His eyes sight was slowly darkening, it was like being in a room where the light bulb was slowly dimming. Moments later, he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. All Izoke could see was all-consuming darkness around him. Startled, Izoke stepped backward. He stumbled in rock and hit his head hard. Climbing back up onto his feet Izoke scrambled to find his balance. Seeing Izoke poke and prod his surroundings with his hands and feet, Sumiko came near to him…

“Izoke, What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Sumiko listen... I was not going to tell you this, but I've gone blind for about two hours a day. It is some kind of a curse from the wolf monsters core.”

“Oh... I am so sorry this has happened to you,” Sumiko said giving Izoke a warm hug. “Izoke, don’t worry just hold my arm, I will be your eyes.” Izoke held onto her arm and Sumiko took him near the big rock where she was sitting before. “Sit here” Izoke sat and Sumiko also sit with him. Izoke could hear Sumiko sniff her nose and she probably had tears in her eyes. The fact she wasn't crying was probably because she was pretending to be strong for Izoke's sake.

Now Izoke's mind was full of questions. ‘What will happen to me?’ Sumiko was also staying quiet like she was also confused or worried. Suddenly Izoke was in a place that was pitch dark. He looked around but there was nothing other than darkness.

“Welcome boy,” said a male voice that came from no particular direction and yet sounded as clear as a bell.

“Who... who are you?”

“Haha, Don’t worry. I am nobody important, and you are also a nobody. I've been watching you since the beginning, an NPC who was meant to die but you managed to survive and became a player. This is very unusual but interesting, hmmm, let me ask you something... what is your goal?

“I want to enter the Modest Tower,” Izoke replied with determination clear in his voice.

“Do you think you can enter the tower as you are now?. From my inspection, you are just a naïve kid who can’t even distinguish good and bad from one another. Now you added more disadvantages to yourself, such as this curse. Do you think the curse is a good or bad thing in this virtual game?  It is not bad for a player because they can log out or alter their character to remove the curse. You on the other hand are just an NPC pretending to be a player. Do you think you can change your character? Hahaha. I will give you some advice “DON’t BE A PUSSY AND LEARN TO MAKE YOUR WEAKNESS A STRENGTH”. The voice stopped and Izoke opened his eyes. Laying on a rock Izoke took in his surroundings. His meeting with the voice had been just like a dream and yet it felt so real. Who was that? A developer, The AI that runs the system, a dead NPC, or player? Izoke hoped it wasn't the first one. After all, developers are practically "Devils" and are known for "deleting" whoever they didn't fancy in this world. It's almost in the name since all that is missing is the letter "I".

“Are you okay now?” Sumiko asked.

“Yes, sorry for worrying you. Let’s go” he replied.

After that Izoke gave Sumiko his hand to get down from a rock ledge. They went to cross a river after making sure it was not deep. The water reached up to Izoke's knees and the force was pretty powerful. Izoke held firmly onto Sumiko's hands to keep her from being swept away by the water. It was the coldest water that Izoke had ever felt.

Being in the water for about 15 minutes, Izoke and Sumiko's legs were freezing like it was going to fall off. They get out of the river and now they were in a place full of snow.

A notification popped up in front of him. After reading the prompt Izoke felt uneasy because even though he may be a player who is more durable than an NPC. Right now he is on Level 70 which is included on Top 100 player of the game. His ranking is 98 but Sumiko is just a normal NPC, it will be hard for her to survive here. In other words, Izoke wants to tell Sumiko to return home but it is more dangerous to send her because of the beasts roaming around. So, he decided to take her with him. Noticing Izoke was lost in thought, Sumiko moved him by holding his arm. “Huh, Ohh” he remembered what he had been doing before he stopped to think. The Kalan mountain could be seen clearly just ahead of the two NPCs. The mountain was covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice like it is wearing a coat and jewels. Something could be seen glowing at the top of the mountain.

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