The tunnel of darkness flew by to reveal a serene plain.

Green grass grew as far as the eye could see. Patches of colorful wildflowers sprinkled the fields. Trees were few and far between.

And on the right was a village with under twenty buildings. It was a small village - a hamlet.

When Jisha recognized where she was, nostalgia welled up within her.

*I'm truly back...*

This was truly the Uval Hamlet, Fae Sol's original spawn location 11 long natural years ago.

A resolve that was previously absent kindled within her.

*I'm going to change.*

Though Jisha’s first life wasn’t free of regret, she didn’t dwell on the past. It was impossible to change it, so why waste effort fretting over it? Besides, her decisions built her character; she wouldn't be who she was today if it weren't for what she’d already done.

Some may argue this was a privileged mindset, and Jisha was inclined to agree. She was grateful for her circumstances from birth. However...

*Something went wrong.*

Her life wasn’t perfect, but it was going very well. How did it come crashing down without warning? What exactly happened?

After experiencing the final events of her first life, deep regret nauseated her for the first time. Living idly was not an option anymore - every step would have a purpose.

History would not repeat itself.

*And to do that, I need strength.*

The path was clear. Jisha was sent back in time with vast knowledge of Synergy and the future of Etmos. All she had to do was exploit everything.

With a deep breath, Jisha started towards the hamlet.

 

---

 

The hamlet was sparsely populated. There were various NPCs wandering about, but the player population was little to none. As Synergy’s marketing was nonexistent, the player population at launch was a drop in the bucket compared to what it would become.

In addition to this, hamlets were everywhere. In fact, 11 natural years into the (supposedly) procedurally generated world of Synergy, there might have even been more hamlets than players.

Jisha opened her status window for the first time in this life.

 

*>Status Window*

*>Name: Fae Sol*

*>Class: Ranged* 

*Level: 0*

*>HP: 10*

*>Atk: 1*

*>Def: 0*

 

*Haha… wow.*

This screen was so bare that it made her do a double take.

It was the body that every player character spawned with. Regardless of whether you selected melee or ranged, everyone started with this blank slate. Minimal hit points, attack, and defense. No skills to work with. In addition, magic didn’t exist until level 5, so stats like MP and magic attack were hidden.

*Sadly this body isn’t much less restricting than my real one… Anyway, what items did we start with?*

 

*>Inventory*

*>Ranged Starter Pellet: 50*

 

*Ah, these…*

Despite it being the default starter weapon, the Ranged Starter Pellet was an interesting item. They were black spheres whose diameters were half of a human palm. No matter what, they would deal between 1-5 HP of damage upon contact with an enemy. And unlike virtually every other projectile in the game, they had infinite durability and could be recollected after use. They couldn't be found or purchased; they only appeared in a Ranged character's starter inventory.

These pellets were Jisha's starting weapon. They were projectiles that could be launched by any means possible. They seemed to be her only option in combat, but she was going to save as many as she could.

*A complete set to start with... Not bad!*

In the future, these trash items would become extremely valuable due to their peculiar properties and lack of access to them. In fact, the Sun Dragons, Jisha's old org in her previous life, only had a couple hundred sets of these in their guild inventory.

This was a tiny amount for a guild as large as the Sun Dragons.

The pellet's sister item was the Melee Starter Stick which appeared in a starter melee's account. Since the system gifted new items upon hitting level 1, these Starter items were completely useless after level 0. Almost no one kept the original Starter items. On top of this, it was impossible to create alternate accounts in Synergy. If you threw away your Starter items, you would never get them back.

Because of this, their rarity was not far behind Legendary items. All of these facts shot the price of these seemingly useless items to an insane amount.

Jisha's ongoing mission would be to collect as many of these Starter items as possible so she could sell them for a high price later. It would be many years before this action would even be thought of as logical, so she had a more urgent priority at the moment. She was going to complete some secret quests, collect some hidden items, and level up as fast as possible.

An ordinary new player would spend around an hour at level 0 fumbling around in the new world. This may seem like a long time, but time passed twice as quickly in Synergy. One hour in the game was 30 minutes in real life. However, Jisha knew of a quest that could instantly raise her level by a few. With this quest in her mind, she headed towards the only restaurant in town.

 

---

 

The Lyocal Eatery was located almost in the center of the hamlet, and it was bustling for breakfast time. And “bustling” meant there was a grand total of 7 people inside, none of which were players.

"Welcome!"

An amiable female voice called out to Jisha as she entered the building. The waitress at the front desk was a very average-looking girl that one would instantly forget about, but this NPC was far more important than she looked.

*I can’t believe she’s actually here.*

"How many in your party?"

"... Just one."

"Alright, please follow me to be seated."

The waitress led Jisha to a small, empty table meant for 2 people at most.

"Would you like anything to drink?"

"Yes, some Ariosha would be nice."

