Chapter 21: I like melons
"It's… so boring…" Michu continued to spread his boredom through the backline. He was together with Lazy Bum and Sandra, but they had been the ones to have a lot of fun by using their skills one by one.
Though Lazy Bum often shook his head when Michu's wails reached his ears.
Sandra felt like she could understand Michu. It was said that energetic people were impossible to control, but Michu had been doing great so far in this aspect.
He was certainly someone who cared about others, "What should I do?" Sandra turned her eyes to Lazy Bum who thought for a few seconds.
He then replied, "Distract him with something… If you are going to form a party later, then speak about his plans or maybe even IRL." Lazy Bum gave valuable advice, then his childhood friend flashed a smile at him.
Sandra raised her hand for a high five, "Thanks! It's the first time I see a naturally energetic person."
High Five!
"Weren't you pretty energetic yourself?" Lazy Bum rolled his eyes, but he knew Sandra well, so he shut his mouth. Using the same advice he'd given right now, Lazy Bum occupied himself with the arrows while Sandra asked Michu about his plans.
What he said amounted to nothing, though.
He told the witch about his plan to level up fast for a subclass, but wasn't it the goal of pretty much every player? More classes meant more fun after all. Then, Michu thought about what he could share and whatnot.
This turned him silent and an eerie silence bothered the childhood duo.
For them, it was a game, but Michu took things too seriously…
"If you can't tell yet, then we can speak about something else… Um, how old are you?" An unusual awkwardness yet again crept onto her face.
After the game topic shifted to real life due to the secrets Michu had within himself, Sandra didn't know what to ask so that she wouldn't step beyond the privacy boundary. She asked for age with trembling lips.
Michu answered, "I am eighteen. What about you, Sandra?"
"How old do I look?" She asked with a faint smile.
Michu narrowed his eyes, deeply looked at her from top to bottom, then said, "Thirty?"
"What?!" A commotion broke immediately after. The witch used her bubble skill on Michu's face as her face flushed red.
She had to be personally stopped by Lazy Bum who had been snickering at her from the side. After the archer separated them both, he returned to the dungeon clearing as the monsters' quantity increased.
Sandra threw her skills too, then turned her eyes to the monke, "I am nineteen. I have already ended school and work as an editor!"
"Editor? What is this job?" Michu had no knowledge about this kind of job and the internet was like black magic for him, so it would be weird if he knew actually.
Sandra threw a suspicious gaze, then asked, "Do you follow anyone on social media? I mean the popular streamers or players?"
Michu nodded brightly, "Yes. I follow Sultry Yuna, Sword Mistress, ItsYourMika, Leviatina… Hmm…" There was more, but Michu couldn't remember. The ones he just spoke about were the most popular and the ones that caught his attention the most.
Their names were often advertised as well, but that was how it was since Michu clicked and clicked the similar profiles…
Sandra scoffed, her arms crossed, "Of course you would follow them." She raised her chin, looking down on the monke, "Pervert."
The monkey looked back into her eyes, not clearly understanding her, "I just like melons."
"..." Sandra blanked, her face lit up in a new scarlet color.
Her childhood friend nearly choked on his saliva and one of his arrows ended up missing the target.
He got glanced over by Venomous, so Lazy Bum waved his hand and blamed some pebbles on the road... "Great friend… It's not good to be that honest, but I appreciate that… Look what you've done."
"I didn't know you could get a fever in the game! Sorry, Sandra!" Michu apologized. Once again, he couldn't tell whether it was his fault or not, but since Lazy Bum had mentioned him while pointing at the witch, it must be the case.
The witch just shook her head after a brief silence, "He understands melons, but not understands his treasured banana jokes?" Either way, it was time to return to their previous topic.
"The pictures your eyes feast upon are mostly edited by editors," Sandra said the sheer truth, but Michu just tilted his head, "Since the authenticity is popular nowadays, those women didn't edit their bodies, but the environment and some stuff too."
"W-wait…" Michu spoke quietly, "So the ocean is not real?" How could they lie to the monkey? Since Sandra nodded faintly, Michu went wide and nearly lost his firefly! He looked so betrayed and lost that Sandra found him cute.
