Open Finished Do data beings dream of digital SHEEPs?

Among deadly and usual weapons... There were those that were simply tools of gardening or farming, or those that were not even weapons unless one wanted to break them to give someone a migraine or a bruise. And browsing them, Sym began making choices and purchases. Given their budget, they could afford weapons they couldn't use due to their class, however...

"Here you go. I gave you a wooden flute, it can rarely Charm enemies and make them act oddly in battle. I think it works like a more player-friendly Confuse. As for me, got a Crystal Wand, empowers magic spells but isn't very useful as a weapon itself.", Symlink explained.

"We are a team, so we should look after one another, right?", he smiled, an emote appearing above his head in a small speech bubble, and while he led Rhys around the village to go buy some healing potions and MP restoring items, he made a clear answer: "Potions, mostly. This is the first town, there isn't much to buy here."

And what of Rhys' attempt at playing their flute? As the Bard class had its effect, it was as if they innately had skills to play any instrument. It was certain this would last inside this dream world, but how long would Sym remain asleep, and Rhys within his dream?

In the reality, Neon has awakened... And was quick to notice some items have spawned around...

It was not long, until they were finally done within the town and roaming the fields outside. As in a game, the world out there made it seem like they dwarfed the town and even the castle, while in truth they would "shrink" the moment they tried to "step" on one of them. There was so much of the world in the distance, but anyone genre-savvy enough knew it wouldn't take long to literally walk around the globe within a 2D game.

But about six steps in, the surroundings flickered... And monsters appeared. Just four slimes, with the typical smile as seems in games like DQ. A message box with four options appeared in front of Symlink: Fight, Tactic, Formation, Run. Of course, he picked fight, and in the next four options (Attack, Defend, Skill, Item) he chose Skill and the magic "Spark". Then soon the four boxes appeared for Rhys, but with a difference in terms of Skill:
Cheer - Cheer on the party to increase their damage for one turn.
Vigor - Relaxing melody that increases the party's HP.
March - Enemies may hesitate to attack.

Rhys' cheering was the first action to go through, with a prompt announcing "Rhys cheered vigorously for Symlink. Symlink's power increased for the next action.". However the next action was of the Slimes: The first one attacked Symlink, leaving his HP at halfway; the second attacked Rhys but caused less damage that Symlink took; the third one tried to attack Rhys but missed; the fourth one... Did nothing at all but "Slime D wiggles in place"

Then Symlink finally has cast his spell, a fireball bigger than its target headed towards one of the Slimes and... CRITICAL HIT! The explosion of fire sent the slime back, before it flickered off existence with the prompt "Slime B has fallen unconscious."

Next turn Symlink took a brief time to think and chose to Defend, before advising Rhys: "Vigor seems like a good idea. March may intimidate them enough to make them not attack us. If I take two hits from them, I'm down."

Slime A tried to attack Symlink, but missed. Slime C seemingly got bored and high tailed out. But... Slime D simply wiggled in place again. That seemed to concern Sym a little, specially because this was the first time one of them repeated the same action just like that. But after their song of Vigor brought his health back up, Sym chose an unorthodox approach that defied what little logic his dream had.

"Excuse me... Aren't you supposed to attack?", he talked to Slime D. Surprisingly, the monster responded: "Oh, me? I'm thinking about this thing I found earlier. Want to see it?". With a quizzical look, Sym responded "Yes?". And what it brought up was... A portable gaming device, like the one Rhys used to get in here.

"Isn't this the coolest?", the slime asked, wiggling with excitement.