《What Game is this?》 Chapter 1 - The Tree He felt sticky and uncomfortable all over. It feels like he was submerged into a warm, greasy oil. I don''t like this. Where am I?The dense liquid around him feels warm, yet suffocating. The urge to get out and have his skin breathe increased every second. He tried to open his eyes, but something was firmly stuck on his eyelids, stopping him from opening both of his eyes. He put his hands where the thing was. A hard object came touched his skin with hard edges all around it. A seed shaped thing that fits his face like a glove, sucking on his entire face. A mask? He tugged the rough edge. It barely moved. A scenario from a horror movie came to him. A foreboding sense of panic came through him. His heart started racing. He yanked the thing it hard. It won''t let go. It tightened more on his skin instead. He tried to flail his hands all around him; trying to find anything toremove the thing out of his face. His frantic movements against the density of the water made him tired. He realized the more he struggled, the denser the water weighed. His body became heavier and tired. He ignored his aching muscles and pushed himself more. At last, he touched something- smooth and soft with slime-like texture that spans around him. A wall? He thought, felt a sliver of hope within him. He scratched it with his nails and felt it tear little. He poked the hole and tried to make the tear larger. The liquid around him started to move into the hole''s direction. The dense liquid started carrying his body towards it. He didn''t fight it. His body felt a rush of sudden free fall and hit the ground. His sticky body slithered throughout a hard surface like a snake. He felt relieved and happy that he could now move without the heavy feeling of water around him. The mask that was attached to his face started loosened under his jaw. He pulled the thing and freed his mouth. He kept pulling the mask until he felt something was being pulled inside his nose. ¡°Oh sh*t.¡± It dawned to him. His nose hairs were attached to whatever the blasted thing was. He made a few deep shaky breaths. He ripped the mask hard. ¡°AHHHHH!¡± The sharp stinging made his hands clenched and beat the hard floor. His shout echoed around him. His eyes watered while he breathe through his mouth. The slow dripping of his blood come out of his nose and the stinging pain won''t go away. ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill whoever the sick f*ck braided my nose to that f*cking thing!¡± He screamed while wiping the blood with the back of his hand. He angrily tried to find the Mask, but everything around him was hazy. He blinked his eyes multiple times to adjust against the bluish surroundings. ¡°PIIIIIIING~!¡± ¡°What?¡± He squinted his eyes to see what¡¯s in front of him. It¡¯s bluish glowing wall? He blinked a couple more times as his vision became more apparent. A blue floating LCD screen was in front of him. A monitor? He raised his right hand to touch it. His hand went through it instead. He repeated this a couple of times before he accepted the fact that he can¡¯t touch it. ¡°A hologram, maybe?¡± he was unsure of what¡¯s in front of him. His eyes schemed through the words on the screen: Welcome, Mark Cramus to your New World! Quest: Find your way out of the Old Summoning Pit. Rewards: (1) World Map | Quest | Status | Items | Map (Inaccessible) | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | Now this is getting weird. Summoning Pit? One Answer? Am I in some kind of experiment? He thought. Someone must have snuck him out of the hospital?... but that would not be possible. His mother was there with him in the hospital room and no one else could''ve gone through the guards with him in tow. His mother. The last thing that he could remember was thanking his mother before going to sleep in the hospital bed. He had been feeling dizzy the last couple of days and went to the hospital to see a doctor. If he remembers it correctly, the lab results will be available in an hour and he decided to sleep while waiting. He looked at the screen again. Wait. Welcome to your new¡­. World? There¡¯s a sudden chill run through his spine. ¡°Am I dead?¡± His mind was in a muddle. No, he can¡¯t be. He was sure as hell that he was alive. His throbbing nostrils would attest to that. He stared at the screen. He hated to think about it but he remembered something from the novels he read awhile back.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. It¡¯s unthinkable, yet entirely possible. ¡°Game Menu. Check. Unknown Place. Check. Quest. Check. Rewards. Check.¡± He thought excitingly. ¡°Isekai?¡± It must be. He remembered a very important element from the Isekai Novels he read before; a truck. ¡°But if this is Isekai, I should¡¯ve been hit by a Truck-kun though.¡± He declared to no one in particular, with a strong feeling of disappointment ¡°Still, it has Gaming factors. Weird.¡± Mark knew nothing''s going to happen by just plain guessing. He must look around and investigate instead. Maybe, someone was playing a prank on him. Prank or not. He needed to get out here immediately. To go back and to resume his work. His boss will increase his workload the more he takes a leave of absence. With renewed determination, he stood up and looked around to check where he is. The glowing yellowish liquid around him caught his attention. ¡°Chemicals?¡± There¡¯s only one thing that comes on his mind. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me ¡­I¡¯m in a PowerPop Girl Game? Did Professor XXX made me?¡± He doesn¡¯t want to do it. But, he needed to make sure. With his right hand stretched unto the heavens and his left arms on a bent position, he hopped a little to begin to fly. When there was nothing happening, he bowed his head deeply. ¡°If there is someone watching me, please turn off your monitors. Thank you!¡± He shouted. ¡°Me and my one brain cell.¡± He whispered in his face redden in embarrassment. Something caught his attention. Beside the floating monitor, a disfigured thing was near his right foot attached to a long branch was on the floor. ¡°The mask!¡± The floating monitordistracted him on getting the mask. Wherever he tried to look, the floating monitor is blocking a part of his view. It''s like it''s fixed in front of him. ¡°Now how do I get this thing out of my sight?¡± He asked himself. He read the screen message again. ¡°Minimize?¡± The rectangular floating monitor spiraled into bluish sphere with a size of his fist. It illuminated the whole place. ¡°Cool.¡± He stared at it in amazement. ¡°Now, it¡¯s a floating¡­ fireball.. uhh.. blueball?... That¡¯s sounds horrible. Fireball, it is.¡± Feeling satisfied with orb, he finally look at the place where he was now. He was struck in awe by the places¡¯ sheer magnificence. The mossy high walls were dilapidated, but the beauty still remained. The statues are surrounding him looked like warriors. Different from the museums he had seen before. The statues were heavily armored with large shields and overly sized sword. The details of the armor were magnificent; the coated gold swords glistened against the cool marbles of the statues. The other statues had gems of different kinds on its bodies. It took some of his will power to look away from the statues. Near him was a gigantic old tree. He couldn''t seem to identify the type of tree. The leaves had burnt orange color with decaying color of browns on the edges. On one of its large trunks was a deep carving in as big as a person. One of it has yellowish liquid. There must be where I came from. He thought. He walked to the trunk. The mask was connected to the deep carved hole on the trunk with the yellowish liquid. He looked at the other empty trunks. ¡°Weird. It¡¯s like I¡¯ve been hatched or something.¡± His voice full of wonder. "Am I some type of insect or something?" He remembered a place stated in the Monitor. He can¡¯t remember how to pop the monitor again. ¡°Menu?¡± Nothing happened. ¡°Save Point?¡± Still, nothing happened. ¡°Maximize?¡± The Screen has reappeared. ¡°It¡¯s somewhere here. There..Old Summoning Pit.¡± He murmured. ¡°Summon? Someone summoned me here, but who?¡± He looked around finding someone else. "Hello!" He shouted. Only the echoes of his voice was greeted him back. Nobody was here. So who summoned me? He wondered. He looked for an exit, but it seems that the place he was in was just a big dome. He looked at the tree again. How did this survived without any sunlight? ¡°Splat!¡± He jolted when something fell near him. He looked the ground where the object lays. It looks like an apple. He picked up the fruit. What a waste. He thought and took a bite. He looked back on the floating screen to look for more clues. ¡°PIIIIING~¡± The Blessings of the Ancient World Tree Acquired. You can now understand any language from this world. | Quest | Stats | Items | Map (Unaccessible) | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | He was reading the monitor when he heard whispering sounds. ¡°Touch me¡­. Touch me¡­¡­Touch me¡­.¡± ¡°Uhhhh.¡± He slowly looked around for the whispering sound, but there was no one around him. ¡°Whoever you are: I hope you know you¡¯re creepy.¡± ¡°Alas¡­I¡¯m delighted¡­ you heard me.¡± The whisperer sounded very happy. ¡°Yeah. But the feeling¡¯s not mutual though.¡± He replied. He wanted to get out as soon as possible. He had no weapons to defend himself. Hell, he doesn¡¯t even have clothes right now. He thought in panic. He looked around for a weapon to use. ¡°I¡¯m deeply disheartened to hear that. If you touch me-¡° A wave of absolute disgust came through him. ¡°Man. I don¡¯t wanna do that okay? You sound like a guy. I don¡¯t swing that way.¡± ¡°You are quite mistaken. I am no man, but a tree.¡± The whisperer replied with a hint of disappointment. ¡°A tree.¡± He looked behind him. ¡°You¡¯re this tree?¡± He gestured in front of him. ¡°Still, no way that I''m going to touch you." He relaxed his muscles on the non-existent threat he felt a while ago. ¡°Hear me first ¡­Summoned One ¡­¡± The whispers deepened. ¡°If you touch me¡­my bark, you will get inside the room where the great treasures of the Great Zoartrian Kingdom lie.¡± ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± He replied, his body guarded to any surprised attack. There¡¯s gotta be a catch to this, he thought. He admits that he had his fair share of idiocy in the past, but he wasn¡¯t born yesterday. ¡°I am the Zoatian¡¯s Ancient Protector. Tasked on ensuring the Peace of these Lands¡­Someone summoned from this pit is eligible to have the treasures¡­ Afterall, someone has to be armed to venture out in the open world to save the Kingdom.¡± ¡°Save a Kingdom?¡± he asked. ¡°Sorry, my Quest is only to get out here. So, if you will excuse me, I have to be on my way.¡± He started walking towards the opposite direction of the tree. ¡°I am your summoner. If the summoned o -¡± He stopped on his tracks. ¡°You summoned me?¡± He said cutting the Ancient tree¡¯s sentence and smiled walking back to the Old Tree. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so? Now summon me back to Earth.¡± ¡°Any summoned creature was gotten from the Hymn of the Lost Souls¡­ A living creature can¡¯t be transported with a living body.