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Consciousness would soon return to the once black haired young woman, but when it did she was no longer in the comfort of her her own bed. No, she was now standing on the outskirts of something which looked a great deal like the hub world of the game she'd just been playing. "Ugh... did I get kicked back to the lobby right when I got my loot?" she asked herself aloud, but soon there was something else rather strange. She when to type on her keyboard and found her high tech gloves removed from her fingertips. She was frowning intently now, "What did I fall asleep waiting on the reload?" she asked herself but by looking in the corner of her eye, she was able to pull up her stats sheet as normal only to be more surprised than she'd ever been. "Oh no!" she chimed aloud. "NO!!!! I WAS LEVEL FIFTY!! WHY AM I LEVEL ONE!?" she questioned aloud to the universe at large. The townsfolk moved around her as if un-bothered by her outburst, but she was seriously distressed. As she leaned her face forward into her hands, she was even more startled. Her hands didn't make contact with the VR Glasses she'd been wearing. Her face was bare, and over her shoulders fell a ponytail, blonde in color, instead of the usual raven color she maintained. "REALLY?!"
A certain male player of the game known as Age of Eternity would also be having a rather surreal experience at the same time. He awoke in a tavern in Eonis Kingdom, not quite conscious of himself right away. When the haze wore off, he came to realize that he was no longer by his computer, or... anything he recognized in first-person view. He did recognize the setting, though. This very tavern was where he'd taken many quests in Age of Eternity during his earlier levels, but... why was he seeing it with his naked eye? What reason did he even have to be here? 'What the hell... is this?' he wondered while trying to overcome his groggy state. In the corner of his eye, he saw what he normally did on his game screen: the drop bar for his stat sheet. Merely focusing on this allowed him to see his level and other such information. "Level 1? The fuck!? Wait, but... why am I even..." He rattled his own brain in various attempts to make sense of the things happening here, but with the amount of anime and manga he consumed on a regular basis, he eventually had a very solid idea. "Holy shit! I'm an Isekai protagonist!" he said aloud, accidentally drawing the attention of other tavern-goers nearby. Quickly, the male had to cup his hands over his mouth and silence himself, though this came with the realization that he was now sporting a strange set of arm-wear. Just the same, his hair was now white and a bit shorter than he was used to. This was familiar. Not only had he been transported to another world, but he'd also been given the guise of the character he'd spent days upon days playing as. 'Is this awesome? I feel like this is awesome...'
The young woman outside in the hub world, she'd known as the Kingdom of Eonis was now pacing, a hand still clamped over her mouth as she began processing random reasons for her current state. 'I could be dreaming...' she thought initially. 'No, not possible, all the shock would have woken me by now,' she said clearing that idea. The more she paced around back and forth, the more stern her expression became. 'It could be some weird glitch with the glasses that put my consciousness into the game. I could just be data. No... that's a Kingdom Hearts fan-theory gone away too far...' she said thinking about it a bit more. She'd recently started reading and watching several series in her own life that had similar makings to such a moment. 'Did I just wake up in another world as my avatar? Did I just get reincarnated into a video game with no one controlling me? I'm a protagonist in a... what's it called.. i...is...isek.... Isekai!!!' she clapped her hands together against her cheeks. Her face reddened but the stern outlook remained. Of course, in doing this, she expected to wake up, but given that she didn't and nothing happened, she could only sigh. 'I didn't think those had female protagonists... well unless you count that one about the girl who fell backwards in history...' she thought to herself. 'I hated that one.' she frowned deeply, using this moment as one to help out her general disposition. 'Ah I guess there isn't much to do but... live this out. I'll be an awesome leading female character! I wasn't doing much else anyways,' she though resigning herself to the world she was now part of. "Welp, first things first. I need to make some money, get food, and shelter. If it's really like the game... some early missions shouldn't be that hard..." she mumbled aloud to herself as she walked in this familiar yet unfamiliar land looking for a notice board to take a low level quest from.
The female brought into this world wasn't the only one having thoughts of money. After coming to the conclusion that this wasn't just some sort of imaginary happening, the young man in the tavern also thought of how he'd approach currency. There was a small pouch attached to his waist, and upon inspecting it closely, he discovered something very... very distressing. 'A hundred copper!? I can barely afford a night at an inn!' he thought. A heavy sigh escaped him, but he realized that in being only Level 1, he was destined to only have so much money. "Oi, you!" he said to the barkeep. "What's the news? I need a quest." The barkeep acknowledged the male as an adventurer, and while cleaning a single mug, he inspected the lad and wondered if he'd be capable of taking care of a very specific problem. "Well lad, there's a warthog problem in a town on the outskirts to the West. If you can clear that out, the farm owner there is willing to pay a few silvers," said the older, bald male with a well-trimmed goatee. The boy who'd been brought here by unknown means had his head sink, but he got up nonetheless. 'Fuuuuck! Of course he'd give me the recommended Level 1 quest. Fine, whatever. It's the best pay of the starter quests anyway,' he thought as he made his way to the tavern's exit, heading west toward a large farm past the kingdom's edge.
