Nothing beats having a summer picnic outside in a valley corridor during midday amongst hundreds of other people in a virtual reality video game. For one, you don’t need to worry about real bugs annoying you or actually having to travel often very far in the real world to see spectacular environments. But even though the weather can be harsh in the real world…it makes me sad that I can’t experience this breeze as I see it in game. You need to focus to see the graphics of a windy breeze slightly visible, like heat hazes during a sunny day. I imagine this breeze to be a cool and pleasant feeling. But what’s worse is…

Krafty: “I wish I could cook food this well in real life as I can in-game.”

Wise: “And what about vice-versa?”

MC: “Something you wish to do in-game, but are only able to do in real life?”

Krafty: “That’s simple, I wish I could actually EAT the food from this game!”

May: “*sigh*…Don’t remind me of thaaaat!”

…*growl*…

Krafty: “Was that your stomach May?”

May: “Nope.”

Krafty: “Who else?”

MC and Wise: “Not us”

May: “Don’t say anything Krafty.”

Krafty: “Of course it was you”

May: “I said don’t say anything…it’s emberassing”

Krafty: “So even ladies- “

May: “You don’t understand, the food in this game just looks so-“

Krafty: “WHAT are you talking about! I’m in the same exact situation as you! Smoked skewered meat from this bear creature… colorful large vegetable and fruit salads…so many apples in my inventory…all types of pies…soft and stretchy breads…and much more. I ALSO WISH MY STOMACH WOULD GROWL!”

MC: “This chicken sandwich…just looking at it…it’s shining in my eyes”

May: “AGHHHH!”

WiseMaster667: “Everyone, you could after all make or buy yourself a chicken sandwich in the real-world. No need to be so feisty.”

MC and Krafty and May: “YOU DON’T GET IT!”

May: “Besides the problem of spending extra cash on fancy looking food…”

Krafty: “It’s something that just happens ‘IN THE MOMENT’, you can’t replicate it elsewhere. Plus, it’s not every day you can so easily buy a beautiful…luxurious…juicy…savory… chicken sandwich… for ONLY 70 copper coins…70!”

MC: “Not only is the chicken sandwich beautiful, but it’s not mere eye-candy. This game utilizes food in various ways that make it just interesting enough for someone as stale as you to take a moment and consider…” Do I want a chicken sandwich? Do I want bear hamburgers? Do I want skewered lizard? Do I want an apple PIE,” do YOU understand!?”

WiseMaster667: “Find, all of you have caused me to search this subject up on the internet…”

May: “Maybe I should take on the Chef skill?”

Krafty: “I really recommend it because the little minigame challenges are fast and interesting enough to be fun all the time. And collecting the ingredients feels satisfying as well, as if I have the herbalist skill. Also…at least I won’t be the only one cooking all dishes for this whole party.”

May: “At least you’re actually useful this way.”

Krafty: “HEY! I’ll have you know, I recently really improved a lot-“

WiseMaster667: “By the GODS!”

(May and Krafty: “Are you seriously saying something like that unironically…”)

(MC: “Maybe his real-world religious beliefs are polytheistic?)

WiseMaster667: “Maybe I should really look into the economy of this world…only 70 copper coins for such an item? An item which can simply increases your maximum health by 10%? How did I ignore something like this before…?!”

MC: “Yup. But only when your character is full. Because overtime the health buff will eventually drop down by 1%. Though it depends for each food item, so maybe the buff wears off quickly or stays at 10% for a long time.”

Now that I think about it. After performing that Mysticism ritual on myself recently, right now I should have my overall health increased by 20%...which is actually super awesome! It’s awesome because eating that chicken sandwich and performing the ritual are both really cheap things to do (but the ritual is a little time consuming). I might be able to even pull off doing that during a boss fight. And if another person buffs me with their support abilities, like a priest casting a blessing, then I could stack it all up to get a 40% health buff. Wise is correct for being so shocked. A 70cc sandwich as an 10% health buff is super nice. Not to mention, there are plenty more lavish food items in the game which wouldn’t surprise me if they could buff your health up to 20% on their own or do something else to you.

WiseMaster667: “100 CC = 1 SC (silver coin), and 1,000 SC = 1 GC (gold coin) …and so there is no reason for why a general wouldn’t be able to feed their army in the Overworld.”

May: “If the prices were like that in the real world, yeah. But don’t forget, the Overworld is a video game. Don’t raise your hopes and expect any EPIC-scale high-fantasy level battles to happen here guys.”

Krafty: “Hoho…silly girl…are you sure about that?”

MC: “Indeed! Are you REALLY sure about that?”

May: “Truly, the epitome of a male’s fantasy.”

Krafty: “And the person who’s saying this is probably the most masculine person here! You’re the one with the thickest armor and sharpest melee weapon out of all of us here. Literally, the highest quality equipment most males would dream of! But… not me because that stuff is ugly and-”

May proceeds to grab her spear and rapidly skewer entire chunks of bear meat, replacing the small stick of tiny skewered meat that Krafty was holding in his Sunmel paw-fingers with slabs of half cooked meat that were violently stuck together by a spear.

Krafty: “MY MEATS! How am I supposed to eat this instead?!”

