*****

"Another jackpot for Vermouth! Let's keep it going~ Woohoo!" Vermouth jumped in ecstasy after reading the item's description. Immediately, Vermouth equipped the item without missing a beat.

With her rewards dealt with and celebrated, Vermouth faces the next problem she must deal with.

Vermouth looked up at the hole she came from and frowned. "How on earth am I supposed to get out of here?"

That, exactly. She had expected, even hoped, that the dungeon would provide her the exit she needed after she completed it. But that turned out not to be the case, and she is still trapped here in this desolate cave.

Upon desperation, Vermouth shouts. "Hello~!? Is there anyone up there!? Anybody!?"

The reply she received was her own voice bouncing off the cave's wall. How depressing that must be.

Vermouth stared at the hole in the ceiling, glaring at it as if something would change if she just continued cursing at it in her mind.

Once more, Vermouth shouted at the top of her lungs, hoping that there will be someone up there to hear her pleas.

And to her surprise, some… object? Maybe? That object took a peek at the hole. It was moving so maybe it wasn't an object? Vermouth couldn't tell.

With a thud, that something or someone fell into the hole, rolling down the steep wall and in ended up in front of Vermouth.

"Ow ow ow…" The thing groaned, to Vermouth's surprise. She stepped away and pointed her staff at the strange visitor, ready to blast them away just in case they were hostile. The voice sounded feminine, but also a bit deeper than normal.

Finally, it stood up, if you could even call it that. The thing just plopped over on another side, its face raised toward her. It was akin to a bush, but instead of green, it was orange. Maybe they're in their autumn season?

"I thought I heard someone down here so I came to check!" The bush started talking with its slit of a mouth, "And here I found you!"

Not sure how to respond, Vermouth stares at the bush with a slightly dumbfounded expression on her face. "Umm… sure?"

"Oh, you might be confused, but I am a player too. So I would appreciate it if you don't mistake me for a talking monster or an NPC! I'm a male player! Just had to tell you." the male bush said, further confusing Vermouth. "I'm like this because of a skill! Hehe."

The male bush looked quite proud of himself as he said that.

"Okay…" Vermouth starts with a sweat drop, "What now? Are you here to help me ooorr..?"

Seemingly coming to a realization, the male bush perks up and raises its hand(?). "Oh yeah, I got you girl! Watch and be amazed! I Adjure you, Nature!"

Following his words, the ground glowed and roots rose from the ground underneath him, twisting and coiling around themselves until they reached the hole the both of them fell into. 

Amazed by the spectaculars, Vermouth claps her hands. "Woah, that's cool…"

"Hehe, right!? It's perfect for a botanical maniac like myself!"

"Who calls their selves a maniac?" Vermouth wondered to herself.

"Come on! Climb on!" The male bush urges her as he lifts himself with one of the roots.

Without hesitation, Vermouth latches on the still-moving roots and allows herself to be lifted off her feet. Slowly and gently, the roots bring the two of them out of the hole, the two of them greeted by another male player seated on top of a rock as if he was meditating. His eyes were closed as if in deep concentration.

He wore a white shirt tucked into his thick and baggy black sweatpants. On his head was a nest and an obsidian raven. Similarly, its eyes were closed.

The two of them hopped off the roots, landing softly on the flat ground.

"Yo!" The man opens his eyes and starts with a cheerful greeting, giving her a mock salute.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, the bush falls over, tumbling onto the floor.

"Eh? Are you okay? Hey?" Vermouth asks her benefactor out of concern.

Seeing this, the unknown man laughs as he jumps off the rock he was seated on, landing with a thud in front of Vermouth and the bush. The man stood a head and a half taller than her.

"Silly, that bush was me! I was controlling it!" The man explains. He waved his hands and the bush suddenly rose from the ground, straightening and transforming into a long rod the same height as Vermouth. The man grabbed it and thumped it on the ground. "And that! Was my staff!"

"Wooohh!" Vermouth claps much like earlier. "How did you do that? What skills was it?"

"Why, it's easy!" The man grins before he places a finger on his lips. "But that's a trade secret."

"Of course, how silly of me to ask that," Vermouth chuckles and nods in understanding. "That aside, thanks for your help. I don't know how long I would have been stuck down there had you not helped me."

"It was nothing, nothing at all," the man dismissively waves his hands. "I'm assuming it was the earthquake earlier that got you stuck there? I helped some players earlier with similar situations. They said that the cracks on the ground moved as if it was following them or something. Did that happen to you too?"

Vermouth perks up upon hearing his words. "Yup, that's exactly what happened to me. Was it some event or something?"

"Hm? Yeah, we have our suspicions about how it happened, but we won't be sure until we find a certain player and confirm our suspicions," he explained, rubbing his chin with his free hand.

"Who who? I might know them," Vermouth asks, eager to be let in on the happenings.

