[Greetings Arrithia!]

It was an odd sensation.

The enhancements to their bodies.

Being teleported to another world.

The menu system.

The oddest thing was that they weren’t the first group to be taken here.

[Another Round Of Rankers Have Arrived!]

[1,840,337 More Have Been Teleported To Sidra!]

[Be On The Lookout!]

[They’ll Be Setting Sail Before You Know It!]

[Let’s Hope They Get Further Than The Last Batch!]

Our trio—alongside the other new Rankers—had been randomly teleported throughout the new island—regardless if they were in a party before or not.

When you pulled up the menu, you could still see your party members, but enormous distances separated them.

[Good Luck And Don’t Die!]

[Your Earth Depends On It!]

‘Okay, we’re separated, which will slow everything down…oh man…Kazuka...Maeve will be fine, but Kazuka…shit, I’m confused as hell right now, so I know he is, I mean come on, what the hell is Sidra…that wasn’t in the preview!’

Zero closed his menu and looked at his attire. It was the same thing he was wearing at the finale of the castle—the gold and red armor—even his mask and little hooded cape—all still the same.

He was dazed, baffled, perplexed, bewildered—all the words you’d find next to confused in the thesaurus. He wasn’t scared though—surprisingly—they all could hold their own—even Kazuka—he just liked to give him a hard time whenever he could.

The room suddenly became dark, snapping him back to his senses to the area around him.

“Oh?”

Unbeknownst to him how—Zero hadn’t realized that he was riding in some sort of tram system—and they were booking it.

He couldn’t tell how long the tunnel they traveled through was—they had passed through so fast—it felt like a blink.

There wasn’t anyone else in the cart—he wasn’t sure where they would fit if there were.

The cart was a rounded room—resembling a pill. The two windows took up the side walls—letting the light of Sidra’s two suns peak inside. The outside view was gorgeous—a bright blue sky with enormous snowy mountains peaked out from the fluffy white clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Zero leaned in closer—expecting to press his face against glass, but was pleasantly surprised when it slowly bent around him. He leaned back—the transparent window began to shimmer—creating a wave that rippled along it diagonally—revealing the tiny blue hexagons that held it together for a brief moment before they snapped back into place.

He pressed his face against it again, pushing his head almost out of the cart.

The outside of the other cart was a pale green with lines of black over the panels that connected two halves into one. They were hovering on some sort of light—the same digital blue that made up the window was carrying them down a canal that sat upon almost incomprehensibly large walls.

Zero hadn’t truly put it together yet, but they were incredibly high in the air—above the clouds—touching the stars high.

He leaned back inside his cart—the window unwrapping itself from his face.

The inside was an off-gold shade, with the same black lines marking the edges as the outside—a single-sized bed was sat upon rounded wooden blocks, keeping it from touching the fitted carpet. It had a little blue pillow and a red blanket—both were neatly folded and placed on top of one another.

Zero slid into his seat—the little bench was blended into the wall—making it a little difficult to sit comfortably.

He reopened his menu—pulling open the map, he pinched his fingers against it—zooming in on the little red circle that showed his current location.

He traced his finger along the area ahead of him–even at the speed they were traveling, he still had a long way to go before another destination was marked on the map.

The map showed the kingdoms being connected by straight lines, but they had been zigging around mountains and zagging through clouds for a while now—so that didn’t make any sense.

‘It looks like we are heading North-East toward Highbluffs, I wonder what kingdom that’ll end up being a part of?’

Zero zoomed out on the map—examining where the other two were heading.

Maeve was heading toward Tifton in the South-West, while Kazuka was in Amapá to the South-East.

‘So the map is partially filled out just like before, at least that’s the same.’

He swiped over, bringing up the inventory screen.

“Oh man...” he said aloud. “…Kazuka’s gonna be absolutely fuming.”

His inventory was blank—nothing but empty red squares staring back at him.

They had spent that month grinding levels and skills, but Kazuka spent most of the time acquiring weapons—that are now all gone.

