It has been a few days since I logged back into and for the first time in a while, I felt relief. I had practically almost fainted in my seat after the midterms. If I hadn't stopped to take a break in , my brain would’ve likely shut down and my performance in my exams would’ve been drastically bad. Thankfully, Zac offered me and Damon an ice cream celebration at our usual ice cream parlor. For once, his spending habits were actually useful, since the parfait I’d ordered was out of this world. Hopefully, after this, I could get the chance to relax and help out Kazuki on his last days of midterms.

However, my thoughts are interrupted as Zac gives a loud sigh and said, "Man! It feels good to get out of those exams and enjoy a large bowl of banana twist sundae with my best friends! I tell you, that last test was complete torture! I nearly fell asleep back there!"

"Probably because you spent the whole night playing video games and instead of studying," Damon muttered, which Zac glares at him in response.

"Hey, I did study! I just played video games while also reading my textbooks!" Zac protested. "You're just lucky that my parents forbade me to play during midterms or else."

I chuckled when Zac mentioned his parents. When I first met them during our final year in middle school, I could see how strict they were towards him. It makes sense since he’s usually a slacker most of the time. Also, they were aware of his spending habits, so he had to make sure he didn’t spend too much to the point of not having enough money for the bus after school. I can agree that their parenting methods were a bit overboard, but I kind of respect them for it. Besides, they loosened up a bit after meeting my parents, so...

"Speaking of , are you guys planning to do something there now that midterms are over?"

But as I asked this, Zac suddenly let out a gasp and said, "Am I hearing this right? Hayate Palmer, the stoic realist, wants to play ? Did someone replace you with an alien clone or something?"

I let out a dry chuckle in response to Zac's reaction.

"It's still me, you idiot. It's just that it's been a while since we played together and since I heard that Damon already trained before the exams, I think we should party up and do some quests," I explained as I scratched the back of my head. "There no big reason why though. I just want to relax after so many weeks of studying."

Zac and Damon stared at me. I can tell they’re skeptical at what I’d said. But to my surprise, the latter started laughing as he puts his spoon down on the table. "Guess you got a good point there. We've been so focused on acing our exams that I almost forgot why my brother bought the game for me in the first place. Besides, since we’ve done our best in school, we might as well take the time to get some rest in the game."

"Yeah! But what about your brother? He still has his own exams to worry about until tomorrow," Zac recalled, at which I sighed.

"I know. That's why my mom and I have forbidden him to join me tonight unless he wants to spend the whole weekend without the game. School comes first and we don't want him to fluke on the last set of tests tomorrow."

"A bit strict, but understandable. Still, can't you use your role as his [Guardian Player] to block him from the game for a day?"

"I would, but that would be too much for him to handle. It might be better if he controls his temptations by himself. Besides, he can't enter the game without me, so I think it should be fine."

"Good point. It’ll be better than hearing you complaining about him crying about not able to play the game all weekend."

"Agreed. But it's still just one more day, so I can assure you that he can endure one last day without ."

Zac nodded as he enjoys his ice cream.

"As for the quests, Damon and I have been having trouble with that one, along with a few that I mentioned a few days ago. If you like, you can be the hybrid DPS fighter of the group and help us out with a few hunting quests as a warm-up."

I give a small smile after I took a bite of my parfait.

"If they’re hunting quests, then I don’t mind helping you with those. Just don't take on anything that might be too difficult for us to beat."

"Actually, Zac already accepted a difficult [Quest] beforehand, but we agreed that we're going to scout it out before we challenge it," Damon spoke up. "And according to him, you have a special [Mastery] that allows you to analyze the monster's strengths and weaknesses."

"[Mastery]?" I repeated, slightly confused until I realize what he meant. "Oh, you mean my [Hunting Mastery]? Yeah, I think I'll try to help you guys out, but I have to warn you that my skills are much more limited than Kazuki's."

"Fair enough, so we'll meet up later tonight at our usual meet-up point?"

Both of us nodded before I speak up again.

"Yeah. I'll join up with you a bit later. I still need to help out my Mom with some nighttime chores and Kazuki's studies. I hope you guys are prepared for tonight."

With that, we finished up our parfaits and sundaes before we split up for the night.

Later, back at home, I had finished helping my Mom with her chores and was now finishing up helping Kazuki with his studies. Tomorrow is the last day of his exams, so I have to help him out one last time so that he can pass his exams.

After helping them out for the night, I quickly logged into once more and headed off to central plaza where I met up with Arthur and Razul.

"About time, Mr. Tardy. We were starting to wonder if you were still busy in real life," Arthur greeted as he places his right hand on my shoulder.

"Real funny, Arthur," I sighed. Sure, it’s just a joke, but it still stung since I did log in a little late. "But still, sorry about that. It took me a while to help Kazuki before he headed to bed. So what are we doing first?"

"We're going to try taking a few gathering quests for a while. We might need a bit more [Lapi] if we want to buy some new, powerful equipment for the subjugation [Quest]," Razul suggested.

"Good idea. Let's head to the Guild and..."

