[Cursed or Blessed?]
[The chances of great fortune and great misfortune are greatly and equally increased.]
Max truly didn't know what to feel after seeing this weird title. He went on.
[Brave Captain's Chestpiece]
[A chestpiece of an old sea explorer and a captain of an infamous pirate crew that dared to go to the Otherlands. It has been stored in the Black Vault by someone as a trophy.]
[Defense: 300]
[Passive Ability: Brave Fortitude]
[Your Strength and Constitution increase by 5 for every 10 stat points in Strength and Constitution that the enemy has over you.]
[Passive Ability: Brave Mind]
[You fear less. You are highly resistant to mind attacks. You have more clarity in combat.]
[Passive Ability: Sea Conqueror]
[All stats +10% when fighting on the sea.]
Incredible. The chestpiece that I'm wearing now has only 200 defense.
[Brave Captain's Leggings]
[Defense: 150]
[Brave Captain's Boots]
[Passive Ability: Water Walker]
[You can walk on water.]
This is absolutely insane, Max thought. A wide smile was on his face.
The armor wasn't heavy either.
It was night time now. He took off his armor a while ago for comfort. The trio was going to spend the night in the temple.
The building had many holes, cracks and missing things. There were some things left though. Like drawers, torches, carpets and furniture. But not much. Maybe it was burnt or destroyed by a battle or a monster.
"How are you Manuel?"
"Much better. I'm at 60% health. I'll be fully recovered by dawn."
"Good to hear."
Thomas was inspecting an item he collected in the vault.
"Yeah. By the way Max, what does that gem you grabbed do? Did you inspect it?" Manuel asked.
"It has to be engraved into a weapon and it adds an attribute to aura in the weapon. I'm not sure exactly what it means. Maybe something like fire or poison? We'll see. I'll find a good blacksmith for it."
"This ring I got accelerates my aura regeneration and reduces consumption," Thomas said.
"That's pretty good."
"This weird star-like sigil glows whenever I face the direction of something called an Anima," Manuel said.
"It must be good. Don't be disappointed man. Plus as a thanks, I'll buy you a new armor and shield at our nearest city destination. It's a big city and there are surely good stores and blacksmiths."
"Alright."
Max ripped off the cape off his new armor because he didn't want to be marked by something not his own.
"Our luck has been crazy today guys. Let's be a little more careful from now on," Max said with a smile. "It's kinda suspicious how lucky we are."
"Yeah," Thomas agreed.
***
It was hard to fall asleep for Max currently so he went outside.
Refreshing wind hit him.
I wonder what they're doing, he thought of his kids and wife. Best case scenario, it'll be a long time before I see my family.
He sighed.
I wonder what happened to my brother, Max thought. Alex too.
Alex was his real life friend that he spawned with in Kasia. He went to floor two soon after it was unlocked.
"Maybe I should've gone with him," Max said to himself quietly.
Every time Max opened the menu, he saw the second-floor icon. It always sat in the top right corner of his menu. Waiting. Tempting him upward.
Every player could access it the moment the first floor main boss was killed.
But he always remained firm. He was going to explore as much as he could of this world before going up. The stuff Max received only reinforced his decision. The extra stat points from titles, abilities...
A breathtaking sight was above Max in the night sky. Countless stars, and even cosmic clouds of varying colors. A planet was visible. It looked hospitable. It was seemingly close to this world. Close enough that he could see hints of green on its blue dominated surface. The green was scattered as if the entire landmass of the world was split into countless islands. That could possibly be floor two.
Though its perceived size was half of the moon of Earth in the night sky.
Where is Carsius right now. What is he planning? Who is he anyway? Max had many questions.
He could see a red shooting star falling into this world as he thought.
Thomas was sitting at the edge of the peak.
"Can't fall asleep?" he said.
"I'll take over, Tom, go sleep."
"I can't sleep either."
Even in this world, players needed sleep. I guess you could say their minds as well as "bodies" were transported to this game.
A few moments passed while Max and Thomas sat together in the green grass of the mountain peak.
"I wonder...Where were you when the creator's announcement happened?" the archer asked Max.
"Cleaning the streets in Kasia for some coins."
"Haha."
"I didn't even realize there was no Log Out button."
"Well, I was trying out food with...someone."
"Who?"
"She...is dead. She was my girlfriend from the real world. We played together."
Max was silent for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry. I have a wife outside the game, kids too. I miss her a lot."
"Yeah, but at least she's alive."
Another silence ran between them for a few moments.
"Is Manuel a real world friend of yours?" Max never asked this before.
"Nah, we first met in a mini-boss raid party about two months ago."
They continued talking and Max decided to open up a little bit.
"I joined this game with a friend of mine. He went to a higher floor though. He wanted me to come with him badly but I refused. We were both certain about our decisions so we parted ways."
"You think he's alive?"
"Definitely."
"Hope we meet him."
"Yeah. My brother also joined this game but I never met him. He didn't spawn at the same location."
Max and his friend decided that they would spawn in Kasia together. His brother on the other hand...
"Fucking wish I convinced him," Max thought.
On the spawn menu, you could select any settlement on the entire continent. You had to zoom in for the smaller ones though.
"He wanted to spawn in some dumb place called Ring Village. It did look dreamy and beautiful though."
"NPCs talked about that place to me as well."
"Maybe we should visit it one day. I heard there are pretty girls there too. They have purple and pink eyes. The Rage Duke's son married a woman from there."
"Huh," Thomas rubbed his chin.
"I just wish he's alive. If he is, he's definitely somewhere up on a higher floor as well. He was always the type of guy to speedrun games. Also a brave motherfucker in general."
"Imagine if him and that friend of yours are together now."
"That would be a miracle."
Their talk continued. The moon's position in the dazzling sky changed as their topics changed. And slowly, but surely, morning was coming.
The two Suns were rising, and the lone green moon fell behind the horizon, along with the hospitable neighbouring planet. By this time, the two players were long done with their talk and were asleep.