Chapter 3 A Newbie's Pain

By the time I finished with the beginner's questline, I already leveled to level three. The mage skill tree menu popped up on my screen and I finally get to use the two skill points that I gained through leveling.

The skills of all classes were divided into two category, the active and passive skills. The active skills covered the attack and defense skills while the passive skills were inherent to the character.

In Afterlife Dream, leveling was easy until around level fifty. After that, it was a pain in the rear side. The forty-nine skill points needed to be allocated wisely to achieve the optimal build. Besides, the skills that were open to me at level three were merely beginner skills.

At level fifty I would have the advancement test to second job, and then to third job at level seventy. After each advancement, stronger and better skills would be available for me.

Heck, I need to find out how to get skill reset scrolls in this game.

First, I needed to get out from the beginner map. I strolled to the shop NPC, bought myself some HP and MP potions for the trip to the next map, and then exited the beginner map through a shiny portal.

As I wandered through the next maps, I pondered about my build. I made some mistake with my first and only mage at the beginning, but I was too lazy to start a new character. This time, I was determined to do everything right from the beginning. Heheh. There gotta be a benefit of being reincarnated into the game you played when you were alive.

The travel from Daisyville to the next city was rather uneventful. Boring, even. Until I heard someone shrieking in terror somewhere below the safe platforms that I had been walking on.

I took a peek from the edge of the platform and saw a girl whacking a mushroom monster with her bow.

"…"

"EEEK! GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY FROM ME NOW!!!"

I resisted the urge to laugh. A gentleman should help out a damsel in distress and not laugh at her instead. Chivalrous as a knight on white horse – minus the horse – I leaped down like a true hero and hit the mushroom with a magical blow. It did not immediately die.

I was not used to being a newbie all over again. A level three mage was actually quite pathetic. Was this not the reason why I chose to walk on the safe platforms instead? In order not to die pathetically like in my noob days when I first started playing the game?

…

I was so stupid. The mushroom jumped at me and landed on the ground with a huge thump, causing the earth to shake. Our HP bars went to zero immediately. We got sent back to our respective beginner maps.

I grumbled as I went out of the portal again and found the bowgirl outside waiting for me. She looked petrified.

"I am sorry," she quickly apologized. "If not because of saving me, you would not have gotten killed."

I gave her a dry laughter. Talk about acting like a hero but failing to save the damsel in distress… If only there were a lamp post somewhere close so I could bang my head to it a few times…

"Umm… Ummm…"

The girl extended her hand at me.

"Nice to meet you, I… uh…"

I stared at her ID that was hovering on top of her head. KittyGirlXOXO.

"…"

The girl quickly turned plum-red. She looked ready to dig a hole under her feet and bury herself alive.

"I did not expect to be playing this game for real. My God, I can't believe that I will have to introduce myself to everyone using this ID from now on."

I tried my best to put a charming smile on my face and shook her hand.

"What about introducing yourself as 'Kitty'? Hi Kitty, I am Antares."

Kitty laughed nervously.

"You picked such a nice ID. What is it, Latin?"

I frowned.

"I guess? I am not quite sure. It is the name of a star."

"Oh. Wow. You like stars? You must be quite studious in your past life."

I stared at her. Right. She was no NPC. She was a player just like me. Did it mean that she also died and got reincarnated into the game?

"You… You also died?" I asked carefully.

Kitty nodded.

"I have been around here for a week or so. It's quite lonely when there are only NPCs to talk to. I wanted to go to the other maps quickly but I kept dying on the way."

I was a little confused. If she, like me, had already played the game in her past life, then surely she had discovered the tricks to maneuver herself through the maps in order to not get killed?

"How far did you go before you died?"

"Sorry?"

"I mean…" I cleared my throat. "You played Afterlife Dream before you died, right? At what level did you die?"

"Oh… I think… level two? I had only played for half an hour before I died. I was inside a school bus going home when a truck crashed into my bus. I died right away."

"… Oh."

Yikes. That was one horrible way to die. That also explained why she did not know the safe way to go to the next maps.

"Come and follow me. You don't go down. Just jump from platform to platform until you reach the next portal on the other side."

Kitty was skeptical at first. She expected to meet more mushroom monsters on top platforms. When they made it through to the next portal safely, she was fuming from anger.

"That was it??? I feel cheated!!!"

Kitty held my hands with twinkling eyes.

"Thanks, Antares! Can we go together for now? You are so smart! So what level were you when you died???"

I wished the question never came. I did not want to come off as a nerd. Oh screw it. What was the point of lying?

"I was, um, fifty-two…"

Kitty's eyes turned round and her lips formed a big O.