Post by Hayate on Nov 6, 2006 23:40:08 GMT -5
Chapter 1: Welcome to <The World>
Tuesday, April 4, 2017:
Everyone told me how fun the game was. In fact, I was already aware of it. I just wasn’t sure how fun it was exactly until I tried it for myself. Today, at 4:00 pm, I logged into <The World> for the first time.
My name is Akira. Well, at least that’s the name I signed in as. I don’t consider it necessary to tell you my real name. Anyway, I logged into <The World> for the first time today.
There were many character classes to choose from. I didn’t know which to pick. Twin Blade, Edge Punisher, Tribal Grappler – they all seemed so interesting to me. It was so hard to decide. …Then I saw it. Adept Rogue: able to utilize up to three classes. It was perfect!
In accordance with the Point Allocation system, I chose Twin Blade as my first class and Steam Gunner as my second. I gave my Player Character spiky black hair, a thin dark-red shirt that revealed a small part of his torso, dark-red jean-like pants, black gloves with black gold-striped armguards, and black boots. I also gave him a blue tribal tattoo on his forehead and two additional tattoos - one on the back of each of his hands. I consider the most unique characteristic about my character to be his green left eye and his violet right eye. Finally, it was time to enter a name. I typed in “Akira”.
…Oh. Am I boring you? Sorry about that. I tend to ramble on. Let me move on then.
I readied myself and entered the Eternal City of Mac Anu. My first thought was how breathtaking the graphics were. I felt like I was actually inside the game. It all looked so real. “Cool…” was the first word I uttered after stepping inside this ‘alternate reality’. And pretty soon, I was taking my first steps as well. It was as if I was a newborn infant.
I found myself in awe when I left the lobby and entered the city. “This is amazing…” Mac Anu was as filled with life and activity as any place that I’d visited in the real world. Little did I know, some thought <The World> to be too real, if that was even possible. Mere moments after I walked into the Central District, I bumped into another character. Taken off guard, I stumbled back and my rear end hit the ground. “Ow…”
“Watch it, noob!” Noob. Slang for newbie. Rookie. Beginner.
“Sorry. I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Of course you weren’t. You noobs are all the same. You first log into <The World> and you think you can just do whatever you want. Well, let me clue you in something. If you think the characters here are gonna go easy on you just because you’re new to the game, you’re dead wrong!! You have to understand that it’s exactly the same as the real world!”
After the lashing I received, I watched as the person walked away, content with his speech. “…”
“You’ll have to forgive Zetsu. He does that with almost every newbie he meets.” I look ahead of me to see a girl extending a hand to me. “You okay?”
Not to seem ungrateful, I took her hand and she helped me to my feet. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Her vision shifted slightly downward, noticing that I was still holding her hand. “Uh…”
“Huh? OH!!” I snatch my hand away from hers, my face as red as my shirt. “S-Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, really.” I could immediately tell that her first impression of me wasn’t a very good one. “Hmm…” She then started to examine me more thoroughly, which made me more uncomfortable. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“No, I just started playing today.”
“Huh. Oh, well. …Oh! I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yulie! Pleased to meet you!”
“Likewise. I’m Akira.” And just like that, I made my first friend in <The World>.
“Hey! You know something? I was a newbie just last week. If you’d like, I could take you to an area I know of so you can get to know the game better!”
I remember clearly how brightly my face lit up then. “You’d do that?”
“Sure! Just meet me at the Chaos Gate when you’re ready, okay?”
“Gotcha!” Yulie ran on ahead to the Mac Anu dome to wait for me. I was so filled with excitement then, I could hardly wait to get started. I followed her to the dome, where she taught me about Member Addresses and how to invite others into my party. Afterwards, she taught me how to use the Chaos Gate, which I used to warp us to the Level 3 area D Peaceful Leading Freedom.
…In a flash of blue light, we found ourselves in a dark cavern. Waterfalls rushed down the nearby walls. “Cool, isn’t it, Akira?”, Yulie asked me.
I was absolutely captivated by my surroundings. “I’ll say. Wow…”
Yulie giggled at my response. “Let’s get started then.” In the first room, we encountered a group of monsters. “Goblins. Ugly but weak. You ready, Akira?”
I draw my dual swords and assume a battle stance. “I’ve never been more ready in my entire life!!”