"Well, you know that recent world announcement? The one with the Vermouth dude? That's the guy we're searching for," He points out, opening and scrolling through his interface before rotating it so Vermouth could read its contents.

Vermouth froze on the spot as she read the interface. If his words didn't sink in yet, reading the announcement made it descend into the ocean that is Vermouth's brain.

"Well? Any ideas?" The man asks.

"Eh? Aah! N-no, none at all! Nothing comes up when I think of it, sorry about that, haha…" Vermouth stammers as she tries to cover for herself.

"Y-you're stuttering, that's suspicious…" The man glares at her, his eyes narrowing at her in suspicion.

"W-what do you mean? I'm not stuttering at all!" Vermouth tries to shake off his suspicions futilely.

"Hmm…" The man gives him one last look before sighing. "Welp, suspicious or not, if you don't want to talk then there's nothing this me could do."

"What are you talking about, I wonder?" Vermouth spoke dismissively, trying and failing not to seem suspicious.

"Oh well, the name's GuyAnner. Guya for short. I'll send you a friend request, give me a chat once you're ready to talk," The man opens his interface once more and selects her, before freezing and then looking at her wide-eyed. NOW, Vermouth was sweating. "Wait, you're-!"

"And that's my cue to run!" Vermouth shouted to herself before taking off and leaving the flabbergasted man behind.

But before she could even make a dozen meters of distance away from him, a wall of roots rose from around her, trapping her within. "Wait, that's unfair! Fireball!"

Vermouth's ball of fire created a hole in the wall of roots, turning the weaker element into ash. Immediately, Vermouth leaps out of it and continues running.

"Wha!? How did you-!? Get back, that's unfair!" GuyAnner shouts from behind her, now running after her because she is too far for his roots to reach. "I should have spent some points on AGI, damn it! Get back here, hey!"

Vermouth ignores Guya's voice as it fades into the background after some turns.

Vermouth turns around to look at her surroundings.

"Did I finally lose him?" Just to make sure, Vermouth sends a pulse with her skill, only finding two Pebblepiles and no figure of a man or any players at all.

"He's gone, good…" Vermouth heaves a sigh of relief.

"But why was he searching for me anyway? And he said we? So there are more people searching for me?" Vermouth ponders.

"If there are more, then they will focus their search around this area now that one of them spotted me, won't they? Why were they searching for me anyway?"

Vermouth gave it a bit of thought and came upon a realization. "It's because of the Regional Quest, isn't it? Are they planning to steal the quest from me? Is that even possible? If not, then maybe they want to join me and get a share of the rewards? No, there has to be a bigger reason why they would send players to search for me other than the rewards, but what is it!?"

"I gotta ask brother, he would know about it more than me, I'm sure," With that, Vermouth hurriedly logs out of the game, her character disappearing into a puff of blue smoke.

Now back in the real world, Milya rushes out of her room and knocks on her brother's door.

After a moment, the door opens and Milya is greeted with his brother's questioning gaze.

"Bro! People are searching for me! What do I do?" Milya rudely barges into his room and asks her brother.

"Ah?" Aleb raises a brow upon hearing his sister's words. "About time, I think."

"You knew it would happen!?" Milya gasps in surprise. "Why didn't you warn me, then?"

Aleb scratches the back of his head as a realization dawns on him. "You didn't know, huh…"

"Didn't know what?"

Aleb sighs as he urges her to take a seat on the bed as he sits on his gaming chair. Milya does as told and stares at her brother, waiting for an explanation.

"I'll start with this. Milya, do you know what happens when one fails a regional quest?" Aleb asks grimly, to which Milya replies with a shake of her head.

"Right, I should have explained this to you much earlier. Milya, after failing a regional quest, there's a good chance that the entire region involved is turned into a wasteland. Do you see the problem here?"

"Players won't be able to farm monsters in the mountain range if I fail?" Milya asks with slight confusion.

"It's much more than that, Milya," Aleb shakes his head as he turns his chair to face his computer, opening a file with compiled information about the game.

On his screen appears several entrances to what Milya could guess as mines. "There are a total of 115 mining locations in the entire mountain range of Olfor, and that supplies all industries that need metals all around Olfor mountains. Now, what do you think will happen to those industries and the players managing them?"

"T-they'll be screwed…" Milya mutters upon realizing how truly huge the situation is.

"Exactly. If you are to fail, there's a high chance that you will be crippling these industries and the cities that rely on them. I hope you see how big this quest is and how important it is now, Milya. It normally wouldn't matter, but imagine what players who rely on these would feel. And what they would do to you, to us, after the next expansion." Aleb finishes before gauging his sister's reaction, satisfied with what he has observed so far. She's taking this much seriously now, that's good. Aleb thought.

"They would hold grudges… and then target us in revenge…" Milya mutters grimly.

