Adventure World Online (AWO)

At last, the games came to an end. The members of the Dark Horse Guild worked together to fight through the clowns one group at a time, eventually clearing the entire room. Of the more than thirty who had entered, only two remained: Aswa, whose fatigue level had maxed out, and Ma, gravely injured due to the clowns' unexpected final trump card—bombs. They hurled them recklessly, indifferent to whether they hit their allies, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

As Aswa walked over to help Ma, a seemingly dead clown suddenly launched a sneak attack. Ma used the last of his strength to shield Aswa, throwing his weapon at the clown. Both Ma and the clown were engulfed in a flash of white light and vanished.

"Ma!!"

Aswa's shout echoed and lingered, reverberating through the now-silent room. Alone and filled with a sense of loss as his friends were with him just moments before, he took a deep breath and sat down to rest. He ate a canned meal, drank water, and tried to gather his strength by sleeping. The boss of this room would not appear unless he called for it, giving him a brief reprieve.

Despite the pain of losing his comrades, Aswa acknowledged their skill. Their deaths were due to the overwhelming number of enemies. Just one more step—defeating Joker Jester—and Aswa could enter the treasure room to claim everything left behind by Pirate King Roche Roger.

"Joker Jester!"

Aswa shouted with a booming voice. The clown gracefully leapt down to the ground, bowing theatrically in anticipation of applause, but Aswa refused to indulge him.

"Joker Jester Beast King, Level 88, has appeared."

"No sense of humor, I see,"

Joker Jester exhaled through his nose, looking at the man who wore grim expression.

"Shall we begin? I know you're eager to enter the treasure room."

"Let's!"

Aswa gripped his Infinite Whip tightly, while Joker Jester pulled out nothing but a deck of cards from his breast pocket. Without warning, the ever-smiling Joker Jester hurled a card with razor-sharp edges at Aswa.

The man whipped his weapon powerfully, piercing the card effortlessly. But the attack did not stop there. Joker Jester flung five more cards this time, forcing Aswa to swing his whip horizontally without any time to pull off the cards on the tip of his whip. The whip struck with a loud clang, deflecting all five cards to the ground.

"Impressive. You handle that whip well,"

Joker Jester applauded. Aswa inspected the card impaled on his whip's tip. It was a glossy, stiff piece of cardboard with a razor-thin blade embedded along its edges.

"And you handle those razor-sharp cards like a pro,"

Aswa smirked, tossing the pierced card back. Joker Jester caught it, grimaced, and flicked it with a sharp motion that made the card instantly return to its pristine state.

The two combatants prepared to clash again. Joker Jester let out a giggle and said,

"This time, I'm getting serious."

Then it threw out dozens of cards. Although, Aswa could handle the whip with a certain level of proficiency, he was not yet an expert. As a result, he could only fend off some of the razor-sharp cards. The rest required him to dodge in a split second to evade. Aswa's clothes were torn by the cards, but without pausing to check himself, he swung his whip to attack Joker Jester immediately. The whip's sharp tip struck the clown's chest with force and precision, but Joker Jester simply pulled out a large red cloth from his chest to absorb the attack. The tip of the whip pierced through the red cloth but did not hit the clown's body. Joker Jester vanished, leaving behind only the red cloth, along with a burst of rainbow and colored paper scattered from the cloth.

Aswa turned sharply towards the back, sensing something appear. He had only managed to turn just slightly before having to duck to avoid the incoming cards. He swung his whip to deflect the second set of cards that were thrown at him. Aswa was at disadvantage because the whip was not his preferred weapon, making it difficult for him to attack the enemy effectively. He thought that if he had a sword, the weapon he was most skilled with, he could have easily cornered Joker Jester.

Glimmer!!!

The ship in the young man's hand grew hot and emitted a blinding silver light. Both Aswa and Joker Jester were stunned by what was happening. The whip was transforming from a long, flexible steel rod into something Aswa could hardly believe. The Infinite Whip was shifting into a sword—his trusty sword that he could no longer use after making contract with the Infinite Whip. The sword was identical, except for the color. His beloved sword was gold, while the sword in his hand was silver. The young man decided to name this sword the Silver Dragon Sword.

