The moment the orb disappeared, everyone went into full on panic mode and it might have lasted forever if it wasn't for a certain boy.
"Everyone calm down." The boy talked into a microphone. "Panic wouldn't do us any good and it certainly wouldn't help us clear the game."
The boy had to be about 17. He had very little facial hair, and he somewhat looked like a baby. But his height and stature had something different to say. He was 6 foot 1 and the most muscular, baby-faced guy, Nessa had ever seen. He was definitely not her type (Not like she had a type.)
Nessa watched as the crowd calmed down a bit obviously wondering who this idiot was and what he had to say.
"My name is John..." The boy said.
In Luka's opinion, that was synonymous with stupid.
"...and I think I have a plan to help us get out of here."
Everyone paused, waiting to hear the plan.
"We clear the game." John finally said.
"I knew it," Luka breathed. "Johns are always stupid."
Clearly the rest of the crowd were starting to think the same. They yelled insults at John and it surprised me he didn't start crying on the spot. Insults like: "What are you, all brawns and no brain?" "I hope your family unplugs your Autopad." "I always knew Johns were idiots."
"Hey, my name's John." someone yelled from the crowd.
"Guys, guys... GUYS!!!" A different boy yelled with a microphone in his hand. "I'm sure John has more to say."
John didn't look like he had the courage to say anything else, not in front of the crowd. He silently disappeared into the crowd.
Nessa didn't feel the slightest pity for him. In her opinion, if he didn't have anything important to say he could have just zipped it.
"Ok..." The second boy said awkwardly. "My name's Tristan. I can't say if my plan can even be called a plan but it's a starting point."
Tristan paused and breathed like he wasn't used to talking to crowds and he was trying not to freak out.
"In the rule book which I wasn't able to finish..." Tristan continued.
"No one was able to finish..." someone yelled from the crowd.
"Thanks for that confirmation." Tristan said. "Anyway, I read 78% of it and it said everyone has a starting money of One million Zen. I'm not sure what use the money would be yet but I'm also sure it's not going to last us until we clear all 50 floors."
Tristan paused again for about two seconds. "The only way I know we can get extra money is by killing or by selling items."
The crowd gasped simultaneously.
"By killing I meant monsters not ourselves. Although it is very possible to kill ourselves let us not think about that. We were advised by the orb to join an academy and learn magic. But how much time are we going to spend? Every second that passes here, passes in the real world, so I propose we try without magic first. We form guilds however we want and check if it is possible to clear the game without magic."
Nessa was forced to ask Luka. "What is he talking about?"
"He's saying we work together to get out of here. Assuming its possible to do that without learning magic."
Nessa bit her lower lip. She was probably the only one who knew Principal Avery and also the only one who knew she never gave advice for the fun of it. She always had some implied meaning behind everything she said. Surely that was the case here.
"So, how do we form guilds?" Nessa asked again.
Luka ignored the question and tapped the holographic menu in front of him. Suddenly there was a pop up notification for Nessa. She opened it:
'Luka sent you a friend request...Accept, Decline'
Nessa tapped accept and then seconds later, another pop up notification appeared.
'Party invite...Luka asked you to Join his party.'
As Nessa tapped yes, for the first time ever she wished it was an actual party.
Tristan Continued. "If after we try together, we think it is possible to clear the game without magic we ignore the academy. But if it happens differently, well we'll have no choice but to follow Principal Avery's advice."
Principal. Tristan had just said Principal Avery. That could only mean one thing. He was a student at Webster's High. Or at least he used to be.
Nessa studied Tristan and the more she did, the more she felt like she knew him. Tristan wasn't tall, he was barely 5 foot 10. He had curly black hair, pink lips, light brown eyes and fair yellow skin (Just like Nessa's)
'This guy is definitely wearing digital contacts.' Nessa thought to herself.
"If there's no objection, I say we use the night to form our guilds. It's already getting dark. Tomorrow we'll search for hunting grounds and.....well kill as many monsters as we can."
That night Nessa lay in the grass. She hadn't bothered going to ask to join a guild even with Luka's constant advice of:
"We need to join a guild or we would die."
Nessa said for the umpteenth time that night. "Luka, if you want to join a guild fine. I can, but I'm not going to. I don't do well with others."
"Urgh," Luka grunted. Sometimes his sister could be an idiot. Playing solo was nearly impossible.
