Before I could even introduce myself to them, Global had already grabbed my hands and brought them together, pleading “Please be our friend and ally! And join my World Chat too!”

“Seriously Global, that’s the strategy we’re going with, just plain out asking him?” Ragnar asked, shaking his helmet-covered head at her.

“Of course it is.” She smiled fakely, “We should always be straightforward and honest with people we want as our allies.”

“That’s great to hear I guess, and assume you're Global then, right?” Pretending not to already know.

“Yup, that’s me, and if you ever need to know something, I can definitely find it out for you; that is for a price of course.” While she continued talking, she revealed her face as she pulled down her hood; showing me her short messy light brown hair, the silver round glasses she wore, and the heavy dark circles under her eyes. “But who cares about me, I’d rather hear you confirm that you're the mysterious Eyes Thalion I’ve been looking for.”

“I’m not sure about mysterious, but I am Eyes Thalion, and it’s nice to meet the both of you.” I said politely, shaking Global’s hands before lightly prying my own from her grip.

“It is so nice.” Global sighed, gently massaging her eyes. “I feel so relieved knowing I don’t have to keep searching all over Asheton for you anymore.”

“Are we sure this is really him though, he doesn’t look like much to me?" Raganr questioned, "I mean just look at how beaten up to hell he is.” Pointing out the blood and wounds on my body, but Global quickly kicked him hard behind his knee and almost made him fall over. “Owww, Global!”

“Don’t mind him.” Global told me, clicking her tongue at Ragnar.

“What? I was just saying I expected someone more...well more.” Ragnar gestured to me, “I mean this guy looks like a chair that would snap if I sat on it.”

“You’re like 300lbs even without your armour, all chairs would snap if you sat on them.” Global joked, slapping his armoured stomach.

“Hey, I’m not that heavy!” Ragnar refuted.

Their banter made me laugh a little, but I noticed a growing annoyance on both Odelia’s and Goblex’s faces towards Ragnar, and I think it was caused by his dismissing attitude and comments towards me. Even though I took no offense to it, I got the feeling they might do something if Ragnar kept talking bad about me; so raising my hand to get their attention, I told them “Odelia, Goblex, go wait for me inside the castle. I’ll be there after I’m done here.” I waved them off as they reluctantly listened and went back towards the castle.

Seeing them leave into the Barrier, Ragnar brought up “Isn’t it impolite to not invite us in? After all, we did come all the way out here to save you.” Approaching and staring me down through the slits of his helmet.

“Not as impolite as someone who hasn’t even introduced themselves to a person they’ve just met, all the while already making dismissing comments about them.” Showing him a fake smile as I held my hand out to him.

Letting out a huff, Ragnar aggressively grabbed my hand to shake and introduced himself, “Name’s Ragnar, nice to meet you, Eyes Thalion.” feeling him put all his strength into squeezing my hand.

I chuckled, “You don’t look like a typical Healer Type, but you sure do have the strength of one.” squeezing his hand back.

“Owwowow!” Ragnar yelled out, trying to pull his hand back, but being unsuccessful. “Okay, okay, I yield!” And I couldn’t help but smugly grin as I released his hand.

“That’s what you get for pretending to be a tough guy when you’re really not one, Ragnar.” Global called him out, telling me “See I told you not to mind him, he just likes to act tough because of how big of a guy he is—that’s why he also picked a tough sounding name—but him picking a Healer instead of the Fighter Class doesn’t back it up.”

“Ah, I see, but now that we’ve been officially introduced, can you use Cleanse on me now?” I asked Ragnar, sharing with them “The virus has actually started to affect me in the last few hours.” Feeling my body increasingly weakened and strained.

“Sure thing, just let me—” Ragnar tried to help but was stopped by a sudden hard smack to his helmet from Global.

“Before he does anything, we need our payment first.” Global’s voice and expression both changed to be more serious.

