Grim's Story

Last thing Grim remembered was sleeping, and a glance at a green grass... wait, grass!? - She opened her eyes, no grass, not that mountain... but not home either. She looked around - beneath her strangely warm stone, around walls, but that's not all... revival place. Cathedral to be precise. The hell? - escaped her lips as she tried to comprehend it. - Fact, that she's in a Cathedral. In a place where all adventurers are revived once they die.

But, that makes no sense, that would mean I'm in game, and... - she paused, stared at hands, covered in gloves that she grinded so hard last few days. And finally equipped yesterday... was it yesterday or...?

Fuck. - A whisper, all while she slowly got up, it's definitely a Cathedral, and it would be best to leave before anyone notices. Gotta remember about the hat - she thought, and grabbed the hat, that fortunately lied just beside her. Then her legs, or rather boots slowly began to touch the ground around the altar (that she lied on, not so long ago) - Wait, did I die? - Crossed her mind. And she froze for a moment, thinking. Probably at the mountain. Would explain why I'm here - She got up. Aimed for the stairs that had the same bright color, like in a game... - So no permanent death, but my memory is all fuzzy. Wish I knew characters had such an unpleasant side effect of dying. Cause now I regret letting myself die so many times... in games. Last few steps taken, now the small ornate bridge, and entrance (that happens to be an exit as well...).

Green, green, green all around... is what she had seen once she walked outside. This place... - she started - city called Akihabara, not even my server...- she sighed, even if few of her friends were somehow in similar predicament. Contacting them may have (just now) become... tougher. A lot.

What is going on here! - One man in full-plate armor yelled - we're in game?! - the others followed. People panicked. - Naturally, she would do the same, but not in a public place like them. Too embarrassing. Focus on important stuff, she thought. Right, first find the mirror, make sure it's true. Then comes the rest.

Time passed, marketplace happened to be the best place - when it comes to a search for mirrors. Once found, she stared into the mirror for a long time. Hat crafted by a friend, white long hair, the same young face with freckled nose, and tatoo covering upper part. Eyes... red. Clothes...clothes, fuck even clothes are the same, the ones that he crafted for me, fuck! Fuck! FUCK! - a shitstorm slowly build inside of her, all while she looked calm, like a river on the outside. She took a deep breath. There was but one difference - ears, pointy ears. I set race to human... ahh, to hell with it. - with that she decided to get drunk, but first to find an inn...

OOC - tavern happens to be near the sea, so bad choice of words. Shitstorm for giggles, and somehow fits the character ^^

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She opened the door to the inn - Hey, careful with the door! - Innkeeper yelled. Sadly she didn't care. Few steps made, a short glance to the right - at players that drowned their sorrows in a mug. Left looked the same, and soon she would join them, kind of - though for a shorter time. A beer, one for now... - she said, once in front of the innkeeper, he looked as if he was still annoyed at the previous... entrance. Alright, one beer comin - said, and soon the beer came. But it tasted like shit, no take it back... at least it would have a taste. This... had no taste. Yeah, definitely short stay, till that mug is empty.

Added twice, no idea why.

While he didn't notice anyone entering the tavern, he noticed one that visibly disliked the beer (given it was tasteless, no surprises there) and seemed ready to bail. Although people would always tend to cope with things by eating or drinking something, it wasn't much of an option here. The food and drinks are both tasteless, so it only made things worse. He had already finished his mug of beer, though he didn't really count how much he had drunk since entering the tavern. He didn't feel drunk, probably due to the body, that he now has, being much more powerful than the average people, in this case than the average People of the Land. He went to the table of the one that caught his interest, and was quite surprised to see that the player was a girl. He then sat down at a seat on the opposite side of her.

"So... What's your story?" he said to her.

The only reason he did this was to pass time, maybe some would say kill time. There was no other way to figure the situation at hand without any information, so he wanted to try & find out about things while also not getting bored.

She didn't check how much time passed since... since the Cathedral, and the start of drinking of that crap. But the mug is now empty, well, almost - just a couple more sips needed to be taken.

Soon I get to leave, and can't even get drunk with it. Eh. - She thought, then someone sat nearby, and...

"So... What's your story?" she heard. Dumb question - the same as everyone else here - was probably a lie, yet she said it.

Why the hell do you even care? - She turned - just the head, just to get to know how the "manly voice guy" looks like. And she couldn't help but smile, though she wanted to laugh. Manly voice combined with muscular body - of course.

"Bullshit. You're certainly not from around here, and you're not exactly high-level either." Josua said to her when he heard her response.

While he could tell a person from a glance, it's not helpful when they're in their avatars. However, from the way she talks, she's not exactly the run-of-the-mill player in Japan, at least not to what he had saw since he migrated his character to the Yamato server a few months ago, the same time as he left for Japan as part of his Study Abroad track in real life.

