Encounter [1]

"Oh… yeah… sorry I bothered you? When I just finished the tutorial, I saw you on idle mode and then suddenlty you move, and back to idle. Is there any problem?"

After hearing the soft voice coming from the person who greeted her, Kirika became certain that the person in front of her was a girl. The sound that comes out of the character is formed from a collection of data, but currently Dynames Gear makes the player's original voice affect the sound of the game.

"Oh… that… it was nothing."

Kirika couldn't possibly say that she was acting strangely for fear of bugs. She didn't know what the player in front of her will say. Besides, if the person in front of her misunderstood it, it might spread unpleasant rumors among players and mess up the game that had just been released a few minutes ago. Finally Kirika found another reason that make sense and didn't sound stupid.

"I forgot to turn off my computer and lock the window… yeah I forgot about that…"

Kirika forced a strange smile, but it seemed that the cute-faced player was paying attention to something else other than her reasoning in and out of the game. Was her character's facial expression so weird? Or maybe this person recognized the name that Kirika used for her character?

"Oh…I thought you were having problems with the Dynames Gear."

"No…no problem." A strange forced smile returned to Kirika's virtual face. She regretted that she had left the game in the first place where the other players appeared.

"I'm Crimine, nice to meet you. I see you're still level 1, did you miss the tutorial earlier?"

With a bit of hesitation, Kirika welcomed Crimine's outstretched hand. She didn't expect that she would be able to meet someone on her first day into the game. Besides, if indeed Crimine was a woman—she was brave enough to say hello first. While she was hiding behind the virtual body of a man so that no one would disturb her.

"I am Zeunoia. You can call me Ze if you have trouble saying my full name. I was in a rush, so I choose to skip the tutorial."

"Too bad, but if you follow the tutorial—you can go up to level ten and get armor, you know."

Kirika did regret that, her unfounded fear had opened the way to difficulties at the beginning of the game. But could it be that the tutorial was so fast that the player in front of her had already finished it? The initial tutorial in each game can take up to half an hour in the real world, could it be that strange behavior took that long?

Kirika could only smile faintly with a hint of regret. She looked at herself who was wearing black innate clothes that looked shabby and weak. The thing she got from the start made a virtual body just a black longsword. Without armor or other things that can strengthen her defense.

"Is she a beta tester? There is no way that such a long tutorial can be completed in such a short time," she muttered.

"Then, may I help you to grind in the training area? The monsters over there start at level seven."

"Isn't it troublesome?"

Kirika felt guilty, but if she refused Crimine's offer—she would have a hard time leveling up. The level difference isn't that big, but if you don't wear armor, you'll become an easy target for monsters.

"Of course not. Come with me," said Crimine while showing the kindest smile that her virtual body had.

Kirika started to walk her long legs, but after taking one step she lost her balance and nearly tripped over a pebble.

"Your height differs a lot from the real height, huh?"

Crimine's question left her confused, but she seemed to have forgotten this important point. The administrator who helped her create the character had warned her to create a virtual body that was close to the real one. But because of her desire to be tall, it makes it difficult for her.

Kirika felt her gaze on the ground was too far away than usual. Her real body is only 155 centimeters tall. Probably same as Crimine. Did this person really follow the administrator's instructions? If that's true, then the Crimine in the real world is just as cute as her current character. But it feels like comparing someone in the virtual and real world is inappropriate.

"Ah, yeah," Kirika replied in a slightly regretful tone. Then try to divert her mind to something else. She sharpened her eyesight to see the details of Crimine's character and was slightly surprised. They had something in common, but Crimine chose the differend class . "Eh? You chose the ankserfl race?"

"My height is also different from my real body. But don't worry, you'll get used to it soon. Yes, I chose this race because I think it's unique."

Crimine's telling the truth, she'll soon get used to her long legs. But what is unique about ankserfl other than class is the balance between physical and magic power. She chose this race because of cool appearance. But Crimine changed the mysterious impression of her character into a very sweet girl.

The tinkling of the bell was brief and in the lower right corner of her vision was a message symbol with a moving exclamation mark. It was a notification of a friend request sent by the girl next to her.

With a graceful movement of Zeunoia's character's index finger, Kirika made Crimine her first friend in the new world of Heavenly Online.

"Thank you, Ze."

Kirika's confused face became clear after hearing Crimine's unexpected words. It seemed that the person walking with her was a good person in both virtual and real worlds.

"I should have said that, you know," she replied. She wondered why she could immediately feel familiar with the girl, even though in games she always learned everything herself. But this time there was a good person willing to help her.

The vast meadows shone beautifully in the reddish evening sun. Far to the north, the shadows of the forest were visible. On the south side, there was a lake whose surface was glittering. On the east side, there is a wall that surrounds the city. Then on the west side, a set of golden clouds adorned the vast sky.

Without realizing it, Kirika was already in the meadow that stretched out near the town of Wiltsherl which was the starting point for all players to start game . It is located in the middle of the green forest of Planet Eldian.

Kirika only followed Crimine who seemed to know the town of Wiltsherl very well. The light of the afternoon sun accompanied their steps along the path to the practice area which was a dense forest. The gigantic trees that were probably hundreds of years old, all soared into the sky as far as the normal eye could see, but if she kept her eyes focused, she could see the tops of the trees very clearly.

"Aaaaa… please! Someone help me!"

The scream that came from deep in the forest made Kirika and Crimine startled and immediately dashed towards the source of the sound. Even though this is a training area inhabited by low-level monsters, if it's the first time playing the game , of course, the player's mentality has not been sharpened.

Plus this is a VRMMO RPG game, if players usually see their enemies only from behind the monitor, this time the tension is doubled. The technology carried by Dynames Gear makes players feel like they are dealing directly with monsters.

The figure of a well-built man with a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left is increasingly visible. The player was surrounded by monsters that could have been easily defeated if the person had calmed himself down.

Crimine raised her staff forward, then made a purple magic activation pattern. While Kirika was dumbfounded for a moment. This was the first time she had seen an Enchanter fight and was immediately amazed.

"Go on, Ze! I've use magic to weaken the enemy."