Please Note: Statements between % something in italics % are game system messages.

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Sophie woke up and yawned. She looked out the windows at the pristine morning and the glowing sun. She opened the windows to breathe in some of the fresh mountain air. The breeze moved her tussled golden hair gently. The morning dew dripped from the glass panes on to her soft skin making her shiver as the coldness tickled her.

As the sun grew higher, trees, birds and people awoke to begin their new day.

"Sophie...eat your breakfast properly." Her father, Michael, complained.

"Dad! I am not a kid!" Sophie started too.

"But you sure eat like one. What's the hurry?" Her mother, Tanya, said.

"Hmm...I need the time to get dressed properly." Sophie said gracefully.

"Yeah...yeah it would sound so amazing if your toast did not look like it was being tortured to death in your mouth." Her brother John joined in as he took a chair and sat down on the dining table.

Sophie pouted.

"Ah but I can surely guess why she needs the extra time to get dressed." John added.

"John..don't you dare!" Sophie exclaimed

"O really...everyone knows it already dear!" Tanya giggled.

"Mom!" Sophie yelped.

"What are you guys talking about? How come I am the last to know always?" Michael looked confused.

"Cause dear, you are blind as a bat. Why does a girl need so much time to make herself look good?" Tanya asked.

"Hmm....oh..so it's a boy. You were going out with that boy called Enrique right?" Michael asked.

Sophie, John and Tanya stared blankly at him. Then they all shook their heads in unison.

"Dad, Enrique was the boy I went out with when I was 14!" Sophie said.

"I still wonder how your company can make profit, dear..." Tanya said.

"Hahaha...dad, good one!" John said.

"Oh..was it that long ago. He was good kid though." Michael shrugged.

"Dad...seriously..." Sophie shook her head.

Some time later,

"Sophie, hurry up!" Tanya shouted.

"Yes, I am just coming down." She appeared downstairs wearing short bluish tights and green jersey. She had put on white jacket on top. Her hair was tied behind.

She took her helmet out from the coat rack and walked outside to get her cycle. She placed her cycle on the car's cycle rack and then moved on to the passenger's seat.

"Alright Dad..let's go." And the car zoomed forward.

Due to her involvement in her father's business and due to the fact that the office and factory were closer to home, Sophie decided to commute to college from her parent's home instead of finding a closer rented place.

Her house was not that far off though, just about 15 kms to the college. Enough for a bus ride, though her Dad did drop her off if he had to go into the city like today. But Sophie did not take the bus back home. She cycled. Switzerland was a beautiful place and cycling up and down the slopes was her favorite thing to do.

A young woman's life for a day could make it's own book. Giggling, laughing, gossiping, sharing secrets, blushing, twirling your hair, love, lies, etc.

"See ya later Sophie!" "Au revoir" "Ciao" "Bye", her friends waved.

"Au revoir. Bye." She waved back.

Back home, she took a quick shower and changed into comfortable clothes.

"Mom! No dinner for me. I ate too much with my friends." She yelled.

She made her way to the gaming pod installed in her bedroom, on the 1st floor of their two storey house, and logged in to Long Island.

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Sphinx appeared in the middle of the forest when suddenly an intense feeling bombarded her senses. A horrifying fishy, rotting smell!

"What the..." She grimaced. "Did something die around here?"

Sphinx looked around but couldn't see anything. She even sniffed herself just to be sure.

"The smell seems to be coming from the sea?" She was shocked at her discovering this.

She loved the sea air with it's salty fresh feeling. This was one of the reasons she hunted here in the forest, rather than try to head to the capital. She turned and walked towards the sea.

In a few minutes, she reached the shore but what waited for her was an even more shocking feeling.

"A fish with a sail?!" She could not help exclaiming aloud. This scene was so weird. Not only was the fish on top of the water, it had what looked like a sail sticking above it.

Sphinx rubbed her eyes and looked again at this strange sight. It was only then that she noticed a smallish ship underneath it. Or rather the ship wasn't really that small, the humongous fish made it look smaller than it was, she realized.

But anyone would get mistaken when they first saw this sight. It was that bizarre.

"And the smell is coming from that." She wrinkled her nose. "How are the people able to even breathe?!"

This strange ship slowly slid in closer and made it's way to the island. Sphinx had never seen such a fish before. Beyond the disgusting smell, she was deeply interested and so she followed the ship.

'It seems to be getting even closer? Where is it heading?'

As she followed, the ship reached shore and dropped anchor in a small cove. But this relatively normal scene shocked her to her roots.

'That's a human, a monkey and a large green bird which looks so much like a parrot? That's it? No others?!'

She did not know much about sailing but still to sail a ship and kill this absurd beast singlehandedly...

'Either this guy is a powerful npc or there is something fishy going on.' She surmised. But this particular npc was wearing something that didn't look like anything the people of this island wore. 'Definitely not from this island.'

Her curiosity aroused, she could only approach this particular man, all the while hoping she didn't have to breathe the air for much longer.

