Aurora stood in front of an exciting, but overwhelming, challenge: to finish an open-world game. An unknown enemy has been downloading in the background, and only 6 days and a few hours remain until his birth.

  In a small park inside the town, both Aurora and Nimles were sitting there chatting about their next step.

  “What do you suggest, Nimles?” She asked, testing his knowledge.

  “We should understand who we are dealing with first,” he said. "Judging by the environment and the humans here, it seems like the AI has intentionally left some clues for you to be prepared for the final boss.”

  “You’re really smart for an animal,” she said.

  (I can’t drop her precious items anymore,) breathing, (just be patient for a while,) Nimles was plotting in his mind. Then he said, “Anyway, let’s gather some information from the people here.”

  They approached the person who was warning people about an upcoming punishment. The man was a middle-aged blonde who wore white clothes, which seemed like a typical representation of an angel in art.

  “Hey!” Aurora said after sneaking behind him.

  He darted and looked back at her, “Oh, kids! You should never approach someone from behind like that again.”

  “He is ready to spit out some lessons at us,” Nimles whispered to Aurora.

  “Anyway, sir, tell us about the punishment you were talking about earlier,” she said.

  “I’m happy to fulfill your curiosity about this sensitive subject, and you’re very promising kids who will face the darkness and save humanity,” he said.

  “Can you start already?” Nimles said.

  “Oh, that’s not kind. A kid should have some manners nowadays,” he said. “I won’t teach you until you behave yourself.”

  “Why did you talk meanly to him?” She complained.

  “He took too long talking nonsense,” Nimles mocked.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Well, because of you, we got this weird quest that says - Behave well. How are we supposed to do that quest?” She said.

  “Why is it difficult?” Nimles asked.

  “I forgot that you’re only a cat. In these games, the quests require you to kill a certain number of monsters or collect something from the NPCs. But as far as I know, I’ve never seen a similar quest in my life,” she said.

  Nimles ignored her and looked at the man who was watching them silently since they had disrespected him. He told him, “Sir, we’re apologizing for our behavior earlier. It was my mistake and I admit it.”

  Aurora looked at him with shock. She commented, “Well, that scene is familiar to me. Whenever you ask for food, you behave well.”

  “Humph,” Nimles said.

  The man spoke, “Your apologies are accepted, my son. Our ancestors were warning us about an upcoming punishment for their mistakes. They said a monster will be born and he will try to overtake the world using all kinds of power. The only way we can defend ourselves from him is by gaining knowledge.”

  “Knowledge? This seems like a boring final boss,” Nimles said.

  “No,” she said with concern. “Knowledge means the ability to gain access to all the skills in this game world.”

  “Oh shit,” Nimles said. “I know that a brainless computer is way smarter than you, but can it be that bad, though?”

  “He will probably be as smart as the AI that created this game,” she answered.

  “Girl,” Nimles said. “Get me out of here now.”

  “What would happen if we killed your character?” She asked.

  She took off a beginner sword and pointed it at him.

  “Are you crazy?” Nimles yelled. Then he tried to push the sword away from his face, but accidentally cut his finger. He jumped back and hissed at her.

  “W…wait, does it hurt?” She asked.

  “Yes,” he yelled.

  (His body is real?) she thought.

  After a few moments, they were going to the inn to get some rest and heal. However, Nimles’s finger looked too natural and healing it that way ended up being useless. This brought up many questions for Aurora about the nature of his existence in the game.

  “Our best decision right now is to take advantage of all the resources that the game offers us,” he said.

  “How can we do this?” She asked.

  “Collaborating with others makes everything easier,” he said. “We will trick the other humans in this world to make them believe in what the weird man is saying.”

  “All of them were looking at him strangely,” she said. “It’s not easy to convince them.”

  “That’s why I said we’re going to trick them,” he said. “The best way is to fake the signs the ancestors wrote in their book, or rush them if the AI had already added them to the storyline.”

  “That sounds immoral,” she said.

  “Shut up,” he yelled. “My life is on the edge by only existing in this inconsistent world. We’ll make the sign he talked about more evident to others.”

  “You mean the one that says if the monsters start to show up at night, the punishment date is getting closer?” She said.

  “Yes, you will go to catch one monster, and at midnight, we will free that monster in the middle of the town,” he said.

  “O…ok, but what about the guardians?” She asked.

  “We’re going to deal with it tonight,” he said.

  Their plan was simple: making the NPCs actively kill the monsters and speeding up the economic growth in town A by collecting the resources, which will make it easier for them to get the resources they needed.