《Korean Grindfest Online》


 Prologue - Go Ahead, Trust the Genie

    In a small, dark, chilly yet not cold bedroom, a soft breath noise was audible in rhythm with a rising and falling blanket. A young man lay sleeping, a slightly prominent nose visible under tousled brown hair. Outside, the street was silent except for some fallen leaves rustling in the wind. A clock chimed, the information that it was two in the morning falling on deaf ears, as far as this bedroom''s occupant was concerned.


    Minutes later, a point of light glittered into existence next to the bed. Floating a few feet above the ground, it slowly and soundlessly expanded into a sphere, spawning smaller spheres that moved around it in intricate patterns. As the light grew larger and its companions started describing wider arcs, a dark object showed up in the center of the sphere. Its shape became more discernable as its size increased, until a slightly translucent, turban-wearing man looked down upon the sleeper.


    His face was dominated by a black beard, tanned skin contrasted with white robes, and gemstone rings on his fingers sparkled slightly in the remnants of the lights surrounding him.


    "Wake up, oh sleeper, for thy wish has been granted!"


    A loud snore was the only answer. A sigh escaped the floating man.


    "Wake up, oh sleeper, for thy wish has been granted!", he repeated.


    Not even a snore this time, just rhythmic breathing. From his sitting position in the air, the bearded man moved his hand toward the young man''s face and flicked the sleeper''s nose. Two eyes popped open, and a hand shot to the disturbed olfactory organ.


    "Ouch! What the... Who are you? What did you do that for?"


    "Wake up, oh sleeper, for thy wish has been granted!"


    "Well, I''m awake, mister genie! Now what?"


    "Thy wish has been granted. Take hold of my hand and enter the realm thou hast dreamt of."


    The young man blinked a few times.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "I''m not just going to take your hand! What is all this? What realm?"


    "The realm of Korean Grindfest Online, as thou requestedst."


    "Wait, what? Take me to KGO? You can''t be serious!"


    "I assure thee that I speak only the truth."


    "Well, you''re about 10 years late, buddy! I haven''t played that game for a long time. And I''m not planning to do so now! I need to sleep, gotta go to work tomorrow and all that. So leave me alone!"


    "I sincerely regret my tardiness, oh wisher. I have sought long and hard for thee."


    "Right. Hope the way back is easier to find. Bye!"


    The young man turned his back to the genie and covered his head with his blanket.


    "Pray, do not refuse the fulfillment of thy wish! Thou hast dreamt this dream strongly, and the divine beings have heard thy cries! I am but a humble servant, and shall not be allowed to return to my dwelling till thy wish has been granted!"


    "Hold on! Just... too many fancy words, too many syllables..."


    The young man sat up and looked at the genie.


    "You''re telling me you can''t go home until you''ve granted my wish?"


    "Thou hast comprehended my plight!"


    "Fine. I wish for you to go home!"


    "I may only return after fulfilling the original wish granted by the divine beings, exalted they shall be!"


    "And that wish is to take me to KGO?"


    "Truly, thine intellect shines bright with..."


    "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let''s..."


    The young man sighed.


    "Let me get this straight. If I take your hand, I will, bodily, be transported to the world of KGO?"


    "Thy body shall vanish from this realm, but only for thy spirit to inhabit a game character''s avatar. Thy body shall reappear for thy use when thou returnest!"


    "Return? I will be able to come back?"


    "Indeed! After thou achievest the level of 120, thou mayest return to thy birth realm."


    The young man furrowed his brow and sat still for a moment.


    "Will time here go on while I''m there?"


    "When thou returneth, not more than one of twelve parts of the face of the timekeeper shall have passed!"


    Massaging his temples, the young man closed his eyes for a moment.


    "You''re telling me I will return no more than five minutes after I left, no matter how long I spend in KGO?"


    "Indeed!"


    A silence fell, interrupted only by the sound of more leaves being blown across the pavement. The genie slowly drifted a few inches up and down, his gaze never wavering from the other''s face.


    "Well, I can''t believe I''m saying this, but alright. I''ll do it."


    "The divine beings be praised! Take my hand, oh blessed one!"


    "You''re sure there isn''t a catch?"


    "The divine beings have smiled upon thy countenance, thy dreams to make reality! Reachest level 120, and thou shalt return as thou wilt!"


    "Ah heck, never say no to adventure!"


    The young man reached up and took the genie''s now outstretched hand. A brief flash lighted the room, and both figures disappeared, leaving the bedroom silent and empty in their wake.

 Chapter 1 - Graphics and Game Logic. Oh, and Death!

