“Son of a . . .!” Nick shouted, rather angry at the situation. “Are you kidding me?! Why does this keep happening to me? This is some capital BS! This is some snot-covered nonsense.”

“I’m pretty sure that phrase you just used is nonsense,” Valerie giggled. “Anyway, don’t be mad. At least you got to use a weapon finally like you wanted!”

“BUT I DIDN’T KILL ANYTHING!” Nick shouted loudly. He put away his bow as he stared angrily at the doorway, which was littered with dead bodies. “This is garbage. First dungeon, and I still haven’t killed a single thing. GARBAGE!”

“Ignore him,” Malik sighed as he watched Valerie and Nick bicker back and forth.

“I’d just like it if he weren’t so loud,” Lucas said, pretending to be annoyed with the volume so he didn’t have to take sides on this issue. In reality, he agreed with Nick a little. Personally, he didn’t care about this quest—he was doing it because Dawn had asked—but if he were in Nick’s shoes, he’d be just as mad. Truth be told, Lucas had held major grievances with games in the past simply because they weren’t balanced at the start due to how easy monsters were. Damage classes excelled as a result, and monsters crumpled so fast that players rarely got to feel exactly what their role was like until it was too late for them to change their mind.

“True,” Malik agreed as they started forward. He looked over at Lucas. “So, why have you never done this mission before? It should only take five or ten minutes, and it’s usually the first thing anyone does when they log in to the game.”

Lucas’s eyes were glued to the door, and his heart raced a little as he thought of the reason. I just didn’t want to see her die again, Lucas said, thinking of Yu Hua’s face. Lucas closed his eyes and shook his head to stop his thoughts from wandering. No, never. “No reason,” he lied.

“Um, okay . . . Never mind. But, if you went this long without doing it already, why are you doing it now?”

“Because she asked me to,” Lucas answered matter-of-factly.

Malik laughed from deep in his belly. “Can’t say no to a pretty face? Well, that I can understand. Women are my soft spot too,”—he shot Valerie a glance—“but you know she’s just an NPC, right? It doesn’t matter if she dies or not. They don’t actually feel pain: they’re only programmed to show reactions that make you think they’re suffering. The Anti-AI Cruelty Act passed a while back made sure of that.”

“Even so . . .”

“Well, whatever you say, brother.” Malik patted him on the back as if he were trying to offer some small amount of assurance or comfort. “You can just sit in the back and close your eyes if you have to. We’ll finish the quest quickly, and she’ll respawn back in town. You’ll both be back to enjoying your cheese and wine right after.”