Chapter 5: Welcome to The World of Utopian Fantasy

Mikaila is delighted to see the lady approaching her.

“Ariiiii!!” Mikaila gleefully shouted.

The lady quickly hugged Mikaila as soon as she reached her.

“Wow! You really decided to join!” the lady said to Mikaila.

“Well, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have come up with this decision,” Mikaila replied.

“Really? What did I do?”

“Ah! Nothing much, really. It’s just… your compliments made me realize what I can do… and that I can work through anything if I need to.”

“Yiiieehh! But you said it was too flowery?” the lady happily asked.

“Nah! It means a lot to me!”

“I just said the truth! I always believe in you, and you should believe in yourself too!”

“Thanks, Arii!” Mikaila said with a genuine smile on her face.

The lady smiled back.

“Oh! By the way! Who else decided to participate?” Mikaila asked with an excited tone.

“It’s just me, Jonas, Marco, Lahra, Frenz, Sheena, and……”

The lady paused for a moment to think of other names. She continues later on,

“I don’t remember who are the others. But most likely, one-fourth of our block section confirmed in the group chat.”

“I see.”

“It would be more fun if more of our classmates joined, but I understand that some of them have other priorities, and we have different circumstances,” the lady said with a sad tone.

“I feel you,” Mikaila agreed.

They both sighed.

Suddenly, Mikaila realized something,

“Well, it’s good to know that your parents allowed you to leave your house, let alone join the game.”

“Uuuggghhh, you don’t know the struggle I went through just to convince them!” the lady grunted.

“As expected,” Mikaila commented.

“I did lots of bargaining just to be allowed to join this game!”

“Uh-huh.”

“My father gave lots of lectures, warnings, cautions, and whatsoever. But in the end, they finally allowed me…. but as usual, with a certain condition,” the lady narrated.

“I think I already know what the condition is,” Mikaila commented as she saw two men in black uniforms running towards them.

The lady sighed because of shame.

“Ma’am Arianne! We told you not to go out of our sight!” one of the two uniformed men scolded the lady.

“You made us worry!” the other uniformed man followed.

“Okay, I’m sorry! But as you see, I’m fine! You can calm down now.”

“But please promise us not to run off again. You won’t know how much scolding we’ll get if ever something bad happens to you!” one of the men begged.

The lady frowned. “Okaaay Fiiiiiiine, I promise!” she said in a slightly dissatisfied manner. She felt very embarrassed in front of Mikaila. “I’m sorry for that,” she apologized.

Mikaila giggled and replied, “It’s okay! We’re very used to it."

The two of them continue chatting.

“Have you already decided what Portal to choose?” the lady asked Mikaila.

But before Mikaila could answer, her other classmates came to the scene,

“Mikaila! How are you!?” one of her classmates greeted.

“It’s nice to see you again,” another said.

Mikaila cheerfully greeted back, “You guys!! I’m happy to see you all here!”

They all savored their reunion. They happily conversed and laughed with one another.

A classmate asked the same question again, “Uhm, Mikaila. Have you chosen your Starting Point already?”

“If you haven’t yet, you can come with us. We will be going to the Plains,” another informed.

“Uhm, it depends,” Mikaila replied.

“Why?”

"I already have plans with a friend, " Mikaila answered.

“Oh! You're with someone else?” a classmate asked.

“Not really! I just met this lady at the previous station and we became friends. We already promised that we’ll accompany each other in the game,” Mikaila explained.

“Ooooh! You’re really good at making friends!”

“Hehe,” Mikaila’s throbbed reaction.

Suddenly, Mikaila remembered,

“Oh! I nearly forgot about her! Speaking of friends….”

Mikaila, then, looked behind her to introduce Celly, but she was not there.

“Huh? Where did she go?” Mikaila pondered.

After that, an announcement was heard in the area,

“Portals will open shortly. Please finalize your decisions and proceed at the front of your selected Portal.”

“Ah geez. I need to find her. I’m really sorry if I can’t go with you,” Mikaila apologized to her classmates.

“It’s okay! We can still meet inside the game. We’ll just add you to our Friend List so we can keep in touch.”

“Sure!” Mikaila agreed.

All of Mikaila’s classmates sent their friend requests to Mikaila.

Mikaila’s wristband glowed. When Mikaila opened her User Interface, lots of Friend Request Notifications popped out. Mikaila was overwhelmed.

