It was past dinner time when Erika returned home. In recent days, this has become a routine for her.

“May I ask where you’ve been hanging lately, young lady?”

Laura approached her daughter right after the late dinner, without giving Erika the chance to flee to her room.

“Hm? Haven’t I already explained?”

Erika tilted her head in wonder, unsure which part of her bulletproof cover story was unclear to her mother.

“I pay visits to a troublesome classmate, to help her catch up with the material she missed. While at that, I also make sure she doesn’t forget to attend school again.”

“I see. What kind of girl is she anyway?”

“Let’s see, if I had to describe her...”

There was a lot Erika could say about Mina, none of which would leave a good impression. Especially, mentioning anything related to gaming was off-limits unless she was forced to cough it up through torture.

“She’s... like a puppy.”

“A puppy...?”

“She’s short and looks like a grade student. She yells a lot, but she doesn’t bite... much.”

Erika giggled as she imagined a fluffy puppy with Mina’s facial expressions. If one replaced Mina’s cursing and yelling with “wuff” sounds, then she’d become an adorable critter.

“I... I see...”

Laura was taken aback by this description. She expected very different things out of this interrogation.

“Just to make it clear, that student is a GIRL, right?”

“My, of course. I can show you the student list if you want.”

“No, that’s alright.”

Laura waved her hand to dismiss the proposal. It didn’t seem like Erika was lying, hence there was no need for extra validations.

“Heh, I thought it was a boyfriend.”

Laura tapped on Erika’s shoulder with a sly smile. When she was a teenager, Laura made up many excuses for her parents in order to hide her romantic adventures. Now, in the shoes of a parent, Laura was worried about Erika getting a secret life.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right Eri? Your dad can be an insensitive blockhead at times, but I’ll listen.”

“Sure, mom.”

Of course, Erika couldn’t really bring herself to discuss video games with her mother. If her mother approved of her dark hobby, then Erika’s life would become much easier. However, if the hobby were to be rejected... gulp.

Laura had a hunch. Her hunch was supported by years of experience as a mother and as a businesswoman. She could tell this much: there was something on Erika’s mind, something that Erika didn’t feel comfortable sharing.

Despite her young age, Erika was shrewd. For the better or the worse, she picked up many mannerisms from Laura. This included maintaining a smile in front of others even in distress, as well as making confident statements in order to misdirect the opposition’s arguments. Laura was proud of how smoothly her daughter adopted business techniques, but she also lamented the fact that these same techniques turned Erika into a complicated child to deal with.

Laura was strong with driving people into a corner, her job practically required this skill to survive. However, she didn’t want to use this witchcraft on her own daughter. Erika appeared mature because of her height and mannerism, but she was still a kid inside. Having a worry or two at that age was normal. Not to mention that bloating worries out of properties was every teenager’s favorite pastime.

With that in mind, Laura decided to give her daughter some leeway. She ended the interrogating and let Erika off the hook this time.

Phew. Mom really makes me tense sometimes.

Erika spat a sigh of relief when she finally entered her room, her haven. She felt like she was released from a police interrogation. The theory of Erika having a boyfriend was way off the mark, but that didn’t change the main issue: her actions were observed. She had to fully utilize all her years of experience, in order to lead the most secretive double life imaginable.

She locked her door with three different locks and booted her PC. There was still time before bedtime, so she decided to do some research about God Vessel Online. Opqai-kun wasn’t available, therefore she turned to her other trusty friend: Google.

The next challenge she had to face in GoVe was the Windflora King. It was a huge foe, unlike any other she encountered in the game. This time, she was dealing with a REAL raid boss.

From what Erika remembered, the Windflora King was placed right beside the road. It was positioned exactly at the spot where the lake and the forest were very close to each other. In other words: the whole area was within the Windflora’s sniping range.

Considering the size of the flower’s deadly wind blasts, it seemed impossible to rush through the area unharmed. Not to mention, Erika also had to take Vivi into account. Even if one of them safely made it through, the other may be struck... to death.

It wasn’t an issue for Erika herself, for she’d simply respawn after being killed. However, Vivi claimed that she couldn’t revive. Once killed, the pixie would stay dead. It was a hardcore mechanic, the validity of which Erika had to research

My, this is so cruel...

Vivi’s harsh claim turned out to be true; NPCs and familiars could permanently perish in the game. God Vessel Online was a merciless game.

To compensate for the ruthlessness, the game tried to make it harder for NPCs to die. For one, Vivi was a fairly “smart” NPC when it came to combat. She wasn’t without flaws, but she generally knew when to avoid battle and how to survive.

