After five minutes, the girl begins to move her arm. She taps four times the left side of her full-face hamlet at a regular pace that opened like an Iron-man helmet.
Her panting breath gradually regulated until it becomes normal.
Isaac looks at all her actions without missing a seed.
She sits with her legs still land on the ground and completely removes the hamlet on her head.
Her hamlet vanished under her collar gadget.
At the same time, Isaac meets the girl's eyes who had short black hair barely reaching her neck.
Her brown pupils pierced Isaac with mistrust.
But Isaac didn't approach her first; guessing she was checking his level.
After three seconds of heavy silence, she tilts her head slightly. "Thank you for saving my life; I owe you one."
Hearing her robotic voice, Isaac could guess she wasn't honest in her words, or her actions; but he didn't care.
"You're welcome. I expect to be thanked in exchange for your information." He went straight to the point without getting lost in politeness.
"Information?" Jane frowns as her mistrust grows up a notch.
"Yes, I just woke up here after finishing the tutorial."
"The tutorial? What exactly are you talking about?"
"..." Isaac also frowns when he saw the confusion of the girl who didn't seem to be simulated.
'Does she pretend to ignore what I'm talking about or does she know nothing about the tutorial? Now that I think about it, didn't she do the tutorial?
-Now that I look at her carefully, nothing she has belongs to God-like Online which is a game with a medieval background. Her clothes and all her equipment are modern; more modern than what the human can create with our current technology.
-There is also her unexpected weakness in the face of this weak beast despite her advanced level. Even if the dog was in Berserker mod, she shouldn't have trouble killing it; given her level.' Isaac's brain was in a download mod as he tried to find clues to explain all the strangeness he was facing.
As for Jane, seeing Isaac's expression which was constantly changing, she stands on the floor. "My name's Jane, Progress World Online's player."
Isaac frowns. "Progress World Online? You mean that other players who played other immersive games...also woke up!?" He asks in a cynical voice.
Jane frowns. "You didn't know that?"
"..." Isaac looks around him more carefully than before.
'I have a bad feeling. Could it be that...!' To verify his hypothesis, he looks straight into Jane's purple eyes.
"How much time has passed since the beginning of all this chaos?"
"... Sigh, one year and six months," Jane answers in a boring voice, believing that Isaac was testing her to see if she was going to lie to him.
But Isaac almost loses his balance after hearing her assertions. "One...one year!?" He stutters in a fly voice.
He then looks at Jane with ferocious eyes. "Are you telling me the truth?"
"..." The latter remains silent and gives him an idiotic look.
After a brief silence, she sighs in a bored mood.
She looks at the digital watch on her wrist and mumbles...
"Picky, what year are we in today?"
[We are in the year 2046, Miss Jane.]
Isaac could hear her watch's female voice that answers Jane's question.
Unlike Isaac's system which spoke in his head, the female voice of Jane's assistant, named Picky, responds aloud.
She then looks at Isaac without commenting.
"...I see, it seems that I spent more time in...-
Before Isaac finishes his sentence, Jane interrupts him with the most unexpected question. "You're a God-like Online player, aren't you?"
"Huh!? How do you know that!?" Isaac frowns darkly.
Jane nonchalantly shrugs. "According to your questions and surprises, it's easy to guess."
"You mean you've met other players? While the tutorial has just finished?"
"Um, My boss's one of them. They are called, legacies' owners; the only ones who can compete with these evolved monsters despite their insignificant levels." Jane responds in a sore voice as if she were jealous of those who belonged to this community.
But her words put the chip in Isaac's ear. "Miss Jane!" He mutters her name in a sober tone.
"You'll have to tell me more."
"...Sigh, you're so impatient, did you get good news?"
"Huh?" Isaac became confused, not understanding the meaning of her words.
"In short; even if boring, I owe it to my savior."
'...Do I dream or does she hate me? However, my pseudonym is not Jack; so where does this anger come from?' Isaac could not help murmuring these concerns in his mind when he saw Jane's eyes.
The latter began her explanation; starting with the main lines.
"At first, also called the first impact, the world was overwhelmed by the sudden chaos that killed two-thirds of the world's population. But thanks to the security forces, the former leaders of each country, they were able to rescue most of the survivors and gave them refuge while waiting for the global crisis to be resolved. In short, they did their best, even if they couldn't help everyone.