I quickly stopped when I notice a few players looking at me. Normally, I just ignored them and go about my day. But for some reason, they not only started staring at me very strangely, but they also start gossiping behind my back, which they stopped once I noticed. Did I have something on my face? No, I doubt the game could replicate milk stains. Heck, I didn't drink anything before I got here.

"Hey, hey! Earth to Wind!" I quickly snapped out of my trance as I turn back to see Arthur waving his hand in front of my face. "Are we going or what?"

"Y-Yeah. Don't worry about it. Let's go."

We then head off while I looked at the players again, confused.

After grabbing a few [Quests] from the Guild, we spent about an hour outside finishing them as well as a couple of gatherings [Quests]. Thankfully, Razul also had the [Mana Sense] ability, allowing us to gather a bunch of items from the fields, some of which that I saved for Kazu for when he returned to the game. Once finished, we went off, hunting some slimes and wolves in the area before taking a short break near a pond and a tree where all of us were lying down on the grass, relaxing under the virtual sun.

"Man, nothing beats than a short sunbath after hunting down some evil monsters for the town!" Arthur declared. "Don't you guys agree?"

"Well, it's still night time in the real world and I doubt those monsters we fought were evil. But yeah, I agree," Razul said. "It's been a while since I’ve under the sun due to my schoolwork. So the game's clock beneficial for me I can relax without breaking my curfew."

"True. We've been studying non-stop for our midterms and this is a great way to relax," I spoke up next. "Although, I doubt Arthur needs any more relaxation since he’s got the worst study habits I’ve ever seen."

Razul and I begin to chuckle as I watch Arthur stand up and glared at us with his face turned red.

"Seriously, guys?! I studied plenty! Did you hear what I told you a few hours ago?!"

We stopped chuckling as we catch our breaths.

"Hey, we're just joking with you. We did hear you a couple of times that you endured the hell for a while. Just be thankful that I'm in a gaming mood today."

"You’d better be joking," Arthur muttered as I see him frown. "You two have never been good at jokes, you know."

"Like you ever make some good ones, especially with all the girls you’ve flirted with."

"Hey, I resent that! Besides, it won't be long until the Knight Apprentice gets his own Damsel-in-Distress to rescue soon!"

"I thought you said you're a "Knight-In-Training"," Razul asked. "Besides, aren't you supposed to have a knight mentor to gain that title?"

Arthur jumps back and grits his teeth in shock before clearing his throat.

"You don't need a mentor to become an honorable knight! Besides, the guy who pulled out the sword from the stone became a knight without a mentor"

Razul sighed and said, "I think you're referring to King Arthur and just so you know, he did have a mentor in a legendary wizard in the Arthurian legend, Merlin. But I think I understand what you mean. Still, you should stick to your "Knight-In-Training" moniker until you can truly call yourself a "Knight Apprentice"."

Arthur frowns again for a moment before perking up and turned towards me.

"Speaking of monikers, have you planned to role-play in like me? You could be a great hunter and takedown beasts and get meat and other stuff for some towns."

"Role... Play?" I repeated as I raise my right eyebrow. "You mean like in our tabletop RPG sessions back then?"

"Yeah. I did say that this game has a lot of world-building behind it. And while there are multiple dialogue choices in every NPC conversation like any RPG video games and visual novels, and thus multiple paths, there are also some players who ignore all of that and decided to role play as denizens of this virtual world so they can gain access to special events and areas in ."

Oh, I haven't known that. Now that I think about it, most of our conversations with Bai Hu hadn't involved the said multiple dialogue choices that had popped up during the plague incident, including my meeting with him yesterday.

"Huh, that might be interesting to try out once in the while. Besides, I'm still curious about Kazu's [Storyline Bonus] race skill, so we might able to discover more about his avatar’s species."

"That's true. Everyone said that the skill is useless in battle, but I’m curious about it as well. I mean, Kazu chose an underappreciated race in the game. It might be interesting if we learned more about it and the world's lore."

Razul nods and spoke up, "I might join you in your investigation, too. I did join you for a couple of tabletop sessions before and I’m also curious about the mysteries behind the game's plot elements."

I had originally played this game because of Kazuki, but after our previous encounters and that near-death battle against that Willow, I had a feeling that there is more to this virtual fantasy world than I thought.

"Alright. Once Kazu's grounding is lifted and our subjugation quest is done, we should scout around town and get some information from some NPCs and veteran players."

"Agreed," both of them said in unison as they stood up from the ground.

"In the meantime, we need to start working on another hunting [Quest] right now! Otherwise, we might lose some [Wild Boars] to other newbies!"

Before I can stand up, Arthur had already bolted off as Razul tries to stop him to no avail before he sighed in defeat.

"That reckless buffoon... Sooner or later, he needs to chill out and use his brain for a change."

"True, but you know what they say. Every genius needs some brawn to accomplish something."

Razul stares at me with his eyebrows raised and asked, "Please don't tell me you just made that all up."

"Somehow. I recalled a similar phrase, but I kind of forgot it." I shrugged and smiled as I said this. "Come on. Let’s catch up before Arthur hurts himself by accident again."

Once I said this, I stand up and joined Razul as we run to catch up with Arthur in the plains.