<<Welcome to Blood Planet.>>
<<Moving to your last logout location.>>
As the screen changed, the land where I had escaped from ShutUp yesterday appeared. Since it was dawn, there were no users around, which was nice.
As soon as I logged in, I checked the experience bar at the bottom. Maybe because ShutUp had been hunting, the EXP had been steadily climbing. My body flashed once. Unlike me, who had logged out like that yesterday, it seemed he had hunted a bit more.
I opened the map, searched for a low-level hunting ground where a Guide could hunt alone, and checked the quests available in that area.
First, I moved to the warehouse in the village. Then I equipped only store-bought items that wouldn’t matter much if I lost them and took a portal nearby. The portal fee from the village to a hunting ground was free, but to return to the village from there, you absolutely needed a Return Scroll. Otherwise, you’d have to die.
Since I was level 38 now, I safely chose a level 30 zone. And not a place with spiders like before, but a bright terrain.
<<Moving to ‘Pitar Meadow.’>>
The moment I arrived, jelly-like creatures were bouncing around everywhere. If not for the jellies, it would’ve felt like walking along the Olympic Park trail.
They didn’t look very strong, so I hit a nearby one with a basic spell. After hitting it about three times, it split into two.
“Huh?”
I stepped backward and attacked the jelly that followed. Then the two turned into four. By this point, most people would think, ‘Ah, something’s wrong,’ and stop hunting—but I stupidly kept hitting them. Before I knew it, the jellies had been chopped into tiny pieces, and dozens were clinging to me.
Then one suddenly stuck to my ankle. The moment it latched on, my HP started slowly draining. But that would’ve been fine. When another one attached itself, my shoe was instantly absorbed by the jelly. Just like that, one of my shoes got eaten.
“What the hell—!”
Losing one shoe slowed my movement speed. Running downhill only made things worse—the jellies rolled after me even faster.
“Ah! What is this?!”
I used every spell I could while running, but most of them were support magic, so nothing really helped. The only useful one was the speed spell [Rapid]. After casting it, I managed to widen the distance slightly and shake them off.
If I kept running across flat land, I felt like I’d get caught, so I looked around for somewhere to hide.
That’s when I saw a lake in the distance. I didn’t know if those things would follow me into water, but I jumped in anyway. Isn’t there that saying about running into water when you’re chased by a swarm of bees? If there had been anyone hunting nearby, I would’ve asked, but since it was dawn, no one was around.
Maybe hunting at dawn isn’t always a good thing.
As I walked through the lake, I saw the jellies following me to the shore.
But as I expected, they couldn’t enter the water and just bounced around outside. Thankfully, the lake wasn’t very deep. All my gear was store-bought anyway, so even if it got eaten it wouldn’t matter much—but it still felt like a waste.
Planning to move farther away from the jellies, I slowly walked sideways while submerged. The jellies stayed at the spot where I had entered and couldn’t detect me once I was inside the lake. Crossing straight through looked dangerous, so I edged along little by little.
Then I saw someone running in the distance—just like me.
“……”
But he was naked.
This game really reflected reality well. If you lost all your armor, you’d run around stripped like that. Of course, there was a mosaic option to censor it, but since I hadn’t enabled it, I had to see everything dangling from another guy.
If I had kept getting surrounded by those jellies, I probably would’ve ended up running around naked too, having lost all my gear. And someone would’ve taken screenshots and posted them on the forums. They’d probably pin me as ShutUp’s partner running around like that.
Even while being chased, the guy was laughing excitedly. Then he spotted me in the lake and ran straight toward me.
I don’t really want to get involved.
I kept walking sideways, pretending not to see him.
“Hey!”
But before I knew it, he had come right up beside me. When I’d only seen him running around naked, he looked like a lunatic, but up close, his character’s appearance was actually handsome.
“What’re you doing here?”
That was my line.
“Guide?”
He asked that after seeing the staff in my hand. Then he even splashed water on his face from the lake. Either ask questions or wash your face—pick one.
“Just wandering around. Later.”
Since this place didn’t seem to suit me, I decided to use a Return Scroll and go back to the village.
But suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and stopped me from using it.
“Wanna party with me?”
“No.”
Who would party with someone running around completely naked?
In Blood Planet, unless you’re partners, forming a party doesn’t reveal the other person’s level. They said it was to preserve the thrill of PK. If you knew someone’s level, it would make it easier to target or exclude them—so you had to read the situation yourself. There was no title above his head, just his name.
Moment.
“Your name is GentleTouch? Wow, that’s nice. A Guide named GentleTouch… I kinda wanna feel that touch myself.”
He seemed even more dangerous than I thought.
There were plenty of weird people in the world, but inside games, it was like a condensed version of society—you ran into crazy ones easily. When he reached out again, I quickly dodged away.
“I! Already have a partner!”
“Oh? You really do. Who?”
“ShutUp.”
The guy who had been smiling brightly suddenly twisted his lips into a sneer the moment I mentioned ShutUp. For a split second, flames flared above his head, and I could guess what kind of Psychic he was.
Maybe he was a user who had lost items after getting PK’d by ShutUp? But it’d be a problem if he tried to drag me into whatever grudge ShutUp had caused.
“You like ShutUp?”
