Veran, The Ranger's Story

(Edit: Sorry put it in the wrong place)

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Veran rolled out of the way of the charging boar as it barreled towards him, before pulling another arrow out of his quiver and firing it at the boar as it swung around to face him again. It caught it in his flank, but nowhere near anything vital nor did it hit anything that would impair its movements. It just made it angrier, though it definitely got hurt. Along with the two other arrows that stuck out of its body, he'd need to place another two arrows to kill it. Or get lucky with a critical hit and finish it that way. He managed to put another arrow in his hand before needing to dodge the boar's charge again. It got close enough that Veran could have patted it on the back for a good attempt.

Wonder if stabbing it with an arrow by hand would do anything? Veran's player thought before shooting the arrow into the boar's back. It connected, leaving the boar with only 13/90 hitpoints. One more arrow would have killed it, so Veran nocked another arrow into his bow, and aimed it at the boar's head. In real life, it would have penetrated its skull and bury itself into its brain. In the world of Virtual Reality, it would deplete its health bar and let it shatter into a few million crystals. Or fade. Or whatever mechanism that it used to despawn destroyed objects. With that knowledge in mind, he let go of the bowstring to let loose the killing blow.

At least, it would have had the world not grind to a halt, the arrow half way between the now frozen boar and the now frozen Veran.

Odd. Veran's player thought. He had a very good connection, fast enough to ensure no disconnects would happen, or any latency occur at all. Yet here, the tell tale signs of the VR failing to feed any data into his brain, was still happening. It stayed like this for five whole seconds. He'd counted them. Then a brown and green window popped up in front of him, his theme changed from the standard red. More suitable for a Ranger like him.

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He stayed frozen for the next 10 seconds, but at the start of the last five, his game finally started to play out, and the arrow burrowed into the boar's head, leaving only a few centimeters sticking out. Veran smiled as it toppled over and slid to a half at his feet. At the last three, the boar's corpse shattered into a few million crystals. At the last one, a notification floated over where it was originally.

+ 10 EXP

Then his wold went white.

Five minutes later

Veran sat down on one of the benches that was around the town square and processed the information that he got from the game's goddess Nantos. He'd selected her to be his patroness, it fit with the theme after all. He was trapped in this world, he could not die besides being killed by any of the main story arc bosses, and he had to win the game to get out.

Seemed to him like it the storyline out of some anime or movie.

Still, it seemed true enough. He had checked and there was no log out button, but everything else was there. He preferred not to think about the mechanics of how they would keep them in there if the headgear was taken off, but living with his family, he hoped that they would not try to test the company's words, no doubt being broadcasted on all news channels and being written about as the players started to play through the game. Like he would do in due course. For now, he would hang around the area for a few more minutes, maybe someone might approach him, before he would go to pick up a few quests to run.

For now though, he just sat on the bench, leaning back and enjoying the feeling of the breeze flowing through the square.

Level: 1EXP: 0/42

Thoughts Color #F660AB Dialogue Color #B93B8F

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The disembodiment she felt when creating her character subsided, and Kissa heard the soft pat of her boots hitting the pavement. Within seconds of appearing, the new surroundings had bombarded her senses. Distant conversations of random players sounded much too close. The warm sun sent burning rays at her cool pale flesh, making her cringe at the heat. The ears on top of her head twitched, swiveled, then folded down, trying to block some of the various sounds out. It was overwhelming at first. The music that had played while she had been creating the character was pleasant and soft. Here in the city though, everything was too loud, since her heightened hearing didn’t kick in until she had arrived.

Her ears twitched again and she found this the oddest sensation she had ever experienced. Subconsciously, her hand went up to touch one of the neko ears, but she refrained from touching them. Instead, she tried to control them. At first this seemed impossible, but she remembered reading on the forums that if you envisioned your muscles, it made movement easier. Of coarse, in the real world she didn’t have neko ears or muscles to control them, but still, she envisioned them. Folding them was the hardest thing to do, and would be something she would have to work on controlling. However, she had moved them decent enough to feel like she had accomplished something.
Her lips curled into a small grin as relished in the prospects the game held for her. The limitations of her other life did not exist here. She was someone new, different, and no one knew her. A different person, not held down by the stigmas she had in the real world. The new life she had been planning for months, was finally a reality.

A passerby bumped into her, interrupting her thoughts and knocking her off balance momentarily. The grace she had in her movement was instinct for the character, and she found herself a few feet away with her fists at the ready. “Whoa, sorry about that. I’m still getting used to the new body.” The guy laughed before stumbling off.
Kissa assessed her muscles in astonishment. She knew the character’s race would make her quick but it was still mind blowing that she was too. Her legs had power and speed, more then she had ever had before. A few more players almost ran into he as she stood there assessing herself, reminding her she should have a look around.

