Ep. 3 — Chapter 11: Survival in the Wild (2)

I woke up to the sounds of mechanical whirrings. I thought my eyes were closed, even after I opened them. I tried to open them forcefully just to find out that they were already open.

The entire place was dark. Pitch black emptiness. Other than the sounds of gears shifting and mechanical parts, it was silent.

After a while, I got used to the darkness and could barely make out the things around me. My coat was laid on top of my body and a bag was placed under my head, like a pillow.

I quickly remembered what happened. The person who brought me here. I couldn't see what he looked like, but I thought he was familiar.

Weirdly, even the scent was familiar to me.

But I don't think I was close with anyone like that before.

I sat up, not moving from my spot. The coat laid on my lap and I looked around. He had taken off my shoes and placed it to the side. Well, at least he doesn't seem to be hostile.

As I got up, I felt the cold concrete floors of the place pressing against my bare feet. Perhaps, this was some sort of factory.

The silhouette of large engines and chains hanging could be seen, along with the reflection of the moonlight. It was nighttime. And I had been out of

it for quite some time now, since I left near morning.

My body felt refreshed, but also slightly sluggish from the long nap.

[Your condition is at a perfect state: 100%]

I heard footsteps approaching me from my left. I quickly turned to find someone coming with a lantern. Pretty old fashioned for these days. A flashlight would've been more affective. Well, at least it works.

"Are you awake now?"

"Who are you?"

"How are you feeling?" He asked. The familiar voice…but I still wasn't able to make out who it was.

"I asked you a question." I said, clenching my fist. Now that my physical condition had been fully recovered, I should be able to fight this guy. Unless he was stronger than me.

But instead, I heard a slight hesitation coming from him. "No, wait. I'm not your enemy."

"And how would I know that?"

"If I was…I really could have killed you when you were out cold."

He's…right. Damn it.

The man continued speaking. "Please believe me, Mr. Kim."

"How do you—?!"

The guy stepped forward, coming closer to me. The light from the lantern now lit up my area and I could see him clearly now. Blonde hair and a muscular body along with a friendly face. "You…"

"We meet again, Mr. Kim."

"Leon?"

"Yes, it's me."

The guy I met at the bridge the night before, moments before the Game began. No wonder I had such a hard time remembering who he was, considering how short we've known each other for.

"I didn't expect you to still be alive…"

"Neither did I. I kind of thought you died, Mr. Kim—"

"Rayes…is fine."

"I thought that Sir Rayes woud be dead now, since the bridge collapsed. I was really glad when I saw you earlier." Leon chuckled in a friendly manner. "What happened to you?"

Sir Rayes? Anyway…

Leon Fells. Despite all that have happened, he was still able to speak in a carefree manner. Still able to smile and laugh like nothing was going on.

Besides, there were no scars or anything on him. His body looked perfectly fine, as if he didn't get into any trouble since the start. Even after being buried under the rubble.

"There was just some problems, earlier."

Thinking back to it now, the old lady and the guy must've gotten caught up with the monsters, right? After all, the Main Quest started as soon as I was taken by this guy. And they didn't seem like they were in any better condition than me.

Although I didn't feel too good about it, that was just the way we had to live here. I can't hesitate for a second.

[Your Mental Ability is weakening from guilt.]

"What happened to you, then?" I asked Leon, sitting back down on the blanket that he had laid out for me. Leon, too, sat down in front of me and placed the lantern in the middle.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what happened after the bridge collapsed?"

"Ah…" Leon nodded, and started talking like he was telling a story. I still couldn't understand how this guy is still managing to stay calm despite all of this. "Well, when it started to collapse, I just thought, 'I didn't want to die!'"

I listened to his story. Weirdly enough, it felt calming. Possibly because of his soft voice.

"I tried to cling to anything I could fine, and then, right as I was about to be buried by the rubbles, the screens came up."

I raised an eyebrow. "An Attribute of mine managed to save my life."

"What is the Attribute?"

Leon pulled up his Character Profile and scanned his Attributes list to find it. "'Will to Survive', is what it is called. I suppose you could guess what it is for, no?"

I nodded my head. Judging by its name, it must've done some kind of changes to his body and prevented him from dying.

"I have to thank whicever entity that helped me."

"Huh?" I turned my head back to him, an eyebrow raised. Entity? It was something I never heard of before, even in the game. "What do you mean by 'entity'?"

"You know. Otherworldly beings?"

"No, I know what it means." I shook my head. "I mean, what do you mean by an entity?"

"It was what my screen said as the Attribute was activated."

"…" I stared at him, wide eyed and in complete disbelief. Whatever he was saying now was confusing to me. "What did it say?"

"[An outside entity has forced awakened your Attribute, 'Will to Live'!]" Leon said, making quotation marks with his hands as he said those words.

