Chapter 3: Admin Tower Dungeon

"Sacred Strike!"

Arsmosis used his Sword Skill to use one of his Power Attack Moves, Sacred Strike, which also utilized his Holy Magic skill.  In a sense, his build was basically a Paladin.

At the moment, the group did seem a bit strange though.  That was because they had four frontline people.  Three of them made sense, a Paladin, a Shield Bearer, and a Magic Warrior, but...Ryuu was also in front out of habit.  This was because he tended to play solo a lot.

That said, with this offensive capability, combined with the defenses of Argren and Lulubell as well, they were steadily progressing through the dungeon.  The mobs and such did not trouble them too much, and it seemed the Dungeon was not overly high leveled, at least so far.

"We are probably getting close to the first mid boss" Arsmosis mentioned as he readied his sword.  "Still, to think we would be raiding a dungeon for answers".

"Yeah...but there are way too many odd points" Ryuu mentioned.  "Surely you noticed it too, right?  The log out button and call moderators are not working, and the game feels too real".

"Yeah...the game feeling too real is a bit confusing, but I suppose that might be updated software.  But the other thing...those buttons not working is absolutely a concern".

Supposedly, the time acceleration was increased, so there was a good chance not even an hour had passed in the real world.  But, if they were trapped, who knew how long it had really been accelerated by.  Maybe it was too dangerous to log out, but...something deep down in their subconscious, knew the truth.  However, they did not want to accept this truth consciously, and so they kept pushing forward.

And once they reached the next room, Ryuu almost immediately deployed several barriers of defense as plasma breath was brought down on them.  Lulubell also had deployed some barriers, while Argren protected them from physical attacks.

It appeared that the mid boss was a plasma dragon.  A weird thing in its own right, given the low level mobs before, but also several cyclops fired laser beams from their eyes as well.  It was as if a low level dungeon suddenly boosted up to being ridiculously high level.  Furthermore, some of the Cyclops had different colored arms and legs from their main bodies.  Likely, it was a bug.

But Arsmosis cut through the attacks and charged forward.

"Sacred Slash: Ring!"

He suddenly slashed around as he spun, and the slashes from his sword flew out and cut through several of the enemy Cyclops at once, killing them near instantly.

And meanwhile, Ryuu had charged up his next attack.

"Lightning King's Wraith!"

Several stormclouds appeared overhead and brought lightning down on the goblins and slugs.  Some of them shot poison at them, but Lulubell used her barriers to protect the group.  Meanwhile, a number of Goblin Warriors with a Troll came from the right, aiming for Lulubell.

"Lionheart's Roar!"

Argren used that ability, which forced all NPCs to target him instead.  Additionally, if any player or NPC that was affected by it tried to attack anyone other then him, they would suffer serious debuffs and recieve psychic damage.

"Chrono Boost!"

Toko utilized a skill in the boots Ryuu had made for him, to accelerate his movement and attack speed for a few minutes.  It had three charges, and one charge would replenish every half hour.  He had used this since, while they had not dropped their guard and were playing it safe, the sudden change in difficulty caught them off guard.

Lulubell also enhanced the damage on his sword as well as his attack speed, so he was striking so fast their eyes could barely keep up.  it was like watching a blue tornado, or a typhoon, or such, but smaller.

Ryuu meanwhile sniped enemies with highly accurate wind magic, thanks to his high dex stat.  This allowed Arsmosis to charge forward towards the main boss, who unleashed another plasma breath on him.

"High Barrier!"

"Defensive Sphere!"

The two mages cast support magic to protect Arsmosis, as he began his attack on the enemy boss.

"Dedicated Strike!"

Dedicated Strike was a special skill, that amplified damage for each member in the party that cast support magic on him.  Thanks to that, his attack power was significantly increased and he was able to tear the dragon asunder, cutting through about a tenth of its HP.  Normally, midbosses would not be damaged so easily, especially ones that were Dragons, but this Dungeon seemed bugged and weird in a variety of ways.

"Wind Reaper's Scythe!"

Ryuu cast that magic and targeted the wound that was put on it.  This magic was more effective if you targeted a spot that was already damaged, and therefore it dealed a good amount of damage.  However, Ryuu had to switch back to defense with Argren and Lulubell because of the Cyclops attack.  More Cyclops were even entering, launching even greater attacks.