“Glad to hear it!” In response to my drawing my weapons, Yulie draws her weapons as well: a pair of razor-sharp fans. “Bring it on, you freaks of nature!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”
(Five minutes later…)
Yulie and I eventually found ourselves standing before a group of goblin corpses. “That was easier than I thought.” My first battle in <The World>. Granted, it wasn’t as glamorous as I pictured it’d be, but at least Yulie was there to help me along the way. “You fight pretty well for a newbie, Akira.”
“Really? Thanks.” We put our weapons away and moved on. Inside nearby treasure chests, I found two Health Drinks and a Sprite Drop. These would surely come in handy later on.
About a dozen battles, three level-ups, and a million drops of sweat later, we finally made it to the end of the cave, where we came across a great floating statue. “The Beast Statue of Folset, the God of Law.” At the statue’s base was a treasure chest. “You can go ahead and open up that chest, Akira.”
“Right.” Inside the box, I found a pair of dual swords. “Nice! I could definitely use these!”
“So, how was that for your first adventure in <The World>?”
“It was awesome! I loved it! But…I don’t think I would’ve had as much fun if you weren’t here with me, Yulie. Thanks a lot for your help.”
“Oh…” Just then, Yulie’s face turned as red as mine was a little while ago. “D-Don’t mention it, Akira.”
“Yulie?”
“Ahem! Well, we’re done here, so-- Huh? A text message?” For a few seconds, Yulie was silent, most likely in order to read the e-mail she just received. “Oh! Zetsu’s calling! Sorry, Akira! I have to go now!”
“Oh. O-Okay. Later.”
Yulie started to run off, but then she stopped and turned back towards me. “Hey! I just realized why you look so familiar to me! You look an awful lot like Haseo the PKK!”
‘Haseo the what?’ Naturally, the name didn’t ring any bells, but Yulie had already left for town via the nearby transporter before I could ask her anything about it. “…” I suppose it was loneliness I felt at that moment. But to become so lonely so rapidly… Anyway, I was getting ready to leave the area myself, but before doing so, I equipped the new weapons I acquired from the Beast Statue, and not a moment too soon…
…as I wouldn’t be lonely for much longer. “Well, well, what do we have here? Fresh meat.” I turn around to be greeted by a two-member group of…what were they called again? Oh, yeah.
…PKers.
“Hey, IYOTEN…”, the girl PKer addressed the other. “You mind if I have this one?”
“Aw, c’mon, Asta. You took out the last three. Pretty soon, I may start to get rusty.”
These two PKers started to fight over who gets to PK me as if they were children fighting over the last slice of cake. Over to their right was the transporter that led back to town. If I were to get out of this alive, this would be my only opportunity. “…Now!” In that instant, I made a break for the transporter.
But just seconds before I reached it, a large chainsaw-like blade hindered my path. “And just where do you think you’re going, dear?”, Asta, the girl PKer, teased.
Taken aback by the size of her blade, I fell back. I trembled violently with fear. IYOTEN, the male PKer, started to approach me after drawing his blade. “Hehehehe… Well, now, isn’t this interesting? Doesn’t this bring back memories, Asta?”
Asta giggled after hearing this. “I remember! Not too long ago, we cornered a newbie exactly like this! Now, how did it go again? …Oh, yes.” Asta raised her blade high above her head, preparing to strike. “Don’t worry. This’ll only hurt for a second.”
Helpless to do anything, I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the end. “AAAAHHHH!!!” But the end didn’t come for me. In fact, it came for someone else.
“IYOTEN!!” Asta watched in horror as her fellow PKer fell to the cold ground. Behind him, she sees a black PC holding a short blade in each hand. Asta gasped at the sight of him. “You again!!”
“Did you miss me?”, the black PC said before readying his blades. “We never finished where we left off.”
“Grrrr… You hurt IYOTEN… I’LL KILL YOU!!!” The small buzzsaws on Asta’s blade start to spin and she charges in at the black PC. A swing and a miss, and Asta finds herself on the wrong end of the mystery PC’s blades. Like IYOTEN did, Asta fell onto the ground, lifeless.
“Hmph. What a nuisance those two were. Hmm?” The mystery PC then turns to me. “Hey, you!”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied. “Y-Yes?”
“You’d better get out of here. This area’s crawling with PKers. They like to linger around low-level areas and PK noobs like you. If you stay here much longer, they’ll find you and I won’t be around to save you next time. You got that?”
“Uh…”
“I said, you got that?!?”
