"Puff!" Motan almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. He turned back towards Hei Fan with a twisted smile. Then, quickly lowering his head, he headed for his destination uttering, "The Mediterranean. Is Hei Fan's last name really Thick, as in 'dense'? Jeez... that's even harsher than 9527..."
About five minutes later, he reached the base camp of Fenrir's squad, which consisted of a somewhat decrepit tile house. The interior was pitch black, but there were a few people standing at the entrance.
"Hey, you there!" A middle-aged man holding a shield and chatting with a few others waved to Motan, "You seem new here."
With that, he showed the man his military tag number 9527 and said, "I am Hei Fan, the newest addition. I've been assigned to the Fenrir's squad. Nice to meet you, senior."
The reason for his introduction was that Motan noticed the man wearing a chainmail adorned with a giant white wolf. The men standing beside him bore the same marking on their armors, it would have been unwise not to notice it...
"Ah! So, you're the priest Gatt has found for us?" The man, after taking a good look at Motan, extended his hand in friendly manner and laughed, "Alright. I am Ned, the captain of the Fenrir's squad, and a shield warrior. Guys, go on introduce yourselves too. We've finally got a healer!"
The last sentence was directed at his keep around.
"Krab, warrior." A tall, muscular orc with black skin, standing beside Ned winked at Motan, "Have you ever seen blood, bean sprout."
Motan shrugged, "I'm fairly good at dealing with blood. But if you want me to have a closer look, I can do that when you get hurt."
His mildly provocative reply wasn't accidental. As Motan knew, it's impossible for a gentleman who backs down before a challenge to gain the respect of an orc.
As expected, Krab didn't get angry. Instead, he burst into hearty laughter, reached over Ned and patted Motan's shoulder hard, saying "You've got guts, kid!"
"Heh heh, served you right, big guy~" The elf maiden sitting cross-legged on the ground stuck her tongue out at Krab, then turned to Motan and showed him a friendly smile, "I'm Yinna, Yinna Morning Dew, a trainee ranger. I look forward to your care~"
Motan returned her smile, "Same here."
"Saracha." The blue-skinned lizardman leaning against the door of the tile house in boxing gloves spoke with a cold tone, "Martial monk."
Motan nodded, and then turned his attention to the last person who had been watching him from the start.
"I'm Double Leaf." The orange-haired girl wearing black-rim glasses smiled, "Mage, Otaku."
No doubt, she was also a player.
Ned looked at Double Leaf curiously, then smiled and shrugged at Motan, "She's also new. She's a little odd, but anyway, welcome to Fenrir's squad, Hei Fan."
"I'm honored." Motan bows comically to everyone.
"We haven't had any tasks to do during the recruitment period in the last two days. Just report here every noon. If you own a property in the city like Double Leaf, you don't have to live in the barracks." Ned shrugged, "After all, this place isn't the best of environments."
No player could possibly afford to own a 'property' in this small city on the first day, and yet, Motan still replied, "Great! Uhm, is the report over for now?"
"Of course~" Double Leaf, the named lady, gave a playful smile to Motan before lazily stretching her arms, "I'm going home now. Since you also own a place in the city, how about accompanying me back home?"
Motan turned to Ned and blinked, "May I go with her?"
"Go ahead." Before Ned could answer, Yinna interjected with a smile, "Just don't forget tomorrow's assembly. We're thinking of taking a rest too."
After saying a quick goodbye to everyone, Motan left the barracks with Double Leaf.
...
"You've also just joined the autonomous army today, right?" Walking along the broad avenue of Stacked Rock City, Motan was the first to break the silence, glancing at the girl beside him with a slight smile, "You seem to know a lot."
A small smile appeared on the corner of Double Leaf's mouth, "I thought your first question would be about how I managed to get a property on the first day."
Motan shrugged, "Anyways, I found logging off in the barracks too inconvenient."
Thus, the conversation between two intelligent people is often quite straightforward.
"I arrived a bit earlier than you." Double Leaf yawned, "Just heard a bit more about how things work. And yes, I considered exploring some information or background but unfortunately, I'm not very good at socializing."
Motan nodded, "Maybe I can give it a try tomorrow."
"Sure." Double Leaf, rubbing her eyes sleepily said, "I have to log off first. I've got something to do today. By the way, you can log in tomorrow around 9 p.m. in real time to make it to the gathering. See you then."
Without waiting for any reaction from Motan, she turned into a beam of white light and vanished where she stood.
"That's one common logout effect." Sighed Motan, "But how does she know..."
Before he could finish speaking, an abnormality abruptly appeared.
[Emergency disconnection has occurred. Will you choose to reconnect?]
"?"
[Emergency disconnection has occurred. Will you choose to reconnect?]
"Yes~"
[Reconnection has started...]
[Connection completed, reading character information]
[The realm of innocence is open for you, the character creation process is about to begin...]
"Oh~?"
Chapter 2: The End