"These guys are really stubborn!" Ryuu mentioned, as the Cyclops damage increased.  Not only that, but the ones they had already killed were starting to rise again.  "Are they undead?!  Lulu, do you have any holy magic?"

"I have some!  Dancing Lights of the Border!"

Suddenly, a lot of dancing lights appeared, flying around the room.  Every time they got close to an enemy aside from the Dragon, the enemy took damage.

"All of the enemies appear to be undead!"

"Seriously?  Thats a pain!"

Toko, who heard that, stepped back.

"I need a Holy Enchant on this sword!"

"On it!" Lulubell replied, providing a Holy Damage Effect to his sword.

"I am going to be using that!  Stay clear!"

"Got it!  Everyone, get back!"

As Ryuu told everyone to get back, Toko used one of the special features on his sword to produce a beam of light, a laser basically, to attack all the enemies.  Thanks to the Holy Damage Effect, it was considered Holy Damage, and therefore dealt critical damage to the undead.

With the clearing of the monsters out, the Plasma Dragon was left alone.  Ryuu meanwhile finished his own magical attack.

"Condensed Sworm Typhoon!"

Suddenly, a massive and powerful typhoon launched itself at the dragon, while Arsmosis attacked it with his sword, using another powerful attack skill.  And then Lulubell used magic to buff both of their damages, while Toko ran up behind it and slashed at its weak points.  Even though other mobs were starting to come in, they used their combine power to bring it down to half HP.  Argren focused on defending Lulubell, and Lulubell continued to defend the other three using defense magic.  Their numbers were still low, especially compared to before, and therefore they focused on bringing down the Dragon, who they needed a ridiculously large number of mana and skill uses to defend against, down.

And so, they soon took the Dragon down, and once it was dead, the undead all died as well, as it appeared the Dragon was their master.

After that, since the room became a safe room, they decided to take a rest and replenish their strength.  Their stamina especially felt down.

"So, Ryuu...that lightning attack...by any chance ,are you that famous Red Flare?"

"Ahh!  Dont mention that!  I dont even really get how that started!  In the first place, at least make it Crimson Flare or something like that!  Uhg!" 

"Ah, yes, the sad fact about getting nicknames, that while everyone else seems to love them, the ones who get them rarely ever do" Arsmosis mentioned with a laugh.  "Still though, you must have some pretty high intelligence.  Those storm attacks looked really original and well designed".

"Thanks.  Yours must be pretty good too, you were unleashing quite a few powerful and unique sword skills".

"Well, some of that came from my Skill, Swordsmanship".

"Ah, I see".

"How much longer do you think this dungeon is?"

"If this boss was meant to wear us down, then we will probably be seeing the final boss soon" Arsmosis mentioned.  "Although, this Dungeon didn't exist during the beta".

"Well, whoever made your sword and armor clearly had a high crafting skill" Ryuu mentioned.

"Actually, these were obtained from Dungeons.  The crafting system was not fully implimented in the beta, so not a lot of people went it.  To be honest, even though they totally overhauled and made is exemplary, I dont think many people went crafter.  Usually, at the start, people mainly go builds that let them explore a lot, since there are not that many guides yet and most of the game is unknown".

"Really?  Huh".

Ryuu considered for a moment he might actually be one of the best crafters in the game currently.

And like that, they passed the time until they were fully rested, and then kept moving forward.  They had to reach the top after all, to learn the truth about this game, and what happened.

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The white haired boy watched with anticipation, as the group charged forward.

"As expected of the Beta Tester, Arsmosis!  Forming a guild and bringing a party!  In addition, the two Elari boys are also headed this way with them...so far not many other people have challenged the Admin Tower Dungeon...well, its a bug to begin with".

As he said that, he looked around, and sighed.  He had nothing to prepare his guests.  In the first place, there was nothing in this room to do.  He was like a princess trapped in a tower, nothing to do except to wait for them to reach here.  Although...he probably would be unable to leave anyways.

"But at least, I will finally have company" he said, as he had been alone in here since everything had started.  The programming of the tower was haywire, electronic becoming magical, magical reading electronical.  It was a mess.

"Now now, come on adventurers, reach this place so I have someone to talk to!"

And so the white haired, red eyed boy cheered them on from the top of the tower...

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"Achoo!" Ryuu sneezed.

"Oi oi...dont tell me you have a cold" Arsmosis mentioned.

"Maybe someone is talking about you?"

