Chapter 6：The New Update

Prologue

Rebirth Online. It was the first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the world. It use a device named Syder (Synapse Reader) which reads the human impulse and send back information about virtual world. Three month after the launched of the server it is currently have more than 1.000.000 users.

I remember that day. The day I run away from the real world. I run away from all of hypocrite in the real world. They claimed to be my friend but in the end they are just stranger. Since that day, I have a change of heart.

I expect to have a fresh start in the virtual world. I find a new purpose in my life. I found someone that can give me hope. Someone that gives me light in the darkness. Someone that have been my sun. Someone that have given me a smile as warm as the sun. Someone that care for me more than my family. Someone that encourage me to open my heart.

I feel something in my heart that has been long frozen. I tried to open my heart once again to some stranger. Until I was betrayed again and finally realized that they are all basically the same. Selfish, hypocrite, egoist, greedy, they only seek for those who can grant them power, money, and fame.

It is not entirely their fault. I'm also the one to blame to have opened my arms for them. After all, I'm a human too. But after that incident, I put up my resolve.

You can't trust anybody. Believe in yourself. Seek to be the strongest. Endure your suffering. Strive forward. Have a strong faith. Put up your hope. Show them what you're made of. Until one day you finally stand on top. Look down at them and say "pathetic, loser, trash".

I don't believe in honesty. I don't believe in sincerity. I don't believe in fate. I don't believe in love.

I want to be strong. I want to be rich. I want to be famous. I want to look down on them. I want to betray them. I want to give them a false hope. I want to trample on their feelings.

I want them to feel my suffering. I want them to feel my pain. I want them to feel my despair.

4th login – The New Update

In the south continent, which mostly covered in dessert, enchanted forest is the only green field. It has a legend that it was made by a powerful druid from the west. When he was embarking for his journey, he feels that he was lost in the desserts. He doesn't have any hope anymore to complete his task. The heat from the sun, no water source, and the sandstorm that keep occurring, depletes his will to continue. He keeps walking in the dessert, but he feels that he's just walking in a circle. His strength soon leaves his body, rendering him from walking anymore. Before he died, he remembers of his hometown, Illidian which is full of tall trees and fairy. Using his final energy, he cast a powerful magic to sprout trees from the ground.

When he let out his last breath, he was smiling peacefully. At least he passed away in a place that resembles his hometown. Tall trees covering the area and the heat are no longer piercing the skin. It is soon becomes a rest area for any traveler that passing the dessert. But, not only traveler that came to this place. Monsters from the hostile environment of the dessert, seeking for a place to hide as well. As time goes by it becomes a place to be feared because of the monster that preying on tired traveler.

"Kongou, help me over here!"

A swordsman with a red permed hair can be seen struggling, blocking attacks of a frenzied willow.

"Just a little bit more... Fire lance."

A player in a purple robe and blue long hair finished his spell and launch it towards the frenzied willow. Piercing the body of the frenzied willow. The damage is dramatic but it stills not enough to take it down. The health bar above the frenzied willow still shows 10% left.

Fire lance is a skill of an offensive caster spell. It has fire elements attacks which deal double damage to nature property monster.

"I hope this will help, Hikaru. Helping hand." A blonde girl in red robe finished chanting her skill, recovering the party HP and MP by 25%.

Helping hand is a basic supportive caster spell. It will increase the HP and MP of the party except for the caster based on the level of the skill. This skill can't be stacked with another Helping hand skill. The duration between each Helping hand skill to takes effect is 1 minutes.

"Thank you Leona. I guess we have to finish this soon. I can't take it any longer. Uryaa... Power slash."

Power Slash is a basic move from swordsman class. It has an effect of doubling the damage of a normal attack depends on the level of the skill.

When the skill is executed, the sword hit the frenzied willow body and depletes the remaining health point. The willow then scattered into glowing dust and drops a wooden trunk.

"Ugh. The item drop is really bad in here."

"We didn't come here for the item right? It's for the experience. Our level is more important."

"Yeah, I know that. But the cost to repair my sword and armor is expensive. You guys didn't get attacked too often so you can't understand how I feel."

Hikaru can only grumble by himself. Hikaru as a swordsman becomes the frontline of his party. He's the one that drawing the attention of the enemy and endure their attack. Meanwhile Kongou as the offensive caster of the party cast some devastating spell to kill the enemy. Leona, as the supportive caster of the party, keep Hikaru health in check to make sure that he didn't die.

