For the next five hours I ranged between the party and scouting the surrounding area. We encountered a number of new creatures, many of them far weaker than we were. The beasts varied from a particularly vicious little rabbit creature with four ears, black fur, and luminescent aquamarine eyes to a slow moving segmented insect with four stabbing legs that grunted like a pig with microphone feedback.
I maximized skill gains during the few encounters by using Analyze and varying my weapons. Despite my efforts the gains were small, with only a single increase in Unarmed and Stealth. In addition I began gathering materials from the strange flora along with parts from the monsters we dispatched.
The first of these, a bright rose colored tuber with spiraling roots introduced me to another skill at the novice level:
“Herbalism
Rarity: Common
Requirements: None
Training Level: Novice 1
Key Ability: Reason
Description
A single sprig of grass can topple a mountain.”
Gaining that skill I happily continued my gathering, varying out to other herbs, most of which were either a faded yellow or some shade of purple. While I did encounter some white berries that reminded me of plants I had seen before almost everything was alien and strange. When I analyzed one of the strange berries, Lydia described it to me:
“Midnight Berry
A common naturally growing food source in L’Chasse. It can also be used in Alchemy to craft more rare items.
Type: Crafting Component/Food
Rarity: Common
Tier: F
+2% Essence regeneration.”
By the time I finally trudged my way toward the group I had gained another six levels in Novice Herbalism and I was quite exhausted back in the real world.
As I rejoined them with plans to log out, Mystal ran up to me with a huge smile and gave me a hug.
“Whatcha doin?”
She muttered into my chest, “Nomura said this is how you greet people when you haven’t seen them for a long time.”
Over the mist creature’s head I could see Nomura who was barely restraining laughter, an expression that looked ghastly on his avatar’s horrifying face. Valerie was glaring at me with an expression that promised to make me regret any behavior more forward than this hug.
Sighing, I gave Nomura a cold look, “Nomura was incorrect Mystal. A simple wave or just saying ‘Hello’ is fine.”
She continued her uncomfortable hug and muttered again, “I like hugs.”
“Yep, I bet you do.”
Dislodging myself from the strange mist creature I looked at Sakurai and Nomura, “I’ve gotta log off. My avatar will follow along with you guys but it will probably just try and stay out of any fights.”
The two of them nodded and Sakurai added, “Sleep well my friend.”
With that I knelt down next to a rock, looked up at the Spiral and pulled off my helmet.
–
The next two days were the best I had in the game so far. Trying to convince myself that playing as a lone wolf was preferable to a group might have been a mistake. Nomura, Valerie, Sakurai and I became a progressively well oiled team with each encounter we weathered.
Mystal informed us from knowledge she had gleaned from the fort soldiers that the twisting stone road that scoured a line through the mountains was incredibly dangerous… and she wasn’t wrong.
The monsters that dwelled in the heights around the road were sleek black flying creatures with four sharp bat-like wings. They were called Cytha. The bones that made up their wings were exposed bone along the edges of the appendages and wickedly sharp. Their hunting method was to dive toward travelers and fly past at high speed leaving deep wounds in their wake. Mystal informed us that they were scavengers and made a comparison that made me somewhat uneasy.
“They are a lot like Florin!”
Wincing, I asked, “How exactly?”
She was all bright smiles as she answered, “They let their prey bleed out and then pick at the dead remains.”
A refutation to that logic died on my lips as I realized that it was pretty accurate.
We struggled fighting them at first. Nomura’s strange summoned birds turned out to be the equalizer that let us develop solid strategies to face them. With only his magic to aid us the rest of the party was reduced to awaiting their dives to cut them out of the air.
Sakurai used her warrior-borne taunting powers to draw their diving attacks toward her. Valerie and I took advantage to either cut them out of the air. In my case a single inflicted slice was enough to dispatch the normal Cytha before they had a chance to wing around and manage another dive.
A well placed Surging Blood, slowing down time around me to a crawl, was enough for me to sometimes inflict two or even three of the creatures in a single coordinated dive.
