Woke up when the sky's still dark, I can tell through the glass door to the balcony.
My whole body was sore from the rapid and continuous activity these past few days, yet my mind can't seem to rest.
No matter how I go about it, rolling side to side on the floor, placing an arm over my eyes, nothing works, I can't sleep.
I blame today's sleeplessness on the coldness of the floor.
I gave up my intentions to sleep in the end and slowly got up. I went to my uncle, who was still sleeping soundly while snoring to check the time on his watch.
3 a.m., I got around five hours of sleep then, that's very much sufficient for an avid gamer like myself, my body is still completely fatigued though.
Someone's missing in the room, there should be two silhouettes sleeping on the bed, there's only Kenneth Spears in my sight currently.
I looked out the glass door to the balcony again, caught a glimpse of her finger on the railings.
Well good to know I'm not alone.
The glass door creaked when I push it open, it only startled me, she was unwavered by it.
Her hands were still placed firmly on the railings of the balcony, eyes staring into the distance.
"Good morning." She greeted me, as if expecting my arrival.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
"I'm used to it." She responded.
Being someone on the hunt for two whole years since that's when she joined the game according to my earpiece, she's definitely used to sleep deprivation.
That's a much cooler reason than mine to not sleep, I thought.
"What is Frostbite to you?" She inquired while maintaining her indifferent expression, facing the scenery ahead and not me.
"He's my uncle, what's Kenneth to you?"
"My brother. Your uncle don't seem to welcome us."
Damn, she noticed.
"He doesn't, I'm the one that brought you two into this alliance."
"He can just kick us out if he doesn't want us here, why hasn't he?"
Feels like I'm talking to a statue, she hadn't moved a muscle the entire conversation. I'm sure her mouth is moving but from where I'm standing, I couldn't see it.
"I don't want him to, and he trusts my judgement on that. Plus I'm also the leader of the alliance, I have power over who joins and who leaves. Uncle gave me the leader role when he made this alliance."
Oh, she moved, she dropped her head and caught it with her hands, propping her chin on her palms with elbows on the railings.
"I see."
"I haven't introduce myself. I'm Sean Anthony, call me Sean, I'm just an avid gamer before entering...well, here, the afterlife supposingly."
I leaned back against the wall next to the glass door, also enjoying the scenery ahead like her.
The shopping district at night is just as beautiful as it is at day.
The idyllic countryside with rustic cottages, illuminated by lanterns and candles. From the sixth floor we stand, they look like stars within the shopping district, like a reflection of the night sky.
Then there's the game lobby building in the distance, still looking futuristic and hence incongrous with the rest of the scenery, it's bright and defined white lights makes it look like it came from a different timeline.
"An avid gamer, you seem a bit too smart to only be that."
"Sorry to disappoint then, that's all I am."
"And Frostbite trusts your judgements?"
"He does."
I thought it's time for her to introduce herself after I did just that, I was hoping to hear details behind her and Living Cemetery.
But after a brief pause, she voiced her doubts on my decision, just like my uncle.
"I don't get it, having me in your alliance only invites trouble for you.
It benefits me because now I have an alliance and I'm not fighting alone, but it's in no way beneficial to you."
She finally turned to me, arms crossed and her back against the railings of the balcony.
She's a beautiful young woman, silky smooth short silver hair, defined facial features, sky blue eyes and a slim hourglass figure in casual clothings.
Gotta say, even though I don't believe in love and she's probably 4 or 5 years older than me, I still can't help but to feel flustered. She's ethereal.
"I-I uh..." Damn I'm stuttering, a bit shocked at how enchanting she looked with that scenery behind her I guess.
"If you think it benefits yourself but not me, why would you try to tell me that? Wouldn't you want me to remain oblivious to the fact that this negatively impacts me?"
"Stupid me then, for not wanting to hurt others." the sarcastic tone wasn't very apparent, but I noticed it.
Oh true, there's literally nothing wrong with her not wanting to hurt me for her own benefits, I don't know what was I thinking when I asked her that question.
"Sorry...I wanted you two to join us as I think this very much benefits me."
"How so?"
"I have the second best player in the game in my team now."
"At the cost that a stronger alliance will be hunting us down, we're probably never getting the strength boost from 1-10."
"I'm confident I can defeat them."
She widened her eyes at that comment of mine, I thought she was going to let out a sarcastic guffaw and mock me for my overconfidence.
But she just went from a slightly stunned face, straight back to her neutral, emotionless expression within seconds.
"I'm looking forward to that then."
She turned her back on me again, returning to her previous position with her head propped on her palms, staring into the distance.
"Thank you." She said.
"You already said that."
"There's four of us, tournament requires a team of five."
"We'll find someone."
"I suggest a Mage."
"Why?"
"Mages are the strongest class in this game, we don't have one in our team, that's an immediate disadvantage.
Even if his or her power level isn't ideal, a Mage half the power level of a Fighter is still the better option."
Ouch, hurts to hear that explanation from her. Kenneth is also a Fighter, that means our team is actually weaker than I thought.
"Alright then, we'll get a Mage."
"You still have the paper, don't you?"
I can tell what paper she meant, the one the hooded man forcefully gave me. I had folded it and placed it into my pocket just after the encounter with the hooded man.
"Yeah."
"What is it."
"It's uh..." I took out the paper and unfolded it.
"An international morse code translator."
"Hmm?"
"Yeah, he seems to want me to learn morse code."
"Can I see it?"
Following her request, I walked up to her, and showed her the paper.
It's as I've said, a morse code translator, nothing unusual about it no matter how I inspect this paper.
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
Huh? What's happening.
"Ghostdoctor's sending me points rapidly."
"What?"
And my earpiece continues informing me of the transactions.
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 2 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 2 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you... ..."
The transactions just keeps coming. Quick thinking leads me to believe, this is morse code.
Assuming one points is a dot, two points is a line, the first letter he sent me before a brief pause was five consecutive one point transaction, that's '3' in morse code.
Don't have a pen to write this down, I'm gonna have to listen to these transactions attentively with the translator in hand.
"Wait hold on stay quiet." I told Eleanor.
This is smart, long distance communication isn't a feature in the game, but points transactions is, which is why large alliance like Living Cemetery are able to tax their members.
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 2 points to you."
"Player Ghostdoctor transferred 1 points to you... ..."
3, M, I, N, U, T, E, S, R, U, N.
The message: 3 minutes, run.
"They found us, we have to go."