Shishirou stopped just before the boss brought its enormous hands down. The flying bodies of players were a sight to see, if it wasn't such a critical situation, maybe she'd be betting with her friends who goes the farthest. She shook her head, knowing that it was no time to be thinking about things like that. She saw Alex running around with the Boss's weapon, and hitting it with it. Oh, the irony. Well, she had to do her part too. She ran at the boss with all she had. She saw how it killed another player with a simple-minded, yet powerful fist to the... well, to the everything. A flame stood there, and Shishirou passed by it, her katana ready to slash at the boss. But she couldn't have expected the second attack of the boss, sweeping its arm on an arc. She was about to be caught up on it, but out of instinct, she decided to hold to the boss' arm. "Someone! Make it! Stop!" Shishirou felt sick, being swung around like that. It had been a bad idea, but at least she wasn't a flame by now. At times like this, she wondered why did she go for a speed build instead for a raw strength and defense one, like that, she wouldn't have been able to climb unto this guy's arm. It finally stopped after a while and Shishirou let go of it, falling to the ground on all fours. She was about to vomit, she felt like it. Luckily, the game didn't support that kind of feature. It'd be embarrassing if it did. She finally recovered and looked at the boss with desdain. Now it was personal. "You... you just aimed to kill me, right? So, that means you were trying to kill me... RIGHT!? Then.... whatever I do next is what you deserve... RIGHT!?" She ran at the boss like crazy. After that quote, she just had to kill the boss, or at least make sure someone form her party did. While the boss charged up its dark magic attack, Shishirou ran right next to its back and started slashing and dicing it as if there wasn't going to be a tomorrow. If it was a real katana, it probably would have already lost its edge. "Shineee! Shine, shine, shine, shine, shine, shine!" She shouted as her katana moved around. She put her katana over her shoulder again and charged the same attack from before, but this time, she tried to make the knaji for 'die' with the trail of flames. Unluckily, her sword skill turned off before she could finish. "Ah, I screwed up. Well, whatever. Fire is always good against zombies anyhow!..... Unless they catch on fire and start running after you. I hope this guy doesn't do that." She said, resting a bit and swiping the sweat off her forehead. The aggro of it was focused on someone else, so she could, at the very least, take a little rest. Until the boss started shouting. "W-What?" She covered her ears, but she still noticed the glitch sound. Wait, was all of those things from before just a glitch? Really? That was just... infuriating! Before, the boss seemed... intelligent, somehow, but now it went back to being just an AI swinging around against the player with the most aggro. Shishirou tilted her head at that fact, maybe it was in its programming? No, no, no time to think about those kinds of details. Right now, she needs to focus on the boss right before her, or she'll end up like the Spriggan in her team. She jumped back, and scanned the area. Her arm was still feeling numb from her attacks from before, or at least, it felt like it was. She looked at her team and saw Arina still shooting arrows at the boss. "Ah." she had seemingly remembered something. She put her hands around her mouth and started shouting at Arina. "Aim at its knees, Arina-chan! He won't be able to adventure anymore after that!" She said with a grin on her face, before turning around to the boss again. Well... it didn't seem to have any knees, now that looked at it. "Or... just aim to where the knees should be." She returned to action, slashing at the arm that was nearest to her. Maybe she could climb up its arm and land a hit on its head? It was worth a try, at the very least.

Alex was having quite a bit of fun. The huge butcher knife that the boss had used for a weapon was in his hands… For as long as the moderators didn’t find out about it. Alex probably wouldn’t be able to get out of the dungeon with it, but he could have a lot of fun with it for now. Hacking at the boss with it was very slow, but he did several people’s worth of damage with it in one shot, which would normally switch the boss’s aggro to him, but he backed up every shot so that he was safe. But Alex soon realised it wasn’t exactly thrilling to be safe, and it was getting boring. The novelty of picking up the boss’s weapon was wearing off fast. Eh, whatever.Alex said. May as well throw self-preservation out of the window to make it more interesting… Alex was about to charge the monstrous mass of corpses with the intention to deal as much damage as possible, but suddenly, the boss’s behaviour changed. The boss roared, knocking players back. Alex wisely stayed away, but the boss moved to a downed tank and slammed his fist down, killing the player. Alex watched as it killed several other players, stunned. It was showing completely different behaviour than before. The boss glanced at the healers in the back, and Alex sprang into action. It was obvious what the boss would do. He started hacking at it as hard as he could, trying to get its attention, but to no avail. The boss began to charge dark magic in one of its hands. It was ignoring the tanks and the DPS players. “Shit!” Alex cursed. Alex began whacking the boss unceremoniously, desperately trying to switch his attention, but to no avail. The boss continued targeting the healers, uncharacteristic of this particular boss. A dark portal opened close to Alex, in front of the boss’s fist. Alex glanced around, trying to find where it led, and saw another portal in front of the healers. Alex yanked the huge cleaver free of the boss’s unfeeling flesh. He had to do something. As the boss’s fist flew into the portal, Alex met its arm with the cleaver, skewing its trajectory slightly, but without enough force to cut it off. Alex was dragged forward with the force, but stopped just shy of the portal, cleaver embedded in the boss’s arm. For all of Alex’s effort, several people died and 3 healers were taken out of action with a strange debuff. Alex cursed again, dashing away as the boss roared. But Alex heard an odd glitch in his call, as if some part of it was removed. A glitch? Alex thought. No glitch could do this… The boss roared again, and this time, it was normal. Nevertheless, Alex stayed back cautiously. The boss was on very low health, but if they underestimated it, more people would die… Instead of reengaging, Alex dashed towards the downed healers, opening his inventory screen as he went along. He had a random assortment of collected potions, some rare, and there should be at least one of what he needed. Fortunately, Alex had 2 purification potions, and he quickly took one, slinging the butcher knife over his shoulder with one hand and grabbing the potion with the other. He'd gotten some from an event and had just left it in his inventory, putting it down as yet another item he would never use. As he neared the downed healers, he dropped the cleaver and grabbed the head of the nearest one, forcing the drink down their throats. They were quite rare, but Alex wouldn’t miss them. He didn’t need it right now. The liquid drained from the bottle, to Alex’s relief, and the darkness faded from the healer’s eyes. He let go and the healer spluttered, offering his thanks. Alex didn’t hear him as he had moved on to the next healer, forcing him to down the potion in a similar fashion. It was unfortunate that he only had 2, but he had to leave the last to the mercy of the other mages. Alex picked up the cleaver again and ran off to face the boss, stopping just out of range, lowering his cleaver in a ready position, ready to react to the unexpected. The boss had gone back to his previous move set and AI, but Alex watched on. The boss was focusing on the aggroing tanks again, but what was that earlier? It was strange. It wasn’t like the boss AI had glitched, it was more like it had been replaced. In fact, it was something Alex would do himself, if he was in the boss’s position. A game breaking bug? The AI seemed fully developed, as if it was for a different boss altogether. But that dark portal attack… He hadn’t fought the boss before, but he wasn’t sure that the attack which took out their healers was one that the boss had. It was clearly for targeted attacks, which was uncharacteristic of a boss who was slow and stupid. It just didn’t add up. If Alex put the pieces together, he could almost see a malevolent hand behind it. Of course, that would be ridiculous. But Alex couldn’t help thinking. Alex raised hoisted the cleaver over his shoulder and charged at the boss once again. It didn’t matter right now, it looked like the ‘glitch’ had passed. All he could do about it now was beat the boss and make a report about it later. Alex hacked at the boss’s torso, taking another chunk out of its quickly dwindling health, but with less gusto than he had before. Somehow, he was having a lot less fun than he thought he would at this stage. The mounting excitement from nearly defeating the boss, who would get the last hit, what they would get when they defeat it. Alex felt all those feelings, but they were overshadowed by a seemingly ungrounded sense of impending doom. It was like he knew something big would happen soon, and try as he might, Alex couldn’t get it out of his head.

