“Gah, why is it so hot out?” Steven complained. He constantly grabbed at the hem of his shirt and fanned himself. Beads of sweat dripped down his chin and neck. The temperature here was a far cry from that on the beautiful Eastrath continent.

“Does everyone have everything they need?” Aaron asked. We each had a nice camping bag and I checked my own pack. The food, water, and miscellaneous materials were distributed evenly between the five of us.

“Looks good boss.” Steven responded.

“Then let’s get moving.” It was early morning and the sun was rising into the sky. It was only going to get hotter as the day dragged on. The sooner we could get into the nearby forest the faster we would have some shade above our head.

Steven led the front with Kimmi just behind him. Aaron, Isabelle and I fanned out in the back. If anything untoward happened we were already in position to react accordingly. I remembered the advice Lady Briele had given to me very clearly.

Traveling on Eastrath was relatively peaceful. We might expect to encounter a monster here and there… but peaceful travel was impossible on North Maledith. I didn’t take her words as an exaggeration.

“What should we expect around here?” I asked Steven. He seemed to be the most knowledgeable out of all of us. It was possible Kimmi knew just as much or more considering the time spent here already. She just didn’t seem like the talkative type.

“Most monsters are low twenties. It shouldn’t be a problem for us at all. Don’t worry, nothing will get past me,” he boasted. I thought his statement would be true if we put him in a doorway. Nothing would get past for sure then.

Lady Briele wasn’t joking. We hadn’t even walked twenty minutes out from Cape Tou before we encountered our first monster. I cast inspect.

Giant Coconut Crab LEVEL: 21 BEAST WATER

HP: 4801 MP: 10

STR: 30

AGI: 10

DEX: 12

VIT: 20

INT: 3

Its claws make up more than half its body weight.

I wasn’t expecting a crustacean, but perhaps it wasn’t that surprising considering we weren’t far from the coast. Palm trees and coconut trees towered on both sides of our path way.

The monster was freakishly large and that fact made it look almost alien. Its eyes were beady and dark black. It came all the way up to Steven’s thigh in height. The claws were so freakishly large I wouldn’t have been surprised if they could chop Steven in half at the waist.

The information from inspect was broadcast to everyone in the party. The crab’s brute strength and durability was its strongest point, while its AGI was severely lacking. Steven pulled out his shield in front of him while Kimmi rushed forward.

“Stay behind at all times. It shouldn’t be able to turn very well,” Steven said. Kimmi nodded in response and made a roundabout way before positioning behind it. “Hey fella, look at me.” Steven yelled at it.

This was our first encounter on North Maledith and was also the perfect situation to do something I had been dreaming about. Ball Lightning—I wanted to use it so badly in actual combat.

The crab felt the pressure from Kimmi behind and Steven in front. It slashed a claw out towards Steven and pinched, hoping to grab him. There was a cracking like thunder as it met nothing but empty air. I start to cast Ball Lightning.

Steven moved forward after the monster’s first strike and stabbed out with his sword. It struck the hard carapace and left nothing but a thin white gash. Not enough to even pierce the shell. It was at that same moment that Kimmi came in front behind and forced both of her daggers into its back.

I was pleased with her reaction. She could read the flow of combat. She struck when the crab had no way to retaliate. Unfortunately, her two daggers were not enough to pierce its shell. An AGI class that focused on maneuverability and not strength would have a hard time damaging this walking tank.

This was my fight to shine. I wanted to impress my two new teammates. I was a mage. My unspoken promise to them was that while they occupied the monster, while they risked their lives in melee range, I would deal damage.

The ball lightning in my hand was fully formed and electrical snakes arced across the surface. I didn’t have the exact distance but I eyeballed it to the best of my ability. I positioned myself in the sweet spot and tossed out the energy of the spell.

Aaron had also knocked a Powershot and sent it flying towards the crab’s eyes. Its AGI stat wasn’t great but its reaction time was stellar. The arrow was merely a mirage in my eyes. Despite that, the crab’s eyes rolled back and a thick film covered them. The Powershot only managed to crack that film but didn’t do any real damage to its sight. The beady little eyes rolled forward again.

