Zane White. He's the guy who appeared out of nowhere right in front of us and claimed he was the player behind . The very same Zale whom Kazuki met back in [Isekai]. Not only that, he also claims that he's the son of one of the game developers and one of the beta testers like me and Kazuki. I don't know whether he's reckless or plain stupid. But I'm not the type to believe any stranger's words until I have proof. I approach him and start to ask him something. But then, Zac gets to him first as if he’d zoomed in like the Flash.

"I don't know what your beating methods are! But just know that the heroes of [Isekai] won't resort to dirty tactics like you lot!"

"Beating"? Is that a term from SAO? Either way, it looks like Zac is jumping to conclusions again. I don't stop him since he might be annoyed that I "ruined" his moment again. Instead, I shake my head while watching this ridiculous "confrontation" between him and the self-proclaimed "beta tester".

"I think you're mistaken. What makes you think I'm "beating"?" Zale asks.

"Beating! As in a beta tester being a cheater!" Zac explains. "I can tell that from your explanation alone, you're gonna gloat that you're gonna use your knowledge from your beta testing stuff and your father to take advantage of the game..."

"I only said I'm a "beta tester" and Evan White's son. When did I say I’m taking advantage of the game from the beta testing? Besides, most of them are temporary, and I never ask my father to help me in the game. It will never affect my stats and even if I played the beta test, my character's stats and [Mastery] would reset regardless."

Zac's eyes widen and slowly puts his hand down. "R-Really?"

"Yes. No help, no cheating programs, and no beta test advantages. Everything else is pure skill. That's how I roll in every MMO I'm in."

Huh. Guess that's enough to shut Zac's reckless stupidity up for a while. Which leaves me to jump in with my own confrontation against him.

"And with that cleared up, I want to know what you want with me and Kazuki," I demand. "Your words bear some weight and you don't look like an arrogant snob. But that doesn't mean I still don't trust you."

Zane shrugs. "Fair point. I heard from your father that you tend to be the overly serious type of guy. I understand if you don't accept any advice or updates from a veteran player such as myself."

I narrow my eyes. "You do realize you're not helping with your choice of words, you know."

"Right, sorry about that. It's a force of habit that I'm trying to break after moving on from that MMO that was shut down recently." Zane grins while scratching the back of his head. "I told you. I wanted to meet you and your brother to make up my broken promise. But since I noticed he's not around, my second attempt is a half-bust. I apologize for my direct approach."

I sigh again. "I think you need to work more than breaking your habit. As for my brother, he's occupied with some stuff at home," I explain. "I wish I could schedule a proper meeting with both of us. But I doubt having another guy outside our school just to meet a 13-year-old boy from a VRMMO sounds really creepy to me."

"Yeah, I understand. I won't force you to change your mind if that's what you want." He takes out his notepad and writes something down with his pen. Then, he ripped a note from it and gave it to me. "Here's my Discourse and contact info. If you like to chat more about it, you can contact me through those channels. Just so you know I'm only available offline on the weekends. Other than that, I'm looking forward to our next meeting, Hayate Palmer."

He stretches his hand out to me with a smile. I'm still getting mixed signals from that guy. He doesn't look hostile, but he's not much of a sociable person. Overall, he's not a bad person and he doesn't seem like the type to deceive us. I sigh in defeat and accept his handshake.

"Same here. Although, I recommend working on your speaking skills," I suggest.

"Hayate's right. If anything, your first impression is worse than Zac's pick-up lines," Damon adds.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Zac pouts.

"Yeah. That's something my father kept commenting about me," Zane sighs. "But before I go, I want to tell you something expansion-related, and don't worry, it's not an [Isekai] spoiler."

I raise my eyebrow. He was already aware of how I was still suspicious about him. Yet he is still giving us a reward we didn't earn in the first place. However, I don't find any discomfort in his words right now and it would be rude of me to keep playing the paranoia game after everything he did in our first meeting.

"What about it?" I ask.

