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Chapter 7: Interactions

The two girls turned out to be Lilliana the Mage and Sanja the Priestess.

To be honest, Makoto never really talked much with the opposite sex before.

Normally he was quite shy in real life, keeping most snide comments or possible arguments to himself.

As a quiet loner he didn't have many friends, he also never had a girlfriend before, not even a kiss from when he was still little.

Now with 18, being completely unexperienced in handling girls and as a Virgin to many things, sex included, one would expect him to freeze up or stutter under the stares of two young and pretty girls both dressed in different robes showing a bit of skin.

But thankfully this was not real life.

Makoto did not change his appearance ingame but many others had, some only a little and others did a complete body make-over.

So now seeing the short Lilliana with her bust visible through her robe and the tall Sanja with her good curves also clearly noticeable, Makoto only gave it a short glance.

You could say he acted a lot different ingame than in real life, which is true.

For him Azalon was a chance to let his real intentions and thoughts out without being concerned about someone judging or bullying him for it.

He had decided to be himself and do whatever he wanted in Azalon, be it good or evil he would do as he pleased, if someone wanted to stop him he would simply kill them or die trying, that was his new mantra.

Lilliana and Sanja looked at each other for a second and then approached Makoto, still stunned about his performance.

"You need anything else?"

He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lilliana shook her head.

"No not really, I cant believe you killed them so quickly though, what is your level anyways, Makoto was it?"

"Same as theirs" he pointed at a nearby rock crab, "Yours?"

Both of them looked at each other again, even more surprised now.

"You are joking right? So you are level 8 while me and Sanja both are 10 and on top of that we had our class changed which boosts our power again by a good bit... how is that possible?"

Lilliana asked with a confused expression, unable to comprehend the situation.

"The problem lies in how you guys fight"

"What do you mean by that?"

This time Sanja inquired with an interested look.

"Well let me give you an example, you see that Warrior and Mage couple over there?

The Mage keeps attacking which is good but he is always in one spot and doesn't move so whenever that Warrior is in front of a rock crab he stops attacking, probably to not hurt his friend but considering he could just move to the right a bit and continue shooting fireballs, it is pretty stupid if you ask me.

Next up the Warrior, he tanks all the Damage instead of trying to get used to the rock crabs and evade from time to time, he only attacks and does a lot of Damage true, but at the same time they don’t have a Priest in their group who can heal them so after every fight they have to nearly wait 5 Minutes before fighting another group.

Even if he used Potions or bandages it would still take a while and he would be throwing money literally out the window if you take the bad drops from these crabs into account.

Don’t get me wrong here, I'm no expert myself but I have gotten used to their attack pattern, evading their attacks is therefore easy for me and because they are open after missing an attack my critical hit chance is also very high.

At the same time I am not taking any Damage and also have a skill which makes it so I don’t need to worry about the crab's high armor too much.

Simply put you guys are fighting like newborn baby's without any clue how to put status effects on your opponent or land a good hit.

Its like you are treating Azalon like any other MMO."

Makoto finished, driving the nail in the figurative coffin with that last sentence and Lilliana as well as Sanja both had their heads hanging low, dejected after listening to him and noticing their own faults.

"Hope you improve after listening to what I said there, well see you later ladies."

While winking in their direction Makoto was about to turn and leave when Lilliana spoke up.

"Wait a second! Um... do you wanna join our party maybe and show us what you mean? Just so we actually see it for ourselves on how we can improve."

"What's in it for me then? I'm guessing you both aren't up to satisfy me with your bodies so what else could I want from you?"

He asked boldly, noticing with a smile that they both turned very red and Sanja even went as far as hiding her face in her hands.

Lilliana glared at him, still with a red face.

"You know what, you are right we need to compensate you in some way, you can have the loot that drops and one other thing, anybody ever tell you that you are a shameless dick?"

Giving Lilliana a bright smile and yet another wink, Makoto shouldered his sword and motioned them to follow.

After walking in the sand for a while he found a single Rock crab and stopped, Lilliana and Sanja a good bit behind him.

It seems what he previously said creeped them both out a little, that’s what he at least gathered from them keeping their distance.

