"Anything interesting on my face?" Arune asked, his voice on edge. The girl in front of him widen her eyes.
"Um... no."
"Really?"
"Your eyes are... nice." She mumbled after a moment of silence.
"Thanks." He scoffed.
"No, really. I like purple." She obviously saw his dubious look as she stammered and continued digging herself in. "Your avatar is nice... Um... the hair, too. Orange... kind of like flames."
Arune looked up to his orange fringe before rolling his eyes. Fire was not this shade of orange, his hair was more like the fruit. Then he walked forward, picking up the girl's hand and putting her dagger and hair accessory in it.
"It's not all customized. You know there's the option to look like yourself." He said quietly before turning to the Teleport.
And so, this time he disappeared on the girl, teleporting to the Market street to kill a few bosses from the Quest Board. Knowing their patterns and fighting them automatically helped the boy shut his mind off, not thinking about anything. And most of the bosses couldn't hurt him anyway.
Days passed before his path crossed with this same girl yet again. At least so he thought.
Arune was farming again. And again alone. This time on the eleventh floor though, he had a few left quests there. Farming mobs, the usual. He was on the other side of the lake when someone else came from the Teleport. The floor was deserted because of the new Christmas event in the Teleport Plaza on the first floor. So spotting a new person on the floor was easy. Fighting the mermaid like creature in front of him though, Arune didn't pay much attention to them.
And then got hit with the spear weapon of the creature as someone surprised him, making him fall in the lake and get wet from head to toe.
"Sorry." Came the voice again.
"Don't 'hey' me in the middle of a battle!" Arune growled angrily at the intruder, not even looking at them as he had to finish off the monster which was still attacking him. He heard the steps behind him move further away, giving him space. Two hits later and the mob was down, breaking into shards of light.
"You shouldn't be farming alone, you know." The voice said as Arune was putting his sword back in its scabbard. "There are people after you."
The boy turned around, facing that same girl. He was immediately annoyed. If she was here again only to accuse him and yell at him...
"I can see that. You."
"No, not me."
"Then why are you everywhere I go?"
"It's not everywhere..." Her eyes widened. "I don't follow you around or anything..."
Arune lifted an eyebrow. That totally didn't sound suspicious at all. Naah, no way.
"So who is after me?" He asked.
"I don't know." The girl shrugged. Helpful.
Arune turned in the other direction, searching for another monster to fight. Enough wasting time.
"You have a rare item, don't you?" The boy stopped walking. "They are after it."
"And how do you know?" He asked.
"I..." She got quiet, not answering and just looking to the ground.
"You...?" Arune prompted her.
"I just now. A... A friend of mine is with them."
"Nice friends you have then." The girl still wouldn't look at him. "So why are you warning me then?"
And she got quiet again. Of course. Arune rolled his eyes.
"You know my guild mates can't always be with me. I can't lazy around." He said.
"Um... Let's go do the Christmas event on the first floor." The girl proposed.
"So I would do the whole work. And you clear it for free. Why should I help you?" Arune couldn't believe what this girl was saying.
"No. I can heal you. And help with the switching. I'll help." She quickly opened her menu and send him an invitation for a party. "At least you won't be alone."
Arune got her invite and finally saw her name. Koharu. He'd never heard of her before. But she obviously knew him quite well. Deciding he could ask her some more questions (and actually clear a bit of the event), the boy joined her party. Koharu started walking towards the Teleport and Arune followed.
It turned out she had a lot of healing potions. And knew how to use them without wasting them. Her switching though... Could use some more work.
"Why do you walk so freely on the higher floors? Can you even fight?" Arune asked between runs.
"I can fight. Just need more practice I suppose."
Arune decided he could farm a bit of weapon experience points while the girl could practice. On the lower floors. "Want to go somewhere on the lower floors? I can teach you a bit. At least how to dodge, you need that."
Koharu looked at him confused but then nodded and so they teleported again. Arune chose a nice spot and quickly explained about patterns and moves. The girl knew some of the stuff he said, she knew her theory. She just needed to use said theory.
"It's not that hard." The girl commented after a few minutes. "If you know the pattern and all."
"Your stats seem good though. You have the power, just not the skill. In time, you'll get them, too." Arune laughed. Then he wondered something. "How come you have that much power and these good weapon and armor but don't really know how to fight?"
"My friend gave the items to me. Didn't need them anymore."
"Yeah, it's nice when friends help you. Ask him to train you too though." Arune said.
A few moments later, as the boy was cutting the weak mobs left and right, the girl beside him stopped moving, seemingly reading her messages.
"You have to go!" Her voice was urgent now.
"Why?"
"They are trying to attack you again. Log off!" Koharu looked so scared, for a moment Arune thought this all might actually be serious.
"It's just a game. Besides' I could probably take them on." He shrugged, cutting two more monsters.
"No! Go!" She said quickly, pushing him towards the Teleport. But then it began shining, someone was coming through it. So the girl began pulling him away from there. "Go through the labyrinth, go to the next floor and teleport somewhere else. Then log off."
"What? Why?" Then he remembered what she said. "Wait. Again? They tried before? Who are they?"
Koharu ignored his questions, pulling him after herself. Arune had to admit, she had quite the high strength stat to be able to pull him like that. Once near the labyrinth's entrance she pushed him through it, looked at him with wide eyes and began running back to the Teleport. A second later a message that the party was disbanded appeared in front of Arune.
Not understanding anything and a bit worried about the girl, the boy decided to humor her and do what she said. He would ask her later, Arune was sure she was going to find him again.
