This wasn't part of the game! Helia and I ran as best we could while Oberon lay draped over our shoulders. Ughh, muscles weigh so much.... Behind us were giant flying, flaming jack-o'-lanterns.

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Prior to the jack-o'-lantern encounter, the three of us were walking alongside a road which connected Rose Academy with the local town, Solios. This was definitely the tutorial. Basically, the player would control just Oberon and walk to the Rose Academy after his rival left him for dead. This encounter also resulted in Oberon getting a pretty handsome scar on his face. Except, in reality, Oberon couldn't hide his bleeding face from us forever.

"Oh my," Helia tutted. She looked right into Oberon's face. I had to give her credit, despite her clear attraction to him, she was certainly not acting like a lovestruck girl. Oberon, as usual, had an unreadable expression on his face. His face which was currently covered in blood and had a cut from his right eyebrow down towards the bridge of his nose. "This won't do at all. Don't worry, I actually have a sanata on me!"

With a flick of her wrist towards Oberon's face, Helia incanted, "Sanata!" White light poured out from her palm and kind of blasted Oberon on the face. I couldn't help but laugh at the scene playing before me. As expected, when the spell finished, Oberon's scar and blood was totally wiped out. Sanata was a light spell that healed hit points in the game, and it basically could heal up small wounds in a jiffy in the real world.

Real life and the game story were already divulging due to my and Helia's presence. I sighed, hoping that Oberon's scar wasn't an important plot point or anything. I couldn't jostle out any details of it from the information download still happening in the background of my mind, so I filed it away just in case it might come up again.

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"... You didn't have to do that." Oberon said mutely. His eyes fixed on the ground while Helia doted upon him. "Sanata is rare for non-vocari users... What if you need it in the future?"

"I'll take my chances. Besides, our first Thorns test is coming up in a few days and I've been studying hard! I'll establish a bond with a vocari and have sanata for days." She winked at him. And by golly, he blushed and kept looking away.

Uhh... What's happening here? I squinted at the two of them as we resumed our walk. Helia, like me, was a nameless background NPC in the game. There was no character named Helia, but... My shipping senses are tingling... Oberon, being the main character of an RR series had a main love interest that was considered the canonical pairing, but there were ways to actually have other girlfriends (no gay options despite the fury of many fans). Helia wasn't the main love interest or even a side chick. I frowned as I followed these two.

We walked along the road and monsters popped out at us a few times. Unlike other isekai protagonists, I actually already had a handle on the mechanics of this world and didn't need a tutorial fight. Unlike RR8, which was turn based, this was real life. Enemies wouldn't just stand there waiting for you to hit them with their weaknesses. Instead, it was all real time running around and whatnot.

I didn't have a lot of combat practice, mind you. Unlike Helia, I had no plans to join the Thorns program. I was looking to just be a library aide as I went to school... Wasn't I a librarian in my previous life? Huh, guess being a book jockey is my calling... Anyway, like I was saying, I want to live as peaceful a life as I can. The Thorns were, in essence, a paramilitary organization. It was the mercenary arm of the Rose Academy. They were considered to be the strongest in the world. Now that I'm thinking about it... Isn't that a little shady? Taking refugee orphans in and turning them into soldiers for hire? I know Rose Academy is depicted as being the good guys in the game, but I can't help but question the motives.

"Igno." Oberon stated flatly as he conjured a small fireball and flung it into a giant dragonfly's face. In the previous world, this would be a terrifying foe, but here on Gaia, it was just another Wednesday.

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"Ahh, that's the last one. Shall we?" Helia grinned as she gestures to the piles of dead giant dragonflies.

"Why do you want to join the Thorns anyway, Helia?" I asked once we started moving again.

Her brow rose in response, "That came out of nowhere, but... I'd say it's the money. They say if you join the Thorns and reach A-ranking, then after two years you will have enough money to coast for the rest of your life. Plus, fighting monsters and overthrowing dictators seems like it would be fun." I imagined Helia applying lipstick after she just blasted icicles at an evil dictator and froze him solid. "What about you Oberon? Why are you trying to become a Thorn?"

"..." Oberon didn't reply for a long while. Helia and I both didn't bother to say anything since we were used to this. While we didn't commonly interact with Oberon, we've been classmates long enough to know sometimes he just needed half a minute to answer a simple question like, 'What time is it?' Our patience was finally rewarded with, "Same as you, I guess."

How was I ever into this character...? Did my tastes change because I'm technically a different person now, or was the illusion shattered by this reality not being textbox only? I looked at my previous youth with disgust and disdain. So many hours wasted writing fanfiction about a guy whose personality was as riveting as a baked potato.

Yet when I looked to Helia for her reaction, she beamed at him with love in her eyes. What could she possibly see in him? Other than how hot he was?! Well, I suppose I answered my own question.