As Sphinx approached, the guy stood up and stared at her. Like she was the last thing he expected. Like he was guilty. She almost thought that she had just witnessed some illegal smuggling or something.

'I better be careful.'

But as she walked in, the guy simply stared back. Rather it was the monkey and that parroty bird who were causing a ruckus for some reason.

"Hi there!" She said. But the guy simply stared. And then hit his head with his palm for some reason.

"Hello, um, who might you be?" Sphinx asked again.

This time the guy nodded and opened his mouth. But then he immediately closed it up again and started waving his hands.

'What is wrong with him?' She wondered but observed the guy make a bottle like shape with his hands.

"What! Who do you think you are? You pervert!" She yelled.

The guy seemed surprised and and then hurriedly started miming other shapes. He made the bottle shape again, and then started to read and turn pages!

"Oh! Do you mean a book? You want a book or do you want to go to a library?" She finally realized this guy was a complete klutz when it came to making shapes with his hands. What she thought was a bottle was actually his attempt at making a book.

The guy simply stared blankly at what she said. Sphinx repeated his hand signs and made a questioning look on her face. The guy did a thumbs up.

'Odd, it is almost like he is a player.' Sphinx thought so and not without reason. In the beginning everyone had to go through that difficult phase, even her, so sign language became popular among players. It also became a differentiative characteristic of a player as compared to an npc, especially in the initial stages.

Then someone had found how to learn language and no one had to suffer through this again.

Yet, here it was. She could only wonder about it.

'Maybe this guy is dumb.' Maybe he was really dumb but she was referring to the lack of ability to speak.

There were systems which could be equipped on to a gaming console and allowed a person to send out digitized voice. But the people themselves learned sign language in real life and were far more comfortable using it.

Fortunately, it was not new for her, as one of her real life friends had this same disability and often resorted to sign language even in the game.

She waved her hands asking him to follow.

And then this guy turned around and spoke to the animals.

"ababifhinnanfahh"

'What the ....he can speak!' But she also realized that what she was hearing was a load of gibberish. 'What's happening?'

The guy and the monkey jumped off the boat leaving the bird behind. He made a sign for her to lead. Sphinx was confused by this situation but decided to let it play a bit more.

On the way back, they entered the forest and found themselves face to face with a bison.

Khardoum's forest area was home to bisons. Looking the same as they did in real life, only larger by a couple of meters (O magic!). These bisons however had a system which decided strength and rank. Through the size of their horns. The larger the horns, usually the larger the bison and stronger.

Bisons ruled this forest. Their only predators were panthers but even they only hunted on the baby bisons. An adult had no natural predator. Being such a tyrannical being, it was naturally aggressive.

And while 'the guy' watched this beast with interest, Sphinx had already made her move. She quickly equipped a uniquely curved bow and shot an arrow aiming for its legs. The arrow travelled swiftly and struck true embedding deep in its calves. As the bison grunted in pain, she had already run off to another location and shot at another of its legs. The beast tried to dodge but the arrow was faster. It grunted loudly and sank to its knees.

She took a breath and focused. She whispered a tune and instantly wind started swirling around the arrow's tip. She released the arrow and it smashed into the bison penetrating it till only its feathered end was visible. The arrow must have hit something vital for the bison took one last breath and then fell down.

Sphinx sighed. Hunting in this forest, such encounters were nothing new to her. But the guy was gaping with his mouth open. And when she looked back, he clapped.

"absbabfasa!" He said some words but it came out as gibberish again, but this time she knew that he was complimenting her. She just waved nonchalantly and started collecting her arrows. Moving the bison was beyond her and other than the horns, she really didn't care about the beast. However an older bison, like the one she had killed just now, had really thick horns and dehorning them required specialized tools or superhuman strength. It was a task very much beyond her at this point.

She looked up and found the guy still staring at her. She waved again to follow. But then the guy pointed to the bison with a questioning gesture. She simply shrugged. The guy nodded.

Sphinx turned around to go on their way but the guy didn't follow. Rather, he started cutting branches.

'What is he doing?' She looked. Although this forest did not have anything like the Bloodlust of Ilmentia, it was still dangerous. Meeting a bison without its herd nearby was already a miracle. Soon it would attract a panther or two. Though she could handle any threat, but she still preferred not meeting them. She had died two times already in their hands.

It was a strange thing that humans had more success killing bisons than panthers while they could be killed more easily by panthers. While an angry bison could very easily kill a panther.

The guy soon cut off a few branches and tied them all together with something. And then lifted the bison on to the branches and tied it off. He walked off the the end of this thing and starting dragging the corpse along the forest floor.

'Wow!' Sphinx was both impressed and bewildered. 'Why would he waste his time on this?'

Their pace slowed down considerably. The guy heaved and hoed and pulled with all his might, while Sphinx lead the way. Luckily they met nothing. After about an hour they made their way out of the forest and onto the sand.

Sphinx took a moment to absorb the change in scenery. It always surprised her when the forest floor suddenly became a desert floor. She could never get used to the abrupt change even now. Not to mention the guy doing the hard work was much too surprised by this.