The crab let out a wet hiss and little bubbles foamed at its mouth. I thought it was maybe using poison but soon realized that wasn’t the case. Aaron had just pissed it off. My ball lightning just reached the end of its travel phase and was now in that sweet four-to-ten meter range.

The first arc of electricity shot out and zapped the front left claw. A spot at least a foot wide was immediately scorched black. Its reaction was to back away, and yet Kimmi was directly behind it.

It could have run away, but it wasn’t that intelligent. The concept that Steven and Kimmi couldn’t really do much damage to it wasn’t something its mind could fathom.

The second zap of electricity came out. It was even stronger than the first. The entire left claw was smoking from the strikes. To my surprise, Kimmi rushed forward again and raised her daggers. I was expecting another failure on her part, but my expectations were wrong. Her two daggers suddenly lit up and then pierced the crab’s back.

The crab no longer cared that Steven was in front and Kimmi was behind. It wanted to flee at all costs and started to turn its burly body. Regardless, Steven was faster and managed to position himself in front of its path every time.

By the time Ball Lightning had run its course half of the monster’s shell was scorched completely black. Even better was that those areas had been weakened considerably after being burnt. Aaron managed to knock arrows directly through and Steven dug his sword deep within. The crab fell shortly after.

We grouped around the corpse once it died. Unfortunately, there was no loot.

“What was that skill you used?” I asked Kimmi. It was definitely a skill as her daggers had glowed just before she stabbed down.

“Penetrate.” She responded. It did exactly as the name suggested. There didn’t seem to be much resistance on her second attack.

It was our first fight as a group and the first bit of EXP I had gained in a long time. Unfortunately, the EXP gain wasn’t an impressive number to say the least. It would take quite a while to level off these crabs. On the positive side, the encounter went smoothly. No one ended up hurt at all.

The ease at which we dispatched the crab was so smooth that we didn’t learn much at all as a group. It was understandable though. A monster of this caliber was simply cannon fodder. It wasn’t always guaranteed we would be fighting just one monster at a time either.

The multiple-mob scenario was something we encountered shortly after.

“Are these Roda?” I asked. There were innumerable chicken-sized frogs blocking our path. There must have been twenty or thirty of them.

They were blue or green with splotches of exotic colors all over. Their large eyes stared in our direction hungrily. I cast inspect.

Roda LEVEL: 9 BEAST EARTH

HP: 925 MP: 10

STR: 8

AGI: 15

DEX: 5

VIT: 5

INT: 5

A carnivorous relative of the tree frog. They prefer to hunt in packs.

Just from looking the stats of one of the Roda it was clear why they hunted in packs. Individually they were incredibly weak. Their strength was in their numbers and even twenty or thirty of these frogs could be a terrifying prospect. We didn’t have enough bodies fight them all.

“Steven! How do we deal with this?” Aaron called back. It seemed that it had already become a habit for us to consult Steven on first encounters.

“I don’t know!” He yelled back. Not great news.

“Kite backwards and stay together!” Aaron made his decision. Kimmi and Steven both retreated as we formed into a tight circle. The Roda hopped in our direction in response. Their tongues occasionally came out of their mouth as if licking their lips.

The direct result of us backing away was that the Roda ended up grouping together slightly. They were far less spread out. “Protect me for a moment.” Aaron said. Isabelle and I knew what was going to happen. Kimmi and Steven looked on expectantly.

Aaron cast Rain of Arrows and blotted out a portion of the sky before raining death on the mobs. That single spell had thinned the Roda number by two-thirds. Only those on the outer flanks weren’t riddled with arrow wounds.

I also noticed a peculiar phenomenon. Some of the bodies of the Roda started to sprout vines that entangled them in place. This benefit was pointless since those hit were already dead, but it was an interesting development.

Those Roda on the flanks lucky enough to survive Rain of Arrows ignored their dying comrades. It wasn’t that these Roda were more intelligent or had any form of plan. They were just focused on attacking us.

