Alterial

- All set over here! -exclaimed Iori as he watched the treat finish tying the ropes to the packages they were going to transport in the caravan during the trip. Potions, food... no doubt it was the first time they were so prepared for the trip- little one, are you sure you want to join us? We are going to go to one of the easier areas, but even in those, accidents are common... The treat seemed to hesitate for a few moments, but soon hid quickly among the boxes of provisions. -I'll take that as a yes then -and she hopped down from the back of the wagon to join Sorei at the front. His friend was checking the travel route on a map, so he sat down next to him without further ado. - According to our recent travels, there should be a rather interesting cave we've never explored around here -he pointed to the spot he had marked in red on the map, to which Iori smiled. - Say no more then. And they set a leisurely course there... but in the dreamlands you could never have a peaceful

She'd just finished chopping the last gem from the vein, and her eyes were full of sparkles as she saw the rarity of what she'd come up with. She couldn't help but jump up and hold the gem aloft to praise her own accomplishment. - PERFECT!! Did you see what a beauty?! -she commented to the treat, showing him the gem in rapt attention. The latter only nodded as he picked it up for a closer look. And then... then it hit her. Until that moment she hadn't realized that her plan wasn't as well thought out as she had imagined: although creating her own gems for the armor was cheaper, she hadn't raised any creation talent except alchemy. At least... she knew how to fix it, because she had the perfect candidate to call upon. She searched through her friends and sent a pleading message to meet in a couple of hours next to a crafting station to Sorei. Luckily for her, her friend didn't usually let her down and was promptly waiting when the appointment time came. - Thank you, thank you

She had sat next to a barrel in the blacksmith shop closest to the exit of the city, which was also sometimes the busiest since many travelers arriving from collecting minerals and materials for their armor took advantage of it before returning to their adventures in case the armor didn't turn out as expected. She again applauded the adventurer who had just created his fifth armor of the day, though someone tapped her on the back to get her attention and she turned to see who it was: - How long have you been standing here watching? -Sorei asked her curiously. - How long have we been here? -Iori asked the treat sitting next to her almost at the same time, even if she knew Aither wouldn’t asnwer, so she continued soon after- Let's see, I'd say all morning. But I still don't think I dare to create my own armour- she thought aloud, wiggling her legs. - But if you must have already seen at least a hundred armor creations. Although I must admit that I doubt that will give you experience

The perfect book had finally fallen into her possession: "ALCHEMY FOR DUMMIES". She didn't want to admit that she had stayed up late into the night enjoying the pages despite the title. Especially because she wanted to compare how different would be the alchemical formulas she knew and those of the game. Ah, it was almost time to wake up rather than go to sleep when she finished marking all the pages she found interesting, but at least that would also advance the next day's work quite a bit. For without hesitation, as soon as she had the chance she called her friend Sorei and conscientiously sought out the treat that used to accompany them, Aither, to go to one of the forests that was marked in the book. - The plants I need must be around here, will you want to try the potion when it's ready? -she smiled brightly. - Eh...- knowing that this was usually a risky act with a fifty-fifty chance of going wrong, he didn't know how to evade the question without sounding rude- I BELIEVE, I

- We must try the fashion contest without fail! -It was undoubtedly more of a firm statement than a simple proposal when Iori had already taken steps to put his little treat friend on his back and was dragging Sorei towards the tents with the fabrics and accessories. - Hey, but have you ever participated in a show like this? -He was partly interested to know what would be inside the tent, in any case, so he was just chill with her friend attitude- Because I'm sure I could win with my eyes closed~ They kept going and as soon as they put their paws inside one of the tents, Iori started jumping from shelf to shelf, dazzled by the explosion of colors she could see there, making the treat cling tighter to keep from falling. - Have you seen all this?! Come on, come on, if you really think you could win so easily you'll have to prove it to me, because I'm not going to lose to you. And you, my friend- she said to the treat- you're also going to let me get you well groomed – she continued as

So the fate of the previous heroes in this game had been to be corrupted to the point of not recognizing who they were, at the sacrifice of a greater good. Not that the introduction of the lore hadn't been given at the beginning of the game, but just reading the on-screen announcement about the raid and how they were going to go about destroying them left Iori wondering. Just imagine a plot where she, as the heroine of the light, would end up breaking in such a way. Good thing no game developer had explored that route, because she was sure they would then have to give new characters for everyone. She continued to stare at the screen, reading the rest of the patch and being glad that there were new mounts, even if they were pay-to-play. Although, uh, they were going to remove the save points.... would they put it as an automatic saving then...? Well, it was always more convenient that way. She let the screen continue to load as she entered, only to be greeted by a somewhat... empty

Whenever she saw the annotations on the loading screens, she wondered if those who wrote them knew that after a few times you stopped paying attention to what they say and if it would be more fun to include easter eggs in them~~ Though no doubt these were only surface thoughts as she waited anxiously for the screen to finally emerge from the darkness so she could see her inn room fully loaded. Just a little bit more… a bit more… finally! She had been working hard and every day of those two weeks since she started the game, she had been having a great time. Though particularly fondly, she remembered that first trip through the desert of the [DREAMLANDS]... she still couldn't believe it had gone so smoothly! Because after that one, almost all of her partners (herself included) ended up exhausted from sunstrokes or trapped in thousands of sand traps without being able to move forward at all… In any case! She still wasn't sure if she had found any clues about that mysterious encounter

Ever since she had heard about this virtual world, she had been dying to dive into it and try it out. So as soon as she saw the loading screen, with the Dream Online logo and how it asked her to enter the user, she was overjoyed. Quite excited, she entered her name and confirmed. Ah, immersion level in the game... she supposed that leaving the parameters at default would be ideal, although she wondered what would happen if she set them all to maximum. I mean, it couldn't be any worse than going on adventures out there, could it? Although normally it wasn't like she was encountering gigantic enemies on a daily basis either... so, yeah, she'd better leave it as it was. Then, she continued very attentive to the instructions and… All set to go! Seeing that she was floating over a boat or something similar, she tried to find her position while someone was talking to her and... called her the chosen one of the light. A rather silly smile appeared on her face at that title. She knew it was

The truth is that up to a certain extent Iori still hadn't gotten used to how detailed the requests were in that place... to the point that when that NPC arrived crying like that, she turned to her traveling companion: -Are you 100% sure they're not real? - she asked with a slight gasp. - If they were, you would have offended them several times with your questions, sweety- he looked at the stygian and patted him on the shoulder- don't worry, leave us that basket and we'll give it back to you full of treats again. - It's time to look in that case! And boy was it an interesting search. At the start of the tour, they found a little treat trying to go unnoticed next to some boxes, quite still for supposedly a treat who preferred to play rather than be where he was supposed to be. Although they could only see part of its tail and it looked vaguely familiar. Of course, this also allowed them to try to make a bet with each other, trying to talk quietly. - First one to catch him gets a