"Attack the left hindlimb! That's the boss weakness!"
"You guys heard her! Go for it!"
"Woo!"
Looking at the players charging at the Demonic Bear, Level 30 Boss on the 3rd Floor, Miko was relatively calm. She had gotten used to these rowdy people, they immediately listened to her words after it was known that she could find the Boss weakness. Her eyes glint in mysterious light as the battle rage on, but eventually, the Boss slumped heavily to the ground as the announcement rang through the whole server.
[Congratulations to the Muscle Supremacy! Beat First, Talk Later! Party for defeating Level 30 Boss, Demonic Bear for the first time!]
[The 4th Floor has opened its door to the rest of the players!]
Seeing the same announcement for the third times, Miko didn't look as excited as the rest of her party members. After all, this will also mark the third time she will break off from the party. The first two parties she joined were different as well, and each time her appearance differ. While the current party were cheering amongst themselves, she discreetly separated from them and just as she gets far enough, only then did she removed herself completely from the party. She lift the hood up and her body disappeared with each stroke, like an eraser erasing line on paper until all of her traces vanished. Just like that, Miko completed another difficult quest and heads back to the safe town.
After arriving into the town, she immediately went straight to the Adventurer Guild. The receptionist immediately greeted her with a smile as if she had been notified ahead of time. Just like every video games, she was one of the non-playable character, NPC for short. However, players no longer treated them the same way they did to the NPC from other games. After all, these NPC reacted almost like a real person with story to tell.
"Congratulations on completing yet another tough quest, as expected of Pioneer. Do you want to accept the next quest?"
"Please stop calling me with that title, it's embarrassing. just go with my player name, Mikopi(35P). And no, I'm not accepting any more quest cause I'll be taking a break for now." Miko answered expressionlessly as she handed over the quest token. After defeating the first Boss, she had received the Pioneer title that gives bonus stats. She thought that was it, but every NPC she met from then on, they all insisted on calling her by the title. They knew when to not call her that whenever she was with her party, but the moment she was alone, the bullying continues.
"That's a shame, but understood. Here's your rewards, Pioneer."
"You aren't listening to me at all, do you?"
The receptionist didn't respond but the smile on her face said enough. Miko sighed before walking out of the guild with the next destination in mind. It only takes her a few minutes walk before she arrives in front of a restaurant with bearpaw printed as their icon, and entered through the door. What greeted her first was the intoxicated smell of alcohol followed by boisterous laugh and jeering crowd. It was mostly packed with NPC, so when she stepped inside, they briefly glances at her by instinct before continuing with their business.
Miko wasn't disturb by the crowd as she finds an empty table and make herself comfortable. When the cute waitress comes to get her order, words naturally flowed out of her mouth as if she had done this before. Then she leans back into her chair and open the game forum through the menu. This had becomes a habit to most players whenever they're taking a break, browsing the forum to find some interesting post that occasionally gone viral in reality.
After all, Infinite Crisis is a well made game. They truly fulfilled the promises they had made in the trailer of the game and on the website, total freedom to players and life-like NPC interactions. The latter is so especially vivid that some people even considered this virtual world as their second reality. Miko thought the same as well. If no one tell her this was all a video game, she would've mistakenly presumed that she have been isekai to fantasy world.
'To think all of this made possible thanks to the magic of Sacred Gears,' Miko thought in passing. As a friend of Valerie and a person of interest(Longinus), it is given that she eventually learns the origin of the game and the capsule. The constant practice only gives her more chance to get to know Valerie better.
When her food finally arrives at her table, she immediately casts every thoughts aside and grabbed the greasy burger with orc meat, bringing it closer to her mouth before taking a mouthful bite. Her eyes closed and curved into crescent moon as her throat hummed in happiness. The juicy meat caused a wide range of explosion upon her taste bud the moment her white teeth sank into it. All of the worries plaguing her mind temporarily came to a halt. Despite being a meat from pig-like monster standing on two legs, it actually tastes as good as real pig's meat.
This was another shocking thing the players soon found out an hour after the game was released. The players have well developed six senses, meaning they could not just smell everything and feels the texture of their weapon by the touch—they can also tastes the potion and bread given to every beginners. This was even more astonishing than the promised of total freedom.
The players number continuously skyrocketed after that finding was made news in reality. After all, who doesn't want to be able to eat anything they wanted without being negatively affected by it? Just a few minutes walks were enough to burn thousand of calories in this game, so casual players turned their attention to the Lifestyle classes, such as chef, instead of the usual combat class like warrior and mage. To these people, reality is already a misery, so why not take it easy in the game?