“Not bad,” Kristina said, inspecting her arms and legs. “Feels good actually.” She retained her petite body but had become noticeably stronger. There was a difference between slim and athletic, and while she didn’t have them gorgeous six abs she still leaned towards the athletic type. She didn’t have tusks nor was her face brutish like Dante’s. Her skin was more silver than gray, and her straight black hair was unlike the stereotypical dreads he had come to expect.

“I knew you would like it,” Dante said, rubbing his cheeks. He had miscalculated. 50% less pain didn’t take into account that Kristina’s strength went up by more than 100%. He wasn’t good with math but it hurt a shit ton more. Her pinch had nearly ripped his cheeks out.

“That idiot was planning on soloing,” Sai said, rubbing his own cheeks. Unlike Kristina Sai didn’t change much—even his body remained skinny. Bring him down a few more inches shorter, give him a bigger nose with a green tan, and he’ll be more like a goblin than a mighty orc.

This really is a strange game. Their character screens were even stranger. Sai got a perfect score for his mental prowess and no points from physical prowess, putting his Soul rating at a ludicrous level, and Kristina... well, she pulled a Kristina on them. She got a perfect score in well both physical and mental prowess.

Title

Sai

Strength scaling: 120%

Base Strength: 5

Total Strength: 6

Level

1

Constitution Scaling: 120%

Base Constitution: 7

Total Constitution: 8

Race

Lesser Orc

Agility Scaling: 120%

Base Agility: 11

Total Agility: 13

Profession

None

Soul scaling: 120%

Base Soul: 22

Total Soul: 26

Title

Steins

Strength scaling: 120%

Base Strength: 12

Total Strength: 14

Level

1

Constitution Scaling: 120%

Base Constitution: 9

Total Constitution: 11

Race

Lesser Orc

Agility Scaling: 120%

Base Agility: 14

Total Agility: 17

Profession

None

Soul scaling: 120%

Base Soul: 15

Total Soul: 18

In the real world Dante was at least three times as strong as her, and even then he only got 4 points for his physical prowess. He always wondered why someone so lazy could hit the gym so hard, but now that he saw her character screen he understood--it wasn't about becoming strong relative to others. It was just about pushing her body to its most perfect form. How the game accounted for her genetics, gender, and age, Dante hadn't the closest clue. That wasn't even to mention what defined something as abstract as "mental prowess."

“And you didn’t stop Dante from being Dante because?” Kristina said leaning in towards Sai. She clutched the top of his head, preventing him from turning away.

“Jarckal ordered me not to,” he mumbled, immediately catching Dante’s attention. “He wanted him to make his own choice.”

Kristina groaned. “I wish that bastard would kick the bucket already.” Her frown widened when she looked around. They spawned in the same spot Dante previously arrived in. This time however the population of orcs was a lot lower. They were either hunting, or if Sai's numbers were correct, probably in the process of respawning.

With the crowd down Dante could see in between the huts where a larger town resided. It wasn't large and was probably five-minute walk, but it was still protected by a few senior looking orcs. Dante spied a couple children running about.

“If your information is accurate, Sai, then the number of NPC orcs is limited to the higher levels, though not too high. Level 3 NPCs that hold senior positions at this point means that this world was just created for everyone. The orc chief of the tribes is probably not much higher."

“Ah,” Dante was already lost. “The world just started? Big bang go kaboom?”

“There is no, or a limited amount of, level 100 unkillable NPCs. They got a head start on players, but the difference isn’t too large."

Kristina nodded. “Broken Realms is a player-driven, player lead economy. Think of a sandbox game. There are more ways to get stronger than taking quests and hunting X monsters because someone told you to.”

Dante rapidly blinked. Sai noticed his cry of help and explained it in simpler terms. “Kill any monster you want and harvest their organs for weapons. Repeat and rinse until your the strongest, smartest, or fastest. Whatever you want.”

“I like it,” Dante said. When he put it that way it wasn't too complicated.

“There are four clans, right?” Kristina said, looking towards the Waldos.

Dante clenched his teeth. He could see them in the far distance.

“The layout is pretty simple, if dreadfully unoriginal, really," Kristina said, groning. "Orcs banished to the desolate, unfarmable lands blah blah blah. To survive they hunt in the Forest of Giants. Giant trees, big dangerous monsters. I bet you there is some anciently evil power locked away inside it too. The corruption is spreading, it must be stopped! So brain dead."