The city was magnificent and booming with life. Characters of all races and classes could be found in every corner of the city. She glanced in the direction of several groups having conversations. She didn’t mean to listen to them, but with such keep hearing, it was hard to ignore. While entering an open area, a gentle breeze tousled her long pink hair. On her neck, she could feel small beads of sweat pooling due to the heat and the thickness of her hair. Though she liked the way her long hair looked, she wished she had chosen short hair as it would have been cooler. The fringe on the short cut off pants tickled her legs as she walked. It was amazing how realistic the game truly was. Every one of her senses were active. As she passed a player making potions, she nearly gagged at the stench. Maybe everything was a little too real.

As she continued sightseeing, she started to recognize a few of the buildings from screenshots found on the forums. she was in the second ring, social district. It seemed this was already a popular area, with more people than the last. Her ears swiveled in different directions as she picked up on other’s conversations. That was starting to get annoying. Her pace quickened as she longed for a quieter place. Shadows cast from signs made her eyes constrict at the abrupt light when she passed them. Her senses were becoming too overwhelmed, but she fought the urge to run. I just need to control it. That was a lot easier said then done.

Trying to escape the noise, she forced herself to try and focus on something else. She focused on the patter of her feet as she walked. After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering, Kissa decided to find the center of the city. It took a few tries to access the menu, but she opened the map. The wrinkled parchment landed softly in her hands. The center of a town normally had events, which could mean special quests and rare items, so that is where she wanted to go. She found she was on the right side of the second ring, so she needed to go left in order to reach the Heart. It didn’t look very far, so there was no need to run.

As she headed towards the heart though, the ambient sounds of the city weren’t as prominent. Several people she passed looked frozen, as if lagging hardcore. It made her appreciate all those months she had saved to upgrade her system. However, the further she ventured, it seemed like more players were having problems. This too had a rational explanation. It’s probably just the server is overloaded. I bet they didn’t anticipate this many people logging in at once. In spite of this logic, she couldn’t shake the creepy feeling that was washing over her. A few players vanished in pixelated bursts, just before she passed them. This fueled the eerie feeling building inside her.

Her pace quickened until she was slammed with a pain in her stomach. The suddenness of it made her knees buckle and she found herself kneeling in the dirt of the street. She instantly felt sick and thought she might throw up, but it was gone as soon as it had it had appeared. Was it a glitch or some kind of warning for the server being overloaded? Why would they make a player feel sick and collapse to warn about servers?

Closing her eyes, she took deep calming breaths, though it felt like she wasn’t getting enough oxygen. She took deeper breaths, but it didn’t help. Opening her eyes she gasped at the site of the ground. There were several jagged lines of static that looked as if it had been slashed open by a huge weapon. Instincts told her to move, however she found it impossible. The muscles she once had full control over were now unresponsive.
“No! Not again! Not here!” Her desperate screams echoed in the silence around her. It was impossible to control the panic flooding her. Every attempt to control her body, failed. Tears rolled down her cheeks, bursting in pixelated crystals halfway down to the ground. This was even more troubling then not being able to move. The system was still working. She could feel the warmth of the tears as they fell. “Oh gods no. Don’t let it happen here. This was supposed to be a new life.”

In silence she sobbed for what seemed like an eternity until a small chime ringed in her ear. Her ears twitched and her arms gave out, letting her fall face first into the dirty street. Trembling, she wiped under her eyes and pushed herself up, in time to see the message that had made the sound. There was only one second left when she had finished reading the message.

=Event Announcement=
You will be transported to the Heart of Faclarebal in 15 seconds.

Within seconds, she arrived at the Heart. Her eyes darted around at the other players who had received the message too. For the first time, she appreciated her acute hearing. Slowly, she tried to move into the center of the crowd, listening as she went. Unfortunately, no one else knew what was going on either. There was a burst of light, causing her to wince slightly, before turning her attention in the direction it came from.

“Children of Ait Naofa.” Floating above the crowd, Kissa saw the source of the light. Her eyes went wide and she knelt on one knee, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Despite the feeling she should show respect and not look directly at the goddess, Kissa couldn’t help but to glance up in time to see a few tears fall from her emerald eyes. She felt an overwhelming sadness that nearly brought tears to her eyes too.

