The Immortal Player

"Aish…" Ryu Taro forced out a smile towards Pedro whilst rubbing the back of his head—seemingly embarrassed. Then, he said, "That's not what I meant, mister Black… I apologize!"

"It's just that… I am amazed at the feat that you and the ARES Guild were able to achieve in the game." Ryu Taro added.

Pedro simply smiled in response before saying, "I am honored. But… It's not that amazing, to be honest."

Pedro paused for a second, as he enters a discussion room with everyone else. Then, as he walks towards his seat, he added, saying, "I just took every opportunity I got and used them to my advantage. Just like how you would also probably do when you are in my place! So, it's nothing really special!"

"Anyway…" Pedro glanced towards Kazuto Kageyama and Ryu Taro before he took his seat. Then, he said, "Please take a seat… There's something that I am excited to discuss with you, Mister Kageyama and Mister Ryu."

"Hooo… Something that excites the leader of, possibly, the number one force in the world!" Ryu Taro said with a smirk on his face. Then, he sat down to his seat whilst adding, saying, "I wonder what it is?"

Pedro simply smiled before saying, "Well… It's something that you guys would benefit from. But before that… I want to inform the two of you that anything that we would discuss here should be kept a secret, as much as possible."

"A secret?" Ryu Taro asked in confusion.

Pedro nodded with a calm face before saying, "It's not mandatory, but… It's more for your 'sake' than ours, so I encourage you to keep it hidden as much as possible."

Kazuto Kageyama simply raised his brows—indicating that he was interested in what Pedro was referring to as a 'secret' that would benefit him and team Fuji.

That said, before he could utter a word, Pedro casually leaned his back to his chair, whilst saying, "Let's start with your races… I would be direct… The Vampire is a strong race! But it has a huge flaw in it!"

"We can't be exposed directly to natural light?" Ryu Taro asked.

Pedro shook his head in response and said, "Well... It's one reason... But, that's not the flaw I was referring to!"

Then, Pedro pointed his finger to his neck before saying, "A vampire's greatest flaw is… being dependent on the blood of the humans!"

"Hmm..." Kazuto Kageyama raised his brows in response.

Pedro simply explained, "I know that you guys already know about the 'satiety' feature of this world! Obviously, we need to satisfy our hunger, else our body would become physically weak as time goes by!" 

"Unfortunately...  The Vampire Race's satiety can only be satisfied by drinking human blood! It's not like their satiety were even replenished by drinking the blood of monsters or even eating raw meats of any being!" Pedro added.

"And... As far as we know... Humans are not the only existence present in this world! Thus... Anyone with a Vampire Race is obviously limited to areas where humans are located—restricting their exploration capability which is necessary to increase one's strength!" 

"Hmm... You do have a point, Mister Black." Kazuto Kageyama nodded whilst rubbing his chin. Then, he glanced at Pedro and asked, "That said... If we give up the Vampire Race... Won't we be at a disadvantage? I mean...  It's the Japanese Player's trump card, right?"

"For now!" Pedro said. "That's true, for now!" 

At this moment, the room was filled with silence as Kazuto Kageyama analyzes the pros and cons of Pedro's suggestion. 

On the other hand, Pedro could not help but to shake his head before sighing heavily in response. Then, he said, "I know that this would be a difficult decision for you to make, especially that you and your men's future in this world are on the line! But... How about this? If you follow my 'suggestion'... I'll provide you some help, to become stronger compared to the ordinary people despite being humans?" 

Everyone could only glance towards Pedro in astonishment, except Faunia who was not interested in their conversation. 

"Can I take this as you, Mister Black, offering us, the Japanese Players, to form an alliance?" Kazuto Kageyama asked with a frown on his face. 

"Well... I can't speak on behalf of all the Filipino Players—like you can for the Japanese Players, but... As the leader of the ARES Guild... I can, at the least, offer an alliance with us!" Pedro said before smirking in response. 

Then, Pedro added, saying, "But before you think and dream that you and your men would be as strong as us right now... I would like to be honest with you—that, although we'd be offering you some help, there's still a limit on things that we would be providing!"