"What are you guys talking about? Come on; let's go back to the town. I think we have hunted enough monsters for today."

Leona is giving order to Hikaru and Kongou. Leona is the one that leads the party. She joined them when they are still beginner. She has a brother that has reach advanced class. Because of that, she has more information about the best spot to gather experience. Her personality is not that bad, but she likes to give order and she is scary when she is angry. So Hikaru and Kongou can only listen to her commands.

"Hikaru, have you done your summer holiday homework?"

"Not yet. Eehh... I'm completely forgotten about them. How about you Kongou?"

"I haven't done it either. Hehehe."

"So, want to come to my place this evening to do it?"

"Nope. We still have one more week anyway. I'll come one day before school start."

"Ugh. I wonder if we can finish them."

Hikaru and Kongou go to the same school. Although they are not classmates but they are on the same grade. They have been best friends since the elementary school.

"Hmph. I didn't get it. Why can the two of you be so carefree? Don't you even think about your grade?"

Although Leona seemed to be the youngest from the party, she is already on the college.

"We just didn't want to leave you alone Leona. We thought that you will get lonely without us. When the school starts, we're going to study for the day and we can't be around as much as before. So we will accompany you now as much as we can."

Hikaru said that while smiling at Leona.

"Hahaha. I'm flattered to hear that but you're not going to win my heart. My feelings only belong to Kuro-sama."

"Yeah, yeah... I know that. You've been saying that every time we say anything nice to you."

The three of them is heading back from enchanted forest. The nearest city is the Dessert's oasis. The city is within an hour walking distance from enchanted forest. With no map available in the game, travelling between city and field becomes a problem.

"Leona, you know the way back to the town right? Make sure we're not getting lost."

"Hmph. Who do you think I am? I'm Leona. Don't worry, I remember the way."

"Huuh... it is so hard to travel in here. There's no map or whatsoever. We can only rely on our memory."

"It is for now, but don't you know that we're going to have some upgrade?"

"Really?"

Rebirth Online have been launched in three and a half months ago. With the growing number of user, it is not a surprise if it gets updated. In the game system and in the size of the world as well. Besides from the fact if it was the first VRMMORPG game, the game have a good class balance, variety of monster, beautiful design, and a lot of new experience that you can't get in any other games.

"Yeah, it is true. You can check on their website."

"Ugh, why don't you just tell us if you already know? There's no point for us to read from the website if we can hear from you."

"Hmph... very well then. The update is already on the process but it will take a month within each update. The first update is the minimap, status penalty, weather, and player killing system that's going to be implemented. The second update is boss monster and guild hunts for the next month. For the following month, it's going to be a new continent, city, fields and marriage system. That's all the update that has been confirmed by FFAID."

"Whoa. The game is growing steadily. I can't wait for the updates to take place. Is there a released date?"

Hikaru is very happy and curious about the update.

"The first update is going to take place next week. I think you guys are already at class by the time it is launched."

"No way. We have to be here when it is launched, isn't that right Kongou?"

"Yeah... let's just skip school for one day and pretend to be sick."

"Sure."

"Ugh. You guys are really hopeless. Just make sure we hit level 40 first."

"Yes mam." Kongou and Hikaru replied in unison.

Because Leona is leading the party, the three of them already reached level 35 within a month. Leveling up in Rebirth Online is not that hard, you just have to kill 5 monsters at your level to level up. Considering the three of them are in a party, they have to kill 15 monsters to level up. Gaining one level per day is good enough.

The higher player level, the higher level monster that they need to kill. With the rise in level, the monster comes with more difficult attack pattern and some of them may use skill. That is why killing one monster which has level that is higher than 30 may took ten minutes in a party of five.

"I guess, we level up pretty fast, it's all thanks to Leona." Kongou said that in a respectful manner.

"Yeah, I guess we won't make it this far by ourselves."

"Hmph... praising me won't get us anywhere. Anyway, there is a rumor that a player has broken the record to be the fastest player to reach advanced class. He starts at the same time with us and now he's already an advanced class."

"Really? That's amazing. Do you know this guy Leona?"

"Nope, I only heard it from the rumor. If you see a long white haired magician in a jet black robe and carrying a skull headed staff, that's the one. His display name is se7en so players call him seven. Although there's only a little information about him because he likes to play solo."

"Whoa? A solo magician? He must be really skilled."

"Yeah, we will probably meet up with him at some point. Like how we meet with Kuro."