I thought about it for a while. But no answers came to mind. An outside entity, was such a being even existing in the game?

"I was collecting these orbs." Leon said, pulling something out of a sack next to him. Several fist sized orbs rolled on the floor in front of me. They varied in colours, but mostly yellow and orange.

[Experience Orbs], shortened as XP Orbs. They were a pretty rare find in the game. Although they were only useful until you reach a certain level, then they become practically useless as you reach higher levels. But still, with this amount, it would be extremely beneficial for now.

"Why were you even following it?" I asked, wondering whether it was suspicious or not for him to pick up random items on the ground. Unless he was a player, there was no way for him to know about it.

"System, share screen."

As he said that, my screen turned on and had a notification.

[Player #2312 wishes to share screens with you. Accept?]

"Accept."

My screen turned off and reappeared, showing a quest log. It wasn't a 'Main Quest' or a 'Trigger Quest'. Rather, it was a 'Comissioned Quest'. The only way to get a Comission Quest was to be assigned a task from a guild or the Guild Tower itself.

There is also quests tasked by certain bosses of the game. But most of the time they are considered Trigger Quests, because they are mandatory quests.

"So, a quest appeared for you?" I asked, and Leon nodded. "To collect the orbs?"

Leon nodded again. "As you can see, Sir Rayes. I wasn't sure either. And we saw what happened to the people when they didn't comply with the system's demands. And it doesn't seem to be a hard task."

I was wrong. Leon wasn't a player before. Instead, someone had assigned the task to him.

But there is a possibility that this 'official release' had changed the rules of the game as well. Maybe Comission Quests could also be auto-generated.

Though, that shouldn't be my concern now. I turned to the XP Orbs on the ground and picked one up.

"Do you know what those are for, Sir Rayes?" Leon asked, coming closer to inspect the orbs as well. I didn't expect the guy to be so clueless despite being able to come this far without a single scratch on his body.

I nodded my head at his question. "These are [Experience Orbs]. Do you play games, Leon?"

The younger guy nodded, almost like an obedient child. I continued to speak, "Then, you should have an idea what these are for, correct?"

"Ah. So, they are for EXP?"

"Right."

Leon got closer to me and observed me for a while. "Mr. Rayes, you seem to know a lot about this place. It could just be me overthinking things, but you—"

"You're right. I don't know everything, but I know the basics of this Game."

"…" Leon backed off a bit. "May I ask how? If…! If it isn't something you want to keep, that is."

"Well, it isn't really anything special. I don't see why not?"

A look of relief came over Leon's face and he sat back down, ready to listen to everything I say. I thought about how to make it as simple as possible and went with the most obvious answer.

"It was a videogame I used to play. [World of Ascension]. Have you ever heard of it?"

"I believe I have. The famous one that everyone was going crazy for?"

"Correct." I said, nodding my head at his answer. Seems like the game was exactly as well-known as I had expected it to be. "Do you know what the game's about, at least?"

"Not so much. But it's like an RPG, right?"

"We can go with that."

I started collecting the XP Orbs and placing them in a group in front of us. As I did that, Leon asked,

"Then, is there…an end to this?"

I remained silent, counting the orbs. He continued with his question with slight unease in his voice. "Is there a way for us to go back? To return to our old world?"

"I don't know."

My reply caused him to flinch and closed his mouth. His eyes trembled, not expecting my answer. I guess he had taken me for some omniscient being who knew the answer to all of the questions. However, I was only human.

Only a player of this damned Game. Just like everyone else.

"And there is no 'going back' to our old world. This is our world now. Our world has become the Game's playing ground."

That was the truth. This isn't a transmigration story, where every single person in the world was moved to the Game's world.

It was the Game that came to this world, colliding with reality.

"But the only thing we can do now is keep moving." I said, looking up at Leon again. "There's 24. Let's split it."

"Excuse me? Split what?"

"The [Experience Orbs]. You take 12, I'll take the other 12."

Leon nodded. If it was anyone else, I was sure that they'd put up some sort of a fight, blinded by greed to keep all—or at least the majority for themselves.

Although, I'm in no podition to condemn anyone for their greed now, considering that I am doing the same.

If it was a more clueless man than Leon, I'd have taken more than half of it.

But Leon isn't the type of person to be manipulated so easily. Besides, some unknown factor is backing this man. If I tried to scam him now, I'm sure to get caught into something bigger.

"How do I 'use' these things, then?" Leon asked, holding the orbs and squeezing them gently in his big hands. The shiny surface of the orbs made his hair look luminescent, brightening the already bright blonde hair.

"You eat them. They're consumables." I replied, taking one near my mouth.

"Can you even bite them…?" Leon asked, unsure about it after having felt the hard surface of the orbs and its large size.

I glanced at him and opened my mouth.

Without hesitation, I placed the entire fist-sized orb into my mouth at once, leaving the man in total shock.