They stared at each other, both of them now smiling weirdly as they realized they had the exact same idea in mind.
"Shit. We’re going." Whatever hesitation Tim had disappeared in an instant. "Where is it?"
"I don’t remember exactly where I put it. Is there a map or anything?"
"Bring your palm up and think about the map of this place."
Rafael raised his hand and thought about the Great Forest of Hammon.
A map appeared above his palm.
"Oh, what kind of sci-fi shit is this..." He pointed at it with his other hand and selected navigation, and there it was.
A red dot appeared.
"Fuck yeah..." He turned toward Tim. "I marked it."
He smiled as he stared at the dot.
"It’s not even that far from here." He looked back at the dot. "Only eighty kilometers north. We literally hid our shit close to each other."
But Tim’s excitement about the stash disappeared almost immediately, and Rafael could see it.
"What?"
"North is basically a no-go zone, at least that’s what I read on the forums when this was still a game."
Tim began as he sat down on the ground.
"The Eclipse Guild went up there to explore once and almost all of them died." He looked toward the darkness between the trees. "If an entire guild died in the game, I don’t even want to imagine what would happen here to us."
For a moment Rafael stayed silent as he thought about it.
He had only hidden his own stash in Hammon because, well, it was a fucking enormous forest.
He hadn’t known anything about entire guilds getting wiped out this far north. Moreover, he used an old glitch to travel that was fixed.
Though there was something that was on Tim’s mind.
"How the fuck are you still Level One? After completing the tutorial, you should be at least Level Ten."
"There was an exploit when I made the account, so I skipped the tutorial completely."
"What about the elves, then?" Tim asked. "You said you killed them, did you get experience points?"
Rafael shook his head. "No, I used the bread Easter Egg."
"You still had that?"
"Yep, but shit." Rafael looked down at himself. "I’m literally like an NPC compared to you. I never even PvP’d anyone or fought a boss the normal way."
Tim immediately started thinking about something, or more specifically, the most important thing of all.
He could protect himself even against Level 1000 players, but Rafael was different. He was Level 1. Even with all his knowledge of exploits, in terms of actual strength, he was nothing in this world.
"Let’s forget about the stash. I know nothing about this world yet, so let’s just leave it for now." Rafael stood up. "I think I’m going back to the spawn city, Fersay, to see what people have been doing and familiarize myself with this shit. How many days have passed since I got here?"
"A week."
"Shit. That’s a lot. Was I in a coma?"
"Something like that." Tim glanced toward the house. "I’ve gone back to Fersay a few times, and people are already starting to adapt. So don’t do anything stupid, and hide your name and level before we go anywhere."
"How do I do that?"
"Just say system, identity. There should be an option there."
Rafael raised his hand.
"System, identity."
A window immediately appeared in front of him.
Name: SuckieMyDickieDevs
Level: 1
Class: Assassin
Race: Human
Title: None
Guild: None
Identity Visibility: Public
Name Visibility: Visible
Level Visibility: Visible
Class Visibility: Visible
"System, hide my name, identity, level, class... all of it."
Nothing happened.
" Just click them off."
"Oh."
Rafael reached toward the window and switched everything off one by one.
"Now?"
"All good. Everything’s hidden." Tim raised his hand. "I’ll give you these too, then cast some spells on you before we leave so you don’t immediately fucking die."
A half chest plate suddenly appeared in Tim’s hands, medieval in design but light enough that it didn’t look too restrictive. He handed it to Rafael before pulling out a short sword.
The moment Rafael touched the armor, a window appeared.
[Steel Half Chest Plate]
Rank: F
Level Requirement: 1
Then he touched the blade.
[Steel Short Sword]
Rank: F
Level Requirement: 1
Rafael stared at the equipment in his hands.
"Shit, a half plate isn’t going to do much. You gotta have something overpowered."
"I do, but you’re Level One. Even if this is reality now, you still can’t equip high-level gear, so you’re staying with the basic shit. But don’t worry."
Tim pointed his hand at Rafael.
"I’ll cast some spells on your ass."
A faint layer of light immediately spread across Rafael’s body.
"Greater Protection."
The light sank into his skin, leaving a thin, almost invisible barrier around him.
"Greater Physical Enhancement."
Rafael immediately felt the difference. His muscles tightened, his body became lighter, and even the half plate in his hands suddenly felt like it weighed almost nothing.
Then Tim placed two fingers against Rafael’s chest.
"Homebound Teleportation."
A small circle of light briefly formed beneath Rafael’s feet before disappearing.
Three notifications appeared.
[Greater Protection Applied]
Damage received reduced by 40%.
Duration: 8 Hours
[Greater Physical Enhancement Applied]
Strength increased by 50%.
Agility increased by 50%.
Endurance increased by 50%.
Duration: 8 Hours
[Homebound Teleportation Applied]
Return Point: Tim’s Base
Activation: Intent
Cast Time: 5 Seconds
Uses Remaining: 1
"Woah, I feel otherworldly,"
"Even with these spells, you can’t beat anyone above Level Thirty, so be careful. And another thing." Tim looked Rafael directly in the eyes. "There are brothels in the city..."
Tim should have stopped there.
Instead, he added,
"Elves too."
For a moment, there was silence between them before Rafael finally spoke.
"You know I’m not that much of a fucking gooner."
"I hope so." Tim raised his hand toward Rafael. "Teleportation."
Rafael disappeared in an instant.
"Are you really his friend? You told him about the brothels and the elves knowing damn well he’ll go there."
A faint silhouette suddenly flickered into existence beside him. Her body appeared in broken patches at first, parts of her still completely transparent while others rapidly became visible.
"But the elves will sense that he teleported into the Elven Lands once, and they’ll also sense that he was stabbed by one of them."
Tim looked into her eyes, or at least tried to. Her entire body was covered in black metal armor, intricate silver markings running across every piece of it.
"Rafael is the strongest person I know." A smile formed on Tim’s face. "I cried for days before I finally accepted that this is it. We’re trapped here... but him?"
He shook his head.
"He immediately tried an exploit, got stabbed by an elf and nearly died."
For a moment there was silence between them.
"He had terminal cancer, didn’t he? I imagine fear works differently for someone who already knew they were going to die. Maybe that’s why he’s so fearless in this life."
"Maybe." Tim looked toward the spot where Rafael had disappeared. "But right now, he’s our best chance at actually understanding how this world works."
"You just sent him into the city with that sword. You know they will notice it right?"
"That’s exactly why I sent him."
The woman tilted her head slightly.
"I expect him to get noticed, do something incredibly fucking stupid, and somehow learn something useful about this world."
"I think you forgot something, Tim." Her voice came. "The brothels are outside the Safe Zone."
"Oh..." Tim looked back at the spot where Rafael had been standing just seconds ago. "Well... I know he knows not to leave the Safe Zone and enter a PvP zone." He smiled. "He’s not that down bad—"
"The same guy who, instead of panicking or trying to figure out what the fuck is happning, decided his first priority was glitching through the map to fuck elves?"
"Ah... he’ll be fine."
Meanwhile, in Fersay, the capital of the Bermuda Kingdom... Rafael was doing the exact opposite of what Tim had told him.
"Brothels... I need to do my research."