There was a large board outside of one of the buildings in this area, which contained news of open jobs which needed completing. These ranged greatly but one which stood out to the now blonde-haired girl described a very simple problem. "Warthogs on a farm," read the paper, a roll of this lass' eyes came as she pulled her hood up onto the crown of her head. 'Of course, first things first. Pig killing.' she sighed but she still pulled down the flier immediately turning until she was facing the opposite direction of the recently risen sun. She headed west on soft foot steps finding strangely on the road leading outside of town another traveler who seemed like an adventurer. The lad before her walked with purpose and she supposed he might have been heading in the same direction that she was going. With the hood still up on her head she swiftly closed the distance between them trying her best to soften her expression, still given her inability to properly interact with people she easily let herself fall back again. 'Oh shoot. I don't know what to say to anyone. What if they don't speak the same language as me? What if me being in this body makes my face look upset again? What if this world is full of online gamer guys who will help until you make it clear you aren't interested in them then will hunt you down and kill you in pvp because they feel rejected?' suddenly real world problems flooded this girl's mind, and even while consciously trying to change her facial expression she couldn't. Still she headed straight for the farm because it was the quest she was most likely to be able to complete while she got used to the weapons and fighting with her actual body.
'Alright, killing Warthogs. This is pretty standard, should be about twenty or so after the first few are taken out. How's this gonna be if I'm doing it for real though?' the male wondered as he continued on his path toward the farm. After minutes of travel, he was at the edge of the kingdom without any knowledge of the young woman walking behind him. His pace slowed as the farm came into view. He could see it and the warthog infestation, and it was far worse than he remembered from the game. He couldn't even count the number of beasts infesting this large farm, but it was certainly not functioning on the wave-by-wave system of the video game. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. This was just like the game 'Age of Eternity' if it had been touched by realism. In realizing that, and further comparing it to the isekai genre of media, the male thought this might become something ridiculous rather quickly. "No way..."
Upon reaching the farm, the young woman crouched down. She'd seen this kind of thing in her own playthrough and knew the sorts of numbers to expect. Even so, she was more than surprised by how many there were. 'Well, I suppose this world is real enough... I shouldn't be making the assumption that we'll get to face them wave by wave...' she thought. The number was massive and she didn't think any straightforward manner of fighting would be good for the type of character she had currently. She also wasn't sure if she'd find it easier or harder to use her own weapons and skills in this way. 'Hm... I need a plan,' she said looking to her right she saw some rocks and she picked up a small pile of them. Doing this in early levels was a rogue tactic for being able to move around in hordes of enemies while shifting their attention around. 'Alright, if I throw rocks in randomly while hiding and moving around pretty swiftly... I should be able to kill a few before they realize I'm there,' she thought to herself. A single rock in her right hand, she held the naginata she used tightly in her hand, and light footsteps led her into the tall grasses surrounding the farm.
'I can't depend on that guy I saw. Maybe if he sees me working at it myself, he'll just do whatever he needs to do without making too much of a problem. If the worst becomes worse... I could use him as bait. I'd rather not do that, though. If this is the real world now, or to us we could just be killed. I don't want to purposefully get anyone killed who hasn't done anything to me,' the girl thought. Steeling her nerve, and deciding that this route was the only one to take, she threw a small rock. It bounced off the ground in front of a stray warthog and ricocheted making a bit of noise. The beast looked up at it the direction the rock had gone in, giving this girl the chance to strike. She moved forward as quickly as she possibly could, and aimed a swift strike of the naginata at the neck of the creature from behind. It would happen quickly enough that it wouldn't have time to react and she pushed forward with enough strength to actually kill the creature. But unlike in the game she now had to pull back enough to free her weapon. 'Ugh... this is too much. It requires just as much strength to pull out as it did to push in,' she thought as she freed her weapon and crouched hoping she hadn't attracted any extra attention.
'This might not actually be something I can take at level one. I'm Kou now, but I don't even have his Alpha Skill to deal with these things.' As he thought through his approach, the male under the guise of his avatar 'Kou' saw something strange. This sound was unmistakably someone making use of stealth tactics the way he'd seen when playing Age of Eternity cooperatively. When he looked around, he saw nothing but a warthog moving toward a location filled with tall grass, only to fall within moments of approaching. 'I didn't see what took it down. Maybe a Rogue in the grass, or... maybe a Ranger? No, I think I would have seen an arrow or something. They wouldn't have needed the rock either, but... if there's someone else here...' Without thinking further, he lunged toward the horde of warthogs as they consumed the farmer's crops, purposefully making as much noise as possible to draw their attention. He succeeded in grabbing the eye of the horde at large, but his approach was not without tact. The angle he chose in this approach was one which singled out one warthog from the others, enough so that he was able to interact with it before fearing an attack from either side. 'I hope the Rider Skill works like this!' he thought as he met the first warthog head-on, hopping up while grabbing it by the tusk to spin himself onto its back. Once there, he held it by each tusk and used all his strength not just to hang on, but to try and control the beast's movements. In managing this to some extent, he kept it wildly flailing about in an attempt to throw or impale him whilst the other members of the horde swarmed inward, all eyes on this sudden intruder to their grazing session.
