Chapter 2

'I'm alone with this dangerous NPC after I tried to find some items for a quest that can probably kill me at any time.'

"It's here."

The duo arrived at a giant boulder touching the wall of another vertical cliff. This desert has a lot of cliffs.

"Can you push it away?" The mysterious man asked the player.

"I'll try."

"With just your aura."

"What do you mean?"

"Release your aura broadly in the boulder's direction to push it away, not with your enhanced body."

'Is my aura stat enough for this?'

Max was about to try.

Don't send it away through your hands. Send the aura from your entire body towards the rock.

"Okay."

Focus.

"Don't do movements with the body."

Max tried and it was a success. It moved less than a meter. However, that consumed 8% of his aura.

[You have acquired a skill: Mighty Push!]

"Good. This will be useful for when you have multiple enemies coming at you at the same time. It's not really about damaging the enemy but pushing them away, so it will almost always work. Aura slashes and such can be blocked and rendered useless against multiple people attacking you."

It definitely costs much more aura than a slash but it probably has its uses.

As the entrance still wasn't revealed, the hooded man took over. His golden aura collided against the rock, producing an unheard of sound and pushing it away by three meters.

The entrance was small and you could only enter by ducking a bit.

"How did you discover this place?"

"I was wandering around and thought that the boulder looked out of place. There were no other rocks around. So I checked if there was anything hidden by it."

"Why would you wander around here?"

"People want me dead."

The player didn't ask further.

"I was planning on crossing this desert but decided to settle down in this cave for now."

"You're very strong, your aura seems to be at least three times stronger than mine."

"You're not bad for a youngster either."

The cave began to expand around them as they walked further. They could now stand tall.

Max saw a blue light ahead of him. As the cave rapidly expanded around them while they were walking, he realized it was coming from a river. A glowing river. He approached it. Underneath were glowing crystals with various colors and fish completely unique and original, distinct from anything from the real world. They were easily visible.

A campfire was was close by.

"How did you get wood?"

"Isn't it obvious? I carried it. I discovered this place and went back to get it. I planned to stay here be here for a few days.

"All the way?" Max said, surprised.

"Yeah, wanna eat?"

"Okay."

Food was necessary to eat in this game. You can die of starvation.

The mysterious man dived into the river and the player could see him swimming very fast chasing a large fish.

While the man was swimming, Max saw a large bag containing nothing inside, must have contained food and water before he found this place. He probably carried the wood in the bag as well.

He soon got a hold of it and quickly pierced its brain with his sword. He came out the water with it.

The fish was mostly purple in color, with blue and yellow circles and patterns on it. Its eyes were black and its pupils were pure white. It had two cloth-like tails and three antennas on its head.

They sat down on two small rocks and waited until the fish was ready. One fish was more than enough, it was the same size as Max

"How was this fire lit?" Max asked.

"There's a gem there in the fire. I infuse my aura into it and it turns into fire."

"An Attribute Gem? Not even all nobles snd royalty have that!"

"Heh, I picked it up off a corpse. Still didn't engrave it though."

"Okay..."

"So, why are you alone?" The man asked the player.

The fire illuminated his face in the cave. He looked slightly tired, but his eyes screamed of power. He had a black, rough beard and his hair was long. He had a bit of grayness. His forehead had lines and he seemed around forty. Max didn't recognize him from anywhere.

"I thought I would quickly find the item I'm looking for so I went alone. I was with my friends in this desert once before so I'm familiar with the area. However, I never saw the flower monster that time."

"I see. Where are you from?"

"Oh, uh, I'm from Kasia." The player answered.

The capital of the Virtonis Empire. Max spawned there.

"Really? You're quite far from home kid. On the other side of the world."

The world of the first floor seems to only have one single continent. There was no mention from any NPC of another continent.

"I'm an adventurer, you see. I like exploring and discovering."

"When were you last in Virtonis?"

"I don't know exactly. Long ago.

Max didn't count the in-game days that passed. It was a lot though. Probably over eighty.

"Tell me about your friends."

"Well, we met in a pub. The two of them were sitting together. I thought their equipment looked expensive and assumed that they were strong, so I decided to sit with them and introduce myself. We started talking to each other and I realized that they were like me. Adventurers. Then it all started from there."

Max first asked them if they were players, but he didn't need to mention that.

"I would like to hear about you, but I don't wanna die, so..."

"There is something I'd like for you to do."

Max shut up.

"I need you to find a man in Rinea in the Mareka Kingdom named Lovrin Sander and tell him that I'm alive and that we should meet where we first met on my upcoming birthday. You have a month."

"What's your name? If I may ask."

"Just say that his best friend is alive."

"Can I get something in return?"

"Yes. We can go explore deeper into this cave together. I can teach you a few things as well."

"Huh?"

Max looked around and just realized that, across the bright river, there is an entrance. An entrance that leads deeper into the cave.

"You like exploration, right? I haven't been there either, there must be a reason that a boulder was placed at the entrance of this cave. I was also an adventurer, so let's explore together."

"Okay..."

The player looked into his eyes and saw absolute confidence.

Max stood up and went to drink water from the river.

[You have been blessed by the Dividing River!]

[Your aura stat has permanently increased by 10!]

[This is a one-time blessing.]

Max clenched his fists in happiness. This was equivalent to two level-ups.

Soon, the fish was ready to eat.