Zombie

She repeated the same steps, and the red specks of dust swirled on top of her hand and formed a ball of flame. The flame rose up and formed a teardrop shape.

"I-I did it!" Maia exclaimed excitedly.

But as she lost her focus, the fireball disappeared as if it was not there in the first place.

"..."

Maia and Misho stared at her empty hand blankly.

"Uuuuu…"

Maia gritted her teeth in annoyance. She closed her eyes and repeated it again. This time, she did her best to stay calm.

Slowly, the red particles of dust gathered in her opened hand again.

"Don't think about the results. Just relax," Misho said in an attempt to help her.

The specks of red dust trembled. Maia bit her lips and the fireball dissipated before it could fully form. She clenched her fist in anger.

"Shut up!" Maia shouted in anger.

"O-Okay…"

Misho was taken aback by her outburst. This was a side of her that he had never seen before. He was at a loss on what to do.

"Fuuu…"

Maia exhaled deeply before slowly sucking in a breath of fresh air. She appeared calm and cool.

Misho didn't dare to say anything anymore. It seemed that she was frustrated.

Before long, another fireball appeared in her hand. It flickered like candlelight and emanated heat.

"I did it," Maia said and smiled.

"You really did it. This is amazing. No… This world is amazing. Praise the developers," Misho said with a serious look on his face.

He tried his best not to make her lose her focus.

"I'm amazing, right, Misho?" Maia asked with a bright smile on her face.

"Yes."

Misho nodded his head.

"Misho, let's test this at the forest later," Maia said.

"Sure, but don't burn the forest down," Misho responded with concern.

The fireball on Maia's hand disappeared.

"I'm not that clumsy. Hmph," Maia harrumphed.

"I'm not wrong, am I?"

"I will prove you wrong."

"..."

"..."

"Anyways, I forgot to check the time earlier," Misho said, changing the topic.

"Me too."

Maia nodded her head.

The two of them looked at the time by focusing their thoughts.

"Only more than six hours had passed since we started playing the game!" Misho exclaimed in amazement.

"We slept around 3 PM. That meant that only about less than 3 hours passed since we slept," Maia added.

"Woah! I don't know how long we slept, but usually, it should be eight hours. If my quick math is correct, this world should be 3x faster than the real one," Misho said while in thought.

"That should be correct, Misho. I wonder how they did it," Maia replied with curiosity on her face.

"The computing power this world must have used should be a lot."

He can't imagine where and how they did it, but it was awesome. After seeing Maia create that fireball, he also wanted to use cultivation magic.

"We should log out soon and check the forums," Maia said.

"Mm. But first, let's go investigate the periphery of the village," Misho said.

The two of them left the room.

"Uncle Gerald, me, and Quarter will go investigate now," Maia said.

"Take care. Run to the village and inform me if there are any monsters around," Gerald said and nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Kea was not there, so Misho and Maia simply left. Misho brought Maia to the place where he entered the village.

"Let's start here, Maia. Then we will go around the village," Misho said.

"I understand, Misho," Maia replied.

They looked around the surroundings of the village. There were trees around them and nothing else.

"Maia, you should look around for any disturbance in the surrounding foliage. I will go look for traces on the ground," Misho said.

"Okay~"

Maia and Misho leisurely walked together. Maia would look around the trees while Misho would look down at where they were stepping.

Soon, Misho found something strange on the ground.

"A broken branch?"

Misho picked it up and examined it. It belonged to the tree just above it.

"Misho, look!"

Maia pointed somewhere.

Misho followed her finger and found a body lying on the ground. The body wore brown and tattered clothing.

"A dead body!?"

"Eek!"

The two of them never saw a dead body before because the world they lived in was very peaceful. Considering that this world was very realistic, they can't help but feel chills run down their spines.

"Should we report it to Uncle Gerald first, Misho?" Maia asked, frightened.

She moved closer to him and embraced his arm.

"Let's see the body first," Misho said.

He gulped his saliva. As a man, he couldn't just run away. He would embarrass himself in front of Maia if he did.

"Ehh? What if he's a zombie??"

Maia tugged on Misho's arm. She wasn't fond of zombies, and seeing a random corpse beside a forest reminded her of the Running Dead.

"...Now that you say that. He could be."

Misho nodded his head solemnly. He can't deny that possibility. After all, this was a fantasy world.

"Let's go!"

Maia pulled his arm harder.

"Wait here. If he's really a zombie, I can run," Misho said.

"Eh? Isn't that too risky? We still don't know the penalty if we died," Maia said worriedly.

"I will use my foot to touch him," Misho said.

"...Fine."

Maia stared into his eyes and found them to show stubbornness. She reluctantly released his hand and stood a little bit away from him.

Misho nodded his head to her and focused on the body. He tiptoed towards it and stood beside it.

There was no foul-smelling smell. That reassured Misho that he wasn't a zombie.

"I don't think he's a zombie!" Misho shouted without tearing his eyes away from the body.

"Be careful!" Maia shouted back.

The body was turned to the side, and Misho couldn't clearly see the face of the person. So, he stepped on his waist and pulled him towards him.

The body slowly turned, and the man's face was revealed to Misho.

"Ahh!"