“My dears, I hate to call upon you, however we are in need. Ait Naofa has been attacked and the mother to you all, has been taken from us. Those of us left in Ait Naofa are struggling to hold back the evil. It is time for you to put aside differences and help us. You chosen few have been bound to this system.”
It took a moment for Nantos’ words to sink in. The mother to all, including Daertalmos itself, was Airmid. How could anyone capture Airmid? She is one of the highest goddesses in Ait Naofa! And bound? As in, we can’t log out? The question was answered before Nantos could explain, when she noticed a player beside her opening her menu and finding the logout option had been removed. Furious cries from behind her made Kissa step forward, hoping she did not miss what the goddess might tell them next.

“If you die here, you will be brought back and sent to a safe location. You will feel the pain of this death, but will not die. I have activated the headgear so that even if removed, your conscious will stay here. The only exception to this is those of you who face Vyrlo and his monsters. Somehow, he has modified the system and can kill you, along with your real body.”
“Vyrlo?” Kissa gasped, remembering all the lore she had been reading up on. He truly was a terror, and not one she ever wished to face even if it was just a game.

“My time is running out and I must leave you. Other from Ait Naofa will try to help those who are willing to assist us.”
A breath hitched in Kissa’s chest. This was serious and no longer a just an escape from reality. This now was reality. She took a step forward without realizing it, hoping to get closer to the goddess. However, she froze at the immense panic that washed over Nantos. Something was wrong, very wrong. The goddess was not acting like herself. In lore, Nantos was a calm woman who never lost her composure. Yet, this woman looked as if she had never been composed. There was a ripple of static in the goddess image as she turned to face the crowd again.
“We are under attack! Children of Ait Naofa, please help us!”

Kissa lost all other thoughts as she ran closer to the goddess, just as she dissipated. Despite the fact she was gone, Kissa continued until she stood under where Nantos had been. “Please come back!” Shallow tears that had been swelling finally rolled down her cheeks.
The noise of the rioting crowd pulled her from her thoughts. There was widespread consternation and discord throughout most of the people. Kissa, however, did not feel the same trepidation. Her mind had trouble grasping the seriousness of it all, which could be why she felt a different fear. She feared not being able to help. The fact she could not return to her other life had little effect on her. Contrary to nearly everyone else, she was actually a little glad.

With the back of her hand, she wiped under her eyes. I am Kissa of the Fel Forest. The simple thought made her smile. It was time to leave the Heart. Despite the absolute fear of ever encountering Vyrlo, Kissa was compelled to at least do something. For now, that would be leveling up her character.

She made her way to the edge of the Heart where there were less people and benches lined along the sides. It took a few tries to open the menu before she was able to look at her equipment. Everything was really basic and low grade. She only had one rune to add to her armour, which wasn’t much. The ’armour’ she had was a mix of cloth and light leather. It would need to be upgraded, soon. She equipped everything she had before gazing down at her weapon. On her hands were leather gloves with short bronze spikes. They weren’t intimidating at all. With a sigh, she pushed this out of her mind. Just something else to add to her to-do list.

Finally, she turned and looked around. Almost everyone was still in an uproar, but she found a few people who were rather calm about their new situation. A few benches from the one she stood in front of, looked to be a hunter, enjoying the breeze. Human hunters usually didn’t associate with Caith Duine in a friendly way. At least the ones in the forum didn’t.
Her gaze moved from the benches to the characters still standing around. Most were crying, moaning, and complaining about the things she would miss in real life. Kissa nearly snickered at a few of the things. Yet, she noticed a few players trying to form groups. Upon listening in, she realized they were actually recruiting to form guilds or gangs. This was something she wished to stay away from.

It didn't take long to lose interest in finding players in that area. She figured most of them would stay in the safety of the town. With no one of real interest in the area, it was time to leave and head towards the outer rings.

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After a few more minutes of sitting on the bench, Veran decided that the time for doing nothing was over, and he got up to head towards the NPC called the Old Hunter, who gave out class quest to Hunters as part of the Hunter's guild. As he approached, the Old Hunter looked up.

"Ah, Veran, I was looking for you." the Old Hunter said in a fairly deep but raspy voice.

"Yes? Do you need something from me?" Veran said, his voice otherwise unheard among the havoc happening not too far from him.

"Well, I actually do. You know about the problems our less skilled hunters are having with the forests since the monsters have appeared? I'm sending our best Hunters out to deal with them, and you're one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of training. So will you go and help the guild and go thin some of the monsters out? You need to kill about five of these Slimes, and two of these Boarorcs for it to be any help."

"I'll do it."

"Thank you, Veran. I'll see to it that I can reward you somehow when you get back."[/color]

Veran nodded and moved away, opening up the quest screen in the process and re-reading it before heading to the weapon's shop to upgrade.

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Five Minutes Later

The bell rung as he entered the store, and Fergus was just stepping around the doorway behind the counter.

