Chapter 11

  How to gain an advantage over the Rat in the group

  ...................

  They entered the fissure and just found more hallways. Coincidentally a window popped up declaring that this area is a safe zone where no Monster could attack. All of them logged out and wanted to get some stuff done in real life they could do now instead of pushing it out until the last minute.

  Craig firstly used his superior skill , in real life of cooking , and put a frozen hamburger ( with bun , cheese and all ) into the microwave and heated it up. Viva la FROZEN FASTFOOD , he thought. After eating and going fo a jog he returned to take a shower. While he was drying his long hair of he accessed the ranking systems of TnB and was shocked.

  Grim was on place 11.

  " DAMNIT!!! I wanted to be in the top 10! " He cried out in anger.

  But as quickly as it appeared Craig realed it back in. While he was doing so he wondered , what was going on? Normally he was more of the type where nothing mattered to him that much. His parents told him it was a natural cocoon he built around himself to protect his fragile heart from outer influences.

  That just now was definetly a breach of his usual behaviour. His hair drying was done and he had to hurry up. The first Professor meet and greet was about to start. He clothed himself in a white tight fitting shirt and some black jeans , paired with his leather chucks from the brand converse'ation.

  As he headed out the door he saw his female neighbour , one he had never seen before , walk down the steps in front of him. She had red hair tied to a bun at the back of her head , but Craig still saw the split ends she had. Craig thought about the conditioners and repair cares he would treat it with.

  Nervously she was glancing over her shoulder directly at Craig every 10 steps. She had horn rimmed glasses and her bangs were as disorderly and frizzy as the tips of the bun.

  ' Ah she must be thinking im stalking her. ' Grim thought.

  He didn't mind if she thought that but females across campus were giving her cold stares.

  " What would our CRAIG , want with that kind of girl. " One said.

  " Hey look , look. Isn't that girl overly conscious of Craig? " Another one said.

  Now Grim was annoyed thought so he quickend his steps and arrived at the campus entrance before her.

  It started quickly there after and Craig spoke to his new professors , to whose classes he had signed up before the last semester ended. He had taken all the ' good ' courses. Most people would think they are the bad ones , since they involved alot of knowledge. The other courses profs wanted alot of essays and self motivation in their courses.

  But since Craig signed up for the harder , you need to study or know alot , courses he , as he had prior knowledge of the field , had alot more free time. After all he was mayoring in the Advanced Virtual reality course.

  Not one bit was about the history of Vr or the games itself. No this course had a nickname with the Profs and students , Virtual reality Engineering course. The ones behind the scenes that created the ais or played out the general structure that built the VR worlds.

  As he was discussing a few highly advanced terms with his new Prof , which he only knew because his parents worked in the field , he saw a red headed figure walking by. She already had a entourage of other girls following her.

  Craig excused himself and hefted himself on the following girls heels. Snickering and belitteling comments later , after Craig couldn't listen to them anymore , he speed past them and made sure his voice would carry back to them.

  " Hey Cecilia , so how are your parents doing? Haven't heard about them since my parents meet up with them. Glad they like eachother , i love to have some free time at my old town when i visit home and your parents always give me some peace of Mind , haha. Well good talking to ya maybe we will see eachother round , bye. " Craig said out loud.

  " With this they should leave you alone. " He whispered to her as he ran of.

  Everything he told her to get the other girls attention was a lie besides her name. Considering her backpack , which loosely hung from her shoulders , had a big ' LUV YA CECILIA ' displayed it wasn't hard to guess.

  He waited at his own apartment door and waited for her. It took a few minutes for her to arrive but as soon as she saw him she shrieked back. Craig put on his warmest smile before speaking.

  " Hey , my name is Craig. I am really sorry about those girls ... They are brainless at their best days and i really don't want to talk about their bad days. "

  Now the corners of Cecilias lips slightly lifted themselves but she got it under control as soon as it started to happen.

  " Well nevermind. Can i make it up to you somehow? " He asked.

  Cecilia opened and closed her mouth several times , unsure on what to say , but she remained silent.

