Even a sliver of the frozen sky scattered diamonds across the biome, the long drift of snow warping everything it touched.
Normally, the snow would have ceased at this time of day; however, time ran on a different axis here—two days inside to one outside—the players held in a slow arrest no clock could pardon.
The sun's direct glare sought to melt the lush, pristine surface of the strewn fresh snow as the flurries subsided with each step Tang-Ji made. It was a fictional realm from a fairy tale.
It was like something out of a sci-fi movie: thickly padded tree clumps, a landscape of frightening gnomes in comical disguises, and a succession of humps and mounds on the ground that concealed outcrops of rock or slinking underbrush.
The white bar flashed; an alarm cut into Kazami's mind at the upper-left of his vision. He traced his fingers to call forth the inventory command and found his gear nearly stripped to rags after the last fight. A frost glyph pulsed beside a stark number—77%—the hypothermia status chewing him toward failure.
"Dammit, what the hell is wrong with the developers thinking it was a good idea to add a temperature metre? Fucking hell! I'm freezing. If Kyushu wanted to kill us that badly, he should have just killed everyone with a single command. Why make us suffer so much?" Kazami's words could be heard stuttering under the constant clicking sound of his teeth.
Tang-Ji kept pace beside him, warming her hands with small breaths.
The two players mindlessly saunter around the snow-covered meadows in search of a secure town. However, there was no longer a protected area where players congregate to relax or repair their equipment.
Even so, players are still able to utilise the game's complex crafting system to change a claimed piece of land and construct infrastructure using their resources. This was Kazami's only hope to camp through the blizzard. The snow started to accelerate, and their steps grew steadily heavier.
They continued to follow what appeared to be a blue angel in front of them. The two worn-out players were around four metres behind an NPC by the name of Ukiyo. The NPC appears to be a tour guide, showing new players around the region.
With that in mind, their encounters left Kazami baffled by her stunning visuals. Her movement and speech patterns were so normal that he felt as though he was communicating with an actual human being.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They were both on a run for their lives before running across an NPC standing still in the middle of a dead forest field.
"Quickly, we have to keep moving north; otherwise, we won't make it to the next town alive; this is the fastest route there." Kazami tugged at her arm.
As the yellow indicator in the distance caught Tang-Ji's eyes, she nodded—and then stopped. Kazami halted too. A human-shaped figure waited amid the brittle flowers.
The field was large and gloomy, and the plants were enmeshed with their dead seeds. It appeared as though the body of the plant had melted, or possibly that it had been wrung out of the water.
Up close, the figure resolved: an NPC in deep blue with a dark-sapphire trim along a long dress that shaped a doll-still body. Skin—ochre, flawless, faintly lacquered. Lashes long as beetle legs framing intent eyes under pencil-thin brows. Her pixie nose and seraph ears were almost too perfect, like a lifeless sculpture.
She drew a glance at the two players, and caught them with a bright, precise smile.
Red-varnished nails combed through pastel-blue hair with mechanical grace, the coils falling to veil a swan-slender neck—fragile, uncanny under the candy sheen.
As Tang-Ji paced herself on the dead flower path towards the strange NPC, she felt as though she were approaching an idol on stage.
But instead of colourful spotlights and cheering crowds, the figure was framed by a field of wilted flowers, their withered petals scattered beneath her.
With the only light seemed to bleed in from the desolate surroundings, casting a strange wash over her face—an alien ocean blue, its edges rimmed by a thin, alarming thread of fresh-blood red.
The scene tugged at a distant memory, oddly reminding her of an old friend—a girl she thought she knew. But it felt strange. She'd never really had any friends, so why did seeing this girl bring up feelings she couldn't place?
"Greetings travellers. Objective identified: assist as requested. System status—functioning at 98% capacity," her voice monotone yet oddly warm, mechanical but tinged with something unplaceable.
"My name is Ukiyo, and I am a guide. If you like, I could act as your navigator throughout the snow region."
A popped-up menu suddenly appeared right in front of both Kazami and Tang-Ji with an indicator of a
Tang-Ji instinctively pressed yes without a word. Kazami hesitated for a few seconds before going along with her.
"In that case, welcome to the team, Ukiyo. We are a little under-level, so we need your help to find the safest route to a nearby town." Tang-Ji spoke for the first time ever since they escaped from near death.
Kazami was not the only one who held his tongue at that comment; Ukiyo stared at Tang-Ji in silence. NPCs in Yuyami Kyuden are technically classified as mobs; they do not respond to player comments unless they come in a clear yes or no form.
Kazami coughed awkwardly, ready to give a simpler answer, but before he could get the words out of his mouth, the maiden nodded and spun around.
Ukiyo's words stayed flat, precise: "Request acknowledged. I have mapped all routes within the area, including the optimal-mob path for experience gain and the quickest, low-risk traverse across the snow."