"Eh? Oh a customer! 'elcome to me shop. How can I help 'ou?"

Veran looked around for a bit before spotting two bows. As he looked, a screen came up over them, listing their name and price.

Slack Bow, 168 Silver
Bronze Bow, 231 Silver

He motioned over at the Bronze Bow.

"Ah, a fine choice that one. Only 231 Silver too, a good price."

A confirmation of purchase screen came up and was promptly confirmed.

"Well, if that is all, I'll be getting back to the forge." Fergus said as Veran left the store without saying a single word.

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Fifteen Minutes Later

Veran barely rolled out of the way of the charging Boreorc, being careful not to get in the path of the second one as it too charged in the other direction. They had the turn speed of a snail, but damn could they chrage.

In his hands was the Bronze Bow. He had already finished killing the five Slimes he needed to kill, so now he had leveled up to level 4, and he put his STR to 16 with nine of the nine skill points he received. He dealt enough damage to kill the Boreorcs in three hits, and that was a third of the way done because each had an arrow sticking out of their chests, but they didn't hit anything vital, being stopped at the bone. He'd misjudged the placement of the ribs, so instead of piercing their lungs or hearts it thudded into bone.

He'd been playing at this game for the last minute or so, dodging or rolling out of the way, aiming but canceling before needing to roll out of the way of another charge. At this point, it was a stalemate and would go to the one with more stamina. Both sides had wounds to show for it. The Boreorcs, had the arrows in their chest while Veran had a glowing red hole in his side. It was the first charge he had attempted to dodge, but he got blindsided by the other Boreorc and got dealt 22 damage, including his reduction and was now down to 110/132 HP, though it didn't hit anything vital, it still hurt like nothing else he'd experienced before. For now, he was trying to keep out of their grasp to come up with a plan to stop one. Which was when he noticed one shaking their head after slamming tree behind him. He smiled. The plan was made, and it was time to kill.

He again, stood in front of one tree, and waited for one of the Boreorcs to charge at him. This time, he rolled out of the way but stayed close lining up two point blank shots. One for the heart and one for the skull. He fire the two shots in quick succession, killing the Boreorc before it could recover. A moment of celebration was needed, and Veran took that moment to smile. It was that moment that Veran forgot about the other Boreorc.

It charged, and would have impaled Veran on its spear had it not been for his reflexes where he narrowly moved out of the way of the deadly blade, but he still got a shallow cut across his chest for his troubled, lowering him again by 22, leaving him at 88/132. It did not end there, for the Boreorc then backhanded him in the same charge, sending him flying due to the beast's Strength. Though it only did 11 damage, the environmental damage of him slamming into a tree served to be an equal amount of damage as to getting hit by the spear, leaving him at 66/132 HP. Coughing up a bit of blood, he knew he might have fractured a rib from the impact. Not enough to impair his abilities, but enough to slow him down. So when the Boreorc slammed into a tree that was next to the tree he stood by, he knew that was his only chance to get a breather. He didn't want to risk pulling out a health potion and drink it in case the Boreorc recovered quickly and charged him again, so for the moment, he stood up to steady himself, which is when he heard the roar of another Boreorc in the clearing. A uninjured, fully rested, fresh, Boreorc.

Veran cursed his luck. He had another to deal with.

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Level: 4EXP: 157/272 Thoughts Color #F660AB Dialogue Color #B93B8F

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Kissa stood in front of the Knight NPC huffing. It was hard to believe that after only 9 slimes she was worn out and ready to go to an inn. However, she had only reached level 4 and, as she gazed at the NPC, was sure she wouldn’t get enough exp to level up. This is exhausting. I can’t believe how much of that I felt. On top of that, I can’t believe they made a game where your equipment hurts! The boots weren’t tight, however they were irritating her feet. She was sure if she wore them in reality, her feet would have blisters. She sighed, pushing the pain to the side for moment. Though she was still recovering, it was time to turn in her quest.

“Oh it’s you! How did you fair against those slimes? Were you able to collect the stolen supplies?”

A small message type box opened, revealing Kissa’s puny inventory bags. The supplies she had collected for the knight had taken up the rest of her bag space, not that there was anything else she could have filled it with.

“Yeah, I got ’em.” She growled, clicking each box of supplies, until she had given him all of them.

“Oh thank you! You really saved my neck. It’s not much, but here is something for my appreciation.”
Another small window appeared, displaying the rewards for her trouble.

-Quest Complete-

139 EXP gained2 Silver

Her eyes lowered to examine it. Was this some kind of joke? Killing the slimes gave more exp than the stupid quest! She didn’t even get an item? 2 Silver? That was pathetic. Her fist clenched as the window faded and she heard the small chime, indicating she had leveled up. Taking a deep calming breath, she decided to ignore the ’reward’. Maybe later in the game, it would be better. This was only the first quest after all. Glancing to the knight, who looked apprehensive about asking for another favor, she decided to move on to the next quest. After all, it was still too early to head back to town.