“Y-Yeah, I got it!” The black PC was about to use the transporter to leave until I called over to him. “Hold on a minute!”
“…What do you want?”
“Um…”
“Spit it out! I haven’t got all day!”
“Are you…Haseo the PKK?”
He looked at me and examined my character. “Do me a favor, will you? …Change your character. A cowardly PC like you will end up making me look bad.” And with that, he took his leave.
“…” Cowardly. Yeah. That’s me, alright. Even in the real world, I’ve been called such words. For some reason, I’ve almost never been able to stand up for myself. For as long as I can remember, others have always defended me. Protected me. And now, it shows even in <The World>.
Well, no more!
Even if it’s just in <The World>, I didn’t want people to think of me as a coward anymore! I vowed to become stronger so that others would recognize my strength and bravery! Strength and bravery that’d make even Haseo the PKK green with envy!
Just then, I heard a scream coming from two rooms over. “Huh? What was that?” All of a sudden, escaping the dungeon with my life intact didn’t matter to me. I hurry over to see a girl Harvest Cleric under attack by a fierce King Goblin. “Oh, boy.”
“Huh? Hey, you there! Please help me!”
At my current level, I probably wouldn’t stand much of a chance against a King Goblin. There was at least a difference of 10 levels between us. But I had to give it a shot. I rushed over to her side and used one of my Health Drinks on her. Then I turned towards the King Goblin who roared at the sight of my presence. I swallowed another lump in my throat and drew my dual swords. “Here goes nothing… HYAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”
King Goblin swung its mighty club at me, which I rolled under to dodge. Regaining my balance, I charged in and struck its back with my blades, causing it to stumble forward. This gave me an opportunity to use my only attack spell, Vak Don. Several meteors of flame rain down upon King Goblin, dropping its HP drastically. “Okay… So far, so good.” Once King Goblin got back to its feet, it swung its club again. This time, it hit its mark, and I was sent flying into the battle area fence. Luckily, the Harvest Cleric girl I healed was there to use Repth on me to restore my health. With some of my power back, I charged in, rolled under its club swing, and targeted King Goblin’s back again. After unleashing several hits upon it, blue and purple rings started to loop around its body. “There!” It was a good thing Yulie told me about this, or else I’d never have known what it was. I charged in once again and let loose a powerful attack known as… “RENGEKI!! Gale Blade!!” A series of more strikes, and I could tell that King Goblin was weakening. All of a sudden, King Goblin turned to me and tackled me into the fence again. My HP was dangerously low, and the Harvest Cleric girl was low on energy. I was on my own, so I used my other Health Drink on myself and my Sprite Drop on her. But before I could attack, King Goblin tackled me again. The Harvest Cleric used Repth on me, but I wasn’t sure it’d be enough. I attacked once again, and King Goblin’s health was almost at zero. ‘Just…a few more…strikes…’, I thought. Suddenly, King Goblin summoned up its inner power and doubled its attack strength. “Oh, man… Is this how it ends?” I wasn’t sure that I could win that battle. …No. No, I was sure that I couldn’t win. But, just because I’d die here, that didn’t mean that the Harvest Cleric I tried to save had to go down with me. I took out the only Smoke Screen I had in my inventory and tossed it over to her. “Hey! Listen to me! We can’t win this battle! Take that Smoke Screen and get out of here!”
“What!? But what about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m…just a noob after all.”
The Harvest Cleric looked at the Smoke Screen I gave her and clenched it tightly in her hand. “But I…”
“JUST GO ALREADY!!!”
I knew very well that she didn’t want to, but if one of us were to escape, at least it’d be her. That way, I’d know I did good. “Smoke Screen!” A yellow aura blankets the girl’s body, shielding her from the King Goblin’s sight. “…Thank you so much for your help!! You’re the bravest newbie I’ve ever known!! I’ll never forget this!!” With that, she ran away and used the transporter to return to Mac Anu.
Brave. That was the first time anyone’s ever called me that. If I weren’t about to die, I suppose I’d feel good about it. “Well… Looks like this is it for me… Maybe I should’ve taken Haseo’s advice…” King Goblin raises its club and prepares to finish me off, but suddenly, it was struck by an energy gunshot, dropping its remaining HP to zero. “Huh? W-What just happened?” I turn to where the gunshot originated from to see a blue-haired Steam Gunner with a peculiar left arm. “Who is that?”
