Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 15: King of the Forest

For a few hours, we trekked through the fields outside [Initio], making our way to our destination. There, Kaz and I discovered something important to [Isekai's] gameplay: while Kaz could use the mini-map while in the city, it became disabled the moment we left the city. Because of this, we were unable to determine our current location. Unfortunately, as it turned out we weren't the only ones who affected by this as Arthur was also caught off-guard, causing him to declare that he would use his instincts to get us out of this bind. Yeah, right...

However, Mari had apparently anticipated our lack of knowledge of this, as she revealed that she had bought a paper map about an hour prior. She explained that the reason behind this strange mechanic was because of the developers wanting to try to increase the players' immersion into the game by limiting the mini-map to only be useful within cities and towns. I don't know who came up with this, but it made this [Quest] more difficult for us since it took place outside the city.

As for Kaz though, he seemed to not be too bothered by this. In fact, he felt rather excited as he walked through the fields at my side. Not only that, he seemed to be interested in Mari's map as he looked at her in curiosity. He was a curious kid and just traveling in a virtual fantasy world only fueled it to the point of him just wanting to know more and more. Regardless, he was still staring at a girl, so I covered his eyes with my left hand.

"Wind!"

"Sorry, but you do know that staring at other people is rude and annoying to them, right? Try to respect their privacy, even in a virtual space like this."

Mari then approached us and said, "Oh, it's okay. I'm not surprised to see people getting curious at an item like this. Though I did spend about 700 [Adaments] just to get it. There's a cheaper version, but most of those are empty and need the skill of a [Scribe] to fill them out."

"A [Scribe] skill? Last time I checked, Kaz choose it as one of his skills, right?" Kaz nodded yes, confirming this.

"Well, that's good to hear. But I suggest you be careful and hide your skill from everyone but us." I raised my eyebrow, confused at what she just warned us about. "While buying the completed map is beneficial to everyone who saved enough money from [Quests] and battles, there are some who just coerce other players with their [Scribe] skills just to fill up the map and then kicked them out of the party when they're finished. It's still a rumor, but it never hurts to stay cautious."

It did make sense. Most players liked to focus on honing their combat-related skills, so I could understand why they would take a player with a [Scribe]'s skill in for their own gain. Just imagining Kaz being forced into a party without my presence was a nightmare for me, especially if he didn't want to be in it in the first place.

"I understand. Kaz is my responsibility and I won't let him out of my sight. Besides, if they want to take his services, they have to go through me first!" I did come into the game as his [Guardian Player] and I'd promised to keep Kazuki safe in real life and online. And I was not gonna let anyone use my little brother as a computer.

However, I heard Arthur chuckling. I could tell he found this situation funny. It was so apparent that when I turned around to frown, he'd just avert his eyes away from me. As for Kaz, he just stared at me with a confused look on his face while Mari just smiled as if nothing strange just happened.

"O-Okay. But still, I like to buy an empty map afterward. It would be more fun to make my own map like some of those fantasy novels that they've mentioned."

"That's the spirit!" Mari said happily to Kaz. "If you're lucky, you may discover something that you can't find on any maps from the NPC shops. And even more, if you level up your [Scribe] skill."