    The moment I touched the genie''s hand, I felt myself disappear. It was a strange feeling, not entirely unpleasant, as if my body quickly turned into air. I tried to blink my eyes, only to realize that I didn''t have eyes anymore. Or eyelids to blink, at least. I could still see, though all I saw at the moment was darkness occasionally disturbed by colorful patterns of light.


    After an indeterminable interval (time didn''t appear to have meaning in my current state), a familiar landscape faded into view. KGO''s login screen. After a moment of panicking if I would still remember my old password, I noticed that I could already progress to the character selection screen. Phew! It would have been embarrassing to have to ask the genie for my password.


    Speaking of which, where did he go? I looked around ¨C apparently I could still do that (oh wow, when you look away from the login screen background you see clipped 3D models and endless sky, weird!). He wasn''t to be seen. Great, maybe I shouldn''t have trusted him. Too late now.


    With no other options in sight, I touched the character creation button. That is, I attempted to move my nonexistent hand toward it, and despite nothing moving at all the button lit up and activated. Creepy. At least I can interact with the game interface, though.


    The view faded to black, to be replaced with a stone gallery occupied by game characters of different classes. Oh, the nostalgia! To my now spoiled eyes, the models looked jagged and pointy. Darn, I used to think the world of these graphics! Still, the colors and animations aren''t so bad.


    Without a doubt in my mind, I selected the priestess character. Gender-locked, of course (did I mention the word Korean anywhere in this story?), but the only class with healing abilities. Not to mention badass holy magic. Of all the characters I''d played, priestesses definitely fit my play style best.


    Selecting my favorite face from the whopping three pre-programmed choices, the lack of option paralysis made me smile. Next, the game presented me with a text field and asked for a character name. If I had cheeks, they would color with my memory of the names I chose when I originally played the game. No, thank you! In my defense, I really thought they were cool at the time.


    I considered for a moment, then entered "Laila". Looking at it, it looked... happy. Joyful. It spoke to me. I selected the OK button. A dialog appeared, warning me that I was about to finalize my choices. I selected "Confirm". The view faded to black again, and then I lost consciousness.


    I woke up in a dizzying spin, flashes of light all around me. I landed on my feet and almost keeled over. The sudden literal jump into existence was overwhelming. Blinking my eyes, I tried to focus on the object in the center of my vision. It was a bush, texture artifacts clearly showing at the edges of its leaves. Ah, the good old days.


    Staring at the greenery, I took some time to come to my senses. I remembered the spawning animation from when I played the game in the past. It just never occurred to me how disorienting it would be to begin existence that way as a real person. Or a game character avatar. Or a spirit inhabiting one, at least.


    After a bit more time, I felt that I was getting my bearings, though something still felt off. Looking around, I realized that everything seemed too tall. And the ground was too close. Wait, of course! Game characters in KGO were about five foot six in height, about a head smaller than my real height. This feels weird.


    I shook it off and looked down at myself. I was wearing a plain dress, white with a few black lines here and there. Long ribbons of white cloth were wound around my feet and ankles. My hands looked absolutely ridiculous. They had thumbs, but the other ¡°fingers¡± were separated only by black lines, not actual space. It should feel strange, but it didn¡¯t. In fact, it didn¡¯t feel at all. Nothing of my whole avatar did. Hm. I guess the game wasn¡¯t programmed with sensory input in mind other than vision and sound.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Speaking of sound, the game music actually played in the background. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. That was going to get annoying in a hurry. I tried to access the game options dialog, only to realize in horror that KGO¡¯s sound settings were in the launcher, not the actual game. In other words, you had to shut down the game to change volume. Great! This was going to be a long day.


    *****


    A few minutes later, I had walked around the city and ¡°talked¡± to a few NPC¡¯s. Starting without any money or items to my name, there was no buying and selling to do, and all the NPCs just displayed their default speech blurbs when I tried to interact with them. True to its name, Korean Grindfest Online never had any quests to speak of, so there really wasn¡¯t anything to do but to leave the city and slay some monsters. Doing so would give me experience, money and items. If I got lucky, maybe even an item that I could use.


    Walking to the city gates, I passed the two guards that always stood there and never fought any monsters. Game logic. Monsters never get close to the city gates, but there are guards posted anyway. Perhaps it¡¯s related to the concept of having a banana in your ear to scare off crocodiles.


    Outside the city, rolling grasslands stretched out to the horizon (the horizon being the maximum drawing distance, which was clearly visible at about 200 feet). The moment I stepped on the grass, the city music faded out and a funk-like battle music started playing. Though it was annoying that I couldn¡¯t turn it off, after all those years the tune still did it for me. I ran away from the city for a while until I heard a cute sound behind me.