“Hehehehe…” Zero let out a slight laugh. “…he also made his armor that hot ass pink as a joke too…” the slight laugh grew in volume. “...he planned on changing it after he got more Onyx from beating the first castle, HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Zero would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little miffed too—he had found quite a few weapons that he had grown fond of using over that short little month, but it wasn’t the loss of weapons that bothered him most—it was the skills.

They had spent a lot of time with the previews, finding the best order to do the islands to acquire the right skills—Vol always coming out on top.

Vol would have provided them with Shadow Step and Teleport—two crucial skills for their Ranker Builds.

A weird sensation filled the back of Zero’s head, quickly sliding down his spine, sending him upward from his seat.

He turned back around, looking out the window—nothing, and yet the tingle still lingered.

‘There’s something out there.’

A new message moved over his menu—followed by three options lined up in a row.

[Choose a Class!]

[Tank?] [Damage?] [Support?]

Zero shook his head, becoming even more confused.

“Things just got a lot harder.”

‘Those idiots are so screwed.’

The new message closed, collapsing Maeve’s menu away—sending another in its place.

[You have chosen Damage!]

[Choose a starting weapon!]

A menu—that none of them had seen previously—popped up in front of her, illuminating her cart with a bright white light.

It was bright, but slowly faded as her eyes adjusted under the mask—there was a long list of weapons—each with a unique name and silhouetted model beside it.

She scrolled through it—searching for a name she recognized from before, but to no avail.

‘This is going to take Zero forever, why would they do this to me?’

The same feeling Zero felt filled her cart.

She moved her head slightly—glancing outside the window through her peripheral.

Maeve couldn’t see anything amongst the clouds, but she could feel it.

There was a presence outside the cart—not necessarily sinister, but it wouldn’t be kind if they crossed paths—its magical energy radiated throughout the clouds and into the cart.

Maeve turned her focus back on the menu.

“Sweet hell, Zero will want to fight that with Kazuka.”

“Can we filter by daggers or something?”

The menu quickly shifted—deleting countless entries until nothing but dagger class weapons were left.

“Okay then.”

She pressed her finger against the first option—a detailed model of the weapon project from the menu—rotating itself slowly in front of her.

[Alarus Daggers?]

Maeve swiped her hand across the display, sending it off to the left.

Another model pulled itself into frame—shimmering as it fell into place and began rotating.

[Mono Daggers?]

Another swipe.

[Brigit Steel Daggers?]

Swipe.

[Two-End Daggers?]

Again—swipe.

[Blades of Tem?]

Once more, she moved her hand against the model to swipe—holding it in place a little too long as she did.

[These blades were forged sometime during The Crimson Era of Arrithia on the island of Drithel by a rookie Blacksmith named Tem!]

‘Oh no, they all have their own little stories…which means…’ she swiped the description to the left. ‘…yep…it’s not gonna take just Zero a long time…’

[These daggers can be connected at their hilts to form a shield of magic if the user’s capability of metal magic is high enough!]

‘…all three of us are gonna be here forever.’

“Oh wow, that’s so cool, oh look over there, wow, this place is awesome!”

Kazuka was currently in Amapá—a country located within the Agricultural Kingdom of Aegru—where he was having a grand ol’ time.

‘Class? Hmm…Tank!’

It had taken him a fraction of a second to choose his class.

‘Ooo, that’s a cool name for a hammer.’

And it took him even less to pick out his weapon.

[You have acquired Mytalus’ Aggression!]

[Mytalus was known throughout Kikimaru Islands for his incredible ability to create weapons with as little weight as a bird’s bone—this hammer can be swung freely like it has no weight, reducing attack power by 50%!]

“Gonna smack so many people with this bad boy.”

A thick white shaft of material that did feel hollow—a thin eight-sided head that was some sort of blue material with a set of broad feathery wings etched on both sides.

Kazuka had been standing in the streets when the prompts started—the people’s attention focused on him as he spoke aloud. The hot pink coloring of his armor was already getting him looks—but it had been a while since a Ranker seemed so…

…happy?

The kingdom was built on top of the same stone material as the walls that surrounded it and no matter where you were standing—you could still see them towering above everything.

Kazuka didn’t know what city he was in, but he could tell the people around him were of the land, even up here in the sky.

