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Chapter 3

3: The World of Scenarios

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"You? Did you just left your first scenario?"

Startled, Fei looked at the burly middle-aged man who asked her a question. He was wearing a very thick coat that even had a trace of snow.

"Why?"

"Let me see your rewards. I can trade props with you."

He then started approaching het, but Fei took a step back with vigilance. This person is a stranger, even if they're both players; She couldn't trust him.

"I haven't received any." Fei said eyes shifting around her surroundings. This seems to be a small town with many establishments, but right now, it's deserted.

"Liar! Show me!"

When Fei heard the aggressiveness in his voice, she started running away. He's chasing her! What does he want from her?!

Her eyes instantly glimmered with hope when she saw a brightly lit store. Fei hurriedly pushed open the door and saw two people talking in the lounge chairs. Before they could even asked her 'what's wrong?', Fei hurriedly pointed at the man who was standing outside the door, glaring at her.

"That man is chasing me! He said something about wanting to see my rewards."

The two of them looked at the man. When the man saw that Fei had asked the people for help, he sneered disapprovingly but then backed away. Fei sighed in relief. That man is scary as hell.

"Well, are you a newbie who came out of your first scenario? Do you want me to enter your records?" The woman asked, walking behind the front desk followed by the man. Fei suddenly became confused.

"What record?"

"This is the records office. Every player who exits their first scenario must enter their records to keep track of their time."

"What do you mean by that?"

She didn't seem to mind Fei asking so many questions because her smile never faltered.

"That means you'll know when your next scenario will be." There are a lot of scenarios?

"That's...good."

The woman introduced herself as Luria, and the man was named Pan. Luria pulled open a book and handed her a pen.

"Write your name, age, number of props, and the scenario where you came out." Fei followed her instructions and wrote every detail the woman asked for.

Name: Fei Briarwood

Age: 19

Scenario: Halloween Costume Party

Props: 3

After writing everything, the book lit up, and the words Fei had wrote disappeared. Pan nodded at Luria while looking at the screen of the old-fashioned computer -- a computer that was popularized somewhere in the early 2000s. It was bulky and had a huge back. After a series of typing, Pan proceeded to a machine next to it. Then she heard the sound of printing.

"Here's your player ID." He handed Luria the ID, and Luria gave it to Fei.

The ID was made of metal but surprisingly, it didn't feel heavy at all. Fei looked at the black ID carefully. On the front side, a huge 'Player 0178930' almost occupied half of the space. Under it was her name, but in smaller font. The back side contained nothing but codes.

"It seems like you've gained a few props. Just so you know, you can exchange some of your props for money."

Fei's eyes shifted from the ID towards Luria. She can do that? Maybe that's the reason why that burly man from earlier was trying to ask to trade for her props? or Maybe he didn't really want to trade... but rob her? Fei cleared her throat and then asked Luria seriously.

"Then... how do I summon my props? The mechanical voice didn't tell me how."

She remembered that after the mechanical voice said what her rewards were, Fei got transported to this town.

"Oh, just picture what props you want to summon, and it'll come out. I guess since you're a newbie, the inventory wasn't introduced to you yet."

Fei did what she said, and then a huge red axe appeared out of thin air. She decided to exchange it for money because Fei felt like she wouldn't be able to use this one well.

"What a great prop."

Luria exclaimed, then asked her to place the axe on the weighing scale that she'd never seen before. It looked so strange did it even exist in the real world?

"This tool doesn't measure the weight of the props, it can only measure its level and how much it can be exchanged for. Now, swipe your player ID here." She pointed at the small rectangular machine connected to the scale.

"This prevents props from being stolen because once the system rewards a player a prop, the player owns that. Unless the player dies, then the props can be snatched by other players." That actually makes sense - Fei nodded thoughtfully.

"But what about the scene with the burly man earlier?" She asked her. "That? He may be trying to grab your props before you could even register. A lot of players do that to newbies, so it's good that you came here. Your prop is worth 3 gold and 16 silver coins -- not bad for a novice-level scenario."