“Fair enough, what do you want?” I asked, knowing that meeting me probably wasn’t their only objective.

“Oh, I want—” Ragnar tried to speak again but was stopped by another hard smack to his helmet.

“First, add us as Friends and join my World Chat.” Global demanded, telling me “I’m sure when the skeptical Players hear about you finally joining my World Chat that they’ll wanna join too.” Deciding that that was a harmless request, I agreed to it and they both sent me a Friend Request.

Friend Request From: Global To: Eyes Thalion

Message: Join my World Chat!

[Accept] or [Decline]

Friend Request From: Ragnar To: Eyes Thalion

Message: Don’t tell Global that I asked you this, but do you have any Items you don’t really want or need that you can give to me? Money also works, but I’d appreciate whatever.

[Accept] or [Decline]

After I accepted both, Global invited me to her World Chat, and I accepted that too.

World Chat

Eyes Thalion has joined the Chat.

Amor- Is that really him?

Memer- Real?

Hoax- Fake news

Jahleel The Messiah- So they finally joined us

Kaeno- Must b

Adam- Who dat?

Raisin- The #1 Player?

Irl Troll- Here comes a bloodthirsty killer!

...

Seeing the Chat being flooded by the news, I immediately closed it to avoid the spam, and said to Global "Are we good now?"

“Not yet." She said, "Now the second thing is to explain that Barrier, and how you obtained it.”

Going along with her request for now, I simplified the details; explaining to her that the Barrier was just something protecting the land that I owned, that I actually didn’t know much about it, and that I got it from a Quest for protecting said land. “That’s really all I know about it.” I said to her, finished explaining.

Global then looked lost in thought, and finally said “There’s no way you bought this whole mountain range, so how did you even get to own this place?”

Deciding I didn’t want to tell her the whole truth, I just said “I came across the deed for the land while I was out on a Request for the Guild, and I took it cause it seemed authentic—which it was.”

Global’s eyes keened onto me, saying “Ookaay...now onto the third thing—”

“Hey, I already answered a third question.” I pointed out.

“Sorry, but I never said that that was a question I wanted answered, you just gave the info freely.” She smirked.

Humming at her, I reluctantly agreed and said “Fine, what’s the third?”

“The third is that I want to know about you.”

“Too vague, be specific.”

Global thought for a moment, and asked “What Class are you? You don’t seem to have a weapon, so maybe a Mage or a Healer?”

Thinking of a way to stop her from asking more questions, I answered “This is the last question I'm answering, but I’ll give you info you’ll want to know.”

Looking intrigued, she said “Okay deal, tell me what you think I want to know.”

“I was a Ranger Class—”

“A Ranger Class?!” Ragnar exclaimed.

“Was a Ranger Class.” I repeated.

“Wow, I didn’t expect a Ranger to be at the top of the Rankings either.” Global stated in surprise.

“Why not?” Wondering why she sounded so sure about that.

“Well I’ve been taking notes about all the Players I’ve encountered and talked to so far, and from my memory there isn’t even a single known Player in the Top 3,000 who's a Ranger Class.”

"Huh, that doesn't sound right? Are you sure the Players didn't just lie about their Classes to you?" I questioned.

“My information is always accurate." She stated with a serious face, as she then continued to speak. "I believe the reason is because Rangers are more resource dependent than the other Classes, and with the shortage of arrows in town even before the Goblin Attack, plus a single arrow taking up one Inventory Space just to store, it all equals to not many Rangers being able to do much. Well clearly except for you, of course.” Global looked keenly at me again, before saying “Sorry about that, sometimes I just can’t help but keep talking. Now please go on, you said you were a Ranger, does that mean you’re not anymore?”

“That’s right, but the thing you want to know is that when you reach Lv.20, you get a Class Change or Class Promotion for it.” I informed them.

“Really?!” Ragnar exclaimed again, “Cause I’m not sure if I picked the right Cla—.”

