Later that night, Misty Valley

A gentle breeze blew through the gorge, making my loose shirt flow in the wind. Everyone had gone offline, allowing me to have some time for myself. And so, I decided to revisit the destruction I caused that day and see if anything was different in the castle. But, I also planned something else in mind.

Other than the significant overgrowth of the invasive plants I added into the valley, much of the place remained the same. The lava that flowed back then solidified into rock, leaving an ugly mess inside and outside of the castle. However, to counteract the ugliness, the fallen seeds of the various magical trees planted more saplings that slightly poked out of the ground due to the accelerated growth rate of plants in ALO. Even though the sight wasn't as clean as before, the natural, overgrown and runic appearance captivated my eyes.

I made my way to the cliffside garden, walking ever so slowly up the long staircase as I wanted to enjoy the view more. The cold stone steps tickled my dirtied feet as I ascended. Upon reaching the top, I observed the pink tree whose flowers were even more vibrant than I remembered. The magical tree, unlike natural trees in the real world, somehow regrew its bark, covering up the carvings I made with my sword that day. The same occurred for its sister tree in the valley below, as it managed to heal even the scorch marks a fire-elemental «Sword Skill» caused. I turned my gaze to the cliffside where I jumped off and saw him sitting on the edge of the cliff. He turned his head around and smiled at me.

"Yo!"

The Spriggan stood up and turned his body towards me. Since he literally joined the game today, he was wearing the most basic of gear given to new players: simple leather armor and a short sword. In no way did he look like how I remembered him back then as the game's avatar creation engine generated a completely random avatar for him. His face greatly resembled his father's while the face I saw back then was his mother's. Unlike the short asymmetrical hairstyle I saw for all the years he was by my side, his avatar's long, straight hair reached down to his shoulders and swayed gently due to the wind. He raised his hand to his face and used his index finger to push up against the bridge of his nose—a habit he gained from years of wearing glasses. Upon touching his nose and realizing the nonexistence of his glasses in-game, he laughed nervously and scratched the top of his head with his right hand.

"Still getting used to this virtual reality stuff... The Internet connection here is bad enough as it is, and having to connect to a server all the way in Japan is extraordinarily difficult. I-I'd rather not spend too long talking to you in-game since the Internet cafe I'm at is super expensive but of good quality. I haven't experienced any lag yet, but I don't want to wait for some spike to happen. I've been using this AmuSphere thing for an hour already, so I can spare two more hours before I need to get off... A-Anyways, how have you been? The last time I saw you, you were being surrounded by your fans and haters alike. Did you go out with any of those girls who fawned over you? Or were you too busy getting beat up by the other students? Oh! Let me guess... A girl that tried to help you out got hurt and then you beat up the attackers in return? That's what happened right?! Heh… Brings back old memories… H-Hey, have you heard of this super competitive shooter-based VRMMORPG called—"

"Even though you weren't good at Japanese to begin with, you still can't keep your mouth shut when you're nervous… That's always been your weird habit, hasn't it, Vincent?"

The Spriggan still had his mouth slightly open from being interrupted, but he soon closed it and formed a smile on his face. With a long sigh, his nervousness seemed to fade away completely. He fixed his posture and put his hands on his pockets. He turned his head towards the moon and stared at in awe.

"I've actually been practicing. I haven't written or read any Japanese in a while, so I'm rusty there. My pronunciation still needs some work but I think I can keep up with you."

"I hope you can. We have a lot of catching up to do. It's been so long… I miss you..."

"You miss me?" Vincent said, perplexed at my words. He walked towards me till he was within arm's reach. He then proceeded to knock on my head as if it were a door "Your avatar seems to be suffering a speech malfunction… After all, there's no way you would ever say those kinds of things to anybody."

"Like I said…" I quickly responded, pushing his hand away after the fourth hit. "We have a lot of catching up to do. Since we're limited on time, how about you tell me what I need to know before I fulfill my promise."