¡± ¡°You mean¡­ I died?¡± He whispered. ¡°In simplest of words.. Yes.. I am afraid you are dead...in your previous World, Summoned One.¡± I am dead. I am dead. The thoughts kept on circling on his mind, but he still didn¡¯t want to accept the fact. There¡¯s a lot of things left to do back on earth. He can¡¯t just die yet. ¡°If you don¡¯t save the Zoarts in this world, I will cease to exist. Without the life coming from me, you will also cease to exist.¡± He heard a creak and the leaves fell down. Some sticked to his skin making him itch. ¡°Truthfully, Summoned One¡­I don¡¯t have that energies left to redo the spell. Rather than summoning a soul creature again.. Let¡¯s have a bargain¡­¡± The tree''s whispering sound deepened as he speaks. He didn¡¯t reply. His thoughts were still with the things he left on Earth. ¡°If you heed my wish and successfully done it. I will transport your soul back to your Old World¡­ but I can only summon your soul back to your younger body.¡± That caught his attention. Younger body? He thought about it; If he will be transported to his younger body...it means that he would know when he will die and can do the things that he needed to do before his death. I promised father to take care of mother. I will go through it even in this current afterlife. On that thought, I can save father before the accident. If the sickness will take me or not, I will be in peace leaving them with one another. He decided. Though, there was one problem if will be transported to his younger body. ¡°Will I have my memories with me when you transport my soul back?¡± he asked the tree, he crossed his arms. ¡°Anything you knew; it will be transported with you.¡± He hesitated for a while, before answering. It''s a good bargain. But is this the right thing to do? He looked around, still no doors and windows at sight. He made his decision.He need to get away from here. ¡°You¡¯ve given me no choice. I accept.¡± ¡°PIIIIING~¡± Hidden Quest Acquired: Bend the knee Quest: (1) Save the remaining Citizens of the Zoartian Kingdom Preliminary Rewards: (1) Race set to Zoart (2) Ancient Magic Affinity (3) Ancient Zoartian Treasure Room Ultimate Reward: Transportation of Soul | Quest | Stats | Items | Map (Unaccessible) | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | He sighed upon reading the Quest. What would have happened if I didn''t eat that apple?Hislast thoughtwhile walking on his way to the Ancient Tree. Chapter 2 - You spin my head right round ¡°Nothing¡¯s happening.¡± He complained to the Old Tree. He had been instructed to rest his hand on the bark and concentrate. On what kind of concentration that the tree was pertaining to ... he wasn¡¯t too sure about it. ¡°You must concentrate your consciousness, Summoned One.¡± The tree persisted for the third time. ¡°You can do it.¡± ¡°All right.¡± It¡¯s hard for him to concentrate with his naked arse out in open. Thankfully, he inspected the tree and he believes the tree doesn¡¯t have eyes to see anything. No. He hopes the Senile Tree don¡¯t see anything. What was interesting was he didn¡¯t see any mouth or ears of any kind while conversing with the tree. It would be most likely the Old Tree must be communicating with him telepathically. He closed his eyes, he tried to do it once again. The creases of his eyebrows deepened as he concentrated on the bark. A minute or two passed, he felt little lingering sparks on the tip of hands. ¡°PIIIIING~¡± Zoartian Ancient Magic Accessed Travel | Stat Upgrade | ¡°I did it!¡± he rejoiced. ¡°Good, Summoned One.¡± The tree lighthearted said. ¡°Thanks, Old Tree!¡± He said warming-up on the tree. It had been helpful to him. Now, he can get out of this place. He smiled at the tree and looked back at the floating monitor. ¡°Travel.¡± Please select where you wish to travel: 1. Zoartian Summoning Pit 2. Treasure Room 3. Zoartian Castle Entrance ¡°Throne Room¡± he commanded. The Bark glowed and the spasms of sparks on his hand increased. His body felt light for a moment. His feet were no longer in touch with the ground. Then, seconds later the gravity seemed to pull him back unto a concrete. When the light on the bark subsided, he discerned something was different. The stench of iron protruded in the air. He looked up and the tree was different. It has the same orange-brown burnt leaves, but it was smaller than the Old Tree. He turned behind him. The place he was was changed; gone was the Magnificent Room full of Statues and replaced by a mirrored hallway. In the center, there was a large elongated pool. The Circular stained glass windows at the end of the hall gave light to the room. The vertical mirrors on each side of the wall reflects the giving the hallway natural light. Still, above him the ceiling still hid in the darkness. The natural light was not enough to lit the room in its entirety. The stench of iron was in the air, but no equipment can be found anywhere. ¡°Was the Kingdom robbed?¡± His eyes wandered the Hallway; not even a sword on sight. He gave a long sigh. ¡°I¡¯ve been duped.¡± He had anticipated a room full of gold with a magnificent dragon in it, a staple of Fantasy RPG games he had played before when he was a young child.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. With heavy steps, he went to the pool. He kneeled at the edge and looked at his reflection. The first thing he noticed was his eyes; it¡¯s a color of silver. It was unnerving to look at. He was used with his brown eyes. His hair is longer than the one he had before. The tip of his ears are elongated with tipped at the end. ¡°An Elf?¡± he stopped. Above his head was an inscription of ¡°Unnamed Lvl 1¡±. Turning his on the left side the inscription and the"Unnamed Lvl 1" followed, like someone firmly placed it above him. This cemented the fact that he was now in a far different world. He tested the waters. It¡¯s warm. He slowly descended his body into the water and started cleaning himself. The yellowish fluid slide off his body, his pale complexion appearing. The warm water made a pleasant soft rippling sound and the right temperature soothed his aching muscles. He rested his arms on the edge of the pool. It was peaceful indeed, the soft ripples of the water can only be heard. ¡°Maximize. Sounds On. Minimize.¡± A soft guitar was playing. This is life. The only missing is a bottle of ice cold beer, he thought.
His ears twitched. There was something sticky was crawling. He looked up where the sound was coming from. ¡°THUD!!¡± The water splashed everywhere making a mist that clouded his vision. His head slowly moved forwards, with his eyes unblinking intently on the shadow taking shape on the mist near him. His body on full alert. When the mist surrounding subsided, a ginormous spider with an upper human form appeared. Its claws gleamed against the lights of the room. His mind blanked, eyes continuously stared at the sight of the Monster. A sound of numerous creaks when the right leg started to move forward. The creepy creaking sounds increased his heart rate. His fast breaths can be heard. The large ripples of the water came to him, nudged his skin every slowly- awakened him up from his trance. When the Giant Spider moved its human hands forward, fixing its hair. He glimpsed the thousands of irregular sized spider eyes on the human face before its long hair hides the abominable sight again. ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± He screamed out loud at the hideous sight. The gigantic spiders¡¯ other legs followed suit going its body way to him He started to get out the pool, ran away fast from the monster. He was near the Tree when the slippery goop on the floor made him fall. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt me!¡± He stretched his arms in front of him, shielding himself to any attacks. But none came. He peeked a little between his arms to see the Spider. He could see it more clearly now. The upper human body was wearing a top hat and a tuxedo. It has a rope on two of its spider legs, outstretched its length in front of him. It¡¯s going to tie me up! He closed his eyes. And loudly squeaked when he the spider picked him up by his hips. Its hairy legs made him shudder. ¡°HEEEELP! MOOOOOM!¡± He shouted. A sound like a mini canon was heard. And, they took off. His body shivered against the cold air. The spider stopped. He slowly opened his eyes, it was dark. A shining dangling sword caught his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the sword¡¯s handle was attached in a shiny spider silk. He immediately looked around; numerous equipment was found dangling throughout the intricate spider web. In the middle of it all was a mountain of gold coins made the web stretched and dipped at the center. The Giant Spider traveled through the webs and started picking things. He tried to get up but there was something stuck on his back. The creaking sound was near him again. He felt the spider claws grabbed his head and wrist. The world was suddenly spinning. Then, his heart fell when he his body made a free fall, this time the cold air wasn¡¯t so chilled anymore. A huge thud was heard. And mist filled the room once again. Everything still rotated around him. The dizziness wanted to make him puke. The double vision ended slowly, merged into one. A small bluish monitor pop up in front of him. ¡°The Zoartian Treasure Keeper.¡± An Adorable Monster who is tasked to choose armor and dresses any Zoart Citizen depending on their respective levels. Part time: Modiste. He dreams to be the very best armor maker there ever was. P.S. Please keep out outsider from the Treasure Room or my baby will kill them. This Post script is written specially for YOU Landon. He looked at his body, now clad with black rob. His mind still absorbing what happened. The human part of the spider grasped his left hand and put a pouch on it. One of its spider legs went for his chin and closed his mouth which he didn¡¯t noticed was open. It started wiggling its claws. Words went through his head. ¡°I mean no harm¡­. I hope you enjoy¡­. the armor I picked for you. Just go ¡­here when you need equipment¡­ change.¡± Two of its claws shaped into a heart sign and a word came to his mind. ¡°¡­Goodluck¡­¡± The Spider held into its top hat and bowed. It¡¯s back legs slowly body slowly moved backwards while facing him. Its body skillfully glided backwards. Its body spun around and tip its top hat. A sound of mini canon was shot. A single spider silk from its tails and in the darkest parts of the ceiling formed. It ascended fast towards the ceiling with its upper human body posed, still tipping its top hat. ¡°A Giant Spider just moonwalked.¡± His eyes still looking towards the ceiling even though the spider was nowhere in sight. ¡°I''m outta here.¡± He felt tired than ever was. He immediately trudging his way to the Tree; the sound of jiggling coins echoed throughout the room. ¡°Travel. Zoartian Castle Entrance.