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Feeling frustrated and confused, Dale said:
"Really now, what is happening? I received a video call from Ermin and I didn't even manage to see him?"
"And instead of talking with me, he messages me? It's not like we've never seen each other, we played for an entire month in the Beta, and several times throughout the year!"
'They also talked as if Ermin was a small child that needed supervision at all times…'
'Just how much of a tight grip do they have on him? Or there something I'm not seeing?'
With these thoughts, Dale opened the message…
[I'M REALLY SORRY!]
"Okay… This is a start… So…"
[What happened?] Dale typed quickly
[It… Was more of a bad timing situation…] Ermin replied
[Me and my sisters were doing a special raid on a Boss monster that spawns near our village… Oh yeah, sorry, but I won't be able to play with you... Anyway]
[I tried to convince them, but I failed miserably. And since that time, I've been dragged around like a fool, so I didn't have the time to contact you…]
[...]
[... It seems like they own you… Like a sla…]
[Believe me, I am already aware, but my options are limited, at least they don't abuse me, I'm more of their…]
[Butler?] Dale asked
[A bit exaggerated but not that far off… Our relationship is quite complicated]
[Okay…]
[Yeah, let's just forget about this for now and focus on the important]
[As I was saying, we were doing a Boss, and my… Your message. It ended up distracting me and I took a hit]
"Shit…"
'Don't tell me they failed the raid because of that?... I would feel bad for him.'
[Did you fail the raid because of me?]
[What? No no, its just that my sisters wanted to get a perfect run and I foiled their plans, so… They got quite annoyed and they wanted to punish me for it...]
[Sorry...]
[Let me finish... When they learned that you were the person that did the call, they immediately took this chance to learn more about you…]
[So they took over the call and forced me back...]
But Dale had a headache…
[Wait, first, how do they even know about me?]
[I… I may or may not have spread a few words due to the pressure from my sisters…]
[Bro…]
[I swear I didn't share anything crucial!]
[From their perspective, you are just an old friend who knows quite a lot about this game, they also felt indebted to you due to the money you gave me last time, and the information you shared with me]
[Remember our run planning last month? Yeah, it was all thanks to that]
[I know about that, they told me about it…]
[COUGH! It wasn't my fault]
[I underestimated the amount of information my sisters knew about me...]
[... Do I need to repeat what you just said Ermin?...]
[No… Please no…]
"Jesus christ Ermin."
[Well, but thanks to that money, my objective worked flawlessly and I managed to get my things and do everything I had planned in the tutorial, this includes gathering the Sigils]
[All the while letting my sisters play around to their heart's content, so I can safely say mission accomplished]
[At least that, for a moment I thought your sisters had stolen that from you…]
[I would've left this home if that had happened I swear on my very soul]
[That is doubtful coming from someone who is a literal butler for his sisters /Skull Emoji/]
[Don't send me these annoying Emojis! /Wrath Emoji/]
"Ha! At very least he is still the same." Dale said with a smile
[So what now? You'll be playing with your sister? I didn't even ask, but where did you all start?]
[I'm glad you asked, after a bit of talking, I managed to convince them to start in the far South of the continent in a village near a desert]
"Near a desert?... Could it be…"
[For a bit of perspective, is there a mountain range near your position? One with a legend about something breaking part of it?]
[OH?! You actually know about it?]
[Yes! There is one like that further SouthWest of my position, but that place is a forbidden zone and impossible to cross…]
[Why the question though?]
Dale smiled
'It seems he is closer to me than I expected. He's just North of here...'
[Because I am just a tiny bit further down… If you cross the desert you'll find me]
[Ha! What a coincidence then]
[We choose this village because of the balance between its level of danger and reward, plus its geographical location seemed rather good, if we get on a horse, it would take about a week or two to arrive at the Capital if we were to use the fastest transportation available to us]
(N1)
[Not only that but several decent grounds are near us…]
[There is only one problem… Pretty much every enemy over here is a Boss monster to us due to the difference in Level…]
[Are you a standard player?] Asked Dale
[Yes, I didn't have the courage to choose HardCore, neither my sisters had it. My older sister wanted to try it, but after showing her the price of a new account she retreated in fear]
[You know how it is, she's already full of shit to do thanks to her student loans and part-time jobs, so anything else would already be too much]
[I see, I thought your sister would be living alone since she is already…]
[Yeah, that was our parents' fault, she wanted to move out one day but my mother convinced her to stay… Unfortunately…]
[You know what? I'll delete these messages, if they read my historic I'm fucked…]
[Message deleted]
[Message deleted]
"..."
[In any case, I'm glad to have talked with you, if you need more money I can send it to you but remember to pay up!
[Hey! Don't you think I'll let that pass! Even though I didn't talk, I was still there hearing your conversation with my sisters! You're fawning all over them!]
