Chapter 19: Up There

On the second day of the Beta Test, the trio woke up early—well, Alice and Sophie woke up early and dragged Solol out of his 'hibernation'—with the goal of leaving the Lazuli Forest.

As they walked, Alice decided to adjust her status.

[Alice LvL. 12]

[HP: 120/120]

[Stamina: 120/120]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Class: Swordswoman]

[Stat points: 4]

[Strength: 15] ← + 4

[Defense: 15] ← +6

[Stamina: 15] ← +4

[Speed: 15] ← +2

[Intelligence: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Luck: 1]

"Where should I put…," Alice said with a thoughtful look as she observed the status screen.

Sophie advised, "Why not put more into strength since that's your forte?"

"I would," she pointed to the 4 stats with '15' points, "but look at this! So organized! I don't have the heart to mess it up."

"Hm, what about Magic? Even if you are just a swordsman, you will use mana eventually."

"Good point, but I'm really curious about Intelligence though. If I put 100 points into it, will I become a super genius?"

Solol intervened, "Put it into luck. If you wanna get good here, you'll need OP items, which will be hard to get if your RNG is trash."

"The problem is that it's only 4 points. Well, I can decide later."

The group continued walking through the forest, following Alice for several minutes—who, by her lack of concern, seemed confident in her path—until she suddenly stopped, "You've been quiet for a while. Are you sure this is the right way?"

"WE WERE FOLLOWING YOU!" the other two shouted.

However, while Sophie and Solol were complaining, Alice had a strange feeling, as if she could sense someone was watching them. She signaled for silence to her companions.

"What? We're not even that loud—"

Snap!

The group was alarmed and immediately assumed combat stances with their weapons—except Alice, since Fedora was still asleep—they turned to the possible source of the noise and saw…

"CALM DOWN! I'M UNARMED!" It was a young farmer, no older than 19, with short brown hair, lilac eyes, wearing a blue tunic and black pants, and carrying a backpack full of blue apples, extending his arms in terror. "I just uhhh… heard you guys, and thought you needed help!"

Sophie immediately hid her ears with her hood, praying that the young man didn't notice them.

The young man looked fearfully at the weapon in Solol's hand, "L-look, if this is a robbery, I don't have anything besides these apples."

"Don't worry, young boy. We— Uh… are just adventurers, on an adventure!" Alice exchanged glances with the necromancer, "And we won't hurt you. Right?"

The player holstered his revolver, muttering under his breath, "Sorry if I can't read your mind."

"Oh, thank Aerion… Well then, I've heard you guys were lost, so I wanted to help," he extended his hand, "I'm Kenneth."

Alice shook his hand, "I'm Ali—," but Kenneth shifted his entire focus to Solol—who was still wearing Aerion's armor.

Kenneth said with sparkling eyes, "Woah! An Angel of Aerion?!," he inspected the armor like a curious cat, "The armor is in bad shape, did you just come back from a fight? What am I even asking? Of course you did. And you became one with that pistol? You must be one of the strongest angels."

With his self-esteem soaring, Solol agreed, "Ah yes, of course, I am an Angel. Soren Lolous, and these two are my disciples."

"Dude, what—," before Kenneth could hear her, Solol silenced her with a hand signal.

"SHUSH! Apprentice number 2," he pretended to have a wise master look, "Youngsters these days are very troublesome. Anyway, we came on a mission in this forest, but, the freckled airhead forgot the map."

"Hey!" the player almost lunged at Solol, but Sophie stopped her, whispering, "I think I understand what he wants. He's roleplaying to get us out of here."

"That sounds too smart for him. What if we end up with even more problems?" she whispered back.

The elf smiled confidently, "At least it won't be as bad as entering a cave with giant spiders."

Solol, or 'Soren', continued to praise himself, recounting his incredible feats like decapitating a dragon with a bullet, starting a fire by rubbing two blocks of ice together, taking down an army of goblins with one hand, among other exaggerated stories—but Kenneth believed every word.

"Wow! You truly are amazing!" his eyes sparkled with excitement. "Of course, I know the way out of here. How do you think I got here in the first place?" he headed east, signaling them to follow. Solol followed without hesitation—but not before turning around and winking at his companions.

Alice and Sophie exchanged looks and sighed, deciding to follow Kenneth and Solol. They moved through the forest, guided by the young farmer, who continued to admire Solol with curiosity and admiration.

"So, Kenneth," Alice began, trying to learn more about their new guide. "What are you doing in the Lazuli Forest?"

"Just getting my lunch." he showed his backpack filled with cyan apples, "Also, Uncle Hugo asked me to take some to his farm. In exchange, he lets me stay in his pigsty for the night."

