A large explosion resounded, shaking the surroundings and disturbing layers of dirt that sprinkled down from the ceiling above me. The shattering sound that accompanied the explosion made me grimace.

  Ugh.. That was a [Shattering Inferno]. They’re really not holding back, are they?

  They must be really desperate to try and take me out by wasting their big spells like that. Their Area of Effect spells were going off all over the place.

  I had flanked the enemy and killed a number of them while sneaking into their castle-like base. They were fuming as I did this as one of them even shouted saying they knew my address as they died. There were people like that everywhere who took things too personally.

  I mean, these Guild Wars were brutal. A lot was at risk if you lost and you could lose hours upon hours of work. But really? Petty threats like that? Give me a break. Why declare the war in the first place?

  Anyways, I shrugged it off and kept going.

  Tsk. I got careless.

  One of them spotted me before I could properly infiltrate the castle, forcing me to teleport to safety to buy time.

  Unfortunately, that safety was right under their noses. They must’ve been able to sense that I was still in the area as they began casting spells all over, hoping to take me out with splash damage.

  We had ample information on them and their castle, so I teleported deeper into their base where I thought I’d be safe, which turned out to be a secret passageway under their castle.

  Do they really intend to take down their entire base just to get me? How salty can they be over their dead guildmates?

  However—

  “You fools,” I muttered with a grin.

  They’re so preoccupied with me, that they’re left completely vulnerable to my party.

  Whether they took me down or not, I found myself in a win-win situation. Even if they get lucky, by the time they take me out or find me, I caused enough disruption and used enough of their resources for my party to steamroll them without much difficulty.

  It was all according to plan.

  Not to mention, my reckless teleport put me even closer to the objective— the heart of the castle. So if they ended up ignoring me to deal with my party, then I’d crush the heart. If they continued as they are now, and focused on me, my party would overwhelm them in no time after they wasted their resources on me.

  I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at their fate.

  “In the end, that’s all that higher ranked players amount to,” I thought out loud to myself.

  They may be stronger and better equipped than most players, but that meant nothing against ascended players who were simply in a different realm. They were weaker, less skilled, and less knowledgeable about the ins and outs of this world.

  “Like, who doesn’t guard the secret passageway to the heart?”

  I sighed, exasperated. If I had known that they wouldn’t even guard this passageway— which was common sense among not only ascended players, but also a lot of higher ranked players —then I wouldn’t have bothered with this somewhat roundabout strategy and simply would have teleported here immediately.

  “Oh well, it was kinda fun so I guess it’s okay,” I muttered, thinking about the players I fought.

  I started walking deeper into the passageway at a leisurely pace. They must’ve not even known that such a thing existed. It was something of an open secret, where a lot of people knew, but kept it to themselves to use as an advantage over others that don’t know. Knowledge is power after all.

  A chime alerted me of an incoming telepathic message, which I accepted. Telepathic messages were similar to a phone call, in fact the spell was called ‘[Call]’, but you could speak in your mind for more privacy. Not to be confused with the [Message] spell where you could send a voice message, [Call] was real-time.

  At first, [Call] was regarded with suspicion by most players as they thought it laid your mind— your inner voice —bare, but that turned out to not be the case. Only the thoughts you ‘spoke’, or actually ‘willed’ to be heard were heard by the other person. How that worked, I have no idea. Of course, you were still able to speak out loud and be heard as well.

  “Hiya,” I greeted.

  “You madlad! You actually did it!” an excited male voice shouted. It was my in-game friend, Kenta. He was quite a few years older than me, but we became good friends regardless.

  I reeled and covered my ears at the loud shouting despite my attempt having no effect.

  “Be any louder, no?” I thought, my words dripping with sarcasm. “I can barely hear you.”

  “Oh you can’t hear me?” he thought, before taking an audible deep breath.

  I nearly tripped over myself in panic and shouted, “W- WAIT! I WAS KIDDING!!”

  Of course, this was in my mind. So my mouth didn’t move, but my expression was that of dread.

  “Ah is that so,” he responded before bursting out in laughter. “You get flustered so easily!”

  “N-no I don’t..,” I mumbled to myself. “A-anyways, how are you guys doing? I’m pretty close to the heart.”

  “Impressive as always!" He replied.

  A series of explosions shook my surroundings.

  "We cleaned up the front line and are storming the castle grounds now,” Kenta replied.

  They must’ve broken through the castle walls. Through the telepathic call, I heard shouting and the sounds of battle. Kenta himself let out a sort of warcry that made my ears ring a bit.

  I guess they’re in.

  “I’ll head to the heart now, then,” I said.

  With Kenta and the others rushing the castle grounds, the enemies had no time to waste looking for me.

  “Push forward! Let’s finish this!” Kenta shouted.

  I couldn’t tell if that was to me or others, but I nodded to myself and cut the call.

  Reaching the end of the passageway, I found a trapdoor above me and nervously reached toward it. Nothing came up on my magic sense radar, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous. What if there were several enemies with countermeasures toward magic sense?

