Chapter 4: Rabbit and Wolf

Logically, as to keep their players, all games had their anti-frustration mechanics.

Nobody wanted all of their drops to be completely random, so the developers included LUK as a factor. Nobody wanted to be killed so early on in the game, so all beginner monsters were laughably easy to defeat. Nobody wanted to revive inside a dungeon after a death, so everyone revived either with their party or inside the last city they visited.

VR games, even with the fact that they boasted both realism and extreme difficulty, even had these.

That was why there was no wonder that teleport crystals could exist. Nobody wanted to walk kilometers just to reach another city after all.

Except for me.

“How long are you going to stare? Get inside the gates.”

Forget how the man who said those words could kill me with one blow. Forget how he had paralyzed me with just a stare. All I did in reply was to take my knife out again and send him a glare.

“Why did you kill my friends?” I growled, activating Critical Eye as I did. “Why did you take me back here?”

The man didn’t even deign my knife a smidgen of interest. “Friends? You call those trash your friends?”

I lashed out in anger, jumping to strike at his eyes.

As much as this world was a game, it still held several factors of realism in play. One was of which I had exploited in my battles against the wolf mobs Caelum and the rest had aided me in.

Eyes were soft, no matter what level or stat you had. And with the fact that you could only reduce the Pain option to the still frightening 40%, I knew that then and there than if I was going to die, I was going to die avenging for my friends.

An eye for an eye.

However, it was to no avail. Moving so fast that I couldn’t even see him, the infuriating person who had ripped me from my friends quickly dodged to the side, took my weapon, and broke my left leg.

Weapon stolen! Set Bonus has been deactivated!

-145 HP!

You have a broken leg! -80% Movement Speed!

Through enduring high damage, you have gained the skill Sturdy!

I yelled out in pain as he placed my weapon in his inventory.

“Calm down, will you?” Annoyance was in his voice. “I had my reasons as to why I did all that. Listen to them.”

Even as tears of pain and anger escaped my eyes, I held the man in front of me with a glare. How did he dare believe that I would just let this go the moment he explained?

I tried to stand, but a sweep of his legs sent me back to the ground.

He sighed. “I didn’t want to do this.”

A blow landed to the back of my head and the world went black.

In the world of Fate Online, while Stamina was a mechanic, Exhaustion was not.

After all, how would you quantify such a factor? All people held varying degrees of capability before becoming exhausted, and the fact that the world was ultimately held through people’s minds only added to that fact. Like Professor had said, people’s minds were not made equal.

Thus, it was only common in the virtual world to become tired even with perfect stats. It was still possible to faint due to over-exercise, possible to black-out due to pain or over-exhaustion.

At that point, recovery was simple. Your virtual body would become catatonic and the machine would force you to a temporary sleep, allowing for your mind to recover. After a period of time varying from thirty minutes to a few hours, the machine would automatically log you in back into your body.

This was simply as to ensure the mental health of all the players.

It didn't deter the frustration and sheer anger I felt when I woke up only to see myself in the world of Fate Online yet not see my new friends there. It had hurt when in my rush of emotions, I had slammed my empty fists over and over to the brick walls that surrounded me in the locked room I woke up in.

-15 HP!

-15 HP!

Sturdy has leveled up!

-15 HP!

Through taking repeated damage non-stop, END increased by one!

-15 HP!

-15 HP!

-15 HP!

Sturdy has leveled up!

I glared at my windows, far too enraged to even care.

-15 HP!

-15 HP!

Sturdy has leveled up!

You now have a broken hand! -50% Attack Speed!

My hands bled, but I ignored the pain. Physical pain from this world was all but an illusion after all. But the sensation helped remind me that, yes, somewhere in between all of these hits to these accursed walls, the focus of my hate had redirected.

No, I was no longer angry at the walls. Nor was I even angry about that man who kidnapped me, broke my leg, and locked me inside this room.

I was angry because I had failed my friends, and in turn, myself.

At that moment, I stopped punching. Nothing would change if I let my emotions control me.

