Roth and Mel left the building, holding hands. The stars were shining brightly tonight, but Roth could only think about how soft Mel’s hand was. Roth felt as if his whole hand was on fire. How could something so simple be so pleasant?

This was the perfect evening—not just because of the eternal spring weather in Green Country. He had a wonderful time with his friends and a beautiful meal with his girlfriend, and she was as happy as he'd ever seen her.

"I won't forget tonight," she said, breaking the silence.

"It was a lot of fun. Thank you for accepting my invitation for this date."

"Are you kidding me? ColdHand will go nuts when I tell him how many stats I won from going on a date with you."

Roth looked down, and some of his joy dissipated. Mel caught Roth’s shift and stopped. "Hey, don’t look like that. The reason why I loved the evening wasn’t the stats. I loved it because we had a nice time together." She looked left and right as if about to share a big secret. "I have to say, this was my best date ever."

Roth's downcast frown turned into a beaming smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. I loved how you got your friends involved, and the conversations we had during the evening were so nice. I had a great time," Mel said.

"That's great. Me too.”

They resumed their walk under the moon and stars. “So, what's next for you?" Mel asked.

"Drake has something he wants to discuss with me. He has yet to tell me what it is, but I'm supposed to return to the building after sending you off. Then I’ll meet Galatheel and Godsfried. What about you? What are you up to?"

"I'm off to grind the Core Tower again. Only one boss left to go, and we'll finally see what the Core is like."

"Do you know anything about it yet?"

“Only that it's deep down in the center of the earth. It's supposed to have unique items, fauna, and flora. The Dragons spend most of their days there, and the Phoenixes have recently begun hunting there, too. Their progress has skyrocketed ever since."

Having talked plenty about the game and not wanting this evening to end, Roth tried to think of something else to ask. "You haven't told me how you got into gaming. What did you do before being a full-time gamer?"

"I worked at the gym," she said.

"As a teacher or...?"

"Yeah, I used to do spinning classes."

"Is that the thing with the bikes and the music? Sounds like fun.”

“It is! What about you? Have you ever done any sports?"

"Well, when I was a kid, I fought a lot. I guess that counts as exercise," Roth joked. "In prison, I started playing basketball. Turns out that being tall helps a lot."

She giggled. "Were you any good?"

"I wasn't good at shooting hoops, but I was quite good at blocking others trying to score. Drake is much better than me, though."

“But doesn’t he only have…” Mel reddened.

“One arm. Yes. But don’t be fooled by that. He’s a machine! He’s twice my age and still always left me in the dust. He’s unstoppable.”

"Well, since I'm so short. I guess I wouldn't do well playing against you," she teased.

"That's okay. I'm sure we can find something we'll enjoy doing together once I'm out of here."

“Yes! Of course.”

They had reached the central square where their evening had begun. "Well, I have to go now. While we were on our date, your guild made it to the Core. I’ve been receiving messages from ColdHand non-stop. Sorry.”

Roth laughed. “That’s OK.”

“This was really nice."

For a moment, they just stared at each other. Mel's eyes seemed to gain a glimmer, a glow softer than the moon’s. Roth felt like he was floating in space again, and gravity was gone. His heart raced, his palms became sweaty, and his chest burned. He feared she would reject him, but he still leaned in. Mel didn't draw back and leaned in as well. They kissed for the first time.

Roth felt like he was floating. Seeing Mel smiling, his joy redoubled. She had also enjoyed kissing him. "Call you later?" Roth asked.

"Definitely," Mel agreed. "See you later, Roth Taylor."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Bye, Mel."

"Come on, Goldie."

Goldie, who had been walking next to Lin, flew over.

“Get back here, Goldie! They did kiss tonight! I won the bet! Pay up!”

Goldie looked beggingly at Mel! “Quick! Gigantify! Gigantify! Let’s leave! This cat is going to bankrupt me! I’ve already had to sell feathers to pay him my other debt. I’ll be a featherless chicken if we don't leave soon.”

Roth understood everything, but to Mel, it was just a bunch of meows and caws. “Isn’t it nice how well our pets get along?” she asked.

“I guess we’re meant for each other,” Roth said, laughing.

Gigantify!

Goldie grew in size, and Mel operated her inventory, putting on her crossbow and plate armor. She blew Roth a kiss and took off. Roth just stood there, watching Goldie's large figure disappear into the moon until they were just a point of golden light, another star.

After a few moments of silence, Roth jumped, throwing his fist into the air. "She likes me!" he roared triumphantly. "She kissed me back!" he screamed again, drawing mocking looks from passing players.

"Good for you, dude," one of them said, and Roth ran over to him and hugged him! “OK! OK! Let me go, big guy!”

Roth put him down and headed back to the Union. This had to be one of the best days of his life. She had kissed him back!

*

It had been some hours since they reached the Core. It didn't take long to map the whole Crystal Forest and spot the ship's wreckage atop one of the surrounding hills. It lay precariously on its side, a long tube with no wings and a drill-shaped nose.

