I sit up, rubbing my eyes and yawning as I rise up from the bed. Have I stopped dreaming already?
I looked in front of me, seeing a ray of sunlight illuminate the tent's entrance. Tent... I'm still here!? That reminds me, I did see that message prompt before I fully passed out... Hero of Graywatch? I barely did anything, though...
I step outside of the tent to see that the reparations for the city of Graywatch are already going. There were wagons full of wood and building materials carried by both ox and horses, and foremen directing the construction. I thought all of this will stop after the tutorial... wait...
I can't help but snicker as I remember something. It used to be an inside joke that only after you hit the max level, level 80, is the tutorial over. There was still so much more to learn and to explore. I suppose... I'll get to leveling my character, though I don't see any floating icons on my vision like in those games. What should I do, though? Should I say some magic keyword like "Status" from one of those manhwas?
"Sta-"
As I was speaking, I was interrupted by a commotion. A crowd ganging up on an already beaten person tied to a wooden pole. There are several burnt poles around them. I then walked up to hear more of their rabble.
"LET ME GO, YOU NPCs!", the person shouted, his face bruised up and swollen with bits of it covered by his messy, brown hair. He seemed to wear some leather armor, and there was a longbow and quiver on the ground beside his feet. Is he a Hunter class player?
"Heretic!"
"Lich spawn! Burn him!"
"Burn him to the ground!"
The crowd really hates this person... but why? He did call him NPCs... and lich spawn? Is this person undead?
"Excuse me.", I said politely to an older man beside me wearing a cast on his broken arm.
"The hell do you want... wait wait wait... is that you?", the older man asked before he looked at me from top to bottom. A sense of dread churned in my stomach... if he discovers that I am a player, will I be tied up and beaten as well?
"...Who are you again?", I asked, maintaining a poker face. It's been a habit of mine, since I can't really let my opponents know when I'm hurt in my matches.
"Body of an athlete, tattoos, swollen ears and a piercing gaze... you're the hero of Graywatch.", the older man said. His dour expression can't help but smirk a little at the mention of the title. Reminds me of my coach for some reason...
"I'm no hero. What did he do?", I asked as I glanced at the angry crowd throwing random stuff at the tied player.
"Bah! He's one of those god damned "players", the old man stated before spitting at the ground.
"Player? What's that?", I asked, feigning cluelessness.
"They're madmen or madwomen proclaiming they're something more... than us. They're all bad omens, I say! Corrupted by the madness of the Dragon Lich!", the old man said. The Dragon Lich was one of the main antagonists of the game. He haunts the entire continent with his undead army, lifeless husks of rotting bodies controlled by a hivemind and spreading the plague wherever they went.
"...I see. Has there ever been a case of these players going-"
"HE'S A PLAYER TOO! THAT GUY WITH TATTOOS!", the hunter player tied onto the pole shouted. My heart stopped for a second... but my face didn't show it. As I turned towards the hunter player, the crowd faced me as well.
"The Hero of Graywatch? No way..."
"...but he's saved so many lives! How could he be corrupted by the Lich..."
"I don't believe it! He saved my sister... but what if it was all an act..."
Gossip began to fill the area, but I remained silent with a stoic face, trying to figure out my next move. Should I defend myself or this player? I would hate to leave the fellow player alone like this, yet he sold me out so easily...
One person approached me, a man with a grim expression and a bloody bandage covering his left eye, carrying an already lit torch.
"If you really are our Hero, then prove it. Burn this dragon minion."
I received the torch and the people cleared a path for me. I can see the horror in the hunter player's eyes. Should I still try and save him? Maybe I could knock him out and take it somewhere safer? Yeah, that could work-
"Please! Help me- you're a player too, right!? If we work together, we can kill these stupid NPCs and it won't make a difference!", the player shouted in a desperate voice. I took a few steps forward.
Is... this what being a player was? Uttering those words, treating these people like nothing? ...Maybe these people are telling the truth, that he's someone corrupted by the Dragon Lich?
"What do you think?", I ask firmly as I hold the torch close to the ropes tied around the wooden pole, some smoke floating from it. The hunter player shrieks in horror and tries to trash violently, but the tight bondage prevented him.
