"Kota!"
Kota whipped his head to see a beautiful woman… charging towards him, it was obviously Megumi. Despite her charging at him, he can't help but gaze at her character's look from head to toe.
Kota immediately opens his mouth in amazement of what he's ultimately seeing.
Donning a grey black wardrobe, her clothing makes her feel agile yet mistiful, tight bandages around her limbs and neck with her bodysuit hugging her figure tightly. Megumi is wearing shoulder plates and armored gloves, obviously part of her main armor. Completing the look is high-end black armored shoes that do not even look heavy for her even a bit.
"She's obviously an assassin without even using the Observe skill." Kota thought.
Her facial features remain the same though the only thing different is Megumi is sporting a red ponytail. Kota would further inspect that she is also wearing a black clothed mask that she brought down to have a better clear of her face, and holds a wide weapon, assuming a katana behind her back.
It was sheer perfection in Kota's eyes even though there was a clear contrast from the actual Megumi in real life- heck, she looks even more amazing here. Hejust can't shake the fact that Megumi would characterize herself with her own savagery of a personality- and he loves it.
Kota can't help but marvel at Megumi's character- much more her armor, compared to him- she obviously looks much more experienced and probably richer in terms of in game currency.
Currently, his in game currency- represented by coins called Genkins, are at a measly one hundred thousand. Kota shrugs it off, knowing he'll gain more and will be able to style himself better.
His current outfit consists of a standard beige robe that flows around his body, tied inbetween with a tassel belt. All of the stats of Kota's clothing do not compare to the stats each clothing Megumi has for her.
"You okay?" Megumi asked in amusement. She obviously knew what he was doing and is just letting him. He adjusted himself out of panic as Megumi just giggled.
"You all good to go?" she asked once again. Kota made sure to re-check everything if he missed anything that she pointed out, and he just nodded.
"So I'm pretty sure you have read the instructions already." Megumi spoke. "So why not let me show you what else you can do here?"
Kota smiled. "Lead the way, ma'am."
This earned a wholesome laugh from Megumi, pleased that Kota is enjoying the game that she practically forced him to. She thought this game is surely gonna help him come out of his little shell.
She made a mental note on how predictable for Kota to have a mage, predicting that this is a perfect role for him and who knows, maybe his calling.
"Come on!" Megumi enthusiastically said as she grabbed Kota's hand, earning a blush from him. She dragged him to a nearby clothing store which Megumi notes is the best around here.
A non-playable character or an NPC named Olivia would welcome us as we enter the store, Megumi receiving more of a warm welcome than me.
"I assume you're a regular here." Kota noted, pointing to the same black outfit she has on a wardrobe rack. "She had a special greeting for you."
"Yeah, if you're a regular- they would do that." she laughs. "I come here for all my armory because compared to other stores, this has everything you need!"
Megumi and Kota would stroll around the store, and Megumi would soon pick out a jet black robe. She looked at it with awe and put it in front of Kota, checking if it would fit. This just earned the eyebrow of Kota. "Really, black?"
"What?" Megumi pouted. "It's badass! It's an all-rounder color, and it would suit you."
Kota just shook his head, strolling a bit more and found a white robe with cerulean accents all over. Immediately, Kota fell in love with this robe and tried it on. When he came out, Megumi clapped. "It looks hella good on you!"
He inspected the robe's effects, aside from additional health, defense and intelligence- inscribed in the robe is ‹Additional Elemental Mastery›.
"What does Additional Elemental Mastery mean?" Kota inquired as Megumi would point to Olivia.
"Ask her." she simply answered. "NPCs know everything."
"Hello! Elemental Mastery refers to the amount of skill power of elemental-based attacks." Olivia explained. "If you have additional Elemental Mastery, your element-based attacks will be doubled in power, and it might trigger additional effects."
"Oh, that's cool." Kota said. "How much for this?"
"That would be 50,000." she responded, and Kota almost dropped the coat in shock. He thought that was expensive.
"I'll pay for it, don't worry- it's your first day so focus on levelling up." Megumi stepped forward to offer. "And I don't take no as an answer."