Before long we were dispatching small flocks of the creatures with relative ease. We had to adjust with Valerie and Mystal’s need to rest and our logouts but ultimately we made due, adjusting our tactics as needed. My new upgraded class was an adjustment. The imprint tutorial had been a taste but the blur of hacking bleeding foes dry while dancing through their drifting essence was exciting. Weaving the dancing combat style into my offline training did not hurt. Catacomb’s RIG chip and my own training blended together nicely and it seemed that my avatar and I were now truly synced.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
If all my years plugged into the machine should have taught me anything it was that when you are most comfortable in your farming was when the elite spawn would ruin your day. It didn’t necessarily have to be a monster…
Our varying schedules slowed us. Sakurai and Nomura adopted my method of having their AI pilot their avatars when they slept but when Valerie and Mystal required rest we had to pause to protect their camp in hopes of protecting the NPCs we had invested so much time in… Thinking about our relationship like that made me uncomfortable.
Mystal treated me like a big brother. Her predatory nature was hard to remember with her affectionate and innocent seeming nature. Sakurai was quiet but kind with the young mist creature but Nomura had no compunction about telling the wide eyed monster all about the strangeness of our world. He talked about Japan and its unique culture, about the nation's feudal history and his own fascination with manga and anime. Although I was sure that Mystal didn’t fully understand she was certainly a captive audience.
Valerie paid attention as well. Her response ranged from disbelief to shrewd attention. In the midst of the tales I caught her occasionally studying me with an unreadable expression. When prompted, with extreme persistence, by Mystal; everyone told a tale about themselves around the fire.
Sakurai told us a story about the hectic day she auditioned to join her gen mates as a vtuber. Working long hours with her model’s ‘mother’ to assure that her debut would net a massive number of subscriptions. Her voice was nervous and wistful as her vacant skeletal eyes filled with the glow of their blue fire, “They never suggested it out loud, but I knew that low numbers meant my graduation would be prompted early. My company did not have the best reputation for their treatment of talent. My gen mates,” there was a fond smile in her voice as she said, “they helped me. I owe them a lot.”
Nomura opted out of discussing his life as an idol and instead told us how he met Sakurai. They had met at a convention in the United States. He was throwing on his bad boy charm for a group of his American fans, bragging and being a douchebag in general, when this tall Japanese girl had called him out. He stared at her with a far too broad smile on his avatar’s ghoulish face as he said, “I thought she was convention staff. She was wearing a mask and dressed so as not to stand out.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “I was so angry at first, but she stole my attention. My manager was pretty pissed when I spent the entire rest of the con with her. I was supposed to be there for my fans but I couldn’t be bothered.” Sakurai remained silent but reached out a massive gauntleted hand and clasped it with the mage’s. The two sat in silence and smiled at each other with clear adoration.
Valerie eventually chose to tell us about her own world and her life in Lothin. The fact that she had chosen to open the second of the vintner’s bottles and share it with Mystal didn’t hurt her decision.
Valerie spoke of her own life and gave us some insight into L’Chasse and the world it came from. The world’s name had been Keela and, much like now, it was a world of darkness and twilight. As I had learned myself it was matriarchal to a degree that competed with Earth’s patriarchy note for note. In some cases they gave us a run for our money.
While women were the dominant force in the merchant, peasant and farming classes; men often owned their own property and ran their own businesses amidst them. Among the nobles, only women ruled. There were sometimes Dowager male rulers but even the least skilled and dull female family member took positions over their male counterparts.
Men were tutored and prepared for clerical and creative work with hopes of eventually finding themselves as a consort of another house. It turned out that young Alphonse Cardienne was just such a potential consort for Valerie. The two had been friends and close confidants in their youth but things had become awkward three months ago when it became clear that their mothers had thrust them together in their youth in hopes of eventually making Alphonse her chief consort. Haithan conventions maintained that she must have a minimum of four but there were legends of matriarchs with massive harems of young men.
Her final slurred word on the subject while studying the flames of our white flamed fire was, “Noble ladies are expected to have their heirs quickly and devote themselves to leadership and managing their houses after.”
