/***Continuation of chapter 5 ***/

Nearly two hours has passed in the real world, and the seven passed inside ‘eye of Adventure’. During this time Arthur made himself something to eat and then he took a short nap on the bed, after that he logged back.

“She is not here” was Arata’s first thoughts as he appeared on the chair. He walked up to Marco who was sitting at the main receptionist desk. Marco just looked at him, said that he will be back in the second and walked to the kitchen. Then he returned with a book.

-hey Arata, I decided to give you some of my recipes.

-emm… where is the catch? It’s not like you to give something for free.

Arata was suspicious of him right away.

-you see even though you are a beginner just like the swarm of people on the streets, you decided to spend your hard earned money to buy some of my food. I also like you, so I thought why shouldn’t I help the little guy in his adventure and give him something.

It seemed however that Marco’s intentions were pure.

-well thanks it will come in handy.

-it probably will. Anyway, shouldn’t you two be going to the park right now? Its two hours by foot from here. Well, I guess the night is long so there is no need to hurry.

-well as you can see, she is not here.

-Anari? But she is here, all right.

-somehow I don’t see her.

-that’s because she is sleeping.

Marco explained.

-like, here?

-yes, after you two left, she soon came back and asked for a place where she could sleep, so I told her to use the guest room, you know the one where you were staying in.

-ah and here I thought that she went without me and I could finally have time for myself.

-if you want free time for yourself, don’t go around playing hero. Listen to this advice Arata and remember it well. It may feel good at first but in the long run playing a hero is just not worth it. Trust me, I speaking from experience.

-I am not playing a hero.

-it look different that to me.

-it’s a quest with really good reward. Never mind I don’t need to make excuses to you. So, when will she wake up?

-she said to wake her up when you come.

-then what are you waiting for? Go and do that.

-I don’t feel like it, you do it.

Arata didn’t feel like doing it either.

-… but she asked you to do it.

-hmm?

-don’t lazy off and go.

-hahaha, you can’t even enter the room of sleeping girl, what brave adventurer you are?

Marco laughed at him.

-sure I can.

-so what are you waiting for?

-she asked you to do it.

-hahaha…!

After that Marco went to wake her up. Both of them come back about ten minutes later.

-ah, Arata good morning.

-rather evening. Anyway why did you sleep in here?

-well I did logged out and went to eat a dinner, but after Marco’s cuisine it felt somewhat lacking so I ate it fast and not that much, but then I felt a little tired because I didn’t sleep that much lately because of the quest. But if I went to sleep in real life I would end up being late, so I decided to sleep here. Marco was so kind that he led me a bed, waa I had good sleep.

-anyway we wasted enough time lets go. See you Marco.

-ah wait! Bye Mr. Marco.

Arata started to run right away when they left the restaurant.

-hey Arata!

Anari called out to him right away with question.

-yes?

-why are we running?

-isn’t it obvious, to be faster. And it’s dark already.

-but we don’t have to run, the night is long, isn’t it natural for people to walk?

-not here.

-wa?

-in game you can run all you want, as long as want, why shouldn’t we run then?

-but you get tired after running. Also if I run around, then people will think that I am crazy person.

-you are a little crazy that’s the fact. It won’t change anything.

-wawa.

-didn’t you want to learn how to play?

-yes did, so will you teach me!?

Anari looked at him with anticipation.

-no, but another small advice won’t hurt. Listen well, if you want to be good you need to be fast, and if you want to be fast, you must run.

-ah another theory of Arata, I need to write it down.

-anyway you don’t need to run always, but if for example now, you just sleep for an hour and have some positive energy do it, why not.

-Arata what to do if I sleep for 5 hours? Because of time here is 5x I had a long good sleep.

“Sleeping here gives you additional time for sleep, I didn’t think about it. Still it’s unfair that I only get short nap when she had a good long dream.”

-when you had five hours it’s time to run a Marathon.

After that he speeded up even more. Anari had some problems catching up, and even though it was a game, she was out of breath in a second.

-Arata, wait I can’t run anymore!

-what are you talking about it’s a game, also if you have strength to talk then you have strength to run. You said you had five hours long sleep after all.

-sometimes sleeping make you even more tired.

