Chương 42: Chapter 41 - The Forums

Some days passed, and Veyra and I grew closer. I continued my workout regime of bodyweight exercises, raising the number of pushups I could do from three to a whopping nine. I had to renew my subscription to The Cave, which wasn't an issue after selling a few gear pieces. I also fixed my sleep schedule. As in, I went to sleep when Veyra did to match the Thai timezone. So pretty much, I went to sleep at one or two pm most days, waking up when the night was just starting.

Not the most extravagant lifestyle, but holy shit, in Wonderwind, our level-up progress was amazing. We continued clearing the remaining rooms in the Portal Mage's Crypt, including all the dead ends and useless trap pathways that led nowhere. Killing the basic monsters was more than just worth it. I leveled up to 230, then 235, steadily growing. Our clear speed increased, both thanks to us getting into a rhythm on how to deal with the monsters, and thanks to our spells doing more damage as we leveled up.

The cheating allegations continued, of course. The forums were absolutely brutal with multiple posts along the lines of: " Veyra and Assassin still aren't banned???" I even got a message from Eve, asking if we were cheating. The scandal was big enough to involve my friends. I told Eve that we were not cheating. She probably didn't believe me, but whatever. I didn't care either way. I would gladly wear the title of 'cheating at the game' as a prided trophy.

What I did care about was the fact that Veyra was also being called a cheater, and she didn't feel the same way at all. I saw her open one of the forum posts, and the liveliness just disappeared from her face. She tried to claim she was fine right after, but the drop in mood just made me sad. We clearly couldn't just ignore the problem.

"You could prove you're not cheating the same way you proved it to me," I said.

"By logging on with SevenStrife." She told me, "Sure, I guess we can try," and we put in some work to make a forum post of our own. Veyra logged in with her SevenStrife account, took some screenshots as proof, and we posted those to the forums. I helped her a bit, but Veyra wrote the post itself, mentioning essentially the same thing she told me: SevenStrife didn't get banned for cheating, but for hacking the forced log-out feature.

She wrote a heartfelt and decently long wall of text, explaining what happened with the guild, and why she never logged on after a ban, and why she was back with an alt account, mentioning health reasons as the reason why she did it, though she didn't go deeper into that. As proof, we attached the screenshots of SevenStrife being online at the Ray Dragon event. How was it received? To say we were downvoted was an understatement.

At first, we seemed to be convincing some people, as at least a few believed us, but arguments quickly started. The tides shifted completely when this became the top comment: By MonochromeButterfly, 1, 712, 346 upvotes: " So SevenStrife is unbanned, cool, but that doesn't explain your quick-casting at all? Casting speed like that is just not feasible. Like at all. Even FireBrand tuned in to say that your casting is way too good to be real.

I just can't believe anything unless you specifically prove that your casting is real." Reply By Veyra, 30, 693 downvotes: " I'm not sure how to prove that. I've played the game for almost ten years. From the start, I never used the system casting. I specifically practiced quick-casting for hundreds of hours. It's my favourite feature in the game. So I guess I just have more experience than everyone else?" Reply By MonochromeButterfly, 562, 175 upvotes: " Saying you practiced really hard isn't really proof, though.

Maybe enter an offline competition to play on official game pods?" The more we read the comments, the more I could see her soul leave her body. A few comments were sympathetic after reading Veyra's post, but most were still doubtful, and a lot were still outright hating. The most ludicrous comment thread, however, came from a Wind Virtual employee. By WVG. adams (Surveillance Moderator), 13, 514 downvotes: " The security team is actively investigating Veyra's gameplay and potential use of exploits.

If any instances of foul play is found, she will be banned. Witch hunting is not necessary. - Adam, Wind Virtual Games" Reply By Appletrinity, 134, 675 upvotes: " Investigate harder, you fucking idiots."

"What even is this?" Veyra uttered, voice distressed.

"A developer just implied I'm not cheating, and he's being downvoted! What the actual hell?" I didn't even know what to say to that. The whole thing was shocking to watch unfold. All I could do was give her a hug and suggest we go dungeon hunting instead, because trying to calm the absolute disaster fire that was the forums right now wouldn't be happening. It took her a bit to calm down, but she eventually agreed to get back to clearing the Portal Mage's Crypt. The mood was gloomy at the start.

She barely talked, made mistakes she usually wouldn't, and overall looked gloomy. After a few hours, though, I made some silly jokes to distract her, and her mood went from panicked to just a regular low. Then a lucky loot drop came, and then I gave her a few good hugs, and before I knew it, I caught her grinning again the next day, enjoying the dungeon hunt as always. With that, the dungeon hunt continued. I stopped looking at the new forum posts, or comments.

The allegations were annoying, but I didn't care, because ultimately, the public opinion of our gameplay didn't matter. The commenters on the forums weren't hugging the best mage player in the world every morning, now, were they? Veyra made a few jokes about the cheating allegations, referencing the forums with annoyed sighs, which I took as her way of dealing with stress, but mostly, she was also joking around, having fun, and we were leveling up a lot, while earning money from loot drops.