[WHAT?! Fawning?! As if! Beauty doesn't faze me!]
[SEE! Oh God… They already charmed Dale… Please God!]
[You…]
[Don't you think I didn't see it, I have to pay while my sisters get preferential treatment?]
[Look at you all proud! I saw your smile when my younger sister ran away! I'll report you to the authorities for hitting on a minor!]
[...]
[Say something!]
[... Bruh]
[Don't bruh me!]
[Look! I did that for you!]
[For me?! What a way to distort things!]
[I'm being honest here! I tried to make you look good by making myself look good!]
[...]
[...]
[Look at the bullshit you're talking, you know what? I'm out, see ya later Dale]
[Sure, see ya man]
But before he left…
[Simp…]
"This fucker…"
[Sucker…]
'That'll teach him…'
After these two last messages, it seemed Ermin had left for real to play with his sisters, leaving Dale alone once more.
He shook his head and finished showering and brushing his teeth, deciding that it was time to leave and explore the village outside.
"Whats this?"
Dale opened his stats as per force of habit and saw something new...
[...
Current Effects:
Aspect of Might -> All Stats +15
Body Reformation -> Natural Healing and Stamina recovery speed have been increased
Constitution Ratio 1.1
Cleaned -> +15% to Desease resistance for 6 hours
Inventory (+)
]
"Hum... It seems there are many more bonuses I need to pay attention to."
'Eating well, sleeping well, maintaining my hygiene... To be honest, it's getting harder to live inside this game than in real life...'
So after putting on a fresh new set of traditional clothes, he took a step outside, but he was immediately flabbergasted!
"?!"
There were at least a dozen people he had never seen before, walking around the place looking at everything as if they were in a zoo!
The moment Dale appeared, many of them immediately had their eyes on him!
'These are…'
'Players!'
Dale immediately recognized what they were, they were players, and that was clear by the flashing names on top of their heads.
Apart from HardCore, all players have an ID on top of their head, and some even had Titles next to it.
All players can equip at least one Title at once to boast their accomplishments to others.
And knowing the mind of a player, that is an obvious thing to do as players would find all forms of showing off, normally done through their gear…
'Thankfully I'm wearing a set of basic clothes, if I were to be wearing my gear, they would immediately recognize me as a player.'
'And it would be better if I remained as an NPC for a bit longer.'
Dale ignored their eyes just like any NPC would and proceeded to go on his way somewhere less populated.
He needed time to think and process the situation before he committed a mistake.
Considering the number of people in this area, there is the possibility of there being at least a hundred if not more players all around the village!.
However, Dale also noticed something, and that was their clothes…
'Several of these players had Clan/group emblems on their clothes, showing they belonged to some organization.'
'I already identified 4 different groups, and the rest were normal players or those that are hiding their allegiance…'
'But a question remains, why are there so many players here? I expected them to come as the days passed and the first batch of players finished their tutorials, but this was too sudden.'
'The first batch of players should still be a day or two away from finishing and last time I checked, only 3% of the initial player count had actually descended into the continent!'
'So they needed a reason… A motivation.'
'This didn't come from me, so the only possibility is… Something happened as I was sleeping.'
'But what could cause this in a matter of 30 minutes… Actually, one and a half hours.'
'I came to the Inn and played with the kids before talking with Illia, then I played with the kids again and went to sleep.'
'Following that I took a quick shower, so in total, a bit less than 1 and half hours passed.'
'That is quite a long time…'
Surprisingly, no one approached Dale, instead, they all kept an eye out on each other.
They seemed to be trying to figure out what was happening, and who he was…
But the surprises were far from ending…
"Hm?"
As Dale approached the foot of Church's hill, he saw a blockage, formed by the players of the 4 different parties he had previously seen.
They seemed to be blocking the entrance to the Hill, impeding any players from going there.
Of course, Dale immediately realized he may find the answer to his questions if he were to climb atop the hill, so without any hesitation, he made his way to the players…
…
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Notes
N1
You would be surprised at how much ground can be covered up in 1 week.
I used an interactive map of ancient Rome that calculates from time to season and the speed of the units within it to calculate and I think this time of 1 to 2 weeks pretty much covers a lot of space.
If they used horses, covering about 50 Km a day. In one week, they could travel 350 Km, but this is still low, they could go much faster depending on the creatures they use.
And I have yet to specify how big the desert is, although Dale said he is a bit further south, that could be a euphemism on his part.
As someone said before, it was strange for no players to appear.
But I want to say that, even though there are currently over 10 Million players in the game, there are over a thousand possible spawn locations.
And Resko is one of those hidden locations would you need to look deeply into the map to find.
The only people who'll go into Resko will be those who like living on the edge, those who are greedy for high rewards, those who are confident in themselves, and so on, you got the drift.
Rodi was very confident on his abilities, and he should, he was very strong...