“DIFFICULT TIME WILL ONLY MAKE YOU STRONGER.”

***

“Offf! Wow, it is still not pleasant to be wrapped by that light again.”

Eunbi complained as they landed on a wide grassland. She checked onto her friends to see if all of them are together as Sier said. Fortunately, all of them are there and this made Eunbi sighed in relief. She turned towards all the girls and asked,

“So now, what are we gonna do? Anyone have any idea?”

“I think the very first thing we need to check is our status.”

Sakura replied and muttered some word before her reaction turned bewildered as she look into something in the thin air which Eunbi cannot see. She asked Sakura what do she see which made her so amazed and let her jaws dropped.

“Eunbi, just mutter ‘Status’ and it will appear in front of your eyes.”

Hyewon interjected her and tell the others to do so. Eunbi just frowned but still following Hyewon strange instruction.

“Status.”

As soon as she said that, something like a board sprang in front of her which made her flinch. However, she quickly recovered from her shock and peek at her board.

Eunbi : Lvl 1, Human, Warrior

HP: 35

MP: 10

AGI: 15

STR: 25

INT: 20

Money : 3000 G

“Oh wow. Now this is neat.”

Eunbi exclaimed as she see her status. However, she do not fully understand every alphabet written on her status aside from HP.

“Girls, have you check your status? What is warrior? What is all of these alphabet stands for?”

Eunbi asked as they are all scattered nearby. Some of them just stare into their status board, others just gazed the sky and some others wandering around but not too far from them.

“Everyone, gather around! Sakura and Hyewon will give you brief explanation regarding your status!”

Chaeyeon voiced out and urged them to form a circle with Hyewon and Sakura in the middle of it.

“Okay nerds, let the expert do the talk now.”

Sakura smirked and puffed her chest, looking proud as she possess some knowledge which can be useful for her friends. Hyewon just flashed her usual blank expression while nodding at every words Sakura mutter.

“So, let me talk about the very basic things you need to know. First thing is HP or also known as Hit Point. This will indicate your life point or your health. Make sure to not drop it to zero or you will be dead.”

Sakura scrunched her face and try to scare the others but they do not seem to be scared of her.

“Next, I will tell you about MP or Magic Point. As its name indicate if you still do not understand, it is the limit for us to use any magic.

You see, every magic will consume our MP and if it is depleted, you will need to eat MP recovery or something like that to fill it back. If you rest well enough, MP will be generated slowly but surely.”

Hyewon smiled gently as she talked. The others are amazed at Hyewon ability to talk longer than 10 seconds when it comes to game and food as she usually just nodded her head and silently followed others.

“Question! Can’t the HP and MP just recover while we are walking?”

Nako energetically asked and Sakura smiled at her and answered,

“Well, we certainly can do that once we learn the proper skill at higher level. However, we need to be patient by eating things like potion to recover our HP or MP while we grinding on levels to unlock that ability.”

Everyone nodded as they tried to adapt with this new term.

“Next, for AGI, it represent our agility or speed. Might help us to fight enemies or even walking in our daily life. If it is high enough, we can run like a wind just like in the famous cartoon!”

Only select few of them laugh while the others do not seem to understand what thing is Hyewon trying to say. Sakura brushes that off and continue,

“As for STR, it represent our strength. This is useful if we need to lift some heavy object or to knock out something effectively while fighting.

For INT, it represent our intelligence, how fast we can process things or learn things or maybe have higher chance to discover new skills. It might help us to plan our strategy or doing something even better than that.”

“Oh, I can understand what you say so I must be quite intelligent.”

Yujin exclaimed proudly and showed her dimples.

“Oh, Yujin. How can someone not understand things like this?”

Minjoo is shaking her head as she heard the (not so) little puppy exclaimed.

“So I guess we do not need much explanation about this money right? Sier already told us back then.”

Chaewon said in a lazy manner. She felt sluggish and wanted to lay down; which she already do, and yawned.

“Hey, Chaewon. How can you just lay on this? Isn’t it dirty?”

Hitomi tried to pull up the thin girl but she resisted her easily.

“Just try to lay down and you will feel this pleasant feeling.”

Yena said to support Chaewon’s action while Yuri put her head onto Yena stomach. Wonyoung just stare in disbelief of her new friends laidback manner and quite amazed at how they can quickly adapted in this world.