    I turned around and saw a light brown ball of fur with large black eyes, long ears and two big rodent¡¯s teeth sticking out of its mouth. It was hopping toward me, occasionally repeating the cute sound. My game knowledge identified it as a Rabbit, one of the low-level monsters. All monsters in KGO attack on sight, no matter what. Looking at the creature from a first-person perspective instead of a third-person one, though, it seemed a crime to harm it. On an impulse, I held out my arms to give it a hug. Bad idea.


    Instead of hopping into my open arms, it bumped into my upper legs, and some red particle effects that were supposedly meant to look like blood sprang from my avatar. ¡°Hey!¡± I yelled, only to be answered by another bump and more damage. ¡°Alright, you asked for it!¡± I said, and hit its face with my hands (though I¡¯m not sure they qualify as hands with the fingers glued together). The rabbit flinched in pain but immediately attacked again. I heard another one approaching behind me. I shook my head. What did I expect? Just like the old days.


    Lulled into a trance by the music and the repetitive fighting, I quickly dispatched the Rabbit and five of its friends. One of them dropped a potion, which I immediately drank to restore my largely depleted HP, and two of the others dropped gold coins. As I focused on the seventh one, a familiar noise very close behind me stopped me in my tracks. It was the attack cry of a Lesser Wolf, the strongest monster in the area immediately outside the city. It only spawned every 60 monsters or so, but apparently it had just spawned right on my back. And I was unarmored. And without potions. And a priestess, possibly the most vulnerable class. And still level 1. CRAP!


    I started running, but three bites of the monster had already brought my hp down to the danger zone. It ran after me, in eery silence as most monsters do not have footstep sounds in KGO. As I reached the edge of the monster-free zone surrounding the city, I heard another attack cry about ten feet behind me, and my character yelped and fell on her face. By all that is thought up after at least three glasses of beer at 2am or later, WHY did the game¡¯s battle system have to count that as a hit?! Stupid old game shenanigans!


    Lying on my face, all I could see were about four pixels of ground texture. They seemed far too bright; like most entities in KGO, my character only cast a fixed circle of shadow, which was now centered beneath my belly and too small to encompass my head and lower legs. As I lay considering this, a sudden feeling of dread put a cold hand around my heart. Did I just doom myself by dying before reaching level 120?

 Chapter 2 - Of Invisible Gloves and Indispensable Allies

    Still lying on the ground, my fears were happily silenced by the respawn timer appearing in my sight. It slowly made its way to zero, and before I realized what was happening, the dizzying spin and flashing colors almost swept me off my feet again. That spawn animation has to die! If I had a stomach, I would probably vomit right now.


    Speaking of stomachs: KGO didn¡¯t have a food/hunger system. I suspected that that meant I wouldn¡¯t have to eat during my stay in the game. Heck, I would need a mirror to see if I even had a mouth. Without a sense of touch, such a thing is actually hard to determine. But to my best recollection, there never were any mirrors in the game. Just great. Well, we¡¯ll see.


    After coming to my senses, I realized that I was staring at the exact same bush I spawned in front of before. I blinked at it. Checking the game interface, I found that dying had cost me some experience points and a bit of money. Death wasn¡¯t a big deal on low levels, the cost of it could be earned back in seconds or minutes. At higher levels, however, it takes a lot longer to grind back the experience lost. If I wanted to reach level 120, I would have to avoid death like the plague. Not that disease existed in KGO, but you get the idea.


    The pathetic amount of gold coins I had earned so far wouldn¡¯t get me any equipment, but it was enough to buy me a single minor health potion. I looked a bit sheepishly at the NPC lady selling it to me. I doubt people often bought a single health potion from her; potions are so cheap and so commonly used in the game that players usually buy at least twenty of them in one transaction. Lucky for me that NPCs didn¡¯t appear to be intelligent. And at least I would now have a potion if another Lesser Wolf attacked me.


    Returning to the area outside the city (very creatively called the Rolling Plains), I started killing Rabbits again. Occasionally, a Caterpillar would spawn, a light green oversized bug consisting of four spheroid segments. True to the game¡¯s style, it looked rather cute, with large eyes and boots on all its feet. Its bump attack was just as bad as the Rabbit¡¯s, though.


    Fighting with my hand-like appendages quickly got old, but until I earned enough gold to buy a wand, all I could do was pray to whatever entities governed the distribution of loot to favor me with one. Despite my pious character choice, they seemed to disregard my pleas. Aside from gold and some potions, I found a bow, a shield, two pieces of armor I couldn¡¯t wear, two light axes, a ring with no effects, a sword, a mace, a steel claw, a pair of boots that required too much dexterity for my current stats, and a pair of gloves.


