[Vlance: Announcement: Last day of random shifting environments as you haven't been good at sifting them out.]
"That's good at least," Niles laughed.
Niles' last shifting environment was a large kingdom of red and white mushrooms, where a series of questposts were left behind. The first one had a simple message: [Go to the Red Mushroom Kingdom. The quest has a reward of 100 xp and 2000 gold.] Niles sighed, having no intention of accepting the quest since the quest was clearly written by NPCs.
In the distance he saw an abundance of players cheering and having a good time, distance, the sounds of laughter echoing across the plain. Niles narrowed his eyes at the sight, wondering what was causing these players to revel in their success. He shook his head and looked forward, ignoring the feeling of eyes boring into him.
"So we both got pushed into the same place today!" Nova laughed.
[World Announcement: A church will be opening soon so players may marry.]
"Ouija finally convinced them to let him have the church!" He cackled.
Niles could feel something bad was about to happen. Niles's intuition proved to be right. As the announcement of the church opening spread throughout the virtual world, a sense of unease began to fill the air. Rumors started circulating among the players happily.
"What even is going on?" Niled asked.
"Nothing, but Nulls is it?" Nova questioned.
"Huh? Niles!" He shouted.
Nova wrapped his arms around Niles shoulder, hugging tightly to his chest. "We got a mission together! We gotta go to the new church later," he smiled, excitement practically oozing off of his body.
"Why are you so happy?" Niled inquired.
"Tell you what, I will help you make your first kill," Nova smiled.
Niles jumped in the air excitedly, his eyes lighting up at the news. He stared at Nova, waiting expectantly for an answer. Nova giggled, placing his hands on his hips proudly. "First kill… we need a victim, right?"
He hesitated, even though it was just a game, as he watched the cheering crowds, worried crowds around them. Then he remembered someone. Someone very important, and someone that he could never forget. She was sitting amongst the crowd, and she was looking directly at him.
The healer smiled knowingly before turning away from him. Her warm expression made Niles smile back. He knew he was worried about her after being separated for a while, but seeing her smile brought him some relief. For her sake, he wanted to live. For her sake, he needed to survive.
"Stop, don't let some woman get in your way," Nova stated.
"But she is my uhh…" Nile paused.
[Tsundere Attraction: Activated.]
[Galena: HP/MP 1000/1000.]
"Do not fucking tell me your innate ability is…" Nova muttered.
"My innate ability is making a bond and they become tsundere?" Niles responded.
Side stepping her way out of the crowd, she gave Nova a suspicious look as she didn't trust anyone around here with Niles. She felt that if anyone tried anything funny, they would all die horribly. She had no idea who this guy was, nor why he was acting weird towards her like a lovesick idiot (which wasn't that farfetched considering this was a game). But if she was honest with herself, she couldn't deny the attraction between them or the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about him when they were apart.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," Galena said quietly as she walked over to them.
"Hey, how'd you know I came here?" Nilas questioned, confused by her statement.
"Tsundere Insight, it allowed me to view where you were," she smiled.
"Yo, she is creepy," Nova noted.
"And you aren't?" Niles responded.
"I wanna help you get started," Nova boasted.
Niled stood there stunned, as it made no sense to him as a player killer. It was obviously a trap. There was no point in trusting a stranger that seemed to have no reason besides their obvious interest in helping him. It didn't make sense. It was just like a game… maybe this wasn't really a game. Maybe Niles just wasn't good enough.
"Well, uh, I don't mean to take advantage of your kindness or whatever, but I don't think I can trust you." The words fell off of Niles' tongue and immediately, a small blush formed on his face. He realized what he had just did and cursed himself, his cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment.
"No problem." He smiled. "So you're saying yes, then? You'll help us?" His words seemed hesitant, his gaze averted to the floor, as if he was afraid of the answer. However, there was no hint of deceit in his voice, just genuine interest.
"I don't wanna!" Niles shouted.
"If Darling doesn't want to, then I will stop you!" Galena shouted.
[Fierce Loyalty: Neutral Attack Activated.]
"Guardian's Parry!" Nova shouted.
She drew her healer's staff out as Nova's scissor blade caught her attack. Niles took out his knife as well, readying himself to defend themselves. It wasn't long before Galena managed to regain control of the battle. They both backed down, breathing hard as they glared at each other.
"Listen to me, you idiot. This small group will be doing something big and thought you would want to do it!" Nova shouted.
"Huh? You really mean it?" Niles responded.
"I could have killed you already, you stupid newbie," Nova smiled.
Galena was confused by what was happening as she listened to the conversation between the two boys.
"Are you alright?" Galena asked.
"I will give you a date and time, but you need to start working on levels and I am gonna help you with a start," Nova stated.
Nova flashed the teleport key with a smile as Niles watched curiously as Galena glared at him
With pure hatred. He could tell she wanted nothing more than to kill him. As Niles contemplated this, he suddenly felt a pain in his stomach.
"Even though we were randomly being teleported, you know this key goes anywhere, right?" Nova noted.
"You mean it doesn't just go to base?" Niles asked.
"No, come with me and you will understand why I am top of the leader-board," He hummed.