Kin Ramen — Korean Ramen is the best kind of instant ramen. Way better than those chicken noodle stuff — you call that food?! Dantes took a short break to eat and drink — B-Fuel of course. He never drank any water. Was his skin starting to look green, his piss pink? Maybe so. It must be the 7G. Anyhow, the future is great.

Dantes returned to the VR headset. Before putting it on, he pondered the question once more: should he join Reiji— Renegade’s party? Sure, it would be difficult to work with the girls, but perhaps if he proved his use, he would be accepted. However, there was also the chance they just wouldn’t let him in in the first place — maybe he should give it a chance. It was just like real life, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. But then again… If he missed this shot, it would probably do critical damage to his psyche…

Good thing he didn't know any of these people in real life. Honestly, Dantes did not know many people in the first place. So was the life of a sigma. Sigma nuts, that is.

Besides, he liked being alone. It was bothersome and tiring to socialize, and this was a world where you never needed to do so to survive. Work could be done online, education could be done online, and life could be done on Everybody's Tower, hopefully.

After lying back on his bed, he equipped the VR headset. What was it called again? Occult Rift? These companies were always coming up with strange new names to fascinate and confuse. Rumours had it that this device had a microwave function to prepare food. Not sure why that's on a VR headset. Hopefully, this would NOT be a major problem in the future.

A fancy transition later, Dantes was back in the game at a... random dirt path in the middle of nowhere. Random spawn point... How big was the range anyway? Why did he not spawn in a safe zone? Perhaps the devs set the spawn circle a bit too large, overlapping with the hunting grounds. At least it seemed to be a beginner area according to the map. Avangarden, it was called.

Dantes took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the game. Sure, it had its shortcomings. A lot of them, in fact, but strangely mostly in the dev's area, hm. As a whole, however, the product was definitely the work of a passionate team, and a company with grand goals -- to push the boundaries of gaming. Dantes thought that such passion was admirable, only if he had something...

In reality, he had nothing. What was the prize after spending hours and hours on games? Nothing. Unless one went pro, there was little to no reason to play video games other than to escape the harsh realities, and that was what video games were to Dantes, merely a form of escapism. He did not want to think about life. He did not want to think about his failures.

Dantes took the path to return to Cadra -- the city wall was visible at least. It would take him around 15 minutes, but he didn't mind the journey. It was peaceful. When walking in real life, the ground is often wet, the air smells of smoke, the sun blazes and rain pours. In this virtual world, there only existed peace. All was good.

His peaceful relaxation was soon interrupted by pleas for help -- someone was being attacked by a couple of slimes. A random encounter quest? Dantes did not see any quest markers, but perhaps random encounters did not have them, blending them into the world. After scouting the battlefield, he concluded that even he, a healer would be able to wipe them out with ease. This was going to be his first combat event, how exciting!

Blue Slime (Lvl 1)

HP: 50

ATK: 5

"Hopefully not an isekai protagonist."

Dante was already familiar with the controls from the beta -- simply act out the move, and the corresponding skill will deal the corresponding damage. Right now, he only had the basic Swing ability for attack:

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Swing (40) PHYS (0.5s)

40 damage -- almost a one-shot! The slimes shouldn't have any resistance against physical this early on so that was fine as well. Dantes quickly got to work on hammering the enemies while carefully avoiding the girl, levelling to Lvl 2 this way. It was easy work as the ability only had a .5-second cooldown.

"Phew, you alright?" asked Dantes to the NPC.

However, no dialogue options appeared. Strange. She couldn't be a player since she had no display name or Lvl, and it wouldn't make sense for a hacker to be lying in a field like this. Something else was going on.

"Uh... Is this a quest or something? Hello?"

"T-thanks..." replied the girl, lifting herself from the ground. "A quest? Where?"

"No, I mean, is this a quest..."

"I don't see any quests around here..."

"Alright, are you a player?"

"A player? No, I'm Vergiln."

"...Are you pretending to be re****ed or...?"

Automatical censorship. Damn, commies. Also, Vergiln? Really? What a terrible name, and a terrible joke.

"...Can you help me get to the city? I have no idea how I got here... I just left to get some water and got lost."

Vergiln had the appearance of a young adult -- but appearances could be deceiving. Dantes knew best because of his... current situation. Perhaps he was dealing with a child with the game's automatic voice filter.

"How old are you kid?"

"How old? I'm 21."

"No, come on, seriously."

"I'm really 21!" said the girl, "Do you want my driver's license or something? I thought this game didn't have any age restriction..."

Dantes processed the current situation. There was a high likelihood that if he helped the girl now, she would ask to join his party. Dantes knew more than anyone else that he had a difficult time refusing, so he would most likely be stuck with a useless team member... who would further demote their party, making it undesirable for future recruits. Nothing personal, but it was a doggy dog world out there. You're either dog, or you're doggone.

"Sorry kid, but you're on your own," said Dantes, "git gud, and see ya never."

"Wait!"

Vergiln caught up to Dantes surprisingly quickly. Though hopefully, he could lose her soon.

"You're going to the city anyways, right? Can I just follow you?"

Resolve. Dantes needed to keep his resolve.

"...Hm, I think I'll go to the forest."

Dantes turned 180 degrees and headed toward the dark Avangarden. It must've been full of critters and monsters -- not a great place for a solo Lvl 2 healer, but it would most likely deter the girl before that point. A genius plan to be sure.

----------------------------------------

“...Why the f**k are you following me?!”

The two were already at the grand entrance to Cadra’s backyard. The dark sky loomed over them as the shadows of the world seemed to grow, enveloping the world in a mist. Within the forest surely awaited foul beasts and fowl-beasts. Chickens, that is. Hopefully, they wouldn’t smell the chicken ramen scents from his breath.

“I-I’m gonna go in you know?! I’m gonna do it! I’m not scared!” said Dantes while vibrating like a…

However, Vergiln did not move an inch. Not being alone seemed to be her first priority, perhaps especially so since Dantes was a healer. Maybe his avatar had something to do with it as well…

“W-w-w-w-w-w-well, here I g-g-go!”

Dantes gradually disappeared into the darkness, his shadow eventually enveloped by the forest.

“W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wait for me!”