//** Continuation of chapter 17. (From 17.1) **//

Arata walked up to Levi who already finished all of enemies. Bodies were laying in circle around him as he crunch down looking at some object.

-good job…

Arata congratulated him when stop near him. He had to at least say something like that even if he wanted to log out already. Still Levi didn’t give him answer.

“He didn’t hear me?”

-hey!

After second shout, Levi finally looked back. His blond hair flapped on the forehead was dyed in blood. Under them were eyes of despair.

-aaa? Ah it’s you.

He answered without energy.

-I saved you there, you should be more grateful.

“Let’s leave the part where it was my fault that they attacked you.”

-grateful? Thank you, yeee! I alive!

Levi still was answering in hollow voice. Arata didn’t mind and answer.

-no problem.

-why do you play the good guy all of sudden?

At that moment Levi exploded.

-wasn’t that your fault that they attacked me!? I thought that it would be pitiful for you to fight against 30 enemies so I wanted to help, but what did you do!? You stood there and enjoyed the show like it has nothing to do with you!

-well… but I joined in the end and you are still alive. Where is the problem?

-where is the problem!? Here is the problem! You see this, it’s like this because you were slacking!

Arata looked at the object that Levi pointed out. It was a shield or rather fragments of it. Because of three arrows that pierced it was splint in two.

-it happens sometime. Anyway if that shield got destroyed by few arrows it means that it was worthless anyway.

Arata was trying to find the bright side.

-it took much damage in other fights and that’s why I wasn’t using it before. I planned to repair it when I finish my mission here.

Levi once again answered in hollow voice.

-right you had to infiltrate this city.

-infiltrate? What a nice word. I just had to get here and see what is going on in this city, that’s all. The lowest type of mission you can get. You see, I have lowest of rank in the Silver Hand, under me are only recruits. Also I only managed to get in because my sister is high rank officer.

-so even here connections are the most important. Anyway why are you upset about losing this shield? You can always get a new one.

-this one, sure I don’t care but it just made me remember that previous one was destroyed.

-is there any difference?

-I could explain it to you but why should I?

Arata also didn’t really care to know.

-try better next time.

-you are optimistic guy.

-by the way, can’t you just repair it with your spell like you tried last time. I saw that when you fought you managed to repair all off your armor in one go.

-no shit Sherlock. You think I wouldn’t do that if I could.

-where is the problem?

-you see it’s not like that ability is that useful. If you use its power too much you can’t use it again for some time. The more you change back, the more time it takes before you can use it again. I won’t be explaining it in details but you should get it more or less now.

-still if you can just heal yourself up back to full in second and you are not a healer, it’s a great skill?

-it’s not heal, I get back in time. For example after I get hit I use that ability and go back to the time when I wasn’t hit. Thanks to that, my hp is returned to max and anything that was destroyed is back to normal its normal state.

-and you say it’s not useful skill?

-well I didn’t say it’s not useful. Still a normal heal would be better if we are only talking about damage. Every time I use it on myself, I get confused and another downside is that I don’t remember what caused the damage. So… no never mind I won’t go around tell others my weakness.

-but you already did.

-ha?

-if you don’t remember what hit you, you won’t be able to defend against it next time. No, even worse. Knowing that you got hit by this or that attack first time, it is very likely that you will get hit by it again. Your opponent will know what works on you.

-a.

Arata could easily see the downside of that spell.

-it’s not like I will tell it around so don’t worry. Anyway you must have some unique class if you have spell like that.

-now you are asking about class? Have some shame. Knowing enemy class is like ticked to win. You won’t get surprised by their normal attacks as you know will know what they can do.

-from where I see it you are some kind of paladin right. I saw once yellow shield attack. Also you have shield and sword and super heal it’s easy to read.

-hahaha… .

Levi laughed at his explanation.

-what?

-Paladin, ah good one.

-what?

-I can at least tell you that I am not Paladin.

-but something similar to Paladin. Anyway what was laugh for?

-nothing. Ah right I have forgotten, you are a newbie after all.

Arata didn’t take that comment well.

-maybe but if that newbie didn’t help you, it would be your corpse lying down here.

