[Quest completed: Terhin’s request.]

“Pretty good, wide waist,” Terhin quipped as Seven handed in the wolf tails she had picked up, she even five extra ones after they’d finished with the wolves, “You’ve got more fight in you than I thought. Did those wolves swallow enough coins for you to purchase a potion or two? I’m sure you’ll need them after all that fighting.”

Terhin cupped her hands out and a shop screen appeared in front of her.

‘Dang it.’

She couldn’t work out how the other two had managed to get a free potion from this frugal shopkeeper.

“Yeah… I’ll take two health potions.”

She pocketed the potions with a sense of satisfaction. She even felt a little afraid to use them; they healed for more than her total health. She had a little over fifty coppers left in her inventory after the purchase but these potions would probably last her a while. That last magical wolf had dropped a lot, but even the ordinary wolves provided good money.

But those wolves probably couldn’t be soloed repeatedly without a little help like this.

“Oh, and I’ll take fifty pieces of rabbit meat please.” She had looked over the shop menu carefully and found out that Terhin sold that wolf attracting meat for a copper coin each.

She knew that Attracting had told her there was no way the fiftieth wolf would be another special one but there was no way he could know that for certain. She turned her head from side to side, IEatTortillas was talking animatedly to the shopkeeper and Attracting had already disappeared.

“You heard me!”

A shout resounded from near the village chief and Seven saw her disappearing comrade shouting into the air and attracting a lot of attention to himself. A few curious players had already congregated around the two, anticipating some kind of spectacle.

Attracting was talking to a stranger. “I said I’m requesting a duel. Fair and square, right here and now. Winner gets a potion.”

-TidalWave-

The name hovered in green above the stranger’s head. Seven was confused. She had never seen this person before, but if he was someone they knew and had changed his appearance, then how would Attracting know it was them? It wasn’t as if they’d been playing in the game for that long.

TidalWave looked just as confused as she felt.

“I’m sorry, have we met?”

“Definitely not,” Attracting smiled. “But we’re meeting now. How about a friendly duel to celebrate the occasion?”

“Celebrate…” TidalWave’s face flashed with surprise as Attracting revealed his level, Level 8, “Oh.”

TidalWave lifted his hands defensively.

“I really have to tell you, this probably isn’t a good idea. I can see you’re level eight, which is great, but I’m level ten. It just wouldn’t be fair,” he cocked his head to the side curiously. “Why do you want to fight me, anyway? Do we know each other?”

Attracting smiled and lifted the dagger provocatively, “You are TidalWave. Is there anything else I have to know?”

Seven felt like pinching his arm at his words. ‘You explained nothing dumbass.’

TidalWave hesitated but then nodded. “Okay, I guess that’s a reason. So you want this?” He brought the potion out into his hands. “Let’s do it then.”

The moment he finished speaking, he jumped back and took out his sword.

*Clang*

Seven’s eyes flew towards TidalWave’s hands as the sword he’d pulled out immediately blocked the dagger aimed towards his throat. Attracting had moved to kill the player without a second’s warning.

‘Baldar’s dagger… When did he get that off Ana.’

Attracting uttered a curse and stepped forward, swiping at TidalWave repeatedly and smiling as he got a hit in.

“Not bad.” TidalWave’s health bar appeared on top of his head with a chunk missing, “I can’t take many more of those hits.”

With those words he swiped his sword in a wide arc around his body, forcing Attracting to retreat towards the middle of the square. Then he quickly lost more health as Attracting blasted him with magic from his wand.

Attracting was dual-wielding the dagger and wand.

TidalWave lifted his sword and swiped at the next blast as it travelled through the air, causing it to dissipate harmlessly into the air, “Not bad at all. I didn’t know you could dual wield so early into the game.”

“There’s more where that came from.” Attracting said it cockily but Seven could see his surprise at how quickly TidalWave had began to block his attacks.