-less talking, more running then, you will woke up.

And so they managed to reach the park in record time of 32 minutes.

They stopped near the entrance to the park. The whole park was surrounded by both fence and buildings and there were three entrances in total. However right now the entrance turned out to be closed.

-hey Arata how can you run for 30 minutes and then stand like nothing happened?

Anari ended up asking.

-it’s a game after all.

Although in real life, Arata could run a marathon and would still be okay.

-no, no, no, I am in the same game as well yet I so tired after that, not to mention breathing problems.

-yet you still talk. Anyway running is rather simple it’s all about breathing.

-breathing?

-yes if you breath in the right rhythm you won’t get tired and can run for as long as you want.

They both looked at the gate that was stopping them from entering.

-Arata.

-yes?

-the gate is close.

Anari gave him an obvious remark.

-I can see it clearly myself.

-what do we do? We get over the fence?

-I didn’t expect a good idea from you but first we need some information.

-what information? And from whom?

-okay Anari, it’s time for test. Question one. What is the golden rule of MMOs when you don’t know what to do?

-wawawa, let me take out the notes.

-tell me it from memory, it’s doesn’t need to be perfect.

-then, when you are lost, ask the guards.

It seemed like Anari did not forget about this one.

-good, question number two. Who is that guy with halberd who is standing over there?

Arata pointed in the direction of ‘guy with the halberd’. He was wearing the same uniform as any other guard in the city and luckily he did not belong to the ‘special guards’,

-he looks like a guard.

Anari once again answered the question.

-excellent you are doing great. Now third and last question what should be your course of action right now? Remember, you want to know something and he is a guard.

-wawa… I should run away?

Anari’s answer was not something Arata expected or maybe in a way he did.

-why your option is always running away?

-it’s a safe choice.

-wrong you failed the test.

-but I answered two of three it should be 66% at least.

-passing grade is from 100%, now because you failed you need to take make up exam.

-okay! This time I ready, what’s the question?

-I am happy that you are so eager. So your make-up test is as follows. You have to ask the guard why the park is closed. Also ask if we can come in because we have important matters to attend to, can you do that?

-no way, no way, no way.

-don’t give up before you even start anything.

-but he looks scary.

-people who look scary aren’t always bad.

-most of them are.

-can you give me an example.

-villains in movie.

“…”

Arata didn’t want to even try to comment on that.

-in that case, cops are good guys right?

-well they are.

-okay. You see guards are like that, they walk around and patrol the city, when they see someone bad they catch him. You could say that guards are medieval cops and you said that cops are good guys. So, time is running short, go ask him no excuses anymore!

-wawa.

Anari came back after 10 minutes although her face was now pale.

-so how is it?

Arata asked seeing her like this. He already assumed that her reason for making that face is stupid and there is nothing to worry about.

-looks like it’s over, I won’t become mage after all.

Anari said depressed.

-why is that? No wait tell me the guard’s version word to word.

Arata preferred to avoid the girl’s hallucination so he went to the point. Anari started explaining.

-well somehow he turned out to be a good person. He even wanted to take me home because it was dark.

-see a medieval cop. He found a lost child on the road and wanted to take it home.

-what child?

-just continue.

-I asked him why the park is closed and if we can come in for a while, because we have important business to attend to.

Anari continued the explanation.

-well, you didn’t have to copy my question word to word. But anyway what did he told you?

-he told me that if it’s really important we can come in but advised to wait till the morning.

-and why is that?

After Arata asked that Anari panicked.

-there is monster there Arata! A true monster! He comes up at night and attacks anyone that he finds! There is absolutely no way, no way, no way that I will go there!

-and so… once again why are you scared? Anari you do realize that the whole game is mostly about fighting monsters in the first place, right?

Arata was not affected at all.

-wawawa. Why do we have to fight anything?

-well, because it’s the biggest joy of the games like that.

-where is a joy in that?

-you know, you have to overcome you fear and stuff, you become better person on the way. You learn how to deal with different situations. Normally in games you sometimes fight even before you talk to any NPC.

Arata tried his best but it was hard to explain it to someone like Anari.

-I did know that fighting is main element of this game, but how can I fight anything? Without any instruction or any advices. I heard that in games like this you at least get some kind of tutorial.

