[https://i.imgur.com/aGNbgyy.jpg]

"So, then I met this elf in Leafy Forest who had Chester and after I got him back, the elf was all talking about how he needed to get some... what're they called? God, I've totally lost it, what the hell is this word... the stones with letters on them? Like the ones themmuns uh, the Vikings, used to have? And they're not really letters I guess; they look like a bunch of lines and-"

"Are you talkin about runes?"

"Yes!" Marcie sipped on her milkshake as she sat opposite Wendy, whose gaze had never left her phone as she messaged her boyfriend.

"Go on." Wendy urged, a smirk appearing on her face the more she typed and Marcie didn't even want to know. "Elf boy, runes, then what?"

"Oh right, so like, I was all - where the fuck am I gonna find runes? But then I was like, well it's game so they can't be that far away, and right enough there was one path I could go down and I opened a chest and there they were inside, so I gave him the runes and he gave me the cat and I tossed the cat back into the house and then the elf was all 'My brother is in New World, do you wanna join me on the journey?'"

"You got hit on by an elf?"

"Fuck off!" Marcie cried, pouting as Wendy cackled. "So that's where I left off. I was fighting some plants before I ended the session. I forgot that I lost HP when I got hit and didn't use the potion so I got booted out when I died."

"You got killed by a plant?"

"I know." Marcie huffed, slurping more of her milkshake. "Nightmare. What time is lover boy coming to pick you up?"

"He just got here."

"What?"

Marcie's big amber eyes zeroed in on the tall guy with impeccable hair who dressed exclusively in buttoned shirts and well fitted suits as he waltzed through the diner door. His name was Ethan, he was the son of a locally famous restauranteur, and Marcie didn't trust him. The stories that Wendy had shared about him being a hero and reporting his own colleagues for their wrongful actions - colleagues he had worked with for years - never went down well with her. In Wendy's eyes, Ethan was really upstanding for being so honest and good and that made him stand out from the others she had dated.

Marcie thought he was a greasy little rat.

She had no evidence to back up her harsh judgement of this guy, but her gut hadn't been wrong in all her thirty years. Something about him was off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it, and she supposed if she was closer to Wendy she might stage some kind of intervention, but she didn't want to overstep.

"Afternoon, ladies!" the snake himself greeted them as he slid into the chair beside Wendy, throwing his arm around her shoulders as she beamed at him.

"I thought you'd never come!" Wendy whined, booping her nose against his cheek and Marcie wished she had a bucket to hurl into.

"How's yourself, Marcie?" Ethan asked smoothly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as soon as he met her death glare.

The way she smiled at him with no warmth at all was enough to trigger his fight-or-flight response and he couldn't wait to get out of there, but he didn't want to let it show. He couldn't let Marcie know he found her scary as hell and really, for the life of him he couldn't figure out what she had against him. He didn't even really know her, but it unnerved him how it seemed like she knew his darkest secrets.

"Couldn't be better." she replied after a pause that was a beat too long. "Anyway, I have an appointment today, so I must get going first."

"You do?" Wendy asked, finally looking up from her phone as Marcie stood. She didn't notice how her boyfriend stared at Marcie's long legs that were suddenly on full show right in his direct line of sight. Her butt was only covered by a pair of solid black hotpants. A long, sheer black shirt sat loosely around her shoulders and fell down to just below the shorts, giving the 'no-pants' illusion, and with a decorative black bra lined with gold chains underneath that was partially on show, he was on the verge of malfunctioning.

"Yep, hair appointment."

"Who do you go to by the way? I meant to ask you, your hair always looks amazing."

"Here, I'll send you his contact." she offered, pulling her own phone out and forwarding the business card to her their chatroom. "He owns a salon in town, but I just go to him directly in a private studio... You might wanna bring your man along, though."

Wendy raised an eyebrow as he looked at her unusually sweaty boyfriend.

"Why?"

"He's a relentless flirt."

"With you, probably." Wendy sighed, well aware of how most men became idiots around her, especially when she dressed like that.

"Anyway, I don't find him attractive - he's not a bog-dweller, like, but not my type - and you know how flirting gets you discounts and shit?"

"Of course."

"What?!" Ethan interjected, pouting as the women continued to ignore him.

"Just play along and he'll knock twenty percent off." she shrugged. "If it was anyone else I'd just find another stylist, but he's really fuckin good at his job."

"That good?"

"Y'know Jeon Enda? He used to be in-"

"Everyone knows Jeon Enda, Marcie, be serious."

"Yeah, well, he did his hair for his latest editorial shoot with Mode magazine."

"No way!"

"Yes way." she folded her arms, looking down at Ethan. "Oi, you'll have to go with her - Wendy's too pure to go to him alone, understood?"

"Yes, miss." Ethan nodded seriously.

"I am not!" Wendy cried.

