January 1st, 2022: 5:45PM Japan Standard Time
Floor 1: Town of Beginnings
"I have left you with a final parting gift. You will find it in your inventories. You must be asking yourselves, why would I do this? I hope you discover the answer to this question on your journey to the end of the world. Good luck my players!"
Those were the last words he had heard Kayaba Akihiko speak before the flash of light consumed him. He had spent a large portion of his initial jump into the game customizing his avatar. Now, looking back at him in the mirror he held was none other than himself. If it wasn't for the initial shock of seeing himself revealed and the fear looming after the declaration of a death game, he might have been annoyed at the waste of time.
His reflection bore the very same jet black, slicked back hair he had styled during the day, before he had entered into the now revealed trap. His free hand came up to feel the beard on his face, his actual beard. He wasn't old, only twenty-two, but a quick look around showed multiple people were very much so in their younger years.
A hand grabbed his own, breaking him out of the trance that staring into his own ice blue eyes had put him into. A familiar female voice called out to him, clearly in a panic. "T…Kalle, come on. We need to get moving before we get swept up in the shit show that's about to go down."
Kalle turned to the source. His friend Arya. She had convinced him to take the second half of his day off to play on launch. A part of him wanted to be angry at her after learning of their current situation, but he couldn't bring himself to. They had been friends forever, meeting early in grade school and being inseparable since. In hindsight it was good he had accepted, he'd be able to watch her back.
Don't get it wrong though, they were just friends. Not that she wasn't pretty. Arya was fairly tall for a woman, and she was considered more on the athletic side in her real life. She had long blond hair that was pulled back behind her in a pony tail and bright blue eyes that stared on with worry. No, she was plenty easy on the eyes. They just didn't see each other like that.
He shook himself out of his daze and nodded, following quickly behind her. Shortly after, she exited the plaza they had been teleported into. At this point, he was just following her lead. Arya had been lucky enough to get accepted into the beta test. She didn't make it very far into the floors due to schooling, but she had more information then he did at the current moment and that was enough for him to fall in step.
At some point during their escape he had taken his hand back and instead ran beside her. They made their way down the wide roads of the Town of Beginnings, at this point it seemed that her goal was to take them outside of the city.
"Are you sure this is such a good idea Arya? If we can actually…you know…die." He didn't turn to look at her, opting to instead keep his eyes in front of him. It wasn't that he was necessarily opposed to getting ahead of the game, but he wanted them both to be safe.
"You remember how I told you to turn off system assist? Between both of our actual training in the real world and the low difficulty of the first few zones, we should be safe for at least the first week as long as we don't do anything stupid." Arya sounded confident and so he agreed. She was intelligent and he trusted her to make the smart decision.
It was also hard to argue with her logic. The "training" she spoke of was various sports the two of them had both done over the years, different martial arts and activities. Arya had even picked up archery at one point. That little fact would probably explain her weapon of choice. A quick look to his left gave him the glance of a bow and quiver resting on her back. That glance however, as he would find out in just a moment, was a mistake.
Crash!
He heard it before he felt it, or at least that's what it seemed like. Cold stone impacted his back and pain shot up his spine. He grunted, closing his eyes as he felt a weight press down on top of him followed by Arya shouting above him.
"Are you okay!?" She shouted over his ringing ears. It was strange though, she didn't seem to be talking to him. He was slowly getting his bearings back, his eyes peeling open to see that there was a tuft of black hair in his face.
Kalle felt hands on his chest and the tuft rose up to reveal a woman's face. Emerald eyes stared down at him before a look of shock and worry crossed the woman's face, a scared voice following from her soon after. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…I was just…"
The hands of the mystery girl came up to wave in front of her, most likely out of embarrassment. Arya had already made it over to the pair on the ground, leaning down to help the woman off of him. Kalle let out another groan of pain, laying his head down against the stone for a moment.
"It's…fine…" He managed to speak through his pounding head. So that's what had happened? It was a little bit of a cliche, he'd give it that.
