On a clearing within a forest, with cloudy blue sky up above, Mirage and I were fighting a giant bear monster.

Adult Red Grizlar Class Mammal Attribute None Stats HP 5610/8450 MP 55/210 STR 485 VIT 457 DEX 261 AGI 240 INT 35 WIS 13

The bear swung its left hand sideway toward me with full force.

Swoosh!

I ducked and spun beside the three meter tall bear. Then Mirage threw a light ball with her staff toward the bear.

Fwooosh! Boom!

It hit the bear and exploded. As I had enough time to get behind it, I immediately used Back Slash.

Slash!

"Grrroooooaaaaaa!!!"

The bear shouted in pain while it was staggering. I swung my sword low and hit both of its legs.

Slash slash!

The bear kneeled down and fell.

I jumped on its back and thrust my sword onto the back of its neck.

STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB!

As I was sure the HP hit zero, I pulled my sword and swung it to clean the blood.

"Good job!" Mirage approached with a smile.

"You too." I smiled back. "Let's rest and have a lunch."

"Okay! I prepared something for you! Hehe..." Her smiled got wider and sweeter.

So we ended our hunt and made a fire within the clearing. I checked my equipment and inventory. Once I was done, I looked at Mirage.

Her hands swiftly moved the knife and quickly process the ingredients. As I was waiting for her, I began to check the BBS. It was then, my expression got bitter.

[Breaking News: Player can be corrupted by the Dark Army!]

My heart was skipping a beat. It was pounding faster as I read every articles about the topic, and my breath became heavy. The fear slowly took my mind and controlled my emotions. After I read the news, it was emptiness that ruled over my heart.

Mirage came closer with two bowls on each hands. She sat down beside me and smiled as she gave one to me. I looked at her as I forced a smile and took the bowl gently.

I paused for a moment, looking at the well prepared dark brown colored dish. It was Rendang Beef, and it looked exactly the same to what I remembered. Moreover, the smell would also made anyone drool. However, I wasn't. My mind was already taken over by the bad news.

Slowly, I scooped a spoonful and ate it. I put down my arm and let it rest on my thigh while still grabbing the spoon. Then I chewed the beef slowly while still looking blankly at the bowl.

After a moment of silence, I faintly heard Mirage's voice.

"H-how is it? Is it not good?"

I stayed still and ignored her.

"Ummm... Z-Zeroth?"

My mind came back and I slowly turned my head toward her. I forced a smile and answered, "Yeah. It's good."

"I see..." She said as her expression didn't show a slight joy.

"The taste is perfectly similar." I continued. "I love it."

"R-really?"

I nodded, but her expression seemed disbelieving what I said. Therefore, I ate it a bit faster to show her that I really liked the dish. Once I was done, I gave the bowl back to her. She smiled weirdly and took the bowl.

"Thanks." I said as I stood up. "If you're done, we will continue our hunt."

"Okay..." She responded and quickly finished hers.

'I need to raise my stats and skills faster.' I thought.

My mind already set as I would try to fasten the pace of our hunting. Of course, it was because of that unexpected news. I had to be ready perfectly before we marched toward the battlefield.

I began to fight two enemies at once. Then I battled three, four, five, and then multiple. And eventually, I mobbed a horde.

I became more and more reckless in hunting, and I was conscious about it. However, it was a must. A necessary method to quickly raise my stats. Until my recklessness punched me hard onto my face.

Clank clack clank clack clank!

A horde of monkey-like monsters kept me busy. I parried, spun around, and attacked as I got the chance. But then, Mirage was shouting.

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

I squinted my eyes and looked around. I saw some of them still could move, and they were galloping toward Mirage.

'Shit!'

I rushed toward them and killed them one by one. However, one tackled Mirage down. As her scream ended, more jumped toward her.

'Shit! Shit! SHIT!'

I quickly rushed toward her and swung my sword in anger. I saw her struggled to defend and hold their attack. So I kept swinging my sword. I also grabbed and threw them away as best as I could. However, the others around me didn't just stayed still. They jumped toward me simultaneously and, of course, they also aimed for Mirage.

It was then, I couldn't think anymore. My mind was blank as I kept moving my body, killing the monkeys as fast as I could. Until dozens of their corpses laid on the ground. Among them, Mirage was sitting down, terrified. I slowly approached her and fell on my knees.

She looked at me with a worried face. She then asked me with a soft voice, "Are you okay?"

My heart ached and I sighed. "I should be the one asking that."

"Is there something wrong? Why are you so reckless today?"

I didn't answer and just apologized.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's fine..." She smiled at me with sad eyes. "You don't need to apologize. But, can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah sure..." I lightly nodded. "What is it?"

