This time Leonel was calling via the game's messaging interface, which incorporated real-life phone numbers to enable your friends and relatives to call you when you're both playing in the game.
Ren's heart thumped once more, and he answered the call with jumbled thoughts.
"Ren! Where are you? I'm already in the game. Are you here yet?"
Ren cleared his throat and said, "Yeah. I'm at Euclid Village."
"Huh? There's another village? I'm at Ironto village. Where is this?" asked Leonel with a scratch on his head.
Ren sighed. Yep. Leonel didn't change. Not one bit. "There is. There are hundreds of newbie villages, and the one you're in is miles away from me."
"Oh, no! Does that mean we can't play together?"
"Just wait there. I'll go to you via the Teleportation Crystal."
"Teleportation Crystal? What's that?"
Ren sighed, and he shook his head. Leave it to Leonel, who didn't read even just one paragraph of the guide. He was the type of guy that would venture into the unknown unprepared and enjoy the thrill of the surprised.
While I hate surprises.
"I'll explain to you as soon I get there. Don't leave the village and wait for me."
"Alright. Hurry. Others are already getting firstbloods here and there. We're already soooo behind!"
Ren ended the call and hurried to the entrance of Euclid Village. Along the way, he even spotted Silvia entering the village, and he unconsciously avoided his eyes even though Silvia couldn't recognize him.
The woman didn't even bother to spare him a glance as she zoomed past him and went straight to a woman with pink hair tied in twin buns standing at the side whose beautiful face was coated in worry. She looked lost from how her head was moving left and right while her blue eyes shook like she was about to cry.
And based on her get-up, white Robes, and staff, she was a White Mage.
"Pamela!"
Ren heard Silvia say before he went out of the village.
Pamela. Ren thought. He knew who she was. She was Silvia's best friend. Whether in the game or real life, the two were often seen together.
Ren shrugged the women off his mind. He would retrieve his hundred dollars from Silvia once he made an account with New Era tomorrow.
Ren placed his palms on the Crystal post glowing at the entrance of Euclid Village. A warm light enveloped his palms, and the game automatically saved his stop. So that if he died unexpectedly, he'd be respawned to Euclid Village.
The game system listed the available newbie villages, and Ren pressed [Ironto Village] before being engulfed with blinding white light.
When he came to, he was at the entrance of Ironto village. The newbie villages all had the same NPCs and quests, so Ren didn't bother with the NPCs here and went straight to Leonel with shaking steps.
Along the way, Ren thought of Leonel's class. A Dwarf Defender. The only Race that was a tank class. And due to the dwarfs' short height and robust physique, not many took this Race. Not to mention that no one wanted to be a Tank. A class with a lot of responsibility on the front lines and often the blame in a group but none the fame.
Due to this, Dwarf Defenders were rare and sought after by guilds, especially skilled ones. More so than an attack class. But since Leonel was just playing for the fun of it, he was left behind by the others, and no guild wanted to take him in because he himself didn't know his skills nor what a Tank's main responsibility was.
Leonel just wanted to be short, so he chose the Dwarf Defender on a whim.
Ren slightly shook his head and chuckled.
No matter. He would make sure to personally 'guide' Leonel to become the greatest Tank there is in the world of ARCADIA.
There were many scenarios in Ren's head as to what his and Leonel's encounter would be like after ten years of not seeing the guy. But Ren never would have thought that the first thing he felt upon laying eyes on his best friend was . . . dread.
The excitement and happiness he felt all took a dive at Leonel's appearance. Leonel took the short height of a Dwarf and its robust physique, but his good looks didn't match the Dwarven Race at all. Not to mention that he added a thick beard on his baby face that only appeared like it was pasted on his lips and jaw.
All passers-by were looking at him while holding their laughter. But Leonel was indifferent to it all. He just stood there, blue eyes shining, face beaming with excitement.
Ren was about to turn back when Leonel spotted him.
"Ren! Ren! REN!" Leonel waved his hand and jumped on his toes.
Upon Leonel's voice, every attention flickered at Ren, and the latter could only lower his head and look at the ground in hopes that everyone wouldn't see his face.
"Man! What took you so long?" Leonel said, grinning from ear to ear. He then twirled front and back, left to right. "Look at this! I really became short! Now everyone has to look down on me while I don't have to be wary if I step onto something anymore!"
Ren's face was indignant, and he asked with a monotone voice, "Leo . . . why did you add a beard?"
"Eh? This?" Leonel rubbed his long thick beard, chest forward, beaming with pride. "As a Dwarf, you have to have the beard. It's a staple for this Race! Don't you know? And here I thought that you know everything!"
". . ."
He then winked and posed in front of Ren. "Does it look good on me?"
". . ." Ren wanted to whack his head. But only managed a wry sigh.
This was also Leonel's past appearance, but Ren didn't care at that time.
Ren thought that something would change in this time due to him making ripples with the events and really thought that Leonel wouldn't choose a beard in this timeline, only to be left disappointed.
Leonel was actually a good looking guy, but due to his weird taste and . . . even more bizarre mindset, girls distance themselves from him.
"Saya and Mike said that they'll enter the game tomorrow. And they wanted us to accompany them buy their gaming pod."
Ren's heart thudded hard against his chest.
"Have you received their message to meet up at Highland Mall?"
Ren shook his head. "I didn't check my phone."
Leonel placed his hand on his hips. "I'll be flying to Zone A tomorrow, and they said to meet up for lunch. Then we can enter the game together after we finish buying their gaming pod!"
". . ." Ren didn't speak. If he did, he'd only disagree with meeting with Saya, and Mike and Leonel would never stop asking why.
In this timeline, the four of them were still close.
Leonel didn't overthink Ren's silence since he was indeed a quiet guy, to begin with.
"Ren, let's go! Let's do some quests together." Leonel grabbed Ren's hand and pulled him to every NPC he saw.
This was also the reason why Ren didn't do the normal/errand quests in Euclid village. He wanted to do the quests with Leonel so he wouldn't suspect that he entered the game way before him.
In the end, Ren still became an errand boy for the NPCs together with Leonel.