“That’s why we must immediately pack and move in with brother,” Mia said.


    Leonel grinned. “It’s brother now? Not you, Hoi, or idiot?”


    Mia only stuck out her tongue.


    “It’s good and all, but . . . What about your school and friends back in Zone C?” Leon asked her daughter.


    Mia paused and seriously pondered for a moment. She briefly shot a look in Ren’s way while she opted for her choices. Her friends and other husbands to be were living in Zone C but his main husband and future was in Zone A.


    “Agh . . . I can’t decide,” said Mia after a while.


    “I can.” Margaret chomped arge piece of tender meat into her mouth before saying, “Your father will look out for you while I move with my son here and take care of him.”


    “Huh? Why you?” Leon raised an argument.


    “Because I’m the wife and ruler of the family.”


    “Mom. If you’re going to be like that, then I’m also moving in here.”


    While the families argued, Leonel elbowed Ren from the side. He wiggled his brows while a mischievous grin was just waiting toe out from his lips.


    “Look, the girl you like is there.” Leonel pointed at Evie, who was serving customers not far from where they were.


    Ren gasped, and he elbowed Leonel on the side. “I told you it’s not like that.”


    Ren felt like that guy in the movies with a friend, who was a bbermouth, and said to the girl that he liked her and all that stuff while he could only lower his head, hoping the ground would swallow him whole.


    “Right.” Leonelughed a little. “That’s what you also said with Saya in the past. You’re so weird. Is love to you denying the girl you like?”


    Ren pped Leonel on the shoulder with the back end of his palm. “Shut up. Stop putting words in my mouth.”


    Peeking at his parents, Ren was d they didn’t hear anything. It was only then that he released the breath he held.


    Unbeknownst to him, Helen heard the whole thing, and she secretly eyed the girl Leonel pointed out. She couldn’t see her face since it was covered with a mask, but Helen wasn’t worried since the girl was working in the restaurant.


    Approaching her would be easy.


    It was not like she was nning to butt her nose with her son’s affair, but that was precisely what she would do. Ren would soon turn twenty, and he still doesn’t have a girlfriend. Ren might be a single old man if she leaves it to her son.


    She must take the matters into her own hands all for the sake of Ren’s happiness . . . and that future baby grandson.


    —–


    Later that night, Helen and Troy slept early from exhaustion, while Ren and Leonel hopped into their pods as soon as they finished taking a bath. They didn’t want to bete for their first ever Guild Wars, after all.


    Like with the festival of gil, the Guild Wars would take ce In another dimension.


    The Guild War icon was added to the list of options on the screen, and when Ren pressed it, he was transported into the official starting ce of the game.


    To amodate the thousands of guilds worldwide, every guild was distributed on different servers ording to time and location, but the rules and the game were still the same.


    And to ensure fairness, any form ofmunication were disabled throughout the game. The game would onlyst four days, four hours in real time.


    ording to the added information that came a day before the War, the two games would happened simultaneously throughout the servers no matter the time and location.


    In where Ren was staying, the Guild Wars happened on a weekend night while some countries happened in early morning Friday.


    In the past, some people amodate the War and took leave from school or work. It didn’t cause any problems since COVENANT was already a second world where the War was highly anticipated. Even the government took bets in the war and even dered it a holiday.


    Ren appeared in what seemed like a vast meadow with only the blue sky and a well groomed grasses on the ground. In this vast expanse ofnd, yers came pouring in without stopping.


    It was still an hour before the War starts to give enough time for the yers to get ready.


    The air was stiff, and the mood was tense. Every guild was eying theirpetitor. And ording to what Ren saw, most Guilds have magic users, and DPS in the form of either a swordsman, Monk, or Brute. sses like Thieves, Fencer, Animist, and hunter were rare since they were the ss that had weaker damage at the start.


    Since every guild could only bring ten members, not including the backup, everyone only brought the cream of the top in their guild. So it was no wonder that they brought mostly damage dealers.


    Ren met up with Fighting Lambs and Roaring Tigers, and he breathed a sigh of relief when all yers wereplete, except for Leonel, who still wasn’t there.


    “Where’s Leo?” Ren asked since he thought that the guy was merelyzing around. They arrived in their unit at the same time, so why was the man still not here?


    Tor shrugged while Roxy said, “I thought he was with you.”


    Ren didn’t answer and instead hovered his eyes around.


    The expansive space was slowly filled with yers, but it didn’t seem like it was crowded. Like the area was expanding to amodate yers that were pouring in.


    Ren guessed that there were at least a hundred guilds in the server they were currently at.


    “Look at that lineup.” Sumeri rolled her tongue inside her inner cheeks. “All are DPS and support. While us . . .”


    Roaring Tigers and Fighting Lambs have Two Monks, one Orc, one ck Mage, one Arcanist, one hunter, two Thieves, one swordsman, and one sniper. At the same time, their backup was Leonel, a Defender.


    “Well, we don’t have many yers on our side to select in the first ce,” Ren said.


    “Yeah. But we have another Monk and a swordsman back in the guild, but why choose a Thief and a sniper?” Sumeri couldn’t connect with how Ren thinks since the game she yed in the past all relied on power, stats, and strategy.


    Ren merely looked at Sumeri and smiled. “You’ll know.”


    Ren was a handsome man, but when he smiled, all Sumeri felt was dread. There was something sinister in his smile, and this unnerved her.


    “Can’t you tell us? It might disrupt the flow of our battle if we are suddenly surprised by an unknown variable that only you know.”


    “All I can say for now . . . it won’t disrupt our battle and formation.” Ren wasn’t sure if what he was thinking was correct so he didn’t tell the others. He wasn’t worried, though, since he himself was the powerhouse. He had a little room to experiment and allow some contingencies to take ce.


    If he were wrong, then he would simply utilize the Thief and Sniper sses to his advantage.


    Either way, all were within his ns.


    The clock tick and tock, and with it, the yers’ came pouring in slowly died down while the buzzing and murmurings disappeared as the countdown shot into the sky.


    20!


    Ren frowned when Leonel was nowhere to be seen. He tried calling him, but no one answered.


    17!


    “Is your friend noting, Mister?” Niki questioned.


    “Don’t worry. He’ll be here.”


    15!


    “Good thing that he was only the backup,” Tor said while shaking his head. “At least our main group isplete, or else we would have been disqualified.”


    10!


    At this point, panic wrecked Ren’s nerves. Did something happen to Leonel?


    5!


    Ren bit his thumb, and sweat ran to the side of his cheek. He tried to calm his nerves but failed miserably. Leonel knew that the Guild Wars would start today. Knowing his friend, there was no way that he would miss it.


    Something must have happened!


    At this point, everything was pointless as all Ren thought was Leonel. Something might have happened to his friend, and he had to find out what.


    2!


    Screen shing on his face, Ren was a breath away from pressing log out when a familiar voice stopped him.


    0!


    [WELCOME TO THE EVER FIRST GUILD WARS!]