What you will read is more of a joke chapter but the conversation was real. It was very VERY real ppl. We of the den have a real life Dense character as you shall see. Anyway like i said this is a joke chapter and i will release a second chapter soon after.

During my days off I took the time to check something I haven't really cared about much.

The world ranking as well as the in-game nation ranking.

The rankings were varied and the simplest was level rank. This is for only those who submit it, of course, but since I am monitored 24/7 my info is always updated.

Anyway, the ranking for the players that have submitted their info in the Clockwork nation goes like this for the top ten:

Clockwork Nation Level ranking1Herrier Jones (106)2Borus Jones (105)3Techno Gear (95)4Nova Gear (94)5Brock Stone (92)6Grim Shade (91)7Volcanus Raze (90)8Bulk Steel (90)9Victor Belkin (89)10Blaze Brisingr (88)

Unsurprisingly, there were people in front of me. What was surprising was that I passed Nova in levels. Well, kind of surprising, I guess two bodies fighting would bring in more than one especially when your sister is only playing around.

I was happy though. Seeing more than half your crew on the top ten is a good accomplishment if I do say so myself. Not that it mattered.

Levels are just a number that showed how many monsters you killed. Taking gear into account is a huge part of actual strength and this ranking only shows the level rank.

When I checked the stats ranking I found I wasn't on it, but I guess it was obvious. Showing the level is one thing, showing your stats is another.

Still, while I look I did see Bulk's name in 8th and Victor just under him.

I spent nearly five minutes looking at the PC screen before I pressed the "rank stats and skills" button. I was a bit happy because it would rank it but not show it publicly.

After about a minute my rank showed up.

Number 2.

Yep, I was more than shocked to know I was so far up, but after some thought I figure it was because I have two bodies and if I was fighting with both of them nearby I would never be caught off guard. Not to mention my combat capabilities and the weapons I have installed.

The only stronger one was the Clockwork nation's top leveler, and a further check showed it's only by 0.5 on the score we both got.

I think it would be fun to fight this guy.

I then go and check the world ranking for level.

World wide, I am in 20th place and just behind me on the same level was someone named Jeopardy. The Harrier was rank 10 due to the level.

In stats ranking I graded myself and got 10th place, with Harrier in 9th like expected since our margin was very close.

I got curious about the person just behind me so I searched but the name wasn't there, so either she didn't want it shown publicly or she might not have posted yet.

No skin off my back.

The last ranking I checked was military strength and, unsurprisingly, I was ranked one. This one seems to take all registered captains and measures the items owned and political influence as well as our actual fire power. If there is one thing I know, it's that I would be ranked one in this. Come on, I'm one of the people who did pretty much all the work to set up the Clockwork nation and revived the current ruler. If my political strength in our nation wasn’t strong to the point of being a big figure in the nation’s history it would really be weird, as if it was covered up.

I shut off the PC and grab a new book I recently bought. The recent completion of East Gate City has brought me a lot of money, and discovering another class while making one as well did something similar.

I have invited the others several times, though day 1 is for my parents and day 2 is for the GMs who come to continue tutoring Sasha. The rest of days I would normally see at least one or two of my crew.

It's really convenient to gather in a VR town since we are spread out around the world, so we can't actually gather besides in the game.

With new books I enjoy my time while Sasha catches up on this week's new anime episodes she missed.

It has become like this for a few weeks, or I guess months now. This is similar to before “it” ruined my life. We just enjoy what we wanted to while still properly studying or doing random stuff.

On the fourth day I invited my crew, not the GMs, though, since they want to maintain NPC relations and because the bug was fixed so I could only invite them when the others aren't here. The others came over like normal, I've invited them a few times so they were getting used to it.

Bulk is normally the first to appear. His real world name is Lucas Lauwers, 19 years old. He had a good bit of muscle which he says is from the 5% feedback that has been approved for public use, so he trains in the VR space. His looks, though, are below average, and he's from an Asian country.

Victor was an Irishman and a body builder. Bright orange hair and brown eyes, he has a huge build and if you dress him right he looks like a Viking. He is 34 years old. His name was Mathieu Scout in real life.

Brock is an American from the USA, half African-American so his skin tone is lighter brown than regular African-Americans in the USA. He has normal height and not a bodybuilder. His name in real life is James Rock and he says his race came from following his last name. He is 20.

Ena is called Yulin Mizuki and, like her name suggests, she is of Asian descent, who lives and goes to school with James. She has a slim figure and the characteristic Asian eyes and long, silky black hair which she keeps in a single ponytail. She is also 20.

Blaze is the last one. His name is Calvin Lane, he is 19 and turns 20 in a month which will be September. He is a white American, so likely a descendant of the British. Brown hair, bright brown eyes, about 170cm tall and not too muscular or skinny.

