Complicated

“I thought you'd stopped playing,” Verona asked Taku.

“I was,” Taku replied with a wry smile. “This is the first login since my farewell.”

Taku, once their in-game senior, now stood beside them in this surreal world. His casual demeanor masked the severe implications of their situation. Verona and Maya both looked at him with concern. But then, Taku was still Taku. Easygoing and carefree–sometimes too much.

“Why did you suddenly log in after retiring?” Maya asked.

Taku chuckled, “I wanted to see how the game has evolved after two years, and with a bit of free time on my hands, I figured, why not? But I never expected something like this.”

Verona couldn't help but observe the contrast between Taku's virtual and real appearances, wondering if she appeared as different as he did. As he inquired about their real-life faces, they confirmed that their avatars mirrored their true selves.

Although still in his late thirties, Taku had an air of youthful vigor around him. His striking black hair and sharp eyes depicted the aura of a keen and experienced man.

"Well, at least I'm not the only one who looks drastically different," Taku grinned, teasingly self-deprecating. "I feel like an ugly bastard in a doujinshi."

Maya interjected, "Stop exaggerating, Taku. You look fine."

"Coming from a beauty like you, that's a compliment!" Taku teased, his grin widening.

"Enough distractions," Verona said, trying to keep the conversation on track. "We should focus on our situation."

"Right, right," Taku nodded, his playful demeanor giving way to seriousness. "Let's talk about that."

They discussed their lack of equipment, with Taku revealing he had sold all his belongings before retiring. Verona had a few accessories, but Maya had nothing to spare. Despite the dire circumstances, the conversation brought a sense of comfort amidst their situation.

“By the way, you two seem closer than ever before. Something going on that I missed?” Taku continued, grinning.

Verona sighed. “I’ve said this is hardly the time to jest.”

“And who's the little one then?” Taku asked, noticing Momo on Verona's back.

“It’s… Momo,” Maya replied.

“Momo?”

“My companion. Do you still remember?”

Taku expressed surprise. "Wait, isn't Momo supposed to be a fox?"

Maya quickly filled him in on their encounter with her companion.

“Well, apparently, we have a lot of bugs and glitches on our hands,” Taku wondered. “I have something to share, but we need a better place to discuss it.”

“We’re planning to drop Momo at our home. Maybe we can talk there.”

“Then I must add you again to my friend list.”

Taku started moving his hand in the air as he re-added Verona and Maya. He did it to be able to visit their house, which was off-limits to those who were not included in the owner’s friend list or guild. Technically, Verona was the owner of the house. Via the couple feature, he was able to share access to Maya as well.

After the lengthy conversation, the trio decided to head towards Verona and Maya’s house and finally arrived there.

From all the places so far, the house was the most detached place in Regnalia, with its designs resembling that of a cheap, 21st-century home rather than the typical medieval residence. It was not out of place in the game. Regnalia had some areas where it brought resemblance to the modern world rather than the fantastical setting.

There was a living room with carpet and sofa, a kitchen with a magical stove that could burn fire and a wooden dining table, a standard bathroom with a toilet seat, and a bedroom with a spacious double spring bed.

In Regnalia, the main function of a house was all about storage, customisation, prestige, and achievement points. At first, it was not popular. Not only because it has a less significant impact on gameplay, as storage–which was arguably its biggest value–was not really needed if you did not store a lot of items. Not to mention, buying a house was expensive, and only a handful of players had it.

Its popularity suddenly rose a few years ago after it was known that some of the good-rewarding hidden quests listed house ownership as one of its prerequisites. It was the reason why Verona decided to buy one.

He never knew it would be handy now.

Around the sturdy dining table in the kitchen, Verona, Maya, and Taku started to discuss their respective experiences. Momo had been laid down in the bedroom.

“Where do we start?” Taku asked.

“What has happened to us?” Maya wondered.

“No one knows,” Taku replied. “Either Celestial Arts do this deliberately, or this is just some kind of bad fate, but we can agree the expansion pack is the reason for all this.”

“My thoughts as well,” Verona chimed in.

“How and why doesn’t really matter here. For now, we have to focus on something we can do about.”

“Such as?”

“The new mechanics, new information, Regnalia’s current affairs–many things. Anything that can help us survive in this world.”

They continued discussing what they had known so far. Verona and Maya started with their experience. The interface, the chat feature and its limitations, the lack of players, the scarcity of monsters in Belnaros Forest, the disappearance of the logout button, and the skip journey feature–something Taku also noticed. Then, they discuss how surreal the world was–Delphiron, Belnaros Forest, NPCs.

It puzzled them all.

“However, what worries me more is that we suddenly have received a quest. I believe it’s never been in the game before,” Verona continued.

“A quest.”

“It is related to abyssal monsters, something mentioned in the new expansion pack. It has a four-star difficulty.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Just a chance encounter,” Verona explained. “We happened to stumble across an entourage of NPCs. Got some news that the town of Alberta was attacked and overrun by those monsters.”

“You mean that little town on the border? Near the hills?”

“Yes,” Verona said. “We’ve been asked to investigate, and without overthinking, we accepted it. It was at that moment we received the quest.”

“I see.”

Taku fell into deep thought, and no one said any words for a while.

“Although it seems important, I suggest we delay investigating,” Taku proposed. “We still don’t know much of this world. For example, what happens if you get killed?”

Suddenly realising the implication, Verona was left speechless. Maya, too. Taku’s words hit him like a splash of cold water. Verona and Maya exchanged glances. In the past, getting killed in the game meant a simple respawn at the nearest cathedral, but now, the consequences could be far more severe.

“With so many changes, there’s no guarantee we’ll be revived again. At this point, we’re not playing a game anymore. We can't afford to take any risks,” Taku continued.

“What should we do then?” Maya asked with a tinge of worry.

Taku replied, “We need to be cautious and gather more information before we jump into anything. Right now, survival is our top priority."