“What is it knight?” She sighed, prompting him to give her the next ridiculous mission.

“Well, I hate to trouble you again-” Kissa scoffed and forced her best friendly smile, despite envisioning herself punching the lame knight. “I was hoping you could kill 4 Boreorcs for me. I am supposed to do it myself, but I can’t leave my post and since the attack. The Captain is keeping all the good weapons for front line soldiers, so I am not even equipped for such a mission!. I will make it worth your while, this time. I found a nice rune the other day, and I’ll give it to you. Oh please, wont you help me? My captain is threatening to demote me again!”

Kissa bit back bitter words as she considered what type of rune she might be given. Even if it was low level, nearly anything would be of help at this point. Rolling her eyes, she nodded, accepting the quest and disregarding her better judgement.

“Oh wonderful! Just bring back the spear of each one you kill. That will also help us with weapons!” The knight cheered as she walked away, back towards the inner field. Before she got too close to the area where the Boreorcs were, she opened her inventory and character windows. As a starter package, she had received four Novice’s Health and Mana potions and one starter Agility Rune for armour. While battling the slimes, she had used all the potions she gained from battle, plus one of the Novice Health potions. That left her with only 3 Novice Health Potions in her inventory. Maybe trying to tank the Boreorcs, like she had done the slimes, wasn’t the best idea, since her character class was far from being a tank. She decided to equip the rune to her tattered boots. Though she doubted it would make them more comfortable, it would at least do something for her stats. She then assessed her stats. Moments ago her ribs, legs, and hands still hurt from the battle with the slimes.

But now, her health had been completely restored during the amount of time that had passed, since there wasn’t much to restore in the first place. She had been chugging every potion a slime dropped, as soon as she could. Now, the pain was subtle and felt like bruises that had almost completely healed. Of coarse, other than her feet. Turns out, armour was pretty damn uncomfortable when it was ripped and tattered like hers. With that in mind, she hoped to collect enough money to buy some at least decent gear. Pushing the strands of pink hair off her shoulders, she got ready to rush one of the Boreorcs. Just as she took a step,her attention was shifted at the sight of a player soaring across the field after an attack. The Boreorc swiftly followed, though missed his mark and hit the tree next to where the player had fallen.For a moment, she was stunned and perplexed. In normal MMOs it was rude to attack someone else’s monster, however he might be in need. She hastily glanced at his health. 66/132 HP Just as she managed to catch a glimpse of it, another Boreorc gave a battle cry in the distance. This wasn’t good. Even if she could kill the one he had damaged, if there was a horde, there was no way they could win without some teamwork. Then again, there was no time to invite him to a party. The Boreorc who had been attacking him was getting close to finding him again. Briskly, Kissa rushed the injured monster to at least distract it. “I’ll distract him, you heal yourself!” With that, she launched her assault on the monster. Jumping into the air for momentum and extra force, she slammed her fist into the back of the Boreorc’s skull as she came back down with all her might. It wouldn’t kill it, but attacking from behind would give her an advantage for a moment, due to how slow the creature turned.

Veran stood there for a moment, contemplating how much dying was going to hurt, but then something unexpected happened. Another player had jumped in, and gave a pretty hefty punch onto the new Boreorc's head. With that, and he encouragement, he took out one of his novice health potions and chugged it as fast as he could. A few moments after downing the entire contents of one, which tasted fairly sweet, almost like a mixture of honey and milk, and he felt himself mending. He felt his bones start to knit back together, and the hole in his side was starting to close up, the glowing red hole slowly growing smaller and smaller, until it was gone. His health read 132/132. He smiled and shouted towards the new player.

"Thanks!"

Before promptly drawing his bow again and rolling out of the way of the Boreorc that had hit him, letting his slam against the tree again, leaving it stunned, and firing another two shots at it, killing it, his shots penetrating the heart and forehead once again.

Well, thats my quest done. I don't think it be good if I left this girl alone though.

He turned to look at what she was doing.

The Boreorc turned and caught sight of its attacker, but she jumped back. Swiftly, she glanced over to see the player downing a potion. Good. Now that he is healed, I don't have to worry about him. Her attention was shifted back to the Boreorc. If he charged, she would be able to side-step him. There were plenty of solid trees for the monster to run into, and it looked like they weren't the most graceful of monsters.