Like her, who had never seen a real desert, except on TV or other virtual reality games, the guy also stared at everything with round eyes. His eyes portraying feelings of amazement and shock to varying degrees.

Sphinx giggled looking at this expressions. The guy looked up and saw her staring. Perhaps for the first time, their eyes met as they looked at each other.

And then he shivered.

'What! Am I that scary?!' Sphinx pouted in anger. She swept around, her golden hair swinging along and started walking again. This time she did not look to see whether he was following, but she soon heard his grunting sounds as he pulled.

They soon came across a rough path and started following it. Just then,

%

Flytrap! You have been surrounded by animals who will attack.

Flytrap cooperation 100%.

%

Sphinx groaned but also murmured another tune while signaling the guy to run. A small wind magic blasted off her feet as she was launched several metres ahead, just as she detected lots of snakes and scorpions and all sorts of things attacking.

%

Sensitivity increases by 1.

%

This was the reason why Hebenu village, the starter village on this island, had an Age requirement of 15. The Flytrap as the system called it, happened when sand dwellers like snakes, scorpions and all kinds of lizards congregated and then jumped out of the sand to attack at the same time. Like the literal flytrap, you would be surrounded by dozens of these creatures who attacked you. What was worse was that these attacks could go on continuously for a long time, so even if you managed to kill a few, you would still not be any safer. Adding to that was the fact that these Flytraps could move. As the animals and insects moved so did their Flytrap, so you could never know when or where this may be triggered.

No one had ever survived a Flytrap. Not even the best players who came out the village. Even now, no one had the fighting ability to survive the Flytrap. Thankfully, players soon learned that it could be escaped. There is a time lag between the notification and the actual attack during which, if you were fast enough, you could escape the Flytrap zone. The creatures did not attack if you were not in the zone so even if you triggered it, you could still run away safely.

It was still dangerous as the creatures who attacked were all poisonous. The poisons caused all sorts of negative effects from stunning to bleeding to temporary blindness effectively stopping you from escaping once you were caught.

In a word, it was the hell of the desert.

Sphinx turned around as she landed and watched the guy getting attacked by hordes of poisonous things. She despaired but she could not do anything. She had seen too many getting buried under by these things.

'So he wasn't fast enough.' Was all she could think off.

But then something amazing but also shocking started happening in front of her eyes.

The guy equipped a metal staff whose ends suddenly lit up with fire. He then started swinging it around so fast burning the creatures which attacked. Everywhere his staff passed, the creatures would not only get burned, they would also die right then and there. As he twirled it around in exquisite motions, he established a kinda boundary. Nothing entered within!

His staff swung all around punishing the things as they attacked. A smile appeared on his lips but his eyes always remained focused. As the ferocity of the attacks increased, his movements became even more faster, even more refined. The two balls of fire moved around him like two guardian spirits allowing nothing to touch him. His appearance looked cool and frightening at the same time.

'Wow...so cool!' Sphinx was deeply impressed.

But there was an even more frightening thing right next to him. The monkey which had been following them moved as fast as a blast of wind, appearing here and there and smashing as many things it could find. Sphinx saw it move for a while and was surprised to see that it mainly targeted the snakes. If the guy was burning these things, the monkey was clawing these creatures with its nails and teeth and yet it killed almost the same number, if not more.

The attacks kept going on and on..

'Amazing...could they last the whole thing though?' Sphinx had never seen someone last this long, even in a group of five - six people. But no one had ever survived to make sure how long this Flytrap really lasted. It could last a really really long time for all she knew.

And yet, like knowing what she was thinking, the guy started laughing loudly. Laughter in any language sounds the same.

Then he did the most shocking thing she had seen so far. He lifted his leg and tapped strongly on the ground.

Instantly, the sand exploded and every single creature hiding within was blasted out into the air. The monkey was surprised for a moment but then immediately moved to attack, while the guy who had made it happen started exploding fire all around. The creatures were burned to death in hordes. So much fire made it seem like the creatures had entered a blazing volcano.

'What magic is this?!' Sphinx was horrified now. Whatever this guy did was far exceeding anything she had seen or heard. And she could be considered one of the experts owing to the fact that she was among the first few who reached the Age of 15 on this island.

'Could he really be a powerful npc and not a player like I thought?' What could explain such power!

With the killing spree these two demons went on, the number of attacks greatly reduced. For a moment it seemed like the Flytrap would end. But then the guy laughed and tapped his foot again. For some reason, he was having the time of his life.

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The fight lasted almost half an hour. However for Sphinx it seemed much sooner, so absorbed was she in observing those two. And then, the attacks abruptly ended. There was only the mountain of corpses surrounding them, extending for a few metres in all directions. In fact, they were currently treading on the burnt dead remains of those creatures.

'Did he ever get bit? Did he even get poisoned once?' Sphinx couldn't be sure.

'Crazy!' She summarized these two in one word.

But then he looked at her and shivered again.

'Seriously this guy can kill like this and still be afraid of me! Could there be something more insulting!'