Nathan rubbed his chin. A bird chirped above, and a stray branch dropped from a tree. It missed Nathan’s head by inches. He ignored it and clicked on the first quest for upgrading his harpoon-throwing skill. The requirements were simple: he just had to kill 100 enemies using his harpoon. Easy.

The other quests, though…

[Obtain ‘Riptide Grasp’ (Bronze)]

The Riptide Grasp waits within the rush of swift currents. Go where the waters pull the strongest, and reach into their flow. Only by understanding the force of their grip can you summon it in your hands.

[Obtain ‘Ocean’s Embrace’ (Bronze)]

The Ocean’s Embrace requires a heart attuned to gentleness. Rest where the waters move without force, and sense their touch. When you know their comfort, you will hold the key to their healing.

Tidal Shield

[Obtain ‘Tidal Shield’ (Bronze)]

To call upon the Tidal Shield, seek the place where the waters press hardest. Let the weight of the flow test your resolve, and hold steady within it. Only then will the shield recognize your strength.

Nathan stared at the requirements.

“Chad?” he said. “Maybe you can make sense of this.”

Chad perked up. “What is it?”

Nathan read out the descriptions out loud. Chad nodded up and down, humming at the appropriate moments. After Nathan was done, he turned to Chad.

Chad pressed his hand to his chin.

“Yup, I have no clue what that means,” Chad said.

Nathan slumped over. “Damn it.”

“My requirements are a lot clearer,” Chad said. “It just says stuff about using my sword to kill 50 monsters. What weird-ass class are you using?”

“Uh, something called Ocean Warden.”

Chad’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What? That sounds like some kind of special class, nothing like Duelist or Mage. How did you get that?”

“There was this whole thing with my quest changing out of nowhere? I honestly don’t get it…”

“Okay. Well, sorry, dude, I have no idea what’s up with that.”

Nathan sighed. “I think I’ll just try following what it said. It keeps mentioning the water, so I’ll… go there?”

“Swimming is a good stress reliever,” Chad said.

They walked around the area, searching for a river. As they walked, Nathan’s thoughts turned to his odd companion. The blue mullet was an interesting fashion statement.

“So, uh, Chad,” Nathan said. “You were a streamer, right?”

Chad’s visage brightened at the question. “Yeah, man. I was pretty good at it too. I broke the records for max subs on Reflex, like, five times.”

Nathan nodded. “Oh, cool.”

What the hell is Reflex?

“What kind of things did you stream?” Nathan said.

“Lots of stuff. Variety is really important to succeed on the platform, you know? But my bread and butter was gaming. I used to dump, like, thousands of hours into MMORPGs.”

Nathan furrowed his eyebrows. “MMORPGs? Like Neverquest?”

Chad paused.

“Dude, Neverquest was 20 years ago. Where have you been?” Chad asked.

Nathan winced. “Ah, well, I don’t play a lot of these types of games.”

“Bruh. I guess I’ll have to teach you the methods of a pro gamer like myself.”

“…why?”

“Because this is literally a video game!” He faced Nathan and leaned in. “It’s just like World of Warriors!”

Nathan tilted backward. “O-oh. Is that so?”

“Yes! The class system, the way skills are upgraded, it’s all just like the game!” Chad paused. “Well, except for the fact that if I died in WoW, I’d just get hit with a penalty. Here, I’m pretty sure that I’d just, y’know… uh, die.”

“That seems like a big difference.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“A MINOR TECHNICALITY!” Chad said. “Pull up your stats! Lemme take a look.”

“We can share stats?” Nathan said.

“Sure. It’s not private, now come on, let me see—“

Nathan searched around for an escape. A flash of blue caught his attention.

“Oh, hey, the water,” Nathan said. “I think I’d better go do the class quest stuff now.”

“Alright. But you’ve got to let me see your stats later.”

Nathan walked up to the flowing river.

“Yeah, sure,” he said.

He stepped into the cool water. It brushed up against his legs and chilled his skin.

His lost arm ached.

I wonder if I count as fully human anymore. Wouldn’t I just be, like, 75%?

He glanced at his arm stub before turning away.

Let the weight of the flow test your resolve, and hold steady within it.

The words echoed against Nathan’s ears. He held firm and shut his eyes.

“How many games have you played, anyway?” Chad said. “You’ve played a few things based on how optimized your build is.”

Nathan’s left eye twitched.

“I’ve played a few games,” Nathan said.

“Like?” Chad swung his sword, cutting through the air. “Played any Dark Spirits?”

Nathan tried to concentrate on the flow of the water. “Oh, uh—“

“You got crushed at the first boss, didn’t you?” Chad said. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Nathan’s lips pursed. “I died seventeen times in the tutorial and then returned the game.”

Chad’s jaw dropped and his katana froze in mid-air.

“Bro, what?” He waved his katana around. “I know it’s hard, but that’s… that’s game journalist levels of play!”

Nathan groaned and looked up at the sky. The water continued to run against his calves.

“I just don’t play those types of games. I prefer farming sims and stuff,” he said

Chad held up his hands. “Whatever, man. It just kind of shocked me. You slayed earlier, so I just thought that you’d be…”

“What?”