He then took out an Orange from his bag, and started to peel and eat it. Strangely enough, it had flavor.

Wait... Oranges are ingredients, yet it actually has a proper flavor...? He thought to himself. In his mind, he continued to ponder on the matter: ingredients have the proper flavor, but why not the food or drink? While he's not the first to wonder about this, he's certainly one of the first to learn about it.

"That said, now that you're also here, I wanna hear what have you found out since this all started." he said, while offering her a slice of orange.

"Bullshit. You're certainly not from around here, and you're not exactly high-level either." - she chuckled. So such a petty lie won't work, oh, well... wait. Not exactly high-level?

She looked to the top corner, then winced. Not just the race changed... level as well. And that means possibility of more changes to her char-to her. Best to check the whole screen - she thought, and glanced at him - but not when he's nearby. Or at least not here.

He seemed to take his time thinking. Untill he took out an orange. Peeled it. Eaten. Then he offered a slice.

"That said, now that you're also here, I wanna hear what have you found out since this all started." - He said. Nothing, really. Besides the fact, that we're having a bad day. And that it is no place to talk. But to drink. - Still two sips left, though I wouldn't mind just leaving the beer of nothing unfinished.

So ingredients have flavor, a taste. Alright, let's say... - she thought, then said - Alright, give me one. If it does have a taste. I'll tell you something as well. - One slice, and a bit of knowledge in exchange... shouldn't hurt. Question is - should she tell him about Cathedral, or about a "bug" with her character. Latter is most likely worthless. Due to it "most" likely affecting just her. But who knows the reason behind it (probably some kind of a shitty reason).

"Hmm... I like you. So here~" he said, pausing for a little while giving her a slice of orange, with only about 3 remaining in his hands. "As part of our little deal here. Now that I gave you that slice, now it's your part of the bargain." he continued.

It wasn't as if he had any romantic feelings for her. He always quashed any such feelings since he never really felt one, so any that he felt would be considered as nothing more than just the typical attraction to the opposite sex. He always was more... Positive, towards people that are straight-to-the-point or honest-to-God. As he gave her the slice, she looked as if she was lost in a thought for a moment. He then flicked her forehead, just to get her back to reality.

"Oii... Miss Pointy-Ears... Are you there???" he asked jokingly.

He was amused by her behavior. At least this little "exchange" won't be boring for him. Well, here's one more to add to the list of encounters I've had. He thought as he pulled his hand back.

"Shitty reason" couldn't leave her head, then she felt a light push at the center of a forehead. Really? - she intended to ask, but...

Oii... Miss Pointy-Ears... Are you there???" - he asked, and with it... came an idea of kicking him. Sudden, and (possibly) enjoyable choice. But no.

Right, right, first the taste...- She slowly bit the slice, the familar taste came. It really did have a flavor, without thinking she swallowed it whole. Man... been missing something that has a taste, though somehow it's weak, a bit. - She sighed - Well, I'm not really in the mood of tellin you, but deal is a deal soo... - she opened the console, added him, and wrote a short message.

"Cathedral works, we can revive." - That's all. - Could tell more, but nah. Not yet.

Josua immediately raised one of his eyebrow when he read the message from her that the Cathedral works, and that players will get revived there if they died, thus the Cathedral functions like it would in the game. Then again, who knows what will happen during the death before the players get revived? There's no way that it would be like the game without some risks, so death should best be avoided. He then simply crossed his arms and looked at her with a serious gaze.

"Is there any known side effects of revival in the Cathedral?" he asked her, since there was no other way to confirm his thoughts at the time.

He remembered that death when this was a game means the loss of EXP, but now that the game itself became the new reality, what will be the effects of death now? Will it be just losing EXP, or is there anything else? There was too much "what-if(s)" from this revelation, and not one is good, so he puts most of it on the back of his mind, and decided to ask away.

Oho, so he decided to ask. - she thought, leaned back lightly, and smiled. Well, the loss of exp obviously, besides that... it's rather unpleasant - she said, and there may be more, but if so, she failed to notice it.

Mug empty. - Meant it's time to go, though the question is - where to? Answer to that seemingly simple - somewhere where she can check everything in peace, without anyone peeping above the shoulder. Man... finding that kind of a place in here might be troublesome - she thought, and slowly got up.

"Something unpleasant...?" Josua raised his eyebrow even more when he heard her short information.

That immediately raised some flags inside his heads, and those that matched the initial ideas he had in the back of his mind surfaced as the few possible scenarios in which how death works in this world, but none were pleasant. He then saw her getting up from her chair since apparently she finished her mug of what appeared to be beer.

"I suppose our little chat ends here for the day. See you out there on the field." he said as he too rose from his seat.

