Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

…Where the hell am I? Didn’t we just enter the classroom and then…

Why am I in the wilderness right now? Only a few trees around and a road. This place looks weird. It’s more like a beginning area in an online game or something.

“” Rico’s voice suddenly rang out from nowhere. Where did that come from? What the hell is a Survival Exam? “”

“” And with that the transmission cut off. That was quite a long explanation. At least I was lucky enough to have some advantage of my own. Secondly, I am probably enticed by the incentive more than most here.

The only problem is those elephants in the room. If it’s possible I need to find Glery quickly so we can team up.

*Leap* *Parry*

“Unlucky.” I remarked to the one ambushing me. Fortunately it’s not someone I’m actually worried about.

“How the heck did you have a weapon like that already!?” She complained while looking at the axe I manifested. Meanwhile the sword in her hand had already been bent.

“I was a bit too prepared.” I answered lazily.

*Dash* *Slash* *Crumble*

She dissipates into particles of light the moment she was cut clean in half. They pull the one who was killed out of this place quickly, it seems.

Honestly it would’ve been really messed up if they hadn’t done that. Even normal simulation games you would indeed be pulled out immediately upon a loss. Considering we feel pain in here, not doing that would’ve been extremely cruel.

Anyway, time for me to get moving. Who knows if those guys are already making their moves.

The best thing I could do right now is racking up kills before everyone could find a weapon and other necessities. That would’ve made things a lot easier for me.

Unfortunately it looks like everyone is smart enough to not expose themselves. I can’t feel any nearby power signatures, and the earlier ambush I didn’t even notice until she leaped out with an intent to kill. This isn’t going to be quick unless I deliberately show my presence, which would’ve ultimately attracted the attention of someone stronger than me.

Right now it might be better to try gathering resources and find a base. If I’m lucky I can maybe find a map that would’ve helped me navigate around this area.

From what she said about this place is the existence of treasure chests and secret areas with a ton of useful loot.

…I would imagine there will be some at the edge of the map that will get cut off by tomorrow. I might need to go there first, assuming I even know where to go. I don’t even know my current location at the moment.

That just means I can’t really do anything but dedicate myself to a direction and see how it goes from there. Kinda boring, but that’s how it goes when you literally have nothing to go off on. I just need to be careful to not run into those strong guys.

I looked up in the sky and saw a faint number. Seems like only seven people have been eliminated so far, which isn’t surprising since we just started.

…Ah. Finally, a chest! Let’s see what’s inside! …A bottle with pills? What is this?

Health pills? I guess this is like those health potions in the form of pills… That’s kinda interesting. Why have we never seen this kind of thing before? Chugging a potion is kinda bothersome even when there isn’t a lot in a vial, especially in a tense situation.

Hopefully there are also other types of pills as well.

Aside from that there’s nothing else. I guess the chest was already tiny to begin with. I can’t really expect to get much out of that alone.

Time to keep moving. It’s probably best to stray off the road so I don’t get easily spotted and ambushed again…

…No additional elimination after what felt like a few minutes. I wonder if there are still a lot of people unwilling to fight even when they see each other.

I wouldn’t be surprised by that. They might not be able to process that we can just be shoved into a virtual world like this…

…Did EX-VR come out with the intention of developing that concept in people’s heads? That world has always felt too real at times, and its mysterious technology might be cut from the same cloth as this. There’s still no official confirmation about that, and I… Hmm…

Should I enter the game again at some point? It feels like it has been forever since I did that.

*Rustle*

I quickly pulled out my axe and turned to face the direction of the noise. Who’s there this time around?

“Lynda…” Ah… It’s her. That’s shockingly fast.

“Ah jeez. Had me worried for a second there, Glery.” I said before putting the axe away. It hadn’t been that long since the announcement and we are already reunited. Must’ve meant we were placed not too far from each other. Suspicious, but I can’t really prove anything there. “You got anything on you? I’m kinda lost, probably like most of the students here.”

“I don’t have anything.” She answered quickly.

“Well. That’s a shame. We have no way to know where the hell we are. This would’ve gone a lot smoother… Then again it seems like they expect us to stay a few days here.” I said while scratching my head. Hopefully we can make a camp before the sun sets.

“Considering the sheer size of the play area, there’s no way we can find more than five people today. In case you need a reminder, the population of a state is in the millions and we still have plenty of space left over. It’s a miracle we found each other so soon, and also unfortunate for the few that got caught early.” Glery explained. “We should be able to do high speed travel without needing to worry about being caught by surprise or in a bad state. You remember one of the tidbits, right? About mana consumption and hunger.”