"Oh…nice to meet you, I'm Koharu…" Kalle managed to hear the end of their introductions. Her name was Koharu, he'd have to remember that after dealing with the splitting headache he was nursing. Kalle brought his hands up to his face, rubbing his eyes before slowly sitting up with a grunt.
"Oh stop being such a baby." From above him, Arya had paused whatever discussion they were in to look down at him. Her hands were on her hips, staring at him expectantly. "Maybe if you watched where you were going you wouldn't be on the floor."
"Oh…It was really my fault…" He heard the woman known as Koharu plead. His only response was to grumble, picking himself up from the ground and dusting himself off. He finally got a look at the person he had collided with, turning to face her.
Koharu appeared as if she couldn't have been much younger than them, maybe twenty? She had black hair that went just past her shoulders, curtaining the sides of her face. Bright, innocent emerald eyes met his own.
"Oh don't let this idiot try to get rid of the blame." Kalle snapped away from Koharu to Arya as she spoke. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"I don't see how this is my fault. Really I don't see how it's her fault either, we just happened to run into each other." Kalle paused, turning back to Koharu. She had a light red tinge of embarrassment still present on her face.
"It's fine, are you okay?" He let the annoyed look drop from his face as he spoke. It really was just a freak accident, and he wasn't about to go making random enemies on day one of the death game.
"I'm…I'm fine. You're the first group of people who's even stopped to talk to me." She sounded sad and a little bit scared, both of which were reasonable emotions given their now very real predicament. He wasn't really sure how to respond to the complete blindside that was this woman.
Before he could say anything though, he heard Arya speak up again. "Well, I know we just met, but you can come with us if you want?"
Kalle felt an eye twitch at that. It wasn't that he was opposed to making friends, but this was probably the worst time to be picking up strays with everyone no doubt being hyped up on emotions. He was about to speak up to protest, but he glanced at Arya to notice she was shooting daggers his way. He knew it was her way of saying 'test me I dare you'.
"Um…Are you sure? We just met and our introduction wasn't exactly the best…" Koharu sounded extremely nervous with each word she said. Kalle didn't think it was due to the duo she had run into. No, it was most likely just the situation in general that scared her.
"Yeah, you seem nice enough." Kalle let out a sigh of defeat as he spoke. For whatever reason his friend had taken a liking to this random stranger. Probably because it was another woman in the hell hole that was about to be this game.
"Okay…I think…I think I'd like that." Koharu's timid voice continued to speak slowly.
"Just so you're aware, we're about to head out of the city to try and get a lead ahead of everyone." Kalle stared at her as he spoke. He figured if she was going to tag along, she should know what she was even agreeing to.
"Oh…I…" Koharu trailed off for a moment as the look of fear on her face intensified. She stayed silent for a moment before the emotion died down a little bit, replaced with a glint of determination.
"I don't want to let this freak scare me into hiding and rotting my life away." Koharu spoke with a sudden confidence, dropping some of the timidness she had carried before.
Koharu's words actually impressed him if he was being honest. As surreal as the situation was, it was still reality. He could respect someone quickly trying to grasp some form of control over their problems. Kalle grunted in agreement while he dragged his menu open to send the party invite.
After only a moment of thought, Koharu accepted the invitation. Her name appeared in the left corner of his vision alongside himself and Arya. Kalle let a sigh escape him as he rubbed his eyes one last time.
"Alright, let's get moving then. We don't want to waste anymore time." Kalle followed his words by beginning forward once more. He didn't know where Arya had intended to lead them, but he might as well get the train started again.
The trio had made it outside of the city walls, Arya once more taking the lead as she began to direct them towards whatever goals she may have had in mind. At this point, the pair of women were a few feet in front of Kalle. They were close enough that he could still hear any conversation though. They walked in relative silence down the dirt roads until Arya decided to break it with a question.
"So, Koharu, what's your story? I figure if you're going to party with us we should know about you and what you're good at." She didn't seem to be attempting an interrogation, but she was straight to the point.
