"Yah, gramps. I heard you have lots of coins with ya." The guy said as he had his back facing me. "You wouldn't mind sharing some with us youngsters will ya?"
I mumbled as I shook my head in disbelief. "There's gotta be someone bullying the weak wherever I go."
["Consider it your bad luck then."] Jojo snickered but stopped afterwards as the atmosphere started to become heavy.
["There's three of them, are you sure you want to intervene?"]
"I will. The elderly is involved, I'm intervening with no questions asked." I stepped forward as went to the one closest to me and tapped his shoulder.
"What are you kids doing to this poor old man?"
"Kids?" He turned around and glared at me. "What? A girl?"
"Yah. Don't act all audacious like you're some hero, lady." He came and step forward as our distanced closed.
He continuously jabbed my shoulder as he spoke, "what's a girl doing outside the safe zone huh?"
Then the other decided to speak.
"I've never seen you around here before," he eyed me from the top to the bottom. "Like he said, what's a pretty lady like you doing here, outside the safe zone?"
He had this disgusting perverted smile plastered on his face as he tried to snake his arm around my waist.
"Why don't you follow us to our base camp so that we can have a little chat there~" The third guy tried to grab my hand but I immediately slapped it away.
"No thank you. I rather bite my own tongue than follow an idiot." I spat at him.
"And you," I pointed at the guy on my right. "You're not even half of my age."
"Baby, I'm 27~ are you indicating you're some ajumma?"
[ Ajumma is a Korean word for a married or middle-aged woman. ]
"I'm over a centenarian's age, watch what you're saying, kid." I mumbled, but was purposely audible for them to hear.
"K-KID?!?"
"What the f*ck you think you're bluffing at huh?!?"
I ignored him and went to help the grandpa, stabilizing his stance as I dusted his clothing when he held onto me for support. "Grandpa, are you okay?"
He nodded as he smiled and glanced at me as he flashed me his adorable elderly charm.
"Yah! Did we say you could leave?!"
「 Private system chat with 'Jojo' ★. 」
★Y/n : "Do you want to kill them? You said you were dying to kill idiots so there's, not one, but three of them."
★Jojo : ["As much as I really want to, I can't simply do that here."]
★Jojo : ["We're still in that bratty-- I mean Curtis's territory. Guides other than himself are not able to personally interfere in player's affairs in his area of management. Same goes to ours."]
★Y/n : "Ah, is that so? Then it couldn't be helped."
"Yah! Did you not hear us??!" The idiot shouted and I turned my head, clearly annoyed at him.
"Oh I heard you loud and clear." I sardonically smiled. "Scram before I change my mind."
"What did you say?!"
I protectively held the grandpa behind me as I protect him.
The third guy spat. "Yah! Yah! Are you deaf--"
"So what if I am?" I smiled. "You must be deaf too since you didn't heed my warnings earlier."
"Would you like me to dig your eardrums out?"
"Now now, you don't have to be so brutal to them don't you, beauty?" An unfamiliar voice spoke as I turn my body slightly and faced him.
"Another blondie?" I said, facing a rather tall yet slender-muscular man with looks that could easily pierce through a girl's heart, but not mine though.
"Yes! A dashing! Western, hot yet blond, muscular man with a fabulous build for your eyes to feast on!" The blondie ran his fingers through his hair as he showed his wide mushy smile.
...What the actual schmuck?
★Jojo : ["...Please dig out my ears and eyes while you're digging their ears."]
He came close to me as our faces were just inches away. "What do you say, hmm? Not bad right?"
★Jojo : ["The fu--"]
"YAH! Who are you?!" The guy grabbed him by his collar and took out a sword as he aimed it by his neck. "Can't you see that you're interrupting our business here?!?"
"Woah woah, calm down~ I just came over as I saw this beautiful lady here~" He hummed, "but to see her in quite a pinch, it's quite an unpleasant sight, don't you think?"
He turned his head and locked contact with me. "Do you want my help, beautiful lady?"
"You would actually die by these fools if you did something irrational." He flashed me a flirtatious smile.
"I think you should be worrying about yourself," I chuckled. "With a blade by your neck, who would you think will die first?"
"YAH! STOP WITH THE JABBERING YOU TWO! I would like to remind you that he's held hostage! So baby~ You wouldn't want a guy dying in front of you, don't ya?"
The other two snickered, "I bet she can't even kill a goblin and you're telling us you're slitting that guy's throat right in front of her."
The blond guys then spoke in a flirtatious manner. "Want me to finish these guys off milady?"