“Again, Portals will open shortly. Please finalize your decisions and proceed at the front of your Selected Portal,” an announcement was heard again, and it made Mikaila panic.

“I’ll just accept these later. I need to find my friend first.”

“It’s okay! You can do it anytime,” one of her classmates replied.

“Uhm, Mikaila. We will be going. Good luck out there and if you need help, just contact us and we’ll keep in touch,”

“Sure, Arii, and thanks! You too, good luck out there!” Mikaila said.

They smiled and bid their farewells.

Mikaila ran off to find Celly - she searched everywhere.

After moments of finding, Mikaila finally found Celly standing in an area near the 'Forest' Portal.

“Celly!” Mikaila shouted to call out Celly’s attention as she ran towards her.

Celly heard Mikaila; she saw her approaching.

Mikaila immediately asked Celly when she reached her, “Hey! Why did you suddenly leave?”

“Uh, Uhm… when …. when I saw your friends coming, I became uncomfortable. So, I decided to stroll for a while.”

“Oh, I understand.”

“And while you’re talking with them, I tried to gather information from the Guides in each Portal,” Celly added.

“Huh?” Mikaila’s surprised reaction.

“Hm? I just said that I asked the Guides for detailed descriptions of each Starting Point. I also surveyed players about their Portal choice,” Celly explained.

Celly’s answer struck Mikaila. Mikaila is now in a deep ponder.

“Hey? Is something wrong?” Celly asked.

“Uhm...nothing. Well, how did it go? What did you learn?”

“Hmmm… based on what I heard, The Plains is the best Starting Point for people who are not experienced with games. The place is very simple - wide plains, grass, and nothing much. And because the location is too simple, and most of the people here are not expert gamers; majority of the players are going there,” Celly informed.

“So, that Portal will be removed from our choices, right?”

“Uh-hmm. The second most populated is the Hills. Just like the Plains, it is also a beginner-friendly Starting Point. The only difference is the Hills have a slightly elevated altitude.”

“I see,”

“The third is the Mountains. People chose the location mostly because of the view and the sight of the landscape. The location is the most ‘eye-pleasing’, but the difficulty level is in mid-tier,”

“Hmm, okay. So it only leaves us with three choices?”

“Yup. But I wouldn’t choose the Shores for obvious reasons.”

“I understand. I don’t want to meddle with those 'cultured men', or whatever they call themselves, either.”

Celly nodded.

“Only two choices remain,” Mikaila pointed out.

“Yes. The Forest and the Desert,” Celly replied.

“Which will we choose now?”

“If you ask me, the reasonable choice will be the Forest. I mean, Desert is a very harsh place - in fact, I never encountered a single person in my survey who answered Desert as his choice.”

“Uh-huh.”

They paused for a second.

“Hmm… so, Forest it is?” Mikaila asked.

“Uh-hmm.”

“Okay, let’s move closer to the Portal now.”

The two of them started walking.

Just like what Celly said. The players who chose the Forest are visibly smaller than the other Starting Points. Most of the people are in the Plains, including Mikaila’s classmates. The number of people in the Mountains and Hills is slightly the same. The Shores mostly comprise of MyNameIsMeowy’s army of fanboys.

Meanwhile, only three men are seen standing near the Desert Portal. One of the men has a proud smile on his face - the other has a serious aura and is standing in crossed arms. The last man is the Guide of the Portal.

“Those men are so brave,” Mikaila commented.

Celly agreed by nodding.

Later on, Mikaila noticed that her wristband was still glowing. She opened the User Interface and the friend request notifications are still there. She started to accept them one by one, “Arianne, Sheena, Jonas….”

All of a sudden, “The Portals will now open,” an announcement was made.

The announcement is repeated thrice. It made Mikaila panic, so she frantically accepted all the friend requests without checking the names of the players.

The Guide of the Forest Portal shouted, “Please ready yourselves!”

Not long after, the Portals began opening. Slowly, the energy in the Portal emerges. Seconds later, the gateway is fully opened.

“Please watch your steps as you follow me,” the Guide instructed.

The Guide walked towards the Portal. The players in front followed.

Mikaila and Celly also followed and walked towards the Portal. When they were nearing the Portal and about to cross to the other side, Mikaila looked at Celly and,

“Ready?” she asked.