"You're already making plans to come over here? Do you even have the resources to do so?"

"Don't worry about that. I just need to know as much as possible about where we're headed."

"Who's we?"

"My girlfriend and I."

The Spriggan's face lit up with surprise. His mouth dropped open while his already large eyes were opened to its maximum. His open mouth soon formed into a smile and the man started to slowly clap. His claps increased in speed until it was full-on applause.

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd get together with someone," the Spriggan laughed out. "Is she hot and sexy? Or is she more on the cute side? Is she also Japanese, or did you go for some rare foreign lady? How long have you guys been together? Have you two kissed or made out yet? How about sex? Have you done it with her—"

"No!" I quickly answered, stopping him from asking any more uncomfortable questions. "We haven't done it yet… We've known each other for two years and started dating a year and a half ago. Her appearance is beautiful, I guess, and she's Japanese… Jeez, since when did you talk about these things so casually?"

"Well, with all that happened back then, and me moving back to the Philippines, I didn't have that many friends. All the ones I did have back in the Philippines before had moved on or even moved out of the country. A handful went to the United States, trying to get that so-called American dream. If you want the main reason, then it's because I don't have much time, so I'd rather just get straight to the point as soon as possible. Do I bother you with that?"

"No, no, no… You're not bothering me. It's just so unlike you to talk about those kinds of things…"

"What kinds of things?" Vincent asked, smiling mischievously while moving closer in an effort to interrogate me. "I'm me, so I don't get hints. So tell me, what are these kinds of things?"

"Don't tempt me, Vincent," I warned him, knowing his motives for taunting me. "Just because you and I are best friends doesn't mean I can't beat the crap out of you in-game. You may have beaten me in nearly all non-virtual reality video games we played together, but there's no way I'm going to lose in a game like ALfheim Online."

"Ha, that's true," he laughed, backing away and keeping his distance. "When it comes to pure mechanics and micro alone, you have the upper hand, but my long experience gave me the edge on macro. Virtual reality is different since you control the actual avatar itself. From what I've heard, ALO is one of the more hardcore games due to its extreme-skill system that is based on real-life prowess. Your Kyokushin and Kendo experience should be coming in handy for a game like this which is proven by that video of you. Even so, that guy seemed to be strong considering you got beat up so badly. However, I thought there was something fishy going on with your fight since there were times you froze in place."

"About that… The person I was going against was cheating to begin with, otherwise, I wouldn't have had much trouble."

"I figured as much. Ever since that first day of school, I never doubted you."

"Thanks… I guess…"

"Anyways, you said you guys wanted to know as much information as possible about a trip to the Philippines?" he said, going back to the topic I wanted to talk about.

"Yeah… I figured it'll be better if we catch up with each other in the real world, but I wanted to at least see you once, even if it wasn't your actual body."

"Since it's only going to be some information gathering, mind if I log off now and just email you everything you would want to know? I also would like to catch up in the real world rather than in virtual reality, and I don't want to spend more money than I need to."

"Yeah, that's fine…" I told him, though there was a hint of distress in my voice as I didn't really want him to leave either.

"Don't worry Katsumoto. I can wait for you for as long as possible. Just come before I die, okay?" the Spriggan smiled.

He opened his game menu and fiddled with the buttons before finding the logout button. He saluted me goodbye and I waved back in response. He pressed the button and his avatar went slump as the life was sucked out of him. Since the property wasn't a «Safe-Zone Area» or an inn, the avatar remained behind, vulnerable to any attackers. It didn't really matter to him since he wasn't going to come back anyway. Even so, I lifted up the lifeless body and hoisted it over my shoulders. I carried the Spriggan and sat him down against the tree. I sat down with the avatar as well and realized the relaxing comfort the ground around the tree provided. I set my head on a moss-covered root, giving me a thin, but natural pillow for me to rest on. It didn't take long for me to quickly fall asleep next to my best friend's avatar.