"Take the Oran Gutan Guild for example... Albeit being the second representative of our gaming organization... We didn't feed nor gave them 'everything' that they would need to become as powerful as us!" Pedro explained. Then, he added, saying, "We simply gave them a piece of information or two about which 'path' is ideal for them to take... Everything else depends on how they capitalize the help we gave them!" 

Kazuto Kageyama simply nodded in response and said, "I understand your point, Mister Black! After all... Even if we become allies... We are still competing against each other, in a way!" 

Pedro simply nodded in response. And using this opportunity, Pedro took out a skill page and handed it over to Kazuto Kageyama.

"T-This is..." Kazuto Kageyama could not help but lock his eyes to the skill page in response.

In fact, even Ryu Taro could not help but stare at it—curious about what skill it was.

"A-A-A TRANSFORMATION SKILL?!" Kazuto Kageyama shouted in astonishment. 

"EEEEEEEEEEHH?!" Ryu Taro stood in astonishment as his eyes seemed like they were about to pop out from their sockets. Then, he said in a trembling voice, "D-D-Don't tell me that, that skill page is the MILLION DOLLAR WOLF TRANSFORMATION SKILL???" 

Pedro simply nodded with a smile before saying, "Yes, you are not mistaken!" 

Then, Pedro raised four of his fingers on his right hand, whilst saying, "If you agree to follow my 'suggestion', and... You agree that you won't re-sell the skill pages... Then... I can offer this skill page to you for only Four Thousand U.S. Dollars EACH!"

"Of course... The supply is only limited per month, but... I can provide some slots for you—as 'help' from us!" Pedro said. Then, he explained the difference of the Transformation Skill from the 'Race' Mechanics of the game, saying, "I think... Both of you know already, the major difference between what a Transformation Skill could offer compared to being tied up to a specific race, right?"

Kazuto Kageyama simply nodded in response and said, "Although the Transformation Skill has, reportedly, a cooldown... It has fewer drawbacks compared to having a different race!" 

Ryu Taro nodded in agreement and said, "On top of that... The Players who bought these said skills—displayed outstanding performance in the elimination round, consequently bringing their teams to the next stage of the tournament!"

Kazuto Kageyama could not help but chuckle and say, "The Team of 'that' famous fast-food chain even relied on the transformation skill most of the time! But..."

Kazuto Kageyama glanced towards Pedro—with a serious demeanor, and said, "I don't think that this transformation skill would be enough to compensate with the strength and power that we'd lose from giving up the Vampire Race!"

"Did I say that the Transformation Skill is the only thing that I could offer?" Pedro chuckled in response. Then, he added, saying, "Well... It's up to you! You can just inform me anytime—if you want to proceed with our alliance!" 

Kazuto Kageyama could only sigh heavily in response. Then, he said, "Please give me some time to think things through! After all... The future of my guildmates and our gaming organization were on the line!" 

"I understand!" Pedro said. "It's not like we are in a rush to form an alliance anyway!" 

At this moment, Kazuto Kageyama was about to return the Wolf Transformation Skill Page back to Pedro—since the alliance was yet to be officially established. 

But Pedro simply stopped him and said, "You can take that skill page as a sign of sincerity from us—regarding the things that we talked about!" 

"But..." Kazuto Kageyama was about to insist otherwise... But seeing Pedro's sincerity at that moment, he had no choice but to accept the wolf transformation skill page. 

"Then... I'd happily take your gift!" Kazuto Kageyama said in response.

...

They exchanged a couple of words with each other before Kazuto Kageyama and Ryu Taro left—to report everything they discussed with Pedro to the leaders of Team Fuji's Gaming Organization.

That said... Pedro was satisfied with his 'discussion' with Kazuto Kageyama—knowing that there's a huge possibility that the ARES-FUJI Alliance would be established. 

"I am done with my 'presentation'! It's up to them—whether they would side with us or not!" Pedro smirked mischievously!