[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Stupidity
Of course Orion didn't see a message like that. But he convinced himself that this was the cause of his death.
He found a massive portal room.
Hundreds of monsters were spawning in waves, marching forward like ants.
And behind them?
He looked up.
Then up more.
Then more.
And then he saw it.
A shape beyond description. Massive. Winged. Breathing smoke.
I just started the game bitc*!How do you expect me to kill this at Level 0?
Orion denied at first.
This can't be real. Even those dark-games aren't this ridiculous!
It was a dragon.
WHO PUT A DRAGON HERE?
It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his 30 years of life.
Orion looked at the damn dragon.
Dragon looked back.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Soul Collapse by Eye Contact with a Lesser Dragling - Level 1220
"..."
This one was the cause of his ideas about being stupid.
When Orion came back to life again, he didn't puke this time. He just lay there staring at the sky.
Then he laughed. Quiet at first then uncontrollable loud.
Heh... I just died from a f*cking look. HAHAHAHA...
He sat up.
Nope. Not gonna die again. I am done. I AM DONE!
He stood and moved to the next chamber, avoiding eye contact with everything. Especially the damn dragon.
It was sitting on the top of the portal and Orion didn't even try to look at the rest of the area.
He had to leave this place.
And things were promising as the next room had nothing inside.
While Orion was walking in the empty room, he received a notification from the system.
[You have been poisened. HP will drop %10 per second]
Before Orion could read the whole text and get what it meant, a new notification arrived.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Poisoned by Invicible Slime of Nether - Level 9
Surprisingly, dying by poison was a very clean experience.
There was no sound coming from his stomach or intestines. And his body was being restored in seconds.
If his eyes weren't misty, he would have a hard time believing that he had come back from the dead.
What a nice discovery..who'd knew?
Eventually, after two more deaths and a long hallway filled with invisible poisonous bastards, he found a quiet room.
One that wasn't trying to kill him.
And there, he saw her.
A woman.
Red hair. Silver armor. A massive sword on her feet. She looked like a warrior who was waiting for a boss battle on the last floor.
She was wearing an armor from Middle Ages of Europe. The helmet of the armor was lying on the ground next to a tiny bag.
With long red hair and her impressive pose, she looked very beautiful.
Maybe it was because she didn't look like a goblin or she was a hot, she gave off a harmless feeling. She gave Orion a strange feeling of safety, despite the huge sword on the ground and the stern expression on her face.
She is a beautiful NPC, it can't be that bad.
But there are no speech bubbles or options. Are we going to talk with our own mouths?
I think they call these kinds of games something like VR.
I need to watch more technology videos. I'm way behind the times..
..
Warrior woman talked in a strange language when Orion came closer. But Orion didn't answer her questions and looked at her absentmindedly.
So she examined Orion's body instead to find some clues.
This young man was taller than average and very skinny.
He had no warrior training with that body.
He also had no mana.
Are his eyes dark brown or black? He has really dark eyes. His skin is very clean. Despite his state of tired look, there isn't a single wound on his body.
I wonder if he got hit in the head?
Why isn't he answering?
What is that look on your face?
Thalia wanted to learn the young man's name and check his status on the student list. But she hesitated because he didn't speak or didn't seem to understand what she was saying.
She also noticed something that happened to her for the first time in her life.
Is he..?
Ah, yes! He is looking at my chest and legs without any fear.
Either he doesn't know who I am, or he is stupid.
She began circling him like a hawk. Her eyes scanned his body.
Too clean. No visible scars. No aura.
No mana signature by other people too.
Interesting..
"Are you a spy?" She asked with a newborn quriosity.
Orion didn't answer. He didn't even know if she was asking something or cursing him.
He was trying to find a dialogue box or something, but there wasn't one.
No response options. No glowing text. No interface.
How am I suppose to talk with NPCS?
[Unknown Language Detected!]
[Analyzing... 10%... 25%...]
He stood silently.
She continued to talk, her tone growing more intense.
But Orion was waiting for the game to give him language access.
[Language Analysis Complete.]
[New Language Acquired: Midka Human Common - C2]
[Set as Default Language?]
Yes.
Her voice suddenly became clear. ".....-you're just standing there like a lunatic. Are you okay?"
Orion smiled.
He raised his head with a confident look on his face.
"Hey. Uh sorry. I don't speak sexy."
She looked at him. Then blinked.
And then asked slowly.
"Did you just..flirted...with me?" She even pointed her finger to her body.
Orion grinned.
"Did it work?"
She didn't answer.
But she didn't kill him either. Which honestly was a huge improvement over that dragon experience.
Orion wanted to establish a good relationship with such a beautiful NPC character.
He raised his head with the most harmless smile he had.
And said, "Hello beautiful. How you doin?"
By the image of the woman staring at him with her mouth open, he felt awe for the quality of the game.
He didn't know that this woman was the most powerful human on the Planet Midka.
Thalia Arken, Protector of Humanity,
Head Master of the Midka Academy—
Immortal War Queen!
That's how Orion met Thalia.