Finally freeing her blade, the young woman looked down at it and remembered something important. The tactic she'd chosen was a strange one considering the shape of her weapon. 'Right, early game I need to use swe...' she didn't get to finish that thought because something amazing was happening before her eyes. The lad she'd been scared to approach was now taking up the attention of most of the warthogs around the farm. He'd even taken to riding one of them while attracting the attention of the others. 'NANI?! That's a crazy thing to do. It's so risky, I guess he doesn't assume I'm someone bad...' she thought quietly. She'd rather not have gotten involved directly knowing the kinds of people who normally played cooperatively without knowing each other in life, but perhaps this was the best possible way. 'I can't turn down an opportunity like this...' she mused as she swung the large weapon around behind her, and gave it a few practice swings. 'Yep, sweeps for the naginata. I am going to need a better weapon though... I hated that it starts off like this. It's really limiting,' she thought having done this, she began to approach the outer edges of this particular group. Wide sweeps would see multiple warthogs beheaded at a time and she would be seen moving quickly enough to disappear from the line of sight of those who'd noticed their fallen comrades. 'If he makes a distraction like this for a while, I can thin the numbers a bit. I am sure he understands this,' she thought and with that she disappeared from sight once more into the tall grass.
'Woah! I didn't expect to be doing this kind of thing when I logged in today!' the male thought as the warthog thrashed about in every attempt to launch him from its back. When he had a chance to see the group around him, he did take note of the fact that some had been slain recently. His random gamble was paying off, it seemed. Nevertheless, he couldn't just sit around and be a distraction; he had to do something as well. 'Alright, calm down you little fatty! I've got work to do,' he thought further, having a readout appear in his vision noting the Class Ability: Riding. He now understood how it worked, and made use of this knowledge by placing his left hand upon the beast's head. A magical rune emerged from his palm and set itself on the warthog, putting it under his control and calming it enough to be used as a proper mount. "Osu! Now you're in trouble," he said to none other than the rest of the warthog group. Now that he didn't need his right hand to hold onto his mount, he used it to unsheathe the iron jian-style sword at his hip. It was then that he was able to ride his tamed warthog around at the center of the horde while slashing and stabbing at every beast which grew too close, steadily thinning their numbers from within.
It seemed her partner in this particular endeavor had a bit more to do. She looked around to note that he'd begun properly riding the beast he'd hopped atop, and beyond this he'd drawn a weapon and was now properly thinning the number of beasts inside as well. 'Ah. Good.' she thought. "YOSH!" she whispered excitedly to herself. Another movement was made by this young woman and she lowered the weapon in a downward slash which took off the heads of several more beasts. What was more, as she moved again she got a new readout for her abilities. Class Ability: Shadow Step. She played this class before, and as such fully understood how this worked out, and knew that her body was invisible during the activation of this ability. Her movements were abused immediately after, as she was charged more directly by one who'd been watching her behead its comrades. Instead of running she slipped to the left of it, taking up space behind it, to lift her weapon upward and cut the beast from beneath its body in a single deft sweep. 'Finally...' she mused, now she was prepared for being in combat with a group. Though admittedly she preferred only to strike when she had the means to disappear again. 'I guess, I am a bit too much like this Miki avatar anyways.' she thought, as she continued to use her new skills to help thin the numbers quite a bit more from the outside working her way towards the lad atop his warthog.
One by one, two by two, warthogs were falling by the combined yet separate efforts of the adventurers from another world. While the girl slayed warthogs from the outside of the horde using her Class Ability, the male took to using one of his as well. After running his blade through the head of the warthog he rode on, he used its body as a stepping stone to hop onto another and ride it around the pile of corpses before repeating the process anew. During his warthog-hopping, he finally got a look at the other person participating in this battle. The sight of her made him wonder what sort of individual this might be. 'Huh, that's weird. I've never seen an NPC look like that before. I wonder how much it'll be for whatever her romance quest-line needs.'
Yet another differing technique was used by this lad, as he began hopping from warthog to warthog while riding them between the masses. The bodies were piling up pretty nicely by their combined efforts, and this particular young woman had no problem with working with this lad as they were. While visible between constant killing she got a proper look at the lad from the front. 'Whoa! I'd say he was too pretty to be an NPC. I wonder if he's one of the options for a romance. It'd be pretty useful if he was... at least until I can get my Winged Dire Wolf back,' she thought to herself. It was a bit of a pragmatic view to have, but as a Rogue type she needed some extra bodies around to help her. To be fair, she'd rather have an animal companion but she knew it'd be a while off, if she could instead form a bit of a party... it might make her life a little easier. 'In the game, I was scared of parties because how crazy loner guys online can be when they find out a 'real' girl is in the place. But here, it should be a bit closer to real life right?' she thought to herself a bit of a stern look coming to her face as she swung on the last of the warthogs in her area killing it swiftly. The next, was a good distance away from her, but she decided to test the limits of her avatars form and flexibility. She planted the end of her weapon into the ground, and pole-vaulted over a mass of corpses to bring her weapon up after and slam it vertically down into the head of the last beast near her. Such an action took a bit more dexterity than most had at first, but she'd chosen a rather dexterous class to begin with so it was within her limits. 'Hm, I wonder if doing this sort of thing will make me tired?' she questioned as she scouted her surroundings to make sure she was indeed clear of any immediate danger.
The other adventurer may have been wondering if she would become tired, but from so much hopping and warthog riding, the Saber Class male could feel the alteration to his breathing. There was no arguing how real this world was now, but he could at least take solace in the fact that the warthogs were cleared out. Well... all but one were gone by the time the blonde lass ended her last target, leaving the male to ride the final living one toward her before stabbing it in the head and descending. 'Is she one of those followers? I heard the game is different every playthrough, but I didn't expect an NPC to pop up like this. All of the ones I've seen had dialogue to go through before their companion quest happened,' he thought, still wondering what his options with this character were going to be. In the end, he decided to initiate the conversation. "Yo!" he said. "Thanks for the support back there. I couldn't have hoped to take those things on by myself. Are you here for the reward?"