The blue-haired Steam Gunner walks up to me, extends a hand to me, and says, “We meet again.”
Tuesday, April 4, 2017:
Everyone told me how fun the game was. In fact, I was already aware of it. I just wasn’t sure how fun it was exactly until I tried it for myself. Today, at 4:00 pm, I logged into <The World> for the first time.
My name is Akira. Well, at least that’s the name I signed in as. I don’t consider it necessary to tell you my real name. Anyway, I logged into <The World> for the first time today.
There were many character classes to choose from. I didn’t know which to pick. Twin Blade, Edge Punisher, Tribal Grappler – they all seemed so interesting to me. It was so hard to decide. …Then I saw it. Adept Rogue: able to utilize up to three classes. It was perfect!
In accordance with the Point Allocation system, I chose Twin Blade as my first class and Steam Gunner as my second. I gave my Player Character spiky black hair, a thin dark-red shirt that revealed a small part of his torso, dark-red jean-like pants, black gloves with black gold-striped armguards, and black boots. I also gave him a blue tribal tattoo on his forehead and two additional tattoos - one on the back of each of his hands. I consider the most unique characteristic about my character to be his green left eye and his violet right eye. Finally, it was time to enter a name. I typed in “Akira”.
…Oh. Am I boring you? Sorry about that. I tend to ramble on. Let me move on then.
I readied myself and entered the Eternal City of Mac Anu. My first thought was how breathtaking the graphics were. I felt like I was actually inside the game. It all looked so real. “Cool…” was the first word I uttered after stepping inside this ‘alternate reality’. And pretty soon, I was taking my first steps as well. It was as if I was a newborn infant.
I found myself in awe when I left the lobby and entered the city. “This is amazing…” Mac Anu was as filled with life and activity as any place that I’d visited in the real world. Little did I know, some thought <The World> to be too real, if that was even possible. Mere moments after I walked into the Central District, I bumped into another character. Taken off guard, I stumbled back and my rear end hit the ground. “Ow…”
“Watch it, noob!” Noob. Slang for newbie. Rookie. Beginner.
“Sorry. I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Of course you weren’t. You noobs are all the same. You first log into <The World> and you think you can just do whatever you want. Well, let me clue you in something. If you think the characters here are gonna go easy on you just because you’re new to the game, you’re dead wrong!! You have to understand that it’s exactly the same as the real world!”
After the lashing I received, I watched as the person walked away, content with his speech. “…”
“You’ll have to forgive Zetsu. He does that with almost every newbie he meets.” I look ahead of me to see a girl extending a hand to me. “You okay?”
Not to seem ungrateful, I took her hand and she helped me to my feet. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Her vision shifted slightly downward, noticing that I was still holding her hand. “Uh…”
“Huh? OH!!” I snatch my hand away from hers, my face as red as my shirt. “S-Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, really.” I could immediately tell that her first impression of me wasn’t a very good one. “Hmm…” She then started to examine me more thoroughly, which made me more uncomfortable. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“No, I just started playing today.”
“Huh. Oh, well. …Oh! I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Yulie! Pleased to meet you!”
“Likewise. I’m Akira.” And just like that, I made my first friend in <The World>.
“Hey! You know something? I was a newbie just last week. If you’d like, I could take you to an area I know of so you can get to know the game better!”
I remember clearly how brightly my face lit up then. “You’d do that?”
“Sure! Just meet me at the Chaos Gate when you’re ready, okay?”
“Gotcha!” Yulie ran on ahead to the Mac Anu dome to wait for me. I was so filled with excitement then, I could hardly wait to get started. I followed her to the dome, where she taught me about Member Addresses and how to invite others into my party. Afterwards, she taught me how to use the Chaos Gate, which I used to warp us to the Level 3 area D Peaceful Leading Freedom.
…In a flash of blue light, we found ourselves in a dark cavern. Waterfalls rushed down the nearby walls. “Cool, isn’t it, Akira?”, Yulie asked me.
I was absolutely captivated by my surroundings. “I’ll say. Wow…”
Yulie giggled at my response. “Let’s get started then.” In the first room, we encountered a group of monsters. “Goblins. Ugly but weak. You ready, Akira?”
I draw my dual swords and assume a battle stance. “I’ve never been more ready in my entire life!!”
