a he was"So... uh... where are we going?"

After renumberceiving an offer to ascend to the third floor, Jenjen followed Xiaoqi, decisively leaving Rachelle to her new fans.

"We're near, don't worry about it."

Their path is a rocky one for sure.

"I was on the third floor when the second wave began. I already saw the magic bow. It is my first time seeing an energy blast. That's when I saw you. I decided to go down."

Right. If he was on the third floor...

"How did you fight the elementals there?"

"There are no enemies there."

Eh??? No enemies...

"You mean, there is no..."

"No moving flames. Don't look at me. I also have no XP."

"It's still unfair. I only got 2 XP."

"That's it? How many did you kill?"

"Ahh... None."

"Then it's fair. I learned how to see my level. Say 'status' or 'property'."

Jensen did what he was told to. An illusory text panel appeared before him.

 

[Declared Name: Jenjen 

Level ZERO: 2/100 XP]

 

"Ohhh! Where did you learn it?"

"Third floor."

Now, Jenjen is more curious than ever. His heart is yelling at him to reach the third floor. The only problem is-

"Okay. How can we climb from here?"

No matter where he looked, there was nothing here but a steep wall.

"Yes. Here."

Just as Xiaoqi is about to demonstrate climbing, someone's falling from the said wall.

"Owwww!"

It was a familiar face.

"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts-"

"The pain is set to low, you dolt. Stop acting, Golden."

"It still hurts, you idiot! And why are you so cold to me? Aren't we buddies?.. Who are you again? Jennifer?"

"No, it's not. It's Jenjen. And buddies don't-"

"Oh! I remember you now! You are the politician?"

Politician? Just what did they talk about?

"Didn't you say you're fighting for equal rights and freedom of speech back at the staircase?"

"Yes, yes, hmmm... Name?"

"Xiaoqi."

"Oh right. Yes. When the four of us met, we are all"

"Okay, enough exposition."

Being left behind, Jenjen can't help but butt into their politics.

"Okay, so... Why are you here?"

"I'm finding out method 4, and I believe it's on the third floor. That Bomberman is nowhere to be found as we speak, so I believe he found it, and I want to leave as well."

Bomberman?

Xiaoqi then responded, "It was Marco. The mountaineer who led the Method-Three faction. His account name is @HailTanya if I remember."

Account name?

Golden Potato then agreed to him. "Yes. It's still fresh in my mind. Who would have thought those rats are explosives as well? They're also rare as well, just to remind you."

"Oh? They're everywhere on the third floor."

"Rats on the third floor?"

The other two didn't respond immediately. Golden Potato then answered, "I think you need to catch up a lot here, my friend. But I'll help you no matter what. Purple rats are running around right after the collapse of the first three floors. They... are easier to kill than transforming flame elementals. Sure, it hurts and they are quick, but they aren't fatal. They release acid that stings if they touched your skin. The only problem is they come in packs."

Xiaoqi then continued, "Right! All you need are those weapons and they die easily... actually no. I've seen players holding a sword acting like kids. I can see wrong with their moves."

Golden Potato then commented, "I also saw people holding wands and staffs even if they don't know any kind of magic spells. Kinda wasted, you know... Hey, explain to him what those weapons are. I bet he's dying in jealousy."

Xiaoqi followed in, "The third floor looked like a museum of weapons to me. I wonder what it looked like before it got destroyed. Some are still in the glass. There is a lock pick among us who is working on those. If only you were here before, the chaos when weapons appeared is fun to watch."

The two people in front of Jenjen smiled like madmen. He made a mental note of it.

"Uhmmm, thank you. I think I can't climb that. Sorry, I need to edit my videos asap. Bye!"

He logged out hastily.

---

 

It's only a few minutes inside the game and Jenjen feels tired.

"How can they stay that long in-game?"

"Where should I focus? Defending the waves? Finding the flame bishop? Third floor? The secret method? What should I do? Oh! I know what should I do! Publish my next video!"

As before, he took the storage manually and connected it to his computer through a USB port. As much as possible, he'll try to go for quality over quantity. Before he knew it, 160 minutes has passed.

"Waves 3 and 4 have passed. Wave 5 should be near, and I'm not willing to waste my time for 2XP. I still need that fight scene... no. There must be others who have done that. I need something unique. I need something... catchy! Something worth watching... Something no one dares to...

Just while brainstorming, glance at the view count of his previous two videos. They are the highest numbers ever since his Youtube career. Seeing the immense success of video steeled his heart... his determination.

" I'm going to discover the secret method!"

...Where should I start though?

"Okay, let's change it. If no one found a single clue for 4 hours, then no one will. What should it be?"

Jenjen recalled it. The flame bishop that terrorizes the forum long ago. Hopefully, all the answer needed is in front of him... and that he isn't late to point a finger.

Let's start with "Who?" No, there are like 1000 players, and how can I differentiate one of them? Plus, they must have tried locating it as well, and seeing that there's still no news of the flame bishop means they failed as well. We can't do that... Let's scour the forum for hints.

Jensen checked the forum and as the update thoughts, had no clues at all. They're all theories built from wild claims.

[THEORY: What if the flame bishop is pretending to be a weapon?]

[Dear devs. As a professional prop hunter, PLEASE gimme the headgear.]

[List of all players tabulated]

[Suspicious players]

[Is the man with runes the flame bishop?]