-ignore this-

As the other players began recovering from the monster's sudden magic blast, what Athena saw next was so utterly unusual and peculiar that it made her stop in place. One of the Cait Sith players from her party had started attacking the boss monster's own cleaver weapon, which it had thrown away earlier. This was something that one could never expect to see outside the world of ALfheim Online - a fighter wielding a weapon that completely dwarfed their own size. Judging by the amount of HP that the player was doing entirely by themselves, what the maddeningly odd strategy lacked in elegance, it made up in brute force. As Athena shifted the weight of her sword in preparation to resume her assault on the boss monster, she noticed that it seemed no longer interested in the tanks and DPS players converging upon it. Instead, its gaze seemed fixed upon the healers standing behind them. Why would the monster's AI suddenly shift its attention towards non-combatants? With a sense of urgency, Athena looked to the unsuspecting healers who were in imminent danger of being attacked. "The boss's aggro is shifting towards the healers! Defend them at all costs, without them, we've already lost the battle!" Athena urgently called out to the players around her as she broke into a sudden dash to position herself between the boss and the healers, knowing she had only seconds to act before the tides of the battle suddenly shifted against them. If the healers were forced to defend themselves, they would be no longer able to support the tanks with their healing magic, and without the tanks, the battle was lost. Having reached the running speed required to activate her Sprint skill, Athena surged forward with incredible velocity, already drawing back her sword arm to intercept the boss's incoming attack. However, her sights were so focused on the healers she was trying to protect that she was caught unaware by the boss's sudden sweeping arm attack. With a sickening impact sensation, the massive arm struck her with such force that her vision had melted into a complete blur as she was thrown along with other players who were also caught by the attack. In the real world, being struck with such a force would have meant certain and instant death. As her character's body roughly landed and tumbled upon the stone floor, the HP meter in Athena's upper left corner of vision shot down with alarming speed into the yellow zone, only slowing to a stop as it dipped just past the 40% HP level. For what seemed to be an eternity, Athena lay on the floor, her mind left completely stunned by the unexpected brute-force attack. It was the boss's second attack that sent shuddering shockwaves through the ground that shook Athena out of her stunned state, forcefully reminding her that her character had not yet been killed, although the three Remain Lights that stood floating by her sides warned her that she had narrowly missed an untimely end. By the time she had recovered enough to force herself up to her feet, Athena realized that she was already far too late to prevent the boss's attack on the healers. Despite an unrelenting assault by the tanks and DPS players, the boss monster completely ignored their attacks and was already beginning its attacks on the healers through some kind of dark magic portal. Two of the healers were immediately killed by the monster's initial attack. No... no... no, I'm too late! Athena cried out in horror in her thoughts as she could only stand in shock at the horrific sight, the sword in her hand almost falling out of her grasp as she realized just how imminent their defeat was. She had completely failed in defending the healers, and because of her lack of battle awareness, she had just cost the lives of two healers. The three surviving healers were now disabled from a blindness status ailment. With only three or four surviving healers to support the tanks, the battle had no longer become a battle between two opposing sides - it had now become a slaughter waiting to happen. Glancing once again at the yellow HP bar fixed at 40% in her field of vision, Athena knew that her character was only one or two hits away from certain death, even with her shield to protect her. With no HP potions at her disposal and the surviving healers completely focused on maintaining the tanks' HP levels, she only had one choice left - to defeat the monster at whatever the cost, whatever the outcome. She wasn't going to stand idly by while the monster continued picking off the players one-by-one. Extending her index and middle finger together, Athena called up her character's Inventory menu, swiping through the Equipment interface with hurried speed. A finger tapped on the Rose Shield in her character's shield item slot, then swiped it to the Inventory menu, causing the shield on her left arm to vanish into fragments of light, melting away into nothingness. With her HP at such a low level, a shield wasn't going to protect her any further and she no longer had a use for it. Hastily withdrawing the last Mana Potion she had stored in her potion pouch, Athena gulped down the last of the blue liquid contained within the bottle, restoring her Mana levels to maximum. "It's now or never. We have to end this with one final push, don't let launch another strike. Do it now, attack!" Athena shouted out to everyone within hearing distance of her position, already breaking into a dash directly towards the boss monster, which had not yet focused its attention on her. As she began closing the distance, Athena took in a deep breath, her mind already recalling the incantations that she was about to cast. "Ek heimta kraptr berserkr drengr.." Athena spoke, her voice unusually smooth and calm despite the maddening urgent thoughts rushing through her mind. With those words, the burning flame aura of the Berserk spell returned to envelope her character's body, further empowering her speed as her legs propelled her towards the boss. Immediately after finishing her incantation, Athena prepared to call on her second incantation, drawing her sword arm back in preparation for a powerful thrusting attack, her focused eyes already marking her target. "Ek hemta brenna aldrnari seiðr, hata allr órr andskoti!" With the Words of Power to the Flame Weapon spell spoken, a new aura grew and extended down the length of her longsword, completely enveloping the metal blade with a brightly-glowing magical flame, forcefully blown back by the sheer speed at which she bolted towards the boss. "This... ends... now!" Athena shouted with all the might in her voice, as she lifted up the sword with both hands, combining the speed and momentum of her body with the thrusting action of her sword into one singular attack on the boss, sending the flaming blade of her sword deep into the monster's body, skewering all of the corpses that it passed through. Upon contact with the blade's magical burning flame, the surrounding corpses of immediately burst into a conflagration that spread like wildfire through the rest of its body. In response to the sudden impalement, the boss monster roared out in pain and anguish, sending it into a wild frenzy that shook the entire room with a force resembling a devastating earthquake.

Just as Arina was going to take aim at this boss that seemed to be developing a mind of its own she heard the voice of Shishirou calling out to her. Due to her adrenaline pumping and her mind racing she actually took heed of her words and started to take aim at the many knees of the mass of bodies that was the boss. It wasn't seconds later that the cait sith archer stopped herself and actually lowered her bow in thought. "Why would I aim for the...oooohhh.." She caught the reference. She rubbed her face with her hand as she stifled laughter from what she just heard. She didn't know what to really laugh at. The fact that Shishirou actually said that or because she actually tried to aim for the knees. But anyways, back to causing damage. Arina went back to pelting the boss with as many arrows as she could let fly. The Boss's health was dropping rapidly and he was almost dead. His attack pattern had returned to normal as his AI either recovered...or accepted defeat. It just seemed different now. One of her party members had cured the debuffed healers so now they were back in the fight. Which was a blessing. The combined efforts of the various DPS players and Tanks holding the aggro of the boss inevitably brought his health down to zero. Once his health his that mark the boss threw his arms up in the sky and let out yet another loud bellow before swelling up and bursting into thousands of little crystal shards that quickly faded after a while. It seemed as if there was a collective sigh from the mass of players as many players started to sheath their weapons. Some even took a seat on the ground as they all started to breath heavily. The player base around the dungeon floor was rather quiet, besides the occasional congratulations from another player to another, no one was really talking. The healers were walking around to all the player flames in the battlefield and using their spells to bring them back to life. Arina put her bow on her back and did the same as most players and let her body relax. She heard a small ping and looked in front of her as a menu had popped up informing her that a few of her skills had increased and showed her the amount of experience she earned towards her total level and the amount of money she was awarded, as well as the loot she acquired. Her loot was rather dull looking to many players, but she liked it. She had acquired a bunch of materials or crafting, so she was happy about that. The archer then moved closer to where the boss was as that's where her party members were. The player body started to congregate where the boss was and voices started to fill the area where silence once was. "Hey guys," She started with a smile. She looked between the her various party members. "Good stuff out there! I don't think that-.." "I. Don't. Care. That was not supposed to happen." The tank elite player and the mage elite worked their way through the crowd and that comment caused Arina to stop speaking. "Come on. We killed him, isn't that all that matters?" The tank player stopped. "Did you not see how many players died during that? We almost had to wipe! I don't know about you but I don't stand for wiping. Plus, that Boss was glitched or something!" The mage scoffed at him. "Do you hear yourself right now? Glitched? No way. Who cares! The players that died are back alive now, everything is good." The tank let out a heavy sigh before bringing up his menu. "Maybe for you. But I'm contacting a GM and reporting what happened. I've fought this boss many times and 'that' has never happened..." With that the two players were out of earshot and they were gone. Arina crossed her arms over her chest and looked back to the party members she was around. "Well then.." She did actually agree with that tank player. Something..did seem off about that boss.. But now's not the time for that. Right? "So," Arina started with a small shake of her head to jog her memory. "We did it. What did you guys think about this?"

The young is born from the ashes of its deceased parent. As the boss fell and the healers gained back their ability to heal. The young Spriggan known as Kite was resurrected from his grave. Whether he was to follow the path of a mighty bird who lit it self of fire is yet to be determined. Then again lighting one on fire was no different than intentionally taking a giant cleaver to the chest in an attempt to not fight a battle that he was not meant to be part of. When Kite was brought back from the dead he appeared as if he was lying down to take a nap. With a big yawn the Spriggan stood up and asked. "Did we win?" With a completely clueless look on his face. Then a few of the tanks from his guild who lasted the battle came up to make fun of him because he was one of the first players to go down. With that Kite brushed off the various lucky noobs, as he called them behind their backs. It wasn't that Kite was too proud to be mocked by someone who lived because of how much armor they brought with them bt it did become rather irritating. Then the Spriggan wandered over to some of the stronger players complaining about the boss. It was too strong and everyone died because of a glitch. "Report it to the admins?" Kite asked in a mocking face. "You know you cannot exactly consider yourself a decent player if your going to complain about every hit point you take. Oh yeah and if I were administration I would probably make every boss continuously harder if too many people are able to CK it." Kite stated to the group of complainers. As Kite was finishing that up the leader of his Guild came out of the crowd a and added, "Kite, those are big words for someone who went down easier than most in this battle. In fact I don't think I saw you kill a single monster in this dungeon." The man stated. With that Kite just walked away while whistling. It wasn't going to look pretty if he started a scene about hating his Guild Leader right here. As for the conversation he did sort of give up because he also felt that this dungeon was going to be easy pudding to clear. Those leaders did have a point because Kite could clearly see that boss was glitched from his dead flame. If Kite knew that was possible then he might have stayed in the battle. Besides he hoped that his comments would stick with some players because he wanted a crack at a glitched out boss and kill it while it is glitched. With that thought Kite started to walk towards the exit.

