"Is this really the time for a music lesson?" Grandov yelled out behind me.

I spun around, horrified to see him with his sword drawn, ready to engage in battle.

Oh, crap. Should I have warned him ahead of time? But he mentioned the creature before I even said anything, so I figured he was ready for this.

"Put that thing away!" I hissed. "Or else it'll think you actually want a fight."

Grandov looked confused but slowly lowered his sword.

"Yes, yes, just put it away. Let me handle this," I added quickly, turning back to face the massive creature rising from the lake. It looked like an enormous black lump had appeared above the water, with only its bright green eyes easily distinguishable.

I couldn't really blame Grandov for his reaction.

The creature was nearly as large as Azgralos, and its ominous presence was only heightened by the way it blended into the darkness of the forest and lake. Tomorrow would be a moonless night, and though tonight wasn't entirely moonless or fully night yet, it was still pretty dark out.

Its black, uneven, almost slimy skin glistened under the sparse light, and its two glowing green eyes locked onto me, either out of curiosity or rage; I couldn't tell.

I brought the wooden flute in my hand up to my lips and began playing the tune the System had taught me. It was a silly, simple melody that even I could play and the sort of thing you'd hear children hum at festivals. The music piece was certainly not something you'd expect to tame a giant lake beast. It was a bit ridiculous, but I wasn't about to question the creature's taste in music.

As the bright notes echoed across the lake, the creature froze mid-roar, its green eyes widening like it couldn't believe what it was hearing. I kept playing, and sure enough, the monster began to sway—first just its head, then its entire massive body, moving in sync with the absurd tune.

"I'll be damned…" Grandov whispered behind me.

The thrashing ceased, and the creature actually started to nuzzle the shore like a giant, slimy cat seeking attention. Though, to be fair, it looked more like a toad-slug hybrid rolling its misshapen head along the shoreline than anything else.

As it moved its large, misshapen head and body, I caught a glint from what appeared to be a toothless mouth.

That must be it.

I continued playing the flute while cautiously edging closer.

The creature stopped rolling and became completely docile. Its green eyes, each the size of a horse, followed me as I approached. My gaze drifted to its enormous mouth, which loomed like a cave and was fringed with long, brush-like tendrils.

"Luca–what are you doing?" Grandove whisper-yelled behind me.

However, I ignored him, as explaining would have required putting down the flute, and I had no knowledge of what the creature would do if I stopped playing the silly tune.

Instead, I proceeded to reach one of my hands into the cavern. My fingers wrapped around the glinting object inside and tugged. However, the metal thing seemed embedded and tangled within the slimy, brush-like tendrils. I tried a few more times but to no avail.

Damn it.

I quickly pocketed the flute to free my other hand and used both arms to try and yank the item free.

I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears, hoping that the spell the music had provided hadn't yet completely shattered.

"HAHHHHHHH!"

The creature let out a warm, fishy breath that washed over me, reeking of lake depths.

Just as I feared it might devour me, the flute was pulled from my pocket, and Grandov began playing the tune beside me. It was simple enough that I wasn't surprised he picked it up quickly.

"Thanks," I whispered, focusing on untangling the metal ring from the creature's mouth.

As my fingers finally pried the metal ring loose, I felt a surge of relief.

The surge wasn't contained just to me, however. The moment the ring was freed from the creature's mouth, its massive dark body began convulsing as if under great strain. The glowing green eyes that had seemed so menacing began to dim and close.

The creature's enormous, misshapen form started to shrink, its grotesque features softening and receding. The black, glistening, lumpy skin melted away and was replaced by what was honestly still a rather lumpy surface but much smoother in appearance without every bump and lump magnified many times. The enormous blob that had towered over us just moments ago diminished rapidly until, in the blink of an eye, what was left before us was a small, harmless green toad.

It sat there at the water's edge, its enormous and grotesque body now reduced to the size of my palm.

"Well, that's… unexpected," Grandov muttered, lowering the flute as he stared at the tiny creature.

I held the ring up, examining it under the dim light in the sky.

The band was made of a smooth, deep green metal that seemed to shimmer with an inner light, almost as if it were alive. At the top of the ring sat a giant pearl that glowed faintly with the overwhelming energy of living mana, but now, without a host to amplify it, the ring seemed almost innocuous. Almost, that is. I could feel the power radiating from it—power that had turned an innocent creature into a monstrous abomination.

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[ Item: Ring of Boundless Bloom ]

[ Description: A ring that grants the wearer heightened attunement to living mana, allowing them to sense and identify potent sources of mana in their surroundings, such as ancient trees or sacred groves. When near these sources, the wearer can channel the abundant living mana to enhance their Vitality and Nature Affinity by up to 250 points. The ring can also be used to induce rapid growth in plants or force transformation upon creatures, bending them to the wearer's will. ]

[ Note: The ring's effects are amplified in areas rich in living mana, providing more substantial enhancements and control. ]

[ Warning: Prolonged exposure may lead to unpredictable mutations or destabilization. Handle with caution. ]

A loud croak sounded from beneath my feet. The small toad blinked at me with its big, round eyes as if asking what had just happened.

However, it didn't stay long and hopped back into the water, quickly disappearing beneath the surface. I turned to Grandov, who stared at the ring in my hands.

"I'll be damned. I recognize that ring. Kevin will be pissed," he commented.

"Kevin?" I raised a brow.

"Ah, don't worry about it. He's a rather infamous Player that everyone knows about. He played a wizard in a previous Game in your realm, and mishap after mishap occurred to him; he made a huge stink about it in the chat rooms."