“Yeah. Our mana cost is reduced in this realm, and from the looks of it our stamina will be greater and need less food… We can then… Ah. I almost forgot about this.” I said before manifesting the small flat circle device in front of me. “I actually ran into someone and killed them, so I already have a hundred points to spend. I didn’t even look at the shop yet.”

“Probably the highest priority item is the map since it has a tracking function so we know where we are at all times. It’s for the best for us to get it even if it’s very costly.” Glery explained.

“Yeah… Two thousand points. Either kill twenty people or find loot to sell.” I said before looking at the price of the full pill bottle… It’ll sell for two hundred. That’d still be a long way to go, and we might need it later. “It’d probably be for the best for us to just randomly find it, right? Maybe in a secret area somewhere. This is way too expensive.”

“We should at least try our luck until it’s close to night. Hopefully we find a point of interest by then as well. While we don’t know anything about what exists in this world. There might be buildings and other structures to take shelter in.” She suggested.

It’s really telling just how massive this place is when we continue to talk for a long time and no one comes in to punish us. The statement on the size is most likely accurate. Definitely feel like an overkill.

“That just means we gotta keep moving… Do we stick to the road or not? No doubt we’re gonna meet someone sooner instead of later.” I’m not really sure if I want to risk that so early with the placement points in mind.

“Probably best we do. Right now is when we have by far the lowest odds of getting jumped. No doubt on average the distance everyone is placed apart from each other is massive considering the size of the map. Perhaps the one that you killed as the only other person even remotely close to us.” She suggested. Hmm… “Besides, the road will probably lead us to something eventually, others it wouldn’t even be there.”

“…Alright then. Let’s go with that.” I answered. When she put it like that maybe I shouldn’t stray far from the road.

…When did I become that much of a paranoid bastard anyway? I used to pick fights all the time and nowadays I have become kinda dull…

…Wait. One thing I almost forgot. How much does this sword sell for? It automatically transferred to me the moment I eliminated that girl.

Only fifty? What a scam. I guess that was a pretty unimpressive sword. I really shouldn’t expect too much.

———Karra———

“Heeeh… It’s starting already?” I said while looking at the footage streamed on the school’s website. It even got a live chat going. “What time is it over there?”

“Not even nine in the morning.” Wiina answered. That’s very early in the day then? Someone probably is still recovering from getting up on the wrong side of bed.

“The only warning of something happening was to not come late today, right?” It’s a very barebones warning, no doubt to invoke surprise in all of them once they have been kidnapped into the lower domain. “What happened to people who came in late?”

“A bit of time manipulation means they were placed in the world at the same time. No need to worry about that.” She casually answered as if that’s not a very terrifying thing to say out loud. So nothing can really spare you from being put in there outside of not fitting the criteria or opting to suddenly have a short vacation. “As for the incentive. It’s not very clear at the moment for the others, but the in-game store should give them some clues.”

“Calling it a game feels kinda…” It feels very wrong even if its makeup isn’t that far removed. It’s a world without consequence. No one can really die there or receive permanent injury. Even if they burn themselves up, recovering them would’ve been relatively easy.

“It’s a game as much as that simulation.” She replied.

“Yeah. The one that feels like a torture chamber at times.” I said while thinking back on that time she plop a headset on me and make me fight THAT.

“Hey. If it was like that you would’ve met me with much harsher words once it’s over.” She said with a smirk.

“...So are they going to be fine staying there for a few days? From what I remember the time acceleration had never been that extreme… Except for that one time.” I don’t even remember how long I was there for. Once you left the domain it kinda blurred out all but the most important parts.

“They’ll be fine. At the most extreme is a bad case of jet lag. Not something a good healing spell can’t fix.” Wiina dismissively replied. I’m pretty said ‘good healing spell’ is actually way above average.

“Hopefully that’s true…” I said before rolling on the bed and looking at the glass wall, showing the lit up city beyond it.

“You got anything else to say? It’s already late and I’m sure you don’t want to be sleepy during the next day’s match. That’s the point where teams start getting the boot.” Wiina said to me after a period of silence.

“...Nah. I got nothing.” I am getting a bit drowsy right now. I’m only staying up to check on if this project has started already. Guess I can call it for the day now. “Do it while I sleep or whatever, I don’t care.”