.....

The young man's spirit stood before her. No one could see him except for Chang Long. Players walked right through the spirit without any reaction. Chang Long looked at the spirit, who stared back at her unblinkingly, with confusion. Did she know this spirit? And why did he call her the Lord of Spirits?

"Do I know you?"

She asked.

"You don't know me. But I'm the spirit you tasked to find the Mirror of Truth,"

he replied. Chang Long's eyes went as wide as saucer at that. Of course, she had almost forgotten about it without the Four Reaper Guardians reminding.

"Have you found it?"

she asked excitedly.

"Of course I have. I saw it a long time ago,"

he answered.

"Really? You've seen it before? How does it look, is it far away? Will you lead..."

Beeeeeep

The alarm from her wristwatch made Chang Long look down. She saw that it was warning her she had only one hour left before being automatically logged off. She looked up at the young man's spirit, who waited for her, standing still.

"I need to log off. Can you wait for me? I need your guidance. If not, that's okay, but I have more questions to ask you, so please don't go anywhere yet,"

.....

Chang opened her eyes and woke up. It was 8 PM. She got out of bed and walked out of her room to find something to eat. Meanwhile, her phone rang. She picked it up, confused, and answered when she saw who it was.

"Hello, Idsara."

"Calling me by my full name, huh? Did you just get out of the game?"

Said the voice from the other end, laughing.

"Yeah. What about you? Just logged out or about to log in?"

Chang asked as she descended the stairs toward the kitchen.

"I just logged out. Such a shame—I was about to fight Demos. Did you know my guild claimed special territory? You should drop by sometime."

Id shared enthusiastically, deciding not to press Chang about her in-game character anymore. Since she did not want to share, he opted to tell her about himself instead.

"Wait, Demos? As in Demos, the leader of the Doom Star Guild?"

Chang asked, intrigued. Demos was a bitter rival of her in-game character.

"That's the one. We were about to raid a mine when we bumped into them. Turns out the Doom Star Guild had its eyes on the same mine as us. That guy said a lot about the mining system, so I'm using this hour before logging back in to research it."

Id explained as he carried a cup of hot coffee to his computer.

"I'm not too familiar with that stuff either. If I have time, I'll help you check it out. By the way, what's the name of the city your guild claimed?"

Chang asked as she sat at the dining table, waiting for the Moddang to serve her meal.

"Heaven City. But it's still under construction. If you use a teleportation scroll, the system won't recognize it as a destination until it's more than fifty percent complete."

Id explained, happy that Chang seemed to care about him more than he had anticipated.

"The name sounds like it's straight out of a pirate king's legend. Don't tell me you're one of the pirate king's heirs."

Chang teased, earning a cryptic chuckle from Id.

"If you want to find out, you'll have to come see me. If you meet me, I'll tell you everything."

"Meet you now or in-game?"

Chang laughed, amused.

"Whatever works for you. But it's already 8 PM, so going out might be a hassle. If you log back into the game, you can meet me there."

Id chuckled along, noting how bright and cheerful Chang seemed—a stark contrast from how she was at the Police Station. Perhaps she was finally opening up to him.

"What's your name in the game? I might come find you, no promises. I just want to know so I can add you as a friend."

Chang said while scooping up a bite of shrimp porridge. The heat made her fan her mouth frantically.

"Siegfried,"

Id answered. Chang froze mid-bite.

"What did you say your name was?"

She asked again, unsure if she had heard correctly.

"Siegfried. I'm the leader of the Pendragon Guild. Es and Mon are in the same guild too—their in-game names are Rafael and Draco."

He answered without hesitation, leaving Chang momentarily speechless.

"Uh... I think I already have your names in my friend list," Chang said after swallowing her second bite of porridge. She had thought their faces looked familiar but had not imagined they would be people she actually knew from the game.

"Huh!"