Sophie responded curiously, "You pay your Uncle to sleep in his house?"

"Oh, no, no, his name is literally 'Uncle Hugo'. I know, weird."

"So, where do you live?"

"Anywhere," a tone of sadness was clear in his voice, "family was never a thing in my life. And since everything good is 'up there', I sustain myself by helping people in exchange for a roof." then, he spoke in a hopeful tone, "But I guarantee, that will change. As soon as I become an Angel like you… By the way, sorry to bother, but do you know when they will accept new soldiers?"

"What— Uh, probably next month!"

Kenneth stopped and turned with sparkling eyes, "REALLY?! Oh my god, I've waited so long! This is amazing!" he ran around excitedly, then ran ahead shouting at the top of his lungs: "FINALLY! I WILL BE AN ANGEL!"

Alice and Sophie looked irritated at Solol, who felt a little guilty for lying to the young man.

As they walked, the group began to notice that the forest's density was decreasing, signaling they were approaching the edge, where small patches of green grass started to appear.

Alice observed the changes in the environment around her, feeling a wave of relief as she realized they were finally leaving the Lazuli Forest. She looked at Sophie and saw that her friend was also more relaxed, though still alert.

"We're almost there," Kenneth announced with a smile, pointing to a clearing ahead. "From here, you should be able to see everything!"

As they passed through the clearing, they beheld a completely different view from the endless blue-leaved forests—it was an entire dead region, the grass was dry, there were no trees, and the only remnants of water were the dry soil pathways that once led to lakes, now completely empty.

"Are you sure we went in the right direction?" the swordswoman questioned.

"No, look," he pointed to ruins that appeared to be a kingdom—several kilometers away—with hundreds of houses and intact walls, but with a massive hole in the center. "This is the kingdom," he pointed to an unnatural cluster of clouds that covered almost the entire region.

"What happened here?" Alice said, horrified by the completely dead landscape.

Kenneth was silent for a moment, observing the desolate scenery before responding in a somber tone. "Like I said, everything good is 'up there'."

<…>

The group walked through the dead plain, finding small wooden houses with no crops or wells, just small families surviving, but even in the environment they lived in, they remained united and happy.

Each property was far apart from each other to avoid land conflicts. To acquire resources to survive, people entered the Lazuli Forest—they couldn't live there due to the high concentration of monsters.

"So they just leave people here?" Alice asked worriedly.

"Only until they need more—"

"THANK AERION, AN ANGEL!" shouted an old man—bald, with a long beard, and a wooden prosthetic leg—running up to Solol, "You gotta help me!" he pointed to his house, "That guy… He entered my house and refuses to leave! He's a devil! Please, free my house from him!"

"Hm, the rewards are trash…" thought the player, "… But if it's just to throw someone out of this old man's house, it won't be much of a bother, right?"

Solol went to the old man's house, who kept hysterically asking him to expel the 'demon' from his property. "Anything I should know about this squatter?"

"Well, he looks human, but his eyes are a little bit weird, and he speaks a language I never heard of! He just appeared out of nowhere and stole my house!"

Alice approached, "Need help?"

"Nah," he pulled out his revolver, without a hint of hesitation or fear "after all, I'm the great Soren Lolous." After hyping himself a little bit, he approached the player and whispered fearfully, "If I don't come back in 1 minute, break down the door."

He gently opened the door, Creeeek!, "Hello…?" entering the property—a 2-bedroom house—he saw the table dirty with food, as if a pig had passed through, the floor was muddy, and the couple's bedroom door was half-open, with the handle dented.

Sighing deeply, he approached that door with light steps and then he heard: SNOOOOORK! Entering the room, he saw someone sleeping on the bed, with a pillow over their head. The player abruptly pulled the pillow, pointing the gun at the face of whoever was sleeping.

"WAKE UP! HANDS IN THE AIR!"

<…>

Meanwhile, Sophie wondered if he wasn't taking too long, but Alice was unconcerned. After all, Solol wasn't a complete amateur in combat, and it was just an intruder, what could go wrong—

CRASH!

The player's body violently flew out of the house—destroying the wall, causing the old man to fall to his knees shouting "MY HOUSE…!"—the elf immediately went to help Solol, who was conscious but very disoriented.

Suddenly, the intruder walked out through the hole, casually with his hands in his pockets. He was a young Asian man with a good physique, with dyed and short yellow hair, wearing only pants, "내가 너한테 우리 집에서 나가라고 했잖아."

"Shut it with your cursed language, demon!"

Alice's eyes widened, murmuring to herself, "That's Korean… He's a player…"