In a country unknown to all, and in it a girl known to none, who lived with her sister within their tiny tiny home. It was Anna. Her father had left when they were young and their mother left the world too early. With no one to depend on, the sisters could only help each other. Even so, the big sister carried the brunt of the weight, though she never complained, it was easy to see she took all the burden herself.

However, Anna did her best and got into a university with a scholarship, she wanted to take at least a bit of the weight on her sister’s shoulders. And she did, of course anna still had to live off of her sister’s sweat and tears. However, it made her sister happy.

Until a fateful day. Anna’s sister couldn’t understand. She had switched channels again and again, but it didn’t make any sense, the news said the same thing over and over.

“Publisher and entrepreneur Miyamoto- *switch* have effectively been trapped- *switch* 25,000 confirmed- *switch* Dying in game will result in death in real life.”

The little sister was trapped inside a game with no one to help her.

“Ugh...”

“Hey Ana.” Bluu..?

“You’re awake, thank god!”

“Hen..?”

“Welcome back from the dead. We almost lost you there.”

“Hahaha... Thanks guys... This means a lot... Honestly...” Ah crap.. There’s tears now...

“No problem!”

“Hen... you realize we had to kill spiders for this yes? So not exactly a no- You know what, forget it. All that matters is that you’re okay Ana. But you better not leave this party! We risked our lives afterall.”

“Sure... Sure...”

I can’t believe it... Why did they save me? Wouldn’t have it been easier to just leave me? I don’t understand... I don’t understand at all.

“Alright Bluu, do you wanna try to see if we can loot the mine?”

“I guess..? I mean we have to wait for Ana to feel better.”

“Oh right.”

I’m just gonna sleep... these two idiots would keep talking.

By the time I woke up, I felt a lot better and I could actually get up now. It had only been a few hours, so we decided we’d eat something and then go to the mine they told me about. Apparently there’s spiders there that are speedy, so we’d have to be careful.

Either way though, I was thankful to these two. I heard that Bluu almost got bitten.

We walked through the town again, and decided we’d loot the remaining houses. We have 87 coins left after eating. We took a bit more than usual since we were all pretty hungry.

There were two more houses to go through, and in one of the we found a gold cup. Bluu thought it’d be worth something, so he put it into the bag.

In the second house we found about 10 coins. It wasn't much money, but it was enough for us. Although... This house isn’t that broken, and it has two rooms. We'd have to fix a few holes here and there, but it’s in pretty good condition considering it. Not to mention it’s near the town.

“Guys, do you think we could repurpose this house?”

“To live in it?” said Hen.

“Well.. It’s possible, but can we even repurpose it? I know this game’s realistic, but it can’t be that realistic. And even if it was, we don’t know what sorts of things live nearby, so it’d be pretty dangerous.”

“Hmmm...” He wasn’t wrong.

Hen then said “I guess we could try, couldn’t we Bluu?”

“I guess we could.”

We saw another group of four people on the path, but they were arguing.

“Huh?! What do you mean I’m dead weight!”

“Yeah no way Owen, we can’t keep saving you.”

“Well screw you guys!”

The other three walked past us and went back on the way to the town. As we walked past the guy called Owen, he talked to Hen.

“Hey, can I join your party? I’m a mage.”

“Well, you should talk to Bluu, he’s the one leading the party.”

“What? A ‘classless’ is the one leading the party?”

I said “Mind your damn words, asshole.”

I know these types of guys, they just make you carry them, they’re useless.

“It’s okay Ana. Anyway we’re fine with partying but how much of a share do you want?”

“50%.” This damn scumbag?!

“No. I’m only gonna do 20%.”

“Fine. I’ll do 20%.”

Once the two of them shook hands, the contract circle showed up on the floor. Shit... He’s part of the party now. Whatever. I’ll just have to make sure he knows his place. For some reason instead of walking in the back, he was walking in the vanguard.

I whispered “Bluu, why’d you let him into the party..?”

“I knew he was a scumbag, but we needed another ranged shooter.. Honestly I don’t know how this is gonna go.”

