Chapter 42 “She who commands the wind.”

Nearly nine days have passed since the party left the village of Larisane and nearly fifteen days have passed since the party left the city of Karma. The expedition to the west already took two weeks of in-game time and yet, there was still at least one more day of journey left, before the party reaches the heaven’s gate. Then again heaven’s gate might be party’s final destination but it was not the final destination of Arata.

Reaching the heaven’s gate as challenging as it was, wasn’t the official part of the quest so the real challenge that the quest of rank three brought was still completely unknown. So far, Arata already managed to complete the first part of the rank three questline but at that time he used the power of money. As to how will he actually deal with the quest of impossible rank, Arata did not know and he tried not to think about. If Arata tried to analyze the situation objectively he would soon arrive at the thought that completing the quest is literally impossible to begin with just as everyone else would tell him. That was why Arata avoided thinking about possibility of completing it and rather focused on things that he can do right now, and that was reaching the actual heaven’s gate as even though the party was one day journey from it, they were still not there and in this one last day, anything could happen.

At the current moment the party was sailing through the river with the use of the boats that were made by Vatras. They already sailed quite far as they were already sailing for the whole night. Because the current of the river was quite slow, they still did not reach the planned place. Even despite that fact, it was nearly 10:00 already. Being it ten however did not stop some people from sleeping and currently there were many who were doing so. Nearly everyone used the quiet time in the boat to take a chance to rest.

There were few exceptions to that rule though as for example Arata did not sleep in the boat at all. It was not because he particularly refused to sleep but rather, it was simply because in his boat Rin was currently sleeping and she was doing so for quite some time now. Namely she was sleeping ever since they started sailing. Still, after seeing her sleeping face with a happy expression that she would never show while being awake, Arata didn’t feel the like it was right to wake her up. Well that ‘happy expression’ was not perfectly happy as there also were tears coming out from Rin’s closed eyes but those were probably tears of happiness given her warm smile.

The other reason that Arata didn’t wake her up was because he wasn’t particularly tired to begin with, and that was probably because of the strange sleep system that was in EOA. Ever since Arata started playing, the sleeping system seemed weird to him, or rather he was not exactly sure how it worked. There were times where he would get sleepy as he would normally do in real world but there were also the times in which he could play non-stop and he wouldn’t have any symptoms of not sleeping, just like right now. Arata thought about it for some time while sailing this boat as there was nothing better to do and he arrived at the conclusion that it’s not necessary ‘time that you are awake’ which makes you sleepy in EOA. It was rather the activities from which one could get tired that made one sleepy in EOA. So as long as someone didn’t overwork themselves they would be able to go for more than one day without a sleep without any symptoms. Most people would still sleep normally but it was not completely necessity to sleep every night in. Although it was still probably something that one shouldn’t overdo.

Despite the fact that it was a ‘river in the west’ that the party was sailing through right now, it turned out to be surprisingly safe route to travel by. At the start, it didn’t look like it will be safe as while sailing Arata could see that on the both riversides there were monsters walking around. Then, there were also quite disturbing sounds that were coming from insides of the forest. Strangely though in the end this route was really safe, and none of those monsters decided to attack the travelers that were using the river.

Arata found it strange so he decided to ask but Shin explained that no one was attacking them because they were in ‘no one’s territory’.

If on the one side of the river there were big colorful toads and on the other mutated turtles, then the first riverside would be toads’ territory and the second side would be turtles’ territory. Still as for the river itself, it was a natural territory that served as a border so it belonged to no one in particular and everyone was free to use it and that also included the adventurers that would sail through it, although there probably weren’t many people that who would think of an idea like that. Normally one would rather assume that sailing through the middle of the river will result in both sides attacking at the same time but it turned out to not be the case.

-hey! Are we there yet?

At some point Flynn ended up asking the ‘ultimate question’. For a note, he and other two ‘party goers’ were already awake. Flynn and Bran were as if nothing happened but as for Levi he had an incredible hangover and according to what he said, his head hurt badly, not to mention that he ended up vomiting three times already after waking up. After seeing him like that Arata promised himself to never try the ‘dwarven ale’ as it seemed that unless someone was a dwarf the result would be a condition like that, no matter how good their stomach was. The dwarves were different only because it seemed that their race had a special bonus that allowed them to drink beer without heavy consequences later on. For some people that was deciding factor to choose the dwarven race.

-naturally we are not. Also I don’t know how much it will still take.

Shin answered to him.

-what? Don’t tell me that we got lost.

-no, it’s just that right now we have completely no information about the area around us so it’s hard to tell. But right now we are not lost as the moment in which we have to stop sailing is the moment when the river will take a sudden turn to the right. According to the map we will be north of the place where heaven’s gate is supposed to be and from there on, it will be just half a day of journey.

-still if it goes on like this, we won’t make it there today, right?

Vatras ended up commenting.

-probably but there is no need to hurry as we will have one more break before coming close towards the gate anyway. We definitely don’t want to reach it in the middle of the night after all. Anyway once again, avoid speaking out very loudly as we don’t know if ‘some of those’ will start attacking us because we are too loud.

Shin said that and pointed in the direction of the one riverside on which some kind of ‘lake-monsters’ village’ was placed. The monsters that were living in that village were some kind of snake-like creatures that were walking on two legs. Still it wasn’t completely barbaric race of monsters as they did have weapons, mostly spears and nets. At the same time though those weapons could also be simple fishing equipment as there were also some of those creatures equipped with metal shields and swords as well. Also it was worth to mention that those creatures were all dressed. Still they didn’t seem like really friendly kind and ever since the party got close to the village those creatures were glaring at them with their weapons ready for the fight. Also there were probably much more guards gathered near the coast than usually.

Luckily though those creatures didn’t feel the need to attack those that simply sailed the river without making any contact with them so despite the fact that the party got quite close to their village the fight did not happen.

At some point an hour after passing by the ‘village’ Rin finally woke up from her long sleep. Well, it was completely normal but because of the positions in which Arata was sitting in the boat he was looking in her direction and the moment she realized that she asked right away.

-what!?

Her friendly face, which she had during her sleep, disappeared right away when she asked this question with her usual unhappy voice.

-nothing but did you perhaps had some bad dream? You have tears in your eyes you know.

Arata pointed out that fact before anyone else saw her face like this. Those tears were probably nothing big and there was probably no real reason behind them as Rin was sleeping for this whole time but there was no reason for anyone else to see them and misunderstand.

After hearing his comment, Rin immediately touched her cheeks and afterwards she simply wipe them away with her red cloak. The surprisingly afterwards she answered to Arata’s question, despite the fact that he did not expect the answer.

-no, it was not a bad dream but simply good memories…

“They must really have been good if she had such light expression.”

-still, why did you not wake me up? We were to take turns, weren’t we?

Rin followed up with the question as indeed originally they were to take turns. This time however her question was in slightly concerned voice.

-I guess, still I didn’t feel sleepy so I rather glad that I didn’t interrupt your ‘good memories’ as you called it.

-I see, I am sorry… .

While Arata tried to laugh it off, out of sudden Rin apologized to him, which wouldn’t be that big normally but the way she did that was not right. The look she gave Arata at that time and the sad voice in which she said those words weren’t a right apology for it.

“Why does she always do that? No it’s not the time to think about it.”

-you don’t have to apologize to me like that for something so minor.

-… .

Arata tried to repair the mood but when he did she went quiet and didn’t say anything back.

-Rin?

-hmm… ah no never mind. Anyway, just don’t complain latter that because of me you couldn’t sleep, although, I will thank you for letting me sleep for a little longer. Today we will finally reach that gate, right? A rest before a hard fight is welcomed as I am expecting at least something few times harder than the tomb fight and I am not talking about the easy version that we did together with Levi but the one I was trying to do. Ah right, just so you know I still didn’t give up on that one. When we finish with this quest I am planning to complete the objective that I set for myself so long ago.

And then suddenly the atmosphere around her changed completely. If someone were to look at her, they would still think that her eyes look sad but generally Rin was always like that and to see her giving any other expression than that was rare. Still, the fact that she suddenly answered with such long monologue made Arata realize something.

“She seems in a mood for the talk.”

-you mean the fight that involves that army of skeletons right? But isn’t it like meaningless? I mean you already completed that quest so there is no reason for you to go there.

-I don’t really care if I completed something or not. For me the quests are simply origins of information where I can find some hard opponents to beat. So even if the quest might be finished I still didn’t beat my opponent.

-I see. Well sure that knight was a true monster but you should be able to win against him if it were one on one.

-no, I don’t want a victory like that. My opponent is not only him but the whole battle that involves million skeletons and all other twelve skeleton knights. Possibly I also have to defeat the king at the end as it turns out that he also can be fought as Levi did fight against him, right? So I think that he might be something like the last boss of that fight.

It seemed like Rin really had the intention to keep on doing the tomb fight when she returns to Karma again.

“Well I guess the reward is not the only reason that one wants to complete dungeons. Just having an interesting fight is a reward on its own. Also, I can fully understand her wanting to continue complete that fight after she already tried so many times. If there were no chances at all she would not try to begin with so deep down she think she can do it. Also she probably would eventually do it if she had more time.”

-well it’s not my business what are you planning to do after the quest is complete. But are you sure that you want to return to how you were when I first meet you in this world?

-hmm… what do you mean by return? I didn’t change in the sightless so don’t start saying the same things as Mary does. Didn’t I make myself clear already, few times at that?

-yes, you did…

“Ah, why does she keep on saying it? I think that getting along with practically everyone as she once did suited her much more. Even now I feel like she still feels the same way as she did in my memories and what she actually do right now is that she forces herself to behave like that. It’s painful for me even to just watch her do so, how painful must it be for her herself.”

Arata thought like this but he would not dare to say those thoughts out loudly as all his progress on getting along with Rin could disappear and once again she would stop talking with him completely. Still there was something that Arata wanted to try out.

-say Rin… you know I have a proposition for you.

-if it involves anything outside of our current quest then the answer is no.

It didn’t look promising though and she shot down him like this right away with completely calm voice that she always had.

-but you still didn’t hear it.

-I see so it doesn’t involve our quest. Otherwise you would say it does. In that case I am not listening.

With that Rin looked away at the river side and then she continued to do so for next five minutes. From time to time she would sneak glances back at Arata but seeing him still waiting for her approval she would immediately look back. In the end though, Arata decided to not wait anymore.

-fine, in that case I will simply say it out loudly and because we are in the same boat you will hear me anyway.

-hey it’s not fair!

-I am not a good guy so I don’t have to be fair. So…

Arata ignored Rin’s opinion and started saying what he wanted to say. He didn’t expect much result from it but he wanted to try it anyway.

-from what I understood it seems that you are enjoying hard fights that one can find in EOA.

-is there something wrong with that!?

Even though she said she won’t hear him out, Rin ended up commenting. Arata was already used to her ‘pseudo stubborn nature’ and the fact that ‘if he wanted to say something to her and she would say that she is not interested’. Still as long as he was persistent in it she would listen in the end if only to have peace of mind.

-no there is nothing wrong with that, I enjoy it as well. Still I think that you are enjoying it little bit too much.

-what do you mean by, too much?

-I mean that after you found one hard fight you kept on trying to win it up until me and Levi helped you, right? And now you say that you still want to do it even if you don’t have your quest anymore. So, I wanted to say that this way of thinking is too shallow. In this world there are fights that one shouldn’t simply be doing alone, you should understand it yourself after traveling with this party for those few days, right?

-I won’t agree with this! I think that I would manage to reach this point of the west on my own if I knew the way that we took beforehand. Well, maybe I overconfident here but I will still say that we would manage reach this place with just three, together with Levi. Well, at least as long as we didn’t end up in that mist forest as it might have been impossible for just us to get out from that one. Still then again if we just added that white-glasses to our group then we would definitely manage in four. Then again I am sure that someone can become strong enough to travel through the west on their own so your argument of looking for help from others people is false.

Rin ended up explaining but to that Arata answered with the same thing that she started with.

-I won’t agree with this! Sure I see that this game is completely unbalanced and shouldn’t be labeled as a game in the first place, but I think it still holds its MMO elements. Sure, one person can become strong equally enough to be able to compete with hundred and alone complete the fights that they would need that hundred to complete.

-see it’s exactly what I just said.

-still even then there will be some fights that will require a large number of those ‘hundred like people’ to fight together. Then again there might be someone who will be as strong as that group of ‘hundred like people’. But that will still lead to the fights that will require a group of people like him.

-I still don’t know what your point is though.

-what my point is, is that the people who can complete a dungeon on their own shouldn’t be doing that dungeon in the first place as it is easy for them. They should rather look for a dungeon that would require a large group of people on that power level and together they would be able to experience the fight that would be multiple times harder than the ones that they will be able to do alone.

-I see, and the harder the fight the more enjoyable it is. Is that your point?

-yes and now, here is where my proposition comes. As you should know, it’s not easy to find people that will be on the same skill level as you, but without them you won’t be able to take parts in those battles. Still this problem is not something that appeared only for you or me just now but it’s something that existed in world of games for ages. Also there is even simple solution to that problem and that solution is called a guild. A guild is a group of people with whom you will be able to take parts in those battles and thanks to it you don’t have to look for the people yourself every time you want to take part in those. Not to mention that finding a good group of people at certain point is nearly impossible. So if you want to enjoy EOA’s battles to the fullest, you should find yourself a good guild and the way you will do it is actually quite simple, you just have to join my guild, as…-

-stop it!...

Up to this point Rin was listening but when Arata went to the main point of his ‘proposition’ she interrupted him right away.

-Arata, I have a question for you. Can you please tell me which part of the sentence ‘we won’t be meeting again after the quest is finished’ you didn’t understand?

Rin ended up asking this question in completely collected manner but at this moment Arata realized that he probably said too much. Still his intentions were really simple as he simply didn’t want Rin to isolate herself from all people except Yume. He knew that it was not the way Rin should be and her true nature was something completely different. As for asking her to join his guild it was simply one of the ways to achieve that. This was the plan that he had on his mind for some time now but now it seemed that it won’t work as it was obvious that Rin was completely against it. She didn’t even let him finish when he first mentioned it.

-fine, fine I am sorry. I was just thinking that if you joined my guild I would have a good back up in times of need, meaning one of those battles. So rather than calling it proposition, I simply wanted to use you in the future.