With her knees bent, she watched as the Boreorc got ready to rush her, just as she planned. It was time to see what she could do. The monster charged with its spear ready to impale the small Caith. As soon as the monster was within attacking distance, she launched her fist into the side of it's head, knocking it off balance and causing it to fall to the ground. Her confidence was growing and she felt unstoppable, until she tried to draw a breath. The gash in her side was deeper than she had realized. The sensation of pain radiated all the way down her left side and nearly made her knees buckle. When she had been attacked by the slimes, it hurt, but this pain was on a whole new level.

The realization that she had not been breathing hit, and she gasped in an agonizing scream. Her hands clutched the gaping wound just above her hip. Panic seeped into her thoughts. Her eyes locked onto the hefty Boreorc who rolled in the grass trying to get up. It would take him another moment to get up, hopefully. Her hands shook as she tried to bring up her inventory. After a few tries, she managed to open it before snatching a potion. Her health bar wasn't too far down, but it felt as if the Boreorc had landed a critical hit. Her movement was paused by the decision she could not make. The Boreorc was getting closer to getting to his feet, or at least, he was no longer rolling from side to side. Kissa took steady deep breaths before she made a decision. Rushing, she stepped beside the Boreorc's head and kicked it as hard as she could with her right foot. It was surprising to see it had done damage, nearly half of what her fist normally did. A vicious smile spread across her face as she began kicking the creature several times. His HP was getting low, but rolled away from her and finally got to its feet. Kissa brought her fist up, disregarded the throbbing pain in her side, and prepared to attack the Boreorc ones more. One hit should do it...Maybe two. She told herself as she bent her knees and prepared to dodge an attack.

During this entire procession, Veran was keeping track of all that was happening, trying to find an opprotuinty to help in as well as recovering his SP by regenerating it. The moment when the Boreorc backed off again after taking quite the beating from the dimunitive Caith Duine was the point where Veran launched an arrow, which lodged itself in the front of its throat, burrying into the fleshy neck, severing its spinal cord, dealing critical damage and killing it instantly. It fell forward, dropping its spear and flopping face first onto the ground before shattering into crystals and dispersing. Veran slung his bow back over his shoulder and jogged over.

"Thank you, Kissa." The name of the avatar popped up as Veran got closer."I'm not sure if I could have dealt with both of the Boreorcs if I was still injured."

When the arrow soared passed Kissa, she jerked her head in the direction it had come from. She had not expected the player to stay, and had forgotten about him after he had taken a potion. However, she was now greatful to him as well. With the Boreorc defeated and pixalized, she pulled out the potion she had held before. In a small way, she still did not want to take it. She didn't have too many left, and felt that if she were to venture into town, she might not come back until the next day. Despite this, she knew she wouldn't be able to stand the pain much longer, even if it did slowly heal over time. Her neko ears folded as she took a large swig from the small bottle. The crimson liquid wasn't bad, but not good either. It had a flavor she couldn't place. With the numbing effects of the potion kicking in, she decided to reply to the player, who had obviously looked at her player-card. "Thank you as well. I guess I bit off a little more than I can chew." She paused for a moment, resisting the urge to introduce herself. It seemed a bit pointless, since he already knew her name. Then again, it wasn't a greeting through which he obtained the information. 'Yes, I am Kissa of the Fel Forest. It is a pleasure to meet you-" Her head tilted to the side as she waited for him to introduce himself. Even if she could look at his player-card, she felt it was simply polite, given the current circumstances.

Veran raised an eyebrow at her inclination, but he played along.

"Veran. It is a pleasure to meet you two, Kissa of the Fel Forest."

Veran thought for a moment.

"What brings you out here into these parts of the woods?"

She smiled softly, bowing her head when he finally introduced himself. At his question, she scoffed, pointing her thumb behind them, towards the city. "Damn Lame Knight can't do his job. He said if I collect 5 spears from these Boreorcs, he will give me a really nice rune." She shrugged her shoulders before looking down."Though, I didn't know they would be this difficult." In a way, she envied the hunter, simply for his class choice. Had she known she would be stuck in the game, she would have gone with a class she was familiar with and comfortable in using. Knuckler was a fluke choice that was chosen simply because she had never played a fighter before.
A thought crossed her mind as she gazed down at the soft grass. Her eyes lit up as she smiled at him, a broad coy smile. "Heyyy, you are a hunter. Maybe you could help me out? I don't have anything to give you, but I'll owe you one. I'll even befriend you, so you can call on me when you need. Come on, what'd ya say?"

Veran pondered her request. He thought about the merits of helping the player that helped him out. An eye for an eye, though, in a more positive way.