"Let's end the hunting today, and practice Soul Connect."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was understandable about the hunting, but I couldn't fathom why she wanted to practice Soul Connect out of the blue. However, it was my fault so I had to do what she wanted. Without any more thoughts, I agreed with her.

It was then I realized it. I watched her terrified memories with the monkeys. Now I knew why she suggested it. It was to make me see what she experienced. She could've died because of my recklessness. As I understood what she was trying to say, I introspected myself, reflecting on my actions. And I totally regretted it. Thus, the day after that, I began to hunt carefully and tried my best to protect her.

Three days had passed. As we were about to start the day, dark cloud covered the sky. So we took a shelter from the rain inside a cave.

We sat down by the entrance while watching the bars of water.

"Raining, huh..." I softly said and deeply sighed.

"You don't like rain?" She asked.

"No, I like it. But, it just makes me remember bad memories." I faintly smiled.

"I see..." She sighed and her face became sad. "I'm sorry..."

"No need to apologize. It's not like it's a bad thing. Though I regret some of them, it also makes me reflecting of my actions and decisions." I paused for a moment. "It created who I am today."

"I see... Then I'm really glad that you become this way."

I took a glance at her face. She was smiling sadly toward the rain. Then she continued, "You've been through a lot. Especially the fact that you can be forced log out once corrupted by the Dark Army."

My eyes widened as I turned my head toward her.

She looked at me, and the tip of her brows went up. "I want you to tell me everything about you. Even though I saw your memories, it's still leaving a lot of details."

She was right. When I saw her memories, it only showed the highlight. However, I could still deeply feel her emotions in each one of them. And it was the same otherwise. She also knew about what was on my mind.

"I just want you to know that I'm here. I will listen to every worries and burdens you carry."

I scoffed lightly and smiled at those words. They were the same words I always said before. But now that line was thrown toward me. It felt really strange. But thanks to that, I got cheered up.

"So... C-can I ask about your memories?"

"Yeah, sure." I smiled at her. "Ask anything."

"I want to know more about you. Can you tell me about your life, from the beginning?"

I lightly sighed and my eyes began to wander into the past. "Alright..."

・・・

My father and my mother's ancestors were Kings, so they inherited royal bloodline. And that technically made me a prince. I know it's absurd that I mention this, but you'll know why later.

They met and got married forcefully by my grandparents. However, with time, they actually in love with each other. They had my big sister, and then more than ten years later they had me.

I was born normally, and given a name of Lightheart. In hope I would be having the heart of light, always be kind and gentle to others. And also to be happy and joyful all the time. Ironic, isn't it?

Moving on...

When I was three, my father bought me a game console. So it was then, I became a gamer. And another hobby I started at three also doodling, which later turned into drawing.

I played lots of games, experiencing every single stories and challenges. Games were my teacher, my best friend, my companion, and my partner.

Till one day, I saw my sister attempted suicide several times, crying and depressed. That happened when I was about eight years old. Since I was still young, I didn't know what it was at that moment. I thought it was just that my sister had a problem and she cried.

Regardless of that, my childhood memories for as far I remember was quite happy. Playing with my friends, games, and the first time liking a girl. Sadly though, she was liking someone else who was the smartest boy in my class. Still, I was the only one who good at English and I thanked games for that. And all my classmates often asked my answers during the test. I don't try to brag but, I just want to feel something good about my study at least.

In middle school, things became different. I got stereotyped as dumb, and also grouped with other not so smart students. I didn't really mind though. But still, sometimes I got blamed for the popular guys fault. One time, one of the popular guy in my class bumped me so I got pushed and dropped a glass on the table. The one who owned it immediately blamed me for that.

Also, I didn't play game much since my console was broken. Instead, I did football a lot with my childhood friends on my street, which was nice.

Now stepping up to highschool, my first relationship started here. I knew this girl from random chat app. She was younger than me and was a senior in middle school. Sadly, she lived in different town and province. Though it was a long distance relationship, we still loved each other, hoping to meet someday. However, reality said otherwise.

She had a national exam and I said if she didn't pass we would break up. So I let her focus on her study and we didn't contact each other until the exam was over. Strangely, she didn't reach me at all even if it was already over for a week.

So I called her.

She answered and I asked her why she didn't contact me. And she said she already had a new boyfriend. She said she couldn't keep her rank which she had always been number 1 in school. I was shocked, so I explained to her again that she didn't need to keep her rank, passing the exam was enough. Still, she was already had new boyfriend. And I couldn't do anything to what already happened. I forgave her and we became friend.

