17 Class Reunion (2)

[Soldier Ant has been bashed in the head by Tank, dealing 20 blunt damage and stunning it for 1 second]

[Soldier Ant has been stabbed twice and slashed thrice by Striker's dual saber, dealing 60 piercing and slashing damage]

[Striker killed the Soldier Ant by beheading it]

[You received 10 IDLE Points]

Aldrin watched as the fifth patrolling Soldier Ant who stumbled at the two Dimensional Clones' hunting ground fell upon their improving teamwork.

Ever since leaving his apartment and running the Idle Adventure Mode through his phone and arriving here, it's now almost an hour.

At the moment, Striker and Tank already amassed the body count of nearly 100 Worker Ants, 20 Caterpillars and 5 Soldier Ants.

Naturally, it was all because of their meticulous hunting. If there was a spear-equipped Soldier Ant around, they would bide their time and wait for the Worker Ants to reach a distance wherein the battle would already be over before the Soldier Ant nearby noticed something.

Although that strategy already went awry for the fifth time ever since the start of the fourth run, the Ant Colony's decision to make a Soldier Ant patrol an area was working against them.

Striker and Tank were close to figuring out fighting them without getting injured. Every Soldier Ant was like giving them experience on how to deal with that type of Ant's spear-wielding that was even more sophisticated than what Aldrin could see from the ancient movies he watched before.

"Aldrin? Hey. It's nice seeing you again."

Aldrin's concentration on the game was suddenly shattered when a somewhat melodic voice of a woman called out to him.

Raising his head to see the speaker, Aldrin was presented with the gorgeous face of the famous beauty of their high school class, Alisa Felldrum.

Because their surnames were both letter F, he was always luckily sitting next to her whenever the desk arrangement was by their surnames. And that allowed for Aldrin to be on speaking terms with her.

She wasn't called a famous beauty for nothing. That was backed by her slightly curly blonde hair reaching her back, her doll-like face that was unadorned with heavy makeup as well as her figure that was seemingly too perfect for a woman her age to possess. Furthermore, she was also known for her easier-to-approach and kind disposition.

Aldrin could admit that he was one of those boys who developed a crush on her. No… everyone had a crush on her during their high school days.

However, Alisa was one of those you would call as a career-oriented woman. She never dated anyone and now that she's in college and about to graduate, she's totally focused on getting a good job in a well-known company.

In any case, Aldrin was not sure if she was still the same as how he remembered her. It was more than a few years since their graduation and the last he interacted with her was during that first reunion.

At the moment, Alisa was staring curiously at Aldrin's phone that he left exposed with the Idle Adventure mode opened in the background.

Upon noticing her eyes were focused on his phone's screen, Aldrin hurriedly put it down on his side while silently hoping for Striker and Tank not to stumble against a group of Soldier Ants again or any other insects that were either Impossible or Totally Impossible in difficulty.

"Weird, why are you pretending to play something when you're only staring at your home screen?" Alisa sat down on the seat next to him and asked.

Because he was focused on watching his two Dimensional Clones hunt down the prey they would encounter, Aldrin failed to notice that Oliver also called out to the newcomer but it was a warm welcome like someone who was trying to impress another individual.

However, Alisa declined his invitation when she saw Aldrin on the other corner of the large VIP Room and decided to go to him rather than converse with Oliver's group.

Apart from not wanting to be entangled with someone who always has an air of superiority around him, Alisa also noticed how Oliver's girlfriend, Emily, was about to stare daggers at her.

She was already planning to apologize to Aldrin once this reunion of them ended for using him as an excuse.

Either way, although that undercurrent wasn't caught by Aldrin, he could easily guess the reason considering Alisa was the next one who arrived after him.

Furthermore, what actually caught Aldrin's attention was what the girl just said.

'Pretending to play something? Even though she couldn't possibly see it clearly due to the distance… the opened IDLE Database application was occupying my phone's screen.' Aldrin thought while lifting his phone from his side to check and it was still showing the two Dimensional Clones wading through the tall grasses to look for another prey. 'Can't she see it or it is just her way to start a conversation?'

With that thought in mind, Aldrin replied to her in a rather subdued voice before raising his phone to intentionally show his screen to her, "You caught me, huh? I can't decide which to play, you see."

Upon hearing that, Alisa giggled silently and replied with the same subdued voice, "Or you're just pretending to be busy to avoid them. I'm here now. Converse with me while we wait for the others."

With that kind of answer, Aldrin determined that Alisa couldn't see what's on his screen.

"Sure. Let me catch up on what I missed." Aldrin answered as he silently put away his phone on his side once more.

Because he was focused on the fact that Alisa couldn't see what's happening on the screen, he failed to notice the girl's expression upon hearing his answer.

'Is this the same Aldrin as before? He sounds like he managed to pick his confidence back up. Did something great happen to him?' Alisa thought to herself. She remembered how sullen he was during that first reunion he attended. She also tried talking to him but back then, he's only answering in short phrases so she eventually stopped.

In any case, without mentioning what's in each other's minds, the two began conversing normally with each other, catching up on what they missed throughout the years that passed.

And as time continued to pass, their other classmates began arriving one by one, filling up the VIP Room.

In the end, Alisa also ended up leaving Aldrin's side when her friends showed up. On the other hand, Aldrin was now next to his friend who was once again the host of this reunion.

"Oh! I didn't expect that everyone would be here. We're all curious about our classmate who became an Energy Refiner, huh?" Bert tapped Aldrin's shoulder and stood up with a microphone in his hand to let his voice catch everyone's attention.

Although Bert was on the chubbier side during their high school, Aldrin could only nod at the current state of his friend's body, he's slimmer now and the air in his person was that of a joyful businessman with a booming business.

"Well then, let's not keep everyone in suspense anymore, Renissa, please!" While excitedly announcing that, he gestured towards the closed door.

Slowly, the closed door was pushed open by two of Bert's beautiful restaurant staff.

And with everyone's eyes trained on the door, they watched as a woman of average height entered the room, she had icy-blue shoulder-length hair while wearing a skin-tight dress accentuating her body figure that was perhaps only slightly lesser than Alisa's.

In her hand was a metallic briefcase that appeared to be heavy but she was carrying it easily.

Moreover, because of how Aldrin could now sense the flow of Dimensional Energy, he noticed the slightly chilling aura being exuded by the woman.

At the moment, she's a lot different than how he remembered her. Her back was straightened and she carried a rather authoritative air around her.

'Is she truly Renissa? No… Does every full-fledged Energy Refiner carry the same air around them?' Aldrin thought.

No. Everyone was thinking the same thing, even Bert who invited her and organized this reunion.

"What? Why do you all look like you're seeing a ghost?" With a slight smile on her lips, Renissa uttered a question taking everyone out of their stupor.