Alex tried to pay attention to the divine class hall instructor who droned on and on about how the divine energy cleanses your body, soul, and mind, but she just couldn't stop thinking about the nonsense that the sleaze bag had blabbed.
How much of it was true and how much of it was false? Was Mia's life really in danger? First, it was Derek and now it was Mia?
After a while, she couldn't concentrate at all so she excused herself and left the hall. Whether it was true or not, it was better to be on the safer side and find out whatever she can about it. She opened her system interface and sent a message to the only person who could give her some kind of clarity.
An hour later, Alex was sitting in one of the upscale restaurants in the Empire and sampling some of the most mouthwatering delicacies she had ever come across. In the game, one didn't have to care about stress eating so it was a common sight to see many women stuffing their mouths full.
A few minutes later, the guest she was waiting for promptly arrived. "Oh! Miss Alex, you already went ahead and ordered." A pair of twinkling eyes attached to a chubby body surveyed all the food on the table with great interest. "Ha Ha Ha. You sure know the way to a man's heart."
"Madan, you better stop before you get beaten up. Sis is serious." Unexpectedly another familiar face also popped in.
"What are you both doing together?" Alex crossed her arms and looked sternly at the two hunters in front of her. One was chubby and cunning and the other was a simple idiot. They didn't match at all but they seemed very chummy with each other.
"He He." Madan grinned without answering her while Rey quickly explained, "Hey, don't get me into trouble. Just tell her the truth. After you messaged him, he messaged me saying he needed some help with a hunter class quest. That's why I joined him, sis."
"Hmmm? Is that so?" Alex looked at Madan coldly and the other party started sweating. "It's the truth. There are no tricks. I already promised that I am on your side so stop doubting me every time, Miss Alex."
"Fine. Sit down. And like you said, if you are truly on our side, then you should have no problem answering my question."
Madan chuckled as he pulled the chair and sat down. "Alright. Let me start by first telling you why I asked to meet you in person."
"Hmph. Isn't that just for looking at me?" Alex rolled her eyes. By now she was used to this guy ogling at her every chance he got.
"Ha Ha Ha. Of course, I would never miss that, Miss Alex. You know me too well. But there is also another reason." Madan's face turned serious as he added, "I heard through the rumor mill that all our chats, messages, personal conversations, calls, everything are being monitored."
"Hmm?" Alex raised her brow in shock. What was this now?
"It's fine. No need to panic. As I said, it's just a rumor. I was near the Empire anyway so it is better to meet in person. Don't you think?" Madan shrugged. "And as for what you asked…"
Alex patiently listened, her heart pounding. Please don't say Mia is in danger. Unfortunately for her…
"I think Mia might be in danger. I don't know for sure." Madan sighed. "All I heard is the top three players of Crimson Abyss will all be having dark terrible days ahead. I really do not know more than this. You know I am no longer with them so they don't trust me."
"Wait, but are you sure this prediction is from that guy? I mean there might be other oracles in the game. What if someone else predicted this? Maybe it's not so reliable?"
Madan shook his head. "This I can give you a 100% guarantee. It is impossible for another oracle to be present in this game. Big brother's class is a unique hidden class. No one else for sure has this class."
"Hmmm…" Alex frowned. She couldn't help but think of that smiling monk whom she had been wanting to badly pummel down all day.
But that didn't change the fact that something about the guy was fishy. That bitch had predicted she would meet someone important to her and she met that sleaze bag just like he said.
However, that was not important at the moment. "What else did you find out? What about Jonathan?"
Madan sighed. "Sorry. Again, I only have bad news for you. This one I was able to get a definite answer. Jonathan Hofstader is one of the backers of 'Battle Gods' so when he says he spoke to big brother, there is a high chance that it is true."
Alex tiredly nodded. She already knew this one. The man was ready to make a contract with her so she had a feeling that he was telling the truth and now Madan also confirmed it.
