Author's Note - Regalia Online was inspired by a remarkable author named R.A Crest. Although it is surrounded around the fictional game genre of VMMORPGs, it stands alone as its own tale. I hope one day the entire world can read it, but for now, all of you are inspiring me to continue writing Keisuke's story. Thank you.
Chapter Eight - Level Up, Keisuke!
"Huh?! What do you mean I can't walk around town anymore?"
Anna sighed and rubbed her temples with both hands. She knew that telling Keisuke something like this would inspire nothing but rebellion out of him. But she hadn't known that it would come to this extent. Shaw struggled to keep the brunette grounded from entering the southern gate of Magnolia. Keisuke struggled and grunted although he wasn't able to break Shaw's hold.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about. Keisuke, you're weak."
Both males halted and turned to stare at their female counterpart who sat underneath one of the nearby trees with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap.
"You can't even break Shaw's hold, and he's a cleric while you're a squire. Its true that support classes with the right amount of training and discipline can become as strong as a DPS, but the two of you haven't even started. Keisuke. You challenged Nova, a level ninety-nine character, who has much better equipment and strategization than you do. Even more so, you fought him while you were enraged and weren't thinking clearly. I think the first thing that you need to do is learn how to calm down, and for that reason, I'm banning you from entering any cities and banishing you into the wilderness."
Keisuke's eyes narrowed slightly and darkened in color. It made Anna's heart throb but she stood strong despite the feeling to pet his head and assure him that it wasn't entirely his fault. If she continued to cater to him, there was no way for Keisuke to learn from his mistakes. Shaw looked between his friend and his friend's wife before retracting his arms from Keisuke.
"..Anna is right. The two of us won't be able to do anything the way we are, and think about it, it could be a fun experience."
Despite his words of reassurance, Keisuke's head remained downcast.
"Anna. Tell me what I have to do."
Shaw stepped back, mouth somewhat ajar before looking towards Anna who was approaching them.
"Your task is to reach level thirty by the end of this week. The two of you. Shaw. If you want to be any help to Keisuke, you have to grow with him. I expect the both of you to show considerable progress in your main job class and reach the next stage of development, and if you don't, don't think of stepping foot in another city. Am I understood."
[ANNA] HAS LEFT YOUR PARTY.
Shaw stepped away from Anna coming closer to Keisuke's side.
"Level Thirty? I-Isn't that too much? We both just started today, and how are we going to know about the lay of the land if we haven't explored it and where will we get our equipment from?"
Anna placed her hands on her hips and her eyes glinted sharply, a look that comandeered no disobedience.
"Listen up. Considering that neither of you seemed to even bother reading manuals or discussing about possible outcomes, let me shed some light on you. Regalia Online is a game that has been adjusted to allow you to expand to every possible outcome. This means, if you want to be a cleric one day and a squire the next - you can. However, it takes time to develop each class so people often just stick with one. There are different classes than the main ones, there are classes that allow you to gather and make things but also make new items in the game as long as the material is there and the data for it to be constructed from. That means.."
"We can make our own equipment.." Keisuke finished.
Anna smirked and nodded.
A screen popped up in front of Keisuke and Shaw.
[ANNA] has requested a trade.
Both looked towards one another before reaching out to press the 'accepted' button, and a trade window popped up. Two scrolls appeared in each of their boxes, and they accepted it allowing the scrolls to be transferred over. Keisuke looked at each of his, they were both written on parchment and the edges were burned. The symbol of a weapon could be seen on both of them, he tried to unroll one but winced at a sharp pain being sent throughout his body.
[KEISUKE] is not the proper level for this scroll to read.
LEVEL REQUIREMENT: 15
CURRENT LEVEL: 1
"...Shaw, did y-"
"OW!"
"Well, that answers that question."
Anna folded her arms across her chest.
"Both of these scrolls that you both have been given will allow you to create a weapon based on that level. However, I didn't give you a scroll that would allow you to make one for armor or anything such as that. You two will have to fend for yourself, and perhaps being smacked around for awhile will bring you to your senses about this world. Good luck."
With that, she turned and made her way back into the city. Shaw and Keisuke stared at her as she began to walk further and further away disappearing into the crowd. Both males stood there silence engulfing them before Shaw began to laugh with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Keisuke looked at him in confusion before joining him in laughter, the two of them smiling and laughing while trying to catch their breath.
"Anna is really scary, right?"
"Yep."
"So I'm guessing we can't come back 'home' until we complete this mission."
"...Yeah.."
Keisuke straightened his back staring upwards.
"...You know, I was shocked when I heard you had been defeated by Nova."
"...Why is that?"
Shaw's eyes narrowed. He stared down at the ground.
"I thought you could do anything, that you were some kind of super hero that came out of nowhere. But you're just another guy like the rest of us. Theres nothing different between you and me except determination and a crazy wife. Keisuke, do you think we can really do this?"
"...No."
Shaw's head jerked up and he looked at his friend in surprise.
"I know we can do this." Keisuke retorted with a grin.
