13 A Journalist in the New World

{Charlotte}

Sure, a lot had changed since the Unity Trials, but one thing that hadn't was that people were still looking for interesting stories to hear about.

And, as a journalist, providing people with those stories was Charlotte's calling.

Even if it meant putting her life on the line.

In the middle of a field full of dangerous creatures and players in armor and mage robes stood a woman with flowing pink locks, wearing a white pencil skirt and heels, with a microphone in her hands.

"As you can see, monsters are pouring out from the sewers!" Charlotte reported to a camera as players battled fish-like creatures in the street, right behind her. "The Golden Dragons were the first guild to respond. The battle is raging on and- WHOA!"

A car landed right next to her, thrown in her direction by a monster pounding on its chest, as though it was proud. A couple of adventurers took it on as Charlotte tried to keep going.

"A-As I was saying, the battle is raging on and, so far, there have only been a couple of casualties on the players' side. Let's see if we can get a statement from one of the players involved!"

Charlotte ran toward a player who was cowering behind a garbage bin.

"Excuse me."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" The player yelled out, flinching as he saw Charlotte.

"Would you like to provide a statement for the local news?" Charlotte asked. The cameraman zoomed in on him.

"No!"

"As you can see," Charlotte said, turning toward the camera, "this player is petrified. I am fairly certain I can smell urine. Stay tuned, and we will keep you updated as the story develops!"

---

At that moment, the tv cut out, and Charlotte's boss sighed next to her.

"Well, what do you think?" Charlotte asked, grinning and gesturing at the footage they'd just looked at. "Didn't manage to get a real interview, but, still. A fight broke out in the middle of an intersection. Spicy, right?"

"This kind of shit stopped being spicy a day into the Unity Trials. Charlotte, you know you're gonna get yourself killed if you keep walking into this type of stuff, right? That car could have crushed you."

"Buuuut it didn't!"

The pink-haired reporter jogged through the office. She walked over to her desk where she pulled out a USB drive that was full of footage just like that.

"Arnold, look. Just because death and peril are exceptionally common nowadays doesn't mean that people aren't interested in the terrible things that happen to their neighbors, you know?"

"You worry me when you say shit like that."

Charlotte ignored him.

"Haven't you seen those clips online where people try to clear dungeons and the whole squad gets wiped out? Millions of views! Sure, people type about how terrible and awful it is, but in reality, they're aching to see this kind of stuff because it validates their own experiences. I really think we should focus on this sort of thing if we want to be the hottest news outlet in Starlight City."

"Charlotte..."

"Arnold..." The woman pressed her hands together. "It's not like we can change how awful the world is by providing our viewers with fake positivity. Why not capitalize on the bullshit everyone's going through while we can?"

"Look, if you want to focus more on monster outbreaks and player casualties, I can't stop you. But, I really think that what the people need right now is to be inspired."

"I..." Charlotte chuckled. "I don't think that's possible right now. I'll be back later, Arnold. Gonna go get some lunch."

"Gotcha."

Thus, Charlotte grabbed her belongings and walked out of her office.

Before the Unity Trials had begun, it had always been her dream to be a reporter on the field. Someone who was willing to cover the stories no one else wanted to talk about. When the Unity Trials began, that plan came to a temporary halt.

Soon, however, society began to rebuild as players steadily cleared the newfound dungeons around them. Eventually, World Shop tokens became the new currency that everyone was in need of.

And it was through reporting on the random fights that would occur in the city that Charlotte began making her money.

However, she felt like there was something missing. Something that would take her journalism to the next level.

She couldn't quite figure out what that was, but it was there.

She rounded a corner and ended up at her favorite ramen shop.

Sure, everyone could buy ramen from the World Shop, but some people, Charlotte included, believed there was just something special about homemade food that the World Shop couldn't replicate. Food from the World Shop just tasted too artificial to her.

The owner of the shop recognized her, smiling in Charlotte's direction as a couple of the other customers left.

"Mornin', Charlotte. How is everything?"

"Same as always, Jack. Can I get the usual?"

"Of course."

In just half a minute, a hot bowl of ramen was sitting in front of her on the counter, with a glass of cold water right next to it.

Charlotte transferred 10 WS tokens into Jack's inventory and began eating the day's breakfast.

"So, uh..." Jack started. "I caught you on Tweeter."

"What, the intersection fight?" Charlotte asked.

"Yep," Jack nodded. "It was cool and all, but... is that really worth the time and energy to report on?"

"My boss pretty much asked me the same thing," Charlotte replied, keeping her eyes on her meal. "People say they see that stuff every day, but you still watched, didn't you?"

