"[Meteora]!"

  BOOM!

  "[Pillar of Annihilation]!"

  FWOOM!

  "[Glacial Crash]!"

  BAKOOM!

  The sounds of spells echoed through the Bewitched Forest in regular intervals. They were interrupted by the angelic hymn of a level-up, a sound effect all players of Prison of Eternity Online praised for its dopamine-inducing energy. However, only moments later, the angry roar of a maiden broke the silence.

  "WHY DID YOU PUT ANOTHER POINT IN SPELL DAMAGE?!" AFKat screamed when she watched BlackKokoro bring up her level-up screen and naturally ignore everything else that would make her build more viable on its own. She even shot the little catgirl a quick glance before leveling up spell damage for the thirty-eighth time.

  "I'm at eighty-thousand dps now~" The voluptuous witch sounded proud of herself, wholly ignoring AFKat's anger.

  "That's pretty amazing," TripleBatsuDance held the little catgirl back from pouncing on the witch. She felt like a chaperone for two unruly children, although AFKat was already of adult age.

  The trio finally headed for the southern edge of the Bewitched Forest now that BlackKokoro had finished her level-up. The next region was the Blighted Lake, a swamp with amphibious enemies that ambushed players from the murky waters. For normal builds, it would pose no problem, and most classes breezed through it without trouble.

  However, their [Mage] was the very definition of a glass cannon. Even with TripleBatsuDance's defensive auras, she would not survive being hit more than twice in a row. AFKat had to be ready to use her taunt whenever an enemy appeared to pull the enemies away from their only damage dealer.

  Thus, the three girls were on edge as they walked the network of dry land between the pools of rotting water, looking out for any signs of enemies. Even with the movement speed aura buffs, they progressed slowly. But this was an MMO world. Enemies were everywhere to give players something to do.

  The dull surfaces rippled and stopped. Then, four explosions of muddy green liquid occurred around them, and towering bipedal frogs wielding harpoons emerged from within, hissing at them. Assassins, level 41.

  AFKat reacted instantly and let out her taunting cry, "Funyaa!"

  TripleBatsuDance suddenly jumped at her as if she had been affected, even though they were in a party together. "So cute~ Ouch!"

  She was pricked by the [Crown of the First Martyr] when it seemed to recognize her glomping attempt as an attack. The dancer staggered back in tears as the four enemies attacked the little catgirl, the [Enraged] status effect in their eyes. It increased their damage and attack speed, but lowered their accuracy. However, AFKat had the [Vanguard] class skill [Immovable] that disabled evasion in exchange for ignoring all effects that moved the player except for scripted events. The enemies would hit her either way.

  The harpoons impacted her avatar and stopped against her clothes. AFKat did not feel a thing as she stood there and watched the Sahagin continue to attack without realizing that they did no damage. The shut-in god had turned this world into reality, but it would appear that the enemies were still NPCs following their simple programming.

  "Are you sure I should do that~?" BlackKokoro was skeptical about launching her spell at the enemies when the little catgirl was in their midst.

  "We're in a party, so there is no friendly fire damage," said TripleBatsuDance with a confident smile. "Blast away."

  "But didn't you take damage from her just now~?" wondered the witch, tilting her head in confusion. The dancer realized that she was right. She had taken the 10 damage from the [Crown of the First Martyr]'s thorns effect when trying to hug AFKat with impure intentions. It means that players could damage each other even when they were in a party.

  "It's alright. I have 100% damage reduction anyway," said the little catgirl with a shrug, ignoring the four monsters attacking her. She wondered if their heavy strikes did not cause her to stagger because of her [Immovable] or if that was still a leftover of the game world. She and TripleBatsuDance could affect each other through touch, so it would be interesting to test out the new physics-based mechanics the shut-in god added.

  "Okay, if you say so~" BlackKokoro agreed reluctantly and brandished her simple wooden staff. "Lord of the Sky, grant me-"

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Stop chanting! You don't need to do that to cast a spell in this game!" AFKat interrupted her angrily.

  "But it's cooler this way~" The witch pouted and stopped her magic. A player could interrupt actions by moving within the first half of the animation. The faster one's attack or cast speed, the shorter the self-lockdown in the animation was. Since BlackKokoro's cast time was so long, she had a much longer window to interrupt herself. It was both a blessing and a curse.

  "Maybe it reminds you of a dark past, Afu-chan?" TripleBatsuDance smirked knowingly.

  "No such thing!" The little catgirl turned away to hide her embarrassment. BlackKokoro was clearly still in middle school when children were at an age to imagine themselves as having special powers, secret identities, or grand destinies. They would not realize how painfully embarrassing that was until the phase was over.

  "Keep going, BlackKokoro." The dancer discovered a new, cute aspect about AFKat and grinned from ear to ear.

