“You got the hang of it,” Buster said. “You’re getting faster. Are you sure you don’t want to use a lighter sword?”

“I think this longsword will do just fine,” I assured him.

I was mentally exhausted as I faced level five slimes. Buster just sat by the tree nearby. I let the tip of my sword hit the ground, pushed it down into the dirt and then leaned on it. We were the only players around this area. We were a bit further ahead of the village of my next quest but we were interested in fighting higher level monsters. Buster, on the other hand, was already ahead of me, so he was also probably a bit further behind his current area.

“I don’t see you fighting. Why not help out?” I asked.

“I have plenty of time to level up myself. It’s you who needs the training. You’ll be left behind once we face more difficult opponents.”

“The AI is already starting to be a bit more unpredictable. I can’t imagine a more difficult type of AI. Next thing they’ll predict our attacks or parry or something. I’m already struggling as it is!” I complained.

“They’re only starting to do patterns at random. It’s a matter of knowing those patterns and seeing it as they come. Let’s keep going.”

“I think mastering how a simple monster’s attack patterns like it’s some raid boss wouldn’t be useful to learn.”

“True. Maybe we should progress with our quests.”

I waved my hand to open the main menu. I tapped on the quest menu. There was only one thing listed which was my main story quest. I already accepted this quest from the captain at the barracks.

[Quest: Investigate Astor Manor]

The story for this one was that there were strange sightings of a new monster near the manor. A new monster meant I couldn’t depend on already knowing what the enemy could do. Especially since all I fought were slimes and their variety, such as elemental or giant ones.

“I have to do the quest at Astor Manor.”

“That’s perfect. I have yet to finish that quest. We can fight the skeletons together.”

“Skeletons?” I asked. “Way to spoil it.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

We wandered through the forest until we found a dirt path. There were two lines of players walking from both directions. Some were moving on to the next area while others were backtracking. Maybe they might buy something at Astor Village or visit the castle.

“The village is-” Buster looked both ways before continuing. “That way.”

“If you say so.”

We both walked down the dirt path but it took a while as there were was a long line of players walking. The drawback with playing on launch day was the huge amount of players trying out the game. It would be the most amount of players in a single area. As time passes by, the density of players near the starting area of the game will spread out.

The sunlight was starting to glow orange. The day was almost over. I wasn’t surprised as I was playing all day. The in-game time corresponded to the time in real life. The server I was on was based in my own time zone so it matched with the sunset

As soon as we arrive at Astor Village, I looked around. I could see a huge house in the distance on top of a hill. It was still another long walk but at least I could see where we were going.

There weren’t that many players going to and from Astor Manor. Many had already finished the quest and others either choose not to progress yet or have yet to reach this quest. There were a variety of players who played at a different pace after all.

“We’re here!” I yelled. Some players glanced at me but then went on with their business.

The manor had a long front yard with a dirt path surrounding it in a circle. At its center was a nonfunctioning water fountain. There were tall bushes that wrapped around the property of the manor. In a similar sight with the forests with players slaying slimes, there were a number of skeletons wandering around outside the manor being slain by players.

The skeletons appeared to be floating bones held together with nothing visible. I could only guess that it was magic that held them together. Like some spiritual force or something. I don’t know, this was just a game after all. Floating bones looked cool.

“Let’s go!” I yelled in excitement.

“Wait, Esther,” Buster stopped me by grabbing my shoulder. He then pointed in the opposite direction to the left side of the house where there weren’t any players at all. “We can practice there. I can grind a bit alongside you.”

“Perfect.”

So we made a plan. I would pick out a skeleton while Buster would target the skeletons surrounding me, preventing me from being attacked by multiple monsters. He would grind out his level for now and I get to practice on a new type of enemy.

It was a good plan so far. The main problem was the length of my battle. After a few attacks, the skeleton’s health went down slowly.

[Lv 5 Skeleton]

[HP: 42/50]

“Slash!” I yelled with impatience. My body moved on its own into a proper stance and then I attacked with a horizontal attack. I dealt another four damage to the skeleton in front of me. Some of the bones fell off its floating body but was still standing up straight. There were ribs and an arm that landed on the ground. It was a bit creepy but seemed realistic. Being stuck in awe distracted me from my frustrations of dealing almost no damage to the skeleton.

I then took a step back. Knowing how enemies work in this game, they wait for their turn to attack after a certain amount of time. The skeleton just swung their arm at me. It was really slow and easily telegraphed since the skeleton did a windup with its whole body. It took a step back and then lunged at me with its arm.

Waiting for my turn, I held my longsword with both hands and repeated the slash attack. This time it was manual. Without uttering a word, I crouch down into my stance and slash the skeleton in a horizontal line.

After long repetitions of attacks, I finally killed the skeleton.

[Gained 25 Experience Points]

Please stop lying to me...

“That was actually fun,” I said to Buster who had slain five skeletons already. I was a bit jealous of that.

“These are only the easy skeletons. Wait till you get inside.”

“I won’t get my hopes up though. The monsters in this game are really easy,” I said as I looked down. There was a loot drop from the skeleton I killed.

There was a single piece of bone. It was different from the remains of the skeleton. It was shining and had a window above it when I focused my eyes on it.