We finally reached the halfway point when Helia announced we should stop and take a quick break. Oberon just nodded in agreement while I took a book out of my pack and sat on the yellowing grass. Helia gave me one look and giggled.

"Bianca, don't ever change." She mused. "You can read anywhere and in any situation, can't you?"

"I guess so... But this isn't all that weird a place to read!" I gestured at the scenery. "It even has natural ambience. No need to download forest sounds when I'm out here. The only thing that would make this better is if I had a blanket and pillow to snuggle up with while I read."

Oberon looked over at us and I saw the hamster wheel spinning in his head. Finally, he said, "... I've read that one too."

"Huh, really?" I looked for him to the cover of my book. This book was a romance between a commoner soldier and a very beautiful countess. They met one night at some sort of event the soldier was guarding and it was pretty much a whirlwind romance with a lot of thrilling elements mixed in. I gave him a skeptical look. "Really?"

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"... The fight scenes are well written." Oberon admitted. He looked like he instantly regretted talking to me. Oops... I forgot he can be a bit sensitive. Even if he was a character in a game in my previous world, he's actually a real person here.

"I can see that. This book was written by the first female soldier at the turn of the century. If you like this one, you would definitely like this other one..." Then I launched into a book talk. A book talk is basically what it's called when a book seller, librarian, or other similar professional tries to convince you to read certain books. Knowing what I did about Oberon and adding onto it that he liked the book in my hands, I had some great recommendations for him.

Once I finished jabbering, it was quiet. Helia and Oberon just stared at me like I was a crazy person. Admittedly, I had a habit of getting a little too into book talking. I felt an incredible urge to pair book to person. There was nothing quite like the high of finding a perfect match and hearing gratitude for figuring one out!

"... I actually have read those already. These... are great books." Oberon looked me in the eyes for a moment before turning away. "Maybe I'll visit you at the library... To hear more. For now... Something is happening."

As expected of a warrior-like and stoic protagonist, he sensed the danger before either of us did. The forest had grown unnaturally quiet all around us. Not even the birds chirped. I put my book away and prepared myself. Unlike Helia and Oberon, I actually didn't have a weapon. Oberon carried a two-handed sword on his back. Helia had a peashooter. Me? I had my bookbag with me and that was about it. I had a few casts of terris and igno left in me.

Ah, right, let me explain. Unlike in other magic systems that were based on MP, mana, or other similar, blue tinted concepts, RR8 used a weird magic system. The spells at your disposal were spells you stowed after finding a conjure point in the world, transmuting items into spells, or receiving spells from someone else. Likewise, you could drain spells from some monsters. For example, I have 5 terris on me right now. If I cast one, then I'll be down to 4. Nothing I do will give me that fifth terris back short of one of the aforementioned methods. Because the magic system was set up like this, it also means there aren't really classes in the game. Anyone can conjure any type of magic provided they had the means to do so (a vocari, usually).

Suddenly, from beyond the canopy, two ginormous pumpkins flew towards us. As they did, their faces seemed to carve in real time with some invisible knife, showing off the fierce and mischievous faces of jack-o'-lanterns.

I grit my teeth and actually felt nervous for once. These aren't supposed to be here. These enemies don't exist in this area in the game and even now, I don't recall ever hearing about a sighting of them in this region. Since this region was the beginning of the game, easy enemies were located here. These jack-o'-lanterns, known as Fire Jacks in every Rival Reverie game, were sort of like a series staple monster and were not to be messed with. In game, one wrong use of a turn, and they could melt a party member. In real life, that was more literal. The best advice when facing a Fire Jack was not to do it at all.

Helia held up her peashooter and asked aloud, "Are these Fire Jacks?? I didn't know you could run into them here."

"We shouldn't have," I said through my clenched teeth. "They aren't native to this area. What's worse... We aren't equipped to deal with it. Any chance we could run?"

As the words left my mouth, Oberon was already charging in. As the protagonist, I supposed it made sense he had no fear. The infuriatingly hot warrior leapt forward and struck one of the Fire Jacks with his sword. As he did, my frown deepened. That idiot-! It was too late. As the sword connected with the Fire Jack, it shot retaliatory flames at Oberon. The creature cackled as Oberon flew backwards, slightly singed, and landed on his back.

I ran to Oberon's side and tried to get him to stand and lean on my shoulder while Helia pointed her peashooter and shouted, "Glacio!" From the muzzle of her gun, a frosty icicle launched and pierced through the husk of one of the Fire Jacks. Now that was a better attack to do. Fire Jacks could only instantly counterattack melee targets.

Oberon and I reached Helia as she recoiled at the Fire Jacks behind us. Frightfully, she asked me, "Uh... Is that a good sign?" I turned my head to look back as Helia hoisted Oberon's otherside over her shoulder.

