9 Reality...

For the next hour or so, Ren spent his time casually talking with the old man, he was not used to role-playing with NPCs in such a way but he could not help but be sucked into his role of wandering warrior from another continent which also served as intel gathering to him.

He learned many things from old man Adryan, from the general geography of the area, the country he was in along with what was neighbouring it, the currency, how some of the society worked and much more. He couldn't help but bombard him with seemingly endless questions, some of which he was unable to answer and others that he had no problem telling him about. Despite asking him non-stop for nearly an hour, during that entire time, not once did he get tired or complain, keeping a smile on his face.

He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, a breath of fresh air from all the people he was used to dealing with in real life. At times he would even forget he was talking to a simple NPC only for reality to hit him very hard. It was an odd experience he had never felt before playing any video game.

After asking most of what was on his mind, Ren was satisfied and relaxed back on the bench completely at peace with a smile on his face, casually looking at the beauty of the outside world and enjoying the smell of fresh air instead of checking if the fast-forward option was still in the game.

Yet, despite all of that, he could not shake off an odd feeling in his heart, like something inconceivable, dark and ominous laid within this carriage. He had an urge to stand up and check around for any hidden items.

But, that was when something happened that he did not expect.

"U-ummm… Hello mister… I... I just wanted to properly apologize again..."

The girl that looked at him like the boogie man only an hour prior seemed to be trying to make up with him. Maybe it was from seeing him so casually talking with her grandpa earlier.

"Oh no! Please don't worry about it! It's no big deal,"

He nodded at her with a smile, leading into a small awkward silence before he spoke once again.

"Hey, Petra, do you have a coin? I want to show you something cool!"

Ren lifted his hands from his sides and thrust it in front of him wide open with a smile.

At first, she was slightly hesitant before she decided to agree and trust him, which was more like trusting in her grandpa's words.

Out of her pocket, she pulled out a copper coin, the coin worth the least, and placed it in his hands.

"Here,"

Her voice was still shy which made Ren smile— making kids happy was a big part of why he liked his last job but his colleagues and the annoying and rowdy kids were what really ruined it for him.

"Thank you!"

He took the coin and placed it hovering into his palm, hidden behind his fingers.

"I will be placing the coin here… I will snap my fingers three times *snap* *snap* *snap* and voila!"

"WHAT?! It's gone! It's really gone! What did you do with the coin? Do you know invisibility magic?!"

Ren chuckled at himself before he continued.

"Now, I'll be placing my fingers back into my hands… And after snapping three times *snap* *snap* *snap*"

"It's back! It's really back! How did you do that mister!"

"Uh uh uh! A true magician never reveals his secrets!"

Ren could not help but chuckle once more saying that since he learned it from a Utube video himself.

"Hey! Do you want to see another trick?"

"Mhm! Yes please!"

The previously scared eyes of the child were no more, replaced by stars that damn near illuminated the entire carriage.

At first, Ren was only doing what he did to test the limits of the new NPCs but he could not help but feel happy doing so too. It really took him back to those days of teaching elementary school. He never thought he would miss it but doing what he did made him somehow relive those good old days, singling out the good, disregarding the many, many, bad that happened...

"I will throw this coin in the air, and you have to guess in which hand it's in after I catch it, okay?"

*Mhm*

She nodded vigorously.

*flick*

*snatch*

He whipped his fists at top speed towards the coin and grabbed it.

"Left or right?"

"Ummmm… left! It was definitely left!"

"Ehhhuh wrong! It was in my right!"

"W-wow! How is that even possible! Show me more!"

A small laugh was heard from the front of the carriage as old man Adryan most likely noticed what they were up to.

For the next few minutes, instead of searching around like he wanted to, Ren ended up spending his time playing with Petra, showing her various magic tricks he had learned online before the carriage suddenly came to a halt.

"We're now right outside the village. The security there is very tight right now considering everything that's going on so this is as far as I can take you. The rest you'll have to go bye foot…"

"That will be fine! Walking the rest of the way won't be a problem! Thank you for everything, sir!"

"Ho-ho! It was truly a pleasure! Thank you for showing Petra a good time! Good luck to you and your friend! Hope you get him some help soon!"

'Wait… Friend… How did he know about lu-' he thought to himself before the answer hit him in the face immediately.

"No worries! She's a sweet little girl, who wouldn't be happy playing with her?"

Ren stood up and left his daggers sitting on the bench where he previously sat and looked straight at petra.

"Here you go! Thanks for letting me borrow it!"

He placed the copper coin he borrowed back into her hands and turned around to the exit of the carriage before he felt a tug on his gauntlets.

"Do you really have to go?"

"Yes Petra. I have to go now but I'm sure we'll meet again soon!"

"Really? Do you promise?"

He nodded to her words, rubbing her on the head with a tender smile.

"Yes, I promise,"

As he prepared himself to go once more, he felt another tug on his hands and a voice that sounded more like a whisper.

"Take this… I'm sure you're really hungry… Just don't let grandpa see it…"

When he looked down, he noticed a bright red apple in his hand.

"Okay… Thank you so much… That's so sweet of you…"

He hid the apple in his pocket and hopped out of the carriage and onto the muddy trail under the night sky.

"Okay let's go!"

*Whip*

As soon as he hopped off, the carriage once again started rolling away in the distance with Petra waving at him from the back and him waving back at her until they were no longer seen.

"Bye-bye Alucard!!"

Ren took a big huff of fresh air playing with the apple in his hands deep in thought.