[Bone]

[Crafting Item]

“There’s crafting in this game?”

“Oh, really?” Buster walked over. I read the text to him and he responded. “I didn’t know there was crafting in this game either. Must be a rare drop then.”

“What could you craft in this game?” I wondered.

Weapons? Armor? Accessories? There were a number of possibilities.

Buster and I wandered around the manor as we slew skeletons. There was no quest telling us to fight skeletons but we decided to do so anyway. The quest itself was supposed to lead us into the manor.

After fighting five more skeletons, we stood in front of the huge manor. It seemed larger as soon as we walked up the steps. The front door was tall but not as wide. I turned the doorknob and it made a loud creaking noise. The house was definitely old and unused.

“This is creepy,” I said.

“Can’t wait till you see-”

“Stop right there,” I interrupted. “No more spoilers. I actually want to enjoy the game.”

“Fine.”

We finally stepped inside. It was the very definition of a haunted house. There was dust everywhere and the furniture was worn out. I passed by a dusty mirror that barely made a reflection. The rooms were wide and tall. I was surprised by the size of them. The size was what I was worried about at first since it would restrict me from fighting effectively.

Buster walked ahead while slashing at wandering skeletons. The sounds of crushing bones echoed through the manor. I could hear more groans from the skeletons also echo.

“How many are there?” I asked.

“Plenty to grind,” Buster grinned. “Come on, let’s continue this investigation.

I led the way while Buster followed behind me. We explored the second floor but found nothing but wandering skeletons. This time they were level six. I fought a few of them and was able to maneuver around just fine. There was plenty of room to dodge and swing my sword. For every skeleton I have slain, Buster probably killed six.

“Woo! Level up!” Buster’s voice echoed again. As soon as he said that, more moans from monsters echoed too. “Level eight!”

“Will you shut up?!” I yelled at him. I was still kind of irritated that I couldn’t level up myself.

“I can’t help it,” Buster shrugged.

We ran down the stairs as fast as we could. I decided to avoid a few skeletons and ran ahead while Buster followed.

“We should find the basement. That seems the most logical place to find the source of these skeletons.”

“Good thinking, Esther.”

As we fought our way towards the direction where the skeletons were coming from, a strange door was found by the kitchen.

“This looks like the way,” I said.

It had a stone decor around the doorframe. The door’s handle was a stone latch that had a carving of an emblem. I could only assume it was a family crest of the family that used to live here. That was what the lore said when I was given the quest.

I pulled on the door. The ground made a rumbling sound while dust fell from the hinges. As we walked inside, the walls were made of stone brick and torches were hung. The dim light from the torches made up for the lack of sunlight.

There was a long way down the stairs. Buster and I held on to the side of the wall. It felt dusty and cold. As soon as we reached the bottom of the basement stairs, there was a gruesome sight. A number of skeletons on the ground. They weren’t floating as they were the appearance of deceased knights. Their chest had the Astoria Kingdom’s coat of arms. I poked my sword at them to make sure they won’t spawn and attack us.

“Don’t worry, they won’t rise up at all,” Buster assured me.

“Let’s go,” I said as I led the way further into the basement.

There were a number of regular skeletons on our way.

[Lv 7 Skeleton]

[HP: 60/60]

“Oh great.”

“Let me take care of this one,” Buster said. He ran at the skeleton and killed it in four strikes. He yelled at his last attack, “Slash!”

The level seven skeleton fell apart and its bones shattered into pieces.

“You need to work on your form,” I laughed.

“I’m don’t need to depend on fighting properly.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We took turns fighting the skeletons. He would take the first two, then I would take on one. He would occasionally use the slash attack while yelling out the command while I would do the attack manually.

“Vertical!” Buster yelled out. His motion was what I could only assume to be a sword technique. His body crouched slightly into a stance. His sword, instead of it being on his left side, was raised above his head. It seemed different compared to any other player doing a random attack from above. His posture was drastically different. Buster’s attack seemed more of a professional with a sword rather than some kid swinging it wildly.

“That’s a new sword technique.”

“Oh yeah, you only have access to slash. Sucks to be you.”

“I can mimic that attack. Just like how I can mimic the slash attack.”

Buster had a surprised look but then a smile formed on his face.

“I wouldn’t doubt that. Along with your speed, you’ll be a formidable player.”

“Thanks for the compliment, Buster.”

We continued to slay skeletons until we reached the end of the basement. It was a long empty hallway that leads to a large door.

“This is suspicious,” I said. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there’s a boss at the end of this hall.”

Buster just laughed as we walked down the hallway. I led the way as Buster followed behind me. I was walking casually until the ground shook. I started running towards the end of the hall and pulled on the latch on the door. Dust started falling from the ceiling as the shaking continued. The door wouldn’t budge.

As soon as the ground stop shaking, I looked around. I gave up on pulling the door open and looked at Buster. The ground started shaking again and behind Buster, I could see something fall from the ceiling.

A figure could be seen through the dust building up in the air. Its glowing eyes could be seen through the dust. It walked out into view. The figure was a skeleton. It was a tall figure with long limbs along with wearing a knight’s armor wearing the Astoria Kingdom’s coat of arms. It then drew its long two-handed sword. It then raised the sword and ran towards us.