Omni-Mastery

In the few minutes that I spent on Light's back, there were many scenarios that I could think of. However, most of them had one point in common.     

"Ah, you are finally here, friend from home!"     

'He is a player.'     

There was no need to question how he came to know of my identity. After all, it was a Quest that only players could see that led me here.      

The thing to question was how specifically was he involved with the Quest.      

"Eh? This is your response? Why aren't you the least bit excited?"     

"Hey…"     

Stepping down from Light's back, I raised my hand with an awkward wave. I couldn't deny that I was excited when I met the very first other player in the game.     

Even getting to know the Japanese twins' identity was an interesting process. In comparison, meeting this fishing player that looked no different from an NPC was pretty underwhelming.     

"Excuse me. As special as this situation is, I'm just too tired to show my excitement."     

'He was here while we were fighting to the death.'     

Just the fact that he was doing something so leisurely while the fate of the Fire Domain was being decided made him suspicious enough. However…     

Since it was the System that guided me to him, I planned to hear him out until the end before turning hostile.     

"Ah right! Sorry about that, I was just too excited being only able to watch from afar. You did great, really. You saved my neck!"     

'Only able to watch from afar?'     

At first glance, it seemed like he was being incredibly rude, but his words pointed to another possibility.     

'A non-combatant player?'     

Considering how versatile the roles in the Lost Realm were, finding support or healing skills wasn't too hard. However, learning them was a completely different matter.     

In a realistic world where the possibility of meeting another player at the start was extremely abysmal, not specializing in a certain mode of attack and wasting precious time on becoming a Support Player was no different from courting death!     

"First of all, I would like to apologize for the decreased reward. We tried to grind as much as we could, but I didn't expect your level and stats to already be this high. I almost fell back to level one…"     

'Eh?'     

As soon as the stream of words blurted by this supposed player reached my ears, the lack of interest that I felt towards him almost completely vanished.     

This was too much information for being just remotely involved. Most importantly, the sense of responsibility they carried could only point at one thing.     

'No way.'     

"Did you actually make that Quest?"     

"Bingo! You are pretty quick on the uptake, I thought I would have to spend more time explaining things to you nice and slow."     

It was an assumption that I jumped to after considering all farfetched possibilities, but rather than trying to deny it, the unassuming player boldly claimed responsibility!     

At the very beginning, I believed that the 'Player Initiated Quest' meant that someone had simply triggered it for all players or something along that vein of thought.     

However, it seems like I had constricted my thoughts too much.     

"Let's introduce ourselves first. You can call me… Azure."     

Since things had taken a rather interesting turn, continuing the conversation without basic introductions would be both too cumbersome and awkward.     

"No real names? I can see what you are getting at, but it still hurts me a bit. I'm Xin Yu. Nice to meet you, Player#000."     

'This guy…'     

My actual name didn't seem visible to him, but he confidently mentioned my player number!      

Considering that there were only as many as 10 players that likely ranged from #000 to #009, he might have made a calculated guess, but I felt that this wasn't the case.     

"You are pretty resourceful."     

"I had to adapt, you know? I thought it was good to have a special advantage over the natives here, but it had more restrictions than uses. I couldn't even have the edge in fights!"     

Once Xin Yu started talking about his past, his confident and sagely vibe completely disappeared as if he was a completely different person in rant mode!     

At the very least, it looked like my guess was correct. His character was a non-combatant, and it wasn't by choice.     

"I was naturally delighted when I finally found a player to support me. After all, the true value of my 'support' ability could only shine in a party. Do you know what happened then? he mindlessly charged into a Demon Base in search of thrilling gameplay and never came out!"     

"... Sounds tough."     

'A player has already died?'     

I was interested in the backstory that led a player to directly interfere with the system, but I ended up stumbling on another mine.     

Someone had died back in his capsule!     

So far, I had made sure to help and make connections with the other players that I had met so I had yet to come face to face with the cruel truth of this game. Still, there was always a first time.     

'It makes sense though.'     

Considering the distribution ratio of 2 players per Domain that I had encountered thus far. A dead player explained the state the Fire Domain had fallen into, especially when the only other player by his side was a Support Player…     

"I know, right? I was almost ready to give up, but the little time we spent together before his departure made me understand just a little bit more about my ability, so I gave it some more time and…"     

Right in the middle of telling his story, Xin Yu suddenly grabbed the fishing line before it even made any movement.     

'Oh.'     

"This is your ability?"     

As the fish fought for its life at the end of the fishing line he pulled, my eyes slightly widened at what seemed to be a circus magic trick. If my guess was correct, then…     

"Neat, right? This was how I started my life as a scammer."     

Xin Yu had a toothy grin on his face as he put the fish back in the pond.