A Girl's Life in a Gaming World

"Town Upgrade?" Elise muttered as she read the scroll. On the top right corner of the scroll, she saw a logo of a black sword and a white shield in front of it. There is nothing much to read in the scroll, seeing that it is straightforward in its instructions on using it. 

[Scroll of Town Upgrade]

*Rank: E 

- Giving this scroll to the adventurer's guild can develop a chosen village into a town and receive the role of the town's vice mayor. 

"What did you find?" Elise found the scroll quite interesting, but she closed it for now. Then she faced Akkar and Hal to discuss how they'll use it. Besides, she also wanted to see the things that they picked up.

"Nothing much a mysterious key, poison potions, and an antidote." Hal passed everything to Elise for her to see, then he curiously looked at the staff at Akkar's hands.

"I think this staff is the weapon of the enemy's commander. But this weapon... I find it weird."

"Weird?" 

"I can's see any information about it," Akkar answered Elise as he passed the goblin shaman's staff to her. 

The information of the items appeared in front of her the instant her hands touched the items. 

[Floor One's Key]

- Rank: C

- Open the door of the tower's first floor. 

[Poison Potion]

- Rank: A

- Quality: High

- Decreases the affected target's health by 10 health points every second. 

- Poison lasts for 24 hours unless cured by an antidote.

[Antidote Potion] 

- Rank: A

- Quality: High

- Cures high-quality Rank: A poisons and lower.

[Chaos Staff] (Sealed)

*Rank: B

"..."

"Sealed? And rank B??" Elise muttered while holding the items in her hand. 

Akkar was right; she found the weapon more mysterious than the key they found. Because of all the items, she found in the village, the item's simple information will always appear in front of her no matter what it is. Yet this weapon only shows the name, and what's more, it being Rank: B means that it is better than the weapons currently used by the players that are Rank: A. But as for how to unseal and use it, they have no idea. 

After pondering for a few moments, Elise tried asking her A.I. for any clue. However, her A.I. did not give any information, so their only option right now is to ask elder Jin. 

"According to my A.I., aside from the potions, these things here are the reward from killing the enemy's commander. I can guess where to use the key since Elder Jin mentioned something about a tower connected to the void portal. But I am not certain that it is only one tower in this world. As for the town upgrade scroll and weapon, I suggest that we wait for the two of them since these items are their reward." Elise suggested while she temporarily stored the items in her inventory. 

Even though she wanted to develop the Honey Combed village into a town, thinking that it might help them with the void portal's predicament. However, she doesn't have the right to use the item since it doesn't belong to her. She can only hope that Alexandria agrees to her suggestion for the villagers. "Let's go back; there's nothing left in here," Elise muttered as she pulled the two men back to the village. 

Akkar and Hal agreed since those items aren't their reward, to begin with. They are already satisfied that they have managed to survive the battle thanks to their efforts in fighting the enemy's commander. 

Hal sighed as he looked back at the aftermath of the battle as they got farther and farther. "What a shame... We are still in the tutorial yet; we are already eating someone's dust." He can't help but imagine how intense the fight against the enemy's commander was when they themselves were already having a hard time defending the village. He wanted to get stronger fast and fight stronger opponents. 

Akkar shook his head, then swung his arms over Hal's shoulders and exclaimed. "It's pointless comparing yourself to them. Unless you have strong willpower to chase them, you will only feel inferior. You're still young. I think it's better if you focus on yourself first. After all, we have different paths to take; take it slow and try to discover what path you'll take in this game." 

"As for them?? They will have a long journey ahead of them. We still have a lot of time to catch up." Elise shared her own thoughts as she stared at the crater in the distance. She can't help but think of how hard the challenges the two of them will face in the future if they keep charging on this path. 

Hal only nodded as they entered the village, still deep in his thoughts. 

...

Turning back the clock before the explosion happened. 

Ezekiel, who was running for his life earlier with Alex, is now backed in a corner. He was stopped in his tracks because of a burning tree toppled by the goblin shaman with a fast ice shard. This resulted in him getting knocked by a massive fireball separating him and Alex. With the burning tree behind them, he no longer had any choice but to confront the goblin shaman and defend the unconscious Alex on the ground that the goblin shaman's target. 

Eyes narrowing together, the goblin shaman saw the woman defenseless on the ground. He raised his staff and angrily shot a ten-meter large tornado ahead. "DIE!!!!" 

But at the same time, a long wooden staff came forth from the area along with a person holding into it!

Ezekiel bravely charged ahead of the tornado to protect Alex behind him.

"Heal!" The tornado shot was already upon him as he emerged from the black smoke coming from the burning trees around him. Without slowing down in speed, Ezekiel's entire body suddenly flashed in green light as he braced against the tornado. 

The tornado collided against Ezekiel's body mercilessly, but he withstood the pain and continued to storm forward. 

The goblin shaman narrowed his eyes as he regarded Ezekiel's approach coldly. The temperature around him dropped as ten ice spears formed around the goblin shaman. The spears shivered slightly before it shot forward. 

Facing off against the spears, Ezekiel didn't falter. Choosing not to dodge nor block the spears, he clenched his spear tightly and swung outwards with it.

Then under the terrified eyes of the goblin shaman, he watched as five of his eyes spears started to crack underneath the might of Ezekiel's staff.

However, Ezekiel is not as strong as Alex. The remaining ice spears traveled to his arms and fractured them. He can only grit his teeth and heal his arms. As long as he protected his heart, head, and other vital parts of his body, getting hit was not a problem. So no matter how much he got hit Ezekiel, continued to charge forward and finally broke through the tornado. 

As soon as he had a clear sight of the goblin shaman, he clenched his staff tighter then threw it towards the goblin shaman as a distraction. He followed close behind his staff and got closer towards the goblin shaman. 

Furious, the goblin shaman's body lit up as he manifested a dark red aura around him, protecting him from any form of attack. 

And just like Ezekiel expected, his attack had done nothing to the goblin shaman at all, let alone create a ripple in his barrier. His staff only bounced away from the barrier. However, it has already served its purpose to distract the goblin shaman. 

The moment his weapon hit the goblin shaman's barrier, Ezekiel leaped through the opening, much to the goblin shaman's shock and despair.. The moment Ezekiel leapt through the air, Alex who was hiding behind his shadow from the start pushed her feet off the ground and struck her fist towards the goblin shaman's barrier.