-But after a week, those that the world thought they had lost forever, mysteriously appeared in altars belonging to the game that you play as one of the characters.
-The altars of God-Like Online appeared almost everywhere in every major city with the victims dead in chaos. Even those who were buried have come back to life!
It was good news at first, but not for long. Food began to run out; the mouths to feed were too numerous compared to the food reserve. This created a food crisis that almost led to the extinction of our species.
But that was not all; pets and animals in the forest, even the most harmless insects, began to evolve mysteriously and became more serious threats than all the previous ones.
Our current weapons are capable of shooting down monsters from level one to five. But monsters of level six and beyond, up to level ten, can only be shot down by heavy bombing.
It was in this chaos that players playing all immersive games began to awaken. Their characters in the game merged with them. But despite our fanciful equipment and powers, we were always powerless in the face of these abominable creatures; above level 30.
And as if Gods were having fun with us, the resurrected also awakened strange powers; they were not as strong as God-like Online players, but they were stronger than us, even with two levels less.
They are nicknamed God-like Online's NPCs by the assistant of the same name. Most of them aren't warriors. But even those who have healing skills or other secondary trades in God-like Online have become invaluable assets thanks to their classes of healers or crafters.
In short, only God-like online players, having passed the tutorial, were able to play an equal game with monsters; no, they are stronger than monsters. But your arrogance and thirst for power prevent you from doing the work of goodness of heart. Yes, you are really our national heroes. There is too much imbalance between the players, but we can't do anything about it; it's like that, the world has always been like that."
She ends her explanations with her last sarcastic sentence.
Isaac remained silent for a long time as he tried to digest all the new information he had just received.
Two minutes! The time it took him before he woke up in his dizziness.
"Something doesn't fit with what you just told me." He frowns at the girl.
"You look frustrated; you should be happy though. Did you hear bad news?" She asks nonchalantly with a thorny hint in her sentence.
"..." Isaac looks at her with confused eyes, not understanding why she's constantly talking about bad or good news.
"In short, what do you find strange with the explanations I just gave you, Sir Isaac?" She bends her legs and looks at Isaac with a fake smile.
'...What did she experience to be so...empty?' Isaac mutters in his mind.
Since the beginning of his conversation with Jane, she had never shown anything real in her eyes; her smile, her frowns, and even the tone of her voice, everything was simulated. It was more worrying for Isaac; Knowing very well what kind of person he had to do.
But he puts aside his concerns about something that didn't concern him.
"You said that God-like Online players are the only ones who can take care of these monsters. Except that there is an error with your words and the current date. If it's true that a year and a half had passed since then, then how do you explain the fact that I just finished the tutorial that lasted only twenty-four hours?
-It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since I woke up after the end of the tutorial. Therefore, you can't say true. The other players, having passed the same tutorial and within the same time, cannot be as...-
"You are wrong, Mr. Isaac." Jane interrupts him in the mid-sentence without worrying about politeness.
She then continues by seeing Isaac listen to her carefully. "The players of this game didn't appear at the same time. It was the weakest that first reappeared after a period of one month. They had levels 4 to 5. Then, every month, new players appear; even if they were not all human.
-In short, the player's last appearance was eight months old, a girl called Sasha, if I'm not mistaken. She's currently the most famous of all players. I'm not talking about her level as such, but her strength that defies any notion of level. She has the legacy of a succubus.
-By the way, speaking of her, she even gathered her former guild members. But this girl is arrogant, and refuses to listen to anyone; saying that she was waiting for their guild master.
But as they are strong, no one dares to challenge them or force them to do anything. Other guilds manage to stand with them at the top, but everyone knows that the power of the PureBlood Guild exceeds that of others.
The worst thing is that they refuse to expand their influence or increase their power by recruiting those who want to join them. It's damage and a waste of time for the world."
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AN: Progress World Online is another full-dive massive role-playing online game; but different from God-like Online. If The last is focused on the medieval background, the first's more futuristic with technologies far exceeding those of Earth's actual technologies.
Do you have any advice for this beginner author? Don't hesitate!
If it's not the case, then support me otherwise for more chapters per week.
Next:---> Plantation N•25.