“Cooler.”

His missing arm throbbed.

75%.

The number bounced around in his head. Nathan took a deep breath.

“I think I’m plenty cool,” Nathan said.

“I don’t know, man.” Chad tilted his head. “By the way, what was your class before Ocean Warden? I was wondering how that progression tree worked—I mean, I’m assuming that Ocean Warden is at least bronze.”

“It’s bronze,” Nathan said. “And my class before—“

Do I really want to tell this guy that I picked the fisher class?

…whatever. Why not?

“I had the fisher class,” Natham said.

Chad snickered before covering it up with his hand.

Nathan frowned. “What is it?”

“So during your tutorial, you were, what, fishing?”

“Yes.”

Chad laughed again. Nathan’s eyes narrowed.

“Sorry, it’s just…” Chad motioned at him. “I mean, come on.”

“I don’t get it.”

Chad rubbed his nose, a sleazy expression on his face. “Well, based on everything I’ve heard, I just really expected you to have some badass backstory. But it turns out you were just chilling, fishing your whole tutorial.”

Nathan’s eyes widened. Hot blood shot through his veins and goosebumps ran down his back.

How dare he?

Nathan had lost his arm in that tutorial. Nathan had nearly died over and over. He’d been alone in hostile conditions for two weeks.

He turned sharply and took a step out of the river.

As soon as he did so, an explosion of water sprayed out to Nathan’s left and right. The water torrented through the undergrowth, ripping through the grass with a loud roar.

Nathan stopped.

What was that?

Chad jumped back, his katana ready. “Holy balls! I didn’t mean it like that, no need to get violent!”

Nathan looked at the paths of destruction he’d created.

Did I do that?

Before he could think about it any further, something caught his attention.

Smoke in the distance. Chad followed his gaze and squinted his eyes.

“What the hell…?” Chad said.

“I don’t know, but we’d better check it out.”

----------------------------------------

The two rushed through the forest. A squirrel ducked out of the way of their footsteps. Nathan jumped over a vine and ducked under a low-hanging branch.

Chad slammed directly through both objects. “Ouch—shit!”

A few moments later, Nathan felt a presence to his side. The sound of a shotgun cocking entered his ears. He looked to his left.

“Mara?” he said.

She jumped over a log and did a three-sixty spin in midair before falling perfectly back onto the ground.

“You saw the smoke too, right?” she said. “There’s got to be something interesting going on over there!”

Nathan nodded. Behind them, Chad tripped and rolled into a ball.

“Goddammit, fine, maybe I should’ve put a few more points into Dexterity!” Chad said.

Nathan didn’t slow down.

A woman with a staff in a green cloak was surrounded by raptors. The ground around her was littered with the seared corpses of other raptors. A fireball appeared over her staff and launched out. With a whizzing noise, it hit, blowing a raptor away.

One of the other raptors jumped forward at the woman. She moved her staff to block, but she was too slow.

Nathan ran forward, reaching into his inventory. He pulled out his harpoon.

Do I trust my aim that much—oh I already threw it.

The harpoon shot through the air and went through the raptor, killing it instantly.

The figure stared at Nathan, red eyes peeking out from below the hood. The sides of the hood seemed to poke out slightly.

Wait why does she have red eyes?

A loud crack like thunder echoed out. Mara cocked her shotgun and fired again. A raptor dropped dead and she grinned widely.

“Finally, some action!” she said.

She ran forward and shot another round. Nathan pulled out his fishing rod. He cast his hook out.

It flew through the air and smashed into a raptor with a loud thud.

The raptor fell to the ground and didn’t move.

Another one rushed toward Nathan. He moved and started to punch with his other hand—

Oh. I don’t have another hand. It’s gone.

The raptor bit into Nathan’s arm stub. He grunted in discomfort—it wasn’t strong enough to do any real damage.

He let go of his fishing rod and punched the raptor.

His fist went directly through the raptor’s chest. It let go of his shoulder and dropped to the ground.

The bit wound was okay. It would sting, but he’d had worse.

Nathan and Mara systematically exterminated all of them. By the end of it, not a single one had been left alive.

Chad ran in, his breath heaving. “Okay, I made it through the forest, let’s get ready to rumble—!”

“We’re done,” Nathan said.

Chad stared at a raptor corpse. Mara shot it for good measure.

“Oh,” Chad said.

Nathan’s sight wandered over to the red-eyed person. The person blinked, eyes wide as they stared at him, head tilted.

“Who’s this?” Chad said.

“They were fighting off the raptors earlier with fire magic,” Nathan said. “That’s where the smoke came from.”

The person stiffened.

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even thank you,” the voice said. It was feminine and sweet, like wind chimes in the breeze. Her form was lithe and smooth, carved out of marble.

The person took off their hood, revealing a young woman with white hair and red eyes.

That alone was surprising, but the thing that caught Nathan’s attention was her ears.

They were long and pointed at the tip.

Before Nathan could think on this, she bowed her head and lifted the edges of her cloak in a curtsy.

“Greetings,” she said. “I am Eminia Laplanta, princess and heir to the Elven Realms.”

She raised her head and winked. “But you can call me Emi!”