*Poke*
"Nghh..."
*Poke* *Poke*
"Ngh.. Mnh...."
*Poke* *Poke* *Poke*
"Nghh!"
*Poke* *Poke* *Poke* *Poke*
Alex's eyes snapped open, awakened from his dreamless sleep after feeling something press his nose repeatedly like a single-target whack-a-mole.
A tasty-looking custard bun was a welcome sight. It sat on his chest, though it unfortunately had eyes and a devilish smirk plastered on its face, which meant it couldn't be eaten.
The young man and the small creature held each other's gaze for a few seconds as if they were cowboys about to shoot each other with their guns at the ready.
However, this delicate balance was broken when the cute creature extended its little hand and poked Alex's nose not once, not twice, but three more times as if it was continuing its game of whack-a-mole.
Finally reaching the limit of his patience, Alex reached out to grab the little troublemaker with the intention of squeezing it to oblivion
But the little guy jumped back and landed a safe distance away from him. It then started giggling as if it enjoyed its little prank against the young man, who wasn't fast enough to block its poking spree.
"Why you little..." Alex was about to curse the small creature when he realized it looked very familiar.
Once again, the two stared at each other. Only after half a minute did Alex break the silence.
"Dim Dim?" he asked with uncertainty.
The little creature smiled before nodding its head to confirm Alex's guess. "Dim!"
"You're really Dim Dim?"
"Dim Dim~"
Although the creature could only say "Dim", Alex could understand its words perfectly.
Dim Dim was one of the Mascots of ELO, alongside the Goddess Lily and Cupid, the angel.
The Dim Sum God's role was to guide players in the game, teaching them what they needed to know about the world of Arcana.
Lily and Cupid had kidnapped Alex before, so seeing Dim Dim now wasn't that shocking. At least, this little one couldn't possibly chuck him inside another cannon... Hopefully.
Still, just to be sure, he raised a hand and gave his cheek a solid pinch, for nothing confirmed reality better than a little self-inflicted pain.
The immediate pain was enough to answer his doubts, allowing him to accept that everything that happened to him was real.
"Ow." Yep, 100% real. No dream sequence here.
With reality confirmed, Alex then propped himself up to check for any injuries on his body.
All he remembered before losing consciousness was getting yeeted to outer space after being stuffed inside a giant cannon.
Miraculously, he felt no pain whatsoever. Looking at his body, there were also no missing parts.
Taking a deep breath, he finally took in his surroundings.
The birds chirped, the wind rustled through the lush greeneries, and the clear blue sky stretched above him.
Smelling the fresh unpolluted air, Alex's mind cleared, though still a bit groggy as he had just regained his senses.
"Dim Dim!" Dim Dim called out to the young man, bouncing up and down as if asking him to follow its lead.
"Don't tell me..." Alex muttered as he followed the little guy hopping forward while humming a tune.
Dim Dim led the young man toward a hill. Alex's heart started beating wildly inside his chest.
Without waiting for Dim Dim to climb the hill, the young man ran past it until he got a better view of his surroundings.
"Arcana..." Alex's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the dozens of floating islands in the distance. "This world is really Arcana."
There was no way he would fail to recognize the scenery in front of him.
The Floating Islands of Thaloria was part of ELO's game poster, in which several characters stood at the exact hill he currently stood on.
These characters all looked at the Floating Islands of Thaloria, where their adventure would officially begin.
"Status Open!" Alex said with excitement.
As soon as he said those words, a blue window screen appeared before him, showing his Stats.
******
Alex Stratos
Age: 17
Mana: (N/A)
Job Class: (N/A)
Strength - 1
Intelligence - 1
Dexterity - 1
Agility - 1
Constitution - 1
Stamina - 1
Magic - (N/A)
Luck - 3
Available Stat Points: 15
AP - 0
Skills: (N/A)
[Difficulty Level: Hell Mode]
******
"YEEEEEEEEEES!" Alex shouted as he did a fist pump. He'd been fantasizing about this since he got an invitation from the God of Games, Eriol.
