Things have calmed down, finally. The previous few chapters were a bit hectic with Mark rescuing Sebille, hacking the game, fighting Tusky and breaking raping the forth wall repeatedly. But every character and their grandmothers knew that it was impossible to lead a proper story for too long, if there were no serious elements introduced at all.

"You keep saying that but after 12 chapters into the story, I still see no difference in the narration," Mark remarked. Damn Mark. This guy just never knew when to shut up.

"I think it's high time we made some plans what to do in the future," Tusky said. "Any ideas, my beloved husbando~ ?"

The right half of Mark's face blushed. (He couldn't finish his makeup in time.) "Erm... well, now that you ask, I do have some ideas."

"Like restoring my kingdom?" Sebille asked, looking hopeful.

"N-No, at first I'd like to begin with smaller things. Getting levels, learning skills, doing quests. After that—"

"—we restore our kingdom?" Sebille asked eagerly.

"Umm, no, I was thinking about catching all the Pokémons. It's a childhood dream of mine."

"Ooooh, that's so sweet!" Tusky said, her muscly (yet clearly attractive!) frame shuddering in delight. "I'll gladly help you with that, my husbando~"

"Just Mark is fine," Mark said, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"As you wish, Just Mark."

(Okay, that was a really lame and overused joke. It would be much appreciated if Tusky could try that last line again.)

Tusky's eyes twitched in annoyance and the narrator began to sweat profusely, but eventually Tusky just sighed.

"As you wish, Mark."

Tusky then wrapped an arm around him and smiled happily. Mark had heard about the term death by snu-snu, but he always though it was just a joke. Now he was having second thoughts. Still, he endured because—surprise, surprise—Tusky was hot. (Disclaimer: any thoughts about objectifying women is just within the reader's mind. The narrator is not sexist and is pure like a baby.)

Sebille cleared her throat. "Okay, so after you collected these... Pokémons, will we restore my kingdom?"

"Well..." Mark trailed off, "I was thinking about defeating Voldemort first, but... fine, we'll restore your kingdom."

"YESS!" Sebille cheered, "Thank you Mark, you are the best! I— uh, I mean, not that kind of best. Don't get the wrong idea, b-baka! I-It's not like I'm praising you or anything."

"Don't worry, we know," Tusky said, smiling mysteriously. She then looked at Mark. "So how do you imagine the first part? The questing and the leveling up?"

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"Well, I dunno. How do main characters do this stuff in other litRPG novels? They just go around, do quests, kill stuff, don't they? Oh! And occasionally they stop to level up their crafting skills. That's an aspect of the story that can shake things up a little. Can't have all the story be about killing monsters."

"What do you mean by crafting?" Sebille asked.

"For example, weapon smithing. After I leveled it up a lot, I could craft a legendary weapon to prove everyone else how special I am."

Sebille frowned. "But surely lots of other Players that started ahead of you have crafted legendary weapons. You wouldn't prove anything to anyone."

It might have sounded like she had little faith in Mark's ability to create a truly unique sword, but in fact she— Ah, wait a sec, she really had little faith in Mark. After that attempt with the rabbit soup, it was only understandable. Even so, Sebille still loved Mark. He was like a lovable dork to her.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Mark and Sebille shouted at the same time, showing how much in sync they already were with each other. Aww, how cute!

"Okay, let's focus," Tusky spoke up. "We need to get started on an adventure. Everything else will sort itself out along the way."

"Yes, that's true," Mark said, then looked around hesitantly. "We just need a direction to start in. Umm... Maybe Mister Narrator could help us out a little? I have no idea where to begin."

Typical. Mark had been cursing the narrator oh-so-often, but as soon as he got stuck, he immediately needed his help.

His request was understandable, however. In many novels (such as this one), the MC isn't quite able to make significant decisions. If the protagonist is passive, doesn't have clear motivation, or just simply can't be bothered to take the initiative, it is needed to fabricate some kind of plot that moves the MC along. By no means is this a bad thing!

It's preferable, even. Otherwise, the MC would need to do whatever was the most logical thing to do in the current situation. Sleep, rest, eat, stay safe. Things like these might be the obvious choices for someone who haven't slept since the beginning of the novel, but it would be awfully boring for the readers.

Not to mention that if the protagonist was proactive, the author has to get in their head and imagine correctly what would be the most probable thing they did. But that would mean too much work for the author! Much easier to just have a random event affect the MC, who then needs to react to that. This way, it is easier to introduce life-threatening fights that the MC normally wouldn't get into. Everyone knows that jumping from one dangerous situation to the next is what keeps the readers on their toes, keeps them reading more and more. So what better way to achieve this than to shove these grave situations in the protagonist's face?

Mark gulped nervously. "On a second thought, I think I'll figure out for myself what I'll do."

That was a great idea too! To have the MC appear to be proactive, but then have something totally random event happen to him. That way, no one can complain that the MC is too passive. He tries to do his best, and it's not his fault that by random chance he gets into a conspiracy that runs very deep and could potentially shake the whole kingdom. It's not his fault that by random chance he has to fight in an epic battle that decides the fate of the universe!

But let's not get that far ahead. The first step is always something small and innocuous. Mark needed to get going first. No one ever found himself in a grand conspiracy just by having picnic with two beautiful girls.

"Actually, I think there are some precedents for that too," Sebille said, but she was besides the point.

"Alright, it's time to go," Mark said, then hopped on his Battle Bicycle. (It was a premium mount that he won by preordering the game.)

"Come on, girls," he said. Once Sebille and Tusky sat behind him on the loooong bicycle seat (it was long enough to have enough space for several harem members) Mark began to pedal.

They rode off happily into the sunset. However, just before they disappeared, Mark turned back, looked at the camera, and spoke,

"Don't worry guys, it shouldn't be long till the next chapter."

- famous last words of Isaac Newton,

before stepping on the Moon and

inventing vitamin C.