[I] Crisis

A number of days have passed since the incident. The guild of Altair is currently inside the throne room of Daedalus' Olympus, Jin's own created base. Daedalus' Olympus has long since become the center of Altair, and it's where the guild performs their meetings. As usual, they have gathered at this place to discuss the current turn of events.

"Oi, just what the hell is happening? How many times do we need to hold meetings before we get out of this situation?" Badger asked, his arms crossed, and his wolf face staring intently at Jin.

"Badger, I thought we've already settled this down? This is not Jin's fault." Chinigami refutes Badger. Not that he directly said to his statement that it was Jin's fault, but his stare revealed it so.

It was this time that someone from the group was supposed to enter the conversation, but the atmosphere between Badger and Chinigami became incredibly tense, making it hard for everyone else to open their mouth. It was Jin himself who was needed to break the two of them apart.

"That's enough." Jin apologetically said. He has his head down, and he only lifted it up when he continued. "I'll say it again; I'm definitely at fault for bringing everyone here. I am sorry for that. But what happened after is out of my hand."

Everyone in the throne room became quiet when Jin said that. He had admitted it many times, and many of them are feeling guilty about what they had said about him in the beginning. Maybe it was just because they were in a panic that they said that, but still, what they did was wrong.

"We can't just leave everything as it is," Jin murmurs to himself as he was reminded of what had happened in the past weeks. The constant blaming and fighting over what they should do has almost divided them, which he had prevented from happening many times over.

However, looking at the real problem - that despite how many days have passed, help from outside just wouldn't come. They have already been inside the game for more than a week, meaning that their bodies are still asleep and might not be being taken care of outside. They would slowly die in their beds if there's no one to take care of them.

Their minds are starting to get messed up by the unknown situation they were put into. Who knows, they might already be dead in the first place.

"Let's just talk about what we came here for in the first place..." Still situated on the five-layered stairs just below the throne, Jin crosses his fingers and talk. The seriousness in his tone became apparent.

"We're not in the game anymore. The pieces of evidence we've gathered support it. You all should've realized it by now. Everything around us... they're real." Then he carcasses the floor. "Even the ground... it's cold. Even ~ look at these wings." He added as he revealed the pure white wings that were on his back. He flaps it up, down, and in all directions, to show that he can control it consciously.

"Was that even possible?" A few gasps in disbelief when they witness the simple action. However, they were a few who were not surprised anymore.

"When Jin first ordered us to go look outside the guild for clues, we used our wings to fly. We did not use magic, we just... flew... and it's like we've been doing it forever. And honestly, it felt great." A group of avatars with natural wings or with wings as their accessories nodded.

"I know it's hard to convince some of you. But, I know you already know it... we're not in the game anymore. Everyone should just accept that as fact." As Jin said that, it turned silent again. It was only a few moments later that someone spoke.

"Then... what are you saying happened? No, what is happening to us right now?"

Counting two fingers in his hand, Jin answered, "There were two hypotheses. First, we're not in the game anymore. Not Earth, but a different planet. The other is, might it be too absurd to even consider, we're still in the game - and that somehow, it became real and we're left in it. Just as mentioned earlier, I made the others scout different locations outside, and... they saw people."

"You mean NPCs?"

"No, real people."

Most were shocked at what they heard, but they all remained quiet, to let Jin continue his explanation.

"You might wanna see it later, but I will say this now, the first contact was rough... Kero's group..."Jin pauses and looks for a certain person inside. He turns towards the avatar he mentioned, Kero, a gargoyle with large, noticeable wings.

"I sent Kero and some outside. They made contact with one of the villages. This happened the first few days, but we decided to keep quiet about it."

"Why?"

"We needed more evidence to be more certain. Anyways, the first contact. The people outside immediately ran away when they saw Kero. They even attacked him."

"You must be kidding me!?"

"Umu... that's right. Usually, NPCs shouldn't react like that. We're players; they're supposed to entertain us. So only one thing came to my mind after that... we needed to send someone who will blend into them; I sent Tabimikohuro. I made him turn into an ordinary human, and he was able to infiltrate the village."

***

Tabimikohuro was a doppelganger. He gained the highest level his race could possibly have, and he's now able to turn into anything he wants to, even furniture and non-characters, as long as he has data on them. Due to this ability, he was sent on a mission by the leader of Altair, Jin himself. He doesn't really know what he's up to, but he obeyed since he was his superior.

Tabimikohuro was a second-generation member of Altair; he came after Jin and his previous companions, the founders of the guild. At that time, Jin has been their leader, and everything the guild did since then, he was the mastermind.

He respects Jin more than anyone else in the guild. He was never wrong, and he thinks that he is the greatest mind in Alter, which he has proven many times. To what had happened, he doesn't blame Jin.

He does believe that the others feel the same way as him. They are just hiding it under the faces and masks of their avatars. After all, Jin has done so many for them already and he has acted as an excellent and effective leader since the beginning. That is why, despite that current situation, he acted on his order without hesitation.

However, there is something that really confuses his mind that he thinks he should question Jin about.

Right now, he has a body of a human. Right now, he has human anatomy; the previous and real-life anatomy he had when he was outside the game. One thing he realizes was... there was no difference between then and now.

On his filled of vision, he could see the wooden fences that will lead him to his destination. But before that, he needed to travel inside a forest. Inside that forest, he tried many experiments with his body. He did all things a normal male could do with his body, and all of those experiments felt real. With a human body, he even feels hunger and thirst.

Yes... it was unlike when he normally transform... the body he has now, and everything he will transform to will be real...

"This is why Jin has sent me outside, huh...?" He said to himself. The realization paralyzes his body, but he still has a mission to do...

"So I just need to get information out of these villagers?"