by I. Felix
“I explored around and found the Novice Master, who gave me that, a bunch of potions, and my first quest.”
“What?! Take me there!” Blake exclaimed.
He was feeling dizzy and airy, just like if he was inside a dream.
The game had much more players than both of them had ever imagined.
The majority of the players in that castle were novices, just like themselves.
Arche took him to the Master, an NPC near the wall, who was talking to some novices already.
“What are you doing here, boy?” the NPC asked Arche when they got closer. The guy had a big belly, wore typical medieval blue clothes, and had short blond hair. “I told you your mission already!”
“My friend here is also a Novice,” Arche said. The NPC looked at Blake, who smiled like he was doing something wrong.
“Here’s your Novice Pack, new adventurer,” Master said and gave Blake a package. When Blake touched it, the brown package disappeared, and a notification showed up in front of his eyes. “1x Novice Pack”. Blake opened his inventory, and there it was: an apprentice tunic, also brown, that he could use on top of his current shirt. A simple sword, two hundred red potions, and an item called Bird Wing.
“Wow, thanks!” Blake exclaimed. The NPC smiled.
“Now you and your friend go to the Pureng Island. Hurry, I have a lot of novices to help, and I can’t waste no more time with you,” he said, and a notification box popped up in his vision. Even though there were many players there, he seemed to be able to talk to each one individually, just like in a real game.
“New Quest: Finish the Pureng Island path, killing all the monsters in the way and return to the Master.”
“Here,” Arche said and touched his shoulder again. Another box popped up in front of his vision.
“Arche Bled is inviting you to his party. Do you accept it? Yes/No.”
“Yes,” Blake said, and the notification disappeared with a green light.
“You’re now part of the party. Shared XP, shared loot.”
“Who told you I want to share my loot with you?” Blake said, smirking, and Arche rolled his eyes. “And how do you know how to organize a party?”
“I read the tutorial. You should do it too,” Arche said. Blake nodded.
They headed to the front door and crossed it. The castle was made of stone in an antique, medieval kind of architecture.
The weather outside was perfect, and there was a small bridge after the castle. They were near the ocean.
They crossed the bridge, and Blake felt so happy he wanted to jump inside the water. He even bent over the ropes, but Arche held him.
“Don’t even think about that. I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of monsters there.”
“Come on! What do we have to lose?”
“Not now, Blake,” Arche said, and they finished crossing the bridge. There were a lot of ships floating in the distance.
After the bridge, they could see the city with its stores and people walking around.
“Where are we?” Blake asked.
“There’s also a map on the symbols part,” Arche said. Blake looked there and thought about opening a map.
His vision was blocked by a giant map that showed the world, all divided by small squares. They were on an island called Ozladi. One of the squares was illuminated, right beside the one that showed where they were. Blake closed it again. When he closed it, a minimap appeared on the right corner, right below the symbols.
They crossed the city, now inundated by stronger players, all with different clothes, equipment, and even cool mounts. Some were sitting on giant birds that looked almost like ostriches, with wider beaks and more colorful feathers. They all looked busy with their own doings, and Blake and Arche kept following to the end of the city. They crossed another bridge, following the minimap.
The bridge at the far end of the city ended in a swirl of light on the ground. They looked at each other, a little unsure, but Arche stepped on it and disappeared. Blake wouldn’t stay behind and followed him.
Everything was white for a second, and they appeared on a different map. They looked to the city where they were and could see it in the distance, but they would have to step on the swirl of light again if they wanted to go back to the city.
Now they were in a forest-like setting. They could see the name of the map below the minimap. “Ozladi Surroundings 1”.
Even though it could be dangerous, it looked calm and peaceful. They could still see the ocean, but they were definitely getting away from it, heading to a giant lawn with woodland.
“It’s here,” Arche said and pointed to the ground. There was a line indicating the way. “I activated it on the map. It will lead us to our quest.”
“Nice!” Blake exclaimed. He wasn’t one to love hardship.
They followed the line through the lawn and started spotting the first monsters. Pink goo balls, jumping around. Some green slugs, the size of a puppy, with some thorns on its back. Fluffy white balls that looked like small bunnies. Nothing that seemed too threatening.
“Let’s kill something?” Blake asked. Arche shook his head.
“Let’s focus on our mission,” he said and, before Blake could complain, they saw an NPC near a big tree. The NPC had a ring of light glowing around her, the same yellow color of the line that led them there.
“You’re here!” the NPC said when they got closer.
It was a woman with one long pink dress, a white apron on top of it, blue eyes, and a sweet smile.
They could see her name above her, Elisa. “Master sent me the notification that you would enter the Pureng Island. It’s a type of map called Instance. I’ll generate the map for your party only. No one else will be able to enter. The map is made for you to level up enough to choose your first class. You’ll only be able to leave the map once the path is cleared. Did you understand?”
“Yeah,” Blake said. Arche frowned.
“What if we aren’t able to clear the path?” Arche asked, but the NPC didn’t answer, like if she wasn’t programmed to do so.
“Are you ready to enter the Pureng Island Instance?”
