Chapter 92 A Friend From The Future?

Flying away from Snow Pine, Arthur took in everything from his privileged view. The city, once empty, was now infested with players. It wasn’t exactly the peace he was looking for, so finally leaving made him feel excited. And just thinking about creating his spells got him even more excited.

As he flew toward the central part of the kingdom, Arthur tried to remember a dungeon in the region that would be good for him to clear solo. That reward for being the first to solo a dungeon was not getting away from him, no doubt about it.

Near the kingdom’s capital, the city where the king would be waiting for him, there was a lake isolated at the top of a mountain. It was well known among players for its fishing!

The lake had plenty of different species of fish and other aquatic monsters to catch, plus a better chance of fishing up treasure maps and other items (not confirmed, just rumors), not to mention the gorgeous scenery and the view from up there.

To top it all off, it was relatively close to the kingdom’s capital, and there was even land up there you could buy. Not much, just 5 plots, but the players who bought them were definitely very happy.

’This time I’m the one buying a plot there,’ Arthur thought, determined.

And at the bottom of the lake, there was an entrance to a level 25 dungeon. This dungeon was special, being one of the few dungeons in the game that was progressive!

A progressive dungeon meant that after completing the initial level 25 section, you could continue on to the second part of the dungeon, which would be level 30, and so on. In total, according to rumors, this lake dungeon went all the way up to level 150!

And in Arthur’s last life, nobody had been able to complete level 150. Maybe the dungeon had even higher levels, who knew.

Arthur, resolved, flew straight there, feeling the strong wind hitting his face, and little by little, the temperature getting more pleasant.

The forests, once covered in snow, weren’t anymore. The closer he got to the center and the north of the kingdom, the warmer it got, which was great. Arthur was already tired of all that snow, of the lack of a bright sun, and of the lack of warmth in his body.

The trip was going smoothly, until out of nowhere, a flying creature approached them. It was a huge griffin, at least 3 times bigger than Arthur’s pegasus, and on top of it were 2 people.

Before they even got close, Arthur was already trying to figure out who those people were.

’They can’t be normal players. They’re either NPCs or GMs.’

Some GMs, the ones who had taken part in creating other aspects of the game, played as regular players among everyone else. Since they had no knowledge of quests (some had only helped create a few quests, or worked on the visual side of the game), they were still allowed to play because they had no advantage over the players.

Other GMs, the ones who had actively taken part in creating a large part of the game, couldn’t play normally. They only enjoyed other aspects of the game without interfering, like professions, exploring the world, sometimes a bit of trading, and so on. But completing important quests or dungeons? That, they couldn’t do. They were like observers who enjoyed the game without getting directly involved, to preserve the integrity of the game.

Arthur was completely sure that the griffin approaching him belonged to one of those GMs. It had to be. And he was right.

A thin man with long hair that reached the middle of his back was controlling the griffin. He stopped beside Arthur, who also kept his pegasus in place.

Behind the man was a beautiful lady, holding onto his waist.

"Cinder, I presume," the man said. "My name is Eddy Fish, the greatest fisherman this world has ever seen. And this is my lovely girlfriend, Samantha."

Arthur observed him calmly, trying to understand what he wanted by stopping him out of nowhere.

"Nice to meet you," Arthur replied, crossing his arms, saying nothing more, waiting for the other side to respond.

"So, I came all the way here to tell you about the fighting tournament that’s going to happen. I think they already told you that you’ll be participating, right?"

"Yeah, they already told me."

His answers were curt. Eddy didn’t seem to get angry about it, and went on saying what he had come to say.

"It’s happening in 3 days. The level cap will be 20. We didn’t think anyone would get past level 20 this quickly, but apparently we were wrong, since you’re already level 22... Anyway, just so you’re aware that it’s happening soon. And no matter where you are, it’s not a problem. The tournament will be live, and you’ll join a different server. Go ahead and buy your ticket to Japan. The first tournament is going to be there."

That part was news to Arthur. He knew he would be participating in the tournament, but he didn’t know it would be in Japan! Considering how long it would take to travel there, he would arrive exhausted for the tournament. It almost seemed like they had decided to tell him this at the last minute just to mess with him.

"Can you send me all the details in a private message? Date, location, time, etc."

Eddy smiled, revealing his white teeth. "Definitely. And Cinder, since we ran into each other here, let me give you a tip. There’s a lake at the top of the mountain near here that’s super interesting. You should go take a look."

After saying that, Eddy flew away, heading in the same direction Arthur was going. No doubt about it, Eddy was going to the same lake he was.

Arthur continued the trip, thoughtful. Three days was definitely not much time. The flight alone would take around 24 hours or more, since he would have to cross the entire world.

The upside was that many modern airplanes already came with a game capsule so passengers could keep playing even while flying! So he wouldn’t lose any game time while traveling.

Anyway, Arthur pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and headed for the lake, flying for another 1 hour until he got there. The weather was much warmer in that region, so much that he even took off his cape and stored it in his inventory.

Yuki had been complaining in his ear the whole trip.

"I need some water. I’m almost melting here, dude. Hurry up, please."

As soon as they spotted the lake, Arthur was enchanted by its beauty. It had been so long since the last time he’d been there that he had even forgotten how beautiful it was.

The water was a gorgeous turquoise blue, and the size of the lake was impressive, practically the size of a mid-sized city.

There were plenty of trees around it, the pines commonly found on mountaintops that weren’t too cold. And from up above, Arthur spotted Eddy inside a small wooden boat, fishing in the middle of the lake.

He flew down close to it, and jumped off the pegasus straight into Eddy’s boat, making it rock under the weight of two people. After that, he unsummoned the pegasus.

Yuki quickly jumped off his shoulder and into the water, swimming away, finally enjoying himself.

Arthur looked over the wooden boat. It had a few fishing rods, a cooler with some snacks and, of course, beer, and that woman from before was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, well," Eddy said, standing at the edge of the boat holding his fishing rod, a fisherman’s hat on his head, "looks like you enjoy fishing too."

Arthur sat down next to him.

"Is that what a GM does in his free time? Fishing? I won’t lie, it’s pretty interesting."

Eddy then looked at him, a look of delight on his face.

"I’m not a GM," Eddy replied.

The two of them fell silent. Arthur frowned. The fact that he knew the tournament details and had come to warn him didn’t prove he was actually a GM, since anyone could look that up.

But having a griffin as a flying mount? That was strange. Not to mention he was already in the central part of the continent and knew about that lake. Could it be...

A crazy idea crossed Arthur’s mind. It was only for an instant, but it was enough for Eddy to notice the look on his face.

"Figured it out? I think we’re pretty similar, my friend."

Arthur tensed up, his heart pounding and his hands sweating.

"You..."

He couldn’t finish the sentence. It sounded absurd in his mind.

"Yes, I’m from the future. I died and returned to the past. Look, I spent a lot of time thinking about whether the same thing had happened to you, since you knew so much about the game. It didn’t seem natural, you know? I thought I was wrong, but apparently not. But I think you and I are quite different."

Frozen in place, Arthur’s mind struggled to process it. Did Eddy know as much about the game as he did? Had he lost the advantage he had over everyone else?

Luckily for him, that wasn’t the case. Eddy’s situation was more peculiar...

"I died 3 months after the game launched," Eddy said, "and you? Similar timing, or do you know more than I do?"

3 months... Another regressor, but one who had died at a different time.

"And how did you die?"

"Stabbed."

"..."

He had died the same way Arthur had. What was going on?