For all intents and purposes, Gate 9 was finished. It wasn’t a scenario where they were forcibly booted out. Technically, if they wanted to, they could have chased after Goliath and killed him. They could have explored the Holy Land and searched for treasure. It was like a replayable level of a ga.
Alas, even with the level ups, William was too burnt out to continue walking. His head throbbed madly and they collectively decided this would be it. That ant going back to Nulgupjisin Grill House. Black seats, black tables, and black grills that appeared like magic.
Simply entering and tasting the barbeque in the air, William felt like he was ho again. At the sa seat, with the sa waitress, he opened up the nu and ordered grilled ribs. Recently, he had been getting a craving for it.
Generally, the party didn’t get drinks (AKA alcohol) because of Kazi. Either William had to go himself to a bar or Sun-young would sneak him a can. Luckily for today, Kazi allowed alcohol since they had completed a gate and brought guests over.
"I’m glad you’re here with us!" Kazi said. "I do wish Ksenia and Nikolai were here too."
William agreed. Unfortunately, both had to report back to their Spectre 3. The Sapphire Order was stingy when it ca to results.
As for Matty and Jules, they were quite the interesting pair. Where Matty was a scowling stone statue, Jules was a kind, comforting cat lady. Her black cat, strangely nad Goldy, was on her lap, sleeping.
"That’s what happens when you’re in a guild," said Matty. "Commitnts and no free ti."
"I’m sure it isn’t that bad," Jules said. She laid her right arm on the table, her left arm remaining limp. "By the way, any recomndations?"
"Grilled ribs—"
"Bulgogi—"
William and Marta spoke over each other, both very eager with their advice. Laughing, Jules said, "I will try to get everything then."
"I’m curious," said Marta, "how did you get your class, Jules? I’ve never seen it on another player."
"Oh, Animal Tar? It funny, actually. Rember the monkey from the first gate? I befriended him."
William and Marta exchanged glances.
"That’s it?" Marta asked.
"Yep, that’s it. I gave him food and stuff like that. He was very shy and never let touch him. But bit by bit, I earned his trust. Unfortunately, he was too fast for to catch and he ended up running after slling soone else’s food."
"Only two people were able to catch that guy," William comnted. "I wonder who they were."
Beside him, Kazi chuckled. "Yeah, I wonder."
"It must be quite a powerful class if Matty was confident you could defeat Goliath," William comnted.
Jules laughed off. "Oh, it’s just Matty being Matty."
"Not true," Matty said. "She puts herself down but trust when I say that she’s the strongest player here. She would have taken care of Goliath, easy."
Jules smiled, cheeks slightly red. "Matty, co on, please don’t exaggerate."
"I’m not."
"Four days until Gate 10 opens. You should all be careful," the waitress said, arriving with a tray of red, full-bodied wine. The pureness of it could felt without touching it. Kazi shifted back, indicating that he wasn’t participating. William happily took a glass, as did Matty and Jules.
"We will do our best," Kazi replied. There was a leftover glass, which was supposed to be for Marta. Hesitation clouded her, taking her teacher into consideration. Kazi, however, gestured at her to go for it. After one last nervous look, she did.
"By the way, you’ve been serving us for so long. We never got your na," William said.
"Oh, my na?" The waitress pointed at herself, smiling. "You want my na, right?"
William tilted his head, perplexed. "Yeah?" Was that an issue?
"Sorry, sorry. My na is Ming." The waitress smiled.
"Any advice for us?" Jules asked.
"Gate 10 is always a raid," Ming said. "If you want to live through a raid...there’s nothing really I can say. Prepare for unfairness is the best advice I can offer."
"A raid, huh?" Jules humd. "I think I’ve heard the term."
" too," Kazi said. "I believe, if I’m not mistaken, it’s a large-scale player versus player event?"
"Player...versus player?" William repeated, blinking. Did...did that an what he thought it ant...?
"So you know." Ming’s smile widened. "The rules of a raid are different but there are two common elents: all players are in the sa place and there is a degree of player versus player."
"All in one place?" William scrunched up his face. "Aren’t there like..."
"There were ten thousand players at the start," Matty finished. "We can’t say how many there are now, but it couldn’t be less than seven thousand."
The sizzling barbeque suddenly seed hotter than it should have been. Player versus player, all in one place...
A raid.
"A good way to asure soone’s progress early on is whether they’ve landed a critical hit. A critical hit is a phenonon that occurs due to the will of the System, so if you’ve managed to get one, then in my opinion you’re really starting to get the hang of it," Ming said. "So have you?"
"No," Matty said.
"I haven’t," Jules admitted.
"I recently did," William said. "Against Goliath, I landed a crit."
"I...haven’t," Marta mumbled.
"I have," Kazi said. "So has Ms. Sun-young. It’s easier with swords, I believe."
"Don’t worry if you haven’t," Ming said. "Just a personal test of mine, that’s all. I’m sure there’s plenty that haven’t gotten crits and turned out great."
"Hey, what if you were a big deal in the Heavenly Gas? Then what?" William pointed out.
"A big deal...I an..." Ming bobbed her head left and right, smiling and contemplating. "I did rank number four in my ti."
"...huh?" William did a double-take. "You were...number four!?"
"Bye-bye! Please give a tip if you can!" Refusing to elaborate, Ming left to attend to another table.
"Wait, wait, wait..." William turned to the rest of the table. "Why is a lady that had the fourth most points still here? No, as a matter of fact, why is she a waitress?"
"You didn’t notice? She’s the waitress, but she also owns the place," Kazi said. "The place doesn’t have one waitress because the owner is broke. There’s only one waitress because the owner likes it that way."
An elbow on the table, William’s cheek fell into his palm. Slowly, he brought the wine to his lips. "Is that a good thing?"
Kazi shrugged. "Who knows?"
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