¡± He pleaded. The glowing light absorbed him. Chapter 3 - Weird Names ¡°PIIIIIING~¡± Congratulations on Completing the Quest. Reward: Map Access ¡°PIIING~¡± System Loading Kingdom Game Master not found System Override... Updating Quest... Quest Updated Quest: Find a City Reward: A Shoddy Shield Mark felt happiness while reading the monitor in front of him. At last, he got out of the weird place. The Old Tree and The Spider Treasure Keeper were the most strange creatures he ever encountered on his entire life. Whoever the made those was one of a weird person. ¡°Oiiiii!¡± He stopped listening, but the sound coming from the system distracted him. ¡°Sounds off. Minimize.¡± He turned off the system sound to hear it clearly. ¡°Oiii!¡± The voice calling him louder this time. He looked around to find the voice. He was now in an old courtyard. The tree where he fast travelled was in middle of it all. There were also smaller versions of the old statues he found earlier displayed near him, covered in moss. The grass where he stood were dying. He looked above him. In front of it all was a dark castle. Only the castle''s silhoette could be seen. The sky was grey and covered with dark clouds. "Oiiii!" He found where the sound was coming from. There was a person near the casle entrance. Mark ran to the entrance of the castle where the person was. In the castle, there''s an armor clad person was sitting behind a desk. The most distinguishable equipment that the person wearing was its helmet. It looks like two large goat horns were attached at each side exuded an intimidating look. Above the Warrior an horned helmet, ¡°DoughnutKin Lvl 90¡± was indicated. He read the description on the front desk; ¡°Kingdom Info¡±. ¡°What are you doing here? And where you came from?¡± the warrior asked him, standing up. ¡°Wait. Are you level one?¡± The rapid questions of the warrior made him weaker than he already was. The warrior in question was now in front of him, hands on his hips. ¡°We¡¯ve already told you, Noobs; It¡¯s dangerous to go this route at low levels. If you don¡¯t know the way, buy a map. Is that even hard to do for you guys?¡± Mark Cramus stood still and let the warrior talk. It was his first day and a player had flamed him hard. With the onslaught of words, he could not even have replied a lame answer of ¡°I do have a map¡±. Though, he knew with the warrior¡¯s tone, it will not help his situation.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Go back to Zero City. To go on this Ruined Kingdom, you must be at least level 75.¡± The warrior looked behind him, the scolding voice sounded even more frustrated. ¡°And you don¡¯t even have a party with you. Just great!¡± The warrior seems had something to tell ¨Cor yet scold him more, but stopped when a sudden creaking noise was heard at his back. The warrior looked behind him and disappeared. He looked behind him where the creaking sound was. The warrior was already by the door. He didn¡¯t even see how the warrior got there. ¡°Sierra. Oscar. Sierra.¡± A voice-like radio static sound said. ¡°Survivors?¡± The warrior asked the person in military uniform with a name above him ¡°PewPewPewAdieu Lvl 81¡± ¡°5 of them.¡± ¡°Team Gun Thor?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± ¡°Thank you, Triple P. You¡¯re dismissed.¡± The guy in military uniform saluted and went back inside the door. The warrior whistled. ¡°We got survivors here!¡± The five people in question were laid down and gasping their breath. Black slime was scattered randomly over their bodies. ¡°Looks like they encountered the enemies on the 2nd floor.¡± The warrior at their side while inspecting their bodies. ¡°Sorry, but it will be a slow healing even with a high level healer.¡± ¡°Healer here.¡± A maiden with a long staff had said. Above her ¡°SisterAngel¡±, Lvl 80. She looked down at the resting bodies and gently said: ¡°Trumpet of the Gods.¡± He blinked. Something was wrong with his eyes. He looked at his hands. It¡¯s getting brighter. The sound of trumpet came above him. He looked up and saw there were small children blowing horns descending. Flying and Encircling the five people. ¡°DoughnutKin, we¡¯re going back to Zero City. Our equipment need some upgrading.¡± The person in blue trouser the warrior. Above him a word ¡°YouTouchMyTruelala, Lvl 76.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think we had enough item drops to sell.¡± ¡°MyDingDingDong Lvl75¡± said. ¡°The gold drops weren¡¯t bad either. It¡¯s different from the Middle kingdom.¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s late but Welcome to the Last Kingdom.¡± The warrior agreed and stood up. ¡°Carriage!¡± ¡°Coming!¡± A grumpy shout was heard from the distance. ¡°You noob.¡± He said in his direction. ¡°You¡¯ll be coming with me.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He replied in a weak voice. His near depleted energy showing. ¡°I¡¯ll take them. Sarah, is it okay if you oversee the Info Booth for a while?¡± DoughtnutKIn asked SisterAngel. ¡°Sure, no problem DoughnutKin.¡± The named Sarah replied and went to the booth. All of the members were brought in the back of the carriage. ¡°Where to?¡± the grumpy voice asked. ¡°City Zero.¡± DoughnutKin replied and turned to him. ¡°Hop in. We don¡¯t have the day.¡± He went to the back of the carriage. He sat beside the guy with inscription in the head ¡°YouTouchMyTruelala, Lvl 76.¡± DoughnutKin sat across him. ¡°Ha!¡± a voice infront of the voice grunted. The carriage slowly moved. ¡°Who are you?¡± YouTouchMyTruelala asked him. ¡°Mark Cra-¡°. ¡°Stop don¡¯t say your last name.¡± DoughnutKin interrupted. ¡°You really are a newbie.¡± ¡°Chill out DK. You¡¯re scaring him.¡± YouTouchMyTruelalala chided, then looked at him ¡°He looks very terrifying, but he¡¯s a nice.¡± ¡°Never tell your last name, Kid. Some of the monsters have instant death spells learning your whole name.¡± DoughnutKin said to him, ignoring YouTouchMyTruelala. He shooked his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have an alias yet.¡± ¡°You see on the top of my head- that¡¯s the world name or alias. Everyone has it.¡± He explained, pointed up on the top of his head. ¡°Yours is unnamed. Let us give a name; it is required afterall¡± DoughnutKin and YouTouchMyTruelala smiled mischievously. He doesn¡¯t have a good feeling this. ¡°Let this world call you NoobityNoob69.¡± He declared, not waiting for his permission. ¡°PIIIINNNG¡± Alias Acquired Your World Name will be: NoobityNoob69 ¡°You know, you could¡¯ve given him ¨C I don¡¯t know ¨C a normal alias?¡± a woman beside DoughnutKin spoke. Above her ¡°LaLaLaLaLa Lvl 77¡± was inscribed. ¡°We can, but we won¡¯t. We can¡¯t break the traditions.¡± DoughnutKin and YouTouchMyTruelala bumped fist. The rest laughed, while the woman rolled her eyes. Looking at the names around him, he wasn¡¯t surprised with the name they gave him. He can only sigh. ¡°By the way, are you a summoner?¡± DoughnutKin asked him, gesturing at the glowing orb beside him. ¡°Is that a wisp?¡¯ ¡°No. This is my Menu.¡± ¡°Weird. This is the first time seeing someone has an orb for a Menu.¡± ¡°How about you?¡± ¡°Menu.¡± A brown colored monitor appeared in front of DoughnutKin. ¡°We are here.¡± A grumpy voice outside shouted. They all the get down out of the carriage. ¡°That was fast.¡± He said. It is like the Zoartian Ancient Magic, he observed. ¡°Fast Travel does that.¡± ¡°We are really in a Game, eh?¡± ¡°You have to see for yourself.¡± DoughnutKin said to him in a mysterious tone. ¡°But first, find the Mayor NPC and register as a Citizen of this town. Then, head to the Cathedral and talk to the priest. He will give you the ultimate quest. Those two are in the City Center.¡± ¡°Thank you, DoughnutKin¡± ¡°No problem. Now go on to your adventure.¡± He walked, but stopped. ¡°I almost forgot, never forget to go to the Memory Bank.¡± ¡°Okay will do.¡± ¡°Come with us, we¡¯ll pass by the Cathedral on our way, anyways.¡± YouTouchMyTruelala offered. He went and walked beside the group going to the fortified gate.
¡°Hey, BallsMySak!¡± DoughnutKin called to the assigned Carriage Driver for the day. High level players take assignments from the NPC Mayor to ensure the success of the world¡¯s adventurers. He took charge of the information booth in the Ruined Kingdom for newly leveled up 75 Adventurers. ¡°Stop calling me my Alias!¡± the person in front grumpily replied. ¡°To Zoartian Kingdom.¡± He said. ¡°By the way, stop transporting newbies to Zoartian Kingdom.¡± ¡°Huh? What are you talking about?¡± BallsMySak replied with wonder. ¡°I¡¯ve never transported any newbies into the Ruined Kingdom. If you were talking about that Kid, I didn¡¯t transport him.¡± ¡°Really?.¡± DoughnutKin looked back at the City Zero while at the back of the carriage. His hardened face full of wonder. Chapter 4 - It鈥檚 all coming together鈥?r not ¡°This is the Cathedral.¡± YouTouchMyTruelala said. They stopped in front of a Gothic Building. ¡°And, this is where we part ways, Newbie.¡± He felt a tinge of sadness. He always hated goodbyes. You might never know when you are going to see people again. These guys were playful, but good people nonetheless. He hope he could see them again. ¡°Level up soon so that we can join some of our raids on the Last Kingdom.¡± YouTouchMyTruelala said. ¡°Sure. Thank you very much.¡± He took on his challenge. ¡°Next time talk with people around you before setting out in the field. You were in the Zoartian Ruins of all places.¡± Lalalala said. ¡°Will do.¡± He said, smiling at her. He waved at them as their group went on their way. He was lucky for having people to help him in this unknown place. He looked at the Building in front of him. The buildings¡¯ style that has been seeing on old churches. There are even gargoyles on the top of it with excruciating details that it could be years before they could have built this whole thing. The marble has been darkening meaning it could have been a long time ago. On each side of the Cathedral, there were heaps of straws. It stood out from the surroundings; the whole courtyard has an upscale city feel into it. And, there were no animals around. What is it for? He thought. A sound of an eagle came from above. ¡°Geronimoooo¡± A large object landed at the straw. No. It was person came out of the heaps of straws. It was wearing a long black-silver coat that is tipped at the center. ¡°Hey! It¡¯s your turn to leap!¡± The person shouted above them. A cry of an eagle echoed. Then, the person above leapt off the Cathedral¡¯s roof. That¡¯s dangerous. It was late to stop the person from jumping off. He could only watch it fall down below. The person- no- the suicidal person had fallen unto the straws and did a cartwheel. He was worried for nothing. ¡°Yeaaaah! Let¡¯s do it again.¡± That looks fun though He was surprised that those people didn¡¯t break their necks at that height. It seems that there are things that the people in this world can do that they can¡¯t even imagine doing on Earth. People here must have a good regenerative abilities. This is really a game. The cloaked people began climbing the Cathedral¡¯s walls. He chose to ignore them and went inside the church. Now where¡¯s the priest? He looked around. He can only see a delicate woman dressed in white clothing. The woman wore a thin embroidered mask that hides half of her face. Only, the dainty lips can be seen. He walked towards her, his soft platter of his boots can be heard in the silent place. Above her inscription of ???? Lvl ???? was indicated. ¡°Excuse me, but where is the Priest?