Chapter 12 - Party

As Metehan was lying on the ground leisurely, he was looking at the sky and thinking about the incident he's just gone through. He was feeling a gentle breeze fondling his skin. It was a nice feeling.

'I guess I made enemies for myself. That's why I didn't want to get involved with players. Why did I have to help her? This is not a real world. It is just a virtual reality. But it feels so real that I always forget that fact. Damn it. They will probably try to hunt me down for revenge. I need to get stronger. Since unlike them, it seems my avatar would be deleted once I died. Wait! Then what happens when they die? In other games, they would lose experience or level and they were resurrected at the saved point. Then they are already resurrected and coming after me now?' Metehan had stood up upon realizing that in hurry. He had learnt what would happen if he died. However he didn't know what would happen when others who play in Ideal Mode would die.

His eyes searched for the man who talked about what would happen if you die while playing in Realistic Mode. So he must know about Ideal Mode as well.

He found him about 25 meters away on his left standing beside a girl with a dumbfounded expression in a few seconds. The girl besides him had the same expression. The spot of Savage Bears had a 30 meters radius woodless wilderness. And they were standing at the border of this empty woodless area. The spawn point of the Savage Bears was at the center of this area. So they were out of range of the Savage Bears.

The man was startled when their eyes met. There was a slight fear in his eyes. Metehan started to walk towards him following the border of the wilderness since he didn’t want to attract the attention of Savage Bears. Normally he wouldn’t like to interact with people however this was necessary for his survival. So he had suppressed his nervousness. He could suppress it easily in abnormal cases such as when he was in danger or he was angry. Even though this wasn’t an abnormal case, it was something necessary.

The slight fear in the eyes of the man was increasing with each step of Metehan towards him. However they didn’t move from where they stand. Metehan stopped when it was a decent distance to start a conversation.

“Hello, my name is Metehan. I want to ask you something. What happens if a player dies in Ideal Mode?” Metehan asked with a polite voice which was startled them even more. They weren’t waiting someone so strong would speak so polite. However they were relieved after a few seconds. The man with golden hairs answered with the same manner.

“Hello, my name is Golden Boss and this is Gizem. Nice to meet you. Well, about your question; when they die, they lose a level and banned for 24 hours.” Golden Boss answered suppressing his fear.

“Ah, I see.” Metehan was quite relieved to hear that. They wouldn’t be able to come after him immediately. So he had 24 hours to play leisurely.

“Thank you very much. See you then.” Metehan turned his back to them and prepared to leave. However when he turned back, he saw a witch-like creature with scarlet hairs. He immediately drew his swords and took battle stance. He was quite startled to see that creature. However after a little while, he realized that this creature is the girl he saved. He had seen her from quite distance so even though he could tell she was ugly, it was quite different when he saw her closely. Then she did something that made him even more startled. She spoke.

“Ummm, thank you very much for saving me.” She said with a sweet, soft and familiar voice. He heard this voice before. However where was it? He wrecked his brain to remember for a few seconds. And an image of Sevgi appeared in his mind. However he immediately discarded it since there was no way such an ugly girl would be her. Even though there was a possibility that she had customized her appearance, there was no way she would make herself so ugly. It must have been someone else. People might have similar voices after all. There was also the possibility of voice customization option while customizing your appearance. She could have customized her voice as well. Moreover she might not be a girl at all. Since he hadn’t customized his appearance, he didn’t know what options there were at the customization option. So he had come up with many theories that would nullify the possibility of her being Sevgi. Because for him, Sevgi was the most beautiful and elegant girl in the world. Such an elegant girl wouldn’t customize her appearance to such an ugly one. Metehan just couldn’t accept that fact. Otherwise the ideal image of Sevgi he created in his mind would shatter to the pieces. He had never talked to her so he had no idea what kind of character she had. He had just created an ideal image for his own from his observations and fallen in love with that image. Actually it was more like an obsession than love. However he had tagged it as love. She was the only girl he would ever love. So he had to have her no matter what. Since there was no way she would accept him as the way he was in the real world, he had to create an ideal and fitting man for her in this virtual reality so that he could steal her heart. He had to be politest, coolest and strongest man in this world. This was the ideal man fitting for Sevgi after all. All of his obsession for Sevgi had revived again when he heard her voice. He had completely forgotten about that until now since he had been quite fond of the game itself. So he had forgotten his original goal in his game.

