Author's Note

If you've read the first 2 chapters then you know the spiel, comment suggestions, corrections and feedback below (I do read it and I do reply).

Finally getting to some fun stuff this chapter and a bit more info about the game, hope you enjoy.

Arc 1 Freedom has its price

Chapter 3 Sometimes you need to learn to run before you can walk

Getting back on my feet I once again try to take a step forward only this time I manage to do so without falling thanks to paying a bit more attention to my tail. Taking another step I stumble a bit but still end up succeeding in not falling over. Confident that I can at least start moving away from the starting zone I start walking in the same direction I saw most of the other players take.

I wont call what I did walking, hell it's barely graceful enough to be called an awkward version of waddling, but at least I'm up and moving. I'm sure by the time I run into anyone I'll have perfected the movement enough to not embarrass myself...I hope.

As I 'walk' the terrain slowly changes from a grassy plain to a lush forest. Stepping over some thick tree roots I issue a silent pray of thanks to my Night Vision skill, otherwise walking through a forest at night would be a deadly hazard for my ankles. When I'm fully inside the wood line, the plain roughly 10 yards behind me, that I have received yet another notification. Focusing on it a system message pops up.

System MessageYou have left a safe zone and are entering a combat zone. As it is your first time leaving a safe zone pain threshold has been capped at 25%. Every 50 levels the cap is increased by 10% until level 350 which is the final cap at 90%. If you wish to reduce the pain threshold you may do so 24 hours upon getting your first kill. Note the threshold may not go below 20% and reducing the threshold negatively effects quest rewards, drop chance, fame and experience gain as well as reducing probably of stat increases or skill gains from your actions.

Wow, that's quite the system. I feel sorry for hardcore gamers aiming for the top, they're going to have a long road of suffering ahead. Well that explains why they didn't mean the pain setting for game along with the realism and TD*.

*TD is short for time dilation for those that didn't get it*

Closing the window I continue walking, though a bit more cautious now that I realize I'm I can encounter a mob at any point now. Walking for a few minutes with nothing happening I start to relax until I hear the distant howling of a wolf.

OK that doesn't sound good, hopefully that wasn't about me.

I hear more howling in answer to the first coming from off in the distance in front of me. Deciding to change my direction to avoid potentially walking into any hungry wolves I veer off 45 degrees to the right of my original heading. Continuing on my way I continue to hear howling intermediately coming from either side of me. For now they still sound distant but sounds in a forest can be deceiving and soon enough I start hearing their calls from all directions, sounding like they are almost on top of me.

Shit, please tell me my luck isn't that bad. All I wanted was to find some other players and hopefully have them guide me to a town or at least party up with while I get used to my character. Fighting a hungry pack of wolves was definitely not my intention.

Alas my luck really was that bad and soon enough I see an ever growing number of wolves dashing around the trees, in circling me. As the wolves start trickling in the circle gets tighter and tighter until they are no more than 10 yards from me. When the last wolf shows up there are 25 in the encirclement each wolf staring at me and making a low growling sound from the back of their throats. By this point I've stopped moving as any attempt to move forward was met with a louder growling sound the wolves hunching down reading to charge forward. Trying to swallow past the lump in my throat I focus my gaze on one of the wolves.

Pack WolfLevel1Health100/100Stamina150/150

Only level 1, wouldn't be that if not for the fact that they're 25 of them and they don't seem like they'll come one at a time. I'm probably going to die here but hopefully I'll get a few hits in before I go down, who knows I might somehow manage to get away.

The last thought is more of a wish than anything but resolving myself to at least try to resist I get into a basic combat stance. Luckily with my previous game experience and the self defense lessons my mother insisted on before I went to college I'm fairly confident in my ability to fight.

Granted, none of that experience was with a tail but it's better than nothing.