"Hmm... you're right. I wonder if we're able to meet him again."

With the conversation going in the party, they are nearing the Dessert's oasis. The city is made up from tents and square houses from dirt that is circling a small lake in the middle. It is the only water source in the south continent desserts area. In the north part of the city, an Arabic castle made up from white stone stand tall. The party then goes to the nearest NPC to sell their loot.

"I guess that's it for today Leona. I don't think I'll play again for the day."

"Same here. I think I'm going to start doing my homework."

"Hey... you're a cheater. You just said that you will do it one day before school start."

"Hahaha... I don't think we can finish it. Why don't you come over Hikaru?"

"Sure. I'll come after dinner. I'll sleep at your place. See you Leona."

"Yeah, see you. We'll send a message later if we're able to play."

Hikaru and Kongou wrapped in a white light and soon disappear. Seeing that she is the only one left, she decided to open her friend's list. Besides from Hikaru and Kongou, Leona friends in Rebirth Online can be counted one by one. It is Roberto, her brother; Shibo and also Akane, they are Blue Rose guild member which is led by her brother.

Leona is pretty, but for some reason people are reluctant to talk to her. Maybe it's her blue eyes and blonde ponytail that's bewitching everyone so they are out of words. Or her small figures that people often mistakes her for an elementary student, hindering them too talk to her. Deep inside, she didn't resent her current condition, but she hopes to have more friend.

"Huh... I think I'm going to log out too."

But before she log out, something catches her eye. A young boy in a red blood robe and carrying a skull staff is running away. It seemed that he is chased by two other players. Watching that scene, Leona decided to go after them. Soon, the young boy run into a dead end and the pursuer block the way back.

"Just give up, Seven. We've been targeting you for a week. It's also not for a bad reason. We're only asking you to join our guild, the black crow."

Hearing the name, Leona is surprised. The black crow is one of the most powerful guilds in rebirth online. They have around 1300 member and 52 advanced class player. Their leader Min Sora and Yoon Bin is one of a few players with high level around 65.

"No. I will not join your guild. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Leona examines the boy and seemed like he really have the name se7en. The boy hair is long and his eyes are colored red. In rebirth online, player can use the same nickname and the same appearance with others, and if you're looking for a specific player, it is not impossible to meet the wrong person even if the name and looks are alike.

"Owh, come on. Min Sora and Yoon Bin really want you in our guild. Rebirth Online will launch the guild hunt two more months, and before that we're assigned to recruit more powerful member."

"No. I'm a solo player and will always be a solo."

After saying that, se7en take out an item from his bag. It is fairy's wing. This item allows the user to teleport to their town's re-spawn point. This item has 10 seconds casting time. Seeing that, the two players that have been chasing him try to block him from escaping. But attacking another player to cancel out their skill is not allowed in the town. They managed to hold him down, but the fairy's wing effect still take place. The boy then disappears along with a white light.

After that, Leona decided to move out from there so the two chasers won't find out about her.

"Hmm... interesting. With the guild hunt updates announced, people have starting to look for powerful comrades. I guess, before that day I have to reach advanced class first. But, I better log out for now."

Leona the enveloped by a white light and disappear.

****

In a room with full of the latest medical equipment, a young girl lays down in the bed. Many cables are connected to her body and the vital sign monitor showing a normal chart. Her face is really beautiful like a face of a goddess. Her skin is pale, her hair is long and jet-black colored. Her figures will be perfect if she's healthy. The fact that she has been laying down there for a long time, make her body thin and we can see her bones.

A man then enters the room. He looked really sad. He can only watch the monitor and he's showing a mourning face seeing all of the cable that is connected to her. He slowly approached the bed and held the girl hand. Tears flowing down from his eyes the moment he held her hand.

"I'm sorry Yuki. I promise that I'll make you smile again."

A familiar person then silently enters the room. It's Dr. Hans Schneider. He approaches the man and asked:

"Are you sure about this Mr. Sakaki? I can't guarantee you with anything."

"Yes. I'm leaving her in your care."

The man called Sakaki then leaves the room while still sobbing. After that, a lot of people wearing a lab coat enter the room and examining the young girl. They looked at the monitor from the medical equipment and writing down some notes. Seeing the preparation has finished, Dr. Hans let out a coarse voice.

"Okay, let's commence the operation."

*****

"Kuro-sama. Dinner is ready."

"Okay, I'll be there."

