Leveling up [2]

England, London…

At the top floor of a 50-story skyscraper, a luxurious room stood boasting a grand piano gleaming under a crystal chandelier, its golden light reflecting off polished mahogany floors against the backdrop of the rising sun.

Velvet drapes frame tall windows overlooking the city, while walnut shelves brimmed with leather-bound scores, exuding luxury.

Plush Victorian armchairs and a faint scent of fresh flowers enhanced the space, where artistry meets opulence.

In this room though, there was a common theme, it being the fact that most of the properties in the room had the picture of a certain beautiful man attached to it, and in some, his stage name was written on it.

>[Nightingale]<

At this moment, there were 4 people in this room, a beautiful man with bright golden hair and mesmerizing rose-colored eyes, a petite lady with long purple hair and deep black eyes, a laid-back man with bald hair, and the last of them was a young man with onyx black hair and brown eyes.

This group of 4 people were the legendary Nightingale crew, and they were the same group of people who played in the Pork Labyrinth dungeon with Noah.

The beautiful gold-haired man was Nightingale himself, the petite lady was Deadly Musician, the laid-back man with bald hair was Death Note- the Elementalist, while the young man with black hair and brown eyes was the Blademaster, Silky Strings.

In their musical group, Nightingale was the lead singer while the girl, Thalia was the backup. She was also good with the piano. The bald-haired man was Freeman, a master drummer.

As for Walter, the black-haired young man, he was the master guitarist of the legendary Nightingale crew.

If anybody in this city saw them together like this, it would definitely cause a frenzy, that was how popular they were.

At this moment though, there was a deafening silence as the 3 others paid attention to Nightingale, the beautiful man with golden hair.

"…" They looked at him.

They were all speechless.

"Did you just say her name was Genevieve?" Thalia finally asked.

Nightingale shifted awkwardly. "Yes? Umm…, why are you guys reacting so weirdly? Do you know her?"

"What a bum!" Thalia trolled ruthlessly. "Genevieve, really? And you still didn't tell what their identity is?"

Now, Nightingale felt a little nervous as he looked at Thalia, still wondering why what he said elicited such an extreme reaction from them.

'What's going on?' He was nervous.

After speaking with Genevieve and passing Noah's message along, Nightingale returned to his room where his crew members gathered to practice with him. That was where he narrated everything that happened to them.

He didn't expect such a strong reaction though.

"What did I say wrong?" He asked again, this time looking hopefully at Freeman for an answer but the bald-haired man only palmed his face.

His deep voice reverberated the next moment. "Now that I think about it again, I finally understand why he seemed so good".

"In hindsight he didn't seem good," his vermillion eyes gleamed. "He's just that good!"

"Afterall, it's Noah we're talking about!"

Walter nodded. "If it's him, getting an A-ranked unique skill so early in the new server no longer feels weird. Afterall, his old avatar has an S-ranked unique skill".

"But to think we'll meet an expert of that caliber in just our first day in the game," Thalia sighed. "Our luck… is just too good!"

Nightingale looked at his teammates, his eyes alternating from one to another and the more he looked and heard, the more his confusion grew.

'What are they talking of?'

'S-ranked skill being normal? What the heck!'

In the end, he could not hold it in anymore. "Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?!"

Thalia looked at him with pity. "Boss, I sometimes pity your fans, if only they know how clueless you can be at anything not music".

Nightingale felt like crying. "Thalia, please…, can you stop now?" He pleaded.

"He's Noah, the Godfather of Warstar". Thalia answered.

"Huh?"

She shook her head exasperatedly. "It's a wonder how you never made the connection till now".

"That Noah, when we played with him, we'd have definitely died in that dungeon if not for him. Carrying players of our level to face circumstances of such difficulty, against not just a hidden boss but a final boss too…," she sighed. "Such level of skill is already at the professional level".

"I had my suspicions before but I couldn't confirm until you told me that the person he sent you to meet is called Genevieve".

"Genevieve and Noah…," she looked at him. "Can't you even think?"

"…!"

Now, Nightingale felt bad, he felt like a fool because in that moment, the lightbulb of realization finally lit up in this musician's head as his eyes widened. "Genevieve and Noah…, Noah and Genevieve…, you don't mean…?"

"Yes, that's exactly what we mean". Thalia sighed exasperatedly.

Nightingales' eyes widened as wide as saucers.

"No wonder…"

"That bastard, no wonder he said he doesn't know me!"

"They always said all he cares about is Warstar and he's a sociopath when it comes to any other thing, to think all of it is true…"

Once they deduced the truth, this crew of singers quickly unleashed their fanboy side, raving about the fact that they've played alongside the Godfather of Warstar. It was something worth bragging about.

But then came the questions.

What is Noah doing inside the game?

Is he not supposed to be retired?

And why is he looking to meet Genevieve?

Nightingale may be dense when it came to understanding certain things not related to music but in the end, in his own field, he was still an intelligent genius.

He only needed a few minutes of brainstorming with his crew to arrive at his answer. "The Godfather of Noah is back in the game…, and he's meeting his old teammates…, there can only be one reason for this!"

His eyes widened. "He wants to come back to the pro scene!"

"Does that mean…, he and his friends retiring, was the decision not theirs?"

His eyes widened even further as he came to a realization. "Was the decision forced upon them by Cyber Squad?"

Nightingale suddenly felt angry. "Those bastards! And that bastard manager even cried on Live TV; to think he made me cry over that!"

"Ahem…," he cleared his throat, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Let's forget about that".

Noticing how giddy he was all of a sudden, Thalia looked at him suspiciously. "Boss, what do you want to do?"

"Enter the game of course!"

"I want to meet the Godfather of Warstar again!"

…

While Nightingale and his crew finally made the realization, inside the game…

{Arcane Strike=}

{Spellblade Flurry=}

{Arcane Riposte=}

{Empowered Slash=}

Bam! Bam! Bam!

A flurry of blade flashes erupted as a single in-game avatar circled the boss, constantly moving and staying at the hidden boss' blind spot while spamming attacks on it, juggling it in the air like a football!

"Damn! This Lord Doom is really good!"

"Such fast APM!"

"He's already at the professional level!"

Even as they admired the expert's skill, they remembered the instructions that the expert gave to them as they kept on supporting with their various skills.

With an arcane strike, Noah's spear struck the boss amid an explosion of arcane energy, briefly knocking the hidden boss back.

The hidden boss of the Monkey Rainforest is the Red King Kong, a powerful monster with a lot of HP and MP of the Berserker class.

After a few runs of the Monkey Rainforest dungeon, Noah finally met the hidden boss for the first time today.

The boss was extremely powerful but with Lord Doom's leadership, this random group of misfits was soloing the hidden boss!

A flurry of attacks later and a red blood state rampage that Noah cleverly suppressed, the hidden boss finally burst into motes of light.

***

[Congratulations! Your raid party has killed the hidden boss of the Monkey Rainforest, Red King Kong!]

[Congratulations! You have set a 25 consecutive hit combo-record with the Red King Kong!]

[Your raid party rewards shall be doubled!]

[You have been rewarded with XP each!]

[You have been rewarded with Skill Points each!]

[You have received drop rewards!]

…

[You have leveled up to level 11!]

[+1 Strength]

[+1 Intelligence]

[+1 Vitality]

[+1 Spirit]

***

'Finally, level 11'.

Noah thought casually as his message board dinged with a new message the next moment. Looking at it, he saw that it was a message from Deadly Musician.