Eugene fled to this game to forget the real world. But his thoughts always went back to his sad, pitiful, reality. Daphne stood beside him, glaring up with her too wide Kiten face. She was waiting for him to do something. He wished she would just go away. He scanned the horizon, where Baldor stood as a statue pointing, probably waiting for some acknowledgement.

Waist high green lizards darted through the long grass around the outskirts of the pond. They ran on two legs, dragging their tails behind them, with movement speed that was surprisingly fast, as you’d expect from a real animal predator. If this was going to be the difficulty of [F] level quests then Levia Online was clearly set to highest difficulty.

“Hello, Earth to Edge. What are you staring at?”

“Geckos.”

“Eek!” Daphne screamed, hiding behind his arm.

Edge froze; this girl was touching him. “We won’t aggro them from here. It’s perfectly safe.” He wasn’t trying to be comforting. He just wanted her to let him go.

Daphne drew back from where she’d buried her face into his armpit. She went from embarrassed to angry faster than a gecko. “Pervert!” She double punched him in the back.

Eugene was used to being hit. He didn’t like it, not even a little, but Daphne wasn’t capable of hitting him very hard, and he knew she was afraid. He knew exactly what it was like to be afraid, to let the fear get the better of you, to be a loser. Did all girls act this way when they got scared? Edge opted for silence . . . awkward silence.

“So, what are we going to do? Do we have to kill those things so we can get a room?”

“Probably. Give me a sec.” The codex still wasn’t giving him any details. It was almost as if you actually had to listen to the NPC quest givers. In a virtual reality that sounded logical. And annoying. “What’s your class?”

“Daphne is-I mean, I’m a bard. I’m supposed to be able to play music and be charming. What’s yours?”

“Human Adventurer. Charm is an ability that stuns, confuses or weakens mobs, by the way. It doesn’t make you charming,” he stated flatly.

“Bakka.” Daphne droned, marching toward the pond, leaving him alone with Baldor.

Eugene was really starting to regret the change from damage dealer to . . . He wasn’t even really sure what an adventurer’s strong suit was. The class was a hodge podge of pretty much everything, which was either going to make him versatile and powerful, or terrible. And the generic human lineage wasn’t particularly strong in any area either. In fact, pretty much every other race was more powerful, had better special abilities, and higher stats. Even noob Daphne’s Kiten was super agile, with high charisma stats and access to sprinting and climbing abilities.

Edge used the alone time to comb through his equipment list, which was nil. He didn’t even start with a weapon. It was like the game was asking him to get killed. He doubted Daphne’s was any better, but he’d need to ask when she got back, if she came back. “If she comes back,” he said, realizing he was an idiot. If this was a death game, then he might have bullied the girl into committing suicide. Eugene could live with a lot of hurt, but not that. “Please, don’t do anything stupid,” he whispered to himself.

Daphne screamed. Edge ran faster. He crested the last rise before reaching the pond area. She was being chased by no less than three geckos, and every time she screamed, she pulled another of the nearby mobs. Probably one of her bard abilities triggered by her voice. “Ahhhh!” Edge rubbed his ears. Or maybe she was just loud.

“Daphne! Over here.” He waved his arm coaxing her in his direction. It was a good thing Kitens had a high movement speed. She charged toward the sound of his voice-with her eyes closed?

“Edge, Edge, Edge, Edge. Kill it, Kill it, Kill it, Kill it!”

“Stop yelling you’re pulling more of them.”

Daphne peeked over her shoulder. She’d rounded up half a dozen geckos in her mania. The sight must have triggered an instinctual reaction, because suddenly she surged forward with her Kiten ability, [Dash].

“Wow, she’s really fast.” And she was headed right for him at mach speeds. Eugene spun, and ran like hell. They reached the tiny wooden gate into Baldor’s garden at record pace. Daphne was covered in sweat, and was panting hard. Edge had nowhere near her speed, but apparently his stamina was better, because he hardly felt tired at all.

“That was close, huh?”

“You can’t go off on your own.”

“What makes you think you can give me orders? You’re not the boss of me. We don’t even know each other.”

She was right. It’s not like they were friends or anything. Eugene didn’t know how to make friends, wasn’t even sure he wanted one . . . But . . . Edge would want one, Eugene concluded. Edge wasn’t the solo type.

[Friend Request Sent]

Daphne stared at the invisible popup and then right at him. He looked away, not able to meet her stare.

Was she going to reject him, like everyone else?

[Friend Request Accepted] [Daphne has been added to the group]

The moment she accepted, all at once, he could see her life and health status in a little floating bubble that followed his head movements, so it would always be within his vision. He could also see her menu window, which she had left open too. Edge hesitantly put his hand out, for a shake.

Daphne grabbed his hand and pulled him close, giving him a peck on the cheek. “Don’t go thinking that there is anything going on. That was-that was just because you saved me.”

“Not sure I did,” he said, gravely, riveted on the lounge of geckos that sprinted down from the hill, whipping through the grass.

