Roughly an hour had passed since Valyr realized that he had reincarnated into the game that caused his untimely demise, turning into one of the numerous NPCs that existed within it.
Using this knowledge to his advantage, he decided to talk to the person driving the carriage he had woken up in, gradually becoming closer with the man throughout this time.
"You know, we've already talked about so many things, but I still haven't gotten your name yet," the man said all of a sudden, faintly chuckling as he wrapped his arm around Valyr's shoulder.
"It's Valyr," said Valyr in response, slightly smiling. "How about you, sir? What's your name?"
"Do you really have to call me sir? It kind of feels off to be calling someone like me that." In response, the man let out an awkward chuckle. "Anyways, you can call me Tryndall. I'm glad to have someone like you accompany me on this boring journey."
"I'm glad you feel that way." Valyr nodded. "Anyways, there's something that's been bothering me for a while."
"As long as the problem ain't financial, I am all ears," Tryndall joked in response. "What's up?"
"Well, I've been wondering as to how I ended up on your carriage," Valyr looked at the man beside him. "Don't you think it's a bit weird for a person to be on a carriage all of a sudden?"
"Though it is weird, you didn't really hop on my carriage all of a sudden," Tryndall clarified. "Did you perhaps forget how you got here?"
"Kind of, yeah." Hearing the man's question, Valyr could only nod.
"Well, with how you've acted the past couple of days, I don't blame you for forgetting." In response, Tryndall faintly shrugged his shoulders "Anyways, you hopped on my carriage a couple of nights ago after giving me a bit of money to let you hop on. Since you looked like you wanted to go someplace else, and the fact that you gave me money, I agreed."
"In fact, it was only after you were sure I let you hitch on my carriage did you finally go out cold."
"Not gonna lie, I was kind of worried since you were dead asleep throughout the journey so far. For a while, I thought I'd also be hauling along a corpse to where I was heading," the man added.
Listening to Tryndall's narration, Valyr pondered over his current circumstances for a bit, wondering if his character was a unique case. Though, by the end of his searching, he did not really find anything that stood out in his memories when it came to his first name.
However, the same thing could not be said for the surname he had been given.
"Zeihardt…" murmured Valyr to himself, only to place the thought at the back of his head for now as he talked a bit more with Tryndall regarding a few things. Eventually, after some time, he offered to Tryndall that he would drive the carriage while the latter could take a rest, to which the latter agreed to.
After telling Valyr everything he needed to know while manning the carriage, Tryndall headed to the back of the carriage while Valyr was left at the front, looking at the sight in front of him with a slightly hopeful expression.
'I still find it surprising that I've been directly reincarnated into Greater Beyond as an NPC,' thought the young man to himself.
Being the game that led to the demise of the entire Earth, Greater Beyond was actually a worldwide hit in his past life, being the only True Immersion VRMMORPG to have every person in the world playing the game. Then again, such a feat was only achieved by the game once it was in its later versions.
Nevertheless, because of this, the company behind the game decided to use it to their advantage, turning them into beings whose whole life revolved around the game, even going so far as to control it.
Unsurprisingly, news about this gradually spread throughout the planet, eventually causing a faction opposing this to be established. As someone who did not want others to dictate how to live their lives, Valyr had ended up becoming part of said faction.
Though, with how he had been given a second shot at making things right, it went without saying that their faction had lost, realizing what was happening just a little bit too late.
Because of that, Valyr was determined to make sure that their side would actually have a chance at winning the final battle this time around. In fact, he was planning on making preparations for it before it even reached that point just to increase their chances even further.
"From what Tryndall told me earlier, our carriage is on its way to Astarto Village," said the young man to himself, engrossing himself in his own thoughts. "Though it would've been preferable for me to head to a town or a city, it's still not a bad place to start grinding levels and gaining experience."
"Then again, I guess it would be safer for me to start my journey in a village, especially with how much knowledge I know about the game." Thinking about the things he would do once he got to the village, his thoughts soon wandered off to something else.
"Now that I think about it, I'm quite lucky to be reborn in the world of Veldanyr… though being reborn on Azgares wouldn't be much of a problem either."
Although Greater Beyond was a game that allowed players to travel to multiple universes in its later versions, in the early versions, players were only limited to certain planets, which were dubbed starter planets by the game. Depending on the race one chose, they would spawn on a certain starter planet.