Clearing every single nook and cranny in the dungeon took us six days. That was six days of monster hunting with my crush, filled with dumb jokes, banter, hugs, more nerd talk, and a few close calls nearly dying in the dungeon, and of course, a whole lot of loot. The total haul gave us a total of ten thousand gold in item drops and crafting materials. We still had a monopoly on the frostfang feathers, and I received more than a few messages from people looking to buy them.

We sold pretty much everything that dropped, but one lucky item from a random drop slotted nicely into my build. Lost Ring Of Edda Item Type: Epic Ring (Unique Event Item) Required Character Level: 231 Stats: +5000 Maximum Mana +100 Attack Force Abilities: You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Cry Of The Abandoned Phoenix (Active, Conditional): Lost Ring Of Edda contains the dying breaths of a young heartbroken phoenix.

Critical Strikes have a small chance to take effect twice. The second critical strike does 50% reduced fire damage. The ring essentially gave my critical strikes a small chance to do 50% more damage in the form of fire damage—a violent burst of flames on the target wound. The effect activated randomly roughly ten percent of the time, which couldn't be relied on, but I landed critical strikes so often that it was definitely worth equipping.

At the end of the six days, we entered the final hallway, lined with ethereal lamps and leading to an abrupt dead end. A Lost Traveler Of Time (Level 375) stood calmly at the end, seemingly not caring about the fact that all of its brethren were mysteriously missing. Game monsters were still game monsters.

"Last one, huh," Veyra said.

"That was a fun one. Shame the respawns are so slow. Maybe we can attempt the boss as well?"

"I mean, if the doors trap us inside the boss room, we're never getting our gear pieces out."

"We could go in with trash gear to study its attack patterns," Veyra said.

"If it looks doable, we can tank the death and try again in two hours with new knowledge."

"We'll do no damage, and we won't get it to 50% health," I said.

"We can learn the first phase, but if it has a second, we're fucked anyway."

"Sure, but don't you at least want to see what the boss is?" she asked, leaning slightly toward me, smiling.

"Or don't tell me… you're afraid of a quick three-hour-long endurance fight against an overloaded boss?" I blinked, surprised by her tone. Was it just me, or was her voice somehow softer lately? She's just teasing me, I thought.

"Uh," I said.

"I guess we could head in with trash gear before logging off, yeah?"

"Damn right we will," Veyra said, smirking.

"Losing XP is worth it for a chance to study a boss. You'd be surprised by how many high level bosses can be soloed with enough effort." I shared the smile. If there was one thing I'd learned in the last week, it was that Veyra was a total nerd when it came to monster attack patterns. She said it was a shame that this dungeon was ending, but I knew she'd be excited to hop straight to a new, even more difficult one. Hell, she might have even been serious about fighting the boss.

"One last little critter first, though," I said.

"Are we ready?" She nodded again, and readied her staff, facing the Lost Traveler Of Time. Since it was the last monster, already isolated, she didn't need to portal it, and I was free to initiate the fight. Lichfang was filled with twenty thousand damage, and I kept myself under forty percent health for [Blood Desperation]. I readied my legs and charged it. It became aware of my presence and immediately shot an [Arrow Of Time], which I dodged by routine. It then tried to freeze the floor.

Unfortunately for the lost time mage, Veyra had perfected interrupting the casting of its kind now. She froze its staff's orb, stopping the monster's spell from taking effect. That was all I needed to have a free opportunity to plant [Curse Of The Lich] straight to its brain. My dagger pierced through and the dark magic erupted. [Critical Strike!] [Cry Of The Abandoned Phoenix - Active Conditions Met] [Critical Strike!] A blazing inferno of fire magic blew up.

My dagger pierced the skull, and the dark and fire magic combined together to eat its insides. The monster collapsed on the spot, dead in one shot, utterly disintegrating. [You Leveled Up!] I blinked, slowly turning my head to Veyra. She shared the surprise.

"Holy shit," I said.

"Did I just one-shot that?" We stared at each other, and we both laughed at the same time.

"Okay," she said.

"Maybe Vital Strike is getting nerfed." She kept laughing, as if she hadn't kept teasing me about my build throughout the entire week.

"Honestly, though," Veyra added, "I might need to invest more in utility spells. I don't think anything in the game can outdamage your full Lichfang crit. I'll need to make it easier for you to land."

"You're already doing that, though," I said.

"I could have never cleared this alone. Even in PvP, your presence makes enemies wary. I noticed it in the duel against Annath. The moment you were out of the fight, she could keep all of her attention on me, and the fight got much harder." Veyra's smile fell slightly, hearing the name.

"And Annath is still pushing to get me banned on the forums… She even made a full video talking about our post, sharing her shitty opinions."

"Wait, she did?" I asked.

"What did she say?" She tilted her head at me.

"The video has fifteen million views already. How have you not seen it?" I paused.