The boss monster flailed about wildly, roaring wildly in pained anguish as the thin sliver of red color from its last HP bar finally disappeared. As the monster struggled with futile efforts, Athena's heels dug into the ground as she forced her flaming sword deeper into the monster's flesh, sealing its fate as it exploded into countless shards of light. Athena was so intent on ending the monster's existence that she still hadn't moved an inch from her sword-thrusting pose, taking several moments for her mind to fully comprehend the monster's death. It's over... it's finally over. Athena thought to herself, not realizing she was breathing heavily until she fully regained her senses. How long had she and the other players been fighting the boss? Half an hour? Several hours? She had been so deeply immersed with the battle that she had lost all sense of the passage of time. Returning her sword to its scabbard, Athena looked around the room, it seemed so much larger than she remembered it to be, now that the boss monster that once occupied it had been eliminated, leaving behind the dungeon raid group. While most of the players were now busy manipulating game menus and checking the loot they had gained from the boss, the healers busied themselves by healing everyone who had suffered HP losses during the battle and reviving those who had fallen. Athena then noticed that a popup window had appeared to her side, notifying her of several character stat increases she had earned from the battle, as well as one single item in the Loot Items window. A single item? Athena's brows furrowed in disappointment. After that intense battle, only a single item was distributed to her? Shaking her head in reluctant acceptance at her reward, Athena moved to tap a finger on the Loot Items window, opening another window to reveal the item that had been awarded to her. The item description window revealed what appeared to be an elegantly-designed silver sword with intricately arranged curving designs along its length. According to the item description, the sword's name was Wraithslayer. Judging by the weapon's name, it was possible that this was a "unique" weapon. However, what was most unusual about the sword was that it appeared to have been forged from a single bar of metal, having no seams or joints along its perfectly-smooth surfaces. The numerical statistics of the weapon weren't overly impressive, although it was slightly better than the sword she already had, but one small detail on the item description window caught her eye. Item Effect: Invisible Weapon? Athena thought to herself in puzzlement as she read the text displayed on the window, at the bottom of the weapon's numerical statistics list. Curious, she tapped on the sword's image in the window, causing the ornate silvery sword to materialize in the air before her. Athena could not help but pause in admiration at the sword's utterly beautiful design. No swordsmith, whether it be in the real world or ALfheim Online, could ever have dreamed to create a weapon as beautiful as the one that was before her. Reaching out with her hand to grasp at the sword's grip, the sword by her side vanished and returned to her character's storage as the system registered her possession of a new weapon. As soon as her hand wrapped around the sword's grip, the sword's blade lightly shimmered, then a wave of distortion washed over the blade from hilt to blade tip, enveloping the weapon with a sheath of the Invisibility effect. Now, the only proof of the sword's existence was the undeniable weight she felt in her grasp. "What a strange effect for a weapon. How on earth can a sword like this be practical in combat?" Athena wondered out loud to herself as she began to slowly move the invisible weapon in her hands, getting a feel of the weapon's weight as she made careful sweeping motions with the sword's blade. The blade was surprisingly light compared to most swords, which made the balance feel rather strange. Without fully comprehending the dimensions and length of a sword's blade, such a weapon was highly impractical to use in actual sword combat. With only the feeling of the sword's weight, it would be highly difficult to achieve precision strikes with the weapon. However, such a weapon would prove highly difficult to defend against, something that could prove useful in the future. Deciding to keep the peculiar sword, Athena carefully sheathed the weapon into her scabbard. Sheathing a sword that she could not see was something she would have to get used to doing. As soon as her hand lifted up from the sword, the weapon's silvery grip and pommel reappeared. At least drawing out the sword wasn't going to be difficult. Athena then closed the opened inventory windows before her with broad sweep of her hand. In the distance, the raid group's lead tank and mage players were in a heated argument about the outcome of the boss battle. "Did you not see how many players died during that? We almost had to wipe! I don't know about you but I don't stand for wiping. Plus, that Boss was glitched or something!" "Do you hear yourself right now? Glitched? No way. Who cares! The players that died are back alive now, everything is good." "Maybe for you. But I'm contacting a GM and reporting what happened. I've fought this boss many times and 'that' has never happened..." "What are you two complaining for? As raid group leaders, you should be more concerned about your failure to lead properly and anticipate unexpected events in a battle situation. You may have fought this boss many times, but that is no excuse to become complacent and lazy as a raid leader. A competent leader should be prepared for whatever happens and accept their own failures." Athena interjected in annoyance and disapproval at the quarreling elite players, turning away from them as she finished speaking. As she turned, she could hear the two players mutter something back in response, but she ignored their words. They were irrelevant, she wasn't ever planning joining another raid group with those two players. "So. We did it. What did you guys think about this?" Asked Arina, one of the Cait Sith players in her party, who seemed somewhat pleased about the loot she had received from the boss battle. "That was one intense battle that could have gone either way, I can't say I've ever faced a boss quite like that. We're very fortunate that the battle turned in our favor today." Athena responded with a sigh of relief, the adrenaline rush from the fierce battle had not yet washed away. "That boss seemed to have a very unusual AI though. I've never encountered any monster that was able to suddenly shift aggro to supporting healers. It was almost as if it was able to break free of its usual programmed patterns and think for itself for a while. I'm sure it's just nothing though. Maybe the game designers added in a bit of behavior randomization to give players a challenge." Athena commented, deciding abruptly to finish her words by brushing off the strange AI behavior as nothing but a designer's bright idea after realizing how absurd her thoughts must have sounded.

(Double post...)

The boss’s cry heralded its death, and the end of the boss fight. Many players cheered, but Alex was left feeling a little empty. He extracted the ridiculously sized cleaver from the rapidly disappearing flesh of the boss’s now deceased form. And that was the problem, whatever he did in the game, it didn’t amount to anything. Destruction ultimately amounted to a whole lot of mess, and while the mess might provide its own cathartic satisfaction, destruction didn’t leave mess in Alfheim online. Therein lay the problem. A window popped up indicating the increase in his straight sword skill, leather armour, acrobatics, sprint and familiar communication skills. An increase he didn’t care about. He flicked the window out of existence and it was immediately replaced by another screen, this time displaying the items he’d received. He’d received two weapons, the boss’s cleaver and a… zombie arm. Yeah… The boss cleaver was quite good. Flesh render was its name. No special abilities, but better than his in every way. It can’t really stab, though. Alex noted. Alex equipped it, and as expected, the giant cleaver in his hands shrunk until it was a little bigger than a normal great sword. However, a warning sign showed up. Damn, I don't have enough strength for it. Alex thought. He put it into his inventory and took a look at the zombie arm. It was called unarmed combat. “Ha ha.” Alex said humourlessly. Of course they would add something like this. A zombie arm called unarmed combat. It was actually quite decent. It was a 1 handed weapon that was affected by your unarmed skill, increasing its damage by using both the unarmed and the one handed mace skills. It could turn into a powerful weapon, assuming it found the right user. So he should probably sell it or something. Alex took it out of his inventory and held it, swinging it around. It was lighter than he was used to, but it moved like a normal hand. Or at least, he thought it did. He wouldn’t really know, he’d never seen a dead body before. He had some fun swinging it around, but put it back in his inventory. Unfortunately for him, the entertainment value of his new zombie arm slowly faded down, and he realised that he was kind of bored. And it would likely only get worse unless he found something he wanted to do. Alex opened up the system and began writing up a report to the game masters. He didn’t really pay attention to the words, because in the end, he was practically nit-picking. That said, it deserved a report. Dear GMs. Today, we fought a boss – the one that was made up of corpses. I forgot its name. He wrote. Alex was easily bored. He didn’t go to school anymore, but he didn’t have any aspirations in life. He lives life to live, because that’s a good thing, but he doesn’t have much fun with it. At some point in time, the boss activated his dark magic, but several veteran players noted that it was earlier than usual. He continued. What made people happy in life? It was something he didn’t really know. His life was good, his family was good. He had likes and dislikes, good relations. But he couldn’t find something to keep him occupied. His attention shifted from thing to thing. Games, books, TV shows. Sometimes he’d stop reading a book halfway through because he knew exactly what would happen. And that was a problem. Then, at another point, the boss’s AI changed. It was similar to sentience. It used a powerful knockback attack followed with a slam to kill several players at once. Then it began targeting the healers. Maybe instead of spending time in VRMMO’s, he should do something productive. Like go to university, or get a job. Become a space pirate. Anything. Anything to relieve the boredom. And preferably something that’ll be seen by his children, and his grandchildren. All of his descendants. Something that would be a testament to his great mediocrity for all to see. Assuming he had children, grandchildren or descendants at all. It was kind of alright in the end, but you should probably look into it. He finished. He thought for a second. Also, I don’t know if it was intentional, but I picked up its cleaver and started dealing huge damage. He added. He thought for another second and erased it. That was something interesting, short-lived as it was, and he didn’t want them to patch it out. At any rate, there was nothing Alex could keep doing forever. He would get bored of it really fast, and he never felt any measure of investment in something, once he'd squeezed out every last drop of fun he could get. He wanted something to keep him interested. Something refreshing, or exciting. Maybe he could learn some magic, or he could give original skills a go. The message went something like this:

RE: This is a message. It concerns a glitch, so it's kind of important. Dear GMs. Today, we fought a boss – the one that was made up of corpses. I forgot its name. At any rate, it glitched out during the fight and I’m pretty sure you should look at it. So, the fight went something like this: When it started, the tanks drew its attention while the DPS beat the crap out of it. Standard strategy, whatever. One thing to note was that while the boss design is interesting, it’s pretty much just a brute that has some dark magic and is pretty boring. There was this one cool magic, but I’ll talk about it later. Anyway, at some point in time, the boss activated his dark magic, but several veteran players noted that it was earlier than usual. Still, it was pretty much standard procedure after that. Then, at another point, the boss’s AI changed. It was similar to sentience. It used a powerful knockback attack followed with a slam to kill several players at once. Then it began targeting the healers, as if it knew what was going on. The boss made a portal out of dark magic and hit the healers through it, which is cool as hell. But also annoying because the ones who didn’t die got a debuff which made their eyes radiate dark energy, which was blinding them and appeared to be distressing them (there was no loss of health, however). The status effect had something to do with purification. The names of the debuffs on each person were varied, but were usually some take on ‘I’m blind’, or ‘purify me.’ I don’t know if he could actually do that or if was a glitch, but I want that spell. Seriously, tell me how to get it. At any rate, the boss roared after it hit the healers, but it skipped a segment or something so it sounded weird. Then it roared again, normally this time, and returned back to normal. Totally killed the mood, though. I count around 3 possible glitches. 4 if you include the dark portal he may or may not have (I haven’t fought the boss before, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). It was kind of alright in the end, but you should probably look into it.