Ignoring their actions he pointed his sword at the Rock crab while facing the two.

"Right both of you listen, first of all Rock crabs, what are their strong points?"

Unsure if it was alright, Sanja raised her hand and Makoto nodded in her direction.

"Well, they have high defense? Maybe also good attack?"

Makoto gave her a little smile and agreed.

"Yes they indeed have a pretty good defense making it hard at landing a good hit on them, their weakness is that they are relatively slow and have an easy pattern.

Let me demonstrate their pattern before you open your mouth again asking for it, Lilly my love."

He had noticed her trying to say something and interrupted that attempt before she had the chance, ticking her off again with that last comment which made him smile for some reason.

Approaching the crab while feeling a death glare at his back, Makoto readied his sword and sliced against the exoskeleton of the creature, more to grab its attention than doing Damage.

"First and foremost, even if your Agility is low, after engaging into a bit of close combat with these things you should quickly get used to their pattern, its very simple as you can see."

He said while dodging left and right, letting pincer after pincer fly past him without even looking most of the time.

"Next up, just like us Humans these things have a few weaknesses, the first and biggest one would be their eyes, they are pretty much unprotected and will be Damaged for full, how can eyes have high armor after all.

Second weakness, the belly.

If you are able to attack from below or flip them around, their underside is very weak, your Damage might get reduced by 15% or so but that is it, most of it should still get through.

The third obvious weakness would be their insides, if you manage to shoot a fireball for example down their throat while they angrily open it, then you will be able to do immense Damage, trust me."

While explaining all of that every time he mentioned a possible way to hurt the Rock crab he demonstrated with poking its eye, flipping it around and slicing along the belly and finally ramming his sword into the monsters mouth.

With the last attack the Rock crab fell to the floor, twitching a few more times and then disappearing in a cloud of light particles.

Both Lilliana and Sanja where stunned at the perfect performance and Makoto continued with his explanation.

"All of what I just showed you takes practice and timing, you wont be able to pull it off perfectly the first time around but it should help keeping those weaknesses in mind.

The only other thing I can say about your team is that maybe Lilly should stay at the front, tanking a few hits while Sanja is healing you.

It wont be pretty but after you both get used to it you can dodge attacks while shooting your magic and Sanja can just focus on attacking too."

Showing them yet another smile he turned to walk away.

"As I said, I hope that helps you both a bit and now come on.

I will demonstrate it a few more times and then look for stronger monsters myself, you guys should too, your levels are way too high for these crabs."

After disposing of 5 more crabs while Lilliana and Sanja tried their best in heeding his advice and helping out, he bid them farewell, to his surprise a new window appeared as he was about to walk away.

The Player Sanja has added you to her Friends-list

The Player Lilliana has added you to her Friends-list

Turning around surprised, Makoto saw a smiling Sanja and a frowning Lilliana.

Curiously looking at the frowning girl she started explaining.

"Sanja insisted that I add you too, its true that I'm thankful for the advice but don’t think you get any solo time with me just because we are friends now!"

With that, the little Mage turned and stormed away with Sanja in tow.

"Sorry for that and thanks again Makoto, I hope we can go into a party later maybe when you also have a class. It was nice talking to you."

She gave him a curt bow and then ran after her friend.

Scratching his head he watched both girls disappear down the beach and engaging into combat yet again.

"Are those two really gonna be alright?"

He couldn’t help but wonder before shrugging and walking into the opposite direction.

There was monsters to kill and players to slay.

.....

Makoto decided to stay close to the beach while exploring further north.

The only thing he saw for a few minutes was Starved Wolfs that ran away the moment he got near them and Rock Crabs that minded their own business.

Unsure what to do he just kept going until he saw something unusual.

There was a group of at least 10 Rock Crabs all running around one giant...

"Is that a Rock Crab? Jesus that thing is as big as a house..."

He exclaimed surprised and got closer to see its Name.

Rock Crab King: Elite Monster lvl 9

It looked just like the other stone crabs but instead of the usual rock impression it looked more like a gigantic boulder moving around and ready to crush anyone daring to come close.

"Now this is what I call a challenge!"

Smiling about his luck, Makoto started to attack the crabs close to their King, he had to get rid of them first otherwise he was bound to be attacked at a bad moment and die.