"Sure. Why not. He said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Great! Thanks!" She cheered, literally jumping with joy. Opening the menu attached to his player-card, she sent a friend request. "I only need to collect 5 spears, so it shouldn't be too hard for the both of us. I am a close up fighter, and you are ranged. We will be a great team!" She stated, though it was more to herself than him. She was sure he knew about the different classes, at least a little. He looked to be skilled, even though his level wasn't high. It made her regret her decision a bit more, but she forced it to the back of her mind. There was no changing it now, and no point dwelling on it.

Veran nodded, and opened his menu and accepted her friend request, and sent her a party request.

"Might as well right? At least we both get some experience and copper from the Boreorcs when we kill one."

Then the Drop screen finally appeared in front of him.



A soft glow encompassed Veran's body as he leveled up two more times. He looked at the numbers on his experience bar and saw they read 166/782.

Damn that scales pretty hard. he thought as he assigned his six stat points.

VIT 11 -> 12
ENG 10 -> 11
AGI 13 -> 14
END 11 -> 13
DEX 15 -> 16

The Vitality upgrade brought his health to 180, his Energy upgrade his SP to 120 and his Endurance allowing him to equip D- Rank armors.

Kissa accepted the party invite while bouncing on her toes. Her feet were still aching, but the excitement of parting up again flooded her. She watched Veran for signs that he was ready and noticed him adjusting something in his character menus. Tiptoeing over, she glanced at he window in front of him. It was stats. She had forgotten all about the stats, since most of the other games she played did them automatically."Oh jeez! I forgot all about that!" Her cheeks flushed a light pink in embarrassment. Quickly, she opened her own character menu and gazed at the numbers and stats. She had 9 points to distribute, and only one idea of where some should go. Hmmm, I know I need to add to agility. Maybe work on vitality and strength too? It would be nice to pack a harder punch to these things. With her mind made up, she distributed the points evenly between the three choices. When she selected apply, she noticed her HP bar had increased to 130 HP. It wasn't much, but ever little bit would count in the battlefield. Her physical attack had gone up to 48, which was a little disappointing. However, she was sure that a better weapon would help with that.

Closing the menus she gave a sheepish smile, almost apologizing for taking the extra time to work on something she knew she should have done before now.

Veran nodded, before starting off into the forest, with Kissa following behind him.

Ten minutes later

It was then, that she noticed a noise in the bushes, her ears twitching towards where the sound had come from. Turning on her toes, she faced the direction with her fist up, ready for attack. Her eyes focuses, but could not see as far as her ears could hear.

Veran slowed to a stop, his senses on high alert. He heard the trampling of bushes, and the snorting of Boars. Preferring not to take the chance of it only being normal Boars, he climbed up a tree quite deftly, having experience in doing so before. It also helped that the tree had quite a few strong branches for Veran to hold on to and they were all relatively close together. Veran finally got high enough to see what was ahead.

The thought of jumping in a tree was tempting as she watched Veran scale the tree. It was rather impressive and amusing to watch the human scurrying up the tree like a squirrel. She choked back she laughter threatening to break into the silence.

In the tiny clearing below him, there were four Boreorcs, and quite a hefty number for them to take on, especially with only the two of them and the small space for them to fight in. He was sure he could take out at least one of them in a single volley though, so that would even the odds out. He clambered down the tree again, dropping to the ground next to Kissa.

"There's four Boreorcs in the clearing ahead, but I'm pretty sure I can snipe one before the others realise what's happening. Afterwards, I won't be able to get another volley in too solidly until only one of them is on me. It takes too long for me to draw my bow, and the clearing's small size doesn't help with the distances the Boreorcs need to travel to hit us. I'm relying on you to keep them off of me so I can pick them apart. That okay with you?

Kissa noticed Veran descending the tree before she watched him land with a thud next to her. She listened tentatively to the report before pondering on the question. Not too long ago she had told herself tanking wasn't a good strategy to use, however in order to complete this quest, it seemed she would need to basically do that. With there being no other options she could think of, she decided to show off her false bravo."Hell yeah, I got this." She gave a playful wink and bounced on her toes. In the back of her mind, she hoped the agility boosts would help. If she attacked one hard enough in the head, it might give her enough time to attack another that might be near Veran. The only problem with this plan, was she wasn't sure how the Boreorcs would attack. Would they focus on the closest target, or go for whoever attacked it. Probably the second. In that case, all she had to do was run around attacking them right? This strategy gave her a little hope of actually winning. She knew she was fast, and the knuckles she had did decent enough damage. While she was running around, she would weaken them, and Veran would be able to make the finishing shot, as she took on a different one. This is going to work!