A cute girl in shrine maiden clothes with both hands holding down a hot pot full of vegetable and meat calling out for a man. She is Sakuya. Her figure is like a model and a face that's look like a princess. She is a guardian in the Rebirth Online. Many players often mistaking her as a user. Because she is different from any other NPC, she seemed to be more alive.

NPC in rebirth online have a very high intelligence. It is because they are connected to the same database using a system called "the network". The NPC in Rebirth Online can answer player question and have knowledge about almost everything in the game.

To make it realistic, they are equipped with a vocaloid system to give an answer with a human like voice. Although there is no tone in their voice. Making it an expressionless sentence. But Sakuya seemed different from them. She is also showing expression that's rare to see from a NPC. She regularly takes a bath that's not even programmed in her guardian task.

The most mysterious thing from her is her hobby to dance. She acquired a dancer skill named the dance of time. Dancer is one of commoner class. Skill form commoner class can be taken by any other class, but they have to use skill points on them. Mean one skill taken from another class will resulting one less skill from your original class.

She also learned a cooking skill. Cooking skill is a chef class specialty. It is rare to see another class taking this skill. Cooking in Rebirth Online has to be done exactly like in the real world, but the system helped to fasten the time needed. For example if a meat has to go inside the oven for 15minutes in the real world, in Rebirth online you only need 15seconds. The advantage of cooking skill is the ability to give various buff to the player that eat the meal.

Her duty as a guardian is to help player to level up. Her disadvantages is when she died, she will have to restart over from level 1, different from player that will be re-spawned with exp and gold penalty.

Strange phenomena keep occurring to her. She keeps getting closer to what we called human. Not an artificial intelligence anymore. The ability to think, the ability to express what she feel, the ability to do what she wants to do.

Kuro as a player that hired her at first has notice this too. But it appears that he didn't think too much about it. After all she is a NPC and his companion in Rebirth Online. He probably afraid that something will change if he asked her about it.

Hunting together, eating together, and hanging out with each other. That is what Sakuya and Kuro do every day. Just like that, their peaceful days seemed to be never ending.

*****

One week passed since Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona hunting in the enchanted forest. They moved to magma dungeon and sands pit to level up. Their current level is 42. Just 8 level away from advanced class.

They leveled up pretty fast because they have a lot of time to level up. They are in the summer break holiday. When the new term starts, they will get less time to play Rebirth Online. The game itself enough to make player become addicted and decided to skip their daily activities. That's what happens to Hikaru and Kongou today.

They skipped from school which starts today to see the new updates that going to be implemented. Today the FFAID Corporation formally announced that the updates have been successfully implemented. It is the minimap, status penalty, weather, and player killing system.

Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona promised to meet today to experience the new updates. They supposed to gather up at Dessert's oasis city. But Hikaru is the first person to show up. He then tries to analyze the changing in the system. On his top right point of view, he can see a minimap that's looked like radar. He called out the windows, "minimap".

The radar on his top right point of view slowly goes into the middle and becomes larger. He then can see the layout of the city and the location of the shop NPC. he examine his position in the radar that is marked with blue dot and a few seconds later a yellow dot appear not far from his current location and coming towards him. When he looked in the direction of the yellow dot, he can see Kongou approaching.

"Yo... good morning."

"Good morning Kongou. Have you check out the minimap? It's really convenient."

"Let me see."

Kongou then checks out the new features. After a few minutes he seemed to be a bit disappointed.

"The minimap is great, but the status penalty is really bad. The weather system too makes me feel hotter in here."

"Hey, that's to make sure that a player keeps their body condition and not playing over time. I think it's a good thing. We don't want to die from playing too much aren't we?"

"I guess you have a point. Anyway, where's Leona?"

"Let me check if she's online or not."

Hikaru then opened his friend window and look for Leona name.

"It seemed that she's not yet online."

"That's too bad. But do you realize there's a lot of player with red colored name."

"Owh, isn't that because of the player killing system? It's one of the new features that implemented today. A PK will get their name turned into red. Don't you know if there's a reward for a player that kill the most every week?"

"Oh, yeah... I heard about the gold and 2x experience reward, but the risk is too big. I wonder if Kuro will join and kill a lot of players."

"Heh, its Hikaru and Kongou. Aren't you guys too laid back to skip your first day of new school semester to play Rebirth Online?"

