40 minutes had passed. Alice stood, staring at her broken sword—with a mix of emotions on her face, shock, confusion, betrayal, despair...
Her memories flowed, she recalled the day she first played Arcadia. She was in the darkest period of her life, and the game was the light that helped her move forward. But now, because of that same game, Alice is trapped in another world, with a minimal chance of returning home.
Her breathing became faster and irregular, reflecting her anger and frustration. She gripped the hilt of her sword and threw it against a tree, embedding the broken blade into its trunk. Immediately after, the player kicked the ground and let out a frustrated scream before falling to her knees. "FUAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Glob. Glob?" The Slime—who had stayed by her side all this time—approached her.
Alice's frustration was replaced by surprise and relief "Oh, you're still here?" she raised a small smile and extended her hand to pet the gelatinous creature "Thanks for earlier. I really needed it."
Suddenly, the creature leaped onto the player's hand and crawled up her body "Hey! What are you doing- AHAHAHAHAHA! Don't stop! That tickles- HAHAHAHAHA" Alice falls into laughter, until the Slime reaches the top of her head, where it remains still.
"Aww! You want to accompany me?"
"Glob."
"I'll take that as a yes!"
She stood up, with the Slime on her head "What should I call you? Well, since you're on my head now, you're like a hat. How about Cap?" the Slime responded with silence "Really, terrible. There was a hat that my grandfather always wore no matter the place, he didn't even take it off to swim, what was the name…? Ah, I remember! Fedora!"
The Slime emitted joyful noises.
"So it's settled, I'll call you Fedora!"
"Oh, that's right. I reached level 3." she opened the status menu and made a thoughtful expression "Where should I put it this time?" she looked at Fedora "Any suggestions?"
"Glob, glob, glob."
"Wise words, my friend." she put 3 points into Defense and 2 into Stamina—which gave her the impression that her skin was getting tougher.
[Alice LvL. 3]
[HP: 65/65]
[Stamina: 60/60]
[Mana: 50/50]
[Class: Swordswoman]
[Strength: 6]
[Defense: 4]
[Stamina: 3]
[Speed: 6]
[Intelligence: 1]
[Magic: 1]
[Luck: 1]
While looking at her menu, she also remembered that she received some items from the boss besides the daggers, the 'Alpha's Fang', whose description is hidden, and the Snow Hunter armor.
A fur coat of black and yellow colors overlapped the tunic that Alice wore "This resistance means that I'll take less damage in attacks, something extremely useful, besides being fashionable, but…" she began to sweat and feel unbearable heat due to her new outfit "I don't think it's worth it with this heat!"
In a tone of sarcasm and frustration, she grumbled "First, the useless daggers, now an armor that I can barely use. Of course, I was lucky to get precisely the most inconvenient drops possible!"
She felt a little disappointed that she couldn't take advantage of the physical resistance benefits offered by the Snow Hunter, but she knew it wasn't worth feeling uncomfortable just to have a slight advantage in combat.
"Let's go, Fedora, it seems that luck is not on my side. Especially today." Alice retrieves her weapon from the ground and moves forward in the forest.
During their advance, the duo noticed the absence of the Gray Wolves that were previously quite predominant in the forest—which made Alice question whether the boss's defeat had an impact on this. Until suddenly, she stepped on a Wolf carcass.
"Ew! That's disgusting!" she retreated with a disgusted expression—which only increased when she saw a large trail of predator corpses, all having cut marks on their bodies.
As disgusting as it is, she sees this as an opportunity. After all, if something killed all those wolves, there's a chance that a strong creature is at the end of these trails, that is, a chance to earn good XP.
She followed the trails, scanning her surroundings to avoid surprise attacks. Until she found in a concentrated area of Wolf corpses, 3 skeletons—each carrying a different weapon: sword, bow, and axe.
Seeing the player, the trio of skeletal eyes glow red and they assume their combat pose.
Determined to face the challenges, Alice prepared for combat. She raised her broken-blade sword, ready for battle, while Fedora emitted sounds of encouragement on her head—which didn't change anything, but was adorable. With a swift move, she advanced towards the skeletons, focused on her swordsmanship skills.
The skeletons, agile despite their deteriorated appearance, promptly reacted to the player's movements. The skeleton with the sword advanced first, swinging its blade in a wide arc towards Alice, while the other two held their positions, the archer preparing an arrow and the axe bearer waiting for the right moment to attack.
The player stopped advancing—and held the broken blade in front of her—the swordsman skeleton approached her preparing a lethal blow. And with a determined smile she said "Aaaaand… Block!"