"T-thank you." Kota softly said, with a small blush.
After buying the robe, they would immediately buzz their way to a weaponry where they are met with another NPC named Killa. Like Olivia, Killa would greet Megumi as a regular, earning a tease from Kota.
"Honestly, I don't like a big wooden staff as a weapon. Do you guys have wands?."
"We have many wands here, would you wanna try this one?" Killa the NPC replied, pointing to one of the many wands hanging on the rack behind him. The wand he pointed is a simple wand though.
"What about this one?" Megumi picked up a wand from the rack, a grey wand with red crystal lining as if it had undergone those cool pot repairs. In the butt of the wand's handle is an agate stone embedded on it.
Kota would inspect the wand, aside from additional intelligence and wisdom, it has no ability unlike the robe.
"Are you gonna take it? That'll be 75,000." Killa asked. Megumi would cash it out, and I just stared at the one.
How peculiar that a wand this pretty would be so ordinary. Somehow though, it's like the wand caught his soul, calling to him.
"Well then, last stop!" Megumi would drag Kota to a potion shop where they would buy a lot of potions for health and mana points. Kota by then is now carrying dozens of it.
"Don't you think this is too much?" Kota would ask, obviously burdened by the amount of items bought for him by Megumi, and he is a first-timer too.
It makes it look like Megumi is his sugar mom or something.
Megumi would raise her finger, a sign she's about to explain a lot. "There's nothing wrong with being well-prepared in a game that involves a lot of grinding and battling. Besides, I told you already that this is my treat since... I practically forced you to play this game."
"Plus, I don't have anything to waste my millions on." she shrugged nonchalantly, Kota just sighed.
"Of course you would be rich." he muttered. Megumi would just laugh and lean into Kota's ear, much to his surprise.
She would whisper the amount of Genkins she has, making Kota's ears and eyes flare up in amazement. Turns out, Megumi had been playing the game ever since its release.
Megumi whispered the digits on Kota's ears and his eyes widened. Megumi laughed as he witnessed Kota's reaction. Megumi started playing the game the day it got released.
"Don't be surprised Kota." she said proudly. "You know how much I love video games that I practically am a master of it already."
"Damn, a video game addict and high achiever, what a dream for all students." he cursed under his breath, earning a giggle from Megumi.
"Well not as high as your grades." she retorted. "You know, you might even beat me if you play this more."
Kota would just raise his eyebrow in disbelief. Megumi would then put out a leaderboard screen for them to see. "Okay, so look at this."
In the leaderboard, it showed a list of 100 players who are arguably pro gamers now in Kota's eyes. It specified their rank, their Genkins, overall character grade and class. Sitting in the top five is Megumi, to which Kota is not surprised anymore but still amazed.
"Guess who's our top player?" Megumi said as she would point to an avatar that's strikingly familiar. "This douchebag."
"That looks like Maki." Kota replied slowly. "Wait, that is Maki!"
"Yup, unfortunately." she agitatedly said. "He goes by the name Kuchiku here, which is terribly fitting of him."
Kota is not surprised to see him on the top. While he's topping the leaderboard, he's abysmally falling with his grades ever since. Megumi would point out the other two holding top positions below Kuchiku. "These are the twins under the name Hiro and Shiro."
"Sounds pretty generic." Kota noted, making them both laugh. "They're really the definition of basic."
"Yeah, after Maki started playing, the twins played too." Megumi teased. Kota thought those two were sheeps but never knew even in the game they were.
"They literally bully people in this game as well and outside, they take money from those kids to spend it here." she sighed in disbelief. "But let's not stress about them, let's talk about mwah."
She would point out her avatar holding the fifth ranking. She laughed, boasting like she's some kind of mafia godfather succeeding in her reign. "But soon, you may be part of this, right?"
Kota shrugged. "You may never know."
"You may never know indeed, until you try!" she shouted proudly. "It's time to help you rise up!"
Kota smiled and felt a surge of adrenaline from Megumi's support. "Well then, I'm gonna reach all of you and become an overpowering mage on top of you all!" he shouted loudly, surprisingly other players and earning stares and whispers.