It seemed this quest was much easier to complete with both of them doing their fair share of the work. By the time she killed the last of the warthogs she could see, the only one remaining was one the lad rode up to her on. Soon after arriving he killed the last of them and chose to greet her. 'Huh? I wonder if dialogue will be closer to normal compared to how it is in game?' she wondered only to have the lad before her greet her in a rather relaxed manner. She shot a look his way a bit more directly and tried for a more amiable appearance than she was regularly capable of. "No, thank you for the distraction. It would have taken me a really long time to get through a group that large without someone to draw aggro," she said her normal speech pattern slipping into this world without much of a problem. "I noticed you when I was coming here but... I don't usually approach people directly," she said truly appreciating this lad's help in the matter. "I did come for the reward, but you did do half the work. Do you want to collect it together? We can split it... then and both get something out of this work," she offered, figuring one didn't take adventures like this if they didn't need the money.
The first statement he heard from this woman was one which took him aback briefly. Specifically, the fact that she used a phrase like 'draw aggro' was strange to hear from a video game character. 'That's weird. Is it just some sort of translation thing that makes it relatable to me?' he wondered, taking a moment to view the blonde in a way which showed her Class and stats the same way he'd previously seen his own. 'Huh... Same level as me, so she must be a companion that levels with me. This is a weird way to start her quest-line, but I guess it could be one of those random spawns. Yeah... like sacrifice half of your earnings from this random quest you're on to unlock a special companion. I hope this one has romance dialogue though; it'd suck to have to settle for other NPCs, and the princess is fuckin' tough.' Eventually, he realized he'd been standing there staring at the blonde for far too long while mulling over his own thoughts. She'd given him an offer, and he was to respond. "Yeah, let's form a Party. My name is Kou," he said while offering his right hand, though he seemed to have a weird reaction to the sharing of his own name. He hadn't intended to introduce himself as Kou - he specifically meant to say his real name. Alas, something about this world was forcing him to speak the name of the character he had the appearance of presently. 'Wait... What is my real name?'
'I don't really mind giving up half my earnings, but I wonder if this guy has a quest or something he's out for? It'd be nice if he was one of those trying to slay a dragon... it would guarantee companionship as long as his level isn't too much higher than mine.' there was a long silence following this thought after she'd made the offer to split the earnings with the lad, but she figured he just needed time to think it over. She also took a moment to view the lad's stats in the same way she saw her own. She now knew he was the same level and found it strange but she'd read about some pretty interesting companions that could be found in the world. 'Hm, I wonder if this is one of those intuitive companions. They usually come with romance options... at the very least he isn't stupid or anything so it should be fine to keep him around for a while,' she thought to herself. Soon enough the lad was extending his hand to her and introducing himself by the name Kou. She looked at him with that same forced smile upon her face. "Thank goodness. It would have been really awkward to have my first party invitation not work out..." said the girl exhaling a sigh of relief, and extending her own hand to meet his. "I'm Miki. It's nice to meet you, Kou." she said. It wasn't as hard a sell for this young woman to give the name of the avatar she was using. Such a thing was common for her in online games, to avoid people trying to call her by name.
Luckily, nothing was said regarding the amount of time it took 'Kou' to respond. Such a thing only contributed to the idea that this was an in-game character he was interacting with. And yet, the fact that he couldn't remember his own name - specifically when trying to think of it - was bothersome. With that as an aside for the moment, the pair shook hands and created a Party, which showed its information in a digital manner through Kou's vision. "Great! Looking forward to working with you, Miki. Let's go find the farmer!" he said while moving toward the farm, though he stopped abruptly and looked toward the collection of warthog carcasses they'd left. "Oh, wait! We should loot these guys, right? We'll both make more money that way."
As strange as Kou might have thought it was for Miki not to question how long it took him to reply. She was also thinking similar things about him, of course, due to her own thoughts about this game world's realness, she just figured there was something like lag applied to his answer as calculations were made. She also got the notification within her vision about the forming of their party. It was a screen she'd never seen before herself, but she understood it well enough to continue without much thought. As they were about to head off towards the farmer though, the boy suggested that they stop and loot all the warthogs they'd killed previously. She looked at them too and sighed, it would take a bit of doing, but it was well worth it since they were splitting the rewards for the most part. 'Huh, I wonder if he's the kind of companion that comes with tool tips. That's a pretty good catch,' she thought to herself, as she was constantly forgetting about loot unless she was looking for something in particular. But that little fact made a lot of sense considering the type of lifestyle she was used to, "Oh? That's a good idea. Looting always slips my mind..." she said aloud. Her own first adventure in this game world did let her know what was good from these already. "Only the tusks and skins are really worth anything. The rarer pig-spawns are worth a good deal for their whole heads though..." she said, again her language choice would likely seem out of place, but she had a great deal of experience dealing with the pig types from this world, as they were most frequently spawned in the areas she frequented. With this in mind she stopped and looked out at all the corpses. She began working on the nearest ones, removing their tusks to pocket them in the pack beneath her cloak.
