Cold, moisty air entered Alex's nostrils as he strode forward. Around him, only the dark silhouettes of trees and bushes were visible.
Occasionally, the cold, soft breeze of the mountain would brush past his austere face, causing no particular changes to his monotonous expression.
This was the final test before a player could reach the top and interact with Yuki, The Guardian of Kentel forest.
In total, this foggy path had twenty six different routes. Among these, only five routes would lead to Yuki.
The remaining twenty one routes were simply a dead end. In this case, it is possible for a player to return back to the starting point despite the low chances of success. However most of the beta-testers, if they even bothered, would just kill themselves to return back to their save point.
This action wasn't the best due to obvious reasons.
Fooosh!
An unknown object suddenly brushed past Alex's right cheek, making him stagger and take a few steps towards his left.
"What the?"
As he voiced out, an annoying laughter reached his ears.
The laughter echoed, reverberated, then bounced around in the white fog. A rather unnatural event.
"Don't abuse your Title like that."
Alex scolded Luke.
Though he wasn't sure how and by what scope, this fog itself was likely equipped by Luke as his weapon. That was the only way the unnatural reverberation of his laughter and the pin-point accuracy of his prank could be explained.
"Sorry, was just confirming that you were nearby. I can tell if anything is moving unnaturally within the fog but I wanted to confirm it was indeed, in fact, you—my dear Alex."
Luke explained playfully.
'Just how overpowered is his Title?'
"I find that hard to believe. We both know you won't find anything other than me."
This foggy path is indeed a tough and risky puzzle to solve but that was it. No Beasts or Monsters could enter within it making it, hypothetically, the safest place within The Guardian's Hill.
"Must be hard living with trust issues like that and more importantly, you know about the Title stuff huh?"
'Here it is.'
For whatever reason, Luke hadn't mentioned about his Title up until now. And despite his obviously unordinary way of fighting, Alex hadn't bothered bringing it up either as he waited for the perfect chance to unpack about Titles.
That chance was, at last, finally here.
"Of course I do. In fact, mine happens to be related to it."
"Your Title is related to Titles... what?"
It was evident Luke was a bit confused by his statement. Alex was prepared for it.
He needed to lay the groundwork so that his future self would be able to maneuver himself into the protagonist role.
For that, Titles were an essential part of it.
"The Armamentbound—that's your Title correct?"
"...Ok how did you do that? You can see other's Title?"
A bit taken aback, Luke asked.
"Nah, I happen to be able to access all the information within this game. I simply searched around in the Title section and from what I saw, yours so happened to fit The Armamentbound."
After Alex finished those words, silence ensued. The cold winds hummed while the trees and bushes rustled lightly, making the thumping of Alex's footsteps stand out oddly in the cold environment.
"Wait, that's actually so overpowered. Then, can you see if there is anyone with the Title to multiply their income?"
Luke's voice rang out once again.
"No, I didn't see anything like that."
"Ah I see, too bad. By the way, what's your Title called then?"
"The Librarian."
Alex came up with something on the spot. The name itself wasn't really relevant but the perk of being seen as a Main cast was worth it.
In the near future, Titles will ultimately play a crucial role in the player base of the game.
For Alex to act and be recognized as a protagonist-like figure, he needed to be seen as a reliable Main cast.
"That's a pretty fitting name. A bit lame and stupid, but a fitting name."
"You picking a fight?"
"Who knows? Just rambling to myself but you're basically half blind in this fog right? And I'm kinda able to see and pinpoint your exact location so how should I say, I'm a bit scared to pick a fight."
Luke giggled playfully as his words echoed in the white fog.
Fooosh!
Another object swiftly flew towards Alex and struck him in his left shoulder.
[-3 HP]
"This is a serious situation we're in, you trying to kill me?"
Alex monotonously asked Luke as he watched his HP drop by three points.
When he looked down near his feet, he saw a pale, rotten fingernail lying on the ground. It was a Deteriorated fingernail that could be obtained after killing a Zombie.
'So one of these normally deals three HP worth of damage…'
"Who cares, we're practically there anyway."
"I see."
Alex quietly muttered under his breath, unbeknownst to Luke who was merrily humming a song.
Not even two minutes later, the fog in Alex's vision began to clear up.
The air had long lost its moisture as Alex adjusted his eyes to the light of the bright moon.
In front of him, a beautiful maiden clad in a white kimono sat elegantly on a lush green land.
Her bright orange hair fell all the way to the ground and behind her, two tails of similar orange fur and a white dot at each of their ends could be seen sprawled out on the ground.
Noticing him, her fox-like ears perked up as she slowly glanced at him, her deep emerald eyes appearing to see through his very being.
It was a beautiful sight to behold.
"No way…"
Besides Alex, a voice of distress could be heard.
"Oh, you're finally here?"
Completely ignoring Alex, Luke stepped forward.
What separated Alex and Luke to maiden in front of them—Yuki, was a gentle river that glided calmly along its path.
Both its voice and rhythm were serene, as if complimenting the elegance of the fox-girl in front of them.
"There's no…damn it!"
"What happened to you?"
Just for the sake of being polite, Alex asked.
'It's definitely something stupid.'
"What happened…you say? They changed her hair colour! White was perfect and beautiful but orange?...Orange?! Are they fucking stupid?!...Yeah, CAL2 has definitely lost it."
Luke fumed with rage as he roughly inhaled and exhaled.
In the beta version,Yuki's hair colour was pure white instead of orange. Alex had decided to change it up since orange matched the fox-girl theme of Yuki more… but unsatisfied players were unavoidable.
"Let's just get started already, Yuki is waiting."