"Well, mostly because you're hot."

"Don't let your boyfriend hear that."

"He agrees," Jack shrugged. Charlotte rolled her eyes, holding back giggles.

As she ate her breakfast in silence for a moment, it then came to Charlotte to ask about something. Something she hadn't gotten the opportunity to report on as it happened.

"So, the Final Challenge group," she muttered.

"What about them?"

"Did they head out already?"

"I think so," Jack nodded slowly. "I think I saw someone say they left yesterday."

"Hm, damn. I wanted to get a statement from at least one of them before they went in. Rest in peace to them, I guess."

"You don't think they can do it?"

Charlotte shook her head.

"Nine other groups tried before them," she stated. "Why would they be able to do it?"

"I dunno. I heard they had some heavy hitters on this team. They might just prove you wrong."

Charlotte raised a brow.

"Like who?"

"John Dulan," Jack quickly replied.

"... What?" Charlotte stopped. Her spoon hung in the air as she waited for an answer.

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "John Dulan is on that trip."

"The Golden Dragons' prodigy? Holy shit."

A part of Charlotte was confused to hear that. Was someone like John Dulan a person the Golden Dragons could afford to lose on a suicide mission like this?

Then again, if they had more people like John Dulan on this team, maybe they actually stood a chance.

"Jack, where can I find the list of people who went on the mission?"

"Oh? I piqued your interest?"

"Just tell me."

"Fine, fine. The list is on the Golden Dragons' website, I'm pretty sure."

Immediately, Charlotte pulled out her phone and looked for it. It didn't take much time to find it.

And, Charlotte was not disappointed by the names that popped up.

"Damn..." She whispered. "Wait, this list is full of top-tier players."

Alongside the names of the players were some of their accomplishments. For example, next to John Dulan's name was "Frost Queen Slayer", due to his accomplishment of having taken down a level 30 Ice Elf Queen during one of his dungeon runs.

Eventually, she found someone who had an accomplishment that was impressive, but who she'd never heard of before.

"Neve Stephens," Charlotte muttered. "Main Accomplishment: dozens of dungeons cleared without a single casualty."

"Is she a healer?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. I mean, that is an impressive feat," Charlotte said, tilting her head. "How come I've never heard of someone like that?"

"What guild is she a part of?"

"Doesn't say," Charlotte responded.

Curious, looked up the girl's name and found a government player profile.

Charlotte's eyes widened.

The girl was gorgeous. Genuinely. From her silky sapphire hair to her deep, captivating blue eyes to her slender frame, she looked like a model.

Maybe it was this beauty that had Charlotte feeling like she'd seen this girl before.

"Uh, Jack, do you know her?"

Charlotte showed him the image on her phone. The man whistled.

"Holy shit," he muttered. "Unfortunately, no."

"Yeah," Charlotte replied. "I feel like I've seen her somewhere, though."

"If she's not with any guild... maybe you saw her in a clip?"

Nodding, Charlotte went on MeTube and searched up the girl's name. The first few clips yielded no results, but, eventually, she came across something.

A video titled: Beautiful Healer INSPIRES Despairing Tank (INCREDIBLE!)

See, the only kind of footage that could compete with a video of a player dying or a team failing was the opposite. Those fairytale moments where underdogs win against all odds.

Charlotte didn't build her career around those, however, because those moments were painfully rare. They couldn't be relied on to put food on the table, as a reporter.

Here, however, Neve had been the subject of one such moment.

Charlotte played the video. It featured a group of four players, one tank, a lancer, an archer, and Neve, battling a horde of zombies. They were doing fine until their tank went down and nearly had his arm bitten off.

He was the one holding the camera on his chest piece. And, at that moment, Neve appeared before him.

She kicked the monsters off and distracted them until the damage-type players could take them out. Then, she ran over to the tank.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" She asked, looking just above the camera. "You're a tank! Get up and do your fucking job!"

"B-But..."

Neve cut him off.

"Don't worry," she said, with complete confidence in her words, "I'm the best healer in this fucking city. I won't let anything happen to you."

The video came to a close as the tank ran back into the action and Charlotte smiled, pausing the clip. The rest of the video featured the dungeon clear in full, but Charlotte had seen everything she needed to see.

[Holy fuck,] she thought, biting on her bottom lip. [That was hot. I like her.]

"See ya later, Jack. I'm gonna go do some research on this girl."

"She was that good?"

Charlotte turned and winked at him.

"Hell yeah. I think I just fell in love."