Fantasy Realm – Infinite Worlds Adventure

Rishi lays out the challenges of the nest, revealing just enough to support his argument. “Yesterday, our group challenged a comparably weak Thornback nest. While we managed to clear the corruption, we barely survived. In fact, two of us actually died.”

He narrates the events, emphasizing the explosion that marked the Thornback Matriarch’s demise.

“If we compare the sheer number of Acromantulas shown in the movie to the Thornback nest and then add the strength of the corruption, I see absolutely no chance of success. This is clearly not something we should tackle right now. Obviously, we have to cleanse the corruption to have a shot at taking it down, but how exactly do we do that? It’s not known yet.”

“Before we continue, I suggest a contract. That way, there’s no deception, and we can all share information freely. I have much more to offer than just general knowledge about the nest,” Rishi explains.

“I… okay, I guess?” the young man responds, looking completely bamboozled.

Hey… is he acting, or is he really such a dummy? This is getting suspicious. But would people trying to deceive us really be this obvious about it? Then again, you could reverse that argument endlessly…

Either way, the ‘young’ team is definitely suspicious. His comrades look just as clueless—except for that one girl with glasses. Long black hair, short stature, looks really meek, I wonder if she can’t talk? Hehe, that’s kinda cute. She acts nearly invisible, but I feel like she’s their command tower. Better keep tabs on her.

Alex ignores the conversation, paying no attention to Rishi or the other players. Instead, he carefully observes them, locking eyes with the girl in glasses and staring at her with Gyo.

Despite the pressure, the girl manages to withstand his stare, acting as if nothing happened.

I don’t see any special indicators of strength. And at least based on my experience with Gyo, her physical stats are all shit. Well, whatever; I’ll give her credit for keeping eye contact, a strong young woman.

The groups continue arguing about the contract, taking around 30 minutes to finalize the first draft. The agreement mainly states: No hostile intentions toward each other, freely sharing information about the corruption, and not sabotaging, hindering, or attacking other teams.

Most players question that last point since attacking isn’t allowed in the first place. But a few players, aside from Alex’s group, quickly catch on and eagerly agree.

One of the female group leaders, Mayoi, whom Alex suspects is from Japan, says, “It doesn’t hurt to add it. Who knows? Let’s just do it for now.”

Once the contract is ready, the players gather to sign it. Rishi, the creator of the contract, activates it, only for his expression to shift slightly. A rare moment of confusion, usually not displayed by him.

“Shit, that would’ve been too easy after all. This is clearly the system fucking with us, isn’t it?” Alex says, clearly pissed off, though not totally surprised. 

A contract would immediately expose a traitorous team. Of course, the system wouldn’t allow it, now that I think about it… it’s kinda obvious.

Rishi nods. “Yeah, it’s exactly as you say. Here, everyone, you can try for yourselves. I’ll trade the contract, but I expect it back. I can change the text and reuse it later as long as it’s not activated.”@@novelbin@@

Every team tries and fails and the contract returns back to Rishi. The players start murmuring nervously.

“Why doesn’t it work?”

“Is the system broken?”

“What does this mean?”

“Might as well tell you now,” Alex says, deciding to let Rishi stay in the background. “We suspect there’s a team actively working against the rest of us. We had three… no, now we have four reasons for believing this.”

He pauses, letting the tension build before continuing.

“My secretary in charge of all the boring stuff is an expert at creating contracts. You tried it yourself. Obviously, the contract isn’t the issue; it’s the system blocking us,” Alex says, casually downplaying Rishi’s role.

Rishi just smiles, completely unfazed by Alex’s words, obviously knowing what Alex is attempting to do and instead focusing on the other players.

I have to catch the others off guard and make them reveal their personalities. Get them to open up as much as possible. Rishi is our secret weapon—he can probably identify the traitors if I give him enough time and opportunities. I need to take the lead now.

“Anyway, here are the reasons,” Alex begins. “Dumbledore mentioned he invited only five teams. So why did the system select six? Even he was confused. That’s clearly suspicious.”

“That could’ve just been a backup plan in case a team didn’t use the quest item,” a deep voice counters. “These kinds of fail-safes are built into every part of the system. Even if something rare happens, the system compensates. I can’t accept that as a reason.”

The speaker is a tough-looking black man in his mid-thirties. He looks extremely competent, like a veteran special forces soldier. He radiates not only willpower and strength but also intelligence and experience. Also, he looks like he does not tolerate any form of bullshit and disrespect.

So that’s the leader of the Soldier group, huh?

He and his team members look superior to the average player in every aspect—strong, disciplined, experienced, smart. 

Better not fuck around with the soldiers without a damn good reason.

“Yeah, of course. Ben, was it?” Alex says. “You’re right; this alone proves nothing. It’s just one reason. The second reason is that I accidentally used a special technique to pressure our missing friends from the Mafia group. The system immediately warned me, and its exact words were:

Warning: Player’s use of *** is approaching the threshold of an attack. Please be aware that PvP is strictly forbidden and will be immediately punished should you attack one of your allied players. Please be aware of the risk before proceeding.

Alex explains, purposely leaving out any mention of his Nen ability, of course.

One of the female players, Alicia, the one Tereza had joked about being in a team of lesbians, chimes in. “This isn’t conclusive proof either. I can’t accept such a vague reason. What’s the third and fourth reason?”

Alex nods. “I agree with you as well. Your name was Alicia, right? The third reason is… the difficulty of the mission.”

He glances around before continuing.