    Well, at least I could wear the gloves. I put them on to receive an amazing 1 extra defense. Yay! Now the next Lesser Wolf would have 1.3% less chance to hit me. Considering my luck so far, I wasn¡¯t holding my breath. Also, despite having the gloves equipped, my hand were still bare when I looked at them. I knew they would receive gloves once I equipped my first armor, which would also change the appearance of my dress in a way not necessarily related to the look of the armor. Old game logic.


    After smacking another Caterpillar into oblivion, a pillar of light rose up from my character and the words ¡°LEVEL UP!¡± appeared above my head. Finally! I mashed the button to invest my five newly acquired stat points into Intelligence (INT), the reasonable choice for my class. INT increases a priestess¡¯ attack damage, spell efficacy, mana pool and mana regeneration. Considering that casting spells is pretty much the only thing this class does well, other stats should be raised exclusively to allow wearing good equipment.


    Since I could only learn my first spell after reaching level 10, and I still didn¡¯t have enough gold for a decent weapon, more grinding was in order. As I slapped another Rabbit approaching me, I noticed a new window popping up in the game interface. ¡°Tori: Hey, sister!¡± it said. I realized that it was the chat window, and looked at it while I considered my reply (and continued beating the Rabbit to a pulp, of course). To my surprise, the text field filled with my thoughts, and I sent them off with a mental nod: ¡°Laila: Hey, cool, another player! Where are you?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Right behind you!¡± she replied. I finished off the Rabbit and turned around. Standing in front of me was an archer character, though I only recognized her as such from game knowledge, as she wasn¡¯t carrying a bow. She was clothed in a red shirt and a short red skirt, with pins in her brown hair and two watchful-looking green eyes. ¡°Can I join in the fun?¡± appeared above her head and in my chat window. ¡°Sure thing!¡± I replied, and sent her a party*</a> invite. She accepted, and the interface told me she was level 1.


    ¡°I found some equipment you can use, I¡¯ll drop it for you to take,¡± I chatted. I took the bow, one of the armors and the boots and put them on the ground. She quickly picked them up and equipped them. ¡°Thanks! Haven¡¯t found anything for yourself yet?¡± she asked. ¡°Nope. Well, some basic gloves, but they don¡¯t do much,¡± was my reply. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll have to do the damage then,¡± she said.


    And she did. With a ranged weapon, she didn¡¯t have to wait for monsters to get close, killing most of them before they could even reach her. I admired her attacks for a moment. In another display of game logic, she did not have a quiver, nor did she have arrows in her inventory. An arrow simply appeared in her hand every time she pulled the bow, only to dissolve into thin air after hitting its target. The repeating attack animation flowed into itself, and she looked like she had been doing this forever and could keep it up indefinitely. I knew the latter to be true, as long as monsters presented themselves to be attacked.


    The armor had changed her outfit when she equipped it. There now was some padding on her clothes, and she wore boots, though not ones matching the boots I had given her. More game logic. ¡°Wand, over there!¡± she said. I rushed to pick it up. It was the most basic type of wand, with a class bonus for the mage class. The bonus would not benefit me, but neither would it prevent me from using the weapon. I equipped it and swung at a Caterpillar. The wand made a satisfying fiery sound, and a small flaming projectile sped toward my target. Upon being hit, the monster flinched and started briskly walking in my direction as I threw the next bit of fire at it. In the end, the creature only managed to attack me once before it perished.


    I sunk back into the trance. Standing next to each other, we slew monster after monster. Tori reached level 2 in less than two minutes, and it wasn¡¯t long before the column of light announced I had reached level 3. Fighting in a party divides experience and gold over the participants, but also adds a bit of bonus experience. With two ranged killers attacking almost non-stop, we gained EXP at a pretty decent pace.


    Suddenly, another Lesser Wolf appeared. Before it could reach us, Tori stepped in front of me and sent an arrow in its direction. ¡°I¡¯ll tank**</a>, I have the armor,¡± she chatted. ¡°Do you have enough potions?¡± I asked, starting to attack the monster as well. ¡°I have two. Should be enough if we don¡¯t miss too many attacks,¡± she replied, taking the first bite without flinching. ¡°Ok, just step back if things get hot, I have four potions,¡± I said, and walked up next to her so the wolf would attack me if she retreated even a single pace. Monsters always attack the closest target in KGO, which can be a blessing as well as a curse.


    Tori ended up drinking both potions, but we took down the Lesser Wolf before her HP got below 50% again. Both of us immediately leveled up, taking us to levels 3 and 4, and I turned to my new ally. ¡°I would high five you if the game supported the animation!¡± I chatted. She replied with a smiley face. We quickly did away with the monsters that had spawned during our fight with the Lesser Wolf, and Tori picked up the large pile of gold that the big monster had dropped. She turned to me and chatted, ¡°Let¡¯s go to town and get you a decent robe¡±. ¡°Sounds like a plan!¡± I replied, running off in the direction of the city gates. She followed a few steps behind me.


