She muttered under her breath, she sounded.. irritated.
“We’ll have to navigate through the forest.. φ?σει?”
“The forest ends in about 21km.”
She said, analysing the best route to trek.
“I can shorten the route down to 11km, it’ll be a dangerous route though.”
“Can’t we use the travelling arrow again?”
“I only had one, to gain another one I have to spend 1000 coins.”
Well.. all abilities need to have a disadvantage. Especially her, she’s sponsored by Artemis!
“Let’s start to walk then.”
I suggested, to which she nodded.
— 5 minutes had passed.
Trekking the forest’s terrain was difficult, there were multiple vines that gripped onto you when you barely grazed past them.
“How are you?”
She asked me a question.
“I’m.. fine.”
Even though the spiky plants stung me, this pain was nowhere close to the excruciating agony I had felt before. This moment made me reflect on how grateful I was for the life I had.. prior to the world becoming the game I was fond of.
“Any goals you have? Anything you look forward to?”
She asked again.
Goals.. that question stumped me.
Being thrown into a scenario where the game you played became reality felt surreal to me, it was hard for me to understand and come to terms with. My prior goal was to defeat 50 monsters.. but now I’m lost until the second main quest comes my way.
What should I do? How did our world merge with a game? Was this what creator-nim meant by ‘a gift’?
I didn’t ask for this!
“Are you alright? You’ve been zoning out since I asked. It’s okay if you don’t want to answer.”
“No.. it’s okay. I was just thinking..”
I trailed off, immersed in my own thoughts.
I came to a conclusion that I would definitely complete in the future. At all costs.
“I think my main goal is to survive.. and to find out how our world became a game.”
“Game?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Shit.
I forgot that it was impossible for others to know or realise that the world was merging with a game that had practically become unknown unless they were intuitive.
I’m an idiot!
“Although a game makes sense due to the character files, I would never think that our world would turn into.. an apocalypse.”
She nervously laughed, possibly to lighten the mood.
I didn’t know what to say.
This might have been my fault.
I would have to keep that a secret.
— 2 hours had passed.
Our conversations varied in topic. It could be about work life, domestic life, or even friendships. Sometimes it would be silence, even then I would have fun in it and relish in the moment.
How long had it been since I had talked this freely with someone?
“We made it out, let’s take a break.”
She said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
“Agreed, let’s go under the shade.”
Quickly, we sat under the tree’s shade, relaxing to steady my rapid heartbeat.
Maybe I should have done more exercise.
— 5 minutes had passed.
I began to feel drowsy and I couldn’t keep my eyes awake. It was like an external force invoked a spell on me.
And I couldn’t resist even if I had tried.
I succumbed to the darkness.
…
Muffled sounds resonated throughout my body.. throughout my core. It felt like an out-of-body experience, but I could barely move or budge.
“Myo-nim, where are you—“
All the noise had faded to black regardless, I had no time to process.
Maybe this is the relaxation I needed.
—
It felt like it had been awhile since I had last opened my eyes.
The night welcomed me when I looked up, the stars twinkled in a pearly hue. My sensations felt numbed.. and that’s when I realised.
Yu Haeun was gone.
**
“Myo-nim, where are you going?”
When I woke up, I noticed that Myo-nim was strangely walking into the fog. Which was strange for two reasons, Myo-nim had his eyes closed and our surroundings were enveloped by a thick, dense fog. I had only relaxed for a few minutes whilst he napped, how quickly did this occur?
This didn’t make sense.
Regardless, it looked like Myo-nim was sleepwalking.
I walked over to him and tried to shake him awake.
To no avail. Like a lifeless zombie, he continued to tread a straight path.
That’s when I noticed it, my eyes widened at the sight.
An ominous structure I hadn’t seen before using φ?σει?. It was like it had never existed until this moment.
The air felt heavy, clammy cold and thick with a sickening smell of death.
In front of an eerily mansion stood an eroded gate, that hung off its hinges. Strewn across the yard were trees, some were stood up. With skeleton-like branches protruding from its brittle skin, they were positioned like a cross. Whilst some were laid out like a pile of remains. The residence beyond was towering and colossal, monopolised by a strange sense of dread. Spikes on top of the gloomy, somber mansion acted as its teeth, which had creeped me more than anything I had seen.
I felt incapacitated, wanting to gravitate to explore more of this place.
Immediately, I snapped out of it since I had to look out for Myo-nim.
However, he was headed in a direction I didn’t expect.
Towards the same exact building I dreaded.
“Snap out of it, where are you going?!”
I yelled with a hoarse voice.
He continued to walk like he was an empty shell of a human or as if he was..
An illusion.
It was only when I registered it, everything went dark. The world spun quickly, to the point I felt sick.
I was tricked.
How could I have let this happen?
—
Objective: Discover the one behind the Illusions
Reward: 100 coins
**
“No signs of Yu Haeun anywhere..”
I nervously bit my thumb, exploring the forest indepth.
“Where could she have gone?”
Returning back to where we had rested, I noticed a distinct print in the grass. It resembled.. an animal?
Perhaps she followed the trail as well? If I see nothing when I follow this path, then I’ll search somewhere else.
With no other clues, I closely treaded the path in hopes of finding a slight trace of Yu Haeun.
“The prints end here..”
I mumbled, looking up.
I think I almost fainted on the spot.
How could I have not spotted this from far away?
A formidable, substantial mansion spawned from thin air, isolated from the forest as if we were in a different domain. An army of thin, wilted trees were scattered across the yard, acting as its battlefield.
I don’t think Yu Haeun would have gone in, she seemed cautious to me and I doubt she would have not been wary enough to not enter inside.
I took a step back, to re-trace my steps before I abruptly stopped.
The void was behind me.
How was this possible—?
Until I came to a possible conclusion.
This was definitely a domain, or something along those lines.
I had definitely seen something like this from ‘Eternal Realm’, this would most likely be caused by an extremely powerful supernatural or illusionist.. let’s hope it’s the latter.
Yu Haeun must have been dragged, or gravitated by the supernaturals into the house.
I’ll only find out when I go inside.
Navigating my way throughout the strewn trees, I had made it to the front of the house. With a deep breath, I stepped on the porch and a major fatigue overwhelmed me.
—
Objective: Discover the one behind the Illusions
Reward: 100 coins
.. Hah.. an illusionist. At least it isn’t caused by something more powerful.. but an illusionist can still cause trouble..
I heaved my weak body towards the door, opening it slightly.
I almost hurled, collapsing onto the door.
I barely kept myself up, the only item supporting me was the knob of the door.
I yanked the door open with the remaining little strength I had.
I fell forward into the first room of the house.
Observing it, I realised that the interior seemed to be significantly smaller than the exterior.
Don’t tell me that was an illusion as well..
—
Objective: Find “Yu Haeun” before the Illusionist does
Reward: 500 coins
Time: 1 hour
.. What? Two sub-quests..?
The second one has a higher reward than the previous one.
Yu Haeun must be in danger.