This was also when Kimmi showed a completely different side of herself. She brandished both her daggers and rushed to the right to take out mobs from the edge of the pack. It was honestly slightly terrifying to see her impaling and gashing every Roda in her path.

Stunned by the rogue’s effectiveness, I didn’t even bother to cast. Blood splattered through the air with each stab and slash of her daggers. Her hands and legs had blood splatter. Even little bits of her face were covered in a light drizzle of red.

She fought like a crazed demon, or someone who was releasing incredible, suppressed depths of anger and hatred. If I had seen her lick the blood from her dagger afterwards, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Once all the enemies were dispatched, she became that meek little girl again.

“We should save some of this,” Kimmi said nonchalantly. It was a reference to the Roda legs. “They are quite good.” Her daggers were the perfect weapon to do the butchering so she was tasked with the job.

By the time she had finished hacking away at Roda limbs, Kimmi looked like a beautiful demon. Is this the same person I felt would flee from battle? It looked more like she would run headfirst into the most deadly battle imaginable instead.

“You should clean up,” I coughed.

“Oh! Right…” she looked down at herself. There was actually so much frog blood that it couldn’t have been comfortable. She wet a rag and spent several minutes wiping off. My fear that the rogue would abandon us in a tough spot disappeared. The little bit of dislike I had for her personality was dwindling as well.

We didn’t have many more notable encounters the rest of the day. It seemed the journey from Cape Tou to Tanyros was a popular one. Since we had departed behind several other adventurer groups, they were effectively spearheading the journey for us.

We happened upon a well-used campsite just before nightfall. “Feel free to set up camp nearby! The more the merrier!” A man yelled from another party. From the looks of it there was 4 or 5 different groups setting up at the campsite.

He wasn’t wrong. The more adventurers here the safer everyone would be and feel. It was my first night in the wilderness on North Maledith. We found an empty spot just nearby before setting up a little camp of our own.

Steven managed to find the trunk of a fallen palm tree that was mostly dry and brittle. He dragged it towards our selected campfire spot. It worked well as a seat for us to sit on. We huddled around the fire together.

“Shall we have the Roda legs tonight?” Isabelle asked.

“They won’t hold long without some salt or frost magic.” Steven said. Unfortunately, the only frost magic I knew was Glacial Spike. It wasn’t a reliable or safe way to freeze things. Best scenario I would mangle the legs with a jutting spike and ruin them.

Kimmi licked her lips, “Let’s eat them tonight…” There was a hunger in her voice.

Something, something the blood of your enemies… I shivered just thinking about it. That couldn’t be her intention…right? I pushed it to the back of my mind.

Steven started to pull out a supply of seasoning and cooking utensils from his pack. It was something that neither Aaron, Isabelle, or I would have bothered to bring. I was grateful that he did so, though.

He was an excellent cook and very soon the smell of our dinner (like roast chicken) wafted through the entire camp. I even managed to catch hungry eyes from the nearest group. We definitely weren’t low on supply for the seasoning… and nor were we short of Roda legs.

“Should we share?” I asked. The hungry stares became more prominent. I didn’t blame them though, it just smelled that damn good.

“We do have a lot and we won’t be able to save them…” Aaron said.

I expected Steven to refuse outright, but instead he was expansive. “Bring them over. See if they have anything they can contribute and we can have a feast tonight!” His response was the exact opposite of my expectations.

The atmosphere instantly became lively. The camps that were originally spread apart and had an invisible barrier between them merged together. Burning logs and spare tinder was moved to the best of everyone’s ability and Steven was the head chef.

He sat over the fire sweating while working several pots and pans. It wasn’t just Roda legs anymore though. There were hamburger patties being cooked, having been formed out of an unknown meat. Some sort of roast pork was generating delicious scents and there was even wild veggies and herbs. Steven had his hands completely full.

There were loud cheers as soon as the first Roda legs were passed out, “Long live Steven!” was the chant. The entire atmosphere went up another level once the alcohol was brought out. There was something so amazing about it all.