Celly nodded and they proceeded. They walked slowly, and then finally,

“Wooaahh!” Mikaila expressed after they successfully crossed to the other side.

“Welcome to the World of Utopian Fantasy!” the Guide proudly declared.

The starting area is at the edge of a forest near a grassland.

“Look at those trees!” Mikaila pointed out to Celly.

“Yup, it’s my first time seeing trees that tall,” Celly responded.

“I wonder if such trees exist in the real world?”

“I don’t know.”

The two ladies continued their sightseeing while other players are still coming out from the Portal.

“You can explore and examine the area whilst the others are still coming. But please make sure to come back here after a while. Further instructions, guides, information, and tips will be given once all the players have crossed the Portal,” the Guide announced.

After hearing the Guide’s announcement, Celly immediately confronted Mikaila,

“Now is the time!” she whispered.

“Already!? But shouldn’t we wait for further instructions first?”

“Early bird gets the worm! In this case, early players get the treasure! We can hear about the other information later.”

“But…”

“Trust me! We should go now.”

“Okay. If you insist.”

The two of them sneaked into the depths of the forest.

The forest is teeming with big and tall wooden trees. The trees are mostly stem (the branches and the leaves are only growing at the very top side of the trees). Each branch of a tree is interconnected to the branches of the other trees - forming a bridge-like system at the top of the forest. It’s like there’s a whole new floor at the canopies. The canopy is also thick enough that no sunlight can pass through the leaves and the bridging branches.

“This forest is so cool. It’s like straight from a fantasy world,” Mikaila commented.

“Well, we are already in a fantasy world,” Celly mumbled.

Their sightseeing continues. Later on,

“So, how and where should we start?” Mikaila asked.

“Hmm… like a real treasure hunting. We search for something that looks shiny and valuable, then we scavenge them and make them our own.”

“Hmm… should we split up?”

“Hmm… we can! But not too far apart.”

“Okay!”

The two commenced their treasure hunting. They roamed the place to search for anything they could find. Time is passing while they are on the hunt.

Mikaila is examining every corner of the forest grounds. Suddenly, yellow lights started glowing at the contours of her wristband - it caught her attention. She opened her UI and a notification popped up. After reading the notification, she rushed to Celly to inform her.

“Celly! Have you seen the notification?”

“Yes! Actually, it surprises me that an Event will start this early in the game. I mean, most of the games I played… Game Events are celebrated during special occasions.”

“Oh, it also has a countdown timer!” Mikaila noticed.

“Yup, I’m aware. Don’t worry! We still have five minutes before the Special Event starts. So… let’s just continue with our hunt.” Celly stated.

“Okay.”

“By the way? Find anything yet?” Celly asked.

Mikaila answered in a suspicious way, “Uhh… nothing... really.”

“Hmm... In that case, let’s head deeper to the forest.”

“Uhm... okay?” Mikaila’s awkward reply.

After a few walks, they separated again. Moments passed as they continue their search. The Game Event is almost about to start. After a minute, red lights glowed at Celly’s wristband - the Game Event had started.

Celly searched for Mikaila. Moments later, she found Mikaila climbing down from a tree.

“Uhm? What are you doing?” Celly asked.

“I… I just searched at the top of the trees, hoping to find some treasures up there.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Uhm… nothing!” Mikaila’s abrupt answer.

“Okay. Let’s head back to the Starting Point now.”

“Hmm... but we haven’t found anything yet. What’s the rush?”

“Uhm… It’s … it’s okay! We can continue our search later.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ye… Yes!” Celly’s stuttered reply.

They started walking back to the starting destination. Mikaila seems to be in a happy aura; On the other hand, Celly is very gloomy.

“Oh! I didn’t notice that the Event already started. Is this why you want to return, Celly?”

Celly is not responding - she is walking face down.

“Celly?” Mikaila repeated.

Celly suddenly stopped walking. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Huh?” Mikaila asked confusedly.

“I said, I’m sorry!”

“Huh!? Why!? What happened?”

Suddenly,

“Aaackk!” Mikaila shrieked.

Mikaila dropped to the floor. Baffled with what happened, she turned her weakened body and glanced at her back. She saw a glimpse of men standing behind her, and one of them is holding a taser. Later on, the man holding a taser spoke with a flirtatious tone,

“Hello, Miss Sexy. It’s so nice to see you again!”