Chương 31: 6.1 Tutorial?

In any given game, the opening sequence always had to have some sort of eye-catching moment for any gamer to sink their teeth in. Whether it was a cool cinematic, an amazing gameplay segment, or maybe a jaw-dropping set piece, it was always important that a game could grab the player by the neck and suck them deep into its jaws. Granted, some games take longer to get going than others, but it was still the general consensus for any self-respecting player to judge the game on. And if a game failed to catch its player before its core gameplay loop began, then it was almost assured that the game will be dropped for something that could better capture this experience.

"Sorry about that, Moriya. I think I'm fine now..."

It's been a long time coming. And while it had been a novel experience thus far, I just wanted to get going and grind some levels in. That, and get some actual direction going with my life, cause I'm sure as hell not gonna be doing anything if there wasn't any sort of grand ending that I had to strive for.

"It's fine, Shizu," I assuaged the woman now standing in front of me. "You did just go through a traumatic experience."

After all that had happened, I let Shizu rest until she finally woke up beneath me. Her eyes had bugged out as she realized what she sleeping on, and she quickly stood up to get her bearings back. The whole thing was kind of surreal now, in retrospect. Here was an Imperial Princess, behaving like an absolute buffoon despite her looks and design practically screaming grace and poise.

"That's no excuse, Stranger!" Shizu pouted, the childish gesture looking out of place on her now aged-up features. "I have a responsibility, and I at least have to keep that."

And so here we were, standing below the arch that denoted the entrance to the Kattleynan capital city. My former tour guide had her arms crossed over her chest, her hair now fastened into a loose ponytail that starkly contrasted her once prim and proper features. Actually, she just looked like a well-dressed rebellious slob now.

And wasn't that just a tragedy...

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes with a sigh. "Anyway, you're supposed to have a quest for me?"

"A quest? I don't remember [Eld God] Guidance telling me that earlier."

And that was another revelation that just threw me for a loop. Apparently, Shizu could hear Guidance just as well as I did. In fact, she even claimed that the dev talked to her while she was being fixed. Not that I didn't believe her, of course, but with Shizu's accounts of how Guidance practically squealed and gasped whenever she wasn't looking at the princess's code, I could only guess that the dev was equal parts excited and worried while looking over her own creation.

"Well, she said you were supposed to give me my first quest," I rebutted, my arms mirroring Shizu's as I stood in front of her. "Just because you're self-aware now doesn't mean we're not living in a game world anymore."

"Stop calling it that."

More revelations galore. While we were walking back to the city entrance, Shizu shared her current existential crisis with me. The glitch that aged her up earlier had also somehow made her see ones and zeroes all around her. And while I could joke about her being the Chosen One stuck in the matrix, I wasn't going to subject her to more world-shattering concepts that might fry her brain again.

"I'll stop when you give me the quest," I quickly fired back. "We're burning time here, Shizu."

The princess gave me a stern glare before letting out a sigh of her own. Her arms fell to her sides as she pleadingly looked at me, "I really don't wanna do it, you know? These memories of events that are supposed to happen are just making me feel sick."

"Well, if you want, we can always petition Guidance to change some things," I offered. "Nothing's set in stone until we get there and it happens, okay?"

At my words, Shizu perked up. With a blink, her eyes turned dark as her new mystical sight kicked in. I still didn't know what to call it yet, but I was for sure never gonna call it Neo Sight or something stupid like that.

"I-I can tell if you're lying, Stranger," Shizu stuttered, her new ability clearly taking its toll on her as sweat began dripping on her face. "And right now, I can- Ughh! It hurts!"

I suppressed a chuckle as I watched my supposed quest giver blink away the darkness out of her eyes. Once more, her golden irises shone as she pouted at me.

"Don't strain yourself," I scoffed. "We don't want to have to bug Guidance again, don't we?"

"But she's one of the [Eld]!" she reasoned out. "Can't we just tell her to change things? We can skip all of this and just fix everything!"

I let out another sigh... This conversation again.. "For the last time, it's not so easy to shape the world around us. Even then, Guidance is already trying her best."

And wasn't that an awkward conversation to have... The fact that Guidance would be seen as an actual god was something that never crossed my mind until now. With Shizu being able to interact with her, it threw her entire known world for a loop, and that was alongside the fact that we were still in a game world. Granted, I understood the gravity of her discovery. After all, if God just went down and said that He was going to fix it, then I wouldn't even hesitate to question Him on some of his methods.

"But-"

"Can we have this discussion after I get my quest, Shizu?" I pleaded. "We've been out here for a few hours now, and we won't be able to get to this big bad if we can't even begin."

Finally relenting, the princess stood in front of me with her demeanor completely changing once more. What little traces of her elegance was now gone, completely smothered by a radiant energetic smile that seemed to vibrate throughout her body.

"Welcome, Stranger! I haven't seen you around here before!"