“Now, now. We cannot waste our time by lazing around. Wake up peeps, we need to find a town before sunset or else we will be in trouble.”

Eunbi sternly nagged while pinching Chaewon and Yena ears for their easy going manner. However, Hyewon stopped her and said there’s something more they need to know before searching for a town.

“We do not know what class are every one of us in. Well, you practically said you are warrior but how about the others?”

“Why? Is it important?”

Nako asked as she is confused.

“Verily. This will determine our speciality and can decide which guild will we registering individually to get our identification card.”

Hyewon replied.

“Is that so, can everyone tell what class are you in then? Let’s settle this quickly and have some decent rest afterwards.”

Chaeyeon cheerily asked everyone’s class and at the end, they know that 5 of them is warrior, 3 magician, 2 cleric, 1 rogue and 1 merchant.

“Wow, this is quite interesting. What kind of job will we have then?”

Yuri questioned while snuggling to Yena. The latter didn’t make all those skinship and just let Yuri literally clinging with her as she also feel comfortable with the auburn hair girl.

“Generally, maybe we can get 5 front line fighter, 3 long-range attacker, 2 healer and maybe a scout and a seller?”

Eunbi tried her best to understand all those new term and explained it back so that she do not get the wrong idea. Hyewon and Sakura looked into each other's eyes before nodding while smiling at Eunbi, amaze that the raven hair girl manage to understand basic things in this new world.

“Now that we know our individual class already, let’s go and find a job!”

Yujin excitedly tugging Wonyoung with her and she wanted to marched away before abruptly stopped. She turned back and flashed her puppy eyes at Eunbi, Sakura and Hyewon. Those three just raised their eyebrows at Yujin’s action.

“We do not know which direction we need to head. Do we go here or there?”

Yujin pointed the road which lay ahead of them.

“If only we have a map, we can navigate our way quickly.”

Chaeyeon muttered and suddenly she screamed a little. She is surprised as a map appeared on her right hand side with something like markers onto them. There’ s some blue dot surrounding her so she assume that it is all her friends. Looking at how convenient the map is, Chaeyeon feel devastated because she is the only one can make use of it.

“If only I can share this map with everyone.”

Chaeyeon gloomed as she muttered. She kicked the grass before something popping up into her head.

Share map with friends?

“Yes! Certainly!”

Even though she is startled by the voice which almost resemble Sier, she is overjoyed as she can give something useful for her friends. After a few seconds, the 11 girls shocked as they had a map appeared on their right.

“Everyone! Do you have the map? I hope it will help you if we somehow get separated on the way to the nearest village!

Chaeyeon said. Wave of thanks come from her friends which made Chaeyeon satisfied as she can be used to ease their journey.

“Oh my, what do we do without you, Chaeyeon?”

Hyewon hugged her tightly and the others joining in too. However, it is not for long as Eunbi voiced out that they really need to move no or else, they need to camping outside.

“Wait! I have one concern!”

Wonyoung stopped their eagerness to move with her frantic voice.

“What is it, Wonyoung? Are there anything concerning you?”

Eunbi replied, slightly irritated as they already wasting quite some time to familiarize with these new surrounding. She hope that they can quickly settled down in an inn or something before thinking anything further.

“Err, is our attire now is okay with this world? I mean, sure Sier said there’s a lot of adventurer but do this clothes is up to the par with Wizland technology?”

Wonyoung poured out her concern while looking at Eunbi, hoping to get a clearer view from her. Eunbi smacked her own forehead for her carelessness of not thinking thoroughly and thanked Wonyoung to point out this.

“Okay now. What do we do? They will certainly can tell we are not from around here.”

Eunbi asked her two advisor, Sakura and Hyewon as they seemed to be the most knowledgeable for now.

“Oh, silly us. Do we already forget about the item box? Maybe something is already stashed inside it.”

Sakura exclaimed while muttering item box. Soon enough, she can see her list of belongings neatly arranged in a list. She satisfied with this system and taped onto the list.

Lights surrounding her and soon enough, her clothes already changed into some hand-tailored clothes. Even though it’s quality is subpar with their daily clothes, Sakura is satisfied just to have some clothes which can help them to blend in with this world.