-did I offend you? Sorry. But you must say that you are newbie. Newbie is not an offense it’s just stays that you are new to the game. You didn’t even pass the first barrier, right? What do you know about this world anyway? Probably nothing…

“I can’t say much to that.”

-well at least you can fight quite well so first barrier won’t be problem for you. You might even get it on first try from where I see it.

-well at least you are back in a mood now.

-ah…

Levi’s eyes which were laughing a moment ago, once again faced despair. Arata wanting to know asked again.

-don’t get depress again, what is with that shield?

-eh… why do I have to tell you anything, go hunt some boars newbie.

-I think I rather hunt some shieldless idiots, I wonder what they drop.

Arata didn’t mind being called a newbie but being called a boar hunter was too much.

-nah, I am not in a mood right now. Fine if you want to know that badly then listen. In short, Silver Hand order is based on point system. The more points you get the higher rank you get. The higher rank you get the more merits you receive.

Levi started to explain structure of Silver Hand out of sudden.

-what merits?

-prestige, reputation, subordinates, items and skills. The skill that we just talked about is one of rewards I got on leveling up my rank from recruit to my current rank.

-free items and skills? Hey maybe I should join as well.

-yea, good luck with that.

-well if they invited someone you, they will welcome me with open hands.

Arata didn’t plan to join any kind of organization like that he just joked around.

-haha, well joining is not that easy.

-if they give things like that for free it’s definitely not easy. Anyway I understand that you gather points and change them into useful things. The more you get the better things you receive. And to get those points you do some missions like the one you do right now, right?

-yes, just like that. Although there are also different ways to get points.

-so, what does your shield has to do with it?

Arata went back to the point.

-…if you have an item with herb of silver hand and it gets destroyed you will lose a lot of points. Every time you rank up your score goes back to zero. If your points are on minus for some time you can get demoted. And because I got rank up just before this mission I have no points what so ever.

-one rank can’t be that bad.

-in my case it is, because I will return to the recruit. This isn’t even considered being a member. Also it’s the hardest way to get promoted from recruit.

-must be hard.

-and it is not even my biggest problem, if I get demoted my sister will kill me. And I am no talking about killing in the game. Well, I can still hide somewhere it should take her few days to get back to house.

-you don’t live together?

-she is older than me and moved out from house few years ago. Still it will take her no time to get me. We live in the same city.

-hahaha… don’t worry it’s not like she will kill you for real.

-sometimes I think that dying would be a better fate then meeting her anger.

Although Levi should be joking his face was not laughing. Arata advised him.

-all you can do right now is getting some points asap. That way you won’t get demoted.

-easy for you to say, you don’t know how hard it is to get those.

-what about your mission? You get some points from this right.

-not enough, it’s lowest of lowest.

-but it’s a start.

-well it’s not like I will be demoted right away. Because it is so hard to rank up it is also not that easy to fall down.

Levi started to feel some hope inside him.

-finally, you have some positive thinking. Well I will be going now.

-wait!

“I dead tired, give me a break!”

-what is it? I am two days straight in game right now.

-it’s your fault that my shield is destroyed, so you will help me out.

-mine fault? Well this one maybe, but wasn’t the previous one important? I have nothing to do what that one.

-you destroyed previous one as well.

-it’s not me that attacked you. Rather, I was one of the few who didn’t.

-your guild attacked me so you are at fault as well. It won’t take long.

-ah, my guild brings me more faults then merits.

-you can always leave it. But given you are a newbie joining guild with high level players is a huge merit. Information is the key.

-you can find out everything on your own.

-true enough and that is the case for most players. But let me tell you a story that I once heard from my sister.

-what story? I said that I don’t have time right now.

-it’s short actually. You see my sister is quite good at this game. She is the strongest player that I know.

-strongest player, so she is the one player that passed level 300?

-passed level 300? Where did you hear that fairy tale? Don’t believe everything you hear.

-it goes for you as well, how can you say that no one passed it? You also just heard it from someone.

-no, I saw how 300 level barrier challenge looks like. It’s impossible, simple as that.