  "Lord of the Sky, give me the power to smite my foes! I shall let thine might resound across the land for all to hear! [Calamitous Lightning]!" The witch's chant was slightly different from the first time, but the important part was the spell name.

  A black cloud formed almost instantly high above AFKat and the enemies surrounding her and unleashed a lightning bolt. The little catgirl and the four Sahagin disappeared in the blinding flash. When it faded, the enemies lay dead on the ground, electricity arching between their bodies. AFKat stood unmoving as before, completely unaffected.

  "That is an amazing build, Miss Cat~" commented BlackKokoro with a genuinely beaming smile. Not even the grumpy AFKat could maintain her frown at that expression and sighed in resignation.

  The trio continued on their path, smiting enemies with the same tactic whenever they popped up. They quickly entered a rhythm and progressed faster than before. It would not be long before they left the Blighted Lake behind and reached the next region, a mountain climb called simply The Ascent.

  "I'm hungry," AFKat suddenly declared after BlackKokoro burned a group of crab enemies. She salivated from the delicious smell wafting from their scorched shells and tickling her nose.

  "I have some food with me, so don't even think about eating those things." TripeBatsuDance quickly produced a plate of steaming hot dumplings from thin air. She had put it in her inventory after hearing the shut-in god telling them good luck with their food.

  "Why do you have that?" The little catgirl eyed it suspiciously and sniffed the air, but the grilled crabs were overwhelming her sense of smell.

  "Everybody paid attention to only parts of what the shut-in god said, huh?" Shaking her head, TripleBatsuDance sighed. She truly was the chaperone of these two children. "Now, dig in and fill up your stamina again. There's plenty where this came from."

  She produced another plate of food, one filled with an entire steak meal, complete with side dishes and sauce. The game logic still held, so items in the inventory were put in stasis. Food would not grow cold or even go bad this way.

  She watched AFKat and BlackKokoro sit down on a toppled log and start eating with a warm smile. Her own build had unlimited stamina as part of her subclass, [Divine Channeler], which turned her into a demigoddess.

  "Come, let's share," AFKat invited TripleBatsuDance over with a waving motion that reminded her of a beckoning cat. She did not need to be told twice and sat beside the little catgirl with a joyful smile.

  As they ate, the dancer girl considered that there had to be a hidden meaning behind the shut-in god's words. If bringing along food was as easy as putting it in one's inventory, he would not have gone out of his way to give a warning. Maybe he meant that people who were out in the wilderness without food in their inventory would have to hunt for it since traveling between towns took so much longer.

  As that thought filled her mind, she wondered if these burned crabs were edible after all. They were swamp-dwellers, but enough heat should clean them of any parasites if they had any in the first place. They were virtual creatures turned real by a god, so who knew how they worked?

  She eyed them suspiciously and wondered how long it would take for them to despawn. Would it despawn from their bellies once the timer was reached? They would have to test it sooner rather than later to gain certainty. Maybe only specific enemies who dropped ingredients for food were edible, and all of her musings right now were pointless.

  But then why would they smell like real grilled crabs?

  Sasahara Chiyo felt like eating crab now.

  "Now you're interested after all?" AFKat noticed TripleBatsuDance's gaze and stared at her suspiciously.

  "That's not it. I was just wondering what would happen if we ate it. Will it despawn in our stomachs?" the dancer explained her train of thought. "Won't that be a problem?"

  "We'll have to test it, then," said the little catgirl and walked over to one of the grilled crabs. "Not like I can take damage from poisons or anything."

  "Nonono, don't do it!" TripleBatsuDance tried to stop her, but AFKat had more than twice her strength stat. Paired with [Immovable] and she could ignore the weak dancer's attempt at keeping her away from the crab.

  The little catgirl took one of its legs and snapped it open to reveal well-cooked crab meat on the inside. She sniffed it suspiciously; there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself and bit into it.

  "Huh, it's pretty good," she said between chewing motions before taking another bite. To test TripleBatsuDance's theory, she had to eat enough to notice the difference if it did indeed despawn.

  The grilled crabs suddenly dematerialized, including the leg in AFKat's hand. However, she did not notice any difference in her stomach. "It works. Food that has been eaten already no longer counts as part of the enemy models, it seems."

  With this, their food worries were settled for the moment at least. TripleBatsuDance sighed in relief and resignation. Then she smiled wryly at the little catgirl. She truly had no fear now that her build made her essentially immortal.

  "What is that around your feet?" BlackKokoro pointed at AFKat. A glowing ring of toxic green liquid floated around her.

  "Oh, I was poisoned," she responded almost flippantly with a look at her status bar. Since her damage reduction applied to everything, she did not take any damage from the status effect. "I guess it's good you didn't eat it."

  "I would never eat something that disgusting!" TripleBatsuDance's indignant yell echoed across the swamp.