Alex hit the send button and stretched a little. It wasn’t a big thing for him, the glitch. That said, it might be big for someone else, and that wasn’t exactly a great thing. As he stopped concentrating, some conversation filtered into his attention. "You know, you can’t exactly consider yourself a decent player if you’re going to complain about every hit point you take. Oh yeah, and if I were administration I would probably make every boss continuously harder if too many people are able to CK it." His freshly revived spriggan party member (Kite) said. “They wouldn’t make money like that, you know.” Alex said idly, yawning after he said it. He noticed that the group leaders were arguing, likely about the glitch that happened. But before he could throw in his two cents, another of his party members spoke up. "What are you two complaining for? As raid group leaders, you should be more concerned about your failure to lead properly and anticipate unexpected events in a battle situation. You may have fought this boss many times, but that is no excuse to become complacent and lazy as a raid leader. A competent leader should be prepared for whatever happens and accept their own failures." Their salamander shield-bearing swordswoman said (Athena). “Now, now.” Alex said. “You should remember that this is a game. Fighting the boss multiple times is a great excuse to become complacent and lazy, because games run on patterns. And besides, a game is supposed to be fair, especially an MMO. They wouldn’t have something like that without telegraphing it first.” Thankfully, their cat archer spoke up. "So," She (Arina) said. "We did it. What did you guys think about this?" Alex thought for a bit. It was kind of easy at the start, but then he did the jump-onto-its-head-and-stab-it-repeatedly thing, which was great. Then the boss threw his cleaver, which missed Alex by barely anything, which he also later picked up. That was also great. But as he mentioned before, the glitch was a real mood killer, and that was all he could think about for the last part of the fight, which was about as mediocre as the start. This all boiled down to one statement which he tended to use an awful lot. Alex shrugged and gave his answer. “It was alright, I guess.” He replied.

Shishirou tried to climb the wall of corpses that was the monster, to no avail, but she was still out of its range and didn't have its aggro on her, so she at least had that going for her. She was a little confused as to what to do next. Keep hitting it with her sword just as she had done before? Try and do something innovative with her wings? Before she could reach a satisfying conclusion, the monster shouted yet again and she knew it was about to be killed. "Wah! No, wait! I want to kill it! I can't NOT kill it after quoting Shizuo like that!" It was inevitable, though. The boss was just in the brink of disappearing. Someone else had gotten the last hit bonus, but she could damn well try. With a quick thrust, she stuck her katana on the boss' flesh, just before it disappeared. "Ei!" The boss then disappeared. No last hit bonus, but at the very least, she was satisfied with the result. She walked happily to where everyone else was, thinking just how much fun it had been battling that boss. It really seemed intelligent for a bit there. Maybe it was intelligent? Oh, well, who cares? He'll respawn after a few minutes, hours perhaps, so it's not like they 'killed' something intelligent. As she approached the group that was fighting, she couldn't help but curiously see them with a baffled expression. "Um, guys? It's a GAME. Glitch or not, don't you think it was really fun? Kinda like, the glitch made it twice harder to beat than normal, no? Isn't that, like, REALLY exciting! If you don't think so..." With an slightly sarcastic smile on her face, Shishirou couldn't keep the next words in her mouth. "Then what the hell are you doing here, playing a game? Aren't these kinds of things made for this?" Then, she heard the Spriggan in her party speak up too. Well, he was right about what he was saying. "Yeah, what he said!" She said, pointing at him with a big smile on her face. She then turned back with a happy look on her face. She seemed proud of something, probably of herself. 'I was assertive, wasn't I? I know I was! Hehe!' Shishirou then walked all the way to where the others in her party were gathering, not too far from where the raid leaders were, but anyhow. She got to hear T1m and Athena, and decided to raise her opinion too, simple-minded as it was. "If they told you about every little change they did, my mail would positively be in the border of exploding anytime now. Besides, it adds to the element of surprise! Maybe we got to saw what the boss will act like in the next update 'cause of that glitch! Do you really mind it that much if the game isn't fair?" Before anymore witty comments could be made, though, Arina asked something. "Any game becomes boring if it lacks thrills! As said by a certain butler, I think the same. The boss was really fun to fight. I'd fight a glitchy boss like that anytime, any day. I'd take him with less chained corpses on, though." The chained corpses boss was several times better than her boring everyday, though. College life wasn't as exciting for her as she had heard before. The 'Party now, study later' she had heard of was a lie, like the cake. Still, given that her area of expertise was around these programming things, she too had to raise an opinion on the IA of the boss. "She is right, though.... The IA was really unusual. For a while there, it really seemed to believe that it should preserve itself, even over the users.... Not cool, man, not cool."

For Fuyuko, the remainder of the battle was a blur of attack cycles and hiding under her giant shield, punctuated by bouts of confusion as the boss acted outside of it's normal action patterns. The details of what it was doing were lost on her, busy as Fuyuko was with balancing aggro; her armour and shield afforded her sufficient protection that she could effectively ignore any AOE attacks not specifically aimed at herself. It could make long battles almost boring, especially once one got over the thrill of a VR fight. And so in stark contrast to the hot-blooded DPS players around her, Fuyuko spent the last hair-raising moments fending off attacks with a dull, grey expression, her thoughts drifting to the possibility of fixing some dinner IRL. When the boss finally fell, it was to the sound of a bored sigh and the tapping of holographic buttons as she unequipped her shield and dismissed Aoi. At least the other players had enjoyed themselves she noted, walking over to the rest of her newfound party. 'Actually I agree with him; a bug in a virtual reality game is a damn sight more serious than you might think. Corrupted code could screw anything up. Anything.' Her opinion was in the minority though, Fuyuko noted with a wan smile. Most of the others were ambivalent toward the glitch, even pleased; it may have made the battle more exciting for them she reasoned, even if it hadn't improved the tanks' experience. She leant up against a convenient wall as the others debated, drawing a pack of <Low Grade Tobacco> from a pocket; smoking in ALO required one to release their maturity filters, but once unlocked was almost as good as the real thing. She knew she'd be dying for a real fag when she logged out, but for the moment it was a great placebo. After lighting up her rollie and waiting for Shirou to say her piece, Fuyuko spoke up. 'Advanced AI is all well and good, and I wholeheartedly approve of making these fights less of a grind. But a full-blown glitched-out boss on a top of the market VRMMORPG? That's the kinda stuff that kills companies. But feck it; why don't we move on, maybe kill something less bugged up?'

Arina stayed quiet as she listened to a few of her fellow party members retort to the two guild leaders who were arguing earlier. It looked as if some of their words pierced them as the two actually stopped and listened. But the tank, who was the one who was going to file the complain, still had his menu up and had a small message typed up. The words made him stop and examine his message. In the end the words were to no avail as he turned and gave them a could shoulder and continued typing his message. Now the rest of the small party had arrived and they were beginning to converse and respond to Arina's question. It seemed all of them noted the strange behavior with the boss, like she did. So she wasn't just imagining it. It certainly was different, but she didn't know how to respond. That was her first time fighting that boss so she couldn't really form a solid consensus about what to think. Something was for certain however, the AI of that boss, be it ever updating and advancing or glitchy, was definitely different. The small party seemed to be disagreeing about what they thought. Some were happy about its AI being like that, while the minority were saying that they AI shouldn't be that way. Arina had to agree with the minority here. "I have to agree with Fuyuko. But," She held her hand up in suspense..for emphasis. "I don't want to get into any debate here. I'm all for fun boss fights, but not boss fights that cause you to die or even wipe due to some coding error." The archer gave a small shrug and shifted her bow in her back a bit as it had fallen down slightly when she raised her hand...for emphasis earlier. A few players were now teleporting out and those that were staying around were still speaking or starting a trade up to trade the loot they received. Then an idea came to Arina's mind. "Oh! By the way!" She started with a small squeak and then what sounded like a small meow to fit her nature. "I don't know what all loot you guys got but if it's a weapon and you would like it improved or enchanted then talk to me! I'm kind of the number one crafter in this game." She sent a wink to all of them before crossing her arms over her chest. She did have high smithing and crafting skills, and she liked to boast about it. "I'm kidding by the way. Well..about the latter. I really can improve your weapons...that part is true." Arina gave a few awkward coughs in an attempt to just try and make the air less..awkward. She wasn't the only Cait Sith here.. The archer then brought up her menu again and went over to the party section and saw all of their names. She clicked on them each one by one and sent them all a friend request. Once she was done she closed her menu with a swipe of her hand and looked up to each of them as she started to teeter on her feet. "Since we are..done here I'm we are all going to go our separate ways. And I like you guys..so. Friends! But, I know that I am going to head to my shop in Cait Sith territory to deposit some things and then I'm logging off for the night. Pretty sure my dinner is now a crisp...seeing as how that boss fight was longer than I was exepecting. But..oh well. So, maybe we can all play together again sometime? I like to think we make a good party." Arina stopped teetering on her heels as she was sure it was making them slightly uneasy. Great impression you got going on there. The archer then awkwardly stood there as she waited for responses.

Two Heads are Greater than One That was what passed through Kite's mind as he notice a friend request pop up in front of him as he was leaving. It was never his forte to join parties because in most cases they usually slowed him down on quests. But when he thought back to the battle he observed it was pretty entertaining. There was an archer who seemed to be a decent sniper; then another one had the nerve to pick up a boss weapon and bash its head in with it; then there was little barbie who took the boss head on with her hammer and shield; then they had a salamander who fought with a flaming sword; Then there was the tiny thing who jumped on top of people to score some easy hits. It could be entertaining in the least to meet up with some people who knew how to fight. Kite clicked the accept icon. After that he quickly made his way out of he dungeon. He thought it would be pointless to waste a teleport just to get back to his town. Especially if he was going to spend another hour online to grind tonight. The Spriggan made his way out of the cave and pulled out his compass. It wasn't really anything useful but it had the cardinal directions on it. He began to venture southeast from the dungeon on his journey home. Since he wasted a great amount of time with no real gain.