“No.”
“Then why’d you partner with him?”
I could’ve explained the situation, but I didn’t want to chat with someone who was shamelessly letting everything hang out like that.
“Do you really have to walk around naked like that? It’s… kinda uncomfortable.”
“Ah.”
At my words, he started equipping his armor piece by piece. So earlier, it wasn’t that the jellies had stripped him—he had taken everything off on purpose. Definitely not a normal pervert.
Just in case, I moved my hand toward the keyboard, ready to press Alt+F4 at any moment. I didn’t want to start my day with someone like this. Still, considering he clearly wasn’t normal, I asked again.
“Why weren’t you wearing anything?”
“When those things stick around my dick and wriggle, it feels like I’m getting caressed—it’s nice. Kinda like masturbating without using your hands.”
“……”
The moment I heard that answer, I almost force-quit out of sheer disbelief—then I noticed the weapon he was holding.
It looked extravagant and ridiculously expensive at a glance. A ring-shaped weapon burned with a red glow. It was completely different from my staff, which looked like it had been made from a random meadow branch.
<<‘Moment’ has sent you a party request. [Accept / Decline]>>
Mentally, he seemed abnormal, but that weapon looked anything but ordinary. Maybe I’d just met someone who could help me level up even without ShutUp—that thought sparked a little hope.
When I pressed accept, I became part of Moment’s team.
Once we were on the same team, he couldn’t attack me. And if someone else attacked me, he could take them out instead. Though honestly, it didn’t seem like anyone would want to come near a guy like this.
“Wanna go hunt a boss?”
“Really?”
After asking my level, Moment said we shouldn’t go to a high-level zone and suggested hunting a boss safely in the level 60 range. He even summoned a portal after confirming my opinion. From the way he asked before moving, I realized at least one thing—he was kinder than ShutUp.
I followed Moment into the portal.
***
<<Moving to ‘Howling Canyon.’>>
The new area that appeared on screen was a desert terrain. Sandstorms whipped around, stinging my skin.
Walking behind Moment, we soon reached a canyon.
As we passed through, small scorpion-like reptiles gathered around us. Moment created flames along the ground as he walked, blocking the monsters from approaching. At the same time, he didn’t forget to check if I was keeping up.
Yeah… this is what being carried feels like.
Back then, ShutUp never once looked back—even when I was clinging to his back because of the spiders. Cold-hearted bastard.
After walking for quite a while, we reached the end of the canyon, and suddenly a wide, dark space opened up. Moment raised a hand briefly, signaling me to stop.
“From here on, you need to stay a bit away from me.”
Then he stepped closer and asked,
“If I kill that thing, you’ll link with me, right?”
He didn’t seem higher level than ShutUp, so sharing a bit of my gauge should be enough. When I nodded, Moment smiled brightly.
With a whoosh, his entire body became engulfed in flames. Seeing him transform right in front of me startled me—the heat felt real. Though he seemed to be walking slowly, Moment gradually lifted into the air, like he was climbing invisible stairs.
As the blazing figure of Moment stepped into the darkness, a monster hidden inside revealed itself. It was a knight in black armor, holding a long lance in one hand and a giant venomous serpent in the other. Above its head was written: [Eligor Lv.60].
The moment Eligor opened its eyes, the serpent lunged first, stretching its head toward the airborne Moment before the lance even moved. The ring in Moment’s hand burned brighter, expanding and shrinking freely.
After adjusting his angle for a while, Moment suddenly hurled the ring toward the serpent’s head. Just as the serpent lunged again, the ring slipped around its neck and snapped tight. The head fell cleanly to the ground, cut so sharply the cross-section was visible.
Thud!
Like a magnet, the ring flew back into Moment’s hand. It moved freely as if attached to an invisible string, always returning to him.
Once the serpent died, it began rotting rapidly, releasing poisonous gas into the surroundings. It didn’t quite reach me since I was farther away, but it wasn’t harmless either. I coughed and covered my nose. If it had been real poison gas, I wouldn’t have gotten off with just a sneeze—the smell was sour, almost like vinegar, making my nose itch.
I quickly cast a shield, blocking the smell. Thinking it’d be better not to avoid it alone, I also cast a shield on Moment.
But it turned out I didn’t need to—like ShutUp, flames seemed to act as a barrier around him. When Eligor’s massive lance tried to pierce him, a pillar of fire burst from Moment’s body and blocked the attack.
Moment lightly waved one hand, and another pillar of flame shot from his other arm, striking Eligor. The hit landed cleanly, and suddenly Eligor began to roar.
“KRAAAAH—!”
The ground shook like an earthquake. Not long after, rocks from the surrounding canyon began crashing down all at once. Even above where I stood—Boom!—a massive boulder slammed down.
“Ugh!”
I hurriedly looked up and saw another large rock falling straight toward my head. Like dodging a dodgeball, I barely avoided it by stepping left. Something rattled down from above again a moment later, so I rolled away instinctively. After spinning once and landing neatly, I opened my eyes…
BOOM!!!
A boulder had embedded itself right in front of my nose.
“Ha……”
If I had rolled just a little slower, that rock would’ve become my tombstone. But there was no time to breathe—the ground shook again, and stones began raining down like hail.
