"Um, are you sure that this is going to work?" Marcus asked with wide eyes as the trio was standing in front of the entrance to Acidlent forest.
Marcus and Jack were both at level 5 and if Zack helped them a little, they could easily reach level 10 or so. All they needed was a good boost and a little help from Zack.
But most of all, he would get to see how powerful their ability was in the beginning.
After entering the forest, the white-haired boy told them his plan.
"If we encounter any beast up to level 8, you guys will deal with. Since Acidlent forest has monsters up to level 10, the chances of us finding them are very rare but in case that happens, I will do most of the damage and you will deal the finishing blow. Is that clear?"
""Yes sir!"" For some reason, they felt as though the number one player was their military teacher and they were supposed to follow his orders until they became strong enough.
With that mindset, the trio started their journey inside the forest.
The first beast they encountered was an earth slime. Jack used his acid drops skill while Marcus was the one who had gone up front and had fought the slime with a sword to distract it.
Zack nodded at this scene as the duo finished the slime in less than a minute. They then went ahead to do the rest of the killings and soon enough, an entire hour passed by.
Marcus and Jack had managed to gain four-level and were now level 9 players. If they continued to grow in the way, they would soon step into the top 100 rankings.
The duo had invested 20 of their newly gained stat points in intelligence while putting the rest in agility.
This was a clear statement that they didn't want to live the hardcore battle player life and instead just wanted to be strong enough to escape from tight situations.
Zack was satisfied with their approach and decided to keep watch over them till WolfHeart was online.
***
In the real world, Eva was currently standing in front of 'Zack's mansion' and was waiting for someone to come and open the door.
"Welcome miss Evangeline." Zack's younger sister, Mia, opened the door and stood aside to allow Eva to step inside the mansion. "In case you are looking for Zack, he is currently playing Hikari."
"Can you tell him that he should exit the game in two hours and come to my mansion well dressed? We have some urgent business that needs to be taken care of." Eva had expected this to happen and decided to leave Mia with a message.
But before leaving, a sudden question entered her mind.
"Mia, can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer if you don't mind." The red-haired woman asked as Mia shook her head.
"I have no problem. Go ahead and ask me what you want."
"Then can you tell me whether Zack treats you wrongly in any way or not?" Even though Eva knew that the black-haired boy was someone with good motives, she knew that people could put up masks.
But much to her relief, Mia answered after a few seconds in a firm voice.
"I kind of know what you are thinking of. And no, we don't have the 'stepbro, I am stuck' thing." The blue-eyed girl then gave Eva a wink as both of them knew what they meant.
"Thanks for answering." The green-eyed woman chuckled before she left the mansion. Though internally, she was relieved that Zack was not some kind of creep.
After all, she had seen too many weird 'scenarios' as a teenager.
***
"I can't believe that we were level 5 a few hours ago…" Marcus muttered as, after two hours of hardcore grinding, he and Marcus were now level 10 players and had stepped into the top 50 in the rankings.
But during their grinding, Zack hadn't interfered once because he had known that the duo would be able to fight their way through.
After all, they had acted as meat shields in the Fairy king's forest.
[ Where you at? ] WolfHeart sent a message to Zack as she was now online.
[ I am at the Acidlent forest with two people who will be potential members of our guild. Meet me at the entrance of the forest and we will talk about it there. ]
After replying with that, Zack turned to look at the two boys.
"Let's go to the entrance of the forest. There is someone I would like both of you to meet. He said with a grin as the trio started making their way back to the entrance of the forest.
But while doing that, Zack received a message through the wristwatch that was connected to the VR glasses.
[ Evangeline came to the mansion and said that you need to stop playing in two hours. I will tell you other things after you log out. ]
It was Mia telling him about Eva's visit. He tried to think why Evangeline would come and ask him for such a thing but decided to focus on the game.
After fifteen minutes of travel, the trio finally managed to reach the start of the forest where they saw a beautiful pink-haired woman standing with a bored expression.
"Finally," She said with a sigh. "Did you get lost in there or what?"
"We have reached the center so of course, it will take us some time to reach back here." The white-haired boy replied with a smile as the two boys behind him suddenly froze.
"You know the number two player too?" Jack spoke up as the white-haired boy nodded.
"Both of us are guild leaders together or will become soon. But we need a place to set up our guild first." The best place that Zack could think of was the royal capital of the Eizenburgh kingdom where the royal family and the nobles were.
This would not only give them a huge advantage in trading but would also give them protection against guild raiders.