He immediately buried his face in his robe in shame. He cannot believe that he would even have the audacity to say he'll overthrow not only Megumi the pro, but Hiro, Shiro, and most importantly- Maki.
"That's the spirit!" Megumi pleasingly said, and she quickly grabbed Kota's hand and dragged him swiftly to the outskirts of the forest.
There, they would be surrounded with multiple small monsters roaming around. It would make sense since Kota's level is at his most basic at the moment.
"That was so embarassing." he cried like a wimp. Megumi just slapped him lightly in the arm, but for Kota, her slap feels harder than usual- which must be the effect of her armor. "So what are we doing here?"
"Pfft, duh- we're going to level you up!" she responded with a gleeful grin. "In this forest, we will farm you experience points so you can improve immediately."
"Look around, you see there are monsters all around, use your Observe skill to check their levels before attacking them though."
Kota nodded, "Got it."
"Now show me what you have learned from your instruction reading." Megumi would taunt Kota, giving him motivation to find a monster.
He would soon find a ‹Level 1 Slime›, approaching closer seemingly alerted of his hostile presence. Kota would point out his wand and set the target on the slime.
"I call out the spirit of the sea, guide me." he chanted as a ball of water would form in front of his wand. "Water Blast!"
The circling ball of water would launch towards the slime and immediately destroy the slime. Kota would see from the slime that he gained experience from it, and this caused a message box to appear informing his level up.
"I did it!" Kota shouted proudly. Megumi would cheer for him in the back.
"That's my boy!" she shouted loud for him to hear and hearing this made him blush. "You go Kota, let's go!"
He put this at the back of his mind as he adjustted his new skill points to his intelligence and wisdom first. Kota thought he may need more skill power first before putting thought into health and defense.
After a few more slime kills, Kota immediately went from Level 1 to Level 5. He would put more into his intelligence and wisdom, putting a bit into his dexterity for additional health.
A text box would appear in front of Kota saying ‹Chant Mastery›.
"Oh, a new skill?" he asked, inquiring more details. "Chants for spells and skills will now only include the name-- that's cool!"
"Wow, you're quick to play." Megumi teases. "You're levelling up so quickly and improving so much that you might reach me in no time."
"Pfft, I still have a long way to go." Kota huffs. "Let's go deeper!"
As they go deeper in the forest and more monsters get defeated, Kota would approach a ‹Level 8 Rabbit Monster›.
Kota's level is only at ‹Level 7›, which he did not mind and pointed the wand to the rabbit, focusing its target. "Let's try a new spell for you."
"Flame Javelin!"
A spear-like flameshot would swiftly form and be sent straight to the rabbit monster, piercing it immediately. This made the monster explode in fire.
Kota looks in awe at his new spell that he just discovered in his list of spells. However, this look of awe turns into widened fear as the fire from the explosion soon consumes Kota.
Suddenly, his surroundings turn pitch black- same like hours ago. It had the same flower bed. His confusion turns into panic, scared of what he is happening.
Kota called out for Megumi a bunch of times, and suddenly the pitch black room flashes, temporarily blinding him. When he opened his eyes, Megumi is in front of him, her hand on his shoulders.
"Hey, you okay?!" Megumi shouted out of concern. Kota's back in the forest, he's more confused than ever.
He stood up and faced Megumi, "Did you see that? We were in a black room."
"What do you mean?" Megumi asked, visibly confused. "We were just standing here and you suddenly spaced out after killing the bunny. Are you okay?"
Kota shook his head to brush it off. "Nevermind, maybe it was just me seeing things."
"Or, maybe you have a soft spot for the bunny that's why you blacked out." Megumi teased, making Kota groan.
Kota just concluded it as a possible glitch due to the game just being recently released, without undergoing a beta test. He thought it might get fixed soon the next time he's back here.
"Anyways, wanna grind some more?" Kota offered. "I really want to reach Level 10 before we head out to review for our test."
Megumi pleasantly smiled, still confused but glad to see Kota enjoying. She thought this is what he needs right now, an escape- another thing to focus besides studies.
"Sure thing!"