The gamer side of him really wanted to test out what would happen if he were to kill the merchant and his granddaughter, especially since there was that ominous feeling that could not leave his subconscious ever since he went in… It was like it was screaming at him to do something about it.

By killing the merchant and his daughter, he might have unlocked a secret quest, a secret item, received goods to resell. But, at the same time, there was a high chance of him failing the tutorial doing so.

There were so many possibilities and all he would lose out on would have been a little time after he resets.

However… For some odd, inexplicable reason, he simply could not let himself do it… It was completely unlike him and his nature... He had never hesitated about killing any NPC in the past so why now of all times? Had he grown such an attachment to random NPCs? Even if they acted more realistically than any NPC before, they were still NPCs— which was probably also the reason he was able to so casually talk to them.

However, even still, he did not feel any regret choosing what he chose… He just hoped that it wouldn't be the case for all the NPC's in the world.

Ren shook his head and disregarded those thoughts and looked at the sky. It seemed like nighttime was only going to last for a few more hours so he needed to find an inn very soon.

His vision then shifted ahead of him. Around 1 kilometre away was a village just like the old man said. It seemed rather simple and primitive with some buildings that seemed to be fairly high class and made out of stone while most other ones seemed to be made out of wood or even straws.

Around the entire village was an extremely long yet very short palisade wall spanning many kilometres and a gate where the road led.

The fully rested Ren immediately began walking on the road towards the city, smiling before taking a bite of his apple with great anticipation.

*Crunch*

"Wait! What the fuck! I can actually taste this thing!"

He could not contain his excitement as he dug into the entire apple with star-like eyes.

"Damn! That was good! Realistic as hell! Now let's hope they don't make me taste blood if I suck someone!"

He laughed heartily at himself knowing exactly what the answer to that question was.

There was still a long way to go until he reached the village and he decided to take it into assigning his 5 stat points and 1 class point.

He did not yet have any classes other than vampire so it was the obvious choice, or more like the only choice he had.

Just like he expected, at level 2, it provided him with no new skills or spells, but with 2 extra stat points that were auto-assigned into physical attack and magic attack.

And, for the other 5, he assigned 2 in special, 2 in MP and 1 in Agility.

Normally, for the start he would have dumped everything in the agility stat but seeing that he is playing more casually, he decided that his stats should reflect that as well.

As soon as he did, he felt a sudden rush of energy envelop his body that felt similar to how it was before only now it was hitting him in places he never even thought were there.

He felt his body become lighter, the armour on him felt slightly lighter too and, his muscles tensed up, like a key unlocking some sort of hidden potential within him.

He began jumping and running around feeling himself before he stopped once more when he became tired, cursing the devs for removing the infinite sprint glitch.

Before he even knew it, he was face to face with the village walls that were much taller than he expected seeing them from far, reaching over 4 metres in height.

There, at the gates were two armed guards with metal spears in hand, standing lazily around doing nothing with almost completely lifeless eyes just like pretty much every guard NPC in every game.

The gates themselves were wide open, almost like they were inviting him in, so he decided he might as well answer that call.

"Do you think these new refugees are gonna ruin the upcoming holy festival? Why did they have to come now of all times? This is a once-in-a-half-century type of thing. What if they find out?"

"Don't worry Linis, they are one of us... They will join us in the festival..."

"Really!? I had no idea Nuxvar were also followers of Kree!"

"Hmmm? Who the hell is that guy?"

"I don't know... Just tell him to fuck off or prove who he is,"

"HEY! Stranger! Back away from the gate—"

'Forced event or cutscene with the guards right before entry to a town or city, the classic! Should have expected this. Some things never change don't they?'

With a smile on his face, he raised his hands in the air and slowly approached the gate where the 2 guards stood.

"Fear not guards! I have come in peace! I've simp—"

"MONSTER! IT'S A MONSTER!"

*Guack*

...

"What the fuck…*

...

*Guack*

...

Suddenly, his vision grew hazy, throwing up buckets of blood on the ground with a sickening pain thrust through his stomach. When He looked down, he noticed a wooden stick aimed at where all the pain was, making him tightly hold it as a desperate attempt to stay standing…

"Blood… This was never supposed to be in the game… Pain… That wasn't supposed to be a thing either… *Cough* *Cough*"

"M-MONSTER!"

That dreaded yell rang in his ears once again, the pain piercing his stomach only increasing even more.

*Cough*

"A-a-a-m I gonna die… Am I really gonna die… Th-this can't be happening… What is this? The devs w-would never, ever do this… *Cough*"

Before he even knew it, tears began welling up in his eyes, rolling down his face like a waterfall which made his vision even worse than before.

For a moment he focused on the pain, honing in on every sensation. Where it came from, how badly it hurt and how badly he wanted it to stop.

When he looked up, he managed to notice the hazy figure of that middle-aged guard and the fearful look in his eyes like he had seen a ghost.

The grip on the spear thrust through his body became weaker, that along with his legs that could barely even stand, sinking ever so slowly towards the cold ground below.

His vision grew ever darker and more nauseous as the entire world felt unrecognizable to him and all that was left of him was the unbearable pain and the voices in his head…

Everything felt too unreal… It couldn't be real… Was he dying? Was he dreaming?

His life flashed right before his eyes along with all his regrets and aspirations for the future as tears of pure agony began to slowly trickle down his cold face.

His thoughts lingered until they could not linger anymore… he wanted it all to end… He desired relief no matter what form it came in…

And finally… his wish came true as everything went slowly and painfully blank… The sight of the bright, full moon and the scared guard the last things that he saw...

***********

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