She took another draw from the bottle and continued, “My mother treated her time with her consorts like a duty. She has never mentioned who she thought sired me,” her eyes glistened as she stared into the fire, “and something in me wants it to matter more than that. I’ve never felt that way about Alphonse…” She trailed off at that and then said, “He was my only friend and…,” she stared at me for a long moment before turning back to the guttering blue fire, “the moment he approached my mother to announce his candidacy he changed. Our friendship was washed away in the wake of doting sycophancy.”
After a long awkward moment her sharp golden eyes focused on me over the azure flames and she pointed at me with the base of the bottle, “What about you, Florin,” she said the last word as if she knew it was not my real name. There was a note of reluctance and shame in her voice given our last discussion.
Nomura seized on that, likely to change the subject and dispel the uncomfortable air, “Yeah, tell us about one of your big plays. You know what I’m talking about. I need hints about who you really are over here. It’s killin me!”
Mystal leaned forward with wide eyes, “A big adventure? Tell us!”
Thinking back over my history in EO I seized on an encounter that wouldn’t give Nomura too much of a hint. With a resigned smile I started the tale, couching it in language that wouldn’t be confusing to Mystal and Val and used Sydney’s middle name to throw Nomura off.
My memories rolled back to the early days of the guild when the channel had just started and Myriad entertainment was half a joke that Sydney and I had shared in bed when talking about quitting our nine to five jobs. My voice was soft and distant as I recounted the tale. The tale I told may have been modified for their benefit but in my mind I vividly remembered the day and how the love of my life saved me.
–
Sydney dropped out of the sky brandishing her curved blade, cutting the screaming lizardman barbarian in half. A fountain of rich blood burst into the sky from the flailing corpse. She spun and blocked the attack of his attendant, neatly slicing off the monster’s arm with her small off-hand blade.
Above the battlefield I drifted with the aid of my magic picking out targets as they rushed to attack the woman who had killed their chief. With a confident grin I said, “Check this out chat,” as I threw out my slender hand at the largest of the charging lizard monsters hefting a giant club above his head.
The monster staggered and screamed as his head exploded with considerable force. Particles of the creature’s cranium peppered the other attackers. In my periphery I saw the chat streaming by like mad and donations pinging again and again.
Below me Sydney burst into smoke and appeared amidst three more monsters, spinning and killing them all without a sound. As another line of monstrous lizardmen charged at her I threw my arms wide and summoned a towering wall of golden fire before them. Several blundered in and were incinerated while the rest of them either ran in fear or tried to find a way around the rising flames.
With their leader dead and the spell throwing them into disarray we began to pick them off. The greatest mistake they made was running into the dark swamp. Brief flashes of viridian light filled the dark trees signifying Sydney's movement skill as she dispatched the terror stricken creatures in rapid succession.
Reputation notifications streamed in my UI with each monster’s death. Glancing at the chat stream I clicked over to our private group voice channel, “Syd, chat is getting restless. We need to find something to feed the masses or the stream is going to taper off.”
Her response was smooth and sulky, “Are they not entertained?”
From the ground a group of the lizard tribesman regrouped and leveled bows at me. With a casual gesture a golden shield burst into existence and shattered the incoming missiles. With a few muttered arcane words a field of tentacles rose amidst them and started to strangle the terrified creatures.
Leaving them to their fate I scanned our guild channel and said, “One of the villages in the Broken Hills is being raided.”
“Oh really? By who?”
“Guild is spotty on information,” I locked in my teleport spell to the town’s beacon as I spoke, “but that is half the fun. What do you think?”
Below me I saw her slender and shadowy silhouette pause in the forest and look up toward me, her voice tinged with a smile, “You had me at PVP, baby.”
As I flew down, an enterprising but foolish lizardman attempted to ambush Sydney but was dispatched with a lazy slash. Her eyes never left mine as she approached, her weapons vanishing. She wrapped her arms around my neck as she looked up at me pursing her lips into a mischievous smile.
“I can never tell when you are up to something,” I said as I wrapped an arm around her waist and activated the spell.
She giggled and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I’m always up to something.”
The spell hissed around us and we vanished from the burning forest.
As we faded back into existence I leaned in to kiss her black lips and paused moments before. The haptic buzz in my gloves had gone dormant… something was wrong.