    I was in a good mood. Tori seemed to be the right kind of player, we worked well together. If we could keep this up, we would reach level 10 in no time at all, allowing me to get my first spell and her to get her first ability. This is great! Monsters of KGO, beware! Team LaiTo is coming for you!


    <hr>


    Footnotes:


    *</a>: In an MMORPG like KGO, a ¡°party¡± refers to a group of players who have agreed to team up and share the experience points and money they gain. Parties may consist of two to six players and can be formed and disbanded at any moment.


    **</a>: A tank is a character who, in the context of a group, takes the brunt of the attacks of monsters, and/or a character who is well equipped to do so. To tank (as a verb) means to fulfill the role of a tank in a certain situation.

 Chapter 3 - Of Cash Shop Items and Hell Spawns

    As we approached the city gates, a warrior character came running out, apparently just leaving town. He was wielding a dagger and a wooden shield, and his outfit matched the look a level 3 suit of armor gave his class. Apparently the game interpreted my looking at him as the equivalent of a mouseover, because his name showed up above his head: Randy.


    He spotted us moments after we spotted him, and we all came to a stop. ¡°Hey girls!¡± he chatted. ¡°Hi!¡± and ¡°Hey!¡± Tori and I replied, respectively. ¡°Do you know how I can access the cash shop? I wanna buy Gentleman Adventurer¡¯s Armor, but I can¡¯t find the store in the interface,¡± he asked. Tori and I looked at each other. ¡°The cash shop for this game used to be on the website, outside the game client. I¡¯m not sure we can access it in our current state. That is, you¡¯re both inhabiting your characters, too, right?¡± I asked. ¡°I know I am!¡± said Randy, and Tori added ¡°Same here¡±.


    The warrior turned away from us, and then back. ¡°You¡¯re sure about the cash shop, though? Dang, this game is going to suck without bonuses!¡± For all the lack of facial expression in the game, he managed to look disappointed. I smiled internally. ¡°I take it you used to play with cash shop bonuses in the past, then?¡± I asked. ¡°You bet! Who¡¯s got time for the long way around when a few bucks will get you there quicker!¡± was his reply. Tori LOLed. ¡°You¡¯re gonna have a bad time,¡± she added with a grinning smiley face. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine,¡± I said, and followed up with ¡°Would you like to join our party?¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡± he said, and one invitation and acceptance later, we could see he was level 3. ¡°I died a few times, playing without cash shop armor is nuts!¡± he chatted. ¡°Just use potions,¡± Tori pointed out. Randy turned toward her. ¡°I can¡¯t go through potions that fast, I¡¯ll have to go buy new ones every two minutes!¡± he huffed. Something dawned on me. ¡°You haven¡¯t been fighting in the hell spawn, have you?¡± A short silence fell. ¡°Hell spawn¡± refers to a location where the maximum number of monsters spawn. Players usually only fight there with a party of at least five. ¡°What if I have?¡± Randy asked. Tori LOLed again. ¡°Without cash shop items, you¡¯ll need a strong party to take on the hell spawn,¡± I explained. ¡°Cool, let¡¯s go then!¡± was Randy¡¯s reply, and he started running toward the plains. ¡°Wait!¡± I exclaimed. He came running back.


    ¡°We¡¯re not strong enough to be efficient in the hell spawn right now. And Tori and I need to buy and sell first. And I think we should train on a small spawn in Twilight Forest, so we have a chance to get higher level drops.¡± I chatted. Wonderfully convenient to chat with your thoughts, makes writing walls of text a lot easier. ¡°Uhm, ok. I¡¯ll wait,¡± Randy said. ¡°We won¡¯t be long,¡± Tori added. ¡°Just need to get Laila here a decent robe.¡± ¡°A robe?¡± Randy said, turning toward me and back to Tori. ¡°I just sold a level 3 robe with priestess class bonus to an NPC!¡± Now it was Tori¡¯s turn to look back and forth. ¡°This game needs a soundboard with a sad trombone effect,¡± she chatted. Items sold to an NPC were lost forever in KGO. ¡°Never mind,¡± I said, ¡°the bonuses are mostly for spellcasting anyway. Let¡¯s get a robe from an NPC and go to Twilight Forest.¡±


    And so we did. Equipment bought from NPCs is usually overpriced and has the worst possible stats for the item in question. Still, the level 3 robe Tori and I bought did wonders for my defense, and finally covered my creepy hands in plain white gloves. Game logic. My dress looked a lot better, though. It now had purple accents and designs, and despite still looking thin and somewhat cheap, at least it wouldn¡¯t be mistaken for a nightgown. Plus I now looked like I was wearing boots, even though I didn¡¯t have any equipped. I love this game.