TidalWave burst towards Attracting, he had taken two hits already but he hadn't even harmed his opponent.

“Short-range dagger, long-range wand,” TidalWave grunted as he smashed his sword into Attracting’s waiting dagger, knocking it down.

He immediately followed with a stab that chunked Attracting’s health and leaped back before his opponent could retaliate.

“This is getting fun.” TidalWave’s eyes were lighting up.

Seven’s heart clenched as she watched the two fighters.

‘They probably wouldn’t even bat an eye when fighting me.’

Seven could feel her fingers curling into a fist and she unfurled them in surprise. The fight had overwhelmed her with anticipation without her realising it.

‘What was that?’ She hadn’t taken her eyes off of the fight. ‘What’s this feeling?’

It was more than just a simple fleeting emotion.

Jealousy… anger. Not directed towards the people that were fighting but at herself. She hadn’t even taken the game that seriously; she had bought it and was having had a great time. She had killed rabbits and fought wolves with her friends and had even felt fear as these virtual animals had bared their teeth at her.

But now she saw that there could be so much more.

Even before they’d started fighting wolves, IEatTortillas had dodged the rabbits that she couldn’t. Attracting had fought toe to toe with the wolf she’d been thinking about running away from the moment it appeared.

She was lacking.

She was lacking in skill. She was lacking in knowledge about Zodiac. But now she knew what she didn’t have, she was awakening to possibilities that she hadn’t thought possible before. She didn’t want to be on the side watching as these two duked it out. She wanted to be the one fighting against them.

But right now either of the two would destroy her in a fight. She wasn’t even qualified to issue a challenge; she didn’t have the confidence.

She gazed intently at the two duelists, ‘And one day I’ll stand on the same stage as them.’

The two had already exchanged half a dozen attacks. If Attracting stabbed, then TidalWave retreated. If TidalWave swiped, then Attracting hit him back with a magic blast. But it was clear that Attracting was losing. For each attack he got in with his wand, TidalWave returned it twofold with his sword.

It was impossible for Attracting to win.

Both of the fighters were circling each other calmly, looking for a way to get past the other’s defences. TidalWave had less than half his health left, but Attracting would be lucky if he survived the next hit.

Attracting laughed as he held out his dagger and twirled it between his fingers. “Not too bad, eh?”

*Swish*

TidalWave threw his sword without warning towards the boasting player and Attracting leaped back in a fright. He’d dodged the sword but the lack of time caused him to land badly on one foot. TidalWave was already running towards him with a second sword appearing in his hand. He’d had a hidden trump card this entire time.

Attracting fell backward in a panic and TidalWave lunged forward and slashed down at him with his sword.

‘No. He’s smiling.’ Seven was watching Attracting’s face closely and noticed that he wasn't panicking at all.

‘It’s a trap.’ She decided.

TidalWave had the same thought. The moment the smile appeared on his opponent’s face he tried to dodge it but it was too late, he’d already initiated the attack and he couldn't stop it. The entire slash took less than a second but by the time it was over TidalWave’s body crumpled to the ground.

Attracting had killed him.

“Woah.”

“Holy crap.”

“What just happened? Wasn’t that guy about to die?”

The surrounding players murmured in shock at the sudden turn of events. Almost all of them had missed what had happened even though they’d been watching intently. Even now not a single one of them knew what had happened to TidalWave.

‘He did it again.’ Seven’s eyes narrowed; she had been the only one who had caught onto what occurred.

In the split second that TidalWave’s attack animation had started, no, just before that when Attracting had fallen, the skin underneath his clothes had glowed a very faint blue colour, just like when he had killed the magical wolf. And the moment TidalWave’s body was on top of him, Attracting stabbed the light energy straight into the warrior and caused him to keel over dead in his tracks.

It was a move that Attracting could only have planned meticulously in advance.

TidalWave was the better fighter, but Attracting had used the combined distraction of his low health and the supposed opportunity of the false fall to lure his opponent into a false sense of security that he used to kill TidalWave.

