Edge woke up to a thunderclap. He was flat on his back in his bed at Baldor’s. All the muscles in his entire body ached, which hadn't happened since entering the game. The [Endurance] stat must have a real limit then. If he would have run out of stamina mid-encounter . . . but he didn’t. It was almost like his bad luck had decided to take a rain cheque, which was a miracle by itself. He had no memory of getting back to his room. It felt so hot, he was burning up, and when he tried to move, it was like he was pinned down by-

An orange tail flicked him on one side of his face, and a pair of Kiten ears tickled his neck. A squishy squirming pink flower nuzzled into his opposite shoulder; soft parts were rubbing against his arm. Was he dreaming? Eugene tried squeezing his eyes closed. It wasn’t a dream. How did he end up like this, and where were his clothes?

Edge tried to slide his way down and out from the tangle of warm bodies.

“Aah! Pervert, Pervert, Pervert!” Daphne hit him three times, with double punches.

But at least he was free. He jumped out of the bed into the middle of the tiny room. He was only wearing his rogue shorts, but at least he still had those. “Why are you hitting me, this is my room,” he blurted in his defense, just now remembering he didn’t rent a room.

Daphne looked guilty, while Sakura had a sly smile on her lips.

“It was her idea,” pointed Daphne.

“I thought that since I had a free room, we could share and save our rubies.”

“And . . . and I won’t lose to those big melons!” blurted Daphne. “Plus this way we saved more crystals too,” she added hastily.

Edge spun around closing his eyes, as he realized both of his roommates were in their underwear. “P-put on some clothes.”

Daphne, suddenly aware of her near nudity, covered her red and white striped panties with her hands, and the rest with her fluffy tail.

“A little late, he’s already seen everything,” Sakura chuckled, showing no sign of bashfulness.

Daphne blushed pink, scrambling to retrieve her dress from her inventory. She stared at the muscles on Edge’s naked back. “Y-you, you put on your clothes too!” Edge turned back around reaching for where his clothes were folded on the floor. “Don’t look!” Daphne screamed, quickly changing her mind.

Edge snatched up his clothes anyway and whizzed out into the hallway. Being in a party with two girls was really dangerous. He speedily dressed, and slowly made his way downstairs, wincing and recovering his dignity; his whole body still ached. As he expected, the bar was packed with the same folk he saw here last evening. As Baldor promised, the rain continued without stopping. Whether they liked it or not, Baldor’s loft was home for the time being.

And that’s when it hit him. He had gained a level!

In seconds Eugene had a half dozen menu screens open, searching for his new skills, abilities, stat points, anything. His life and mana points had increased, but-

“What is up with this game?” he demanded in frustration.

“Whatcha doin?” asked a now fully clothed Daphne.

“Trying to figure out why we didn’t get any new abilities or stat points for leveling.”

“You didn’t? It said that my songs were more powerful now, and I have a new one. My stats each went up too.”

“What? Let me see,” he commanded irritably. “This is totally unfair,” he declared again.

“Most men are happy on the mornings they wake up next to two beautiful women,” joined Sakura.

When had she become so bold?

“Edge is mad because his stats didn’t go up,” explained Daphne.

“They didn’t? Are you sure you gained a level?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” He checked anyway, to be sure. “See? And we need [25,000 EXP] for level 3,” he moped.

“You’re an adventurer, huh? I thought you were a warrior,” Sakura mentioned. How did she not know his class? “That explains it then,” she said, as if it that explained it.

“What do you know about adventurers that I don’t?”

“Probably nothing, but I read through each of the classes before I chose my Sorceress.”

“And?”

“Don’t be mad at me, I’m not responsible. You were the one who picked [Adventurer].”

Sakura was right of course.

“Just get to the good part, Saki. What’s wrong with Edge?”

Eugene considered whether Daphne was asking out of concern, or to be spiteful.

“Well, the [Adventurer] class description was quite vague wasn’t it. All of the other classes had reasonably good descriptions of their capabilities and main attributes. A few, like Sorceress, even had you choose specializations. That’s how I became a [Fire Specialist].”

“Yeah . . .” said Eugene. This was all his fault, again. Why did he have to choose now to try something new. Half the reason he picked [Adventurer] in the first place was because he couldn’t obsess over the statistics, or plan a perfect build, or predict the outcome of his character. It all sounded so good at the time.

“The way I see it, doesn’t that make the Adventurer class the one with the most potential?” said Sakura.

“”Yeah Edge, and you’re good with combat strategies and you’re our leader,” chirped Daphne.

He was?

“I can’t think of a reason that every class would necessarily level in the same manner. Perhaps you just need to find a trainer, or something,” Sakura suggested.

“Thanks,” he replied. This was the first time anyone had tried to cheer him up. Usually, people just pushed him down. So this was what it was like to have friends. And it’s true that leveling wasn’t the only way to get stronger in Levia. You could train your stats with exercise, or raise your skills with repetition. So far, every skill he’d tested had worked. Perhaps there was more to the [Adventurer] class than he thought.

The girls had been acting so strange, almost like they'd forgotten that they were trapped in a death game. “So what dropped on the Gecko King?” he asked, trying to change the subject. He didn't want to think about it either.

“She wouldn’t tell me,” said Sakura, pointedly.

“We should all be here to open it,” affirmed Daphne.

Did she think this was Christmas? “Open what?” obliged Edge.

Daphne withdrew a small wooden chest from her inventory, placing it on the bar. It hardly looked remarkable.

