2 The Adventurers

"Gang-gang-woo!"1

A somewhat round and blue creature hops up and down on water puddles as if it were a trampoline. Its two round eyes are voids of darkness, peering ominously from the depths of its figure. The creature's lips curve like a crescent moon, displaying a terrifying and disdainful smile towards its enemies.

Ahead of this monster, [Elite] Lv.13 Noisy Witch, there are three adventurers:

[⋄] Lv.10 Momonga_Oniisama ‹Mage›

[⋄] Lv.10 Kiritwo ‹Swordsman›

[⋄] Lv.10 BokuNoPic ‹Swordsman›

Despite the relatively low level gap between them, elite-type monsters cannot be underestimated, as their algorithms are different from normal spawn monsters they have encountered before. Rather than being difficult, this monster in particular seems to be more of a nuisance to deal with.

With sword in his right hand, Kiritwo uses it as a temporary makeshift cane for him to stand. "Curse, we were so close," he sighed dejectedly.

"It's OK! We'll try again," Momonga calmly reassured the group and assessed the situation with a cooler head. He tightly grips his staff, which stands upright in the ground. "Its movements are predictable now."

"Glup-glup-glup! Herp... herpes me!"

"But this is strange... it seems like we've been sent far towards the outskirts. I can feel the sea breeze from here," Kiritwo casually shared as if nothing out of the ordinary was occurring.

This party shouldn't be too far from the Temporary Camp near the initial town of Lemuria. But they, for what reason, had wandered too far without paying attention to the surroundings, leading into a trap.

"Monsters in this area are higher level than us, but there must be a way for us to do something," Momonga theorized, still remarkably composed. "Besides, we might be able to find rare items and sell them on the market for money."

"Glup-glup-glup! Shape... shape up me now!"

If there's one thing these adventurers have in common, it's that they are completely soaked as if they've been drenched in water. But the more accurate reality is that they have just drowned. Not in a lake or sea, but within a trap from the Noisy Witch's. Its cruel laughter mocking them from a distance.

"Glup-glup-glup! Pulp fiction!"

Momonga and Kiritwo exchange stares, trying to ignore someone's frustrated grumbling that caused this situation. In the middle of the two, a rather large bubble of water capable of swallowing an adult human floats. But at these same seconds, a human, —BokuNoPic—is struggling desperately for oxygen inside it.

They both, who have experienced the same ordeal, surely know how unpleasant it is to be trapped inside the bubble. There isn't much one can do besides waiting for the bubble to dissipate on its own or waiting for help from outside.

But the two simply want to make their comrade experience the consequences of his own mischief.

"You mean 'help me', na?" With a slight flick of his staff, Momonga sends a 「Fireball!」 to destroy the bubble. "I was planning to head towards a location I marked during the beta test, and here you are causing trouble," he complains.

BokuNoPic falls, with his behind higher than his face. He's almost pale and out of breath, enjoying the moments of freedom by greedily coughing and inhaling oxygen.

"Mehehe~ Nye-nye-nye!"

But then the monster's cry sounded again.

"It's starting to move. Both of you, get ready." Kiritwo straightforwardly takes up a stance, holding a sword in each hand. "I'll attack first, Mage, you back me up."

Having said that, Kiritwo ran towards the monster like someone full of vengeance.

Seeing that, Momonga stood still contemplating his role in this party. His just now Fireball is still on cooldown, adding his comrade who's still had his breath out—"Okay, now what?!"

It hasn't been too long since The Last Fantasy's first ever server opened. The Full Dive Virtual Reality, blah blah blah—insert classic and boring introduction of a game-fantasy webnovel here—2with that in your head, these three players' experience points shouldn't be enough to reach the level 10 this fast.

Of course, there is another reason behind it. They are no ordinary players, they are among the hundreds worldwide who are lucky enough to participate in the beta test of The Last Fantasy, which was released officially an hour ago.

There are many advantages to being a beta tester, apart from the fact that they had 'taste' the world of the game three months prior to everyone else. Also, as a contribution reward, developers gave tens of thousands of experience points that allowed their characters to reach level 10 in an instant.

Newly logged-in players will only be given the basic class ‹Novice› and only at Level 10 can they choose their first class. This creates a chain advantage for the beta testers. They no longer need to go through the boring tutorial and can immediately dive into exploring the open world map.

The main purpose? Money, absolutely!

This is the first-ever game that is highly trusted to change the world's politics and economy. Here, transactions are freedom, players can exchange in-game items with real-world money.

Isn't it common knowledge that RMT (Real Money Trading) becomes rampant during the early release of a game while the prices are still uncontrolled? Either way, it is a golden opportunity to escape poverty.

Or at least that's how it should be.

Still, there are many challenges that players have to face, even for beta testers themselves. It's an adaptation to this completely new realm.

Taking a wider look, these three adventurers aren't particularly skilled or adept in combat. There have been instances of miscommunication or almost attacking each other, as well as the amount of time it takes just to defeat a single monster.

"Do they really understand how to fight?" Anubis commented, observing everything from a distance as the adventurers celebrated their victory over a Lv.13 Noisy Witch. His figure, still unsatisfied of curiosity, floated closer until his presence was felt by those below.

The three of them were basking in the satisfaction, scrambling for the items dropped by the elite monster when a shadow approached closer. As they turned to look, the view was obstructed by the sunlight, but it could be confirmed that someone was floating up there.

Was it an NPC? Or perhaps a player just like them? Such thoughts were reasonable to cross one's mind, considering the three had only coincidentally met on the road while exploring just a while ago.

However, it was a threat staring down at them—a pair of glowing ruby eyes shone as the figure gracefully descended. Standing on the same ground as them, the true form of the shadow was... "A vampire?!"