Sure, Lily had whacked him with a baseball bat, stuffed him into a cannon, and blasted him to outer space. Was it worth it? Yes.
"HAHAHA!" Alex laughed while raising his hands in triumph. "I'm finally here in Arcana! YOSAAAAH!"
Dim Dim looked up at the overly excited young man and decided to celebrate alongside him by jumping in place and laughing with him.
Alex then grabbed the little guy and spun it round and round. Dim Dim giggled, finding being spun around fun.
After a few minutes, Alex finally calmed down.
He temporarily wore Dim Dim as a hat, freeing his hands as he checked his Status Page and Inventory Page to see if he missed anything.
"Everything else looks the same, except for this AP thing on my Status Page." Alex crossed his arms over his chest. "Dim Dim, what does this AP stand for?"
"Dim Dim." Dim Dim replied.
"Arcana Shop?" Alex frowned. "That didn't exist in ELO. What does it do?"
"Dim Dim~"
"I see. I need to say 'Open Arcana Shop' to access it."
As soon as those words left Alex's lips, a new page appeared in front of him.
His gaze landed on a few items displayed at the front of the shop, which made his heart skip a beat.
"L-Legendary Grade Equipment?!" Alex gasped. "And they cost one million Arcana Points each?!"
Although he had no idea how to gain Arcana Points, the fact that someone could purchase Legendary Equipment in a shop was an unbelievable discovery.
When he had still been playing ELO, it had taken an entire Guild to Raid a Boss Monster just to have a teeny-tiny chance to get Legendary Equipment.
The drop rate had been abysmally low that anyone with a Legendary Gear could easily become rich if they sold it in an online auction.
Alex flipped through the consumable page before moving on to the Weapon Tab.
After drooling at the stats of the Legendary Weapons, he switched to the Armor Tab, which made him want to start earning Arcana Points as soon as possible.
"Dim Dim, how do you earn Arcana Points?" Alex asked.
In the game, Dim Dim accompanied the players on their journey, telling them important information.
The Dim Sum God, who looked like a small custard bun, was the Encyclopedia who knew anything and everything about Endless Leveling Online.
And, just like Alex expected, Dim Dim gave him the answer he was asking for.
However, when he heard the Dim Sum God's answer, his excitement died down a bit.
"I need to clear the Tutorial Quest before I can earn Arcana Points." Alex frowned as he shifted his gaze to the Floating Islands of Thaloria, which also served as the tutorial grounds where players were taught to play the game.
Due to his excitement, he had forgotten that he was still at the starting point of his journey.
However, his face turned serious as he suddenly remembered the level of difficulty that the SYSTEM had chosen for him.
This level of difficulty was shining in bold red letters at the bottom of his Status Page, as if wanting to remind him that he was f*cked.
Really f*cked.
[Difficulty Level: Hell Mode]
'F*ck,' Alex thought as all the excitement he felt died down considerably.
To complete the Tutorial Quest, he needed to fight against monsters.
In Easy Mode, the monster a player had to face at the last leg of the Tutorial was a Goblin.
It was a Rank 1 Monster that could be found anywhere in Arcana.
In Normal Mode, a player needed to fight two of them.
In Hard Mode, you would need to fight three.
In Nightmare Mode, you would fight against four.
And in Hell Mode, you would need to fight three goblins and one Goblin Warrior.
A Goblin Warrior was the stronger version of a goblin. Although it was still a Rank 1 Monster, it was more powerful than any ordinary goblin.
"Dim Dim, I want to ask you a serious question," Alex said.
"Dim?"
"Is this still a game, or is this reality?"
"Dim." Dim Dim replied telling Alex that this was no longer a game.
Deep down in his heart, Alex had already accepted that this was no longer a game.
It was no longer a place where he could respawn if he died.
Faced with such a reality, the young man couldn't help but curse his SYSTEM a second time.
Instead of a fun adventure, he was now faced with a dilemma.
Alex didn't expect the first leg of his journey to be a battle to the death against goblins, whom he was about to face in reality for the first time in his life.