Hikaru and Kongou are surprised to hear that. The voice seemed familiar but they're too afraid to look. Is it their classmate? Or is it their teacher? Nobody from their school knows if they played Rebirth Online because they are in summer holiday when they start. But they would be in a big danger if they're found out. After all, they tricked their parents and played at a hotel and this person seemed to know them. He called them by their name.

When they gather up the courage to look at the person they finally feel relieved. It's Roberto, Leona brother. He has a blonde hair and blue eyes just like Leona.

"Ugh, you scared us."

"Hahaha... no offence, but Leona tell me that you guys have to go to school today and decided to skip. So I was thinking to tease you guys a bit. I also think that Leona will be late today. She's still sleeping; after all it's still 3 o'clock in the morning here."

"Owh, so what are we going to do now?"

"Hmm, do you want to hunt with me?"

"That would be great, but aren't you going to sleep?"

"No worries, I already sleep and just wake up now."

Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona are in the same guild, the Blue Rose guild. The Guild leader is Roberto a chef class with level 55. They rarely see Roberto doing anything else besides from cooking. So, it would be a great chance to see his skill.

"But, we don't have a healer with us so let just do an easy hunting."

"Isn't your level going to downgrade when you're in a party with us? You're going back to commoner class aren't you?"

"I won't join your party, I'm just tagging along."

"Owh, I see."

In rebirth online if the level difference of the lowest member of the party from the highest member of the party is limited to 5. For example, if a level 10 player tries to make a party with level 1 player, the level 10 player automatically becomes a level 6 player as long as that player remain in the party.

If a player not in the same party and attacked the same monster, it is allowed. Because the battle system is based on percentage. If a party battle with a monster until it has 1% HP remaining and someone outside the party hits it with a blow that powerful enough to kill it, the killer only gains 1% of exp. So it is possible for a high level player to just tag along with low level player.

"So, where will we go Roberto?"

"Let's go to sands pit. I'm thinking of gathering some sand salt which is dropped from sand golem. It's a high quality ingredient for cooking."

"Okay then, let's try out the minimap."

Hikaru and Kongou both opened their minimap and using the magnifier option to zoom out from their current location. They search through the entire map but they don't have any idea where is the sands pit. Although they just hunt there a couple days ago with Leona.

"Hahaha. You won't find it there. The minimap won't show where the fields and dungeon is. It can only show the city, road, and NPC. You should try to remember the location of dungeon and fields."

"Ugh, we'll just leave that task to Leona."

When they arrived at the sands pit, they can feel that something was off. A large group of players that's going to hunt is gathering in front of the sands pit. But no matter how you see it, it's strange. Some of them are just a beginner player with basic equipment. They aren't strong enough to hunt in the sands pit with monster level of 40 in the lowest rank. Their number is in hundreds, and that's definitely strange.

"Okay, this way."

A man wrapped in bear skin, tall and masculine built is leading the way. He seemed to be a berserker class player. Berserker class is well known for their high attack power and quick combos. He seemed to be quite skilled because he managed to gather a lot of player, but something is still suspicious.

While the pack of player is moving, Roberto seemed to be concerned with something. Hikaru and Kongou seeing his serious expression that's different than his usual silly face. They decided to speak up to him.

"If you have something in your mind, you can tell us Roberto."

"Owh, I'm sorry. Is it really shown in my face? I hate to ask this, but do you mind if we follow that group? I think something weird is going on."

"Sure, no problem."

The party then followed the group until they see a sandstorm was building up ahead. It's the desserts storm field, a free for all fields of level 45 to 55. But the group seemed to keep moving forward. Until they enter the desserts storm area and can't be seen by Roberto, Hikaru, and Kongou.

The three of them follow the group from behind but they keep maintaining their distance to keep from being noticed. Until the pack stop in the middle of the desserts storm area, the three of them hides behind a large stone and watched from afar. A woman in yellow outfit then step up and giving her speech to the group. She is pretty, and giving away a friendly vibe from her smile. Judging from her appearance, she's a summoner. A summoner class is always carrying a summoning book in one hand and a staff in the other.

"Listen up. As we already tell you before, we will teach you how to quickly level up by killing a high level monster in a group. But, actually... it's all a lie... Hahaha..."

Her sweet smile from before immediately change into something sinister. Like a witch that you can find in any novel book. The groups then throw a ruckus hearing that, they didn't understand anything. The berserker that's guiding the way then chatted with the summoner.

"Stop causing problem Lime, we want to settle this quickly."

