Chapter 4: Travelling to Rygar

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We’ve already been traveling for 11 days now. Pretty uneventful if you ask me but then again this is why this is the safest route to Tyrne.... But because we have to detour through Rygar this is taking longer than expected. Except the for the occasional monster that burst from the tree attacking we didn’t really do any fighting.

“Okay, let’s set up camp for today” Riley says

It’s still pretty early... I was just about to say that we should keep going but I saw Beth who was already sitting with a rather pale face I shut my mouth.

“Ah, then I’ll go look around then” I say to them both

Walking a some distance away from camp I spot a clearing. Okay, here is good enough... I started with some exercise and started swing my sword practicing my form. I activate skills to increase proficiency even though when there’s no enemy it’s progress is really slow. But at least my lightning affinity levels up normally as it doesn’t need a target.

With the increased lightning resistance I could handle a few seconds of using my discharge skill. I also find out that shaping the lightning is possible! Molding it into small knife shapes I could then throw them giving some range attacks. It’s possible that I could use the skill to form a lightning bolt from my hands but until I know I have enough resistance I’ll refrain from doing so. Don’t wanna get burned skin again.....

The combat in this game really does have freedom. I now see why classes don’t exist in this game. In any usual MMO my class should have been a lightning mage or swordsman but in this VR I’m a combination of both.

Finishing my daily routine notice the sky’s already dark. I wiped the sweat off my face and started walking back to camp. Looks like dinner’s ready... I see Riley and Beth already eating when I got there.

“Yo, done for today?” Riley asked while still munching his food

“Yup, gotta have enough rest too” I sat down near the fire

“..........good job........” Beth says quietly and hands me a bowl with some stew in it

“Yeah, thanks Beth.” I smiled at her

She turned a little red while nodding and continued eating. Haha looking at her makes me think about my own sister. Hime.... I’ve only been here for a little over a month but Hime’s already spent 4 months in this death game. Just thinking about her makes me worry a lot.

Noticing my expression Riley and Beth look at me for a while. Not good Haru... gotta keep it together. I smiled and started eating while they still glance at me looking a bit worried. They really are nice people.

They helped me out when I was just some total stranger a month ago but now they’ve become my closest friends in this world. Looking over at Riley I see his crossbow laying beside him and his chest piece on the ground. When I first saw the man I got the impression of a melee fighter but he told me using crossbows are safer. I guess it is since you’re far from enemies.

Beth on the other hand doesn’t fight at all. She was just playing “Tales of New Land” to do some sightseeing but her luck was bad as she got trapped here. Turns out they were related in Real Life as uncle and niece. Funny how my friends are a bearded middle age man and a little girl, but I can’t deny they help me out a lot.

“By the way I think we’re just need 3 more days until Rygar” Riley spoke

“That’s good... I’m tired of camping outside.” I nod

“At least Tyrne is just 5 days from Rygar” he says, turns out the road from Rygar to Tyrne is pretty much a straight line

“Haruki.... you’re looking for someone right?” Beth asked me

“Yes, Hime, my sister.”

“Will she still be there?”

“......... I don’t know.”

“If she’s not there she’ll probably be in Roden” Riley suggested

“Roden?”

“It’s the largest city on the east side of this continent. Not too far from Tyrne.”

“I see...” well if she’s not at Tyrne, Roden’s next on my list then

We kept chatting for a while before Beth started yawning. Looks like it;s already late. Offering to take the first watch shift I let them rest first.

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While watching for any monsters I started experimenting on my lightning skills again.

Lightning Affinity (Intermediate) lv.3

Increase effectiveness of lightning based attacks, also grants resistance

45% lightning damage, 55% lightning resistance

With my natural resistance against lightning it totals up to negating 605 of lightning damage. I guess that’s enough to use small scale shapes without burning my skin. I started focusing and channeled mana into my left arm. Sparks start forming while only stinging a little as it came in contact with my armor.

Focusing on my fingers it formed small bolts at the tips giving a shape similar to claws. I try waving my hand in a clawing motion as the lightning keeps it form. This’ll be useful for close range I think as started moving my hands practicing moves similar to kung fu palm strikes.

These lightning skills are really useful... No wonder only a few players get these bonus skills. It can adapt to any players fighting style. As lightning greatest advantage is speed I try thinking of a way to make me faster. My stats in agility are the highest so it should mean I’m on the right track here.

