AFKat awoke to birdsong from outside the shuttered window. She sat up, dragging TripleBatsuDance, who clung to her in her sleep, up from the soft bed. She made a discontented noise but didn't wake up. The little catgirl yawned unabashedly like an actual cat and looked around sleepily.

  The voluptuous witch BlackKokoro was smothering the beast boy WolfGodKotaro in his sleep. IpponSakura, the Oni samurai, lay still on her back like a Japanese noblewoman, hands folded over her modest chest. MANhera's bed had broken under her half-giant weight, so she slept on a mattress directly on the floor. And KuroYasha floated above her bed, curled up into a ball like the fluffy black fox that she was.

  The five wolves of The Pack, lying in key locations in the room, stirred when they noticed AFKat being awake and looked up curiously. But when they saw her, they lowered their heads again and continued dozing. They had little to do recently and mostly enjoyed their time being out and about. It showed how peaceful this place was.

  AFKat peeled TripleBatsuDance off her and stood up from the bed. The wolves' ears twitched, but they didn't react any more than that. The little catgirl walked across the room completely silently, a feature of her race, although it didn't have any impact on gameplay. She reached the shuttered window and pushed it open, letting the morning sun and fresh air stream into the stuffy room.

  Outside was the village of Lestra they had saved from an undead swarm the previous evening. The people walked down the dirt roads, greeting each other cheerfully after surviving the terrifying ordeal. Although the game didn't have a food system for NPCs, some could be seen having breakfast while looking out their windows.

  The shut-in god had added a day and night cycle a few days ago after apparently receiving complaints from players suffering from insomnia. Thus, it was actually morning now rather than a feature of this region, which was still the Western Highlands. Only when the days were properly separated did they realize how large most regions truly were - and how their sense of time had been distorted.

  They had traveled across half the Plains of Plenty and the Fields of Glory within what felt like a single day, even though they were roughly the same size as the Western Highlands. It was one of the largest regions on the world map in the game, although it featured several dungeons and sub-regions one could explore to break up the otherwise monotonous experience.

  Since BlackKokoro was overleveled, they decided to ignore those optional dungeons and head further west. But whenever they saw NPC villages being attacked, they would stop to help out. It had happened twice before, and they had been invited to stay the night for free each time. Maybe that was their new guild's calling.

  "Afu-chan?" TripleBatsuDance rose from the bed in her see-through lace negligee and called out for the little catgirl. She saw her at the window, and her expression relaxed. "Up so early?"

  She spoke softly, but it was enough to wake the others. IpponSakura opened her eyes and sat up gracefully, her long, straight hair perfectly maintained from not stirring in her sleep. MANhera slowly rose from her mattress on the ground and scratched the back of her head as her hair stood up in every direction. KuroYasha floated down onto her bed, and she stretched like a cat rather than the fox her avatar resembled.

  All were awake except for BlackKokoro, who continued to smother WolfGodKotaro with her ample bosom. The beast boy raised an arm and waved to ask for help, but everybody agreed that he didn't know how good he had it and ignored his silent plea.

  "Ready for another day of walking?" MANhera said with a tired look outside the window. She missed the times when one could cross a region within ten minutes. Even with the increased content of NPC villages and monster raids, it still felt way too empty for a game.

  "That's a realistic open world for you," commented TripleBatsuDance with a shake of her head as she switched from her casual clothes to her SM-inspired dancer outfit. Her red hair was instantly done up into her usual twin tails. Although in their case, it was the real world now.

  "If only we could ride on Dalgander. But we're too many, yeah." IpponSakura sat on her bed and brushed her hair even though it was impeccable, making sure to avoid her horns. Her foreign accent and quirky speech pattern stood in stark contrast to her traditional Japanese appearance.

  "Or too heavy," added KuroYasha, covering the lower half of her face with her kimono sleeve to hide her smirk. Her narrowed fox eyes were clearly looking at MANhera, who looked like she would weigh as much as the rest of the party combined.

  "Hey, I can't do anything about this." The woman trapped in the male half-giant body took it in stride and flexed her biceps. It was thicker than the black fox's waist. TripleBatsuDance rolled her eyes at that. "Well, we have the occasional packs of monsters led by rares to look forward to. But we should be through this region soon, and then it's time for endgame pack density."

  The deeper one got into the endgame, the larger the enemy numbers grew. There were even rare consumable items that modified raid difficulties in exchange for better loot. The player-favorite modifier increased the pack sizes just for the fun of it, allowing one to get transported back to the campaign missions where one fought against an entire army, like in the Siege of Araheim, for example.

  As they discussed what lay before them, interspersed with banter, the party, plus one extra member, left the inn and greeted the villagers outside. Their stamina bars were still full from dinner last night, so they didn't feel the need to eat breakfast. Thus, they left the village, accompanied by the expressions of gratitude from its inhabitants.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "I hope they won't get attacked again anytime soon," said AFKat as she looked back at them, still waving even though she could barely make out their faces. They were NPCs, so they would respawn after being killed. But she didn't know what would happen if the monsters simply stayed in the town. She didn't intend to find out.

  Since they grew to seven players, WolfGodKotaro sent The Pack out to form a screen rather than act as their mounts. Riding used to be limited to [Beastmasters], but since the game turned real, they could carry anybody physically, as long as their base strength allowed it. Unfortunately, KuroYasha was right, and MANhera was simply too heavy for them.

  The party moved quite quickly thanks to TripleBatsuDance's auras. She kept her mask off during their journey, buffing everybody else in exchange for being a worse auraslave than before. The snow-capped mountains that had only peeked over the horizon when they entered the Western Highlands were now looming in the distance, coming noticeably closer as they walked.