"Um…Well I decided to give the game a try, much good that did me, after having my Nerve Gear for so long. I used it to try on clothes and such from virtual stores...." Koharu was half answering half muttering to herself. She seemed like a shy person in general, even more so when talking about herself.
"Oh that's interesting! First time gamers are always fun. It…it sucks that this is what you have to deal with." Arya sounded genuine, and a part of Kalle agreed. Games were supposed to be an escape from the world, a way to blow off steam. Now the numb reality was setting in that they were going to be fighting for their lives for who knows how long.
"What about you? You two seem pretty close, I'm assuming you came here together?" Koharu had a hint of something he couldn't quite identify in her voice, a curious edge that was searching for answers.
"Oh yeah we've been friends forever. Kalle and I met when we were both young, and have been together ever since." Arya trailed off before leaning to her right, whispering something he wasn't close enough to hear.
Koharu paused for a split second before her arms came up in front of her face. She performed the same waving motion he had seen her do earlier, making a noise of embarrassment. Arya next to her had begun to laugh, a real hearty laugh, using her elbow to nudge Koharu in the side.
"What in the hell did you tell her Arya? Don't torment the poor woman." Kalle spoke up from behind them, shaking his head in disappointment at her.
"Oh nothing, don't worry about it. Now Koharu, a more business related question. What weapon did you start with?" Just like that the laughing stopped and Arya had switched back to serious. It was impressive how fast she was able to do that sometimes.
"Um, I went with a dagger. Before this whole mess broke out I had managed to pick up a second one as well. I don't know too much about video games, but I know enough about the basic design to know that two light weapons will let me be quick, hopefully." Koharu's response was equally direct, but she still held the traces of kindness she seemed to always be carrying around since they had met her.
Kalle nodded in approval at the revelation. A quick melee DPS would be a good addition to the ranged style Arya was playing with and then his own. At the thought of his own style, Kalle looked down at his hands. He had started with one of the magic spells, more specifically frost magic.
He had hoped it would allow him to build what he had intended to. According to Arya and her beta testing, frost magic was a good addition to a tank's arsenal as it focused on defensive and control based abilities. He had hoped to pair that with his weapon of choice to create a fairly defensive and agile style.
Kalle swiped his hand to open his menu as the two women continued to talk, confirmations of what he had already been thinking about her skill choice followed by idle chatter. Scrolling through his inventory he found his weapon, a basic wooden quarterstaff.
He equipped the weapon, allowing it to materialize into existence, grabbing it from the air. He figured at this point he might as well use it like a walking stick. He turned his attention back towards the pair to pick up on their current conversation.
"I think with the three of us we should be able to take on a small mini boss that's in the next zone. His last hit bonus is a healing spell I can use with my bow from range that will be a huge help. Also the boss is on a pretty long timer so we probably won't have the chance to come back for a while once people discover the drop." Arya was back to strategy talk and while she did Koharu simply nodded along, taking in the information.
Koharu really did seem to be a kind person, and he was slowly warming up to the idea of her coming with them. She seemed to hold happiness around her even with the fear and stress of their situation, like a gentle soul keeping spirits up. Kalle chuckled to himself softly, shaking his head in amusement at the thought of the cliche way their group had come together.
After an hour or so of traveling they had seemed to have finally reached their destination. Arya stopped them at the edge of what appeared to be a large circular field of short grass. At the center rested a large tree of dark wood, swaying ominously in the wind. The one thing that did seem to be missing was the mini boss Arya had spoken about.
"The boss's name is [Gate Guardian Rakkah]. We could never find out what the gate guardian part meant, but he's an ent essentially. He uses a big wood club that he'll pretty obviously charge up before swinging. It's got a deceptively large area of effect, so just be mindful of that. Otherwise it's just a straight burn." Arya had gone right back into business mode to give the brief rundown of boss mechanics.
With a small sign of hesitation, Koharu drew her daggers. Kalle pulled his staff upwards from its resting position, giving it a twirl in his hands. A small smile crossed his face at the familiar feel of the weapon in his hand. This might now be a death game, but it still felt just as good as it did in the real world.