"Well, with the [Familiar] tournament coming up, you may encounter a lot of players who have already summoned their [Familiars]. And trust me, I saw a lot despite the soulstones that were supposed to be available in the cash shop and some [Quests] in a few days. And let me cut to the chase. Caring for a [Familiar] isn't the only way to make them evolve and stronger."

I flinch at that last sentence. "What do you mean? I thought giving them love and care along with battling alongside them were a few ways to do so. I doubt the hints in the game say hurting them will have the same effect."

"You're right about that part. Unless you only focus on one part of their growth."

"One part? Don't tell me you found something incriminating in the [Familiar's] beta testing?"

"It's not a beta testing thing. I'm only telling you this for moral reasons."

He narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. To my surprise, his laidback expression turns serious, almost resembling his [Isekai] character.

"Don't follow what others say about the [Familiar's] growth and identity in the game. If you believe that you should treat them with kindness and compassion, then good for you. But when they learn of these "other methods", they might start treating them more as tools than friends." He places his hand on my shoulder. "You two have a good heart. Both in the game lore and to the community. Never lose what makes you special. Good luck and talk to you soon, Palmer."

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And before I can ask the meaning of his words, he walks off without another word. He really is su- I mean, mysterious.

"That's the weirdest encounter I ever had in my life," Arthur comments.

"Agreed." Damon turns to me next. "What do you think, Hayate? Should we believe him?"

I hum in thought as I process everything from that impromptu debate. "His demeanor isn't enough to put him in both of my friend lists and he's still suspicious in my eyes. But we should be able to trust him for now. He doesn't look like he's taking advantage of his positions and he took his time warning us of the state of the game soon. He can be weird with his lack of social skills. But his words do hold some weight."

Arthur sighs. "Agreed. After that potion event, [Isekai's] playerbase will be crazy with the [Familiars] and the new city and kingdom to explore."

Damon nods. "We should plan ahead before heading there later. Better safe than sorry."

At least all of us share the same sentiment to Zane's warnings. But there's another warning I've been wondering about lately.

"Tools than friends", huh? If his prediction is right, then there's a chance chaos will erupt regarding the ideology of [Familiars] as the tournament grows closer once we arrive at . Even so, Soma is more of a psuedo-brother than bytes and data to me and Kazuki might feel the same way with Saphi. I guess the best move is to ignore the debate wars and do what we usually do: Enjoy the game and explore the world of .

"Well, that's enough [Familiar] and game politics talk for one day. How about we hit the arcade after we catch a few Zzzz's here?" Zac suggests.

"You will catch a cold if you lie down in this cold weather," Damon says. "How about we should rest at that bench over there before we leave?"

"No arguments here," I agree with my hand raised. "As long as Zac won't drool on my shoulder again."

"Hey!"

I wish I could wonder on Zane's words a little bit longer. But I know I shouldn't linger on that topic a bit longer. The whole point of the trip today is the calm before the storm. I rather clear my head from video games and VRMMO for a while and enjoy ourselves for the time being. It's a clear winter today and I don't want to miss every single minute of it with my friends.

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A few hours pass and by the time I arrive at the front door of my house, it is almost night time as the orange sky has begun to fade into dark blue. Man... I forgot how much time we wasted over playing arcade games. I'm glad no one there recognized me. I swear, if they keep comparing my looks between my [Isekai] character and my real-life appearance, I'm going to quit school and hide like a hermit.

Thankfully, the trip back home was uneventful, and I gave myself some breathing room once I got inside and went up to my room to see my brother.

"Oh! You're back home a bit early. I thought you said you're gonna be gone until 7," Kazuki said as I watched him pack up what I assumed to be his project materials.

"A lot has happened. But at least I'm lucky I got home before Mom and Dad," I answer while removing my shoes and storing them on the rack near the door. "Where are they anyway?"

"They're out for a quick grocery run to prepare for dinner tonight. With Christmas around the corner, Dad promised he won't get stuck in the office during Christmas Eve just like last year,"

I hum in thought. "I guess we should wait for them before we jump back into [Isekai] tonight."