Alex considered the friend invite he’d gotten from their cat archer with some slight amount of thought. First of all, he didn’t know if he was going to keep playing ALO for so long, and he didn’t even know if being in a party or being friends would be interesting. But hey, it was something new and it couldn’t be bad, right? Alex took a quick look at his friends list and swiftly rediscovered the reason he never did. It was because he didn’t have any ‘friends’. His friends list was completely empty. “Well.” Alex said, accepting the invitation. “Congratulations, Arina. You’re the first person to ever be on my friends list ever.” Alex closed all of the windows and stretched. “Alright, I got to go.” Alex said, walking towards the entrance of the dungeon. Alex was getting ready to sprint through the already cleared halls, but turned around again when he remembered something. “By the way,” He said. “Don’t bother with my username. Just call me Alex.” Alex turned again and activated sprint. He raced down the now empty hallways, cutting corners to get out as fast as possible. He had to go out and make dinner, and it wouldn’t take that long to get back to Cait Sith Territory. Arriving at the entrance quickly, activating his wings and took off, reaching max speed and blasting forward, adjusting his direction slightly to rocket straight for Cait Sith territory, and his home in ALO. A home away from home. As Alex flew homeward, he thought about his new party. A short cat tank, a short violinist, spriggan DPS, Salamnder DPS, Cait Sith Ranged DPS and Alex. More DPS, more cats. No healers, which was unfortunate, but more fun for the family, Alex supposed. Being on edge is funner than being safe, but sometimes they really needed a healer. 2 shields might compensate a little for that, but not much. Well, they could always chug potions like a drinking game. Take a swig every time you get hit. It’s great because by the end of it, you can still walk away! Alex arrived at Cait Sith territory and banked downwards at a hard angle, deactivating his wings to land with a crash in front of his own house door, grateful for safe zones. No damage, no matter how high you fall. No pain, either. Alex unlocked his house and entered, locking the door behind him. He quickly checked his storage, looking through it to remind himself of what was there. He saw a few weapons that he thought about bringing to his new party, but decided that they probably had better stuff already. Alex was surprised by his new party oriented thoughts. Maybe he should stick around for a while. He kept Flesh Render and Unarmed combat in his inventory and fell backwards onto the bed, opening the menu and logging out. Alex’s eyes opened and he blinked, getting used to what little light there was. Alex groaned as he got up, a little stiff. He slipped off the bed, standing up, and went out of the door. The hallway lights were off, and the door was still locked. It looked like his sister was out. It was pretty much certain, however, that she would be back for dinner soon. Alex turned the lights on in the hall and meandered over to the kitchen. He flicked the lights on in the dining room and the kitchen, then shrugged on an apron and got ready to cook. Not long afterwards, the electronic lock was disengaged and his sister, Alexis walked inside. Her blond hair shone in the light of dusk and her blue eyes stared quizzically at Alex behind square rimmed glasses. “Alex!” She said in surprise. “I didn’t know you’d be up.” “Hey, sis.” Alex said casually. “You know I’d never let you cook.” “T-That’s, well…” She said. Memories of burned food resurfaced, days spent in the bathroom and general unpleasantness. Funny in retrospect, traumatising when they first occurred. But Alex smiled at the thought. Those were funny days. “Get changed.” Alex said, turning the stove off. “Dinner’s ready.” It was around 7:30 pm when the brother and sister duo had dinner. Alex had cooked some curry he’d prepared a little ahead in the afternoon. It was kind of mild, and it was pretty tasty. They ate in relative quiet until Alex broke the silence. “Why were you out so late?” Alex asked suddenly. “You starting a conversation, the world must be ending…” Alexis replied. “I’m not that bad.” Alex objected. “Maybe not, but it’s still bad.” She said. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t answer my question.” “Fine.” She said, chewing another spoonful of curry. “I went out to karaoke with my friends. It went for a while and I went back home.” “Huh.” Alex said, slightly surprised. While Alex skipped grades in school easily, Alexis put in quite a bit of effort in school which led to her having few friends in Russia. “I didn’t know you had friends.” “Well it’s not like you have any.” She said, pouting. “I certainly don’t.” Alex said, taking a sip of water. “Wait, actually, that’s a lie.” “Huh?” She asked, puzzled. “I made a friend, kind of.” Alex said, putting down his glass. He was finished with his dinner so he took it up along with his sister’s empty plate and went to wash the dishes. His sister followed, well versed with the routine. “I was playing Alfheim, which I told you about,” Alex said, filling the sink with water. “Uh-huh.” Alexis said, taking the dishwashing liquid and splashing some in. “And I made went on a dungeon raid with some other people.” Alex continued, working up a lather and wiping the plates clean. “You went with other people?” Alexis asked sceptically. “Guild leader was tired of my shit.” Alex answered, handing the plate to Alexis who rinsed it. “Had to go or she’d be mad at me.” “Okay, and then what?” She asked, drying the plate and putting it away. “Well,” Alex said, washing a set of cutlery. “It was kind of boring, and the boss was alright, and we got to the last boss.” He set aside the cutlery for Alexis to rinse and continued. “Then the team split up and we formed smaller groups. I was in a party of 6 with a pretty varied set of people. A cat girl tank, a cat girl archer, a really short bard girl – The cat tank was short too by the way, a salamander lady, and a spriggan dude. And me.” “Looks like you’re running around with a bunch of girls where mom and dad can’t see you.” She said suspiciously. “Is that really what you think of me?” Alex asked incredulously. “You haven’t really told me otherwise.” She countered. “Hey, I don’t even know them in real life.” Alex objected. “So?” “So, I might not be running around with a bunch of girls where mom and dad can’t see me. I might be running around with a bunch of guys where mom and dad can’t see me.” “Point taken.” “Anyway.” Alex sighed, starting to clean the pot. “We went in the boss room and it was a huge mass of corpses, moving around by shuffling the bodies around. It was pretty interesting.” Alexis visibly shuddered and Alex grinned evily. “I’ll print off a few screenshots and put it on your ceiling while you aren’t looking.” He said mischievously. “If you do, I’ll-“ “I’m kidding.” Alex said, grinning. “Probably.” “Alex…” She warned, tone low. “Alright, alright.” Alex said, still smiling. “Anyway, the boss fight was cool, and our cat archer gave everyone friend requests.” He handed the pot over Alexis and wiped his hands to dry them. “Well, if she extended them to everyone…” She said, rinsing the pot and putting it aside to dry. “Well, I think I might stick to it for a while more.” At this, Alexis stopped in the middle of drying her hands and put a hand to her brother’s head. “You… aren’t sick, are you?” She asked, mystified. “What’s with you today?” Alex asked in confusion. “I’ve never seen you stick to anything for more than 3 days.” She said. Alex had to admit that she had a point. But this was his first VRMMO, so maybe that was what caused it. Though in all honesty. He just felt like something interesting could happen if he stuck around with them. “Well, there’s a first for everything.” Alex said casually. “Well, apparently.” She said, still looking mystified. “It’s fine. Seriously.” Alex said, stretching. “You know, I think I’ll help you study tonight.” Alexis’s went to the window and peeked outside, looking for something. “What are you doing?” Alex asked, confused. “I just thought the world might be ending. This is pretty weird for you.” She replied. “Okay, now you’re just blowing this out of proportion.” Alex said. “I help you study a lot, you know. Wait a minute… You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?” Alexis’s hidden grin broke free. “Maybe.” She said, smiling. “But I’ll still take you up on that offer.” “Let big brother teach you tonight.” Alex said. “I’m older than you!” She said, taking her glasses from the table. “Not by so much that you could hold it over my head.” Alex said. "True." She said. It was later in the night that Alex finally lay back down onto his bed, not too tired but not exactly energetic. On reflection, today was actually a good day. He’d done a lot today, seen a lot and added a friend to his friends list. They’d need more interaction to be friends, and he wasn’t sure about the other members. Though as for the other members, they seemed like fun people and he looked forward to partying with them. Maybe that’s what was missing from my life. Alex thought. Friends… Truth be told, Alex hadn’t made any friends in real life in years. When his family used to live in Russia, he’d skipped grades in school because it was easy and he didn’t have anything to do in it. He regretted that decision now. If he hadn’t, he might have been happier. He might have had fulfilment in life. But on the other hand, there was the incident. The incident that gave him trust issues, probably the sole reason he didn’t have any friends. Alex’s mother was a Russian scientist and his father was a Japanese businessman. He and his sister were non-identical twins, but not many befriended them. They knew of their parents and somehow decided that they were too low to interact with them. Alex was content to live through school and take things easy, but then he made a friend. Yahtzee was his name. Quite the normal person besides his name. He was easy to get along with, and for that year, he was Alex’s only friend. But Alex started noticing something wrong around halfway, when Yahtzee met Alexis. Alex could see it in his eyes. Alex began suspecting something, and despite being his best and only friend, Alex attempted to push him away. Things took a turn for the worse as Yahtzee tried to break into their house once. Alex woke up that night for a reason he never knew, and came face to face with his once good friend. Yahtzee revealed that the only reason he’d gotten close to Alex because of his obsession with Alex’s sister. All Alex could do was sigh. Unfortunately for him, this was the very reason he’d broken ties with Yahtzee. Things only got worse as Yahtzee pulled a knife on Alex. Alex managed to hold him off loud enough to wake Alexis up and long enough for her to call the police. Also long enough for her to get a pan and smack Yahtzee unconscious. The incident was a black mark in Alex’s life and he skipped all of the grades in high school to distance himself from it. His family moved to Japan in an attempt to put it behind them and Alex never regretted it. It’d been 2 years and the incident still affected him to this day. He'd gotten over it, but it lingered there, just out of reach, like the sword of Damocles. He couldn’t completely blame Yahtzee, though. It was mostly his fault for never going out. Alex shifted his lower body onto the rest of his bed and drew the blanket over himself. Maybe things would change now. He knew that Yahtzee was a special case, and that there were good people in the world. He’d been ready to make friends, but he was always too young for the class and he’d graduated a year after he entered. So maybe things would be different now. Alex turned onto his side and closed his eyes. The darkness took over and he was asleep.

