Afterlife Dream

Paradise Island was the third job advancement area with a tropical island theme. All the NPCs were clothed like Hawaiian natives. I even spotted three hula-hula dancers near a gachapon machine. I stood around like a tourist who was waiting for someone to point out the direction to me.

A tap landed on my shoulder, followed by HellWitch's long-time unheard voice.

"Heya, Antares."

I turned around and saw an unfamiliar figure standing before me.

HellWitch had improved a lot. At level 70, she was in the middle of doing her third job advancement quest. She had already completed the first raid at level 50, and she got one piece of the end-game equipment already, the Fire Golem Helmet!!! The Fire Golem Helmets were exclusive drops from the first raid at level 50. I was seething with jealousy, and it must have shown on my face because HellWitch started to laugh.

"Antares, no need to be jealous. I have also leeched from the higher-ups, else how could I reach 70 so quickly?"

She gave me a once-over.

"So you are going on the Healer track? Wonderful. The guild doesn't have many Healers so naturally, you will get a warm welcome from everyone."

My friend was not convinced that DragonTalon was going to get a similarly warm welcome.

"Honestly it is better to join as an urgently recruited job and then just use the scroll to change jobs later on. There are too many attackers. Not many support players."

Exactly my point. Exactly. My point.

I thought HellWitch was going to leech me personally, but there was a change of plan. BlackPuma himself would like to meet me. And he was grinding at the Frozen Tundra Land at the very moment, so naturally I had to head there to talk to him. Frozen Tundra Land was the area for fourth job advancement quests, and also the training area for those above level 120. I could not say that I was not nervous. Understand that I was merely a level 30 healer. I did not belong to Frozen Tundra Land at all.

To make things worse, HellWitch was not even going to take me to Frozen Tundra Land. She passed the job to Aurendiria, who, unknown to me, was sweetly standing behind me as HellWitch and I talked.

...

"Auren will take you to BP. I have to finish the third job advancement today so I can join the guild raid tonight. Sorry, Antares. Thanks, Auren!"

Aurendiria smiled.

"Better be quick," she said with a wink.

HellWitch left just like that, leaving the awkward me with a goddess. We looked like Beauty and the Beggar. I felt self-conscious with every part of my body.

"Let's form a party?" Aurendiria offered.

A second later, a party invitation from her popped up. I accepted with a trembling hand. My heart was racing so badly that I thought I might get a heart attack anytime soon. Congratulations, Daniel. You would finally die from a classical illness that people much older than you suffered from.

"So you are also going to be a Healer." Aurendiria smiled brightly at me.

"Yes, uh... is it okay?"

"It is more than okay!" she said with a giggle.

I checked the party info and saw that she was also a Healer. Well. She was a Holy Priest, the third job designation for a Healer.

We took another ship from Paradise Island to Frozen Tundra Land. The ship that took us was made of skeletons entirely, with a giant beast skull with horns forming the bow. I was the lowest-level player who boarded the ship.

The ship landed like a ghost ship at a bay that was manned by an NPC that looked like a grim reaper. I had never been in this area before. The farthest I went was Paradise Island, and that was only because I wanted to explore the place for third job advancement.

Frozen Tundra Land was a land of ice and snow with an apocalypse theme. Aurendiria led me to the next portal but stopped shortly before entering.

"Wait a moment," she said before disappearing into the next map.

I waited in a daze. A ding sound revealed that she had sent me a message through the party chat.

"Come inside."

I gulped and entered the portal nervously. It took me to a vast hunting ground full of snow. And undead skeleton monsters. A lot of them.

Aurendiria stood slightly away from the entrance portal, casting Holy Wings and Holy Arrow again and again while warding the undead skeleton monsters. The wings shone brightly for a duration of maximum three seconds to purify all the undeads before they dimmed and disappeared. The cooldown time for this skill was five seconds, so she could not spam only that one skill again and again. She had to use Holy Arrow to fill the cooldown time. As the name depicted, it was a skill that summoned a spiritual bow and shot a spiritual arrow quickly. It was not one of a High Priest's most important skills, merely used to attack when there were no other skills available for use.

"Climb up! Up!" Aurendiria screamed at me while attacking and healing herself in a rushed sequence.

I was not familiar with the map. I saw a rope nearby and ran toward it. Just then, a skeleton monster spawned in front of me and touched my chest with a bony finger. I had only felt the freezing touch for a split second before I froze in place. Aurendiria turned around in that second and screamed.

"Antares...!!!"

I could not rip my eyes off the skeleton monster, who was staring at me through hollow eyes that were as dark as the night. The spot where it touched me instantly froze and my chest was quickly covered in a layer of ice. The ice magically spread throughout my whole body and gained thickness. My vision faded as I slowly turned into an ice statue.

And then, I exploded and was blown into smithereens.

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