"What are you talking about Greenhorn? I want them to know their place. I want to see them going in disarray and scattered around. When they are running away in fear, that's the best scene that I want to see. I want to have some fun. Hahaha."

"Tch... fine... do whatever you want."

The berserker, Greenhorn then walks away from the front of the group to the back. While the crowd still in confusion, the summoner then speak up once again.

"Maybe you people didn't get it yet. The reason we gather you here is... to kill you all... huahahahaha... my name is Lime, and my partner over there is Greenhorn. Haven't you guys heard about us? We're the black scythe guild."

After hearing that sentences, the mass of player goes into chaos. The black scythe guild is famous for its PK-ing. Furthermore, the player nicknamed blood thirsted Greenhorn and mad skull Lime is the leader. The guild has about 100 players that are proudly walking in the town with their name colored in red. Although the name can turn back to white after 24hours of in game time passed, the guild leader is well known for never letting their name turned back to white.

"Although it's a pain to prevent myself to kill for 24hours game time, but now I can pay it back. Huahahaha... I'll kill you all here and now... scream, run away in fear, but know that it's all meaningless. Huahahaha. Let's start the party. Calls of the death."

While saying that, Lime opened the book that's in her hand and activated the spell.

Calls of the death is a summoner class skill to call forth a skeleton from the ground. The skeleton that can be summoned is based on the level of the skill. Starting from a weak soldier skeleton to a powerful death arch mage.

When her skill is executed, a vicious tall skeleton is waking up from the ground. With eyes that's glow bright red, a big broadsword in one hand, and a shield with a skull decoration in the other. It's a skeleton knight. Skeleton knight is a high rank monster, level 50. It can be casted from Calls of the death level seven.

Seeing the monster that is appearing in front of their eyes, the party which mainly consists of beginner goes wild. They are afraid to face this monster. It is far more powerful than what they usually kill. What's more frightening, the skeleton knight let out a screeching howl. He's unleashing his skill and ten lesser skeletons come out from the ground. The skeleton knight has a skill of summon minion level 3. Although lesser skeleton level is only 20, but the condition of the pack is in chaos. They didn't even think to attack the skeleton and just running away screaming in fear.

Soon, the skeleton knight and his minion start to attack the player and most of them died instantly from taking one or two blow. When some of the players try to run back, Greenhorn is standing there. He's now completely covered in blood. He easily kills those beginners player using his axe. Lime also keeps grinning while casting offensive spell to the crowd.

It continues for about ten minutes full of scream and excessive gore. Hikaru at some point tries to jump out but he is stopped by Kongou and Roberto. He soon realized that he can't do anything and throw his fist to the ground in anger.

This one sided battle is ended quickly and the ground is now colored in red, overflowing with blood. Standing in the middle is a man covered in blood and a woman summoner with a wicked grin.

"Heh, not bad. Although the gold and experience is not much, but it's enough to pay my boredom. Their scream, the looks in their eyes as they die, nothing can entertain me better. Should we do this again tomorrow Greenhorn?"

"Stop talking like that or I won't help you again. Let's go Lime."

"Aaah... You're no fun as always. Okay, let's go."

After checking that Greenhorn and Lime has gone, Roberto, Hikaru, and Kongou come out from their hiding place. We can clearly see the frustration look in Hikaru's face.

"I didn't believe in what I just see. Why the GM didn't do anything about it?"

"Remember, this is a FFA field. I believe the GM has monitored the situation and it's that player fault for believing in Greenhorn and Lime in the first place. Just remember, there is a lot of kind of people that plays this game. Let's just go back. I don't think it's a good time to hunt for you guys after seeing that."

Just when Roberto turn around and starts to head back, Hikaru grab his hand and shout.

"No, let me hunt. I want to get stronger." With that said, you can see the determination in Hikaru eyes.

"Yeah, I want to get stronger too. Please teach us." Kongou then bow down to Roberto along with Hikaru.

"Well... I guess I don't have a choice. Let's go."

The three of them then head to their original destination, the sands pit.

*****

Ever since that incident, the atmosphere inside the game has been gloomy. Players are reluctant to hunt in a party, further more in FFA field. Many reports have been filed to the GM in charge but they didn't respond. It is said that there's nothing wrong with Greenhorn and Lime act.