-what you are 299 out of sudden and tried it?

-nah, I am little over 100. I won’t tell exactly as keeping levels quiet is also the way to go.

-so where did you see that?

-you really are newbie aren’t you?

-never mind you probably just saw it because off your sister right?

-not really, there is program on television every month that futures 300 level challenge. There was once a video from one player perspective that tried it. He died fast but one could see that it’s definitely impossible to beat it. Right now everyone is complains that it is a bug and developer should fix it. Still there are no bugs in this game and developers can’t affect this world so there is nothing that they can do.

-that’s a little too much. And television?

-it’s normal TV program. Although, I always watch it on internet. You didn’t watch TV for past two years and don’t know about it? You can’t get away from advisement about EOA.

-em… .

-anyway it’s impossible to explain everything and it’s a pain. We need to get going anyway so let’s go Arata.

-I didn’t give you my name Larry.

-it’s Levi! And I heard yours already so why not use it. Did I get it wrong?

-no, anyway where are we going?

-city center, cathedral. I will tell the rest while we are moving. So get going!

Levi started to run in direction of Triangle gate, Arata followed after him although he thought about ignoring him and logging out for a second.

They both passed through the gate entered the destroyed city. Levi remarked.

-ahhh, you guys really don’t know how to hold back. Such a nice city it was and now it is wasted.

-it’s not my fault that it’s ruined…

It looked like majestic glory of Triangle will never return to its former glory. The city looked just as bad inside destroyed walls as it looked outside.

-why are we running?

Arata asked.

-we need to get to the central before your friends kill off the leader.

-they still need to defeat him first.

-if they are half as good as you it won’t take them more than a minute. Well given that dark-brown haired lady is with them it won’t take more than one arrow.

-you mean Kelly? Well that probably is true. Anyway what with that lady thing? Now you speak quite normal but back then when we first meet you were doing some strange talk like this.

-hmmm… if you have to know I am quite weak when it comes to talking with girl so I role-play it.

-ha?

-my sister told me about that idea.

-I don’t think that she was serious about it. She probably just wanted to see you embarrass yourself.

-probably, still I also have fun doing that, so I don’t plan to change it. Also I want a girlfriend.

-you will probably get killed faster than get one.

Arata remembered Kotori’s reaction at Levi’s action.

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

-at least I trying, you probably never had one either.

-it doesn’t matter to you, but if you have to know I have one right now.

-somehow I don’t believe you.

-I don’t care if you believe me.

-haha, so you don’t have one. Don’t worry I also once lied that I have a girlfriend to look good in eyes of others.

-ah, you are annoying. If you want a proof then when we find my guild then you can ask her.

-she is in your guild. Then I saw her already?

-yep.

-which one? Wait, I will try to guess.

-I still don’t know why are we running? What does Legion’s leader have to do with me helping you?

Arata wanted to get to the main topic and get done with it fast but Levi had something else in mind.

-I will explain in a second. First things first. Given my impression I have two guesses for your girlfriend.

-two?

-yea can I ask one question with that I will be sure.

-if you have to.

-are you Lolicon or pedophile of some sort…

Arata punched Levi in a face. Levi moved away.

-hey it was dangerous, I will trip if you hit me all off sudden.

-then don’t ask stupid questions.

-okay, okay. I take it as no. So that’s leave.

Levi didn’t speak for a moment, then he lost balance while they were turning in the corner. He tripped and rolled into the wall of the building.

-you okay?

Lying in awkward position with legs over the head Levi answered.

-don’t tell me, the one that attacked me first, the one with the flower.

-well yea.

Levi’s eyes went wide. Then he got up. He walked up to Arata and kneel before him.

-teacher!

-ha?

-Arata you must teach me how to do that. How can I get a goddess like her? Those eyes, this face, this body.

Arata once again punched Levi into head from the top and this time he hit.

-don’t look at others people girlfriends with lewd eyes.

-but you must agree that it’s true. It’s a goddess. Normal mortals like us are not worthy to look at her…

Punch!

-aua, that hurt.

-I said, don’t look at others people girlfriend with lewd eyes.

