Episode 2: Friends and Enemies

"Because of the lack of flammable substances, authorities are attributing the cause of the explosion to a short circuit in the building's server room."

I stared blankly at my phone. It's been five days since we got back to Osaka yet I still couldn't wrap my head around what happened. Most of all…

"Among those missing is Robert Langston Junior. Most people know him as the father of the brand new AuraSphere."

It's still weird how the explosion happened the same day the AuraSphere was released. If I'm not mistaken, the building that went boom was RECT Progress Inc. They were the company behind the original AmuSphere as well as some fairy game.

My uncle kept mentioning them before saying that he had finally found someone to invest in his idea. Those two worked hand in hand and thus: the AuraSphere was born.

A notification suddenly popped up right beside the video I was watching. I tapped on it and read the message.

'Damn it. What's taking so long?!' I decided to get out of bed and go outside my room. As fate would have it, the doorbell rang. I rushed downstairs to find my mom coming in with a large cardboard box in her hands. She brought it in with a melancholic expression.

'Should I? Eh.'

"Mom?"

She turned to face me as she set the box down on a nearby table. "Yes?"

"Is it in there?"

Opening it, she reached for what I was looking for and handed it to me. "Here, sweetie."

"Thanks." I nodded as I grabbed the box of the AuraSphere that had mysteriously appeared in front of my hotel room. The police had taken it as evidence along with several of our belongings but weren't able to find much. I heard that they were able to trace my uncle's trail up until the hotel where we stayed but after that, the trail was cold.

Still, I'm glad I got it back. I probably should've been more sensitive to my mom though. I mean, she did just lose her brother. Maybe he just bailed and ran off to another country with all his wealth intact.

Whatever the reason was, I couldn't really care less. If he wants to leave us then let him. For now, I was running late for a meeting.

As soon as I reached my room, I immediately flopped onto my bed and put on the AuraSphere. Fortunately, the police were kind enough to recharge it. How considerate. Opening the menu, I selected Aura Kingdom Online. That's when I remembered I was going to reset my character.

Navigating to the options, my finger hovered over the reset data button. Why am I hesitating? It's just a stupid character... but it's probably also the last thing my uncle made. Why would I care? I wanted to make my own character from the start.

Wairuzu. That stupid name rang a bell in my head for some reason. The more I said it, the more familiar it became. For some reason, I just closed the options and logged in.

Screw it. I already started this journey with Wairuzu; I'm going to finish it with him. And with that, I said the magic words:

"Link start!"

Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA

I stretched my arms as I took in the bright sun. For a video game, this felt more real than I thought it would. Walking around, I scanned the crowd. They should be around-

"Hey Hiro! That you?"

I heard a voice from behind. Spinning around, I spotted some dude with the same basic clothes as me, only with a yellow colour palette. His blonde hair shot up like spikes while his glasses made him seem more of an asshole. Well, that's because he is.

"Orange hair and red eyes. Just as you said!"

"Hey! What did I say about names?!" I immediately responded. "Rule number one of MMO's: never give out any personal information!"

He just scratched his head and smiled. "Right. Sorry uh… Wairuzu?"

"It's a long story." I'm having second thoughts about not changing this character. "What'd you name yourself this time then?"

Blondie swiped to his profile page and showed it to me.

"Daize huh?" Same exact username as the previous games.

"Hey, if it fits, it sits."

Ladies and gentlemen, his majesty: Shimpei Matsuo also known as Daize, also known as The Shimpei Master Race. We're friends in real life since we go to the same school. His reputation and overbearing ego comes from the huge amount of luck he seems to have when it comes to games. If someone were to win a rare item from a loot box, it would be him.

"By the way, where's the other one?" I asked Daize.

"He messaged me that he logged in; should be around this area."

My eyes scanned around until I spotted some cute girl walking around, nervously talking to people all the while twiddling her fingers. Her long white hair glistened in the sunlight while her silver eyes… well you get the point. She was pretty.

"Oh there he is." Daize pointed towards the supposed girl.

