was happy, extremely so, as he eyed Randall who took a seat not too far from an Elven beauty.

She, too, was a newly created avatar.

It should be said that aside from body shape and their height, almost everything to an avatar can be edited during the creation process.

That's why these Elven beauties shined more and more brilliantly as adding the fact that Elves are all famous for being beautiful no matter their gender, when one real-world sexy girl actually chose it, the natural charm added was extremely eye-catching.

Fifty five people —all newly created avatars and no one were yet to spend their 100 free stat points.

"I will be direct then." Zelga spoke candidly, "As for you all who had successfully passed my screening, the contract had already been sent to you and will only require your signature to be finalized —based of course, to our initial agreements."

No one spoke to contradict Zelga. They've already received their notices and this was a type of deal that valued equal exchange.

Randall fiddled at the holo-panel on his vision, the contract's details showed, and he smiled.

Zelga continued, "The mission is simple. Obey my orders and make me king... after that, the rewards I signed in the contracts will be yours. Of course, as to our prior agreement, all rewards will all be in-game... and as for the ones who received a deal with real-world rewards, the contracts we signed is already proof enough of my sincerity. So, are there any questions?"

No one raised any. They've already been through the screening that Zola in the real world personally handled. All questions have been answered there.

The contracts have all been fair and all loopholes were covered. It was squarely a fair deal.

"Since no one has any questions, you can then sign the deal... and make the oath." A smile creeps over Zelga's lips.

The Oath.

He learned of this "matter" and many other matters yesterday directly from Elder Blue Draco.

After testing it, he found out that only those with a "Unique Ability" can initiate an Oath to bind a player or any NPC —up to the scale of an organization— to a promise of mutual consent through a contract.

Zelga then remembered that Siva had done the very same thing back then in Alexandria and now, he was also able to bind anyone to a deal as long as he provided enough rewards for it.

With the prompt given, Randall and the rest signed the contracts and following the words written in the contract paper, they made an oath.

BANG!!!

A thundering roar exploded in the firmament and it surprised many as this was the first time they have heard of this in-game feature.

Some of them even looked at Zelga with renewed interests; perhaps his promises aren't empty boast after all. Randall included, some few glanced over Zelga with a peculiar gaze.

"Alright. With that settled, I would like you all to follow my instructions. From now on you are all my knights... and are part of my [Kingdom]."

Following these words, every one of the fifty five newly created avatars became surprised as they all received the information on how to obtain a Unique Ability... and they all thought differently... and they all had plans of their own.

Randall laughed loudly, as all the other 'knights'.

The first part of the [King Test] ended so now, all eyes on both worlds are looking forward to who's going to be the next king: is it a player or an NPC?

*****

It was already 7pm when Rex decided to go back.

Amanda was reluctant but she knew that Rex still had many things to take care of and finish.

The Asgard's preparations are incomplete, and as for the matter of the King Test, it was already on its second phase... the Second Test is starting. He's still a bodyguard, after all.

But more than anything else, the former reasons for Siva joining in the fray during the King selection event is actually meet that Altair Astarte. He wanted to prove something. No. He needed to prove what it is that's been bothering him ever since he saw his projection in the skies of Jeremiah.

Rex didn't go back home immediately. Instead, he wandered off in the city, strolled around, and even went to visit his old university where he should've graduated by next year if he didn't get into that one event that changed the course of his life.

Since it was a "university", it was only normal for there to be night classes and right now, Rex was looking at the students of the night classes.

He didn't get to see a familiar face... aside from a male professor with greying hair on his temples.

Rex wanted to approach and have a chat but he stopped himself. He knew that right now, his own identity is a hot potato. Who knows if there are any spies out there watching him right now?

And so, he decided to drive away at this moment, choosing to temporarily abandon 'this life' that he'd gone to forget and even disregard in only a short amount of less than a year.

The streetlights and billboard signs were like neon lights in the darkness in his eyes.

He passed through avenues and streets, the road felt sticky to his senses. He felt conflicted. He felt that for some reason, this is not the world he was used to live in. He felt... disjointed...... he felt that he was an outsider in this world.

For some reason, he felt fear at the thought of it.

In this world, he was only 19 years old. But in the Terran Universe, he was a God that spent a life of hundreds of millions of years... even billions!

Rex drove the bike without an apparent destination in mind, and just wanted to drive away to any place secluded, quiet, somewhere he can relax his mind.

The conversation with Amanda's parents was one of the things he found to have happened due to an unknown force called "fate" and he hated it.