Mia could really be in danger… And the other thing about Battle Gods guild silently recruiting expert players… everything was probably true.
"Sorry, Miss Alex. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I hope everything is fine?" Madan awkwardly scratched his head.
"No, it's fine. Thanks for the help." Alex bit her lips and nodded. "Do you know anything else about the Battle Gods?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Alex did not share this part when she was probing him for intel but now she wanted to know more. "My uncle said something about Battle Gods secretly building a team for when something happens in the real world? I didn't understand any of that nonsense." She played dumb.
Madan, on the other hand, immediately shook his head. "This one I can tell you for sure. It's complete bullshit. I mean Battle Gods is an S-Rank guild so they have their own set of strong players but I don't think there are making a secret army or anything like that."
Hmmm. Alex nodded. She wanted to believe him but no matter what he said, there was always a possibility.
"Well, if you still don't believe me, I can tell you this. Something huge is going to happen soon. This is going to be the biggest of the biggest events to ever happen in the game."
"Huh? What are you talking about, bro?" Rey quickly asked. Liam hadn't said anything about this so both he and Alex were shocked.
"If I knew, I would have told you. The party is keeping everything under tight wraps." Madan helplessly smiled. "The only thing I know is the rewards for this event are huge. There might be chances for players to become rulers!"
"..."
"..."
"Ha Ha Ha. As I said, it's just a conjecture. I don't have much information. What I am trying to explain to you is… even if there is some sort of secret army among the Battle Gods, they would definitely expose themselves in an event like this."
Both Alex and Rey nodded. This made sense. Something like becoming actual rulers of territory was unbelievable. It could change the landscape of the whole game.
However, the probability of an event like this actually occurring was pitifully low. After all, Liam also hadn't warned them about anything like this. So it was best to not get confused and go off track.
The three continued discussing the topic for a few more minutes after which Alex asked Madan to see if he could find out more about Mia. Madan agreed to help her and the three then parted ways.
They walked out of the restaurant with Alex returning back to the class hall and Madan and Rey stepping out of the Empire to tackle the hunter class quest.
And just as they did… a notification rang loudly in everybody's system interface.
<Ding. Warning! Warning! Warning! A sudden increase of demonic beasts has been spotted in many parts of the Xion realm. Large hordes of beasts have started to approach the human settlements!>
<Ding. Heroes and Adventurers are immediately requested to return back to their home Kingdom and help their King defend against the beast hordes!>
<Ding. Protect humanity and your efforts will be generously rewarded!>
<Ding. The event beast siege will begin in 72 hours!>
"What the fuck!" Alex stopped right in her tracks. There was really a motherfucking mega event happening! What the hell? This was way too sudden and unexpected!
Well, every single event in the game had always been like that but this one especially felt too sudden because Liam hadn't said a single word about it.
Usually, he was on top of everything and they had a jumpstart on all the other players and guilds but this one seemed to have eluded even Liam. What was happening? What was this event?
Alex flipped open her system interface in a hurry. Unfortunately, Liam's name was still greyed out. "Shit. This is bad."
This event had the potential to completely change the game as it was and at this crucial juncture, the three heads of their guild were all still missing!
The other two, no one had any idea where they were but Alex knew where Liam was and it was too bad that she still couldn't reach him.
But their saving grace was that there were still 72 hours. So what if she couldn't communicate with him inside the game, they could always communicate outside the damned game.
Alex logged out in a hurry and wrote down detailed descriptions of everything that had happened. Now, all that was left was to hope and pray that Liam logs out and sees this.
She felt a little guilty to think in this manner because she knew that Liam was already carrying a lot of burden all on his own. She needed to step up and handle this one.
"Fuck it. It doesn't matter. With or without Liam, we will again win this time."
She clenched her fists to calm her nerves as she couldn't help but think about the army of experts Jonathan had let slip. Everything would be clear after this event.
"I will do my best." She sighed and logged back into the game.