"I'm assuming it spawns when we enter. I'll engage. Let me pull aggro before you start damage." Kalle had decided it was time for him to follow in step with Arya's lead, adopting a serious approach.
"Koharu, I know you're new so only take an opening if you're sure it's safe. Even getting hit multiple times shouldn't be a direct threat, so don't feel afraid to disengage if you need to." Arya added in as she beckoned Kalle forward and drew her own weapon, nocking an arrow in preparation.
With a nod from Koharu confirming she had heard them, Kalle stepped into the circle. It was an immediate shift in atmosphere, the tree that had been swaying slightly in the breeze froze in place as if it had turned to stone. In front of the party at the base of the tree a dark green light flashed like a lightning bolt, sparking the arrival of the boss. Exactly how Arya had described, a large humanoid mass that resembled the tree behind it was hunched over. It rested on a single knee with its club in the ground like one might expect a knight to kneel for their ruler. In a move that caused the ground to rumble it began to stand. At its full height, the tree guardian stood at a towering ten feet tall.
Without wasting any time, Kalle grit his teeth and darted forward. His left hand came up to form a fist, holding it in front of his right cheek. It began to glow a dim light blue, like the color of glacial ice. His feet carried him forward until he was about half way to the tree, he was attempting to close the gap as fast as possible to put something between the boss and his allies.
Kalle came to a sliding stop, now only about ten feet or so away when he heard Arya let an arrow loose behind him. It stuck into the torso of the guardian as it finished standing with the sound of splitting wood. Following up at her engagement, Kalle threw his hand out and extended his fingertips. The white-blue glow shaped into shards of ice that went flying forward.
He directed the shards downwards with a hope of having them land at the feet of the creature. If the effects worked as he had hoped, the guardian may be slowed further than it already was. The ice broke the bark of the creature's legs and began to spread, forming around the ankles of the towering tree creature.
By that point it had focused its attention towards Kalle, which was exactly where he wanted it to be. The towering boss began to bring its massive club up above its head. Kalle paused for a moment to let it wind up, his attention drawn briefly by another arrow striking the guardian above him.
Kalle snapped his attention back towards the club as it began its descent, aimed directly towards him. He coiled his legs, waiting until it had reached the halfway point before springing forward into a frontal dive. He heard the crashing behind him and the tremors ripple through the ground when the club impacted the ground, but he didn't dare take the time to look back at it.
He came out of his roll in a fluid motion, landing on a knee to stop himself. Without hesitation he brought the staff up and around in a strong arcing sweep. Using his body as even further leverage, he followed the arc of the spin. He pushed himself upwards into a standing position at the same time he spun, the wood staff connecting with the back of the boss's leg.
A loud crack could be heard from the weapon impact, followed by the boss letting out a roar of pain. Before it had time to react though he saw a flash of black on the opposite side. Koharu had closed the gap during his engagement and delivered multiple quick slashes with her daggers. Just as quickly as he had spotted her she was already retreating. When she wasn't busy being afraid, she herself seemed like she could be scary.
No time to think though, the guardian had already begun to shift to face him again. A quick glance upwards told him its health. The bar hadn't moved very much at all, that was to be expected, he was hoping that it had moved just a little bit more though. Kalle charged another spell before darting off to the left to try and continue and circle the giant.
Arrows had continued to rain down every few seconds from Arya firing them off in the distance, giving a steady supply of damage to the boss's health. Kalle let the shards from his charged spell fly once more at the boss's legs, watching as the magic continued to increase the amount of ice that had built up at its ankles.
This time when the club came swinging down, Kalle had a different idea than to roll away. He waited once more as it aimed to smash him into the ground, holding off his movement until the last second. He let a breath out he didn't know he was holding and side stepped to the right. He had really hoped his plan was going to work.
