As I made my over to my friends, I noticed that they were very cheerful and optimistic about being in another world. Deep down I knew that those smiles will slowly fade away into madness and despair.  In my mind, I had decided to avoid that future, I will do whatever I can to keep them save and fulfil the promise we made on this day. There is still one thing that I cannot put my hands on and that is the voice. Who does it belong to and why did she put me back here? instead of letting me die?

"Hey, Wolf. Whatcha thinking about?"

Jane brought her face close to mine which startled me for a brief second. I looked at her and then at the others behind her. I hesitated but thinking back in our original world, we were not soldiers but gamers living out our fantasies in a virtual world. We did a lot of crazy shit together, hell we even pulled off unorthodox schemes that somehow miraculously paid off. We stuck together and that later created a bond between us. Now that we are in an actual fantasy world where death can happen at any time and anywhere, I cannot be careless in my decision and choices.

"Hey, why don't we ditch this place and go out there and explore this fantasy world? Make a name for ourselves?"

This is the lie I decided on and my friends will be hurt by it however I resolved myself to carry the burden of my actions even if it will break the bond I  have with them. I looked at Jane once more and she along with Maxus and Jammin was whispering to each other. Lei latched onto me with her left arm and whispered in a low voice that sent chills up my spin.

"I know that look. I won't delve into it since you have your reasons. But it is best to fill us in sooner than later or by the time it will be too late."

Lei has a very sharp sense and I swear she is a mind reader in real life. That or she could be some retired intelligence agent. Nothing I do ever gets past her. However, if there is one thing I learned about her it will have to be her methods of interrogation. The way she extracts information is so brutal that some players filed reports to have her banned for life but that never happened. Rumor has it that she knows everyone's dirty little secret and she will not hesitate to leak them out to the public. She is not someone I would fuck around. So I quickly gave her a reply.

"Y-yes. I will but not now since they are not ready."

Lei mouthed "I see" before going back to Maxus and Jammin. 

The group came over to me with Jammin taking the lead.

"So, What's the plan if we are not sticking around with the other folks?"

I looked straight at Jammin dead in the eye and gave replied

"Let's become adventurers. At best it's an alternative for a mercenary group for hire like us. We take jobs, we earn income and fame. Well, that is up the methods we use."

Lei of course raised her hand to get our attention

"Noted that we are no longer in a virtual world but we are still in our avatars. I can say for certain that there is a possibility where death is permanent here. I advise us that we should at least take some time to experiment with our bodies and see what rules stuck and what rules got overridden. Before we go out and some something reckless, knowing some of you here."

I saw Lei staring at me, Jammin and Maxus. She is right, being reckless isn't the answer to all of our problems and with me knowing the future it is best to plan instead of going guns blazing. I heard Maxus and Jammin letting out two fake coughs while looking away from Lei.

Jammin quickly glanced at Lei and the others before looking at me. He let out a quick sigh.

"So we are taking the 'Adventurer' route instead of the 'Hero' route. A hero gets more attention than an adventurer..."

Jammin stroke his chin before he realized the reason for my decision

"I see. Too much attention will restrict some options for us to fully explore this world and not getting tied down politically gives us more freedom to move."

Jammin formed a fist with his right hand and lightly slam it on his open left hand as if he had been enlightened.

"We go now or we go later?"

Maxus casually slide in the question that is probably in everyone's mind.

I chuckled and replied in a coded hand gesture that said.

[At moonlight we leave with our jetpacks. So prepare to change out to our ODST gear once we are familiar with the system]

I hope with that hint they would soon quickly adapt to the system we came with from our game world. As it took a couple of months for both Jammin, Maxus, and Jane to figure out the functions. As for Lei, I don't have to worry about her since she adapts to things at an alarming speed. And with her help, the others will be ready by that time.

I hope......

lOpWolfl

Some of you think this is my main story however this is something I wrote last winter that I saved to my sandisk. I wanted to upload this story first and I have one more chapter that I will be editing before refocusing on the story that I really want to write. The main story is called "Sword, Magic and Gacha" and the prologue will be up at the same time as I upload Chapter 3 of  "The Gun Pointed at the End of the World" And this story will have a monthly release date while the daily release date will be for "Sword, Magic and Gacha".
I do apologize for any confusion brought up by this author note.