Attracting waited for TidalWave to revive, “A very good fight.”

TidalWave grunted, but then broke out into a grin. “Yeah, I didn’t see that last hit coming. Good one.”

He hadn’t lost any experience or levels after dying because of the duel, but the potion had automatically been taken out of his bag and placed into Attracting’s inventory.

“Well, that was fun.” TidalWave shuffled backward and started walking deeper into the village, “but I’ve got stuff to do. See you later.”

‘Ah,’ Seven watched the back of this stranger than had fought so fiercely against her friend.

Then she started to follow him, staying hidden between the players that were surrounding Attracting. While he was distracted by people asking if he had access to an insta-kill item or something similar she had already matched the pace of the strolling TidalWave.

She wanted to become stronger.

But she was sure that Attracting couldn’t help her here. She knew her friends pretty well and Attracting was good at games, although she hadn’t known he was that good, but it was clear who was the better player. Attracting had borrowed the incredibly powerful dagger that belonged to IEatTortillas and had still had his ass beaten soundly, it was only by resorting to a last-minute attack that his opponent couldn't predict that he won. She didn’t want that kind of victory.

A skilled player could overcome items, and they could beat even game skills. TidalWave had begun to dodge that final blow even though it had been too late. In that split second he had controlled his actions and made a decision that could have won him the match. Even if she didn’t know exactly what she lacked, she knew that he had it. That was what she wanted.

The ability to change the course of a battle in that eternity of a second.

The number of players slowly began to disperse as they moved deeper into the village. On this side of the village they could see the sea, but there were no mobs to fight and only a few NPCs that were tight-lipped around the players. TidalWave stopped before reaching the end of the village and pivoted sharply into an alleyway.

Seven reached the corner of the building that led into the alleyway, but when she turned into it there was nobody there. The entire section was empty except for litter and dust.

She tentatively stepped into the alleyway but a few steps in it became a dead end.

“Looking for me?” A male voice called out from right behind her.

“Holy crap!” She turned around and saw the man flinch as she shouted into his face. “Oh, sorry. I was… startled.”

TidalWave laughed. “I’ll say.” Then his look turned wary. “You’ve been following me since the duel. If you’re looking for another potion I’m afraid that was my only one. But if you want to fight for a few coppers then I’ll gladly duel you as well.”

“God no,” She shot him down immediately. “I won’t beat around the bush here. I saw your fight against my friend and it moved me.”

“Moved?” She could see TidalWave's amusement and that he was a little flattered underneath that facade of his.

“Obviously, you guys were moving like crazy, dodging and blocking hits, and, and” She flailed her hands around trying to look for the right words, then she deflated as she saw his lips threatening to break out into a grin, “I’m not too sure what I’m trying to say here.”

“That was crazy, right?” TidalWave agreed, “Is your friend a professional gamer or something? I mean, not to brag or anything but I thought I was a pretty good player compared to the norm. Then he popped out and suddenly I’m not too sure.”

Seven pointed at herself. “No, I’m the norm. And- I mean, Attracting is definitely not the norm. I didn’t think he was so good before, but I haven’t seen him playing in other games.”

“So what’s up?” TidalWave looked at her with amusement.

It was pretty obvious she wasn’t anyone with bad intentions. He could read her facial expressions like a book.

“Well.” Suddenly she found her mouth drying up.

Here she was approaching this total stranger with no prompting and she hadn’t worked out what to say. So she decided to just go with the age-old tactic of making it simple.

“I want to learn how to be as good a player as you guys.”

“You want me to teach you how to play better?”

She shifted nervously from foot to foot as he looked at her with an unreadable expression. Then he broke out into a smile and laughed.

“What the heck, sounds interesting. I’ll do it.”

‘All right!’ She celebrated internally but tried to keep a straight face on her avatar.

“Well then, I guess you have an idea of where you want to practice? Or did you want to just wing it and duel until you improve?”