Id exclaimed in surprise. His friend list was extensive, yet he could not recall anyone who looked like Chang being on it. Then it clicked—there was only one person on his list who resembled her. Someone he had long suspected might be her.

"Don't tell me, you're Chang Long?"

Id probed cautiously, his eyes wide with excitement over this discovery.

"Mmm..."

Chang replied, feeling an inexplicable twinge of embarrassment.

"Oh..."

Id could only manage that single word before falling silent. The realization hit him—his cherished in-game companion and Chang were the really same person. He found himself tongue-tied, suddenly shy. When he had only suspected Chang and Chang Long were one and the same, he had no trouble speaking, meeting her gaze, or being himself. But now, knowing the truth, the same awkwardness Siegfried often displayed around Chang Long was surfacing in him outside the game.

"Uh... Chang... Chang Long... you're really the same person,"

he suddenly stammered, making Chang chuckled.

"So, you really are shy, huh?"

"No, I'm not usually like this!"

Id protested quickly. Honestly, he only got this way around her.

"Then you're not acting normal right now. Why's that?"

Chang pressed, her curiosity piqued. Id froze. Of course, he knew why, but he did not dare blurt it out. Feigning a critical phone call, he abruptly hung up. Chang stared at her phone, bewildered, then laughed softly. Turning her attention back to her shrimp porridge, she focused on finishing it within the hour. After all, the lead on the Mirror of Truth awaited her return.

Once she had completed her personal errands, Chang logged back into the game. She returned to the spot where she had met the spirit who claimed to know the location of the Mirror of Truth. The spirit waited patiently, unmoving. Upon seeing her, he nodded courteously. Chang Long noticed that the spirit looked ancient, possibly from the same era as Devi-chan or even earlier. He wore a long, flowing robe reminiscent of a scholar, though it seemed more practical. His face had a refined air, but there was also a hint of arrogance.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let me call my companions first,"

Chang Long said before summoning her spirits. She chose to hold off releasing her pets until Kitsune could use his transformation skill again. This time, she remembered to take out Fluffy Head-chan's doll from her bag before summoning him, which delighted the spirit immensely.

All of Chang Long's spirits turned to the unfamiliar male spirit in unison. After hearing her explanation, Devi-chan became visibly thrilled at the thought that his successor might achieve feats greater than his own. Chang Long was on the cusp of becoming the true Lord of Death, poised to fully unlock the Reaper King title.

"What's your name?"

Devi-chan asked the male spirit who had agreed to guide them to the Mirror of Truth.

"Ackeran,"

the spirit replied, maintaining a noticeable distance from Chang Long's group, as if reluctant to grow too familiar.

"Sounds familiar,"

Hisa-chan said, frowning in thought. Devi-chan and Alice-chan both agreed; the name "Ackeran" struck a chord of recognition, but none of them could place it just yet, so they let it slide for the moment.

"So, where are we headed, Ackeran?"

Chang Long asked, cradling a lazy lion cub that was snuggling in her arms.

"Down,"

Ackeran replied curtly, floating ahead to lead the way.

"Down? Do you mean down south?"

Hisa-chan asked curiously, but Ackeran shook his head, denying it.

"Then what do you mean by down? If it's not down south, then is it under something?"

Chang Long pressed, growing increasingly confused. Ackeran stopped in his tracks and turned to face them with a solemn expression.

"An island submerged beneath the ocean."

Chang Long was so shocked she accidentally dropped Fluffy Head-chan, who yelped loudly upon hitting the ground. She studied the male spirit's face for any signs of deceit or mischief, but his somber demeanor remained unchanged. His eyes revealed no hint of dishonesty or jest.

"An island beneath the ocean? How are we supposed to get down there? Does this game even have submarines?"

Chang Long muttered, her frustration mounting. If the Mirror was underwater, how could she retrieve it? There was no way she could avoid drowning or being attacked by deep-sea monsters. Just thinking about it gave her chills—especially since she had just narrowly escaped drowning during the couples' quest not too long ago.

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