★Jojo : ["He seems rather confident."]
"If you can," I chuckled. "Then, you'll be doing all the laborious work for me."
"If I finish them within 10 seconds, I would like to propose a deal. What do you say?"
"You'll be getting your ass out of trouble and punish them for their heinous act, so why go all the trouble to propose a deal?"
"It won't be a bad offer." He smiled provocatively.
I chuckled. "Then go ahead, no one's stopping you."
"Alright then~" He swiftly kicked the guy's knee as he unhanded the blondie and winced in pain.
The blade flew to the side and he jumped on one of them and twisted his legs around his neck and locked onto them as he choked him.
He used his two bare hands as they emitted an amber glow and grabbed onto his head and electrocuted the guy, and he had fainted the second later.
"I-Isn't that--!"
The blondie then raised his palm and an amber orb-like glow glossed with traces of lightning bolted the remaining guy standing.
★Y/n : "A lightning type mage huh... using lightning to his advantage in close combat. I've got to say, he's good when he's fighting."
★Jojo : ["He seems oddly familiar but I can't seem to put a finger on it..."]
★Y/n : "I thought rabbits have paws for hands."
★Jojo : ["And I thought humans have hooves for feet."]
★Y/n : "Then you're not so smart for a talking rabbit."
It all happened in a flash but it was not too fast to read all of his movements.
"That was, rather entertaining." I smirked.
He brushed his hair back as his flirty attitude took over yet again. "I was very attractive back there, am I right? Did I manage to attract your attention?"
"You could say I was pretty sexy when I was fighting, well, I'm sexy most of the time if you ask me~" He kissed his biceps and flashed me a wink.
"You're good when fighting, but not with that mouth of yours." I smiled ironically. "You're too full of yourself."
"I've seen many eye candies in my life, may it be on earth or another realm so your charm does not affect me the slightest."
I then faced the grandpa and spoke. "You should head back to your respective safe zone now grandpa, it's not very safe staying outside for this long."
"Young lady, you should come along with me too! It's dangerous being out here all by yourself. Luckily this young lad over here came to the rescue!"
He snickered in the background.
"Ah it's fine grandpa, I'm fairly strong myself." I chuckled, "I can take care of myself just fine."
"Sigh, youngsters these days... The end of the world is coming yet young ones like you will end up getting swept away in the chaos." The elder shook his head and sighed once again.
["It's already the end though."] The rabbit mumbled as it was barely audible.
"No it's not, civilization is not entirely done for." I whispered back to him. "It's just we have to adapt to the changes."
"Alright, I'll get going. Young lady, please take care of yourself!" When the grandpa had returned safely, I felt a gaze piercing at the back of my head.
"What do you want blondie?"
"Obviously, I want your attention." He winked at me and displayed his perfect set of teeth while I was cringing by his words.
["And I want you to shut up."] The rabbit spoke as he finally revealed himself and earned a jump from the blondie.
"Y-Yo--! That scared the shit out of me!" He calmed himself and finally realized something. "A-A rabbit??"
"W-Wait no, a guide??" His eyes widen as he was lost for words. "W-What's a guide doing here?"
["None of your business."]
"Yah, at least have some courtesy even if he's a pervert." I nudged him.
"A pervert?" He looked at me in disbelief but soon changed his expression and directed his attention to my attitude towards the guide.
"H-How are you talking so simply with a guide?"
"That's none of your concern."
["Talk about courtesy."] The rabbit rolled his eyes.
"Alright, we're off. Hope we'll never cross paths ever again~" I waved him farewell.
"Wait a second! Don't you want to hear the deal I wanted to propose?"
"Save that for next time." I spoke as my back faced him and walked further away from him.
"Wait!" He came and ran to me as he grabbed my wrist. "You're a feisty one aren't ya~"
["Young lad, you better let go of her hand while you can."] The rabbit said, ["do you want an early funeral when you're this young?"]
"What? There's always 'fun' in funeral." I sardonically smiled as I shook off his hands. "Pervert."
The blondie was left speechless as we were on our way back to the boys.
["He's not following us."]
"That's good." I chuckled.
"By the way, won't the constellations misunderstand the situation between me and you? I mean, a player touring the area with a guide."
["Nope, I didn't stream us in the first place and I'm not an idiot. I left popo back at our safe zone."]
"You're referring to that weird-ass-looking cam?"
["Don't be so disrespectful towards him! He's like a irreplaceable friend to me."]
"...Sure."
"Troublesome matters aside, I do find something quite odd."