“We’ll fight the wolves.”

“Oh?” He looked at her with interest. “I guess they’re good experience for now. And pretty fast too.”

“Exactly,” she agreed, “Also…”

She told him about the special twenty-fifth wolf and how it had dropped the dagger and a lot of copper.

“Ohh, so it was like that was it?” TidalWave was very interested.

He’d only gotten hit once by that weapon but it had taken a lot of health out of him. Even if the wand had dealt more damage overall, that dagger had been the greatest danger to him in the fight because it forced him to trade hits to slash Attracting.

Other than that insane last attack.

“But I doubt the dagger will drop again,” He stated it bluntly to her, “It was probably a unique item that dropped for the first person to kill the magical wolf.” He saw her expression become downcast and hesitated, “But who knows, it might still give some really good drops to us. Definitely worth a shot. Wolves will be good practice to fight against either way.”

“Great!" Seven beamed, “I’ll meet you at the wolf baiting spot in a few minutes but I’ve got to let my friends know first.”

“Sure.” TidalWave nodded, “That’ll give me time to buy some things. I can’t afford the potions anymore since I spent most of my coin on my main sword, but I’ll bet there are some odd bits and bobs that’ll come in handy.”

She nodded at his words and with a wave of her hand she was already rushing off towards her friends. She had already left their party when she'd gone to pursue TidalWave but she could still see them on the village map because she’d added them as friends.

“Oh. Hey.” Attracting nodded at her as she entered and then turned towards IEatTortillas, “Hey I was thinking that there are probably things hidden around town, do you want to come and talk to the villagers? If they have a hidden quest or something we might need a team to fight the mobs.”

IEatTortillas nodded. “Obviously I’ll go. I’ve got nothing else on anyway.” He turned to Seven. “Where do you want to check first?”

Seven hummed to herself as though she was thinking about it. Their quest searching would probably take a lot of time since they wouldn’t know which NPCs to talk to. They’d probably even get ignored half the time.

‘This is the perfect chance to head out.’

Now she just had to come up with something that’d give her a reason not to come along.

“Actually, I’ve got a friend I want to play with for a bit, but they’re shy around strangers so I told them it’d just be me for today.”

“Okay.” Attracting didn’t even hesitate before agreeing with her, “Go for it.”

“Oh,” Seven let out a breath, “Cool.”

She’d thought he’d disagree with her more than that, or maybe try to join her.

IEatTortillas raised an eyebrow at his quick reply but then she shrugged, “I didn’t know you knew anyone else playing, way to keep a secret.” She grinned to show she was joking. “Sounds good to me. If that’s what you want, then sure.” Then she pointed her finger at herself and Attracting, “You have to come with us to the woods when we go. There’s no way we’re doing something that fun without each other.” Suddenly her head shifted and her eyes lit up mischievously as though she’d come up with a brilliant thought, “And bring your friend along too. If you want to introduce us to him.”

‘Oh god, Ana’s misunderstanding something.’ Seven made sure that she’d call IEatTortillas tomorrow and clear everything up.

“Of course. Let me know when you guys are good to go there. I’ll be farming hard for it.”

“Don’t worry. Even if you don’t, I’ll make sure we don’t die.” Attracting added.

‘Okay then.’ Seven felt like rolling her eyes at his words. ‘Where is this confidence coming from? We don’t even know what’s in those woods.’

Even if she didn’t voice her thoughts she could tell IEatTortillas was skeptical as well.

“Call me when you need me.” She waved bye to them and walked towards the spot where she’d told TidalWave she’d meet him.

She brought along the rabbit meat that she intended to use to test her fifty wolves theory. If she could spawn an even bigger wolf, then she was confident she and TidalWave could kill it.

“Hey there.” TidalWave sat lazily on the grass next to one of the spots that they could put rabbit meat down to lure wolves. “What are we practicing first?”