For those who chose the human race, there were only two starter planets to choose from: Azgares, a planet where magic reigned supreme, and Veldanyr, a planet that resembled quite a lot of medieval fantasy stories in terms of setting.
As for the village he and Tryndall were heading to, Astarto Village, it was actually classified as one of the many starter villages in the world of Veldanyr. In other words, a place where players gradually acclimated to the world of Greater Beyond and gradually branched off from there.
"System, show me my stat screen." Feeling like he had looked at the landscape surrounding him for long enough, Valyr decided to make sure that what he'd seen earlier wasn't a dream by trying out a command he usually recited.
Fortunately for him, a screen appeared in front of him in response, prompting him to let out a faint sigh of relief as he focused his attention on the information that appeared on it.
Ding!
————
[Valyr Zeihardt]
Class: Civilian (Rank 0)
Species: Human
Level: 1
Power Level: 9 (C)
————
HP: 10/10
MP: 10/10
Stats: 1 VIT, 1 STR, 1 AGI, 1 DEX, 1 INT, 1 WIS, 1 PER, 1 LUK (1 unassigned point)
Remarks: Nothing stands out. Incredibly normal.
————
While looking at his status screen, his attention was quickly attracted by the line of text located near the very bottom of the screen.
[Version 0.1b of Greater Beyond starts in 60 days!]
"Version 0.1b… Version… wait a second. Ain't that the closed beta version?" Rummaging through his memories, he eventually recalled that there existed a version before the first public version was released, a version only available to a select lucky few that were chosen.
Surprisingly, even though the market for VRMMORPGs was saturated at the time, the closed version had generated a lot of hype it thanks to the people who were able to play it, causing all stock of the game in various stores to be sold out once the public version was released.
In fact, the supply of the game at the beginning was so bad that Valyr had to bite the bullet and buy a copy from a scalper.
"Considering how the company was the first to introduce cutting-edge time dilation technology, these 60 days only apply to us NPCs, probably," he muttered, closing the screen as he committed the information from his status screen to memory, performing a few calculations in his mind not long after.
"If the time ratio is still the same as how I remember, then that means a couple dozen players will be able to access this game in about a week or so from now. Then again, that's only if the ratio's still a week to one."
Pondering over it for a bit more, a light smile eventually appeared on his face as he decided to change a few of the things he had planned to do once he got to the village.
"Well then. I wonder if I can make some considerable progress before the 60 days are up?"
"I guess only time will tell."
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Although Valyr was the one driving the carriage, causing a bit of unease in Tryndall as he tried to rest, not much happened during the rest of their journey, only having to stop at some point as the sun had set. As they had set up camp for the night near the road they were traveling on, the two of them continued to talk for a bit more, with Valyr doing more asking rather than talking.
Nevertheless, Tryndall did not mind the small interrogation they had, instead finding it refreshing as he had been traveling alone for quite some time. With all of Valyr's questions answered, as well as Tryndall's boredom appeased, they eventually ate their dinner and fell asleep, knowing that a long day awaited them once they woke up.
Fortunately, the weather was quite pleasant by the time they had woken up, prompting them to return on their journey without much problems. Unsurprisingly, Tryndall took over the reins and drove the carriage to its final destination. However, Valyr was there by his side, allowing them to idly converse as their destination gradually got nearer and nearer.
Eventually, once the sun seemed to be an hour away from reaching its zenith, the two were greeted by the sight of tall stone walls from a few kilometers away, enveloping what seemed to be a small yet lively settlement. Noticing this, Valyr turned to look at Tryndall, who looked back at him before lightly nodding. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then yeah. That's the place, alright."
"Up ahead, Astarto Village." With a grin, Tryndall used the reins to give the horse pulling their carriage a signal, notifying the latter to hasten its pace. In response, as if it had been waiting for this moment all this time, the horse hastily sped up as it made the carriage slightly shake, wanting nothing more than to end the journey once and for all.
With that, their carriage had traveled the remaining distance within a matter of minutes, prompting Tryndall to pull on the reins once they were around a hundred meters away from the village gates. Sensing something pulling on its mouth, the horse slowed down as fast as it had sped up, reducing their speed to a trotting pace as the carriage entered Astarto Village without much problems.