-why are you angry? It’s not like I plan to take her or rather I have no idea how to do it.

-that’s better.

-also you shouldn’t worry about that. It’s not like she will leave you just because someone make move on her. Rather she will kill everyone that will try do that.

-why do you think so?

-well she attacked me the instant I tried so…

Punch!

-what was that for?

-you reminded me that you tried to hit on her.

-right. Wait a minute, why are we standing, get going Arata!

Levi got up and started running. Arata followed.

-it was your fault for falling on a pebble.

-anyway what did you do to get situation like that.

-what situation?

-you know, having a girlfriend like her. She also seems to like you more than anything else in the whole world. I want to know how to get this effect.

-I still don’t know why are we running?

Arata tried to get back to the topic.

-I told you already. We have to get to the leader before your friends finish him off. We have no much time.

-that I know already. But if we have to hurry we shouldn’t waste it on idle talk.

-there are important things and more important! You see I am 20 already and never had a girlfriend in my life, so please teach me how to get one.

-you are a year older than me.

-so can you teach me?

-even if you say that. I am bad at this stuff same as you. Well I might be better than you given you use that lady role-play. First thing you should do is to cut that play.

-I will think about it, so how did you end up with her.

-many thing happens which I don’t plan to share with you. But to sum things up it was her actions rather than mine that got us together.

-ah, that’s not really helpful.

-I never really thought about things like girlfriend before, so I can’t really advice you on anything.

-eh… .

-don’t get dishearten.

-if that the case I stick to my lady role-play and you are just some lucky bastard so I won’t call you a teacher anymore. Anyway you wanted to know why we are running.

-so we are finally back to the point. So why are we running?

-as I said I need some points for silver hand. One way of getting points is catching players that are on black list and thrown them into prison. Given my investigation I will definitely get many points for leader of Legion.

-so you want us to step back and let you take care of him.

-that would be great but I won’t steal that kill from you guys. It’s your war after all. All I need to do is to land a hit on his body. Even if it’s dead it still will send him to prison and I will get points.

-so why are we running?

-well if I land a hit on him while he is still alive I will get more points.

-eh… .

-you also said that you play for two days already so we are running for you so you can faster log out.

-I could just log out and ditch you. Still if we are going somewhere we should run anyway, isn’t it normal for games?

-you didn’t play this game for long enough did you? Say, were you running all the time in EOA so far?

-when I was playing solo or in small two person group, yes I did run. Especially when the distance was long. I skipped on running in previous crowed village but I would if there was more space.

-some hardcore gamer you are, but in EOA you also need to role-play a little and running everywhere is unnatural…

“Well that might be true.”

-I was like that as well but quickly gave up. Most players are the same. No, anyone with VR experience is like that. There is simple reason for it. Here is a different reality which is as real as reality itself to the point where people sometimes forget themselves.

-that might be so.

-in reality you don’t just run everywhere. One reason for that is simply because cops will get you. You are too suspicious that way. Still if you are in hurry you should run that’s all there is to it. Both here and in reality. That’s how I view it at least. In short I am running only when there is a need to run.

-well it doesn’t concern me. Anyway how far is the center from here?

-in walking distance it’s about two to three hours. We are running so we should get there faster.

-have I mentioned that I am dead tired?

-yes few times.

They continued to run. Their tempo wasn’t that fast it was definitely not their highest speed. Given two days of playing straight, although sleeping here was more effective Arata felt strange. He was hungry and at the same time not hungry. He thought that it’s because his real body is hungry. Levi on the other hand was after a hard fight. None of them tried to speed up. Their speed was little faster than walking. At some point Arata asked.

-Levi, you were going to tell me some story from your sister.

-right. Well it will be good for killing time. As I said, my sister is one of best players but she told me a story of how she was crushed down badly by other player.

-are you sure that she is the best player then?

-it’s a story before she became one and there is no best player in this game anyway, so don’t take serious everything I say. Still she is really good. And the story also takes place when she was really good. Her and her opponent levels also were the same.

-when was that?

-that was about time when someone first found 200 level barrier challenge.

-that doesn’t tell me much.

-about a year ago in real time.