“Dodging.”

She had been thinking about it long and hard since she’d met him. The one thing that had struck her mind the hardest was the fact that both Attracting and TidalWave could dodge each other’s blows. Even when fighting normal mobs she had seen the benefits that simple dodging could bring about.

She could feel that it was the starting point before she could move on to getting stronger.

TidalWave’s eyes wandered towards the woods. “Good choice. Let’s attract some of those wolves.”

She followed his words and put down the rabbit meat. Soon the first wolf bounded out of the woods and sniffed the air.

Seven brandished her wand and blasted the wolf. She did a lot more damage to it compared to before, but then again she was already level 7.

‘I’ve got this.’

She was ready for this. The moment the wolf came at her she would sidestep it just like Attracting had done. This wolf wasn’t even that fast compared to the magical one. It was worthless compared to her technique.

Then the wolf charged at her.

As soon as it got in close she stepped to the side and promptly realised she hadn’t gotten out of its attack range. With her thoughts distracted by the wolf, she hadn’t even realised that her feet were getting caught by the sudden movement and she tripped. The wolf turned towards her as she fell and smashed her onto the ground, slashing her with its claws and dealing more damage than she was comfortable with.

‘Am I going to die so quickly? I didn’t dodge a damn thing!’ She cursed herself as the wolf bit down onto her face.

*Clang*

The wolf’s teeth clashed against the flimsy metal of TidalWave’s sword before they could chomp down on her. The wolf let out a yelp as TidalWave slashed at it and within a few seconds its corpse was disappearing into the breeze. Seven shut her eyes in shame for a few seconds. When she opened them, she tried to hide herself by moving her head down against her neck and then realised she wasn’t a turtle.

She let out a guilty smile in response to his frowning expression as he leaned over her.

“Maybe we should have started at rabbits.”

“No, I've got this.” She lifted herself up. “Give me a second to regenerate health and we’ll do that again.”

A howl broke out before she could finish speaking and another starving wolf appeared in front of her.

“Oops.” TidalWave looked out her without regret as he stood over the piece of meat he’d placed onto the baiting spot, “Guess you won’t be able to heal. Better not get hit.”

Seven looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You did that on purpose.”

“Eyes upfront.” He pointed towards the wolf and she yelped as it jumped at her.

TidalWave looked with interest as wolf after wolf spawned with his help.

“Actually, you might want to move left when its muscles twitch like that. It’s clearly trying to feint you out but you can tell where it's going by the direction its body is pointing.”

“Hey, that was good. You’ll want to watch out not to throw your weight too far back or else you’ll end up going further than you intended and it’ll give the wolf a lot more time to catch up to you. Even milliseconds can make a crucial difference in a fight.”

Wolf after wolf came and died.

Seven was panting as TidalWave shouted out wave after wave of criticisms and the odd piece of advice that was incredibly helpful to her. She had to admit that even if the shouts annoyed her she was definitely improving. TidalWave had to kill the first few wolves but by the tenth, she had gotten the hang of it. Then she focused on making sure to not lose any health. By the twentieth wolf she wasn’t losing much health and could easily dodge and counterattack the enemy. She felt like she might even be able to take on two wolves at once.

“Hey, you’re actually not a bad teacher.” She said with surprise.

She meant it. She thought that she’d learn by watching him fight after he gave up trying to teach her how to dodge. Now she didn’t even need him to come save her, and he had even been hunting a few wolves on his own with some rabbit meat he’d brought along since he was comfortable she wouldn’t die on him.

Even though he criticised her a lot during the fights it had only ever been when she made a mistake she knew that she should be able to do. Every time she’d had a problem with her footwork that was beyond her ability or she encountered something that confused her, he took over fighting the wolf and dodged its attacks while explaining why she was having the issue and how to fix it.

He had helped her a lot more than she thought he would.

Suddenly a low growl sounded out from the woods. A new wolf had appeared, but this one looked bigger, more ferocious and sported a glowing magical tail.

