The Rest in Peace quest gave Lukas decent exp, a full bar’s worth. For Kaya, however, it was less than a third. They needed to hunt stronger mobs from now on. Reaching Babel as soon as possible became their primary mission.

The wand that they got for the quest was only useful to Kaya. Lukas sold his to an NPC for a decent price. He was now in desperate need of an equipment upgrade.

The two traveled next to Longhill. It was one of the many towns for characters between level 20-30. This was the go-to place for Lukas whenever he power levels a Mage or a Conjurer character. The experiment with the Field Wraith had been a success, he just hoped that this next one would be as well.

Kaya had proven to be a great party member. She had only been playing GFO for a few months and had just made her current character a week ago but she was very intuitive in using her abilities. She said she had played MMORPGs in the past but nothing like a full emersion game like GFO.

The road to Longhill was pretty barren of other players. As far as Lukas and Kaya know, they were the only players in the game. If it was still a game, of course… 'Welcome to your new reality.' the message said.

“Have you been to Longhill before?” asked Lukas as they arrived in the town. It was bigger than Caldium and had a lot more NPCs and shops. This was also the town where he can finally get his subclass at level 25 and make his build work... Hopefully.

“No,... I’ve been to lots of towns on my previous character but this is the first time seeing this place.” Kaya replied. “But we were actually headed here… then suddenly all of my friends logged-out at the same time.”

“Connection issue?” Lukas offered.

“I don’t know… I thought it was a prank but then I couldn’t log-out myself… I panicked and ran back to Caldium. That’s when I ran into you.”

“Well hopefully, there will be answers in Babel… in the meantime, I need some equipment.”

The currency in GFO came in the form of copper, silver, and gold coins. A hundred of each is worth one of the next tiers. At the moment Lukas was able to gather 15 gold, 72 silver, and 60 copper coins. It wasn’t much. He kicked himself for not withdrawing funds from his main character Gaius.

He walked up to the armor merchant NPC; a short burly man with a thick brown beard and bald head.

“What’ll it be, lad?” the merchant asked. Again, no chatbox or subtitles.

Lukas started to browse the armor for sale without a reply when he heard an intentional cough.

“Ehem,... I said, what’ll be, lad?” the merchant repeated.

“Uhm… Sorry?” Lukas said dumbly.

“I asked you what you want and you just start rummaging through my wares without a word?... that’s some bad manners, son.” said the merchant with his arms crossed.

Lukas was stumped. He did not know what to say. He didn’t expect an NPC to get offended.

“Do you have any light armor for under one gold?” he blurted out.

The merchant’s face cracked in a wide smile, revealing a few golden teeth.

“Hah! See? That wasn’t that hard!” the burly man said as he proceeded to search for items through his inventory. After a few seconds, there was a complete set of armor laid in front of Lukas. A leather vest, cloth pants, a set of leather bracers and greaves, and a simple helmet.

“There! Finest craftsmanship in Patriam” declared the merchant with a proud smile. “A gold piece each so that’ll be five gold pieces, please.”

Lukas transferred the payment and instantly, the items were in his inventory.

“Pleasure doing business with you… if you want more armor, you know where to go. The name’s Orin by the way.” the merchant held a thick-fingered hand out.

“Lukas…” Lukas said tentatively as he shook the man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Lukas… Come back soon now.” smiled Orin.

That was weird. Lukas thought. From this point forward, he would treat NPCs with a little more respect.

After going around the shops, Lukas now had decent gear for the task ahead. Aside from the armor, he bought the highest leveled shortsword his Str and current level would allow. He also paid a visit to the magician’s shop to buy a few scrolls that would come in very useful. In the end, he had 2 gold 52 silver and 60 copper coins left.

“Looking good.” complimented Kaya when she saw his new set of equipment.

“Thanks,”

“So what are we hunting now?”

“Follow me,... I’ve already gathered the quests.”

Their next target was Shroomlings. They looked like giant walking mushrooms as tall as a man and are mostly found wandering around the caves near Longhill. They were big, slow and very weak against fire.

***

The trip to the caves was a relatively short walk. Again, there were no other players to be seen.

They entered the cave and soon encountered a group of three Shroomlings. They were level 23 monsters that weren’t usually aggressive until provoked. They didn’t cast any spells but their P.Def was very high for their level. Kaya can’t help much with attacking this time, Shroomlings weren’t undead type like the Field Wraiths. All the damage will have to come from Lukas. Luckily for them, he came prepared.

“Uhm… How do we kill these things?” asked Kaya nervously. The Shroomlings were as intimidating as a giant walking mushroom could get.

“Don’t worry. I have a plan,” said Lukas confidently.

Kaya sighed with relief.

“Just… just be ready if it goes wrong,”

“Huh? What?...”

Lukas pulled out the scrolls he bought from the magician’s shop.

(25)Fire Bolt Scroll Lvl. 2

[Effect: Cast Fire Bolt Lvl.2, dealing fire element M.Atk. to a single target. Has a chance to apply Burning status.]