"Don't forget to look more carefully on my details. That'll give you some idea why I'm... condescending towards you." he said as he pointed his finger to above his head, where his HP bar is supposed to be, along with his Character Name, Race, Job and Level.

He then went outside and walked towards the place he used to hang out in Akiba when he was idle for the time being, before the Catastrophe: a place on one of the destroyed buildings that players rarely go to. He wanted to get some sleep, but he found that his body doesn't exactly need sleep, although he does need it for his mental, from this new discovery. He sets up a fireplace just a little away from him, enough for lighting the dark and some warmth, while not causing any arson. He then sat down and leaned his back on the wall behind him.

A body that can't get ill, doesn't need sustenance or sleep, and apparently won't stay dead either, huh... He thought as he dozed off to sleep.
This will make some things even worse... he pondered just before he was fully asleep.

He got up as well, and of course he would. But the words : "Don't forget to look more carefully on my details. That'll give you some idea why I'm... condescending towards you." were a true annoyance. - He probably said it because of the difference in levels (difference that shouldn't even exist). And...

Somehow he left first, though she intended to be the first one leaving. Not that it mattered anymore. But there came an idea of following him, idea easily dismissed. For there are more important things, that she needed to take care of. And so she embarked on a search for a silent place, where there's little to no people.

Well...

Search took about fifty minutes, so not bad (though far more tiring than it should be, for some unknown reason). - A small pool of water, with one stone (fine for sitting) is what she found. A tree here and there, and a bit of grass. Then there were buildings five hundred meters from here, or more. She didn't care. What she cared for was... what else had changed? - with that question she opened the menu again...

Equipment, bag, subclass... - she slowly counted - Great. I'm missing a lot of gold. My staff Echo. And my Subclass got changed to... vampanella, what? Oh, there's the... Vampanella is an adventurers subclass, that is equal to a monster... vampire. Soo... I get to be strong at night, but I suck at day, which is now. GREAT. It's not like I had something better - something called Wanderer.

She sighed. It had to change with a change of a server, but how did the server change? No clue, no clue at all.

Another day.

Not as boring as she imagined, especially due to what happened during the previous night.

Besides that... it seems that skill usage is still limited in the city. But once one is outside, that's a different story - and it seems that in this "world" there is more to the skills, than it was in the game. In a game sorcerer class had a limitation (that being spells). Here it is possible to conjure for example fire at will (class limited? Who knows.). But if you want to use it as a spell, then you need a specific spell in mind - like a fireball. Question is... can you conjure things that weren't possible in the game? Short answer - maybe. Best left for another time.

Still...

What does this knowledge give me at the moment? Probably not much, but it does tell something, well it proved something yesterday. - One doesn't need the commands console to use spells. Instead... it's a matter of going with the flow. Useful.

On the other hand vampanella is rather troublesome, and hp change is the least of problems with it. And... have I been sitting on this rock all this time? (Apart from a small portion of the night) Advantage of the subclass? Or just a normal thing that I'm not getting tired at all? Maybe...

She opened the console, and began writing yet another message to Josua.

Hey, did you by chance (if you were doing something) get tired yesterday? Or something? - Man, that's obvious, she thought, not that I can help it. She sighed, and clicked "Send".

OOC - He chuckled, since it was obvious she didn't realize that it was almost obvious that she was about to leave yesterday < Wait, is that... a tongue twister? YAY! ^^

Not tired. Not tired at all during the night. Tired during the day, and sleepy - a bit. More problems with vampanella? It seems so, but previously it was... less troublesome. Maybe because she spent less time in the sunlight - yes, definitely that, cause right now she's been walking for a good hour or two (maybe more) around the town, while yesterday... well, yesterday looked different.

There were... few adventurers left inside the city. Well, at least inside this part of the city, where you can buy low grade equipment and food from the vendors standing behind the stand, with sheet (of poor quality, old even) over it. Geez, this place looks like a forgotten traders valley or something, she thought, anyway I wonder when will the guy from yesterday write back. But first food.

Food (as everyone already knew) had no taste, but there were people of the land, that sold apples, and other small things, that could be eaten, and that had taste. - She bought three apples, and an orange just before the familiar sound of notification echoed throught the place. Though probably she's the only one who heard it. Menu opened once more, messages browsed while taking a bite out of an apple, and...

"I noticed that you were ready to leave yesterday, and you didn't seem to be the kind of person to stay in such establishment if their service is not of satisfaction to you. So, I decided that it would be best to not keep you there any longer than you want to, and ended our little conversation." - Yeah, right, you surely didn't rise up in a hurried manner, the moment you saw me getting up, she thought, and winced. Ah, well, whatever. Might as well go there - it's not like I'm busy, or in a state to go outside.

To the guild center, she thought, and wrote a short message - Alright, see ya there I guess.