"Don't beat yourself up." Nessa gazed at the moon. "The only way I'd join a guild is if someone magically walks up to me and asks me to join his guild."
Suddenly Tristan appeared in front of Nessa blocking her view from the moon.
"Hi Nessa." Tristan said.
"Hi?" Nessa said. "Do I know you?"
"Yes, well no." Tristan said. "That doesn't matter. I'm here to invite you to join my guild."
"Yes." Luka said punching the air. "Thanks Marth Universe."
"What's he happy about." Tristan asked Nessa.
"None of your business..." She said. "How many people are in your guild already?"
Tristan resisted the urge to just turn around and leave. "Three, me included."
Nessa silently cursed her mouth. It had gotten her into this.
"Fine," she finally said. After all she had nothing to lose. "But my brother joins the guild also."
"The more the merrier," Tristan said. "Do you want to meet the rest of the party now or..."
"Tomorrow," Nessa interrupted.
"No problem. We leave at first light though." Tristan walked away and when he had taken three steps he turned back. "I advise you get a meal though. You'd need your strength for tomorrow."
Tristan was right. The Autopad relayed brain signals and if Nessa didn't eat, she would actually feel hungry. Even though not eating even for a year wouldn't cause her death.
"He's right," Nessa told Luka. "We need to eat."
"I'd go buy us some food." Luka said and scampered off.
He returned with a paper bag. There were two sandwiches in the bag. Nessa picked one and studied it. It felt weird. She silently wondered if she would be able to taste anything.
The moment her tongue met the sandwich, Nessa's eyes watered.
"Spicy," she complained.
"I ordered the extra spicy menu." Luka said
"You know I hate spice."
Luka shrugged. "More for me then."
Nessa ate seventy percent of the sandwich and handed the rest to Luka who received it happily.
The night passed and Nessa was actually able to sleep. She woke up with the sound of a shield crashing on the floor.
Nessa grumbled. "I don't want to go to school"
"School?" Luka asked. "Sis, we're about to go kill some monsters."
That brought Nessa to 'reality'. She sat up on the grass and saw three strangers looking up at her: Tristan, John and some girl that seemed younger than Nessa was.
Her name was Lily. She had blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail. The hair was so long it reached her waist. She had blue eyes and she was short at 5'4''.
Nessa stood up immediately. "Let's go."
Going took longer than she thought. It took them about three hours to find the first hunting ground in the forest.
"How would we know when we find a hunting ground?" Lily asked. She looked bored and she was shaking despite the heat.
"When we see a monster." Tristan said then he looked at Nessa. "You do know how to fight in a party right?"
"Me?" Nessa asked stupidly "Not really."
"Well you'll be fine. Just act as the tank."
"Tank?"
"She can't be the tank" Luka complained. "She can fight or at least she'll try. Besides she uses a rapier. It's built for speed. She'll act better as Vanguard."
Tristan seemed to consider this. "Let's test your skills Nessa. Ready your weapon."
Nessa arched a brow. "I don't feel like it."
Tristan sheathed his sword clearly frustrated. "Suit yourself."
Suddenly there was a growl and Nessa clenched her sword. "What was that?"
"We're here." Tristan said dramatically. "Quick, star formation."
In seconds the five of them stood back to side in a star shaped formation.
Beads of sweat formed on Nessa's forehead. She wasn't ready for this. If this was a game (which it was) it would have been different.
Eventually, a monster appeared. It seemed like it was a cross between a bipedal rhino and a lion. It had whiskers one on side of its face and a tusk on the other. When it roared, Nessa could see fangs that were at least one tenth of the monster's height. The monster had to be about 30 feet, and it swung axes like they were hand fans.
Luka swallowed. "Is it too late to run away? "
"No, but we came here for a reason." Tristan said. "Nessa you don't seem scared so prepare to switch."
"Switch?" Nessa turned to Luka
"He's planning to create an opening. Just wait for it and...you know what to do."
Actually Nessa didn't know what to do. She decided not to overthink things. She stared at the monster and noticed that it had two HP bars glistening over its head.
"Alright let's do this." Nessa said.
Tristan had the nerve to smile. "Alright, just stay close. Lily keep your bow ready."
Nessa noticed that he was talking to the blonde girl.
Tristan analyzed the monster's twin axes. They looked deadly sharp. He guessed the monster needed two clean hits at least, to finish him but he wasn't going to let that happen.