"I TAKE IT BACK! YOU'RE NOT A PLAYER, BUT PLEASE SAVE ME! YOU'RE A HERO, RIGHT!?", the hunter player pleaded. I lowered my gaze. If I save him here, the townspeople will have my head... and if I let this guy free, based on his words, I wonder what kind of messed up shit he'll do for revenge. I can't stand for that.
"I'm no player..."
I press the torch against the ropes, with them quickly engulfing in fire, slowly spreading up the wooden pole. I took a few steps backward as the hunter screams.
"...and I'm no hero either."
I... watched him get consumed by flames as the crowd cheer from me. I feel sick to my stomach with what I have done... but I must not show it. The screams, the smell, the sight... all burned to my memory. I... I had to let him die to save myself. That's... very "player" of me, huh?
Soon, the people of Graywatch returned to their business like it was nothing. I guess I just have to live with that?
I take a deep breath to clear my thoughts and I exited out of Graywatch and into a stone road that led further down south. The scenery is exactly like how I remember it. A wooden bridge to my right, stables to my left, and an archery range in front. The only thing missing was other players hanging around by the entrance and showing newer players their cool and flashy raid gear and collectibles. That reminds me... do I still have my skins and emotes? I doubt it...
I then approached a person standing at the cross road of the paths who was peering further down the hills with his spyglass. He was wearing a navy blue uniform top with brown trousers and black boots. He looks too formal for a scout, though. Scouts were used to reveal sections of the map and shows people that can be helped.
"Hey. What do you see in that spyglass?", I asked in a curious tone.
"Hello there, citizen! I am an officer from Coridian Explorer League.", the scout said. Uhh, okay, I asked for that, sure.
"I see. What are you doing here?"
"Well, after the attacks on Graywatch, we're here to make sure if other places were ravaged by the centaur, to update our maps and secure our waypoints.
"I see... maps? Waypoints?", I asked, feigning cluelessness once more.
The explorer then began to explain stuff I already knew. The old game had a map completion system where you get rewarded for full exploration of maps. Waypoints are like checkpoints on each map where you can use to teleport to, for a small fee. Each map you complete, you get special gear and a personal mail message from the explorer league.
"You seem like you would be a great explorer! Here, why don't you take this?" The explorer then hands me a compass and a blank map. He then explains that the blank map is enchanted, and automatically fills up the more I explore. The compass is drawn to high essences of magic and points towards nearby areas of interests, vantage points, and people needing help.
"Now that we have that out of the way..." The explorer then points towards the bridge.
"Agriculture has been the backbone of Corrleon, and our fishermen and farmers have been struggling from centaur raids and bandit attacks. The miners are also experiencing earth elemental outbreaks and kobold infestations..."
The empty map then begins to glow, and golden hearts formed in nearby areas. These golden hearts are essentially favor quests, and each participation you do fills it up.
"Now don't just stand there, help them, soon-to-be explorer!", the scout said enthusiastically before he returns to using his spyglass. I nod and crossed the bridge before making a turn and eventually reaching a farm.
I glance up at a curious sight. There were three pillars within a field, and on top of them were rotating black kettles which sprinkled water onto the crops. To this day, I still don't get how that works, but that is not my purpose here. I walk up to the farm to an old lady wearing overalls and gloves, looking troubled. As I walk up to her, the compass on my hand vibrated, and the map seemed to register a waypoint.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm here to help."
The old woman then glanced up, and her look of despair soon turned into delight.
"Well, well! If it ain't the Hero of Graywatch! Won't you be a sweetie and help old Annie in her farm?", she says as she grasps my calloused hands, begging for a favor. I can't help but chuckle at a realization.
"Sure, madam. What can I do?"
Annie then instructed me how to perform farm duties. From watering her plants, slathering her "special fertilizer" onto her withering cornstalks, entertaining her cows and scooping up their dungs, and taking care of the occasional bandit or wurm. It's kind of funny how you go as a war hero from the tutorial and back to doing menial tasks like scooping up horse shit in a barn.
So I did just that, watering her crops and slathering the fertilizer onto the withered corn. I can tell that my golden heart was slowly filling up through the compass, until I felt vibrations from the ground. Just a few feet away from me, a "wurm" emerged, a giant worm with spiraling teeth that was attacking the livestock.
