Light Within

Noir

"I see you tonight!!"

 A short message from Claire, saying she will be joining Katherine tonight in the Eternal Quest. 

  "You better be. You miss much though"

             Sunday morning, and it feels like Katherine deserved plenty of rest for today. After the intense fight with the sudden final boss, Katherine now feels like she needs to play more since she had nothing much to do in the real world. Every day felt the same when she is not in the virtual world. Going to school, getting pranked by Amber, going home, doing homework, the cycles keep continuing. She is getting bored with all of that stuffs, but until Eternal Quest came out. Since the game came out, all of those cycles do not bother her much. She took the mini monitor from the VR gear to look at her stats after the battle before.

 Astral

 Level: 15

 Stats: Str 10 

     Int 30

     Agi 25

     Vit 10

     Dex 10

 Skills:

 Holy Bits

 Heal

 Defence Wall

 Air Cutter

 White Magic II

 Wind Magic I

            "Hmm, this is such progress.", confirmed Katherine. Although she could not grasp on what role she will play, it is quite enough to assume her probably role maybe a mage-healer. Though she prefers to be fully mage, this seems promising. "Oh, a notice from the game". 

Dear our dearest players, 

Thank you for playing Eternal Quest. Our sincerest thanks to those who choose to play this game. We only strive to make you able to share your joy and laughter with old and new friends.

 "This is quite long. Need to skip that", mumbled Katherine as she swipes to the main point.

To celebrate this overwhelming joy, we prepare for all players, an event to continue your journey with more excitement and enthusiasm. Behold our first event: Battle Royal. 

 Katherine suddenly sits straight from her bed. She now seems intrigued by the event about to happen in the game. Her attention is focused on the announcement as her eyes fixed to the monitor. 

This event allows the players to go solo, or form the party of two, whichever suits the player battle styles. The rule is simple: fight for your wills and aim for the top ranks in no time. The top three players will be rewarded handsomely by the end of the event. We hope to hear from you soon. 

-Your patron and developer.

 After finished reading the notice, Katherine quickly grabs her phone and messaging Claire. Katherine types in a quick motion, "We are so going to need to prepare you for the first event!". A few seconds passed, Katherine received the calls from Claire, "Katherine, forgot about tonight. Let's do it now!". Katherine delightful replied and took her gear to enter the game.

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Changing to Astral

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             Astral sits at the nearby bench in Ludea, waiting for Claire's debut in the game. "I wonder, will Claire met Era too?", thought Astral by herself, as she remembered the first moment when she entered the game, she met Era, who is...let say 'unique', for an NPC. She gazes her surrounding for a while and realizes that a cafe opens nearby. "Maybe we will visit there later". After a few minutes past, Claire has shown up with her default outfit. She tied her hair up like ponytail alike. Her weaponry, a Rapier, is neatly well put, hanging on her waist with the hanger. "A Rapier, huh? Classical.", nudged Astral to her friend. "Oh young miss, please, call me Noir.", mentioned Claire, as now her name is Noir. They both laugh when two of them are pretending to be like one of those musketeers they saw on the movies when they were young. Astral signals Noir join her, grab a snack at the cafe she found earlier. 

             "So, do you met Era?". Astral broke the silence when all the voices that they can hear were chewing sounds. "Who?", gobbled by the cake, Noir responded half clear. Astral tries to keep up the conversation, when she too was too tempted by the cakes, "You know, the NPC, that guides the player...in the customization...before we enter the game?". Noir gulped the last piece of cakes into her mouth, looking straight into Astral's eyes and replied: "What're you talking bout?". Watching Astral confused by her response, Noir continued, "In the customization page...it is only us, Astral. There is no NPC around". Astral shocked, but she ignored it and addressed it as a glitch. They both continued chatting about how to level up, where to find new, unique gears and new areas to explore. Yet still, something tells Astral that she cannot just ignore those unsettling feelings easily. 

            "So, you're telling me, that new equipment that you get...is from defeating a boss's dungeon?", asked Noir on their way to the Twisted Forest. "Yup, and it was one of those unique series like no one else has it.", explained Astral, hinting she was proud of herself. As they keep talking, wild monsters approached them from both sides of their ways. Astral was ready to launch an attack, with her signature Multiple Holy Bits, but being stopped by Noir in the middle of the spell. "Say Astral, the monsters around here is like, only about low-levels, correct?", asked Noir, with a bit smile on her face. Astral put down her staff, perplexed but replied: "Yeah, I do manage to beat them before,", she continued, "but is it because of my Heal. My HP bar remain thanks to that". Noir withdraws her Rapier and stands in her attacking position as she used to in the fencing class. "I know this is a sudden request, but can you Heal me when I receive much damage?", she paused and replied, in a joyful tone, "I think, I want to deal with them. We need to level me up faster, correct? I think I will if we don't share the EXP". Astral sighed, but in a pleasant way. She slowly put down her staff and uses buffs spell to enhance Noir's basic attack. "Remember to look after your HP, but fear not, I will  Heal later", said Astral as she retreats to a safer area. Noir mouthed 'thank you' and turned back to face the enemy. "Well then, shall we dance?".

            Noir sprints to the nearest monster that looks like a horned rabbit, while giving a fatal strike to its eyes, hoping to blind it somehow. As the other monsters approached her, Noir gracefully evaded the monsters and slashed them in the back of their head. "Hmm, the other monsters seems easy enough to take down...except", thought Noir as she still locked her eyes on the horned rabbit. She quickly gets her attention back to the remained monsters around. One and another, she evaded through the gap between the monsters and finished them off, like a ballerina, dancing in the swan lake. A message from System Prompt popped out; You have learned: Swan Strike, Swift Slide. "Ah, so this is how you learned new skills.", nodded Noir. She evaded more, and more, and take down most of the monsters until the only one left, the horned rabbit. "Noir, your body!", shouted Astral from afar, while she rebuffed Noir back. Noir noticed a blue aura resonated within her. She gave a thought for a while and checked her  Stats tab, later on, she smiled. "I knew it. It is a passive skill", said Noir, smirked. With that, she dashed toward the horned rabbit and slashed him with the fatal blow. The rabbit deceased and later disappeared, leaving behind a map. Astral rushed over Noir, healed her. "What'sup with that blue aura?", asked Astral as it the only things that caught her attention. At the exact moment, another System Prompt message popped out in front of Noir's face, You have learned: Rapier Ace. "Oh, you mean this? It is one of the skills, that amplified my basic attack if I managed to evade every attack from the enemy", explained Noir with proud. She continued, "With this, I can level up faster. And of course, catching up to you.". Astral amazed by Noir's credibility in the game, although it is not a new thing since Noir always have time to play video games. "Wow, you might have more reliable skills then I do", pouted Astral. They both chuckled, sooner they realized about the map. 

             "The map, eh?", uttered Noir, with curiosity. She unfolded it and studied the map. "Supposedly, the map has an 'X' mark on it. The location is quite near too. Should we go?", asked Noir, wanting an approvement from Astral. Astral nodded, and they both continued their journey to the pointed location. After a few walks, both of them stopped at the beautiful lake, located at the centre of the forest. "Are you sure the map is not a fraud? There is nothing here, except the lake", Astral responded, clueless. Suddenly, the map shines bright and flies to the centre of the lake, revealing a secret passage to a door. Both of them gasped, and replied at the same time: "Omg, a dungeon!". They look to each other and nodded. 

"Let's go!"