Common wisdom says to be wary of the feral beast, for it will be that much fiercer, and there is some merit to it. Another thing to consider is that a feral beast is likely a weakened beast and that might be your only chance to put it down. I'm no scholar but I have killed a fair number of beasties I shouldn't have been able to.

—Hunters Manual; version 3 2/3

In the year 1458 UHE, people didn’t get out much. That is to say, the great outdoors wasn’t so much a thing anymore and what little remained of it was a luxury most often reserved for only the most elite of the elite, and maybe the occasional publicity stunt. It was no exaggeration that Aiden had never walked for longer than an hour at a time and never over terrain more difficult than a set of stairs before entering the virtual world of VOS Kingdoms. Even then he couldn’t really say anything had changed since it was all virtual.

On their way to Frist Outpost, the trio has opted to set their avatars in automatic travelling mode. This way the system would move their bodies for them and send a notification to their virtual augments if they entered combat. It wasn’t exactly the safest way to travel but there also wasn't anything much more dangerous than a celty. The journey to the Wall would be different.

To begin with, Aiden didn’t have a guidance beacon so there was nothing for the automated travel mode to target. Even if he did, questioning the guards further revealed that the beasts they were likely to meet would be more dangerous than Troll Dandies, which were the most dangerous things Aiden’s party had met so far. Which meant the minimum five seconds it would take to reconnect to the game from elsewhere on the colony ship could be enough time for their characters to already be dead or severely wounded, and that’s not even accounting for the severe disorientation from an emergency reconnect.

For these reasons and a few more, the party would be walking—nay, hiking—to this new destination. Arthur was thrilled, Morrigan was suspiciously optimistic, and Aiden wasn’t really thinking that hard about it.

That was until four hours had passed in uneventful tedium marked only by the occasional “Ding!”

Skill Increase!

Walking +1

Which was becoming increasingly rare.

“You know,” Aiden wondered aloud, “I thought this game would be more, you know, game-like. Like with fast travel and magic and shit. Not ninety percent walking.”

“You realize one of the game’s major marketing campaigns was its revolutionary fidelity in the replication of sensations and realistic environmental design?” Arthur challenged.

“So?”

“So most games aren’t realistic and half the point of this ‘game’ is how realistic it is. Some people just want to go back to a simpler time that never really existed and live in that world, that’s what VOS Kingdoms is good at.”

“But walking?”

“I happen to like hiking.”

“Camping also used to be a popular recreational activity back in the early atomic age,” Morrigan added.

“They were also crazy enough to come up with MAD and then too pussy to actually use nuclear tech for anything good. Plus they were just plain weird in general; they had entire religions dedicated to worshiping cats!” Aiden shivered at the thought of those vicious creatures.

“Sure MAD was crazy and the people who lived back then were crazier, but it says something about a people for them to be perfectly content living alongside nuclear armageddon and go out to the middle of nowhere for fun instead of hunkering down in bunkers.” Morrigan pointed out cheerfully.

“You were saying something about simpler times, Arthur?”

“I said they never actually existed. Besides, the imaginary time I’m referring to is typically set in pre-literate Europe.”

“When people lived in shit?” Aiden elaborated.

“Yes.” Arthur deadpanned.

“Speaking of…” Morrigan said with a smile playing on her lips, “I think my favourite thing about this new virtual existence of ours is the lack of shits.”

“I hadn't really considered that,” Aiden mused. It was true; he had yet to take a virtual shit or take care or any virtual body functions. The closest he’d come was taking a chai tea bubble bath while they were on their way to the outpost, and that was just pure indulgence, as was eating he supposed, but we wouldn’t give that up for the world.

Aiden loved baths. They were just so relaxing and left you feeling so clean and at peace. Whenever he was feeling stressed back on earth, he’d always find a way to dunk himself in a nice tea infusion; there was something about feeling clean and smelling good that just made life that much more bearable. Except all this thinking of baths was reminding Aiden that he was currently tired, sore, covered in dust and dirt and sweat, and certainly did not smell good.

“I want a bath.”

‘ding!’

Skill Upgrade!

Skill: [Walking] has spawned subskill: [Hiking] -> Hiking +1

Aiden groaned,

New Skill!

Complaining +1

“Huh, I thought I’d get that one sooner if it existed.”

Aiden stumbled on a root in his distraction and swore.

“God! will you lay it off already?” Morrigan raised her arms to the sky in a beseeching manner and made a grand show of her dismay and annoyance. “Great Veuce delivered me from this annoying whiner before I’m swallowed by the void. Oh, the humanity!”

Arthur chose a more subdued approach; “It’s just hiking. Some people will pay a fortune to be out in nature like this. It’s really quite nice once you take it all in.”

“I’m surrounded by crazy people,” Aiden grumbled and picked up his pace to gain some peace of mind. There was just no reasoning with some people.

Arthur had a point in that hiking wasn’t all bad. Aiden wasn’t so set in his opinion that he couldn’ recognize a great view when he saw it, or revel in a cool breeze that relieved some of his exhaustion. The trail they were currently traversing was lined by wildflowers and aspens forming a picturesque ark above him. The aspens did little to spare Aiden from the hot midday sun which broke through their leaves in golden motes and left him sweating. A small stream rushed over glazed pebbles and sparkled in the light, as did Aiden's sweaty forehead. Soft green grass swayed in a light breeze and Aiden cursed that the breeze wasn’t stronger.

