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The first thing that popped up in the morning is the sound of the Game Menu in every player's ears.
Ash woke up and opened his Game Menu.
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"First thing in the morning there's already notifications?"
Ash selected the news button first and stood up from his bed, then he read the news.
"Interesting."
Ash smirked after he knew there's an event on Friday.
When Ash walked out from his room, he noticed that the empty field is now full of food stands, clothing shops, and more.
"Hey! Hey! What's up bro!"
Suddenly a man approached Ash and asked him questions.
"Hey man, why didn't the wolves attack you yesterday?"
Ash didn't reply and went to the elevator going to the ground level. The man still followed him and persistently asked the same question.
" Fine! I will answer your question"
Ash shouted at the man's face and got very annoyed. the man was very happy that Ash conceded to answer his question.
"I simply just didn't accept the quest button that's all"
"Huh?! Then why- oh... it makes sense. But how did you know that trick so fast? We only played two games yesterday, how did you figure that out so quickly?"
The man was so confused about how Ash figured out the tricks.
"Before I answer that question, introduce yourself first."
"Oh, I'm Arthur Swift, 19 years old, likes playing video games, and I like cute gir-"
"Fine, fine, I get it."
Ash was getting more annoyed by Arthur.
'This dude is annoying as hell, he reminds me of Ian, but I think he's smarter than Ian because he managed to join here and pass all the tests yesterday.'
Ash avoided making eye contact with Arthur so that he won't notice his irritation at him.
'Wait... did Ian also get summoned here? Probably not, because he didn't even join the one-day event yesterday'
"Yesterday we played chess, right?"
"Right!"
"And our opponent is our clone, right?"
"Right! I was so nervous that I might get beaten by my own clone, like you know "The one who can defeat yourself is yourself" kind of thing."
Ash was looking at Arthur with a disappointed face.
"What's with that face, I am right, right!?"
"Okay fine. Those clones we've been facing yesterday are just like a computer program, having no feelings or anything of the sort. They only choose the best move to win the game, they can't bluff, lure or even trick human players. That's what makes it easier to beat."
"Oh, then how did you figure out?"
"I observed my clone first for a couple of minutes, the eyes of the clone looked lifeless, and it's not even breathing"
"Really?! Then what is the purpose of those clones then"
"I think it's only to intimidate and distract us, so that we will fail the test."
"Oh, that's why it didn't even talk even though I tried talking to it. "
After Ash and Arthur arrived at the ground level, they walk straight a food stand selling ramen.
"But why didn't the wolves attack you then?"
"After I defeated my clone, I observed some people while they were playing. I saw two twin girls with blue hair switching places with each other and tried to play with their twin's clone."
"Then what happened after? Did the clones move and play with them too?"
"No, they didn't play with them nor it moved, in fact the twins managed to reassemble the game so that the clones are losing."
"Hey, that's cheating! Did they win though?"
Arthur was so irritated after Ash told him about the twins doing.
"Obviously they won, Lesar didn't even notice they're cheating, I think Lesar let them do it on purpose or he's not that kind of powerful enough to observe all 2 million people playing yesterday."
"Then what about the wolves!"
"Just hold on for a second! I am trying to explain how I figured it out all of that."
"My bad... Please continue"
"When the special quest popped out, I noticed that there's an accept and decline option in the quest, I took a risk and tried to gamble not to accept the quest first before I went to find my room."
Arthur slowly understood how the system worked.
"So why didn't the wolves attack you? Even though there's thousands of hungry wolves chasing people."
"Because I learned it from the twins."
"How so?"
"Remember what I've said to you before? The clones of the twins didn't move when their twins are the one's playing with their twin's clone."
Arthur finally understood how the game works and how Ash figured out all of that.
" You mean the wolves were only programmed to kill the players who have failed their quest, just like those clones that were only programmed to play with the originals."
Arthur was so amazed at how Ash figured out all these things in a small amount of time with a few clues. He smiled widely and hugged Ash.
"Man, you're a genius, I think you are the only person I know who thinks like that. By the way, what's your name again?"
" Ash Dewy Liam, 19"
After that they had finally arrived at the ramen shop. Arthur was confused about how to buy food from the shop.
"How do I buy some? I don't have any money in my pocket."
"Last night I was exploring and experimenting on my game menu. I think when we want to buy something, a menu will pop out from the shop and we can choose an item we want purchase."
"And what about the money? Is it free?"
"I think it's not free, when I opened my status, I saw my level and points there, I think the points are the money in here."
"I think we should try to buy something"
"Wow! It is actually point-based! Now let's buy some"
After they have eaten, Ash was worried how to find two more players for the daily quest.
"Sigh, how can I recruit two more people for the quest today, I just want to avoid getting punished for not completing the daily quest."
"There's a quest?"
"Dude, have you already opened your Game Menu today?"
"Ah... nope still haven't"
"Open it and read the quest."
Proceed Quest
"Oh, so this is the quest right now, don't worry about finding two more players, I already have two friends last night, I think we could invite them."
"Are they trustworthy?"
"Of course! Now let's go find them."
Arthur grabbed Ash's hands and dragged him to search for his friends. After 50 minutes of searching, they finally found them.
"Fred! Lesly! Come here for a sec!"
Arthur shouted at the two people under the tree, they were talking about something.
"Hey guys, do you have a group yet to proceed with the Quest today?"
"Nope, we still haven't. We are also searching for some people to team up with."
Fred answered anxiously.
"How about you Art, why don't you join our team and we will only need one player more"
" I already found one. This is Ash guys, say hi to him, he's very smart!"
" Is he the one who cheated yesterday? The wolves didn't even attack him even though it's already been two hours"
Lesly whispered to Arthur and Fred.
"No, no, no, he didn't cheat guys, in fact he just figured out how the system works."
"Then how did he do that?"
"I will explain it to you later after we finish our quest"
Ash was invited by Fred's team and began to proceed with the Daily Quest.
After they accepted the quest, they were transferred to a dark and scary place where a bridge stood in front of them.
" Where are we?"
Lesly and Arthur were terrified because of the vibe and structure of the place.
Suddenly a quest menu popped up in front of them.
< A zombie will come and eat you from the Rocky Mountain, it takes 17 minutes for it to reach the bridge. One of you has a certain role in this quest: a doctor, a patient, and two nurses. The roles are random. To play this game, you need to cross the bridge within 17 minutes.
No more than two people can cross the bridge together, and anyone crossing must either hold a lantern or stay right next to it. Any of you can safely wait in the dark on either side of the bridge.
To cross the bridge, the time taken by them is as follows: Nurse 1: 1 minute; Nurse 2: 2 minutes; Assistant: 7 minutes; and the Doctor: 10 minutes.
If you fail this quest, you will be punished according to your current level>
"2 minutes! That's too short!"
Arthur grimaced, Fred and Lesly panicked and trembled. They don't know how to solve the problem within 2 minutes.
Ash smirked and chuckled, and said.
"That's plenty enough."