    After buying the robe and selling our useless items (I kept the best light axe for Randy, remembering he appeared to have only a dagger), Tori and I returned to the city gates. Randy was still waiting there. ¡°Say, Randy, I saved a light axe for you. Want to have it?¡± ¡°Sure! How much?¡± he said. I blinked. ¡°You can have it for free, I¡¯ll drop it here,¡± I replied. He picked it up and equipped it. ¡°Much better than the dagger, thanks! You sure you don¡¯t want anything?¡± he asked. ¡°As long as we¡¯re partying, everything that helps you helps me, so no, I don¡¯t need anything. Besides, I like to help people,¡± was my reply. ¡°And that, kids, is why Laila became a priestess,¡± added Tori. Randy chatted a smiley face. ¡°You got me!¡± I admitted.


    We departed for Twilight Forest. This was one of the more ironically named areas in the game, as it featured maybe 30 trees in total, all located in a clump far from any monster spawn. I¡¯ve never been sure, but I suspect that the initial version was full of trees, and playtesting revealed that the game¡¯s camera system was woefully unequipped to handle that. Super Mario 64 style, baby. Anyway, the area featured stronger monsters that dropped equipment up to level 7, which would be a great help if we got lucky.Stolen story; please report.


    On the way, we chatted about the game and how we ended up inhabiting our characters. Tori and Randy had also been visited by a genie in the night, spinning a similar tale about wish-fulfillment. Both were men in their late twenties/early thirties who had played KGO in the old days, just like me. Tori liked archers because of the active play style they required, and the large 1vs1 damage they developed on higher levels. Randy had initially picked the warrior class because it was the first option presented, and though he had later experimented with other classes, he found that the balanced toughness of his first choice fit him well. I told them about my love for healing and playing a glass cannon*</a>, and how my best memories of the game were priestess moments.


    We arrived at Twilight Forest and took a right turn to the closest small spawn. When we approached, two monsters appeared. One was shaped like a green cylinder with rounded endings, with white arms and legs and a red bandana around its forehead. It bounced energetically, and looked ready to take on any opponent with its red-gloved fists. A Boxing Bean, my game knowledge told me right before the game interface confirmed it. The other monster was a Firefly, and looked mostly like you would expect from its name, except its wingspan was about 8 inches. I knew it to have a ranged attack, albeit a weak one.


    We charged right at the creatures, Tori sending her first arrow at the Boxing Bean just as it spotted us. It didn¡¯t flinch, not from the attack of a level 3 archer with a level 1 bow. I sent a flame projectile at it as it started running toward Randy. Our warrior missed his first attack and got punched in the chest as the Firefly started shooting sparks and embers at him. As if to make up for missing the first, Randy¡¯s second strike was a critical hit. It made a loud crash of metal against... well, whatever Boxing Bean monsters are made of, and this time the monster did flinch. It still had about 70% of its HP left, though.


    With the three of us attacking it, the Boxing Bean didn¡¯t last long. Just as it was about to fall, a second one spawned on Randy¡¯s left. Considering that Boxing Beans do a lot more damage than Fireflies, we switched our targets to the newly spawned monster after its predecessor went down. We made quick work of it, only to be rewarded by two monsters spawning, another Boxing Bean and another Firefly. ¡°Tori, can you take down the Fireflies? My fire-type attack won¡¯t hurt them much,¡± I chatted. ¡°Leave it to me,¡± she replied, and walked around us to get a shot at the ranged monsters without provoking any unnecessary attacks.


    She killed off the Fireflies with just a few attacks each, their relatively low defense no match for her arrows. Just as she returned to help out with the Boxing Beans, a Forest Mushroom spawned. Its attack could result in getting poisoned, dealing damage over time and slightly slowing the target. Before I had even started writing a chat message, all three of us switched our attacks as one to the newly spawned monster. I gave a mental nod. ¡°It¡¯s good to play with veterans,¡± I chatted. Smiley faces were my reward.


    We fell into a comfortable rhythm together, Randy being able to stay alive using the potions the monsters dropped. Every now and then, one of us was bathed in the column of light signifying a level up. After Tori found a better bow, things went even smoother. I found a pair of boots I could actually wear, and a ring that gave me an extra Hit Point. Not that 37 to 38 is a big difference, but I remembered at least two occasions in my former years of playing the game where I survived with 1 HP. Randy found a decent shield, and we all picked up lots of smaller things. I¡¯m sure Tori and Randy equipped some of them, but the game graphics only show armor and weapon changes, and things would get quite spammy if players chatted about every small upgrade.