As if planned - though I expected it was - the closed door opposite my bed opened. Just behind it was the same man who had done the deed of PK-ing my friends and locking me in this damned place.

"It seems that you have finally calmed down."

Immediately, I felt my rage build up, but I let it simmer to nothing. With a still-broken leg and now-disabled hand of my own making, no matter how much it irked me that the man in front of me proved my expectations, I wouldn't have been able to do anything.

My emotions still lashed out through my words. "Who are you, bastard, and mind telling me why you did it? And I'm telling you, if your reasons are not enough to appease me, I would devote my entire time in this world trying to hunt you down and make your utter life hell."

The man in front of me slowly undid his helmet, only to put in into his inventory and look at me with a be-damned smile. "Don't worry, I would explain. Just calm down for a moment - rage has the tendency to cloud a mind, and you would need to be open-minded to understand."

I sent him a glare, holding it for a few minutes before grudgingly doing as he did. As someone with many frustrations in my real life situation, I had no problem with clearing my mind when I needed to. I closed my eyes and mentally uttered a mantra.

Objectivity over emotionality. Realize that nothing could be done as of this moment other than to listen, and if I was going to listen, I was going to do it well.

I opened my eyes, and this time without the glaze of hate shadowing my vision, I studied the man in front of me. Having already noticed the more striking details in the middle of that battle, I focused more on the smaller but ultimately more important facts.

His apparent age was around the lower 30s, but with the way the world of Fate Online worked, it could've been a lie. However, judging by the slight contortion on his face, slumping shoulders, and bowed head, I observed that he was... ashamed?

Through careful observation of a person's body language, you have gained the skill Empathy!

I ignored the window for the moment. There was time later to be spent on all the skills I've gained - right now, what was more important was that I listened to the person in front of me.

My thoughts quickly went back, trying to recall my past interactions with the man in front of me and trying to remove the bias my emotions had put on them. What used to seem to be annoyance became regret, what used to sound condescending became words of worry.

"Are you alright now?"

I nodded slowly, trying to hold back a moment of hysterical laughter. The person in front of me was not looking down on me - he really was just doing what he thought was right. Now how the hell could I become angry with him then?

"I-I'm fine. For now, at least." I heaved a sigh, staring back at those blue eyes. "Now, would you mind telling me why you did what you did?"

It was a sudden change. His eyes went dark, his jaw clenched, and his hands formed fists by his side. Almost disconnectedly, a corner of my mind immediately noted him to be really either a teenager around my age or an adult who really had something bad happen to him because of my friends.

Nobody was that easy to read unless they were teenagers or really emotional after all.

"Those... scum." Immediately, I determined it to be the latter or the mix of the two. The utter vehemence behind those words was palpable. "You really don't know who they are and what they have done before in this world?"

I froze for a second. I would've never thought... no, I still had to listen before I took him to be correct. Caelum and the rest wouldn't do anything that bad. It was still possible that the person in front of me was telling the truth, but only while believing it was the truth.

...Right?

I shook my head. "No. I just started the day before. And I haven't looked up any specifics yet, nothing other than the basics of VRMMORPGs."

He bit his lip as if I just verified what he had feared. I, in turn, feared of what he had concluded out of worry for my friends. "I see. And would you mind telling me how you met them? And what you did before you did so?"

"I met them in the starter area. I really just had begun when I met them."

His eyes widened. "Nothing? You really managed to do nothing before you met that group? Normally people met a guard and-"

"And what?" I cut him off, feeling a little affronted at how he made me seem so... gullible. "Pardon me then for being so impressed of this world that I took more than fifteen minutes to leave the starter area. And what is this about meeting a guard?"

And if it made him stop from telling me whatever he thought Caelum and the rest did, it was coincidental.

He rubbed a hand over the back of his head. A nervous tic. "A year ago, the GMs had released a free skill for all the players to get. Everyone who had already started the game received it via PMs, and as for the new players ever since then, normally meeting any NPC would automatically have them teach the skill to you."

I didn't know that, but then again I didn't even talk to a single NPC before I left the town. Caelum... why didn't he tell me about this?