“Okay girls. You can see what Sakura do just now right? Just say item box and a list will come out. Tap on it and you will get changed instantly.”

Hyewon explained again to the dumbfounded girls who are still in the middle of adjusting their sense with this world. However, they still following what Hyewon said and soon, all of them already wear some old, wear clothes but still in decent condition.

“Oi, Sier. At least give us some weapon to defend ourselves. You didn’t expect us to fight with bare hand, right?”

Yena complained into the thin air with some hope that Sier will reply.

“Now, now. Sier already give us money. We cannot depend on her too much, okay?”

Yuri smiled while talking to the pouting Yena. The latter scratched her nose and nodded eventually, agree with Yuri.

“Let’s move for real this time. I think the nearest village is called Commencer? What language is that?”

Eunbi again motioned the girl to follow her. The others just shrugged, indicating they also do not know what is the meaning of the world.

“Maybe, just maybe, this is some kind of town of beginning, you know, for new beginner?”

“Just like in the game? But this world is not a game though.”

“That’s why I said maybe. Let’s just head there and we will know it eventually.”

Sakura and Hyewon is in their own world while conversing, leaving Eunbi dropped her jaws, trying to understand every single words from those two.

“Whatever, let’s just go. I am tired already.”

Chaewon broke their silence and dragged both Hitomi and Minjoo with her. They walked off a few steps forward and the rest is following her.

They walked quite far in a matter of tens of minutes steadily. Chaewon grinned as she can see they are getting near to the Commencer Village based on the map. She quickened her pace but is interrupted by a demanding voice.

“Slow down, Chaewon! You are too fast!”

Yena yelled as Yuri is already huffing while trying to keep up with the pack’s pace.

“T-true. Please slow down a bit, Chaewon.”

Minjoo breathing heavily and wiped her sweats with her cuff. Chaewon raised her eyebrows as she feels like she is walking at her normal speed. She glanced at the others and they seemed fine. Even Hitomi is not complaining and Chaewon is utterly confused.

She stopped for a while, giving space for both Minjoo and Yuri to catch their breath and stare at her status board in the meantime. Just then, an idea struck her mind as she realized reasons of some of them is just fine while others is facing difficulties just to keep up.

“Sakura, Hyewon. You said just now AGI affect our speed right? Is it possible that these two’s AGI is lower than the rest of us?”

Chaewon pointed at the two member while explaining her theory. Sakura and Hyewon looked each other and nodded, proving Chaewon’s point.

“Oh my, this will be bad. My AGI is 10. Considering you all are not that tired, maybe your AGI is higher or almost the same as me, right?”

Chaewon said.

“Ugh, if only we can see each other’s stats. Maybe we can matched and planned wisely so that none of us will suffer from exhaustion. How do we do that.”

Eunbi is looking worried as Minjoo and Yuri face is flushing red and their breathing is not stable yet. Yena is looking out for Yuri and Chaewon accompanying Minjoo. Both Yujin and Wonyoung held out some water they get from Hyewon backpack.

“Eunbi! It may be possible! Just now I thought the same thing when the map showed up. If they are willing to share their status, maybe we can see it too!”

Chaeyeon excitedly shared her knowledge, hoping this may ease Eunbi burden from being overthinking about their circle too much. When she see the girl face lights up, it somehow make her happy too.

“Minjoo, Yuri, can you both share your status with us? Don’t worry, we won’t spill it out towards others.”

Eunbi eagerly asked them.

“Eh, no fair! I also want to know others status.”

Yujin whined as soon as she  heard Eunbi’s word.

“Sheesh, Yujin. Don’t make things harder than it is already are.”

Nako reprimand Yujin for her inconsideration during such time. Wonyoung is comforting the pouting Yujin which look so dejected after getting an earful from Nako.

“I… Don’t mind. You are all my friend and I trust you.”

Minjoo said and muttered Share Status. Soon, everyone can see her status board. Chaewon just shaking her head in disbelief upon seeing it.

Minjoo, Lvl 1, Human, Cleric

HP: 25

MP: 50

AGI: 7

STR: 5

INT: 30

Money: 3000 G

“I’m sorry. No wonder you are so tired.”

Chaewon whispered as she shouldered Minjoo’s hea