"That's the worst-case scenario. I'm glad you're able to see that now, Milya," Aleb said before giving his sister a reassuring tap on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm here to help you. That's why I suggest you get in touch with the people who are searching for you. I'm sure they are from a guild that heavily relies on the ores mined from Olfor Mountains, so I'm sure they will help you."

Milya heaves a sigh and releases the tension in her body, calming herself. "I understand, Brother. You always know how to help me."

Aleb smiles and leans back on his chair. "Of course, we're family so it is only natural that we help each other, even more now that something huge is coming."

"Thanks, bro," Milya smiled back before standing from where she was seated, heading for the door.

"Before you leave, I suggest you eat dinner before going back to playing. We just had ours an hour ago." Aleb advised with a wave of his hand.

Milya checks the wall clock and sees that it is currently 7:48 PM, she started playing after their brunch around 11:30 am, meaning she has been playing for more than eight hours! That's unhealthy! The game has a set accelerated time rate of 1.5x! Meaning that she's been playing for twelve hours! And that's without counting the time she spent playing in the morning!

"You're right…" Milya sighs with a nod. "I guess I'm sleeping early today to make up for last night then. Thanks again, bro."

With a nod from Aleb, Milya left his room and went downstairs to eat. In the kitchen, she found her mother typing on her laptop, several heaps of papers stacked to the side.

"Ah, Milya. Go eat dinner now and sleep early," she greeted before promptly returning to her work.

"She's quite busy today huh? She even left for something earlier."

"Got it," Milya replied. "I was planning to."

Milya prepared her meal in silence to the background sound of her mother typing at her keyboard.

Milya sat at the table on the opposite side of her mother and began eating. "Where were you earlier, by the way? Pa said you woke up early. Just curious."

Her mother looked up from her laptop before answering her. "I was talking to some acquaintances earlier and sold some stock. I was also looking for some land near where my Mom lives. We're moving there once we confirm that the game does affect reality."

"Ooh, I think get it," Milya said, waving her spoon in hand. "You want to lay low until the shock settles down and everything calms down, did I get that right?"

Her mother smiles before nodding. "That's a third of it, yes. I also want to avoid the cities because I'm sure they will be more populated with players, unlike the secluded village in our province. Don't worry, I plan to have wi-fi installed. I also just want to spend time farming together with Dad and Mom, it's been years since I've last touched dirt."

"I see, Granpa and Granma like their silence after all, don't they? That ended up working in our favor."

"Exactly," her mother replies with a nod.

Milya smiles, spending the next minutes silently finishing her meal while her mother busies herself with her work.

After washing the plate and utensils she used, Milya bade her mother goodnight and went back upstairs to take a bath and sleep.

Milya decided to herself that she would be spending tomorrow outside of the game, so she neatly covered up the headset with its case and placed it under her bed. She has to remember that still has connections and friends that she wants to talk to. Even more now that she has memories of the future that befell them.

Milya opened her phone and texted her friends, reassuring them that she was doing fine after two days of not contacting them. She also told them that she has a bit of change and that it would be a surprise for them to see her tomorrow. The three of them then decided to hang out and spend time together tomorrow.

---

Milya wakes up quite early to a pleasantly cold morning. It was 6:49 am, still quite early.

After she did her waking-up routine, Milya dressed up and texted some friends. She has almost forgotten she had friends. After all, she lost the two of them to a mall tragedy that happened five months after the game expansion. Of course, she will prevent that from happening now that she knows danger is coming their way.

Walking downstairs, Milya greets her mother and brother in the kitchen a good morning. Seems like Aleb is helping with the cooking. He always does that on Mondays.

"You're dressed up quite nicely, where are you headed to?" Her mother inquired.

"Just hanging out with Nicole and Akune. I feel like I haven't talked to them in years even though it's just two days, so I want to hang out to make up for it," Milya explained as she shoved a slice of toast into her mouth and swallowed it in one go.

"Take care then!" Her mother replies, her brother giving her a nod.

"I will, we're just going to a mall to maybe play some games in an arcade and eat in some restaurants, I'll be home around four in the afternoon," Milya reassured before leaving the house and heading for the station.

The three of them have decided to meet up in a park near the mall where they will be spending their time together.

Milya got off the train station and promptly headed for the park, wearing a dirty white turtle neck sweater tucked into high-waisted short jeans. She wore a white beret cap on her head and sneakers on her feet. Slung over her shoulder was a small black shoulder bag. ¹Do not question my fashion sense.

It didn't take long for Milya to arrive at their meeting place where the two of her friends were chatting to themselves on a bench. Upon seeing them, Milya had the urge to give them a tight hug. So she did just that, she snuck behind the two of them and gave them a tight hug.

"Looking good, you two!" She exclaimed as the two yelped in surprise.

*****