She ruffled his hair and said, "The popular ones are strong enough to visit those epic oceans and other leveling grounds, so don't feel betrayed. Besides, you enjoyed those so it should be fine, right?"
"No… It's not fine…" Michu shook his head, then listened further.
Sandra's work was to take care of photos and edit some videos for lesser popular guilds and streamers. She was pretty good at it and most of her time was taken by her work. Recently though, Sandra decided to taste the VR Gameworld by herself.
And so she was here.
By editing a lot of videos from high-level players, Sandra naturally soaked up their abilities and movements. Even though there was no way for her to understand the most, her body naturally responded and she often did a better job than others.
Michu nodded and asked, "Do you work from home?"
"Yes." Sandra nodded with clear contentment. Working from home was the dream of many teenagers nowadays and it was not exactly limited to editing. Of course, being a streamer or any other influencer was what the majority wanted to do.
It was great that Sandra could live off with that job and even play a game.
Michu then asked a weird question, "Can you teach it to others?"
"Do you want to learn it?" Sandra asked with a slight tease.
"If it's a job that anyone can do with a laptop, then maybe my sister or mom could do it… It hurts to see mom always coming back late while tired. And when I wake up, she is no longer at home... " In a nutshell, Michu's mom worked too hard and had no time for her family or even herself.
"That's…" As Sandra was at a loss for words, Michu suddenly blinked his eyes.
[Bright Firefly has taken a liking to you. It has never been scared within your hands and you allowed it to absorb enough sun rays. Your tender heart has reached him!]
[Bright Firefly will guide you in this dungeon.]
[Each time you enter the dungeon, it will guide you to the boss.]
[Bright Firefly has become your friend!]
Shrouded in the orange light, the firefly got its freedom and soon landed on Michu's shoulder. It waited for him to speak!
Michu's face instantly brightened and a pure smile spread itself. He looked at the blonde witch while giggling, "I can fight! Here I go, dungeon boss! Ah, wait… Yumi!" The monke rushed to Venomous to share the news.
Meanwhile, Lazy Bum said, "He is a rollercoaster of emotions, isn't he?"
"Yeah… I don't know if we are lucky or not," Sandra laughed, but just for a little.
Lazy Bum corrected her, "You are lucky. If I couldn't bring you out of your lair, then it's naturally someone else's job to do it." As Sandra avoided his gaze, Lazy Bum yanked her arm, "Teach his sister a little. It sounded like she is younger, so girls her age already play around with photos."
"I will think about it." Sandra shook off Lazy Bum's weak hand, then ran away from him as he spoke too much about real life's situation.
The archer sighed, "I wonder how he would react if he knew that you are lazier than me."
-
On the other side, Venomous bit her lips.
She wanted to shout at her friend for being so loud. He had valuable information within himself, but all of this became known to everyone including the tank.
Her eyes saw how the tank typed on the keyboard, so Venomous said, "Let's reunite with others first."
"Okay! And why are you angry?" Michu asked, his voice quiet.
This time, Venomous just pulled him closer and whispered to his ear. Her voice was mild as Michu realized his mistake.
But all he knew was that Yumi was angry.
"We are going to be working with a lot of players until we form our party. But even if we get a party, we will also stumble upon a lot of players, so this kind of information must be kept within our circle. Who is the foreign one right now?" She asked, her breath tickling the monke's ear.
"It's that dude," Michu answered, but he also raised his hand to point at the tank.
Venomous quickly moved, her hand slapping that stupid hand back to its proper place. Then, she pinched Michu's waist, "Keep everything to yourself and in our party chat. Open it up and type."
A system spread itself before Michu's eyes, but within those, black magic was reflected.
"T-type... " Michu's trembling finger found 'I', then his eyes went several times through the keyboard to find 'G'.
He also forgot about the space bar so his whole message looked like an enigma.
"From now on, you and I will exchange messages every day. I will be the one to call you in the morning. You will do it after your school… And whoever comes first in the evening."
"But nothing much is happening at night… I guess I will send you goodnights every day…" Michu concluded, then the party moved to reunite with other players.