The layout of the country was like a checkerboard—if the space’s sizes were in kilometers instead of centimeters. Seemingly endless rows of crops sat within most of the squares and from what he could see, there were a few with animals of some sort ranging within them—eating an incredibly dark green grass.

‘Oh man, Zero is gonna wanna pet that thing, it looks like a cow…if cows were the size of most trucks…and all white…and had unicorn horns…I guess it doesn’t look like a cow…’

Many of the squares were filled with log cabins that were made of an orange wood that Kazuka hadn’t ever seen before. The ground that surrounded the sections was lined with gravel to create makeshift pathways in between each square.

‘This is so organized…yeah Zero’s gonna love this place…’ Kazuka’s eyes grew twice their size as a small realization hit him. ‘…oh man….’ he looked up at the sky. ‘…Maeve’s afraid of heights, she’s gonna hate this place, oooohhhh…they got two suns here too…neat…’ he looked back out at the landscape.

“…it would suck to live here and be afraid of heights…oooh that cabin is gorgeous…I gotta get a closer look.”

“I can help ya with that.” an older voice called out toward him.

Kazuka was adjusting well to the new world and had gotten completely lost in thought—ignoring almost everything that wasn’t his train of thought.

As he regained his focus—the sounds of the city and those around him came back.

There weren’t a lot of people walking around, but those who were all had a similar look—tall and muscular with bodies that had been tanned by the two suns for countless decades—maybe even centuries by the look of some of them and no matter where he looked, Kazuka couldn’t find one without a shaved head—even the women and children.

‘I’m home…wait.’

Kazuka turned to where the voice had called him—still taking in the sights and sounds around him.

“Oh, hey there.”

Kazuka had found himself in the presence of a man with a shaved head and bright green eyes. He wore what you may be able to classify as this world’s version of jeans. They were a weird tan color, more brown than cream, but not leathery—a white shirt stained with ashy fingerprints, tucked into them—his black boots unlaced and his hands covered in thin translucent gloves.

“Name’s Baron…” the man stepped closer to Kazuka, wrapping his arms around his back, patting it three times with his hands before releasing. “…not often we get someone around here as big as us.”

Kazuka shook his head and pulled up his map while sticking his hand toward the man.

“Hey! How do you pronounce the name of the other country to the East of here? Is it like…Mu…Muse-a…yeah no…” Kazuka closed the map and smiled under his mask—his dark brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “…what about the names of the cities here in Aya…A..grew…uh nevermind.”

The chipper man looked at Kazuka—puzzled— he glanced down at the hand that was still outstretched in front of him.

“Uh, you’re in Lahnkaast son…in the country of Amapá in the Kingdom of Aegru, on the island of Sidra…in the Realms of Arrithia…”

Kazuka dropped his lonely hand as the man pointed his own toward their left.

“…to the east is the City of Oohlandá…”

He moved his hand slightly to the right, spacing the cities about 20 kilometers apart.

“…that’s Byurkrin closer to the South…”

The man looked back at Kazuka, his face was still a bit confused.

“…not sure what other country you’re talking about Müsa-whatever, Amapá is the only country in Aegru.”

‘That’s a lot of A’s…’ Kazuka thought. ‘…I also knew like half…no…no…’

He nodded at the man.

“Uh…yeah…well thank you sir…uh what was it that you were saying about helping me?”

The man’s expression shifted to excitement—as if Kazuka had just asked him the question he had always wanted to answer his entire life.

“Son, you look like you know your way around a farming hoe.”

[New Quest!]

[Farmer of Amapá!]

[You’ve been lucky enough to meet Baron, he’ll work you to death, but you’ll become a better person!]

[Failure to comply will result in Baron disliking you, thus lowering you and your party's status throughout the country!]

[Baron’s influence as an agriculture expert stretches throughout more land than you can imagine!]

[Accept?]

‘That penalty is a little harsh for not wanting to be a farmer…we just met?’

Kazuka was quiet as he thought—glaring at the menu.

“What do you say, son?”

Kazuka looked back up at the man.

“I’ll even tell Klee that you’re One with the Hammers, but only if ya work extra hard!”

The man smiled at him.

