Starting from Zero

Book 2, Chapter 13

Wayne is Dead!

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"Boss! Here!" Wayne rushed all the way in front of me. "Woah boss you're fast!"

"Fast?" I wondered. "I lost my way. It took so long to find that damn station!"

"Boss boss, gimme the equipment!" Impatience is written all over Wayne's face.

I traded the equipment to Wayne and followed him to the Occupation Institution. The registration took me another two Crystals. Of course Wayne is now jumping with happiness. He didn't need to pay the bill!

"Come on, let's go level up! It will be free registration the next morning, and low level areas will surely fill up with people. Get higher now so you don't need to fight over others!"

"True! Let's go then!" Wayne dragged me out of the city. There are no street torches, we can barely make out the surroundings under the starlight.

"Boss, let's kill these oxes! The won't kill me easily!"

"Oxes? That will take forever! Come, follow me!"

"Hey wait up!" I led Wayne and ran over a small hill pretty far away. There are lots of level 50 Frenzied Ox here, their eyes are emitting a red light in the dark night. Wayne went hiding the instant he saw them. He's a squishy caster class, these things are 20 more levels above him and can instakill Wayne easily.

I decided to show off a bit in front of Wayne so I walked to an open area. Then raised my sword, pointing at the sky:

"O Dragon Lord from the Underworld, heed my call and show yourself!"

Of course those chantings were totally unnecessary. I just need a flicker of my mind to call Lucky.

However Lucky decided to play along. A black hole appeared above me, covered with electric arcs. Slowly, Lucky squeezed his head out of the hole, then claws, then finally those now 10-meter-long wings, and soared into the sky. It truly looks like Lucky just crawled out of inferno land.

I glanced at Wayne. Yes, he's sitting there, jaw on the ground. I think I broke him.

Same practice. With a bellow which sounds even more loud than the whistle of a steamship, Lucky caused all the oxes lose their balance. I pointed at the ox herd.

"Smash them!"

Without a word, Lucky charged into the crowd. (Dragons began to speak after level 200, so he can't say a word anyway.) Now it looks like a pack of wolves just got into a chicken farm. Lucky is now using everything he can use to slaughter the oxes. Waves of corpses were knocked flying by his claws and tail. Another mess disappeared when he opened his mouth. The scene looks awesome but it basically is useless to me. These level 50 oxes won't give me much exp. I guess Wayne is growing really fast, though.

Somehow Wayne managed to collect himself. "Boss! Is-is-is-is that your Companion?"

"Yeah. Cool right?"

"Tell me the truth! Did your mother gave it to you?"

"What--nonsense! The game is running on itself for Christ's sake, no one can cheat!"

"But but, you are THAT lucky?? Seriously, new player got a dragon as companion? Well how will the others complete with you?"

"You know, you have a good point. Even you, are doubting me. If other people know about this they will report me for cheating!"

"No worries! We know you didn't do anything wrong right? That's enough!"

"I personally don't care but, it isn't a good idea if just anyone tries to accuse me." I tried to think.

"How about this?" Wayne suggested again. "You just kill every single witness who saw your dragon!"

I knocked his head. "You nuts?? Dead players respawn at the city. This is not real life! Nevermind, I decided! When I grind I find somewhere safe and do it myself. I don't call Lucky in other occasions."

"But...That's a pity."

"It's settled! Nothing pity. I don't like crowds anyway. We used to level up where there's no other people around when we play other games remember?"

"Alright then! But boss you gotta help me level more tonight!"

"That's no problem. What's your level now?"

"I forgot to check. Gimme a moment." Then Wayne froze. "Boss! I'm 37!"

"Are you still doubting me and Lucky?"

"Nononono! Boss you're the best!"

I chatted with Wayne while we ran away from the city. Normally monster levels go up the farther you go from a city. After we are done with oxes, we began to kill Steel Sabrelions. These guys are level 100. Wayne stuck to me like a tail along the way, worrying about getting mauled by a lion. Good for him, the lions mostly regard me and Lucky as their target cause Wayne didn't attack at all.

The Steel Sabrelions are higher leveled than us so we can't mess-kill them very fast like we did to the oxes. At first, Lucky will face several lions while I fight only one. As we got higher however, I started to insta kill them one after one.

But just as I hit 100, something bad happened. I don't know if he was just too bored, or just felt embarrassed being carried all the time, Wayne threw a fireball at one of the lions, you know the result. A swift leap, the lion dropped in front of Wayne and sent him back to the city with one bite.

When I noticed it I just saw a white flash!

"Boss!"

"Oops, Wayne! Sorry about that, I forgot about you with all the fightings!"

"Don't worry. I pulled that one myself. I'm 53 now! I wouldn't even dream of going this fast if not for you!"

"So you were 54 just now?"

"Yeah. That death dragged me down a level."

"Where are you now then? I'll go fetch you!"

"Huh? Boss stop teasing me! I'm here, in front of your face!"

"Wait what? In front? I don't see anything. You're using /Tell with me right?"

I looked around, still nothing. "If you are there, try poke me with your staff!"

"Ok!" Then Wayne exclaimed: "Hey boss! I went right through your body!"

"Uh, you're a ghost now? Try use some magic!"

Wayne panicked again. "I can't! The system says I can't attack when I'm a ghost!"

"Oh seriously?! So you turn into a ghost when died, but don't go back to the city? What should we do now?"

"How about call the Game Service for help?" Wayne suggested.

"Ok. Wait here, I'll do it." Then I called the service.

"Hello! This is customer service system, Operator 1701 at your service. What can I do for you?"

"Hi there, My friend just got killed by a monster, but he didn't return to the city and now he's a ghost. What happened? Back in the Rookie Village, we usually get sent back when we die right?"

"This is normal! Players above level 20 will become a ghost upon death and they will not respawn back in the city."

"What do we do now? Now my friend is invisible, he can see me but I can't see him. Oh it seems monsters can't see him either! He can't attack or use any magic now. How should he keep playing?"

"Please do not worry, this is totally normal situation! Your friend just needs to go back to the city, find a Resurrection Wizard at the Wizard's Guild to come back. But there is a price. You can also find a player with Resurrection Wizard as a class. Do you understand now?"

"I get it! Thank you!" I hang up and told Wayne about the situation. Now we had no choice but to go back!