May: “Quit your whining, you can’t even taste it anyways. We went over this.”

Krafty: “Let me dream at least!!”

May: “Anyways, culture and gender roles…blah blah blah…are relative and what-not. You probably don’t want to hear me talk about stuff like that anyways, especially in the Overworld because it’s not our real world.”

Krafty: “Exactly! If anything, you proved my point in that you’re the manliest person around here right now. Plus, I wouldn’t want to hear anything you have to say right after you stole my small bear meats!”

May: “And…It isn’t even exactly bear meat.”

MC: “Let’s be honest, those mobs are basically bears. But instead of honey, they really like apples.”

Krafty: “Ahm, Amulet, this delicacy of an animal we just recently slew is called a “Yabur” according to the item description, thank you very much.”

May: “And thank you for the 10% health buff and +2 strength attribute points.”

I quickly interjected into May’s and Krafty’s tasty conversation, but meanwhile I’ve just been quietly discussing with Wise about how armies in this game will certainly exist. There actually already exists an actual army for each major NPC-led faction. But we are specifically wondering how likely we’d see something along the lines of a “mass coordination” by Players. Everyone has their own lives at the end of the day, well most of them, and so it’s not like we could have a large portion of the server act as “grunts” or the common soldier and then build up a complex hierarchy of command like in the real world. Yet, there is one thing that I now know for certain. Which is what Wise has been explaining to me right now.

We won’t be able to, no…we shouldn’t, participate in this community level Invasion Quest like the rest of the smaller groups. This is because Wise has realized since there are large guilds participating in this event, it will be pointless to try and compete against them and the many other small groups like ours. These large guilds will certainly be able to use all of their members to systematically collect all the valuable loot and clear as many areas in Coldpass as much as they can. And even though there isn’t any mechanic like this, the simple influence of these guilds taking “control” of those areas will discourage other players from interfering in those areas.

I’m glad that we have Wise on our side. While I’ve been perceiving this Invasion Quest simply as a way for myself to continue own personal (and maybe secret) unique journey in this online game thanks to being friends with Fate-fan and following her recommendations… Wise has instead been perceiving this scenario we’re in very differently from me, our two friends, and probably many other small groups like us. I guess you could say he’s our ‘master strategist’. I assume, since he doesn’t have a companion like Eseli or a Fate-fan, he relies on simply his own damn genius. And because of his genius, he has already come up with an interesting plan for our group to gain as much as possible in this Invasion Quest player event. But I somehow have gotten a trick up my sleeve. Well, it’s not literally a trick. Instead, I just happened to miraculously become “friends” with someone special. And with their help… we could dramatically increase the chances of making WiseMaster667’s plan work…

WiseMaster667: “Alright. Me and Amulet have come up with a plan.”

Krafty: “NICE!”

May: “We actually have a plan?”

MC: “Yup!”

WiseMaster667: “To put it simply. The chances are against us if we follow other groups of Players. The Duke will be signaling when we’ll begin to invade Coldpass. Everyone understands, at least they should, that the main goal isn’t to occupy Coldpass but to weaken it’s borders, push them back, and basically loot the “den of speaking-monsters” as Duke Alan himself told the adventurers in a speech earlier. So, when the Duke signals the “go” message, everyone is going to rush in and challenge this area. Most people are treating this game like many MMORPGS and other games we’ve all played through and experienced. There is no denying that…but I am not one for basing my actions based on emotions but in this rare scenario I am willing to say my feelings are correct. Mine, Amulet’s, May’s, and Krafty’s. We all have gotten used to listening to Amulet’s rambling about how great this game is, and so we all understand that this video game is certainly special. Not merely in appearance, but the world is dynamic. And if it’s truly dynamic, then the experiences that lay ahead of us are going to be unlike what we’ve experienced before. This feels rather exciting. And to sum it all up…we’ll be running through Coldpass from the farthest flank on the side to get ahead of everyone else and try to steal as much as possible and even try to kill the Ogre Captain ourselves. Normally it would be unlikely for us to get such an opportunity, but the Ogre Captain shouldn’t be fighting in the frontlines right away during this Invasion Quest event, so our chances would be abnormally high. Everyone understand, any questions? The event will be starting sometime soon.”

Krafty: “*sobbing* What an amazing speech! My heart is actually racing…and Wise…I didn’t know you could speak so much at once!

May: “I believe you skipped explaining some of the steps, anyways, that sounds great. Let’s do it!

MC: “I don’t have any questions. But I do have a suggestion… more accurately, I want you guys to meet someone…”

May: “You have other friends?”

Krafty: “*Finishes sobbing* Sounds interesting…”

WiseMaster667: “Go on, call them! We need to be preparing now.”

MC: “Okay, I’m telling him to come over to us now. He isn’t too far away, I stumbled upon him just recently before meeting you guys here.”

I never thought I would ever be in this situation. How could I have ever predicted that FeeNix is participating in this same exact event as me while leading one of the largest guilds here…as their Guild Master! What the HELL?! He’s moved up in the world…!

I also feel guilty now because… even though he “raps”, I’m now much more excited to have gotten to know him compared to when I met him almost a month ago. Just because he’s now the Guild Master of the Nomads of the Griffin!