He did not forget the Crystal Lizard that distracted him enough to actually die from it.....

Slowly the number of crabs dwindled until only two remained, the exact moment Makoto engaged the last two the Rock Crab King noticed him and approached with quick steps that made the sand under his feet tremble.

Makoto was able to kill one of the small crabs quickly before having to jump to the side before a pincer, bigger than his whole body, rammed into the ground blowing sand into the air similar to an explosion.

With sweat running down his back Makoto did his best in just dodging for the most part but the creature was incredibly fast, its legs moved just as quickly as the smaller versions and because they where as big as Pillars supporting a Temple the crab was able to move around with an ungodly speed and force.

Finally after a few seconds he was hit for the first time, it felt like getting rammed by a speeding car, all the air was knocked out of his lungs and he was sure of hearing his whole ribcage crack and snap.

You have received 178 Damage!

Rolling on the ground to get rid of the additional force behind the blow, Makoto was gasping for air and had to dodge yet again before being able to even take two seconds of reprieve.

The fight quickly turned into a bloody mud-fight with Makoto trying to survive the impending doom that was the Rock Crab King.

It took him a long time to find that sweet-spot of time to hit back, without being pummeled into the ground.

Right after every attack he could run behind the crab and its turning speed was slow enough to allow one or two attacks before he had to dodge again.

Following this simple strategy he focused on one leg, attacking it without mercy until finally when the Crab King tried to put pressure on it to attack, it snapped like a dry twig and was only hanging on by a few thin layers of flesh.

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -10% Movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

Right away Makoto noticed a difference and attacking became a lot easier.

After snapping 3 more legs in the same manner, the Crab King was unable to lift its own body anymore and just lay there bleeding with 4 broken legs.

Smiling maliciously, Makoto approached its back and continued a barrage of stabs, cutting the exoskeleton off and freely destroying the soft and exposed insides.

He couldn’t help but laugh, watching the Crab King struggle while turning its backside and innards into a dark and bleeding mass of cut up flesh.

After one last stab the Crab King gave a miserable cry and disappeared.

With a ray of light Makoto rose to level 9, distributing his stats, 3 into Strength, 5 into Agility and 2 into Vitality for now.

His speed being the same as his attack power had nearly cost him his life in this fight, right now for survivability reasons he wanted more speed.

To his own Surprise a new window appeared before him with another light descending around him.

After fighting many creatures with a malicious joy and further increasing their suffering you have been awarded with a Title.

Slayer:As a natural born fighter you love nothing more than engaging into combat and making your enemies regret their choice of crossing your way.

Before killing any Creature you make sure to let it suffer a slow and painful death so you can enjoy watching the last glimmers of hope dissipate in its eyes before its spirit leaves the material plane.Effects:+5% Damage against Monsters

Relationship with all Demons increases.Additional Effects:You instill a natural fear into all Creatures with lower intelligence, Monsters that are below your level will be under the 'fear' status effect while Monsters above your level will only have more desire to kill you, making agro pulling very easy.

Happy about this random gift of heaven he closed the window.

Titles could help a lot in fighting or trading, they could also be stacked up on top of each other but getting one was no easy feat, there was a rumor that you could get some from Quests but not many had been able to get one and those that did had no intention of sharing.

Makoto didn’t hold it against them, 5% more Damage was a lot considering he would soon hit with Damage numbers in the hundreds, it was like having a much better sword.

He also noticed that the Rock Crab King dropped an item and it was something that filled him with joy.

Hard Scale Boots:A Pair of boots found in the stomach of the Rock Crab King, the formerly shimmering scales covering these boots have been eroded by stomach acids, never the less it has exceptionally high defense and will protect your feet even from the strongest of Attacks.Defense:15Vitality:3Durability:28/35Requirements:Level 9

Grinning from one ear to the other, Makoto wiped his sword clean and equipped his first pair of shoes after running around with bare feet since the moment he entered Azalon.

It was time to return to Talis for a quick stop and then maybe visit the Crystal Cave again, if he was lucky there would still be a group of players there that he had some unfinished business with.

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AAAAND here is the second Chapter of the day.

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