"Wha- What was that?" Castle asked.

For him, it was all too sudden. They'd been in a lush green forest then were suddenly in a purple hazy graveyard. Now, in the blink of an eye, they were in a section of the forest he'd never seen before - one covered in mud and strange-looking leaves.

"Hmm... For now, it's a secret, okay?" Jisha said with a slight chuckle.

Castle groaned.

The edges of the leaves were prickly and easily stuck to his clothes. The ground was wet and the atmosphere was muggy. The mixture of mud and leaves on the ground made strange rustling and squelching noises as they walked. Why couldn't they have ended up somewhere more normal?

Jisha ignored Castle's disgust and turned to Brookie, whose demeanor had become uncharacteristically ambivalent.

"Hey, are you doing alright?"

"Hm? I'm fine, I'm fine," Brookie said as he snapped out of his daze.

"You sure?" Jisha asked.

"Yeah."

It was very subtle, but there was distinct distress in his tone.

"What's bothering you?"

"I said I'm fine. Just thinking about training."

*He really doubts himself...*

It was a strange phenomenon. The self-perception of those who achieved a certain echelon of competence burned to ashes, while fools radiated confidence. Only when you scale a mountain yourself can you understand how much you have left to go.

Brookie was one of these competent individuals, and his self-confidence was in the gutters.

In their bouts, he'd clearly felt the difference between the two, and with his fundamental understanding of martial arts, he truly experienced how large the gap between them was.

*Knowing* the difference versus *understanding* the difference... A small change in wording, but a world of difference in meaning.

You can *know* a stovetop is hot you without ever seeing one, but no combination of words can accurately convey the *feeling* of burns!

At times, it's a gut-wrenching feeling. You've tried your hardest only to be surpassed by someone you've never put in your eyes. Such was the cruel way of the world of martial arts... and the world.

"Hey," she continued, "Are you a good martial artist here?"

"I am... definitely someone that can do martial arts here."

"... Be more specific," Jisha said. "How do you compare to everyone else here?"

"I... I'm better'n most people, I guess..."

"I can tell you're a competitive fighter. Naturally, you should know your ranking?"

"..."

"Listen, I'm sure you know it's useless to compare yourself to me. If what I knew about reality was true, I wouldn't even be here right now."

"S'pose you're right..." Brookie grunted.

*Let him interpret that however he wants to.*

What, if any, was the purpose of her being here? Time travel to the past was supposed to be impossible, yet here she was. Was she special, or was what humanity knew about the truth of the world simply incorrect?

Jisha grimly smiled.

*There's more pressing matters at hand. Like...*

"Brookie."

"Yeah."

"... What?"

She and Brookie both felt something was off, and only Castle was clueless.

"Castle... This is something you've got to learn," Jisha lectured.

She suddenly shoved him aside. Not expecting it, he fell down onto his bottom and shrieked with disgust.

"Whaaa-? You-!"

*Whzzz...*

A small blue ball rocketed by and sizzled on contact with a tree trunk not far behind.

Castle realized he didn't have time to quarrel. They had company!

But how did Jisha know the spell was approaching? She didn't have superhuman perception. In fact, with her current body, it probably even worse than an ordinary human. This, however, didn't stop her experienced mind from being able to pinpoint the "windup" sound for the Neophyte Mage's ranged spell.

*It's been a long time since I've heard these sounds.*

The first time she'd been on the receiving end of this spell, it hadn't been fun.

"H- How did you know-"

"Listen," Jisha said, quickly shushing him.

She closed her eyes to heighten her hearing.

*Fwip-fwip-fwip-*

It was the triple shot of a Finger Gun Glove, a weapon one of the Ranged classes would receive at level 5.

She opened her eyes and took three small steps backwards, leaving footprints in the mud.

Three ammunition pellets embedded themselves in them, splattering mud in the process. It was almost like her footprints were awaiting their arrival.

Castle stared wide-eyed, but there wasn't any time to sit around and be stunned. These were only the opening shots!