Cursing under his breath Tristan charged the monster. The monster roared and charged too. When it got close enough, it swung it's blade but Tristan hit the floor immediately, passing in between the monster's legs and slicing it's right ankle.
The monster seemed to roar even louder. It turned around to meet Tristan who was barely on his feet.
It brought down both its axes and Tristan clenched his left hand making a shield appear. The force of the attack forced him to his knees.
Nessa saw the opening and ahe had already started running when Tristan yelled "Switch."
She moved faster than she had ever done. The monster noticed and kicked Tristan away trying to focus on its new enemy. When Nessa was close enough, the monster brought down both it's axes in the same one-hit combo it had just used against Tristan.
But Nessa had anticipated that. She jumped on the last second and finally understood what Luka meant when he said the rapier was built for speed. She slashed and jabbed, giving a five hit combo in record time before flipping over the monster and joining Tristan who was just getting up.
His HP had dropped to 25% where as one of the monster's HP bars dropped completely.
"I thought you didn't know how to fight...watch out."
Tristan tackled Nessa with his shield and used his sword to parry the monster's axe but it wasn't enough. The face of the axe met Tristan's side forcing them to stumble backwards to the ground.
Tristan was barely conscious as his HP was about 5%.
Nessa cursed under her breath. She didn't care what happened to Tristan. She only cared that she had only just survived based on dumb luck. She was lucky Tristan saved her, probably for his own purposes.
Nessa believed every human was stingy and self serving and she was probably right. Anyway she freed herself from Tristan's grasp and stumbled to her feet.
"Lily, I hope you're ready." Nessa yelled. She knew she was too inexperienced to defeat the monster alone. "Get ready to switch."
Nessa charged again and this time she probably had a plan. It seemed like the monster wasn't programmed to have a brain because it raised both his axes to carry out the same one hit combo attack.
At the last second Nessa jumped and just like she expected only axe had met the floor. The second one was hurtling towards her at lightning speed. She somersaulted (that is definitely not a word) in the air and parried the axe.
"Lily," Nessa yelled mid air. "Switch."
Lily didn't think twice. She was scared that if she hesitated for even a second, her brain would shut down with fear. She aimed and fired an arrow straight at the monster's head. It hit just before Nessa hit the floor and rolled away.
More arrows rained down on the monster. Surely that should have been enough, but the monster's HP bar proved otherwise. It hadn't dropped at all.
Nessa studied the bar and that was when she noticed it.
"Retreat!!!" She yelled and then she started running away.
Luka, Lily and John didn't need go be told twice. They bolted down the path they had just come.
Nessa had taken about fifteen steps when she noticed Tristan wasn't running with them. He seemed like he couldn't move. She didn't care about him, after all, people had never cared about her. But she couldn't just leave him there. How would she explain Tristan's death? It would have been unnecessary stress.
She gritted her teeth and returned to support Tristan.
"I thought you were going to abandon me."
"I was." Nessa told him and Tristan got the feeling she wasn't joking.
Lily occasionally turned around and fired arrows at the monster. They didn't stop running until they got to a safe zone.
(A.N: A safe zone is an area where HP doesn't drop on normal conditions)
It was only until they caught their breaths that Luka said.
"That was scary but pretty awesome. I mean wow. Nessa where did you learn to move like that?"
Nessa shrugged. "You thought me everything I currently know about this game."
Luka didn't want to believe it. His sister had proven to be a prodigy at something other than studying and reading.
"You did great." John said his first word since the day began.
"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "Thanks for saving me. Why did you ask us to retreat? I'm sure you had your reasons."
Nessa told them what she had noticed. On the monster's HP bar there was a tiny inscription that anyone could have missed--Magic.
"I get it now." Tristan said. "That means to kill a monster, we need both weapons and magic." Tristan sighed. "I'd make the announcement tonight."
That night everyone gathered in the field to hear Tristan's announcement. Nessa stood closer to the lake and stared into it. It reminded her of how barely a day ago, she had been worrying about a stalker who sent her notes, now she was worrying about surviving and keeping her little brother alive.
"Two hundred and fifty Six people died today and I could have made it two hundred and fifty seven if it weren't for someone." Tristan was saying. "Now we know that monsters can't be killed without Magic so we're left with one choice...we attend the academy."
Nessa was right. Principal Avery had an implied meaning. She always did.
"One more thing," Tristan yelled. "Although the other two hundred and fifty six people can't tell you this, I'm sure it's true. I'm sure death in this world means death forever."