AUTHORS NOTE

I'm sorry about how short this chapter is compared to my other chapters but I thought it ended quite well where it did. Chapter 7 is currently and development and will be a full chapter at around 2k words plus. I am to have that chapter out a lot quicker that the wait between most chapters due to this one being so short. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Six-Titans Hand

Shadow opened up the door to the small cafe that they had just landed outside of after making their way off of the roof. The group of four players walked through the door into the empty shop. They walked to the back of the cafe and sat down at a 4 seated table before all breathing a heavy sigh of relief. The Silver haired player was the first to speak. "Thank you for helping me escape." She spoke looking at her three saviours.

"No problem." Paladine replied as a female NPC came over to the table they were all sat at to take orders.

"4 'Tremble Shortcakes' please." Shadow said to the NPC, pressing the blue circle button on his pop up menu asking if he would like to confirm purchase, before turning back to the blank faces of his fellow players all now looking at him for just ordering their food for them.

"What did you just order us?" The Silver Haired player was the first to ask before Paladine or Ash could say anything.

"I ordered us all a 'Tremble Shortcake'. It's this floors 'Special Dessert'."

"Special Dessert?" Ash asked as the NPC Waitress came back over holding a tray with 4 small plates on it. Each plate had a triangular piece of Shortcake topped with whipped cream stacked fairly high to the point that the cream was trembling. To finish the desert off a red fruit was placed elegantly on top of the whipped cream.

"Yeah 'Special Desserts". In the beta each Floor had a 'Special Dessert ' that gave you a specific effect after you ate it." Shadow said as the waitress placed the tray down and gave each player their Tremble Shortcake. "However they are quite pricey and the effects only last for 10 minutes but the price is worth it for the taste alone."

Ash and Paladine turned away from Shadow too look down at their desserts and were both about to dig in when the Silver Haired player spoke up. "Did you just say these desserts were in the Beta?" Ash and Paladine suddenly froze and looked back up to Shadow. Although his antics down in the 1st Floor Boss Chamber had turned the heat slightly off of the Beta Testers the majority of the Player Base was still quite hostile to Beta Testers and were even more so to the so called Beater sat with them.

"Yeah I was one of the Beta Testers." Shadow said as he sliced his fork through the 'Tremble Shortcake', lifting the piece up with the fork and then placing it into his mouth. "But I'm sure you already knew that right? After all I'm sure there have been plenty of players talking about me after the Boss Fight."

"I must admit I had a hunch seeing how your dressed and how you dealt with those players chasing me." The Silver haired player extended her hand over the table to Shadow. "The names Lynx. Nice to meet you Mr. Beater."

"Please call me Shadow." He reached across the table to shake her hand before sitting back down and digging back into his 'Tremble Shortcake'. Paladine and Ash both introduced themselves to Lynx before they all dug into the spongey, creamy dessert.

Despite looking a bit like a mix between a Raspberry and a Tomato, the red fruit on top tasted more like a Strawberry than anything else. While eating through the dessert Shadow told the group the reason behind the naming of the 'Tremble Shortcake'. According to Aincrad lore the whipped cream that topped off this desert was made from the milk of the 'Tremble Cow'. The female versions of the 'Tremble Ox' mob that spawned on this floor. Due to the size of the 'Tremble Cow' mob each one was almost a Named Monster in it's own right. When the group of four had finished off their deserts Shadow looked up to his HP bar to see a small icon next to it signifying a Luck Buff.

"Well now that we've eaten would you like to tell us why you were being chased and by who?" Shadow asked looking over to Lynx.

"They were part of a group of players calling themselves 'Titans Hand'. They've been threatening players and stealing their loot since we got to this floor. I encountered them trying to steal from a group of players who had just got up here and stopped them so they ended up chasing me."

"'Titans Hand' huh. If this were a normal game it sounds like they'd be a PK group." Shadow responded looking towards Ash and Paladine with a slightly worried look. "We should probably notify the Assault Team about this so that those players don't evolve to PKing."

"PKing." Ash piped up. "But in this game that would mean…"

"They'd be commuting murder." Paladine responded, his expression turing from worry to fear."

"Surely no one would ever kill another player here right, knowing that killing them in game would be killing them in real life." Ash's face started turning pale as she spoke.

"As much as I would hope no one would kill another player that could give some players more of an incentive." Shadow stood up from the table and turned towards the door.

"Why do you say that?" Lynx asked as she, Paladine and Ash all stood up.

"Because it will be much easier to get away with it."