CHAPTER 2: Clueless Fish

In a secluded, unknown part of the ocean, a place where humanity never knew of, lives a wide community of fishes. What's unnatural about the fishes though, is that…

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「The fishes are actually players!」

"???"

「What, you still haven't figured that out up until this point? Are you really a porcupinefish? I've heard that their intelligence is pretty high, but you...」

"H, hey, shut up."

Well, guess it makes sense that the fishes are actually players. He slowly tried putting the pieces together himself. Right before he was registered into this server, he faintly remembered that there was something telling him about being compensated because of an unfair death. There must be other people who have died like him, too. That makes people being compensated for their death and ended up here.

"Yeah... I guess that makes sense..."

"But, what still haven't made sense to me, is all this. The 'system', the dialogs, the 'server' typa shit... It doesn't make sense. Aren't those the type of things to exist in one of those fantasy web novels? Nothing even feels real to me right now, even though... everything feels too real. Also, what even are you?"

「Eh... You could say... I'm your personal guide, hahah!」

"Yeah, if you say so... but do you have a name? It's kinda weird calling you by 'you' all the time, you know."

「Name... No, I don't have a name. I've never thought about that.」

"Then, can I give you a name?"

「Huh. Yeah, sure.」

A screen popped up in front of Phong.

[-Name Request-

The user TaChanPhong, once agreed to the request, will be able to grant an official name for <GuideEntity280904>, and the name will be valid forever. Do you accept the request?]

"You even have these kinds of things for just a name... Alright, I accept."

「That's it! You can grant me a name now. What is it?」

"..."

「...」

"... Dipshit."

「!??」

[Name granted successfully.]

「For, for real?? You're calling me by that??」

"Creative, I know. Let's get moving, I want to see more of this Sea."

「You!! Ugh!!!」

Phong continued swimming towards whatever it is in front of him, not bothered by what he did to the entity. It was a brief silence between the two until the guide... until Dipshit spoke again.

「Your question earlier. About the game-like features you're experiencing. Well, to be bluntly honest, everything you've experienced up until now is just a game. Your entire life was a game. Sounds like a joke, I know. But it is what it is. You are an entity that belongs to a game, and it would make sense for you to be able to enter a similar game. Simply put, you cannot enter a "Server" if you're not already an entity that belongs to that server. You can see this place as a "sub-server", because position-wise, it is a part of the previous Server you were in, which is Earth.」

"If that's so, then why is it separated from the Earth server?"

「It's unknown why. This place had long ago been discovered by players who accidentally glitched through the Waiting Room and entered the server. Other guide entities had been assigned to look into the problem, but it seemed like they couldn't find the origin of this place. For some reason, this became a place for players who died unfairly to have a second chance.」

"... I see."

"Dipshit, I've been wondering about this for a bit now. If this is a game, then is there any way to log out of this game without dying?"

「...!」

「Good question!」

「Since you're a beginner, you will have to complete a few tasks given by the system first, but at one point you will be introduced to a safe place.」

"Ah... I guess this is really like a game then..."

「Speaking of tasks, do you want to receive the tasks now? It's scheduled to be given in about 1 hour, but it wouldn't make a difference if you get them earlier.」

"Hmm... I mean, sure. I don't mind."

「Alright, let me send the system a request.」

A loading panel quickly appeared in front of Phong's eyes.

[Task request accepted.]

[BEGINNER'S TASKS: Pt. 1

Task: Collect seashells scattered across the ocean floor.

Rewards: Unlocks currency and shop.]