The only problem was that the royal capital was 250 kilometers away from their place. Fortunately, Zack had a plan in his mind.
"You guys talk together and I will be back in a few minutes." The white-haired boy then walked up to the forest and brought out Chastiefol.
[ First Form: Chastiefol
Second Form: Daggers of sky
Other six forms are locked. ]
That's what the spear currently showed but Zack was now going to unlock the seventh form of the spear, Guardian.
The form would summon a beast from the heavenly realm depending on how pure a person was. But since Chastiefol was one of a kind spear, not much information was available on it.
"Oh legendary beast of heaven, reveal yourself to the wielder of the mighty spirit spear that originated from the world tree. And if I am worthy enough to be your companion, let's see this world together." Zack chanted the words required to open the seventh form of the spear.
"Spirit Spear Chastiefol, Seventh Form, Guardian!"
The only reason he hadn't done this before was that the minimum requirement for it was level 20. The summoned beast would however decline to be with such a low leveled person and the white-haired man could only hope that it wouldn't happen to him at that point.
As for the chant, he had heard Ash saying this in his previous life when he had summoned his moose from the heavens. The beast had been quite a wild beast who had managed to see the cunningness inside Ash's heart.
That was the reason it had decided to make him his companion.
After waiting for a few minutes, a screeching sound went throughout the Acidlent forest and even managed to reach the town of Klonstad.
The white-haired boy suddenly felt chills going throughout his body as the temperature inside the forest started to rise.
The beasts inside the forest were so scared that they ran out of the forest.
WolfHeart, Marcus, and Jack had heard the screeching sound too but they had thought that Lin Fan was the one doing something inside the forest.
But when they saw the beasts running out of the forest, their doubts were confirmed.
"And here I was proud of being able to level up so quickly…" Marcus muttered as he saw more than a hundred beasts exiting the forest.
The duo took this opportunity to slay a few of them while the rest of the beasts ran towards the other end of the forest.
WolfHeart was watching all of this with an amused expression as she wondered what the white-haired boy had done inside the forest that had scared the beasts to abandon their home.
But she had no idea what the number one player was exactly doing.
Zack on the other hand also didn't have any idea of what was happening. He was thinking that a common beast like a deer or something like that would appear.
The white-haired boy however felt that he had something big that he wasn't supposed to do.
"REEEEEEEEE!"
With another screech, a majestic bird started to descend down from the sky. Its elegant wings were fully spread for everyone to see them and even the trio, who were standing outside the forest, could see them.
Zack on the other hand felt as though he had tried his luck in a random gacha and had somehow managed to get the highest level item possible.
"A Phoenix…" His jaw was left open as he saw the majestic bird land on the ground in front of him.
[ ??? (???) (???): ??? ]
The inspect skill failed to work on the majestic bird as it raised its head and looked at the human in front of him. The Phoenix's burning red eyes pierced directly into Zack's purple eyes.
His body froze over as he realized that the creature in front of him was well over his league yet he couldn't back down.
Phoenix were proud creatures that could sense when a person was afraid of them. Though Zack didn't know the exact name of the Phoenix in front of him, he knew that the legendary bird would think of him as weak if he bowed down or stepped back.
So instead, he stood straight and stared back at the bird.
'So you are the human who summoned me.' The bird's voice was directly heard inside Zack's mind as the teenager felt a warm sensation passing throughout his body.
[ Player is under the effects of the passive skill 'Warmth of the Sun ]
[ Awareness of surroundings have been decreased by 30% ]
'You still have 70% of your will intact,' The Phoenix sounded as though it was surprised by Zack's resistance against his skill. 'Now I am interested in you human.'
"As you say, Bird." The white-haired boy replied as the Phoenix opened its mouth and released a screeching sound.
To others, it would feel as though the bird was angry but in reality, it was laughing.
'So you are the one I was chosen to be a companion to. Very well human, you are an interesting person.' The Phoenix then raised his mighty wings and floated a few feet in the air.
'By the oath made between heaven and the spirit of the world tree, I shall become your companion and will respond to your call whenever you use the spirit spear.'
The passive skill's effects suddenly vanished as the purple-eyed boy smiled. The Phoenix was not just a normal bird. It was a mythical creature which could be reborn from its own ashes.
{ Eastern Continent Announcement: Congratulations to player Lin Fan for being the first person to befriend a ??? Ranked beast named ??? ]
And it was on that day that a bond was formed between the reincarnated person and the legendary Phoenix.
A bond that will only strengthen further in the upcoming days.
But by how much?
Only time would tell…