“You bet!” Blake exclaimed. Arche looked at him suspiciously, but he had no time to say anything. The NPC transported them. Everything went white, and, again, when it came back to normal, they were on a different map.
Chapter 3 – Pureng Island
The place was totally different than anything they had seen so far in the game, even though it was still a big island. They could see the ocean around it and a ship behind them, even though the ship didn’t seem like it could be entered or commanded. The island was all yellow and everything around looked like it was owned by…
“Cats?” Blake exclaimed. There were giant yarn balls, the size of small cars, paw marks on the ground, trees that looked like a cat’s dream for it was made of the same material that made scratching posts. It was all colorful and unreal.
“What the hell,” Arche said, getting near the yarn balls. It was fluffy like yarn but it couldn’t be moved, it was too heavy.
“Hey, I think those are the monsters,” Blake said and pointed to some fluffy balls that were around.
They were the size of a tire, completely round like balls, covered in black fur, with two little red eyes.
“Well, I guess those are the Purengs. They kinda look like cats, I don’t know, maybe this was the developer’s idea of cats.”
“They are so cute, though! How will I kill them…?!” Blake started saying when the first pureng noticed him.
They could be small and fluffy but they were aggressive little things. The pureng jumped on Blake’s chest and he fell down, like if he had been hit by a punch. He saw his HP bar decreasing and getting to 78%. Then, the pureng opened his mouth and it had over fifty pointy teeth inside. Blake screamed and closed his eyes, ready for the piercing pain. However, Arche kicked the monster before it could hit Blake. A number 3 appeared on top of its head before disappearing.<
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“I think it got a 3 damage, come on!” Arche said, disappointed, giving Blake his hand to help him get up. In the next five seconds, they both were holding the swords ready to kill the fluffy things.
The pureng came back to bite them and, at the same time, they hit it with the sword. The number 36 appeared on top of its head, followed by the number 44. They could now see a yellow bar on top of the pureng that showed the rest of its health. It showed 17/100 left.
Blake and Arche hit the thing again and a 100% appeared on top of its head before it exploded.
They looked at each other. There was a small shiny stone as a loot and a string of yarn. The body started to disappear right after they killed it, and each of them received 2% XP. Blake got the stone before Arche could reach it. Arche straightened his eyes to his friend, that looked delighted.
“1x Jillup” box appeared on top of his head.
“What does this do?” Blake asked.
“I would know how to look for the information if I got it instead of you,” Arche said, kidding. Blake pushed him with his shoulder. “Think about seeing the item information.”
Blake did. A box appeared in front of his eyes.
“Jillup. A cute stone. It’s very shiny but very cheap and it’s mostly useless.”
Blake rolled his eyes and handed the jillup to Arche, who chuckled and threw it on the ground.
“Let’s kill some monsters,” Blake said. Arche nodded.
There were many different colors of purengs. Pink, yellow, red. All of them were equally as savage as the black ones, attacking after the first look. Blake and Arche had killed ten of it, getting better each time, before it got really hard. Three of them attacked at the same. Blake jumped in front of Arche to protect him. However, this meant he was bit instead. His HP dropped to 23%.
“The red potions! Fast!” Arche said.
“How do I use it?!” Blake screamed while he stroked the sword on the head of one pureng, that died and exploded, leaving some jillups behind.
“Think about it, think about it,” Arche said. Blake did as told and the notifications started popping like crazy on top of his head, luckily not blocking his vision.
“1x Red Potion used.”
“1x Red Potion used.”
“1x Red Potion used.”
“1x Red Potion used.”
“Good thing that I have so many!” Blake screamed, swinging his sword again to hit the pureng, that dodged it and hit him with a headbutt. His HP was 89% but it decreased to 22% again. “Those little bastards!” he screamed while Arche struggled to kill the rest of them.
They were able to do it and, when they did, they sat down, exhausted, behind some of the giant yarn balls, close to the ocean. They couldn’t be seen there and there were no monsters around them, so they would be safe for now.
“This won’t be easy,” Arche said.
“Do we have stamina in this game?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t see any indicative but I’m hell tired. I think we’re used to behaving like humans, that’s why,” he said. Blake nodded, laying down, and closing his eyes.
“Man, we killed so many purengs and didn’t get any level yet. I guess the rate of this game is pretty tough,” Blake said.
“That’s why I was thinking that we should have explored more before entering here,” Arche said.
Blake looked at Arche in disbelief.
“Are you kidding me?! I asked you to kill some monsters and you said we needed to finish the quest first.”
“I know, I know… but that’s not what I’m talking about. Open the info and look for homunculus.”
Blake did as Arche said. An information box appeared in front of his vision, blocking everything for a while. “Protect me while I read,” Blake told Arche just to make sure and started reading.
“Homunculus are allied monsters tamed by certain domestication items. They help their humans by attacking and leveling up. Homunculus have their own skills and are human’s best friends inside Sentinel Online. You’ll never be alone again.”
“We need one of those. I’m sure it would be a good help,” Arche said. “But the NPC said that we couldn’t leave till we cleaned the place.”