Yet another thing spoken by Miki was very, very strange. It wasn't so odd to hear most of this conversation from an NPC, but her reference of rare spawns in such an immersive game as Age of Eternity was far from normal. As such, Kou's path toward the collectibles held by the warthogs was halted, as he truly couldn't wrap his head around this interaction. "Huh. That's pretty meta," he said without much thought. He had many other things to be concerned with though, so he too began collecting from the warthogs. In the meantime, the farmer they would have otherwise been looking for approached the new Party. He was an elderly man with a thick white mustache and glasses, using a garden hoe as a walking stick. "Finally, some young Adventurers came to help me! The Knights and Guards wouldn't bat an eye, even though I've been providing for the kingdom for decades! Thanks to you young'uns, I can finally leave the house and get back to work!"
"Meta?" she questioned at a near mumble. "Since when do companions know words like that... I know they are supposed to be intuitive but that's ridiculous..." she spoke to herself about this situation. She was in shock that the lad even knew such a word, and wondered if like the game the world adapted to her presence here. 'That'd be pretty crazy. I wonder if the guy at the game shop would play if he knew he'd get sucked in this hard? Ah well, it isn't like there is much to care about back there anyways...' the girl mused to herself. Her thoughts on this matter were strange but she considered this to be a rather fun way to experience her life. Even if she was already privy to how this story could potentially go. Whatever the case, she couldn't really think on it further as they were soon approached by the person who'd put up the quest. An old man with a mustache using a hoe as a cane. "Hai hai, it isn't a problem, Ojii-san. It's a shame about the Knights and Guards though... do you know why the warthogs were here though?" she asked, wondering if this would be one of those small bounties which could potentially lead to a quest-line. These sorts of things were at least good for money and base level loot, which would be good for them considering they were now sharing money and experience. 'Ugh, I sound like a helpful NPC...' Miki thought to herself, not knowing such a thing was likely how she was being taken.
Kou was happy to continue looting warthogs during the elder's approach, considering it to be something of a discussion going on between NPCs while he wasn't locked behind a cutscene. "It's not so much a shame as it is a pity, young Adventurer. You'd think those who serve the kingdom would actually do some servin', but I'm too old to be heard. Those damn pigs have been roamin' these parts for years now, and they finally went and took down the fence I had to keep 'em outta my farm. I'll make sure it takes twice as long for them to get rid o' the next one!" the old man announced, taking further steps forward to offer a coin pouch to the girl who actually managed to address him directly. "Here's your pay for the job well done! It's only 150 copper pieces for each of you, but it's all I can afford if I want to keep my farm safe once you're gone."
During this time, Kou managed to finish looting as much as he could carry back into the kingdom. He joined Miki and the farmer with a few words to share with the old man. "That's fine. I just need to be able to sleep somewhere tonight without starving by tomorrow," he said. At that very moment, Kou received something akin to revitalization from deep within himself as a glow emanated from his person. Having completed a quest in a way, he felt the surge of power representative of an experience gain, boosting him to level 5 while his eyes widened from the sudden occurrence. "Woah, level five, huh? Starter quests are great!"
Being called 'Young Adventurer' was a bit surreal for Miki. Before she'd been transported to this world, she'd experienced this game in VR so it wasn't very different aside from actually having to do things for herself. Some of the speech though just seemed sort of scripted aside from the conversations she had with Kou. Still this old man's speech had some spunk left in it, and it made Miki smile. "Nice to see you still got some fire in you, Ojii-san," she commented while admiring him for his speech and his ability to bounce back from such an infestation. Of course, the amount of money they had to split was a mere 300 coppers total, but given they were also still looting warthogs this was hardly worth thinking about. Before she was able to speak on this though, Kou did, claiming he only needed enough money to move into the next day and not starve. "I was going to say the same thing... Arigatou Gozaimasu~" she mentioned finding it strange for someone from this world to have such a reaction. Obviously level one players were like this in general, but if he'd lived in this world his whole life it was kind of weird.
Beyond this after receiving their pay, Miki got to experience a strange feeling of gaining experience. This caused the widening of her own eyes, and like Kou she had a similar happy reaction to the occurance. "Yosh! Halfway to Alpha Skill!~" she chimed seemingly happy about it, in the same way she'd been when she'd done something similar in game. 'Hm, I am going to need to grind up some more cash... I am going to need a better weapon by the time I get my first lancer skill,' she pondered this point but soon after returned to looting corpses. There were no quests to offshoot from this one, but that was fine as well. At the increase to level five they could together take on something a little more difficult and thus more rewarding.
"They're never gonna be able to put that out, I tell ya'!" the old man said with a rather comical shake of his fist. Kou took a moment to view his own stats again and recall the way he intended to distribute his upgrades over the next 45 levels. It was going to be an arduous task, but there was also something incredibly exciting about being within this world himself. The only downside he could think of was the potential of dying in the game, and meeting the same fate in life. As he stood there thinking this through, he came to a few conclusions regarding how this world should be approached to avoid that potential eventuality. "We should avoid going any farther West. Any more quests we take should be from the lower end of the kingdom, maybe the slums. Gearing up should be a quick priority as well," he said with a decent bit of thought going toward survival. "I don't like being partied up early, but you seem good enough to make the share system not annoying to deal with. We should be able to double our quest completion rate and balance everything out, and even take harder quests sooner. That's new," he continued, seeming to have fallen into blurting out thoughts he would normally share through his microphone when considering his future with other players of a game.