¡± ¡°Yes, my child?¡± the woman said. ¡°I am the Priest.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Priestess.¡± ¡°Nay, call me priest.¡± The person in front of him said, words firm. ¡°Would you like for me to show you, my child?¡± He was here to take the ultimate quest, not to judge. And, he had enough surprises for the day. ¡°Ah-no. No.¡± he refused profusely. ¡°I¡¯m here for the ultimate quest?¡± ¡°Hmmmm¡­ That¡¯s odd¡­ I didn¡¯t saw you being summoned here.¡± The priest looked at him from head to foot. ¡°I-uhm- went out , not talking to you. If you know the name ,DoughnutKin saw me and asked me to come here for the ultimate quest?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ all right. I must have missed you, my child.¡± The priest voice changed, it became more¡­ sweeter. It sounded that this person might¡¯ve recognized DoughnutKin. He was quite relieved when the priest accepted his excuses. If not, he didn¡¯t really know where to start explaining. ¡°This City has been in great turmoil, my child. Three Kingdoms has been wreaking havoc on our peaceful days. The first Kingdom, a Mighty Goblin and its soldiers lived. The second Kingdom, where formidable dragons and casters lived. The last Kingdom where the hallowed creatures lived. These three must be defeated to restore the City Zero¡¯s peace.¡± ¡°Is there diplomacy in this world?¡± He asked. ¡°I think if those are Kingdoms, there¡¯s a way to talk and compromise with them.¡± ¡°Nay, my child.¡± The priest looked at the statue beside them. ¡°As the Great Heroes once said, ¡°They must know our peaceful ways by force! If that is an option, this should have been a Conqueror¡¯s Simulation or Build-a-Kingdom Game, you doofus.¡± The priest said it in a straight forward voice which he didn¡¯t think this guy was joking. ¡°And who are these ¨Cuhm- Oh Great Heroes? Are they in the City?¡± he asked. ¡°The first people on this City. They designed this place.¡± The priest said. ¡°They have long completed their respective quests and had transcended from this world.¡± ¡°The Oh-Great-Heroes didn¡¯t defeat the Kingdoms?¡± ¡°They did, my child. But, the three Kingdoms are always rebuild from its demise.¡± So much for the Heroes huh? He thought. ¡°That is why; we summoned people like you to be our new age heroes.¡± There was a hint of a problem taking on his head. ¡°Is the Zoartian Kingdom included in the list of these Kingdoms?¡± ¡°Yes, it is the third Kingdom; where hallowed creatures reside.¡± ¡°You sure? They are not Elves?¡± The priest mouth opened a little. His body lose a little bit of composure. ¡°They were until five years ago. Now, hallowed creatures are in the Ruined Kingdom.¡± The priest voice sounded surprised. "How did you know?" He didn''t know how to answer. I''m dumb. "I was lost in the Zoartian Kingdom? Uhm- that was the place DoughnutKin found me. He taught me things about the Kingdom." He said hurriedly. Please believe me. Please believe me. "Oh yes. The player was a very helpful fellow. You can always can count on him." The priest''s cheeks turned into pink hues. This was getting complicated as he delved deeper. The Zoartian Kingdom¡¯s quest was to save some of its remaining citizens. This City¡¯s quest was to defeat the Kingdom where he got his first quest. He could only hope that the Hallowed beings weren¡¯t the Zoartian Citizens he was looking for. His gut telling him there was something important that happened five years ago. ¡°Thank you. So, I need to defeat those three Kingdoms?¡± He needed to confirm. ¡°Yes, that is the quest. It¡¯s all the Summoned Heroes Quest.¡± The priest confirmed. ¡°After defeating it, there¡¯s a Heavenly Book of Champions on every Kingdom¡¯s Throne room. Write thy name and this Cathedral will recognize your bravery, my child.¡± ¡°Of course, your efforts will be rewarded. This Cathedral will grant you a wish.¡± The priest smiled. ¡°Any Wish?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes, my child.¡± The priest clasped its hands. ¡°Riches for your family. Reincarnation. Anything. Do you accept the Quest?¡± He slapped his head. Accepting the quest from the Old Tree was not necessary. Wait. That could be a good thing. He thought. There¡¯s a possibility on not succeeding on the Old Tree¡¯s quest. This could be a good contingency plan. A plan B is never a bad plan. He thought, his spirits in full swing. All right. Let¡¯s do this. ¡°I accept¡± he confidently replied. ¡°PIIIIING~¡± Side Quest Acquired: I need a Hero Quest: (1) Defeat the Three Kingdoms that threatens City Zero (2) Write your name on the Book of Champions Reward: One Wish | Quest | Stats | Items | Map | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | He did a double take on the floating monitor. ¡°What?¡± he asked, his eyes fixed on the monitor. He grasped his hair with his hands and looked above. He wanted to scream real loud. Side Quest? He screamed internally. This wasn¡¯t even the Ultimate or Main Quest? The smiling priest looked at him, not realizing he was having a mini melt down. Chapter 5 - Capitalism at its finest He looked back at the Priest. There was now a name inscribed above him ¡°Priest_or_Priestess_choose_one Lvl ????¡± ¡°Thank you, priest.¡± ¡°No problem, my child¡± The priest went on one of the benches and kneeled. He immediately went out of the church. ¡°Maximize. Quest.¡± He commanded the fireball beside him. He remembered very well that DoughnutKin said it¡¯s the ultimate quest. He needed answers. It¡¯s been ages since he played a game, but he knew a Main Quest is the story line or the reason of living, well, that¡¯s according to the books and games. If DoughnutKin and the others have this ¡°Save the City¡± as their main quest or whatever, then he should also have one. A blue floating blue monitor popped up before him. Main Quest Hidden Quest (1) Side Quest (1) | Quest | Stats | Items | Map | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | ¡°Main Quest.¡± He said hurriedly. His forehead sweating in anticipation. 404: Page not found System Override in Place | Quest | Stats | Items | Map | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | ¡°What-what this even mean?¡± It¡¯s a phrase the least he was expecting. It seems that even in afterlife nobody can¡¯t escape System Errors. He was no programmer, but he was sure an error was a bad thing; a disruption of a flow. Errors like these were easy to deal with if he was still on Earth. In his previous life, there was an I.T. Department was just one call away. But, here, he doubted there was even one. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It¡¯s a habit of his whenever he encountered a stressful situation. He opened his eyes and gave a long exhale. The error was one of his problems now and on his checklist to find out. Just staring dumbly on the screen won¡¯t do anything. He was now in an unknown world that he doesn¡¯t know how things really works. The most important thing to know is to investigate and know how the system here works. And that was what he was going to do. Going to the Mayor¡¯s Office might shed some details regarding this world. He thought. ¡°Maximize. Maps.¡± The fireball beside him took in a form of dark rectangular shape. There¡¯s a blue circle in the middle. It shows around 3 meter away from him are only lit. Everything was dark except for silhouette of the Cathedral¡¯s area and the road he went previously. There was no indication where the Office was. ¡°Minimize.¡± He looked around for someone to ask for directions. ¡°Hey!¡± he shouted one of the daredevil people by the stacks of straw. ¡°Where¡¯s the Mayor¡¯s Office?¡± he asked. ¡°Right there!¡± A people shouted back while pointing towards the right. ¡°It¡¯s not hard to miss.¡± He looked where the person pointed at he saw large sign of ¡°Mayor¡¯s Office¡± in front of a standard building. It was really not hard to miss. ¡°Thanks!¡± He shouted. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. He walked to the Building. Upon reaching it, his monitor popped up. ¡°PIIIIING~¡± Congratulations on Completing the Quest. Reward Receivedf: A shoddy Shield | Quest | Stats | Items | Map | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | ¡°PIIIIING~¡± Quest: Enter the Dark Area of Existential Crisis Reward: +25 Levels | Quest | Stats | Items | Map | Music / Sound (Off) | Minimize | This could be the overridden system Main quest, he thought. When will it stop though? Unlike the others; it¡¯s continuously giving me quests. ¡°Minimize.¡± He decided to read it later after completing the task on hand. He went in the Mayor¡¯s Office. Everything was pixelated; from the Ceiling to the floor, except for a blonde human person wearing a pixelated pink dress sitting behind a brown oval desk. I_was_at_a_different_castle Lvl ???? was in indicated above the person¡¯s head. He walked towards the desk. ¡°Hi! I¡¯m here to apply for Citizenship?¡± ¡°Welcome¡± The woman cheerily greeted him and handed out a piece of paper ¡°Please fill this up while I¡¯ll just tell the Mayor you¡¯re here.¡± She proceeded to go through the door behind her. ¡°Okay.¡± He started filling the up the ¡°Citizenship Papers.¡± ¡°The Mayor will see you now, Mr. Mark.¡± The receptionist smiled at him while giving way to the door behind her. ¡°Please go in and hand him your papers.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Neil, the City Mayor.¡± The person behind the desk introduced himself and gestured at the chair. ¡°Please sit down.¡± The first thing that came to Mark''s mind was the mayor¡¯s body was buffed. The bulging veins prominent on the mayor¡¯s hand while holding a stamp that might snap in two in any minute now. Looking at the face, the striking feature was the long grey beard which was almost on the chest area. Opposite the threatening aura was a pair of soft kind eyes. He looked up and read ¡°Kneel_before_me Lvl ?????¡± ¡°Thank you and nice to meet you, Kneel uhhh before me.¡± He sat on the chair. Neil looked at him for a good five seconds and put down the stamp. ¡°Nice to meet you too, NoobityNoob69. Just call me Neil.¡± Neil said in soothing voice. ¡°We¡¯ve been looking for you this whole week. We thought something has happened to you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I got lost.¡± His weak reasoning. ¡°Okay we understand. It¡¯s hard to deal with your own death and all.¡± Neil solemnly said to him. ¡°But still, I want to thank you for coming here.¡± ¡°You¡¯re dead too?¡± He asked. Neil looked at him straight in the eye. Was my question rude? Maybe, the question was too straightforward. ¡°I-¡° ¡°Everyone¡¯s dead in here¡­ I mean died on Earth and summoned here.¡± Neil answered. ¡°Oh.¡± He didn¡¯t know what to feel with this information. Happy that he is not alone, or sad because they all died. ¡°Is this the Purgatory?¡± he asked in an uncertain tone. ¡°Truth is ... nobody knows. Some think it that way. Well, some says this is Heaven. Some even say its Hell .We all have contrasting views on where we are right now.¡± Neil said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry if it¡¯s not the answer you are looking for.