The reason I invite them is mainly because it gets boring. The GMs appear and spend time with Sasha after our parents leave, which lets me study as well, but they only spend a day here.

We spend the rest of the days indoors most of the time, so we end up inviting the others. Most of them were surprised to see Sasha as a tiny 8 year old. Only Lucas saw her initially so he knew her as a child, after all.

Everyone sitting down and chatting, I bring some food and chips while we put on the tv to watch something.

Mostly it's a movie while we talk or a missed news report about Etheria.

The talks we have range from what interests you the most in real life to the same question but in Etheria.

For me is obviously tinkering.

Lucas likes to work out and fight, Mathieu likes smithing and is planning several different battle suits and mining ones as well.

James has an interest in magic in the game while computer programming in the real world.

Yulin is similar but hers is more hardware than soft. In the game she simply likes flying in a bird shape which is why she suggests Will-o-Wisp since they can change shape.

And Calvin likes to take both and combine it to make the complex circuits and machines. Good to know since I can make use of all three later on.

It wasn't until Lucas asked a certain question that things got complicated.

"So...What's the name of the person you guys hate the most?" He asked. "For me it was two "friends" who abandoned me when we hung out once. Names are Kanin and Gavin." He said.

Everyone made a bit of a wary smile to this question.

I put a scowl on my face though. What do you expect?

"Hmm, mine would be my ex. You can probably guess already so no use saying more." Mathieu said and looked away with a slight frown.

"For us three it was the same thing. Bullies, about four of them picked on us through middle and high school but that is what made us three such good friends." James replied.

The other two nodded as they looked away. I could only sigh and wonder what made Lucas ask something like that.

Everyone looked at me who had Sasha sitting cross legged on my lap.

"...Bully...named Bianca Castel." I said after a deep sigh.

The name still irritates me but the rage I once had towards it has reduced to anger, which the doctor says is a good sign and he says anger towards her will probably never vanish so only dealing with a small bit is better than containing a volcano of rage ready to blow.

Even knowing she is in this Virtual Town, I only feel irritated now. I hope eventually I can simply ignore her or forget her.

"Castel...where have I heard that name?" I heard Yulin mutter to herself and open an internet screen.

"Bianca huh...I know a Bianca, she goes to my high school. She is really pretty." Lucas began.

Like I had guessed, he might have wanted to know something about me.

"There is a funny story about her and me. Back in high school, we were once partnered up to dissect a frog and I was paired up with her. Halfway through she got really close and made her boobs touch my arm. When I noticed and got so flustered that eventually I ended up fainting. Even until today everyone thinks I fainted because of the frog." Lucas said and instantly everyone started laughing the awkward atmosphere having completely vanished.

"That was too damn lucky!" Mathieu said and pounded a right hand on Lucas' back.

“Ouch...Yeah. There was this other airhead moment I got really lucky. We were in PE and she was doing her stretches in front of me and her shirt had a loose collar, and I saw both of them." Lucas said with a grin but unlike before we chuckled a bit while looking at him suspicious.

"Ah...don't you...think that was intentional?" James asked.

"No, Impossible.” He replied.

“Why?” Yulin asked.

“No idea, just a gut feeling. Like I don’t feel that girl likes me.” he replied.

“I...am kind of...dense to romance...i know.” I began. “But aren’t...you dense...too?” I asked..

By now everyone but the innocent Sasha was suspicious of it.

"No...maybe... we are just friends. I once did have three other friends who fought over who was my best friend though." He said oblivious.

"Bulk...no normal girl...would let that much of a slip-up happen...also...no girls fight over who is your best friend." Yulin said dead serious. "They probably like you." She said what was on everyone's mind.

"Eh?...Seriously?" He said with his mouth hanging a bit down.

"Seriously..." James said.

"What?" Lucas replied back.

"You idiot!! Girls don't fight to be your "best friend". THEY FUCKING LIKED YOU!" Mathieu shouted. “AHAHAHA!!! THIS IDIOT IS A GENUINE HAREM BUILDER!!” Mathieu shouted laughing loudly.

"Eh?" Lucas simply said looking at us. "Seriously?!" He said again.

We nodded towards which leaves him wide eyed.

"FUCK!!!" He shouts while leaning back with his hands over his face.

I quickly cover Nova’s ears so he wouldn’t hear his cursing.

"Moron, how dense can you be?!" James said to him with a frown trying to hide his grin.

"IT NOT LIKE THAT!! WE ARE TOTALLY JUST FRIENDS!!" He shouted.

We couldn't hold our laughter and started laughing in his face.

