Eichi's House - Hanga, Abulalas Hagonoy Bulacan September 20 2032, 1:50PM
The fresh air from the air conditioner and the aroma of what Eichi is cooking create a relaxing atmosphere in the kitchen.
The house is white-painted and has a good interior. In the kitchen’s table, there’s a three guys sitting on there and talking to each other about the fight happened ago. While Eichi is standing in front of the stove, cooking his speciality.
“I’m glad to meet you! I’m Aiban Crisostomo. How about you two?”
The ocean-wielder guy has a graceful handshake to Aiban with a smile on his face. “Nice to meet you too, but your friend named Eichi is such a jerk. By the way, my name is Justine.”
I forgive you for calling me a jerk. That’s just a minor offense. I’m glad you don’t talk about my costume or I would slap you using the cooking pan beside me. Eichi thoughts whispers as he wipes his sweat.
Aiban laughs at what he heard. Before he could speak, he stopped for a while, brainstorming the best choice of word. “He is not a jerk, but um...”
My vocabulary, any alternative phrase I can say that it would not affect his cosplay costume?
He stuttered like a child while he is scratching his head. “Uhm... He is such a good cosplay friend with a beautiful cosplay costume! You will know his golden heart after you hang to him for a long time.”
The tundra-wielder joins the conversation. “May I interrupt your conversation? Why don’t you give me an opportunity to introduce myself?!”
Aiban closed his eyes and smiled. “I apologize. Tell me about yourself.”
“My name is David! Justine is my best cosplayer friend, and he has more jerk factors than your childish friend.”
Justine looks at his friend with an eye sharp. “Hey, you’re the one who’s making some embarrassing things in the conventions!”
Everyone at the table goes silent when Eichi arrives on the table with a bowl of adobo chicken on his hand. The aroma of the cuisine massage their nostril. The smell of it makes their tummy insane.
“I’m so hungry! The food on AR we ate before taste nothing. I hope your friend cooks better.”
Eichi puts the food on the table with a joy on his lips. “This is my specialty, adobo!”
He sits on the vacant seat beside of Aiban Crisostomo. Everyone in the kitchen to grab their fork and spoon to eat. Eichi stands out to serve his cuisine to every plate on the table.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Everyone, enjoy your food that I served to your plate. I hope I make your stomach happy using my own hands.” Eichi talks to everyone and blinks his right eye.
This is what Aiban is talking about. He is a kind person with a strong obsession with his cosplay costume.
During the conversation, Justine take his first bite of the food. He eats like a pig, producing a loud clanging noise of the spoon.
David taps Justine on his shoulder. “This is not a buffet! Eat with some moderation, please!”
Justine stops after he got warned by his friend. It turns out that he finished his food in just a few minutes. “B... But Eichi cooks so good! Why he doesn’t get a culinary art degree?”
Eichi smiles at what he saw on the table. “Just eat well, my new cosplay friend. I will cook more if you wish so!”
“It’s fine, I’m full right now!”
The group of cosplayers continue to eat while having an entertaining chit-chat. Till, one moment, the AReality.js system pop ups a solicited notification on their face.
The Open Beta Version has ended! The level of your Cosplay Costume has been reset.*
Eichi’s curiosity pushed him to check the status of his cosplay costume. “Function Initiate Open Status”
Level: 1/120
Costume HP: 1000/1000
Element: Forest
He stands out with a clenched fist. “My friend, can you check your costume status in the system?”
As he commands his friends to do it. The joyful conversation turns to a big moment of silence. Everyone’s jaw dropped, staring at the system interface.
“I’m prepared for this one. I confront the company behind the FCI technology and AReality.js game. Our cosplay costumes have a randomized starting status, exclusive to beta testing. Now, we need to grind to upgrade our costume!” Eichi tells the truth to the group with a determination in his heart.
“What we can do about this one?” David asked while his eyes are in despair.
“I would not info dump about this one. I know that you love to play RPG games and just read the documentation. This is a progressive system, so self-learning can be a pleasant path.”
Aiban chuckles on what he heard in the conversation. “What are we waiting for? We should grind after we eat! Getting into drama for something temporary, like our progress inside of the beta version, will not help us.”
The discussion continues while they are eating. They talk about their unique cosplay experiences before the AReality.js released.
After some minutes, everything edible on the table is now empty. All of them are massaging their own tummy. Some of them burps like a giant.
“I’m so full, I’m thankful for our aspiring chief.” David smiled so Eichi while having a remaining sauce on his lips.
“Aiban, David and Justine, let’s go to the outside to farm some XP points to upgrade our costume?”
David and Justine scratched their head with sadness on their face. “I’m sad to say that. We cannot go because our boss will kill us.”
“If that’s the case, I would go duo with Aiban.”
As they finished eating, all of them goes outside of the house.
“Bye, our new friends! We will see you again tomorrow after our work shift.” David waves his hand to Eichi while he is going inside of the bus.
“Function Initiate Open Handbook,” Aiban tells the system.
“Eichi, where should we go? Farm for XP, currency, talent or enchantments?”
He stops for a while after he answers the question. “Enchantments are RNG torture. Let’s go for the XP first.”
Aiban nods and he looked to the system handbook. He chooses the open world challenge section. A separate screen appears that let him click XP bounty challenge.
As he clicked it, they both teleported on a strange area, still located in Abulalas Hagonoy. The area doesn’t have any people around, quiet and full of trees. Grasses are not well-trimmed that makes their skin itch so badly.