"Wait, you serious?"

"Yeap. Genj- I mean, Soran! Over here!" He waved like an idiot.

The trap quickly made his way over to us in a manner I would only describe as feminine.

"Thank God. I thought I was on the wrong server."

Nope. He still sounded like a dude. That's probably why those people were surprised once he opened his mouth.

Meet Genji Sotomura who goes by the name Soran. He's another friend from school. A bit shy and low in the confidence department but he's also a great guy. Genji's as polite as he is smart; has the top score in every class without fail.

"Okay what's with the trap avatar?" I asked him while narrowing my brows. Can't believe I fell for that.

"I didn't mean to make one! I just made the same character I had from the last games we played and changed up the hair." Soran spoke as he stroked his white hair. "Since this is my first VRMMO, I wanted to see what it felt like to have long hair."

Makes sense. He has extremely short hair in real life since his parents are strict about that kind of stuff.

"So…" I moved forward and turned around to scan their weapons. Daize had a basic wooden bow with yellow indents around his shoulder along with the complimentary quiver full of arrows. Soran had a large shield and sword hung on his back which made him look like he could topple over at any minute due to the frail looking avatar he made.

"I see you two still kept the usual classes."

It was like this for every game we played. Daize was our main range player who always uses a bow. Soran was our tank; if he couldn't find a class with a shield, then he'd pick the one who had the most defence. As for me…

"And you didn't." Daize raised an eyebrow. "What are we going to do without our mage?"

It's true. I was always the magic user, shooting destructive spells and healing both of them from the back. However, thanks to a certain someone, I'm a swordsman now.

"You want me to change? I mean I could-"

"It's a nice look on you actually." Soran smiled. "Maybe you should try another class for once."

That voice paired with that face is a crime. "Sure, why not?"

"We're going to have to rethink our strategy though." The Archer pointed out.

He's right. We have two melee characters now, not to mention no healer so Soran would have a tough time tanking.

I sighed. "Why don't we discuss this while questing? It's not like we're going to fight a boss or something."

"Actually…" Daize trailed off before he showed me his profile page once more. I glanced around until my eyes met with his level.

"Level 15?!" I stepped back in surprise as a large grin appeared on his face.

"Yeah. While you were offline, we might have done a few quests. We're up to a point where we have to fight the first boss in this area."

Soran nervously laughed. "But don't worry! We'll stay with you until you catch up."

I realized I was still level 2. Great. "I hate you."

I managed to get much done after a few hours, killing bunnyhops, fetching items, and gathering a bunch of wood in the forest until I reached level 15. Sitting down against a tree, I exhaled.

"I didn't know VR is just as tiring as real life." Although I did feel like I had more energy here.

"Grinding feels tiring in every game doesn't it?" Daize had a point. MMOs are naturally grind fests and whether you're moving your body or not, they can be a drag.

Getting bored I opened my inventory. I spotted a couple of rewards there from my quests as well as the currencies of the game: your usual silver and gold coins. They didn't even have special names.

My eyes shifted towards a gift box that read 'Launch Day Bonus'. I immediately tapped on it but was met with a menu message: 'Unlock at level 20'.

"What's this?" I asked out loud.

Daize crouched beside me and looked at the gift. "Oh, Soran and I have that too. It's supposed to commemorate the launch of this game. Don't know what's inside though."

"Well then." Standing up, I stretched my arms. "We better level up and find out."

Swinging a sword was much more different than casting spells. There was a learning curve but I think I got the hang of it.

"Alright, first we have to form a party." Daize nodded towards Soran.

"You mean me?" He pointed at himself. "I don't think I should be the party leader…"

"Well, we can't have it be Wairuzu all the time."

It's true, I usually was the party leader but that's only because none of them took the initiative to start one. However, before I could lift a finger, someone called out to us.

"Hey!" A girl came running up to us. She had her green hair tied into a ponytail while two swords rested on her back. I noticed she had more advanced armour on her with a black top that was a little too revealing along with shorts and pads in the usual places. She actually looked kind of cool. "You guys looking to level up quickly?"