That was when the tank spoke first for the first time, "How about we slow down? If we don't clear everything in this corridor, then those monsters will come back at us…"
"I refuse," Venomous instantly refused, her green eyes merciless, "If you want to stay behind, then go ahead and good luck."
The tank bit his lips, then shouted at Venomous, "Who are you to decide it anyway?! In the party, every member decides!" He knew that Lazy Bum and Sandra were new additions to Venomous' side.
He turned his eyes at them and said, "Boss is not close by! It's so damn far away! We all know it since it's not our first time in this dungeon. Let's clear every monster and keep ourselves safe. Are you with me?"
Sandra didn't want to argue. Her eyes just averted to the side and looked at Michu who was quite conflicted inside. The dude, in his eyes, was quite weird, but he couldn't tell more. It was quite harder in this whole dungeon.
His friend was also quite merciless, but Michu found no reason to question her. She had been so helpful to him that Michu just accepted that side. It also wouldn't cause many problems to the tank.
Thus, Michu's confusion cleared up by itself and he stood close to Venomous. A smile spread on her lips as she noticed that.
Lazy Bum then said, "If we look behind, then for the whole time you'd been the least useful. Fair, you can taunt and make some monsters busy. Alas, you can't keep up with these two and I feel much safer with them rather than you. If you don't like it, then good luck. We can manage to survive with Sandra's water traps somehow."
The tank trembled, the fury within his heart billowing, "Fine… Let's go as fast as possible…" His eyes seemed to be under control, but one could see many curses within those. Michu felt like this guy was no good immediately after glancing at those.
He secretly whispered to Venomous, his breath now tickling her ear, "He might be a gangster."
"Haha!" Venomous laughed, which was rare, "I remember it well… We met with dead gangsters around us. I strongly believe we will see the same scene soon... "
"It's too early for nostalgia, though!" Michu laughed too and both of them entered the world unique to them.
Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!
Chapter 22: Why?
Other than rare moles, the first dungeon had wooden imitations of forest predators. Wolves, bears, anaconda, and even jaguars sometimes popped off to stop and kill the players.
Those monsters brought a lot of problems, each unique to its imitation. However, some players could rival the predator title.
A certain monke, for example, was freed from his responsibilities, his staff turning into a predator alongside a short sword whose thrusts barrelled from Venomous' hands!
Both of them were unique each to their own as well and the sounds of their weapons crashing into wooden monsters rippled across the dungeon. Supporting skills from the witch and tank couldn't rival those sounds, so it seemed like these two were the only ones here.
Because of such speed, Michu could already spot another group of players that had been notified of their finding through the chat.
He waved his staff at them and approached them.
Venomous caught up and trod next to him. She looked over every player with scrutinizing eyes, then passed her potions.
As such consumables weren't cheap and players would have to prepare a lot for one dungeon raid, the players happily accepted her potions and thanked her deeply. The tank, that was sent by Red Stigma, also got a potion, but he checked its stats beforehand.
"You guys were doing fine!" Michu exclaimed to the group of friends while their tank examined the potion. He did it deliberately, knowing that the tanks and Red Stigma had high chances of being the gangsters.
The group of friends looked at each other, then slightly smiled, "On the other hand, you two don't seem like level 15 players. Didn't you also clear the monsters battling us? I can only feel relieved that you want to work with us!" There were cases where the dungeon boss would turn out to be a bigger threat than imagined before.
Such strong players as Michu and Venomous were the best addition to the raid. Their presences alone relieved others and it didn't seem like they had any underhanded thoughts. At least Michu continued to chatter with a gleeful smile on his face.
He surely felt good after the player complimented him, "Thanks! Hehe!"
"We don't have time to chit-chat," Venomous' voice rang out from the side. This put a grimace on Lazy Bum's face, but he understood. Similarly to him, Sandra pouted as she didn't have time to make a new connection with another group.
However, she clung to Michu and both of them shot up to reunite with other players.
Going through many corridors and wide-open areas, Michu and his party reunited with everyone including Red Stigma. This man's party was really weird as they haven't lost much HP and MP at all.
Additionally, Red Stigma didn't even have a drop of sweat on his face. His stats were full as if healed already, but a friend close to Venomous could see within her eyes how suspicious she was of this man.
