Mikaela looked up from her food towards her mom and asked, "Mom. Do you know when the AAC will take place this year?"
"It will be announced officially tomorrow; but from what I heard, it will start in 2 weeks on Friday, July 1, and end on Sunday 2 days later," Agnes replied still eating her food.
"Oh thank god. I was worried it would take place during our school days," Mikaela said with a sigh of relief.
"When is your school starting?" Agnes asked the siblings.
"The day after it ends. Our school will start on Monday, July 4," Michael said.
"Alright." Agnes finished her food and got up, "I need to leave for work now.". She turned towards Adler and said, "Uncle, if you want to go anywhere, just ask Micky to take you. In fact, let her teach you how to drive around. You should be able to learn it quickly since most of it's just autopilot."
Agnes left the house.
Adler was curious about what Mikaela had talked about with her mother and decided to ask.
"Whats this AAC thing? You seem pretty excited for it?" he asked.
Mikaela seemed to be really passionate about it. She answered him," AAC, uh it's the Annual Awakener Competition. Every year, the different guilds and the government's contracted awakener fight to see who is the strongest."
"Does one have to be contracted to participate?" Adler asked.
"No uncle, as long as they are above the age of 20 and below 30, they can join." Michael chose to answer. He continued, "Since you only level up from fighting the monsters in the dungeon, Usually only the contracted hunters choose to fight."
"Is that so?" Adler said thoughtfully. Then a mischievous smile appeared on his face and he asked," You guys think I should join?"
Mikaela and Michael looked at each other's faces. They were hesitating whether to answer the question or not.
Mikaela asked in a wry voice, "Uncle, you can't join. You are like 120 something. Way above the age requirement." Michael nodded.
"Yeah. But my record doesn't say so. I'm still 23 according to my government ID. Besides, I told you the dungeon stopped aging me once I entered. So technically, I am still 23. " Adler said.
"Uhhh... You took out 4 S-ranked Skill stones like it was nothing uncle. It wouldn't be fair to the other participants when you have had a 100-year head start on your progress." Mikaela said thoughtfully.
"Alright, Alright, I won't join." Alder sounded like he had been wronged. " Anyway, you guys watch this AAC on the TV ..uhh..the Hovi?" he asked.
"Well they show in on the hovi, but we usually just watch it live on site." Mikaela said, "Mother needs to be there because of her guild work. So, she usually takes us there."
"Maybe you will finally get to meet dad as well," Michael said.
"Your dad?" Adler was surprised. He hadn't seen or heard them talk about their dad, so he assumed that their dad had died, thus never asked them about it.
"Yeah. He will probably be at the AAC too." Mikaela said.
"Why isn't your dad home then? Are your parents divorced?" Adler asked
"Ah. NO." Mikaela sounded a little exasperated. "Why would you think that?"
"Well I never see you guys talking about your dad, so I thought your mom was divorced or something. Besides, your surname is Jones, the same as your mother." Adler said.
"Yeah. So? Our dad's name is Gary Mason. I didn't want to be called Mikaela Mason, so I chose Jones instead." Mikaela said.
"You can just choose your surnames?" Adler was a little surprised.
"Why wouldn't we?" Mikaela questioned.
'Shit' Adler needed to adapt to modern times. He needed to let go of his archaic thinking of society and its norms and values.
"Nevermind, where is your dad right now?" he asked.
"Uh. Australia? I think. " She looked at Michael and gave him a questioning look.
"I think so," Michael said.
"You guys 'think so'? Adler asked, "Do you not talk to your dad?"
"Well, he is the Dungeon manager for the 'Frost Giants', so he constantly goes to different locations all over the world where the Frost Giants have their dungeons in."
She continued, "Since most of the dungeon hunters would be either participating or viewing the AAC, Dad will probably come too."
They finished their lunch and rested for a bit in the living room while watching the Hovi.
"Are you going to play again?" Adler asked Mikaela.
"Maybe. Maybe not." She replied. "Most of my guildmates either have work during the day or some other stuff, so they mostly play at night. If I play right now, I would only be doing solo stuff, which is kind of hard in the Frozen Wasteland for a Mage like me."
"Wow, you are already in the Frozen Wasteland. I need to leave my city too. Any suggestion on which city to teleport to? I am level 40 right now." He asked.
"Hmm. I don't know. I myself took the carriage instead of teleporting. I think you should ask Michael." She said.
"I'm in the Raven city right now uncle. You can teleport there if you want." Michael said.
"Alright. Raven city. Got it." Adler replied.
"You need to find a good city to reach level 50 in. It might be a problem if you have to constantly travel to look for the perfect hunting place." Mikaela said.
"Why? Isn't level 50 just class advancement and you get a new skill?" Adler asked.
"Yes. But it's a little more than just that. You'll see." Mikaela said with a mysterious smile. "Anyway, all this talk made me wanna go play. See you guys later." Mikaela left.
"Alright. Michael, how do I add you to my friend list in the game?" Adler asked.
"You can only add people you have met or are in your party or guild," Michael said.
"Then how do I find you?" Adler was puzzled.
"Just go to the Alchemist Guild in the Raven city. I will make my name visible and stand in front of the guild. You should be able to find me then" Michael said. "My in-game name is Slow Pyre."
"Alright. I will join right now and go to Raven city." Adler said.
Adler went to his room and was about to enter the capsule when he remembered something.
"Ah. The recording." He quickly checked the capsule's storage.
He had recorded the footage from the time he started fighting the goblins in the hunting ground to the 3rd goblin dungeon's clear.
It had been a long day for him, and he had forgotten about the footage. He quickly checked the recording, which was really long.
Putting all that footage online would be a bad idea, so he instead just took the final goblin dungeon run and put it on holotube.
As for the username, he thought for a while and chose the name 'Juggernaut'. He wanted his name to match his play style.
After uploading the video, he got into the capsule and loaded up the game.
Obcisor opened his eyes to see a notification in front of him.