As Saad heard the knock, he wondered if some kind of event was finally starting. He had wanted to check Kael's character profile in depth, but it seemed that it would have to wait a little longer.
"Kael, are you awake, sweetheart?"
The wooden door opened, revealing the woman from the portrait. Her long purple hair was tied up beautifully in a braided bun, and she was wearing a navy blue wool gown with a high neckline and long, tight-fitting sleeves that had buttoned cuffs. The gown was simple and elegant, adorned with a few pearls and ribbons on the chest and sleeves. Her face showed deep concern as she walked briskly into the room.
Saad knew he had to get into character now, which wasn't too difficult since he truly felt awful due to the status effect. The concept of pretending these game characters were his 'relatives' was a bit strange, but they looked so real that it was harder to dismiss. Despite that, being gamer had its perks, and having played so many games, Saad felt mentally prepared for this conversation, at least that's what he had thought.
"Kael, my dearest son," the worried woman who entered the room had her name written above her head – 'Lavinia.' The black text indicated she was an NPC. Seeing as her son was awake, she walked closer, "Look, Mr. Gabriel is here. You are going to be fine."
Lavinia came straight to his bed, followed by the old cleric Gabriel and her maid Rosalind, both of whom were NPCs, just like Lavinia.
This being Saad's first time playing a game where he could make decisions, he felt somewhat conscious. What if he said something wrong and caused a bad reaction? He recalled reading a thread where someone mentioned that inappropriate dialogue could lead to a negative reputation. He had trust in himself but now, he wasn't so sure about doing the talking himself. He already had a cursed character. So, in the end he decided to use the suggestion system. As he thought about opening the suggestion box, it appeared before his eyes quite easily. Lavinia seemed concerned, likely because Kael was frowning so much.
The suggestion box displayed three different responses:
[Suggestions]
*You have freedom to choose any response or even give a custom response at any given moment.*
1. "Thank you, Mother. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness, and having Mr. Gabriel here is reassuring."
2. "Ugh, Mother, I don't need a babysitter! I can handle being sick on my own."
3. "Lavinia, it's alright. I guess having Mr. Gabriel here doesn't change the fact that I feel terrible."
Saad easily made his choice. He had no intention of getting on the bad side of his virtual family. So, with a faint smile, he croaked out, "Thank you, Mother. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness, and having Mr. Gabriel here is reassuring." Lavinia smiled lovingly at him, although worry was still evident on her face. She sat on his bed and gently took Kael's hand in her own.
Gabriel, the old cleric, smiled benevolently. His hair was completely white, with a face full of freckles and a very pink nose. He wore a long brown knitted robe with ankle boots, and his sage green robes could be seen underneath.
"Greetings, my child. It seems you are in need of the tender touch of Eir's healing hands. Rest assured, I will offer prayers to the goddess on your behalf. She shall guide your recovery," Gabriel spoke, and Lavinia also tenderly smiled, squeezing his hand. Despite the negative status effects, Saad felt delirious with excitement. The touch, the fragrance of the tea that the maid was silently pouring at the moment—what a brilliantly made game. To think that he got to play a VR game only now-
"Mr. Gabriel is going to heal you, Kael. It will help with your fever, and the negative status will also disappear," Lavinia said, and Saad looked back at Gabriel. Ah, it seemed that his problem was about to be solved very easily on its own. Not to mention, he also realized that negative status was obviously a normal in game terminology.
Once more, the suggestions appeared before him, and Saad quickly scanned through them:
[Suggestions]
*You have freedom to choose any response or even give a custom response at any given moment.*
1. "Greetings, respected Gabriel. Your presence here means a lot to me. Your prayers have always worked wonders. With Eir's healing hands and your guidance, I'm confident I'll recover soon."
2. "Hey, Gabriel! Good to see you again. Your prayers did wonders last time, so I'm counting on your expertise once more. Eir's got our backs, right?"
3. "Oh, Gabriel, it's you... I'm just feeling so weak and tired. Your prayers have always helped, but this fever... it feels like it's dragging me down."
If he was being honest, reading a response, selecting it, and then reading it out loud took so much time. Now he realized just why people chose to ignore the suggestions. Because Lavinia and Gabriel both were looking at him with a conflicted gaze, so Saad hurried his response, "Greetings, Mr. Gabriel. Your prayers have always worked wonders. I'm just feeling so weak and tired."
Ah, he had ended up mixing the responses. But seeing the gentle look given by both of them, it seemed that he hadn't messed up. Gabriel nodded, and soon he was holding his hands together and mumbling under his breath. Saad was aware that the game was a fantasy genre, but seeing the extremely real sight of his first spell in this world was magnificent. The gentle sound of a bell rang in his ear with a faint golden ball floating and touching his forehead and scattering like astral dust. As it rang once, a message window opened:
[Eir's Whisper]
Low-rank ailment easing spell Eir's Whisper has been activated.
HP +1 every minute.
Then it rang once more in his ear-
[The negative status effect 'Brainfreeze' has been lifted. Stamina will recover every 15 minutes.]
[The negative status effect 'Arctic Shivers' has been lifted. Stamina will recover every 60 minutes.]
and then it rang for the third and last time.
[The negative status effect 'Fever Haze' has been lifted. Strength will recover in 3 hours.]
[The negative status effect 'Am I a Slug' has lifted. Agility will recover in 3 hours.]
Saad blinked in utter disbelief, feeling thrilled as he physically felt the effects of the spell working, and his HP, which had decreased further to 35, stopped decreasing, gaining a sweet +1 within a minute. To think he could feel the effect so vividly—the developers had truly made a terrifyingly realistic game.
"May the blessings of Goddess Eir be with you. She has answered our prayers. I hope you feel better, young man," Gabriel smiled benevolently, and somehow, Saad liked this old man. His pure energy and caring demeanor felt more genuine than most real people.
"His color is already returning to his face. He is such a healthy boy. I wonder what happens sometimes that he suddenly gets so sick like this," Lavinia worriedly looked at the cleric. One look at the cleric's face told Saad that there might be a clue, but of course, a message window popped up, and Saad wanted to scream at it, but there was no use.
[You have received a minor heal Eir's Whisper. As a side effect of not being Eir's worshipper, you will be falling into the status affect, 'Sleeping like a child'.]
Time until awake: 3 hours.]
"Actually, I have been looking into it, and-" Gabriel spoke a little hesitantly, but Saad tried to hold on. Alas, it was no use. Just like how you can't stop yourself from falling asleep in a fever in real life once the medicine kicks in, he was knocked out before he could hear the clue.
[You have fallen asleep.]
He saw the last window before all his senses shut off, and he was logged out of the game since he was 'sleeping.'
Saad took off the headset, still in disbelief. He looked at the blinking timer that read 60 minutes until he could log in again. He felt mentally exhausted for some reason, and as he looked up at the clock, barely half an hour had passed, yet it felt as if he had been playing the game for hours. It was probably thanks to that frustrating guide NPC. Saad still held a grudge against him, even if he grew on him in that short time period. But it really seemed like the in game time moved a lot faster than real life. It was a rather foreign concept to him. Like how the 3 in game hours only meant an hour in real life.