Shen looked toward ZhenZhen, there was urgency from her tone. It seemed she was going to do something important.
"Return to the city? Why do you want to return to the city?" He asked, curious what made the girl badly want to go back. From the moment she arrived here, she tried to get away from the village even though she was killed repeatedly without knowing her killer.
"I have been working in a decent restaurant in my city to become a cook. However, the Head Cook does not want to teach me immediately so I have to do menial work for the restaurant. After three weeks, she finally recognized my effort and gave me a chance to be her apprentice," ZhenZhen told the whole story for some reason.
Shen listened to her attentively. There were a lot of players who joined to be a chef, even a miner. Yes, there was a player on the forum who declared he would be the best miner in the game. People laughed at the person, but Shen did not. Everyone enjoyed the game on their way, that was why Tribe Online gave much more freedom than the previous game. No quest or main story to be completed, the players could be and do whatever they wanted to do.
Of course, for a production class, they had to choose the city carefully. The city where they would stay. If it was a weak city that could be easily destroyed, their assets could be buried along with the city if the city fell.
"She gave me a quest to be completed to be her apprentice. I have to gather three rare herbs then I will get the class. I still have three days though but I need to hurry as I haven't gathered a single rare herb," ZhenZhen's voice was almost to the point of begging.
Alas, the girl had to face a harsh reality that her three weeks of hard work wasted. Shen would not lie to her either. He shook his head, "I don't know and if I know, I will leave this place already."
ZhenZhen suddenly went blank when she heard the answer. Her eyes widened in shock as her stare was void and unfocused.
"But don't worry though, I have…" he wanted to say that he had a better solution. The house with a spoon, fork, and knife sign. That house must be related to chef class.
However, before he finished his words, ZhenZhen's high-pitched voice rang, "What!?" The voice was so loud that the chicken on the tree overheard them, "There must be a way! There must be a way!"
Shen noticed that the black-feathered chicken jumped down from the tree and rushed toward them. He was about to pull ZhenZhen with him but the anti-harassment system got activated instead. His body was electrocuted.
'No! I am not going to lose my level." Shen thought to himself before saying to the girl, "I am sorry, ZhenZhen." After saying that, Shen escaped alone. He ran to the village.
Even though he had leveled up and had higher stats, he was not going to face the chicken with his current equipment. The reason he could kill the Guardian Fish was because of his trap, not a fair confrontation, and he was not going to do that until a certain point where he felt he could kill the fish.
Five seconds later, he looked back only to see ZhenZhen's headless corpse was being dragged by the chicken. The chicken did not chase after him after killing ZhenZhen.
"So it's true,' Shen muttered as he recalled a saying.
—When you get chased by a bear, you don't have to run faster than the bear but you have to be faster than your friend.
ZhenZhen died and he was safe, the saying held some truth even though it was kinda heartless. Again this was just a game, probably fine, Shen excused himself for not helping ZhenZhen. With his speed, he quickly returned to the village.
When he arrived, ZhenZhen was sitting at the pillar that held the hut. She had her head leaned against the wooden pillar with a dejected face. She had been working for three weeks, doing menial work that people thought she was crazy to do even in the game, and all of that wasted because she was trapped in the village.
ZhenZhen checked the map, and most of them were dark. The map only showed a ten thousand meters area around the player. If it was dark, that meant she had not explored it yet. She hoped to see the city on the map but the city did not show up, meaning she was far away from the city.
"Tough luck, I have to start everything from scratch by restarting my character," ZhenZhen muttered.
"Don't! Don't restart your character!" Shen overheard her and called out.
"Why not? There's no hope in this place. I can't be…" ZhenZhen did not finish her sentence as Shen interrupted her halfway, "You can still be a chef! Why don't you listen to me first, Miss ZhenZhen?" He subconsciously raised his voice and toned it down immediately.
"What do you mean? Can I still be a chef? Do you know the way back to the city?" ZhenZhen stood up immediately. There was hope.
"No, I don't know the way back to the city, but I know a method so you can get a Chef Class…" Shen started to explain about the house and the meaning behind the sign.
A few minutes later, they stood in front of a house with a sign of a spoon, a fork, and a knife.
"So this house contains the legacy of a legendary chef? If I enter the house and inherit the legacy, I can become a chef and get a chef-related class?" ZhenZhen asked for confirmation.
"Yes, at least, that's how it worked with my class when I entered that house," Shen pointed at Yosu's house.
"Alright then. Since this is a Legendary Class, It would be stupid of me to restart my character," ZhenZhen nodded and walked toward the house.
"Wait!" Shen almost reached ZhenZhen's hand but he immediately pulled his hand immediately. He learned his lesson.
ZhenZhen stopped and turned around, "What's wrong, Runner? Is there something I need to know before I receive the legacy?"
"No, that's not it, but I have a question for you," Shen's face turned serious.