[Magic-touched Starving Wolf Level 5]

“Ah, hey.” Seven nudged TidalWave, “That’s the wolf I was telling you about.”

TidalWave looked at it curiously. “You said once this thing eats the meat it’s too fast for you to dodge right?”

She nodded and looked at the wolf warily.

“Good.”

A slab of rabbit meat flew out from beside her head and she gaped as the wolf jumped straight up into the air and gobbled it down in one smooth movement.

+20

‘Oh crap.’

Even though it was at full health it still healed. No, it gained even more maximum health.

“Why the heck did you do that!” She turned angrily and gaped as she saw that TidalWave had already run a few meters away to safety.

“You wanted to learn how to dodge didn’t you?” he yelled out to her from his safe spot, “Well you’ll never learn if you keep practicing within your comfort zone. Dodge that thing, if you don’t, then you die. That thing will eat your corpse!” he added cheerfully.

The wolf growled as though it agreed with his words and eyed Seven hungrily. She let out a weak smile at the sight of the feral creature.

‘Just a game. Just a game.’

With a howl, the wolf leaped at her with fangs and claws bared.

‘Oh god, I don’t want to die!’ Seven tried running away but the further she went the further TidalWave retreated backward.

In a couple of seconds the wolf had caught up to her.

‘More speed.’

She tried to run faster and sidestep swiftly like she had seen Attraction doing to it, only to barely be missed as the wolf got closer and closer. She was better than before, but she wasn’t that good yet.

‘I need better timing.’

She saw the wolf claw at her and she stepped to the side; she had just barely dodged. The wolf was so close now that she wouldn’t be so lucky next time.

-10

‘More speed… better timing.’ Seven could feel her mind becoming cluttered as the wolf continued to follow her.

A couple more hits like that and she’d be dead. She didn’t want to lose here, not after she’d been doing so well. She didn’t have time to think. The monster wasn’t allowing her time to plan or counterattack. She could feel the panic welling up inside her. The wolf was already so close and it was practically toying with her. Now it was almost on top of her.

It was so close that she could feel the killing intent oozing off of it. She couldn’t dodge it from this distance; there’s no way that she could send her body that command in time.

It pounced at her with claws stretched out.

Then she felt it.

A left step here, then a magic blast. Before she had the time to think her body had reacted. Perfectly timed, perfectly executed. The wolf yelped as it missed its attack and she hit it, then it rounded for another attack. But Seven was already deep in her own thoughts.

It was as though a weight had been lifted off of her. Even if it was a split second she had overcome that small gap between the virtual body and her thoughts. More basic than thought, deeper than emotion. What she felt was what her body did. A reaction primal reaction to the danger she’d faced. The action and the timing perfectly synced without delay.

Then it was gone.

She dodged the wolf again and was suddenly dragged out of her thoughts. ‘But I won’t forget that feeling.’

TidalWave watched this and put his hand to his chin when he saw her perfect dodge and counterattack.

‘She’s talented.’

The moment the thought entered his mind he kicked it out. But the damage had already been done, he could feel something growing with every beat of his heart. He could feel it growing inside him. He could see the future if this person continued to improve, she would slowly but surely get better and better and even pass him. This realisation caused an emotion to grow deep within him. It was fear.

Then he laughed. “Good, good. Really, really, ridiculously good.”

He smiled as Seven shot him a confused expression and promptly got smacked to the ground by a stray wolf paw.

This girl would turn into a monster, he could feel it, but he had never been a person afraid of those more talented than himself. For every move she learned, and every hour she played, he would just have to spend another thinking of how to be one step ahead. He would learn to dodge better, he would fight harder and he would destroy any wall that would slow him down in this race.

If he did this, he was confident he would grow even faster than the genius before him.

He stood up from his spot and lifted his sword towards the wolf.

“Well, I guess I’ll help you kill that thing before it eats you.”