The happy cheering and smiles made me feel alive. The positive attitude of the people all around made me feel so great that I couldn’t contain my own laughter. Someone passed me a gourd which smelled like it contained a kind of beer.

“Heading to Tanyros as well?” he asked.

I took it but probably looked unsure of myself, “Yeah.”

Why the hell not? I took a swig. That was definitely a mistake. The burn in my throat caused me to cough and nearly shoot the alcohol out of my nostrils. It was my first drink ever and it wasn’t beer but something much more powerful.

“Haha, careful! It’s pretty strong yeah?”

“Haha, yeah.” I forced out through the coughing. This was something I would have normally been embarrassed about, but now didn’t bother me at all. Instead, it made me laugh even harder. “We’re gonna be heading to the mines.” I said.

“Us too, maybe we’ll run into each other.” He held out his hand, “I’m Mark.”

“Joseph.” I reached back and shook his hand. Right after, I took another swig from the gourd before passing it back to him. Immediately after that, Isabelle brought over a pair of Roda legs and one of the burgers.

“Having fun?” she asked.

I looked at the people raging around me. Everyone was chatting and laughing happily. The mood was great and the smell of food elevated it even higher. Steven was still hard at work in the center cooking as if his life depended on it.

One hand held a spatula while the other held a gourd of alcohol. He occasionally dumped the alcohol into the pan and then took a deep swig. Aaron was moving around introducing himself to each group and clearly enjoying himself too.

Aaron was normally so serious. Seeing him crack a smile and break into full laughter was completely different. There was no doubt in my mind he was still doing his best to gather information during all of this. Even Kimmi had livened up a bit.

I took the two meals from Isabelle before finding a seat off to the side. I patted the spot next to me while beckoning Isabelle over. We sat down off to the side where there was a bit less noise. I grabbed my first Roda leg and bit in.

I had to admit it was even better than the Tavern. Steven definitely had a gift for cooking good food, definitely for enjoying it too. “Things are gonna be okay.” I said. This was the first time I truly felt that.

Optimism was a façade I presented to everyone. Deep down though, I never could shake a feeling of being in over my head. It was always looming and waiting to poke its nasty head up and scowl at me. In this moment, however, I felt so much better.

“Yeah.” She said. I could tell her voice was a little shaky. It was a bit hard to see in the darkness if she was crying or not. I did though see her arm raise and wipe one of her eyes.

Perhaps it was the alcohol or my general feeling of hope, but I did something I’d never had the courage to do before. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. This action wasn’t made in a romantic way at all. Isabelle was beautiful, no doubt. She was more like a sister to me, though.

I never once felt there was time for any romance given the circumstances. That wasn’t my intention at all. A part of me expected to be slapped or pushed away in rejection. Instead, she leaned in and rested her head against my side.

“I don’t know when, but, one day… We’ll figure out what happened.” I paused. “I promise.” That was my goal now. Why were we thrown into this world? Were my parents still alive? Was my brother still alive? There were so many questions to answer.

Isabelle sniffled and I felt her nod her head slightly. I didn’t open my mouth to inquire what the specific problem was. There was just too many to cover. We had been suddenly thrown into a life-or-death situation and forced to survive. On top of that we were facing into a new world. There were enough problems we could go over them with a psychiatrist for ten years.

We sat in silence for several minutes before she stopped sniffling and seemed to have come to grips with whatever was bothering her.

“I’ll keep you to that promise,” she said.

“Count on it,” I replied. “Let’s get back to it.” The party was still in full swing and people were getting even more rowdy. I went to Steven’s side to see if I could give him a bit of relief from the cooking.

Instead of the heartfelt gratitude I was expecting, Steven simply shooed me away. It seemed he considered cooking sacred and wouldn’t allow anyone to interfere. I could see a passion in his eyes as he marinated and seasoned every piece of meat.

As I moved around the camp and found myself being passed more and more of the alcoholic drink, the night slowly became a blur. I don’t even know what time I fell asleep.