"Idiot...girls don't fight...for that reason." I said laughing.

"Gahhhhh~~~!! Shut it!!" He shouted and slumped down.

We laughed a good minute before it started to calm down.

"Have you laughed enough?” He asked, which got nods in reply. "Like I said, we are just friends. There was even another friend I went on a water slide with once, and going down I got so scared I hugged her." He said once again trying to clear this "mis"understanding.

Mathieu and Calvin covered their mouths holding their laughter while the rest of us look at Lucas with jaws hanging.

"Was it...one of the three girls from before?" Yulin asked.

"No, it was a different girl." He said nonchalantly.

I simply facepalmed myself as Mathieu and Calvin burst out laughing.

James was massaging his forehead and Yulin was just staring at Lucas.

"What?" Lucas asked confused.

To his question Yulin just sighed and the laughing duo just laughed harder.

"Hey dude," James started. "You know she liked you if she doesn't complain to something like that." James said.

Lucas just started blankly at James.

"Yeah Lucas...either she would complain or she likes you, so she would like it." Yulin said and lets a deep sigh out.

"NO WAY!! THAT'S A LIE!! No no no no no way that is true." He shouted while sweat was forming on his forehead.

"He just adds fuel to the fire." I heard Yulin mutter.

"So stupid ahahahah!! I wish I could record this!!! Ahaha this is gold!! I can’t believe a real life dense harem maker exists!!" Mathieu shouted through his laughter.

“He is...a disgrace of...a man.” I say, putting salt on the slowly opening wound.

“N-no...no. Seriously, they were just trying to decide who would be my best friend.” Lucas said.

“May you have the worst of deaths as a man.” Mathieu said placing both hands together in a prayer style.

“I hope he gets kicked by a horse.” James said in a serious deadpan face.

“Come on...they wanted me in the friendzone.” Lucas said getting a bit white and sweating a lot.

“Lucas...a girl...fighting over a guy...is totally NOT...a friendzone.” I said to him.

…

“Seriously?!” He said.

We all nodded and I quickly covered Sasha’s ears again.

“NNOOOO!!!” He shouted and then slumped down on the sofa, as if he was trying to hide inside the sofa. “The three that fought were seat mates. They sat on both sides and behind me.” He says.

Everyone burst out laughing again.

“My youth.” Lucas says and gets up and goes to the kitchen. Over our laughter I hear the sink open. Probably either drinking or washing his face, he was away a good bit.

When he came back he was sulking, nearly falling on all fours and making the characteristic “orz” pose.

He let his weight fall on the seat while everyone was calming down.

“Come on, Bulk, you're a legend. You proved the dense anime character is real, and we can only guess how much more you did.” Mathieu said laughing a bit more.

“I... am hating...you now.” I began. Everyone went silent but I could see anticipation on their faces. “You were...in paradise while...I was in Hell!!” I said. “And you...didn’t even...know!” I finished saying.

“We all hate him now, Nathaniel.” James said.

“You know...one of the guys I hate is a harem guy. Gavin, remember.” He said trying to evade the topic.

“Hey, this was all in highschool right? The age of house parties, pestering older siblings to buy alcohol and all that, so you at least kissed one of them in spin the bottle, right?” Calvin asked.

“Surely you didn’t actually get zero out of this?” He said.

“In highschool, I was the only innocent guy, never drank or cursed, and I'm the oldest sibling.” He replied after sitting up. “And I never kissed anyone.” He ended up saying.

Half of us just stare quietly at him.

“So...you had three...girls after you…” I stopped a moment breathing deeply and calming myself. “AND YOU WASTED IT!!” I shouted.

It takes everyone back but soon they start laughing again.

“You really are digging your own grave, you know that?” Yulin said as she held back her laughter.

“Seriously, is there a chance that they were only friends?” He asked

“Hell no!” Mathieu said in seconds.

“Nope.” I said.

“Not a chance.” James replied.

“Only if you were gay.” Calvin said.

“LIKE HELL I AM!” Lucas shouted.

He looked depressed now, and it was only getting worse.

“Lucas, let me tell you something. The only time there is best friends between a man and woman is when you are married and the woman is your best friend's wife. Or when you both are in a relationship and you are friends with their boyfriends.” Calvin explains.

“The three girls were single.” He said absentmindedly.

“I think this guy wants us to know how retarded he was.” James suddenly said.

“Is there really no way to be best friends with them?” He asked

“Nope.” We all reply together.

“The three girls that fought about who was my best friend. I told them it was annoying that they fought so I told them why not all three be my best friends.” He said he said with a sigh.

We got tired of laughing and simply sighed.

“So that was what initiated the harem, huh.” Yulin said.

“Seriously!” He said. “Come on!” He complained.