  I was confident in my strength, but if there were enemies waiting for me to open the trapdoor, well.. it wasn’t the best of positions to be in. I shielded myself with a magic barrier just in case to protect myself against any surprise attacks and to buy me time to react.

  Taking a deep breath, I pushed the trapdoor open and poked my head through it to scan the room.

  N-no one.

  I let out a sigh. There was no one. The castle’s heart lay in front of me, suspended by chains in the center of the room. It loudly pulsated, indifferent to my presence.

  I quickly hoisted myself through the trapdoor, leaving the door open for a potential escape if needed. But as soon as I was completely out, the trapdoor shut itself with a slam seemingly merging with the ground as it was perfectly hidden after doing so. A click sound alerted me of it locking itself.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Crap, it’s one-way!

  I patted around for it but I couldn’t find any way to open it. It’s as if the trapdoor were never there in the first place.

  It’s fine.. I just need to destroy the heart and victory is ours.

  I glanced around to make doubly sure that there was no one. Even with the disruption I caused and my party storming the castle grounds, it made no sense that they’d leave the heart vulnerable like this. It was a classic case of guarding something, but tunnel-visioning on the threat rather than keeping tabs on what you’re guarding.

  Well whatever, I’ll take advantage of this.

  Setting my gaze upon the beating heart, I pointed my hand at it.

  “Oh Universe, I reign over thee eclectic possessions, from the largest quasar to the smallest stardust, I control all—!”

  I chanted a unique incantation that each type of magic was accompanied by— in this case, Cosmic Magic —which would amplify the spell and all its effects by ten times. It would normally double the spell’s effects, but due to the unique achievement of mastering every magic spell and skill which took an unbelievable amount of effort and time, I unlocked a special, unique trait that allowed such an overpowered effect. I was considered crazy to try and master every spell, but I had fun so I didn’t mind, and it was totally worth it in the end.

  The unique incantation was a bit overkill, and I really didn’t need to do it. But I was a bit caught up in the moment, so I went all out to make the spell as strong as possible.

  A magic circle appeared in front of my hand depicting complex arcane scribblings that rotated with a fixed star shape in the center. At each of the star’s five points, were smaller circles. Most spells could be empowered while casting. For this spell specifically, I could add five empowering effects.

  “[Destruction], [Wisdom], [Sage’s Destruction], [Sage’s Wisdom], [Multiply]!” I added. This would allow for maximum overkill.

  A burning sound grew in intensity for each empowerment added, and each of the smaller circles were filled in with a symbol respective to the empowerment. At the same time, smaller magic circles appeared surrounding my outstretched arm from my wrist to my elbow. They were the magic circles respective to the empowerment spells. The main magic circle glowed intensely, shimmering with the different colors of the empowerments.

  [Destruction] increased its damage. [Sage’s Destruction] was a stronger version of it that added a debuff effect that didn’t allow any sort of recovery. [Wisdom] had a myriad of effects that bolstered the strength of the spell with [Sage’s Wisdom], again, being a stronger version of it. [Multiply].. well, multiplied the number of spells that formed.

  Magic circles identical to my current one appeared to the left and right of me thanks to [Multiply], one on each side, essentially tripling my damage potential.

  Yeah.. I guess it’s a bit overkill.

  “— Bend reality at my whim, [Star’s Wrath]!” I shouted, finishing the chant.

  Instantly, the air in front of me warped as three beams of starlight fulminated from the magic circles, incinerating everything in its path. There was an eerie silence save for the burning energy of my spell, and the world in proximity grew darker as if my starlight absorbed the light from the environment.

  The starlight beams persisted for several seconds, stretching out far into the distance before dwindling to a fine line and blinking out of existence when the spell finished. Not even ashes were left in its wake. The walls of the castle itself on the other side of the room from me evaporated, leaving gaping holes. Not to mention, the heart was erased from existence.

  Even after the spell ended, there wasn’t a peep of sound for what felt like an eternity. At first I was worried I blew my eardrums and went deaf, but that wasn’t possible. Gripping my staff, I stepped towards the holes in the wall and peeked out only to find numerous people, friend and foe alike, gawking at me from the castle’s courtyard. Kenta was among them, but he merely smiled while shaking his head.

  Needless to say, we won this battle.

  ~ ~

  “““Cheers!”””

  A thunderous roar of numerous people resonated around the guild hall as everyone— except me —bumped together their mugs of drinks that a minor like me couldn’t partake. Of course, it was virtual so I technically could, but it didn’t feel right.

  I sipped on a glass of water that lay clasped between my hands.

  The loud and excited atmosphere made my heart race a bit as I wasn’t used to such situations. It was an event extroverts, like Kenta, would enjoy quite a bit. There were numerous picnic tables scattered throughout with food nearly spilling off of all of them. Although they didn’t actually sate anyone’s hunger, the game imitated a sense of taste and as such, people devoured them.

  I sat at one of the aforementioned picnic tables, at the center of the guild hall. As someone who remained sitting and silent, I stuck out like a sore thumb when everyone else stood cheering loudly. Kenta to the side of me was no exception. He laughed heartily while taking swigs from his mug.