*>Fae Sol: Did you hear that?*

The fact that there was no time to sit around meant that there was no time to talk, either. And this is where the revolutionary Synergy party chat came in.

Information relayed itself to the minds of Brookie and Castle who were surprised to receive an unexpected method of communication.

The reason for the name of the game was never disclosed, but a popular hypothesis was that it was the first environment to be able to "synergize" human minds without the middleman known as language.

Normally, you had to write down your thoughts and send them, only for them required to be read by another party. Every step of this process took time. In the heat of battle, the luxury of time didn't exist.

Codes and signals were about as good as short-form communication could get, but they couldn't acclimate themselves to the complexity of a live battle.

In this moment, Jisha picked out a couple more quiet but important sounds amidst the chaos. For her, dodging wouldn't be a problem, but what about the other two? There was no time to warn them... if she were to use traditional methods.

*>Fae Sol: You two didn't play the beta, correct? Listen up. There's a windup sound for every attack. Right now, we're likely dealing with all three level 5 Ranged classes. There's the mage and glove gunner you just saw, and there's a sling hiding somewhere as well. The mages sound like this:... The glove gunner sounds like this:... And the slingshot sounds like this:... Got it?*

""...""

*That's understandable.*

Of course they were confused. Nobody knew how to use party chat properly yet, after all. People were still used to writing and reading messages even several years into Synergy's release. It took time for people to discover how deep communication within Synergy went. Learning the techniques of voiceless chat was a skillset in and of itself!

Jisha tilted her head to the side as a slingshot pellet flew by her ear before glancing to the side.

*Not bad.*

She knew what to expect from them. Neither Castle's potential nor Brookie's ability needed to be restated. They'd survived the first wave of fire with minimal damage.

But, it was only the first wave. With their low HP pools in the early levels, it was unlikely they'd be able to survive the complete onslaught. They could only try their best!

Another torrent of ammunition flew forth.

Jisha furrowed her brows. She hadn't expected to get ambushed by so many people so early on. Why was this happening?

*Well, the *why* is obvious. It's more like *how**...

Exiting Shahar's dimension left the three in an undiscovered place in the forest. Like the graveyard itself, it was difficult to stumble upon this place by chance.

*Besides dumb luck, is there any other possibility?*

There was no point dwelling on it further; she needed to save her brainpower to gather intel on the opposition.

Based on the attacks that came through, there were 5 ranged attackers.

Two were mages, two were glove gunners, and one was a slingshot. The classes had official names, but most people used colloquial terminology to describe them. This wasn't a problem though. The problem was, were there more lying in wait?

As far as she could tell, they weren't employing any sort of strategy. It was possible to estimate their position based on the direction the attacks came from, but this revealed a problem. They were scattered all over the place!

*Their firing patterns aren't coordinated, either.*

From their current position, no members of Shock Collar were visible. However, any experienced hide-and-seek player would tell you that it's very possible to see someone without having them see you.

What was their plan?

Did they have some terrain advantage? This wasn't possible. She knew this area well, and the local biome was fairly uniform.

Did they have some sort of tool that granted them augmented vision? Was there even anything like that in the game's infancy period? Of course, the possibility wasn't 0, but there wasn't anything like that according to her knowledge.

*Do... they have no plan at all?*

*>Fae Sol: The enemy doesn't have visual of us. They're relying on the sounds of our footsteps to launch attacks. Brookie, Castle, two o'clock. I'll follow right behind you.*

""...""

*>Fae Sol: If you have any questions, save them for later. For now, just do as I say!*

It was impossible to know how much of the messages they'd understood. Those three messages had all been sent in under two seconds, and, just like a new language, it would stand to reason that any ordinary person without training would only interpret the communication as gibberish.

However, were Castle and Brookie ordinary?

They clearly understood the most important part - charge!

---

*>Luden: Do we have them surrounded?*

*>Axis Jack: Possibly...*

Axis Jack, second-in-command of Shock Collar, just like everyone else, was beyond fed up at Luden's antics. Like any exhausted employee at work, there was only one thought in his head.

