Under the darkness of a dungeon, the hole in the ceiling shines a light on a party of travelers struggling against three golems with different attributes. Fire, water, and wood. 5 against 3, and yet, the battle weighs on the latter. While the synchrony of the golems benefited one another, the party of travelers is in chaos. Their team consisted of a Mage, a Cleric, a Priest, a Rogue, and a Warrior.

The mage behind kept trying to avoid the fire golem’s attacks, cursing, “Goddamn it!” she yells, “How am I supposed to cast my spells like this?!”

“Opyorn, shield!” yelled out the archer who was being attacked by the wood golem.

The warrior in the front is battling against the water golem, except, she tries her hardest to avoid its attack. Deep in her eyes, fear.

“Opyorn!”

There are two people calling her at the same time. Meanwhile, both the cleric and the priest in the back are standing still. Nervous. There is no one to heal, so they keep recasting buff to assist them except it’s not doing anything. The warrior then firmly decided to quickly took a step back and nailed her sword to the ground as she shouted, “Daunting Roar!”

*Bwoooooosh*

An Omni-directional shockwave was sent by her voice, stopping the golems from attacking her comrades in exchange for them focusing their attention on her, but then

*BAKS*

Eyes widened as she was struck from the back by a mighty force of water golem's attack. Flew in the air, the warrior suffers additional damage as she falls.

{-34800 Critikal}

The archer grinds his teeth, “Damnit! Where’s her back shield?!” turning his head towards the priest. She too was taken aback, but she quickly points her staff as she yells out, “Healing Spear!”

Appeared in the air and struck the injured warrior on the ground.

{+800}

{+50}

{+50}

{+50}

Her wound is healing but she couldn’t move. Her teary eyes as she holds her arm, the pain coming from her back is so immense, she couldn’t even think to move from her situation. The three golems are coming. Veins popped from the archer’s forehead, “RESET! RESET!”

He grabbed the warrior’s back collar and move away while the mage cast several fireballs at the golem as they headed toward the exit.

…

All party members rested around a fire that slowly healed them. The priest is also fastening the process of healing to the Warrior, though from the Priest’s face, she’s reluctant to do so. The archer sighed deeply, “Why didn’t you tell us beforehand that you ditch your [Raise Shield], huh?”

“Well, duh, sorry I guess? Thought everyone knows that when you attempt Rank C dungeon, overheal is the meta!”

“Still! You could’ve told us since - I don’t know, we only have one tank?!”

“Well how about you get one more then? No disrespect to you, Margaret, Cleric is super useful and you are not bad at all, but we can easily win this when we have two tanks on us. Might even make do with one if only our Warrior can actually take hits. What’s the point of having that much health and two healers supporting her when she’s rolling around as if she's doing this alone?!”

The archer is stunned, but when he’s about to retort, the warrior said, “Hila is right, Leon. That was completely my fault.”

“Opyorn.”

Hila, the priest, suddenly yelled, “Alright, enough of this bullshit. I got a date at 5 and I haven’t collected enough mats for the quota. What’re you gonna do if I got kicked out, huh?”

“Geez, Hila. It’s still 2 AM, we can do another run or two.”

“What’s the point if,” tightened her trembling mouth, “Fuck this. I’m out,” taking a golden scroll out of thin air. Margaret, the cleric, went up and asked, “C-Can I come with you?”

“Sure,” glancing at the Archer, “So?”

He glanced at Opyorn, and in subtle, she smiled at him while waving. He stood and waited for Hila to use her scroll.

“Oi, Mage. You’re coming?”

She remained silent until now, but then decided to turn her head at Opyorn and said, “Hey, you were doing good, but I’m sorry, it’s just not gonna work out.”

Stunned, Opyorn can only nod as she tries to put on a smile.

When the golden scroll is opened, it shines brightly. The mage joins the three in a circle and the blinding light wraps them completely. Soon, they disappear, leaving the warrior alone.

Her smile faded.

===== Profile Status =====

Statistics

Name: Opyorn / Level: 88 / Class: Warrior

Primary Attributes

Max Health: 48000 | Max Mana: 2400 | Max Stamina: 3000

Health: 37500 | Mana: 2400 | Stamina: 3000

Secondary Attributes

Strength: 250 / Dexterity: 50 / Endurance: 1110

Vitality: 200 / Agility: 50

Intelligence: 100 / Faith: 100 / Luck: 20

Combat

Physical Attack: 175 (+125) / Physical Defense: 320 (+555)

Magical Attack: 0 (+10) / Magical Defense: 50 (+50)

Health Regeneration: 41 / Mana Regeneration: 51 / Stamina Regeneration: 596

Gear

[Jaded Steel Blade / Rank D / Uncommon / Physical Attack: 175 / Magical Attack: 0]

[Plated Steel Armor (Set) / Rank C / Common / Physical Defense: 320 / Magical Defense: 50]

Active Effect

(Reduces Damage Taken by 15%) – Blessing of Hellblade

(Increases Attack Damage by 5%) – Blessing of Hellblade

(Enchanted Armor Restriction – Reduces the effectiveness of all equipment’s effect(s) by 40%) – Blessing of Hellblade

===== Profile Status =====

Exhausted, physically not. She took off her helmet and look at the damaged part in the backside, she sighed as she put it in the floating screen called [Inventory]. The empty slot changed to a real-time picture of her helmet. Brushing her short "helmet" brown hair.