¡± ¡°No. Thank you for telling me.¡± ¡°Okay. May I have your papers?¡± Mark gave him the paper. Neil grabbed a pen and read the paper. Stopped on a certain section. ¡°There¡¯s no game title here. I mean what¡¯s the last game you played.¡± ¡°It has no name. My friend died before he completed the game.¡± He explained. ¡°Okay.¡± Neil started to write down something, but the pen broke into two. He grabbed the extra pen on the table. Mark looked at him in concentration on writing slowly. ¡°Snap!¡± and the pen broke again. The calm face that Neil exuberated sudden went dark. A hint of reddish glow came from his eyes. He threw the broken pen on the trash beside the table; full of other broken pens. He proceeds to open the drawer; but stopped there were no pen left. He grabbed a knife instead from the drawer and pricked his fore finger. Then, began writing the words ¡°unnamed¡± on the sheet of paper. The table made a noise while he wrote. Having a knife on the table meaning that this happens a lot. Mark observed. He gulped and reminded himself to never anger the person in front of him. ¡°Okay. But do you fully know how to play it or how it works?¡± Neil asked him. ¡°A little bit. It¡¯s been 10 years since I played the game.¡± Neil pursed his lips. ¡°I hope you try to remember as much as you can. It will help you in the field. I don¡¯t know if you already, but It¡¯s like a system rule in here that every person who was summoned here gets the game system or perks of the last game they played. The earlier you remember about it; your survival chances increases significantly.¡± ¡°Survive? Do we die in here?¡± Mark asked him. ¡°Yes. But, before you think of something else. You are re-summoned on the Cathedral.¡± Neil said in a hurried tone. ¡°That¡¯s good to know.¡± Mark said halfheartedly. ¡­that his nose will have some repercussion. He wanted to add. He was sure that he won''t be summoned in the Cathedral. Neil¡¯s face became stern. ¡°What I¡¯ll tell you is the most important; if you die some of your memories will be gone. It can be names of the people you know or their faces. So, please survive as much as you can.¡± And the face softened again. ¡°Not remembering the face of the people you once knew is hard for anyone. Some became depressed for a time. That¡¯s why we encourage for newbies to go the memory bank. You can write all the person you know and have it safe keep there.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Mark said solemnly. ¡°By the way¡­¡± Neil handed him a flyer. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what¡¯s this?¡± Mark eyes scanning the piece of paper. ¡°Living here in City Zero is not ¡­free. But for first time summoned people, like you, can live here for this month free. After that , though, you need to subscribe the City Zero 5th Class Citizenship for 9.99 Gold per month. One of the perks is you can sleep in the Castle; food¡¯s not included. If you want food, you would want upgrade it to 4th Class Citizenry.¡± Neil sounded a high pitched salesman rapping, and coughed. He pointed at the flyer, his calm voice back. ¡°All the perks and details of each citizenship class are indicated in that flyer.¡± Mark looked again the flyer. He didn¡¯t understand most of the Mayor was saying just the $9.99 subscription. There¡¯s a price in living here it seems. ¡°Your subscription will help all the people working who made the entire city livable until now.¡± Neil said and stuck out his hand for a handshake. ¡°Welcome to City Zero.¡± Chapter 6 - Meeting the Team He left the Mayor¡¯s Office to find the tea shop near the Memory Bank for his teammates. Neil instructed him to find the different other Summoned People which he wrote on a piece of paper, written by blood of course. If someone were to look at it, anyone would think it¡¯s a death threat. He glanced at the shabby paper which name were listed:
  1. iDeath
  2. Obachan :)
  3. Ojichan :)
  4. HideYoSelves
It took him an hour to find it. Right now, he was looking at a small stall that says ¡°I Serve Tea¡± on its banner. Behind the stall counter was an Old Gentleman pouring tea. There were few people seated by the circular tables around the stall. His gaze fixed on a large playing card; the french card¡¯s that you played during casino. This time the rectangular card near him- four of them in fact- were as big as a person. It has arms and legs which pours tea. And, tending the tables. One of the cards, a 2 of hearts card, spoke with an Old Lady wearing a floral apron. Above the Old Lady ¡°GrandMa J Lvl 1¡± was indicated. This might be it. He thought. He sat on one of the stools. GrandMa J Lvl 1 came to him. ¡°What kind of tea would you like to have, Noob Dear?¡± the old lady asked him in a kind voice. ¡°Uhmm- The Mayor¡¯s Office sent me here. I¡¯m the new member of your team?¡± He awkwardly said. ¡°Oh my!¡± the old lady said, clapped her hands in delight. Putting the Store Menu at the table. ¡°I¡¯ll call for the others.¡± It happened all of a sudden. The Old Lady turned around and was already gone. Sakura petals are on her place instead. Was that a skill? He thought. With nothing to do, he took the Menu on table and read it; MENU
  1. ¡°You¡¯re the Best Boiiii Tea.¡± ¨CLittle Encouraging from Grandma and served with Earl Grey Tea: 2 Gold
  2. ¡°You Can do this Tea.¡± ¨C Better Encouragement from Grandma and served with Chamomile Tea: 3 Gold
  3. ¡°But GrandMa I can¡¯t do this Tea¡± ¨C GrandMa will get real with you and will serve you with our most Bitter Tea that will rethink your life. (Best Seller): 5 Gold
  4. ¡°Just do it!¡± -
His reading was disrupted by a shout. ¡°HEEEEEEEY!¡± A running guy with an inscription above him ¡°iDeath Lvl 1¡± stopped in front of him. ¡°You¡¯re our last member. Good lehrd I thought I will never see you.¡± The newly arrived person grabbed both of his shoulders and then proceed to grab his face. ¡°Let me take a good look at you.¡± He moved his head a bit backward. The person was too near his face, they almost kissed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I got lost.¡± He apologized. ¡°But, I¡¯m here now.¡± ¡°He¡¯s here? Where is he?¡± a guy with videocamera trying to find somebody. ¡°Is this him?¡± Above the guy a name ¡°HideYoSelves Lvl 1¡± ¡°Hi! I¡¯m Alek. Now give me a smile.¡± ¡°We are so happy you¡¯re here.¡± The Old gentleman told him putting a hot tea in front of him. ¡°It¡¯s been a while that this stall has been this lively.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t listen to the Old Coot.¡± Grandma ¡°We¡¯ve just started this stall three days ago.¡± The person ¡°iDeath¡± stopped touching his face and sat beside him. The ¡°So, this is our first Team Meeting. I¡¯m excited.¡± iDeath said. ¡°Should I start? Hi I¡¯m Luke, and I¡¯ve been a videogame streamer on my life on Earth. The last game I played was Darker than Black Souls which I streamed on my Zero Death Streams. My aspirations in life are-.¡± ¡°Okay, you can stop right there, Luke. ¡° HideYoSelves Lvl 1 interjected, still recording at the video camera. ¡°I¡¯m Alejandro, but can call Alek. I played mostly horror games. And I died while streaming; a cardiac arrest. Well, the game was very scary. Heh-heh.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°My turn.¡± Grandma said. ¡°I¡¯m Brenda, but you can call me Grandma. I played with my grandson, may God bless his Soul-oh- our souls I mean, when I was on Earth. What is it called? Death or Something.¡± ¡°Death or Alive.¡± The Old Gentleman supplied to her. ¡°Oh, yes. That¡¯s it. Death or Alive. It was fun I like the Ninja Girl.¡± The Grandma continued. ¡°This person right here is my husband.¡± Looking at her left, where the Old Gentleman was sitting. ¡°It¡¯s my turn.¡± The Old Gentleman with an inscription ¡°Ojichan Lvl 1¡± said. ¡°I¡¯m Tobias, but you can call me Grandpa instead. I did some Solitaires on my computer long time ago. I¡¯m not sure any more in here it¡¯s like some card game- summoning? I¡¯m not too sure about that.¡± They all looked at him. He smiled first to calm his nerves. ¡°I¡¯m Mark. First I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯m late in finding you guys. I was lost.¡± He looked each of them. ¡°For the game I played; I played it 10 years ago. A friend had been developing it in a while and before completing it he died. I¡¯m still trying to remember the game mechanics.¡± He continued. They continued to talk about their lives. Luke was a full-time Youtube-r who had a following of a million. He died on the hands of a crazy stalker. He hoped Police had already catches the stalker already. Alek, like he said had a heart attack. He had a history of high blood since high school. He forgot to take the medicine that day because of the live streaming. While the two grandparents died in a car accident on their way home. A speeding truck hit them. All four of them were summoned a week ago. Grandpa and Grandma tended to the depressed people near the Memory Bank. Two of those people are Luke and Alek who were quite thankful for two oldies and decided to form a group with them. ¡°And that¡¯s how we met.¡± Luke finished. ¡°What makes people depressed in the Memory Bank? The Mayor said you¡¯ll just needed to write the people you knew.¡± Mark asked. Luke and Alek looked at each other before speaking. ¡°Well, the Memory Bank has this, A prayer for souls thing. Basically, they¡¯ll give you letters from the people who prayed for you. Some people don¡¯t get any at all. Some had a hard time accepting the fact their dead and the letters served, somehow, a wake-up call for them.¡± Alek explained, stopping his recording and putting the video cam at the table. ¡°Some were waiting for letters, but stopped eventually.¡± Luke added in somber tone. ¡°Wait. You haven¡¯t been in the Memory Bank?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Mark answered. Mark was not sure if it is a good thing to read the letters. He knew himself. If there is one; he¡¯ll be depressed for days. From the time he woke from this world was a dream. He was afraid of what the letter would hold. Reading that his mother moving on with her life without him will surely feel like hell. He didn¡¯t have the courage to do it. At least, not yet. ¡°But, I¡¯ll go there.¡± He continued. He needed to write all the important in his life. ¡°By the way, when are you guys planning on the quest?¡± ¡°Heh-he-he. Tomorrow would be good.¡± Alek said, picking up the Their group¡¯s mood lightened up. ¡°We should buy some supplies first though.¡± Luke remarked. ¡°We can use the money from the stall.¡± Grandma offered. ¡°Are you sure, Grandma?¡± Alek asked her. ¡°Of course. We needed to be ready.¡± Grandma confirmed. ¡°According to the people, I¡¯ve talked so far. It¡¯s like a camping except there are monsters, of course.¡± ¡°What kind of monsters?¡± Grandpa asked her worriedly. ¡°There are Level one goblins they say on the first-uhh- I forgot what they call it? Cave Level? Was it-some of my customers said that.¡± Grandma answered. ¡°There are wolves also.¡± ¡°Yes! Let¡¯s head first to the Market Place first thing in the morning.¡± Luke said in a high spirits. ¡°All right!¡± They all said. Mark felt nervous and excited at the same time on their journey together.
