Enchantia

I expected the portal transfer to cause unpleasant effects, but it took less than a second and I barely felt anything. It was like a normal jump. There was only a brief moment of blueness in my eyes, but it immediately faded as we emerged.

Patrick releases my hand. I fall by inertia onto soft grass and roll onto my back. There's no pain or bruising, just a cool breeze blowing on my face.

A beautiful view opens up before me: the sky here has a more magenta hue, the stars look brighter and closer. There are many trees with curved dark trunks and lush foliage, varying in color from dark purple to bright green shades, colorful flowers, visible fireflies, and audible crickets. Nearby is a lake with purple-blue water.

Once again, I was glad that I got Enchantia and can enjoy these views, of which there are countless in the game, for as long as I want... Until it flashed:

Current location: Blooming Glade, Bewitched Forest.

Warning! PvP is active in this location.

The forest's appearance doesn't match its gloomy name at all... Wait, what are we even doing here? This is the same location where the Dagger of Madness is hidden.

I jump to my feet and rush to Patrick, who has already dismounted and dismissed his mount.

"Buddy, did you make a mistake with the location? There must be a ton of strong players trying to complete that quest. With PvP enabled, it's extremely unsafe for me here," I started.

If you die, all of your gear will drop unless it has a perk that preserves it on death. You will respawn at the general spawn, and the chance of getting your stuff before someone accidentally finds it and takes it is close to zero. It's best not to die in Enchantia.

"No, this is exactly where I wanted to go," Patrick cut off. "You guessed right, many high-level guys are looking for the Dagger of Madness and are fighting hard among themselves. However, this is happening in the deep and remote parts of the forest, where the artifact is supposedly hidden. We're on its outskirts, it's almost deserted here and there are many cool dungeons that are easy for a newbie to clear."

He speaks in a tone that should calm me down and inspire trust, but I know him too well.

"Are you planning to find the Dagger of Madness?" I attacked head-on.

"Well... Actually, yes, but not now. Right now we need to level you up. You're part of my plan to get it," he didn't deny.

Go on a hunt for a Legendary Artifact with a huge value? Sounds damn cool and exciting—

—if you don't take into account that I've just entered the game for the first time. It's literally suicide!

"Maybe we could wait a bit, at least a week? I can't imagine how I can help you, and I don't want to lose the gear I bought with your money. You understand yourself that the idea is... risky."

"We can't wait—they recently found the last artifact that was hidden on the top server, now the main mass of players will flood to search on the smaller ones. More and more people are learning about the approximate location of the dagger, we need to get it while there's little competition. Don't crap yourself, I've calculated everything. If anything, I'll cover you. But you'll learn your function after leveling up to about level 10. I don't want to scare you and push you."

These kinds of phrases are always scarier than specifics.

"Why didn't you find someone more experienced? You literally run a huge guild. What, there's no one worthy there?" I was amazed.

"Of course there are, but I have a high-level guild that's fighting to stay in the top rankings. If I, as a leader, ask a guild member for help with such low-level crap, my authority will be severely shaken. And inside the guild, there are already plenty of political games, at least two factions formed with the aim of displacing me. So you're the best option," he frankly admitted.

So my noob ass was bought for a measly five hundred gold?! Great, my best friend is such a best friend... In that case, I need to immediately raise my price.

"I understand you... By the way, what I wanted to discuss with you—I decided to level up through magic—"

"Yeah, I can see by the robe. When I started playing, I was in a newbie party, there were several people who also chose magic from scratch. In the end, almost all of them changed their style without even reaching the opening of mana," he said, as if remembering something happy.

Great support for my endeavor!

"Interesting... So, in the same shop where I bought the gear, there was a scroll for mana points. The owner agreed to sell it for one and a half thousand gold, I made a deposit of a hundred so she would keep it for me. This is the easiest way for me to quickly open mana, so I need your... additional financial help," I stated. Patrick tilted his head.

"What? In which shop did you find a magic scroll? Celestial Rift isn't a rich server, they don't throw around such luxury here, especially to newbies," he was surprised.

"The shop is called 'SWORD AND MAGIC!', with an exclamation mark at the end. The owner is a rabbit girl."

Patrick's face is hidden under a mask, but I caught the tension that appeared on it.

"I'll give you advice—don't shop there anymore. Those idiotic scam signs are a direct violation of the rules, the 'Good Faith' clause, and I don't know why they're not shutting her down. I've never seen other shops with similar signs, and this chick has shops on other servers too, literally almost on every one in this network. There's no other way to explain this than that one of the influential developers is in on it and is covering for his partner."

The illegality of the signs was a revelation to me. I remembered that for violating this clause, at best you get banned for a long time.

"But I'm just a regular customer and not responsible for her actions."