But FFAID Corporation knows how to play their card. After a few days, they announced the fourth monthly event. It's a guild popularity poll. Each player has one vote points and they can sign up their guilds or vote for another guild. Players can turn their vote in to any NPC and the unique item winner will be the guild leader. The vote will take place in one week and the reward is called the ring in arms. It's have a special skill called the Comrade trust. This skill allows the user guild and party member to have 15% enhancement in stats whenever the user is online.

With this event, the game company hopes the player to fix their relationship their self by appealing to other player that there are still good player out there. When the event is announced, the ambience in the game suddenly changed. A lot of guilds have decided to start their campaign.

The town that's filled with distrust because of the incident suddenly changed. Players from guilds appealing in various ways. More and more players interacting with each other, leaving behind the past incident.

Within a few days, there are three major guilds that are probably going to win. The first guild is the black crow. They offer gold and equipment to players that are willing to join and vote for them. With an increase to 3500 members from 1300.

Secondly, the three swords guild. Leads by three famous knight, Erio, Douglas33, and Seraphim. With current number of 2000 members offer protection to player that's going to hunt.

The last guild is the trader union. Made up from commoner advanced class such as chef, crafter, and blacksmith offer free food, weapon repair, and free crafting cost allow them to gather 5000 member.

When they are going to announce the results, the event will take place at the beginner's town. Since most of the player that's involved in the incident come from there. They prepare a grandiose stage near the fountain and a large number of crowds have filled the city. We can also see Hikaru, Leona and Kongou within the crowds. With a couple of fireworks signaling the start of the event, players start to give attention to the stage.

"Hello everybody! How's your condition today? Are you ready for the results?" a man in a short pants and Hawaiian shirts appear on the stage. He's no other than Genki, one of GM that's friendly with the user. When he appears, the crowds immediately give him a round of applause.

"Ugh, that person again." Leona spouting her disappointment.

"Hahaha. He's not that bad. He's seemed liked by the players." Hikaru replied to her.

"I wonder if Kuro-sama will appear again today."

With that said, the three of them return their attention to the stage.

"I know, some sort of accidents happened and causing bad mood in the game. But, in the past week have you guys realized that there are more good players than the bad one?"

"Yeah." Most of the players have a smile of anticipation hoping for their guild to wins. The gloomy looks because of the incident can no longer be seen in the crowds.

"Okay. Some of the guilds have been appealing to others by giving out some service and more. I hope you guys keep doing that even though there aren't any rewards anymore ok? The point to gather guild members too is for the upcoming guild hunt. Aren't you guys excited?"

"Yeah."

With Genki acting as the MC the event is sure lively. Seeing the enthusiasm form the crowds, Genki finally decided to announce the results.

"Okay guys, I'm going to announce the results. For the guilds that have made it place to the top three, we're going to give them considerable amounts of gold. For the third place..."

The crowds are holding their breath waiting for the results.

"With 1, 2% votes the trader union. The guilds will be given 1.000.000 of golds as rewards."

After hearing that, some players are shouting and some are still hoping for a better place.

"For the second place, the black crow with 3, 7% votes point. The rewards will be 3.000.000 golds."

Seeing the gold rewarded for the winner, it's not a large amount considered if it has to be divided amongst the member. But it is still the biggest amount that has been distributed as a reward.

"And finally, with 10% vote points the winner is... Nagareboshi. Can we ask the guild leader Akari to come up to the stage?"

"Whoa..."

Some of the crowds are applauding and looked happy, but some of them have blank stares in their face.

"Hey, Leona... do you know that guild? Nagareboshi..."

"Hmph... 10% vote points is about 100.000 players. But it is strange that I never heard of such a big guild name." Leona is giving her comments to that announcement.

While looking at the stage, the male audience can't turn their eyes away. A pretty girl comes up to the stage just like a goddess. Wear a clean white robe that's been customized into an amazing dress. Long purple hair, green eyes, and a cute face. Sakuya is amazingly beautifull but this girl is not far from that level.

"Okay, the winner will get the ring in arms and 5.000.000 gold. So, any words from the winner?"

Genki gives her the ring and the bag of gold and hand over his microphone. With a sweet smile in her face, she starts to talk and we can hear a soft voice.

"Good afternoon everybody. My name is Akari and I'm a shaman. My guild is Nagareboshi and currently has 300members. I didn't think that we will win this event, but I hope we all can get along in the future. We have some problem to invite players to our guild because our guild rank is low. So, this gold will be used to upgrade our guild ranks, and players that want to join earlier can join us now. After all nice to meet you all have a fun experience and thank you."