  "It's strange not to see a single player, yeah," commented IpponSakura, raising her straw hat to peer across the landscape. It made sense that nobody was around at the start of this region, but they were now far enough away from Dragonheart's Sanctum that people unrelated to the war there could be traversing the area.

  "Surely, most people just went to the nearest town when the game turned real. And when waypoints were reactivated, they lost all reason to travel on foot," explained TripleBatsuDance. BlackKokoro was going through the game for the first time, so she didn't have the waypoints beyond Dragonheart's Sanctum unlocked yet.

  A forest barred their unobstructed way forward. From here on out, there would be fewer open spaces and more and more tree growth. Most of this region was untouched nature, with a few small settlements scattered across a large area. The deathly influence of the Great Necromancer would grow thicker as they traveled further west, and the monsters they encountered would become more elaborate.

  WolfGodKotaro drew The Pack forming the screen closer since the dense undergrowth made for more hiding spots for potential ambushers. They had four level 100 players, two of whom were living legends, so they didn't need to be this cautious, but he liked the roleplaying aspect of it, too. He would have done the same even if everybody in the party was max level.

  MANhera took point, crushing bushes and breaking through low-hanging branches simply by walking through them with her large frame. The path through the forest was ill-maintained, unlike the more open Cursed Faewoods. Maybe it was because the game had turned real, and the vegetation started growing beyond the bounds of their original placements. Who knew what the world would look like a few years from now?

  AFKat, coming in last in the column, noticed something hitting her shoulder, and she looked back. There was nothing out of the ordinary, and no signs of the objects that had hit her. Maybe it had been branches snapping back after being bent out of shape, although that seemed unlikely since they should have hit her in the face then. Not that it mattered either way.

  She shrugged and followed the rest of the party, but then felt it again a few moments later, but on her lower back. The little catgirl stopped and looked back again, but there was nothing. Did some squirrels toss some nuts at her? But there were none on the ground as far as she could see.

  "What's wrong?" TripleBatsuDance wondered when she noticed AFKat lagging behind.

  "I don't know. Something touched the back of my head," she responded with a frown. It wasn't much of a bother, but not knowing what it was annoyed her.

  "Want to change positions? See if I get the same?" the dancer suggested innocently.

  "You just want to attack me from behind," AFKat said with an eyebrow raised.

  "Nooo, I would never do that!" She lunged at the little catgirl and hugged her. "Ow."

  AFKat's [Crown of the First Martyr] thorns effect was activated since it seemed to count that as an attack. It was nothing more than a tiny prick to TripleBatsuDance, more so now than ever before, but the psychological pain of being considered an enemy was worse than the minuscule damage she took.

  "They say love hurts," she said as she lifted AFKat off the ground and spun around with her.

  "Muu..." AFKat complained but didn't struggle, acting like a cat being handled by her annoying, clingy owner.

  Suddenly, TripleBatsuDance froze and let go of her. AFKat looked up in confusion and noticed her petrified in place. Behind her was a dark figure with a hood pulled deep over its bandaged face. It sank back into the dancer's shadow, but the little catgirl reacted quickly and grabbed them by the throat.

  There was no grappling skill in the game, so it counted as an unarmed attack. Even though her chance of hitting a player with high evasion was almost nonexistent, it worked this once. The [Assassin] made an ugly 'gueh' sound like a toad being stepped on and tried to stab AFKat's arm with their elaborate three-pronged dagger. Their name was Ansazu, and they were level 97.

  "A member of the Assassins Guild?" TripleBatsuDance was already released from the [Assassin's] stun-on-backstab effect. The attack hadn't done as much damage as it would have if this were a [Kingslayer], and the crowd control didn't last as long as on a [Curseblade]. The fact nobody had detected them meant they were likely a [Darkstalker], the most elusive subclass of the [Assassin] class. It excelled in not being detected and escaping without being caught, though that didn't work this time.

  "So that's what I felt hitting me earlier?" AFKat used her [Vanguard] strength to pull Ansazu out of the shadow they tried to escape into, ignoring their flailing attempts at stabbing her. The symbols in her status bar were off the charts because of TripleBatsuDance's countless auras, so she didn't even see the debuffs those attacks applied. Her [Juggernaut] passive made her immune to stun effects either way. "What are you trying to do?"

  "What's going on back there?" BlackKokoro called out to them curiously after noticing that they had stopped. The other party members turned around, too, and with this, everybody became aware of Ansazu. The [Assassin] ceased their struggles and went limp like a rat stuck in a snare trap, realizing that it was impossible to escape.

  "I don't think they can talk with your hand around their throat," the dancer suggested with an almost pitiful expression. Despite being level 97, this [Assassin] seemed woefully weak.

  "Oh, right," AFKat loosened her grip, and Ansazu saw their chance. They disappeared into a puff of shadows and appeared a few meters away.

  "Damn you, I'll get you next time!" they declared, their voice coming out muffled from underneath the bandages, while pointing their three-pronged dagger at the party. TripleBatsuDance summoned her mask to her face and swung her riding crop at them, and they quickly ducked into their shadow in a panic. The attack cut through the trees in the vicinity, but missed the [Assassin].

  The shadow on the ground disappeared, leaving AFKat and her friends exchanging confused looks with each other. It seemed that they had an incompetent stalker on their hands.

  This is the beginning of volume 2. If this book does well, look forward to a long-running series. So you better like, comment, and subscribe!

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