Nonetheless, she had already made her moves, "We know where the boss is. Instead of wasting our resources on the dungeon monsters, let's just head to the dungeon boss." They would save a lot of consumable items and even begin another raid sooner!
This thought was shared by everyone, including Red Stigma.
"That's great," The man with the red sword brightly smiled and pointed at one of the many corridors, "We also managed to find a clue to the boss on our way back. It's here, right?" He pointed at Venomous who already told Michu to use his Bright Firefly.
The small orange light slowly flew to the corridor marked by the swordsman, "See." He showed off a content smile and said, "We can expect more monsters here, so let's split up appropriately, I suggest an arrow formation." In this formation, there would be tanks at the helm and on the sides with highly offensive players around them.
Red Stigma also mentioned the threat from behind and he took that role with his two tanks.
The formation had been set, so the whole party moved forward.
On her way, Michu and his friends completely indulged their emotions to take control over them. He and Sandra were glued to each other. The water trap and monke bonk utterly destroyed their opponents and the tank around them had the easiest of all.
Lazy Bum stood close to Venomous, his voice soon reaching her, "I was skeptical about your attitude, but it seems you were right."
"What do you mean?" Venomous whispered.
"I just saw footprints." Lazy Bum's class was archer and his stats helped his eyesight naturally. He also had skills related to eyes, so even though it was dark here, the lazy man spotted enough. "Those weren't fresh, just in case."
"I understand you," Venomous raised her hand as she didn't need more explanation. Her eyes turned to the clock around her minimap and she clicked her tongue as not enough time was left for her.
She turned her eyes to Red Stigma, "You were here before, weren't you?" She took the cat out of the bag and forced the man to reveal the truth with her captivating, but highly threatening eyes.
As if his plan wouldn't get disturbed by it, Red Stigma said, "Yeah, well. Let's say that I had to check this area before?"
"Don't lie to me," Venomous stopped, told her party to gather around her then totally ignored the monsters around them. This finally made Red Stigma wave his sword more and use some of his stamina and MP.
The man scratched his hair, "Aren't you too suspicious? I felt like I had the famous and so popular killing intent on me all this time… I don't like those shivers much, you know?" Red Stigma flicked his fingers and tanks formed a wall around him.
The tanks buried their shields' edges deeply into the ground, then formed a formation that brought a weird noise out of Michu, "Cool…" He said in a deep, long voice.
The swordsman from the popular guild laughed, "Well, then…" He took out a silver long scroll that, once unfolded, hit the ground a few times with its abundant content. The scroll shone with blinding yellow light, then the shields of tanks connected. A faint transparent barrier appeared around them and like a king in the middle, Red Stigma announced, "In just a few minutes, we will be surrounded by the wooden monsters we had been doing our best to silence and trap."
A wave of dismay swept through the players as they began to believe that death would be their only option. They angrily glared at Red Stigma whose lips curved and formed a disgusting, but content smile.
He relished on that domination and the feeling of having things under his control, "Have you never outplayed anyone in games? You must be pretty naive, then." His smile widened, then Michu suddenly called out.
"Why are you gangster?" His words erased the dismay of every player and brought confusion to Red Stigma's gang.
"Gangster?" Repeated by the very leader himself, the new kind of term used to describe 'PK' players appeared for the first time in the Four Leaf World.
Who in the world would use this kind of world to call out the player killing? Michu's allies burst out laughing with laughter that they did their utmost best to stifle. Sandra's staff also hit them as Michu couldn't continue. Her lips were awkwardly moving too, though.
The monke continued seriously, "If you aren't gangster, then who are you?" After he said it so righteously and seriously, the silence descended onto the whole dungeon.
The monsters also choose to just silently sneak their way close while the players talked with each other, "You trapped monsters, then selfishly hid behind the cool wall! Only you and your friends will survive while we will die and lose our hard work! I hate gangsters like you! Why did you choose to be a gangster?!"
Thanks you for reading! Have a nice day!
Today, our monke will be featured! Please, leave a vote to help him stand out ^^ I will post chapter if we get some votes! :D
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