1 Where am I?

Hey there! I'm Fugoshi Hidekai, a 17 year old high school student. I've been able to surpass most of the gamers in my favorite game called *Adventures of Life*. I'm only in third place right now as one of the top players though. I'll get there someday either way!

I lean back in my fancy chair and stretch out the stiffness from sitting for an hour. I look at my tier levels on Adventures of Life and smile as I cheer myself on. It says I'm very close to getting top 2nd.

"Heck yea!" I say. "This is great!"

My mother comes barging in and I turn back to see an unwanted look.

"You better quiet down!" She says. "You should be focusing on getting into college, not that stupid gaming!"

"Mom, this gaming can get me money though…" I say. "If you just looked at what others do-"

"I don't want to hear any of it!" She screams. "I want you downstairs in half an hour to start on your piano lessons!"

"But-" I say.

Before I could continue, she slammed the door shut and one of my gaming trophies fell on the floor. I rush over and pick it up, sighing in relief to see that it's still intact.

It was my very first trophy I won in secret at a tournament while my parents went out on vacation leaving me to study. They were furious with me when they saw me on the news. When they came home, I was stripped of my devices that they bought for me. This led to paused gaming for about a week until I managed to buy my own.

"Why can't I have someone near who's proud of me?" I say. "I've done what they wanted but it just doesn't feel right to me…"

I place my trophy back on it's podium and plop myself on my bed. I sit up and look at my computer screen.

"What the…?" I say.

I walk over to my computer and get closer to see what's on the screen. In the game, there's a brand new pop-up for a quest. It seemed normal at first glance like any other, but the after text…

"It's like you're living inside the game?" I read. "Huh."

I click on accepting it and all of a sudden I feel something grabbing my whole body. I panic and attempt to run out of my room. Managing to exit as I open and close the door behind me, I sigh in relief. Then, I see a black figure of a huge body walking towards me in front. I freeze up in fear as it gets closer to me. Leaning down, it shows blazing red eyes and puts it's hand next to my face.

At this point, I couldn't feel anything and feared this mysterious figure. Then, It took it's hand and pierced my chest. I looked down at it before completely blacking out.

"Hey, are you alive?" A faint female voice says. "Come on, wake up!"

I feel a painful slap to the face and scream in pain. My eyes open to a pretty woman who is barely wearing any proper clothes.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm Amee." She responds. "What about you?"

"Amee? As in the 3rd in the top female gamers in Adventures of Life Amee?" I gasp.

"Yes." She says.

"I'm Fugo, nice to finally get to meet you, Amee!" I smile. "I've been trying to contact you about teaming up but never got a response…"

"Of course…" She sighs. "Might as well get to know each other now."

She starts to stand up and look around. I look around with her and stare for a moment. We're in a vast area of natural resources and there are some buildings that are seen not too far from us.

"First, we're going to that city over there." Amee points in the direction of the buildings.

"Wait, where are we right now?" I ask.

"If you stand up then you could get a better view of it…" Amee says. "We're currently near the edge of the Artirias Vastlands. That city over there is The City of Artirias."

"But that's…." I say.

"Yeah, we're inside the game." Amee says. "The real Adventures of Life."

"Woah." I stand and look around me.

There were flowers everywhere and even small animals too. Amee picked out a flower from the ground and started chewing on it. Shocked, I stare at her for a second.

"It's rude to stare, idiot." Amee says. "Is it really that odd to see me eating an herbal flower?"

"O-Oh sorry, no," I say. "I just forgot we weren't in the normal world for a second."

"I'm a healer, so I kind of have to eat the herbs to clearly identify them until I fully get all my things back." Amee sighs. "Ah, I never fully knew what your abilities were."

"I was just a lone fighter, I don't really remember what I can do…" I say.

"Find out with your bracelet." Amee points. "Just tap it and it'll show you what you can do."

I look at my wrist and see a brown bracelet that's skintight. It didn't feel like it but I tapped it and my stats started popping up.

I see everything is still with me and nothing is lost. I would usually only have a max number of things but... it says I have infinite inventory.

"Okay," I say. "I'm all good, still have everything!"

"Oh, wait what?" Amee says. "How do you still have everything?"

"Uh, I don't know?" I say.

"I entered here without my things..." Amee says. "How could you have everything...?"

"Wait, does that mean you're just a casual player now?" I gasp. "I guess... we're not equals anymore..."

Looking away I can't act serious, I played too many romance games... Then, surprised, I feel two hands grabbing my arm. I hear Amee speak before I decide to look at her.

"I know I might've lost everything, but could you please help me get my things back?" Amee begs me.

I sigh and look at her. "Okay, but on one condition."

"What?" Amee says.

"You have to be my partner." I grin.

Amee looks at me in slight shock. I look back at her with a straight face.

"You're kidding." Amee says.

"I'm not." I say.

I sigh, looking at my wrist, I tap back on my bracelet and notice something off. There's a faded icon of a skull in the bottom right corner. I think nothing of it and take out my extra staff I had. It was like a holographic screen so the staff popped up in a glittery light.

"Why are you taking that out?" Amee asks.

"You usually use staffs, right?" I say. "Why not have something to defend yourself with in the meantime."

"O-Oh," Amee blushes. "I do use staffs, thanks for noticing."

I smile and give her the staff. We then begin to walk towards the city and I notice something strange as we get closer. There was a barrier, the translucent look and light blue lining instantly told me it was a confirmation barrier.

"I wonder why they have that barrier up right now..." Amee says.

I look to the sides and see guards walking around. Beginning to walk in that direction, I was quickly spotted by them.

"Ah, who goes there?" Gaurd 1 asks.

"I am Fugo, I used to travel nearby and would come through the city." I respond.

"Fugo?!" Another scurried away. "You are the one who went rampant on our city once before when we defyed your requests of magic orbs..."

"Magic orbs?" Amee says. "Seriously?"

"What?" I say. "It was when I didn't know these guys actually thought something about it."

"Listen, magic orbs aren't something you'd need to be after." Amee says. "Why would you try to get them? You don't even use magic."

"I do…" I say. "I just wanted to keep it a surprise until I mastered it though."

I hear Amee sigh and go over to the guards. Then she began a conversation with them. I was a little surprised when they easily let her go inside as I was being dragged along. It was understandable though, she's wearing quite the revealing clothing….

We stayed in the city to figure out what to do. Apparently when I was passed out, I should've gotten a message for an automatic quest notice. I checked my list of quests, and I had one, but it was weird. I ignored it and went along with resting for the day.