  " Okay let's make a deal. If you ever any help just ask i live in 202 right besides you. Just come over if you need anything , even got a car outside if you need to get to the airport or something i'll gladly help. Later then. " Craig said and gave her a last smile as he disappeared through the door.

  Cecilia was shaken on the other hand , she never expected him to actually tell her hes sorry. She knew it was his fault that the girls harrased her since they kept on snickering behind her back at the ugly looking b**ch that stared to long at the IDOL of the school Craig.

  She had gone through worse but if this was happening even before the actual semester started it could only get worse. In high-school , which she just finished , she always had to eat her lunch in the bathroom and she cried every day. She was wailing of self pity inside , and was thinking of looking for another university for the next semester but then he came.

  With just a few words he had taken the attention off of her and made attacking her pointless , from those girls at least. But even to top that of he Cecilia saw that he was SINCERLY sorry for what happend.

  That guy made all the prominent Quarterbacks or 4th batters of sports pale as his posture and face told her , that he KNEW who was the leader of the lions pride called campus. He knew he was better then the other guys , but he was not snobby or a a**hole like the guys she had to endure during her high school.

  The alpha that acted to protect the lowest of the omega , in a wolf pack. Just because she was in trouble , where others would have joined in even though it was their fault , he came to her help.

  She dropped everything she had in her hands and didn't know how to react. It took her 5 minutes to realize that she was standing in a hallway so she entered her apartment , that was soley paid for with her stipendiat as her SAT was the second highest ever evalued in this campus.

  As she thought again about the guy she just meet she concluded he HAD to be bad at studys , since he had a car outside and nice brand named clothes combined with his good looks he could not ALSO be good at his studys.

  She definetly missed the mark as he was the only one ever to achieve a higher score then her , since he entered the University last year.

  While all sorts of thoughts swirled through her head she entered the capsule besides her bed and entered the only world that gave her friends she had always craved for trough out the hell she had called High and middle school.

  .....................

  After 24 hours had passed in game Grim logged back in Thalia was extra demanding since this was the first time he left her alone for such a long period of time. He patted her between her anteenas while she wiggled around happily. She had even scouted ahead a little further and scouted out the emidiate area.

  At the praise Thalia got even more excited but as Grim looked around he saw the other still hadn't arrived. 20 minutes had passed and finally another person logged in.

  Celu arrived with a blinding white light. As Grim called out to her she shook her head quickly and returned to his side.

  " Everything okay? I know we aren't supposed to talk about real life stuff but you look like a emotinal mess. If you want to talk just tell me ill listen. " Grim tried to comfort her.

  " Well my parents just brought something up from a few years ago which i still haven't stomached. Im going to be fine. " She told him.

  Grim saw that she was not being honest. He believed the part about the parents and the whole issue but that she will be fine , Grim highly doubted. But since they had no connection beyond being husband and wife to be, virtual , he had no right to pry.

  Next Viena logged in and she looked as bad as Celu just a second ago.

  " Well i'll tell you the same thing , if you want to talk , regardless if it is real life stuff , just shoot i'll listen and give you the advice this wise and omnipotent 21 year old can give you. " Grim said with a wink.

  Viena laughed a bit and her smile returned instantly. Grim saw it was genuine so he let the matter drop as Viena grabbed Thalia from his shoulder and rubbed her face against the Fae.

  The 2 males logged in shortly after and they walked along the dark and empty caverns.

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  Grim had used a stick to make a make-shift torch along the way since the cave became darker and darker with each step they took forward. This didn't change at all even after they had been walking for an hour but the scenery changed.

  The damp and tight , with 10 foot diameter , caverns opened up into a bigger cave where even with the torch Grim couldn't see either walls or the ceiling. As he stepped through a familiar sound came up.

  * tring*

  And immediatly another window appeared.

  *tring*

  Now all of their jaws dropped as they saw this and immediatly a heated up discussion began.

  " Guys seriously , E rank was already hard enough but this is S a rank S quest we are not even lvl 100 yet! " Crow shouted out before anyone else could speak.

  " SHHHHH " Grim said to quiet them.

  " Lets walk back a bit and discuss this. " Grim persuaded them.

  .................