The three of us glanced at each other before glancing back at her.

"Is this some kind of an ad?" I asked before Daize spoke up

"Sure, what'd you have in mind, uh…"

"Arryn." She smiled. I had to admit, that smile was cute. However, I was still on my guard.

"I'm Daize. This is Soran and Wairuzu."

Jeez you didn't have to speak for us.

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm a part of a group that helps other people level up quickly." Arryn continued. "They even helped me, see?"

She swiped around and showed us her profile.

"Level 60?!" Daize shouted.

"That's way far off from us." Soran chuckled.

"How'd you get to that level so fast?" I was a bit sceptical at first. Even if the game was out for almost a week, there's no way someone would be able to grind that much unless they never ate nor slept during that entire period.

"Follow me, I'll explain on the way." She started walking as the guys followed.

"Hey, wait! Where are we going?" I stood my ground. The only people I trusted in this game right now were Daize and Soran. "How do we know you're not leading us to a PVP area?"

For those not familiar with the term, PVP is player versus player. Pretty self-explanatory. The zones for PVP and PVE, player versus environment, are kept separate in games so that people don't go around killing each other all the time. Port Skandia and this forest are one of those PVE areas.

"Well…" Arryn turned around. "I guess I have to explain this to you now."

She cleared her throats. "I leveled up quickly because I defeated a high level boss at an early stage with my comrades. The people who helped me are the ones who actually grinded normally. Since they wanted to help newbies, they partied with the newcomers to fight the bigger bosses that were levels ahead of them but still below their own levels."

"Party EXP is shared equally among all players. So that means the lower level players get just as much as the high level ones." Daize put it together.

"Exactly, for a high level player, that EXP wouldn't mean much but for newcomers, that's a big boost. Repeat that a couple of times and voila. It's a good thing the game allows lower levels to enter high level areas."

"That sounds like an exploit." I raised my brow.

"Well, this game isn't perfect. Might as well make the most out of it." She winked a wink that kind of ticked me off. I didn't know why.

"That sounds fun." Soran said. "Plus we get to make new friends."

"Alright, Arryn." Daize grinned. "We're sold."

"Wait. We are?" I asked.

Arryn laughed. "Don't worry, swordsman. We'll be going to a PVE area so you don't have to worry about PVP."

I just crossed my arms and followed them. My mind went haywire once more trying to think of why she would do this for us. What does she need from us? It definitely wasn't friendship.

We tread through the forest until we came across a swamp that smelled about the same as a swamp would smell. The water was murky while the trees had mould everywhere. Luckily there was a footpath so we didn't have to touch the crap juice. The monsters in this area were mostly giant bugs like mosquitoes and beetles along with weird looking crocodiles

"Alright we're here." Arryn stopped at an intersection that led to a red portal. "That's strange, I told her to wait right here."

"Her?" Soran asked.

"Our last member. She should've been waiting for us here."

As if on cue, a girl came out from behind the tree, battered and bruised. It looked like she had taken a swim in the murky waters. She had the usual starter clothes but purple while she gripped a book tightly in her arms. Her long hair matched her eyes with a purple colour. Why does every girl in this game look so cute? Save for Soran of course.

"Oh God, I thought I was going to die." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Megumi!" Arryn approached her, handing her a health potion. "What the heck were you doing out there?"

Megumi laughed a little before taking the health potion. "I thought I could take on the monsters here while waiting."

Looking around I noticed this was a fairly advanced area with some high level mobs. Considering that this is so close to the starting area, low level players could just wander here and die a horrible death.

"Okay, now that we're all together, why don't we introduce ourselves once more?" Arryn clapped her hands together. "I'm Arryn, a level 60 Duelist!"

"I'm Megumi, level 17 Sorcerer." She raised her magic book and smiled. That's probably the class I would've chosen. "I look forward to working with you."