“Glad to hear it!” In response to my drawing my weapons, Yulie draws her weapons as well: a pair of razor-sharp fans. “Bring it on, you freaks of nature!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”
(Five minutes later…)
Yulie and I eventually found ourselves standing before a group of goblin corpses. “That was easier than I thought.” My first battle in <The World>. Granted, it wasn’t as glamorous as I pictured it’d be, but at least Yulie was there to help me along the way. “You fight pretty well for a newbie, Akira.”
“Really? Thanks.” We put our weapons away and moved on. Inside nearby treasure chests, I found two Health Drinks and a Sprite Drop. These would surely come in handy later on.
About a dozen battles, three level-ups, and a million drops of sweat later, we finally made it to the end of the cave, where we came across a great floating statue. “The Beast Statue of Folset, the God of Law.” At the statue’s base was a treasure chest. “You can go ahead and open up that chest, Akira.”
“Right.” Inside the box, I found a pair of dual swords. “Nice! I could definitely use these!”
“So, how was that for your first adventure in <The World>?”
“It was awesome! I loved it! But…I don’t think I would’ve had as much fun if you weren’t here with me, Yulie. Thanks a lot for your help.”
“Oh…” Just then, Yulie’s face turned as red as mine was a little while ago. “D-Don’t mention it, Akira.”
“Yulie?”
“Ahem! Well, we’re done here, so-- Huh? A text message?” For a few seconds, Yulie was silent, most likely in order to read the e-mail she just received. “Oh! Zetsu’s calling! Sorry, Akira! I have to go now!”
“Oh. O-Okay. Later.”
Yulie started to run off, but then she stopped and turned back towards me. “Hey! I just realized why you look so familiar to me! You look an awful lot like Haseo the PKK!”
‘Haseo the what?’ Naturally, the name didn’t ring any bells, but Yulie had already left for town via the nearby transporter before I could ask her anything about it. “…” I suppose it was loneliness I felt at that moment. But to become so lonely so rapidly… Anyway, I was getting ready to leave the area myself, but before doing so, I equipped the new weapons I acquired from the Beast Statue, and not a moment too soon…
…as I wouldn’t be lonely for much longer. “Well, well, what do we have here? Fresh meat.” I turn around to be greeted by a two-member group of…what were they called again? Oh, yeah.
…PKers.
“Hey, IYOTEN…”, the girl PKer addressed the other. “You mind if I have this one?”
“Aw, c’mon, Asta. You took out the last three. Pretty soon, I may start to get rusty.”
These two PKers started to fight over who gets to PK me as if they were children fighting over the last slice of cake. Over to their right was the transporter that led back to town. If I were to get out of this alive, this would be my only opportunity. “…Now!” In that instant, I made a break for the transporter.
But just seconds before I reached it, a large chainsaw-like blade hindered my path. “And just where do you think you’re going, dear?”, Asta, the girl PKer, teased.
Taken aback by the size of her blade, I fell back. I trembled violently with fear. IYOTEN, the male PKer, started to approach me after drawing his blade. “Hehehehe… Well, now, isn’t this interesting? Doesn’t this bring back memories, Asta?”
Asta giggled after hearing this. “I remember! Not too long ago, we cornered a newbie exactly like this! Now, how did it go again? …Oh, yes.” Asta raised her blade high above her head, preparing to strike. “Don’t worry. This’ll only hurt for a second.”
Helpless to do anything, I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the end. “AAAAHHHH!!!” But the end didn’t come for me. In fact, it came for someone else.
“IYOTEN!!” Asta watched in horror as her fellow PKer fell to the cold ground. Behind him, she sees a black PC holding a short blade in each hand. Asta gasped at the sight of him. “You again!!”
“Did you miss me?”, the black PC said before readying his blades. “We never finished where we left off.”
“Grrrr… You hurt IYOTEN… I’LL KILL YOU!!!” The small buzzsaws on Asta’s blade start to spin and she charges in at the black PC. A swing and a miss, and Asta finds herself on the wrong end of the mystery PC’s blades. Like IYOTEN did, Asta fell onto the ground, lifeless.
“Hmph. What a nuisance those two were. Hmm?” The mystery PC then turns to me. “Hey, you!”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied. “Y-Yes?”
“You’d better get out of here. This area’s crawling with PKers. They like to linger around low-level areas and PK noobs like you. If you stay here much longer, they’ll find you and I won’t be around to save you next time. You got that?”
“Uh…”
“I said, you got that?!?”
“Y-Yeah, I got it!” The black PC was about to use the transporter to leave until I called over to him. “Hold on a minute!”