After talking with his team mates, Mark went to the Memory Bank and submitted the list of the people he wanted to remember. He tried to draw them as much as he could, but his drawing was not great. He gave the paper one last look. The list consisted of few people. He tried to be as detailed as possible like how they met them. He added the reason his reason for being here and what he needed to achieve. He wasn¡¯t sure what kind of information would he might forget in the future. It¡¯s better to be ready. He said to himself. The person in charge offered to get his letters, but he refused. He told him ¡°He¡¯ll read it someday.¡± The person understood this. A very cowardly move he knew. But someday he¡¯ll have the courage to read it all. It was already night time when he gotten out of the Memory Bank, Grandpa and Grandma was already cleaning the tables and putting a close sign with ¡°Will open again on Saturday.¡± When he asked about it, the people in City Zero treat the Ultimate Quest as a job and they are permitted to take breaks during the weekends. He helped them closing the stall. And went with them at the Castle which was on the North East side end of the City. The Castle was pixelated like the Mayor¡¯s Office. When he gotten to his assigned room, the first thing he did was review his quests. The Error Main Quest was for him to find a place called Dark Area of Existential Crisis. He decided to find it on the weekends. He doesn''t know where the Error Quest will end up. For the Hidden Quests, he didn¡¯t have any clues on how and where to find the Zoarts. I need to ask the Old Tree for clues. He thought to himself. ¡°Minimize.¡± And the Menu resumed to its fireball shape. For now, he have to go with his plan B. He has now a team to achieve it. Though, he felt bad for the Old Tree. He looked around his room. And took a good look at it. The small pixelated room was hurting his eyes. It¡¯s hard to get used to it. The bed was very soft, but the weird thing was the bed sheet. It remained stiff and flattened out. He tried to bend it, but it goes back to being straight. He felt tired, and tried to sleep using the weird stiff bed sheet. He reminded himself to buy one in market place tomorrow. Chapter 7: The Shopkeeper Luke woke him up early for them to go to the Market Place; the premier Equipment and Weaponry market in City Zero. They stopped infront of a plain store with no store banner, nor outdoor equipment displayed, unlike the other stores gleaming with new equipment. It had only a sticker posted on the door says ¡°Lootboxes sold here.¡± ¡°According to one of my customers, Jimmy dearie, this is the cheapest store in the Market Place.¡± Grandma informed them. ¡°Let¡¯s go in.¡± A bell made a sharp ringing sound as they went in. ¡°Welcome! To the Gamer¡¯s Haven! The premier gaming ¨C¡° The person stopped talking and looked carefully at their group. Mark looked at the person behind the counter. The person looked like an egg; a cool egg. That was the first thing that went to his mind when he saw the person. It had a gleaming head with a beard that was curled at the ends. His vein almost popped from his arms. The flowery apron that the person was wearing didn¡¯t hinder any of his manliness. The guy had a name ¡°MrKrabs2.0 Lvl 62¡± inscription above him. ¡°Welcome guys. I¡¯m Camrin, the shopkeeper.¡± The person with MrKrabs2.0 greeted again. ¡°What¡¯s up with your group?¡± We¡¯re being judged eh? ¡°What¡¯s wrong with our group?¡± Alek asked while recording the whole shop. ¡°You are making these two poor oldies work?¡± The person pointed at Grandma and Grandpa. ¡°We¡¯re not that old.¡± Grandma said sadly. ¡°We can still do this.¡± They all looked at the shopkeeper who immediately put both of his hands up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Camrin apologized, extended his arms. ¡°Welcome to our store, Grandma.¡± ¡°So, this is gamers store eh? It¡¯s so different in real life. Wait, I know those¡± Luke said while looking around the shop. He walked to the swords hanging on the walls. ¡°Monsters drop these?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Camrin said to Luke. He looked at their world names. ¡°You haven¡¯t gone to the first Kingdom?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t, but now we¡¯re ready.¡± Alek said proudly. ¡°It¡¯s my fault.¡± Mark admitted. ¡°I got lost. But at least, we can do it now.¡± They all scattered around the store. Everyone had marveled at the different kinds of equipment. There are bangles, swords, potions, shields, to see within the store. He was looking at the pieces of equipment. Checking if there are things that can help them with their Quests. The descriptions were showing whenever there is an equipment near him. A Chieftain¡¯s Cursed Briefs This is one of the most treasured items of a goblin. A goblin only wears one brief in its lifetime. Having been worn for years, the brief gives off a distinct smell that never been smelled by anyone before. Can be used to attract female goblins. It will repel any low level non-goblin monsters when worn. Cost: 15 Gold ¡°The hell.¡± He said looking at the dark stained briefs in front of him. He can smell the disgusting mold stench that was coming from the briefs. ¡°Someone grabbed these smelly pants to display it here.¡± ¡°Oi! We used thongs.¡± The shopkeeper shouted at him. ¡°You don''t know those are one of the best sellers here. Well, if you wear it in the Goblin Kingdom you can thread through the first five levels. The Goblins will think you are one of their comrades. Well, with that face-¡± Camrin looked at Luke, but he was distracted by the smell of the briefs. ¡°So, they equip these?¡± Visible disgust filled the face of Luke. ¡°Never underestimate gamers. Some do everything like er¡­ yes by wearing those. But, those people are especially skillful. They have the skill to be transparent. Goblins can¡¯t detect them.¡± Camrin stated. ¡°So, don¡¯t underestimate anyone. Some are still searching for every nooks and cranny of this new world. Some really hones their art. Some says war is their craft.¡± Grandpa looked at the counter when he heard the ¡°war.¡± ¡°Some don¡¯t take a break playing- I mean- living in this world.¡± Camrin fumbled at his words. ¡°So, basically incels?¡± Alek asked with wonder. ¡°Insolence!¡± Camrin said angrily. ¡°Don¡¯t call it incel!¡± ¡°Why?¡± Alek said. ¡°Because I¡¯m one of those, damn it.¡± Camrin said it with a straight face. ¡°We have feelings, you know. If we weren¡¯t at home playing games all day. You wouldn¡¯t have a shopkeeper today.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Camrin pointed at himself, proudly. ¡°As we say it: Gamers today, Heroes tomorrow.¡± It¡¯s true that they have huge advantage in here compared to me. Mark thought eyeing the underpants. ¡°Let me give you a tip: Somebody might even buy the knowledge about you. You never know how the others how detailed their world knowledge be.¡± Camrin continued. ¡°Afterall, knowledge is¡­.¡± ¡°Power?¡± Luke interjected. ¡°No.¡± Camrin disappointedly said. ¡°People already settled in the idea that Power is Power. A demonstration of a queen solidified that, man.¡± This world only knows that knowledge is money and money means better equipment. Better equipment means faster on leveling up and beating this world. Stick those to ya¡¯ minds. Lads!¡± ¡°Yeah, I watched that. You are man of culture as well.¡± Luke said. ¡°Huh?¡± Grandpa asked, visible confusion in his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t mind them, Gramps.¡± He said to him. He has a pretty good guess as to why few people goes in here. He kept looking at the items while listening to the shopkeeper¡¯s voice. Though, how would they level up that way? Maybe, for scouting that would be a good idea to use the said item. But, I won¡¯t be wearing those for sure. ¡°But here my dear, knowledge is money. For example what kind of monsters that you are going to encounter. Where are the hidden chests, things like that, fetch for real gold.¡± Camrin continued. ¡°How much for the knowledge though?¡± He asked, his interest piqued. Now, he could ask where the error quest was. ¡°It depends on what kind of knowledge do you need.¡± ¡°Do you know where the ¡°Dark Area of Existential Crisis ¡° is?¡± He asked. ¡°1 gold. And I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Mark opened the pouch that the spider gave him and hand him 1 gold. ¡°That¡¯s DLC.¡± Camrin answered. ¡°You need to pay the Mayor 100,000 Gold for access.¡± ¡°100,000? That¡¯s too much.¡± He said. Guess that Quest is a no go. ¡°There¡¯s DLC too?¡± Luke asked his eyes twinkling in excitement. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a DLC for horror gamers if I¡¯m not mistaken.¡± Camrin said. Luke eyes saddened when he heard that. ¡°Did someone say horror?¡± Alek asked. ¡°Tell me more.¡± Mark stopped listening and kept on looking around the shop for useful items for their adventure. A Goblin Slayer¡¯s Sword Once there lived a boy that hated Goblin so much that he used this sword to kill them all. +5 Strength +10 Agility +1 Harem Cost: 1,000 Gold That looked cool but pricey. He thought while inspecting the short sword. What¡¯s with this harem anyway? ¡°I¡¯ll buy this.¡± Luke said. ¡°Ah. A Fine purchase.¡± Camrin praised while looking at the book Luke was holding. ¡± The Ultimate Monster Nope-Fest Guide Volume I: It¡¯s the best guide book for newbies. The gaming community gave it 5 stars.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t we all gamers? So, we can rate it too then.¡± Luke asked. ¡°Nope. Not in this world, lad. You need to be at least level 50 to review our products.¡± ¡°Ahhhh gaming supremacists they¡¯re everywhere.¡± Alek stated. ¡°Thank you. But I don¡¯t like the sound of that. It¡¯s called Gamers¡¯ Privileges. It¡¯s just how this world works.¡± ¡°Oh this is perfect.¡± Grandma exclaimed while grabbing a thermos. ¡°Do you have food rations? And water for the journey ahead?¡± Mark asked. ¡°We have 5-day ration for newbies. Here try this.¡± Camrin offered. ¡°We have different kinds too. We have the healing kind too which is our best seller.¡± ¡°How much for the healing kind?¡± ¡°5 Gold each.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy five.¡± ¡°Do you have something for water?¡± ¡°We have an Enchanted Drinking Leather Bag. Here.¡± Camrin put it on the counter with the other items. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°Free. It¡¯s for newbies given by the Mayor.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Camrin put 5 of it on the counter. ¡°That will never go out of water. It¡¯s magically enchanted by the City to connect on the water drinking depot.¡± ¡°Toothbrush? Toothpaste?¡± ¡°We have the basic adventurer¡¯s essential here.¡± Camrin put a bag in front of him. ¡°7 Gold each. Will last for three weeks. It already Toothbrush, toothpaste, facial wash, and soap.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy five.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pay.¡± Grandma offer. ¡°Thanks, Grandma but I¡¯ll pay.¡± He said declining grandma¡¯s offer. ¡°We need to save it. We might need it later.