"It's unclear what she does besides the shop, she might well be stealing personal data or something like that. And because of the shop's dubious legal status, the quality of items there might also be questionable. It's unknown where she gets them from. Okay, since you've made a deal with her, here you go, but you'll have to pay back such a sum. And really, don't shop there anymore," he said seriously.

Received 1,500 gold coins from user UlTraCaRrySmit3rOfH3av3ns90000 (Patrick Lane).

Yay! Soon I'll open mana! Although, I still need to learn spells somehow. And preferably not die during Patrick's adventure.

The joy was restrained—all the most difficult parts of the magic path are ahead. Regarding the shop and signs—I didn't expect that such a thing was possible. What kind of person is this rabbit girl, and who allows her to hang up shady signs?

It would be interesting to accidentally learn the answers from some random guy who's buried himself in this mystery. But for the most part, I don't care, and if Patrick's guess is correct, then getting into it means conflicting with a developer, which is dangerous for the account.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I didn't really want to visit her again anyway, she seemed very shady, but the scroll... Thanks for the gold, I'll pay it back as soon as I can."

He nodded and turned to the lake.

"You can't tell right away, but this lake is a level 70 location with a pretty strong boss—the Siren, so it's dangerous to splash around there. There's a small chance she'll drop the Golden Mirror, which allows you to temporarily change your appearance to that of another player," he said in the manner of a guide.

What a bummer, I really wanted to dip my feet there.

"I've never heard of such items. Doesn't that violate the rules?"

"Depends on what you do in someone else's appearance and if someone files a complaint against you."

Interesting, I should remember this lake.

"Okay, we've gotten distracted," Patrick twitched. "There are three easy dungs nearby: the Abandoned Mansion, level 2, occupied by evil fairies; the Cursed Crypt, level 3, swarming with undead and having a boss at the end; and the Diamond Mine, level 1, guarded by a small gang of bandits. Choose where you want to go."

I thought for a moment. All three locations sound attractive, especially the one with the evil fairies, which I'd like to see. It would make sense to clear them in order, going up in level, but... That would be boring and take a long time, and I want quick leveling and consider myself experienced enough. Well, in theory, I definitely know my stuff.

"The Cursed Crypt," I blurted out decisively. If you kill mobs that are higher level, you get more experience than being on par with them. "The boss there isn't deadly, right?"

"Hah, a choice befitting your desire for magic. I don't know this specific boss, but it shouldn't be. All bosses up to level 10 are easy to take down with a tactic of constant dodging and rare attacks. I'm sure there won't be any problems."

"Then let's go. And also—show me your stats, I've always wanted to see them," I asked like a child.

Patrick snorted disapprovingly, he obviously didn't want to, but he fulfilled the request. A familiar window appeared before me.

Name: UlTraCaRrySmit3rOfH3av3ns90000 (Patrick Lane).

Level: 121.

Race: Dragonborn.

Class: Warrior-Swordsman.

XP: 21,584/67,144.

HP: 132,788/132,788.

MP: 94/94.

STR: 198.

AGI: 178.

INT: 72.

VIT: 190.

CHA: 74.

PER: 104.

Patrick has always been into dragons for some reason. I prefer something more human. Probably I'm not the only one like that, so his race is one of the mysteries of the community. He said that from the first days of the game, he started wearing only equipment that conceals appearance.

The view of the general stats... I can't imagine even getting close to such numbers. And the numbers are really EXTREMELY (except for mana, it's clear he doesn't level it) huge—the developers haven't set a maximum for leveling up, at the moment the top 1 player is somewhere around level 140. So Patrick's statistics are close to the maximum.

Wait a second... Where are the abilities and character traits?

"You shared incomplete statistics!" I remarked. By the way, I didn't know you could do that.

"Of course, otherwise you'd be studying it for several days. Also, there are things that are, let's say, extremely important. If my rivals from the guild or direct enemies find out about them, it'll be bad for me."

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed. "Are you saying you don't trust ME?!"

"No, you're fine, but this knowledge can be extracted from you, and you won't even realize it. In the city, we attracted a lot of attention, agents of guilds or organizations hostile to me could have seen us, and their leaders are already aware that I was hanging out here with some noob. So understand me, I'm being cautious."

My confidence that I understand this game shook even more.

"There are abilities that can read memory?!"

"Memory is nothing. I've met a witch who can read thoughts that are right now in your head," Patrick grinned, noticing my astonishment. "What you've seen about Enchantia on the internet is pathetic childish babble, not even close to reflecting reality. You can't imagine what abilities exist and what can be done with them."

I didn't notice how Patrick leaned over me, grabbed my shoulders tightly, and pronounced the last phrase incredibly menacingly and seriously.

It's painful to admit, but I guess I'm a complete noob even in terms of theory.

"Ah... Okay, okay, then no offense. In top-level competition, confidentiality is above all, of course I understand."

Patrick recoiled and stopped pretending to be scary.

"Let's go to the crypt, I've allocated four hours at worst for your leveling up."