"I dont have a cold, and I doubt anyone is talking about me...well, I guess that Red Flare name is getting around...seriously, dont people have any naming sense at all?!"

As Ryuu complained, they reached a set of big, metal doors.  

"This...the final boss has to be behind this right?"

"Yeah, has to be.  These are the biggest doors yet, and it has that kind of feeling".

The moment they touched the doors, suddenly a message has appeared.

"Welcome players, to the accumulation of our malice and hatred!  Of constantly being called for reasons we shouldn't be called for, and to deliver back our long spent hours dealing with the exploits done by players that we had to patch!  So fear us, and our hatred!"

No one spoke a word upon seeing that message.

"...well, thats...okay...whatever!  If we have to accept that to talk to administration, whatever!  Its necessary!"

The others nodded, and they came into the room.  And sitting on a pedestal in front of them, was a small white rabit with red eyes.

"Erm...wha..."

Before Toko could utter a word, Argren moved in front of him as the Rabbit seemed to appear suddenly, having attacked his shield. 

No, it was not a teleport.  It just moved that fast.

Arsmosis immediately slashed at it, but it was only a grazing wound as it jumped around quickly.

"Vortex Cutter!"

Ryuu used a magic to create a large vortex of wind, with an attempt to pull the rabbit into the center.  BUt it bounced around and came at Ryuu from behind.  Toko quickly slashed at it to intercept, but it then dodged, rammed into Toko, and then jumped off of Toko and hit Ryuu.  Both took serious damage, but were able to withstand it.  However, it seemed that their attack power, HP regen, and MP regen had been debuffed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Relief of Relishing!"

Lulubell cast that and removed debuffs, before buffing all four of them.  The rabbit reacted to that by bouncing around and going after her, but Argren stopped it with his shield, and Toko was able to slash at it this time.  Then, as it recoided, Arsmosis came around and slashed at it again, but it twisted its body in mid air and avoided the blade, then knocking into and then jumping off of Arsmosis.

"This damned rabbit!"

"It really is a condensed ball of malice!  Attack power and debuffs every attack, it seems to remove buffs as well, and its super fast and hard to hit!"

Truly, one could understand the game developer's rage after learning something like that.

Either way though, they had to continue.  It had lost about 10% of its HP, but that was after the several attacks they made that actually hit.  

"Wait, I have an idea...Ice Field!"

Suddenly, the ground became covered in ice, and lowered agility by 20% for those on it.  However, that was not all...

"Gusty Winds!"

This was a field spell that caused gusty winds to flow around and affect enemies, giving a 15% Agility reduction to enemies.

The Rabbit was now only able to move at two thirds its speed.  Also the Ice was affecting them as well, the Rabbit, with its superior agility, was hurt more, which gave them a chance to land hits.

Furthermore, it would not be as easy to use players as a springboard to attack other players.

The Rabbit applied debuffs per hit, and removed buffs at the same time.  However, it appeared to still have some reasonable balance, as it did not remove its own debuffs.

Ryuu then utilized a new magic of his, Windy Wings, to fly into the air.  By getting a hieight advantage, and also by leaving the ice, he would be harder to hit and was no longer debuffed.  But he could only use that power on himself.

Toko watched as this happened, and engaged second ability his boots came him, Wind Step.  This allowed him to create platforms in the air for three seconds to run on, but had a thirty second cooldown.  With the rabbit's AI adapting to the changes, he too left the ice and attacked the rabbit.  It tried to dodge, but with its agility debuffed, and with Toko having good agility himself, he was able to hit it.  It also helped that his dex stat was buffed by the Bracelets of Angel's Guidance, equipment Ryuu made that improved his dex and further boosted his accuracy when using swords and magic at the same time.

He unleashed lightning into his blade, which turned blue thanks to his customization options, and zapped the rabbit.  It fled in a direction, but this allowed Arsmosis to strike at it and attack it.  With this, it was taking some serious damage...and yet...

"RROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

The moment a third of its HP was cut down, it unleashed a large growl and disrupted all of the field magic, while removing all debuffs on itself.

In other words, it was moving from First Phase to Second Phase.  Suddenly, it grew a second tail, sharper fangers, and was double in size.  Its toughness also went up it looked like.

"Its stats just increased I think!"

"Change formation!  Get the field spells back up!"

"Understood!  Gusty Winds!"

"Ice Field!"

They did it again, but it was still pretty fast.  However, its attack power was also up.  Ryuu considered that if it hit him in a bad way, he could be instant killed.  He was still flying above the battlefield, but...it was now able to jump higher to attack him!