[Hidden Quest Found!]

[One with the Hammers!]

[Baron has offered to introduce you to Klee, The Leader of the Martillonakas if you help him!]

[Accept?]

Kazuka couldn’t press the screen fast enough—he knew Maeve would beat him up one side of Sidra and down the other if he didn’t accept something like this.

“So…” he summoned his hammer, swinging it up onto his shoulder. “…where we heading?”

Baron let out a small laugh as he walked up to Kazuka, wrapping his arm around him.

“Let’s start with ya name first son.”

“Oh yeah, haha! That’s right!”

‘Well, this is…something.’

Zero’s tram had dropped him off in the country of Highbluffs—located in the Kingdom of Hier.

The people here use the magical artifacts the Adventurer Kingdom of Wylop doesn’t find valuable—they transform them into something else entirely with Alchemy—the kingdom’s specialty.

Zero had learned a lot in the short time he had the privilege to roam the kingdom freely—now he sits in a prison cell—all because he decided that a B&E was better than waiting until the library opened—which is a serious crime here.

[You have stolen knowledge!]

He rolled up the scroll he was reading—placing it back in its slot when a blinding white suddenly filled the room.

[West Atlavic Guards are teleporting you to Highbluffs Prison!]

“Nooo waaaay.” his voice was unenthused as he teleported from the library to his cell.

For what they deemed a prison cell—it wasn’t half bad.

It was indeed four stone walls, a bed, and a window, but–the walls were insulated, surprisingly warm to the touch–the bed was incredibly soft, some sort of material he hadn’t felt before and the blanket was dense enough to use its weight to provide heat over the material itself. The window was just like the ones in the cart.

[New Quest!]

[Pris…oner…]

[Priso…ner]

[Pr..ison…er o..f…]

[of…]

[...of Hig..h..bluffs….bluffs…bluff…bluffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

“What in the world?”

Zero’s menu system began to shake–the quest title stuttered and repeated itself several times before finally snapping closed.

[Believers of Flamel have acknowledged you!]

[Nicolas Flamel was a famous Alchemist who was thought to have found the Philosopher's Stone and thus achieved immortality before his disappearance! Believers of his myth have dedicated their lives to locating him!]

[Your push to advance your knowledge has impressed them!]

[Prepare to be teleported to Abramelin, where you and your party will become a fugitive of the Kingdom of Hier and thus Sidra!]

“Seriously, now that’s some plot armor if I’ve ever…seen…it…” Zero watched as his room filled with red misty smoke. “…wait…did that just say I’m about to become a fugitive of AN ENTIRE ISLAND?!”

[Judgment Reavers?]

Nope.

[Silver Slicers?]

Nada.

[Rusty Ebony Blades?]

Who would?

[Iron Reapers?]

No.

[Gladius?]

What?

[Twilight's End?]

Eh.

“Excuse me, ma’am?”

Maeve looked up to find an unusually tall man—his head was bent underneath the window frame of the cart—his expression was somewhat pleasant, but there was something with his tone that called for concern.

“I’m going to have to ask you to exit the cart and come with me.”

There it was again, that tone—it didn’t match his expression, his demeanor, or appearance.

Maeve couldn’t determine his age just by looking at him—his face was smooth, making him look younger, but his voice sounded like someone much older. His silver hair was slicked back, extending down the back of his neck. His long arms and legs were hidden beneath the love child of a three-piece suit and a priest's robe—the off-white cream made him look even paler than he already is.

“Care to explain why? Was I taking too long in the cart, the announcer said to depart when you were ready?”

The man leaned out of the entryway—folding his hands behind his back.

“It did indeed, but…” the man adjusted himself, seemingly blocking the exit. “…I must insist you come with me, ma’am.”

Maeve stood up, and the man moved, allowing her to exit the cart.

She adjusted her cloak, pulling the hood back over her head before she did.

“You gonna tell me why I need to come with you or we just gonna do this dance the entire time?”

Maeve’s words must have struck a nerve with the man—his face wrinkled, his eyes squinted.

“If you must know, you..”

“Yes, I must.”

The man took in a deep breath as he glared down at her.

