The two Beta Players reached the depths of the Beginners' Forest and Seth found herself in front of a small waterfall with Kai.

"I didn't know that there were 2 waterfalls in the Beginners' Forest." Seth looked at the clear water, thinking the bigger one.

"We're deep in the forest now. Players don't really waste too much of their time in the first couple of forests and tend to level up and move on quickly to the next mob areas, so they miss out a lot of hidden places. Anyways, this is the place. Follow me."

Kai bowed down, then got inside of the small waterfall. Seth smiled to herself and copied what he just did. It was a small cave, just enough for 3 people, maybe, but it was safe and that was the important thing at that moment. It had some crystals in it that was glowing ice blue and lightening up the cave. It was a beautiful scene.

Both sat down inside of the cave in silence. Couple of minutes passed and it became a bit awkward.
"So," Seth started, "thank you. For everything."
"I told you, I owed you from before. You don't have to thank me.. but.. what are you going to do now? Everyone knows your face and Player ID. You can't go on like this for long."
"Don't worry, I'm an A Rank and I have.."
'Should I tell him? I mean, I kinda know him and did save me back there..'
Instead of continuing her sentence, Seth opened her bag and put out 'The Trick'. It was a turquoise colored, roundy shaped glowing crystal.
"What's this? I've never seen anything like it." Kai asked and got closer to the crystal.
"It's called 'The Trick'. It allows you to recreate your character. Lee KyungJae gave it to me after he exposed my identity." she answered.
"Why expose you if he'd let you change yourself?"
"I mean, not to understand the mad man but he said he just wanted to people know that I, a Mage Knight, exist-"
"-To give them a nightmare in the nightmare world." Kai nodded in agreement.
"Basically."
"Then go on, try it." the black haired taller boy pointed at The Trick.
"Right now?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Okay.." with that, she touched the crystal and it started to glow pink. Suddenly the environment around the two of them turned white. They were back to the customization room.
"Oh.. I'm allowed in here as well." he looked around.
"Seems like I-"
She was about to reply Kai when suddenly couple of settings appeared in front of her; Gender, Height, Weight, Hair, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Skin etc.
Kai came closer to look at the settings;
"Just like when you first login." he mutters to himself. He tried to touch the Class and the Gene Pool as well but those buttons didn't work.
"These two are locked though." he told her. After the girl looked around, she touched the 'Gender' and selected 'Male'. With a quick glow she transformed right in front of the black haired boy.
Seth was looking like a boy who was exactly like the avatar Sethstiel, but a male version of her.
"What are you doing?" Kai asked suspiciously.
"Recreating myself as a male, what's it look like?"
"Wait. Wait, wait. Just.. think about it. You might get stuck with this look until the game is over, assuming it's a one time use crystal."
"It is."
"So you'll also have.. umm." he looked at Seth's crotch area, which made her.. well him, laugh;
"Oh I've seen those before. And to be honest, they're not worth the hype."
Kai blushed a little bit at his comment and coughed while avoiding meeting his eyes.
"Look, I'll be way safer this way." Well that wasn't the truth exactly but how could she find another chance like this for a long time?
"Maybe, but.."
"No 'But's, I've made my decision." she (he) insisted.
"Okay." Kai gave up, "Let's see what can we come up with."
"We?"
"I'll help you with creating a new image."
Seth smiled.
They agreed on making the new avatar look innocent and just a little more attractive than average but Seth wanted to look a little like her real self too so it took some time to recreate him.
In the end she became a 167cm tall boy with platinum blonde hair in a tiny ponytail, his bangs parted to right, shaded with powder pink. His eyes were the same olive green as before and his ears were pierced, he had small black earring on his left ear. He had the same fair skin and slender but still slightly muscular body. He was looking athletic yet cute.
"You, might be my masterpiece on character creating." Kai blinked.
"Of course I am. Your character turned out to be literally you. No creativity whatsoever."
"Cause I don't like spending time on character creation-"