Arata already had prepared lie for the occasion his ‘proposition’ fails which he did expect to happen anyway. He didn’t know he would be shut down so harshly though. But then strangely even though it was somewhat obvious lie as it didn’t fit Arata’s character at all and Rin seen through it right away, she was happy to hear that lie and afterwards she answered.

-I see, so it’s like that. Well, despite what I said, I guess I still owe you because you agreed to help me with this quest, so in the future if you will need that ‘back up’ with something, I will return the favor.

“Hmm? I finally did it? Such a huge step forward.”

After hearing what Rin said, Arata thought like that as it was indeed a huge step forward. Normally, Rin was kept on saying that she won’t meet up with him again after the quest is complete. She even said it today just a second ago. Still, with the last sentence she said that she wants to return the favor, which will naturally result in them meeting again.

“Still even if I would want to leave it at that but I guess those words are enough for the time being, and I don’t want to use something unsure like this.”

-well, even though I am technically helping you right now, I am doing the same quest as you and I will get the reward for it if we complete it so it’s not like I am doing it for free. You have no debt towards me.

-no I think I do, also I expect that your problem will be of the same nature meaning that I will also get something, so only then it will be equal. Also despite what you just said, I do know perfectly well that you are doing this impossible quest with me, only because I asked you for help. I also do know that otherwise you wouldn’t waste your time on something that has such low chance of succeeding as right now. There is a different place in which you want to be right now, aren’t I right?

“Maybe she is right. After all there is no other real reason for doing this quest right now other than helping her. Normally, rather than dreaming of doing something like this quest, the quest that is worth the world first, I would rather prepare myself for that world first quest instead. There are so many areas in which I can improve not to mention that my level is still quite low and trying to do something that deserve world first at this point is crazy and probably stupid. Still, because my goal is to actually help her before everything else, I never thought of backing off from it. Not even once this thought crossed my mind.”

-well don’t worry about me, I am not completely unsatisfied with my current situation and I want to see ‘the level of world’s first’. The only place that I want to be right now is here.

In the end Arata answered like this.

-is that so… but anyway once again remember what I just told you and don’t ever repeat such heresy as me joining some guild. Even if what you said about those hard battles is probably true, it’s not something necessary and those dungeons that I can do on my own are enough challenging and entertaining for me. The tomb fight is one of those…

“Hmm, there was some progress but it still wasn’t enough.”

After hearing what Rin said Arata thought like that but then second later, Rin suddenly continued.

-ahhh… fine, I will answer the question that you have on your face right now…

“Hmm?”

-why don’t I want to group up with other people? It’s simple, it’s because I don’t want to interact with them, or no I said it wrong, I will be truthful, it’s rather, I shouldn’t allow myself to interact with them. As to why I shouldn’t do it, it’s because I don’t want to see the difference between them and me, I simply don’t want to think about the difference in our situation, and naturally seeing that difference make me think about it… Arata, I am different than anyone else who is playing this game. Where that difference comes from is something that I don’t want to say out loud but there is no need for that is there? You probably already know everything. After all, you know what happened. So, I don’t know if Mary asked you to do it, or if you thought of it on your own after realizing my situation but still, I don’t want your help in that manner or rather no matter what you do you can’t help me, no one can. So in future, don’t try again to do anything similar to what you just tried to do…

Somehow, Rin ended up deciding to open up to Arata and told him nearly everything that she was hiding so far. She probably did so because she saw through Arata’s intention and unless she was as honest as this, she would not be able to persuade him to change his mind. And actually her opening up worked. Now that Arata heard it all directly from her, he suddenly felt that he really shouldn’t be trying to do something that Rin did not ask him for. Previously, he already assumed most of what Rin just told him as well as the one last thing that she didn’t mention but still hearing it from her was completely different.

Arata decided to rethink his actions once again and started thinking, if he really was supposed to do anything in that regard in the first place as doing so would be as if he ignored Rin’s decision and that decision was not something that she made without thinking hard about it beforehand.

After all, Arata did saw how she struggles with that decision every day.

-ah right Arata, don’t start feeling sorry for me all of sudden because I hate when people do that as well. What I told you changes nothing, so there is also no need for you to think about what I just said either. Anyway I don’t know how long we are still going to be sailing with this boat but even if it were to be a single hour I think that it will be worthy to take that short nap after all so give me that paddle and go to sleep. Even if you can’t fall asleep you can simply close your eyes and simply rest.

In the end Rin told him to go to sleep and even though Arata considered that, he still had something left to say.

-it seems that before reaching the gate we will still have to take one last break but for now I will take you on your offer. Before that though, can I tell you something personal?

-personal?

-you said that I do know what happen but in truth, I don’t exactly know. Actually meeting you in this world was a shock for me and that is because up till the moment you showed me ‘that stance in arena’, I thought that you were dead. Before meeting here, the last time we talked was right before the beginning of that training right? After that I never saw you again, both in school and training. No one told me anything and you should probably guess that I didn’t ask either given how I was at that time. Or maybe it wasn’t even that, it was simply that I didn’t want to know the truth, the truth that yet again I lost someone dear to me.

-me? Being dear to you?

-yes, I know it sounds like a joke if you look back on our interaction but even despite that, you were the second closest person to me after my grandfather from all the people that I knew, that’s how I felt at least. Also even though I never showed it to anyone, your disappearance was a hard blow to me, although ‘me’ at that time was already out of tears so it wasn’t that hard to hide it. Still, that’s why I want to say that I am really happy that I meet you here as thanks to that, I hope that I will be able to repay you for what you did for me because even if it didn’t seem like that either, ‘that rude guy’ always felt better after you came and talked with ‘him’.

-… hyhy, you might say that but I am sure that if you asked ‘him’, he wouldn’t have agreed with what you said.

-well ‘that guy’ wasn’t too honest with himself, so it would be just as you said.

-hahaha, ah… Arata, you weren’t kidding when you said that you will personal, still hearing all that from you feels strange right now even despite the fact of how different you become right now. But you do know that I used to hate you, right?

-well even someone as kind as you told me that herself, so yes, I was perfectly aware of that. That being said though, hate is still closer relation than indifference.

-I see still despite everything you said I used to be dear to you? So how about now?

-now? I think that a lot didn’t change here and I believe that you still are. In fact, because we can now interact with each other like this I think that I like you even more.

-I see… .

Rin answered and closed her eyes and then she said.

-go to sleep Arata, there are still many things to do afterwards.

-there isn’t anything else that I have left to say, so once again, I will take you on this offer.

Arata ended up passing the paddle to Rin and he took a short nap that would end only after few hours when the party would reach the point where the river turns drastically to the right.

-anyone who is still sleeping, wake up!

Arata heard someone’s shouted and opened his eyes. It turned out that he did take that nap but it wasn’t for too long as the sun was still high up in the sky. After waking up Arata confirmed the hour and it was 15:00.

The party was no longer sailing anymore and the boats were moored on the left riverbank. It was a rocky area with no monsters around or rather right now there were no monsters around as there were about forty bodies lying dead in random spots, which signaled that the battle was held here.

“She did not wake me up.”

Arata got out from ‘now empty boat’ and thought like that. It seemed like Rin did not feel like waking him up for the battle and she left him in the boat while that battle took place. Normally whenever Arata went asleep in EOA he would set up the ‘alarm clock’ that would wake him up on set time still this time he couldn’t do that as he didn’t know how much longer they were going to sail. Also because there was someone around, Arata thought that that ‘someone’ will wake him up but turned out to not be the case. Arata shot Rin a glance the moment he located her but she simply looked away and showed him his back without any feeling of guilt.

-hey Shin, the edge of the forest seems clear but you better see what is farther away yourself!

Bran who was returning together with Kei and Vatras shouted as they walked out from the grove. Right now party stopped on the rocky area but slightly further there were many trees, enough to call it a small grove or forest. On the other side of the river on the other hand there weren’t that many tries but party wasn’t going that way.

“So, they even already started scouting.”

It seemed that Arata was not woken up for a little longer than just the battle, although it didn’t seem like he missed anything important.

After Bran’s shout, even though it was directed to Shin about everyone started moving towards where he came from. After all they weren’t going to make a stop in this place anyway.

They all started walking and even though it was already ‘scouted forest’ the party still went into its usual formation.

-so, how bad is it?

When they started moving, Shin asked as they still could not see clearly through the tree.

“He already skipped the question about the situation but rather went straight to the question of how bad that situation is. Yea that’s encouraging.”

-you could say that it’s quite bad but on the other hand, it’s not bad at all.

Vatras answered although his answer was a tricky one.

-what do you mean?

-well as Bran said, it’s better if you see it for yourself.

After two minutes they reached point where the trees ended and they saw the open field. It really wasn’t that big of a forest.

They left the forest and reached the edge of the cliff. It wasn’t that big of a cliff though as the fields were only three meters down to the ground. But then, on this open field, there were numerous gigantic creatures that were practically everywhere.

“Are you kidding me? An army of giants?”

The fields were filled with ‘stone’ and ‘earth’ giants which despite the fact that Arata was standing on the three meters cliff, were still reaching far above his height. By the first look, on average their height was in range of four to ten meters. Still apart from that there were also few of them that would probably reach the height of 25 meters or maybe even more. They were as high as skyscrapers.

The giants’ build was quite bulky and even though they did have hands and legs they didn’t really resemble humans. They didn’t have anything that would resemble head although they did have eyes at the top of their thorax in the place where neck would normally begin.

The ‘stone giants’ were made of rock and were mostly in grey colors. Their bodies had sharp ends everywhere. In comparison to them the earth golems which were brown in color had flat and little slimmer build. They somehow did not look as durable as stone giants but that was probably just the impression one could get while comparing it to the other one. That also might have come from the fact that the largest of giants that was one of stone type.

The giants were simply standing still although some of them were also walking. That fact immediately crushed anyone’s hope that those would be some kind of statues. As for the number of giants, it was hard to count them all but in general they filled the space of few kilometers to anywhere in sight, especially in the direction in which the party had to go to reach the heaven’s gate.

-em… once again Tras, how is it not bad?

The first one to break the silence was Shin as indeed the comment that Vatras made earlier on was somewhat strange.

-well, we can see here an army of boss class monsters on our way. But it’s the type that we once fought against and even managed to win against.

-yes but it was just one giant and probably smaller than most that are here, not to mention that fight still took half of our party and at that time we had twenty three people, right. So once again, how is it not bad?

It seemed like the party had some experience with this type of monster already given how Shin answered. Although that experience simply made everything look even worse.

-well Shin, just you take a look from over there and you will immediately think that this route will be a simple walk in the park.

Strangely Vatras ended commented like that and pointed towards the trees that blocked the view to the west. Currently the party was no longer to the east from the heaven’s gate but to the north from it, so right now they wanted to go south. Still, that did not meant that one couldn’t go farther to the west and in fact the location of heaven’s gate was considered in the books to be at the eastern edge of old Solaris’s empire

It didn’t take more than a minute to reach the end of the cliff with the view towards the west. The area near the western part of the cliff was once again filled with the same giants in about the same range but they soon stopped look like a true problem as what could be seen in a distance not that far away was what was truly scary.

-… .

-… .

-… .

-… .

=… .

-see, we have nothing to worry about if we want to go south.

People who just arrived hold back their breath but it seemed like Bran was already used to the sight.

In the distance there was a large mountain that would be at least thousand meters in height. Well that naturally wasn’t the impressing point as after all it was a mountain and even now Arata could see another mountain that would probably be about the same in height like this one. Still, the mountain that probably everyone was looking at right now was not normal. Probably that mountain was perfectly normal just few hours ago and if the party reached this point even a single day earlier it would be nothing to look at. Still they came here right now and they were seeing what was happening.

The whole mountain was literally burning. Right now one could call it a mountain of flames. But it wasn’t probably any kind of volcano and that fire probably did not came out from the earth either. In the first place that fire was completely unrealistic so it couldn’t be anything natural. It was a black flame that consumed and already burned down the whole flora that was on the mountain. Still even after that it did not vanquish and it seemed as if the black flames were now burning down the mountain itself and if the party was to arrive few hours later, they wouldn’t be able to tell that a mountain was standing there.

The burning mountain was not the only impressing thing though. The whole area around it was burning in the same flame as well and that fire was kept on spreading with the use of ‘black flame tornados’. There were several tornados that were moving through the lands and were spreading around the black flame to more and more places. The catastrophe that was happening before everyone’s eyes was just too grand.

The whole burning area created an incredible amount of smoke that blocked the view of what was behind it but in one particular place in the sky there was a black shadow on the smoke although that shadow was slowly becoming smaller and smaller.

Luckily though despite the fact that few tornados were spreading the black flame in many directions, none of them was going to where party was right now. Also the whole catastrophe was taking place far away from where they were so it didn’t really involve them in particular. On the other hand if the party still wanted to continue their journey to the west, they would have to get through that place.

-so Shin, do I still need to explain my answer again?

At some point while everyone were watching the ‘scenery’ Vatras spoke out. After hearing that question though, Shin simply turned around and started walking back to where they first looked at the giant army.

-oh, there it is. ‘It doesn’t have anything to do with me’ mode.

Bran ended up commenting after seeing Shin’s behavior and he also started following him soon after. He probably had enough of watching it as well.

“Hmm, pretending that I didn’t see anything does seem like an option. The scene is simply just too crazy. Is this some kind of way that the game developers are telling people that they still did not finish that part of the game? Like some kind of ‘if you go that way you die’ method rather than invisible walls? If so, I think it works perfectly.”

Arata also decided to turn around before anyone else. After all, in the end, the burning mountain and the burning lands, the burning tornados and the whole catastrophe weren’t his problems, and he already had other problems to deal with.

Currently the problem was, ‘how to reach the heaven’s gate when the area that the party needs to pass by is filled with boss class monsters whose number goes in thousands.’ Arata didn’t want to just wait for now so he decided to discuss this problem, with the ‘problem solver’… although this time there probably wasn’t much options to choose from.

-so, we are sneaking by?

Arata caught up to Shin and Bran while the rest still were watching ‘the catastrophe”. He started the conversation with the obvious question.

-well naturally, it’s impossible for us to do anything but that. You know, there are few dungeons that have giants like those as their last bosses. How was it… oh yes, the main problem with fighting the ‘stone’ one is his durability and large attacks, then the main problem with the earth one is that as long as he is standing on the earth he can regenerate himself. In the dungeon that we did the solution to that was to move him towards the rocky area. Otherwise, the earth giant is nearly immortal.

