Second World

”Well, I understand about the growth and hunger bar, but what do we do about the happiness, health, and training?” Jack asked the girls.

”Happiness is increased by continuing to give her our attention. There is a function to pet it,” Viral said as she pointed to a button with a hand icon. ”We can also activate some of the Sky Garden Peakʼs facility, such as the whirlpool on the lake, the waterfall, giving her ball toys to play with. Anything, as long as we keep interacting with her regularly, she will be happy.”

”I say you all got that covered. If she can get annoyed from being constantly handled, now that will be a problem,” Jack commented, which earned him side-eyes from the girls. ”What about the health bar? Can she get sick?”

”We havenʼt gotten into such a condition,” Viral replied. ”Hopefully, never,” she added.

”She will have a chance to get ill if you feed it low-quality food,” Peniel explained.

”Nothing to worry about then. We are giving her the best-grade food our cooks can make,” Jeanny said. ”Those food required rare ingredients but we donʼt mind using them for this sweety.”

”She can also get ill if you force her to eat too much,” Peniel said.

”Hahaha,” Jack laughed, which earned him intense glares from the girls.

”Environment also affects, but I see that this Sky Garden Peak should have no problem. You got a good base mountain when you constructed this structure. There is even a cave which is a lava dragonetʼs natural resting nest. You just need to make sure she takes enough rest. Donʼt work her too hard, and the health bar should be fine.”

”Work her too hard? I guess thatʼs where the training bar is for?” Jack asked.

”Yes, we can get him to do some exercises to increase that training bar,” viral said. ”Itʼs sorts of like a mini-game. There are several exercises available. Here, I show you one of them.”

”This really reminds me of those ancient pocket digital pets,” Jack remarked.

Viral worked on the interface. Soon, the screen changed. It zoomed out and marked a circular track. Penny started running along this track. There were some obstacles on the track, when Penny was about to run into one of these obstacles, Viral pressed a button and Penny jumped over the obstacle.

ʼShe can fly, right?ʼ Jack wanted to comment but decided to just keep quiet.

Once Penny arrived at the end of the track, the mini-game ended. Scores were tallied, a report then appeared informing them that they had acquired a Good assessment. The training bar increased some more, to the maximum now.

”You can know that you work her too hard if you continue asking her to exercise even after the training bar is full,” Peniel said.

”Oh…” Was the five girlsʼ reply.

”I bet you have been playing with her non-stop. It is a miracle that she is still healthy,” Jack criticized, which earned him another round of glares.

”Still, if you can continue keeping the training bar full but not having her overwork. She will have the maximum stats possible once she matured. Keep up the good work!” Peniel encouraged, which prompted the girls to do high-fives with each other.

”I can understand now why John is not here, but why are you here?” Jack asked Bowler.

”What do you mean why? It is fun taking care of Penny,” Bowler replied.

”Oh… Well, ok then. I will leave you gals to it. Jeanny, donʼt stay up too late. Remember that tomorrow we have to leave for the World Tournament,” Jack said.

”Got it. I have also sent messages to remind Domon and Giant Steve,” Jeanny replied. ”We will gather outside this Guild Hall first thing tomorrow morning.”

Jack nodded before leaving. He visited the warehouse again to get the ore stock. There were not too many yet, but it was enough for him to level up his equipment by two levels. All his equipment was currently level 51, he could equip to the maximum of level 53 due to his Blade Dancer class which was level 43.

He went into the Time Chamber to save time on the upgrading since it was rather late already. He wanted a full rest for tomorrow.

Inside the time chamber, he used the Transformation Box to fuse a sufficient amount of copper and silver ores, before using his rare blacksmith tool to upgrade his equipment.

Even when it was only two levels for each equipment, it still cost him a large number of ores. By the end of his work, his magic staff and all his armors were at level 53. He didnʼt upgrade his Storm Breaker. It felt like a huge waste to sacrifice one super rare sword just for a two-level increase.

He went to rest after coming out of the Time Chamber.

*

The next morning, the four who were qualified to the World Tournament gathered outside the Guild Hall. There were others as well who came to send them off.

John was among them. He went and peeked into the Guild Hall first when he came. When he saw the girls were still crowding around the guild platform, he didnʼt go in, he came to Jack instead and wish him luck on the world tournament.

”It must be depressing to have your toy taken over by others, doesnʼt it?” Jack said to him.

”It does,” he replied.

”Well, we will be going now. You take good care of the guild.”

”Of course. Donʼt you trust me?”

Jackʼs eyes narrowed to a slit. ”You know, the last time after you said that phrase, I ended up hunting you to your fatherʼs guild. You are not going to try anything funny again now, are you?”

”Haha, you are funny. Iʼm not low enough to use the same ploy twice. Nor do I think our enemy stupid enough to fall for the same trickery.”

”Whatever, just donʼt do anything that gives everyone a heart attack,” Jack said.

”Where is the fun then?” John replied. ”That being said. Maybe I should clear this up before you people left, lest you think Iʼm doing something behind your back.”

”Hm?” Jeanny who was still talking to Trinity turned to John after hearing it.

”Iʼm meeting my father again later today,” John announced.

”What?!”

”The hell?”

”Are you trying something again?”

Bowler, The Man, and the others who were here to wish Jack and the others luck were instantly agitated hearing Johnʼs words.

”I have expected strong reactions. You people truly donʼt disappoint,” John said.

”Why are you meeting him?” Jack asked.

”He asked for a meeting. He had been asking for quite some time now, to be honest. I simply ignored him. But I guess I canʼt keep on doing that. He is still my father, after all.”

”What does he want?” Jeanny asked.

”He didnʼt say. I have some guesses, but most likely he will be trying to negotiate for us to release Saint Edgeʼs guild hostage token.”

”Will you?” Jack asked.

”Oh? You let me decide? I thought you would have yelled that the guild hostage token is guildʼs property, under no circumstances that I have the right to let it go.”

”You are right! You have no right!” Bowler exclaimed.

Jack, on the other hand, said, ”The way I see it, that guild hostage token is all your effort, so I donʼt see the reason to object to what you decide to do with it.”

Jack turned to Jeanny after his words. Jeanny nodded, ”I have no problem with that. Do what you want with Saint Edgeʼs guild hostage token. But mark my words, we will not let you off if you do anything that harms the guild. Jason and Michelle will follow you to the meeting.”

”You people are too cautious of me,” John complained, shaking his head.

”Well, can you blame us?” Jack said.

”I suppose I canʼt. But you have my words, I am absolutely loyal to this guild. Heck, I practically own one-third of this guild, so why do I want to betray it? Anyway, I wonʼt be throwing the guild hostage token away. The bonus resources they provided are too good to pass up. I donʼt believe my father has anything that can persuade me to give up that token. Iʼm just meeting him to give him face.”

”Well, whatever it is. I donʼt think family members should fight one another. You should try to reconcile with your father if possible,” Jack said.

”Hm… difficult. The dude is too stubborn,” John mumbled.

”Then he is the same as you,” Jack said.

Jack then turned to Jeanny. ”What about you? Have you talked to your mother? Maybe we will see her in the world tournament. She could probably be representing the Aurebor Dynasty.”

”If she does. We will beat her without mercy,” Jeanny declared.

Jack scratched his head. His two partnersʼ familial relationship seemed to be much more complicated than he thought. He only had one remaining relative, his grandfather, and their relationship had always been simple. Although they sometimes bickered, they respected and cared for one another. So, he didnʼt understand his two friendsʼ struggles enough to offer any advice.. Hence, he decided to be mum about the subject.

😉