VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 148: Not all that Glimmers
Within Dawd, a group of adventurers were wandering aimless through the forest situated roughly half way between the cities of Gracia and Rowdan1. If Valerie were here, she would have recognised these players, as she had met them once before. They were a group of five, composed of a Wizard, A Knight, an Assassin, a Cleric and a Hunter.
"Dude, it’s not here! Come on, let’s just go. I don’t know why you want to search for this thing so badly. Someone else probably found it first." Quiver4me shouted to their groups leader, gaining a few stink eyes from his party members.
Even if he hid the quiver in his voice, they knew he was terrified of meeting that World Boss again. Besides, they all blamed him for dying to it since he was the one who made the first shot and drew the aggro of it.
Dying was bad enough. Losing all of their equipment? That was even worse. It had taken them ages to find their original bodies, but when they had found them completely nude and half devoured by the local wild life, their moods completely plummeted.
It was only because their own planning and compulsive behaviour that they had kept their lower level gear stashed away in a bank vault, for just such a situation. Retrieving a body was easier with actual gear, after all, rather than the basic starter trash.
"It will be here, it has to be. Didn’t you see that destroyed town? It probably rampaged through there, killing everything in sight. But it looks like it fought something. It will be in the area, trust me. If we can just manage to kill it while it is still weak, we can get even better gear than the stuff we lost."
Slice’emup, the Knight leader of the group, shouted back in annoyance.
It wasn’t the first time they had this conversation, nor would it be the last. They had been searching for days and honestly, even he was starting to doubt his ’kill it while it is weak’ mentality. But this World Boss was still their best chance to boost themselves up.
Not just in gear, but in sheer reputation. After all, who wouldn’t want to be the ones that killed the first ever world boss? Just think of the popularity they could get!
They might be able to start their own guild, become even bigger than the likes of Golden Princes or Conquerors. They would get wealth, girls and fame. Oh, and don’t forget about the girls!
Slice’emup was so deeply enthralled by his own fantasies, that he did not notice that the ground he was about to step one was slightly different from the rest of the forest floor, being slightly sunken and with only light foliage covering it rather than actual grass. None of them noticed it. None other than their useless, scorned hunter.
Quiver4me tried to lunge forwards and grab the knight captain before he made the mistake, but that only resulted in them both falling when his foot landed and the ’ground’ beneath gave way.
They fell together, bouncing off the slopped dirt walls of the hole that was hidden beneath the forest floor, and which opened up into a vast cave system that looked like it had been dug by colossal insects.
As the fallen pair rose to their feet, and as the rest of the party clambered down the hole to find them, all of them stopped at once as a glint of light caught their eye. Specifically, it was the unmistakable glint of gold in the midday sun, as the ground was littered with stray golden coins.
Greed over took the party and they lunged forwards, their hands scrambling to collect every coin in sight, as they followed them deep into the tunnels like a trail of breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs that led to a proverbial loaf, as after a few dozen metres of tunnels it opened up into a chamber filled to the very brim with literal mountains of gold.
If only they had learned their lesson before, to observe their surroundings. Then perhaps. instead of focusing entirely on the gold they were stuffing into their pockets from the mountains, they would have noticed the mountain of gold coins itself shifting. Shifting, as something large started to rouse from its slumber beneath the gold.
******
Back in the real world, Valerie and Percy were still unwinding from their latest training session, with Percy moving away the golden sword that loomed over Valerie’s head.
"Yeah Yeah, You didn’t just beat a girl, but a disabled girl. Don’t you feel so proud of yourself?" Valerie said with a disappointed look on her face, shaking her head and clicking her tongue in shame.
Percy dismissed, his Providence Armour and the accompanying sword, before lightly bopping Valerie on the head with the ladle.
"Oh, so we’re playing that card, are we? Just the poor, helpless girl being bullied and attacked by the horrible rich man?"
He waved his ladle around dramatically, as if he was facing against her, and gave her a few more hits on her head and arms as she constantly batted him away. Trying her best to keep her face completely solemn and not let the smile creep onto her lips.
"Card? What card? I am just telling the truth. What could I possibly do against such a well built man when I am stuck in this chair, so frail and useless? Is it my fault you are such a vile thug?" She dramatically spoke, a tear almost forming on the edge of her eye as Percy bopped her in the head again and finally she broke out into smiles.
"Alright, Alright! Enough you dork! Fine, you won fair and square, okay?" She laughed, smacking the deadly weapon away as Percy twirled it in his hand before sheathing it on his belt.
He strolled over to Jinu, who was standing by the side holding a large tray filled with after workout snacks, non D-fuel drinks as well as some towels for if they got too into their activities. As Percy dried off his forehead and took a swig of his drink, refreshing all those important electrolytes, his eyes glowed a faint orange.
The sign that he was receiving a message through his implants.
Valerie had her own snacks and drink, all while watching Percy’s expression shift from a deep set from to wide eyes and uncontrollable smile. A moment later, Valerie’s own phone buzzed gently on Jinu’s tray.
"You’re going to want to get that," Percy said with an excited smile, his eyes returning to their normal piercing blue as he looked down at Valerie.
Valerie frowned at him, snatching up her phone and quickly opened it. A message from Jason was waiting for her, but before she could even get a chance to read it, two more came through a moment later from Figg and Vestra, both of them using the in-game chat link.
She didn’t have to read through all of the messages. They were all about the same subject, and all of them short and sweet enough, or at least starting with the important info, that it showed on the preview.
{There’s a Dragon!}
The cities in which Valerie and Percy have respectively spawned in after the tutorial