Shin gave a quick rundown on those giants as it seemed that he was familiar with them but the news he said were kind of grim.

-aye, not to mention they also have their special attacks.

Bran ended up adding to the information.

-so, we are able to defeat some of them but fighting them is general is pointless. Still even though everyone would though of an idea to sneak by them, as this is the only option, is there even a way to do that?

-aye, I think so as well. Hey, Shin, aren’t there any other routes we can use?

-hmm, we could try going back a little but then again we would reach those other creatures that we saw while sailing. Not to mention that ‘orangutan’ who was as big as those giants over here and probably much faster. Or that gigantic snake. Also even if we did managed to get pass them, we would still end up in probably somewhat similar situation where we can’t fight through our way anyway, in the end the risk would only increase. Personally I think that trying to sneak by those giants here will be slightly easier than anything else that we can try. This is simply the limit of what we can do this far in the west without much information.

-we originally never planned to go this far right… oh well, it’s just one last day of journey so whatever happens, happens.

Another person ended up joining the conversation and it was Vatras. He also already had enough of looking at the ‘scenery to the west’. The last person who went for the scouting, Kei was also just few meters away.

-if we are already trying to sneak by, we probably should wait till the night.

Arata ended up commenting.

-yes, I was thinking of it. Currently I am not sure of just a single thing and that is, should we all sneak by together or should we split into the group that would all take slightly different route or go at different times. What do you guys think?

“I guess sneaking up with elven people at the time can’t exactly be called sneaking.”

-we will leave planning to you as always.

Vatras ended up answering as in the first place, he found it strange that Shin asked at all.

-and you Arata?

Still after that, Shin repeated the question and it seemed that he asked only Arata to begin with.

-I understand why you are thinking of splitting up but that can bring other heavy consequences, like we might have problem of finding ourselves later on. Still if we go in one group, not only it will be harder to sneak by but also it’s clear win or lose situation. Either we all sneak by or we most likely all die as once we are revealed we won’t have much chance at running away.

-or specifically, some of us will manage to get away and some of us won’t. I personally think that you would be able to just run forward through this field and before any giant would realize what passed by him, you would be already out of his sight.

Shin ended up commenting and in that moment Arata realized what he was about in the first place.

-so you are saying, that those that can ran through this field only with speed should just do that and leave the rest behind? In that case, at least me and Rin would be able to go through, which is the goal that you have set for yourself as your winning condition right? With the final line so close, you no longer even mind sacrificing yourself?

After Arata said it out loud, Shin made only a small simile that kind of signaled that he has been seen through. Still afterwards he answered.

-let’s not go into dramatic thoughts like that… well what you said is definitely true and with speed alone, you and Rin, and also Julia and Kei will be able to make through this obstacle without much problem. There might even be few more people as well but you four could take it on by pure force.

-hey, Shin don’t forget my panther form.

-I am not in the details yet, Tras… anyway for some people going with a simple run will work. But for someone like me, it’s probably better to do it slightly different. So we are not sacrificing anyone but rather we let everyone use the most suitable method for them. Anyway back to where we were, you will agree that splitting into smaller groups simply has much more chances of succeeding, right?

-yes, although charging forward right away isn’t probably the best option there is.

-that was only the example. Anyway we have sometime before it will get dark so in that time I will think of the groups. It will be either two or three person groups. We could even go as far as splitting separately completely but this again can bring some other problems. Still as for the problem of meeting up later on that you mentioned. It doesn’t matter that much and I think that we will find ourselves on the way somehow. After all we will be all going towards a single place as if what you said about the heaven’s gate is true Arata, then it means that its location is exactly that mountain over there.

While they were talking they reached the cliff with the view towards the south and there Shin pointed towards the mountain range in the distance, and those mountains were the place where the Wizard said the heaven’s gate is. Even if there were crazy burning mountains around and army of giant, seeing the goal with one eyes did encourage Arata a lot.

“Nearly there.”

Even though it was only few hours, the situation went into yet another ‘break’ although this time no one was really tired because there wasn’t anything to be tired from in the first place.

At this moment, Arata was not exactly sure how it happen, but currently the party ended up playing the card game “Moloch agents” at the cliff from where they could see the burning mountain. Despite everything. The place that they were in and what was happening in the distance, everyone who was now participating in the game was focusing on the game and nothing else. The only person that was currently not participating in it was Rin but apart from her everyone else was playing.

-hahahaha, I got you all!

Bran declared his victory after bringing his team to victory. The game ‘Moloch agents’ was the game that Arata already played with the party and knew the rules well. His first experience with it was fairly enjoyable so when the idea of playing it out came up, there was no reason to refuse.

Thanks to the card game, the time went fast and before anyone noticed it started getting dark already. When it did, after another three ‘one more game Shin!’, the party once again focused on the issue at hand.

For a note, after some time the ‘black flame tornados’ ended up disappearing so the fire was no longer spreading some, in some of the places the black flame also disappeared but the burning mountain was still as dark as it was although by the look of it, the mountain got somewhat smaller.

-okay, for the last time I will remind you of the plan…

Shin started.

-we will spread into five groups. Four groups with two people each and one with three. Each group will start 10 minutes one after another and what we need to do is to reach the other end of this field, perfectly without any interaction with the giants. After reaching getting through the fields of giants, each party should theoretically wait for others but on the other hand, staying in one spot for far too long is not good either. So depending on the situation you can stay in one place or make your way towards the heaven’s gate. We already discussed the method that each group will use and you also discussed it between yourselves so I will just once again remind you of the order in which we are going…

The split was made mostly based on the way that people were going to use to sneak by. Certain methods simply worked better with other people and that was probably the main factor that came to game in the splitting.

-the first group to go, Rin and Julia. Tactic, run through…

Or rather it was definitely the main factor as otherwise the paring with two people who theoretically never spoke with each other wouldn’t have been made. Still this problem could occur only if Rin was involved, but then again Shin also had to take into the factor that Julia did not want to go with any other male alone. In the end those two fit to tactic method perfectly so and the group have been made and there wasn’t a need for a good cooperation there.

-second group to go, Kei and Tras. Also run through tactic. Then following them there is the three person group namely me, Bran and Flynn with, ‘sneaky, sneaky tactic, please don’t realize we are here’…

The third group tactic might sound not good but in the end all tactic really came down to that. It was only a difference between trying to run through or simply walk through. For the first two groups running was possible but for the party with two dwarfs and slow magician it was not.

-the forth group, Hiro and Mika, tactic name, ‘we are cheating with invisibility magic.’…

If anything though, the forth group tactic sounded solid. Arata already heard about it once but Mika had an invisibility spell. That spell worked on anyone that she was directly touching and the first time Arata heard about it was in story in which she and Hiro were watching Rin’s tomb fight. Still Mika’s spell also had one huge downside and that was that the caser could not move while casting it but it went only as far as moving on her own. If someone else was carrying the caster there was no problem with it. Unfortunately it was impossible for more than one person to go with her as Mika’s mana would not last long enough for that but with only one person, Hiro’s and Mika’s tactic was flawless when it came to sneaking.

-and lastly the fifth group Arata and Levi with tactic, ’who needs tactic in the first place?’…

The names of the tactic that Shin used right now were created during the discussion. After Arata ended up parried up with Levi they quickly came to the terms that rather than worrying about anything, they will just go forward and if something happen they will deal with it when it happen. It wasn’t like any of them had any good ‘sneaking powers’ and in the end every group was doing pretty much the same. Although the reason why Arata and Levi were the last was because during the discussion they considered the possibility of fighting back, because “-who cares that the opponent is as big as skyscraper.” Shin was not sure if they were joking or not, but he decided that just in case they really end up doing so, at least other groups won’t get involved.

-anyway, Julia, Rin, you can start the moment you are ready.

After Shin said that Julia and Rin simply looked at each other and then few seconds later without exchanging the word, they get down the cliff and started running through the fields. Because it was quite dark right now, in half a minute they disappeared from everyone’s sight which was good because it also would mean that they would disappear from giants’ sight as well.

-hey Arata, are you sure about this team? I mean, what relation those two have in the first place?

Levi was currently standing next to Arata so after Rin and Julia left in this manner he ended up asking.

-hmm, I might be wrong here but I think that they never even exchanged a single word with each other.

Arata answered as he really didn’t remember it. In the first place, Rin still didn’t change a bit and was still avoiding talking with others and because most people didn’t know how to approach her, just like always she was mostly ‘standing in the corner’.

-then isn’t it kind of bad?

-maybe but hey, just think about it this way. Julia is the only person in this party that Rin never killed.

-hahaha, that’s a good point. Well while sneaking people should be theoretically quiet anyway so it’s not like they need to talk.

-I don’t think we have to worry about those giants at all. You saw that they didn’t even moved when Rin and Julia ran pass them.

-well, would you normally run after ‘an ant’ that just walked passed you one the ground? Because I think I wouldn’t.

-that’s a good analogy. We might actually overdoing with this splitting into groups.

-well maybe not as I would say that if it’s only a ‘single ant’ then you normally wouldn’t care. But if it were ten or more ants walking together then I might consider killing them just for the sake of peace.

-I guess, well in the end sneaking is not something you do with ten people around you anyway.

Arata finished the conversation like that and together with Levi they waited for their turn.

10 minutes after Rin and Julia, Kei and Vatras ended up going in a similar manner. Before going Vatras ended up changing into his ‘black panther’ form that on this time of the day made him nearly invisible even if someone stood few meters away from him.

Then 10 minutes after those two Flynn, Bran and Shin ended up going as well. Before doing so, Shin took off his white cloak to add to his chances on sneaking up, although after seeing what already happened twice, the giants did not really plan on doing anything in particular to the party and they were just standing there, without doing anything.

And then ten minutes later ‘the siblings’ went as well. Hiro ended up giving his sister a piggyback and then second later they literally disappeared.

-I think they could skip that invisibility as it doesn’t seem necessary…

Levi ended up commenting after seeing them go.

-by the way Arata, it’s not like splitting up is that bad of a plan but isn’t it like a foreshadowing that one group or two will never be seen again?

While they waited Levi brought up a topic like this.

-I guess, but if you are thinking about movie-like situation then, those that go the last are usually those that never reach regroup with others. Like they don’t even have an occasion to start as before they decide to do it, something will come out from nowhere and then the last scene of them being in the movie stop on this. Later on the protagonist founds their bodies and he has the mystery to solve. Ah, by the way Levi, I think I saw something moving in those bushes over there.

Arata commented and then pointed towards the forest.

-where, where? Why didn’t you say so earlier!?

-naturally because it’s a joke. Anyway don’t bring up topics like that because it’s like asking for a death flag.

-no. Setting the death flag was rather splitting into groups, what I just did though was a countermeasure against anyone dying because now if someone dies we won’t even be surprised.

-I don’t think that it will change anything whatever we will be surprised or not but anyway let’s get moving as well.

Arata said that and then he walked towards the edge of the cliff and Levi quickly followed after him, they both jumped down towards the field and slowly started walking.

-so how do we do it? We try to be fast or we are going slow and slack off a little?

-light run I guess? There is no need to hurry. Or is it that you want to try racing with me?

-hmm, a good option but it’s too late an hour for that. So the light run should be okay…

And so Arata and Levi started running without care through the fields full of gigantic boss class golems. They not only ignored the sneaking concept completely but also they started the conversation at some point.

-Arata, don’t you think that we are once again cheating with this quest?

-what do you mean?

-I mean, first we bought an item from black market with gold and now we are going through the west in the most cheated way possible. Not only we went a route that didn’t involve fighting anything too big but also whenever we did encounter anything big we simply ran away from it.

-hmm, rather than cheated way, I would say it is an intelligent way. We found the group that had the information about this route and we used it to our advantages. Still if you already mentioned cheating then the most cheated thing was sailing through the river as we made few days distance just like that. Still when it comes to world’s first, it doesn’t matter what method you chosen as long as it works. The quest said, reach the heaven’s gate, and we are doing just that.

-yep, it didn’t mention a thing about fighting through the armies of monsters on the way.

-exactly we are doing everything right.

While Arata and Levi were running without care and speaking some of the golems did end up moving as it was easy to notice by the sound that they made while doing so. Still in this darkness it was impossible for the giants to locate ‘two small ants’ that were running pass them.

After about an hour, the giants were still everywhere in sight and at the same time the mountain’s range that indicated the location of the heaven’s gate was not visible as it was blocked by them.

-Arata! Are you sure that we are still going the right way because after the last turn I lost my orientation.

-in that case be happy that you are with me in the group.

-how can you be so sure that we didn’t get lost.

-well, if you want the precise answer than I am basing it on position of two constellation in the sky as well as the position of the moon.

-really? Well good job Arata, seems like your hobby of being gloomy and looking at the stars on most nights finally pays off.

-this and that are different, but whatever say what you want.

-haha, I was just joki…-

‘boom! boom! boom! boom!’

Arata did not manage to hear Levi’s last answer as suddenly it was interrupted by the loud noises that came from everywhere around them. Those noises were made by giants’ movements as out of sudden some of them started moving and as the time went more and more of them moved started moving as well. In the end all of them started marching.

-what is going on!

Arata shouted as otherwise Levi would not be able to hear him despite being just next to him.

-doesn’t matter, RUN!

-RUN!? Where!?...

It was quite obvious that they should start running. Still the problem was that there was nowhere to run. All giants started to move out of sudden and they all started moving in one direction, namely to the east. It didn’t seem like their target was Arata and Levi or any of other groups, still just by walking they could stomp on someone and that someone would disappear under their foot forever.

“Which will be the best direction? If we continue going south or we turn back to the north then they will have to run while looking to the side and by the look of it, it would still take us an hour to reach the other end. Then again going east, meaning the same direction that the giant go is probably the stupidest thing to do as we would have them on our backs. I guess we could theoretically climb one of the giant and by that be relatively safe but who know where we might end up because of this choice. In that case the fastest way to get out would be to go to the west in the opposite direction that giant are going, what is more because we will see them directly before us it will be easier to go.”

-Levi, we try this way!

After quickly thinking it through, Arata made the decision. It did not matter what was the reason for the sudden movement of giants, what was important was that they did move.

Arata and Levi started running full speed in the direction of the west while avoiding ‘getting smashed to the ground’. Despite few close calls at the start, they were doing relatively fine although it was still ‘one wrong move and you are dead’. What was worse it was quite dark so there was little time to between ‘seeing the foot coming at them’ and dodging actually it.

-hey Arata, I have been thinking!