"Ah." I nodded, half wondering if it was the same wizard that had nearly killed Duncan as a child for eating a fruit that provided Duncan his Grim Reaper Eyes. Wizards were incredibly rare, after all.

"Thanks again. That was a close one," I said, slipping the ring into my pocket. I wanted to examine it further before trying it on—just in case it would overwhelm me the way it did the toad. "But at least we won't have to worry about any more giant lake creatures tonight."

Grandov nodded, still looking a bit dazed. "Luca, you never cease to amaze me. No wonder the only other person who cleared this never shared how he did it.… To think the way to complete one of the most dangerous sidequests in Adovoria's Fall was to play a children's song on a flute."

"Most dangerous? Difficult…?” I blinked, confused.

What in the world is he talking about? What part of that was difficult or dangerous?

Sure, there was that little scare at the end, but if push came to shove, I could've created an illusion to confuse the creature and made a clean escape.

Back in Round 8, I had the System show me all the quests that Players successfully completed within the Game. While I couldn't claim some of the typical benefits these sidequests offered, I figured the items Players earned were worth the effort. With the knowledge of all the cleared quests, I didn't have to figure out how to complete them—I knew the best methods right from the start. Plus, I knew which quests were the quickest, simplest, and most rewarding. It was laziness at its best.

"I just picked the easiest one to clear…" I muttered.

There was no fighting, no sneaking about traps. Some silly song needed to be played, and that was that. Even I, who was laughably weak and had a tiny mana core, could clear this challenge on day one of the Game reset.

Grandov shook his head and sighed, a grin spreading across his face.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me Adovoria's Fall is actually easy, too?" he asked.

"I wish." I chuckled and motioned for him to join me on the log. "Now that the creature's dealt with, I still have a few questions for you."

"Ah, right." Grandov sat down beside me.

The moon was just a sliver of itself tonight, but the sky was alive with stars. The longer I stared up, the more they seemed to multiply, filling the darkness with their distant, glittering light.

"So, how did you become a Player?" I asked again.

My question had three purposes to it.

For one, I had become a Player in a way that was anything but typical. NPCs didn't usually get promoted to Player status, and I wanted to understand what 'normal' was like.

Then there was Grandov—BlueLizard, to be precise. If I was going to have any chance at beating Adovoria's Fall, I needed to better understand who I was partnering with and their true, innate background beyond that of the character they had possessed.

Finally, there was the question that nagged at the back of my mind: Could I turn those around me into Players to help clear the Game faster? The System had previously told me it couldn't turn others into , but the System only knew what it knew from the data it had. Despite being far more knowledgeable than me, it wasn't a God or an omniscient being.

If I could turn Micah into a Player, the Kobar Empire wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hmm," Grandov mused. "Are you asking about me specifically, or do you want to know how Players are chosen in general? Those are two very different stories."

I frowned. "How so?"

Grandov smiled. "Normally, Players come about through a lottery process and selection by higher beings. Or a System snags someone by their fate's string that matches their Game's objectives. However, in my case—or rather, my realm's case—we were all transformed into Players by our realm's own powers. It was the first instance of its kind."

I tilted my head.

Taking the cue, Grandov continued. "You see, our realm was much like yours—a place where we unknowingly invited what we termed as Gods, Demons, Devils, and Angels to play their Games. Most people had no idea these beings, or rather Players, even existed, just as many in your realm are unaware. But as our society evolved, and perhaps even began to crumble, the realization that our world was being used as a playground for other beings wasn't discovered by us—but by AI."

"AI?" I echoed, unfamiliar with the term.

"Artificial Intelligence," Grandov explained. "Think of it as a highly knowledgable and continuously learning entity, but not human. A creation of our own making, designed to process and understand information far beyond our capabilities."

"Like a System?" I suggested.

Grandov smiled knowingly. "That's a good comparison, but there's a crucial difference. Unlike the System you're probably familiar with, which guides and challenges you, our realm's AI was developed to automate tasks and make decisions that humans used to handle. These AIs managed everything—from crime detection and personalized shopping experiences to language translation and even long-term investment strategies."

I raised a brow, trying to wrap my head around it.

Grandov described a slew of things that this AI-thing did, and I didn't have anything to compare it to except the System of Adovoria's Fall. Ultimately, it all sounded more like the System that I knew than anything else in existence that I was familiar with.

"So, it was like everyone had their own System?" I asked, seeking clarification.

"Not exactly," Grandov replied. "The AIs themselves were distinct, each created with a unique purpose in mind. People typically had access to several."

"So how did it, or they, figure out your realm was part of a Game?" I pressed.

"It all came down to three super AIs, each developed by a different government with a very different goal," Grandov began. "One AI was tasked with identifying new energy sources beyond our planet, even if it meant spreading our ideals of freedom to alien worlds. Another was designed by a national defense agency, dedicated to predicting and thwarting any potential threats, both foreign and domestic. The third was commissioned by a private investment firm, under government directive, to meticulously plan out investment strategies for the next millennium, ensuring long-term dominance and stability."

He paused, taking a long breath, his gaze distant at the star-filled sky.

"These three AIs, each with their own mission, began to uncover patterns and anomalies that couldn't be explained through ordinary means. They started to communicate, sharing data and theories with one another. Eventually, they realized the truth: our realm was part of a larger Game, one played by beings far beyond our understanding."

"But now you're a Player," I said.

"Indeed." Grandov smiled and shrugged. "In the end, the three AIs decided that to fulfill their missions, they needed to take our realm off the playing field. The only way to do that was to transform everyone into Players."

His voice carried a hint of resentment.

"You're quite knowledgeable," I remarked, offering the comment as a compliment.

Grandov's smile deepened, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I should be. As fate would have it, I helped write the damn code for all three of them."