Sighing to myself I look around trying to get the measure of the wolves surrounding me. I notice that some seemed a bit bigger but before I can focus to much on one and bring up up its info three of the apparently smallest wolves start edging forward. One of them I noted was the one whose window I brought up previously, as its name was visible above it's head. I note that no other wolf had their name above their heads meaning either you had to identify them individually to get them to show up or that none of them were the same.

Hopefully not the latter one as it probably doesn't bode well for me if they're not all the same.

As the 3 wolves get closer I start tensing up, bracing for myself for their charge. When they finally get to within 5 yards they suddenly take off like a rocket narrowing the remaining distance in a split second. I threw a punch angled down towards them in anticipation of them getting in range by the time it ends. However, I ended up overcompensating for the punch and thanks to my awkward balance I start falling while doing a sort of half spin looking thing like a fool. Even if I hadn't screwed up the punch it wouldn't have connected as the wolves jumped at me before they got into punch range. I of course didn't see this as, thanks to my screw up, I was falling down with my back towards them. Bracing myself to take some pain, I was almost disappointed when it didn't come. Instead I felt a dull impact on my along my tail and out of the corner of my eye I see the wolves flying by, yelping in mild pain and annoyance. Taking the opportunity I quickly get back on my feet.

What just happened? Did I just manage to bitch slap them with my tail on accident?

I stare blankly at my tail for a bit then quickly snap out of it and focus once again on the wolves. Looking at the wolf I had identified previously I notice its health has gone down by 15 whole points. Excited by prospect of potentially winning this fight I try to bring up one of the other two wolves windows, and promptly lost any excitement.

Pack WolfLevel2Health135/140Stamina140/160

Well that answers one my questions. Looks like it's a bit of both them being different and having to focus on them individually.

I look at the remaining wolf's window that's now hovering above its head and grumble to myself about bad luck and stupid dogs.

Pack WolfLevel2Health145/150Stamina130/150

Resolving myself to the shitty situation I managed to get myself into I get back into a fighting stance and watch as the wolves, now looking a bit more cautious, get ready to attack again. Using them same tactic as earlier they run charge at me and jump before the get into the range of my fist. This being my first time actually seeing them do this (as my back was turned the last time) I once again launched a punch angled down towards the leading wolf. Unlike last time I managed to throw the punch successfully only it cleanly missed all three wolves who were now sailing through the air towards my throat. Reacting in panic I throw up my remaining arm in front of my face and stumble backwards, tripping yet again. The first wolf reaches me and clamps down on my arm with its teeth dealing 5 damage. The remaining two wolves had aimed a bit lower than the first (weakest wolf and thanks combination of them jumping further away and my tripping backwards bit down on my thighs (1 per leg). These wolves did 20 damage each, bringing my total health down to 55. In the back of my mind I note the disparity that the disparity in the damage was more than what you'd expect from just one level. Of course this thought was swiftly buried as I had to focus on the battle at hand.

"You fucking mangy mutts, get off me!"

Understandably I was a bit peeved as even though the pain was only 1/4 of normal it was still quite uncomfortable to have 3 different sets of teeth piercing my skin. Although the feeling from my legs was worse than from my arm I noted filing that the thought away with my previous observation. Taking advantage of the fact that the wolves were stuck to me and couldn't dodge, I quickly punched them in the head before they could start dealing more damage. Unlike when I managed to hit them with my tail I only did about half as much damage. Once again making small yelping sounds the wolves let go and back off slightly giving me room to stand back up and think. Realizing that my thoughts of winning the fight were foolish as even if I pulled off a miracle and beat these ones there were still 20 more unidentified wolves surrounding me I start thinking up a new plan.

OK if winning isn't an option my only choice is to run away, even though I can't even walk properly yet. Still it isn't in my nature not to try and even if I trip it's not like I wasn't going to die anyways. Now how do I break the encirclement long enough for me to run through?