“…as I was saying, you are in a party with a fugitive of Sidra, and because of that…”

“What did Zero do?!”

The man’s eyes widened—taking a step back, he tilted his head in confusion.

“I didn’t say his na…”

“You don't have to, I know it’s him.”

The man did his best to hide the smirk that was trying to invade his face. He straightened himself, clearing his throat softly.

“Yes…it is Zero.”

“Yeah, I know.”

It was as if his brain was malfunctioning for a moment—he stood there with a long pause before finally coming around again.

“Does…does this happen often?”

Maeve nodded her head at the lanky man—the weapon select screen was still displayed in front of her—visible only to her.

“It does.” She pressed her hand against the screen. “Fuck it.”

[Death’s Bite!]

“Pardon me, ma’am? Did you just tell me to…fuck it?”

[Death’s Bite: These daggers were forged from the tooth of a juvenile dragon found inside the Western Dungeons of Sidra—they allow the user to sense when dragons are nearby]

“Uh, no, I said fuck it because I still hadn’t picked out a weapon yet and I just picked the one that was up…”

The man smiled slightly, nodding his head at her, gesturing to the left of him where some sort of vehicle was waiting.

“If you would just—.”

“…I did that so I could see when I ran away from you.”

With the speed of a child who has been asked what’s in their mouth—Maeve took off sprinting toward the north end of the city.

The man tried to grab her, but even his long arms weren’t enough to reach her in time.

‘Zero, I swear to every deity in this forsaken world, when I find you, I’m gonna kill you.’

She was too quick and far too nimble for him to give chase—he instead stood and watched as she disappeared amongst the crowd.

He grabbed the bottom of his blazer, straightening it promptly.

“Clever child…I wonder though, how much do you know?”

“Holy shit this is so fun, I am never leaving this place, they can save the trapped people, I’m being a farmer!”

To say Kazuka was having the time of his life would be a severe understatement.

He has spent the last seven hours working out in the fields—with not even the slightest sign of growing tired or wanting to stop.

“Man, I forgot your name already, so I’m just gonna call you Pops for now on, but…” Kazuka leaned up, wiping the sweat from his brow. He hadn't noticed how long he had been working, and with his body in peak condition, he didn’t know when he would get tired. “…what is this place?”

[System Alert!]

The pink lettering of the menu startled Kazuka—with Baron’s body slowing down to almost a complete stop. He looked around, realizing that everyone and everything around him was slowing.

The people, the animals, the windmills, everything was coming to a crawl.

[You Have Worked Very Hard On Your First Day As A Farmer!]

[The People Of Amapá Have Grown To Like You In This Short Time!]

[BUT!]

These types of system announcements usually came in red—they both had that same odd way of capitalizing—but this one felt different.

Even without a voice, Kazuka felt a shift with more than just the color of the messages.

There was almost compassion.

[One Of Your Party Members Has Become A Fugitive Of Sidra!]

“Ahh, I see Zero is up to no good.”

[The People Of Amapá Will Fight To Defend You And Your Party!]

[You Have Shown Them That Your Choices Are Thought Out And You Choose Your Allies Wisely!]

“Ah shit.”

Kazuka knew what message was about to come next.

When Zero came to him and Maeve in the real world—he had the most serious expression.

They hadn’t known each other for long, nor had they met in person more than once, but even in that short time, he learned what kind of person Zero was—if he had that expression, he was going to be messing around with what he had to say.

Kazuka laughed at first but quickly realized that Zero wasn’t going to follow it up with “and that’s the idea for my story I’m thinking about writing!”—he was telling the truth.

Zero had met with the woman once more before the game started—he went to retrieve a hard drive with the previews of the islands.

He had told them both about all the possibilities that could occur while in this game, but this incident—it was one he covered extensively.

[These Actions May Result In A Civil War Throughout Sidra!]

[Do You Accept The Help Of Amapá?]

Kazuka may have accepted faster here than he did with choosing his class and weapon—it’s a close call, but the decision to accept the help was instantaneous.

[Attention Arrithia!]

[Amapá Has Declared War On Sidra!]

“Wait, did I just make a City declare war on an entire Island?”