  “Ahhh! Such a total domination win wouldn’t have been possible without you,” he exclaimed while patting my back. “Thanks again for answering my call for help!”

  “Aha, no.. it was nothing,” I replied sheepishly while rubbing my thumb on my glass of water.

  Others started joining in with high praises toward me leaving me flustered and rendered mute.

  “Still, to think such a cute girl was one of the ascended,” one of the guys said.

  “As expected of someone who can use Cosmic Magic, you should join us!” another said.

  “She’s nothing short of amazing.”

  Everyone murmured in agreement.

  “N-no it really wasn’t anything special.. I’m just g-glad I was of help,” I stuttered out while melting under the attention.

  With Kenta in the lead, everyone busted out laughing before cheering 'Cosmic Witch’ over and over. Despite being in the game, I swear I could feel my face burning in embarrassment.

  After being thoroughly drained by social interaction, I found myself on a balcony staring at the starry sky. While many logged off because it got late, the clamor from downstairs told me that they were still having a grand time. I checked the time and grimaced.

  “Three in the morning, huh…” I muttered to myself. “I have to wake up for school in 3 hours.. Should I even sleep?”

  “You’re a student?” a surprised voice asked. It was Kenta.

  Oops…

  While in a Virtual Reality MMORPG like Adventuria it was something of an unspoken rule to keep real life details outside of the game. For most, this game was a second life. A separate reality. Real life things would simply break immersion.

  “W-well yea,” I replied coolly, trying to brush it off.

  “College?" he asked.

  “Freshman in Highschool,” I murmured while looking away.

  “W-wha—?” He did a double take.

  “Would college students even have enough time to play?” I asked while waving my hand at the thought.

  “But I’m a college student. Well, I guess your statement makes sense...” he muttered.

  So, he’s a college student huh. Wait what? How’s he online so often then?!

  “But. Wow, huh. That really sticks a wrench in my plan.”

  He scratched his head nervously.

  “Plan?” I asked, finally turning my attention to him. “What plans?”

  “Ah, well. I was gonna ask if you wanted to come to an offline meeting with me and some close friends of mine,” he said hesitantly.

  “A-an o-offline meeting?” I repeated, considering the meaning of it.

  "Yeah since we lived in the same area."

  Does he mean meeting in person, in real life? My heart started to beat faster, not because of any romantic feelings or anything of the sort, but because I was socially anxious. I was barely fine in-game, but I was still a solo player for the most part. Though, I was kind of curious about how Kenta looked to have such a big avatar.

  The prospect of meeting Kenta and his friends in real life kind of excited me, but as he said.. it'd be kind of weird for a highschool student like me to meet up with older people going to college. Not to mention, I already felt my stomach churning anxiously.

  “O-of course, you don’t have to worry about it. If you were a senior, I wouldn’t have minded, but now... It'd be kind of weird to make you come knowing the age difference."

  "What did you guys plan on doing?" I asked, curious.

  "Oh you know, just hanging out at a cafe for some food and stuff. Maybe even hopping on Adventuria there, they have VR Pods."

  Why meet in person if you're just going to hop online?

  But then again, it wasn't uncommon for friends to hang out only to play videogames, even if they were playing different games. It was the company that mattered.

  I must've been silent for too long, since Kenta cleared his throat.

  "Again, don't worry about coming. I don't want to put you in a tough spot or feel awkward."

  "I'll go," I declared, surprising myself.

  "Wha- you're going?" He repeated, stunned.

  "Yeah I’ll go. Even if we've only known each other on Adventuria, we're great friends right?"

  "O-oh. I mean, that’s true.. but—"

  "Anyways, you're talking about the VRG Cafe right? What time?"

  The VRG Cafe was a Virtual Reality Gaming Cafe, similar to an internet cafe but equipped with VR pods that you could fully dive into VR with.

  "Umm, tomorrow at three in the afternoon," he said.

  "OK see you guys there," I stated before logging out in a hurry.

  “Are you su—?”

  …

  AHHJJDJJDJFSGKKSGFP

  I don't know what came over me to just accept the invitation like that, especially knowing Kenta and his friends were all older than me.

  Wait, am I in danger? No.. Kenta is really nice. I think.

  "Aghhh," I groaned, feeling butterflies in my stomach already.

  I sat up before taking the VR helmet off and shaking my head to adjust my hair.

  Setting the helmet down beside me, I stretched and slid out of bed.

  "Water.." I mumbled to myself before heading downstairs to quench my thirst.

  My heart flipped as I heard a crinkling sound while nearing the kitchen. As I snuck closer, I saw a silhouette of a man hunched over the kitchen island.

  A robber!?

  Gulping down my fright, I flicked the lights on ready to run immediately...

  ““!””

  "Ah.. it's just a creepy, middle-aged man munching on oreos at three A.M. staring at me with his eyes wide open now that he’s been caught red-handed," I stated, exasperated.

  "H-hey, I'm not creepy! I just had a craving for oreos!!"

  "Uhuh."

  "It’s stress eating!"

  So my uncle proclaimed.