There was a light, at the end of it. Or, in the middle of all of this abyss. No, I'm not talking about Guide again. She disappeared some…time ago.
A long time ago.
A time ago—okay? It was a time ago and I can't recall exactly when. When the seconds start merging into minutes or hours.
It's gotten so black, my eyes adjusted so well that after a certain point of time (probably like 10 minutes or something), I could no longer see my body.
Much less even feel my body. At times I didn't even know I had a body.
Okay, back to the light. It was there, a little white dot far off in the distance. Slowly, it started to get greater.
And then…it started to pick up the pace.
And before I knew it, everything was covered in a white great light. Bright. Shining. Blinding to hell. Blind debuff?
Maybe.
Or some damn overpowered cutscene trigger I've walked into.
No…can't be.
As it died down, I saw…almost everything. And it was the damn blue sky.
The same three moons. Looked lower, green forestry, grass beneath my feet—boots? Black boots? Was I wearing that?
I look at my hands. Okay, skin is still in check. Just…what's going on here?
With a sudden gust of wind, it felt real…too real. My right hand grasps for something atop of my head. Thick, ivory-like but could be mistaken for a metal feel.
"Oh."
The word leaves my mouth.
I…I…
"I'm stuck inside the game."
I wait, as if I hadn't already been done by enough of that lately.
I thought I was going to yell, or scream, or even monologue—I would've taken that too. But I never did for at least three minutes that I sat there.
Might as well get to walking.
Because there might be another question I've yet to ask. Not afraid to, but just…putting it on hold. That's all.
I take a few steps forwards, and could hear the sounds of metal clinking. I took a solid look at my attire. A black tattered cloak. It looked heavy, but felt light.
Last time I checked—the last time I could see myself I wasn't wearing anything on my upper body. My hand quickly dived for my abdomen.
"Phew," Okay, 8-pack is still there. Didn't lose it entirely. As a matter of fact, I think my muscles might be more defined.
But I haven't seen them in what feels like ages.
Anyways, the chains where wrapped around my torso, my arms, and legs. You think it would've restricted my movement, but those silver things practically walked alongside with me.
Magic, I think.
On second thought, can I even use magic—?
I kept walking, coming across a river. Hurriedly got on my knees and washed my face. It looked cleaned enough.
"I'm still stuck in Dragonia. I'm still here and there were no pop-up systems in the past five minutes. Guide is nowhere to be found and—"
With one last splash, my face felt comfortable and chilled enough. No longer this brick-like feeling anymore.
But as I saw my reflection. The silver eyes, and eyebrows. I expected the Jet Black hair to be paired along.
It wasn't.
And what it was replaced with, was just a slightly longer, unkept, stone silver hair.
Huh.
Weird.
But I'll accept the new update if it means that my menu comes back.
"Menu!" I call out.
Nothing appears.
Never liked the hair anyway but it looks like I'll have to continue regardless. Getting up, I moved on. Into the deeper parts of the forest, covered with destroyed stone ruins.
This whole place used to be coated in cherry blossom petals. I remember…just before the Kami fight. Now it's all moss and ruin.
Which brings me to another question.
What happened to Kami? I don't know what happened to him. Don't think I will anytime soon actually.
Passing some of the ruins, most of them were unidentifiable, and this is not to say in the…upcoming quest unidentifiable. Wouldn't want to start a 40-hour sidequest right when I'm back.
"Guide?" I happened to call out again, the clairvoyant spirit no longer resonated with me. I don't feel her warmth and see her light developing and emitting from my chest anymore.
Which means…however long I was in that abyss for…
She might be gone.
Oh, how I loved her. Although she had her moments and could be annoying just as some animated paperclip, she was great. Loving. Caring. A bit buggy at times too and maybe some of her responses were jank.
But she was there for me.
When I had virtually nobody else.
No, like, literally virtually nobody else I was hunted by many, many PvP guilds. That's another story too for another time—
Before I could finish that thought, it was like a sudden rush went through my mind. My eyes narrowed on their own. There was nothing in front of me. But I could sense it.
And also, feel the sense of [Dragon's Authority] being proc'd. It was this skill every Dragon had that was exclusive to the race and/or class. Mine was kind of meta because it relied on PvP capabilities and was strong against those.
But…my build wasn't made for PvE, you see? Can't do any splash damage, can't do any uber-busted support. My build has great synergy, yes, but other PvE builds blow mines out of the water.
So, back to that feeling as if it was some spider-like sense. What was that?
I ran, shaking my head and looking in other directions trying to gain a grasp of where it could lead me. A soft pinging sensation was in my head, probably emanating from my horns. Is that the phantom sense of the menu?
Maybe. I don't know I wouldn't be saying that if I had the text box just appear in front of me.
Man, oh man.
I would do anything for that Menu to come back into my life again.
As I ran, I slid down across a large tree stump and delved deeper into the forest. Getting off, I heard the sounds of bones rattling.
Skeletons.
Low Level ones too. With basic swords, there was even a mage.
Great. My arms stretched out, and I did my regular stretch before heading into battle. But this time around, I could feel each muscle vibrating with this sudden shock of newfound energy.
Mana, it had to be.
Inside the VRMMORPG game, there was only an extent to how many things you could directly feel. The sensory was there, but not all the way.
And supposedly…since I'm stuck in this game now, it feels like this body…my character slot…my build.
Actually feels like me.
As the skeletons slowly took a step, my eyes peered past them. Seeing someone, bloodied, almost dying it looked like.
Continuing to look on, one skeleton took the chance to slash at me. But I simply raised my finger and halted the blade perfectly. Nothing too fancy.
But…looks my suspicions were right.
Come back to this world, and immediately get thrown into a side quest with no system.
I'll see how this goes.