The Fire Jack she has hit grew manic in appearance. It sputtered flames and cackled in maniacal fashion. Suddenly, its face grew alight by some inner flame. I gave her a look with my lips pressed into a thin line. "No."

Fire Jacks were deadly for two reasons, and these reasons existed in every RR game. First, they could counterattack any melee-based attack. So you could only hit them with ranged options (if that existed) or magic. Even on the magic front, Fire Jacks resisted fire and earth-based attacks with a weakness to only ice and light magic. However... The second reason they were deadly creatures worthy of being like sub-mini bosses was their berserk ability. Once they reached 75% or less health, they would enter a berserk state where all their stats went up and they became immune to the elements they resisted and then resisted ice damage! Not just that, but they had access to higher tier spells. Once they went berserk, you better hope you had some hard hitting light spells -- the kind that dealt damage!

The berserk Fire Jack howled as it started to chase us. The second Fire Jack had yet to take damage and berserk, but it was still a dangerous foe. Helia and I screamed for our lives as we ran with Oberon. More like dragged him. I could hear my heartbeating in my head. I just regained some of my memories from my past life and here I was about to lose my current one.

"Just... Put me down... This is my fault." Oberon demanded, but Helia shook her head.

"If I abandoned you, I would be breaking a vow." She insisted. Helia looked to me, her eyes scared, but focused. "I don't know anything about these guys, but you seem to have read up on them. What should we do? There has to be a way out of this situation!"

I looked back at the monsters chasing us. Surprisingly they weren't very fast, but we would only be able to outrun them for another minute tops. Helia and I weren't strong enough to carry Oberon to safety. Leaving him behind was the correct course of action, but I could see in my friend's eye that wasn't an option. Instead, I remembered that I had a trump card in my pocket. The thing that started this whole mess...

"Please listen to me," I smiled faintly. I gestured for Helia to take all of Oberon's weight, which she did. I said, "Helia, you and Oberon keep running. I think I can do something about this, but I can't guarantee it will work."

"Bianca-" Helia started, but I interrupted her.

"Either we leave Oberon here and both try to run away, we all die here, or we take a chance that I can save the day, the failure of which results in two people getting away. I think this is our best play."

Helia stayed quiet and defiant, but as the Fire Jacks quickened their pace in their glide towards us, she reluctantly nodded, saying, "If you die, I'll find a way to revive you and kill you myself."

I smirked, "Of course. Now go!"

Helia and Oberon started to move again to the best of their ability. I, meanwhile, decided to draw their attention to me. I didn't have any spells to really mess with them, but, "Hey there, dummies, check this out!" I flung a igno at the Fire Jack that had yet to berserk. This would normally be considered suicidal. Using fire magic on a non-berserk Fire Jack dealt little damage and caused it to enter a berserk state regardless of it's current HP levels. Basically, you were starting it's inner fire for it by flinging any fire magic at it.

I started to run around the Fire Jacks as much as I could while the second one went berserk. I had their attention and I needed both of them to focus on me. They finally got into range, especially since I wasn't quite full of stamina like people training to be professional mercenaries, but I had to stop running at full speed and instead started to dodge as best I could. Fire balls exploded from their mouths as they flung their own igno at me, but powered up. I dodged a little too late on the third casting, getting my leg hit by the blaze and falling down to the grass.

The Fire Jacks loomed over me, ready to go in for the kill. It's said that those killed by Fire Jacks became one themselves on the next full moon. It seemed they intended to have me join them as a ghostly, spooky monster. I saw them both begin chanting. It sounded familiar, so similar to how it sounded in the game itself.

Suddenly, two grim reaper-like creatures appeared before them and suddenly rushed at me with their scythes. This was their instant kill spell, simply called moria.

This was almost too easy. As long as my memory was correct, then-!

"Come forth, Vulpitas!" I shouted as I held up the shimmering blue gem from my pocket.

It was the vocari from earlier. The particular vocari that lived in this gem was quite powerful if only because of its transmutation abilities and its role as a Deus ex machina for the plot of RR8, which admittedly was a bit sloppy. People didn't tend to summon it at all, using it solely for the other roles that vocari played.

However, it's ability would save me if I timed it right!

A bright light shimmered inside the gem as the twin deaths flew toward me. From the gem, a blue creature that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a fox sprung into being. On its forehead shone a diamond. The diamond flashed before the creature itself dispersed into several shards of light.

The twin deaths and the Fire Jacks made no change in their plans.

As the deaths came close, they raised their scythes and went to swipe at my body! As their scythes fell, they suddenly bounced off an invisible forcefield-like effect. As they did, the deaths suddenly turned and rushed at the Fire Jacks at incredible speeds that would be impossible for them to dodge.

"Dummies, you should never use instant kill spells on someone who can mirror them back!" I shouted with glee as the twin death scythes fell and destroyed the Fire Jacks instantly.