“Either mobs in Levia don’t have a radius, or Baldor’s Loft is within the Geckos area. We might be able to hold them off one at a time in front of the gate. Do you think you can use your abilities and back me up as a support, Daphne? Uh, Daphne?” She was gone. The garden gate was open and so was Baldor’s backdoor. “Plan B,” he told himself.

Edge took position just behind the gate. The first Gecko charged at his position. It lunged forward biting him in the leg, dealing five percent damage in one hit. More than that, it hurt, probably not as much as it would in real life, but just as much as each of those scars on his arm had. Edge slammed his fist into the Gecko’s lizard face. [You have learned Unarmed Combat]. Even after hitting the creature, no status window popped for the mob. He couldn’t tell how much he damaged it for, or even if he damaged it at all.

As more Geckos arrived, they piled in behind the first, blocked by the fence and narrow opening. There was more than enough room for two or three to attack him at once, but they just waited their turns yapping and snapping their jaws at the air. “This is just a game,” he repeated as he desperately swung his fists.

[Your Unarmed Combat skill has increased: 2]

Edge was brought down to half health before he even managed to defeat the first gecko.

[You have gained 5 EXP]

Five, really? Getting to [Level 2] needed five thousand experience points or to put it in real terms, one thousand geckos. The next gecko took the first’s spot, and immediately lunged at him. This time Edge was ready, and pulled his leg back as fast as he could.

[You have learned Dodge]

“What are you doing? Run away Edge. I’ll close the door behind you.”

Edge was sick of running, sick of hiding in the shadows every time things got a little tough. His green life bar turned orange when it ducked below thirty percent. The second gecko fell to his punch. It felt good to hit something, to feel the pain and to throw it back in their faces. But four remained. He’d never be able to beat four . . . maybe one more if his dodge and unarmed combat skills kept increasing. They were both at three points, and didn’t seem to be rising as quickly anymore.

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

Edge’s life points began to rise into the green.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain

And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

Half the geckos were down and he was up to forty percent life. “Daphne, don’t stop singing, it’s healing me.”

“The bard tutorial said that I can only sing a healing song every two minutes.”

Why did he have to check that damn box?

“Do you have other songs?”

“Umm, yes.”

His health was back down into the orange.

“Sing, Sing, Sing!”

Bum ba da bum, bum ba da dum.

His life points weren’t climbing, but all of the geckos, even the ones outside the fence, began to wince every ten beats or thereabouts. Two more geckos went down, and his health fell below 15%, turning his bar the dreaded red. What if this was a death game? Did Daphne know how close he might be to the end? This gecko crumbled after only three punches. One left. His health bar dipped below five percent.

“Edge, switch with me!”

“Okay, go.” They swapped places, but weren’t nearly coordinated enough to do so properly. The last gecko rushed passed and into the garden. Immediately, it broke off combat and bolted into the rows of giant green topped sprouts. Edge wasn’t going to complain about this good fortune. The gecko started tugging on one of the greens.

“We need to stop it, before it gets that carrot!” Piped Daphne, who dashed toward the thief. How did she know it was a carrot?

Daphne swung her fist at it, missing. The act must have triggered aggro, because the lizard stopped tugging on the carrot and bit her on the thigh. She screamed and reflexively punched it with both arms at the same time. A popup window appeared by her side, [You have learned Double Punch].

Edge wasn’t sure how much damage her new skill had done, but a part of him felt for the gecko. It didn’t look like Daphne was handling being bitten very well. Despite his low health, Edge leaped over the nearest row of greens, getting behind the gecko. Thankfully, it didn’t turn around and bite him, or he probably would have died right there in the garden. He squeezed his fist taking aim as best he could. The creature was small and quick, and this time it was free to move around. He hesitated, until he saw the creature crouching, readying a second lunging bite at his new friend. With a yelp, he swung as well as he could manage. The creature fell to the ground in a lump much like the rest.

Two seconds later, the bodies turned grey and little coloured flags appeared above them. A flag for the one in the carrot patch, and one more for those in the vicinity of the gate. Red numbers on the flags ticked down from [15]. Eugene quickly touched the flag in front of him and its cloth became a glass menu pane shaped like an open backpack. In the top corner was a thumbnail of the defeated monster with X’s over its eyes. Inside the backpack he saw a few green crystals, which Edge gladly scooped up by tentatively reaching into the image. His hand passed into the glass pane without resistance. He smirked. Looting was always the best part.

Daphne knelt between the rows, head in her hands, weeping-again. She sure cried a lot.

“It hurts. Even one bite hurts so much. How do you stand it, Edge? I’ve never been so scared in my life. I don’t want to play this game anymore . . . Let me out.” She screamed into the sky, “let me out!”

Edge wanted to say something profound, something to take the sadness away. But it never went away, Eugene knew, not really. He saw the second loot timer tick down to five seconds. Edge put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze, trying not to rush too quickly to the decaying flag.