Hopping back in game was as sudden as always, something I still hadn’t quite gotten used to. Rather than training, I decided to do some hunting today so I could hopefully afford some of that armor Golrag had told me about. At three gold I could possibly get that within a day, and I could really use some protection from getting clawed up and bitten with how much that had been happening to me. Stopping by Alva’s potion shop, I picked up some more of the beginner health potions, though she warned me I should probably upgrade to normal potions relatively soon, as the beginner ones were intended for beginners - people who had only one vitality. After saying bye to Alva, I headed off to the gates.

Outside the towering entrance was the ever present mist, tendrils of it writhing their way along the ground. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it never seemed to fade even in the bright daylight, probably something to ask Alva about. Heading off to the forest, I slowed down on my way to slaughter enough orbs to turn in for the quest, giggling like mad at how easy it had become with my ice spear one shotting them.

As I collected their materials, I decided my next course of action after getting some armor would be to learn to properly harvest their furs and orbs, I was sick of getting half the money due to getting only damaged and poor quality furs. Once I arrived at the forest, this time I stopped just to admire the way the mist slowly weaved its way around the trunks. The forest was one of old growth, large pathways weaving around the trunks, and only scattered bushes and plants, with the sun dappling the ground in spots where the leaves didn’t quite block out the light. I admired the view for a moment, then shook my head and got to work.

My work this time was exceedingly easy, while I couldn’t kill the wargs in one hit with my ice spear the way I could the orbs most the time, they would often be pinned to the ground for the second or three it took the magical Ice to melt, leaving me free to finish them off with a force bolt. Roaming around, I spotted a group of three wargs clustered together, and decided it would be a good opportunity to play with ice shatter. Prepping the spell pattern, I hid behind a trunk and lobbed the slower moving projectile towards them. It flew true, but just as it was about to land, one of the the wargs noticed, hissed, and jumped to the side just as it exploded. Two of them were caught by the ice, and I quickly sent another ice spear at the warg charging me, impaling it entirely through. Of the other wargs, one had collapsed, while the other, even with holes poking through it in many parts hissed and charged at me. Putting it down with a force bolt, I smiled. I’d had so much trouble with even two before, yet here I was taking on three without breaking a sweat. The money I had spent on the new spells had been totally worth it.

I hunted throughout the day, collecting enough to turn in three warg quests and a treant quest when I spotted a massive group of treants surrounding what had to be a boss mob. It was easily twice the size of the others, it’s vine like appendages were far thicker, and it had to have at least fifteen of them compared to the nine I counted on the normal ones. I was just about to back out and try to find some smaller amounts of mobs to hunt when I heard some talking from off to the side.

“Ok, this will be the third, and hopefully final time we attempt to do this. Dark, you and I will be trying to attract the attention, Mars, use that oversized sword of yours and chop up anything you can get to. Aylea, you get to be our ranged support, and Light, you’re on healing. We want to attract as many of the small monsters as we can before we get to the boss mob, so we’ll try to have Aylea aggro them from range. Alright, let’s go!”

I watched as they slowly approached the large group of mobs, hiding myself, unsure if I should offer to help, or try and get some benefits if they wiped. I shrugged, either way I was going to stay and see what happened. They were an interesting group, there was one tall masculine guy wielding a nasty looking axe and a shield, a guy who seemed even more skinny than I was with a sword and shield, two girls in robes with staffs, one short and mousey, the other tall and gorgeous. Completing the assembly, there was a girl who couldn’t be more than five feet tall with a sword almost the same size as her somehow attached to her backpack. I had no idea how it managed to not tear off the pack, or even how she was even managing to stand with that ridiculous amount of weight throwing off her balance, but just ascribed it to the backpacks that seemed to be able to do anything at this point.

The party started moving out, the two warriors with shields up front, the mage and healer in back, and the girl and her silly sword in the middle. I shadowed them as they approached the horde, but before they got too close to the mobs, the guy with a battleaxe said something to the tall woman. She then created a rune and released it, a ball of fire flying towards one of the treants.

As it went up in flames, the surrounding treants began to charge at the group, but the larger one just ignored them, seemingly content to let its minions take care of the disturbance. As the treants approached, the two men with shields took up wide stances, bracing themselves as they put their shields forward. Another ball of fire hit a treant just as the group of treants reached the small party. Slamming into each other, I could see the two warriors get knocked back a decent amount, but they held firm once they’d stopped. The one with a battleaxe sat there and blocked everything, not moving except for the occasional small sidestep.