Athena was ready to part ways with her party and say her final goodbyes and was just about to turn around to leave the dungeon when a small dialog window popped into view in the corner of her vision. Tapping open the window revealed a Friend Request sent from Arina, causing Athena to pause momentarily at the unexpected request. Her outstretched finger still hovered over where the dialog window sat moments ago. In all her time in ALfheim Online, Athena was never one to initiate friend requests with other players, all interactions with players were mostly for convenience purposes, such as grouping up for dungeon raids like the one she just fought in. Temporary partnerships that ended as quickly as they were formed. Her serious virtual personality usually succeeded in putting off other players from befriending her, but this Cait Sith player seemed to see something in her that other players didn't. "We do seem to work very well together for a party that was formed at the last minute. I hope we may join together in battle someday." Athena said with a faint smile, as she turned back to face the group of players that she had just fought alongside. She called the Friend Request window with a motioning of her fingers, accepting Arina's friend request as well as sending requests to the other players. Her previously-empty friend list now included: Arina: The Cait Sith archer that managed to save her from an untimely death from the boss monster's cleaver attack with a well-timed arrow. T1m (or as he asked to be called, Alex): The unorthodox player who had the bright idea of attacking a boss monster with its own weapon. It was either a stunningly brilliant strategy or a stupidly reckless tactic. But it worked. Shishirou: The midget Pooka player with the unusual ability to joke in the midst of a fierce battle. Athena didn't quite understand the joke she was trying to make. Perhaps it was an inside joke from an old game of some sort. Kite: The only player in her party who had fallen in battle, however, he was the only player she had ever seen that hadn't shown any signs of fear despite knowing the inevitability of his death. Even if it was only a VRMMO, the mere sight of a giant cleaver swinging in one's direction was real enough to strike fear deep into anyone's heart. Fuyuko: By far the smallest tank she had ever encountered in ALfheim Online. In retrospect, having a small-sized tank character seemed like a clever way to "cheat" the system, with easier evasion ability than a taller character. A smart idea in theory, an amusing sight in (virtual) reality. With her Friend List no longer empty, Athena made her way through the twisting halls of the dungeon with the others, although some decided to rush ahead hastily. Athena noticed that the group of players leaving was noticeably smaller than what it was when they entered. Such a decrease usually only happened when the dungeon raid party was too low level or the battle coordination was very poor, but this group was well-equipped and properly leveled, and the group had proper coordination of tanks, DPS, and healers. The exception in this case lay in the sudden unusual intelligence of the boss monster's AI, something that had deeply troubled Athena during the battle. However, for the sake of the group's morale, she hid her fears underneath the fierce exterior of the Athena persona. Athena unfolded her character's translucent wings and burst into flight as soon as she left the "non-flight" area of the dungeon, soaring effortlessly through the air towards Salamander territory. The sky had already greatly darkened by the time she left the dungeon, revealing just how much time has passed while the raid party was fighting the boss monster. Athena felt a slight sensation of hunger passing through her, further confirming that it was already late evening in the real world. Fortunately, the nearest Salamander territory was well within sight, along with the bright lights of the town buildings shining like miniature beacons. As she began passing over the outlying buildings of the town, Athena slowed down the speed of her flight, angling herself carefully so that her feet touched the ground as soon as her character's wings vanished. Normally, she would have went to the nearest merchant NPC and purchased some food to remove the feelings of hunger and continue playing for a few more hours, however, she felt completely exhausted and wanted nothing other than the comfort of a soft bed. A real bed. Entering the nearest inn, Athena paid the ever-watchful innkeeper NPC a small fee for a room. Since she had always spent her earnings on weapons and equipment for her character, she had never saved up enough money for a house for herself. Not that a house would be any useful, as she spent most of her time in the game slaying monsters and occasionally players who were a nuisance. Entering her rented room, Athena let the wooden door close by itself with a soft thud as she made her way to the lone bed in the room. Sitting herself down on the bed covers as she brought up the game's Log Off menu, she briefly thought about the new friends she had made. While they were all a bit strange in their own unique ways, they did have a remarkable ability to work well together despite not having met each other before. Not having made friends in the game before, Athena had no idea what to expect from them in the future. Lying down on the bed, Athena then used the open game window beside her to finally log herself out of the game. --- As she felt the sensation of her body slowly returning to her, Natsuki kept her eyes closed, as if savoring her last few moments as Athena. It was the growing uncomfortable sensation of the Amusphere resting on her head that kept her from laying still and dozing off, and with a slow reluctance, she slid off the circular device and blindly placing it on the nighttable beside her, next to her glasses. Carefully lifting herself up from the bed, Natsuki rubbed her eyes as if waking up from a long sleep, and involuntarily yawned as she stretched out her stiff arms. The blur that filled her vision disappeared as she picked up and slipped on her glasses. Looking up to face the bookshelf that sat across from her, a photo frame sat on its surface. In the picture was Natsuki, several years younger, along with her mother and father. One other girl stood next to the younger Natsuki in the picture, noticeably taller and older, closely resembling the Athena of her ALO avatar, although with black hair instead of fiery red. Next to the photo frame rested an old and noticeably aged helmet-like electronic device. "I tried to fight as hard as I could today, as hard as you would have. No, I fought as hard as you did... Thank you for protecting me, Oneesan. "

Nothing would make Shishirou happier than getting this bunch into her friend list. Of course, she wouldn't let that go without some tsundere lines going on. "H-Hmph! It's not like I was looking forward to this or anything, ne~? Don't get it the wrong way, I'm only accepting your friend request because it'd be the polite thing to do~!" She said, before pushing the 'accept' button and laughing a bit. "Hehe, now, being serious, it's great to be friends with you, Arina-chan! I hope we get to see each other some other day!" While she actually wanted to befriend everyone else, two of them had already left. Well, what a shame. Some other day, then. "Some other day, I wanna be the second one in your friend list, Alex!" She shouted at the boy while he made his way out. She also wanted to befriend the Spriggan, but before she knew it, he was already out of sight and out of the dungeon. What's with them and their leaving early, it couldn't possibly be that late... right? She opened her menu and looked at the time. 6 and something all ready?! Well, she was a dead woman if she didn't hurry. She panicked a bit, opened her menu, and sent the remaining ones a friend invite. "I'msorryI'mkindofinahurryseeyoulaterguystakecare,bye!" The girl spouted out as she took a teleport crystal out of her inventory and returned to her ALO home full speed. After getting her body to a reasonable part, she logged out of the game. Back in the real world, the girl awoke with the Amusphere in her head, turning her vision into a purplish color. She took it off and calmed herself down a bit. If she arrived to dinner like that, it would definitely be awkward with her parents. Not that the atmosphere wouldn't already be awkward because of how long she took anyway. Shiho lived alone, but that day she had made a promise of eating out with her parents. She was plenty sure that she could clear the dungeon and make it back to her appointment with no problems at all. Then, the boss glitched. As much as she would have liked to discuss things and codes with Fuyuko, it really wasn't the time for it. Well, she was now late and underdressed... Her parents would probably tell her off for this. She quickly changed out of her clothes and put on something a bit more 'elegant', to call it something, brushed her hair a bit, put on some perume and then set out. This was maybe the only time she was glad she was tall, given that many would actually complain if she used heels, given that she is already big enough as it is. She hurried to the place they had planned on and arrived clearly exhausted and gasping for air. After a waiter showed her to her table, she found her parents there. A middle aged couple that were so short that it was hard to imagine Shiho being her daughter. "You are late." Was their greeting, of both of them, as if they were synchronized by a computer. Shiho laughed nervously. "Anyhow, take a seat, Shiho. We already ordered some drinks, we were just waiting for you to.... grace us with your presence." Her father said. Shiho nodded and sat down. The whole dinner was awkward, as plates went and came for them. Finally, after dessert, Shiho prepared for the worst. Her parents were really straight-laced, not to mention technollogically impeded, something quite horrible for her daughter that lived in an age where technology played a big role in her life, not to mention her love for videogames. She would question whether she is adopted or something, but she has seen the birth certififcate and among other things, so she was their daughter all right. Maybe being adopted would take a huge weight off her shoulders though.... "Shiho, I know we say this everytime, but that thing is consuming you." Her mother started. "Videogames are bad for you. I hear they even cause cancer." Not only were they oblivious to technology, but they also were idiots when it came to it. "The Amusphere is completely safe, mom. I thought I told you this before and-" Before Shiho could finish, though, her father interrumpted her. "There's also that thing! The thing you put on your head is bad! Didn't you hear what happened last year with that SAO thing? What if some hacker did that to you, huh!?" Shiho just sighed. "That's no longer possible, dad, the Amusphere doesn't use such elevated microwaves, so even if you tried, nothing would happen." She said, trying to be as calm as possible, and her father seemed really mad now. "Don't talk to me as if I were stupid, Shiho! I may not be an universitary, but at the very least I work my ass off to provide for you and your mother!" He said, losing his cool and shouting. Shiho couldn't believe it. If only she had arrived on time, maybe her parents would have been less pissy. Well, she had to be the voice of reason right now.... "Then stop giving me money, and I'll find a part time job so I can live. I'm sure I can manage just fi-" It came out, before she knew what she was saying. "And let your grades drop!? You won't find a good job like that! Don't you think about the future!?" Her mom interrupted her this time. Shiho couldn't take it anymore and she stood up, taking her purse with her. "If you won't even listen to me, then I'm going home." She searched for something inside her eyecatching yellow purse and threw a roll of bills to the table. "Here's your money back, and a bit extra I got from my part time job too. Now, if you'll excuse me." She said, turning around and leaving the restaurant before any of them had something to say. Well, that definitely didn't end well. Not that she would actually stop playing games just for what they say, though. Her idiot parents couldn't cope with her passion. She soon returned home, and she was greeted by a small white dog. "Shiro! I'm back!" She said taking it into her arms. "What should we do now, watch some TV?" She said, snuggling at her dog and her dog licking her face with affection. "Oh, but it is already a bit late, should we go to sleep, then?" The dog barked back and Shiho nodded. She went back to her bedroom and laid down on her bed, with all the lights still off. She took the Amusphere off her bed before anything else, of course. She hugged Shiro tightly against her. Well, she had just gotten rid of her allowance AND her pay of the month... Now what?