¡± ¡°What else do we need?¡± Grandpa asked. ¡°A blanket?¡± Luke offered. ¡°Yeah. I think we need those.¡± Grandma said satisfied. ¡°You guys need equipment too.¡± Camrin said. ¡°This is not a camping after all.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your cheapest sword?¡± Alek asked. ¡°That one.¡± Camrin pointed the rusty sword on the wall. A Shoddy Sword A trashy sword that thrown by a Student Swordsmith. Attack: +2 Cost: 2 ¡°We¡¯ll take 4.¡± Mark said. Grandma don''t need one. She already have a shinobi sword. He thought glancing at the short sword on Grandma''s hips. ¡°That¡¯s 80 Gold in all. Including the blankets and the book. The thermos free. Courtesy of the store¡± ¡°Thank you. We¡¯ll buy here again, young man¡± Grandma said. ¡°Should we buy a bag?¡± Grandma asked while looking at the things they bought. ¡°No need, Grandma.¡± Luke said. ¡°We have an item in Menu where we can store things.¡± ¡°Observe.¡± Luke told them. ¡°Menu. Item.¡± A brown Menu appeared in front of him. He grabbed one of the swords and put it in the Menu. The sword disappeared. ¡°Wow.¡± Grandma exclaimed in amazement. They opened their Menu and put the things away. ¡°Now, we are ready.¡± Luke shouted in excitement. ¡°Hooooray!¡± ¡°Banzai!¡± ¡°Whoopie!¡± Camrin looked at the new adventurers with a smile on his face. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Don¡¯t let yourselves be captured by the Goblins Assassins or you are going to face the Goblin Supreme King - the first kingdom boss.¡± Their Kingdom Instructor said. ¡°Where¡¯s the Kingdom?¡± Alek asked while zooming in and out his camcorder. ¡°Not every Kingdom has a Castle, you know.¡± The Instructor said. ¡°That¡¯s the Kingdom.¡± He pointed at the Cave Entrance. ¡°Please come back before dark on Friday. We¡¯ll give you this, so that you¡¯ll know the time.¡± He had given them a watch. ¡°We make head count every time if you don¡¯t go back it means the Goblins got you. Kill a mage goblin and it will drop a save stick.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like a save point. Activate it by saying this word. ¡°Gulagu Surhsdhsfk!¡± and dance while you say that. When I say you; I mean all of you.¡± Mark understood the words. ¡°Thy cave lord will grant us magic.¡± ¡°Can you-¡° ¡°No demonstration. Just do it.¡± The Kingdom Info guide cut them off. ¡°Now, go on. You guys are already late from the rest.¡± I hope this goes well. He thought while on the way to the entrance of the cave. Chapter 8 - Attack! ¡°Hear the song of my people!¡± A guy in a rockstar outfit shouted and strung the strings of his red rock guitar. Above him the ¡°HearMePlebeians¡± Lvl 2¡± can be seen. A mismatch tune started to play; a slow moving light came from the guitar and attacked a goblin. Attack [-2] The surrounding Goblins laughed at the menial attack that the rockstar made. ¡°fsfhsfhskfh!¡± One of the goblins tried to mimic the attack of the player and its peers kept on laughing. The rockstar outfit guy slowly walked towards one of the laughing goblins. ¡°It seems that the melody of my people didn¡¯t reach you. So, let me instill it to you.¡± He started to raise the guitar upward. ¡°THHHWAK.¡± [-8] A gruesome sound made when the guitar hit the Goblin¡¯s head. ¡°Not laughing now are we?¡± The rock guitar hero maniacally laughed as he kept on hitting the heads of the goblins. ¡°ORA! ORA! ORA!¡± The goblins growled and began to attack the player ¡°HearMePlebeians¡±. ¡°Let me help.¡± A guy in colorful dancing clothes started moving his feet. A north and south neon colored tiles hitting the zombies. [-4] [-3] [-4] One person started singing horribly while banging his head back and forth. The goblins began to put their hands over their ears to block out the ¡°music¡±. A guy behind a drum set began slamming the drumsticks against the drums while throwing a drumstick once in a while. ¡°Take these suckers!¡± [-5] The goblins were over powered. ¡°Deym. This is when internet people goes to afterlife, eh?¡± Luke said. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with your Generation?¡± Grandpa asked, pointing out the massacre scene in front of them. ¡°He¡¯s not from my Generation, Gramps.¡± Mark said. Grandpa looked at Luke. ¡±Hey! Don¡¯t look at me. I don¡¯t know him.¡± Luke said. ¡°This is fun.¡± Alek recording the whole session with his videocamera. ¡°Anyone want some tea?¡± Grandma offered to them. They are currently sitting on a looking like having a picnic. Unbeknownst to the people around them, they were observing how the fighting system works. They had to do it, because they have him- a person who hadn¡¯t played for ten years, and two grandparents who don¡¯t play games much before. Mark sipped the hot cup of tea. Grandma took a thermos with them. Now he knew what it was for. Honestly, he didn¡¯t mind. The tea tasted great. ¡°Are those the Marching Band Team?¡± The voice behind them said. ¡°Dang¡¯ it. I don¡¯t wanna be near them. Team, let¡¯s go on the other side.¡± A group of armor clad people walked to their left side. Completely ignoring the massacre of the group of goblins in front of them. ¡°We should also go to the floors where there are few players to level up.¡± Luke pointed out. ¡°There are a lot of people here to level up.¡± A Goblin with staff suddenly blew a horn. ¡°Kraaaaakzhhfittt¡± Random words were spewing by the goblin. Mark understood it. ¡°Hey! Marching Band it¡¯s summoning something!¡± he called out the dork group. The group taken stopped hitting the goblins and looked at him in a surprise. ¡°What? Who are you?¡± The drummer guy asked. The Goblin Mage hit its staff on the ground. The cave surrounding them started to vibrate. The Marching Band take on its defense.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Get ready! He¡¯s right. The ugly thing is doing something!¡± The drummer shouted. ¡°Did the Guides say anything about this?¡± Mark asked Luke. ¡°There must be something written about this on the Guide.¡± ¡°Let me see.¡± Luke opened The Ultimate Monster Nope-Fest Guide Volume I book. ¡°Anything yet? The Goblin might attack us anytime now.¡± He said looking at a dark spikey head getting out from the ground. ¡°Here.¡± Luke stated. Alek went to see the book through his videocamera. ¡°It says here; get the fuck out of there.¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Yeah. It say¡¯s here.¡± Alek confirmed looking at the page. ¡°The Goblin Mage summoned if feel threatened. If you¡¯re level 5 below, please get the fuck out of there.¡± ¡°Well, that means let¡¯s pack up and get out of here.¡± Grandpa said, standing up. He looked to his right where his summoned cards are. ¡°Help us, you two.¡± The card with ace of hearts approached Grandma and helped her fold the blankets. ¡°Thank you, dear.¡± Grandma said to the cards, and sighed. ¡°Where do we go now?¡± ¡°Let us where the other players went.¡± Alek suggested. ¡°It¡¯s over there.¡± They looked at their left where the team previously went. ¡°AAAAAHHH HELP US!¡± Several echoes can be heard from the distance. "Or not." Luke said upon hearing the echoes of the dying people. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to go there, guys.¡± Alek zooming in the cave. ¡°There are a dozen of level 3 Goblins there. They might kill us on the spot.¡± They looked at each other. Lost at what to do. ¡°Isn¡¯t it more dangerous we don¡¯t know how to fight?¡± Luke reasoned. ¡°Should we try practicing on whatever that thing is summoning?¡± ¡°GGGGGGGAAARRRGGGGHHHH!¡± Three level 7 wolves appeared. They started growling menacingly against the Marching Band Team. ¡°jshjkdhfksfh!¡± The Goblin Mage pointed to its enemies. The three started attacking the Marching Band Team. The other goblins started attacking also. The Goblin Mage put up his staff and started chanting. The goblins were enveloped by a green light and their wounds disappeared. ¡°We can do this! No one can stop our passion for music!¡± HearMePleabians shouted. ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s rock and roll dudes!¡± The mismatched tune gotten louder. Their monitors showed up: Your comrades are happy and energized. You feel the energy of their shared music. Defense [+2] ¡°We¡¯ve been affected by their passive ability.¡± Alek said while looking at his own Menu. He looked at the Marching Band Team. They were being bitten by the summoned wolves. The Rockstar kept on hitting the grey one latched on its right foot. ¡°I think we should help them.¡± Mark suggested. ¡°We can overwhelm the goblins by our sheer numbers.¡± They all nodded. ¡°How do we attack- was it?¡± Grandpa asked. ¡°Swing your sword, Gramps. It¡¯s like real life. Then, there will be numbers appearing it means that will be the damage taken by the enemy.¡± Luke explained while swinging his crappy sword. Grandpa nodded. ¡°All right I can do that. Menu. Items.¡± Mark also took out the Shoddy Sword and Shoddy Shield and equipped them from his items. The Beginners Blessing You¡¯ve equipped the 2 pieces of Shoddy Equipment. The Beginner Swordsmith can feel that you¡¯ve used his equipment and felt elated. As a thanks, he gives this blessing to you. Defense [+1] Attack [+1] Note: Can only be activated when equipped. ¡°Minimize.¡± He looked at his team. The others equipped their swords and ready to go. ¡°All righty. Let¡¯s help them.¡± They ran to the side of the Marching Band. ¡°Hey! We¡¯re here to help!¡± Luke shouted at the team. The Goblin Mage realized this and looked afraid. It tried hitting the ground but no wolf came. ¡°Thanks!¡± The drummer said while his eyes still on the goblins. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s out of mana.¡± Grandma took a swing of her sword and hit the grey wolf. [ -5] The grey wolf whimpered and let the guy go from his hold. ¡°Okay. Let me try.¡± Mark said, swinging the shoddy sword at the incoming wolf. ¡°Tooot¡± [-1] ¡°That was your attack sound? It sounds like someone tried farted silently¡± HearMePlebeians observed. ¡°Shuddup!¡± His ears began to turn red. ¡°I¡¯m just warming up.¡± I¡¯m weak. He looked at his sword. It really is a trash sword. He glanced the Marching Band Team attacking. Maybe, I¡¯m not suitable for sword fighting? He looked at the orb beside him. I¡¯m pretty sure this was attacking when I played the game last time. Does it have a menu or something? I can¡¯t remember. ¡°All right. Let¡¯s do this!¡± Luke announced, running towards the scared Goblin Mage. ¡°We need to take this one out first.¡± Luke started swinging his sword against the Goblin Mage. [-8] [-7] [-9] ¡°Kwaaak.¡± The Goblin Mage made a gurgling sound. It grasped its own neck and was breathing heavily. All stood still. The remaining goblins were confused and tried to help the mage. [-15] ¡°That was my skill.¡± Alek stated. ¡°If you look at my videocamera, you will see hands strangling the goblin.¡± ¡°What a nasty skill.¡± The drummer dude with ¡°iHitSplendidly Lvl 2.¡± Inscription said. ¡°Hey! It¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Alek said, embarrassed. The Goblin Mage made a dying sound and stopped moving. Defeated [+25 Exp] ¡°Ho!¡± Grandpa looked impressed. ¡°Let me try.