Chapter 16 - Episode 16: No Man's Land.
Chapter 16 – Episode 16: No Man’s Land.
I woke up in the morning and I smelled something good downstairs and turned out Emma was cooking breakfast for both of us. She greeted me and we both ate our breakfast while enjoying the morning weather. Then Emma ordered a delivery service to pick up her game device. We both went to her apartment and waited for them to come. Once they came, we immediately showed them the device and we all went back to my house. After that, we cleaned and tidied up her belongings that were scattered around the house. It took us hours to finished cleaning the house.
We both are resting on the couch. Emma is lying down on the couch facing the backrest of the couch. I look at the time and it's already 2 p.m. We haven't had lunch yet. I look at Emma. .
"We haven't had lunch. Do you want Chinese food or Japanese food?"
Emma turned around and looks at me.
"I want something greasy! Chinese food sounds delicious right now."
I chuckle and grab my phone on the table and order Chinese food. Emma is staring at nothing while scratching the corner of the pillow.
"You're not working today, Trev?"
I look at her.
"I am, it's just lately there are barely any customers. So, those drivers who haven't met the quota for this month will take all the customers. So it's a good thing for me."
Emma is peeling her lips.
"That sounds nice. So, you're practically free today, right?"
I nod.
"Yeah. I'm free until the end of the month if there are no customers."
Emma looks at me and raises her eyebrows.
"Let's play then!"
I shrug.
"Yeah, sure. Let's continue where we left off. But we need food!"
Emma chuckles and hugging the pillow happily.
The food came and we immediately chowed down the food like we haven't eaten for a whole day. After we are done, we both went to the empty room that should be the third bedroom in this house, but we used it to put our devices here so we can play together. We laid down on the devices and logged in to the game.
"Ah… this feels like reality to me compared to real life."
Emma is stretching her arms and legs. I look around and it seems that nobody is here anymore. I'm pointing at the distance in front of us.
"We should go that way. We need to get to the No Man's Land as soon as possible so we can do weapon mastery tutorial."
Emma nods and I lead the way into the forest.
A woman's eyes were staring at us from afar. She closed her eyes and left.
We have reached the No Man's Land. A cliff surrounding the areas where we are standing. A small pathway in between the cliff that will lead us to the No Man's Land. It took us two days longer than we should, but it was worth it because Emma's level increased by 17 and I got 6 levels.
Emma is looking around.
"It feels like we are in a different country. I mean, within a few miles the terrains changed drastically. The monster's level is also way higher compared to the other one we fought. Are we really supposed to be here as a new player?"
I shrug.
"No, this area is for level 90 players and above to increase their levels. That's why you leveled up 17 levels. We will stay here for as long as we can since it's the fastest way to level up our levels."
Emma is following me from behind while humming with understanding.
"By the way, I haven't asked you about your weapons choices. It seems that you're too good for a new player. Do you know how to use those weapons in real life?"
I smile and shake my head.
"It's because a friend teaches me how to use them."
I remembered when Becker teach me how to use these chained sickles. A weapon that has so many advantages compared to the other weapons. It was hard at the beginning and I died so many times because these sickles hit my own body. But once I mastered it, no matter how far or close they are from me, they can't do anything. I can hit from every angle, any position, and any situation.
"A friend? Where is he now?"
I shake my head.
"He stopped playing a while ago. So I'm on my own."
Emma is humming with understanding without asking a further question.
We reached the end of the pathways. A vast green land with breezy winds hitting our faces. Emma leaped forward to see the beautiful scenery. A waterfall not far away from us and there's a long river at the bottom that leads to the lake up ahead. This place is no doubt is one of my favorite places in the game.
"Oh… my… God… this is so beautiful."
Emma is looking around with her mouth and eyes wides open. I chuckle.
"Do you like it? Let's go to the small town over there. We can get the weapon mastery tutorial there."
Emma approaches me and grabs my shoulder.
"Hell yeah, I do! This is amazing! Let's go, I can't wait to see more of this place."
We are walking along the river that leads to the small town. So many livestock are walking around and eating the grass. She really enjoys this place like a kid who went to the playground for the first time. An NPC approaches us, he's wearing a straw hat.
"Good afternoon, adventurers. It is so rare to see new faces around here. Where do you guys come from?"
Emma immediately approaches me and stands beside me. I nod.
"Good afternoon. We came from Sarkh Village and we are planning to stay here for a month or so."
The NPC then lifts his hand for a handshake. I greet him and then Emma as well. He lifts then removes the straw hats.
"My name is Podrel. Everyone in town called me Poe, and you guys can also call me that. Please follow me, I will guide you to our small town, Fjel."
Emma nods excitedly.
"Nice to meet you, Mister Poe. My name is Ruscheller and he is Trevor."
I look at her and she's grinning happily. I know that Emma has a childish personality, but this is the first time for me to see it with my own eyes. I bet all of his friends will be shocked to death when they know that Emma works as a stripper.
We followed Poe to the town. As I expected, there are no players in this town. So Emma and I are the first players to step our foot in this town. If that's the case, I should use this opportunity to take all the hidden quests in this town. Three hidden NPCs will give us their "dreams".
The first NPC is a former King from the Alliance Kingdoms that faked his own death and left his kingdom on his own. His name is Rodwane the third. To trigger his "dream" is by giving the blank old scroll that Gervase gave me.
The second NPC is a most wanted spy from Eluna Empire, his name is Jariel. He was betrayed by the emperor since he has so much information about the enemies and the empire that it's too dangerous for him to be alive. Fortunately, he managed to run away and found this place to live. To trigger his "dream" is by giving him Avriel's recommendation letter. Her letter can be used for two quests. First for the Mask of Moon (MoM) Brotherhood and the second one is for this. Emma didn't have the letter, but as long as she's in the same party as mine, she will also get the quest.
The third and the last NPC is the legendary sage that brought chaos to the three sovereignty. The villain of the three sovereignty and the hero of the people. His name is Krestan. He's the hardest NPC to trigger his "dream" and once it gets triggered, the quest is also unbelievably hard to complete. The requirement to trigger his dream is to have at least 100 points on all stats. Right now, my other stats other than LUK are still 80. I need to get more status points since I don't think it's enough for me to be lucky with my current extra status points.
Poe is done with guiding us around the town and he immediately left to continue with his work. Emma is eating a snack from the market.
"Are we going to get the weapon mastery tutorial now?"
I'm pointing at a small house in front of us. Emma is tilting her head.
"He's in this house?"
I shake my head.
"No, he's outside the town in that direction. Are you ready to go now? Or are you still want to enjoy your snacks?"
Emma immediately swallows the food in her mouth and puts her snacks in her inventory. She wipes her hands on her pants.
"I'm ready! Let's go."