Global held out her hand to stop Ragnar from talking, as she looked to be processing the information. “That is something I would want to know, and I’m sure everyone will want to reach Lv.20 when they find out too, especially the sorrowful Rangers who are falling behind everyone else.” Showing me a genuine smile.

“I thought you'd like that.” I smiled back.

“But if you’re not a Ranger anymore, what are you then?” Global asked.

“Just a simple Archer.” Proudly owning the fact.

“Huh, an Archer leading the Rankings, who woulda thunk.” Global laughed a little.

“Okay, now can you use Cleanse on me?” I asked again.

“Wait, but there’s still so much more I want and need to know!” Global then began questioning me, “Like why was that Goblin serving you? Or why is an Npc so concerned for you that they would bring us all the way here? Why did you really not let us inside the Barrier? You have so much more information to share, I just know it! What other things are you hiding from us?”

Then to my surprise Ragnar stepped in front and reasoned with her, “Global, you agreed to no more questions. If you keep asking like that, he might just unfriend and block you, then you’d be losing all that information for good.”

Global loudly huffed, and said “Fine, go ahead and Cleanse him then.”

Ragnar chuckled at her while he put his hand on my chest, and clearly spoke the word “Cleanse.” A clear white magic suddenly emitted from Ragnar’s hand, as it then flowed straight into my chest and immediately began circulating through my entire body—I recognized the Skill as the exact same one Dream used.

‘Cleanse’ has completely cleansed any and all Ailments and Status Debuffs from your body. You are no longer affected by the Status Debuff: [Zombie Infection].

“Did it work?” Global asked curiously.

“It did, and my body feels even better than before! Thank you, Ragnar!” I thanked him excitedly.

“No problem, it was actually nothing.” Ragnar replied, sounding a little sad.

“Nah, you technically saved my life just now, and for that I got a gift for you.” Giving him a wink as I remembered his Friend Request message.

“Ignore him, you don’t have to give him anything, I’m already paying for his work later regardless.” Global told me.

“It’s okay, I was just gonna sell it sooner or later anyway.” Opening up my Inventory, I took out the Ring of Strength I no longer had equipped after being in the Stronghold, and handed it to Ragnar. “Here, you can have this.”

“Woah, really?!” Ragnar exclaimed again, “This gives a whole +20 to Strength, that’s like two Level Ups! Are you sure you don’t want this?”

“Like I said, I was just gonna sell it.” Thinking “I don’t really need it anymore after what I found in the Stronghold earlier, but too bad I can’t equip any of it yet.” Then telling them “Now that our business is done, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait! You're not gonna head back to town? or even bring us back?” Global asked.

“I still have to deal with something here, but I’m sure you’ll be fine heading back to town on your own, it’s only 2 days away.” Giving her a smirk, “And besides, Ragnar doesn’t seem to mind.” pointing to him admiring my gift. “Oh, and take this.” Throwing her the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot I kept in my pocket, “A little bit of luck to show you my good faith.”

Catching the rabbit’s foot, her eyes widened as she looked at it, and she gave out another genuine smile. “Fascinating…” She mumbled to herself as she walked away, with Ragnar following behind waving me goodbye.

Finally letting my eyes be drawn to the intense shine and magic emitting from Global’s book and Ragnar’s horn, I thought to myself “I never got to question them about those because I didn't want them to question me about how I knew or about my own, but those are probably their God-Make Items. Now the question is, what would a book and horn even do?” Wondering that while I headed back towards the castle.

***

“What’d you think?” Ragnar asked, removing his left gauntlet and sliding his new ring on.

“I think he’s really strong, intelligent, and cunning...” Global answered, untying the book on her waist and opening it up.

“But?” Ragnar waited.

“But that’s what makes him the most troublesome.” Global then shoved her entire face into the pages of the open book and continued to talk in a muffled voice, “Even though we talked to him, what did we really learn that we wouldn’t have eventually learned anyway? His answers were all purposely simple and vague, and I bet he knows that he knows so much more than us, giving him all the leverage.”

