Forest areas were always a delight, especially ones that were as colorful as this one, where basically all conceivable colors available to flowers are found just sprouting on every open patch of grass and dirt. The gentle song of the birds, the ambient rustle of leaves as the wind picked up, and the scent of trampled grass made this a tranquil place.

Unfortunately, as this game wanted to kill players over anything else, a seemingly innocuous creature raised its head from behind a bush. It was a boring old boar with the sharp tusks, and demonic red eyes. This was not a passive mob.

Almost immediately, it charged at the fox-themed berserker, squealing as it did so. "Bring it, porky!" Ater shouted, his voice mixed with anger and anticipation. However he held a smirky grin as his claws and fangs were bared. He gave the boar a good swipe across the left side of its body while he maneuvered out of the way. Since this was just a low-level enemy, Ater decided to play with it for a while, adopting a more feline approach in the sense that he was going to take his time and whittle down this creature rather than end it right then and there.

This involved him calling the boar's attention so it would charge him again. He'd run from it, and stopped in front of a large tree, then simply sat down like he was waiting for death. Then at the last minute, he'd activate his Fade Step to become invisible and intangible and roll to the side, leaving a phantom image of him for the boar to simply phase through and smack its head on the tree behind it.

"Too easy." Not a moment after taunting the stunned animal, Ater heard a voice up on the tree complaining about the noise like an old man when he's trying to get his beauty sleep. Ater simply grinned and gave him a small wave. "Sorry about that, buddy."

The boar grunted and attempted to gore the berserker while his back was turned, but instead it got a heavy swipe from its target's claws, depleting the boar's life bar and dropping two delicious meat items. Well, wasn't that convenient. Looking back to the disturbed archer, he indicated the two floating pickups. "Well, since you're already up, maybe you'd like to have something to eat?" It was only polite, he thought.

Ater lacked any care for whether or not the bow was pointed at him, not even recoiling on the fact that the arrow landed close to his feet, though he saw that it was aimed at the meat. "All yours," he said, picking up the unclaimed one off the ground.

Upon hearing the comment about his outfit, he chuckled. "Now that you mention it, it does look like something a mob would wear. Especially if I put on the mask like so," He adjusted the mask over his face, removing any recognizable features from him aside from what the UI displayed. That was a neat feature, being able to modify how you wore your armor.

"Now if only the mask would lessen how much it hurts to be punched in the face." He waved his hand to open up his inventory and produced what he needed for a camp fire. He just tossed a couple of pieces of firewood and struck it with a few sparks of flint and steel, followed by skewering his piece of meat with a metal spike and put it on a pair of prongs to the side of the camp fire.

"So what class do you have? At first glance you look like a pirate archer, or a brigand."

"Punched in real life and in the game, yes. A couple of times in both cases. The mask didn't help. I checked." He was nonchalant about the whole thing, but there wasn't a single sign of fabrication in his story. A lot of omitted details however, but that was mostly for the benefit of not droning on on the subject. "Aww, you think I'm pretty?" he'd respond with a cheeky, feigned shyness, doing that 'oh you' wave one would see being performed by a flustered maiden on any show aimed for the ladies. This was followed by a chuckle as he swiped the mask back to the side of his head, revealing a smirked grin.

"A Sagittarian? Well, looks like you got robbed. I thought those guys had the lower body of a horse. Although... now that I think about it... It would be hilarious to see one of those riding a mount!" He laughed for a bit before revealing his class. "Kitsune Berserker. It's supposed to be a traditional berserker but with some illusions. It's pretty fun. One of the starting skills gives me an insane amount of movement and attack speed. And it stacks with other buffs as well."

When asked if he was this friendly to other strangers, he just shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, I have to keep myself sane one way or another. Being friendly helps. Besides, the fewer people wanting me dead, the higher the chances of me not dying."

Ater chuckled when he was asked if he ran like a ninja from one of those anime shows. At least that's what he took from it. He shook his head. "Can't deny that I tried it. It's not great for balance. Plus if you slip or trip, it's more likely you'd land and skid on your face than being able to catch yourself. My buddy found that out the hard way."