"What is this skill?"

He replied by calling up his own skill list and sending me with the aforementioned skill.

BlkHnter is teaching you the Skill 'Discern'. Learn this skill?

Yes/No

I raised a brow as I remembered the person in front of me still had not given me his name. However, I entered yes - as far as I knew, there were no Skills that induced problems for the players.

Discern (Passive): Lvl MAXSeparate the black sheep from the white.

The skill description didn't tell any specifics. Though, it would've been considered a bit racist had it been said a few decades ago. Still, it was rather interesting that it was maxed-out already.

"What is this for? And, by the way, what kind of nickname is BlkHnter?"

He sighed. "It's pronounced as 'Black Hunter', but honestly I would like to be instead called Blake. And the skill is the foundation of a new mechanic that was introduced back then. Look above my head."

I did as I was said, only to see something that wasn't there before.

A diamond shaped cursor was now above his head, colored whit- no, looking closely, it was actually a shade of slight ash grey.

"That is what everyone calls the Alignment Cursor. After the multiple incidents that happened over the past year, the GMs of Fate Online released this in an update in an attempt to curb the situation." Blake recited dully, as if he repeated the words from a manual. He then turned his eyes back at me, a slight anger entering them and none of it directed at me. "But it's not enough, as it seems..."

"Alignment Cursor..." I repeated, abject horror starting to fill my tone. "Don't tell me..."

"Your 'friends' are well-established rulebreakers, and of the particularly severe kind." He answered me, not unkindly. "I'm sorry that you have to hear this, but you must not meet them again. Had I not been in the area and been told by another player, the consequences would've been... terrible."

I didn't hear his last words, as I was too busy trying to absorb what I had just found out.

Caelum and the rest were... PKers? And I was their next target?

No. That couldn't be.

"Maybe you made a mistake?" I questioned, sounding a bit hysterical. "Caelum didn't show any sign of that kind of behaviour - plus, he even gave me help on leveling up and by giving me these weapons and armor!"

I pointed to my equipment, to which Blake narrowed his eyes. "Let me see those then."

Without resistance from me, he easily took a glove from one of my hands, still sullied by the blood that covered them. Still feeling a bit shellshocked, I didn't hear the skill he murmured under his breath, but judging from the expression he got from a pop-up, it wasn't nice.

"These have tracking enchantments on them." He growled under his breath. Promptly, he took out my knife from his inventory and did the same. Then to the rest of my armor. "All of these, they have tracking enchantments. For you to not escape, I suppose. By the moment you would've realized their goals had I not intervened, there would've been no chance for you to run."

Blake gave out yet another sigh, his shoulders slumping. "And as for the levels... all players have a 500% EXP boost for the time they are beneath level 20. This was so that they wouldn't have too much trouble early on, especially with the low-leveled monsters around the starting towns."

"They weren't helping you." He finished. "They were just tying you to themselves."

...I didn't know what to feel.

"What are they known as?" I asked, shattered. "Caelum and the rest?"

"The Solidacium Family." Blake answered grimly. "It means 'Solidarity' in Latin, which is rather an ironic name for them. They have a base over in between monster encampments, which disallow the use of the 'Log-Out' button. Plus with how the Party System works as your spawning point... you would've been effectively trapped until somebody saved you."

"The color of their cursors?" I pressed on, trying to search for any way to disprove him. "I mean, you do have a grey one - even if its particularly light..."

Blake sighed again, no doubt reading my emotions. "The Alignment Cursor doesn't check what you do - instead, it checks how you think. The darker your thoughts are or the more immoral they become, the closer to black your cursor turns."

"And the Solidacium Family is famous for their pitch-black cursors."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. At this point, it was either I accepted what he told me or rejected the evidence that was spread out before me.

"Can I see them again?" I asked, a rush of emotions forming inside me. "Just one last time."

He raised his head, his mouth opening to probably return a denial. But with a single look into my eyes, his mouth closed.

"Alright." Blake finally said. "But you would have to do as I say."

Day and night was a function in the worlds of VRMMORPGs.