After Metehan had collected his thoughts, he sheathed his swords and answered with a polite tone as possible as he could.

“Ah, it is nothing. I just did what everybody else would do.” Her slanting eyes had become teary when she heard that. Metehan didn’t know why she was crying and this was startled him again. Did he say something bad? The way he spoke was rude or harsh? He couldn’t make sense of it. There was no reason for her to cry.

“Umm, why are crying? Did I say something wrong? If so, I am sorry.” Metehan tried to calm her down.

‘Please stop crying. You appearence is already scary enough. When you cry, you look even more scary.’ Metehan was scared for the first time he started to play this game. Even the Dire Wolves hadn’t scared him. They would seem like cute puppies compared to her. However he wouldn’t tell her that. He had to endure it. He had to be polite no matter what.

“N-No, you didn’t say anything wrong. It is just that you are the first person who talked with me like a proper human being ever since I started to play this game. Everybody judged me for my appearance and treated me like I was some kind of monster.” She had started to cry sobbingly.

‘Well, I wouldn’t blame them. You do look like some kind of monster. I wonder that is her real appearance. No, there was no way such an ugly human would exist. She must have done it on purpose. But why would a person make herself so ugly? Wouldn’t it be the reverse normally?’ Metehan had wondered about that. And his curiosity took best of him.

“Please stop crying. By the way, why did you customize your avatar to such an ugly one?” Metehan asked with a poker face. The girl was a little startled and her cry had eased down when she heard the question. She had a hesitant expression now. At least that was what Metehan thought. Since her face was out of this world, he wasn’t so sure though.

After she opened and closed her mouth without any voice, she finally spoke.

“There are… some reasons… I don’t want to talk about…” She answered with a fearful voice. She had stopped crying as well.

“I see. If you don’t want to talk about, then it is fine. Well then, be careful from now on and try to not get in trouble with others. Today you were lucky I was passing by so I helped you. However you might not always be so lucky. See you.” Metehan said with a warm voice and prepared to leave. However the girl said something he wasn’t expecting at all.

“Shall we form a party? I am a Cleric so I can cast support skills on you. You can hunt monster more easily.” Metehan was startled and troubled. He had no intention of forming parties with other players. There were no meaning in it. He could hunt by himself just perfectly fine. However he didn’t want to be rude to her. So he tried to refuse her as polite as possible.

“Ah, I am sorry. I like playing alone. So I don’t form party with anyone else. Please don’t take it personal. That’s just how I play. It has nothing to do with you or your appearance. “ Metehan answered with a fake smile on his face.

“I see. Well, in fact I don’t like forming party with other players either. However I don’t like killing anything even though they are virtual monsters so I selected this class. It has no attack skills and have only support skills. I can’t grind by myself even if I wanted to. That’s why I need to form party until I reach level 10. Once I reached level 10, I can be a Merchant and grind by doing Merchant quests and trades without killing any monsters. I am now level 5. I need 5 more levels for that. So please help me until I reach level 10. Once I reached level 10, I won’t bother you anymore. Just help me for 5 levels. I know even though you just saved me, I am still demanding more selfishly. However I want to play this game and start a new life for myself here. So I am desperate. Please help me.” She had started to cry sobbingly again. Metehan was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to form a party with anyone however after he heard her sincere and desperate cry for help, he wouldn’t be able to refuse. It wasn’t just because he wanted to be a new man fitting for Sevgi. It was also because he had pitied her. He wanted to help her too.