"-Said no one ever."
"But.. you look good. I can't imagine anyone thinking about hurting you, let alone killing you with this look of yours."
"Great. So the only thing left is the Player ID. Easy." she (he) snorted then typed his name as 'Seth', "Done."
A notification popped up in front of them, asking Seth 'Confirm the Character?'. He touched the neon blue 'check' button and with a familiar pink glow the cave got back to normal.
"You still look a bit feminine." Kai stated then continued with a small but a genuine smile, "But I think it suits you the best."
Seth smiled back, then checked the digital clock from his profile. The time was passing as the same speed as the real world but KMO, of course, had its own time-zone. It was 20:47 current in KMO time. Suddenly something came to his mind;
"Kai! Let's add each other as 'Friends'."
The black straight haired boy nodded and sent him a 'Friend Request'. Seth accepted it quickly and grinned;
"I'm Seth by the way. I mean my real name is also Seth. What's yours?"
The question made Kai pause but it was only momentarily.
"Hikaru."he answered.
The platinum blonde smiled brightly;
"Nice to meet you! So.. where're you from? How old are you? What's your Rank? Talk."
Hikaru sighed but smiled;
"I'm from Osaka, Japan. 20 year old university student, majoring Graphic Design. And I'm also an A Rank. Blade Master."
"We're basically neighbors! I'm from Seoul, Korea. Ah! But I'm not Korean. It's just.. me and my mom decided to move in Korea after my parents' divorce." he paused. "It's pretty awesome that our Headsets automatically translate our conversations. If it didn't, I wouldn't understand a word you say." the blonde boy laughed and continued;
"I'm also a 20 year old university student. I'm majoring in Korean Language and Literature but I'm also in an agency and I'm training in dancing and rapping."
Kai raised his eyebrows at Seth's words and asked;
"Really? Are you famous?"
"Pfft! No~ I'm not.. yet."
Both laughed. They talked about lots of stuff until the clock hit 23:21. They both laid down, facing each other and due to the cave's small size, they were lying pretty close.
"Seth?" called Kai.
"Yeah?"
"Are we.. gonna talk about 'it'?"
"It?"
"Our playing styles." the Japanese boy explained.
There was a small silence . Seth knew what he meant. They both were Solo Players in the Beta Test. In Beta, they were in the same guild, yes, but they mostly played solo, without joining any parties. They helped the guild when they were absolutely needed but after that, they went back to being solo. That's how they played the best and their guild paid them quite well because of how good they were.
"I like being a Solo Player." stated Seth finally.
"Yeah, me too. And we've already added each other as Friends so we can always call one another in need."
"Yeah.. So, what're you gonna do tomorrow? Leaving early?" Seth asked, really wanted to change the subject.
  "Probably. I'm going to go back to the city, try to find other Beta Players, check the mood and act depending on the situation. What about you? You don't have to hide since you're not 'Sethstiel' anymore. Just.. make sure you don't use both class skill of yours around the others, don't carry a sword and a staff at the same time. And keep your identity a secret."
"I already know that. You're gonna be the only one who'll know about this, so you don't have to worry about me. Worry about yourself though, people are more dangerous than the monsters in here. And my plan? I think I'll live in here for awhile, I liked the cave. Also.. I know a glitch. I.. didn't report it to the Game Moderators back then."
"You didn't? Why?" Kai asked.
"It was a glitch that being linked to a black area, some kind of a healing area for injured mobs. Not like a city though, they wouldn't heal as fast and all. It was an easy leveling zone. Mobs were easier to kill since they had less than 30% HP in their bars. And you get to get the full XP plus the loots they drop, so you could use or sell them. I accidentally discovered that place while I was running away from a Red Player. And I thought.. If I don't report it, I could use there for later."
"So you cheated on the Beta Test while you were already an S Rank?"
"I didn't use there for XP. I was already strong enough by the time I found the glitch. But yeah, I've used the loots for gold." the blonde explained.
He had cheated. He had cheated to win the game and got away with it. He had stole Kai's victory since.. he got the 2nd place at the end of the Beta Test.

To Be Continued~