["What is it?"]
I opened a portal and went right in, Jojo followed right after.
As soon as I stepped out of the portal and arrived at the sight of the boy's battle, I spoke.
"Hey rabbit, remember the three idiots back there?" I paused, "their safe zone was called 'base camp' instead. Why's that?"
["Ah, I guess you weren't informed since it was briefed on the first day, but where on Earth have you been secluding yourself in when your own world was under destruction?"]
"Under a rock. Now spill."
["Sigh, this is why I'm the best at explaining~"] I could see sparkles above his head.
["A 'safe zone', like the name suggests, it's a place where it blocks out all the dangers outside the dome of protection."]
"It's like a huge green, dome-like shield."
["Yes, now let me finish."]
["Their 'base camp' is apparently under Curtis's management, since it evolves depending on their strengths of the players within the zone."]
["It was fairly easy for it to evolve to stage 2 since their safe zone contained the top 5 players and many other talents."]
["There are a total of 5 stages of evolvement. Of course, evolving to the next stage of the safe zone isn't easy either, but it comes with many perks like upgrading a proper place of accommodation with individual or 'group party' lodging and establishing decent facilities with strengthened defenses."]
"Is there another way to upgrade our safe zone?"
["I'll just send you the requirement list us guides were given."]
「 Host has received a mail from 'Jojo'.」
「 Host has 1 unread mail.」
I tap onto the screen in front of me and a holographic scroll appeared.
"A bit old-schooled if you ask me."
["Oh, unlike your slave contracts which are also made as scrolls, yeah totally."]
"Want me to write you one too?"
["Just read the requirements."]
-
[ ︽Safe zone upgrading information︽ ]
1. Average player's level within the zone must be above 8 to evolve to the 2nd stage. Increasing to other stages would require more talented players as such.
2. There must be a considerable amount of constellations in the guide's streaming channel.
3. Sponsors/constellations could help by purchasing half using the coin currency for the lifelong membership. The other half would be from the guide's personal bank account. Premium-->2nd stage | Advanced--> 3rd stage | Member --> 4th stage | Star--> 5th stage.
4. A guide's rank & authority to increase.
-
"How much is for the premium?"
["You're planning to purchase? You must have collected quite an amount of coins to ask that. And what, you've been here from lesser than a day."]
["The fee for the premium membership would be a total of 10,000,000 and a constellation in support would need to pay 5,000,000 coins."]
"That's a total rip-off."
["Indeed."]
"Oh I forgot if I were to proceed, you have to pay the other half too." I snickered. "By the way, what time is it?"
["Don't you have your fully functional system to tell you that?"]
"Oh. Right."
I tapped on my system window and checked the time, it was 3:40 pm. I glanced back at the boys a few miles away from us.
"It's still quite early."
Then, a sudden rush of pure yet distinct source of energy ran through my senses.
"What was that?" I spoke as the rabbit had began sniffing.
["It smells like a strong mana flow, it might just be coming from our safe zone."]
"I'm not referring to the barrier," I paused. "The tremendous mana flow is definitely different."
["How are you so sure?"]
"My senses never failed me before."
["Well it could probably fail now if not before."]
"Oh shut up Malfoy."
["Who's Malfoy?"]
I ignored the rabbit and followed the traces of mana, eventually it led us to the entrance of a wrecked underground mall.
I extended my hand, "I wonder who set this concealment barrier up."
["Why would there be a dome-like barrier like this here? Unless its intention is to hide something, then there's really nothing else other than that."]
"Well, it's not really that well-made since I could sense the irregular mana flow emitting from it." I slowly made my way towards the entrance.
["You're going inside although it looks super creepy?"]
"We won't find out what's the source if we don't."
["Wait, 'we'?"]
"Yes, 'we'. If you're planning to go back I won't stop you."
I walked down the plant engulfed elevator, the place was swamped with plants of greens. Light shone above as it grazed the slight surroundings and the entire area was like an ecosystem of itself.
The rabbit hovered just slightly above the swamp until I reached the end of the elevator and halted.
["You sure you want to step into this pool of gunk without any hovering spells?"] The rabbit hovered as he circled around me while he's in the air.
"I will, so be patient." I casted a spell and the mana surrounded me as I walked above the swamp.
We walked and found ourselves driven to the center of the mall, from there onwards, the air around us was filled with mana stronger than its outside.
In the vast area, roots of great calibre stretched out it's hollow entrenched radicle, firmly secured themselves to the ground while it grew wildly and dug into the tiles.