[Perfect Block]
[Stamina: 50/65]
The skeleton was thrown back by the impact of its strike, its arms broke and its sword flew out. But before he could try to get up, Alice threw the broken blade at his head, which thanks to her strength and the short distance, pierced his skull.
[Experience: 93/150]
The player advanced to steal the sword of the dead skeleton, but was surprised by the arrow of the Skeleton Archer—with her enhanced agility—she ducked in time, feeling the wind of the arrow passing over her head.
Without wasting time, she picked up the rusty sword from the ground and advanced on the skeleton archer—to end the long-range attacks—but she was surprised by the quick advance of the skeleton with the axe, who fell with his immense weapon performing a powerful vertical cut.
But she put her blade in front of the blow before it hit her, the skeleton noticed her action, but there was nothing he could do at that moment. And the moment his weapon touched the sword, a powerful shock wave was reflected in his direction, destroying his fragile body instantaneously.
[Stamina: 35/65]
Alice yawned in boredom, aiming to annoy the last skeleton "Now I remember why this skill could only be acquired at level 500, it's more efficient than any shield!"
[Experience: 101/150]
With the axe-bearing skeleton eliminated, Alice turned to the Skeleton Archer, determined to end the long-distance threat. Holding her rusty sword firmly, she advanced towards the skeleton, ready to face him face to face.
The Skeleton Archer retreated with a leap, launching another arrow towards Alice. With sharp reflexes, she dodged the projectile, feeling the wind of the arrow passing by her cheek. Without giving the skeleton a chance to attack again, Alice advanced quickly, her sword ready to deliver the final blow.
The Skeleton Archer tried to retreat again, but it was too late. Alice's rusty blade hit his skull accurately, cutting through the dried bones and putting an end to the threat.
[Experience: 107/150]
In the heat of victory, the player felt that it was too easy—those skeletons were too weak to defeat all those wolves. There's something more…
"Whatever. At least I got a new sword! A trash one, but a sword nonetheless!" says Alice in a tone of enthusiasm.
Fedora jumps off Alice's head, and crawls to the bones of the fallen creatures, dissolving them quickly. This reminds the player that she hasn't eaten anything since she entered the game, and so she looks around, seeing the cyan apples in the trees.
She picked a fruit and began to eat it, tasting the same as a common apple "Hm. Not bad. It's good that this forest is full of resources for beginner players. But I'll have to leave it soon, if not I'll never unlock the 100 achievements…"
[HP: 64/65]
The player dropped the fruit "Seriously?! Even the fruits here have a chance of being poisoned?!" her complaint is stopped when she noticed the word 'mastery' in the message "What is this?"
She opened the menu and noticed that she had ignored the 'Mastery' button, to satisfy her curiosity, she clicked on the button, which showed a screen containing her mastery level with some skills—which unlike stats, level up with specific actions, for example: Swordskill is her efficiency in using swords, the more she uses one, the more Mastery she gains.
"Alchemy? Is that for creating potions? If it is, I should start with it…"
"That was… Strangely convenient. Well, at least this time I'll do something different from killing monsters. Let's go, Fedora!" the Slime makes noises agreeing with the player and the two continue on their small journey.
…
Meanwhile, far away in the forest.
Alex, another unfortunate Beta Tester runs through the forest, his irregular breathing makes clear his desperation. He limped, and blood descended from his shoulder—which was cut by a sharp blade.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER-" the player screamed in despair.
"Serp Luny."
A shadow cut in the shape of a crescent moon advanced towards Alex with merciless speed, barely giving the victim time to notice the attack.
Alex has his leg cut off, causing him immense pain, unable to contain his painful screams. He falls to the ground in agony, but still determined to try to escape—crawling futilely through the grass. He fills himself with hope that he will be fine, but soon his hope gives way to despair when he hears footsteps near him and then a male voice—in a tone that conveys a frightening calmness.
"Вы помогаете нам."
The player tries to crawl faster, preferring to endure that intense pain than confront his enemy. But it was all in vain. He feels someone stepping on his back, the force is such that he became unable to move.
A female voice is heard "AlexPvP_Z. You though we would forget the piece of shit troll who messed up our Dungeon, got all of us killed, and stole all rewards for himself?"
Alex turns his head, seeing Beatrix, a vampire with pale skin, short white hair with red streaks, red eyes with vertical pupils, wearing a black and red initial tunic—her gaze conveys her flaming hatred.
The vampire looks back with a malevolent smile, footsteps are heard. "You can have him, I'm not hungry."
"S-so what?! It was just a game! Are you going to kill me because of a game?!"
The last thing Alex hears is a peaceful male voice "No, we also want to test something."
...