While they were gradually making their way deeper into the village, Valyr looked around, finding it somewhat nostalgic to be in a starter village once again. 'Of course, unlike last time, I'm now an NPC, not a player.'
Then again, that change did not stop him from admiring the sights that the humble village offered, showing him a lively settlement that seemed to be self-sufficient. Most of the buildings within his field of vision were made out of roughly cut stone, with roofs made out of thatched wood. And, as far as his eyes could see, the village seemed to only span a kilometer in diameter.
Nevertheless, a light smile gradually crept up on his face, prompting Tryndall, who glanced at Valyr for a bit, to lightly smile as well.
Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end, with the carriage stopping in front of what looked like a three story building made out of chiseled stone. Realizing what was happening, Valyr looked at Tryndall before nodding, getting off the carriage to allow the latter to do what he had to do.
As Tryndall got off the carriage to haul the hay from the carriage into the building in front of them, he decided to ask Valyr something. "So, what are you planning to do next?"
"I'll probably stay here," said Valyr in response. "Although I've definitely enjoyed your company during the latter portion for this journey, I don't really want to become a burden for you. I'll stay here and establish a foothold of sorts. Perhaps, by the time you get back here, I might surprise you."
Hearing his words, Tryndall let out a bit of laughter. However, this laughter did not contain any mocking intent whatsoever. Instead, it contained feelings of interest towards the words Valyr had just uttered out. "Is that so? Well, if that's the case, I might probably surprise you by the time I get back here as well. Wanna bet on who'll surprise the other more once we meet up again?"
"I'll probably take you up on that." Valyr grinned in response, feeling like the person in front of him was a friend he had made years ago, even though they've only met for a day.
With their conversation done, Tryndall went ahead and hauled the hay from his carriage into the building, coming out a few minutes later with a smile on his face as he looked at Valyr. After that, he rummaged something from his pocket before throwing it at Valyr. "Here. Catch this."
"Hmm?" As Valyr caught the item that was thrown at him, his eyes slightly widened in surprise before looking back at Tryndall. "Are you sure?"
"Take it as a thanks for accompanying me throughout the journey," replied Tryndall. "Don't go using that money in indulgences, you hear?"
"I won't." Valyr wryly smiled in response while looking at the item, a small money pouch, once more. Opening it, he counted the number of coins that were in the bag, which amounted to 100 copper coins. Inwardly nodding as he placed it in one of his pockets, Valyr then gave Tryndall a long embrace as the two were about to bid farewell to each other.
However, before the two could truly part ways, Tryndall stopped Valyr, telling him, "Ah! Before we forget, let's add each other on our friend list first."
Hearing that, Valyr nodded in response as he pulled up the system, adding the man in front of him into his friend list. While doing so, he was reminded once more about how the NPCs in Greater Beyond were far more realistic than any of the other NPCs he had come across in other games.
According to what the company mentioned in his previous life, each of the NPCs in Greater Beyond had brains powered through quantum supercomputing, allowing their movements, actions, and responses to be as lifelike as possible, making the players feel like they were talking to actual humans in the game.
Though, their uniqueness didn't stop there.
Aside from being incredibly lifelike, they also had access to almost all of the features players had access to, including the system. With that, it was no surprise that there existed some parties in Valyr's previous life that was composed of both NPCs and players. In fact, some NPCs were even part of the rankings due to their illustrious achievements.
Looking at his friend list gain the name of the man before him, Valyr nodded at Tryndall once more as he finally bade farewell, turning around to walk around the village as he muttered sometime later, "It seems I should really start getting stronger."
Ding!
————
Friend List:
[Tryndall Valtherin] - Level 7, Rank 0 Class — Civilian
————
"Once we meet up again in the future, you'll definitely be in for a surprise, Tryndall." With that in mind, Valyr closed the screen in front of him as he walked around the village for a while, eventually finding himself in front of a building that seemed to stand out among the other buildings in the area.
For one, the material making up the building gave off the feeling that it was sturdier than the stone making up the other buildings. Not only that, but a wooden sign stating the building's purpose could be seen on top of the building's entrance.
"Astarto Guard Barracks…" Valyr murmured as he read the text written on the sign. Afterwards, a knowing grin appeared on his face as he walked into the building.
"This is the place."
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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