Chapter 7: The first day was madness!
After Alex left the bathroom, he became too sleepy.
He still talked a little about the game with his parents, then headed straight to his bed. But of course, as the young man in the modern era, Alex extended his hand for the phone.
Before sleeping, he would check popular social media accounts and message his girlfriend.
It was now crucial for Alex to keep himself in touch with Olivia.
"Ugh…" Alex squinted his eyes from the bright screen.
He then saw countless messages piled up in his notifications. Most of them came from his friends, who had been feeling betrayed throughout the whole day.
Alex would play with them during his first day, but due to known reasons, things had changed significantly. He was in a special zone that needed his attention. Alex also had two girls to spend time with within that black castle.
Two more girls were also around, fighting monsters, as he thought.
'Honestly… Is it okay for me to tell them my nickname?' Alex pondered inwardly as he stared at the phone with narrowed eyes.
Knowing about Elias Deathwill's past, Alex believed that this surname was known in the Avander World.
If his friends carelessly mumbled out his nickname around peculiar NPCs, they would danger themselves with quests against him.
Alex scratched his hair, 'The game this real; would NPCs just accept refusal? They would force them to tell all they knew about me… It kinda goes against the player's safety, though…'
Alex fought against skeletons on his first day, which left him with profound experience. But his meeting with dullahan kid and her mother was much more influential.
He felt like he was in another world, not the game.
Sara and Celia were too real. Their reactions were genuine, and no way their answers to his actions were scripted.
That was why Alex didn't think he was overthinking.
There was a high chance enemy NPCs would use his friends to find him and Deathwill's Castle.
Alex didn't want to endanger his new friends, so he typed on his phone.
[Alex: I logged in late, then I found a hidden quest. Sorry, but I will be playing alone for a while.]
Alex and his friends had a group chat.
Everyone reacted to his message with emojis with stars in their eyes, showing their excitement. Even his girlfriend, Olivia, was happy for Alex. In the game, this real, epic quest could lead him to the greater heights, and she supported him genuinely.
Seeing their excitement and jealousy was a nice and amusing thing, but Olivia's support warmed him the most.
He sent her a private message and asked about her game time, then revealed a little secret about his 'hidden quest'.
[Alex: I was in contact with exciting NPCs. I couldn't tell who was more alive, you know?]
[Olivia: Our experience with martial artists was the worst!]
[Alex: What happened?]
In Olivia's case, the martial artists were too swarmed. Not only them, but even beginner grounds lacked monsters. Players fought against each other frequently, swinging their weapons wherever they could.
It was chaos from the start.
Then, each beginner city had a limited amount of martial artists and other NPCs who could give class quests.
Queues were overwhelming and long, and at some point, NPCs were so fed up with players that they wouldn't even talk with them. They would send their quests to players with red and scrunched faces.
Some of those NPCs had scars and other terrifying faces. For the group of young ladies, this experience was far from the best one.
As the lady who chose spear as her primary weapon, Olivia stood at the helm of her group. She had a heated argument with her martial artist NPC.
Nothing good came out of this quarrel, and the ladies were sent to fight monsters without any tips and clues.
And as the world was crowded no end, they fought more with players than monsters… Some white knights appeared to protect them and use this situation to gain their favor. But they didn't know how valiant Olivia and her friends could get!
Then, they teamed up with Alex's friends, and they moved en masse to secure as many monsters as possible.
[Alex: What level are you?]
Alex was flabbergasted.
But he was even more eager to check videos from the first day as all events sounded too chaotic. In school, he would backread their group's chat logs to get an even better view of his friends' gameplay.
Olivia's reply shocked him deeper.
[Olivia: We are just level three…]
They played for the whole day, yet their levels were around five. His good buddy was lucky enough to level up to level six… Other than that, everyone else was much weaker.
However, fighting against players must have been a unique experience as well.
Alex cheered his girlfriend and left a few lovely voice messages for her to sleep to.
[Olivia: You won't tell me your nickname?]
[Alex: Hidden Quest requires me to stay silent.]
[Olivia: What! Do you have an assassin class quest or something?]
[Alex: Haha! Better, you know?]
No more messages followed after that.
But a few minutes later, Alex received a long voice message.
'I want to see you…' Olivia's voice touched his heart.
Even though it had been just a few days without them seeing each other, they were used to seeing each other every day. And as she was abroad, Olivia genuinely planned to pester and cling to him for as long as she could.
Of course, Alex wouldn't oppose it as he knew how spoiled Olivia could get at times.
They have been a couple for a few years now.
He smiled at her message, then sent a heart emote before closing his eyes.
He no longer could keep up; drowsiness took him away.
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"Madness…" Alex whispered as he watched the videos from the first day.
For his breakfast, he had cereal as usual. He always ate his breakfast in a few minutes, but he spent much more this time. He kept staring at the screen, forgetting to move his spoon.
But the wave of players pushing against each other and fighting for monsters left Alex beyond shocked.
He was slack-jawed, and he didn't even finish his breakfast before going to school!
"I am so fucking lucky, am I not?" Alex whispered.
Unfortunately, his mother heard him!
"ALEX!"
Alex waved his hand, shook his head, closed the doors, then headed to school with a peculiar expression.
He was luckier than he thought.