He took his piece of meat when it was just the right shade of brown. He drew in the aroma of his meal and sighed out, content. Now that was a good smell to enter the nostrils. Not as good as a home-cooked meal, but it passed.

As he took a bite, he could feel the simulated texture and the sensory-invading taste. It was just like he was eating something for real. Do this long enough, and he might just forget that this was all a game. It was... strange...

"You know, I initially thought that staying inside the virtual world would be a great thing. Of course, that was before the permadeath got ticked on and now you just can't help but want out."

He couldn't help but laugh at the supplementary comment on their discussed way of running. It was true, Ater was thinking that as well, but just didn't voice it. "Yeah, him and the other guys we joined with were playing the game, but they got lucky and managed to log off before all this hit the fan."

Since he hadn't gotten any notifications that they had logged in since then, Ater hoped that they all knew what happened here and stopped themselves from entering the game. And hopefully, they knew that he was still in there. He wasn't sure what they could do to get him out, but it would just be a comforting thought to have them closeby.

Sometimes he could feel something touch him. But it was hard to tell if that was something in the physical world, or just an effect from the game. He'd like to think it was the former but there really is no telling.

Ater nodded, agreeing that he would indeed want to leave this game. When the question about how the game could be beaten, he could only shrug. He'd wish to know himself.

"Hard to tell. But with the bosses that are popping up, I hope all we need to do is beat enough of them, and if normal gaming rules apply, I hope that means that there's a final boss or something. I really wish I read the lore... But oh well. I suppose I'll just do what I normally do in MMOs, just wander around until I find a story quest."

Despite his mood dipping a little, he remained as he originally was: someone full of optimism. No matter how blind he looked, he wanted to appear like this whole thing didn't affect him too much. Someone in the real world might be watching him, and he didn't want them to feel depressed. If they saw that he wasn't bawling his eyes out, maybe it'll keep them composed.

"So, did you come here with a group?" he asked, not wanting to make the air silent.

"That thought hit me as well," he admitted. "But if that was the case, then I suppose we can only hope that the people outside of this digital prison finds a way to get us all out." That was the only thing they could do if the person responsible was just as he described. It wasn't something Ater was happy to think about, but he had already accepted that he didn't have any control over that, so it was best to keep that out of his mindspace.

It wasn't unsurprising to learn someone went into this game solo. Hell, before he met his gaming buddies, Ater himself went into online games all on his own, a loner for the majority of his online gaming career, if he could even call it that considering he wasn't one of those "Professional Gamers" with sponsors and a fanbase.

"Longest one? Aw, you're making me feel all special inside," he snerked before taking another bite of his digital meal. "I suppose you don't view yourself as a very... extroverted person? Or, do you just not want to get attached?" While waiting for an answer, Ater was happily chowing down on his steak, the feeling of how wrong this whole virtual meal should feel having been long shoved down an endless pit.

Thinking back on what he just said, perhaps he shouldn't be getting attached to people himself...

Nah.

So this guy was a half-empty type by the way he spoke. "We could always dream of a savant hacker who could at least re-enable the option to logout. But since we ourselves can't do anything about it, then there's no use in dwelling on it, that's what I think."

Ater sounded so sure of it, but he himself was looking for any glitches in passing, one that he could exploit one way or another, or break the game. Not actively though, since he wouldn't even know where to start. Usually those things pop out on their own, and it was a lot of work and hassle to be honest.

"Neither did I," he chuckled "But I guess they added a few hidden passives in this game. It makes sense though, Kitsunes are supposed to be these wise spirits. What I'm looking forward to though is when I get a cute, fluffy tail. Chicks love cute, fluffy tails. And I might just get nine of them."

A wide smirk bared a sharp fang, making him look somewhat like the mischievous little fox his class took its cues from.

Noticing that Zodiac hasn't even nibbled on his piece of meat, he said, "What's the matter? Got a cat's tongue or something?" It was an expression that rubbed off on him from his friends. Apparently, cats couldn't eat anything hot, and so when they learned that one of the girls in their group had a tongue that got easily burnt, she was given a new nickname. That memory brought a nostalgic tint to Ater's face.

'This game will not be the end of me. Wait for me, you guys. I'll get back to all of you. Eventually.'