After twenty minutes of impossible ride, Levi started.

-are you sure that this is the best moment for that.

Arata answered and turned hard towards the left as three seconds later in the place where he would be a stone foot landed that made the earth tremble.

-it might be the last time to think about that! You see, I was thinking what if those giants are running away from something!?

-to me they seem like they are simply walking.

-maybe that is simply their maximum speed and they can’t run. Anyway if what I thought of is correct then if we continue this way…-

Levi had to interrupt as he had to activate one of his skills to survive. His shield shined in the yellow light and he flied forward with it just in time as an earth foot nearly crushed him.

-that’s what you get for talking during…

“AA!”

[Black Dash]

Arata also could not finish the sentence as it turned out that one of the giants on his right ended up tripping and he fell to the left right on where Arata was. Because it was hard enough to take care of those that were at his front, Arata saw that happening only in last minute so he ended up using spell to go through the body that crushed him.

After those occurrence, Arata and Levi did not try to finish their conversation anymore and somehow yet again they speed up even more. Arata did hold back on using ‘lighting speed’ though so they don’t get separate as Levi didn’t have any movement speed boost skill.

After another 10 minutes, Arata and Levi successfully managed to leave the field of giants without dying. Well technically they were still on it but the giants were no longer here anymore and they moved away.

-ha, ha, ha, ha… ahhh, I had enough, this was my closest moment in which I could die since actually dying after first meeting with Rin.

After running at full speed and being on edge for last twenty minutes they both ended up falling on the ground after making sure that nothing was around.

-really? In that case I am jealous of your easy life.

Arata answered to Levi as in comparison to him, he did have quite a lot ‘close calls’ in which he avoided death by hair.

-it’s easy to obtain as long as you don’t play the hero on every possible occasion.

-I am not playing hero.

-we have been through it many times already Arata so there is no need to argue about that again. Anyway care to look at those stars again, because this time I really have no idea where to go.

-hmm, we did go off the way quite a lot after this run, I doubt that we will be able to meet up with others that easily because of that.

After a quick look, Arata answered like this.

-in that case we should probably go straight for the heaven’s gate then and meet up with others over there.

-yes, I was thinking of it as well. Anyway now that we don’t have those ‘statues around’ we can see much more thanks to the light of the moon so…

Arata stood up from the ground and Levi did so as well.

-hey look we can once again see the mountain range to which we are going. The heaven’s gate was to be at the eastern end of it.

-… .

-anyway, we should better be going before anything else happen.

-… it’s probably too late for that.

Levi answered in kind of strange voice and then second later Arata heard him falling to the ground. When it happen Arata quickly turned around just to see Levi, who was now sitting on the ground with his hands supporting his back.

-what are you doing? You got that tired from that run, it isn’t lik…-

Arata started but then he looked forward and his voice was interrupted.

Three minutes ago when Arata and Levi reached this place the area was clear of monsters but now, in close distance something appeared walking towards them.

Compared to the giants that they just passed or rather compared to most of monsters that Arata meet so far, ‘the creature’ couldn’t be called big. It actually had a reasonable size and that creature actually did exist in the real world.

It was a white tiger, with the white fur and black strips on his body. He generally looked quite strong and he was probably slightly bigger than white tigers that one can find in real world but in the end he was quite normal… and yet.

“My voice does not come out! What’s worse I can’t move.”

The moment Arata first saw the white tiger’s fur which was shining in the moonlight he got somewhat paralyzed. It was simple as that, he looked in the tiger’s eye and couldn’t do anything else.

“Oo… this is bad… This is not a polarization by fear by any mean. In the first place this is a game and I already saw way too much scarier things here to suddenly get scared of some tiger is simply waking. Still the moment I saw those grey eyes I can’t move anymore. Ah this is bad… it is probably some kind of game ability or boss mechanic.”

While Arata and Levi were unable to move the white tiger slowly was getting closer and closer to them. He was still quite afar and yet the effect that he brought was this strong.

“If we don’t get out of this before he gets here then Levi’s story with us disappearing without a trace will really come to truth. Anyway I have to try something.”

[Shadow hand.]

Because Arata was already paralyzed, he gave up right away on getting out from this condition on his own as in the end he couldn’t move to the point of not being able to blink. That’s why, he resulted to spells right away and yet.

“It doesn’t come out!”

The shadow hand did not appear despite Arata’s try to call it out.

[Black dash]

Arata tried different spells but they also did not work.

“Does this paralyzation block out the skills as well?”

Arata quickly arrived at the conclusion. The fact that Levi wasn’t doing anything either only confirmed it even more.

“WHY! This is unfair! I always thought that doing this impossible quest is fine because even if I were to die while doing so, at least it will be during some exciting fight. I don’t want to die without doing anything!”

Arata started thinking like that but unfortunately the death was not fair to begin with and in evil world of EOA, it was even more unfair.

“Hmm… there is always an option where he walk pass us.”

There was literally not a single thing Arata could do at this point. His current situation could be compared to a scenario where someone just destroyed his keyboard and the mouse and the only thing he could do right now was to look at the monitor. Naturally he already tried stupid ideas like ‘fighting it with willpower’ but it was given that something like that did not work. That’s why now that there was nothing he could do, he tried to be optimistic. There was always a chance that the white tiger will not even look at them, although from the way that he just turned just now, it seemed like he did notice them and even started specifically walk in their direction. But then when the tiger was still two minutes away from them something really unexpected happened. Up in the air, the sound of the guitar being played started.

For a second Arata started to wonder if this is some kind of ingame music even if EOA didn’t have anything like that as it took away from the reality. Still that wasn’t something confirmed and maybe when there was some battle music to epic fight bosses.

That though soon turned out to be a false though as when the tiger came slightly closer, Arata saw a blue scarf floating in the wind and together with it the long black hair and those appeared first behind the tiger’s head.

Soon after, Arata realized that the first quiet sounds of the guitar were only the intro. The song started second later and despite the dramatic situation in which Arata could die at any moment, he soon immersed himself in the beautiful voice of the girl he could not even see.

-yesterday I died, tomorrow’s bleeding…

-fall into your sunlight…

-the future’s open wide, beyond believing…

-to know why, hope dies…

-losing what was found, a world so hollow…

-suspended in the compromise…

-the silence of this sound, is soon to follow…

-somehow, sundown…

-and finding answers…

-is forgetting all the questions we called home…

-passing the graves of the unknown…

While the sounds of the song continued to play, the white tiger ended up reaching the place where Arata and Levi was and after looking at them for two seconds, he turned around to the left to reveal that riding on his back, there was ‘the singer’ as well as the guitarist of the song. At the current moment she was completely immersed in her song and she was both playing the guitar and singing with her eyes closed. At this time the paralyze on Arata and Levi also disappeared and Levi even ended up standing back on his feet but the sound of guitar continued and the girl started singing the second verse.

-as reason clouds my eyes, with splendor fading…

-illusions of the sunlight…

-and a reflection of the lie, will keep me waiting…

-with love gone, for so long…

-and this day’s ending…

-is a proof of time killing, all the faith I know…

-knowing that, faith is all I hold…

The girl continued to sing her song with somewhat sad voice but that was probably just the illusion created by the lyrics of the song. The song actually turned out to be some kind of love song judging from the lyrics and yet at the same time it felt as if those words also had some second meaning behind them. It felt like that at least till now then the refrain part began with yet another quieter intro just to change into energetic sound and the girl singing it from the top of her lungs.

-and I’ve lost, who I am, and I can’t understand!...

-why my heart is so broken, rejecting your love!...

-without, love gone wrong, lifeless words carry on!...

-but I know, all I know, is that the end’s beginning!…

-who I am, from the start, take me home to my heart!...

-let me go, I will run, I will not be silent!...

-all this time, spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain!…

-all is lost, hope remains, and this war’s not over!...

-there’s a light, there’s a sound, taking all shattered once!...

-to the place, we belong, and his love will conquer!...

-and I’ve lost, who I am, and I can’t understand!...

-why my heart is so broken, rejecting your love!...

-without, love gone wrong, lifeless words carry on!...

-but I know, all I know, is that the end’s beginning!…

-who I am, from the start, take me home to my heart!...

-let me go, I will run, I will not be silent!...

-all this time, spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain!…

-all is lost, hope remains, and this war’s not over!...

-there’s a light, there’s a sound, taking all shattered once!...

-to the place, we belong, and his love will conquer all!...

-and his love will conquer all…

-and his love will conquer...

The energetic sound and incredible singing once again went into slower mode but this was nearly the end.

-yesterday I died, tomorrow’s bleeding…

-fall into your sunlight.

The song finally ended with few more quiet sounds of the guitar and only then did Arata ‘return to the earth’ as while listening to the song his mind started thinking about way too many things for him to keep with reality. When he did return however he realized that that he now have a line of tears coming out from his right eye. Although it would still be not much in comparison to Levi.

‘clap, clap, clap.’

After the song ended Levi started clapping and his face was completely in tears as they flowed with unnatural strong stream from both tears.

“Ah, why now…”

‘clap, clap, clap’

Seeing Levi doing so, Arata decided to start clapping as well. Still Arata didn’t foresee that he will be rewarded for that act as then the second later the face of the girl who opened her eyes just to see them clapping was truly priceless. And then two second later, the girl started waver at the top of the white tiger and then yet another second later, she fall down from the tiger to the ground, together with the guitar she played on.

-aaa!...

She ended up falling on her back while shielding her guitar from the damage, although it seemed as if she slowed down right before landing on the ground. There was barely any sound when she landed on the ground which was surprising as she crushed with her guitar in hands which should make the characteristic sound.

Arata and Levi looked at themselves not really knowing what to do. After all they just experienced something they simply couldn’t foresee. First they meet some crazy white tiger that paralyzed them on sight just to find out that that tiger had rider at the top of it and that rider was some singing black haired girl. Then after singing some sad love song, the girl fall down from her tiger to the ground. And then even though the fall did not seem to make anything to her she had a lot of problems at getting back on her feet to the point where she did not stand back on her feet but simply changed her position to that where she could look at both of them. And Arata soon found out why.

After quickly looking at her body there was something really unregularly about her. The upper part was quite normal, long obsidian colored hairs, a blue scarf tied around her neck that was fitting her eyes and then a strange dark-blue colored shirt that had wide black-sleeves. But then while upper part was looked normal and would look normal even in real life the lower part was definitely not that normal. The girl was warring some-kind of grey-white crystal-like armor. Well it was a fantasy world of EOA so it wasn’t that surprising but the fact that it was joined together with the normal looking clothes from the top gave kind of odd feeling. Still lastly the reason the girl could not stand up properly was quite simple. She was missing her left leg and the crystal-like armor was now covering the destroyed part in the middle of the thigh.

As for the black guitar with golden strings that looked just like real world guitar, the first thing that the girl did after landing was hiding that guitar back in her inventory and the moment she did that action, Arata and Levi finally got the reassurance that she is indeed a player as so far they could not be so sure of it. After all this was ‘the west’ which was also called ‘the land without players.’ Meeting here someone was so rare that the first question that girl asked did not surprise anyone.

-are you two adven… I mean players?

She asked as she herself seemed even more surprised to see other players even more than Arata and Levi. Still, after this question the conversation went incredibly quickly.

-yes we are, and so are you…

Levi immediately answered and continued.

-you are probably surprised to see us here and so we are but what do you think about meeting in a place like this. The vast dangerous lands of the west where no one should be and yet here we are meeting under the light of moonlight. Tell me don’t you think that it can be anything but destiny? My heart was captured by your song, so let me at least help you stand up after such unfortunate occurrence. Take my hand and…-

-no thank you, I am not really good at standing right now so I will sit on the ground for now…

“Idiot.”

Naturally after seeing a girl like that Levi’s ‘knight wannabe mode’ kicked in with full power right away but then yet again Arata had an occasion to see him get rejected without a second of thought.

-are you two really players?

The girl repeated her question and this time she addressed it to Arata. She probably was not sure anymore after seeing Levi’s role-play.

-well yes we are and ignore that’s guy for some time. If you do he will get better later on. Although this time it might take a little longer as he was indeed captured by your beautiful song.

-beautiful?… ah, stop with cheap complements like that, I am terrible at singing, that’s why whenever I try to do so I make sure that no one is listening. But then again how could I know that I will meet in this place someone, it’s been whole five years after all.

It seemed like the girl didn’t have a high confidence in her voice which slightly surprised Arata but it was not the time to discuss it.

-whatever it was good or bad, I can’t tell as I don’t know much about music but if anything I liked it. Still, if I can ask, what did you mean by whole five years?

Arata had few other questions at his head right now like, ‘who the hell are you’ or ‘what’s the deal with this tiger’ but he let the conversation flow.

In the meantime Levi ended up crouching few meters away and was repairing his broken heart which Arata didn’t perceive as a big deal as Levi was doing it every time after meeting any girl anyway.

-well, it’s kind of complicated but in short the last time I meet another player in this game was five years ago…

And then the moment the girl said that the tears started to form in her eyes and then full of joy she started.

-I did it, I did it! Did you see Torachii, I finally did it!

Arata did not know who Torachii was but at least the girl sounded really glad and her tears were that off happiness.

-yes, you did it Haru.

“…”

And then out of nowhere another voice appeared. This time it was a voice of a male who would be at least 40 years old so even if the girl was a ventriloquist she should not be able to produce a voice like this as she herself did not look older than Arata or Levi. Then even though an unknown voice appeared the girl did not seem surprised by hearing it, and also the voice seemed to answer her. Because of that Arata asked right away.

-what was that voice?

-ah, right I still didn’t introduce myself. My name is Haru, and the voice that you just heard belongs to my kitten over there his is Torachii.

-hi, I am Torachii but if you call me that, I will kill you.

Following the girl introduction the white tiger ended up turning towards Arata and then he talked. That occurrence though made both Arata and Levi look at him with wide eyes.

“Cat talked!”

Arata’s mind received a huge blow as his logical understanding was being tested right now. That somewhat showed on his face but he still hold back on commenting on it although.

-aaaaa! Cat talked!

Even Levi was brought back with this occurrence and he did not hold back on commenting. After all it was truly beyond understanding.

-hey kid, I already forgave you for hitting on Haru, and now just this once I will forgive you for calling me a cat but don’t think there is the third chance. Next time I will surely kill you, you hear me!

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It’s seems like Torachii wasn’t as friendly as his name would suggest. Actually his name completely did not fit him as his look, the way he sounded and what he said were the complete opposite of what someone called Torachii should say.

