1 A Fortune?

In a high school compound of the South City, where a beautiful line-up of robust trees can be seen in an organized layout. Trees were carefully selected so that they can provide the optimal shade for the students, teachers, and staff. They are of sufficient height with branches extending outward in all directions. The leaves are numerous, healthy and bright green in color.

Trees are lined up in a set of five in pairs. In between each set is a pavement where a lot of students can be seen walking or running to wherever they want to be. Underneath each tree is a bench made up of metal that was painted with dirty white color. Under the intense heat of the sun, it provides a comfortable place where anyone can enjoy the summer heat and fresh air without getting any sunburn.

The majority of the benches are occupied by students but there are still some teachers as well. On one of the bench, a group of girls, clearly they are friends as they talk with closeness with each other are busy making remarks with anybody who walked in front of them. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they will frown, sometimes they just stare in the abyss. On some benches, some students are relaxingly reading their school materials. Some are serious in their studies, while some are busy reading light novels like this one.

While most of the benches are busy with students, nobody notices that on one of the trees, a young boy in his sixteen is having a relaxing afternoon. His back is leaning on one of the thick branches, his two hands are relaxingly behind his neck while his legs are crossed. His eyes are closed lightly, enjoying the breeze and the warmth of the sun under the shade of the green leaves.

His eyes are closed but his mind is busy with his usual imaginations. He imagined he is a prince in some faraway lands. The lands are full of mystery and magic is common among mortals. He enjoyed banquets with luxurious guests and wonderful, delicious foods. He sits on the pedestal with the ground laid with red carpet. There are young beautiful girls with ample bosom who attends to his needs. A pretty lady musician that plays with zither provides soothing music that makes you desire not to end such moments.

"Wouldn't it be nice if life would be this wonderful?" He muttered silently. Only he can hear himself.

Then on his imagination, a group of demons stormed their castle. Everybody panicked except for him. He shouted with bravery, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Rest assured! Our kingdom will be safe as long as I'm here!". Then heavy clouds on the sky gathered and it struck with a violent streak of lightning. It seems that heaven itself is in agreement with what the prince uttered. He laughed maniacally then disappeared where he is standing. A few seconds later, there's a flash and he is back. The group of demons was vanquished in a few moments and they didn't even have a chance to resist. The crowd around the prince admire their faces. "Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince!"

The young boy on the tree branch still had his eyes closed but have a smug face and a mischievous smile.

Then suddenly, something moves in the surrounding branches. He wasn't aware as he let his guard down and busy with his usual imaginations. Whatever that moves is looking at him with a curious gaze. When it heard that the boy laughed in a restrained manner, it decided to jump and land in the boy's chest. It looked at the boy's face at such a close distance.

The young boy felt something a bit heavy landed on his chest. So he was naturally startled and he opened his eyes immediately and lifted his head.

What he saw is a young black giant squirrel with big eyes looking intently at him.

They both stared at each other for a full second. Then...

"Ahhhhhhhh.... get off me! Get off me! Ahhhhhh" The boy frantically tried to push the squirrel away. In his panic, he forgot he was on a tree branch and before he remembered, it was already too late. He went out of balance and started to slip off on the branch. The squirrel mockingly just looked at him then skillfully jumped on the nearest branch.

Fortunately, he was able to hold on the branch with his hands. The boy was sweating profusely. He thought he will going to die for sure. After he calmed down a bit, he felt something and as he looked around, he realized that a lot of students are now looking at him. His eyes widened like a saucer.

"Hahaha, that boy screamed like a girl!" One of the pretty girls was giggling. The other girls on her side are mockingly looking at him too.

"Hahahahahaah, you are scared with a squirrel?!" One of the boys can't hold it as well and exclaimed what's on his mind.

A lot of students are looking at him and he can't help but blush all over. He looks like a tomato that's about to burst. He swiftly maneuvered his body and landed on the ground then without looking back ran in a random direction. Anywhere is fine as long as he can get away from that place.

On the top of the tree, the squirrel is busy eating a nut while it is looking at a boy that is running away. The other students just giggles then went back to their respective benches.

The boy continues running until he runs out of breath. He stopped on a tree and use it as a support while trying to catch his breath. After he stabilized his breathing, he looked around his surroundings.

His eyes widened in shock. He can't recognize where he is. He swung around and looked in any direction but all he sees are trees that looked almost the same.

"Oh my god, where am I? Is this a forest? There's a forest near the school?" He can't believe what he is seeing. He's just transferred to this school a few days ago so he wasn't really familiar in this city.

He opened his cell phone and activated the GPS and Location service. With the tall trees, the satellites can't 'see' his device on the ground so the marker on his cell phone just continues blinking trying to search a GPS satellite. He activated the WIFI and the Mobile Data and tried to use the Internet. There's no WIFI but there's seems to be a little bit of mobile signal. He tried to call his best friend but it can't connect the call. He tried to send an SMS but it is failing. He tried countless times but nothing is working.

"Calm down, calm down. There's gotta be a way." He tried to compose himself. Panicking will not help him in his situation. He frantically opened every messaging app on his cell phone but with no Internet, it is useless.

"Ah wait. What's this?" He noticed a particular app on the cell phone. It has an icon of a squirrel footprint. His eyebrows furrowed. He can't remember installing anything remotely close to such an app. If you look closely, the icon has a text of "Abc..." in the center.

"Is this a messaging app?" Thinking that nothing can go wrong, he tapped the icon. A loading icon appeared. This time, it's a circling head of a cute squirrel. After a while, there's a prompt, it is asking for his nickname. He entered his nickname as "Prince HS" then tapped the button. The loading icon appeared again.

After five minutes, it is still loading...

"What the heck, did it hanged? He raises his cell phone in the sky and pointed it to the cardinal directions based on his assumption of where it should be. After trying for up to ten minutes, finally, the loading icon disappeared.

What he saw is a messaging interface. There's a big space for text at the top then a small input text at the bottom. Then there's a continuous stream of text that appeared. "It's really seems to be a messaging app," he muttered to himself.

He tried to read what it said on the stream of text:

"B> The Cloak of the Red Vampire. PM your offer"

"Want to experience something new and exciting? Join our Xuan faction. PM me"

"Do you need any help? Are you lost? Need any assistance from the masters? Contact our Weiss faction. PM me"

There are all sorts of messages coming continuously.

"Is this a group chat for a certain game?" He asked himself as there's no one else in the vicinity.

Thinking it won't hurt to try since nobody knows him, he tapped on that message about getting help. He sent a PM.

Shortly after, there's a reply.