"Not really something you wanna say in front of your boyfriend, Wen." Marcie added, pocketing her phone. "Anyway, gotta go. See yous!"

With that, she waved and wound around the tables, exiting the diner. All she had to do now was get her roots done, flirt her pants off to see how much discount she could get, and then it would finally be time.

[Welcome to Otherworld, Liban!]

[Load Save File?]

[Load / Cancel]

[Leafy Forest]

"You're back!" the elf, whose name was Levi, beamed as he stood up from a tree stump in the middle of Leafy Forest, where you had gone back to level up some more before continuing.

"That I am." she replied, dusting off her red-orange robes that faded down to green. "Hey, do you know where to get potions?"

"Potions? Of course, in fact, I have some here - take them!"

The elf pulled out two plain glass bottles with green liquid inside, handing them over to her with a pearly white smile. She accepted them graciously and popped them inside her pouch, automatically adding them to her inventory that she had learned she could access any time. It was a nice touch that the bag remained weightless and that everything could fit into it, like some kind of Mary Poppins type shit.

[Levi has gifted you Potion x 2]

[Potions restore 20HP]

[You can access potions through [Bag] while roaming or through [Items] during battle]

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"So, shall we head back into town and get those tickets?" Levi asked, checking his quiver for arrows and testing the string on his bow - an action he often did while they weren't moving, Marcie noticed.

She took one more look around at the forest, trying to spot anything else that might be possible to interact with, but as she had covered all the bases possible, she was happy enough to leave, Levi following her in tow. He was a perky character, and from what she had read about him in the Official Strategy Guide for the RPG, he was the first member of her party that would be made up of seven interchangeable members whom she would meet along the way. She had tried to study up on the first area of Hamletville, but since it wasn't possible to bring anything into or out of the world, she had to rely on her memory and that wasn't great at the best of times.

Well, as long as she took the time to explore every nook and cranny, she supposed she would be able to find everything she needed and so she spent the next hour wandering around all the available buildings and streets, opening doors and interacting with whatever she could to see what she could find, and to her surprise she managed to score more potions, some gold and a bottle of something that looked like a potion but was blue in colour and called

[Found: XP UP]

[XP UP will increase your experience points by 10]

"XP... experience... XP... Oh! Oh no, that took way too long." Marcie scolded herself, uncorking the blue bottle immediately but stopping dead as soon as the scent of roses hit her.

You could taste in this game too?

She did die after getting slapped one too many times by those plants, she figured, and she could feel the impact of those hits without being in pain - so being able to taste and smell didn't seem so farfetched. Without another thought, she downed the blue liquid, her face scrunching up as the last of it slid down her throat.

"Hey, are you okay?" Levi asked, noting her reaction. His silvery white hair shone in the sunlight, contrasting against his tanned skin as he leaned down fast enough and close enough for her to jump back.

"I'm fine!" she assured him, going to toss the bottle, but discovering it had literally disappeared from her grasp.

"That didn't look too good." he commented, standing up to his full height.

"Are you the only elf here?" she asked as they headed towards the ticket office towards the docks, running her tongue around her mouth as the strange sensation persisted. The liquid had no taste, but it did leave a weird feeling, like she'd just swished a whole load of mouthwash.

"There's a handful of us here, but my people are from Senlin."

Senlin? Really? Who the fuck hired these writers to name these places? What would be next, the Sea of Water?

"Is that far away?" she asked, brushing her arms against her loose robes as they stood in the queue, moving a pace every thirty seconds or so.

"Oh yeah, it's right on the other side of New World! It'll be a bit embarrassing for an elf like me from such a small town to go back to the motherland, but I have to see what's out there."

Marcie found herself smiling at his optimism. She was never that curious about the rest of the world. St. Luca had everything you could ever dream of, so it never even crossed her mind to go outside of the city, nevermind the country.

"Two tickets for New World." Marcie smiled at the clerk who had the same reaction most service staff did when they saw her for the first time.

"Sorry, we're sold out for the next few days." the clerk drawled, her expression falling completely.

"What!" Levi protested. "We have to get there today!"

"You know what? The Mayor has two tickets himself. Why don't you ask him?"

"Okay!" Levi cheered, much too cheerfully as he pulled Marcie aside with his ridiculous strength and she wondered just how high his stat was.

"W-wait!" she stammered. "Levi! Where are we going?"

"Why, to find Mayor Man of course!" he explained, letting go of her arm. "He lives over there in that big house in the town square. I bet he'll give us the tickets if we explain to him."

"Ah..." information about a tutorial boss battle popped into her head as Levi bounded towards the house and it was all she could do to follow behind him before he got himself smacked into next week.

The front door of Mayor Man's house swung open as soon as they approached it and inside there were some servant staff walking around and a kid running up and down the stairs.

"Is the mayor here?" Liban asked the woman nearest the door.