-ahh! Torachii! Don’t be so rude to the first players we meet after so much time. Bad Torachii! Also, why didn’t you tell me that we meet someone and you even let me embarrass myself all the way till I finished the song!...

The girl complained to him but to that Torachii just turned his head away without saying anything.

-well, don’t worry about what Torachii said, despite his looks he is usually quite a good and friendly.

Arata would definitely didn’t have an impression of good and friendly from that tiger but he didn’t try to comment.

-we are even then, also don’t worry about what this idiot said as despite his looks… he is… sometimes good… most of the time good for nothing guy.

-hey! Don’t listen to him! Also Arata, I am starting to think that it’s because you are spreading nonsense like this I am unpopular.

It seemed like Levi returned to being normal.

-no, you were always hated by girls for hitting on them way before we first meet.

Arata answered to him, and then Haru made a strange comment.

-ah, so he was just playing around… eh, why do I always end up being hit on by playboys. Why it can’t be someone normal for one time… aaa, did I say it out loud? Aaaa, ignore it! Ignore it!

That comment wasn’t for anyone’s hear to hear it seemed. Arata for one wasn’t playing to go into it.

-anyway, my name is Arata, his is Levi. It’s not like you have to answer us but can you tell us what are you doing here, alone at that?

-well I am not alone, Torachii is with me but sure I can you tell you anything and I also have few questions myself. Not to mention that I was waiting for five years to simply talk with someone, still before we start, do any of you perhaps has some kind of healing spell. As you can see my leg is… well as you can see my leg is not here and I would really want help with it if possible.

Arata didn’t need to ask an obvious question what happened with her leg as they were in the lands of monsters and there were probably a lot of them that could bite of someone’s leg.

-when did that injury happened?

Surprisingly Levi ended up asking a serious question for a change although Arata knew why he did so.

-it would be about eight hours ago I guess. I happened to meet an old acquaintance and I should probably be happy to be left with only this injury but you have no idea how it feels to not have a leg. At least this armor stops the pain so it’s not the worst case scenario. But anyway can you do anything about it?

Haru did end up somewhat telling what happened to her although the old acquaintance that she meet wasn’t probably a good acquaintance if because of him something like that happened.

-if it’s eight hours then unfortunately there is nothing I can do.

Levi answered sad that he can’t score some points but in the first place he was doomed to the failure in that department even before he started.

-you can probably guess but I also don’t have any healing spells, I can share some healing potions though.

Arata followed up.

-thanks for the thought but naturally potions won’t be enough. But anyway, now that I meet some players it means that there is a city nearby, right? I will just have to search for the healer there. I don’t even mind killing myself after reaching the resurrection spot on ‘this side’. By the way, how far and which way is the city from here?

Haru asked.

-how far… I week by foot I guess. Levi what do you think.

-yes it will take at least this much given that she can’t use the river.

-a week!...

At first Haru was somewhat both sad and surprised but then she quickly changed her attitude.

-oh well, a week is not much and now that I reached this point and after surviving what happened today with the price of only one leg it’s actually not that bad. If I already meet some players at this point then it will be easy.

“Well if she is riding that tiger then it’s theoretically possible to get back to the city. I am not sure about the execution though.”

Arata thought like that but he ended up skipping the comment about trying to travel through the lands of the west alone. After all, she was already doing that and it didn’t seem like she was that concerned over her safety.

-I don’t know what is easy for you and what is not but continuing your journey with your leg in that state is portably overdoing it.

In the end though Arata commented like this.

-yes, but it can’t be helped it. Legs don’t regrow on their own after all and I don’t have any ‘official’ healing spells myself and you two also can’t help me.

-well, we can’t but we have some friends who will be. It’s not only us two who are here but there are other people here as well and that also include healers. Currently we separated ourselves but we will be meeting up with them later on so if you don’t mind a little detour then you can come with us and get your leg healed.

Arata gave her an idea like that to which Haru reacted immediately.

-really!!?? Then I will gladly take you on this offer as otherwise I will have to keep wearing this junk, ahhh, I hate wearing armors…

“She said that as if not having a leg was a secondary problem.”

The value system of Haru was somewhat strange but Arata passed on commenting on that.

-anyway if there really is a healer out there then I would like to go to him as soon as possible. I still didn’t answer your question I know but this is really my top priority. Also I can answer your questions as we go. So where are those healers?

-where they are right now I can’t tell but we were to meet up somewhere near those mountains over there. Still even if we go there right now, I doubt that anyone reached that point yet.

“By the time we reach those mountains we might find there someone but I think that others are currently waiting somewhere at the end of giant’s fields. Still finding them right now after we made such great turn is close to impossible.”

-I see so we need to find the first… in that case… Torachii can you sniff some healers somewhere in this area for me?

“Can he do something like that? Wow that tiger is quite useful.”

-if I don’t know how they smell then it’s impossible.

The Torachii’s answer was surprisingly disappointing though.

-but can’t you just sniff for some unusual smells and it should work right?

-there are way too many unusual smells in this area. Anyway Haru, stop playing clueless girl before them and simply find those people yourself. Your act will not work for too long anyway and how it could work in the first place. We are still quite deep in unknown area and people who can reach this point aren’t stupid and it’s given that they will realize sooner or later.

The sudden Torachii comment was quite interesting.

-ah, have some mercy, you know what I went through today and I wanted to save the rests of my power for emergency because it will take at least half a month for my mana to regenerate at this point but no, Torachii wants me to do everything alone and work me to the bone. Fine, fine…

Haru on the other hand started sulking, although what caught Arata’s ears was.

“Half a month for mana to regenerate? And here I thought that my mana regeneration was bad.”

-hey can you help me stand up?...

Then Haru asked and stretched her hand towards Arata and naturally Arata took it and helped her stand up as any person who would not do so, would simply be evil. Haru ended up standing on one leg and even though Arata did offer her a helping hand in standing as well she rejected that offer. Afterwards she ended up stretching her hands to the left and right and then she closed her eyes.

After ten second Arata saw a strange phenomenon as the wind that was blowing all around the fields ended up changing its direction and it went in Haru’s direction. It was quite easy to see as her long black hair and the blue scarf started strongly waving in the air. Still apart from that it seemed like nothing special was happening and after passing through Haru, the wind ended up go through the fields yet again. The whole situation lasted no more than the minute after which the wind started to behave normally yet again. Haru did not change her position though and she kept on standing with her hands stretched for another two minutes. Arata considered speaking to her at some point but it seemed like she was not playing around right now and that she was actually doing something, although Arata was not sure what. But then about five minutes afterwards the whole thing started, Haru yet again got blow by the wind and this time it came from opposite direction and it made her hair and scarf fly to the back. This wind blow lasted only few seconds and after that Haru returned to normal standing position. Well normal considering the fact that she had only one leg at the moment.

-okay so I found three groups of people in total…

After that occurrence she started.

-the biggest one that is also the farthest from us is a group of four, two girls and two guys while one of them is quite big I must say about two meters in height. Then the other group has three people in it, all of them male and given their height, two of them are probably of dwarven race. Then lastly there is the closest to us group which has two people in it, and oh… they are holding hands… some kind of couple maybe? Anyway, which one of those are your healer’s friends?

-… .

-… .

After Haru stopped speaking, Arata and Levi could not say anything right away. Finding someone in the unknown area of range of few kilometers was hard enough but then getting such detailed information about them as well was something else.

“Aaa… it’s been some time since I got this feeling from someone in this game. And here I thought that it was this white tiger that I should be wary off. Well, someone who can start singing without worry in the place like this just has to be of ‘that kind’ I guess. There is no use to worry about that though, rather right now we don’t have to worry about anything at all. Anyway, from what she said it seems like Rin’s group joined up with the second group that went off so there is one healer and then there is the other healer in the closest group namely Mika.”

-the closest healer is in closest group.

-really oh that’s great, we should be able to reach them in twenty to forty minutes. We better take off as fast as possible then. If you excuse me I will be riding Torachii as even though it’s rude to ride while other people walk, naturally I don’t like the idea of jumping on only one leg all that way, I am not in the mood for that kind of training. Torachii come over here!...

Haru ended up waving towards her tiger but Torachii didn’t seem to hear her, or rather he ignored her and the moment she did wave to him he just locked the other way.

-ah why do you have to be so stubborn today!

In the end Haru ended up having to jump twice towards him and get at the top of him on her own. After she did that though the white tiger did end up walking in the right direction. He didn’t say anything though. Then again the fact that the white tiger didn’t say anything should be considered normal and yet in this case it was not.

“I wonder if this is some kind of mount that this game has. If yes then I want one too.”

In MMOs mount was as the name suggest was one of means of transport that the game had to offer. Naturally the fantasy world did not have cars in it so normally players had to use creatures like horses to move around. Every player would usually get at some point their private mounts that they would use to move faster from one place to another. In this case however Torachii seemed more than that as not only he could talk but also there was that paralyzation that Arata got at the start and it had to be from that tiger as Haru at that point did not even knew that Arata and Levi were there. Otherwise she would not ‘embarrassed’ herself with her song although Arata and Levi still thought that there was definitely nothing to embarrassed about.

-so you asked what I am doing here, right?...

As they started to go in Hiro and Mika‘s direction, Haru went back to the question that Arata asked some time ago.

-well it’s quite simple, I am simply traveling through here and my goal is to find a city with resurrection spot to finally feel safe.

-I see but from what I heard there are no cities in this area anywhere. To my information there were many expeditions that tried to find the city here but none found anything.

Arata answered.

-no, no, I don’t look for any new cities… I simply want to reach a normal city which as you told me should be a week from here, right?

-assuming that you have a safe journey, yes.

-still, seeing that you simply want to return to a city with players in it, are you perhaps a part of some expedition that ended up failing and now you are the last surviving member of it?

Levi asked but Arata immediately saw that it could not be right.

-if she were in an expedition like that then that expedition would have to end five years ago given the fact that she said that she didn’t meet a single player since five years. Listen carefully.

-ah right she said that as well. At that time I was too occupied with looking at her beauty so what she said did not leave an impression on me.

-Levi, I think that I found out one more reason why every girl reaction to you is as bad as Haru’s one. Although I guess it also classify under your knight wannabe mode.

-I am not some knight wannabe but a true knight, don’t misunderstand that as it’s a big difference. Anyway Arata, I don’t want to hear anything from happy go lucky guy who never even tried hitting on girl.

-I don’t have to and even if I did, I would still be better than you.

-oh, then go prove it.

-there is nothing to prove as any normal person will be better than you anyway.

-ha, even if that were the case you don’t classify as normal… do I have to remind you how many times you have been called strange.

-sure but it’s only because of my hair.

-no it’s because of your strange behavior.

-even then I am more normal than you.

-oh, you are so sure of yourself, then what do you want to bet on this time!?

Somehow Arata and Levi ended up forgetting about Haru presence and they went to their usual conversation.

-no so fast. First, tell me how will we measure the level of the strangeness?

Arata asked as there were already few cases in which some unseen conditions appeared later on. And they appeared nearly every time and were made by both of them, usually the one who asked for the gamble.

-hmm… I know let leave the verdict in the hand of our new friend.

-you want to involve the third person in it? You know that it doesn’t end well you know. But oh well… hey, can you help us sort it out?

Arata ended up calling to Haru who, if anything was amused by their conversation. She still did not reveal what she meant by the fact that she didn’t meet another player for five years now but she probably didn’t have many occasions lately to listen to conversation like that.

-sure, so can I start already.

Given her answer, Haru wasn’t too serious of a person either.

-hmm!

The white tiger Torachii though was clearly annoyed by the situation.

-a second. So Arata what we are betting on?

-hmm… I can’t think of anything, do you have any original ideas?

-not really, we could bet on the usual though, the winner has the chance to command the loser although this one is getting old already.

-I think that because we are in the middle of the west right now so we probably shouldn’t be doing anything too stupid right now. In that case let’s simply make it an extra minus point so the next time the person who lost this time losses again, he will receive a double punishment.

-ok, sounds good Arata. I will think of something priceless for you to do next time.

-oh please do, because I can’t wait to see you do it yourself.

In the end the debt about strangeness ended up being strange as well, but that was the completely different matter.

=so, how is it?

In the end they ended up asking together at the same time.

-hahaha, even though at the first glance it seems like you don’t get along you two are actually quite good friends, right?

Haru really enjoyed their conversation.

-of course we are.

Levi first answered.

-he is the only one that thinks like that though.

-Arata this joke is already getting old you know.

-was I joking? Well whatever… so Haru… can you finish our friendly dispute because I am still interested in what you have to say.

-don’t worry about it, I not in the hurry and I was thinking of traveling with you for a day or two if possible of course. Even though we only just met your conversation reminded of old good times to which I probably won’t be able to return anymore…

Haru stopped for a moment after she said the last question.

-but anyway I was going to be a referee right? So here is my verdict. Naturally no one of you is completely normal if you can start beating on a topic like his. In the end though who can be called completely normal in the first place? It’s all depends on the perspective, I already meet people for whom the word strange is not enough and they will at best pass off as crazy. Especially in EOA, because it’s not a real world people let their minds get loose a little and as anywhere where you are theoretically anonymous, people simply do what they want without caring about what other people think…

“That’s the beauty of playing the game though, you do what you want without caring for consequences.”

Arata agreed with Haru in his thoughts. Even in the real world, he usually did not concern himself with what other people thought or even he sometimes was trying to make people think badly of him. That was something of the past but in EOA he cared even less. As long as something seemed interesting and fun to do, he would decide to do it, while ignoring what other people would say later.

Then again it was not entirely correct as in EOA people were also making connections with other people and they were not doing it as their real selves but them in the game. The other person would usually care little about who someone else was in real world as it simply had nothing to do with them. Because of that though, one had to take care of his image in the game, but in the end it was still the image in the game and someone might as well want to be seen as crazy psychopath as it’s entertaining for him to do crazy things after the whole day of work. The ability of becoming someone completely different was in the end one of the dreams of virtual reality mmos.

-so in the end I will say that because of his first impression, you seem much more stranger to me on personality level but when it comes to look… well sorry but with a hair like that I can’t say point at anyone but you.

In the end Haru finished her verdict like this.

-see, I won. It’s the behavior that counts.

Arata quickly declared ignoring what Haru said about his hair.

-no so fast. She said that we are both strange but you also got extra points for look, so it means that I won.