"The name's Daize. Best Archer in the realm so you can count on me to always hit my ma-"

I delivered a swift elbow to his majesty's gut to tell him to tone it down.

"I'm level 15…" He scratched his head and let out a chuckle which made everyone else laugh a bit too.

"U-um I'm Soran. I'm a level 15 Guardian. I can help you guys with the tanking."

"Wait you're a boy?" Megumi pointed at him in surprise.

"I actually thought he was a girl too." Arryn said.

"Y-yeah. I'm terribly sorry for misleading you two." He apologized in his usual fashion with a great bow.

The sorcerer smiled and waved her hand. "It's fine. There's no need to apologise."

"And lastly." Arryn and the others turned to me.

I sighed and spoke up. "Wairuzu. Level 15. Ronin."

I wasn't planning on getting close to them. Heck, the only reason I was here was because Soran and Daize gave me no choice but to be a part of this exploit group.

"Okay I'm going to form the party and explain how this is going to go down." Arryn sent invites to each of us. "Inside is a Level 50 Starlight Golem that's easy enough for me to take down with my dual swords. All I need you guys to do is stay back and try not to aggro the boss while taking pot shots to help me out. Debuffs would be appreciated."

"That doesn't sound like a great plan." I mentioned. If any of us got hit once then we'd be killed immediately. Arryn may be ten levels above this boss but that doesn't mean she can kill it fast enough or even tank all the damage.

"Just trust me Wairuzu. Trust in your friends."

Excuse me? When were we friends?

"I'm going to hand each of you health and magic potions just in case."

A notification for the potions popped up in front of me as she sent them to all of us.

"Alright, guys. If there's nothing else, you all ready?"

"Yeah!" They raised their fists in unison.

"Okay everyone in the portal." On her command, we all went in.

"Whoa this cave is huge!" Daize's voice resonated throughout the cavern.

A small stream lined up with our path while vines littered the wall. Straight ahead was a giant rock formation in the middle of a large area. This was definitely where the fight's going to take place.

However, I immediately felt that something was wrong. Looking behind me, I realized the portal had closed.

"Uh, guys? Where's Miss Arryn?" Soran asked as he glanced at the wall where the portal had once been.

"Oh no." As I feared. While we stood there, the rock formation in the middle started to rise. Boulders and debris collided as a giant rock monster formed in front of us. As the traitorous Arryn said, it was indeed a Starlight Golem. However, its level was not 50.

"G-guys, that thing's level 100…" Soran stepped back.

"Screw this! We need to get out of here." Daize ran back to the entrance and hit the wall with his fists. "There's gotta be some way to open the portal again!"

Megumi looked like she froze in place. Her eyes were as wide as they can be while her legs looked like they were going to buckle. Poor girl probably got tricked like us.

"Wairuzu!" Daize turned to me as I was eyeing the golem. "Help me find a way out!"

"It's no use." While my AuraSphere was taken, I managed to read up on this game. "This is a master dungeon made for players who want to go past the level cap. The catch is: once you enter, you can't leave unless you defeat the boss… or die."

Everyone turned to me as I said that. Sure this isn't Sword Art Online where if you die in the game, you die in real life but death was still a punishment here. We'd lose all our items except our weapons and armour and since this is a master dungeon, we'd even lose EXP. A lot of EXP would be subtracted and we might even be levelled down.

"We have no choice but to fight it." I pulled out my tachi.

"Are you crazy?!" Soran yelled. "That thing will one shot us."

He's right. However, I didn't want my hours of grinding to go to waste. No matter how hard or how long it takes, I'll find a way to beat this thing. I won't lose to you, Arryn.

I'll show you I'm not weak!

Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka

Next Episode: Megumi

A/N: I'm going to try to make these episodes a weekly thing like an anime so that you guys can- wait. I'm going on a vacation literally tomorrow. I won't be back until June so don't expect anything in between. I'm sorry. Thank you also to the two who reviewed this fanfic. Reviews inspire me to write more whether they're positive or "extremely constructive". See you guys in June hopefully.