“…What do you want?”
“Um…”
“Spit it out! I haven’t got all day!”
“Are you…Haseo the PKK?”
He looked at me and examined my character. “Do me a favor, will you? …Change your character. A cowardly PC like you will end up making me look bad.” And with that, he took his leave.
“…” Cowardly. Yeah. That’s me, alright. Even in the real world, I’ve been called such words. For some reason, I’ve almost never been able to stand up for myself. For as long as I can remember, others have always defended me. Protected me. And now, it shows even in <The World>.
Well, no more!
Even if it’s just in <The World>, I didn’t want people to think of me as a coward anymore! I vowed to become stronger so that others would recognize my strength and bravery! Strength and bravery that’d make even Haseo the PKK green with envy!
Just then, I heard a scream coming from two rooms over. “Huh? What was that?” All of a sudden, escaping the dungeon with my life intact didn’t matter to me. I hurry over to see a girl Harvest Cleric under attack by a fierce King Goblin. “Oh, boy.”
“Huh? Hey, you there! Please help me!”
At my current level, I probably wouldn’t stand much of a chance against a King Goblin. There was at least a difference of 10 levels between us. But I had to give it a shot. I rushed over to her side and used one of my Health Drinks on her. Then I turned towards the King Goblin who roared at the sight of my presence. I swallowed another lump in my throat and drew my dual swords. “Here goes nothing… HYAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”
King Goblin swung its mighty club at me, which I rolled under to dodge. Regaining my balance, I charged in and struck its back with my blades, causing it to stumble forward. This gave me an opportunity to use my only attack spell, Vak Don. Several meteors of flame rain down upon King Goblin, dropping its HP drastically. “Okay… So far, so good.” Once King Goblin got back to its feet, it swung its club again. This time, it hit its mark, and I was sent flying into the battle area fence. Luckily, the Harvest Cleric girl I healed was there to use Repth on me to restore my health. With some of my power back, I charged in, rolled under its club swing, and targeted King Goblin’s back again. After unleashing several hits upon it, blue and purple rings started to loop around its body. “There!” It was a good thing Yulie told me about this, or else I’d never have known what it was. I charged in once again and let loose a powerful attack known as… “RENGEKI!! Gale Blade!!” A series of more strikes, and I could tell that King Goblin was weakening. All of a sudden, King Goblin turned to me and tackled me into the fence again. My HP was dangerously low, and the Harvest Cleric girl was low on energy. I was on my own, so I used my other Health Drink on myself and my Sprite Drop on her. But before I could attack, King Goblin tackled me again. The Harvest Cleric used Repth on me, but I wasn’t sure it’d be enough. I attacked once again, and King Goblin’s health was almost at zero. ‘Just…a few more…strikes…’, I thought. Suddenly, King Goblin summoned up its inner power and doubled its attack strength. “Oh, man… Is this how it ends?” I wasn’t sure that I could win that battle. …No. No, I was sure that I couldn’t win. But, just because I’d die here, that didn’t mean that the Harvest Cleric I tried to save had to go down with me. I took out the only Smoke Screen I had in my inventory and tossed it over to her. “Hey! Listen to me! We can’t win this battle! Take that Smoke Screen and get out of here!”
“What!? But what about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m…just a noob after all.”
The Harvest Cleric looked at the Smoke Screen I gave her and clenched it tightly in her hand. “But I…”
“JUST GO ALREADY!!!”
I knew very well that she didn’t want to, but if one of us were to escape, at least it’d be her. That way, I’d know I did good. “Smoke Screen!” A yellow aura blankets the girl’s body, shielding her from the King Goblin’s sight. “…Thank you so much for your help!! You’re the bravest newbie I’ve ever known!! I’ll never forget this!!” With that, she ran away and used the transporter to return to Mac Anu.
Brave. That was the first time anyone’s ever called me that. If I weren’t about to die, I suppose I’d feel good about it. “Well… Looks like this is it for me… Maybe I should’ve taken Haseo’s advice…” King Goblin raises its club and prepares to finish me off, but suddenly, it was struck by an energy gunshot, dropping its remaining HP to zero. “Huh? W-What just happened?” I turn to where the gunshot originated from to see a blue-haired Steam Gunner with a peculiar left arm. “Who is that?”
The blue-haired Steam Gunner walks up to me, extends a hand to me, and says, “We meet again.”
