digital heart | minsung | ✔

02

A good amount of time later, we walk through the streets of Onyx, the town I was planning to reach on my own and where my savior was talking about.

The sun has completely disappeared and yet, the small medieval town is bustling with people. They cross the road as they chat with friends, go from store to store to restock their inventories or they simply mind their own business. The streets are illuminated by countless torches with large flames, casting a warm light on their surroundings.

I get a lot of weird looks, probably because a level 15 player isn't supposed to reach a level 25 area alive. It could also be the almost empty health bar, the miserable state my virtual body is in or the fact that I'm staggering rather than walking.

It's okay to walk around with low HP for a little while but after some time without healing, it starts to affect your body and other stats. If I keep going like this for too long, I will pass out and die.

The sound of hoofbeats on the pavement of the main plaza disappears as we walk into a small shopping street and is replaced by typical medieval music, played on real instruments by NPCs.

These towns are truly alive, maybe even more than the small towns and cities you find in South-Korea.

I nearly trip over my feet as my vision becomes blurry. The world spins and I have a hard time keeping my balance. I've experienced this once before, and that time I didn't make it and fainted right in front of the potion shop.

"Hey, hold on," the other says, grabbing my arm and draping it over his shoulder to support me. "We're nearly there."

He gently urges me along and I stumble next to him, trying my best to keep myself from tripping and falling. But that's kind of hard when the world around you is spinning like crazy and all you want to do is to close your eyes and escape from that nauseous feeling.

It's a good thing this game is set to feel no pain after physical damage. Someone could literally cut your arm off and you'd feel nothing. You'd be like 'oh shit there goes my arm for now' and that's it.

If you could feel actual pain here, my state would've been even worse.

My eyes flutter close and I let my head hang low. My surroundings fade away into nothing and I hear the other speak words that make no sense to me any longer. As my vision is entirely black, the only thing in sight is my health bar that drops even lower. It goes from seven to six to five and the beeping sound will be the anthem of my death and temporary penalty of the game.

I barely feel how my mouth is forced open and a cold yet burning liquid trickles down my gullet. With my last power, I swallow.

It goes uphill after that. The soft beeping sound stops and my health bar increases, slowly turning from red to green again.

As I open my eyes, my vision is still blurry. After blinking a few times, the three boys dancing in front of me slowly reunite as one and I recognize him as the guy that saved me.

"Oww, that was close," I groan as I sit up, rubbing my head with a frown. Then I stick out my tongue in utter disguste as I notice the bitter taste that still lingers there. "Yuck."

The other laughs before extending his hand towards me, offering me his help to pull me to my feet. Since I still feel a bit out of it, I gladly accept his offer and the boy pulls me up with a firm grip.

"Looks like we got here just in time, huh?" he grins. "You don't owe me anything, though. The potion is on me."

"Wow, thanks man," I reply, a bit amazed because you don't run into players that nice in this game a lot.