The expanse of the white and mellow yellow city with gardens, terraces and red, blue and yellow rooftops expanded into the blue horizon next to Max's left who sat with Manuel, drinking tea in a teahouse below their hotel.
Thomas and Eliyah always slept through most of the morning so it was always usually the two of them when the day was young.
You could see people walking in the Lower City whose streets were clean and decorated with trees, bushes and tall alien plants of blue, purple and red colors planted next to city walkways.
It was the most populated city in the world but there was a cleanliness to it. Trash and such was always disposed of properly, but Max didn't really look into how and where. Max looked on for half a minute, contemplating what happened in the last few days.
"Sometimes, I think that you're moving too fast," said Manuel.
"What do you mean?
Manuel sipped his tea and put it down. "Like, you went from winning a fight against an Awakened, embarassing a top player and then you became a Cloud Knight. How can I even hope to catch up to you?"
Max was silent.
"It's not that I'm jealous or anything. I just want to be a friend you can depend on. You know, not worrying too much about my safety in fights and out there in the world. Or worlds I should say, when we go up."
Max smiled. "I appreciate you Manuel. You and those two sleepers. I couldn't ask for a better squad."
"Thanks man."
"I've been thinking about our game plan when reaching the second floor. What do you think, what should we do, how long should we remain there? I'm a little afraid," Max said with a fake smile.
Manuel cleared his throat. "You know, I don't like planning that much, I think our best trait is adaptation, not planning. Especially you, Max. We'll see when we get there, but we definitely shouldn't rush things too fast up there."
Max nodded. "I don't know, I got this surge of...life, I don't know how to explain it. I kind of want to catch up now, you know? Help out those players up there, clear the game and all that."
"That's definitely a change. I get you, though. I'm still not even Awakened though. That's what I hate. I wanna be able to support you more."
"I know, but we'll all be Awakened soon enough. Up there on the second floor, we should find more people to fight with. So one of us doesn't die. That's what I'm most afraid of."
Manuel nodded as he sipped his tea. The morning air outside was refreshing.
"I wanna stop crying, feeling sorry for myself. I miss my wife and family so much, but I'm destroying myself mentally thinking about them. Sleeping with women doesn't help, makes me feel guilty as shit. I don't know what to do."
Manuel looked at Max.
"You know, I also had that problem, but I realized attachment can be pure pain. I want to reunite with my girl, mom, dad, sister, but thinking about them is not gonna change anything. I immersed myself in this world, started adventuring for that reason. I'm sure it's the same for you. Live a little, don't feel guilty. You'll see them again, but who knows how long we'll be here."
"Thanks," said Max as he sighed. "But if I immerse myself too much, I might just get happy and content with being an Imperial knight here."
"Maybe. Are you the first player knight? Did it tell you?"
"Yep, got bonus EXP for that, leveled me up."
Manuel shook his head with a smile.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got a new ability. It's Epic," Max said with his index finger pointed up.
Manuel leaned in, curious.
"It's called Darting Zap, basically when I dodge a melee attack, the enemy gets zapped with a lightning strike."
"Ooh, so the strategy is to get into close combat in the tournament? That whip of yours is long range."
"I guess so. I got two secret weapons now. The whip and the zap. I should probably fare well."
They both sipped their tea.
"The prince told me that I'll start my official duties sometime after the tournament."
"That kind of job won't give much EXP, probably."
"Yeah, I'll...we should go to the next floor afterwards. Well, after I stop by Ring Village."
Manuel nodded.
"A floor comprised of shallow seas and many islands, as that girl had said. Sounds pretty nice," the spear knight added.
"Yep, but I'm worried about the kind of monsters we'll face. That Puppeteer boss that Highper killed was...horrific," Max said.
"I saw the replay. The way it possessed players, the underwater fight where it wrapped the players with its long white petals. They couldn't do anything against it. I don't know how that top player managed to clutch that."
"He's second-ranked for a reason," Max replied. "That thunder fucker was already god-like. I can't imagine what the others can do."
Max yawned and stretched in his chair.
"We should probably encounter more players on the next floor," said the spear knight. "Let's group up with more players, maybe make something like a guild?"
"Sure, but we'll have to be careful. We can't trust everyone easily."
The two of them finished drinking their teas minutes later. Manuel broke the silence.
"I'm sorry we couldn't do anything. You know, in the arena. A girl saved you, instead of us."
Max waved his hand. "Don't. If you had been between me and him, instead of his sister, both of us would've been dead. You did the best thing you could."
Manuel smiled slightly. "Thanks Max. Somehow, with you, I feel like we can do anything. The four of us. "
Max grinned. "Well, we've got so much ahead of us. I can't even imagine what's waiting for us up there."