Nodding once again, Veran climbed up the same tree and this time pulled his bow out. In his hand he held three arrows, to fire one after another. He took aim for a few moments before letting loose his arrows in a rapid volley. Since he was aiming for center mass, they all hit their mark. The Boreorc dropped to the ground, dying and shattered into crystals as the other three Boreorcs charged at his tree, hoping to knock him off.

"Go Kissa!" he shouted before throwing himself off the tree branch towards the ground, over their heads and rolling as he hit the ground, but still sustaining ten points of damage.

Once Veran was up the tree once again, Kissa concentrated on any noise from his bow. As the first arrow was fired, her eyes moved to where she thought the Boreorcs would charge from. It didn't take long to lock onto their positions, for they were extremely loud as they traveled. I just have to keep them off him for a little bit. She mentally reminded herself as she moved closer to where the Boreorcs were coming from. Within seconds, she was face to face with three of the ugly beasts. A smirk spread across her face as she realized her plan was idiotic, but just might work.
Deliriously, she charged the Boreorc in the lead. When close enough to reach, but not get injured, she slapped the monster's spear. With the small opening, she slammed her fist into the middle of his face. One hit. Moving her focus to the one on the right, she barely dodged a jab by twisting to the right. As quickly as she could, she stepped in and punched it, in the side of the head. Two down. Jumping back away from the now infuriated monsters, she realized she hadn't landed a hit on the last one, and it was headed towards Veran.
Immediately, she ran after it, hoping to catch it in time.

As the last Boreorc charged at him, Veran shot an arrow at it, but missed as it a small deviation in the charge allowed it to sidestep the arrow, before Veran rolled out of the way and took out an arrow and stabbed it into the back of the dazed Boreorc's knee as it was stunned by slamming right square into the tree behind it. A quick three shot volley into its back finished it off as it slumped to the ground and shattered. Veran turned, to assist with Kissa's pursuers. He nocked another arrow and took aim. He just needed to wait for the right opening.

Kissa was grateful that Veran was agile and attacked the Boreorc she missed. When the monster burst into crystals, she turned her attention to the other two, who were close to attacking. Taking a deep breath, she decided to run for it, just enough to get them away from Veran and give him a shot. She swiftly jumped to the side and took off a few paces. The monsters followed, just as she planned. She launched a counter attack at the first one, however was still hit on her arm with the spear. Praying it wouldn't affect her attack, she started punching the one in reach. She landed three blows before she was hit again, knocking her HP down to 84. She winced at the seering pain, but landed two more blows. The monster froze and burst into pixels, leaving only one left.

Seeing his teammate get hit, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Kissa, for he knew that it must have hurt. Still, that didn't stop him from perforating the remaining Boreorc with a precise volley of arrows, killing it with three stuck in its back, in a small circle, a few inches in diameter. The beast promptly slumped over before shattering into a multi-color mix of pixels. With all of the Boreorcs dead, Veran slung his bow over shoulder and turned to Kissa.

1244 EXP ; 212 Copper ; 1x Novice Health Potion for Veran. 1203 EXP; 184 Copper ; 2x Novice Health Potions for Kissa

"How many more do you need?"

With the last Boreorc gone, Kissa sighed and knelt down. If she could bleed, her arm would have been covered in blood. Instead there was a small puncture wound in her upper arm. Despite the pain, she gave a weak smile to Veran. "Thanks. You know, I think I might get used to little scraps like this soon." She chuckled softly before tilting her head back. For the first time in a while, she appreciated the cool breeze and the shade of the trees. If there hadn't been so many monsters who wanted to impale her, she thought it would be a nice place for a nap. His question pulled her out of her relaxing wishes. She realized she had not gotten the spears. "Shit!"
Jumping to her feet, she rushed to where the two Boreorcs had been. There on the ground were two spears. As soon as her hand touched them, they burst into pixels and were added to her inventory. She then backtracked to the other bodies and got the others, including the two from the previous battle. With three of the spears, a small pop-up window appeared asking if she wanted to collect the Thick Fur Hide from each Boreorc, in which she clicked 'Collect'.
When she had all five spears in her inventory plus some crafting material, she gave Veran and thumbs up. "That's all of them." She huffed from all the running. "Thanks for all your help. I don't think I would have been able to make it on my own with the way they all attack at once."

"Not a problem." Veran said with a small smile, hidden behind his bandanna. He waved away the drop screen that appeared in front of him, deciding to assign his stat points later. "So I guess we'll start heading back now?"

Slowly but surely, the wound on her arm was starting to heal. She nodded, turning on her heel. Though she was weary of hunters, she was glad she found one. Turns out archers are amazing back up.

Veran nodded, mostly to himself and followed behind her, though he was still a bit guarded. He didn't want to be caught by any monsters unawares.