“You’re probably right, but at least we know he’s an Archer Class now, as well as where he owns land, and that there's Class Change/Promotion at Lv.20.” Ragnar listed, being optimistic about what they did learn.

Pulling her face out of the book and gasping for air, Global said “Sure, but he could've made that up for all we know.” Pointing out, “I mean he didn’t even have a weapon to confirm or create a general idea of his Class, we also know there’s not many Class requirements for armour so what he was wearing didn't help, and I don’t believe for one second that he just came across a deed for a whole mountain range.”

“Jeez, tell me what you really thought about it.” Ragnar said sarcastically.

“Okay, I will!” Global stated, tying her book back onto her waist.

“Wait, I was jok—” But Global already started talking.

“His hood was oddly shaped and was using it to completely cover down to his eyebrows, so my guess is that he’s wearing something underneath to be making it that lumpy, and whatever it is, he doesn’t want others to see—possibly another Unique Item from the Tutorial. He was also covered in fresh wounds and blood, but from what the Goblin said about the thousands of goblins being killed hours ago, those probably weren’t the cause of his recent injuries; so what was?”

“Really Global, you don’t need to keep talking, let’s just—” But Global continued.

“And you probably didn’t notice because you can’t see with that helmet on, but I’m almost 100% sure I saw his eyes change in colour and appearance when he was watching us approach him.

“Oh? Now that’s interesting.” Ragnar got slightly intrigued.

“There’s also the strange situation with his already close ties with that extremely strong Npc Odelia. She seemed to genuinely care for him for his well being when she was asking for help when I first met her. Plus if you add that Goblin Chieftain who didn’t seem to be afraid to take both of us on if it wasn’t for his orders not to, and how one was strong enough to kill multiple Players and people during the Goblin Attack; then all of it adds up to Eyes Thalion being terrifying to deal with now and in the near future.”

Ragnar chuckled, “It’s simple then, we just stay on his good side.”

Global huffed, concluding “Overall the information we gained about him was not what I expected of the current Highest Ranking Player, and was ultimately inconclusive, unreliable, and most likely full of lies and half truths.”

“You get mad at skeptics for not joining your World Chat, but you know your the biggest skeptic, right?" Global hummingly glared, " You over analyze things, he seemed like a good guy to me. Maybe he didn’t tell us the whole truth, but I’m sure it was still the truth nevertheless.” Ragnar said, still being optimistic, causing Global to huff again at his naivety. “What were you expecting from him then?”

“I don’t know, I thought he might be a dumb Fighter with unmatched strength, having an incredibly huge build and towering stature, but could be easily manipulated by us. Or maybe a super genius Mage with mountain destroying type spells, and prior knowledge of the world to help him succeed, but whose arrogant intelligence would be easy to read and lead to his downfall.”

Ragnar’s chuckle turned into a laugh, “Hahaha...I think you’re over fantasizing things now, we’re still only at low Levels remember?”

“But in the end...it seems like he was neither...and if you believe what he said was true...then he’s just a plain archer...” Global dramatized her words after being called out.

Ragnar just shook his head at her, “What’s wrong with that? You make it sound like it’s a bad thing. Doesn’t that make him being at the Top even more impressive?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it, it’s just that I want to know how he’s doing it.” Global stated, speaking normally again. “How he skipped to Lv.20 in one night, how he made an Npc and a Monster listen to him, and how he’s so far ahead of the other Players when we started at the same time and place. I simply want to know more...” Global then attacked Ragnar with another smack to his helmet, “And I know I could’ve got him to spill and tell us more, if only you didn’t stop me!” Angrily stomping away.

“Aww, come on! Don’t be like that!” Ragnar shouted to her, trying to catch up. “You're still gonna pay me, right? Right? Right…”