  They reached the entrance of the dungeon again and everyone began to talk at once. Obviously Grim took them back , not out of fear a goblin could discover them but for them to cool their heads and think about it for a while.

  " QUIET!" Grim shouted and his aura of authority leaked out.

  Clash and Crow instantly became rigid and were about to salute as Thalias giggling made it evident they made a fool of themselves.

  " I know how ridicioulus this quest sounds for us. But i got some extra info from my class. A player , probably and orc started this quest in their homeland. Think about it. I also know we got 2 months to kill everything in here. " Grim said.

  " 2 months we can gather a more players and make them level up outside while we try to find out more about here inside. I thought it was ridicioulus to fight a thousand or so goblins while they almost instantly respawned outside. Now it makes sense this if a training ground FOR THIS EVENT! " Grim continued.

  They argued back and forth about the good sides and the bad sides , while Celu was silent the whole time. After 15 minutes even Crow and Clash noticed this and all talk ended. As all were looking at her she opened her mouth.

  " Do we really want this opportunity to go to waste? We don't have to give it to players , we can also get npcs to help. " She said in an almost inaudiable voice.

  Now the discussion heated up even more. Grim operated his console an summoned the personal message system and whispered Celu who was standing right besides him.

  ' Celu , i could probably talk my father into giving me 100 warriors and some paladins of the Fab-gwain house that serve as the royal guard. I know if i ask your parents for help we can get some priests as well. So what do you think? ' He typed for celu only to see.

  The message came back promptly.

  ' Good idea. Now the real question is can we get them into jail somehow and make them NOT spill the information on the internet? '

  Grim thought hard about it before he answered.

  ' Actually scrape that , i don't want to risk NPC lives if we can use ' cannonfodder' players to get this quest done. The mobs here will most likely be lvl 100 and above. If i drop my name and get 20 Paladins and you about 10 priests we can form a elite guard for us the > Royal couple <. ' He send it to her.

  Now Grim saw her halting her steps above the illusionary keyboard and staring at him in utter surprise. It took her a few seconds before she resumed writing.

  All the while Grim was throwing more speeches out to catch the other 3s attention so they wouldn't notice their > private communication < behind their backs.

  ' Have i ever told you that i will fear the day that we stand on opposing ends of the battlefield? '

  ' Huh ,we are the royal couple the only time we will stand on other ends will be when it comes to who sleeps on the window side of our bed room :). ' Grim replied and winked at her.

  Her face went beet red and Grim had just convinced the rest that this quest would be solve able.

  " Okay then i'll accept first. If you guys want to stick with me , and i really believe that we will be able to do this , also accept. " Grim said in a firm tone.

  They all accepted and as Grim anticipated it he soon got a message that dropped his spirits.

  * tring*

  But what truly surprised him was the next message he got.

  * tring*

  He immediatly opened the PM again and whispered Celu.

  ' If you want me to trust you give me your REAL cell phone number now! ' He typed in.

  She looked at him with utter confusion but as he resolutly glared at her she understood the importance so she sent him her real number.

  ........................

  They arrived back at Rothrien and told the mayor about it. He fainted on the spot but Celu took care of him. The whole party was gathered inside his house and waited for him to regain his senses.

  After a long and intensive talk , and a grand speech that took 15 minutes of Grim , he agreed to help Grim in his plans to welcome Chosen ones and leave the army out of it. This greatly surprised Crash , Crow and Viena but he just smiled it off as being famous.

  In essence he didn't lie but he had other plans for the lifting of his houses name. Especially since he got the side Quest of rank B. Everytime Grim thought about it only 2 words came to mind. > ENDGAME SKILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL < and he was super happy.

  This was also a reason why he got Celus real life cell phone number. If she was the person that accepted the A rank quest and was working against him , he knew where she lived , gps tracking and all , and this would make her rethink all this.

  With a glint of Ambition in Grims eyes , Thalia shivered at how ambitious her master could be.

  ...............

  AUTHORS NOTE MUST READ

  This is the first part of this how to gain advantage over the rat.

  Chapter 12 will be the end of the ARC and the third arc will be about the event dunegon itself.

  Hope i didn't spoiler to much.