-in normal cases yes but you should know that this game is not normal.

-but isn’t it super popular?

-as the times goes most of the games become boring and are thrown up to shelf, the only game that can survive that period are the game that are hard and make player fight against new harder things every day.

-but they normally should have tutorials right? Why this one doesn’t have it.

-I can only guess.

-guesses are okay.

-this game doesn’t have a tutorial nor does it allow any knowledge because of one thing.

-and the thing is?

-this game shouldn’t be called hard. This game is simply evil in its roots.

Arata answered with his conclusion he had about EOA so far.

-but people enjoy it and its popular even with new players, it can’t be evil!

-oh, you finally have some positive thinking Anari. You are surely right. The park will definitely be filled with bunnies and flowers. Let’s go and see them right away!

-wawawa.

They finally entered the park. The gate was not closed in any way so they just opened it normally. Arata had to hold Anari’s cloak so she don’t try to run. It was dark and the only light was that of the moon. Even though scared, Anari started to talk again.

-Arata.

-yes?

-I heard that when you go to hunt monsters you create party.

“It seemed that she heard at least that.”

-it’s more effective that way, so what about it?

-are we in party right now?

-that’s a good question. I don’t know.

-how you normally check it?

-in MMO you normally have interface that shows everything so it’s easy, but I am not very knowledgeable about VR.

-how so? How do you know so much about it then?

Anari was slightly surprised as any question she had right now Arata could easily answer and his actions were always right.

-most of my information’s are from normal MMO, but I think that I read somewhere about VRMMO interface as well.

-shouldn’t we come to this game without any information?

-information only about this game. Not games in general. If they would block based on general information about games, only new born babies would come to this game clean.

-but I don’t have any general information either.

-well, I still didn’t rule out the possibility that you newborn baby so.

-you shouldn’t speak like that to a girl!

-yes, sorry but that “wawa” is just… well it’s hard to describe it. Anyway, parties in VR, if I remember correctly are created automatically.

-automatically?

-yes, you go around with someone with mindset that you are in party and its works. There should be party status somewhere.

-ah it’s in the menu, we are in party.

It seemed like Anari already founded it before.

-good, now try to be quiet till we finish.

Arata was already slightly annoyed by his companion.

-but I scared and talking is relaxing.

-but talking also create unnecessary noise, and unnecessary noise brings monsters and as thrilled I am to fight one, I can do that all day long after I get my hands on profession.

-Arata, you don’t have a profession yet?

-no I am the same as you, I still a beginner. Actually, I am a week behind you.

-waaa, I was sure that you had one!

Anari was really surprised by that.

-hmm, now that I think about it, did you meet anyone who already had a profession, a player, not an NPC.

-hmmm no, I didn’t meet that many players anyway. What about you?

-same. Well I didn’t speak with that many people either but it looks like the city of beginners is for beginners indeed.

Arata arrived at conclusion.

-what do you mean?

-I mean that after we are done with our first month and get the profession, we will be transported somewhere to the place, where real fun begins.

-what really fun?

-you know…

Arata made an evil grin.

-there will be armies of monsters to defeat of course, there also should be many rogue players who just like to kill someone for fun. PVP should probably bloom in games like this.

-wawawa. Can we talk about it later, when we are out of the place where armies of monsters can really come out at any moment?

-what you are still scared?

-of course I am!

-then, you shouldn’t be.

-easy for you to say!

-you shouldn’t be, you won’t die.

-… .

-and it’s rather I won’t let you die.

-Arata?

-I won’t let die anyone who ask for help, or even people that don’t, as long as it seems that someone needs help I will help them, you are also included Anari so cheer up.

Arata didn’t try to show off, nor did he try to sound cool. It was strong convictions that as long as he would be there, he wouldn’t let anyone die in vain. He would rather sacrifice himself than once again, be the only one to survive.

Anari also saw that his words were not only for her, but for himself as well. They sounded strange in her ears, like some kind of oath. But she somewhat knew that as long as Arata was with her, she would be able to relax even in dragon’s lair.

As they were getting to the center of the park, meaning a large fountain in the middle that was surrounded by trees, Arata and Anari spotted some light in the distance. As they moved close, it turned out that it was a silver staff that they were looking for, it’s crystal shined with a blue light at the top of it.