Being something that had users all over the world, effectively it meant that the game was perpetually online. Even debugging sessions had to be done while there were players active. Thus, it was no surprise that with the accelerated time inside the world of Fate Online, a player could witness the passage of five days and five nights before his day outside the game ended.

The BlkHnter watched the bright yellow moon above him as he waited over the roof of an inn.

It had been hours, but they were hours well spent. His meeting with the one he had saved from that Family had gone very well, even with the awful start-off. For now he was alone... but not for long.

A group of six appeared over the empty streets as the slight cloud cover in the sky broke off just to let some moonlight reveal the people hiding in the darkness. Not that he needed to - even without the light, he could very well see in the dark after all.

"Hey." The smooth dulcet tones of Caelum Solidacium broke the night silence as footsteps rang over the cobblestone paths of Pratumira. "Where did you take our rabbit to?"

The reply was simple. "He has been sent to somewhere safe. You would not find him - not anymore."

"Don't kid me." The Solidacium leader mockingly countered, raising an arm to stop one of his friends from moving to attack. "We have placed multiple tracking enchantments on him, and they are returning the signal at this very location. Now, where is he?"

Something was suddenly thrown at him, causing Caelum to dodge to the side. When nothing happened, he came closer to the object thrown - only to see in the moonlight one very identifiable helmet that was never used by their former party member. While the Helm of Leporine Leather was never worn, they had made sure to make Rain keep it in his inventory just in case.

Now, it was in front of them, instead of with their target.

"Is this what you were talking about?" BlkHnter commented dryly, irking more than few from the group opposite of him. "I have already discovered those enchantments of yours, fool. Rain has now been stripped of those equipment long ago. That is what's left."

The reaction to his words was instantaneous. Gone was the charming smile on Caelum's face; only for a terrifying scowl to replace it. In return, the rest of the Solidacium family took out their weapons.

Last battle was their loss, but they weren't about to take this without returning the favor.

"You... took our rabbit." Caelum was no longer a man - instead, a beast was in his place, but not as his race. "Our rabbit. Do you know how much effort it takes to find one foolish and attractive enough to be our prey?"

BlkHnter gave them a look of disgust. "People like you... If it weren't only for the fact you keep on returning with new accounts, I would've had reported you to get banned."

He then turned to his side, where the roof kept naturally covered from view. "Now, Rain, isn't this enough proof for you?"

I ignored the gasps of surprise from my former... no, my enemies as I stepped out of my hiding spot. Inwardly, I was in pieces - even with expecting the words, even with knowing who Caelum and the rest were the moment I saw those black diamonds over their heads, tears managed to fill my eyes.

Yet, in the same moment of betrayal, I felt relief in being the opposite side of the men I once had partied with.

After all, the Solidacium Family wasn't a group of PK-ers like I had thought before. They had never lied about anything to me actually - I was really the rabbit in their pack of wolves. It was just that this pack of wolves had no qualms when it came to rape.

It was a subject I had only heard once, but never thought again after. Or at least until now.

It was when people realized that they could have bodies they didn't have in real life. Perfect bodies. Immaculate, sensual, and flawless bodies that could be used for sex.

Thus, rape cases started to occur inside the various VR worlds, where people watched and recorded as men and women alike were tied and gagged in their virtual bodies, only for the cruel chasms of the Internet to keep the videos for the rest of their lives.

And this time, I was the supposed victim.

Had I been not saved, had I not been rescued, I would've been in the same situation. Without the ability to log-out nor the ability to even kill myself to escape.

"Stamina is only a statistic."

Five days. That was the minimum of the length I would've suffered under the hands of who I perceived as friends.

"R-Rain?!"

Tears refused to fall from my eyes as I threw a ball at them.

As the ball exploded into smoke the moment it came near Caelum, I only studied the screen of my very first quest in this world of Fate Online.

Quest: Bounty HuntingThe player 'BlkHnter' has handed to you the quest of killing the Solidacium Family.

Time limit: 1 hr.

"I'm sorry, Caelum."