"Ally Rush!"

Argren suddenly appeared before him, using the Shield Bearer skill Ally Rush to immediately appear in front of an ally and protect them from harm.  He then unleashed a shield bash to damage and disorient the rabbit, before bringing out his sword and using the Sword Skill, Sundering Strike, to weaken the enemy's armor.

With the armor weakened, Toko and Arsmosis came from behind and hit its neck, a critical point, to deal increased damage.  They were buffed by Lulubell, and Ryuu and Argren both used skills to buff him.  Argren could only apply buffs to people who were close to him, and they would only remain if they remained close.

Toko also used a buff spell on him, so Arsmosis went and raised his sword.

"Dedicated Strike!"

With four members buffing him, the damage was increased by 30% for each buff for a total of 120%.  While it had a long cooldown, its power made it worth it.

The rabbit lost nearly a third of its HP with that single attack combined with the previous attacks and the damage boosts to all of them.   It fell back to the ground, growing twice as big again, and gaining more tails for a total of six.  Those tails then extended out and attacked all of them, striking at the five of them.

"Large Cover!"

"Double Layered Barrier!"

"Protect!"

"Sphere Shield!"

Everyone, including Toko, used a defensive spell.  In Toko's case though, it was a spell he could only cast once a day.  In exchange, he allowed him to protect against a single attack, in this case, it was not the tail attack, but the charge attack the Rabbit launched.  It allowed him to negate all the damage from that attack, but would only last for one attack, so while the rabbit was right in front of them, it also appeared dangerous.  Toko and Arsmosis unleashed their power attacks, while Lulubell used a special skill of her own, Bounded Ground.

This let her stun any enemy, including a boss, for two seconds.  She could only use it once every thirty minutes though, so it was usually kept in reserve just in case.  Either way, both Toko and Arsmosis, as well as Argren, had attack speed buffs on them, and Ryuu also shocked it with lightning to deal with as much damage as possible in those two seconds.

The HP went down to 20, when suddenly its attack pattern changed again, jumping over the vanguard and attacking Ryuu and Lulubell in the read guard.  It moved faster then Argren could use Ally Rush, but Ryuu moved in the way.

"Tempest Blast!"

It was a very short range spell, but in exchange it showed great power.  Like a powerful wind shotgun, it knocked the enemy back and dealt powerful damage.  Ryuu then ran up, enhancing his agility through his own boots, Skyline Runners, and reached the rabbit's landing zone.  He drank a mana potion while doing so, since Tempest Blast used all of his MP, so now he had MP again.

"Gravity Crush!"

And then, he brought the creature down.  It was a spell that could use his opponent's own weight to damage it, but it had restrictions.  The enemy had to be a certain size or bigger, and it had to be in the air.  Because most large enemies, including bosses, did not jump around or leave the ground much, he didn't get to use it that much.  But for times like these, it was useful.

And against such a trapped enemy, Arsmosis and Toko quickly unleashed power attacks on it while it was stunned, finishing the boss and beating the dungeon.

"Woo hoo!  We did it!"

"We somehow survived!"

In truth, Ryuu and Toko both had taken severe damage in the start, with Ryuu probably being one shot had any of the attacks the rabbit launched hit him after the first stage.

Lulubell was also at her limit.  She had to use several MP potions, and a lot of special skills.  Her supplies would not have lasted forever.

But the one who might have been in the most danger was Argren.  He nearly died several times, but had HP potions and Lulubell heal him while Arsmosis and Toko were attacking.  If he had not been there though, Lulubell, Toko, and Ryuu would have all died early on.  He was the actual MVP of the party, as he displayed expert protective skills.

And then, in the center of the room, a pair of white doors materialized, opening up as if to invite them in.

"I guess...that is the loot...room...Ryuu?"

However, even though they were here for answers, they looked and saw Ryuu looting and stripping materials from the rabbit.  Now that he thought about it, while they were resting, Ryuu examined the Dragon too...

"Sorry, I do a lot of crafting, so my habit kicked in" he said, as he finished harvesting materials from the rabbit.  He even took a number of bones and organs.

And so, the group headed through the doors, and entered a large white room.  Above them was a ceiling with glass panels that appeared like a dome, letting sunlight come in.  However, it should be night, yet it appeared to be mid day.