[i think the guard in the bonus temple is suspicious]

[scientifically accurate flame elementals]

[CUTE RATS]

[my advice as a locksmith]

... They're all wild goose chases. Jenjen checked all of them a  saw nothing substantial.

He searched for something important until it clicked for him. Instead of searching randomly, I should search for people.

He searched for Golden Potato but nothing showed up. Considering his lazy nature, it must make sense.

He then searched Xiaoqi, and a good number of pictures appeared. His native language aided his fellow Chinese to keep updated on the latest trends. It was pictures from the third floor, which includes the weapons encased on glass, huge purple rats, the intimidating door, and the view from the third floor to the first floor. The second floor is destroyed save for the temple. He also publishes a video about himself, how excited he is about the game, what he feels now that he's popular, and how he obtained his headgear despite the country banning it. Jenjen double-checked the pictures and noticed a huge circular slab amidst the rubble. He kept a mental note of it.

He then searched for Rachelle. The forum is filled with her new fans and videos of her repeating the same line again and again. There's even a cinematic of her entire fights from waves 2, 3, and 4. She also made a video about her theory of how she remains first from all waves despite Juniper killing more than Rachelle. Everyone else is crazy about how she got the newfound powers that only she has at the moment.

Jenjen typed in "Juniper" and surprise, surprise, it's everywhere. The cool magic bow and the endless onslaught. The cinematics is more vivid and more detailed. There's even a voiceover. There are people on the internet wasting time arguing why he must be the first and how braindead Rachelle's ability is and how skilled Juniper is. There is a 10-minute video detailing it that captured Jenjen's plagiaristic instinct.

The screen only shows pictures of the battles which is probably a filler for the video. The audio says some unimportant details like his name, how there are fewer subscribers, and the entire details of the game starting from the forgettable company that built it down to the mechanics of the game. It also includes the definition of VRMMORPG the game claims about. There's even advertising-

"Skip."

He spammed the skip buttons and the next 10 seconds.

The screen then shows a picture of Rachelle and Juniper facing each other.

"The drama between-"

"HOW COULD THERE BE DRAMA!?! THEY ARE ON THE SAME SIDE FACING EACH OTHER!!!"

He swore it was the biggest mistake of his life to get click-baited by the title.

"Skippity do dah dah"

"-While the number of kills of Juniper is higher than Rachelle, the number of casualties is also higher on Juniper's side. Using the statistics-"

"Finally! You took 8 minutes just to get to the point!"

Reflexively, he skipped the video and clicked a 2-minute video instead as he learned a lesson to not trust 10-minute videos anymore.

"Efficiency not only includes the number of kills, but it also includes the number of casualties, and we can see here in these videos that Juniper does kill a LOT of fellow players as well." The same audio then matched the screen above with the said battle scenes featuring Juniper above the staircase, all from waves 2 to 5... Wait. Wave 5?

Jenjen checked the time and he guessed it right. It's past 20 minutes already.

I need to act fast.

He searched for the last person he knew. Someone who is at the center of it all... What is his name again? Slicer?

He checked the forum and found it... It appears it was shortened to Slicer for some reason. A video appeared titled "[censored] my experience playing this game".

Jenjen found out that the original video was flagged and strangers decided to archive it and censor it for everyone to see.

"Hi, guys! I'm Slicer for short."

His emotions are one of excitement.

"This game sucks. Can you imagine it? I'm banned for what? Huh? I'm not technically banned but whenever I log in, that crazy shit appears again and again. I can't even make a new account. The game told me to wait for the tutorial to end before continuing.

So, at the start-"

Finally, he's getting to the point. Why are you the one imitated by the flame bishop? Answer me! Jenjen thought as he is more than ready to whip out the skip button and his intuitive anti-filler mind.

"-Our group decided to go up. Honestly, I want to go alone but some persistent half-naked dude just won't shut up so we followed along-"

"-one of us declared himself as a leader of the group. You know, the one who made an announcement and flashed his shitty sword. He's such an annoying douchebag, calling me-"

"Anyways, this game is amazing. It has 100% simulation of our senses including touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight."

"-so we went up. That self-declared leader tripped at the staircase. Hahaha! To think he can't notice that big rock in front of him. What a dimwit. And he has the gall to call me-"

"I'm not the only one done with him. Some of us decided to separate from the group. They can't stop us from logging out anyway."

"You know how I said this game perfectly simulates senses? Well, it also simulates my horniness."

"I saw a door with a puzzle. It's [___] easy, bro. I don't understand why those quitters-"

"The design is great. It does a perfect job of showing that holy feeling. When I was inside, my mind felt at ease. You see, I'm completely done with my life. I can't even relax in my home, with stepdad-"

Bro, please put your drama aside. I couldn't care about it.

"-so I nearly took a nap. I don't get it but I fell asleep virtually."

...something still doesn't fit the bigger picture.

"My mind is telling me to find the woman of my life... I've seen bi-"

"-there's a girl next door when I was young. She's beautiful-"

Skip. Please. You don't have to tell us this just to cope with your mental issues. Skip. Skip. Skip.

"-so I stripped and-"

OH, GOD! DID YOU JUST-

"man, it's so amazing. I wonder what real women feel like in this game?"

YOU JUST MESSED WITH YOUR MEMBER INGAME! WHY?

"The lubricating oil that I used became hot, then that huge enemy appeared, shouting at me!"

Skip.

"I ran as fast as I could, and then some menacing flaming something appeared right at the staircase to the first floor. He just one-hit me."

I think I know what happened next.

Let's return in-game.