invayne

24 + advanced chapters on https://www.patreon.com/invayne

“I rushed over to help you, and you start picking on me?” I pursed my lips. This pink-haired thing was too much.

“Sorry…. And thank you….” The pink-haired thing lowered her head. I guess I am not one to talk since I pick on her all the time. But the pink-haired thing is my friend… Only I can pick on her.

“It’s fine. Are you okay? Did they do anything?” I asked. I was more worried about if they tried to do anything to her than the loss of experience mainly because….. I turned and looked at the glowing orbs hovering in the air.

“I’m fine. They were only stealing my kills…. Zoe… What is that?” The pink-haired thing pointed at the glowing orbs behind me. They were golden in color and just hovered there in the air.

“They are your loot. All the experience and items they have gained in the past three hours are now yours. Pick it up. It should at least level you once or twice.” One thing people did not realize was that player killing was allowed everywhere in this game. While most of the population would not spend their time doing that because dropping loot was not something anyone wished to do. But grand battles were fought inside the game for resources after the dungeons appeared. Guilds would start to form, and only those with enough power could secure resources.

Luckily, outside of the game, these organizations kept their hatred for one another under wraps and worked together when needed. New York had three such organizations. There were the New Laws, the Dark Front, and the Kings. Each one had the hands in some sort of resources and had tens of thousands of members. I was also part of one of these organizations in my dreams. I was part of Dark Front.

The city was split in three, and each side had their own separate laws. But when monsters appeared, all three organizations worked together to kill them if help was needed. Even the monster that seemed to have died by in my dreams.

“Loot!? Are you sure? You were the one who killed them. By the way, you were kind of cool just now. I did not think you would come so fast, and the way you just walked over and started cutting people down… Hehe…. My heart skipped a beat.” The pink-haired thing was saying some crazy thing, but it was good to know she was fine.

“Go get your loot. Keep everything since everything has some kind of use.” I did not wish to let go of anything that could be used later on.

“Okay!” Now that I was thinking about it. Starting an organization was not too bad. The pink-haired thing could be the frontman. The person who did all the talking while I sat in the back and directed everything.

Running an organization would be hard, but as long as we had money, we could easily progress. But levels mattered as well. Those at the top were all high-level players. And we would need enough people to even think about taking over a resource point. I couldn’t help but sigh when I thought about all the people trying to speak to me… but I did need to get over this issue of mine. I just clam up and start to stutter. I hate it.

“Hey, Zoe...” The pink-haired thing pulled on my arm. I turned to look at her to see her pointing at something. She had already collected all the items and had gained two levels in the process but the thing that she was looking at had nothing to do with any of that. It was a huge monster that had suddenly appeared in the lower level area.

“A world boss!?” I cried out. I actually said something without stuttering for once, but that was not the problem here. I quickly typed a message to the pink-haired thing. “Let’s duck into the forest. That monster is not something we can deal with now.”

“Okay…” The pink-haired thing nodded her head. The two of us quickly retreated into the trees and watched as the players trying to level up were stepped on or eaten. “What happens when they get eaten?”

The pink-haired thing’s question was a good one. It actually depended on the monster. “Large monsters, if they do not chomp on you, will just swallow you. It’s not an experience one wants to go through. But it will give you a chance to escape if you can. It’s either cut your way out. Or goes down the other end to escape. Or you can sit there and wait to die. You will end up with a kind of poison that slowly eats at your body as it digests you.”

“What!? That is horrible! How could they put something like that into games!?” The pink-haired thing’s nose scrunched up. I couldn’t help but chuckle after all this game. Just let me bi-sect people.

“Why else do you think the game is so popular? Because it is real. They try to make it as real as possible, including how you die in a monster's stomach.” I explained before looking at the monster again. I have been wracking my brain this entire time, trying to figure out why this monster was even here. I do not remember any monsters from my dreams, at least not in the starting area.