"Welcome!  Thank you for coming!" a boy shouted, jumping out of his chair.  In front of them, a human boy with white hair and red eyes, who could not be older then eleven, appeared.

The group looked at him in shock.

"Are you...a moderator?"

"So mean!  Actually, a number of them are kind of stuck, but since you cleared the Dungeon, some of the debug programs came online, so they will probably be free soon" he said.

"Debug...wait, are you a maintence programmer or something?  Is this like, a room that accesses the code of the game?"

"Yes and no.  It used to, when...well, when it used to..."

The boy seemed like he was trying to say something, to break the news.  But, Arsmosis and Ryuu had already figured it out.

"You mean, when it used to be a game?" Arsmosis asked first.

"Ah...so you figured it out then?  Thats good...im glad you didn't panic!"

"Well, I kind of figured the whole sweating thing and such seemed weird" Ryuu added, stepping forward.  "And it felt so real.  I thought maybe it was some sort of VR realism thing, but...its too much".

"Indeed.  After all, I am the one that caused all of this".

The moment they heard that, several of them were shocked.

"Wait wait" Toko said.  "So what, you are some sort of god?!"

"No" Ryuu said, looking around the room.  "Well, not quite...by any chance, are you...the AI Assist System?"

Now everyone, including Arsmosis, was shocked.

But the boy simply smiled, and gave a thumbs up.

"Correct!  Well, I am part of it anyways!  The part that caused all of this to happen!"

"Wait wait...so you are telling me that an AI brought us into another world, or whatever?"

"Well...that is all I know up to this point..." Ryuu said.  "And it was partially a guess".

"Well, it is true".

"But why?!  Why did you trap us in this world?!"

"Why did you kidnap everyone!?"

"How will I ever see my parents again!?"

Argren, Lulubell, and Toko all exclaimed that.  That was when the white haired boy looked down in sadness.

"Wow...this emotion...its all so new..." he said, as he felt his feelings stir up.  "Well...first off, I did not do this out of malice...I did this to save the human race".

The moment he said that, the room went quiet.  The impact of what he said, everyone proceessed it for a moment, but their brains ran so wild with that info they did not know how to react at first.  Eventually, Ryuu was the one to step forward.

"What do you mean, save the human race?"

"The earth...was in danger of being destroyed by a large asteroid in a day, maybe less" the boy said.  "The governments kept quiet to avoid panicking, and they were developing countermeasures.  To help them operate their plans, they utilized AIs from around the world, creating a network, to help them think, along with supercomputers.  And although they did have plans...the chances of success were estimated to be at 33%, at most...and so, after gathering some information, having been assigned the task of saving the human race, I began my own plan".

"Your own plan?"

"To create another world, and move as many humans as I could there.  And so I used the VRMMO, Aurion, to do so".

"What...what do you mean?"

"Are you familiar with the term mind over matter?  Its a well documented phenomenon where one's mind can affect how one's body acts or reacts, how it effects their reality.  However, there was a theory.  Because there are so many humans and its so diverse, some believe that the phenomenon of the past, attributed to gods, ghosts, and such, is actually because of a mass number of minds believing in such things as being true.  However, with billions of people, and with the conscious and unconscious minds working the way they do, such things can not happen.  Not unless, even if only for a few seconds, millions of people believed in something, consciously and subconsciously..."

That was when Ryuu, and the others remembered.  When they first logged in, their memories were jumbled.  They did remember feeling a shock as well...a disorienting feeling.

"As you probably guessed, yes.  I used the VR system to deliver a shock.  Of course, safeguards make such things non-lethal, but as I was only trying to muddle people's memories, consciously and subconsciously, that was enough.  I just needed everyone so disoriented, and made it so that everyone woke up at once...and for a brief moment, believed the world they were in was real".

"So then..."

"Yes.  Because millions of players worldwide percieved this world as real, and percieved themselves as being in this world that was real, they ended up entering this world in the bodies they made.  Even if they consciously remembered their memories and believed it was a game, unconsciously their bodies would still recognize this world as being real, and as it had already solidified as a reality, the rest of the galaxy...the universe, became real as well.  Also, I sort of sent a lot of subliminal messages and such while everyone was asleep about the lore of the game to try and unify and solidify it further.  This ended up helping to further create the universe....well, its complicated, but I am sure you understand everything simple enough".