"A simple visit turned into something problematic."

[I was actually trying to calculate as to why her parents have that kind of reaction.]

"That... kind of reaction......?"

[Yes, boss. He parents should have just outright pushed you away considering the danger that you pose to the safety of their daughter and yet, not only did they, in the end, believe your explanation, they also allowed you to continue your relationship with Amanda. It's quite... vexing, if I should put it in your own words. I really don't understand how you humans' minds work.]

Rex laughed. He thought, perhaps it was because they didn't want to sacrifice Amanda's happiness.

They were the kind of parents who doesn't want to force their daughter into doing something that they knew would only make her sad.

Marriage, after all, is an important issue.

"You can say that it's trust.... or faith..."

[Faith... such a mysterious word. It has a definite meaning in many dictionaries but the application of the word pertains to something that I can't calculate and even analyze entirely.]

Rex felt that Cortana was really just like any smart kid with magnificent data processing ability.

She may be the world's best AI and the world's premiere calculator... but she was just a kid who's not even a year old. She has much to learn before she could become someone like Gaia, or Maki, or even a calm goddess like Galatea.

[Basing on definitions, does it mean that Amanda's parents have faith in you...... or on their daughter?]

"It's probably the latter."

[Archiving thought process data...]

—she learned something useful again.

Rex stopped at the western side of the southern area of Manila... from the late 19th Century until in the latest days, this place was called Bay Walk —a place developed specifically as a counterfeit Miami Coast complete with wide roads, a beach area, the hotels, recreational area, and of course... the food stalls on the avenue. The locals called it the Sunset Boulevard because it has a beautiful view of the sun during dusk.

It was windy, but still humid, just perfect for a cool breeze to cool down his nerves.

Even at night, the activities here are endless. The road was wide so there are rich kids trying to show off a little by displaying their sports cars, girls on a tube + blazer and short skirt, showing their legs and beauty... trying to impress... trying to boost their ego.

—and it was a weekend as well, people on Rex's age bracket tend to enjoy life in this kind of day.

A lone figure like him attracted peculiar gazes. Rex didn't care and only sat there on the bike, a can of "Cali" (AN: a beverage, light-to-no alcohol) in his hand to cool down his nerves.

His longhair fluttered in the gentle sea breeze, the cool of the wind brushing away his tensed senses.

For some reason, Rex's ears picked up something.

A group of five 'adult' guys wearing forced summer wear brazenly swaggered close to him. They made orders on the food stall owner and began to drink and merry as if they didn't care about anything.

The young rich kids with less experience began to drift away slowly from the stall when they sensed that there was something wrong with the situation so the food stall owner could only cry inwardly as the five men seemed like local gangsters.

Rex wasn't too far away from their location.

After a few more minutes in their merry gathering, the customers had cleared the 30m area around the food stall, with only Rex who didn't care about anything and only faced the sea while only drinking his Cali very slowly left within the vicinity.

"Oi, oi, oi... look at that fella... he thinks he's some cool punk trying to act something 'ere?"

When one of the 'gangsters' spoke, it was followed by another, "Just lookin' at the punk makes me hand itchin' for some'in... hey boss, you don't have them bikes like that on ye collection, ain't ya?"

The 'boss', who heard it hit the man on the head and scolded, "Shut your twaddle, you miserable ole skin... we here to get a cool breeze, not to cause a trouble, you hear? Just drink yer booze and eat yer foods or I'll make ya clean Ole Banger's toilet for the next month. Gets?"

"Gets, boss, clear and shiny!"

The short skit was heard by everybody and some of the patrons of other food stalls felt the chill in the air so they began to clear the surroundings.

All the food stall owners began to get angry but seeing the builds of these 'gangsters', they could only grit their teeth in dismay. Customers like these are common. If your stall gets one of them, you can only blame your good luck. Today, the food stall owner was the lucky winner of this lottery.

Rex continued to drink his soda. When he was finished, he threw the empty soda can to a trashbin 10m away and the surprised gangsters saw this, with the former 'hotheaded' gangster whistling long as if to show his admiration.

"That's a good throw, there mate. You have a good hand." He said then made a gesture of stroking an invisible something up and down. The rest of his group laughed, including their boss leader.

Rex frowned. He hated these kinds of people the most. They were clearly provoking him and if he gets into trouble here, consequences might follow him to bite back his neck.

It was better to avoid them.

But then, as soon as he decided to do that...