-year is a long time.

-yep, I didn’t even play back then.

-but if they passed 200 level barrier at level 200 why only one player passed 300 level after a year.

-as far as I know, pass 200 levels it’s really hard to level up. Now it’s even harder, given the war.

-what war?

-it doesn’t concern people under 200 so you no need to know and if you are interested google it. I also never cared about it so I am not best to explain it. Anyway it’s impossible to pass 300 level challenge, so stop saying that someone did.

-I think at least one person should be able to do that but whatever, what about that story about?

-as I mentioned, it’s a story about information power. At that time there was a party that was always ahead with levels and everyone considered them the best. But when they hit 199 they couldn’t find 200 level challenge. Now all you need to do is check the net and you know more or less where it is but back then they needed to go all around the world and find it for themselves. Anyway they hit 199 and started to look around for the challenge. In the meantime some players catch up to them with level. One of them was my sister. She challenged one from that party to duel because of ‘some circumstance’ that she didn’t tell me. Well rather than a duel it was an ambush at him.

-what, she wanted glory for defeating best player? Or did she want to steal his items? Actually can you steal something in this game?

-if you just kill someone then you can’t simply loot them, although there is a way to do that. Anyway it was neither of those she just wanted him dead and when he respawns, kill him again and again and again.

-in short she wanted to gank him. She probably had some good reason for it as normally it’s troublesome to do so.

-no idea what it was, I was too afraid to ask. Anyway when they fought, that player read her like book, without any unnecessary movement, every time with best response possible. Every skill she used was nullified and he didn’t use any overpowered spells either.

-so your sister wasn’t as good as you say.

-well you could say that, but he won because of information he had. He knew how to respond to every action and nothing surprised him. Well he probably had some skills that would be deadly but he didn’t have to use them.

-in fights, if you can read your opponent it’s easy to counter.

It wasn’t something really a secret knowledge but something that most of people knew.

-that’s the moral of the story.

-still that one thing, even without a knowledge you can still put up a fight. Fight using instincts.

-that’s how it goes for most of people. They see something and then think how to deal with it. But being intelligent and having knowledge are two different things.

-are there any other stories?

-sure, there are. There once was a player who could guess up someone’s profession after five minute talk or one minute fight. He also was from the group I mention…

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a Gerald.”

-but that person doesn’t play anymore or at least he is not in places that people would recognize him. My sister said he is not playing though so that’s probably true.

“Or maybe not.”

-maybe he got bored.

-definitely not that, how can you get bored of this world. Still no one heard of him, when in compression other people of that party are still famous and considered the best.

-all of them?

-well there was another person completely disappeared as well. Also there are few that never revealed themselves, so no one knows how many players that party really had. For example the player that my sister fought against is like shadow or a ghost. People wonder if he even exists. What I just told you is what I heard, it’s not like I saw any of them. As I said, I am still in low 100.

-eh I will catch up to you in no time.

-instead of rushing with level, you should find out about the game as well, level is not everything.

-but without it you can’t do much.

-well leaving ‘noobs land’ is a good thing, so passing as quickly as possible to 100 level is right way to go but after that there are more important things.

-what can be more important?

-skills and items in short. After passing 100 level there is less and less improvement in stats with level so focusing on those is better. Having good skills is much better than having high level.

-if you say so. Anyway how much longer do we have to run?

Arata asked the ultimate question.

-just a little longer and we will see the clock tower, next to it should be the cathedral. Well, given it’s your guild it may not be there anymore. Now that I think about it, even if it’s guild wars you guys went overboard. Hmm, I think that if I killed you I could get some points.

-well you can try although it might be dangerous. For the note I didn’t do anything so I won’t give you points. Still if you want to fight I can take you on.

-nah I was joking and it’s not like I am in good condition to take on a whole guild by myself. You alone would be a problem and I don’t want to think what would happen if people who could destroy thousands of players and largest guild in this area start to hunt me down. Rather, I will look forward to your guild progress in future.

Arata and Levi were getting closer and closer to their destination. They were talking without worry and were quite relaxed. Still neither of them was prepared for what was to come.

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