I guess the most important thing for movement is footwork. Thinking this i try applying lighting to the bottom of my feet. Sensing it worked I tried jumping and found myself 3 meters in the air. Losing my balance mid air I nearly fell face first on the ground but luckily my hands landed first.

That was better than I expected! I focused on my feet again and tried running. Moving so fast I felt like I was catapulted and started moving in zig-zags. Wow this really is a great skill. After trying this out a window appeared in front of me.

Lightning Movement (Passive)

Applying lightning elements to your body you can now move faster and have faster reaction to attacks.

+10% movement speed; +100% movement speed when used with lightning discharge

“HELL YEAH!” this is gonna make my life much easier!

Closing the skill window I notice a pair of blue eyes staring from the forest. Crap, is it a monster? A readied my blade and faced the trees. Figuring it was spotted it jumped from the trees lunging at me but with my newfound speed I easily side stepped and slashed managing a shallow cut to it’s side.

What I saw was a monster that looked like a wolf only bigger with black fur with some blue stripes. Looking to it’s side it again started attacking me. It’s fast! With It’s jaw open it tried to take a bite but I blocked with my sword making it chomp on the hard metal. Suddenly its teeth started glowing and sparks from it’s mouth shocking me. Lucky my resistance is high.... I looked at the beast again and realized it was a Raiju.

“I guess we’re both lightning users....” I said which made it growl at me

From the looks of it this should be just a normal mob monster and not at boss class. Knowing that, I charged and started my assault. Parrying it’s bites were rather simple as it’s moves were similar to wolf. If I didn’t resist lightning no doubt it’s damage and stun effect would be much higher.

While it bit down on my blade again I used my free left hand and punched the raiju’s head, making it fall on it’s side. I took this chance and stomped on it while stabbing the body repeatedly until it died. Looking at the forest i see 3 pair of eyes looking back at me.

“RILEY! We got company!”

As 3 other raijus came out of the forest a crossbow bolt flew and hit one of the monsters making it limp.

“What the hell are those?!”

“They’re raiju!”

“The hell is that?” I guess not many people know about Japanese myths.....

“They’re lightning wolves! I’ll handle the, you cover me!!”

“Gotcha !” Riley says while shooting bolts at them

With range attacks covering me it should be easier to fight them now. I keep dodging their bites and claws while their lightning barely effects me. The bolts from Riley are doing steady damage to their HP and managed to even kill one.

Now’s my chance! With the other two distracted by their friends death I started directing mana to my feet. With the 100% movement speed bonus I jumped in the air and pointed my sword down. With a loud crack a landed one one of their backs and thrust the blade severing it’s spine.

After killing another I used the momentum to launch myself at the last one moving so fast it couldn’t react. Arriving beside I slashed at it’s neck making it’s head fly into the air and disappearing. Into the woods. After the battle I collected the loot receiving some furs and fangs.

“Damn Haru, you’re practically a monster yourself now” Riley joked at me after the fight

“Nah, their attacks just aren’t effective against me.” I shrugged. I looked at the woods again and spoke to Riley and Beth.

“If they’re like wolfs then there should be an alpha nearby.... I suggest we leave now before meeting it.” If a boss class attacks us now who knows if we’ll beat it

“Good idea.” Riley said while Beth nodded.

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Arriving at Rygar i see that it’s much larger than the one I started at. Stone walls encircle the whole city and there are hundreds of people both players and NPCs on this street alone. I started looking around staring at everything from market stalls, statues, and even every person that passes by. I’m acting like a complete hick!

But to think this isn’t even the biggest city..... The scale of this game world is absolutely amazing! If it weren’t for the fact is was a huge death game I would have really enjoyed this game.

“Haruki, we’re going to the inn first okay?”

“Ah, yeah! We’re leaving in a week right?”

“That’s right, we’ll probably need more supplies for Tyrne. Especially for you since you might be heading to Roden next.” Riley said while leaving

I forgot that he and Beth were planning on staying at Tyrne.... I guess I got used to having traveling buddies. If I have to go to Roden alone I definitely need better gear, I should also do some hunting to raise my level...

First I better sell off all my loot. My inventory’s almost full with a lot of items and dropped gear from monsters. Making up my mind I started searching for a shop willing to barter my stuff for money. I finally found one willing to trade with. It was a small shop attended by a short fat woman.

“So, what do you have for me, traveler?”

Uwah, classic shopkeeper NPC line.....