When she heard this, the waitress raised an eyebrow. Ariosha was an uncommon beverage in this region - the locals weren’t fond of it.

"A very peculiar choice. Then. One cup of Ariosha it is."

With that, the waitress departed.

The quest Jisha was hunting for relied on this waitress. One had to pass a favorability threshold with her for her to mention it. Originally, this was a difficult and meaningless task. Why would you try to curry favor with a nameless waitress in a starter hamlet?

And Fae Sol's character stats bumped this difficulty even higher - there were no options to view favorability with NPCs at level 0. However, Jisha was experienced and could easily tell what her favorability was with "small-time" NPCs like this one.

While the waitress was away, Jisha’s eyes meandered around the room.

The small restaurant of Lyocal was constructed of a dark oak-like material. It had a very home-y feel due to the quiet hubbub of the few guests in the lobby. Every chair and table appeared to be handmade, so they weren't as flawless as mass-produced furniture. However, these flaws simply added to the charm.

After a few minutes, the waitress returned with a clay cup full of what appeared to be sparkling water.

It looked like water but tasted like milk. It was also a warm carbonated beverage - an oxymoron in reality. These features were only possible in a virtual world.

"Here is one cup of Ariosha for you. Have you decided what to order?"

"Yes, may I have a small serving of potato crisps?"

At this request, the waitress raised an eyebrow again.

"Crisps with Ariosha for breakfast? What kind of person are you?"

"Just somebody who's looking for a certain something."

"I see... A small serving of crisps is coming right up,” the waitress interestedly responded. It was as if she understood Jisha’s underlying motives.

The waitress departed once again.

Although what Jisha did was extremely simple, no one would have discovered this method to raise the waitress' favorability until years later.

Ariosha wasn't on the menu nor was it from this region, yet it was her favorite drink. After adding crisps on the side, it became this waitress’ favorite breakfast combo. It was so unusual that no one could accidentally stumble upon the quest.

As Jisha was idling at her table, a notification popped up on her heads-up-display. It was a friend request from an account with the name “Synycal”.

The person behind this account was another princess of a country - Syny Cytem.

This was her best friend in her previous life with whom she shared many joys and sorrows. However, towards the end of her life, Jisha slowly became distanced from her due to personal issues and the Slyker Dynasty's expansion. In the end, she didn't even have a chance to contact Syny before she was assassinated.

If there was a single large regret Jisha had in her first life, it was her inability to maintain this friendship.

*This time, I won't let you go.*

Jisha accepted the friend request, and a message immediately appeared in her inbox.

*>Synycal: Jish, you've been online and you haven't added me yet? What kind of friend are you?*

*Ah…*

What kind of friend was she? What kind of friend would abandon another as times grew more tumultuous?

Syny likely didn’t mean anything significant by it, but the implications of this statement hit Jisha like a pile of bricks.

There was so much she wanted to say, but her plight would be impossible for this 13-year-old girl to understand. The only thing she could do was apologize for the young Jisha’s clumsy mistake.

*>Fae Sol: Sorry…*

*>Synycal: Ugh, that's so like you. Don't tell me you forgot about the conversation we had so we could start at the same spawn?*

*>Fae Sol: Um.*

*>Synycal: AAAAAAAAAAA you airhead, wtf am I going to do with you? Where did you even spawn?*

As Jisha and Syny chatted over the messaging system, the waitress approached her table once more with the food. Jisha hurriedly closed the HUD and focused her attention on the waitress.

*Sorry, Syn. You're gonna have to wait a bit.*

Jisha felt a bit guilty about doing this, the importance of this quest was by no means trivial.

"Here are your crisps. Enjoy."

The waitress set down the paper bag of hot crisps on the table and loitered absentmindedly. Jisha took a crisp, slowly dipped it in the Ariosha, and nibbled meticulously. The taste brought memories of the first time this strange drink was recreated in the real world.

*Hm… It’s pretty similar.*

As Jisha nibbled on the crisps, the waitress continued to awkwardly linger around. 

"Did you have something else for me?" Jisha asked.

"Well... yes. What exactly did you say you were looking for?"

*Alright!*

This quote was a good sign that the quest could advance. It was time to get to the point.

"Um, I'm not exactly sure, but someone from the center of the Cosmolai Continent said their friend had some belongings around here."

The waitress' eyes widened.

"Did you really…?"

"I don't know if it's the person you're thinking of, but he said his name was Razor. A friend of Shahar?"

"Ah..."

As Jisha spoke these quasi-bullshit lines, the waitress put a hand to her mouth as tears started forming in her eyes.

"You... really met Razor?"

"Yes."

Of course... she hadn't. However, the waitress had no way of confirming this besides asking a few questions which Jisha obviously knew the answers to.

Every continent had two legendary NPCs, and this one’s were Razor and Shahar. There would be no NPC or experienced player who wouldn't know their names.

And this waitress... was the adopted daughter of the late Shahar.