In any real encounter, such a large size difference would mean he'd almost certainly get squashed, but this was a game. His staff swung in a counter clockwise arc, both of his hands behind the defensive maneuver as he intercepted the strike in a parry. His arms screamed in protest from the force of the blow dispersed into his body. Kalle let out a grunt, using both the stepping motion he had initiated and the spinning of the staff to shove the creature away from him.
Just like his roll before, Kalle continued his march forward at the same time he brought the staff back around in another twirling strike. It was like the motions of a monk, weaving through attacks and following with his own trained precision. Another roar escaped the boss as the wood connected with the creature's back.
Rushing past him, Kalle was able to get a brief glance of Koharu flying in with her daggers. She delivered another series of rapid cuts, each landing her dagger skills powering them. They continued this pattern for some time in relative comfort. Kalle would continue to shoot spells and draw the creature's attention. Koharu would strike each time the boss finished an attack. Arya ever consistently fired off arrow after arrow, safe at a distance.
Then, the boss dipped into the red. With a bellow of anger the guardian threw its club to the side, discarding it. The tree that had been unmoving since the fight began once more started to sway, wisps of smoke like energy drifting from its branches towards the boss which began to surround its body.
"Kalle, this wasn't in the beta, fall back!" Arya shouted from behind him with such a sudden force it almost scared him.
Kalle however, being as stubborn as he was, only narrowed his eyes at the boss's obvious phase change. They were close enough, he'd be fine. Without responding to her he darted forward bringing his staff in line with his body and closing the distance with the gate guardian. He quickly learned that was a mistake.
Where before the boss had moved slowly, making it easily predictable, now it moved with sudden speed. The smokey like energy dripped from its arms and the monster swung with its bare hand. Being completely unprepared, Kalle could do nothing but watch in horror as the claw-like branches of its fingers connected with him.
With a yell of pain he felt his feet leave the ground. He had gone flying, who knows how far, through the air. He hit the ground with a sickening crack. His health plummeted from the almost full green down to just below yellow, the red bar flashing in the corner of his vision.
"No!" He heard someone shout, but he couldn't be sure if it was Arya or Koharu. His ears were ringing too loud to discern that right now. He rolled over onto his back, gasping for breath as his hand went reaching around him without aim to see if maybe his staff was still near him.
He could faintly recognize the sound of a skill being activated, followed by a few slashes that most likely came from Koharu engaging. When he couldn't find his staff, Kalle opted instead to roll over back onto his chest. Putting his hands under him, he pushed through the pain as best he could to bring himself back up.
His arms screamed in protest but he managed to get himself back to his feet. He was slightly wobbly, but he was able to rub his eyes and take stock of the battlefield. Where Arya had once been far away, safe from the range the boss had, she was now much closer. She must have engaged when he went down. Koharu was doing her best to weave between the boss's strikes, but with the increase in reactions she was taking strikes every now and then.
Luckily they didn't seem as powerful as the initial attack the boss had landed on him, but they needed to wrap this up or they could be in trouble. Kalle spotted his staff a few feet away from him and decided that was his first objective. He charged another spell, letting it fly towards the creature.
"Come on you ugly mug, get over here!" He shouted at the same time he began to rush towards his staff. The frost magic he used seemed to be exceptionally good at building aggro. As soon as the bolt connected, the boss paused and turned its attention back towards him. It came charging towards him in the same moment he made his way to his weapon.
As the guardian made another swipe at him, he was prepared this time. Straight from his sprint he kicked out his legs, falling into a knee slide under the arm to reach his weapon. He quickly picked it back up, spinning around just in time to block a closed fist trying to punch him in the gut.
"You idiot, fall back!" Arya screamed at him. His initial response was to pivot off the block into a strike of his own. His staff glowed blue as he executed a skill, the damage causing the creature to stumble backwards a few feet.
"I'm fine, just finish this thing while we're all still in formation." He finally gave a verbal response but he was already advancing forward.
Koharu had appeared once more, rolling into her strikes, delivering blow after blow with her daggers. She maintained her onslaught until the guardian began to recover from its stumble, after which she gracefully disengaged.