I hope this is enough. Lukas prayed as he aimed the skill to one of the Shroomlings and triggered the scroll.

A flash of fire shot out and the piece of paper he was holding out immediately burned to ash. One of the lumbering giant mushrooms burst into flames and continued to burn. Its HP bar diminished to a fifth and continued to decline as the Burning status ate away at its health. The Shroomling fell down before it even reached them.

“Wow… that was easy,” commented Kaya, impressed.

“That was lucky,” corrected Lukas. He only had two dozen scrolls left and the Burning status won’t happen every time. But they could stick to this tactic for now.

The two went deeper into the Longhill Caves slaying every Shroomling they could find. They had two quests to accomplish.

Mushroom Soup for the Soul

[Gather 0/5 Mushroom caps.]

They’re not Fun-guys

[Slay 0/20 Shroomlings]

They were easy enough to accomplish even though Mushroom caps rarely dropped. From time to time Lukas would have to go up close and personal with Wild Strike to finish enemies off. Kaya stayed behind him to offer support and cast buffs if needed.

Wandering around the cave system for half an hour and twenty-four Fire Bolt scrolls later, they were now ready to turn in the quests. Lukas advanced to level 24 and Kaya was now level 26.

“Should we turn back now?” asked Kaya.

“Probably a good idea. My inventory is bursting,” Lukas said as he pulled out a scroll sealed with blue wax.

“Oh… what’s that for?”

“It’s… it’s a teleportation scroll,” said Lukas. “You use it to get back to discovered safe zones… you have one. Right?”

“Oh… you can teleport in this game?”

“Yeah… why? Have you been just walking around all this time?” Lukas asked with a joking smile.

Kaya just stared blankly with pursed lips.

“I take it that you don’t have one then?” Lukas asked, unsure but guessing correctly.

Kaya shook her head, her face going slightly red.

Lukas sighed and put away the scroll. He only had the one.

“Let’s go walk back then.”

But before they could turn to where they came, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the cave tunnels.

“HELP!!!... SOMEBODY HELP US!!!”

“What.... what was that?” asked Kaya in alarm.

“Quick! Follow me,” replied Lukas. He was already running. Somehow he was ready and even had been waiting for something like this to happen.

He had been in the Longhill caves countless times before and he doesn’t remember an instance quest like this or anything that would make that sound for that matter. That cry for help only meant one thing; other players.

The Longhill cave was labyrinth but Lukas knew every twist and turn and they soon arrive at a large gloomy chamber ceilinged by stalactites. A body lay on the floor near a tunnel on the opposite side. Kaya immediately rushed forward.

“Wait…” Lukas warned but she kept going.

“He’s still alive,” Kaya said after kneeling to inspect the laying figure. Her voice was shaking. “His HP bar…”

Lukas could see that the bar was almost empty. “Use Heal! Quick.”

Kaya stood up and cast the spell and the player’s HP bar increased to half but slowly declined again.

“Wha… what’s going on?” she asked in a panic.

Lukas looked at the player more closely and saw from the status bar that his name was Gavin; a level 25 Mercenary. Gavin breathed rapid shallow breaths, mumbling incoherently and his eyes rolled in all directions. His whole body looked wrong. There were lumps where there shouldn’t be lumps. The limbs were bent in awkward angles. Lukas had seen a hit and run victim being rushed to the E.R. once during one of his many visits to the hospital. They looked oddly similar to Gavin. Whatever did this to him was no mere Shroomling. In his inspection, Lukas also noticed a small purple icon right under Gavin’s HP bar.

“He’s poisoned,” said Lukas. “Heal him again!”

“I can’t…” said Kaya in a panic. “It’s still on cooldown… I...”

Gavin’s HP bar dropped to zero and his breathing stopped entirely. The second of silence that followed was deafening. A small whimper escaped Kaya’s lips. Lukas just stared at the motionless body as if waiting for something.

Come on… Lukas thought.

Come on… Disappear...

But Gavin’s lifeless body remained. The usual death animation of vanishing into particles did not occur. As sick as it was, only an option to loot the body was now available.

What the fuck is this?...

“Lukas,...” came Kaya’s trembling voice.

“Yeah?”

“What happens when we die?” she asked. “In here I mean.”

Lukas didn’t answer immediately. The thought had been in his mind since he saw his own blood back at Caldium. The question had always been there but he chose not to entertain it but now it could no longer be ignored. When it comes down to it, he already knew the answer. And in her heart of hearts, Kaya did too.

“Let’s not stick around and find out for ourselves,” he replied, trying to keep his cool.

But before they could even move, a huge grey hand shot out from the dark tunnel next to them and practically engulfed Gavin’s entire body. The colossal appendage dragged the corpse into the darkness where several glowing eyes could be seen. A blue HP bar bordered with silver appeared.

Lvl. 25 Shroom King

Elite Monster

“Run!” Screamed Lukas.