Second World

”Verremor? How the heck do you even get to this place?” Jack was shocked. Even he had not made it to another country yet. How did this level 24 guy manage to cross countries all by himself?

”Well, in the library of Larabar, Iʼve learned there is a country ruled by Human race named Themisphere,” Life Runner said. ”Iʼve pointed out that there might be players out in that country who are using a human body instead of orcs. All my friends mocked me for it. So I researched the direction of this Themisphere country and set out to prove my theory. Turn out I am right. Hah! I want to see those as*holesʼ faces when I told them about this.”

”Before that, can you tell me where you are from? I mean, before you go into this game world. Which city are you from in the real life?”

”Sandrock City.”

ʼSandrock City? Thatʼs in a different country,ʼ Jack thought. Was it because he was in a different country in real life so he was transported to a different country in this game world as well?

”What about you? Where are you from, bro?” Life Runner asked.

”Iʼm from Bay City,” Jack answered.

”Bay City? Hey, I got some of my friends in Larabar that said they were from Bay City as well,” Life Runner said.

ʼOh, there goes my theory about different countries,ʼ Jack thought.

He then asked, ”So all the players in Larabar are Orcs? No humans?”

”Bro, donʼt even mention a human player. I havenʼt even seen any human NPC till not long before. The ones you called outlaws.”

”Oh, so thatʼs why you have been observing them.”

”Yes, I thought they could be players at first. But I donʼt dare to get too close to use Inspect on them.”

”Okay, letʼs get to the real important question here. How do you even travel so far until here? Verremor is another country from here…”

”So I am already in Themisphere?” Life Runner cut his sentence.

”Yes, you are in Themisphere already. Donʼt you know where you are going?”

”I only know the general direction. I cannot get a map to aid in my travel.”

”Okay, back to my question. How do you make it so far here? I mean, you are still freakinʼ level 24. I canʼt believe you can travel so far surviving the monsters. How do you fight them with your level?”

”I donʼt fight them. I hide,” Life Runner replied.

”Wow, you must be a master thief in real life to be able to sneak your way through the monster-infested wilderness,” Jack commented.

”I think he means he uses Hide skill,” Peniel said, then to Life Runner she asked, ”Do you have Hide skill?”

”Yes, I have,” Life Runner replied, then to Jack he said, ”Thatʼs a pretty cool pet you got, bro. It can even talk. How did you get one?”

Peniel flew to beside Life Runner and then pulled his ear, ”I am not a pet…!”

”Ouw! Ouw! That hurts…!”

”Hehe, you better apologize,” Jack said to him, while in his mind he talked to Peniel with a playful tone, ʼprobably itʼs better if you go back to hiding in your hidden dimension if you donʼt want people to keep on calling you as my pet.ʼ

”So, what does this Hide skill do?” Jack asked Peniel.

”It is as its name implied, It hides your presence. Sort of like an invisibility spell. But there is one major flaw in this skill. If any other presence, either players, natives, or monsters comes close enough, the skill will be canceled. Then his existence will be revealed.”

”What distance is close enough?”

”Five meters radius from the skill user if the skill is level 1.”

”Ah, I see. Five meters radius is a large area. This skill wonʼt be useful for infiltration or ambushing, but to travel undetected through the wilderness is still possible. All he has to do is pay attention to not let any monster approach.”

”Yes, this skill has no duration or cooldown, but it canʼt be used during combat. If you perform an attack or a skill, or are hit by a stray ranged attack, the skill will be canceled as well. You have to break out of combat to be able to activate the skill again.”

”So it is mainly for traveling skill. No wonder you can survive the trip,” Jack said to Life Runner.

Peniel added, ”This Hide skill is very rare though, you are very lucky to have gotten it.”

”But still, even with this skill. Venturing out all on your own into the unknown in a foreign world. Dude, that takes a lot of balls! You have my admiration,” Jack commented.

”You give me too much compliment, I have always enjoyed traveling,” Life Runner said. ”Iʼm an avid adventurer as well in real life. I always like to visit new places, seeing new things. I play games once in a while though, so I am not that flustered when we suddenly get thrown into this world.”

ʼHey, why does this sound like someone he knows?ʼ Jack thought. And then remembered, Sunset Walking, no, it was Sunrise Gazing now, who also had this kind of hobby or so he claimed.

”So, now that you found a human player. What are you going to do next? Are you going to return to Larabar?”

Life Runner shrugged. ”Honestly, I donʼt know. I was just trying to find out if there are truly human players out here. It is really frustrating, you know? Getting thrown into a strange world and finding out you have been transformed into this… this grotesque form! I thought that perhaps finding a human player might give me a clue on how to turn back into a human.”

”Uh…” Jack scratched his head. It was indeed very unfortunate if one was given an Orc race. When all this started, there was an option to choose class, but not for race. They were sort of getting thrown into a predetermined race. If he had not met Life Runner here, he wouldnʼt be aware that there were players of other races. Now he felt very fortunate to have been able to keep his human appearance. ʼWait!ʼ He suddenly thought of something. If there was an Orc player, then the other countries…

He talked to Peniel using his mind, ʼPeniel, does this mean that other races, the dwarves, the elves, and the others also have their own outworlders?”

ʼYes, it should be so. The prophecy told that outworlders come to this world through all seven main races,ʼ Peniel answered.

He then asked Life Runner, ”Do you gained a skill when you gained one month of age?”

Life Runner nodded.

”Whatʼs the skill description?” Jack asked.

”The skill is called Toughness, currently at rank 1. It added 100 to HP, 30 to my Stamina, 3 to Strength, 2 to Reflex.”

”Rank 1, not rank 2? You are not yet two months of age?”

”I am six days left before I turn two months.”

Why was it different timing? But as for the age skill. It was as he suspected. The age skill was different for each race. The Human one gave a uniform 1 point to every attribute at Rank 1. Orcʼs one heavily promoted strength stat.

”Do you know a way for me to change into the human race?” Life Runner asked Jack.

Instead of answering, Jack turned to Peniel, who answered, ”A race is not something you can change. Even if you choose to die and be reborn, you will still be of the same race.”

”Sorry,” Jack expressed his condolences.

Life Runnerʼs shoulders drooped as his face showed disappointment. After a while, he asked weakly, ”how do you come into this world anyway?”

Jack gave a short version of his story. The two of them compared their stories and found out they were largely the same. They have to go through Tutorial Period first where a certain number of players reached level 10 before an announcement was made to gather them together. Life Runnerʼs tutorial period lasted longer than Jackʼs. Thatʼs when Jack realize why Life Runnerʼs age was shorter. Because his tutorial period was longer, he entered this world at a later time. Thatʼs why Jack had turned two months old yesterday while Life Runner needed another six days.

”Well, then. Since there is nothing that can be done for this race thing…” Life Runner said dejectedly as he took out a Town Return scroll.

”Wait, wait!” Jack stopped him before he used the scroll. Life Runner looked at him puzzlingly.

”Before you go, how about doing me a favor?” Jack said with a grin.

😉