Days passed and she said to me that her friends often saw her new boyfriend went inside a hotel with another girl several times. As a boy, I totally knew another boy's intention. So I told her to break up with him, but she didn't listen and tried to ask him herself. Unfortunately, she got deflowered as well and regretted it. Since then, she broke up with him and we didn't contact each other again.

One fateful day, my classmate introduced me to online games. It was the beginning of my life as MMORPG player. Since then, net cafe was my second home. Anything bad that happened in my life, I always ran toward games. They became my drugs, my temporary joy and happiness. And at one time, I didn't even sleep for three days. It was a foolish of me. I heard on the news that there were some who couldn't survive and died. Thankfully, I was still alive. Hence, I managed my playtime and kept my health in a good shape, trying my best to not disappoint my parents.

If I talked about my highschool life as a whole, it was pretty much ordinary even though I was placed on the worst class with full of delinquents. I was quite athletic too, which often got chosen as player during sport festival.

Well, there were also some bad things, like I was stereotyped as delinquent as well. Also, I often got mocked because of my dream becoming a comic artist.

"Hey, is your work done yet?"

"Umm... Soon..."

"Hah! Don't tell me... By the time it's done, we will be old and already have grandchild."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Regardless of all the harsh words, I still could bear it. And the worst part was, there was a rumor about me killing a person. It spread to the whole school. But the funny thing was, each person described the weapon differently, and the most hilarious one I ever heard was using a fork. So because of that rumor, at one time, I didn't sleep cause I played game till morning. I got bad aura around me and got angry easily. Thus, every single one in my class was scared of me. When I asked my close friend, she said, "Well, you're quiet. When a silent type person gets mad, of course anyone will be scared. Especially with that rumor." I just scoffed and laughed lightly.

After graduating highschool, I took an exam to get into one of the best universities in my country, and I actually got in. The highschool teachers who looked at me as an illness to the school became proud. Complimenting me in an awkward way. Well, not that I cared. I took Art major and was pretty happy and excited with it. Unfortunately, I dropped out midway.

I kept questioning myself if it was the right choice, if that was what I wanted. But no matter how many times I asked, I couldn't find the answer. So I became a shut in for about a year. During that time, I found a site of comic artists community. I began to make comic and published it there. I got new friends and enjoyed sharing arts with them.

One day, something happened on a hot thread. A senior artist that I knew said his art got trashtalked on another platform. And he said the nickname they used was mine. I was being framed and I became the sole culprit. All famous artists cornered me as well. As if I wasn't enough, they also cyber bullied my innocent friend. Perhaps it was because she defended me. I said that she didn't have anything to do with me and our problem, they all could blame and bully me all they wanted, but not her. Still, they didn't listen and she cried even more.

Since then, I never got serious again with art. Slowly, I did less and less drawing. Moreover, the MMORPG game I usually played got closed down. So I tried to find new games to play. A new little enjoyment in my life that I ran off from.

Eventually, I found a browser game which was basically a social game. You created an avatar, dressed it up, made money to buy more clothes or your room interiors. And the only thing you could do in the game was chatting with other avatars, or other people around the world. Still, it was pretty fun for me who were lacking in social skills. However, I was mostly just observing people.

On day 3 playing, I wanted to try hosting a room party. So I prepared everything in my room, especially buying beverage for the guests. Once I opened my room for party, a lot of strangers went in. They gobbled up all the foods and drinks, chatted a little to thank me, then they left. My room became empty in a minute. Well, as expected. However, there was one girl who stayed.

I asked her and she said she was new, she just played for a day. She asked about the game, so I showed her all I knew. I led her to multiple places: The casino where you could play mini games, or the mall where you bought some clothes, and also any other places I deemed interesting. She thanked me and said it was rare to find someone who was kind to a stranger like her. So we decided to share our personal contact.

As days passed, we got closer and our chemistry grew stronger. I found out that she was three years older than me. She had an abusive boyfriend. And most of her friends treated her like a money bag they could use anytime. So I tried my best to be there for her, lightened her days up whenever she was blue.

However...

One day, she texted me.

I'm really happy that I know you. I'm sorry, Light. Thank you for everything.

My heart skipped a beat. I knew it wasn't just a simple text, so I immediately called her.

Tuuuuuuuttt....

One time, no answer.

Tuuuuuuuutttt....

Second time, still no answer.

Tuuuuuuuuuuuuutttt...

"No... Please...don't... Please answer my call. God, please...save her..."

Third time, I began to tear up. Still, no answer.

Tuuuuuutt....

Tuuuuuuuuuuttt...

Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuttt...

I kept calling and calling multiple times while crying in silent.

Still, she didn't answer the call.