"Hero! Take care of it, please!", Annie shouted.
"You got it, boss!"
I then ran up to the disgusting wurm monster, before hurling a rock to catch its attention. It turned and screeched at me, with some of its acidic saliva landing on my torso and burning my skin a bit... but that shit doesn't faze me. Here I am, in a situation I've been looking forward to all my life. How will MMA fare against a monster?
Predicting its attack, I push off my feet to lean back as I performed a backstep, narrowly avoiding a lunging bite from the beast. As the wurm retracts its neck to stand up, I pushed off my feet, charging forth with my fists raised, snapping its head back with a stiff left jab I land on its neck. Its body felt squishy... and it seems like if I keep targeting it at the neck down, I can stop its lunging attacks.
I then take a boxer's approach, curving my posture as I spread my legs in a wider stance. With each lunge the worm attempts, I counter with a left jab and a right straight punch at the neck, sending its head flying back and interrupting the attack. What about kicks?
I push off my legs to perform backsteps, luring it in for another lunge and as it did, I time a left hook counter at its neck, sending its head flying to the right. The punch put me in the perfect position to follow through, with me pushing off the ground with my feet as I rotate my hips and torso to the left while my left arm folds upward to guard my head and right arm drags across the air to the right, twisting myself into a POWERFUL roundhouse kick, my right shin ramming hard onto its squishy body. I can see the worm vomit a mixture of blood and green saliva... I should finish this.
I reset back into my orthodox stance before I leaned forward, kneeling onto my left knee before I stepped my right foot forward, lunging into a double leg takedown entry, with me wrapping my arms around the slimy wurm. I then grip my right wrist with my left hand before I press my elbows together onto the wurm and I stood on my toes, leaning backward as I lift the worm into the air into a suplex, twisting my torso mid-maneuver and slamming the wurm to the ground while securing a side control. The impact caused the wurm to vomit whatever blood, insides, and acid it had remaining in its body before it drops dead.
"Oh my... aren't you a strong and handsome fella?", Annie said in an almost sultry tone. She's probably just complimenting me so I can do the rest of her farm work... and it's working.
I stood up, exhausted and slimy from the scuffle... catching my breath until Annie yelled.
"Bandits! Help!"
My eyes quickly flicked to the gang of bandits lifting up crates of goods from her barn. Without thinking, I ran forward, still feeling like superman from the earlier bout until I halted from my tracks as a bandit stands in front of me. He wore rugged leather armor, a red bandana across his face with white patterns that looked like shark teeth, and a dagger wielded on his right hand.
"Easy there, mate. You better stop unless you want to fuckin' die.", the bandit warned. I just killed a fuckin' monster! Who the fuck does this guy think he is? I'm invincible!
I raise my hands as I entered my orthodox MMA stance, left foot forward and right foot behind with my hands raised.
"Now this will be fun~", the bandit remarked. The two of us then circled around each other. His main threat is that dagger... if I secure wrist control, he'll be nothing.
I pushed forth with my feet, dashing in and faking a left jab, making him flinch before I grip his right wrist with my left hand, holding it firm as I lowered it.
"...Are you fucking dumb?", the bandit taunted.
Suddenly, I felt a hot searing pain on my wrist that increased exponentially. I glanced at my left hand, and the bandit bastard stabbed through my left wrist just by lifting his right wrist!
The bandit yanks his right arm free from my grasp before he puts the knife into his left hand and he grips my left wrist with his right... before stabbing me in the stomach two, three, four times. I couldn't keep count as I vomit blood while feeling the searing hot pain in my sides and stomach. Am I... dying again? Just that easily!?
I tuck my chin before pushing off my feet with whatever strength I have left, headbutting upwards and crushing the bandit's nose though his bandana with my forehead.
"ARGH- FUCK-"
I then put my right arm over his left shoulder as I lean forward and trip his ankles with my right foot in a sloppy takedown, bringing the both of us to the ground. If... I'm really dying... then...
I'LL TAKE YOU TO HELL WITH ME!
I open my mouth wide as I see his neck... before I bit at his carotid vein hard like an animal, gnawing and tearing off the flesh despite his screams. I lose my strength quickly afterwards, and then the hot pain turned cold... evergrowing cold, and darkness fills my vision.
I have died.