Clang! Clang! Clang!
With sweat falling down his face, the master blacksmith, with a hammer in hand, banged on the red-hot piece of metal until it took the shape he desired.
Beside him the furnace roared with flames, and the room was becoming increasingly hotter.
His apprentices were sweating buckets, and the air was thick with the smell of burning metal.
"This should be done now!"
The blacksmith wiped the sweat off his brow, looked at the repaired sword in his hand, and handed it to his apprentice.
The apprentice took the sword to the shop area, where customers were looking at weapons on the walls, and walked over to the young man sitting by the corner.
"Oh, it’s done?"
Machary stood up.
"Yes, it’s fully repaired now. You’ve already paid for the repair, so here you go."
The apprentice handed him the sword and headed straight back to the hellishly warm blacksmith forge.
Machary checked the stats on the sword, saw that it was fully repaired, and smiled with satisfaction.
His sword got quite banged up during the training exercise, so he had to get it repaired or it wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
[You have received a friend request from Player Fang Raon!]
In that moment, a notification appeared in front of him, and Machary looked at it with a surprised look.
’Fang Raon? Why the hell did he send me a friend request? What does he want?’
Machary accepted the friend request out of curiosity, stepped out of the blacksmith shop, and then received an message.
[Fang Raon: Hi, I have a proposition for you, so can we meet somewhere?]
’...Proposition?’
Machary frowned, replied with a simple, "Sure," and decided with Fang Raon to meet up over in the Sun Park.
Sun Park was one of the most popular dating locations in all of tower. It made him slightly weird going there with another guy.
He arrived there shortly.
Sun Park wasn’t on the street level. It looked like it was sunk to the ground. It was filled with cottonwood trees, small ponds, and walking trails.
It was surrounded by rock walls that were on slanted angles, and there were about four to five entrances leading into the park.
The entrances were just stone steps going down the rock walls, and currently, there were many couples roaming about the park.
"Ah..."
Machary sat down on a bench atop the rock wall, a spiky iron fence behind him, and he didn’t enter Sun Park.
They promised to meet outside Sun Park.
He was slightly cursing Fang Raon inside his mind as he hated coming here and seeing all these couples.
It made him burn with jealousy!
"Oh, you arrived before I did."
In that moment, Fang Raon walked over in his sandals, and he didn’t sit on the same bench, but instead leaned against the fence, and looked down at the Sun Park.
"Is it called Sun Park because the sun hovers right above it? What an interesting place, and why do I see so many... couples here?"
Fang Raon asked with a frown.
"...You didn’t know? What a fool you are. This is famous dating location, so it will probably look weird that we—two dudes—are here together. It will give wrong impression!"
Machary said angrily.
"Is that so? Then walk with me. We can talk elsewhere."
Fang Raon said, and started walking away while Machary jogged after him.
They were making their way down a Cat Street—it was called that because the many stray cats that wandered here—there were players trying to pet them while locals avoided them.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Machary asked.
"I am planning to head to the 7th floor, but I need a party for that. I don’t want to join others because that would make me a follower, so I want to make my own."
Fang Raon said.
"...I am in the same boat. I am no follower. I plan on also creating my own party, reach 15th floor, and also become Party Leader of Rose Records."
Machary said.
"Is that so? I was planning to invite you to be my first member. Is that an automatic no, then?"
Fang Raon asked.
"Hah, me following you? You must’ve banged your head too hard. You are the last person I would take orders from!"
Machary roared.
"Well, at least I tried."
Fang Raon shrugged his shoulders with a smile, and started walking in another direction.
Machary’s expression looked like, "That’s it?" as if he expected Fang Raon to try little harder to recruit him.
"You are already leaving? You called me all the way here for this bullshit, and you leave after a single no?"
Machary asked.
"I mean, you are pretty adamant in saying no, so I thought I would save some time by just accepting the no."
Fang Raon stopped walking and said.
"Tell me at least why you want me to join you."
Machary said.
"...You are strong, and I need strong people on my side. I thought the floors would be pretty easy with the two of us, and we could reach the 15th floor together in no time at all."
Fang Raon said.
"..."
Machary stayed silent, then he approached him, and looked at Fang Raon straight into his bright blue eyes.
"I’ll join you, but... I am not your subordinate. We will both be leaders, do you understand?"
Machary said.
"...Two leaders? How would that work?"
Fang Raon asked.
"It’s not all that uncommon. We would both make decisions together and share responsibilities equally."
Machary said.
’Hmm, I don’t really like that because if we disagree with something, neither will be willing to back down, and it would be just massive headache to deal with.
’However, if he puts his ego aside, he is really good leader, so I could also learn something from him.’
Fang Raon thought.
He then nodded, shook hands with Machary, and said.
"Alright."
"...Mmh."
Machary nodded.
If any members of Blue Team or Red Team found out that Machary and Fang Raon were working together, they would pass out in a shock.