Han Jing started walking across the beach, heading towards the direction that the Demon Lord had said earlier until a bell chimed.

He simply set aside the notification. "What does that person want now?" He muttered to himself, kicking up white sand and continuing on his path. He picked up some random seashells and rocks and placed them in his

"Seashells on the seashore… no pearls. No pearls." He hummed to himself. It may have seemed like a random and mindless task to pick up stray items on the beach but it was better to have something to throw—just in case something popped up.

Thankfully he encountered nothing.

"Man this is even more suspicious now that I think of it." He sighed to himself. The past hours that he had been walking around and he encountered no creatures both land or in the air. It was as if the beach was completely isolated and cut off from everything else.

It took some time before Han Jing finally saw the leafy peaks of trees in the distance. Perhaps it was because this "body" was Han's and not his, maybe it was the Will status.

He really wanted to achieve a great distance and he had done so. Glancing back at how much he had walked from, the sun was already setting in the distance and casted the sky into a beautiful pink and orange mist.

A sudden breeze of wind blew past him. It felt different from the sea breeze. It was fresher. Han Jing grinned and chased after it.

Or rather he simply began to run.

The sheer exhilaration paired with the wind was enough to keep him running until he reached his destination. The canopy of trees welcoming him under their shade.

His sweat trickled down his back and on his shirt despite the earlier breeze. It would be a great resting spot unlike the beach though, perhaps a little bit more dangerous though. Han remembered the words of the Lumberjack, a warning that he had waved off earlier.

"Maybe… er, should I have chosen to stay camp at just an open land instead of the forest?" He asked himself, stepping into foliage.

The forest was already dark despite the sun still setting in the distance, a thick dense aura around him that chilled his spine. When the sun finally disappeared, he doubted that the moon's light could even spill past the leaves of the tree.

It was a little scary.

What sort of creatures could possibly be here?

"Hey!"

Han Jing froze, his vision darting around his immediate vicinity but found no person around him.

"Yohoo! Up here~" Up on the tree was a person...an Elf. Wearing nothing but an ensemble of leaves, they leapt down from the high tree. Standing taller than Han Jing, they had too thin of a figure to make it a man but they were also too muscular and lacked the curviness to be a girl. It made it a bit hard to determine whether they were effeminate male or muscular female.

But he had a feeling that it was a guy.

"Hi there Human, welcome to the Enchanted Forest. What brings you here?"

Han Jing waited for a pop up to appear, the usual

Converse

Mission

Trade

...there was none.

"Can't speak?" The Elf leaned towards him, a beautiful face with gentle features was too close to his face. They had beautiful long hair, green eyes and thin pink lips. "Aren't you being too shy?"

He blushed and nodded. "Yeah, I mean no!" He had already decided that the Elf was a guy but now they made him doubt his earlier judgement.

"Heh, what was with the odd silence then." The Elf laughed cheerfully.

Han Jing rubbed his face, calming himself for a moment. "...you're not an NPC."

"Hmmm~ No? What's an NPC?"

Han Jing frowned. The Elf seemed more self-aware but didn't know the terms NPC and other game terms? Were they just a specialized NPC?

"Hey, stand here for a moment." The Elf wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Capture Image!" There was no apparent change or any bright flash that indicated otherwise but the Elf seemed happy. "Chatroom."

A pop up appeared in front of them, the Elf sent him a sly grin. "The folks want you to join the group chat."

Han Jing blinked, his earlier assessment now trampled. "Group chat?"

"Oh, hasn't anyone sent you a private message yet?" The Elf eyed him with slight disappointment before they paused. "Wait, I recall the Demon Lord has, did they not send an invite link?"

"A moment please." Han Jing scrambled to a comfortable distance away and opened to see the Demon Lord's last message:

Demon Lord: If you are still alive, join this conversation

"Oh, the Demon Lord sent me…"

"Aw, I guess they aren't as bad as they seem to be." The Elf chuckled and shook their head.

Han Jing wasn't sure if he wanted to disagree with a stranger but he had to at least state the facts. "...this is the person who sent a horde of Gargoyles to attack my village. If he's not that bad—then what is evil?"

A glint appeared in the Elf's vision. "This could easily turn into a Battle Royale, and seeing you so defenseless… and we're so far from the water at that. I wonder how mad the Demon Lord will be if I end you myself."

"Wait, no. Stop. Can't we talk this out?" He wanted to bite back his earlier words.

Another laugh left the Elf's lips. "...Calm yourself. I wasn't planning to kill you on the holy ground."

"Holy?"

"Well instead of killing you…" The Elf tapped their cheek. "How about we form an alliance? I'm sure that's more likely to spite the Demon Lord without eliciting a full-scale war."

Han Jing stared at the unpredictable mess. "How sure am I that you won't betray me?"

"Well what other chances do you have? Accept the group chat and try making an Alliance, it's hard."

"Is the reason why you want to make an Alliance is because nobody wants to align themselves with you?"

"Hey! That's a bit mean, I've gotten offers… but like, the other Elves aren't really my thing."

"Other Elves?"

"Well, pardon me young Human, we're not all the same like you. I'm a Wood Elf in charge of the Enchanted Forest. The High Elves are at war with Dwarven lands and such… er, it's a bit too boring trying to explain all this."

It didn't seem like this Elf was capable of comprehending his situation. But Han Jing couldn't also let the idea of an Alliance slip by past him. "What perks do we get when we form an Alliance?"

"Well a lot of things. I mean, Rock Cliffs is under the Human Kingdom of Yegarian but with you as the Player? It's technically under your reign—especially because the people look at you with high esteem. I should know, they're illegally logging in the west area to build you an altar or something. Ugh." The Elf rubbed their face. "Desecrating my poor land."

He zeroed into that one word. Player. The Elf called him a Player. So it wasn't an NPC? This wasn't some outlandish imagination of his. "Player… this is a game right? So you're playing, we're playing."

"That is the truth, this is a game of sorts."

"So that isn't really you. This is not your actual form?" Han Jing motioned to the Elf's figure.

"This is my avatar, a way for me to physically interact with the surroundings. How weird… didn't you read the manual or letter the Creators gave you? Or are humans too feeble to understand what is actually happening?" The Elf tilted a head at him, for once, silenced by his statement.

"I..I think I have gotten into some kind of sticky situation."