The riverbank in the grassland is a dynamic landscape. Tall grasses sway with the breeze, and wildflowers add splashes of color to the surroundings. The open expanse provides a clear view of the water, reflecting the sky above. Small animals like rabbits and birds find refuge in the grass, and the gentle murmur of the river complements the serene ambiance of the grassy riverbank.
On the way toward the river were two young girls.
"Elena, what are you going to do later? I heard you're headed to the city after I leave. What are your plans?" a beautiful girl clad in a lovely blue dress inquired, her eyes reflecting a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Elena, with a subtle smile playing on her lips, responded, "Yeah, I'll be there, but not for another ten days. I thought I'd check out the city now that I have nothing to do. What about you?"
"Well, I'm kinda nervous about it, you know? City life is so different. But hey, I'll miss the village while I'm away," Aisha confessed, a trace of vulnerability in her voice.
Understanding Aisha's sentiments, Elena nodded. "Totally get that, Aisha. It'll be weird without you here. What do you think you'll do in the city?"
Aisha pondered. "Probably explore a bit, find some cozy spots. But what about you? Any plans for the capital?"
Elena, with a thoughtful expression, shared her thoughts, "Oh, I'm thinking of meeting new players, maybe finding out more about this game world. And, you know, check out the places–"
The moment Elena said this, her eyes widened, and her face began to turn red. She froze.
Aisha was confused, seeing the surprised expression on Elena's face, and turned to look at what made her friend surprised. Once she saw what she did, she too froze like her friend too.
Meanwhile, after hearing the voice, Bittu immediately came out of the river and quickly put on his clothes. He wore his pants but he didn't have time to wear his shirt before he saw two girls come out from behind the bushes.
Bittu froze as did the girls.
A moment later, " Ahhhhhahhhahhhhhahhhh..." The screech of both the women could be heard from quite a distance.
************
Currently, Bittu and the girls were sitting in the shade of a big tree. Bittu had already worn his clothes, and the two girls were also quite calm, as if forgetting what they saw earlier.
All of them were silent, making the atmosphere awkward. Aisha, seeing the awkward atmosphere, decided to speak.
"So, what's your name, and what are you doing here?" Curious to know who this man was.
"Hello girls, My name is Bittu, and I am on my way towards the village," said Bittu, also trying to remove the awkwardness.
Aisha raised an eyebrow, "Heading to the village, huh? Not many strangers pass through here. Why the visit?"
Bittu hesitated for a moment before replying, "I have just lost my job. So, I was hoping I could settle in the village."
Elena, breaking the silence, added, "Well, our village is small, but we do welcome visitors. You might also get a job here quickly."
Aisha, intrigued, said, "Alright then, Bittu. We'll take you to the village. By the way, where are your clothes? You can't exactly walk into a village like that."
Bittu chuckled, "Yeah, about that... My clothes got torn while running away from a wild animal. Do you mind grabbing some spare clothes from the village? I don't have any on me."
Aisha nodded, "Sure, I'll go. Elena, you stay here with Bittu."
As Aisha headed towards the riverbank, Elena turned to Bittu asked with a serious face, "So, Bittu, are you really here for that?"
Bittu, confused, asked, "What do you mean?"
Elena, looking at Bittu, said, "Don't you play dumb? I know that you are a player. So, why are you here?" Her previous demeanor changed, and she had a fierce face. She had bad image of other players especially male players because they were unreasonable and lustful.
"What? How did you know that?" said Bittu, who was shocked to find out someone who can identify if someone is a player or not. His body tensed at the mention of that, and then he said, "How did you know that?"
"That doesn't concern you; why don't you answer my question first?" said Elena with the same fierce expression, this time with a hint of anger.
Bittu, who was here to live peacefully, decided to tell her, seeing her face, "Fine, I am here to..."
Bittu suddenly jumped at the sitting Elena and tried to put the dagger he had taken out in the process from his inventory at her neck.
Elena, who was alert for any surprise attack, avoided him, but she has underestimated him.
Bittu, after exercising for all this while in the woods, has his speed doubled, even though his agility hasn't increased.
Bittu managed to put his dagger on her neck, but in the process, his other hand unexpectedly clutched Elena's right breast.
The tense moment suddenly turned awkward. Elena had an angry and embarrassed face, while Bittu's face was cold. He swiftly took a turn and arrived at her back and then pointed his dagger towards her neck, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
Bittu will never back down from a fight if he doesn't have or need to, and right now he needed answers from this mysterious woman who can find out who are players and who are not.
Elena thought Bittu would be embarrassed and leave her, which she would take full advantage of, but he didn't.
"Quite shameless you are, as well as a pervert," said Elena to rile Bittu up, but it didn't work.
While in a fight, Bittu always kept his cool... Well last time his pride made him do so, hence it can't be helped. Anyway, he will never get distracted in a fight.
"Now, why don't you answer my questions?" Bittu said with a cold smile.
Elena didn't reply.
"First, How did you know I was a player?" Bittu said with intrigue.
"..."
"..."
"Sigh..." Bittu sighed and said, "I didn't want to do this to a cute girl like you but..." As Bittu said this, his voice near the end became chilling, and he made a scratch on the girl's neck.
Elena, though, wasn't intimidated; she stayed silent. But, her heart started to ache all of a sudden when she felt the scratch.
Bittu wasn't fine either the moment he made the scratch on her neck. Bittu's heart felt like it was burning in hellfire. Excessive heartache were being suffered by his heart.
Bittu's eyes were currently focused on the drops of blood that were falling on her clothes. The more he watched the blood, the more his mind and spirit screamed at him.
'No.... Noo.....NOOO....'