In addition, many players mentioned that the NPCs they escorted seemed more “sturdy” than regular mobs. Thinking back on it, Vivi survived for a long time while she was digested by a Waterflora. The same couldn't be said for Blobby, who nearly perished inside the Waterflora’s cage within seconds. Granted, it was possible that a pixie was simply stronger than a baby blob in general.

With all this information in mind, the Windflora King became an even bigger pain than before. Erika couldn’t aim for any careless strategies which put Vivi in danger. Instead, she had to search for more practical countermeasures against this raid boss.

In most RPGs, big bosses like the Windflora King usually awaited at the end of a dungeon. However, GoVe didn’t abide by that rule. There were dungeons in a few advanced areas, but otherwise they weren’t common.

Still, GoVe wanted to have bosses in order to torment its players; this is how “Road Bosses” were born. They were powerful mobs, positioned in carefully calculated checkpoints. The Windflora King was one of them.

These bosses attacked players on sight and it was nigh impossible to slip by them. Once the boss noticed you, the area ahead would blocked off by an “invisible wall”. Based on screenshots, the wall appeared like a foggy illusion.

After the road boss was defeated once, it would no longer initiate combat against the victorious player. This could also be achieved with a party, in which case the whole party would be regarded as the “victor”. Members of a victorious party wouldn’t be touched by the raid boss, as long as they remained in that same party formation.

This was the first solution for Erika: form a party. Unfortunately, Opqai-kun wasn’t available for GoVe on Sunday, thanks to weekend events in Skuld Blade Online. She dug through other contacts from the disassembled Vertus guild, but everybody was playing Skuld at best.

Spoiled casuals. All of them. I also want to play a classic RPG like Skuld....

Erika sighed and sank into the chair. She felt like a weirdo for playing a hardcore action game like GoVe, instead of a casual MMORPG which suited her way better. Alas, she had no say in the matter.

Another potential party member was Zack, but Erika had way more expectations toward the elf NPC he escorted. Alicia was eager to help those in need, hence Erika felt confident about talking her into it. Nonetheless, Erika wasn’t satisfied with just one solution and sought alternatives for backup.

Most of the advice on forums covered specific Road Bosses. Players opened question threads, asking how to defeat “this boss” or “that boss”. Among those, there was only one old thread about the Windflora King; it had a couple of interesting suggestions.

One user suggested to swim around the Windflora King’s area. The Windflora King’s sniping range was huge, but it couldn’t possibly cover the whole lake. If Erika used Lakya’s pool to learn swimming, then she’d be able to safely maneuver around the danger zone.

Erika downloaded GoVe’s mobile app to check her current status. The app didn’t let her do anything that affected the game’s world in real time, but at least she could read her avatar’s info and configure her Friends List. She registered Opqai-kun to her short list of pals.

There were 38 [Water] pieces in her DiVe, out of the 50 pieces she needed to pay for Lakya’s pool. She could reach that goal by trashing some Waterfloras with her own hands, without relying on Vivi.

Vivi could fly over the lake too, therefore Erika felt confident about the swimming plan. In fact, Erika realized that no matter which strategy she picked - Vivi could easily cross the area through the lake regardless. As such, Erika had to primarily focus on how to pass the checkpoint herself.

Other suggestions in the thread seemed random. One user claimed he met a warrior NPC in Murph Village, and they traveled to Zelin City together via a quest. Another user wrote how a boat passed by Murph Village and gave him a ride straight to Zelin City.

Erika couldn’t tell whether all these players were just lucky, or GoVe scripted these events. “Dynamic events” and “personal plotlines“ were becoming popular in video gaming in recent years. Modern technology allowed the game system to script unique and personal events, which fit the way the player interacted with the game.

For example, Vivi must have been a unique NPC who was created especially for Erika. The pixie had an attitude and a backstory, but they were probably randomly generated to fit Erika’s choice of the [Communication] rune.

As for “dynamic events”, the NPC warrior in Murph Village might have been exclusively spawned to help that one troubled player. The transporting boat might have passed by Murph solely to help out that other player. It was hard to tell whether these incidents were scripted or resulted from pure luck, which is why many players liked dynamic events.

By the end of the research, Erika was armed with three main strategies: form a party, swim around the area or search for a scripted event. She wasn’t wholly satisfied with this tiny arsenal, but she felt pretty confident that at least one of these ideas should work.

Every now and then, Erika also refreshed her email. RosemaryQueen still didn’t reply to any of Erika’s taming questions. Erika leveled up as a tamer today by getting Blobby, but she still wanted to receive professional advice from the idol she respected.

Well, Queen is a busy person. Besides, who is FluffyCuteling anyway? I didn’t even make a name for myself as a player.

Erika sighed and called it a day.