With hesitation Arya continued to let arrows fly down onto the boss. Kalle was certain after this was all over he'd be getting an earful from his friend, but right now they needed to beat this thing. Arya had claimed it dropped a special spell, one that he agreed would help them tremendously. A little bit of risk was worth such an early boon, at least in his opinion.
Making good on his thoughts he rushed forward to engage the boss once more before it could fully recover. He let another spell fly from his hand followed shortly by a sweeping strike of his staff. With both hands, he swung the wooden weapon at the creature's legs. With another loud crack, the creature let out a deep roar as it lost its footing.
The large guardian fell onto its back, and the second the loud crash echoed around them Kalle felt a presence rush past him. With a show of agility, Arya had leapt forward onto the chest of the boss. Pulling the string of her bow back, the weapon began to glow a brilliant green color. It was a skill that Kalle knew was intended to finish the thing off.
The skill-powered arrow launched directly into the creature's face, impacting with such force that the guardian's head snapped backwards, slamming into the dirt below it. A few seconds passed with the creature unmoving before it suddenly shattered into polygons of light, the different shards wisping away in the wind.
A menu appeared in front of Kalle's face and with a quick glance he could see the same menu had opened for Koharu. Glancing to Arya however, he would see a different screen appear above her loot menu, the last attack bonus. [Healing Arrow] was the spell's name. Kalle chuckled to himself at that, such a simple title.
With an exhale of relief, Arya accepted the rewards. A moment of silence passed before she turned on her heels, striding over to Kalle with only a few steps. She jabbed a finger at his chest, a look of anger very clearly present on her face.
"You are such an idiot. Don't pull something like that again, you'll get yourself killed." Her tone was firm, direct, but there was clearly a hint of worry in it.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You had said if we didn't beat it we may not have another chance for a while. I wanted to make sure…" Kalle had brought his hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it slightly in embarrassment. His words were cut off by the glare of daggers coming his way from his friend.
"I'm…I'm glad you're okay." Another voice broke the pair out of their spat. Kalle turned to his left to see Koharu, a similar look of relief on her face. He shot her a look of reassurance, bringing his arm down to cross both of them in front of his chest.
"You know Koharu, for a newbie you actually did really well." Kalle's praise elicited a tinge of red that spread across the young woman's face. Koharu turned her head away, muttering something he couldn't make out.
"Arya, did we want to check out the tree? Gate Guardian makes it sound like the boss was, well, guarding something." Kalle pivoted his focus back to his old friend, curious to hear her opinion.
Arya shook her head in response. "I doubt whatever secret, if it even exists, is something we could discover now. If no one in the beta could, it might have something to do with later floors."
Kalle turned back to Koharu, his lips twitching upwards into a smirk. "Sorry I was a little standoffish at first. I was skeptical of people with how things have been the last couple hours. You pulled your weight though, and without you I'd most likely be a goner."
Koharu once more looked away with embarrassment, nodding her head again. "It's fine, I understand. I only asked because you two seemed nice. I can't really put into words why, but I figured I'd follow my gut."
He replied with a laugh, leaning on his staff as he continued the conversation. "So what's our next goal? I'm not in any condition to be fighting another boss."
"I'm still angry with you, but we should get moving. The next town is still a ways away. By the time we get there it will be dark." Arya caught his attention once more. Kalle shifted his gaze back towards her, an amused twinkle in his eyes at her words.
"Very well, lead the way then captain." Kalle performed a mock salute, causing Arya to only further glare at him, and Koharu to giggle.
It had indeed taken them the rest of the night, but after a few hours they arrived at [Medai Town]. It was rather large, but nowhere near the size of the Town of Beginnings. With the darkness overhead none of the stores were open, and as such Arya was currently leading the trio to the inn of the town.
"Man, I'm beat. Sleep sounds wonderful right now." Kalle had broken the small lull of silence while they walked, still using his staff as a walking stick.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't run straight at the boss during a phase change, you wouldn't be so worn out." Arya spoke over her shoulder to him, not even turning to face him as she chastised him.
