Aíma Malliá

It had now been a total of four days since the game of Survival Zer0 had started. It was just at the crack of dawn when Shade and his group had finally made it into the first town. Their main objective was to clear the First Stage of the game and advance to the next area.

Finally, after an entire two days of traveling, the three made their entry into the new town. Almost immediately after, a notification popped up before them, preventing them from proceeding any further. Following this, a female robotic voice began speaking to them.

"Good day, players! Congratulations on making it into the first town! The name of this town is Aíma Malliá, coming from the origin of the Greeks. Please take a moment to look around before continuing."

The three then did as the voice instructed and took a moment to observe their surroundings. The town looked quite odd. Both the streets and houses were painted in a blood-red color. It almost looked sickening due to how much red they were seeing around them.

"Gross... This town is hideous..!" Complained Arora.

"I think it's kinda cool, honestly. Don't you agree, Shade?" Asked Tristan with a grin.

"It's surely unique if anything," he replied dully.

The robotic voice then interrupted them once more as it continued its explanation.

"Survival Zer0 grants each player a special reward for arriving in a newly discovered town within the top 100 players! Players Shade, Arora, and Tristan, I am pleased to inform you that you are within the top 100 players to make it to the town of Aíma Malliá. Would you like to accept your rewards?"

A notice then popped up before the three, prompting them to choose YES or NO. They all then chose YES, hoping the reward would be something they could use for the First Stage.

"Congratulations! Your rewards are 250,000 silver pieces each. The transaction to your account has been successful! Please take your time to check that the correct amount has been allotted."

They then did as the voice instructed them once more. As they opened their menus, the three could confirm that the transaction had come through. Tristan in particular was extremely thrilled about this.

"Yes! This is enough to buy us the resources we need! We can probably even rent a few nights at a motel!" Celebrated Tristan.

Arora was also quite happy. Now that she had enough silver pieces, she could purchase needed items that would make her a lot more capable in battle. She would finally be able to be of help to Shade.

"Now, I have gone ahead and calculated the experience points gathered by you three," continued the robotic voice. "Please take the needed time to view the changes that have been made to your ranks."

Once again, the three did as the voice instructed. They peered their eyes just beneath their health bar to see something quite shocking. All their ranks had been upgraded from Beginner.

Originally, every player started from the rank of Beginner. However, it was still unknown how to upgrade one's rank due to the game refusing to reveal the number of experience points allotted.

Arora and Tristan had been upgraded from Rank Beginner to Novice. However, Shade's rank had been upgraded to Expert which came as a shock to everyone.

"Woah! Shade, you're a higher rank than Arora and I!" Exclaimed Tristan.

"It's probably because I gained extra experience points from participating in the battle against the field boss."

"But why did our ranks only upgrade now if we already had the necessary experience points?" Queried Arora.

Shade then took a moment to ponder. Arora did have a point.

"My guess is that you can only cash in your experience points once you arrive in a new town. It would make sense since it would motivate players to aim for the newer towns."

"Oh, that would make sense..."

The robotic voice then continued once more;

"As you can see, your ranks have all been upgraded. Please note that there are a total of eight ranks in Survival Zer0. From lowest to highest, these include:

* Beginner

* Novice

* Expert

* Advanced

* Saint

* Emperor

* King

* Deity

Currently, you are all within the top three lowest ranks. Once a player has arrived at the Advanced Rank, they will begin to receive unique abilities, skills, and techniques."

After being provided with the last bit of information, the group was permitted entry into the town of Aíma Malliá.

However, shortly after, they were once again stopped by a male NPC.

"Come on! Just let us in the town already!" Complained Tristan.

"I'm sorry to bother you, my dear travelers," began the NPC. "...but I would like to know if the three of you have already formed a team."

"No, we haven't... We're more like a group right now."

"Do you plan on joining a team then? Please note that if you haven't already joined a team, you won't be able to team up amongst yourselves until you have completed the First Stage."

Shade narrowed his eyebrows as he pondered. He didn't know why but he had a tugging suspicion that he was to inform the NPC that they were going to create a team.

"We're planning to create a team once we gather new items," quickly replied Shade.

"Very well then!"

Following this, the NPC stretched forth his hand holding a single strand of dark-red hair.

"Please select a member of your team to hold onto this item. Note that the selected member will not be able to dispose or give away this item to another person until they have completed the First Stage."

Based on the information provided, Shade quickly deduced that the strand of hair was something essential to completing the First Stage. The NPC had stopped them solely to provide them with this item which had to mean it held great importance.

"Tristan, you hold onto it for now," commanded Shade.

"Uh... okay. I guess there's no harm in that."

Just then, almost as soon as Tristan accepted the item from the NPC, his hair color changed to dark red.

"What the hell?! What happened to my hair?" He panicked.

"Oh my... Shade, don't tell me you knew this would happen..!" Chuckled Arora.

"Not exactly. I figured that the item was important but I had no idea that it would change his hair color."

"Shade, I look hideous!"

"I don't know what you mean. You've always looked that way."

Tristan then froze in pain from Shade's harsh words. He wished Shade could be a little nicer. However, Shade was too busy trying to figure out what everything they had seen so far meant. He had a feeling that the game was providing them with hints about what the First Stage would be.

Little did they know that once they stepped foot onto the First Stage, the game would become a literal hell.