“Maybe if we… died.”
“What are you talking about? We don’t know the consequences of dying,” Arche said.
“Well, I think I’ve died already in the tutorial. I jumped off the island’s edge.”
“What! Why?!” Arche asked, chuckling. “That’s why it took you so long to show up. I even thought we would show up in different spots. I was about to start the adventure without you.”
“Wow, really? It didn’t feel like that long at all. It felt just like some seconds, just like when you step on the swirling portal and change maps.”
“I don’t know about that, all I know is that it must have a better way for us to leave.”
“I’ll try the killing myself option. We’ve done it on Earth to come here anyway, haven’t we?”
“I don’t know if that can be considered as killing ourselves. After all, our bodies are being taken care of, I hope,” Arche said.
“Well, but we don’t know how to leave and go back to Earth. So… technically, this could be death. Who knows. I’ll wait for you outside after I capture my homunculus,” Blake said and got up. Arche also got up, ready to stop him from doing something stupid, but it was too late.
Blake started running down the path, being noticed by all the monsters around. They had almost died when they were facing three monsters, and, now, Blake had attracted over ten creatures, all with pointy teeth and rage.
“AAAAAH!” Blake screamed as the creatures started savaging him with headbutts, strokes, and teeth. He fell down and all Arche could do was watch from a distance, there was no hope for his friend anymore. Arche could see Blake’s HP bar decreasing faster than a rocket and he died in a few seconds.
Blake’s body disappeared just like the monsters’ did. It faded slowly till it was no longer there. Arche was left behind to face the wrath of the monsters.
And Blake now was in a familiar place. He looked around and saw the floating robot sphere and the island where he started.
“Is this the tutorial?” Blake asked, getting up. He was feeling pain, just like if he had had a cramp the night before and now was waking up to it. Dying felt painful but he soon passed out.
“Yes. You have died and lost 5% of XP. Take this time to study the game and reflect on your actions. You’ll respawn at your last save point,” the robot announced. Blake frowned.
“So this is like a time out? How long will I be here?” he asked. The robot didn’t say anything else. Blake sighed. He had no idea how long he’d have to wait. He looked around to the trees and the edges of the small island. He followed to its border and sat down, his legs now in the air. So, that time he jumped off he hadn’t really died. He wondered what would happen if he tried it again. However, he thought about Arche.
“Next time,” he thought to himself and opened the information tab. It was the symbol of one parchment roll and opened a guide in front of his eyes with a giant menu, in which he could consult every type of information, from mounts to classes. He chose ‘homunculus’.
He read the part that he knew already and skipped to “how to tame a homunculus.”
“To tame a homunculus, one will need a taming item. This can be acquired through quests or looting. Each type of homunculus requires a different type of taming item. See below the list of the Known Homunculus to consult which item one would need.”
There was a drop-down sheet with many, many monsters. Maybe fifty or more. Blake scrolled to the bottom and, there, he saw that the sheet became gray and unaccessible. “Unknown Area”.
“So, there is some homunculus yet to be discovered,” he thought to himself.
He also noticed that the sheet indicated how difficult it would be to tame each homunculus. Some were giant, bosses that looked extremely menacing, and had a success rate of
1%. “Nop,” Blake thought and scrolled to the very first position. To his absolute terror, the first position was occupied by a pureng. He was traumatized. When he saw those diabolical red eyes and that fuzzy creature, a shiver run down his spine.
“No way,” he thought again, looking at the second position. This time, it looked much more promising. It was a small rabbit with antlers on top of its head. Jackalope. Blake raised his eyebrows, he didn’t know they had those kinds of monsters in the game. The taming item we would need was called “rainbow lettuce” and could be acquired with a farmer near the town of Pruntire. It was the neighboring town from Ozladi.
“So, I have my goal!” Blake exclaimed. He closed the information tab and looked around. He was still on the tutorial island. So, he got up and went to the robot again.
“Can I go back now?” he asked.
“Are you ready to take your test?” the robot asked. Blake frowned.
“What?”
“You need to take a test to make sure you understand why you died and that this won’t happen again.”
“What the hell! Is this school now? I don’t want to take a damn test!” Blake exclaimed, shocked. He would be there forever if he had to take a test.
“The alternative to not taking the test is going through the Purgatory.”
“What the hell is that?!” Blake asked again, now losing his temper. The robot didn’t answer. Blake didn’t know if the robot chose to ignore him or if his AI couldn’t handle random questions. “Okay, whatever. If I were Arche, I’d sure take the test, but I’ll choose the Purgatory.”
“Teleporting you to the Purgatory,” the robot said and everything went white for a second.
Chapter 4 – The Purgatory
When Blake opened his eyes, he immediately shivered. The weather was completely the opposite from what it had been in the places he was so far. It was cloudy there, and it felt like if a storm would start at any moment. Also, there were some dead trees but mainly, just tall dead grass covered the place. He could see some shadows in the distance and he noticed that his heart was beating super fast, his hands were sweating. He could smell dead flowers. Instinctively, he touched his sword.