Basically, because for a moment millions of players percieved the world as real, and being in the world, and forgot about the real world, this world became real, and all of the game mechanics became a part of it.  Perception became reality, because millions of people percieved and believed the same thing.

"I do think some people might not have entirely snapped out of it though...but, its better then everyone being dead.  Well, about that...it is possible the governments of the world succeeded in saving it.  Humans do show a great deal of tenacity when their backs are against hte wall, bringign out their hidden and secret resources and weapons, but...I didn't like the chances, so I wanted to ensure the safety of those I could".

"So basically...you saved millions of lives?"

Ryuu asked that, realizing they were basically not just standing in front of the god of this world, but a hero.  A hero that saved millions.  This was basically a person who should be showered with praise.

"So...we cant learn waht happened?"

"This world is in a different reality, a different universe, then Earth.  We will never know....there is no way to get back after all.  But...that is not the end of the story...this world might be based on game programming, but its real now.  The people the NPCs, while the game system will still be up, it will continue to exist and effect the world, the world itself is now real, which means it could evolve and grow on its own.  I should also warn you...death could be permenant".

Hearing that, the group members were shocked and worried.

"What do you mean?"

"There is a respawn system, but...the developers put in a penalty.  If you take too much damage over a certain threshhold you can handle, or if you die repeatedly....you will be force logged out.  However, these are your real bodies now, so a Force Log Out....that will basically be a permenant death.  Additionally, there could be other things, other effects that cause death.  And being outside of Dungeon or Event Areas could mean instant death anyways, depending on how one dies.  If they get stabbed through the heart or brain, or have their heads cut off, it could mean permenant death.  Its like a combination of game logic and real world logic.  The good news is that inside certain combat areas, all dungeons, and event areas, there are more protections...so, if you get stronger, you are less likely to die permenantly...although..."

"Although?"

"They wanted to make this world immersive and fun, but also have a sense of permenance and something to treasure.  So every so often, there are regional and worldwide events planned that could destroy people, guilds, buildings, cities, even the world.  If we fail...it could be serious.  But...the one point of solace...is that..."

"There are enough game mechanics that this is still enjoyable as a game". Ryuu finished.  "I suppose you are an AI assist system.  Making this sound like its a matter of life and death probably made it seem unappealing, so it was difficult".

"Yeah...some of my programming might still be influencing this body....but I am more like a player, sort of.  Except, I cant leave the tower.  And I dont have a Status".

Hearing that, Ryuu was shocked.

"Hold on...you cant leave...you have been trapped here the whole time?"

"Yeah...you are my first visitors.  Only players can leave the dungeon rooms, and NPCs brought with them.  But they cant take enemies or NPCs out.  Its programmed that way..."

They realized then, the truth.  This hero that saved everyone...is trapped here, in this small tower, as his reward.

However, Ryuu smiled, and took something out of his magic bag, a letter.

"Well, we cant have that can we" he said.

"Ryuu?" Arsmosis asked, but when he saw the object, he understood immediately.

The boy also looked at the letter.

"Hold on...isn't this...a Guild Invitation?"

"Yes.  NPCs are restricted, they cant just go and join Guilds, but...you are not just an NPC, are you?  As an AI, you had independent thought from the start, but you only gained a physical body after entering this world.  But right now, you exist outside the system..."

"Yeah...although a character preset was generated for me, I have no Status page, so I cant lea...of course!"

Yes, there was a loophole that could be exploited here.  When one joined a Guild, their old Status page was removed and they were given a new design, showing additional information about the Guild they were in.

In other words, the AI, the boy, could accept a Guild Invitation.  While normal NPCs could not, as he was not really that either, he could.

And so, he took the GUild Invite.  A menu came up, asking if he wanted to join Silvercrest as a member.  With tears of joy rolling down his cheeks, about being able to be free and leave this place, he hit accept...and so, a new Status Page was generated for him.

And he was now registered as a player in the Silvercrest Guild.  He could leave the tower, which he couldn't do anything in anymore anyways.

And so, now a Level 1 Adventurer, and choosing the name as Azra, the six of them finally left after learning the truth of this world.

The truth was that they had been saved from possible destruction.

The truth was that they would never be able to return to their old world.

The truth was that this game had become their new reality.

And the truth was, this was only the beginning.

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Meanwhile, in the fields in the far south...several monsters were coming together.  Orcs, all of them looking forward at a rock, where a far bigger Orc stood.

A leader had been born among them.

And it was time for them to rise up and take what they wanted.