“I understand. Please stop crying. I will help you. I will help you until you reach level 10. So please, please stop crying.” Metehan answered with a begging voice.

“Really? Will you really help me?” The girl had stopped crying and had a scary smile on her face now. If it weren’t for her appearance, it might have been a cute smile however that wasn’t the case in the current situation. Metehan was freaked out however he endured it.

‘I just need to help her for 5 levels and I won’t see her again. I had pitied her for a second and that’s why I agreed to help her however now I think about it, she would chase me to the hell if I hadn’t agreed to help her.’ Metehan had conflicted emotions about her. One part of him was pitying her and other part of him was freaking out and wanting to get rid of her as soon as possible. Anyway, helping her would satisfy both of them.

“Yes, please send me a party invitation. I will accept it.” Metehan answered with a forced smile.

“Okay~~!” The girl said with a joyful voice and a window appeared in front of Metehan.

[Party Request] : Player Amatus sent you a party request. Do you accept it?

‘So her name is Amatus, huh?’

“Yes.” Metehan answered with a solid voice.

+You have joined a party. All experience earned from the monsters will be shared equally. Loots from the monsters will be distributed to the player who had landed the final blow.

‘Nice. At least I won’t have to worry about the loot.’ Metehan was a little relieved when he read the system notification.

“Well, we were looking for a party too. Can we join the party as well?” Golden Boss interrupted with a nervous voice. Metehan turned back to Golden Boss with an annoyed expression when he heard him. However he immediately fixed it and changed it to a forced smile.

“Like I said before, I don’t like forming party with others. I am only forming with her because of her circumstances. I will help her until she reaches level 10. That’s all.” Metehan answered with a tone as polite as possible.

He was the only child in the house. Everything was his. So he hadn’t learnt how to share. That’s why he didn’t like sharing at all. That was one of the reasons why he didn’t want to form party with others. The more people join the party, the less experience he gets after all.

“Please, we’ve been searching a party for hours now. We won’t be a burden to you. We will be helpful. I promise. Please let us join.” The girl standing beside Golden Boss, Gizem, had interrupted with a begging voice.

“I am sure you wouldn’t be a burden. That is not the reason. It is just that I don’t like forming party with others. That’s how I play. Please understand.” Metehan kept on refusing them with a fake smile on his face.

“If you don’t like it because the experience is shared, it would be faster if they had joined. Even though the experience is shared, hunting speed would increase. So totally it would be faster. You probably don’t want to form a party with others because of that, do you?” Amatus had read him like a book. Yes, even though he would get nervous when there were people around him, he would be able to endure it if there were a benefit for him. That was how he could work in the summer holidays. He needed money and for that he had to endure it. Even though he was always uncomfortable, he could still work without having any problem. The main reason why he didn’t want to form a party was because the cruel party system of the Royal Blood Online. It had been announced in their official site. That’s why he had avoided forming party with others right from the start. If there would have been any benefit from forming party with others, he could endure his nervousness for the sake of the benefit. And now she had solved that benefit problem, it would be too rude to refuse it. Of course he could still refuse it excusing his way of play, however it wouldn’t be so believable. So he had to give in.

“Fine, fine. Let’s hunt all together.” Metehan sighed. The expressions of Golden Boss and Gizem had turned to a smiling one. Amatus invited them and they joined the party. Now they were a party with 4 people.

“Okay, now let’s go back into the woods and find a good spot. I guess we can hunt Dire Wolves with our current party.” Golden Boss suggested with a joyful voice. However Metehan had a confused expression.

“What are you talking about? We already have a good spot here. Why would we go back and hunt Dire Wolves?” Metehan said with a puzzled face.

“Wait a second! Don’t tell me that you are suggesting to hunt Savage Bears?”

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Author Note: I hope you enjoy it. And if you enjoy it, you can support me by rating, following or commenting. I am open the criticisms. I know I am lacking on many fields however I want to improve myself. So feel free to comment. Have fun.

Royal Blood Online