"I haven't been looking at the forums, to be honest. I'm having a lot of fun down here, so why bother ruining that by arguing with hate comments?" She bit her lip.

"Are they still bothering you?" I asked.

"The allegations?"

"No," Veyra said swiftly, only to pause right after. She snorted and said, "Actually, yes I am very much bothered by them. Of course I feel awful, considering the whole community wants me gone. The moment we step out of the dungeon and meet anyone at all, we'll have to deal with this nonsense. I feel like I'm hiding in some nuclear shelter right now." I paused, taken aback by the change in tone. I suddenly felt like I hadn't paid enough attention to this.

"You're not wrong…" I said.

"It's hard to just ignore this." Veyra said, voice getting more upset.

"My goddamned doctor asked me if I'm the cheater mage in Wonderwind today! Like what do I even tell him at that point? I can't just tell my doctor to fuck off!"

"Wait," I said, genuinely surprised.

"Really? Your doctor is involved too?"

"It's a complete mess." She leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Honestly, I feel dizzy when I think about all this. It's just hopeless. I've tried my best not to stress out about this, but I just don't know what to do." I tried to think of what to say, suddenly feeling very stupid. Of course just simple dungeon hunting wouldn't make her feel alright again. The cheating allegations meant a lot to her. They hit her a lot harder than they hit me. Of course this hit her hard.

She'd been betrayed, kicked out of a guild she valued and trusted, until she was pushed to quit her favourite game all because of this bullshit. And I had barely shown any support at all after our initial forum posts. I'd had such a good time with her that I'd totally brushed off anything to do with the allegations.

"I'm sorry," I said in a near panic.

"I've kind of ignored the problem, haven't I?" Veyra's eyes remained on the ground, clearly upset. She sighed.

"I shouldn't complain. The allegations are not your problem. I know you don't like listening to me vent. Sorry, I'll—""No, please complain more!" I said, grabbing her hand.

"I do honestly care about the allegations. I really do want to support you. I've just…" She blinked at me, waiting for me to continue.

"To be honest… I've had too much fun dungeon hunting. Logging in and just playing has been a kind of stress reliever. So thanks to that… I didn't care about whether people hated us or not. I kind of just assumed you felt the same way. Sorry." She looked away.

"Yeah. You're not wrong, I guess." I was clearly wrong, judging from her face.

"We could try to straight-up prove we're not cheating," I said.

"Maybe you can show up at a local event. A lot of people suggested that. The game pods there are provided by the organizers. Players will know they aren't hacked."

"I know, I know," Veyra said, but didn't sound optimistic.

"I've considered that… Thai events are a bit awful, though."

"We could compete straight in Worlds as well," I said. Veyra paused, then gave me a look.

"You don't have a ticket. I'm definitely not going alone." Wait, so there's a chance? I thought. We could play in Worlds?

"It'll be impossible anyway," Veyra said.

"You know, thanks to my disease and all. I can't really fly without assistance. Traveling is horrible."

"Yeah…" I said.

"I'm sorry for taking this so lightly. I guess the hate was just easy to ignore. I've had so much fun, I didn't have time to care about the cheating allegations or whatever the forum users are saying. I'll pay more attention from now on."

"No, no, please don't feel bad for me," Veyra said. Her head faced down, and she took a nervous breath.

"Ugh. I suck at this. Can I be honest for a second?" My head perked up.

"Yes?"

"This morning, when I logged on before you… Uh, I kind of just waited in the guild hall for you to get online. I didn't feel like playing the game alone." After a pause, she blurted out, "Don't get me wrong, I'd still force myself to play anyway. I need the money. But, uh… you're helping me still enjoy this as well, I guess?" My eyebrows rose.

"So you've enjoyed the dungeon hunt?"

"Yeah, it has been fun. Thanks. I'm glad I'm not totally alone this time." She lifted her head and smiled. Seeing that, I felt something warm. The smile spread.

"We'll deal with the allegations somehow. It's all just some drama. It will pass." I couldn't tell if she believed me, but it looked like she felt a little better.

"What's the time right now?" I asked.

"About to be eight pm there, right? You need to log off soon again?"

"Yeah, health checkup," Veyra said.

"Now would be the time to check the boss out, then?" I asked. Slowly, she grinned, nodding. We headed toward the boss room. For a moment, we were silent, and I used that moment to daydream. She has said we're never meeting in real life, I thought. But she has a Worlds ticket. Competing and winning pays money. And playing in Worlds would prove she's not cheating. If I got a Worlds ticket as well, could I have a chance to convince her to just fly to Worlds anyway? No, I'm thinking too far ahead of myself, I thought.

It's not like we're even officially dating yet. We just went on one date. We approached the boss room, when my daydreams were suddenly cut off as I heard something. I held a hand in front of Veyra and listened. Footsteps. A decent amount of them.

"Someone's here," I said. And they were walking toward us, from the only exit that led out of this branch in the dungeon. We were stuck at a dead end. Veyra readied her staff, and I held my hands on my daggers as a group of players entered the hallway.