Miki also knew how she wanted to distribute future stats, in order to make sure she reached the prime form of her skill level. Of course, she had no idea why this was something she just knew, but that was fine as well. As she continued to make quick work of the corpses, it seemed that Kou had something to say about their future endeavors. His plan was for them to level up quickly, using the lower end of the Kingdom. This was a good plan considering that help was always needed in the places least looked. He also mentioned not liking to be partied up so early and Miki could agree. "Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good plan. I don't think I would have partied up so early either. It was just my plan to get enough money for gear and shelter. And instead of looking for people I was going to get a companion mount," the girl mentioned. "But I don't mind sharing with you... you're pretty capable. And I can't deny the damage you do will come in handy when we get into taking harder quests," she summarized the situation calmly. Though she didn't normally speak over mic this was about the sentences she would have typed in messages to people she spoke to, "I am alright with taking the lower tier quests to level quickly. I'd prefer not to take the Goblin ones though... Orcs are easier to kill and less likely to...ahem... present me problems directly," she mentioned, once again having her knowledge of the game from her previous life leak into her character's decision making. Beyond this she finally worked her way through a great number of the dead warthogs claiming a pack full of tusks and skins for sale.
"I was gonna do the same thing. A nice mount would still be pretty useful though. I'll need to put money toward raising a Chocob-..." Kou paused, realizing he was about to refer to a certain creature by a name he jokingly called it in his home world, as it bore a striking resemblance to something in another game series. "... Filolial. I know how to make one as fast as it can possibly be, and it'll seat two people. It's one of the most effective travel mounts we can get until going Dragon hunting, and Filolials are also good against Dragons." Following Kou's explanation, he took pause. Miki said something very interesting about Goblin-related quests, sounding the way many girls in the human world did about such things since the appearance of a rather controversial series. Strange though this was, Kou responded in kind. "Yeah, I get it. Goblins are an easy grind for me, but I've seen way too many of those things lately. Besides, I've got this," he said, revealing the very same mask fragment he'd obtained from defeating the Goblin Lord when playing Age of Eternity normally. He wasn't sure why he had this fragment when he'd spawned as his character at level 1, but he couldn't rightly complain about it. "Orcs are fine by me, but isn't the path to their forest pretty dangerous?"
'That was pretty meta... I wonder if this game read other game activity on the system it was played on?' the girl thought only to nod her understanding of this lad's plan. He apparently wanted a Filolial and knew how to raise it to be the fastest it could be. He went on to explain that it could also seat two people making it good for the pair of them in the party together. He also mentioned they were good against dragons which was true, but him saying this only made her laugh a little. "I knew you'd be one interested in dragons. This really is a good start..." Miki mentioned, only to have the lad reveal a piece of material which was legendary in its own right, though only partly one. "Whoa, that's a pretty awesome find, isn't that an artifact? As a companion animal I want a Winged Dire Wolf. Though they don't actually fly, they change size pretty easily, are useful in direct combat with most creatures including dragons..." she said. In her own previous play through she'd basically used hers as a hunting dog. It intimidated weak foes, and was useful for tracking more illusive targets. Besides that since they weren't afraid of anything she raised hers to have several magical abilities which would be useful against dragons, because she had intended to take one on after getting to max level. "Oh I have an artifact too..." she said removing from inside her cloak a chain of gold with a skull like charm on it. From that charm could attach several long bones to make up a spine. Technically speaking this had been the loot drop from her kill of the Orc Lord when she'd been playing her game, but at present she couldn't really place why she had it, nor what it was used for.
Apparently, Miki was also at least somewhat interested in Dragons. Her own choice in mount was one which was also highly-recommended for dealing with Dragons later in the game. More interesting yet though, was her knowledge of the artifact he held, even though it was nothing more than a fragment. She even had an artifact of her own, which was certainly not something that should be in the hands of a low-level character, and certainly not in the hands of an NPC this early in the game. "But... that's the Bones of Rathma. You shouldn't have that, unless..." He paused, shaking his head while thinking the only reasonable explanation for her possession of this artifact was that she, too, was a player. He couldn't just outright say anything without risking a very strange interaction if he happened to be wrong, but he had to say something to find out if he was right. A few moments to think was all he needed before he produced something he figured would be useful. Just the same, if he was wrong, he'd likely be able to initiate this NPC's romance quest-line. "Oi, do you know of a good romantic spot in the kingdom? I've got some ideas."
"You know what this is?" the girl's eyes widened as she realized. She didn't expect an NPC to have the sort of knowledge which would make it obvious that it was this. She'd been thinking that the system of this world was just overly intuitive and based on her previous experiences. But the fact that he actually knew what the object around her neck was, when she'd barely had time to know, let her know all she needed to, 'He had to have come here through the game... it's the only way it makes sense for him to have that artifact!' she thought this and while she did her expression soured, though this had nothing to do with anyone else. Though it was about to change a bit of surprise was in order. Rather suddenly, she was prompted to engage in such a way that would have been standard for a romantic quest line. "Ah!? Nani? Romantic? That's crazy..." she mentioned with all necessary surprise. 'He doesn't think I'm an NPC does he? I know I don't really look like one, and one shouldn't have an artifact... actually...' her face relaxed as she had a thought and she burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha!~ You could have tried something a little less drastic to figure out what you wanted to know... Kou." she said moving a little closer so she could mention something important. "I'm not from here either... but I figured this would be a fun life to live," she stated. It was surprisingly good luck or perhaps bad, that she and another player had been put into this game at the same time. It was as good a place as any to start a reasonable friendship.