{Physical Defense: 320 --- 295}

She backtracks with a goal in mind to exit the dungeon. But there are many giant spiders blocking the way, “Respawned already?” taking a deep breath, she raised her sword. Exhaling the bitter moment. Then, one of the spiders initiated an attack with its spit.

Carefully, she dodges their attacks and takes them slowly, decapitating the enemies one by one. The further she walks, the less strong the enemies are. Because of her high stamina regeneration, she can easily recover her pacing.

“Power Strike!”

Slashing the bats in the air. It only took a few seconds for her stamina to refill.

{80 Exp}

{80 Exp}

{80 Exp}

The further she goes, the more people she sees. There are others whom have the same objective as her. Conquering the dungeon. Later on, she even met her party except for this time, with a new warrior replacing her. She hid until they passed.

“…”

Putting a smile still.

There are many other Travelers outside of the dungeon. Some with stalls full of items, and some laid a sheet on the ground with many weapons on display. Some even hold up hand-crafted boards with their guild’s name and logo on them.

“Mage! We need a mage! Expert-ranked and above!”

“Oiii, any rogue wanna party up?!”

“Accept any level, any class! 10% cut, hurry up!”

There are others recruiting, but upon leaving the dungeon with a couple of dirt on her face, she ignores everyone and heads towards a particular stall with no one on the other side. A screen appeared and she made a transaction to exchange some of the items she found in the dungeon for Golds.

Totaling 8480 Golds.

Hesitant to press [Sell], but she did it anyway. Turning her head to the city far in the distance, she sighed. Glancing at another stall selling potions, she came over and asked, “Hey, do you have some T2 heals? For stamina.”

The man raised his brows, “T2? I mean, I guess. 200 Golds for three, what’d you say?”

“…” another breath was let out, and she smiled.

After taking the potions, she walks on the lonely road toward the city. A blue floating screen appears in her field of vision. It displays a video streaming site, a video with 30 million views, showcasing the 50-man raid on the West Gate of Prison Realm. It’s 40 minutes video, but only less than 5 minutes is where the main content lies. The 50-man raid didn’t last long against the final boss

There is one thing she focuses on, and that is the number of views that video has. Looking at her profile page, her channel, and her top videos --- Why Hellblade Blessing is Underrated --- only garnered a couple hundred views, less than a thousand where one can receive less than a dollar.

Then suddenly, a mail appeared in the [Inbox].

! {Drake Mega Blast – Officer JKBOMB}

[User: Opyorn]

[We regret to inform you that your membership to our guild has been removed. Your Bank inventory has been transferred to the local system in Sonata. Code: B4TK]

[Personal Note: Hey, girl. Look, I’m really sorry about this. You’ve been missing three of them juicy quotas for the last few months. Just doing my job, nothing personal. Hope you can find another guild out there that may have a more lenient mats quota than ours. Thanks]

Halted her steps, her hands trembling. Her mouth shook. She looks up at the sunsetting. Gasping as she tries to suppress her emotion. A blue floating screen appeared, it’s the main menu where one can access many different things but she chose the red shutdown button called [Logout].

Not long after, her body flopped to the ground.

…

Her eyes opened to a new environment. One she’s most familiar with. A white ceiling, with someone in a white coat assisting her to get up. She was enclosed in a capsule, and there are others in the room who are the same.

“Thanks, doc.”

“Earlier than usual. Did something good happens?”

“Nope.”

“I see. Well, are you turning in tonight?”

Her lips tightened, “Yeah. I only got $80 today but I still have some left on my inventory.”

“…” he sighed, “Alright,” he brings the portable scanning machine with her card beside it. It scans both her eye and fingerprint.

{-$54.800}

On the machine, she navigated to [Ekolia Conversion] and exchange her money.

{-13.800 Golds}

{+$138}

Afterward, she swiped the card on the machine.

{-$54.662}

The doctor left and so she decided to leave the white room full of capsules to the hallway. Going upstairs to meet with another doctor. He guided her to the front door of a patient room. Gazing from the small window on the door. An old woman lying down on the sick bed.

“She’s hanging in there,” said the doctor, “Though, doesn’t have much time left. Albeit slowly, her lung cancer is spreading. We’re already as short-staffed as it is, and the hospital can only prioritize patients whom… you know.”

She nods.

“Believe me, Sali. if only I have that much money, I’d—”

“I know. Thanks, Uncle Bob. Without you, we wouldn’t even be able to treat her at all.”

Silent. He stays for a while before returning to attend to another patient. Suddenly, she chuckled, “60k just to get admitted and they didn’t even operate on you, mom. Can you believe that?”

“$300.000 they said, as if that kind of money can just appear from nowhere.”

Shed tears, she swiped them quickly.

