The door of light closed behind Scott, and with it went his access to his friends for the next month. Ha' Ruul awaited, but first he need to make a few minor preparations. He deposited his most recent purchases in a corner of the main room, and then dropped off his companion ticket among other things. Any item that had a limited time offer on it would be left behind so that no time would pass while he worked. He purchased enough food and water to last for two weeks, for a cost of approximately twenty EXP, and even purchased a few things like sacks, bags, and camping equipment.

Near his companion door, he searched for Ha' Ruul and nodded. "Can't buy their currency, yet. Not sure if the identity paperwork will be needed since I'm in good with two of the most notable political figures. I can just be me there..."

He went to his mission door then took a deep breath. His hand brushed the surface of it and his next mission appeared on a light blue screen.

[Mission Briefing]

The Skeletal Drudges in the Whispering Wood have begun to congregate for their annual Gathering of Darkness. Get in there and clear them out. New Skeletal Grudges will appear each day for twenty-four days. You must defeat approximately seventy percent of them each night before midnight to have the day count toward your completion goal. This will allow the fairies to sleep, and will make them happier with your presence.

Happy Fairies? D'aww!

- Not that we care if you make a bunch of fairies happy, or anything. You do you, fella.

Difficulty: H-4

World Type: Heroic Fantasy Adventure

Force Response Authorization: Solo

Primary Goal: Defeat the Skeletal Grudges in the Whispering Wood

Completion Goal: 18/27 Days

Approximate Initial Enemies: 26

Time Limit: 27 Days

Reward: Access to the Ha' Ruul World Setting.

Special Note: The mission area is quarantined. Your vocal expression capacity will be limited for the duration of this mission. Your capacity to write messages will only be restricted if you attempt to tell someone about the situation with your associates, [Princess Vida] and [Chaine]. The extraction door will open at the exact location that the entrance door is located.

[==]

Scott snorted in good humor. "I see they're back to leaving comments on my missions again."

He eyed the difficulty level for a moment. It had dropped to H-4, no doubt due to his increase in level. It was exactly as dangerous as it had always been otherwise. Did he increase the difficulty in the hopes of a better reward? The only one who would suffer among his companions was him, after all.

The door of light opened, and with it came the old familiar sixty second timer. On the other side there resided a rolling pastoral field of grass. Feathery clouds flowed happily across the sky, and butterflies wafted airily near various groups of wild flowers.

"Definitely beats the zombie apocalypse," he said with a smile.

He entered Ha' Ruul a moment later and his smile grew three sizes. "Bum Dum. Da-Da-Da, Doom..." There was background music!

However, before he could continue forward the world grew dark and became black and white. A message screen appeared.

[Congratulations!]

You have entered the premium world-setting of Ha' Ruul. You are the first champion of your world to set foot in this world-setting. It will now be rendered exclusive for thirty days. After that time other premium account holders may be able to acquire access to this world-setting through various means.

Please complete your tutorial mission for a special first-time bonus.

[==]

"Wonder what the bonus will be?" he asked in a musing tone. Rather, he tried to ask that but an absurd and slightly high-pitched sound escaped his lips instead. "Haht!"

"What?" asked Scott, only for it come out as, "Yah!"

He blinked then started to laugh a little. He tried to ramble on about politics for a moment but the only words that came out of his mouth were somewhat high-pitched nonsense sounds, "Wah! Hyat! Ha! Ha! Yah!"

Scott slapped a hand to his face and laughed like a fool. He tried to say something else, but all he produced was a slightly high-pitched and enthusiastic grunt.

His laughter got the best of him after a moment and he fell to the ground. Clutching his stomach, he continued to make suspiciously familiar noises related to the franchise that this world-setting parodied. "Awooo, Haht!"

He tried to say, "I should have seen it coming!" but it came out as, "Feee-yaaaaaht!"

After he managed to reign in his good humor a bit, Scott rose up from the ground and dusted himself off. The background music, a quirky ensemble piece with an orchestral overtone, really sold the adventurous nature of the environment to him.

Scott set off to discover the boundaries of his new quarantine zone. Would people be able to walk in and out of it, or would they somehow stay inside of it for a month? Just how large would it prove to be?

There was no indication of which way to travel, so he set out toward the direction of the sun. As he meandered slowly through the grassland, the occasional breeze would send the grass swaying all about and stir up the butterflies.

'How long has it been?' he queried himself silently, in the manner of a silent protagonist. Day after day spent simply trying to avoid death, and even his time at his apartment was only a brief respite from it. Yet, less than an hour into Ha' Ruul cheered him considerably. There was a job to do, sure. Yet, there were no ravening hordes of the dead. There was no grand overarching plot with a terrible enemy. It was just, a little adventure.

"Hya. Ya... Hm-Hmm. Yah... Da-Da-Doom," he said happily while he hummed along to music. He released a breath that he had not known himself to be holding, the tension leaving his body with each passing second.

Soon he saw a pile of rocks in the distance. "Hyat!"

He trotted happily toward it, his jubilant elation quite apparent in his expression. A short distance from the rocks, however, he realized that something was a bit off. Why was a rock flying toward his head?

"Squo-bloo!" exclaimed an unseen assailant.

Scott dodged the strangely slow-moving rock then hopped to the side. A weird squid-turtle thing with an oversized head floated up from the rocks. What should be its cheeks suddenly ballooned outward as it drew in another breath. Then with a loud, *Ptoo!* sound, another rock was shot toward him.

He easily leapt aside to avoid the rock, thankful for his decision to max out his base stats earlier. Scott rushed in while avoiding the occasional rock shot then thrust his sword forward. "Feeyah!" he cried heroically just before a blue aura of energy flared from his blade. Shaped vaguely like a sword, a beam of pure energy shot forward.

"Squo!" shrieked the turtle-squid as it took a direct hit from the beam. It shuddered wildly, its little squid tentacles flailing about spastically.

Scott charged up another shot and fired it off as well. This time the little beast froze in mid-air then asked, "Bloop?"

It exploded into a shower of glittering gore that quickly dissipated in the air. "Hnng! Hyaht!" exclaimed Scott excitedly.

Something sparkly dropped to the ground. Curious, he went to inspect it. "Wah? Ah... Yah!"

He pocketed the little glimmering bit of crystal in his spatial storage then meandered over to the rocks. There was no sign of treasure, or anything else.

His journey already off to a fine start, if he did think so himself, Scott set out with another merry hum. Now all he needed to do was actually find the Whispering Wood to get started on his mission.