Gray had been Leek's company.

He decided to leave his friend alone to sort out the Karyel situation.

With time on his hands, he asked questions to the people who stood outside the dungeon, trying to figure out the commotion leading to this large gathering.

-ALTgray: Watching the situation with Leek, taking glances occasionally in his peripheral. "So, this is a limited event? I don't remember it being announced..."

"Of course, it's new. I think it has something to do with the announced update. A show on how they're adding more life to the empty parts of the game."

"Tbh, they needed it. I was gonna stop playing in like, the next 40 hours if they didn't, like fix the cardboard world."

"Yeah. Stay away from the forums; EVERYONE's fighting over the update. And there isn't a point; we don't have a concrete release date yet, all that shit for no reason."

"I can send you a screenshot, but this is an NPC-initiated quest, I think. I think It's going to start in a bit, so my group either went to sleep or will dive in later. I'm just chilling while I wait."

The army of players waiting for the Scout Group to return was not one affiliated force. It was made up of a multitude of teams, in the range of three to twelve, all responding to an open mission.

"Bro. The only part of the coming update that ACTUALLY matters is the new Collegium land auctions. To think it'd take THIS long for FAO to implement such a BASIC feature!"

* Collegium: FAO's name for a player-made guild/faction, used for voluntary social interaction in the game by any interested

Different from the in-game 'guilds,' as these are pre-established and are not able to be owned by players *

"Its just that we cann-"

-ALTgray: "Okay. Thanks for answering my question!" Gathering no new information Gray cut the last person off, going directly to Leek's side.

Cutting through the crowd was not so difficult.

If Gray wanted he could walk straight through the crowd since he was not active in PVP, or directly interacting with them, there was no restriction.

Another option was to lower the player density in settings. 'There's no point in having the highest end of tech, just to let it waste!'

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

This was his argument to not go that route, choosing to take the RPG element of the game a little more serious than the average player.

When he made it to his party member the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't alone.

A figure was already at his right hand.

Something about the way it stood, and the design of its character was oddly familiar. Hanging on its back was an oversized scythe, the curved blade floating only a few inches from the ground.

The appearance of this being, from its unnoticed absence, was separated by a mild gust of wind.

Karyel's kick had been parried by a figure dressed head-toe in stereotypical Japanese ninja attire, a mere foot from where Leek stood.

She put her leg down, regaining the rigid stance of her frame.

"Heed me." A deep baritone voice came from under the sharply angled black demon mask cowering its face

-Karyel: Aggression of her words died down, but her bloodlust did not. "A Hanzou?.. who cares about this little shit that much!" Her face twisted to the side, her eyes beating down the sight of the being.

The aura surrounding her body followed suit, removing itself and dissipating quickly.

-Karyel: "Fine." The ignorant meathead spat a loogie. Sticking to his shoe before slowly sliding down it. "Hope you don't think you're untouchable."

Leaving these words with the small birdie, she went to mingle with another group of players, all of who seemed to be unbothered by the treatment of Leek.

-ALTgray: "A Hanzou!" The words of Karyel had immediately jogged his memory of this entity.

A summonable subordinate. This creature is known for its exceptional stealth and reconnaissance and unparalleled ability to collect and transmit information, at their specific level, that is to not be taken lightly.

The foremost con of this summon being the painstakingly slowpreparations needed to produce just a singular patch of scrolls; rarely found as drops.

Risk-to-ratio when using this specific NPC was thusly skewed to the downside. To the point where most cases, information would not be worth the threat of losing a scroll.

Alongside inherent hoarding, this all counteractively created a vacuum in the market for Hanzou scroll.

Yet to be filled to demand.

To expend one of these tools, the objective would need to be fairly important

-ALTgray: "Okay, I'm starting to feel like we aren't on the same page!" These words were imbued with jealousy fueled by the twos deteriorating communication. "I don't think my heart can take too much more!?" The suit of armor put its hand to its helmet being overtly theatrical, insinuating that it would faint.

-Leek: Looking over to face Gray, who reappeared after the Houdini act, he questioned. "What are you going on about, so dramat- WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!!!" In an instant he went from annoyed, to purely enraged. "The FUCK were you doing while I was getting my ass whooped!!"

-ALTgray: "Ughh-I- You-" His stutter, clearly, did not help mend or counter the accusations. "I couldn't have done anything... So there was no point of u-us both to get hit!" The lifted hand went from dramatic, to making a point.

Its index finger pointing to exclamation his words.

-Leek: He closed the ground between himself and the traitor. "You're scary as fuck!" his finger went to poke the inside of the helmet, hoping to hit an eye or two.

The couple then got into a tussle.

Leek went to shove the armor, to which it kept him at arm's length. Then he was put into a headlock; trying to escape he resulted to biting the metal suit.

It all degraded into squabble amongst children.

Throwing insults to mask the embarrassment each felt for one another.