World Online

They continued walking down the hall, which was wide enough as it was. The width and length shocked Jake. As it was right now, this seemed bigger than the hall that welcomed Jake.

That was terrifying. It could only mean that the guild spent so much into the headquarters. Much more than anyone, possibly.

These were thousands of gold coins of investment into something that did not seem to bring in any return on investment just yet. Anyone looking at this would think that this was all so stupid. But Jake knew better than that. And as he saw so many of these people training their skills on dummies, increasing their proficiency of skills, and even increasing the locked stats that couldn\'t be increased normally, he could only nod in appreciation.

"It looks like you are one of the few that approve of what we are doing here. Everytime I bring someone that I know through these doors, they only shake their head in disappointment that I spent so much money on something like this." Nolan chuckled.

"And all of those people do not have the hindsight that you have, chairman. I mean, what you are doing here is simply genius! I totally understand what you are doing! In the future, the skill points that they rack up, the extra stats that they rack up, all of these are going to help in a way that nothing else would. And I am shocked that someone from such a traditional company is willing to take such a big step. I am shocked," Jake smiled and said.

"Well, these are just the people that I trust. But these are not the only ones that are in here. As you have pointed, these are our elites, indeed. I mean, the elites compared to the players outside. But we still have somewhere else to go. After all, I will be needing your help to consult with something," Nolan said.

They stopped at the end of the hall that they were walking in. And only the wall stood in front of them.

"If he has another hall behind this one, then I am just going to flip. How much money can someone spend on a goddamn headquarters? I can\'t believe this. I had to curse the place when I came in, and it came to bite me back in the ass didn\'t it?" Jake cursed inside as he looked at Nolan, waiting to see what he would do.

But Nolan just stood there, looking at the wall, as if nothing was happening. He was just still, with not a single movement. His eyes were not blinking, and he wasn\'t saying anything.

Jake didn\'t want to disturb the old man who had trouble even walking. So, he waited as well, hoping that Nolan would fall out of his stupor. But nothing was happening. A minute passed by, and then a few. Jake was getting a little concerned now. This man didn\'t move even a little. And in his field in the past, he had seen that only a few times.

And every single one of these times, it was nothing good. It was the exact opposite.

Panicking, Jake looked around. But everyone was just going about their normal life. They didn\'t seem to notice that their boss was just blank screening. He wasn\'t moving.

"Could it be? Yes, that is possible. I mean, Horace does have a few enemies, doesn\'t it? Surely, this old man would be a target." Jake thought to himself.

"How long was I out?" Nolan\'s voice came from Jake\'s side, startling him.

"You are… alive. Thank god for that." Jake was relieved. He had only been thinking the worst, and looking at how Nolan was still alive, he was just glad that nothing bad had happened.

"What do you mean, you are glad that I am okay? You thought that I died?" Nolan asked, chuckling.

"You froze all of a sudden. That can only happen when your brain suddenly goes dead, and it stops working. You freeze in the game, and then after a few hours, you are logged out due to inactivity." Jake said.

"That is… very interesting. You have researched this pretty extensively. How did you know all of this? Did you happen to come across a death already? Or perhaps you caused one?" Nolan asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Do not worry, chairman. I am just a man who has done all the research he could about the game. I mean, this is life now. I have to be prepared, right?" Jake smiled.

"That is indeed the case. Now then, I can only hope that I was not gone for long. I wish I haven\'t inconvenienced you." Nolan asked.

"Oh please. Do not worry about it. But this only raises more question than it answers. You just froze for a few minutes and then returned. That gives me a frightening picture. You also struggle to walk. That is rare. I hate to ask, but are you ok? Do you suffer from any problems, specifically mental? I do not mean any offence. I mean to ask, are you-"

"Hahaha! Do not worry. If the question was posed to someone else, you would be quite beaten up though. But you are very special, boy. To think that you figured this one out as well. I cannot tell you the details though. It is quite confidential. Now then, we still haven\'t gotten to where we were supposed to, did we?" Nolan said, changing the topic immediately.

And this change did not elude Jake one bit. The moment that he changed the discussion, Jake knew that he touched an untouchable situation.

So he smiled in return and nodded back. This was a person that he needed for now. This man was going to be a valuable ally, one that he had to milk for everything until he was here.

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