Kou was rather focused on Miki while awaiting her answer. Whatever she said or did in response, he would know for certain whether she was a human or an in-game character. The start of her reaction was like something out of a series he would watch in his spare time, but it evolved into a full response which gave Kou a very direct answer. Miki was not from this world, but thought to stay here just as he did upon arriving. "I'm into puzzles. I had to lead my way into the answer without wasting the mystery," he said regarding his method of approach. Still, a sigh escaped him. He may have gathered the information he sought, and even had the luxury of interacting with someone who shared his out-of-world experience, but he also experienced the disappointment of potentially picking up a one-of-a-kind NPC. "Good job though, dude. Looks like you spent a lot of time on that Avatar; I've never seen one so good. I was kinda hoping I could open up those dialogue options for a minute."
After her outburst, she was graced with a reply from Kou. He apparently thought this entire thing a way to figure out what he wanted to know, and thought it a puzzle of some sort. "Well, if it makes you happy~" the young woman said shrugging off his apparent strangeness. People were allowed to like whatever they wanted after all, it wasn't really that strange to enjoy puzzles. But beyond this there was a bit of strangeness in this lad's reaction to her. Firstly he claimed that she must have spent a great deal of time on her avatar, and referred to her as dude, such a thing was pretty normal considering most people who played video games in great amounts were male. Still something about that compliment made a small blush come to the young woman's face and she turned her head just a bit. "Dude?" she questioned this word choice only to think about it and realize why it might have been. His last sentence about how he'd wished to start those dialogue options made her feel strangely. Since they were both here together and probably stuck indefinitely, and they'd already committed to travelling and adventuring together - which was almost more binding in such a situation than anything else - she felt the need to confess something important. "Ano... this is a face scan. It took me a while to decide on hair color but I just look like this... so thanks," she said bashfully. She was the type of person who enjoyed compliments as much as the next person, though in-game she avoided revealing her status as a female because of how crazy people acted. She was already in a foreign world and felt no need to hide something so trivial. She thought such a thing would make it obvious without saying, since he enjoyed his puzzles.
Following what Kou said to Miki, he witnessed the Avatar's face turning red with what he could only assume was embarrassment. Nothing could have been more queer than this reaction until Miki questioned his use of the word 'dude' when addressing her. 'Wait... no...' he thought, beginning to have it register in his mind that this wasn't a male-controlled Avatar. What's more, Miki confessed to using face-scanning technology to create her Avatar, changing only the hair color from her normal appearance. Kou's eyes widened quickly as he realized he'd been talking to a girl all along, and had accidentally been far more direct than he would have intended to be normally. "I uhh... yeah, well..." He stumbled over his remaining words until he suffered a total loss and the reddening of his own face, which he aimed to mask by turning away quickly. "Okay! Next quest, hup two, movin' on!" was all he could manage as he took long strides into the kingdom. 'Holy shit, I just said something out of line to a girl way out of my league!' he thought during this series of forward movements.
After confessing to having been a girl in more than just this avatar, Miki was confronted by a rather strange reaction in Kou. The lad seemed to be thinking about something and went on to stumble over several words as if he was trying hard to justify what he was saying. She didn't necessarily care about this, she expected such things, and she didn't have anything negative to say about the lad in their interactions so far. She could hardly blame him for wanting to carry on any of the romantic options that an NPC would have presented, especially considering it was only natural for him to think she was one as well. "Ano..." she started to try to say something, but the lad seemed content to move along. She'd seen the blush on his face, and wondered if perhaps something about this situation had embarrassed him as well. Regardless of the interactions to come, she couldn't say she disliked the idea of this lad so far, and his avatar was cute. Though she didn't know what he looked like originally, she'd been assuming it wouldn't matter much at all. 'Hm, I don't know what to say... but I couldn't not tell him I was a girl,' she thought to herself. "H-hai!" she said easily catching up to his movements towards the Kingdom. She was alright with them moving on, and had enough extra goods to sell that she wasn't particularly worried about the initial low cash payout. She was however a bit worried about her companion. "You're okay right, Kou? If you're the only person I know, I can't have you freaking out on me..." she said gently aiming to put any awkwardness behind them, not that she understood what his issue was at all.
Forward and forward Kou went, content to move on to the next quest without acknowledging this situation at all. Perhaps in doing so, he could avoid it being brought up again in the near future. Sadly for him, Miki decided to confirm his mental stability from their most recent exchange. It was fair enough to say that them knowing only each other from the human world was reason to worry for one another's safety, but Kou was struggling to find the best possible answer. There was, however, something else on his mind the moment Miki referred to him by the name Kou. He suddenly remembered the moment they introduced themselves, when he intended to offer his given name as a human... and forgot it in exchange for his Avatar's name. "Yeah, I'm not freaking out. Say... what's your real name?" he asked just to be certain whether the situation applied to him alone, or if it affected anyone who crossed into this world.