    Before we knew it, our inventories were full of stuff we couldn¡¯t use, and we went back to town to buy and sell. By this time, all three of us had reached level 8, and we resolved to move our operation to the Forgotten Swamps. Though I did not know it yet, two things awaited us in this miry expanse: a new friend, and a discovery my years of playing the game had not prepared me for...


    <hr>


    Footnotes:


    *</a>: A glass cannon is a highly vulnerable character able to inflict high damage from a distance. Playing it carries a greater risk of death in return for gaining EXP more quickly. Depending on the game, a concentrated playstyle can reduce the risk of death.

 Chapter 4 - Swamp Fumes and Crazed Crusaders

    Back in the city, we unloaded our inventories to various NPCs, who were happy to relieve us of our superfluous items at 20% of their value. I bought a level 7 wand so I wouldn¡¯t fall too far behind in attack damage. Randy upgraded his armor, Tori got level 6 boots to increase her movement speed and we all stocked up on potions. Though Randy took most of the hits, his stats and equipment gave him a much higher defense and his higher HP made using potions more efficient. Tori and I avoided monster attacks as much as possible, but you never fully stay out of the fight, so in the end we needed almost as many potions as Randy did. The Forgotten Swamps would bring us significantly deadlier monsters, so we made sure to come prepared.


    Our purses almost empty again, we gathered near the city gates and started out for our new training grounds. On the way, I tried my new wand on a Rabbit. I still needed three hits to finish it, but that was a marked improvement over the six it took before. Satisfied, I ran after my allies to catch up.


    They were chatting about the abilities they would unlock at level 10. Randy would learn Vicious Strike, allowing him to deplete almost his entire mana pool to attack once with 10% extra damage. Tori¡¯s first ability would be Concentrated Shot, an attack with a 7% higher critical chance at the cost of, you guessed it, almost all of her mana. Non-spellcaster classes start out with a low INT value and perform better when spending their stat points elsewhere, so they aren¡¯t able to use their abilities very frequently. In return, their regular attacks are much stronger, and there are various ways to temporarily or permanently improve one¡¯s mana situation.


    As Tori and Randy both already knew, my first spell would be Minor Heal, the signature move of low-level priestesses. By the time I would reach level 10, I would have spent about 40 stat points on INT. Combined with the higher base value my class had, this would give me about eight to ten times more INT than my allies, resulting in a much greater mana pool and more mana regeneration. I would not be able to cast Minor Heal continuously yet, but I should be able to reduce Randy¡¯s potion usage to a bare minimum.


    For now, however, we were all still stuck with only our regular attacks, and we were approaching the border between the Rolling Plains and the Forgotten Swamps. It was a good thing the game didn¡¯t support a sense of smell. Ahead of us, green-grayish clouds of gas drifted over the landscape. ¡°KGO¡¯s tourist hotspot, right there!¡± Tori joked. I chatted a smiley face, and added: ¡°Amazing investment opportunity! Forgotten Swamp Group is selling prime real estate in the most coveted area in the country!¡± That got some more smileys. ¡°Your purchase includes various monsters spawning around your property, keeping miscreants and vermin away!¡± Randy took over. ¡°Unless you classify adventurers as miscreants!¡± Tori added.


    Joking some more, we entered the area, and were quickly surrounded by the vile mists that rose from its soil. Visibility was impaired slightly, but not reduced more than 30 feet from the default 200 feet drawing distance. We kept running toward the closest small spawn, and as we drew near, something caught my eye. Through the clouds of gas blurring our vision, I found myself looking at an impossibly well-defined shape, glowing with a dark and sinister aura. I stopped running. Every move it made seemed... magnified. I could not take my eyes off it. A strong feeling rose inside of me. Was it rage? No, it made my senses clearer instead of befuddling them. Something like... wrath. Ire. In a flash, I recognized the shape as that of a Swamp Skeleton, the first undead monster that players encounter in the game. Was this some kind of holy indignation? Priestesses, along with templars, the other holy class, have many special bonuses and effects that target undead monsters only. Was this what an undead monster looked like from a priestess¡¯ perspective?


