NOVEL NEXT Untrodden Territory
First of all, I don't intend to defeat this monster. I won't be able to, I admit it honestly.
I... have some trauma, perhaps. I once fought a difficult boss alone as a mage, doing hit and run, and guess how long it took me to defeat the boss? Half a day! More than six hours. Whereas if done with a party, it would only take about half an hour. I also regret it if I were to give up halfway, as the preparation to challenge such a boss is neither cheap nor easy. I even used dozens of revive items on myself just to avoid failing that challenge.
That was a memory from the past when this game was still at around level 100ish. If I were to do the same thing in this era... ah, I don't even want to entertain the thought.
Instead...this huge duck is flying at an incredible speed. I can't read the direction, I can't even open my eyes. I don't need to hold onto the chain because from the beginning it's a skill that wraps around my hands, so I'm just bouncing around, trailing behind this bird.
How much longer will this chain last...with my current MP capacity, I don't think it will last that long. When that happens and I break free from this chain, this adventure will come to an abrupt end. I haven't even shown what I’ve got yet. Geez.
Just then not long after, I start feeling more stable as the wind hitting my face decreases. I open my eyes to find myself wondering, "Where is this?"
To the left and right, all I see are towering cliff walls, like barriers preventing vehicles from falling off an elevated road. Since it's daytime, I can calmly see the long river below... Wait, what?! Daytime? That's impossible! This game follows real-world time, so how could it suddenly become daytime when just a few minutes ago it was nighttime?
"SHREEAK!"
I wonder what's happening, but it seems that since this beast entered this place, it has become calm and less ferocious. It no longer flaps its wings as actively as before, and our altitude is definitely decreasing to the point where I can see the grassland more clearly.
"Great, if it continues like this, I'll be able to jump when I deem the height safe," I say.
That was my intention, but then I felt something unusual. This place is too eerily silent. The design is too mundane, a vast grassy field as far as the eye can see, giving the impression that everything is terribly boring, like a room that hasn't been furnished.
"Well, as long as I can descend from here... ugh!" I scream, my face collides with something, and everything goes dark. When I open my eyes, I see a slightly cloudy white sky. I stand up and put my hands behind me, looking ahead. "What the hell?!"
"SHREEAK, SHREEAK!"
That supposedly-ancient-duck soared low and far ahead, its sound fading and disappearing from sight. I stood up and brushed myself off, as if there was dust there. But, could this game engine really implement such a detail? It must be a habit from the real world that carried over into this world.
"Anyway, what did I just collide with? There was nothing... here," I hesitated. My palm now confidently touched something solid, like a hard invisible wall. Curious, I reached out and explored, feeling the disturbance in the air, like a flea jumping onto the surface of calm water.
"The edge of the world, perhaps? This duck has brought me this far in the blink of an eye," I started to assume. "So what I'm seeing with my eyes is an area that players cannot access, a dimension where monsters are stored, like that?"
No matter how advanced human technology is, it cannot create a world as authentic as the original. Developers often place obstacles in the way to prevent players from passing through because, indeed, it is the boundary of the world defined by the program. Behind that boundary, maybe...just zeros and ones.
"Forget about that, I'd better explore this untrodden territory."
I walked back along the grass field, moving away from the invisible walls, going further and further.
My previous assumption may be correct. It's currently only 7 PM in real time. The fact that I was transported to a location where it's daytime may mean that I was taken to a corner of the world where time flows naturally. Or perhaps, that nothing-black-at-all-duck performed some kind of warp and accidentally brought me to this domain.
Whatever it is, here it is! The moment I've been waiting for! The uniqueness of the protagonist in novels and anime, obtaining a bug or overpowering weapon and becoming the top player. I'm quite excited, no, I'm very excited. What awaits me up ahead, I wonder?
After a moment that is not short...
I leaned against a coconut tree, in front of me was a small spring surrounded by brown sand. An oasis in the middle of a grassland, a complete contradiction. It seemed to be a safe spot, as my status and stamina instantly recovered upon entering. The reason I stopped here was not to rest but to prepare myself for what lay ahead.
As soon as I logged in, I realized my equipment was haphazardly chosen. I couldn't remember why I wore this in the first place. Nevertheless, I wouldn't hold back and would give it my all for an ending without regrets.
I opened the map window, where there was only a small dot representing myself, trapped in the middle of a black blank circle. My assumption was that this was an unregistered domain in the official system, a domain where a player shouldn't enter. Or maybe it was just a glitch, I wasn't sure which.
What's more important now is that everything is becoming more intriguing, and I can't wait.
Fortunately, I brought one of my main sets in this bag. Because often I empty my inventory and go on adventures using completely different equipment. My goal at the time was to enjoy the game with a completely different playstyle.
"Right, I should be ready with this."