He seemed to be a lumberjack at heart as he brought his axe around in sharp vicious swings, chopping into the branches that surrounded their pulsing green cores. The skinny warrior on the other hand danced around most of the vines, only blocking those that he couldn’t get around, slashing into the vines, slowly disarming the treants. As the mousey girl sat back, likely waiting for when her healing would be needed, the small girl with a giant sword joined the fray. It was an interesting thing to watch, it wasn’t so much that she swung around her sword as she seemed to get swung around by it instead, but it would unerringly slam into the treants cores or limbs, viciously slashing through with practically no resistance.

I sat back and watched as they slowly mowed through the group of treants, their flailing limbs landing occasionally, and every so often the mousey looking one would go forward and draw a rune directly over one of the warriors bodies, and a soft blue glow would surround them for a second before fading. This went on for a time, until around twenty of the treants had been slain.

It started with a rumbling noise. It couldn’t quite be called a growl or a roar, just a vibrating sensation that seemed to flow entirely through you, and then the boss treant started to move with his remaining group. It rushed in, faster than the other trants despite its bulk, and slammed into the axe wielding warrior, sending him flying back a couple meters. He managed to land on his feet however, and rushed back in, trying to keep the boss mob contained.

The other warrior rushed in to join him, narrowly dodging a vertical slam by one of the vines to step in closer to it. The girl with the big sword stayed around the outside, trying to cull the remaining treants as the tall girl helped her, sending flames rushing as fast as she could, though she had slowed down significantly, likely out of mana, having to cast when it filled up enough to do so. The dance between party and boss continued for a time until something went wrong. The sword and shield warrior had gotten a bit too brave, and when going for a stab into the core of the boss treant, got slammed back, taking a hit directly in the chest.

Wincing in empathy, I watched as things started to spiral out of control. The axe wielding warrior, now having to deal with twice as many vine tentacles, started to get beaten around. I watched for a moment, deliberating on what to do. Should I go out and help? Or just try to sit back and collect the gold they dropped when they died. I sighed. I wasn’t often one to play the white knight, but they seemed to be an interesting group, and I could probably use a group later on in the game if soloing became a bit much for me. Most importantly, I’d like to have people to call on if Lily’s minions decided to have another go at me. I quickly complete a frostbite spell and sent it off, along with another two as soon as I could.

The axe wielding warrior started in surprise as he saw the spells impact, but quickly turned my way and gave a grin before turning his attention back to the monster. Unfortunately, the frostbite spell wasn’t able to cause the larger treant’s vines to shatter the way the smaller ones had, but it did impede enough of the vines that the warrior was having a better time of it. Sending in a couple ice spears to the boss as I approached, I saw the other warrior get healed up and rejoin the fight.

I stayed back this time, I was going to sit back and cast my spells as fast as I could, just the way a mage is supposed to. While standing in the back, I watched for any time the treant was looking like it could get in another good hit, and would release a frostbite spell I kept ready at all times. Each time it hit, it would shatter with a crackling noise, encasing a tentacle or two in ice, enough to slow down the monster if not stop it. After a bit of doing that, I noticed something not so good. I was out of mana.

Cursing, I took my spear, and waded in, I was going to have to be on the warrior side of the fighting for a short while. Ducking under a vine being swung at me, I closed in, slashing at another vine as it went flying by me. The two warriors, now under less pressure with me there as well, started getting more aggressive, going for stabs and chops against the vines or core. I’d stand there dodging more than anything else, ducking left and right, weaving between the vines that kept flying my way.

Every so often I’d get the chance to stab at the vines or the core, making sure not to extend enough that it could catch me before I could pull my spear back in. Things went well for a while until I ducked under a vine, only to see another heading straight at my face. Bracing for the impact, I still felt completely rattled as I got knocked back. Slowly getting up, everything seeming to spin around me. The small mousey girl was next to me in just a couple seconds, forming a spell rune I hadn’t seen before. As it was released, I felt the dizziness and aching in my head completely fade.

I looked ahead to see how the warriors were faring without me, only to see the girl with the oversized sword had finished all the secondary mobs and had come to help. Seeing as they had it well in hand, I sat back and lobbed ice spikes towards it, trying to practice landing them in exactly the same spot every time. I wasn’t particularly successful, but I didn’t need to be, as not long after, the treant collapsed, a large thump sounding out as it hit the forest floor.

I sat back and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in. That had been an intense fight for the portion I was in melee range, and the entire time I had been worried that another one of us would get knocked out of position only for it to overwhelm the next target. The warrior with the battleaxe came over to me and offered a hand.

“I’m Loss, glad to have you join us for that, I was worried we’d wipe yet again.”

“No problem, I’m Rayth. Besides, it looked like a fun fight to join.”