It seemed that Kou as well enough at least to answer questions. Though not directly, still because she was the sort of person who'd not let something like that get in her way, she'd aim to be helpful. He claimed he wasn't freaking out, and this was enough for her to feel like they could be alright. The secondary part of his question gave her a bit of pause. "My name... is... K....Miki..." she said, her mouth forcing her to stumble over the name of her avatar. "Oh? That's weird. It's like my name is fuzzy to me. Actually, now that I am trying to think about it, a lot of things are kind of fuzzy to me. I remember playing this game... a lot. And I remember stuff about the game... but I can't recall... stuff about me. Not really," she said while trying to think of herself a bit more solidly. Still she couldn't actually get her own name to come to the forefront of her mind, nor could she recall what her life was like in the time before she started playing this game. "Can you remember your real name?" she asked of him, wondering if it was simply the world at large trying to force them to integrate.
As they moved deeper into the kingdom, Miki suffered the same fate Kou experienced earlier in the day. This came with an explanation of what she felt in her mind when trying to think of her human life. That fuzzy feeling was present in Kou's mind as well, and he also couldn't seem to remember his mind or much about his life. "I feel like I remember my name, but any time I try to think of it, it's gone. I can barely even picture what was around me while I was playing. It makes me wonder if we're here for a limited time, or forever. I'm pretty sure I didn't die back home or anything." Soon, Kou stopped in front of a quest board which happened to be the same one previously accessed by Miki. He viewed the list of potential quests, recalling their earlier discussion about the next leg of this adventure. "Are we sold on Orc quests? It's a long path; I'd vote for picking up a mount before going all the way over there."
Miki was less than surprised that this lad was experiencing the same type of fuzziness around his memories that she was. "Ah, I see. I figured it was just me because I was playing before as a VR experience. When I first showed up here, I thought maybe I'd just gotten booted from the game..." she said thoughtfully. "I also wonder how long we're here for, but I figured I'd make the best of it!~" she said seemingly having a very optimistic overview despite the fact that she'd basically been snatched from her bed and thrown into a life she'd only been experiencing third person before this. As they reached a Quest Board, Miki also stopped and looked at it. Was she really sold on the Orcs, as her eyes traveled over the potential quests they were now capable of taking, and recalling the ideas that they'd discussed previously she gained a new and better one for their adventure over all. "Actually, I have an idea, though admittedly it might seem a little crazy..." she mentioned her own expression souring, though she wasn't displeased at all. "Since you've already done the Goblin Path, and I've already done the Orc path we could try one of the other ones. I was thinking... Lizardmen," she said calmly. "They are in a different area, and we could still pick up the mounts ahead of time, but it would make this adventure different enough for both of us to be worth while. Plus, the Lizardmen I am pretty sure will lead to something that will make the Experience Sharing aspect more worthwhile. And then we can both get newer stuff... as long as we're prepared when we head that way," she concluded. She knew this idea was a bit risky, since neither of them outright knew a lot about the kinds of enemies they'd be facing. She was content with this though, because it meant their new adventure would be a proper new one, and such a risk was one she was willing to take, for new loot and new experiences.
"VR? That had to be a pretty expensive setup, even for this game to run. You're committed," Kou commented, knowing at least how much one would have to pay before being able to play a game this demanding in virtual reality. They were of the same mind when it came to milking this world for what it was worth, for however long they were stuck here. Kou himself, even without clear memories of human existence now, knew there was hardly anything holding him to his home in Japan as it was. So, they would continue questing. Miki produced the idea that the pair of them undertake a new sort of adventure involving Lizardmen, since they'd finished two separate paths in their own playtime. He had originally avoided seeking the Lizardmen since he wanted to save the superior challenge to Goblins for later, but he also didn't have a single proper party member at the time. "Lizardmen are in the marshlands part of the map, yeah? Movement is gonna be hard, and they'll be really fast. I don't think they're as far away as Orcs, so I guess we've got a choice between gear and a mount. Or maybe you had something else in mind?"
"Of course, I wanted to have a good time..." she said. The expense of the system she'd originally played this game on, wasn't something which registered within Miki's mind. It like most things she owned, was simply a means to an end. She didn't much care about cost, because she'd been raised not to, of course, she still realized her own hard work was necessary which is why she didn't mind playing her purist runs or not purchasing the DLC before she completed a playthrough of the game. As they approached her idea about how to take on their present leg of the challenge, some logistics were being discussed, basically trying to figure out how to work out what they had going. A party of two should have an easier time of it. "Hai, they make their home in the Marshlands. I'm not sure what's beyond that though, but it's part of the adventure. As for what we do between gear and mounts I think we should still do both," she mentioned to clarify what she thought on this matter her hand came to her chin and she appeared to be in deep thought. "To be fair, we could spend money on getting the two mounts, the Filolial and the Winged Dire Wolf. At the very least a trained Winged Dire Wolf, will work as a third member of the party if it's leveled up properly, and the same could be said of the Filolial," she mentioned. "If that is where we spend the money, we could gear up doing blacksmith quests... I don't know where one is from here, but that would be an easy way to train the mounts and still get the necessary gear to take the Lizardmen. If you're okay with the grind of it..." she said. The path Miki offered was considered to be pretty arduous but she'd taken a similar one against the Orcs when she'd been going at it alone. She felt the long term rewards would outweigh the initial longer time spent grinding for gear and money. Additionally it would give them time to learn a bit more about the world at large and give them a good footing to higher levels.