Hen said “You aren’t wrong there...”

We’d reached the mine, I became alert.

“Relax Ana. It’s cleared out for a fair bit, so we don’t need to worry.”

Owen then said, “Ah it is! Heh!”

He started running through the mine.

“We only cleared a bit, hey stop running!”

But he kept running, we ran after him.

Hen said, “Shit! He’s at the fork!”

“Why?!”

Bluu replied, “It’s not cleared out!”

By the time we reached him, he was on his ass with five spiders walking towards him.

“Dumbass, get off your ass!”

“U-uh right..”

He then ran behind me.

“Alright. Ana take mine and Hen’s six o'clock. Hen focus on keeping distance between them and us by charging, I’ll take your back.”

Owen then shouted “Should I use my fire spell?”

“No! We’re in a mine right now! Don’t use any magic!”

One of the spiders jumped towards Bluu. Hen then charged at it. But behind him was another spider, Bluu used his broken knife to defend against the spider.

“Ana aim for their abdomen!”

“Understood!”

I then shot at the two spiders’ abdomen, they didn’t die, but they’d become considerably slower. Two other spiders then charged at me and Owen, I used the edge of my bow to defend against it and threw it towards the wall. Bluu came running and stabbed it in the abdomen. But he was bitten in his elbow by the spider trying to escape.

“Bluu are you okay?!”

“Hen focus on the vanguard!”

“Ana shoot the one aiming for Hen’s back!”

Shit! If I miss I might hit Hen! I... I’ll do it. I have to. I took a breath. The arrow flew through the air and hit the abdomen of the spider. And soon Hen took care of the one more remaining spider in front of him.

Finally the three of us took a breath.

Owen said “Wh-what the hell were you two doing in the front?! I could’ve died, you know?! You guys are u-useless!”

I’m fucking done.

“Hey asshole.” I put him against the wall and carried him by the collar.

“Ana-”

“Not right now Bluu.”

“You wanna talk like that? You think you’re worth jack shit? We’re useless? Talk like that again and I’ll put you in a fucking coffin. I’m so done with your bullshit. You’re the real useless one here.”

I let him go, and he just fell down onto the floor.

“Anyway Bluu, what’s the info on the spider?”

He then gave me his notebook.

[ThunderFall Spider]

It is the 3rd of october of 2034. It’s been just about a few days since we were trapped in MARKIS. Its eyes are numerous and the abdomen is its weak spot where a well-aimed arrow can slow it down enough to where we can kill it. It drops about 15 markis. It is very fast, and the only reason we can fight against it is because we could take each other’s backs. It doesn’t have the strength to throw us down like the ghoul does, but it’s stealthy and extremely light body allows it to bite us easily.

“Hold on... Bluu you got bitten by this didn’t you..?”

Then Hen said, “Wait, I completely forgot, show us your hand quickly, we might have to go to the priestess before it’s too late.”

Bluu then showed us his hand, but there was nothing.

“Guys... I, uhm... I don’t need to go to the priestess... Because I can’t be infected.”

“What? How?”

“I asked the priestess about when I was bitten, she told me that I can never be infected because I already am.”

“How’re you already infected..?” I asked.

He then said, “I’m weak because I was infected. And those who are infected are half-monsters... That’s why the people don’t want to associate with me...”

Hen replied, “Ah man... At least on the brightside, you can’t get infected from their bites, but you can’t trade or talk with NPCs either.”

Owen then said under his breath, “I’m sorry...”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, okay! I’m scared man, I don’t want to die, I never thought all this would happen from getting into a game?! I don’t even play games man... Please I’ll listen to you... just help me man, I don’t wanna die.. Please.”

Bluu then knelt down in front of him and said, “Your name’s Owen right? Look, I know what you feel like, I don’t want to die either. But we’ll make it, okay? We’ll do it together, let’s put the past behind us, what do you say?”

“Yeah, my name is Owen... Okay Bluu. I’ll trust you.” I could see Owen tearing up while hugging Bluu.

Well, I really didn’t think this’d happen. But all’s well that ends well.