Guild center, Guild center - well Guild Meeting Hall to be precise. One of the biggest buildings in Akihabara (as it seems), and the only place with the guild bank. - Come to think of it... it would be a disaster if this place stopped working, she thought, and looked around in search of a friend. Though so far... all she saw happened to be red/purple walls and few adventurers on their merry way out (of the building), or to the guild bank. - Merry as much as it can be, considering the circumstances.

I ought to check the... oh, wait, wrong game, she thought. - And in overall she joined guild only once, in one old game called Guild Wars. Not for long. But always something. Some... kind of an experience...

Where the hell is he anyway? I've looked everyw- wait, there he is... - she took a deep breath - Hey! Josua!

Josua got snapped back to reality from his musing when he heard someone calling for him. Rather, it was shouting than just calling him. He then turned his head and saw Grim at a distance. It was more and more obvious that she's not from the Yamato Server, since she didn't seem to have any sense of direction around here, and the fact that she shouted for him made it even clearer. He simply waved his hand at Grim, who finally saw him waving his hand at her.

This girl... He thought as he facepalmed inside his mind.

OOC: Short, because this is all that I could think of at the moment.

He's waving. After all this... he's waving. Why is this server, no, this GMH such an annoying place. Why is it so hard to find somebody? - She sighed. Within few seconds, she stood in front of him.

Hey - the shortest thing she could ever say, again. A pity "Where the hell have you been?" or "It's tough to find someone here..." was never said. At least people are not... staring, opposite to what one would see on the other server after someone's yelling.

OOC- Kay, I'm not surprised, sorry again ^^

Again, Grim wasn't the kind of person to speak much words. Oh God, she's an introvert, but even more so than me... Josua thought as he gestured her to sit down on the chair at the opposite side of him. While he's an introvert, he at least would have a conversation with the other party that wishes to have one with him. Both of them sat down as he prepared to say what was on his mind, or at least the short version of it.

"Since our last conversation, I managed to conclude several things from your information and the words on the street" he said as he ate an apple slice from the remaining slices that he had.

"I'll just summarize from each stuff that I can tell." he said as he took a breather before he explained.

"First, regarding the Cathedral and probably revival in this world. I fear there's a risk to our revival, but as to the nature of what it is, aside from our EXP, I have no idea. Though, I can infer that no perma-death for our case." he said as he swallowed the apple slice in his mouth and put another one in there.

"Second, the food thing. System-made food and drinks are tasteless, that's confirmed. But, since this is our new reality, wouldn't making it ourselves be possible? That's what I'm thinking for that matter." he continued as he finished the apple slice and ate another one.

"Third, travelling. I'm talking about travelling to other cities. Since transport gates are offline for some reason, our only option is to travel by foot, or with mounts. Fairy rings aren't exactly an option, so we're stuck with those two options." he continued once more and finishing the apple slice.

When he was about to reach for another apple slice, he had already finished what he had on hand. So he reached for a bottled water in his magic bag. He opened the cap and drank from the bottle, easily emptying half of the bottle. He then put the bottle on the table as he was about to ask Grim.

"I hope you won't tell anyone about the second matter. It's still a hypothesis that I'm cooking up in my head right now, though I bet some have already thought about it. My question for you now is: Anything else you've learned since yesterday? And what will you do next?" he asked her.

Grim just kept nodding until he finished talking, well almost. Till he asked about her part. She took a deep breath, thinking it might take a while to explain.

Commenting first, I might have an idea, but not telling. When it comes to second, sure, don't care. But I'd like to say that if your assumption is right, then mine is as well. Though mine got tested at night so... - she paused, took another breath and switched to next one - the third one is wrong. Assuming the second is correct, and the crazy idea of mine being possible.

Finished, she thought it would take much longer. But then again, she explained nothing. Nothing in a simple, clear manner. - And talking longer, was the last thing she wanted, but... - she sighed - I wrote to him after all, curse it.

Curse it. Again.I'll tell you more, I think. At least about the second, that being... it does work, the way you think it works I mean, I think. It surely works with spells. Casting mechanism. And that leads us to your third point... traveling. If casting mechanism allows us to create and use new spells, let's say a mage can open the gate. Though let's be honest, you would need a lot of them.

Short pause again, and a worrying thought came.

You do understand me... right? She asked - worried, just a little, not enough for him to see. But enough to constantly think about how terrible she is at explaini- no talking in general. Ahhhh, why am I so bad at putting my thoughts into words! WHY!? - She thought, or was it rather screaming...

One thing is sure, she barely refrained from covering head with hands, or better burrowing the said head underneath the ground like ostrich (though impossible it would most likely be).

OOC - I think, I overdid her... having trouble talking with people. Because now I'm having trouble writing about her... ^^