Level Up And Move On

Reed, walking through the village streets, received an achievement prompt from the system.

[System: Player has gained the achievement: "1vs4 Still not enough!"]

[Detail: Player fought against 4 players simultaneously and didn't take any damage.]

[Achievement grade: Rare]

Reed sighed, staring at the system message. He knew they had it coming from the way they treated him.

Now that everything was set, it was finally time for Reed to leave the tutorial village and enter the main capital.

The system message materialized in front of Reed.

[System: Player, you have reached and surpassed level '10' and as such are now qualified to exit the tutorial village and enter Avalon's main capital. Would you like to be teleported there?]

[Yes] [No]

Reed, staring at the system window, weighed his options and was satisfied with the 'Yes' decision.

He had spent some time here and got to know some of the people quite well, but it was time to see what the game really had in store.

After all, this was only the tutorial stage. As he stretched his hand to click the 'Yes' button, his hand suddenly glitched. Shocked, he stopped. "What the hell is going on?" he pondered.

The system flashed a warning message. [System: Mind wavelength unstable, player is requested to log out.]

Reed, curious about the situation, decided to click the log-out button, exiting the game.

Now in the real world, Noah pulled off his headgear only to see the nurse right above him. His bedsheet was messy; it seemed she had been trying to wake him up, causing his avatar to glitch as his mind tried to pull himself out of the game.

He turned his gaze, facing hers, narrowing his eyes intensely. Noah was so close to leaving the village before he was interrupted, and for the system to flash a warning, just how hard did she try to wake him up?

"What do you want, Ivy?" Noah questioned, slightly frustrated.

"Noah, please don't be mad. It's your sister; she's at the door waiting to see you," Ivy said, slightly stuttering.

"My sister, she's here?" Noah mused, shocked, wondering when she arrived.

Meanwhile, Reed's former party made their way to the cave. Moving through the forest, Simon felt something was off. They had been moving yet saw no goblins in sight.

Normally, they would have been ambushed by now or at least caught a goblin sleeping next to a tree, but this was completely different.

"Hey, guys, stay on your toes; something feels off," Simon advised.

Dawn readied his bow. Blaze silently started chanting, and the new healer they brought stood behind Simon.

The entire team was on edge, ready to attack at the slightest sound they heard.

Arriving at the cave, they saw goblin corpses littered all over the place. This shocked the entire team, and the three of them knew what this implied.

"Impossible, someone got here before us," Blaze muttered.

"No! This can't be!" Dawn clenched his bow tightly and rushed into the cave.

"Dawn, wait!" Simon yelled.

"Wait, what's going on?" the healer asked, clutching his staff.

Simon let out a tiring sigh, drew out his sword, turned back, and slit the healer's throat. The player's body collapsed to the ground.

"What? Why did you kill him?" Blaze asked, surprised at Simon's bold actions.

"Relax, he is useless now, and we didn't come all this way to babysit dead weight," Simon replied coldly.

"Ugh, I'll never understand you and Dawn," Blaze said, placing her hand on her forehead.

"Come on, let's catch up with Dawn."

The two of them rushed into the cave. Finally reaching the chamber of the cave, they saw Dawn kneeling on the ground, frustrated.

"No, how could this have happened?" Dawn cried out.

"Dawn, what's wrong?" Simon asked.

"Can't you see? Someone killed the green bastard before we did." Dawn pointed at the goblin assassin.

"Yeah, and from the looks of things, it was brutal too," Simon exclaimed.

"Yikes, talk about no mercy," Blaze commented on the goblin's dismembered body parts.

"But how? This was supposed to be a hidden quest. I thought we were the only ones who knew about this place."

Simon clenched his fist. Things weren't supposed to be this way. They came well prepared this time.

Just who could have snatched the rewards form right under their noses? Staring at the goblin assassin's corpse, Simon commented, "Whoever this guy is, it would be dangerous to mess with him if he can make this bastard scared like this."

Meanwhile, back in the hospital, Reed told the nurse to open the door for his sister.

"Sure, right away," Ivy nodded in agreement. Rushing to open the door, she slipped and fell on the floor.

With a loud thud, Noah slapped his hand on his head. "Oh Ivy, always too clumsy," he mused.

Noah tried to stand up and get the door himself, but before he could, Ivy reached and slid open the door.

"Big brother!" said the sweet, tender voice of a young teenage girl as she rushed in and hugged Noah.

Noah, being the caring elder brother that he was, patted her on the head with a calm smile playing on his lips.

"It's been so long. How have you been, little 'V'?" Noah said with a calm, soothing voice.

Ivy, the nurse, seeing the love and bond between the siblings, couldn't help but adore their cuteness.

Noah tries to be caring as much as possible around his family but instinctively relaxes when it's his little sister.

Violet, the young teenage girl with black hair and purple eyes, dressed in her uniform, raised her head, turning her face away, slightly blushing. "I told you not to call me that; I'm not a kid anymore," she said, trying to act tough.

Reed chuckled. "Oh really?"

"I'm 13. At least give me some credit," Violet stood back up.

"So, what's your reason for being here, Violet? Is there something you want to tell me?" Reed asked.

Violet felt a jolt as she remembered the reason why she came here. "Oh yeah," she muttered.

"Noah!"

"Yes," Noah replied, listening to what she had to say.

"How are you feeling? I heard the doctor say you'll be discharged from the hospital in the next two months and shortly after be able to attend school," Violet said.

School, the very institution that caused him to be in the hospital in the first place. Well, it's not like he was bothered, but it meant Noah had things he needed to finish beforehand.

"Hmm, I'm okay, I guess. Thanks for asking," Noah replied.

"Anyways, that's all I came to say, but before I go, here." She opened her school bag and brought out a present.

"I know it's a little late and all, but happy birthday, big brother." Then she handed it over to him.

"Thanks, little 'V'," Noah smiled, grabbing the present.

Then she zipped back her bag and made her way out of the room, waving him goodbye. "See you later, Noah."

Noah smiled, waving back at her. The nurse bowed and shut the door.

Noah was left to ponder. Going back to school means he won't be able to play games all day and comes with a bunch of other complications.

So before he starts attending school, he had a goal in mind. "Alright, let's focus on reaching level fifty and finding the first trace of Vinos."

Placing the present on the floor, he commented on what could possibly be inside. "Knowing her, it's probably something sweet and sugary, and I'm not ready for that yet," Noah said.

Laying back on his bed and wearing back his headgear, knowing he had limited time, he muttered, "This changes everything; now I no longer need to hold back."