With that said she turns around and goes down from the stage. That simple statement has stolen a lot of hearts from players and leaves them speechless.

"Okay guys, thank you for today. Let's meet in the next event."

"Whoa." Finally the crowds get back to their senses after hearing Genki closing words.

"She's so amazing."

"Yeah, I didn't know there is a player like her."

"Do you ever hear of the guild?"

You can hear chatter from the crowds keep going on and on about her and the guild. It also takes time to disperse the players that have been gathering for the events. When the number in players have subsided, Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona then asking around for more info about Nagareboshi. The search seemed ended up in a failure. Filled with disappointment, they decided to go back to their guild base.

When they arrived, there is only Akane on the guild hall. Seeing the three of them has some problems written all over their face, she decided to speak up.

"What's happened to you guys? Why are you all having a troubled expression?"

"Hmm... we're looking for info about a guild named Nagareboshi. But we can't find any."

Hikaru who's been tired from asking around decided to lie down on the floor.

"Owh... I have a sister in that guild. Would you like to meet her? I think she's free now."

"Really? Can you do that? Could you please invite her?" Hikaru suddenly energized hearing Akane statement.

"Sure. Just wait for a minute."

Akane then seemed to telepathy-ing with her sister. They talked for almost half an hour and when she sees Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona she suddenly realized.

"Ups... my bad..."

She then continues to talk to her sister and finally finished after another fifteen minutes.

"Sorry, that took too long. She just loves to talk. Hehehe."

"Don't mind us; just ask her to come here."

The three of them replied in a bored tone. After a few minutes, Akane then goes out from the building to pick up her sister. When she comes back a great shock struck the three of them.

"Guys, I want to introduce my sister."

"Hello. I'm Akane sister. My name is Akari. I heard you guys want to know about Nagareboshi, I don't know if I could be any help, but nice to meet you all."

The three of them is speechless seeing the player in front of them. The girl is even more beautiful in person. She has a sweet smile and a really motherly looks. They didn't imagine that she is Akane sister.

"U-um... m-my name is Hi-Hikaru, s-she is Leona, a-and h-he is k-Kongou. N-nice t-to meet you."

Hikaru can't speak clearly because he is stunned by the beauty in front of his eyes. Seeing that, Akane and Akari can only smile.

"Hahaha. It's weird to see you guys like this. Just ask her anything and she will answer it."

Leona seemed to have regained her mind and be the one to ask the question.

"Hmm... I'm really interested in your guild. How can your guild win a lot of votes? We even never heard of your guild name."

Seeing that, Akari can only smile and answer in a soft tone.

"Probably most of you guys didn't know about my guild because it's just registered a week ago. When I heard about the event and incident, I decided to do something. My guild at first only consists of 20 players that are coming from my friends. When I tell them about my idea, they immediately join and within a blink of an eye we grow to 300 members. We don't have enough gold to upgrade our guild ranks so most of the player that vote for us is not in our guild."

"Yeah, but what have you done to gather 100.000vote?"

"We didn't do anything special. After hearing about the incident, I'm only asking my friend to help beginner player by partying up and hunting with them. At first it seemed impossible, but finally we go to hunt with a group of player and we managed to get their attention. You all are aware that the level gap between parties can't be higher than 5 rights? So, most of my friend that is already an advanced class return to their basic class and hunt with beginner players. We keep doing that and by the time we realized we've gather a lot of support from the beginner. It's probably because the people that we played with tell about us to their friends. We mainly plays with player from level 5 to 30 so probably you guys never hear of us. I didn't even think about the winning the event at the first place. I only want to see people smiling when they play."

"Hehehe... that's my sister."

"Stop talking like that onee-chan, you'll make me feel embarrassed."

As Akane and Akari laughing and smiling, Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona are amazed hearing her answer.

"And, do you guys know? She has fallen in love with Kuro. She apparently goes to the same school with him."

"Huuh... stop teasing me onee-chan. You're so mean."

Hikaru and Kongou smiling because they can see that Akari is blushing red to the tip of her ears. But when they see Leona expression, the both of them immediately sensing some danger. Her face is full of envy and jealousy. She seemed to be muttering some kind of curse and looking at Akari with hatred.

After meeting with amazing people, Hikaru seemed to be motivated. He wants to get stronger like Kuro. He wants to be someone respectable like Akari. He realized that he still has a long way to go, but the fire of passion has been lit in his heart.