-oh, don’t be sore loser and admit finally that your knight wannabe talk is simply stupid and you lost because of that.

-it’s not stupid and I will prove it to you one day, just you wait till I create my harem with its power.

-yea, yea, good luck with that. Anyway next time you lose you have double punishment.

-fine, fine, it’s not like that day will ever happen.

The ‘strange’ bet ended up with Arata’s victory and even if it was not flawless, the win was still the win.

-so, back to the question, how was it with those five years of not meeting any other player. Because it kinds of intrigues me that an occurrence like that can appear in an MMO game whose main focus should be in the end playing with other people.

The conversation returned to this question.

-hmm… what would you guess?

-if you want me to guess then I would say that, your situation involves not playing for quite some time. But also given the direction from which you are coming from and your destination I would assume that the talk about not a single city existing in the west was after all a fairy tale.

Arata said what he thought up so far given the information that he received although most of those were simply speculations without much basis. In the first place, Arata was not sure why Haru ended up even asking him that question but if she already did, it was just better to tell her his thoughts.

-not a bad guess. You got some parts right, yes there is a city to the west from here.

Just like that Haru made a revelation that killed the myth of Karma being the west end of the world.

-hmm, as I thought, this whole talk about expeditions trying to explore those lands was a lie. I knew that something was not right with that talk. Some people did found the city but they simply never told anyone so no one can benefit from it apart from them.

“That’s the right choice thought and I would do the same 100% of the times. Gamers always had and will have this mentally, and that’s why most of the info’s on the net is a lie.”

Naturally by this point Arata did search through few websites about EOA which were many in numbers on the net. Unfortunately though he did not find anything really useful to him as apart from tutorials like ‘boar hunting for beginners’ or ‘how to get mentally prepared for death’ what Arata found on the internet could go off as ‘stupid at best’. That was the problems of games where developers themselves did not reveal anything. In EOA case it was not because they didn’t want to but rather it was because they couldn’t do it. In the end the informations that Arata found at the internet went at best as far as 100th level barrier with the most visited tutorial named ‘how to luck out the 100th level barrier, graduated victory after 50 tries.’ As for any other info, there were naturally a paid websites where people sold their information for real money but Arata was always disgusted with the idea of ‘pay to win’ so he didn’t even think about using something like that. While playing any kind of MMO, people could naturally get an advantage by using their real money and an occurrence like that happened in every single game. Even if company tried to fight against that occurrence, they are on losing side right away. Even if the game is well made and don’t introduce this system, some players will use the opportunity to make some cash on the side and some players will use it to their advantage, although at the same time it might also be a huge disadvantage as someone who ‘paid to win’ can never truly say that he ‘won’ on his own and no one will have any respect for him. On the other hand though the people who were making money on the game had in gaming community quite a prestige.

-well, it’s not like those people did anything wrong as this time they probably really did not find any city as I was the only player in that city after all…

As to opposite Arata’s comment though, Haru started like this.

-anyway I will finish the story. You got right the part with the city but you were wrong when you said that I stopped playing. Naturally I did have breaks like when I was too depressed to play but usually not for so long, after all I did want to finally get back and meet my friends again… well, that at least used to be my motivation as right now, most of them are either doing their things or they stopped playing this game completely and even if it seems that I finally got back, it’s still all in vain.

Somehow while Haru was saying those words, her face started to become more and more depressed which was complete opposite to her lively self.

-why do you say in vain, can’t you just meet up with them again?

-well I will but it won’t be the same thing anymore. I used to play with the same people ever since starting playing this game, but those people are not playing together anymore so even if I finally got back they all have their own things to do.

-I see so your group simply disbanded… but can you really complain about that given the fact that you left them for five years. Sure it’s in a game time but I would say that even a year is enough. Given the fact that you said group and not the guild, there probably weren’t more than ten people in it right. A small group like that can disappear at any given time. One person will go on holiday, other will get too busy in work and puff, it no longer exists.

-it’s like I left because I wanted to!

Haru complain loudly towards Arata explanation as in a way he did signify that it was also partly hers fault. The story that he quoted was a common occurrence though that happened all the time.

-well, I can already tell that you liked your group so it definitely wasn’t something that you did willingly, so what happened?

-will you believe me if I tell you that this game is evil?

-it’s not even a matter of believing, I already know this fact ever since the game intro.

-I see in that case the story goes like this. About five years ago, one year in a real time, I completed the 200th level barrier and finally got to 200th level because despite the fact that naturally I completed it on my first try, it took ages to find that damn place where the trial was played out…

As she started the desperate look became the history again and she was saying everything with the smile.

-anyway, I completed it in a way that took me to reward chamber, if you don’t know what I am talking about then don’t worry it’s not a common occurrence. For a note though that is from where I first meet Torachii and he became my friend.

-the worst day of my life.

The white tiger who was so far was quiet, ended up adding a comment like that to Haru explanation.

-don’t mind him, he is in somewhat bad mood today because of what happened. Anyway it was a great day in which I finally got to 200th level, meet Torachii who till then did not even have a name so I also had a chance to name him. By the way what do you guys think of his name, its perfect isn’t it? I kind of take pride in how I named him and it’s actually the first time in which I can show case him to other players.

-well, it’s definitely particular original name, right Levi?

-yea… you definitely have a great naming taste.

They answered although their voices were somewhat strange while they answered. Still it did not matter as Haru was incredibly happy to hear this opinion.

-haha, see Torachii, they also like it. I told you that it’s a great name.

-eh… .

The white tiger didn’t say anything to that though and just sighted.

“Poor guy.”

-anyway after completing the 200th level barrier I was also asked where would I like to be teleported to. At that moment I should have known that something was not right as ‘that guy’ is usually not generous enough to give free services like that. Still I assumed that he was in a good mood so I told him to send me to relatively empty of players location where I can find many quests and good exping grounds for 200+ levels. After finally dinging the 200th level I naturally wanted to continue till 299th level right away as not only level is way too important in this game, more than anything but also we made an inside group bet of who will be the fastest to get to level 299th…

“Hmm, I didn’t expect this opinion. Normally everyone else said that in this game level is not important. Like this guy for example.”

Arata looked in Levi’s direction for a second but it was not only him who would say the same thing. Still in the end there were as many opinions as there were people.

-so I asked for a location like that and surprisingly my wish did end up being granted and I was sent to a place with completely no people around to the city where I could find like twenty quest every single day…

“Twenty quests in a single day!”

Haru was telling an unbelievable story, at least to Arata given his experience but rather than interrupting yet again, now that she finally started it, he wanted to listen to it do the end.

-anyway those were the perfect conditions for me to level up quickly and actually I believe that I was first in my group with that 299 level race in the end.

-wait, you currently have 299 level!?

Even though Levi probably also was planning to listen till the end he had to ask.

-well I kind of embarrassed to say that but yes… but you must understand that I didn’t really have an occasion to go look for the next barrier, not to mention that it would probably be next to impossible to find it alone. Also I was focused on something else ever since reaching 299 level.

-are you really 299 level. Sorry to doubt you but people with that level are few not to mention, people usually don’t reveal their level like this.

Levi still did not believe here so he followed up with the question.

-well, I guess but I never really hid my level thought as I don’t really see a need for it. Hmm… I might have to do that before meeting up with some of my friends though, or maybe before meeting them I should go ding up some more, otherwise they will laugh at me for slacking off.

-wait, wait, wait now you are sounding as if your friends were long pass 300th level and you also can catch up to them right away. Sorry, but even though you seem like a nice girl I won’t believe that.

It seemed like Levi got irritated somewhat by what Haru said.

-hmm, well technically I don’t really know if they are but I would assume that they did, it was five years after all, they had so much time and from what I heard they did manage to found 300th barrier. The only thing that I heard about it was that it is hard, still no matter how hard it is, five years is a lot of time, someone of them definitely managed to do it.

-ha, if you don’t know then they didn’t complete it as normally your friends would boast about doing that, right? Okay now I am listening again.

Levi commented satisfied.

-the reason that I don’t know is mostly because my contact with them become somewhat bad… or rather really bad. We were connected by playing together this game but when that connection was lost in the real world there was nothing really to talk about, so currently I am still keeping a close contact with only one of my friends and as for others you could say it’s something along the lines of sending a postcard for a Christmas. I even lost contact with someone who I thought was my best friend forever. I can kind of understand that she might have decided to stop playing but stopping contacting me out of sudden without even goodbye note is cruel… Ah… never mind, I feel like crying every time I think about it and it’s not fair to share my problems with people that I just meet. Anyway the story is nearly its end. So naturally after getting to 299th level, I wanted to regroup with my friends so we can yet again enjoy the game together. Still even though I kind of already understood it while leveling up, it turned out that I was sent to really isolated place, what was worse at start I had completely no idea which way is it to get to where all other players were. We were all to meet back in the usual place in the Capital but how could I get there when I didn’t even know where I should go? Anyway it took me about two years before I realized in which way I have to go, and then another three years to reach this point and now finally I am just one week away from some player’s city. Ah you two are god send to give me this reassurance because even though I found out that I just have to cross the lands of Solaris, I was still not perfectly sure if this was really the correct way.

With that Haru finished the summary of her story.

-well, I am glad that we could help you… but are you telling us that you are traveling for three years already?

Arata asked her back.

“Some parts of her story are really unbelievable.”

-yes but it’s not exactly that I am traveling for three years non-stop. It’s rather it took me three years to get to this point as naturally traveling through those lands is not that easy. Even at this point, I nearly died few hours ago, and even though I did not die I still lost my leg. Well this doesn’t have anything in particular to do with this land but unexpected events can still occur at any point. As for how long this journey in particular is taking me then it’s about half a year, right Torachii?

-six months and four days.

The white tiger said the exact number of days.

-that’s still quite a lot still, if you are traveling for six months non-stop. Then how did you for example survived logging out? After all if someone logs out in not save area, their bodies are vulnerable to attacks.

Levi asked.

-yes, but naturally there are many countermeasures to that right. I didn’t really have anything to worry about as I wasn’t traveling alone after all and Torachii is like super strong. He can deal with most of the creatures that one can find in those lands on his own and then even if something really bad appears he can also easily run away from it while caring me. Right Torachii?

-hmh… .

Torachii didn’t say anything but he was clearly in better mood right now after hearing Haru’s complements.

-so are you some kind of beast hunter?

Levi ended up asking.

-not really also Torachii is not a normal beast as you can guess. As I said I got him as a reward after 200th level barrier. In this game he is classified as my guardian spirit and mount although I don’t like any of those descriptions, Torachii is my friend with whom I spend my last five years. Ah right look at this, this is the amulet that summons him…

Haru ended up losing her blue scarf a little and then from inside it she showed an amulet that she was using as a necklace. The amulet was looked quite incredible although it was also quite simple as it was a miniature version of white tiger head. Also currently the amulet was somewhat shining with dim light.

-whenever Torachii is in his physical form the amulet shines like this, awesome, right?...

Haru said and then after making sure that both Arata and Levi saw it, she hid it back and tied her scarf to the previous position.

“Hmm, maybe people are slightly paranoid about hiding their abilities, after all.”

After talking with Haru for some time, the way that she would say anything that come to her mind was somewhat smoothing. In this game, the most people that Arata meet usually hid as much information about themselves as possible. Haru on the other hand completely did not care if someone know her level or that someone know she had some ‘guardian spirit’ which probably was something incredibly rare or at least incredibly useful. In a way though, Haru did behave normally as in games, people simply wanted to boast about things for their self-satisfaction. Where was the fun if someone kept hidden everything only to themselves? In this particular case, it was the first time Haru could show case Torachii to any other player so she was incredibly happy to do that. Arata even considered that should he ask, Haru would without a doubt answer the greatest taboo of EOA namely, the class name which everyone normally tried to keep hidden. It did not change the fact that it was still rude to ask by this game standards and also the things that Haru revealed were things that she did revealed on her own, although Arata already had the guess at least about her level beforehand.

-so now that you two know how I ended up here, I also kind of would like to know what you are doing here. You said that it’s a week journey from the border right, so it’s quite far. Normally no one would travel this far without a reason, right?

This time Haru returned the question.

-not to mention that she also probably also wants to know how two weaklings like you managed to get this far without dying in the first place.

Well, Haru probably didn’t have any bad intentions but Torachii decided to add his few sentences.

-ah, no I didn’t meant that! Hey Torachii! Why are you so rude towards them? Also, because they managed to get to this point means exactly that they are good, you want to underestimate people without any basis?

-hmm, I do have a lot of basis, I already tested them and they couldn’t even move an inch after experiencing my ‘hunter dominance’.

-but that skill simply works that way if there is a large difference in level, you can’t measure people by it.

-ha, if they have such low level to get this effect then they are simply weaklings who die too lot, those are your words Haru, if someone has low level then they simply die a lot, and those who die a lot are bad players, simple as that.

-it doesn’t necessary has to be that Torachii. Some people have different values, like they try to overcome hard challenges or…-

-say what you want, they can do what they want to but if they don’t decide to level up and I can stop their movement with something as basic as hunter dominance then nothing else matters, they are weak.

It seemed like Torachii will not change his mind.

-ah, Torachii, don’t take it on them okay. Ah, I am sorry for him, usually he is more friendly but today he actually got the treatment he talked about just now so he is kind of edgy now.

-none taken, I know the limits I have and I can’t compare myself to 299th level player after all, or that player guardian spirit, whatever that is.

Levi answered like that as he didn’t really take to it to the heart, Arata on the other hand.

-… .

-aaa! I am really sorry for him, don’t take it to the heart, it’s not like everyone has to have high level right away. Taking things slowly is also fine!

Haru somewhat panicked seeing the face that Arata made but he soon after cleared the misunderstanding.

-no, it’s not that, it’s just rather I was thinking about what he, and also you said earlier.

-hmm?

-in the first place I can’t really have a high level considering my game time so far which did not even reach one real month time spent on the game so far and I do include all the breaks that I took during it. So I am not really concerned about level if there are people like you who tell me that it took them five years to reach 200th level. I think I will be faster than that at least.

Even though Arata was not offended he still decided to pay back on her.

-hahaha, those were different times, but sure I can’t say anything to that, you sure know how to talk back… and also how to impress a girl. Even if those were different times it’s really incredible that you can reach this place only after one month. Incredible, incredible, incredible. See Torachii, you can’t judge book by the cover, just you wait and after a year or two he will come to take back what you said.