"Yeah yeah, we beat it though, that's all that matters. Now you've got your little spell to heal me when I do it again." He grinned through his words, it was always so much fun pushing her buttons.
Koharu let a small laugh escape at their antics, but Arya said nothing. She instead stopped, in front of her a large wooden door. They had arrived at the inn. Without another word Arya pushed the door open to reveal the sounds of the patrons inside.
The thing Kalle immediately noticed was that everyone inside was all NPCs. They were there as a way to fill the space and engage the players. He smiled at that detail, that meant they were most likely the first group to make it to the town. Without waiting for either of his companions, he sauntered up to the bar, flagging down the bartender.
The male bartender came over to him quickly, speaking with a surprisingly real sounding voice. "Hello there, what can I do for you this fine evening?"
Kalle was impressed, he'd never want to admit it out loud though. While it was still obviously not a real player, it was still very good. "Two rooms please, one with two beds."
The bartender took a moment, presumably to register and process his request. The NPC then reached under the counter, pulling two small keys out. "They'll be on the second floor, rooms 201 and 202, 202 is the room that has two beds. That'll be 50 cor total for the night."
Kalle had to fight himself to not glare at the bartender. Even with their farming today, he only had a total of 500 cor. Grumbling to himself he'd open his menu, retrieving the money before handing it over. The bartender slid the keys over to him and he quickly added them to his inventory.
"Have a good night!" The bartender spoke in reply.
Kalle turned on his feet, returning to his companions who had taken a seat at one of the bar tables in the corner of the room. He slid into the booth opposite of the two women who had chosen to sit next to each other, their conversation pausing and turning to him.
"I got us rooms, I figured the two of you wouldn't mind sharing." Kalle said, pulling their key from his inventory, sliding it across the table.
Arya snatched it up quickly, still looking at him while she spoke. "I ordered a small meal for the three of us, just some chicken and veggies. Figured we should all eat before we sleep."
Kalle switched his attention back and forth between Arya and Koharu. "So what's the plan for tomorrow? I'm guessing we should try doing some quests."
Arya nodded and Koharu listened along silently as she spoke. "That's the best option. We want to get the early levels out of the way as fast as possible. There's a few quests around here that give some rare items, so we should prioritize those first."
As they spoke, the waiter had arrived with their food. Quickly thanking the female NPC before digging it, they paused their conversation. Kalle didn't realize until he had started eating just how hungry he was. By the speed at which his companions ate, they were in the same boat.
A few minutes of nothing but the sound of eating and patrons around them speaking filled the air. Finally, after they all had a chance to eat, Kalle tapped his fork on the plate he was eating from before looking back to his friends.
"We can wake up early tomorrow and get to it. I think I'd like to turn in for the night though." He set his fork down and pulled himself out from the booth, giving both of them a smile.
"Oh..okay. Goodnight Kalle." It was Koharu that had replied first, Arya still chewing the last few bites of her meal.
He gave her a thumbs up. "You too, see you both in the morning."
Arya threw a wave towards Kalle as he headed off, not breaking from her food even when he left. He made his way up the stairs to find his designated room, unlocking it and heading inside in silence. He closed the door behind him before examining the room as a whole. It was fairly nice, so at least he was getting his money's worth.
He didn't waste any time, setting his staff against the wall and beginning to remove his clothing. Once he had stripped down to just his undergarments, he fell into the bed, his arms outstretched and he let out a loud sigh. His eyes scanned the ceiling above him, the silence giving him some time to finally process the events of the day.
Whether Kalle liked it or not, he was stuck in this death game. If someone had found a way to free them, they more than likely would have already been out by now. He closed his eyes, trying his best to relax while the thoughts ran through his head. His focus for the time being would have to be protecting Arya…and his new friend.
A soft look appeared on Kalle's face. As much as he had disagreed with the new party member joining them, he was slowly warming up to her. His last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep were of his friends, making a promise to himself to make sure they remained safe no matter what.