“And fun is what games are about right?” Loss replied with a grin on his face. “Anyway, I should probably introduce my party. The skinny guy over there is Dark, And the healer, Light, is his twin sister. The tall girl over there is Aylea, and the girl with the sword is Mars.”

“Pleasure to meet you all, You guys have been trying to kill this thing for a while then?”

“Yeah, we first ran into it when we were really low level, and wiped instantly. We came back a few levels later and didn’t fare much better. Luckily, we managed it this time. Thanks for the help.”

After chatting for a bit, we traded friend invites, then started to divide out the loot. I refused any of the small treant vines as I’d not helped for that, but I did accept two of the seven Giant treant vines that had dropped. We then started on our way back to the city, chatting as we went.

“So I have to ask, why the giant sword?”

“Well, I’ve always played berserker as my class, so I’m just more comfortable with a big weapon. It’s just a holdover from other games I suppose, most of them don’t actually make you wield the thing properly, they usually make it not any heavier than the normal sword. It took a while to get used to, but it’s honestly become quite fun.” Mars replied, he red hair framing a small smile on her face.

“Makes sense then. Though it is quite amusing to see you getting swung around by a sword the same size as you. So when did you guys start playing together? Were you in a guild together or just meet up here?”

“Well, we all know each other in real, and we’ve been a part of the same gaming group for a few years now. We normally just join a guild for the benefits it tends to provide, but we were hoping to make our own here. If we ever get it sorted we’ll leave a place open for you.”

I smiled, and gave a noncommittal reply right around when we reached the gates. Seeing as how we were all going to the adventurers guild, we stuck together, chatting as we went. I told them how Alva had told me that the mobs we were fighting were invaders, and that most of the regular wildlife of this world had been exterminated by them.

“Wait, so you mean to say that the reason the mobs never seem to run out in this game is that they’re coming from another dimension?”

“That’s what I was told at least, I would assume the mist everywhere has something to do with it as well, though I’ll need to ask Alva about that.”

“Huh, this game keeps getting more interesting as we go.”

At this point, we had reached the adventurers guild, and we grabbed the quests off the board and hopped in line to see how much we would get from our hunting trip. After turning in the loot for a nice four gold three silver and change, we said our farewells, and split up, me going to the armor shop, and them having to log off for now.

I soon arrived at the store Golrag had told me about, and went inside, looking to buy a set of warg leather armor to help protect me from the beatings I was getting on a regular basis. Going inside the shop, I was met with a riot of color. There were shades from bright orange to an almost neon green, making me almost leave the shop immediately due to the affront against my eyes. I was seriously considering it when a woman came hopping out from the back room.

“Hiiiii, I’m Merin, and welcome to my shop.” She seemed to be lightly bouncing up and down as she greeted me with a big grin on her face, seeming to be almost scarily bubbly.

“Hi… I’m Rayth. Golrag suggested your shop when I said I was looking for armor, he said I could get some warg leathers for pretty cheap here.”

“Oh he did? How sweet of him. Of course we can get you some leathers. Hmmm, with your hair and eyes, you’d look absolutely lovely in something matching with them.” She seemed to draw out the vowels of practically every other word as she spoke in her almost scarily cheerful tone.

“I’d prefer something a bit more bland please, I’d rather not be more of a target than I already seem to be.”

“Oh boo. Fine, I’ll have one of the apprentices see you get fitted, it’ll be three gold for the armor, and you can come pick it up tomorrow, but please stop by regularly, it’s always nice having a fresh face to talk to.”

I stepped back, deciding that unless these leathers were extraordinary, I was going to find another shop to get my armor from next time. She then went back through the door behind the counter, and out came a small man, who with no nonsense, and thankfully none of the bubblyness Merin seemed to have, took my measurements and then nodded, saying I could come pick it up tomorrow for the three gold.

I thanked her, and then escaped into the street, walking a bit faster than necessary. My pace slowed as I approached the temple, I still had a decent amount of time left in the day, so I should probably spend it training. I sighed. I was going to bite the bullet and go get some more spear practice from that sadistic teacher. I quickly walked over to the warrior training area before I could lose my nerve, and quickly spotted him giving some pointers to a guy using a sword against a practice dummy. I sighed, then walked over. I needed the practice, even if it wouldn’t be fun.

A couple hours later, and sporting more bruises than I could count, I was really wishing I could have Light here to heal me up. I facepalmed, I wasn’t broke now, and they weren’t going to be of use for too much longer, so I took out two of my health pots and downed them, almost instantly feeling much better. I switched to a proper walking gait instead of the limp I had been sporting, went to the barracks, found an empty bed, and passed out.