-haaa, he can try that if he wants. If he will be worthy then I will fight him.

The white tiger answered although his tone was now slightly more respectful, only slightly though.

-so, he says. What do you say to that Arata?

Haru passed the message but in that moment.

-seems interesting sure but rather than fighting him, I would like to fight with you.

-… .

The moment Arata said it with challenging voice and challenging look this time it was actually Haru who froze for a second and that was because Arata manifested a true thirst for victory that he never really shown anyone, at least in this game. It was actually one of the techniques that his grandfather thought him and that was actually a technique that allowed two fighters to determine the winner without even the fight happening. And now even if his target was 299th level player, what Arata did, didn’t have anything to do with the game mechanics at all so in essence it was completely new experience to Haru who after experiencing it nearly fell of Torachii yet again.

-hey kid! If you try to do anything to Haru, I will kill you know. I don’t know what you hide there but I did saw that my skill worked on you so no matter what you hide, it won’t help you!

Still after Arata done that, the white tiger was ready to jump at him the second later.

-wait, Torachii he didn’t mean anything bad by that, right?

Haru managed to return to her normal self, although she still asked for confirmation the end.

-well I simply wanted to ask for a friendly match in the future.

-friendly? Then why did you had to use do it with such blood thirst, jeez… eh…

She said in the end and made a deep breath.

-well, if you wanted to impress me then you did. I didn’t think that I will manage to get scared by anything after what already happened today, ah that just shows that I am still that same little girl at heart as I always was, just like ‘he’ always used to tell me. Still, please don’t tell anyone that I got scared of you if you can.

Only when Haru told him that Arata did realize that he did something he shouldn’t.

“Wait did I just… shit! Even if she has 299 level, it’s not a technique that I can use on normal people… Ah not good, if Grandpa finds out about it then it will be bad.”

-well it will be best if we never mention it again, also I am sorry for what I did.

-no, no, even though it was kind of scary I actually at the same time felt excitement. I must say it again, you truly know how to impress a girl, I even felt kind of hot after you said that, hmm maybe I am starting to fall for you, who know.

-well I am honored to hear it from someone like you but I already like someone, so it’s kind of problematic for me.

-ah Arata you are so stupid, when girl says something like that, as a man no matter the circumstances you should say, hmm ‘I think I start to fall for you as well’. Men shouldn’t think about consequences and simply enjoy the moment. What happens after happens!

Levi commented on the situation in the background but no one paid him any attention.

-nihihi I got rejected, oh well it’s not the first time it’s happening and it’s even the same reason yet again. Really all good men are always taken. Still it seems like you are trying to be loyal but I will give you an advice, no matter how loyal you try to stay, if your heart start feeling a different way, you shouldn’t force yourself anymore because if you do you will only regret in the end.

-well I don’t think I am forcing myself into anything.

-nihihi, if you ever change your mind though call me. But anyway if you already challenged me then I will fight with you, come and find me whenever you want. I must say thought that I never really enjoyed fighting other players that much but if someone wants to challenge me then I am in no position to reject that challenge. Although Arata what I don’t like the most is fighting against my friends and because you are slowly becoming one, I will give you just one chance to fight with me so when you decide to use, come really well prepared. I might not look like it but if it comes to player vs player solo battles there is only one person that can get a sure win against be because he has my anti-class, other than that on my good days I can defeat anyone else with at least 50% chances for winning. Well that was at least the truth in the past but even though I didn’t fight against any other player for more than five years I wasn’t slacking off in that time or rather I was doing quite intense trainings to get pass through the whole Solaris which is a six’s month long non-stop battle for survival. Also, the fact that I could survive meeting ‘him’ today on my own at that only for the price of one leg confirms it. I don’t know what others were doing but I am confident that I won’t lose easily to anyone easily, well with the exception of that one person.

-I am expecting nothing less, I will come well prepared don’t worry about that, if I ever come that is. Still before we go back to what we were talking about can you tell me ‘who’ did you meet today? You mentioned ‘him’ few times.

-aaa… it’s not like I don’t want to tell you or hide anything but I kind of made a promise together with my friends that we will not talk about ‘him’ with anyone who is outside of our circle. I think that rule was bended a little in the last five years to allow spreading that news to people in our guilds. But I am not in any guild and much less in your guild if you have one and even if theoretically I could join in for few minutes and tell you what you asked about, it’s not only clear cheat on the promise on my part but also a clear disrespectfulness towards the guild system and even though I never ended up entering any guilds in EOA, I do understand what guilds are about quite well because my friends and I were really similar to what a small guild is.

-Arata don’t make it awkward for her and don’t you know that you shouldn’t ask girls for their secrets.

Levi commented seeing Haru’s tries on explanation.

-no, no it wasn’t awkward and if you guys have any question I don’t mind hearing them and if it isn’t something that I really can’t tell for some specific reasons then I don’t mind answering. I like talking with people.

-really? Then tell me your age, three sizes and favorite type of a guy.

“Ah, there really are not that many people who can follow their desires fully and ask questions like this.”

-okay starting with age, I do look eighteen but it’s been two years since I started playing so in reality I am two years older. As for three sizes, starting from the bottom it’s…

-don’t tell him that!

Out of sudden Torachii interrupted her.

-but it doesn’t really matter if I tell him and also I don’t want to not answer yet another question.

-Haru, I know you are happy to meet some players finally but hold back a little here. Even the fact that you answered age question was bad enough.

-fine if you want. Sorry Torachii seems disturbed by those questions so I won’t answer it in the end. I don’t want to make him feel bad after what happened today.

-well, it was a joke question anyway, right Levi?

Arata turned towards Levi but to that he only got a quiet answer.

-I don’t know what you decided Arata but I will execute the revenge on this tiger one day, even if it’s the last thing I do before dying. Ah… you didn’t want to see me get serious Arata, you really didn’t. From now on you have another guy to worry about if you want the title of the strongest player.

-sure it will be fun one day to fight with you at high level but why does your reason for getting serious has to be so stupid.

-stupid!? How can you say that men dreams are stupid? Well I am hearing it from the guy who let a chance like the moment before slip through his fingers then why should I be surprised?

In the end Levi’s question was never answered, but the dream lived on!

-so returning to what you and your tiger said. I have been thinking that you two are definitely right with the level thing, still somehow almost every other opinion I meet before was slightly different from that though and that ‘working on fundamentals is more important than level’. So can you tell me what is your opinion on it?

Arata asked another question.

-hmm… ‘working on fundamentals’ is important as well I guess, and because I was playing while the level barriers were hidden I usually leveled up to level 99, 199 and finally 299 as fast as possible and then later I took care of anything else. Well my view generally goes like this, sure you can defeat some enemies that are higher level than yours but in the end with low level you will get destroyed by somewhat strong high level enemy. Torachii example with his hunter dominance is quite telling in that regard, right. You can’t do anything if you can’t move and that spell is using level difference as its source of power. On the other hand if someone decided to rush with level and catch up with it to that one strong person, he might not be as strong as he but he will definitely have larger chances to win if he levels up rather than if he were to use that time on as you said ‘working on fundamentals’. In the end though those fundamentals are what makes true different and person with level X is not equal with other person with level X. It all comes down to when you want to level up and when you want to do other things. So something like fast leveling up if you can beat the barriers will promise a fast grow in power and even if you decide to do other things after leveling up it’s not like something will be blocked for you only because your level is higher. You can go back anywhere you want after all. There is even theory that you can go back as far as to city of beginners but anyway if you want a fast power grow, level is the way. There is one huge problem in that method though.

-so far it’s sound completely reasonable so what is it.

Arata commented as he himself always knew that in MMOs levels are the thing and despite the fact that he heard many opposite opinions, he didn’t get convinced.

-well it was not so bad when I used to level up as there weren’t that many people at my level but right now from what I heard the fastest way to level up is killing monster for months, day after day. When I used to level up I was doing one quest after another as it was easy to find them but now there are too many people competing for them so new players have it hard. Well, they always had it hard because ‘we’ always stole all quests before other could get them. But anyway, in the end if you are ready to mindlessly kill creature after creature for a year and knowing that after that you will have to start learning all other things anyway, then good luck…

After Haru’s explanation Arata already had the answer of what his leveling way will be, not to mention that he knew it for a long time already and he didn’t have in mind mindless hard working just to get few levels. Still right now something else started concerning him.

“Hmm, I didn’t realize that first players that managed to detach from marathon had such great conditions like endless number of quest to complete. I mean sure it already takes me quite a while to finish this single quest but it’s because it’s a quest worth of rank three. I assume that some quest of rank 10 for example, you can complete in one day. I did even complete quest of rank 9 in one day once when I was helping Anari out. It was simple go, find, kill quest. Or the other rank 9 quest, that I did with Kotori. If it weren’t for that lake we would have completed it in two days max which would also involve leveling up on wolves. If we had higher level and went straight for that Yeti we would complete it in one day max. Hmm… this is no good, although it’s not the end of the world either. Haru did say that there are still lands untouched by players so at some point I need to find something like that and do a quest feast. No, wait, it’s really isn’t that bad, even if they managed to gather a lot of skills and items they couldn’t be all that good if those quest were done in massive. Even if you have a lot items you can only use certain amount of them and rather than having many good items you want to have one legendary right? And you don’t get legendries from simple quests done in massive. The skills are even more funny in that regard, even if you have a lot of them it doesn’t mean that you use all of them. It’s exactly the same thing as in Light in the citadel. Even if class has many skills, in the end their dps rotation uses five skills at best with optional skills that you will use once ten minutes or so. Actually having too many skills can often blind you, also in EOA case with skill manipulation. I would say good luck to anyone who will try to learn good skill manipulation on more than ten or twenty skills when even on one it’s not that easy to pull off.”

In the end, the concern that Arata had, after thinking it through didn’t seem that big anymore. Also he personally never really complained about lack of quests that he got. Right now he was doing one quest and at the same time he had another quest waiting in his quest log. The second quest seemed as hard as this one and now that Arata knew the west he didn’t really had any confidence that he could travel it while defending the successor because no matter what was that quest really about, it would had to probably come down to that.

-did I say anything wrong?

Arata’s long thinking, which made him silent, for some time was not left unnoticed by Haru so she asked the question.

-no, everything is right, thanks for your answer.

-well I happy that I was able to help although there are quite few people who would completely disagree with what I said. In the end I can’t even find a middle ground because once again, in my times it was simply different. Ah, I just sounded so old just now.

-hehe…

The way Haru complained at the end made Arata laugh a little, in an unusual way.

-still, thank for considering it ever for a second. Now then, it’s unfair for only you to answer the question so it’s our turn now. Although, you said that it was 20 minutes away from where our healer was but 20 minutes clearly passed already, so I am slightly worried that we didn’t meet them yet. Not to mention that I would feel better if your leg got healed.

-well at that time we were 20 minutes away from the other group but that group is also moving right now so it’s not that simple to catch up to them. We are quite close to them now though and if it weren’t for the night time we would be able to see them already.

-if it’s this close then let’s speed up for a second to catch up with them.

-okay, but do promise to tell me in the end what you are guys doing here because you still didn’t.

-yes, yes I was going to but first things first.

The white tiger Torachii speeded up and Arata and Levi started running after him right after. Just as Haru said, they soon caught up to Hiro and Mika, as they were walking normally, without holding hands though. Right now they weren’t using Mika’s invisibility magic anymore although in the first place, there were absolutely no monsters in the area so it was not needed.

‘puff!’

When they were closing in, out of sudden Haru ended up chopping her tiger with her right hand. It wasn’t any kind of attack but simple nagging.

-Torachii! If you keep doing ‘it’ you won’t get any new friends you know. Turn that off!

It seemed like Torachii was once again using his ‘hunter dominance’ but before it took effect on anyone Haru stopped him from doing so. It seemed that if Haru wasn’t so immersed in her song last time she would do so as well, but unfortunately for Arata’s and Levi’s, she was.

After noticing a dangerous looking white tiger running towards his direction, Hiro naturally reacted accordingly and was a second away from casting some spells in defense. He did manage to stop himself before doing so when he saw Arata and Levi following next to that tiger. At first glance though, the white fur of the Torachii which was reflecting the moon would make anyone focus their full attention on him unlike ‘two shady guys’ who were running after that tiger.

-oh, so you guys made it through as well. See Mika, why were you going so crazy before?

Haru spoke out.

-but! All giants started to move out of sudden, normally anyone would get killed if they were in the middle of it. I don’t want to see more deaths!

-well, if someone is meant to die then they will die, it’s simple as that. Anyway as you guys can see, we are still alive and we didn’t find Shin or anyone else yet and currently we gave up on that idea and we are heading towards the end point. So…

Hiro looked towards Haru.

-what did you guys found out there?

-yes, I will introduce you. This is Hiro and Mika, they are part of our expedition and her name is Haru and she is… a lost traveler who is in need of a healer.

Arata answered and he quickly came up with a fitting description of Haru.

-hi I am Haru. Also, Arata seemed to forgotten about Torachii so, Torachii introduce yourself.

-hi, I am Torachii but if you call me that then I will kill you.

After Haru told him to do so, Torachii gave his usual greetings.

“Ah, right I forgotten about him but it seems that he is still as friendly as always.”

-…

Hiro froze after hearing Torachii speak and his eyes went wide. After three seconds of getting back to himself though he commented.

-aaa! I just heard cat talked! Mika your brother is going crazy so do some emergency healing on me!

-hmm, but he did talk just now.

-what are you talking about, how can the cat talk!!?

“Yep, this is the normal reaction.”

Arata judged Hiro’s panicked reaction as perfectly normal.

-hmm, normally, there is nothing unnatural for cats to talk, right? But he is so beautiful… can I stroke him?

On the other hand Mika asked excited.

-Torachii never let anyone else but me stroke him, but how about it Torachii, just this one time?

-hey girl! Let’s make a deal. You are a healer right? You smell like one from kilometer. So I will let you stroke me as much as you want and even call me Torachii but in return you will have to heal Haru’s leg.

“Hey, hey, hey, what happened with killing anyone who call you by your name?”

-ah right, Arata said you needed a healer. Anyway I don’t need anything in return, if there is a person who needs my help, I will gladly do so, what’s the problem?...

Mika asked and in that moment Torachii turned the other way to show that Haru doesn’t have one leg.

-aaaa! It’s a cut off limb! There is nothing that hurts as much as this, why didn’t you guys say this right away!...

Somehow the usual quiet Mika ended up exploring.

