An Invitation

A few days had passed since the pack opening incident and I was doing some of my daily challenges again. If you do all of them you'll get a small bit of premium currency and a good amount of XP. The way XP works in Arcadia is a little different than most games; the XP stores itself in your inventory to be used on weapons, armor, jewelry, or other things like that. The XP also can't be sold or traded for obvious reasons. It was then that I received a notification. I opened my HUD and noticed it was a system-wide message that talked about balancing changes and a new upcoming event; it says this event will be huge compared to the others in recent memory. The message didn't say when it'll start, but from past experience, events tend to happen within a few weeks of being announced. I'm sure they'll give us a date soon.

Anyway, I should probably grind a little more and stock up on potions. I let out a small sigh as I realized I was going to be busy grinding until the event happens.

-Later-

I'm getting bored. I can't do any big missions without other party members, and everyone is offline. Plus, playing games solo is fine from time to time, but too much is just boring, especially with online-focused games.

I opened my menu and looked at my friends list again. To my surprise, someone was online this time. The friend in question was ~Olivionic~. It was Mike's sister. I wonder how far she's gotten. I thought about joining her for a few minutes, but before I had decided on anything I received a notification. I opened a submenu to take a look at it.

[~Olivionic~ Has Invited You to Join Them]

[Accept] [Decline]

I was surprised. Just what are the chances? I gave a small chuckle and clicked accept. A blue light encompassed me and the processes of teleporting and joining her group began. When the light faded, I was standing about five feet away from her.

Her avatar was different from before. She had the default presets on back in the starter town; she looked very generic, you know, average face, brown hair, blue eyes, standard clothing, stuff like that. But now, she looked much different; I guess she got around to customizing her character.

Her eyes looked like amber, and her hair was white. The outfit she wore complimented her figure, and it seemed like she had two layers of clothes on. The bottom layer was made of some dark or blackish material, and the top layer looked to be white. It looked as if she had chosen to either be a scout or archer, possibly even a druid under certain circumstances, but from how she played before I doubt she would pick something like that. She had armor on her shoulders, forearms, knees, and thighs, while also wearing gloves. There was also a short green cape that reached about halfway down her back and finally, she had a pair of goggles on her forehead. I wonder if those goggles have some benefit or are just there for cosmetic reasons.

Sure, she looked beautiful, but I know better than to judge someone based solely on their looks, especially when online; that's a good way to get scammed. This is a game after all, and most people make their avatars based on their ideal selves rather than how they actually look. A cute or gorgeous girl in town could actually be a 300lb guy who lives in his mother's basement; all they have to do is either use a voice changer or pretend to be mute or too shy to talk while using an avatar of the opposite gender. It's trivially easy to pretend to be someone you're not.

When I finally took in my surroundings it looked like we were in the capital of Enjuhar somewhere between the market and the adventurer's guild.

Olivia waved and said hello. We exchanged pleasantries for a moment before she got down to business.

"I need you..."

"Yes?" I said in an indifferent tone.

"...to help me level up before the event"

She put both her hands together, formed a smile, and had a pleading look on her face.

"..."

"I'll help you, but please don't make that face again."

"Alright... you got a deal"

"So how far have you gotten? You know, in the story I mean."

"Well, I started siding with En- uhh Enhjar?"

It's Enjuhar, but close enough I guess.

"They want me to do something to prove myself, I think."

Oooooh... I remember this part. She has to kill a monster of rank B or higher. You know, she actually got decently far in just a couple of days. There are lots of things we can kill to finish that quest. A wyvern, vampire, lich, even certain golems and ghosts; oh, I know just the thing to make this a memorable quest.

"Yeah, I remember that quest, and I think I know just the thing to complete it."

"Really! What is it?"

"We're going to slay a dragon."

"..."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope"

"I- I can't kill a dragon! I've heard that dragons are really tough, even for good players!"

"That's why I'll help. Killing a dragon during this quest will give you a very large amount of XP, some dragon parts which can be made into high-level armor, a decent amount of gold, and some really good reputational benefits with Enjuhar."

Olivia agreed with what I said but was still hesitant. With one more push, I'm sure she would agree.

"If you kill the dragon, you'll be much closer to joining Mike's guild... Plus, I'm running low on dragon parts, and the only time they're guaranteed to spawn is during missions or events like these."

Now that she knew my true intentions, she gave me a bit of a stern look. I bet she was thinking, "That's what you're really after, isn't it?", and yeah, I was after the dragon parts, but this would benefit both of us, especially her, and if she misses this chance, it'll take her much longer to get XP, reputation, gold, and other things like that.

*sigh* "Okay... I'll do it"