Really, this would all be so much nicer without the sweat. They could get rid of unpleasant realities like going to the bathroom but getting rid of perspiration was a step too far apparently. And sore muscles. Why did he have sore muscles in a game?

Skill Increase!

Endurance +1

Oh, right.

In the weird-ass game with no levels, STAT points, or even experience points, everything was a skill—even things that were typically STATs. It was annoying, over the top, and made checking relevant skills difficult but the system also had its upsides. A mundane skill like ‘Walking’ could become damn useful as it increased walking speed by 2% per level and could eventually become a significant factor in travel time. Hiking worked to a similar effect by giving an added bonus to the ease of navigation through tough terrain. Get a skill high enough and he could get some absurd effect—get ‘General Fitness’ high enough and he’d never feel physically tired in the game no matter how he exerted himself.

So an increase in cardio? Fuck yeah; that was awesome. Aiden dreamed of the day sore muscles would be a trifle of a long-forgotten past. This dream was so beautiful, in fact, that Aiden didn’t take notice of the world slowly passing by. It didn’t take long for him to stumble over yet another root and land squarely on his ass.

His ankle twisted painfully in the fall as it was caught in the obstructions harsh angles, and his skin tore on sharp protrusions as it came free. Bloodied and broken, his ankle still only felt like a mild sprained through the game's pain filters, but then Aiden never had a high pain tolerance.

“Fucking Hell, that hurts! Fuck.” He kicked at the root with his uninjured leg in frustration and froze as it gave out a yelp. “Holy fuck…”

Aiden stared in awe and disbelief at the creature laid out on the path before him; a woman dressed in tattered rags, which did little to hide her modesty and even less to hide her inhumanity. She had a pelt of matted fur the colour of mud. Protruding from her crown were twisting branches of startling white which stood in bright contrast. She might have been beautiful—if he’d been into that kind of thing. Aiden was not a furry nor was he a sadist, and her pelt was absolutely stained with blood. And she smelled.

Fuck, how hadn’t he noticed it? She reeked, she was groaning and looked to be twisted up in pain. She wasn’t exactly small either. He needed to work on his perception skill if that existed—or just look where was going.

“Hey, you okay?” called Arthur.

“Did a celty get you?” asked Morrigan.

“Fuck you!” answered Aiden

“I think he’s ok, brother dear.”

“Just wait for us, you shouldn’t be walking ahead on your own; this is a more dangerous zone,” Arthur called out.

“Yea, yea, can’t walk much now anyway. Hurry up, there's something you need to check out!” Aiden could hear the siblings approaching footsteps and the loudening snaps of branches.

The creature could as well. Her cloven ears twitched and her body stilled then tensed. She was alert, her eyes were wide and panicked, then they flashed gold and became that of a predictor.

“Hey, you think you can hurry up?” Aiden called, getting nervous and scooting himself away from what he now suspected as being some sort of monster.

The creature raised itself to a crouched position and tracked his movements with unblinking eyes. He thought he saw recognition in them but discarded the thought he’d never seen anything like this. The closest he’d come was the demon girl since she had horns…

Could it be?

“I think it’s a demon!” He could hear Arthur and Morrigan break into a run and saw the red of Morrigan’s hair rise above the small hill separating them. The demon lunged at him a vicious smile playing on its lips, sharp teeth bared and fangs glinting.

Aiden tried scrambling back to his feet only to fall back to the ground as his injured ankle failed to bear his weight. He tried to crawl. The demon caught his leg with a clawed hand pinning him in place. Aiden reached for his dagger. A second hand gripped his neck tearing streaks of blood and deprived him of breath.

His breathing skill was inadequate to save him.

It became hard to focus. The demon’s red eyes burned with rage and the vision of the two orbs would not escape him. His hand found his dagger. It easily slid free of its sheath. Aiden plunged the blade deep into the demon’s flank.

The demon did not flinch. Its hand did not loosen from his neck. Only Aiden seemed to weaken in the exchange. His vision blurred and dimmed till he saw nothing but red eyes and smiling fangs.

Arthur and Morrigan could be heard calling out to him and running to his aid. Which would have been comforting if Aiden thought they could make it in time. More likely he was going to die like an idiot after not paying attention to where he was going. He would lose anything related to his player identity; his quests, his reputation, his friends list. Fuck, he’d been starting to enjoy that whole “friend” thing—even if it was all fake.

Fuck it.

Aiden pulled out his dagger and stabbed again. The blade lodged between two ribs. He could hear the demon’s breathing hitch. The hand around his neck did not loosen. A second joined it.

Aiden was seeing black spots now, even where the hateful eyes had been so clear before. He tried to pull out the dagger for a third strike but he’d become too weak and the blade was stuck.

Starting over was going to be such a drag. Aiden might have sighed had he been able to and waited for the game over notification. Only it never came.

A feral scream pierced through his dazed mind and the hands fell away from his neck. The world came back into focus revealing the smiling faces of Arthur and Morrigan standing over him and the fresh demon corpse at his side.

“Need a hand?” Arthur asked.

“Thanks.” Aiden smiled shakily and took the proffered hand. Even with Arthurs help, standing was a challenge. Arthur simply guided Aiden to a fallen log to rest on before joining his sister to loot the corpse. Aiden relished the chance to relax and allow his speeding heartbeat a chance to slow.

‘Ding’

A flood of prompts entered into Aidan’s vision. He closed his eyes; not now.