-look Arata there is the staff. Waaaa! It shines so beautiful. Wait a second, I will go get it.

Anari was excited to find the last item she was looking and finally after eight days complete her last task.

On the other hand, Arata the moment he saw it, his thoughts were.

“Too easy!”

His gamer instincts were screaming at him.

“We still didn’t encounter any monsters although we are right in the middle of place like this. This place is really screaming monsters in the dark will came out at you in the second! But item is right before us. Hmm, maybe there aren’t any monsters after all. I spent a night in this park already, didn’t I? Yes I was watching the stars after I finally found the old man. Hmm maybe there aren’t any monsters after all but I will just look around and be ready just in case.”

Arata decided but then as Anari was about to pick up the staff, some old memories hit him again and he shouted.

-Anari wait, don’t pick it up! It’s a trap!

It was already too late as she did picked it up. Soon after, he could see two red dots in the darkness, right behind Anari.

“Shit!”

[Lighting speed activated]

Arata didn’t waste a second and started to run at full speed to her. Behind her the enemy already attacked. The monster was more than a meter away from her, when Arata we less than two. Thanks to power of lighting speed, Arata got to her first and managed to push off Anari from the line of attack, but when he did that he got in way of attack instead.

The monster turned out to be a wolf, but not your everyday normal wolf from any RPG, it had red eyes somewhat dark fur and around him one could see some black aura which was pitcher than darkness of night. With just one of his attack, the wolf tore off Arata’s left arm and his HP decreased to 21%. Arata also got a bleeding effect which reduced 5% of HP every minute.

-Arata!!

Anari screamed when she saw what happened. She was in lying position after Arata pushed her to the ground.

-not time for screams Anari, you got five minutes, five minute to run away from this place. It may be even less so go now!

-Arata!

-now!

-Arata.

-li… .

At that moment the wolf attacked again, Arata already had a sword in his right hand that was left. He managed to dodge wolf’s second attack and even counter it landing a hit on the beast. It didn’t have much effect on the wolf though as it didn’t even take 1% of its health.

-Arata!

-Anari listen, the sand is running short, you have to go!

Another wolf’s attack, it was faster than a last time and surprised Arata a little so he dodged it by fast roll on the ground.

-Arata what is your level?

-it’s really not a time for questions!

In this moment Arata made a single step to the left and avoided wolfs charge, at the same time he stick out his sword and slashed at wolf’s fur. Still the black aura that was covering the wolf was not broken by that slash.

-Arata! Right now, I am level 6 and you can’t be much higher than me, but that beast have level 40, I can see it as I summoned menu. What do you want to do against it!

“40 shit!” was Arata’s thoughts when he dogged and countered another attack.

“No wonder my attacks doesn’t even glance him. I thought that with good dodges I could defeat anything that would come up in first month and then focus on my class abilities but…”

He dodged another one of wolf’s attack. If he still had his left hand right now, it would be bitten of this time. Even though he got hit because he protected Anari that did not change much in a long run. Two minutes have passed and his HP was at 11% already.

-Anari I know that it’s nice to see me struggle here but it’s really time to go!

This time however Arata didn’t get the response anymore.

He already dodged so many of wolfs attack that it would be unthinkable for a normal person to survive that. He also landed numberous hit but the effect of his attacks was nonexistent.

“Time is running low in one minute I will be left with 1% of health, so even stronger wind will be able to kill me. Anari stays frozen. Well, at least I give her a chance to escape. And it was just when I said that I won’t let her die. Haha, Marco was right in a long run playing a hero is not best option. Well, there is nothing that I can do now, despite my numberous attacks I didn’t even take 3% of his health. Seems like this quest was impossible in the first place.”

-impossible quest?

Arata ended up saying it out loud as those thoughts hit him.

“There is nothing like impossible quest, every quest has a solution, what did I miss? The Wizard said that there will be no fighting, well he was lying, but he also gave me an orb of light… ‘Orb of light’ yes that’s the answer. This wolf has somehow dark energy emitting from him, light to counter the darkness, that’s simple answer.”