If anyone had expected the group to hang around and chat, they were sorely mistaken. As the other raid members filtered out one by one, Fuyuko turned her thoughts to what they ought to do next. Accepting Arina's friend request was a given and the tank spammed requests to everyone else in the party before they could escape. 'I'm up for that. I've got a small player home north of Freelia, near the Pooka border; you're all welcome to come have a meal some time.' Saving the cash for a player home hadn't been easy; fortunately Fuyuko was well versed in the art of using her cuteness to secure donations. Even with all the help, she hadn't been able to get a proper house, instead settling for a campsite along the beach of a small lagoon. To be fair she had a pretty big tent, but it was still just a tent. 'Ima head home, log off, eat. Should be online tomorrow, say... 1900 JST?' Casting one last appreciative smile around her newfound friends, Fuyuko flicked the dead cigarette away and activated a teleport crystal. By the time the fagend exploded into light, she was long gone. Light slowly returned to the world as the apartment's automatic lights brightened. Fuyuko sat up in bed, shedding the Amusphere and pulling an old hoodie on. She stood up, mentally making the transition from blonde loli to tired salaryman. Dropping his online persona was an interesting experience for Manabu; Fuyuko wasn't everything he wanted to be, but was still a damn sight more outgoing than he ever dreamed of being in real life. Probably didn't help that he worked in a library; he talked to more people on the way home than at work. Glancing out the window at the twilight of mid-evening, Manabu debated the hassle of cooking dinner for a long moment. I'm lazy... and tomorrow's my day off. His mind made up, Manabu set about getting dressed for a good meal out and perhaps a nice drink. Someone else might have balked at going to a bar or restaurant alone, but he had long since lost contact with his old friends; with the exception of ALO, it would be safe to say that Manabu had no real social life. Scary thought, he mused as he walked off into the Tokyo night, cigarette in hand. How many other ALO players are the same as me...?

Arina listened in silence with a smile on her face as her friends list slowly filled up with five new members. Many of them had already taken off and this made the archer really wonder if she had actually heard her request if they needed weapon reinforcing. Then again...she didn't blame them for taking off, she was ready to be out of her as well. A few stayed behind now but then they too started to fall out. Fuyuko was among the last and she said that if they needed a meeting space they could meet at her player home. This got Arina thinking that she should invest in a player home... But her shop took the majority of her money. With a nod to herself she watched as the last of the group vanished and left her alone. It was time to take her leave she guessed. That last bit Fuyuko spoke, being online about 1900 JST. Arina paid it no mind, at this point. She archer brought up her menu and tapped on a teleport crystal and it manifest in her hand. She activated it and after a few seconds she was taken away by the magic of the crystal and when she opened her eyes she was standing in front of her shop in Cait Sith territory. Her shop was a cozy little two story shop with matching stone and wooden walls. It even had a water feature in front of it! She had to pay extra for that part but...eh, she liked it. She brought up her menu again and tapped on the key to her shop and used it to open the door. Once inside she locked it from behind and put her weapons down on the ground next to a small counter. She had several tables lined up with a two staircases near the back, one leading up and the other leading down. The one leading up was to a room she had yet to fully finish due to monetary issues. She planned for that to be her weapon enchanting room, but not only was her skill far too low for that she lacked the funds for proper equipment. It was rather expensive. And the one leading down led to her forge, which she liked to think was in top shape. It was her pride. She had weapons lined up along the walls and weapons on the tables around the shop. But that was enough reminiscing about her shop. She brought up her menu once more and found the materials she had been given from that dungeon and moved them over to deposit them in the appropriate chest in her shop. Once that was done she sat down and swiped her menu up again and tapped on the Log Out button and logged out. After a groggy yawn and slow stretch Rhett took his Amusphere off of his head and sat it down on the small counter next to his bed. He sat up and stretched yet again before making his way out of his bedroom and into his kitchen/dining room. Rhett lived in the states in a small apartment of his own. He was fine with the small living space though. To some it might be a little unappealing but...he liked it. Not to mention that the place he stayed allowed- "Arf! Rhett looked down to his feet to see the smiling and happy face of his dog Parker, who was ever so ecstatic to see that he was awake from his sleep. Rhett knelt down and gave his dog a hug and a few pats before realizing what his dog was ultimately after. Now that Rhett was awake, it was time for food. The young man made his way over to the cabinet where he kept his dog food and started to open it before he realized his oven was on. He gave it a puzzled look and then remembered that he had been cooking a meal before he started playing ALFheim. He cursed under his breath as he ran over and managed to pull his almost roasted chicken out just in time. Luckily..he caught it before it got just too burnt. It was still edible enough to be good. He mentally patted himself on the back and then looked down the small patting feeling that was pawing at his leg. Parker was smelling the chicken. Rhett smirked and shook his head. "You're ruining my life." He joked to his dog with a smile before picking the chicken up with a fork and cutting it up a bit and placing it on a plate and scooting it on the floor for Parker to enjoy. Rhett...actually didn't want that chicken. Sure he did when he was first making it earlier but now he really wanted a sandwich or something. So as Parker nosily chowed down on the chicken Rhett made a simple PB&J and added a few chips. He then made his way over to his couch and turned on his TV and started to eat his food and zone out to the TV. As he did this he started to think about those he met in that dungeon. The group he was with...he liked them. Even though one of them died in the beginning he had a feeling..that he meant to do that. Then..there was..Fuyuko, that was her in game name. Possibly the smallest tank he had ever seen. That player went against every tank stereotype he could think off from his past MMOs. Then there was that salamander that seemed to really know what she was doing. She was using magic and almost seemed like a berserker...rare build he had to say. But that was just his opinion. Then they had T1m who called himself "Alex" alot and he..well he used a boss weapon against the boss. Innovative.. Then there was Shishirou, the one who made references to other games. Rhett let out a few chuckles as he thought about that arrow to the knee thing that player said when they were fighting that mass of corpses. Before Rhett knew it he tried to reach his hand down to grab a chip or two only to realize that he was out. He was full now so he didn't feel like getting anymore. He really must have zoned out there.. With a small grunt he got up off the couch and made his way into the kitchen to put his plate in the sink. Parker was almost done with his gourmet meal and he looked to Rhett for a split second with a face of pure bliss. Then came a ringing from Rhett's pocket that made him jump. His phone was blaring as someone was calling him. He brought it up and answered it with a obnoxious, "Hello." As he recognized the caller. It was his friend from college, Laren. "Rhett, are you student teaching any this week?" She asked out of the blue. Rhett crossed one arm over his chest and held another up to his ear to hold his phone there. "Um..not anymore this week. I've already student taught about 27 hours so that's good enough for me. I plan to pick up more on monday. History isn't exactly the most interesting thing to high school seniors you know?" He let a few chuckles escape. The girl on the end of the call sighed. "Well I was just wondering. I still have to get a few hours in but I'll be fine. Well, I was just calling to make sure you weren't slacking. What with that game that you play all the time and all." The girl scoffed in humor at the end there. Rhett did the same. "Sure I play it quite a bit but my real life things come first. I'm not going to let the game consume me." Laren let out a sigh on the other end. "Yeah, whatever. We'll see." Rhett could tell she wasn't being that mean. With a brief moment of silence the girl shifted around and picked the phone back up. "Well, I'll let you go. I've got some work to do anyways. Tell Parker I said 'Hi!', I'm sure he misses me." With that she hung up and Rhett slipped his phone down. Parker had finished his meal by this point and let out a yawn which in turn caused Rhett to yawn. "You tired?" He said, as if his dog could respond. His body language gave it away. Rhett was tired too, so that meant his bed was calling him. After a quick trip to the bathroom to brush his teeth and all that good stuff Rhett returned to his bed and once he was settled in Parker jumped on his bed and curled up into a small ball at the end of his bed. With that done the two both slipped off into sleep and let themselves go. ---------------- After what felt like an extremely long day Rhett was finally able to return home and do everything he needed to before he could slip into the virtual world. He sat on his bed and slipped his Amusphere on and then laid his body down. He switched it on and then felt his body slip off into the virtual world. After a few seconds Rhett opened up his eyes and looked down to see...significant changes in his body structure. He was now Arina. Arina got up from the chair she was sitting on and brought her key out and unlocked her shop door and flipped over the open sign. There was a small slip of paper under her door that would be her work orders. Simple things from NPC merchants and other players alike. She examined the order and shook her head at how simple some players made their orders. She wanted complex orders that challenged her. But, money was money. So the archer took off a few of her combat armor pieces and made her way down to her forge with the order in hand. As she did this she brought up her menu and tapped on some of the resources she would need. One was running rather low.. Once she had all of them she was about to close the menu when she saw the friends tab. She tapped on it and saw the list of five players she added the other day. What did Fuyuko say..if they wanted to meet up they could come to her player home? At..1900..JST? Wait..Japanese standard time? She assuemed that's what it meant. Well, she didn't check to see if they were online or not, instead she tapped on the send message button and added all of them as recipients of her message. She simply typed up, "Hey, what's up? Want to meet up again?" and then hit send. The message would reach of them individually but they could also toggle to see that she had sent it to all of them as a group. With that sent, she actually had no idea if any of them were online as she didn't really look but she assumed the message would reach them once they got on. Maybe they would think she was a stalker for that..or some kind of creep.. She quickly let that thought go as she brought her hammer down and caused sparks from the molten weapon part to fly up. She loved doing this. Not as much as fighting though, but she was happy to be a skiller.

