"Alright, I just reported to Stein, but I left out some parts," Dharr said as he turned to focus on Brookie. "That player is an enemy of Asunder, and it was important that I reported her position. As for what you told me about wanting to leave... That's the part I left out. I know you have your reasons, so I won't rat you out like that."
Though Dharr was loyal to Asunder, the two were still close friends. Dharr's loyalty didn't override the friendship.
"Thanks," Brookie said. "You want to know why I want to follow her? It's because that player is an angel... An angel of death. When she approached me, it felt like my life was in her hands."
Dharr was nonplussed.
"You call her an angel, but how do you know that player is female in the real world? And for some reason, you say she's strong. If that's the case, there's no way, right? It has to be a male player pretending to be a girl for fun," Dharr said.
"Yeah, you're right. That's highly likely, but there's no way to know, is there? This virtual world isn't the real one, and if someone wants to pretend to be something they're not, that's totally fine. We should just treat people as they want to be treated here, without any stigmas from the real world. Wouldn't you feel strange if you were to walk up to her and treat her like a man, especially when she looks like that?"
"Hmmm... I guess so."
Fae Sol's avatar was indeed beautiful, more than most of the other ones they'd seen. Most people's avatars were only a product of the various sliders provided during character creation, but hers seemed to be custom-made.
"Besides," Brookie continued, "she saved me. I think that fact alone deserves a little respect."
"Alright, I get it. You got a map, too, right? Let me take a look at it."
"Sure," Brookie said as he handed the map over to Dharr.
As Dharr was inspecting the map, his brows furrowed.
"Brooks, you don't know how these maps work, right? Take a look at this."
"Is there something wrong?" Brookie was surprised. Was it a fake?
"Hm... Is this right?" Dharr trailed off.
"Spit it out already."
"You see this path?" Dharr asked as he traced his finger across the thick line on the map. "This is a record of where this map's been. The terrain colored in is basically what the land looks like as the map physically travels over that location. You can see that a lot of this is purple, right?"
"Yeah... so does that mean...?"
"That player traveled straight through this Corrupted Land in order to reach us," Dharr skeptically said.
"Right. So doesn't that prove strength?"
"What do you mean? It could be a fake, or she got lucky and found an item that helps her or something."
"... We literally saw her run *from* the purple grass."
Brookie couldn't believe the amount of denial Dharr was in. He turned back to look at Fae Sol who was nonchalantly nibbling on a Cinnamon Bun. Needless to say... It didn't help his case. But he saw something else that confused him.
"Wait, look back there..." Brookie said in a mystified tone.
Dharr hesitantly looked towards the same direction Brookie was, and when he did, he couldn't help becoming confused.
The dark grass in the distance was coming back to life. Where everything was previously purple, the forest was a lush green. It was as if the "corruption" from earlier was simply a bad joke.
"Well, that's a coincidence," Dharr said.
"You really think so?" Brookie responded, shocked at Dharr's conspiracy-level denial. "Don't you think Fae Sol was responsible for clearing it?"
Dharr shook his head.
"It's pretty unlikely. Let me tell you something, Brooks. The alpha and beta stages of the game were released for less than a month each. Even in that amount of time, the only thing we learned about this game was that the number of questions we had were higher than the number of answers. I don't think any alpha or beta player has seen that biome before, much less known how to 'clear' it, if that's even possible. The point is, there's so many things in this game that the only advantage beta players have is knowing how to start playing."
Brookie *really* wasn't convinced.
"So that biome just magically disappeared, then?"
"I'm saying it's highly coincidental. You're not a beta player, so you won't understand how vast this world is yet. I'm saying it's more likely for it to have cleared out by coincidence than a player understanding how to clear it themselves."
"Hmm... Sure," Brookie defeatedly relented. Trying to convince Dharr any further was a fruitless endeavor.
The two friends walked the rest of the way in silence.
---
*Well... Looks like he didn't lie to me.*
In her opinion, even if Brookie had lied and led her straight into a trap, it wouldn't have mattered. She was already twice-evolved and was in possession of Shahar's Nightwalker. She could easily have killed everyone or simply escaped.
The three players arrived at the Covan Hamlet, and Jisha was looking around. Covan was aesthetically very similar to Uval. However, it had a higher player population density, and the atmosphere seemed more tense.
*Wow, so it looks like there's more than just Shock Collar and Asunder here, huh? Looks like the auction's really brought a lot of people here.*
Starter hamlets with incentives for beginners... They were quite popular since beta testers had revealed some information about them at an earlier time. Auction houses and War Zones were both quite popular in all stages of the game.
*Actually, now that I think of it, it's strange that Uval was so peaceful...*
In her past life, War Zones were hotly-contested patches of land. Not only were they small, but they were rare, too. They were aptly named, since you could kill anyone you wanted with no repercussions. They were PvP hotspots for all walks of life.
*Maybe I'm just lucky?*
Jisha shook her head. There was no point thinking about it.
*Whatever. Let's get rid of this inventory clutter.*
The slimeballs and insect wings were of no use to her at the moment, so she decided she was going to sell them at a nearby materials shop. After all, her inventory was full and she could exchange the trash items for a couple of Copper.
*Who knows... There could be something good in there. Now that I have a little money, I could possibly fetch something nice.*
"Alright, boys, I've got a couple of things to do. You can follow me or leave or whatever," she dismissively said.
"...? You sure you don't need our help? You haven't even been here before."
It was a reasonable question, but to Jisha, who had seen almost every type of hamlet imaginable, it seemed quite silly.
"Don't worry about me," she said as she walked in front of the two players.
*Well, let's see what's in this materials shop.*
If you were a front runner and encountered a random hamlet, it would be stupid to not check the material shop and auction house. Though unlikely, it was possible for a rare item to show up once in a while. In her past life, there were many stories of players randomly encountering cheap, high-level Epic items in a remote hamlet in the middle of nowhere.
Jisha quickly found the materials shop. The universal mats shop symbol was a pyramid stack of six bouillons, so it was recognizable no matter where you were in Synergy.
Unsurprisingly, it was blocked by players, presumably from another group.
*Hmm... Let's ask these nice gentlemen why they're blocking my way, shall we?*