¡± He slowly walked in the direction of the goblins and swung his sword against the neck on his right. [-15] Defeated [+10 Exp] Its decapitated head rolled towards the other goblins. Effectively, The Marching Band cheered when they saw the moves that Grandpa did. ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡± ¡°Now, that¡¯s a kill.¡± ¡°Gramps, join our team!¡± ¡°We¡¯re here too, you know.¡± Luke said. ¡°They can¡¯t hear you.¡± Alek said. ¡°Gramps is strong. I thought he only played Online Solitaire?¡± He expressed his thoughts. ¡°Beats me.¡± Luke sighed, staring at Grandpa while he decapitate the goblins one by one. "But, one thing''s for sure; that''s one of a hell of a Solitaire, Bro." Chapter 9 - Weak The remaining wolves kept snapping its jaws at them. Even the Goblin Mage was gone, the wolves continue to be on fighting them. [-4] ¡°These wolves have high defense.¡± HearMePlebians observed as his attack barely made a damage to the wolf. They''ve been attacking the wolves for 10 minutes now and they can tell the huge difference between them and the wolves. ¡°We can¡¯t see any health line.¡± Alek observed. ¡°How are we going to know if were already defeating them?¡± "I am seeing a healthline." Luke said. "Me too." Most on their team agreed. "We don''t." Marching Band said. He looked at the wolves, there were no lifeline indication appeared anywhere. "Me too." Mark nodded. "I can''t see any lifeline." "It depends on the game, huh?" Alek looked dumbfounded. "It has an HP of 155 left." Luke informed them. "It''s coming." Gramps shouted. The wolves were agile. They were attacking one by one, but the wolves kept dodging their attacks. ¡°We need it to attack it all -" HearMePlebians'' shout halted when one of the wolves moved. It bared its teeth to Grandma, charges towards her. ¡°Grandma!¡± They shouted. The summoned card of ace of spades immediaty in front of her, shielding her from the attack. The wolves bit the card hard. It''s paper body made a tearing sound. The wolf grind its teeth. The teared paper between its fangs. [-20] It incurred damages. A black pool of blood came out of summoned card. The ace of hearts ran and sat beside the coughing card. It clasped its hands and made a continuous voiceless mumbles. [+10] A notification of healing appeared on the Ace of Card''s head. ¡°It can heal?¡± They all looked at the pink ace of hearts card in awe, like a messiah walked among the most pitiful creatures. It¡¯s face looked solemn. [+10] The other wolf lowered its head, signaling an attack. Mark ran infont of Grandma and shielded her from the attack. The wolf cried out when it bashed its head on his shield. [-10] He lossened his grip on the shield''s and looked at his hand. The blisters were starting to form. ¡°You okay, Grandma?¡± Mark asked, gripping on the handle firmly. ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡± She looked at the summoned card. ¡°Be careful, dearies. The wolf is quite fast.¡± ¡°Can you do your skill again, Alek?¡± Luke asked. ¡°Status.¡± Alek commanded. The black monitor appeared in front of Alek and he skimmed through it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m out of mana.¡± ¡°It will take a while to use it again.¡± Alek informed them. ¡°Shit.¡± Luke cursed. ¡°How about you guys?¡± He looked at the members of the Marching Band Team. ¡°We also don¡¯t have any mana left.¡± iHitSpendidly said. ¡°We don¡¯t have money to buy Mana Potions.¡± ¡°We should have bought one too.¡± Luke said in regret. ¡°This is bad.¡± ¡°I have a shield.¡± Mark said. ¡°I¡¯ll fend it off after it attacks. Then, attack it from behind.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll do the same.¡± iHitSplendidly said. ¡°I¡¯ll fend the other one off with my drums as a shield.¡± The wolf bared its fangs against Mark. ¡°Here it goes!¡± He shouted as the wolf started charging on their way. His fists tightened aganst the metal handle, anticipating the wolf. The wolf attack made huge thumping sounds against his shield. His palms watered as the blisters increases. "Now!" He shouted. "HAHHH!!!" His teammates attacked the wolf from behind. The wolf cried out several times. He can''t see what was happening with the shield in front of him. The wolf growled and made snapping sounds. He lowered the shield and saw the wolf preparing to attack Gramps. He gripped the lower part of the shield and bashed the wolf from behind. [0] It howled, distrated. "Let''s do that again." Luke said and huffed. "I think that was effective." They did it again. The others keep on hitting randomly on its hind to get its attention as the others attack it. "50 HP. We can defeat it!" Luke said.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. [-15] [-3] ... "Now!" Grampa took a swift swing of his sword towards its neck. Defeated[+30] "Yeeeeeea!" "We can''t celebrate yet. There''s one more!" Their eyes went to the struggling Marching Band Team. "Come on!" Gramps beckoned and ran. They nodded and followed him. ----------------------------------------------------------- Level Up! A greenish glow surrounded Gramps as he took the last swing on the Lvl 7 Wolf. "Subarashi!" Luke jumped in excitement, his voice echoed all over the cave. "Eh, what''s happenin''?" Gramps innocently asked. "You''ve level up, Gramps." Alek explained to the elderly. "Meaning you are stronger." "Level what?" The harsh lines on Gramps forehead deepened. "Uhhh." "That''s-." No one was able to answer it. All of them looked at each other with questioning face. "Have you explained his Status?" iHitSplendidly asked, pointing a drumstick to them. "....what status?" Grandma asked, smiling at them. Mark looked at the innocent face of Grandma. Where should they begin explaining? "Oh yeah. We have that." Mark said. When no one responded. "Right?" He remembered there''s a status option on his monitor. Though, he haven''t opened it yet. He looked at Luke. Luke smiled sheepishly. "We kinda forgot?" The Marching Band looked at them unbelievingly. "Who are you?The Game of Sword Chair* writers?" "Sheesh." "Poor people." "Let''s take a break." HearMePlebians said, tiredness evident on his voice. "This is going to take long." -------------------------- "A status, like its name suggest, is a collective information on what you have as a player." Alek explained while adjusting his glasses. "What? I deeply thought about it. It''s correct right?" They had resumed to drinking tea while sitting on blankets in the middle of the cave. There were a lot of people looked at them weirdly as they passed by them. Some even telling them "Nice, you even got your grandparents here." The Marching Band also joined them on their ''picnic''. They will help on attempting to explain the Status on the elderlies. It was the basics of all basics. But to the elderly it''s like explaining what a computer is. They''ve played rock-paper-scissors to determine who will explain it to them. Alek lost and now made the technical explanation. Gramps and Grandma looked at Alek blankly. Every single one of them can see that they didn''t get anything on what Alek said. "What he means, Gramps." Luke interjected. "It displays if how strong or weak you are." "It doesn''t say I''m strong or weak in here." Gramps said, pointing on his Status. Luke opened his mouth, but no words came. His eyes looked lost while his eyes are set at Gramps. "It''s in number form Gramps." Mark said. "And you get stronger as you level up as you did now." Luke looked at him thankfully. "That''s right, Gramps." "Yep, Gramps!" HearMePlebians said, happily. "What''s your strength?" Gramps adjusted his glasses. "It''s 20." "Eh? 20 at level 2?" HearMePlebians said. "You''re strong. Mines only at 6... I wanna cry." "Damn. Mines 3." Alek said disappointed, looking at his black monitor. "Horror gamers only need agility. No need for strength." "Oohh. My strength is 8." Grandma said. Her pink monitor was HearMePlebians mouth''s agape at Grandma''s strength. "You are stronger than me, Grandma." His eyes turned sadder. "Now, I really wanted to cry." He said sniffing. "Looser." "Boo!" "What''s your score, huh?" HearMePlebians asked his groupmates. "Mines 4." TippityTappityToes Lvl 2 proudly said. "Weak." WhatThe?YouSuck Lvl 2 said, throwing his microphone at him. The Marching Band got noisier on who''s the weakest. Mark got curious to what his strength was. It can''t be that bad? "Maximize. Status." Mark commanded. His status flashed in front of him. Wait. His eyes blinked slowly. His eyes must be tired. Strength: 0 (+1) "Minimize." He commanded. "Maximize. Status." Strength: 0 (+1) It must be an error. He wiped his eyes and looked at it a little bit closer. Strength: 0 (+1) The large 0 Strength screamed at him. This world calling me weak in so many levels. Mark realized that even in afterlife unfairness still happens. That or the game system is dicking with me. "How''s yours, Mark?" Alek asked, his camcorder zooming on his crestfallen face. He didn''t answer. His eyes still fixed at the status monitor. Alek got curious and looked over. His eyebrows shot upwards. "You okay?" His voice full of pity. "Damn Son." HearMePlebians said, his eyes fixated on his monitor. "That''s okay, Bro." Luke put his hand on Mark''s shoulder. "We can always level up." "Hey." Luke waved his hand in front of Mark''s face. "Eh. He''s dead." "How is Strength even measured in this world though?" Alek asked. "It must have some kind of mechanic." "Ah!" Mark remembered the Muscle Head Mayor and the shopkeeper. DoughnutKin had some serious muscles too. Luke said when Mark . "He''s alive again." "Do you remember the Mayor and Shopkeeper?" Mark asked Luke. Then, looked at the others. "Or the higher level ones." "Yeah." "They got some serious Muscles right?" They all looked at Gramps. Gramps noticed them and stopped drinking tea. "What?" Grandpa looked at them nervously. Luke stood up and grasped Granpa''s oversized tunic; revealing a well shaped muscled arm. Alek whistled. "He''s packed." Mark looked at his slender arms which was only a third of Grandpa''s size. "Damien had always been like that." Grandma said matter of factly. "Afterall, he was a Marine." "So, that''s the reason." Alek zoomed in on Granpa''s specs. "Knew it wasn''t Solitaire." "So, we should train?" "Is there even a gym at this world?" "None." "I can train you." Granpa offered and smiled mysteriously. "I was after all a good trainor before I died." Marks'' hairs behind his back stood up with Gramps smile. "Hahaha-" Mark laughed nervously. "Maybe, next time, Grandpa." "Nice hang-out you got there." Their conversation was cut from a comment from a player behind them. "Nice to see you again! Goblins defeated you again?" iHitSplendidlys'' snarky reply. "Tsk!" Their apparent leader ignored him and moved towards the deeper part of the cave. Not even 15 minutes passed and they saw them again. Still, ignoring them. They all looked at Gramps. "Sooo...Where do we sign up with this training camp thing?" HearMePlebians asked. "Here right now." Gramps said with a triumphant smile on his lips. "Huh?" "What?" It was their turn to look confuse while looking at the now devious smile of Gramps.