BlackPuma remained missing until the next morning. Everyone looked distressed, but HinoKun looked as if a thick and heavy cloud hung over his head for days.
I believed every single player in Paradise Island had tried to message BlackPuma but to no avail. He disappeared as if the Dimensional Master personally swallowed him up.
Nevertheless, he still existed within Afterlife Dream because his ID had not disappeared. He was just unreachable.
After trying to contact BlackPuma again for the n-th time, HinoKun finally gave up and threw his hands in the air.
"Let's face the reality. Unless BlackPuma magically emerges from the Dimensional Master's lair, I do not see the possibility that he's coming back."
Aurendiria let out a soft whimper. Cecilia hugged her shoulders and said a few comforting words.
"On top of that, Fairy Forest has been locked out. This means that the fate of the Afterlife Dream depends on the rest of us who are staying on Paradise Island and further maps.
Everyone, let's learn our lessons. Don't let the mini-bosses wander around for too long. We don't want any more maps to get destroyed."
The representatives shook their heads, their faces pale from hearing about the recent updates. It had only been one day since the Dimensional Master appeared and there had already been a lot of bad news.
"Don't worry, guys. We can do this. Have faith," ArrowRain said to the crowd to encourage them.
"Let's continue what BlackPuma wanted to do. Let's talk raid setup, everyone..."
I was scheduled to join the level 50 raid to help people get their helmets at 10.00 and then join the level 70 raid at 16.00 to start earning my boots.
We finished the meeting at 8 AM, so all the level 50 raiders had to rush like insane to get to Lava County right afterward to make it into the run.
The runs went pretty smooth because everyone chipped in without fussing about helmless people who did not contribute as much. And the best thing was that there were no abnormalities during the run at all.
Given their advanced levels, ZhaoYun and Livina were given priority to loot their helmets. The last helmet went to a swordsman who was next on the loot list. DragonTalon who had yet to loot a helmet was worried. One by one, all players started to level. When all those with helmets were gone, what would happen with those who had not earned their helmets yet?
To appease the helmless players, those who took part in the run promised not to level up beyond 89 to make sure that all those who needed to get their helmets also got them. The task to monitor the players and organize every level 50 raid for five days was given to ZhaoYun and Livina.
The level 70 raids were given to Hime to organize.
The level 90 raids were initially handled by Aurendiria, but the disappearance of BlackPuma distressed her so much that she was unable to do so without making any mistakes. The job was thus given to SakuraChan, HinoKun's wife.
The level 110 raids were organized by KikiSan.
After the conclusion of the level 50 raid at noon, I only had four hours before the next raid began. It was quite exhausting. I took a train from Lava County and stopped at Oakstone Tavern to drink something before I headed to Summer Rainforest. Aurendiria was still there; apparently she did not leave the tavern at all after the meeting finished.
I walked toward her and took a seat next to her.
"Auren, are you okay?" I asked full of concern.
Aurendiria gave me a weak smile.
"I am sorry," she said. "I know that I have to be strong in this terrible situation. I just don't know how. All of a sudden, I feel so useless. So many things are happening around me and I don't know what to do."
I gave her an encouraging pat on the back.
"You are already doing your best. There is no need to beat yourself up with a burden that is too much for one person to carry.
Besides, you are doing well in the game."
Aurendiria gave me a sad smile.
"Doing well how?"
"Well..."
pαпᵈα-noνɐ1·сoМ I gestured with my hand while listing out Aurendiria's achievements in the game.
"You are one of the highest-level High Priests in the game. You always rank the first in the fame ranking. You... you..."
I stuttered and my face grew hot.
"You are so, so, so beautiful."
Unexpectedly, Aurendiria snorted at my praise. I could feel shame creep up my face and colored my face crimson.
"I, I don't mean to imply anything!" I hastily said.
Aurendiria was married to BlackPuma. I never once thought about seducing her. I merely wanted to comfort her!
Aurendiria broke into laughter when she saw my panicked expression.
"Relax, Antares. I didn't laugh because of that. It's just..."
Her pretty head bobbed up and down and her lips parted to say or explain something, but in the end she could not say it out loud.
"Never mind," she said instead.
"What? No!" I insisted. "Please tell me. I want to hear it!"
The beautiful girl blinked a few times and wiped the tears off her eyes.
"It's just... Antares, this game is customized to make your dreams come true."
"Well, it is geared toward collecting Life Points for the next reincarnation."
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, you can do anything you want in this game, achieve anything you want in this game. Sky is the limit.
Do you want to be the most beautiful girl? Then just be one.
Do you want to be the strongest? Then just work hard to get equipment and establish a good build. Even if you mess up, there is nothing that you cannot reset.
Do you want to be the best cook? Just level your skills. Then you can open a restaurant, a tavern, anything."
"We are not our real person here, Antares. The perfect girl that you see in front of you might not be all that perfect after all."
Aurendiria looked me deep into the eyes.
"What you see is not necessarily the truth."
"I disagree," I said without skipping a beat.
"Auren, we are reincarnated into this world. You should stop looking back to your past life and focus on this one. In this world you are what you customized, so what. What is so wrong with living the life that we want to live???"
Aurendiria gaped at me for a while, then she averted her eyes and slowly mumbled, "Mm... maybe that is also not wrong."
"It is not wrong at all," I insisted. "It doesn't matter who you were in your past life or what you looked like. Besides... Auren, I think you are discounting yourself too much. You have been very nice to me since we met, and I don't think it had anything to do with your appearance or your fame level. I can see that you genuinely try to help everyone."
The girl next to me nodded vigorously.
"I did, didn't I?"
"Yes, you really did."
"Aaah," Aurendiria sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I have been silly. Thanks, Antares. I still don't think that I am half as good as the person you just described, but I do want to be at that level."
I smiled at her and patted her hand.
"If you have not reached that level, you will be one day."
Smiling, Aurendiria rose to her feet.
"Well, I have to get going. There is a level 110 raid that I have to attend today. Wish me luck, Antares. I am next in line to loot the Ice Dragon Cloak."
I widened my eyes in astonishment.
"Congratulations, Auren! Oh my gosh! You will be the fifth person to get the cloak!"
"Yeah. Too bad BlackPuma won't be here to congratulate me. I..."
I knew that they got along very well with each other, and BlackPuma's disappearance was a cause of distress to all of us. I just did not expect Aurendiria to crumble down like this.
"We will find him," I said. "Don't worry."
Aurendiria headed toward the Ice Dragon Cave for the level 110 raid, and I went to take the Giant Macaw to Summer Rainforest.
While I was on the ride, I wrote a message to Wolfhound to ask if everything was alright. The answer came promptly with an apology.
"Sorry for not answering, Antares. Hell breaks loose over here. Players keep arriving to Afterlife Dream, but we are all stuck."
Yikes.
New players are still arriving? Of course they would. Daisyville, I assume, is not locked or destroyed. There was no mini-boss in the Daisyville area.
How long was it going to take to get at least 30 people to level 150?
How many more players were going to arrive in the Afterlife Dream world?
What will happen when we fail to beat the Dimensional Master?
And above all, what happened to BlackPuma???
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