"He's in the study at the back of the house!" she informed her and so they made their way through the house to the back, the door to the study swinging open as they approached it.

Mayor Man's study was a large, circular room lined with tall windows that allowed plenty of light and air in. Comically large stacks of books were pushed up against the edges of the walls nearest the door and only as it swung closed did the man himself spin around in his chair. Levi and Marcie looked down as the tiny man dressed in a full three-piece suit, top hat, monocle and a huge bushy moustache hopped off the chair.

"Liban? Levi? How can I help you kiddos?"

"We want to go to New World to see my brother! But the clerk at the ticket office said there are no more tickets and to ask you." Levi explained.

Mayor Man hummed, looking between the two of you.

"I remember your brother. Gad is a real noble man. So, you want to join him? You do know that once you leave Hamletville, you won't be able to come back, don't you?"

"Yes." they nodded.

"Well, you two are both very important to the town, but I understand that you want to go on and see bigger, better things. I myself have always wondered about what lies beyond the great blue Ocean of Waves."

Seriously?

The pair watched as Mayor Man clasped his hands behind his back and looked wistfully out the window to the forest behind his home.

"New World is a huge continent full of possibilities. I was always hoping to go myself one day, but the years have already passed by and I've never managed to muster the courage. So, why don't you help me make my decision?" He spun on his heel with determination all over his expression: "If you can defeat me, I'll give you the tickets!"

[Boss: Mayor Man]

[Defeat Mayor Man to get tickets to New World]

[Tutorial: Use a Skill attack against Mayor Man. A Skill attack requires MP. Try equipping a Bracelet]

[Tip! You can equip items during battle by going to [Items] and then [Equip]]

Marcie tapped her left hand and chose the items option, tapping into 'equip' and locating the bracelet. Tapping on it made a bright silver bangle appear on her wrist.

[Tutorial: Try using the Skill 'Lecture'. To use a Skill, say the name of the Skill you wish to use]

"What the fuck is MP?" Marcie muttered, noting that Mayor Man had yet to make a move, but was sure as heck prepared to fight from the looks of it. "Okay... God this is so stupid... Lecture!"

Marcie's bangle shone brightly, a yellow glow appearing around it and she felt the urge to sweep her arm in an upward motion, jumping back as some invisible force sent loose papers scattering all around the study as Mayor Man was thrown back against his chair with a yelp.

"I got it!" Levi chimed in, cheerfully rushing the old man and delivering a powerful uppercut that sent him flying up so hard he bounced off the ceiling and fell face down on the wooden floor.

Marcie didn't know whether to be concerned or not, but she couldn't stifle her laughter any longer at the cartoonish sight before her. In fact, she spent so long bent double that she didn't see Mayor Man springing to his feet and charging towards her, not until a strong force knocked her back against the door and pushed all the wind out of her.

"Liban!" Levi cried, reaching his hand out to help her up and get her back into position.

Something she had learned while fighting the plants in Leafy Forest was that during battles, a green stripe would appear on her right forearm, growing smaller or bigger depending on how much HP she had. It held a value of 40/50 so she knew that she didn't need to use a potion just yet. There was now a blue line under the green one, and she supposed that must be the MP line, whatever the hell MP meant.

She had learned that this game used a 'turn based' battle system, which meant she wasn't going to die if she couldn't fight like Ip Man and had plenty of time to think about what to do next. Her MP line was 19/20. So... she could use that skill a lot. Fuck it, why not?

Another swish and dramatic cry from her sent Mayor Man into the book shelf this time and Levi shot him through the chest with an arrow, pinning him to the books for a few seconds longer before it vanished and he dropped back down to the floor, moustache fluttering in the wind as he landed with a thud. He went for Levi this time, who threw his arms up just in time and while he still lost HP, it wasn't as much as she had.

Huh.

Round and round they went, Marcie using one of the Potions halfway through as Mayor Man's HP continually got lower and lower, seemingly unable to use Potions himself and it was with a burst of Lecture that he finally groaned and fell flat on his back.

[Victory! You have defeated Mayor Man]

[You have gained 40 XP]

In the literal blink of an eye, Mayor Man was standing by the window again, all the papers and books back where they were before they ever went into battle.

"Very well..." he hummed. "Take the tickets."

[You have received Steamboat Tickets x 2]

"Liban, Levi." the mayor turned to face them. "You two are braver than I ever was. You deserve these tickets. Thank you for helping me make up my mind. I hope you find everything that you're looking for in New World. It is a dangerous continent, so please take these, too."

[You have received Potion x 5]

[You have received a Wooden Targe]

"Get some rest before you go. You can have dinner with us tonight and leave on the first steamboat in the morning."

"Thanks!" Levi grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm starving."

"Me, too." Marcie agreed, following Mayor Man and Levi back into the main house where the smell of braised lamb filled the air.