Is it time to go home yet?

There were times where you knew a certain solution was more optimal, but because of the strict workplace hierarchy, you just had to do as you were told! It didn't matter, though. If they spoke up, they'd be reprimanded. If they failed to follow orders, even if they were terrible ones, they'd also be reprimanded. If they successfully carried out the mediocre orders and brought mediocre results... No surprise, more reprimands!

For some reason, they were ordered to shoot from a distance at the three targets hidden in some underbrush. There were ten of them, yet from this range, only 5 were effective. It didn't need to be said that 5 outnumbered 3, but did it matter if you were trying to snipe with a shotgun?

All they had to do was sneak up with all 10, close the encirclement, and strike at once. But no, apparently that's not how it works. This plan was so atrocious that Axis Jack had to fight the urge to forfeit his paycheck and abandon everyone. His only solace was that this dumb rich guy was absolutely *loaded*.

For this amount, he was willing to sacrifice his dignity a little bit.

*>Luden: What do you mean "possibly"? Why can't you check where everyone is?*

*>Axis Jack: That's... not possible.*

Unbeknownst to him and every other experienced gamer, tracking the location of your party members in the world was not available in the beginning. One had to visit a Cartographer in a Town at the very least to implement this functionality into their maps.

*>Luden: Why not?*

*>Axis Jack: ...*

*>Luden: Ugh, useless. Fine! Everyone, charge forwards!*

Finally! It was about time!

They could go in, clean up, and get the hell out. Surely they would get to leave afterwards!

Axis Jack ordered everyone to tighten the circle on the location of the suspected targets.

*>Luden: They're this way. Follow me!*

Axis Jack pursed his lips together in frustration. That was one direction they *weren't* going to go!

The four melee players charged into the mud-riddled clearing, with the five ranged ones following close behind. They expected to see their three targets, but they weren't there. Rather, there was only one.

*>Name: ???*

*>Level: ???*

A cloaked figure! There was only one player they knew of that had concealment methods, so there was no doubt about it! This was their ultimate target!

*>Axis Jack: Everyone!*

There was no hesitation on what to do next!

Weapons drew, ammunition flew. Every attack converged onto a single point.

Escape was impossible! She was dead!

But...

"...?"

"I can't move???"

"What-!"

*-10*

*-10*

*-10*

No one could move a muscle.

Under the form of crowd control known as a Stun, players lost the ability to move, use abilities, and use items. The only thing they could do was yell in confusion as a deadly field of static electricity rapidly dealt damage-over-time.

Nine players of Shock Collar died in remembrance of their namesake.

Their offense was smothered before it even began.

Not long after, all of them woke up at their initial respawn point - a Starter Hamlet!

"..."

"..."

"..."

What just happened? Had they truly stumbled across a player?

"It's impossible, right?"

How could one player effortlessly kill nine with a single spell? What class used that sort of electric attack? Something wasn't right, but they didn't have the energy to consider it.

Something they did notice, though, is that a key player of their team was missing from the respawn point.

"Wait, where's Luden?"

"Uh..."

Luden was the only one that hadn't died in the disastrous attack. Maybe, just maybe... this once, they should have followed their lunatic boss.

"We're screwed..."

---

*Something's not right.*

A muddled mess of footsteps was converging on their location. This was all to be expected. But...

*Why do I feel like something's off?*

It was just the sense Jisha had developed over countless hours of Synergy battles. It wasn't something that could be described with words, but certain elements in the atmosphere weren't congruent with the concept of safety.

It all happened in an instant.

A faint crackling sound.

Her survival instincts flooded adrenaline through her body.

*Night Walk!*

She was safe, but...

*Dammit...*

Brookie and Castle were still focused on the incoming footsteps.

*>Fae Sol: ...*

What could she say to help?

The crackling sound quickly amplified, and a burst of electricity shot through the mud.