“Is that it?”

“No, there were these too.” Daphne lined the wooden bar with an assortment of items. From left to right, she placed a blue potion, a rolled up scroll, a bulging pouch, the chest, and lastly a giant two handed sword. She just about fell over pulling out the gleaming silver blade from her inventory. It was a foot wide and taller than Edge’s avatar.

If that wasn’t their rare drop . . . He’d eat his hat. Though he didn’t wear one. He noticed Daphne’s monocle had disappeared too. Perhaps it was decorative.

“Any way to identify the potion?” asked Edge.

Sakura popped open the cork, smelled the substance, then dipped her pinky finger. She slowly licked off the blue liquid. A popup window appeared, but Edge couldn’t read it from where he was sitting.

“It’s a [Water Breathing Potion]. It tastes like grape juice, and I now have alchemy as a skill.”

“Really let me try,” Daphne said, dipping her finger. “Oo, it’s good.” A popup window appeared for her as well. “It says I can’t use the alchemy skill.”

“I guess I’m next.” [You have learned Alchemy] “It worked.”

“I guess,” she emphasized, “it’s just the two of us,” finished Sakura with odd inflection, placing her hand over his.

Daphne looked about ready to burst, for some reason. Eugene was never going to understand girls. He retracted his hand. “How about the scroll? You’d think that it would be a magic thing.”

“I can’t break the seal.”

“Why not?” demanded Daphne. “Too weak?” Daphne struggled to open the scroll, going blue in the face with effort.

“It’s probably for another class then,” said Edge.

“Thank you so much, Edge,” taunted Sakura.

“Oo, you jerk. Don’t defend her!”

Defend who? “Uh, we can always sell it, once we get to a town. Baldor might even buy it.”

“Are we going to Cobbletown then?” asked Daphne, distracted by the possibility.

“I think we’ll train here for a little longer. No reason to take any chances, and now that we know how to beat the Gecko King . . .”

“You think it’ll spawn again?” Sakura questioned with raised pink elvish eyebrows.

“Only one way to find out, right?”

The pouch was filled with emeralds, and a handful of rubies, which would go a long way to helping pay for THREE rooms and supplies. Edge set Sakura to counting all the crystals they had, since she seemed to be good with math. A pair of round eye glasses appeared on Sakura’s head as she counted.

Meanwhile, Daphne was smiling and clapping her hands at the last two items on the bar. “Can I be the one to open it?” Edge shrugged, which Daphne took as immediate consent. She flipped open the box. Inside, laying on a bed of red velvet, was a small oddly curved knife with a sharp hook on the back of the blade. It had a wooden handle, and appeared otherwise plain in every way.

“What is this? Where is the diamond necklace? or the cute tiara?” challenged Daphne.

It was Edge’s turn to raise his eyebrows. For some reason, Daphne had her heart set on weird items. “This is something far more valuable than jewelry,” offered Edge.

Daphne looked skeptical. “What is it?” she pouted.

“It’s a skinning knife.”

“Eww.” She retreated from the box.

“A gathering skill,” said Sakura, reverently lifting the knife from the velvet. Her glasses sparkled. “It’s perfect for us. Crafting is the heart of every good MMO.”

Edge smiled, giving a nod. Sakura was definitely a crafting otaku.

Daphne plucked the knife from Sakura’s open palms. “If it’s so good, I wanna have it.”

“I don’t think our first crafting tool should go to a newbie-” started Sakura.

“Sakura, it doesn’t really matter who uses it, does it?” Edge pleaded, not liking how tightly Daphne was clutching the blade. “So long as we keep sharing and working together,” he continued placatingly, “plus leather armour is probably pretty good for a Bard, right? If it’s too hard, we might just sell the mats for crystals anyway.” Please don’t stab anyone.

“I’m not a new bee,” Daphne interjected. “I’ve played other games. I usually just follow my friend around, and she does most of the . . . you know, stupid stuff.” Daphne’s cute cat ears slouched downward, looking hurt.

Sakura softened at Daphne’s reaction, a great deal more than Edge had expected. The pair hugged and left the bar to go talk in private, leaving him alone with the last item on the table. Girls were strange, but this two-handed sword was something straight out of a JRPG, too big for reality, and too cool for mere words.

But. It always seemed like there was a but for Eugene. Or maybe that he was the but. His character wasn’t some cool solo rogue who needed the baddest DPS weapon he could get his hands on. Not anymore. He was an [Adventurer] in a party that already had damage in the form of a sorceress, and already had a well rounded support, slash semi-healer. Edge did not need an awesome sword like this one, no matter how well balanced it felt in his hands. He sighed, forcing himself to ask the all important question. “Baldor, how many crystals would you give me for this sword?”

“Two sapphires and nine rubies is a fair price for such a weapon.”

“How much for a sapphire?”

“I‘ll give you a good price on, one sapphire. It will be one hundred five rubies.”

A ruby is worth a one hundred emeralds, and a sapphire is one hundred rubies. So that meant this sword was worth over two hundred rubies, or twenty thousand emeralds. A satisfied whistle echoed in the bar, and the girls momentarily gave him strange looks, which he ignored. Most of the equipment Baldor had for sale had a price of less than ten rubies. This sword could buy them each a room in Baldor’s Loft for . . . The math made his brain hurt. Where was Sakura when he needed her? “Baldor,” he choked. “I’d like to sell you this sword.” Quickly, before he changed his mind.