"Good idea! Mom is cooking burger steaks again! It's been a while since we had some for dinner! It took me hours to finish the model, so I can't wait to refresh with some tasty food!"

I'm glad Kazuki is enjoying himself outside the game for a while. He's the type of kid who gets lost in his world when it comes to his novels. So it's nice to see him work on his school projects and do other activities than video games and books. So I'm a bit conflicted about whether to share Zane's warning with him or not. I don't want to ruin his joy over a few bad apples. But I don't want to lie and keep it to myself for long...

"Huh? What's the matter, Hayate?"

I shake my thoughts off as soon as Kazuki calls out to me. "It's nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. Hahaha..." I quickly clear my thoughts before I make it a bit more awkward. "After dinner, can I talk to you about our [Familiars] before the login? No, strike that. Can I talk to you right now?"

"Uh, sure. What about it?"

I'm still mixed about telling him the revelations that might occur in the near future. But if it is anything, I don't want him to enter the kingdom with too many optimistic beliefs of bonds between [Familiars] and players.

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After the discussion, Mom and Dad return from the grocery and we have a chatty dinner on random topics but [Isekai] for an hour. After that, we return to our room where we prepare ourselves to log back in. Zac and Damon have just informed us that they are already in the game, so all that's left is to prepare our supplies for the trip ahead. But I'm surprised that after passing Zane's warning to him, he didn't mention it outside of his reaction during dinner. Is he...processing everything I told him?

Honestly, I don't know what's going through his head right now. But I doubt I’ll have a chance to ask again if I want...

"Hayate..." My thoughts break as soon as I hear his voice. I put down my VeilCon for a while and turned to Kazuki. "I'm sorry I didn't react very well earlier. But it's about Zale's warning about the players and [Familiars]."

I sigh. Of course, he had to bring it up before I’d considered that option. "If it's because of how I share the warning to you, I'm sorry I sounded so blunt..."

"No. I don't think you sounded like an overprotective brother when you told me..."

I flinch at his usual brutal truth.

"But honestly, I expected that event might happen someday." Kazuki frowns. "It did remind me of some scenes where the mage's friend tried to stop a bunch of bad guys from hurting his animal companion's kind in Seraph. Besides, not all players there are friendly and kind. We encountered a few of them during the potion event, right?"

"Uh... Yeah, I remembered," I say. "Last time I heard, they haven't logged back in [Isekai] after I won the [Duel]. I'm surprised you're aware of the stranger danger."

"Well, I did trust the wrong people before..."

Oh, right. The bullies back in elementary... They took advantage of his kindness before the bullying began. I'm guessing that his past experiences along with the ones in made him grow a pair when it comes to strangers.

"Sorry I had to open up your wounds, Kazuki." I scratch the back of my head while averting my eyes from him for a while.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you were at my side when I needed you most. But this time, I need to start relying on myself. No more crybaby Kazuki. If I want to be a real grown-up, then I have to start relying on myself from time to time. I won't do those hardcore training you mentioned and treat Saphi the same love, respect, and care as we usually do."

"Kazuki..." I smile and look at him with admiration. He's only been 13 for a few days and he's already trying to be responsible and gaining independence. I'm actually proud of him. "I guess I should do the same. Soma is still our pseudo-brother and I don't like the idea of bullying him to make him stronger. Anyone who says otherwise will be met with my fist. And my sword."

Kazuki chuckles and says, "If you do that, you'll be the bully!"

"Oh, come on! I didn't say I'm not actually gonna hurt them. Ever heard of interrogation?"

I didn't expect this conversation to go in this direction. But I'm happy that he's willing to defend his views over the "meta" most players rely on. The game focuses on freedom of choice and we choose to play whatever we want without any judgment.

With that said, I think it's time for us to get moving and head to the . There, the venue for the [Familiar] tournament and many undiscovered regions await for us to explore.

, here we come.