Meanwhile, Elena has gotten out of her strange heartache. Seeing that this pervert was not paying attention, she jumped away from him and decided to fully activate her only source of confidence.
She activated her spirit stat. That's right – she has unlocked her spirit stat, though that was the only one that has unlocked in her status, but that was more than enough.
Just now she was using that stat to conceal her beauty. The moment all of her... energy is what she calls it focused on this stat her face and physique changed.
Right now she looked breathtakingly beautiful, stunning, and sexy; right now all of her cuteness was gone.
The moment his eyes laid on this breathing beauty. Bittu, who was in a dazed state because of his unexpected and strange heartache, suddenly experienced a change too when he noticed the malicious intent in her eyes. His ache suddenly intensified and his eyes hollowed, and he became unconscious whith his body still standing.
But, strange things were happening in his body. His eyes that were brown changed colors and became green, and within those eyes formed a... thread?!
Elena was shocked seeing this happen and was baffled, thinking what was happening to this guy. When suddenly, the red thread burst with unimaginable speed and shot right into Elena's eye and traveling from there into her soul.
After the thread got stuck to her soul. Elena's eyes that were brown too suddenly changed and became silver for a while and then returned to its natural color.
The moment the strange event was completed, both of them became totally unconscious and laid on the river bank and slept.
Elena's energy was completely drained, so she couldn't manage to cover her beauty or the drops of blood on her clothes but the scratch on her neck closed as she fell unconscious.
************
A while ago,
In the strange space of the masked man.
He was currently looking at the scene of Elina and Bittu fighting.
When Bittu assaulted Elena, he said enthusiastically, "Kill that b*tch."
He was enjoying until he saw that Bittu's body was responding unnaturally. He began to inspect but couldn't find any.
But, the moment he saw the red thread in Bittu's eyes his face behind the mask showed confusion, "I have seen it somewhere but why can't I remember?"
Until he saw the thread shoot into Elena's soul. He then said while clenching his jaws, " ....Red thread of fate."
"YOU WRETCHED WITCH...."
"YOU TRICKED ME..."
"AHHHAHAHHHHHHHHH... " the masked man was trembling with anger.
If looks could kill, he would have managed to kill Elena a thousand times over right now.
Suddenly an older version of Bittu arrived near the masked man and said, " Looks like she managed to make you a fool.... Wait a minute, you already are a clown... Hahahahaha" The older Bittu said and burst into laughing.
"Bittu, I am...not in the mood currently. Leave me alone. " The masked man said restraining his anger.
"Hah... You are no fun. "The older Bittu said and then disappeared just as suddenly as he arrived.
After older Bittu left, the masked man said with determination, " You managed to trick me this time but I will not let it happen again."
"Enjoy it while you can; you won't be able to do so after the tutorial is over."
Meanwhile, After the older Bittu left the masked man alone he spoke to no particular, " Nice one Elena, that was a good trick. Now you have managed to stay together with Bittu for a while, but you have to be prepared because fate doesn't like it when someone interferes with it."
"Ahhh.... Interesting. It's gonna be a good show to watch."
************
At the riverbank,
Half an hour later, Aisha arrived only to see Bittu and Elena unconscious; she hurriedly arrived near them and asked.
"Elena.... What happened?" she said in a worried tone to the beautiful girl seeing her in her true form.
Getting no response, she dragged her under the shade of the tree, ignoring Bittu. Then she splashed some water on Elena's face to wake her up.
Seeing her slowly open her eyes, Aisha said, "Are you okay?" with a concerned voice.
Elena opened her eyes while holding her head as if that was in pain. The pain was because the older version of Elena that had vanished was summoned to younger Elena with the string of fate. She was adjusting to the body while the younger Elina's spirit slept peacefully in her mind.
After a while, Elena shook her head and then said, " I am fine."
"Is Bittu fine?" asked Elena with a voice full of concern.
Aisha was baffled seeing her best friend concerned about a man because Elena was very shy and didn't talk to any man at all.
She suspiciously said, " Why are you so concerned about him? "
Elena then told the story she had prepared beforehand.
"A strange animal just attacked us. I was in this form because I was going to fight the animal with my power but, my powers didn't work on the creature at all. Instead, it was sucking my energy away." said Elena with fake fear on her face.
Aisha was shocked listening to her friend and said, " What?! There are animals like that too. How did you survive ? Are you really okay? ", panicked.
Elena looking gratefully at Bittu said, " He killed the creature at the last moment just when it was about to attack my neck." while showing the bloodstain on her dress.
"Ohhh,... That's why you were concerned just now? But, how did he kill that creature and how did you guys get unconscious. Wait, he is also a player?? " asked Aisha surprised by the revelation.
"Yes, you know I have that ability so, I knew it from the start. He killed that animal with that knife there." Elena said pointing at the knife Bittu used to threaten her.
She continued, " About how we got unconscious.... I don't know. But it seems like that creature made us see some illusions on its last breath in which I and Bittu were fighting but, I managed to get out of that because of my spirit stat but he didn't so, if he speaks nonsense after waking up. Don't bother with him." with lingering fear in her voice, which managed to fool her best friend.
'I am sorry, Aisha. But I have to lie to you. I can't take anymore risk by telling you the truth. ' Elena thought while apologizing in her mind.
"Now hurry up and wake him up too. " We need to go back to the village now that the sun is on its descent."
Aisha brought water from the river and splashed it on Bittu's face while Elena took Bittu's knife and kept it in her inventory.
A moment later, Bittu opened his eyes and suddenly felt severe headaches.
"Arg... Argh... "
Bittu blurry vision became clear and he saw....