Reunion

***

[Welcome to the new server, adventurer!]

[Your default spawn point has been set for the Beginner Village!]

[Character Name has been registered: Enlightened Flame]

…

[Welcome to the new server, adventurer!]

[Your default spawn point has been set for the Beginner Village!]

[Character Name has been registered: Captain Batman]

***

The 3 new players logged into the game.

Genevieve had an opinion about Benjamin's choice of name for his new avatar but since the name could not be edited once it was entered into the game system, she had no choice but to give up her rant.

Benjamin seemed more excited than usual to enter the game with a new account.

Having played for so long as a professional player with a 1st server account card, getting to enter the game again with a new account in a new server was a breath of fresh air for him.

"Ah!" He sighed exaggeratedly. "Coming back to this world, I feel like a long-lost hero that has finally returned to save the day".

"What should be the right caption for it? Return of the Prodigal son? Or…," he grinned. "Return of the ancient Demon King?"

Genevieve rolled her eyes. "You guys should get on with completing the beginner quests quickly, I'll help you guys so we'll be faster".

"We can't discuss Noah's circumstances in the beginner village here, it'll be too easy for others to eavesdrop on our conversations".

"He's waiting for us outside the beginner village".

"That makes it easy then," Benjamin cracked his knuckles, feeling hyped. "Let's quickly go and save that mother*cker!"

Yes, it was a new server with improved settings but the game was still Warstar. Veterans like Caleb and Benjamin in a new server was like a cheat code.

They were no Noah but individually, they were still masters of the game.

Besides, the game population was not as congested as before as lots of the players who started playing the new server early were already at relatively high levels, taking them away from the beginner village.

This made it even easier for Caleb and Benjamin.

With Genevieve's help, Caleb and Benjamin were able to complete beginner quests, leveling up rapidly and in just an hour, their in-game avatars leveled up to level 5, making them capable of raiding dungeons.

Only at this point did they leave the beginner village.

After getting to level 5, leveling up becomes exponentially harder and the difficulty increases exponentially again after every 5 levels.

Genevieve led the way outside the beginner village.

Walking through the lonely road surrounded by a shallow bush, Caleb and Benjamin had different reactions to the prospect of meeting their captain again.

Benjamin's reaction was more on the goofy side as he could not wait to mock his captain and make a pun joke out of it, while Caleb was just laid back.

Coming back from retirement, building a new Warstar avatar to take to the Pro Alliance, helping Noah conquer the game and rescuing him from being trapped in the game, and potentially winning the Warstar RPG champions league again, these were all things that interested him and was why he did them.

That was just Caleb in a nutshell. He does things only if they interest him, like reading novels, but his enthusiasm for the specific activity never shows on his face.

It was almost like he was just going through the motions.

Only his friends truly understood him.

And finally, they met him.

"Hey". Noah waved in their direction.

Immediately, Benjamin grinned behind his computer screen, speaking into the speakers. "Hey there Captain," he chuckled mischievously, observing his in-game avatar. "Looks like you really leveled up your commitment to gaming!"

"Hehe, guess you're now pixel-perfectly stuck in this new reality".

Noah chuckled, not responding to the joke.

"So boring!" Benjamin mocked, eliciting more laughter from Noah.

"Hey". He waved at Caleb again who waved back at him.

Caleb's avatar hesitated. At this point of the game, the class of their in-game avatars was yet to be defined, making them plain and neutral.

Caleb's avatar curiously focused on Noah's Lord Doom. "Is it really true that you got an SSS-Rank unique skill in the game?"

"Yeah, see".

Noah projected his avatar information the next moment, showing his SSS-Rank unique skill to his friends.

"Wow!" Benjamin exclaimed. "That's, that's just…"

"Crazy, I know". Noah stopped him before he could make another pun joke.

In that moment, Noah finally looked around. "Where are the others?"

Genevieve coughed at that moment, finally speaking through her avatar. "Marcus Is not in the country. As for Aria," she cleared her throat. "Umm, she now has a boyfriend".

"…!"

Noah froze.

"Yeah, it's crazy, I know". Genevieve chuckled. "But it's the truth. She's committed to her relationship, so she can't devote her time to games again".

"…"

Noting that Noah was still frozen, Genevieve's in-game avatar waved at him. "Hey, snap out of it".

Noah finally recovered.

"What…?!" He asked, still stunned.

It took some time before Noah was able to accept the truth and finally calm down, but still, the idea of Aria dating someone was still mind-boggling to him.

"What…?!" Noah suddenly asked again, making the others look at him weirdly like he was losing his mind.

"Don't tell me getting stuck in the game turned your brain to Chinese Swiss". Benjamin stared at him suspiciously, he was clearly enjoying the reaction of his captain to the shocking news.

"Forgive me for reacting like that," Noah rubbed the back of his head. "But that guy…, dating Aria? He must be a true masochist".

"What do you mean you fool?" A third-party voice suddenly interjected.

"…" They froze.

"What do you know about love you single miserable peeps?"

Noah froze again, and then he turned around to look, shocked. "Aria?!"

…

"Why?" Genevieve asked, surprised.

"You really think I'd really leave Warstar behind like it didn't play such a big part in the last decade of my life?" Aria snorted. "Dream on".

"I spoke with my boyfriend about it. I couldn't afford to leave Warstar behind, and I really want to win the championship again".

"I want to feel the high of being at the top one last time".

"My only requirement is that I can't join you guys wherever you are, I'd be playing the game from my house with my boyfriend. He agreed to get me a gaming set-up and console. Those are my reasons for coming back".

"Besides," she inclined her in-game avatar's head to focus on Noah again. "The thought of getting to save his sorry ass ignited my competitive spirit again".

Aria looked at Noah's avatar, a familiar fire burning in her eyes.

Noah recognized that look, he sighed. 'Not again'.

"Let's PK!"