"Gnuuu… I dropped out of school to play games. But I actually came back to school when playing a game. Is it karma?"
"Goruk, you dropped out of school? I never actually been to school before because I was always tied to the bed in a hospital. Which is why I love spending times like this."
"Oh, ah, mm… is that so?"
Goruk has found Rina weird since they first met, but he never thought she would have such a history.
Right now, all four goblin wanderers are toiling through the textbooks left behind by Aruk as he left for the basement. Even thinking about it put shivers down their back.
The dungeon below this building is a labyrinth of a worn down brick corridors. It has the medieval dungeon feel where criminals are kept. The monsters that appears in this dungeon belongs solely to the slime race, they are almost immune to physical attacks, but they also creep and move around in the gaps of the walls. That made them very slippery and hard to kill, but the worst thing about them is horrifying variants of slimes.
[Rotten Slime], [Disease Slime], [Curse Slime], [Horror Slime], [Terror Slime]…
The slimes were very weak, but the infinite number of them that crawls out the wall made them seem immortal. Coupled with the physical and mental ailments, many of which has not been discovered by players, they only weakened the longer they fought. Then having stacked so much status ailments that they can no longer move, they were slowly swallowed and digested in a pool of slime.
"… I will never go down there again."
"""Mmm."""
The others were working on their textbook but they nodded as if knew what Goruk was talking about.
Time slowly passed as they finished one page after another. Both Rina and Rou left since it is quite late while the other two stayed behind.
The textbook begins with words and pictures in reference, then duplicated phrases or sentences were written, one in the Common Language, and other with translation magic. It is more like an elaborate dictionary.
Beside the textbook, there is a collection of text arranged from children fairy tale to professional novel and research papers. They are sorted by difficulty making it easy to know ones level.
Then there is an exercise book to practice writing. The papers are, of course, enchanted with various magics including translation magic which will activate once it's finished, allowing them to review their own incompetence and idiotic mistakes.
"… This paper really reflects his personality. I feel insulted."
Alni spoke kindly, but her tone does not match the vicious content. While looking at her translated essay with a smile that did not reach her eyes, she smouldered her resentment.
"You're already writing on your own. That's amazing."
Goruk is surprised, after all it is only the third day since they began. Their progress vary, but other than Alni, they are still reading fairy tales.
"They use an alphabetical system so it's not that different from learning French."
The Continental Common Language has 24+5 letters, the same 24 as English while the other 5 has special pronunciations used in special occasions. They are explained to be the key in activating magic and are not commonly used for communication.
"The textbooks are also well organised and has several learning aids, they make learning much easier while making it possible to track your progress. Should I say as expected of a Sage. On the forum, other people trying to learn the language did not have materials half as good as what's here."
"I see… as wacky as he is, he is still a Sage. But why is the game language different from any real world language."
Silence fell around them as Goruk sighed in frustration.
While they were stuck together for two weeks of training, they were more of comrades than friends so they have little to talk about. In the first place, asking about real life is considered rude for players, and stuck in this city right in the middle of a danger zone, there is not much topic to speak of.
"… Is something on your mind?"
"Hm?"
Goruk is surprised at her sudden question.
"You seem pretty out of it these days so I though there is something bugging you."
Her question is borderline personal, but thinking about the days they've been through, Goruk felt it's fine to reveal more about himself.
"…Yeah. I'm kinda reminded of when I'm still going to school."
"I see. I take it that you didn't leave voluntarily."
"No. I left because the tuition is wasted on me. I have never been good with my studies, and my sister would do much better than me, so I dropped out."
He did not say it, but Alni can deduce the fact that there is probably no longer anyone that can support them, his family.
"I couldn't find work because of my age so I went to play games, it is really the only thing I'm good at."
"Then how did you get this game? The gaming unit, installation and subscription isn't something cheap. It's not wrong to say every player is rich to some degree."
"… My sister got it. She won it as a prize. I wanted her to play it, or just sell it. But she pushed it to me saying that I can make better use of it than her. That trust might be misplaced, but that's why I worked hard and researched everything about the game, races, geography, skills etc. Even with the huge penalty of the goblin race I did not quit."
Goruk spoke, reminiscing the past few weeks. Since the developer did not reveal any information about this world, most information came from the player's forum or his own investigation.
"The training was harsh though. I really wanted to quit that time, but I didn't. This place shows too much potential for me to just leave."
-It's for my sister too
Those are the words he didn't say, but Alni heard.
"… I see."
Silence once again descended between them, each flipping through the textbook pages one by one. The same scene from 10 minutes ago, yet, different from before. A smile tugs on Goruk's lips as he reaffirmed his determination.