There lied a huge tree, flushed with vibrant green leaves and blinking round lights covered the branches as the leaves were their roof.
The ceiling collapsed as the branches strived further and extended themselves to the sky.
["A tree?"]
"It's obviously a tree." I continued.
"It's odd that I've never sensed it's mana when arriving here. I surely would've come across this place if I did, this place is most likely advertising itself."
["It IS odd. I would've get a notice if there's something like that here
"'Something like that'?" I continued, "You don't even know what it is?"
["No, I do not. But it's quite fascinating."] The rabbit hovered near the tree, curiosity took over him and examining each and every detail.
He began to reach out to a fruit and had the intention to pluck one.
"I wouldn't go near to it if I were you," I shouted towards his direction.
Then, one of it's roots tried to attack him and swiftly attempted to stab him as it aimed for his head the second later. The rabbit quickly evade them and immediately flew behind me.
"I told you." I said as its roots gradually revert back to it's place. "You would've died just like that."
["Yeah no shit Karen."]
"How the hell do you even know what's a Karen and NOT know what's a vegetable?? And how am I a Karen??"
["That was ONE time!"]
["And I can access the player's forum worldwide, of course I would know what's a Karen."]
"Do you want me to throw you back in there?" I grabbed his collar as I insidiously smiled.
He vigorously shook his head as I let go of him.
I smiled as I glanced back at the tree. "Then speak like how you normally do or I'll make sure you can't speak from here on out."
"That's the Elderwood tree," I said. "It normally doesn't attack just anyone, it only attacks those who have bad blood against elven folk."
"Did you stir up a fight or cause trouble to them?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked at the rabbit.
["Y-You can say I had some history with them."] The rabbit avoided eye contact.
"Well, anyways, I'm surprised that there's a national treasure growing here. I thought it only grows at The Hollow Glades in Athelle.."
["Athelle? I've never heard of that place before."] Jojo placed his fingers around his chin as he thought for a while.
"Hmm.. Then it can't be helped."
"The fruits it bears are precious to alchemists to brew all kinds of potions and elixirs since its properties are miraculous."
"It can also act as a reagent for strengthening regeneration abilities." I looked at the tree, "and it's delicious too. I think I should get some for the boys."
["...How do you know all of these despite being human?"]
"Perks for living slightly over two hundred years."
["You're kidding, right?"]
"Think however you like, there's nothing to lose telling you all of this anyways."
["By the way, why is it not attacking us anymore?"]
"Because it was attacking YOU, not me." I walked towards the enormous tree and hovered around its branches as I began to pluck the glowing turquoise fruits.
「 x13 Elder jujube fruit. 」
One of the branches slowly came and reached out for me. It extended it's wooden branch and held out a beautiful translucent blueish crystal orb to me and the aura it emitted was no small amount.
I spoke to the tree, "what's this? You're giving this to me?"
I glanced at the crystal, "You're giving me the essence you've collected? That's too precious to give away, I won't take it."
The Elderwood tree extended its branch and insisted as it handed the crystal to me.
"Why are you giving this to me?" I tilted my head as I was confused. "I don't recall doing anything in particular to receive this."
It got tired and gently shoved it to my hands and retracted it's branch.
"Fine, if you insist then I won't be so polite anymore." I smiled.
Grade: A
Specifications: Mana supplying orb.
Uses: -
-
「 x1 Elderwood collected essence. 」
「 Used capacity in inventory: 24/150 」
["Wait, how come it's not attacking you?"] The rabbit timidly flew beside me.
"Maybe because I emit good vibes?"
["Oh really."] He rolled his eyes as he said it sarcastically.
["And that reminds me,"] Jojo looked at me suspiciously. ["How come you know that there are elves existing anyways? Well, considering the knowledge you possess about other beasts it's quite normal for you to know, am I right?"]
"Well, they're famous in fantasy novels and webtoons. And secondly, they're intelligent lifeforms, mythical creatures, not beasts."
["Don't joke with me, we both know that's not the case."] He raised an eyebrow.
"And how do YOU know?" I spoke. "For as far as I know, elves won't appear on Earth just yet."
["And why would you say that?"]
"On our status window," I spoke and my status popped up. "No not you."
I swiped the window to the side, "it labeled our race, the humans. Of course there would be other races participating in the 'game' the GM created, but in our case, it's just a way to survive. And that includes the elves."
["...You're spot on, as always."]
"Anyways, to answer your question, I've been living with the elves for a fairly long time when I was in Athelle. They're practically my second family after the mages in the ivory tower."