"To be fair, Kristina, they had to make it this way. Someone that just started watching the Guild Wars can't bother to read pages about each race."

“One issue,” Dante said, raising his arm.” We’re not allowed to hunt in other orc’s lands, and we need to drag a boar a day if we want to hunt for our selves."

“That’ll be a drag but oh well. Gotta keep our future subjects alive and well. To victory!” Kristina said, marching towards the forest.

Dante followed her lead. Her and Sai had gotten their wooden spears and Dante had his fists.

They reached the entrance of the forest when Dante’s spider-sense tingled. He ducked, letting a fist flow by him, then caught the arm and threw it over his shoulder.

Kristina stepped to the side, letting a wild Pistil fly past her. He struck the ground and bounced right up without missing a beat. It was pretty smooth, actually. “You fucker!” he yelled. You owe me a beating!”

“Know this clown?” Kristina said, looking him up and down.

“Yeah,” Dante said with a frown. “Unfortunately.”

“You got me killed!” he yelled again. More than intimidating Dante it caused Kristina to purse her lips as she looked at him, which meant he was very close to getting killed again.

“Who gives a shit? You were so happy when your teammate died.”

“He did that?” Kristina said, brightening up. She stepped forward with her spear, causing Pistil to leap backward. His own spear materialized out of thin air, though it looked significantly less threatening than Kristina’s. “I want to see if we can get experience for PVP kills.”

“Go ahead. A good man died and all this bastard thought of was getting loot.”

“What are you talking about!” he said, inching back as Kristina stepped towards him. “Skan completed the scenario! He got Soul bound spear for it for god's sake!”

“Then he died,” Dante said, shaking his head. And I couldn’t do a thing about it but die uselessly. Maybe Dante wasn't that much better than Pistil.

“Kristina wait,” Sai said, pulling her back by the waist. Instead of stopping her though Sai just got dragged along.

“It’s Steins, dipshit.”

“Okay Steins. Skan is alive.”

“Skan died,” Dante said.

“I died,” Skan said.

“See, he did die…” Dante said, then turned towards Skan with a confused look on his face. “Okay, this is the second time this happened today and it is not cool. I thought NPCs don’t respawn!”

Sai shook his head. “And a three, and a two, and a---”

He’s not an NPC! But if that was the case then why did he speak in such a strange way? And how old is he in the first place—orcs were a bit hard to judge but he had to be at least in his 80s.

“Nice spear," Kristina said, eying the tip. It wasn’t iron, now that Dante got a good look at it, but some type of glass-like stone. “Would you like to join us in our hunt?”

Dante snapped towards her with a baffled look. Did Kristina just … invite someone? That surprised Dante more than having Skan miraculously coming back to life. Just in case Dante had missed anything that happened in the past few months he checked with Sai but even he was stunned.

Skan nodded. “We hunt boar.”

“We’ll shish kebab it,” Kristina said, pointing towards the forest again. “Onwards minions!”

“We’re not done here!” Pistil said, pointing at Dante.

Dante was the only one to stop. He looked from Pistil to his party. “Oh yeah, sorry about the misunderstanding. You can join us, if you would like,” Dante said, catching up with everyone. He heard a couple of curses and some more rumbling though he still ended up following.

“I get Dante not having a weapon, but what about you, Sai?” Kristina said, eying the spear that he gave her. She even checked his back for any concealed weapons.

“Heha! It's a secret!” Sai said, wiggling his finger in pride.

Kristina tried to snatch Sai’s finger to no avail. The bastard was too slimy. She looked towards Dante, though all he did was shake his head.

Not worth it. Letting Sai do his own thing usually ended up working out. With an overly dramatic puff of her cheeks Kristina started jogging ahead of them.

“Say, why didn't you guys request for a goblin?” Pistil said, looking around. "We'll get butchered by those higher leveled monsters roaming around!"

"What's that?" Sai said, falling beside them. "Didn't have enough time to find out."

Ah, so it wasn't a field of boars. Now it made sense why the goblin had moved so erraticly--it was avoiding those monsters Pistil was talking about. “Does it matter?” Dante said. They had Kristina and Skan. As long as the monster doesn't run away they should be able to take the hard stuff on.

"Yes it does!" Pistil said. "Why do you think so many orcs died?"

"You mean something like that?" Dante said, looking up.