    ¡°You alright, Laila?¡± Tori called to me. I was only vaguely aware of it. She ran in my direction, a slightly blurry shape growing in my view. ¡°Helloooooo, anybody home?¡± She ran up to me until her face was about the only thing I could see. I shook my head. ¡°Sorry,¡± I chatted. I could see the Swamp Skeleton through her face. This was weird. ¡°I... Sorry. I¡¯m seeing this Swamp Skeleton like... impossibly clearly. It¡¯s... unnerving.¡± Tori turned to Randy, and both of them looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t see a Swamp Skeleton. Or any monster.¡± said Randy. ¡°Me neither. You sure you aren¡¯t dreaming?¡± asked Tori. ¡°I don¡¯t... Can we just go over and kill it?¡± I asked in reply. Randy had run over to us, and he and Tori looked at each other. ¡°Are you roleplaying or something?¡± Randy asked. ¡°No. No! I just...¡± I took a breath. ¡°I just see it. Clearly. Like, more clearly than should be possible. It glows. It makes me angry. It shouldn¡¯t be there. It¡¯s a blemish on this world! We need to eradicate it!¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Silence fell for a moment, and I calmed down a little. Saying it out loud helped vent some of the feeling. ¡°Sorry guys. I guess this is what undead monsters look like to a priestess. I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll deal with it. Let¡¯s go on.¡± That was probably too quick. If the game had facial expressions, I imagined my allies would show ¡°concern¡± now. ¡°You sure you¡¯re not going to Leeroy Jenkins all over every little skeleton? You are our most vulnerable party member, you know.¡± Tori said. She just had to rub that in! ¡°We can go back to Twilight Forest if that¡¯s better,¡± Randy offered. I tried to sigh, but the game supported neither the sound nor the animation. ¡°No, that won¡¯t be necessary. I just didn¡¯t expect this to happen, and it was a bit overwhelming, but I¡¯m fine now.¡± The lack of nonverbal language made it impossible to check if I was convincing them in any way. I soldiered on. ¡°Can we just slay a few monsters to show that I¡¯m fine?¡±


    After a few breaths, Tori said ¡°Sure¡±. We started toward the spawn again. The undead monster¡¯s shape grew larger and larger in my vision, and the ire pulsed a bit stronger. I had to consciously hold myself back, I was just itching to charge at it and rend it apart with my bare hands. ¡°Well, at least there is an actual Swamp Skeleton,¡± Randy said when we were close. Tory looked back at me. ¡°Still alright back there?¡± ¡°Never better!¡± I lied. Were priestesses supposed to lie? I needed to keep my attention focused on behaving normally.


    Suddenly, a new line of text appeared in the chat window. ¡°LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOY...¡± I checked myself. I wasn¡¯t screaming. Or chat-screaming anyway. I was in control. Or was I? I looked at the chat window again. Something wasn¡¯t right. The name! The name in front of the shout was ¡°Mark¡±. Who¡¯s Mark? ¡°JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡± appeared, and with it, a templar class character burst into the scene and attacked the Swamp Skeleton with reckless abandon. The large two-handed sword he was wielding glowed, and multiple waves of bright blue energy rushed from it and enveloped the monster. It flinched repeatedly, barely able to get an attack in. Charging after the templar was a veritable horde of monsters. Dozens of Swamp Toads, Mire Snakes and Lesser Vultures sped toward him. ¡°That guy is so dead unless we help him!¡± Tori said, and sprinted toward the fight-to-be. Randy and I were right behind her. My beef with undead monsters could wait, there was a living human being in trouble here!


    Tori started sending arrows into the mob while Randy continued running, reaching the templar and covering his back. I started picking off Lesser Vultures, who were relatively weak to my fire-type attack. As the monsters reached the two melee fighters, Randy started in and hacked away with his axe. The horde was so large that he had to use a potion after every three or four swings. This was going to empty his supply in a hurry.


    Meanwhile, the templar had finished the Swamp Skeleton in absolute record time. ¡°Hey guys! Nice to meet you!¡± he chatted, turning around and slashing away at the mob. ¡°Hello yourself! What are you, a fan of monster parties?¡± Tori asked derisively. ¡°Just ridding the world of some Supreme Evil. You¡¯re welcome!¡± he quipped. ¡°Yeah, our priestess just told us about her Undead Sight or whatever it¡¯s called. I suppose undead monsters look like the personification of doom to you, too?¡± Randy chatted. ¡°Let¡¯s just say it feels good to slay them all day long. I suppose you¡¯re a party, by the way? Can I join?¡± the templar asked and sent a request to be added to our party. I quickly accepted. Best to secure his help and share in his EXP, as he seemed to be stronger than we were. The game interface showed that he was level 12. Yup, a lot stronger.


    ¡°Do you always waste three casts of Sword Rush on a single monster?¡± Tori asked. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I got a bit carried away there. Still, it did go down faster this way,¡± the templar replied with a smiley face. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you have mana left for a few more rushes to bring this monster madness to a quick end?¡± Randy asked, still hacking away. ¡°Why, certainly!¡± the templar said. He performed another Sword Rush, then drank a mana potion and sent three more waves of energy to follow the first. The mob flinched as one, and monsters started falling down one after another as they were picked off in their weakened state by four simultaneous attackers. It wasn¡¯t long before the last one dropped and silence returned to the scene. We stood there, looking at the carnage. ¡°Well, that was fun!¡± the templar said.