"Now, what's your reason?"
The rabbit heaved a sigh before he continued. ["Ugh, fine. We guides have been around to 'conduct' and guide people in many different realms before the tutorial commences. But so far, there's never been a place or realm you spoke of. Athelle, was it?"]
"So how old are you exactly?"
["I've turned 139 this year."] I silently choked as the rabbit felt proud of himself. ["Anyways~"]
["I've managed many areas in various of realms before being assigned to this crap-- I mean Earth, so your realm is considerably late compared to the others."]
"Wait, hold on. A tutorial?"
["Just as the name suggests, a trial. A test for only the strong will survive and the weak perish."]
"So in short, scenarios are held to nurture the unexperienced to prepare what's gonna come in the future."
["..I'm genuinely terrified at how quick you're able to catch on."]
I briefly took a look at the time, "Oh it's getting quite late, we should hurry back. The boys must be waiting."
["All you care about are the wellbeing of those mere mortals. Are they your children or something?"]
I paused for a while, "They're... people that needs protecting. So until they're able to do so themselves, then I'll let them go."
["You really are a parent."]
"That's what Jin said." I chuckled. "Now let's head on back, there are many worry-warts back at your place."
["Sigh, well, I won't have to worry much about this being here in the mean time. Participants won't be able to come in anyways."]
"...Right."
"You'll conceal yourself right?" I opened a portal beside us.
["You don't have to remind me that every time."] He concealed himself.
"I thought giving a heads up would be fine." I smiled sardonically as we walked through the portal and immediately witness piles of goblin corpses along with a few ones of an orc.
"You guys must've had fun." I chuckled as I saw them all drenched in greenish blood from the goblins with a mix of red.
"You all didn't get any injuries right?" They all nodded and smiled, covered with sweat. "Alright we should be packing up, it's getting late and the sun's going down."
"I'm beat.." Taehyung spoke as he stretched while we walked together as a group.
"Yeah, noona~ I want to sleep for a whole damn month." Jungkook pouted.
"Great job, everyone. You guys seemed to have leveled up quite a bit." I chuckled, "you all should be around level 8 or so. That's quite an achievement."
"Now each of you take turns, I'll cast a cleaning spell on you all so you won't smell like you're drenched in both sweat and goblin's blood." I chuckled. "I'll teach this spell to Jimin later so that he'll help you guys in the future."
One by one I casted a simple cleaning spell on each of them and they all seem refreshed after.
"Wah, this feels nice~" Hoseok had this cute expression as he looked all over his body.
I chuckled at his behavior and spoke. "Alright, now that's all settled~"
"The highest ranking amongst players, it would be level 15." I thought for a while, "you guys will be able to reach there in no time."
"Really?" Hoseok chuckled as his smile became wider. "If we level up some more, then we would be rankers."
I chuckled. "That's a given."
"There are very few of them who leveled up like a beast, I was ashamed when I was top 10 even though I was only level 6." Johannes smiled and continued. "But now, I don't feel so hopeless anymore.."
"Johannes, how did you manage to get top 10?" I asked, brimming with curiosity.
"Well, as I said, there are very few players in Korea that are able to reach that height. The higher ranking ones are always in the top 5, while the rest just fill up the ranks."
"Yeah, not everyone is cut-out for adventure, so most of them remain docile, helpless and wait for their demise." Namjoon said as he sighed.
"Well, you guys are not like them, not in the slightest. You all are willing to risk everything and fight to become stronger." I chuckled, "so just continue to work hard and results will show, like today."
They all had a smile plastered on their face.
"Ah, it's going to be dinner time soon right? I should whip up something for you all." I chuckled, "Johannes, you wanna join us?"
"Hmm.. then I would be troubling you," he smiled displaying his perfect set of teeth.
「 Private system chat with 'Jojo' ★. 」
★Y/n : "Care to join?"
★Jojo : ["And why would I ever eat human food?"]
★Y/n : "Cause I''ll be opening a bottle of soju."
★Jojo : ["..."]
★Jojo : ["...I guess it won't hurt to try."]
End of chapter 8
-
「 Status Window 」
Name: Jung Hoseok
Age: 26
Species: Human
Level: 8
Job: Ranger/marksman
Class: Mechanic
Title(s): [-]
Sponsor: [-]
HP: 150
MP: 58
Strength: 30
Agility: 38
Vitality: 36
Intelligence: 33
Skill(s): Mana imbue[LV1], Critical snipe[LV1], Rain [LV1], Hawk eyes [LV1].