Ogre marched up toward the ship. Beside him, Taran walked on fours, its yellow fur darker than usual due to the poor lighting down here.

Behind them, the other 98 party members followed, but only Cyclops seemed as fresh as lettuce. Everyone else looked spent. Ogre didn't blame them. The Opal Armadillo Den dungeon had been a nightmare.

The armadillos were the fastest mobs that Ogre had ever fought. They were unstoppable once they got curled up in a ball and rolling. They charged through the Ogres’ formation like bowling balls through pins. It was impossible to keep an efficient formation when players were constantly sent flying.

Their luck was that the damage wasn't more than they could manage despite the very strong knockback effect. They had pulled it off, even without BlueFire. The drops weren’t anything too spectacular. Hopefully, the ship would give them a little more for their efforts.

The sun bear stood on its hind legs, sniffing the air. Turning to Ogre, it snarled, “Grunt. Argh.”

Ogre halted. “There’s another guild ahead.”

“Everyone, look sharp!” Cyclops shouted. The Ogre players shook off their exhaustion, preparing for battle.

Ogre signaled them to stop.“Easy. No need. Wait here for me.”

“But sir…” Cyclops protested.

Ogre ignored the general and climbed the slope alone with Taran. As he reached the summit, he grimaced.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't an old, smelly Ogre?" a young man said, waving his hand before his nose, making the girl beside him giggle.

"Pheenie, Eksus," Ogre said, greeting them respectfully.

Pheenie approached and put his arm around Ogre, eliciting a snarl from Taran. "I had a feeling we’d meet sooner or later, Ogie. Seeing that the Ogres were the fourth guild to make it down here was quite a surprise. I thought for sure that the Basilisks would arrive first.”

Ogre shrugged. "What can I say, Pheenie? We got lucky with some of the bosses."

"Lucky?" Eksus asked with a crooked smile.

"Yeah, you know, hitting the boss ten times and getting ten crits in a row, that sort of thing."

Pheenie eyed Ogre suspiciously but shrugged and got out of his face.

“You don't mind us going first, do you?” Eksus asked, pointing to the machine.

"By all means. Please go first."

"Very well then." Pheenie and Eksus entered the machine, leaving their crew behind. Some threw challenging looks at Ogre, but he stood his ground, showing no reaction. He was used to the lack of respect from the twins and their guild. They were overbearing but had the strength to back it up. Even Jaw-Long would take a long detour if he could avoid the twins. When they fought together, they were unstoppable.

Taran lay on the ground, butt facing the group of 200 players from the Phoenixes, and farted loudly enough for them to hear. Some of the players laughed, but others looked eager to cause trouble. Well done, Taran, Ogre thought.

Beeping sounds came from the ship, and light fell on every Phoenix member. Some of them even leveled twice. They shared excited looks as they discussed where they would spend their next stat points. Ogre noticed that some of the players actually changed equipment shortly after, putting on gear he had never seen before. Judging how it looked like it was made of precious stone, it was probably gear dropped by monsters from the Core’s dungeons.

Ogre smirked. BlueFire’s suspicions were proven right. This ship was the secret to the Core. The Phoenixes left the spaceship, walked away dismissively, barely acknowledging the guild leader from the Ogres, and headed back down the slope.

Ogre let out a breath he had been holding. If the twins had decided to kill him, there would be nothing that Ogre could do. Thankfully, because they had better things to do, they ignored him.

The Ogre entered the spaceship. "Welcome," the ship’s computer said in a flat tone.

Ogre grabbed the opal dropped by the boss of the armadillo dungeon. A box popped open, and Ogre deposited the item in it.

Congratulations! You’ve completed [Survey the Core’s Opals].

Quest rewards: +500 million XP.

Ogre gained a level and gasped. Five hundred million XP was a lot! He would need to grind three to four days to earn that much. Finally, everything made sense. The XP of the dungeons was okay. Similar to dungeons on the surface. But this was the major difference. One could complete the ship's quest at the same time that they ran dungeons.

Ogre had gained three times more XP from turning in this quest than running the dungeon. In essence, it was as if he had multiplied his leveling speed by a factor of four. He got a few messages from happy guild members saying that they had gained one level or two.

Since players reached level 50, leveling slowed to a snail's pace. Finally, they could break out of this rut. This was the purpose of the Core. To put players on the fast track for their fourth job advancement.

It wasn't just the XP. The rare crafting materials that could be harvested here and the loot dropped by the bosses of the dungeons were meant to help players go from level 50 to at least level 70, maybe even level 80. No wonder that the Dragons didn't leave this place.

Finally, Ogre could understand how Jaw-Long had shown so much strength in fighting Loki. Ogre felt a shiver down his spine. After being in the Core for at least two weeks, he wondered what level Jaw-Long was. He couldn't be lower than 70. He could have passed that threshold already.

“Next is tourmaline.”

“Of course.”

You’ve received a new quest: [Survey The Core’s Tourmalines].

“Bring more opal if you can. It's optional.”

You’ve received a new quest: [Survey The Core’s Opals].

Ogre left the ship excited. His guild was now on the fast track to success, too.