*Hic*

“Please, mom. Hold on… just a bit longer.”

A small flash of memories. The warmth and comfort from her mother’s embrace appeared in her mind. The time when she was a child, her mother’s comforting smile.

“You’ll… You will be okay.”

One’s fate is often out of own’s hands. This she understands but refused to accept it.

Within the hospital, there is barely any noise coming from the outside. And from her perspective, only the beeping sound of a machine, people’s footsteps, and the ambiance can be heard. The night is long for Sali, but upon closing her eyes after looking at the sunset, she hopes that things can change.

…

The same doctor who helped her wake from the capsule does the usual checking on her condition. Her temperature, heartbeat, and eyes, see if there’s any oddity in any part of her body. Once she was clear, she rested her head as the lid closed in. The doctor attentively paid attention. Sali nodded her head, and he nods in response.

One moment she closes her eyes, she sees...

! {Select}

~ {Continue}

~ {New Character - $100.000}

~ {Main Menu}

~ {Exit}

! {Continue – Selected}

She wakes up to a speck of dust piling up in her lungs.

*Cough *Cough

Morning has come to Ekolia. She stood to see where she left off. Turning her attention to the city in the distance, she continues to walk.

Checking on her [Inventory] only to see 3.600 Golds left was disheartening, “Maybe I should just go hunting or grinding low-level farming spots. Turning in a few dozen of mats an hour could yield a thousand Golds.”

‘But that wouldn’t help me in leveling up. I need money, but not that low. Ekolia is already saturated as it is. I don’t think I can make any significant breakthrough. The algorithm favors an established type of content and new unexplored things. All unexplorable area is recently unlocked but I can't get to any of that places safely without the support of a major guild.’

“Realism Mode, I thought it was gonna be it, but little to nobody enjoys slow gameplay like I do even though it can’t be helped.”

Still browsing the recommended section on her home page, and then suddenly, she found an archived Livestream with 477.236 Views. Decided to take a look, it starts with someone getting too close to the camera with an eye wide open. And then…

(How’s it going, Bi*****)

(Hey! No Swearing)

(Kuhe! Sorry about that y’all. New to this…)

Entranced, she quickly viewed the channel page and it already has 125k subscribers even though the owner only streamed once with no other videos whatsoever.

(You guessed right. This girl, right here! Be attempting Solo South Gate Any% Glitchless Speedrun on Realism Moooooode! It ain’t never been done before, you hear?! Watch!!! No Popcorn allowed!)

Chuckled, “Hah, another fraud again. Don’t they think we’re educated enough to—” her laugh was halted after seeing a 99% likes-to-dislike ratio and hundreds of thousands of comments, all in awe and respect from the viewers.

[xxx: PIN MEEEEEEEEEEEE!] 💖 ~ Pinned by Name me Siola

[xxx: LOL, they actually added the word speedrun to a “No Hit” run. Like seriously, as if there’s anyone gonna beat the south gate] 💖

[xxx: I think we all can agree that we need the other girl’s perspective!] 💖

Her entire body trembles. Clenching her fist, she looks up to the sky with teary eyes. Smiling. “I’m the worst.” Brow squeezed, she gasped as she closed the video and browse the [Black Network – Ekolia Forums] instead. There are several headlines of hot topics.

Number 1 Ranked Player – Mona – is cutting ties with Shadow Hex Guild. New-found Mythic Items Said to be Hitting the Auction on Bursoli. DANGER: Avoid this new NPC in Sonata New Details on Ekolia 6.2

The third topic interests her. Upon viewing the main [edited] text by the author. They mentioned a couple of things while also describing the NPC’s appearance. Carrying a staff and wearing a simple leather outfit. White hair in pink shade.

WHAT TO KNOW:

Safe Zone, is the only place where you can make contact with her safely. She is often roaming around the city and makes frequent visits to the Main Adventurers Guild in Sonata. ~ From 11 A.M to 8 P.M Warning: often appears randomly in different levels of different dungeons. Often times upon making contact, she becomes extremely hostile. Avoid at all costs. High probability that she is a genuine Mage. Level is estimated to be around ~200. Extremely skillful and able to annihilate two high-level parties combined. Extremely high chance it’s a Quest-giving NPC as she has a Unique name color. Purple instead of green [Friendly] and red [Hostile]. At the moment, Unapproachable.

Glancing up and down, memorizing the description. She viewed the latest post made on the topic and after scrolling far, someone uploaded a picture of the NPC’s backside. A woman with silver eyes, piercing daggers as a bolt of flame shining half of her body. It was the moment when the one who took the picture died.

“Tsk, these idiots. Why has no one recorded her yet?”

“Whatever, it’s not like I’m going to run into her. Top-ranked players will flock here soon, and even if somehow, I do see her by chance, as long as I don’t aggro or try to provoke her, I should be fine since I'll be ignoring her anyway.”

Walking once again towards the capital city of Sonata, the air around her is as fresh as it can get, and yet, when the scene where her mother lies on a bed rendered the soothing atmosphere grim, “I have other things to worry about.”

***