“I have some that dropped from some monsters on my journey, there’s also some usable gear here.”

“Yes, I see.” she said while examining my items “I’ll give you 1 gold and 20 silver for them all.”

“That’s fine” That’s a fair price I guess

“But are you sure you want to sell these?”

The shopkeeper pointed at the fangs and fur i got from the Raiju drops.

“What do you mean?”

“Well you travelers are always looking tom improve equipment. These are from raiju right? They’re pretty rare materials you know, that’s why I’m asking if you’re sure.”

That’s right! I don’t always have to buy new gear. I could just have make equipment from my own materials. Thinking about what the shopkeeper said I decided to keep them.

“Then I’ll hang on to them”

“Too bad, so without the raiju items I’ll give you 60 silver okay? These were the most valuable after all.”

“Alright I guess” hmm the materials alone are worth a lot, maybe I could get some decent gear.

“By the way ma’am, do you know a good tailor in town” i ask

“Best one I know is, Madam Rose’s tailor just on the main street.” She answered while handing me the silver coins

“Alright, thank you ma’am” I bowed and left the shop

I went to the main street and found that it was really crowded there. Looking around I find the tailor and stepped inside.

“Welcome to Rose’s! How may i help you?”

I was instantly greeted by a woman’s voice. I looked at the source and there I saw a beautiful woman with long blond hair and green eyes matching the dress she was wearing. The dress was a really fine piece of art which complemented her curves, with long sleeves and puffy skirt.

“Um, uh, I’m looking for Rose....”

“Yes I’m Rose. It says so on the sign right?” she said while giggling

“Ah, could you make something from this?” I get to the point and showed her the raiju fur before I humiliated myself

‘Let me take a look at that. Hmm, raiju fur right? Looks like there's enough for a thick coat. It’ll probably cost 35 silver, Is that okay?” she asked me while smiling

“That’s fine”

“Alright let me take your measurements for a while... It’ll probably take a few hours to finish... are you going to wait?”

“Yes.”

After taking my measurements Rose went to the back and started working. Having nothing to do I just sat on a chair while looking at the pieces on display. While looking around I felt myself nodding off and fell asleep.

“.....Sir, the coat’s done” I felt someone shaking me gently

“Ah, I’m sorry Ms. Rose!” I quickly got up and wiped my face

“Huhu, it’s fine, it’s fine. Here try the coat on.” She said while handing it to me

I checked the coat and looked at the description

Raiju Fur Coat (Rare)

Made from the fur of Raiju, creatures that have lightning powers and are rarely spotted

Defense: 30

Lightning damage +5% ; Lightning resistance +10%

I couldn’t be happier! Not only is the defense decent it’s other effects suit me perfectly! Trying it on I wore the coat over my basic leather armor. I looked in the mirror and saw that it was a really good looking piece of gear.

It was mostly black with some dark blue stripes that resembled lightning bolts. It also had a collar that reached my neck and also had a hood attached. It felt smooth as I tried feeling the texture.

Pleased with my new piece, I nodded.

“It’s perfect! Thank you Ms. Rose.”

Rose smiled as she told me to come again as I left the tailor. Outside it was already nighttime. I should get to an inn fast, finally I’ll be able to sleep on a proper bed.

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Hime had just returned to a tavern in Roden with Amy. They’d spent the last weeks staying there while hunting and doing some random quests. They ordered some food and drinks and sat down at table in the corner of the room.

“Looks like it’s another easy day huh, Hime?

“Don’t get careless Amy... one slip up and we could die.”

“I know that, that’s why we’ve just kept doing easy quests and running from strong monsters.”

“you can’t be too careful.”

“Yeah, yeah” Amy muttered as she began eating

“By the way, you think we should move someplace else again?”

Hime thought about the suggestion for a while. They had stayed in Tyrne for the first two months doing nothing before finally deciding to do their best. For a month Hime and Amy started doing some quests and hunting monsters.

As Hime could use her bow and Amy knew healing magic they could level up safely and ran from anything dangerous

After this they decided to move to Roden which was the biggest city in the east. So they could try their best in surviving the dangerous new world.

“Hey, don’t ignore me Himee...” Amy complained when her friend didn’t answer

“Ah sorry I was thinking a bit..”

“So? You think we should leave?”

“No...No, I think we should wait around here longer.”

“Sure, i guess that’s fine too” Amy watched her friend that was quiet.

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