Re: Evolution Online

With four new minions tagging along behind her, Alex once again returned to divine city. 

After the fish, there was nothing more left to be done. Four prompts popped out one after the other, and all four kids were willing to become her followers.

Liam had only asked her to get the one follower, but now it looked like she aced the mission, having gotten four for the price of one.

However, was any of these four actually the one she was looking for? This was something she had yet to find out. 

Alex walked into the testing building along with the four and then paid to get all of them examined.

"What is this, big sis?" One of the kids asked.

"Oh, this? I just want to see what your talents are so that when you grow bigger and stronger, you can make the right decisions. And just sis is fine. No need to call me big sis." Alex smiled awkwardly. 

All the kids nodded, looking around curiously. The tester then started examining all of them one by one. 

He had a bored look on his face upon seeing the bunch of dirty orphans and had half a mind to ask them to scram. However, out of respect for the paladin, he half-heartedly did the examinations.

"Average affinity with divine element and nature."

"Above average affinity with fire."

"Below averge affinity for mana."

And finally, when the last and the most troublesome kid stepped forward…

Alex was almost on the verge of chewing out her nails. Thankfully, the testing crystal shone with a blinding splendor.

"SSS affinity!" The NPC screamed in alarm. Everyone in the big room immediately rushed forward to see the test results, and Alex grinned with pride as it was her follower's results.

This brought back fond and not so fond memories of when she had first witnessed a random nobody get SSS affinity, followed by Mia getting SSS affinity.

And now, finally, she also had an SSS affinity tag to her, even though it was just her follower. It felt good.

Ignoring all the stupified NPCs, she started walking out of the testing center in glee. She had barely taken a few steps when a voice snapped her out of her happy place.

"Aunty Alex, what did my test say? Aren't I good?"

With her lips twitching, Alex turned around to glare at the little imp. "Yes, you are." From the devilish grin, she knew that the girl was doing it on purpose, so she didn't bother correcting the little prefix she used for her.

Alex immediately ushered the bunch of them to the guild. Now that she had gotten this key follower, she needed to take care of other things. There wasn't much time left. The little twerp also needed to level up, and so on, to become more useful.

Just as she was about to call back one of the guild members who was running through the Rock Temple dungeon grind runs, suddenly a new group of people waltzed into the guild residence.

There were about forty of them, and all forty had the same set of beginner clothes. So it was very hard to miss the gang. More importantly, each of them had an arrogant attitude that was contrary to the newbie clothes they were wearing.

"What the hell? Who are these people?" Alex was waiting for the little troublemaker to wash up and come out, and it was impossible for her to miss this obnoxious group.

"Did you guys just join the game today?" She loudly inquired.

The group, however, completely ignored her. Only a couple of seconds later, the old woman at the center muttered something, and one of the new players rushed forward toward Alex.

"Your Guild Master sent us here. You need to attend to us."

"Hmmm?" Alex cocked her brow and looked at the young woman in front of her. "Guild Master? Then who am I?"

She wanted the person to quake from hearing her speak, but weirdly enough, the young woman still looked arrogant. "Liam sent us here. Don't waste our time."

"The fuck?" Alex almost flew off the handle, but she stopped herself as she had heard a very familiar name.

"What did you say? Liam sent you here? What Liam? What are you blabbering about?"

"I said do not waste my time. Liam, the guild leader of the Crimson Abyss guild, sent us here. Is this not the guild's residence? He said you need some help with the war? He asked us to talk any of the high council members. Do you know who they are? If you know, nod yes, else keep moving."

Alex stood stupified. This was not all. The young woman also proceeded to give the correct name of the city they lived in and said that Liam visited them earlier today. What the hell was happening?

Meanwhile, a little girl ran towards her from the other side. "Aunty Alex! I am ready, let's go!" The little girl gave a wicked, naughty smile.

Turning left to right, Alex gaped incredulously at the obnoxious kid and the equally annoying group of strangers. All new additions to the guild and all of them at Level 1.

More importantly, all of them were supposed to play a key role in the guild war? What the hell?

'Are you fucking kidding me?' She hurriedly opened the system interface and furiously typed in the chat to talk to Liam, but naturally, the bastard was unresponsive. How very convenient.

So she was supposed to babysit these forty something people? This was Deja Vu, a repeat of the damned 'cleanse the land' quest and her misery repeating all over again. 

'Nope. Nope. Nope. Not happening.' She shook her head. She refused to be used like a pawn to babysit and carry these idiots. But then again, Liam wouldn't have asked her to do this unless it was important.

"Ah, damn it. Fine. One run. That's it. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

"Hmmm? You swear a lot, Aunty Alex."

"Shut up and follow me." Alex scoffed. She then turned towards the forty idiots crowding the entrance and pretty much said the same thing.

It would be too difficult to take the whole group all the way up to the rock temple. She was also curious to see what was so special about this bunch, so she decided on a compromise.

"Let's do a few runs together. There is a dungeon nearby, so follow me."

Among all the guilds in the Kingdom or perhaps even the entire game, only Crimson Abyss got to enjoy this unique perk. 

Thanks to the location of their guild, almost four of the dungeons close to the guild residence were solely used by the guild members. Others avoided the area like the plague.

One of these four dungeons was the wasp nest, and this was Alex's target. As a Level 20 dungeon, it was perfect to train these noobs, and if something got out of control, she alone was enough to manage the chaos.

The group quickly arrived at the dungeon, and Alex gave a stern stare to the little kid. "Always stand behind me. Don't go out of my sight." She wanted to protect the child when they were inside the dungeon. 

As for the others, she wasn't too concerned. It wouldn't matter a lot if a few of them died a couple of times. It was almost impossible to learn to fight without dying. It was part and parcel of the game.

Irrespectively, she gave a cursory glance to the rest of the group as well. Some of them had weapons, and some of them did not. "Does anyone need anything? I am carrying some weapons with me?" Alex offered.

However, no one responded. So she massaged her brows and continued, "Try to pay attention inside. Fighting here is not the same as in movies or something. You need some time to get used to things, so be patient." 

The group nodded. She couldn't tell if they were simply nodding or if they actually understood shit.

"Also, try not to be afraid of the monster. They might be temporarily stronger than you, but once you level up, you can become stronger than them. Got it?"

Once again, there was no response. Just a nod.

"Alright." Alex shook her head helplessly and started walking into the dungeon. "Follow me." All the forty noobs and the little girl also entered the dungeon.

Everyone gasped immediately as they saw a completely different world inside the portal. As opposed to the forest they were standing in, once they crossed the portal, there were lush green rolling valleys all around them.

And in these valleys, there were some sparsely located trees here and there. Of course, hanging from each of these trees was a gigantic wasp nest. This was the wasp nest dungeon. A very basic Level 20 dungeon.

However, Alex looked around to see everyone standing in shock, staring at this in amazement. These noobs were clearly not even used to the game yet. What the hell was the point in training them now?

"This is going to suck." She grumbled as she dashed forward and sliced the nearest nest.

****

New cover art is Mia

If you want to support novel characters' illustrations, visit my P.a.t.r.e.o.n website: pat reon.com/yolohy