"Whoa!"
Jolting awake, I found myself in an all-white room. I feel like I've seen this room before but I'm not really sure. At least until a soft voice greeted me from behind.
A girl with long black hair and a beautiful face spoke to me. The girl is none other than the AI of this game, Artificia.
"Hello, Crimson Clover. You are in this room because you have been killed."
"Killed?"
Now I remember. Previously, I was trying to escape with Melissa by luring her two sisters to the direction where Captain Aldoun and the other magic knights were carrying out their mission. Unfortunately my body was pierced by a sword and apparently the bleeding made me die.
Looking at my body floating like a wandering spirit, I asked Artificia while remembering the pain I felt when I was pierced by Rossa's sword.
"Artificia, is there no setting in this game regarding the pain felt by the players?"
In my mind I continued, "I know this game is very similar to real world but the pain that also feels very real. Isn't it too much? I'm sure other players also have the same thoughts as me."
"Sorry but there is no such setting. Everything including the pain is set to feel like reality."
Nodding in understanding, I asked my second question.
"Now I'm dead. So what do I have to do to come back? Am I subject to some kind of penalty?"
Artificia answered my question by bringing up a virtual screen showing many scenes of the players death.
Some of the players died in brutal ways like mutilated, beheaded, eaten by monsters, drowned, fell from heights, cursed, burned, frozen and many more.
Compared to them, my death felt like nothing. I can feel how tormented it is for them to die in such brutal circumstances like what I'm currently seeing with Artificia.
Artificia began to explain about the death of the players to me.
"As you can see, there were a lot of deaths in various circumstances that happened to the players. Some of them even left no trace."
"For those who died without leaving a trace, they would not be able to go online for three days while those who still had completed bodies could be revived by using special magic or special tools."
I was able to get valuable information because of my death. I don't know whether I should be happy or not, but the current problem is the fact that I don't have any special magic or special tools to come back alive and complete my quest.
Maybe Artificia could read my thoughts from the look on my face, this girl told me a very expensive instant solution.
"Don't worry, you can be revived instantly with a special offer for your first death."
Without giving me a chance to say anything, a virtual screen appeared in front of me showing an image with the words 50% discount and the $500 price crossed out becomes $250.
If I was eating or drinking when I saw this ad, I will choke to death. I didn't expect the game company that released this game would use microtransaction in this way.
"Here I thought they would remain neutral and not interfere with what was happening in the game."
This makes me even more convinced after the previous camera incident that what the company said about not interfering with anything in the game was just a complete bullshit.
But this time I have to admit the benefits of this microtransaction feature.
"Isn't the price too expensive? Can it be lowered a little more?" I asked trying to bargain.
"Sorry but this price can't be any lowered. Every second in the game is precious and you can lose progress because of your death. If you really don't have money, it's better to wait even though you will lose your current progress."
What Artificia said did make sense even though I knew that her words were the wishes of the game company itself.
"You can show various kinds of deaths from various players. Can you show me the current state of my body?"
Between spending the money to get back to life or giving up on Melissa's quest. I will decide after seeing the current situation.
I really want to save Melissa and complete the mission. But I'm not a fool who spends my money to revive only to be killed a few seconds later.
At this time I choose to see and analyze the situation.
Artificia is an intelligent AI. Of course she knows what I'm thinking right now. Even so, Artificia didn't refuse my request and started showing me what was going on between Melissa and her sisters after my death.
In the forest, I saw my body lying stiff with a fairly wide stab wound on the ground beside Rossa.
Lissana was still riding the gigantic ice bird created by her magic. But what really surprised me was Melissa's current condition.
She looked different from the Melissa I knew. Her hair turned white as snow and her pupils were bloody red with a cold gaze and indifferent expression.
If I didn't ask Artificia to show me the current state of my body, I might never see another figure of Melissa.
I feel like I know two different people or is this what is called alternative personality or alter ego?
Unfortunately I couldn't hear their conversation because what was shown to me was only a picture like a camera.
I saw Lissana looks very angry and start to attack Melissa while Rossa looked very wary with her sword that had succeeded in taking my life once.
Attacked by a lot of spiky icicles, Melissa faced the attack head-on. Her fighting style is completely different from the witch that I know.
Wind wings appeared on Melissa's back as Melissa accelerated towards Lissana. Every attack that Lissana launched at her was easily crushed by her two flexible wings.
I also saw Melissa move her hand in a slashing motion towards Lissana. If Lissana had not sensed the danger and strong aura of death from that attack, her fate would have ended the same as the gigantic ice bird she was riding a few seconds ago. Split into two.
Seeing how ferocious Melissa's attack were, I felt confident that Melissa could win the fight against Lissana. While Rossa, I still don't know how big the difference in strength between the two of them is right now.