Level 2 Sloth

Rank: F

Dante wasn’t an expert in animal biology, but if every sloth was like that in the real world then humans would have long been extinct. It’s arms, legs, and neck were all at least five feet tall. Its torso was barely thicker than any of its limbs with all 4 limbs looking identical. It did not have a forehead—just two creepy eyes that glowed and a mouth that extended from one side of its face to the other. It slithered up a tree in front of them using its claws.

A heavy pause overtook the group as they took the creature in. It was something straight out of a horror movie.

Well, everyone but Kristina. The moment she spotted it she ran forward, spear in hand over her shoulder. She stomped her left foot and swung with her right side, tossing the spear. It struck the sloth’s back without fully penetrating. The spear dropped to the ground where Kristina ran to catch it, then ran back without a pause.

Dante looked back at the sloth. The spear had left a small hole in the creature's fur, letting a thin line of blue liquid drip to the ground underneath it. The sloth slowly twisted its neck a full 180. Seeing Kristina run away caused it to break into a frantic scuttle down the tree. It couldn’t have moved creepier if it tried—it was like a giant spider with tentacles that had claws at the end. Not a noob-friendly combo.

“ 'Kay! Catch you later guys!” Sai said, running away without hesitation.

“Keep it away from the trees!” Kristina yelled, sliding right next to Dante. “Skan get the left. Dante crash into it. We’ll finish this quickly.”

Dante didn’t hesitate. He sprinted forward on her command. He had no reason to fear anything—Kristina was by his side and Sai was in the back, yelling obscenities at the creature. Dante knew his target—the face. If not then the torso. From the sound it made as it sprinted towards them it didn't seem like it weighed too much. As long as he could avoid its claws he could crash into it.

“Push it towards Skan!” Kristina yelled, changing Dante’s plans slightly. The sloth thrust its head at him while the rest of its arms went for Kristina and Skan.

That made things easier. Instead of just going for him the sloth was going for all of them, which vastly increased his chances of messing its face up. Dante threw a straight left at it.

It dodged. It’s neck curved mid-flight, hooking around Dante’s arm and aiming for the left side of his neck.

Dante ignored it when he heard Kristina step directly behind him. He stepped to the side and swung a wide right. Get it to Skan. That's all he had to do.

Before his fist connected he felt Kristina’s spear thrust beside his head. He didn't see what happen, but he did feel the wooden fragments spray against his left side.

His fist connected. He didn’t outright send it to the side but he did tip it up on its left side. Both of its arms went for Kristina and Skan, though Dante had not expected for one its hind ones to be so flexible and accurate at such an odd angle. The cost for that was Dante getting a hole in his right side. It stabbed with its claws as it rolled to the left and Dante to the right.

He got up, covering the hole in his sides with his hands. Bones, flesh, and blood dropped from it. His ribs took a big hit. Pain covered his sight before Dante smothered it.

The sloth was worse off. Kristina's spear went through its eye and stuck out of the back of its head, and had then fallen into Skan’s thrust. The tip of the spear struck out on the other end of its torso.

It had rolled but did not stay on the ground for a moment. It got up, swinging at Skan and Kristina.

Both dodged at point-blank range. Skan stepped to the side, letting its attack swing by, while Kristina dropped parallel to the ground. She crawled on all fours forward, leaping from the ground to the spear that struck out of the Sloth body. She caught it and used it to swing herself on top of the sloth. She straddled its neck, peppering its head with screams and punches as she reached for the spear that stuck out of one of its eyeholes.

Dante would have charged back into the fight had Sai not stopped him. He pressed a bundle of leaves and mud against the wound and tied it with a twig in one crisp movement.

When Dante looked back he found Kristina twisting the sloth’s head a couple of hundred degrees more than it should have been capable of, and he was pretty sure Skan’s spear was in a different spot in its torso. The sloth struggled as best as it could with its claws, but the damage it had taken initially seemed to greatly disable it. It could do little as in seconds the blue puddle expanded under it.

The most unfortunate soul however was pistil. The poor guy stood still as a twig. His face was stuck in between amazement, confusion, horror, and disgust. He didn’t know what to do with his spear.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Kristina said, wiping blue blood off her face. She got off the sloth looking more like a Waldo than a Graymay. There was red mixed in as well, but that was from shallow cuts rather than Dante’s punctures. "I like this. You either kill it in seconds or you die."

"Yeah, I think I noticed," Dante said, looking down at his body. Even with the pain though, Dante couldn't help but be happy when he saw excitement spread on her face.