“Isn’t this mission supposed to be super hard? We’re all lvl 4 players, and this mission is supposedly just as deadly as the tutorial mission. But I just don’t see it.”

“We lost two members, yeah, but only because we recently teamed up with them. They were incredibly weak, betrayed us in the nest, and got caught off guard by corrupted spiders. But that was our risky decision to go inside in the first place.”

“Nobody is forcing us to clear the Acromantula Nest. We only have to ensure the tournament’s safety. For this first trial, we’re supposed to secure the outskirts of the forest, not cleanse the Acromantula Nest. Hell, even the Thornback Nest we cleared was far away and an optional target.” Alex finally concludes his explanation.

“That sounds reasonable, but what’s your point?” The girl with glasses finally speaks up, revealing herself to be the leader of the youth group.

“Stephanie, was it? Well the reason… ” Alex starts, but the girl immediately interrupts him.

“You pronounced it wrong. It’s Stefanie—with an f, not ph.”

Fine, whatever. Not that I care.

“Sorry, sure, whatever… Stefanie. My point is simple. This mission is too generous—too easy. We don’t need these explorations; we just need to act as security guards for the tournament.

“Also, do you remember how little information we got when the mission started? Something was clearly missing. We don’t even need to influence the story, just prevent outside interference. This seems so straightforward, especially if we all share the same goal.”

Most people nod in agreement, obviously convinced by now.

“And let me guess,” Alicia says. “The fourth reason is the system not allowing us to use contracts.”

Alex nods. “It’s nothing conclusive, but I’m more or less convinced… There wouldn’t be anyone around with a skill that could help solve this little problem, would there? A contract would immediately expose and ruin the traitor team… if such a team exists. Of course, the system can’t allow this to happen. Maybe someone has a skill that can tell the truth or expose lies?”

He scans the crowd, hopeful.

Maybe someone with a skill similar to Rishi’s will step up… I’m also curious if Rishi noticed anything. I stepped up so he could quietly analyze the others. If there are traitors among us, he should’ve picked up on something.

But everyone just looks at each other. Nobody steps forward.

The young man from the youth team, Justin, suddenly suggests, “Maybe it’s the Mafia team? They’re suspicious. They also rudely rejected and even threatened me when I was inviting them!”

Alex shakes his head. “Nope. That actually fits their characters too well; they’d naturally avoid a meeting like this. If anything, you could argue my team is suspicious for even bringing it up, like we’re doing it on purpose to clear ourselves.”

“Or you could argue your team is suspicious because of young Miss Stefanie here.” Alex adds.

“Why do you call me Miss, huh?” Stefanie snaps, looking annoyed. “Are you saying I’m single? I could be married.”

“…Sorry, Mrs. Stefanie, then,” Alex corrects himself.

But she interrupts again. “Did I say I was married? I could be, but I’m not. I don’t like you assuming I’m single. You’re clearly insulting me.”

“Please, calm down… I just guessed based on your age. I didn’t have any intention of—” Alex tries to de-escalate.

“No, you did it based on my looks, didn’t you? ADMIT IT!” Stefanie snaps, clearly pissed.

“No, I didn’t. In fact, you look kinda cute. I also like feisty women, I guess, but preferably less argumentative, if I’m being honest. But that’s beside the fucking point. As I was saying… your team could also be considered suspicious, but—”

He suddenly stops mid-sentence, sighing.

“…You know what? Forget it. Your team is in the clear. I don’t want to argue anymore.” Alex rubs his temples, clearly annoyed.

“HUUH? And what is that supposed to mean?!” Stefanie steps right in front of him, jabbing a finger into his chest.

I hate this type of woman the most. No matter what you say, you can’t win. She’ll twist anything against you. Just stay silent… meditate… stay calm. Rishi needs to keep watching them.

One of the men standing next to Ben laughs as Stefanie continues chewing Alex out, arguing while he halfheartedly throws in appeasing one-liners just to end the conversation.

Finally, the man smirks and speaks.

“Young MISS Stefanie,” he says in an amused voice. “I’ll say it only once—SHUT. UP.”

His sudden outburst stuns her into silence.

Ben steps forward. “Alex, everything you said makes sense, and I agree—we can’t know for sure if there’s a traitorous team. The consequences of that are simple: We will not be allying with any of you. If you want to share information, feel free to do so, we’ll return the favor equally.”

With that, Ben and his group leave the house without another word.

“Suspicious,” Stefanie mutters, watching them go.

Nope. Perfectly rational. And honestly, I respect them for shutting down your BS. I’d do the same… but I need Rishi to have more time to observe you.

The short girl with big glasses suddenly steps up to Alex.

Not again…

“You’re better than them, at least. I kinda like you,” she says before turning back to her group, her face slightly flushed.

What the fuck? This girl has issues.

The remaining teams exchange glances. The two female-led groups more or less say the same thing as the Military group, just in a nicer way, leaving the option open to cooperate later.

Finally, Alex, Rishi, and Tereza also leave. As they step outside, Stefanie suddenly runs up to Alex and grabs his hand, giving it a firm shake before jogging back to her group.

“Hehe, isn’t that girl cute, Alex?” Tereza teases. “I’d say she’d be a great fit for you.”

“I swear, if I had to argue with that girl like that for the rest of my life, I’d seriously consider working two jobs just to avoid her… and even one job sucks enough,” Alex says, not joking, genuinely dreading such a thought.

After their pointless banter, the three of them finally step into their own house. Alex and Tereza immediately turn to Rishi with expectant expressions.

“So? Spit it out already!” Tereza yells, annoyed that Rishi is taking his sweet time, as always.