A notification blinked in the corner of Tang-Ji's vision: Another party member joined. A new health bar appeared at the top of her display. Without a second glance, Ukiyo strode ahead, movements robotic yet oddly graceful.
Tang-Ji hurried after her, a spark of excitement lighting her pace.
This is the first time I've seen her this excited; it's as though she completely forgot that she is stuck in a death game. She would never act this way unless she felt comfortable around that person. She seems familiar: 'Who is that girl?' That was what everyone else was wondering in their minds.
Kazami stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds before hurrying off to catch up. The maiden must have picked up an affirmative nuance from Tang-Ji's reply, but as far as he knew, the NPCs in the beta test had nowhere near that kind of conversation ability.
'Perhaps it was as simple as the NPCs' response database being expanded between the end of the beta and the start of the retail game,' he thought to himself.
"Something about Ukiyo's speech and expressions felt too natural. She was just like any other player," Kazami murmured.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the grassy lake, the sky that provided their ceiling, created by the hub floor that served as the player's registration centre, was changing to a golden hue.
Presumably at 7 o'clock, according to the in-game digital clock on the left side of the player's vision. As soon as their tensions calmed down, their weariness started to subside.
"So, Emiko, where are we now?" Ji-Soon spoke with a condescending attitude.
"Well, I apologised, Mr. Kaeru; it wasn't my fault that you accidentally aggravated a horde of dark elves next to a forest now." Emiko averted her glares towards him, signalling her displeasing mood.
"Well, I apologise, Miss DragonBaddie," Ji-Soon drawled, his smirk wide, eyes half-lidded.
He leaned casually against a nearby rock, the wasteland's winds tugging at his hair, indifferent to the tension in the air. "First of all, who even picks a name like that? Second you were freaking out the entire trip. Do you understand how much you're stressing me out?
"We need to find a communication tower to get in touch with Kazami and Tang-Ji, not get lost in some wasteland."
Emiko snapped her gaze to him, her fists tightening, her body rigid with frustration. "Oh, just shut up," she shot back, her voice sharp.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Her eyes narrowed, lips curling into a sneer. "My name's cool, unlike your basic one. And you looked like you'd seen a ghost the whole time. Of course, I freaked out! Who's sane in this situation?"
The river flowed sluggishly beside them, the harsh landscape stretching out in all directions, mirroring the growing tension. The world felt quiet—just the distant hum of wind and the weight of their words.
"Just quickly set up the camp here in front of this river. Since we're next to a long stream, it's easier for us to dive in and escape from mobs; just keep your detection level active while you sleep." Ji-Soon spoke as he materialised the tent on the ground.
Detection level is an in-game detection zone, a skill that can pick up a mob's movements when they are near a player. The skill can be refined to increase the range of the detection zone through the duration of a player being in the wilderness away from towns and cities.
I mean, really—this is the kind of thing only the hardcore MMO nerds would actually care about. Honestly, even I can't wrap my head around all this.
However, before Ji-Soon and Emiko were able to set up their camps, a thunderous echo brought the two to their knees as a siren continuously vibrated their inner ears.
"Ahh! My fricken ears!" he groaned, clasping both hands over them as if it would somehow dull the noise.
He quickly scanned his vision to check if there was any indication of an approaching mob; however, the land around him was dead silent.
Before he could turn to Emiko, he noticed a large red exclamation mark that suddenly appeared in his field of vision, indicating a bold text message.
"Looks like lady luck isn't on our side today," Ji-Soon jests.
Emiko's breath hitched. "How can you joke now—" Overhead, a thunderclap tore the air.
The sky was full of blood before it contracted itself and expanded out, revealing a shattered violet moon. The orange sky transformed into a vast expanse of jet black, and the night laid down a blanket of darkness.
Emiko could hear more popping, and the popping was accompanied by brilliant flashes from the fragmented moon that cut through the night like a blade, revealing a cluster of red clouds hailing crimson seeds from the sky.
Ji-Soon slowly tilted his head skyward, only to see clearly that red stars had dotted the sky. Hundreds of vermilion particles slowly descended from the ruby-like clouds.
He was able to catch Emiko with his arms as she frightenedly fell backwards. The scoring beam plumed down into the riverbed as droplets of water spread across the dreary atmosphere. The heads of the two players were suddenly surrounded by a mass of jagged claws that hovered over them.
The beast's ivory body lifts its enormous white tusks; a purple forehead patch could be seen along with a hit point bar over it. Emiko has been observed trembling beneath a vast row of thick bony spikes running down the spines of the mob.
The twisted skeletal figure piercing through their skin with white protrusions on their bodies could be heard rasping as their bony features scraped against one another. A highlighted purple text reveals itself on top of the mob's head, level 50
"That's our cue—move." Ji-Soon hooked Emiko's arm and sprinted for the trees.