Mulling over the problem I notice out of the corner of my eye that the remaining wolves have come closer and are only about 10 feet away. Suddenly hit by an idea I return my attention to the three wolves, praying that I don't get pounced on by the ones at my back before I'm able to try my plan. Once again the wolves gear up for their attack run only this time I know it's coming and react accordingly. As they get near I once more throw a punch only this time it's aiming at the proper height for when they jump. The first wolf to jump takes a hit to the fact and drops to the ground like a rock. The remaining two are undeterred however and launch themselves at my simultaneously. Quickly stepping back I manage to block one with my arm again while the other latched onto my shoulder. Grimacing due to the discomfort I punch the wolf attached to my arm in the head which, like last time, caused it to let go. Now with both my arms free I grab onto the bottom legs of the remaining wolf and shout out.

"FLY YOU BASTARD!"

After which, using the as much strength as I could muster, I threw the wolf towards the wolves at my back. Not bothering to wait to check the effectiveness of my plan I start to run after the crying wolf. The running was more like a faster version of my previous waddle mixed with a bit of skipping but it worked well enough for me to run through the brief gap in the encirclement.

Can't believe that actually worked, hell yeah! Now all I need to do is run through the rest of the forest and avoid running into any more monsters all the while keeping ahead of an angry wolf pack...simple.

I made it only a few yards passed the encirclement before the wolves started to give chase. I wasn't able to get much of a lead and thanks to my not very well coordinated run it was not going to last long at all. It was a matter of seconds before I could hear the low angry growls of 25 wolves coming from behind me and when I dared take a look behind me all rational thoughts of it being 'just a game' flew out the window.

Fuck it! Do or die time now, either this next trick works or I'm about to be dog food.

Forgoing any thought of dignity I change my posture for running into a quasi imitation of a velociraptor by sticking my tail straight out behind me and hunching over slightly. Surprisingly it work and I started to ever so slowly put distance between me and the ravenous mobs at my back. Unfortunately it's really hard to maintain the rigidity necessary to keep my tail straight when I have had so little experience in dealing with one. As such I only managed to run for about a minute before my tail fell and with it all semblance of balance. In what has become a common theme for me I fell. The good news is I seem to be gaining more awareness of my horns and was able to avoid landing face first and getting stuck unto them. The bad news is that the wolves caught up and promptly pounced on me. The last thing I saw before I died was the mouth of a very angry wolf.

System MessageYou have died. Choose a resurrection optionResurrect at your saved location? y/nRun back to your body? y/n[tr]

I click yes on the first option and am teleported back to the plain I started the game at.

[tr]System MessageDo to you not having an appropriate located saved for resurrection you have been sent back to the last safe area you've been to.

System MessageDo to you being only level one and having no experience points the death penalty did not have an effect.

Sighing I close the message windows.

Well at least I didn't stat points or something, that would have been bad. I think it would be a good idea to become properly adjusted to my new body before I try to leave again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my last attempt at running gave me an idea on how to do move better. Good thing no one is around to see this.

Finishing my thoughts a bitter smile appears on my face. Double checking to make sure no other players were around I once again start my velociraptor run. While it looks silly it's a lot more coordinated than my walking at the moment and gives me a better feeling for where my center of balance is. As a side benefit it also helps me gives me a bit more control over my tail.

Still I won't be keeping my posture like this, I'd die from embarrassment. Once I get proper control over my body that's the first thing I'm going to fix or my name isn't Sandra Kiell.

I run around the plains for about an hour before stopping and eating some of the food and water I bought during the character creation. As one would expect from food costing only 2 points it was very bland but it at least filled my hunger. After which I continued running about the field.

Could be worse I thought, at least I can see and it's only a matter of time before I get used to this body, hopefully soon enough that I wont run out of food.

The last thought echoing in my head I look at the (in game) time and see it's 2 am. I redouble my efforts.

Author's Note

Same stuff I said at the top.

Thanks for reading my latest chapter of FREE, I hope you enjoyed it.

Ren Waya