Fei nodded in amazement. Luria then took the axe away and placed the coins on the table. After counting, she put them in a brown pouch and handed it to her.

"To use the inventory, just picture it out, and it will appear in front of you. You can put anything inside, as long as the system approves of it."

"The system?"

"Yes. It's the mechanical voice you're talking about. Now that your record is here, a prompt will notify you every time your next scenario comes up."

"Thank you." She just smiled at Fei.

Luria then recommend a good lodging house whe Fei could stay in while waiting for her next scenario. She pointed to a yellow building just across the street. She said that the food and accommodation there were great. After thanking her again, Fei bid her goodbye.

The wind chime made a sound when she entered the door of the lodging house. The old man, who was leisurely drinking a cup of hot coffee, glanced at her.

"How many days will you stay?"

"A week."

"A week's worth of food and accommodation is 1 gold and 4 silver coins. You can sign your name and player number here." He took out a key with a room number on it from the drawer and placed it next to a logbook.

"There's a mini-store located in the town center where you can buy supplies for a cheap price." Fei nodded at him before finding the way to her room.

When she inserted the key, Fei found out that the room seemed to be unlocked. Did the staff forget about it? She glanced at the room key and the room number and found nothing strange, it was the same room. So Fei just shrugged it off. The staff who cleaned the room seemed to have left in a hurry and forgotten to lock the door.

The first thing she did after entering was to find the bathroom area to wash. Fei let out a grimace when she saw how messy her face looked right now. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, lips cracked with a trace of dried blood, and her cheeks were red and swollen from where Kiko's mother had hit her with the rolling pin. The good thing was her teeth didn't fall out from the impact.

After washing her face, Fei saw an unused black tracksuit in the cabinet and a set of new toiletries, so she decided to take a bath because she now reeked of sweat.

"That feels so refreshing." Fei lay flatly on the soft mattress loving the comfort it gave her.

Click.

Fei stood up ubruptly when she heard the door clicked open. Hey, who the hell? A very tall person carrying a big backpack entered the room. The person frowned at her. Is this a man? No! A woman?

"Uh, I think you've entered the wrong room."

She raised an eyebrow at Fei, amusement written on her face. Although this person dressed up as a man -- black pants and a black pullover, and was styled very manly, She is really sure this one is a woman.

"Is that so? But I've been here since yesterday. Did you come before me, then?"

Was that true? Fei went outside the door to see the room number, which was labeled as room 19. If what she was saying was the truth, then that explained why the door was unlocked when Fei got here. But her room key also said room 19?

"This is room 16." The woman leaned her body on the doorway, then pointed at the two rooms on each side, "15, 17. Room 19 is over there."

"That... I'm sorry. I didn't notice. Uh, gotta go?" She just smiled at Fei's embarrassment and watched her walk to her room in strides. After locking the door of the room, Fei let out an embarrassed laugh.

"so dumb."

...

...

Fei lay awake in bed, thinking about what had happened inside the scenario. The system said it was an 'Easy' level, but it didn't seemed easy at all! Time seemed to run abnormally inside, and even the concept of day was different. She's thankful to have found a small anomaly in the game conditions, which she only realized later after Kiko's mother started breaking the door.

The third rule revealed the hidden rule of the game. It emphasized 'right costume' in the first and second attempts, but in the fourth and fifth, it said 'costume.' So, when Fei first submitted the shrimp costume, it got denied because it wasn't the right costume. However, when she submitted it again for the last time, it got accepted because it was a Halloween costume.

Fei heaved a deep sigh and tried to imagine her future, but drowsiness crept in, and she soon forgot about it.

_______xxx

The player has triggered the game conditions:

1. The player must help Kiko find her Halloween costume.

2. The player has only three chances to submit the Halloween costume.

3. Failure in guessing the right costume in the first and second attempts involves minor punishment.

4. If the player uses up the last attempt and failed to submit the costume, the player will trigger a major punishment.

5. Submit the Halloween costume and survive.