Alex woke suddenly and checked the clock. It was currently 5:00 AM. Good. Alex thought. He got up, yawned and stretched, walking out of his room and doing the morning arrangements. That is, making breakfast and his sister’s lunch. Nothing was more important than sustenance, after all. Alex lit the stove and fastened his apron as his sister sleepily walked out of her room clutching her pillow. “Morning.” Alex said, beginning to cook. “Mmm…” She said sleepily, still only half-conscious. “You could have a bit more sleep, you know.” He said, frying up some bacon. “But if I do that, I won’t be able to get up…” She said, drifting over to the couch. She lay down and resumed dosing in a foetal position, pillow clutched to her chest. Alex smiled slightly and let her lay there. She was studying all night and could use the sleep. Alex prepared some breakfast as his sister dozed on the couch. ----------- “Why didn’t you wake me up!?” Alexis yelled. “Because you were asleep.” Alex said, chewing some rice. “There’s some rice around your mouth.” It was now around 7:20, and the two were having breakfast. Alexis had woken up late, in the end, and had to make hasty preparations to go to school. “Now I’m going to be late!” She said, furiously eating the breakfast. “It’s fine. The school’s close by anyway.” Alex said. “Slow down before you choke.” Alexis continued to eat in silent protest, glaring at Alex while he innocently consumed the meal. “Oh, look at the time.” Alex said. “You should probably go now.” At that, Alexis quickly shovelled the rest of her breakfast into her mouth and grabbed her bag, hastily opening the door. “Don’t forget your lunch.” Alex said, holding it up. Alexis ran back and grabbed it, quickly stuffing into her bag and left, quickly running out of the house. “See you later.” Alex said belatedly. Now, it was time to wash up and take a shower. About an hour later, Alex was looking up things to do in Alfheim online. All he could really find was crafting, crafting, crafting and fishing, along with trolling and/or griefing… Well, Alex wasn’t mean enough to get in other people’s ways. He respected them enough not to do that. And other than that, he didn’t have fishing or crafting skills. Maybe I should make an alt. Alex thought. Then he saw something that perked his interest. Apparently, there were sword skills (which he’d noticed but not used that much) and then there were original skills, which were skills you made yourself. They apparently had pretty strict requirements, but it sounded interesting. And Alex already had something pretty amazing in mind. With that, Alex got onto his bed and put the amusphere on, getting ready for the full dive. As it loaded, Alex set out a series of tasks he should complete, and if things went well, he’d have something really impressive. The amusphere loaded and he initiated full dive. -------------------------- His body was soon coated in the leather coat he’d gotten a while ago, and the familiar weight of his great sword rested on his back. The familiar warmth of Steven became present on his head. He opened his eyes and he was back in his player home, a small and cheap one he bought only for the storage. He stretched his limbs experimentally, getting used to the body again. Alex then walked out of the house, locking the door behind him. As he did, he noticed that he had some notifications and opened them. 3 friend requests and a message. He checked the dates and the friend requests came from just as he ran out of the dungeon at full speed. They were from the rest of his party, except for Kite. Shrugging, he accepted them. Shishirou, Fuyuko, Athena… He said, ticking them off in his head. That done, he checked the message. It was one from Arina, their archer.

Hey, what's up? Want to meet up again?

Alex considered the question, and his reply. It was true that he had stuff to do, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t put off for a while. Besides that, he didn’t really have anything other than start training for his original skill. So what should he right? Alex considered it for a moment and typed in a quick reply.

Up to you. I’ll be practising front flips all day so holler if you need me.

Alex’s hand hovered over the send button, a little hesitantly. It seemed a little informal, but Alex supposed that it would be better than seeming uptight. He shrugged and hit send, and his mind switched to other matters. Alex activated his wings and went somewhere secluded. ---------------- Landing on a clearing, he surveyed his surroundings. There were no monster spawns, and it was on a cliff. It was fairly wide, so he should have enough room. Additionally, it wasn’t far from Cait sith territory so he could go home if he really needed to. Perfect. Alex thought, stretching his hands. Steven jumped off his head and landed nearby to watch. Alex wasn’t lying about the front flips. To do something cool, this needed to be done first. His acrobatics was pretty good, but practise was essential to make it work. Alex jumped on the spot a few times and stopped, preparing for the first front flip. With a spring of his feet, he smoothly performed a forward flip landing on his feet. Alright, so far so good. Alex thought. Now to do that around 3 times in a row. Jumping on the spot again, he flipped forward once more, bending his knees as he landed and sprung into another one, landing a little less gracefully than the previous one, and did it once more. On this one, he almost fell, finding it hard to keep his orientation after 3 flips. Well, this is alright. Alex thought. But this was just the beginning. If he did it right, it would be quite the impressive move, and it would likely scare the pants off just about anyone on the receiving end. Alex grinned evilly at the thought. This move would certainly be something to behold if he did it right.

The next day, Shiho woke up with her dog, Shirou, licking her face. It wasn't her alarm, neither the sunlight going through the window that woke her up. No, it was her dog. And Shiho knew what that meant. "Crap, I'm late!" She jumped out of her bed as fast as she could and got ready at the same pace. To be noted, Shiho has no sense of time, neither while sleeping nor when playing, hence why she is late from time to time. After eating a quick breakfast, just for the sake of breaking cliches of running out of her house with an slice of bread in her mouth, she was finally ready to go to college. What she had forgotten, though, was that her first lecture started a pair of hours later today, different to all the other days. She really had to do something about her old habit of waking up with the thought of her being late when her dog starts licking her face. No, even better, she should do something about Shirou, make him stop doing that. She was mostly satisfied with the excuse of a breakfast she had before, so she settled on having a coffee to help her kill time. Most of her friends weren't airheads like her, so she would probably be alone for a time. After remembering she had no money on her, though, she went to the nearest ATM, check if she had even something in her account, perhaps just enough for a coffee. When she checked it, she was surprised to see that all of her money was in her account yet again. Her parents didn't tell her anything, but she knew them all too well. She took out the money she needed and left for the cafe. "Those tsundere parents. It kinda makes me want to see how they were when they were younger." Later that day, and after working her shift, Shiho finally arrived to her house. It was around 7 when she arrived to her house. It was just about time for her to go into ALO yet again. She sent a message to her friends, seeing if any of them wanted to get in too. Unfortunately, all of them were too busy. Probably with their boyfriends or otherwise. It was really annoying... Then again, she could get together with the group from yesterday. She could see if any of them got any of the references she did yesterday, after all, they all were from borderline vintage games and anime (for the year they were in, that is). It'd be really cool if they got them. Besides, the group was also filled with girls. A rare sight in ALO, since Shiho thought her group was one of the few all-women parties you could find in ALO. There were some guys, but most of them were girls. At least, that was what she thought. She laid down on her bed and took the Amusphere in her hands, putting it on her head and over her eyes. Her dog seemed really excited as it saw what Shiho was doing. "I'll be back in a bit, Shirou. Take care of the house while I'm gone! Link Start!" Her vision was filled with colors and after a while, Shiho found herself in her player home, laying down. She was now in the body she felt most comfortable in, Shishirou. She stood up from the bed and stretched out a bit. Ah, it felt good not having her feet so far away from her head. Now, what to do, send everyone a message? Wait, she didn't really send a friend invite to everyone yesterday... Still, some of them had already accepted her own, and a message had arrived for her. Maybe it was from one of the guys from yesterday? She opened it and saw that it came from the Cait Sith archer, Arina, directed to everyone. Well, she might as well go and spend some time with them. Alex also sent a message, saying he would also meet her later. She nodded happily. The group was coming together nicely. She opened the keyboard so she could reply. Sure, let's meet up! I could really use some company right now, given that my usual group ditched me. o͡͡͡͡͡͡╮(｡>口<｡)╭o͡͡͡͡͡͡ ᵑ৹! Where should we meet? She hit the send button after her message was all done with. Well, until Arina could answer them, maybe she should go to a local bar and play some music? Nah, it was Pooka territory, surely there were already one, or several people, there playing something. It was a bit heated, the battles between bard to take possession of a bar as their own. She preferred to skip on them for at least today and better fly at some neutral territory, where it would be stranger to see a Pooka. There, she could play whatever she wanted and no one would get rowdy. "All right, let's go! Oh!" She opened her window, her wings all ready to take on the skies and then she jumped out of it. Luckily, she had learnt relatively quick how to fly without the assist control, so she at least had that going for her. She spread her wings and flew top speed to the nearest neutral town.