The Immortal Player

As Pedro took a bite of his gravy-filled fried chicken, he can't help but be teary-eyed as his mouth started to water like a hungry wolf. Then, in the next second, he wolfs down his food without leaving a single grain of garlic rice left on his plate.

"Take it easy, cousin Peds! We brought four buckets of fried chicken! I know that you missed these kinds of foods, but slow down a little bit, will you? It's not like were soldiers undergoing training, so take your time in enjoying the foods we brought, okay?" Weyron said with a smirk on his face.

At this moment, Pedro drank his water to avoid choking from the food that he gulped down in just a matter of minutes. Then, when he calmed down, he said, "You can't blame me, Wey! I've been eating roasted—if not raw, meat for more than a month."

Weyron simply scoffed in response and said, "Speaking of which… Why aren't there fried chicken and stuff inside the game? I mean… Even the ones sold in the Adventurer's Guild's Market were considered premium-grade food by the NPCs—considering the fact that they are just mostly roasted or stewed with some vegetables… No wonder you got fed up eating the same food over and over again."

Pedro could only rub the back of his head and said, "Cooking itself was a difficult skill or ability to master. Nowadays, it might seem easy because of the internet and stuff… You can just search what kind of dish you want to cook and it would just automatically give you the 'tested' recipes of different people. However… In ancient times, similar to the environment of the game, cooking is mostly learned through the idea of apprenticeship. And only after being able to cook numerous times would they be able to master cooking a dish! Thus, the concept of variance in the taste and availability of food is not profound."

"I see…" Weyron nodded his head in response. At that moment, he was on deep thought—processing the information that Pedro revealed. And it was only after a few seconds, was Weyron able to notice the smirk on Pedro's face as if Pedro had something mischievous in mind.

That said, Pedro did not need to tell Weyron what it was. Weyron kept thinking repeatedly about what Pedro just said until he thought of something that would be able to make Pedro smirk like that. Weyron smirked in response and said, "Perhaps… Cousin Peds… Are you planning to modernize the cooking methods inside the game??? Don't tell me that the Adventurer's Guild has a role to play in it?"

"What do you think, Wey?" Pedro asked with a mischievous smirk. Then, he added, saying, "Have you forgotten how food affected the world in the past?"

Weyron simply took a sip of his soft drinks in response before saying, "Only in the past? Even now, cousin Peds! Food greatly affects the world! Remember how fast-food restaurants were able to dominate the world? Should we also do it in the game?"

Pedro simply shook his head in response and said, "We can't do it for now. We are already short of hands and we even dare to expand our ventures in the game in other ways. We would fall sooner or later if we became too greedy! Let's settle on what we can do first. Then, we can proceed with such things later on."

"A trump card then…" Weyron murmured in response as he took another sip of his soft drinks.

Pedro simply smiled in response and said, "I guess… You can put it that way."

Weyron simply forced out a smile in response and said, "For some reason… I think that I am now afraid of how genius my cousin might be!"

"Genius?" Pedro chuckled in response. Then, he drank his water before saying, "I'm not a genius! I'm just a lucky guy with lots of great ideas! Besides… Such ideas would have been trash if I did not have the capability to turn them into actions. So… I am definitely just a lucky man than a genius."

"Yeah! Yeah! Whatever! Tell that to the dogs, they might even believe you say that!" Weyron in a mocking manner as he took another piece of fried chicken. At the same time, since Pedro had also finished his second piece of fried chicken, Weyron glanced towards Pedro and asked, "Do you want another chicken?"

"Yeah! Thanks!" Pedro nodded with a smile.

At this moment, they noticed that their grandma was starting to get annoyed—probably because they were talking something about a game in front of her. That said, it was inevitable for them to talk about such things. Thus, they simply go out of the topic from time to time until their grandma left after having lunch with them.

Pedro's mother, Mrs. Caroline Armaz, went together with their grandma and returned to their newly bought home in a building nearby. Thus, Pedro was left with his Aunt Veronica and his Cousin Weyron at this moment. And with her grandmother away, they can now discuss game-related matters—free of worry.

"Cousin Peds, you've earned a lot of money from the auctioned skill page! It's more than enough to pay the shameless requests of that woman!" Weyron grumbled to Pedro. Then, he said, "She may be strong, but I don't like her attitude of asking too much money just by knowing the fact that we're are going to represent your family's company. So… I don't think that I would be having her under my guild… or should I say gaming organization."

Pedro could only scratch his head in response and asked, "Are you sure? I mean… She should, at the least, have a reason behind her decisions. Besides… She's speaking on behalf of a group of people. How can you be sure that she's the one who'd be benefiting from that all?"

"Still…" Weyron shook his head in response and said, "It does not justify her shameless actions. It's not like she's one of those pro-VR players—whom, if I may say, were just asking for hundreds of thousands at the least. In Philippine Peso, on top of that! So… I am still firm on my decision! If possible, I don't want to handle her, nor the players with her. I have already met many people like them, and they were all the same! There would only be conflicts between me and them in the future if that happened."

"I understand," Pedro said in response. Then, he added, saying, "That said… I can't let her join my men if she can't even obtain your trust and approval! So, I'll have to leave them under your observation first. Test them if you deemed needed. And if you think that they could at the least be trusted with some of our secrets, only then could they join my organization. On the other hand… If they are not trustworthy, then I can only establish another sub-gaming organization and use them in some ways. Either way… I believe that there's more of a benefit than a loss in that deal."

"Noted," Weyron said in a cold tone as he proceeded to the next topic. He said, "On another note… The Game Developers of Bearth Online told us in advance that a simulated competition would be held to celebrate the official launch of the game. An exhibition game to be exact! Some Well-Known and influential Gaming Organizations and Personalities were invited to participate in the said event. Since we are related to affiliated companies with the Game Developers, we were given a special invitation to participate in the first run of the pro-league competition of the game as some kind of dark horse. Well… It's safe to say that the Game Devs wants to use this chance to give back the support that the affiliated companies gave to them by using that stage as some sort of advertisement."

"Simulated Competition, huh?" Pedro asked with a frown on his face. Then, he asked, "Did they send the details about the mechanics of the competition?"

Weyron shook his head in response and said, "Nah! We simply got informed about the said event and the fact that we were invited to participate. Other than that, there's nothing else said in the email. I am also yet to talk to Uncle about it… I even tried asking around to no avail."

Pedro simply sighed in response and said, "I'll see what I can do. I hope that I can get father to probe more details about it to the Game Developers so we can prepare beforehand."

"As expected of the young master!" Weyron said with a mocking smile.

Pedro simply laughed in response and said, "Young master my ass! Remember that your gaming organization is still a separate one from mine! If you're not strong enough when that competition comes, don't come crying to me after eating other's dust! Hahahaha!"

Weyron simply flicked his tongue and said, "Tsk! My men might not be that strong in your eyes… But they are brave enough to fight anyone! So… Don't underestimate us too much, cousin Peds!"

Pedro simply chuckled and said, "We'll see…"