Darkness.
Then bright light.
Max opened his eyes slowly.
He was laying naked in bed.
With the woman he got to know two days ago and went out with yesterday.
The window was open and letting in sunlight and fresh air that was neither cold nor hot.
One could say that a man can't start off his day any better.
'A truly great start to a day.' He thought.
'This beautiful town, this beautiful woman, the sea, the food, the drinks, my friends...All of it is incredible.'
He bought a few clothes native to this town and its culture and chose one for today in his closet.
'I know it's an illusion...'
He put on the clothes while thinking.
'But reality is so far away, so distant and out of reach that this may as well be my new r...'
Then his mind stopped.
After that, his eyes looked different. Almost as if his very soul underwent a change, a fix.
'Shut the fuck up.'
A vision of his wife and kids appeared in his mind.
'I will come back.'
Max went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
After doing so, he looked at himself in the mirror.
The reflection of a handsome young man could be seen. His face had average bone mass, not very dimorphic, his eyes were dark blue. He had prominent cheek bones but not much of a hollow cheek look. The widest part of his mandible wasn't as wide as his cheek bones. Not by much thought. Heart-shaped face.
His hair was dark, healthy and had medium length.
Max could see significant facial hair on his face.
So, he started shaving it. He never liked it.
Once he was done, he looked at his jaw.
Then into his own almond eyes.
They were positively tilted. He had a bit of upper eyelid exposure. His eye brows were medium set and neutral.
'Good enough.'
With that thought he left his bathroom and the room he was in.
The sight of the naked woman was alluring but Max chose to leave.
He went outside the hotel.
He started thinking again as he walked to the restaurant he was going to meet Manuel in.
'But am I not contradicting myself?'
He frowned.
'I want to go back to my family, yet I'm exploring a world that I can leave at any time?'
"Tch." He stared at his moving feet blankly.
'Hmm, just a bit more. I won't be here much longer. So far I've gained great power from this path that I took. Power that will help me break through this game one day once I decide to catch up with the best.'
He reasoned to himself.
Still, it looks like a contradiction. But it appears that his desire to see his family is influencing the seemingly contradictory path he took.
'I was definitely cowardly in the first couple of months though.'
But his love for his family managed to get him to enter the world of danger, violence, uncertainty and growth. His love for exploration and world immersion further molded his way of playing.
A few minutes later, Max found himself at the wooden stairs that lead to a teahouse on the second floor of a building in the main district.
He climbed up the dark wood stairs and pulled the wooden door of the teahouse to the side.
The door slid into the wall and Max entered.
Inside was a relaxing environment with music being played on a musical instrument by a lone performer.
The windows let in bright light of the two suns in the sky.
Manuel was sitting by the long windows. Looking down at the people in the port and the ships.
"Hey bro." Max greeted the knight.
"Hey." Manuel got up and shook Max's hand.
While sitting down, Max noticed that Manuel got a haircut.
"Finally you shaved your beard. It doesn't suit you at all."
"Yeah. I realized that long ago."
...And the bruises on his face.
"What happened to you?"
"Did some sparring with the town's guard. The Awakened knight beat me up pretty good."
"Oh? Where?"
"At their training grounds. I can show you after."
"Sure."
They both took a sip of the warm tea.
"Lovely." Manuel said.
"Agreed."
"The fruit juice in this comes from only these parts of the continent. A specialty of Rinea, I heard."
"There's so many things to try, huh."
"Yeah, we'll never experience everything."
This means something because it is assumed that the higher your aura and constitution stats are, the longer it takes for you to grow old.
Players thought this because some lords and kings have lived for 80 years and look middle-aged on the first floor.
Years on Earth and this world are similar. 1 Earth year is 1.13 Mirlia years.
Mirlia is this world's name. Though the game's system calls it Floor One.
"After this...Will we rush to the Anima and see what's that about before the tournament? I mean is there enough time?" Max asked the knight.
"Hmmm. We'll need good mounts. We can't walk." Manuel asnwered.
"Alright."
There was a silence.
It took a dozen seconds for Max to break it.
"Oh, right! I have to get my weapon. Do you wanna come with me and see if you can make yourself something better to use?"
"Sure."
"I made a poisonous sword. And also the gem I inserted deals random status effects."
"That's crazy." Manuel replied.
"We also gotta get Thomas something new."
"Yeah."
Max stopped talking and looked at the knight.
He looked like he wasn't fully present.
"What is on your mind, man?"
"What? Nothing."
"You can't lie to me."
Manuel sighed.
"It's just...I'm afraid."
"Ain't we all?"
"Yeah, but...look how many monsters we've slain. Hundreds. How much we walked and travelled in this world. How many dangers we've overcome."
"And?"
"And, well... Will this lucky streak last?"
"Luck is only part of the equation. It isn't a lucky streak."
"I guess, but I can't help it."
"You can. It all comes down to whether or not your desire to escape beats your desire to cower away."
The nodded slowly.
"Do you have anything that makes you want to go back to the real world?" Asked Max.
"Of course." The knight answered with a slight change in expression.
"What is it?"
"My fiancee, my dog, my parents, my sister..."
"I have a wife and kids waiting for me. We both have reason to ignore our fears."
Manuel silently continued drinking his tea.
So did Max.
The atmosphere was calming. Healing even, especially with the background music, the pleasant laugh of the people around him and the bright day outside the large windows.
Max looked out to the sea and saw something.
A monster. A giant sea monster. It kept leaping out of and into the water. Behaving similar to a dolphin. It was bright blue in color, with scales and golden lines flowing across its body, literally. They moved around, never in the same place for two seconds.
"Hey? You see that?" He asked Manuel.
"Oh? That's a guardian monster." The spear knight answered.
"What?"
"It's a friendly monster. The NPCs say that it protects the ships and city by killing any dangerous monster that sometimes approach the shore. A friendly apex predator."
"Weird. I've never seen a monster being used like that."
"Same. No one knows why it doesn't attack humans. They also say that it's hundreds of years old. " Manuel added
"It has to be something very powerful. Perhaps an Awakened boss monster?" Max guessed.
"Maybe even something like an Epic..."
"Well there's no way we can kill it. We're utterly defenseless in water."
Max's ability and armor weren't enough at all.
Not even Priam the number one player could slay the second floor main boss monster that was a terrific sea monster months ago.
The slaying was done by another player.
"Do you know anything about the island in front of the town?" Max asked.
"Barely. I do know that there's a highly valuable mine there and some ancient ruins no one knows anything about."
"Sounds like something we should check out."
"Well, conveniently, the first Anima is there."
"Huh? You didn't say that?!"
There are two. That Max knew.
"Sorry. You didn't ask."
"You're weird, bro."
They chuckled a bit.
"Well, let's go to the blacksmith first. I'll pick up a weapon and buy something nice for you."
Max did a few monster hunts on his own and made money the day before. It didn't take too long. Mainly because of his wings.
"Sure."
...
"That'll be 20." The waiter arrived after a few more minutes of the players' conversation.
"I'll pay." Manuel insisted.
The two tall and imposing players walked out and went to the blacksmith shop a few blocks away.