“I think...it’s best...to go through...the list of anime...girls.” I said.

Everyone looked at me and then nodded. It would save a lot of time so I brought out a notepad.

On it we put lots of different types of girls he was “friends” with.

The first one highlighted was the rich girl, and next to it he wrote. “Wore a princess costume and made me, who was in a farmer costume, go to the cafeteria because she was embarrassed to be alone but was actually bullying me. One of the three that fought to be my best friend.”

After seeing that we all couldn’t help but understand why anime characters felt so tired around dense characters.

The next one he checked was the class rep and typed, “She keeps nagging me because I don’t do homework and says I am the smartest in class but don’t do assignments.”

He avoided student council president which made us breathe a sigh of relief.

What he did check was childhood friend, which made everyone facepalm. What was written next to it made it more than obvious. “Don’t feel anything but my mom teased me as she was my first crush.”

“This guy really wants to self destruct doesn’t he.” Mathieu muttered as Lucas continues to type.

“He only has self destruct buttons, Vic.” James replied.

The next one he checked was transfer student and next to it. “Bianca.”

That was enough to know, since it was the first girl, but the men couldn’t help but start crying by how unfair the world was being.

When it got to sister he skipped over it without looking but I noticed a frown.

“No sister?” I asked.

“She hates me. I accidentally dislocated her arm when I pulled her this one time.” He said with a scowl.

Probably regrets it a lot.

“She totally hates me now. Annoys me all day every day.” He says and looks back at the screen.

“Hmm, so wouldn’t that put her as a Tsundere sister?” Calvin asked.

“What do you mean?!” He looked up at them.

“Well look...at Sasha. She barely...pesters me…” I tell him.

He turns really pale. “Let’s forget this topic.” He said scrolling on.

Since it seems sensitive we don’t pester him more, since there was probably more to come.

He looks at the list from the top and this time he checks student council president which makes everyone complain. What was typed next to it was. “Clumsy with the biggest pair in the bunch, curly hair, JUST FRIENDS!!”

…

No one could say anything to this.

No wonder he avoided her check. With that description it's no wonder he would avoid it.

“I wish I had as many “friends” as Lucas. It's not fair, this cruel, cruel world.” Calvin said, no one laughing anymore.

Actually, the real expression of everyone but Sasha and Yulin were of mass murderers revealing their killing intent towards Lucas.

The next one he punched in was cosplayer. At this point Mathieu was about to punch him in the face.

What was typed infuriated everyone but Sasha, who didn’t understand. “Asked me to make a couple cosplay with her. She has a boyfriend.”

“You guys are cruel. Only Nova is my ally in this.” He said finally resorting to running behind my sister.

“Bro, what does he mean by that?” She asked confused.

“Nothing...why not go play in your room?” I suggested. She thought a moment and nodded before hopping off Yulin’s lap, which she has been sitting on since Lucas began typing on the list, and ran into her room.

“You...are...a...DEMON!!” He shouted and falling into the sofa with a dead look in his eyes.

He'd filled in plenty so we picked up the list, yep we can touch the blue screens that appear which is how we write on the note pads and such, and checked the contents.

Put simply, we now complete hate him for having so many flags raised.

“Any more you are forgetting?” Calvin asked in an irritated tone.

Lucas just sat there while humming until he remembered.

“Oh yea, one of the three that wanted to be my best friend, I think she was a tomboy.” He said and pulled up a picture, since he seems at least close enough to speak with her still.

The girl was a loli, about 165cm, that was most definitely a tomboy or at least a girl that liked men's style clothes.

“I will really kill this guy. NO! Let’s punish him more painfully!” Mathieu said. “Let’s stick him in a clockwork egg for a week and use him as a football.” He said with a dangerous glint in his eye.

Lucas completely paled and instinctively hid behind Yulin who simply sighed and looked at us.

Unlike in the game where the elementals listened to me, out here I have less control and this is a moment where it shows. Her gaze was as cold as ice, completely opposite to her normal fire body she had in the game. It literally froze us in place from the sheer intensity.

“M-maybe...it would have been better if you were an ice Elemental, Yulin...Your stare fits it better.” James said before he started to laugh with Calvin who I can probably guess have felt this many times before and grew resistance.

Still, our eyes held a bit of that rage towards Lucas which wasn’t going to simply go away. But for today he was safe. Today.

(this was put during the chat that this annoying conversation was inspired from http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/013/005/3mLydMU.png)

YES THIS IS ALL TRUE AND IF YOU HAVE SEEN PPL IN ANIME WHO TALK WITH DENSE PPL I WILL CONFIRM THIS. IT IS VERY TIRING TALKING WITH THEM!!