*-477*

*-218*

Her two companions instantly vaporized into white light. They died without even knowing what hit them...

Another crackling noise permeated through the air, and Jisha retreated as quickly as possible under the protection of Shahar's Nightwalker. The players of Shock Collar brushed by her being none the wiser about her existence, but they were the least of her worries.

The two distinct sounds of electricity were enough to allow Jisha to appraise the class of the being they emanated from. And the answer didn't spell good news.

*What is an Enhanced Lightning Mage doing here???*

The second crackling sound formed a sparkly cloud in the middle of the muddy clearing, and it congealed to form a human-like figure wearing a cloak.

*>Name: ???*

*>Level: ???*

*Tch... As expected...*

One factor that blocked appraisal was concealment items. Another factor that blocked it was level differential. And right now, it was likely both.

This Enhanced Lightning Mage was a Tier 1 entity, a being on a fundamentally different plane of existence from Tier 0 beings like current players!

She peered on from a distance as nine poor players walked into the range of its Stun and perished.

The deaths of Tier 0 players in the face of a Tier 1 was expected, but the real question was... why was it here in the first place?

Tier 1 entities were Level 100 at minimum! Not only that, every Tier had 90% absolute resistance against the Tier below it. A Tier 0 10 HP attack against a Tier 1 would only do 1 HP of damage, which meant ascending Tiers made you at least 10 times stronger.

Fortunately, Shahar was a legendary NPC, so there was basically a zero percent chance that the Tier 1 mage could see through Jisha's stealth.

She continued peeking through the brush. What was it going to do next?

The mage quickly scanned the items Shock Collar had dropped upon dying.

"It's not here..." he said quietly.

*Ah, that's why.*

Though she wasn't completely sure, somehow, some way, the mage had caught wind of this special auction. Higher-level NPCs leaving their designated areas wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the slightest, but the sheer scale of this event made it unusual.

Items that were extra-valuable to any beginner player were worse than trash for Tier 1 entities. This NPC wasted way more time than it was worth to travel all the way to a Starter area for a simple auction.

The only explanation was that the appearance of Beyonders fascinated it to a great degree.

*But still... a Tiered entity appearing in a Starter area?*

It was still too bizarre. Jisha, with her foresight, knew the first player-attended auction would become famous among NPCs in the future, but the same couldn't be said about this mage...

She continued watching as the lightning mage NPC inspected his surroundings for a little while longer.

Before long, it mumbled to itself, activated its teleportation spell, and vanished in another crackle of sparks.

After waiting for a moment longer, Jisha undid her stealth...

"Wha-!"

"Huh?"

...and apparently, someone else was right behind her!

*>Name: Luden*

*>Level: x*

*Oh, it's just this guy...*

"Why are you here? Aren't you the leaders of all those guys? You really just sent them to die?"

"Wha- You- You-!"

Luden stumbled over his words as he pointed at her.

She'd had removed her hood along with her stealth, so it was obvious he recognized her.

"Pfft... What's wrong?" she asked innocently. His reaction was so over-the-top that she almost burst out laughing.

"You!"

In a fit of rage, Luden lunged at her with a dagger in hand. But to Jisha, he was simply a toddler holding a twig.

Luden uncontrolledly swung his dagger, and Jisha effortlessly leaned backwards to avoid it. With his momentum carrying him in an unwanted direction, he was a sitting duck. She quickly equipped her Golden Sling, aimed, and fired at Luden's head.

*-72*

Without another chance to speak, he vanished like the rest of his clanmates.

Jisha absorbed the XP mist and looked at the items scattered around by dead Shock Collar members. The NPC didn't have any use for them, but selling them could fatten her wallet a healthy bit.

"*Sigh*... But I don't have enough inventory space again..."

MonolithWorld

Yea please ignore level, damage, inventory numbers for now... They are all wrong and need to be fixed in the final version. I think I have them fixed in a draft I have saved personally so I don't know if I want to go back and update all the ones on this site. - rz