-anyway, get down quickly and lay down on the ground. Be sure to take off that armor as well as it will get in a way. You guys turn outside and don’t you dare to peak!

-yey! I will finally get rid of that armor.

Haru made a happy shout.

-it’s not time for being happy! Quickly get off, you guys too stop looking that way!

It was really strange but Arata, Levi and Hiro were chased away by Mika for the time being at least.

-wow, I didn’t think that your sister is like that.

Levi ended up commenting.

-well, she gets overexcitement when she sees people who are hurt and she usually can’t stand that happening even if they are enemies. Really, I will tell you that nothing is as difficult as going with her to a dungeon filled with humanoid enemies.

Hiro answered.

-what, is she healing them?

Levi asked back.

-… if it was only just that. Mika sometimes even jumps in the front of people’s attacks to prevent damaging enemies.

-I see you have it hard. Eh, sisters are so troublesome beings.

In the meantime of Levi’s and Hiro conversation, some concerning sounds started coming from behind them.

-kyaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! Why is it taking so long?

-I don’t know, you seem to have somewhat crazy amount of HP so my spells don’t have as good effect as usual. But I will manage don’t worry.

-okay, but still. Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

With her armor gone for the time being, Haru was now experiencing the true pain, although somehow her screams were not exactly those of pain but rather as if she was enjoying herself.

-hey guys, doesn’t it somewhat sounds erotic.

Naturally Levi was the first one to comment on it.

-I don’t know what you are trying to image over there but just don’t Levi.

Arata answered to him although probably nothing could stop Levi’s imagination at this point.

In the end it took whole three minutes before Haru was healed up completely but even then they still had to wait before turning around as Haru was changing.

-okay you can turn around!

Haru called out to them.

After turning around Arata saw that Haru was no longer wearing her grey diamond armor on her legs. Instead now following her blue scarf and light blue shirt with long, wide black sleeves, she was now wearing a black-blue skirt that was only slightly longer than mini-skirt and underneath it she also had black tights. Then at her feet’s she was wearing black sneakers without laces. Sure that black ‘equipment’ was fitting her long black hair and blue parts to her eyes but after this change, none of her clothing looked like battle-useful anymore. Considering that they were currently in the west where anything could happen, even if Haru had 299th level Arata had to ask.

-are you sure that it’s safe to go around in clothing like this?

-hmm… but I am always going around in a set up like this. I hate armors, any armors, even leather ones are too much for me. Unless I might die because it, I won’t ever wear them! Anyway now that I once again have my legs I feel like dancing. Ah the only reason I am holding back is because there are people around me whom I just meet… hmm… hmm… ah never mind! I am dancing anyway, it feels so good to have my legs back! People really appreciate things only after losing them.

Even though Haru was fighting against herself for some time, after finally getting back her leg, she suddenly started to make pirouettes. She would also from time to time jump up while spreading her legs in the air. Now with her long hair, blue scarf and wide black ends of blue shirt sleeves, there were many things flying around her while she was spinning on her foot.

-what is it, some kind of ballet?

Levi commented while seeing it.

-who knows, but we managed to help her restore her leg and she is happy so it’s fine. Well it was mostly Hiro’s sister who did though.

Arata said that and looked towards Mika who was currently sitting on Torachii and she was stroking his head and also other parts of his body as well. Despite the fact that earlier on Torachii seemed like he would kill anyone who would try to do that, it strangely seemed like the ‘fierce talking white tiger’ was enjoying himself right now like any kitten would.

“I see, so his attitude changes drastically if it comes to girls.”

Arata somehow managed to see through his intentions and not only him.

-Arata you know, even though I still won’t forgive him and I will execute my revenge, after seeing this play just now, I am starting to respect this guy.

Levi also voiced his insight.

“Really, why your respect is earned in such twisted way?”

After jumping around for about five minutes Haru returned to more or less normal or at least she wasn’t doing anything outside of ordinary.

-hey Torachii, now that I have my leg back I want to walk around on my own a little so you can go back if you want.

-sure but in return for your healing I also offered this healer girl a ride so I will stay here for now.

Torachii answered, although Arata did not remember that particular part being part of the deal, still it seemed it only made Mika even happier so it wasn’t the problem.

-haha, you are finally returning to your usual self. See you two, I told you that he is usually friendly.

“Yes and he definitely doesn’t have any selfish intentions. Well, it doesn’t matter to me so he can do what he wants.”

-yes you did. Anyway we should continue to try and regroup with other groups so do you know where they are right now?

Arata returned to issue at hand as after all they already were standing in one place for 10 minutes or so.

-ah, I somewhat lost connection during the healing sequence. Ahh… it hurt so goo… I mean bad. But now I feel so refresh. Really water based healing is always such pleasant experience. Anyway I will find them for you, so don’t worry.

-no, you don’t have to, I remember you saying something about half a month mana regeneration so we probably shouldn’t ask you to do that much and also we already have a meeting place prepared.

Strangely after Arata said that Haru looked at him with big eyes as if she were about to cry.

-really, you remembered that! Ah, it’s rarely that anyone listens to me so careful. What is more, I said this sentence under my nose and yet you heard it…

“Hey… don’t look at me like that without saying anything.”

-eh…

But then she finished with sighting.

-this world is really unfair after all.

And in the end she commented like that.

-so, does people usually not listening to you?

-well, it’s not exactly that but… for example my friends used to have a catchphrase like ‘don’t take anything that Haru says seriously’. Don’t you think it’s cruel!

-maybe but if they could say that catchphrase with you around then it means they really were your friends. Still is your mana really going to regenerate for half a month? Also, is there some difference in mana regeneration on your level that I don’t know about?

-well, it’s not exactly mana regeneration it’s just something that I usually say when it comes to this situation. What I meant though is that I won’t be at my full power for next half a month. You know, there are powerful skills that have few week coldown or skills that decrease your power for some time because you use them, and truth to be told today I had to use quite a lot of them. Not to mention that my best armor also requires repairs and this will take me even more time to get back from, although I don’t like armors anyway so this is my least concern.

-hmm, sounds kind of bad, are you sure that you will manage to reach the border on your own?

When Arata asked this question Haru once again looked at him with big eyes. This time though she simply smiled and continued.

-well, I am happy that someone is concerned about me but you don’t have to worry about me. I would say that I still have about half of my strength left and also Torachii is with me. Remember what I told you, Torachii is really strong, right now I would say that currently he is even stronger than me.

“What!? That tiger is as strong as 299th level experienced player that can fight on par with anyone but one player who is her anti-class? Sure she said half of her power, whatever that means but in the end that tiger is also part of her power as he comes from the pendant that she wears. Even if her class is not about it, she still has a powerful pet like this. Ahhh… this game’s fighting mechanics are so developed or rather there are no upper limits to it. There are so many ways in which one can get stronger that and there is no end to it and you can always go farther, not to mention that there is no level limit either. Those barriers kind of work like it but even now Loki already told me about someone who beat 300th level barrier already. Oh well, I should be rather happy it simply means that there are many things that you can do in this game, and for MMO the more the better. Although I can say for sure, RIP balance. Well EOA in the end is nothing like good old light in the citadel where you just had to gather items, maximize your stats, learn few skills the dps rotation and have fast clicking speed.”

-if you are that confident then never mind what I said. Anyway, you wanted to know what we are doing here, right?

-ah, yes. You are on some expedition right? Is there any higher purpose or are you simply exploring for fun?

-you could say that most of us are exploring for fun but me, Levi and one more girl who is currently somewhere are here do a quest.

-is that so… well that’s explains a lot. Still if the quest asked you to come all the way here it isn’t an easy quest right? What’s the rank of it?

“Oh, well I wouldn’t tell it to anyone but if she is asking innocently like this then there no need to hide it. Not to mention that she considers all info something to share so it’s kind of rude to hide it from her now. Not to mention that I think that her way of doing things is far less paranoid. I mean in normal game you can go as far as checking someone character window without asking for permission. You just simply see cool looking armor so you click the guy and check the status. EOA doesn’t allow something like that but does it really mean that you should hide everything from others for the sake of… why are we doing it again? Ah yes to hide your ability, but then again does short sentence would really help anyone out?”

-well, it’s portably won’t be easy and we will die during this quest but anyway its rank is three.

-three?...

Haru asked again after Arata explanation and then she asked.

-if it’s three then it’s a world first right?

-well, it’s should be you telling me that. Being a veteran player you should know more about it than me.

-true but I was out of everyone’s range for five years and the only thing I know about what was happening on this side is what my friends told me, well here I mean all my friends not only those from my old group. But as for rank three quests, actually I did found three of them on the other side but I didn’t even try to do them because I was told to not do it, so at least I didn’t complete them. No one else bragged about completing one either so I guess it’s still world first, ‘the event’ also did not happen.

-event?

-there is special even anytime someone completes for the first time quest of given rank.

-I see, well you probably are right as I got a message that by completing this quest I will get world first, still why were you told to not do those quest and even followed what someone told you? I mean three quest of rank three sounds like a waste to leave them like that.

-hmm, when I asked for reason ‘they’ didn’t told me but just answered to not do it on my own so I didn’t. The first person who told me that is someone who I trust and I know he didn’t do it for fun. I didn’t nag him with questions as it kind of seemed like difficult stuff and… truth to be told I am not good with those. I still want to find out what he meant by that though… hmm in this case it will not be me doing it on my own, so…-

-HARU!...

Haru sentence was interrupted by Torachii from the distance, he soon come closer with Mika still on his back and started.

-you were not going to say something like ‘can I join up for the quest’, did you?

-emm… .

-did you!?

-well I was going to add that it’s rude to do so but if possible.

-eh… Haru, can you just this one time listen to me. I told you to not put yourself into dangerous positions and yet whenever there is an occasion to do it. I mean what happened today was obviously because of your fault wasn’t it?

-auu… .

-I am doing it for you, just this once listen to my advice and don’t put your nose into any dangerous things. I don’t want to hear you crying and lamenting for the next few weeks just because you have to start your journey from the start once again. Really Haru, just a single week is all I ask for. Also you can see that there are three people having the quest and some more who are traveling with them without the quest, there is probably a limit of number of people who can have that quest and even if they can share it, it’s more than rude in asking for joining.

Haru ended up getting heavy scolding from her ‘guardian spirit’. It seems like guardian spirit was not only a tool for fighting but it also defended its masters in other ways, like preventing them from doing something stupid.

-so… I didn’t even ask but as you can see I won’t be doing it anymore, sorry for being rude.

“Rather than being rude, I would gladly get a help from her although even with that we might have ended up dying anyway. Still, I don’t want to waste her five years effort just for my own sake.”

-you weren’t, don’t worry, but know that you just missed a chance on a world first.

-well I already got few of those so it’s not a big deal.

Haru answered like it was truly not a big deal.

“Ah, she answered like my guild used to in the past. It’s true that after getting one world first on something, the next time you do so, unless it’s something really incredible like last boss in last content then you won’t feel much. Well in this game I still have my first world first to get and doing so by quest seems big. I have quite bad feelings about this one though.”

-hey kid, even if Haru is not joining there is one thing left, isn’t there?

Suddenly Torachii spoke to Arata.

“Hmm, getting called kid is annoying but he seems like thousand years old divine creature so I will not complain.”

-what is it Torachii?

Yes, Arata was not going to complain, that didn’t mean that he won’t speak back though.

-hrhrhr…

The white tiger somewhat growled quietly but he didn’t say anything to that.

-where is that quest going to take place because we don’t want to end up in any a battle that doesn’t concern us.

-Torachii don’t be rude, I don’t mind helping a little.

-this again? I thought you listened to what I said.

-yes but is this a problem? As long as I won’t do anything dangerous then it should be fine, right? I want to see what happens on rank three quest, after all.

-really Haru, really.

-nihihi.

-… fine, fine, let’s make a deal then. You will be just looking and the second it seems bad you run away. Can you promise me that?

-but if I am already going I can help out a little. Where is the fun in sitting on the side while other people are fighting?

-but they don’t need your help and you are not in the position where you can offer it. In the first place their task is hopeless to begin with and it also seems like they know that it is hopeless themself so they are prepared to die. If anything don’t make fun of men determination.

“Don’t say it out loudly, we are trying to forget about this fact here.”

-fine, I won’t do… much. Still Torachii, you are wrong here, quest rank was never related with person’s level. For example in the city of beginners you can find even a quest of rank 5 and then even at level 299th it’s still meaningful for us to do a quest of rank 10 right?

-well… .

-so Arata, Levi, and everyone who is helping you. Don’t worry about anything and believe in the dream only then the miracle will happen.

The way Haru said it was even more optimistic than while Arata was trying to convince Levi and Rin in trying this quest. Also while he was doing that, he needed to say many sentences before it actually worked but here Haru had a much better single saying that worked like magic.

“Hmm, this is the first time that someone else than me really believe that it is possible and it’s even more than that because I personally avoided overthinking it on purpose. She on the other hand managed to even add a reasonable argument here with the fact that person doesn’t need level to complete high ranked quest which is something that I heard somewhere. Also in fact we are a good example for this fact as so far, despite everything, we went quite far with it. Hmm, I really feel somehow better after hearing this.”

-thanks for the good words.

Arata decided to thank Haru for that mental support as lately he really was somewhat losing hope during his journey in the west.

-haha, they are good aren’t they? It’s also been a while since I could tell anyone that motto.

-just so you know, Haru is not the one that came up with that.

Out of sudden Torachii commented like that, which somehow destroyed the effect.

-Torachii, don’t make it as if I was trying to say I did. Eh… now that you mentioned it though, I will say those words were first said by someone who was really incredible at motivating people. There was one thing that irritated me about that dwarf though, he always did his best to remind us that at some point he will be making his own guild in this game which naturally meant that he was going to leave us one day. Oh well, I think that I can’t complain about it anymore especially when it turned out that it was me who was the first one to leave. It seems like I will have to apologize to him when I see him next time. But anyway when I said those words I really meant them as they are true. So once again, don’t worry about anything and believe in the dream only then the miracle will happen.

-sure sounds great but we don’t need any miracles to win. We will take that world first on our own.

Arata answered although because of his words he kind of laughed to himself. Afterwards he looked towards the mountain that did not seem so far away anymore. It was also no longer the drawing on the map but the real thing. After the long journey he was finally there, just few steps away from the heaven’s gate. If Arata knew what was going to happen there though, he would probably take any miracles that he could get. Although even then, would that be enough for what was to come.