XII

Chapter 12: Leveling Up By Stalking

If I form a party with her, we'll be unstoppable in future. Calm down. Calm down. No need to jump the gun. She may just want to gain power to be independent. I can't force her to form an actual party with me at the moment.

I exhale as I concede.

"Fine. Just make sure you don't get hurt, ok?"

"Of course.  I don't want to cause more trouble for you after all."

"…Then, let's proceed."

*** *** ***

We ended up killing our way back from the woods, but I still haven't levelled up. As for her…she probably got stronger. It's still a scary ability that I can't wrap m head around. She could just find the highest in the player food chain and stalk them if they don't form a party with her. Leveling up by stalking. Heh. Sounds like a cool Manhua premise?

Well, I am technically one of, if not the player at the top of the food chain in this area. What if she knew that and approached me just because of this? Ah. No. What am I thinking? She was indeed badly injured and nearly died. But if I find out that my negative thought was true…that she risked it all just to latch unto me…terrifying. I would kill her on the spot. An existence with such level up potential having negative thoughts? I shiver as I imagine the carnage that would entail.

"So…I guess this is where we part."

"Huh? Oh." She pauses with a hint of unhappiness. Emotions. I don't have doubts at this point about her gaining sentience. "What about coming to the bakery so I can make you, my specialty?"

She doesn't want to separate just yet I see. I exhale as I concede.

"Fine let's go. I would love to try out your specialty."

At the sound of my words, her beautiful face is plastered with an enchanting smile. I can swear on my potatoes back home my heart just skipped a beat.

*** *** ***

The bakery seems like a pub. There are circular tables of varying sizes with varying number of chairs around them. Although the counter is empty, there are cases for displaying various baked goods. The place is empty and looks deserted, but it is very clean. What am I saying? The bakery was closed, I bet it is usually lively when it's open.

"You can sit wherever you like." She smiles as she puts on a white apron and heads behind the counter where she washes her hands before disappearing to the back. I'm guessing that's where she bakes.

It took about twenty-five minutes before she came out once more. I was expecting her to be coming here to wait for it to bake in the oven, but she was holding a cake on a plate.

"Here." She places it on the table with that charming smile on her face.

"You're done already?" I blurt out. Wait. What am I saying? Of course, it's possible. We are in a game.

"Eh? Oh. It usually takes longer but I can make the process faster."

"?" I guess it's a game indeed. I'm about to grab a fork when I notice that she swayed a little. Was she about to feint? I catch her and assist her to sit down. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm just a bit tired. Speeding up the baking process burns a lot of energy."  She removes my hand from her shoulder. "But it's ok. I didn't want to keep you waiting."

"…" I'm speechless and feel kind of guilty? "Please don't do that in future otherwise…"

"Ah. I'm sorry. If Sir Dexter doesn't like it, then I won't do it in future."

"Eh?" Did the way I trailed off in my last statement sound like a threat? I only stopped because I was about to say something stupid: Otherwise, I may start falling for you. Ah! What's wrong with me? She's an NPC. Well, at least, she was. Either way, she's not a real person.

"I didn't mean it as a threat. Sorry if I made you misunderstand."

"Hehe. That's right. Sir Dexter is kind."

"…You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

"Hehe." She laughs at my reaction to being called something that makes me feel old. "Ok. Please try my specialty…Bundt cake."

"Ok. Ok." I sit down and cut it with a knife before eating it with a fork.

"Hmm." I moan unintentionally. Why? It's just too good. This is the best cake I've ever had. Funny though since it's not real.

"How is it?" She asks.

I look up to see a face with a smile but a hint of anticipation.

"It's great…the best."

"Woohoo." She lifts up her hands in the air like she's celebrating a goal. "Dexter likes my baking so I'm really good after all."

"Huh? Who said it isn't?"

"No one. No one comes here. I hardly ever get customers. It used to be fine since I didn't care…until recently."

She must be talking about when she gained sentience. NPCs won't are for such things but sellers with sentience will feel it if they don't have customers.

"It's fine. I'll be your customer from now on then."

'Ah. Really?!" I nod since I've just stuffed more cake into my mouth. "That's great! Feel free to come whenever you wish. I'll be your personal Bundt cake girl."

We finish the cake, and she begins to clean up.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask."

"Mm-hmm." I toss the napkin I just used to wipe my mouth and hands into the bin.

"Who is that woman you always talk to?"

"Huh?" What is she talking about? "What do you mean? Is this your way of asking if I have a girlfriend?"

"What is a girlfriend? A girl that is your friend? Then Admin is your girlfriend?"

"Eh? Ah. What are you saying? How can I like the admin." She thinks the admin is a person and her name is 'admin.'

"So, she's not your friend? Are you enemies?"

"No. It's not like that." I exhale. Let's leave this topic. She will learn to understand these things eventually. She still hasn't even figured out she's in a game world. "Ahem. By the way, why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. I just started hearing her voice all the time recently when she's talking to other people, but she seems to be really affectionate towards you?"

Eh? Affection. She probably mistook the preferential treatment I get from the admin as 'affection.' She probably won't answer other player's questions regarding things they don't have access to, unlike me who has access to most information due to my status as the son of the developers.

"Forget it then. I was just going to say she's about to announce something important."

She can sense the admin? Since when? I thought the admin said they couldn't interfere with each other? Wait. Interfere. She never said she couldn't sense her. After all, although the admin couldn't interfere with Elise directly, she could still sense and monitor her. It shouldn't be surprising that it goes both ways. I'm broken out of my little world by the voice of the admin.

[Attention all Players. Attention all players. This is an announcement to inform you that the beta testing phase has been completed and proven successful. As a result, the game will be updated to the full version where events and other special features will be introduced. For starters, the key feature of Utopia is now unlocked, and all players can take out in-game loot to the real world. But you must pay the appropriate number of Utopia currency for them. Thank you and I hope you keep playing. Further information will be included once update is complete.]