Returning Transcendent Opens an Idol Agency

A dark room with a ragged red carpet. It was a setting that seemed like something right out of an ancient castle after a historic battle. Skeletons with rusted armor, scattered swords and other weapons lying on the floor...

Alfi spun her character around to look at everything and then let out a nostalgic smile. "I didn't notice, but this place is pretty cool." She started walking her character around and said, "You can usually find a lot of cool treasure lying around places like this."

[] Treasures...?

[] Alfi doesn't really play games, right? Then does she mean in real life?

[] Does John go dungeon diving IRL?

Alfi broke a few barrels, picking up random drop items that fell to the ground. After that, she glanced at the chat before nodding. "Papa used to take me along a lot to go explore dungeons when he was younger." She sighed and then said, "He used to be a bit of an airhead though. I ended up having to pull him out of danger a lot."

[] I think John's still a bit of an airhead...

[] That guy brought his daughter cave exploring?

[] 'Dungeon' exploring.

[] Um. You're talking about games, right?

A ghostly figure appeared in the game, walking over to the side and disappearing in front of glowing writing on the floor.

Alfi tilted her head and said, "What's this?" She moved her character over and then clicked on the message.

<Try finger, but hole.>

Alfi blinked.

[Alfis_Knight] Don't say it, Alfi-sama!

[] OMG. XD

[] Lol

"Hm." Alfi blinked and said, "Well... I guess that works. But using fingers in holes can be really dangerous. Unless you train in the Golden Finger technique, it's really easy to break things. I guess if you do train, holes are exploitable vulnerabilities... but it still makes you a weirdo trying to attack there..."

[] Eh?

[] A... serious answer?

[] Should... should we ask what the Golden Finger technique is...?

[] Aren't you the one with the gold finger here, Alfi?

[] Does John know that technique?

[] I bet if we ask Yue, she'll let us know. ;)

Alfi shook her head and then walked over to another glowing light by a skeleton. "Try not to learn too many weird things, everyone. When you become strong or famous, people tend to look at the strange parts more-"

A small chime played and then an item pick up message appeared on screen.

<Blemished Finger>

"..."

[] OMG

[] lol. I forgot that was the first item you get.

[] Does anyone know why we get that? I skipped the cutscenes.

"...Well." Alfi clicked through the prompt and said, "I guess that's still not as strange as the time Papa plucked the shriveled heart of an old master from its corpse."

[] Eh?

[] Seriously. Is Alfi trolling?

[] That's a good one, Alfi. Haha...

[] @John Smith Answers?

[] Seriously @John Smith What did you do in your past?

[] That sounds hella illegal.

Alfi walked past the corpse and pushed through a pair of double doors. As she did, it revealed a scenic mountain landscape with a hazy sky and mountain scenery in the distance.

"Oh?"

Alfi walked her character forward more and then spun around to look at the surroundings.

It revealed a mountainside fortress with various ruined buildings and a few towers scattered along the surroundings. A precarious and narrow path with a sheer drop connected them all. And from the blood stains and ghostly figures falling down, it seemed a lot of people had fallen by accident.

[] Whoa!

[] TooSoft really went all out in set design again, huh?

[] That's amazing!

[] It's not 'that' amazing.

[] The magic wears off after the hundredth attempt speedrunning the game.

[] Speedrunner strat time?

Alfi moved her character close to the biggest blood stain by the cliff nearest to the door and frowned. As she did, a dozen ghostly figures appeared, jumping off the cliff. A clearly intentional action.

"Why are people jumping to their deaths here?"

[] The tutorial ends when you die.

[] You can just skip this if you jump.

[] Just kill your character to get into the real game.

Alfi read the chat, frowning even deeper. "That's no good!" She turned to look at the camera and then shook her head. Staring with judging crimson eyes, she said, "Life is extremely precious! Even if this isn't reality, if you are willing to throw away your life and give up, it will become a habit that changes your karma and affects your real life."

[] It's just a game, Alfi...

[] Yes, Alfi-sama!

[] You know, that's a pretty good point...

Alfi moved her character away from the cliff and started walking along the path to the other ruins. "In order to achieve things, it's important to fight for what you want. Papa always said you can't wait around to be saved or just give up on life. The moment you do, you become forgotten. I... don't want any of you to be forgotten, so don't give up, okay?" After saying that, she let out a soft smile.

[Alfis_Knight <M>] ALFI-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Kuro Neko Ch. <V>] No wonder Alfi's so popular.

[Nana Shizuka Ch. <V>] Alfi-sama! <3 <3 <3

[] I promise! I'll never give up, Alfi-chan!

"Ahem." Alfi's cheeks turned red and she shifted her attention back to the game. "Let's see..." She started moving her game character and said, "In places like these... the big part is usually at the end, right? There aren't any monsters around, so if this is a forbidden zone then there should be a guardian by an important statue or something..."

[] ...Has Alfi really never played this game before?

[] Isn't... Isn't that exactly where the first boss is?

[] Okay. So is Alfi an expert roguelike player or something?

A walk across the precarious pathway. Exploring and picking up a few consumable items.

And then Alfi arrived at a courtyard with a tarnished statute in the center of it and a glowing gateway in the distance.

"Oh! We're here-"

Boss music started playing. At the same time, a monster emerged from the ground, revealing a healthbar and name along the bottom of the screen.

<Forged Heir>

[] Here we go...

[] Huh. Alfi didn't flinch.

[] Um. Is it just me, or does Alfi have a weird look in her eyes...?