Arata was dodging left and right wolf’s attacks. It wasn’t as hard for him as before as he already knew his patterns. He was even switching to position that would made the wolf charge at him so he could easily dodge its strike and counter with his sword. Although he stopped doing that as it brought no effect.

After another dodge Arata once again shouted.

-Anari, take out the orb! The orb of light!

-… .

Unfortunately there were no more responses from her still.

“That didn’t work at all, well with that said there is no way to complete this quest, my party member got disconnected. And I don’t think I would be able to make that orb shoot at the wolf.”

-hahaha.

Arata laughed on his thoughts but then he remembered something, an old scene, the final battle in the ‘Light in the citadel’. They were fighting for a world’s first that time, but during the last boss, five members got disconnected and they had to continue fight without them. At that moment most of the guild members just wanted to die, and try again in full squad. After all at that moment Arata’s guild was two bosses ahead of second guild. Still Arata’s guild did not wipe that time but defeated the boss and became unquestionable best guild in the game. The main reason they did not wipe that time was all thanks to speech from normally calm guild leader.

“-get your asses up, don’t wine and max dps! Two tanks got disconnected? So what! I will manage it alone. Two dps and one healer got disconnected, who cares you just try harder and click those damn buttons! I am doing a job of three, so you all should be able to add 10% more of you. If you think that it’s impossible, that there is no way to do it, just create that way on your own!”

Normally calm and reasonable, for him to say things like that was like a thunder that make every member play to best of their ability.

“If there is no way then make one yourself. Ah, it would be nice to have some super powers to use at the moment like this, but this isn’t a movie.”

Arata once again tried to analyze the situation.

“Sword won’t work that’s for sure. Even if it does minimal damage because I got hit at the start I won’t stay on feet that long. The only other thing is magic but I am not good at it and Anari is useless in the first place. I shouldn’t even consider her. Anyway it’s not like I have time to think about it. Bad ideas are better than no ideas and the only bad idea I have is magic. So… let’s bet all on that, the member of white suns does not lose.”

-we are those who believe in victory…

-we are those who have entered the citadel…

-we are those who found the flame…

-we are those who used it to conquer evil as our swords were shining with it bright light!

Those quotes were created by one of the guild members when Arata’s guild finished last content and become the best guild in the game. Arata used it to help him use his imagination and create a light from nothing, in his mind he was now holding his old sword from previous game which was enchanted by the light of the citadel.

“-magic is an expression of the thought” said the Wizard, right now Arata had an clean image of red-white light which was emitting from his sword in each direction. And as the image finally became clear in his mind, ‘the sword of lighting speed’ followed and also started to shine with the same light. And now it was Arata who attacked the wolf. With his remaining hand over from the head he used his shining sword to attack the wolf. When he got close enough he slashed downward.

For the first time Arata’s attack was not blocked of by the dark aura. That aura completely scattered after it got in contact with Arata’s sword and with that ‘the sword of lighting speed’ went through wolf’s head right between two red eyes.

The wolf fall to the ground in one hit.

[You have leveled up by 330%]

[You have gained level, current level 8]

[New items collected check the inventory]

[You have completed the quest “Wizard Apprentice” Note that to get a reward you need to go to wizard before the next day ends.]

[You have leveled up by 100%]

[You have gained level, current level 9]

Arata ended up gaining little over four levels from a single fight but right now that didn’t matter to Arata that much and he didn’t even look at the messages that appeared before him.

-hahahaha!

Arata dropped the sword which stopped shining and started to laugh.

-Arata?

-oh Anari you are back, were you in toilet or something? Never mind that, I managed it somehow. By the way you said you were looking for a strongest player? Look no more as here I am hahahahahahaha!

Arata went with ecstasy after defeating his opponent and lost his mind a little, he was really happy. He managed to create a way when it looked impossible. On his own, just like in the old day. He also kept his oath that he made. Today he was the winner, and felt like he could do anything, although that did not last for long.

[You have die]

[It’s a first time that you die so here is an explanation.

You can’t log back for another 2 days. 10 days in the EOA time.

Your overall level will be reduced by 10%

Situation note:

In cases that you have died in the city of beginners and you don’t have more than 10 day left of gameplay, you will be granted five extra hours when you log back to receive profession.]

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