Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the party of three who invited him earlier were gone. It didn't seem like they were going to continue the quest. All of a sudden, he felt suspicious about their behavior.

"Those three really had me on my toes.. maybe they really are the group of PKers who have been targeting newbies?" he wondered. They already had a party of three, so there was no reason why they would go back into town.

"At least they aren't following me, that would've been bad."

The fields around Viajecamino were still classified as part of the town, it meant monsters and players alike could not fight inside the 'safe area'. However, there was a loop hole. This loop hole was the area where the Quills were. Elm didn't have any confidence that he could take on three players together, even if they were level one like him. After all, he had just joined today with zero combat experience while if those players were actually the group of PKers, they would definitely have some experience fighting with players like him.

Gripping his dagger tightly, he lightly said to himself. "I won't let myself get taken advantage of again." Frustration surged within him and he shifted his feet uneasily. He took a deep breath, decided to forget about what he was feeling and looked back in the direction of where he was heading to earlier.

"Let's go kill some Quills."

***

You are now entering, 'Deserted Vegetable Field'.

Looking at the notification window, Elm had arrived at the place where the Quills were running rampant according to Lacus. The area was a large field surrounded with a wooden fence, with many rows of different kinds of vegetables. Elm would have picked the vegetables in a heartbeat, but unfortunately, the vegetables had already been ravaged by the Quills.

Elm stared at the creatures and gave them an amused expression. There were a few other players fighting the Quills near him, so he had a closer look at them.

"These Quills.. aren't they just hedgehogs?" he said, and smirked, the side of his mouth slightly turning up.

The creature was slightly shorter Elm's knees. In the real world, this hedgehog would probably be about the same size as a household dog, which was pretty over the regular size of a normal hedgehog. It had dark beady eyes, a pointy snout and had bristly fur sticking out all around it.

Giving a light laugh, Elm brandished his dagger and looked for a lone hedgehog he could fight. There were plenty of players around, but there wasn't any shortage of Quills. It seemed that they could indefinitely spawn over time. Scanning over the area, he noticed there were quite a number of players having trouble fighting the Quills, as their dagger attacks missed their marks many times over. Many of the players were resorting to verbal abuse to vent their frustrations.

"Grah! You piece of ****!"

"Once my dagger lands on you, you're dead meat, you ******!"

"****!!"

This was definitely a scene animal lovers or activists wouldn't be able to stomach, Elm thought amusingly to himself. The Quills were docile creatures, they would rather munch on the vegetables in the field rather than attack people. However, once they were attacked, it was a different matter altogether.

The Quill which Elm was observing, had a name and health bar above it while it was engaged in battle with a player.

Quill (Level 1)Health: 8/30

The problem the players in the field were facing wasn't the Quills having high damage, defense, or speed. It was their attack pattern. When the Quills were docile, they were extremely slow, however, when provoked by a player, it would proceed to roll itself into a ball which caused all of its bristly spines to point outwards and be hard. After rolling into a ball, they would then try to attack with their spines by ramming into them.

Feeling rather confident that he wouldn't make the same mistake as the other players, he immediately targeted a lone Quill who was munching on a radish near the edge of the field. "You should be proud, you little creature. For you will be my first stepping stone in this world!" Elm announced to the creature proudly, while pointing his knife at the Quill.

The creature turned its black beady eyes towards him, and with its pointy snout, it seemed to snort a little.

***

5!

...

"Oof!" The beginner in leather garbs wielding a dagger fell backwards somewhat hard against some half-eaten potato plants in the ground.

"Well, that didn't go as well as I thought it would be."

Quill (Level 1)Health: 30/30

That same Quill that Elm had given a little speech to earlier unrolled itself next to him and stared at Elm's face with its black, beady eyes. When it noticed Elm trying to get up, it hissed at him and rolled a small distance away from him, ready to attack.

"I've been fighting this level one guy for five minutes and I can't even scratch him."

Elm was confident about his chances before he fought earlier, but however, he soon realized the most frustrating part about fighting these creatures wasn't the high damage the Quills dealt when you were rammed into, it was the fact that you would fall over onto the dirt or vegetables in the fields. He was already covered in dirt and tomato sauce five minutes into fighting the Quills. However, this was to be expected of a game that tried to imitate reality in a virtual world. Elm understood and saw the idea that the developers were trying to instill into the players here. Having this kind of annoying tutorial quest in the beginning stage of the game meant was just like riding a bike. If you fall, get up. If you fail, try and try again. If you couldn't deal with the monsters here, how would you deal with the other creatures that were out there?

The Quills would immediately roll into a ball once it detected any sign of hostility from its attacker. If its attacker made any move at all to approach it, it would immediately rush toward him and ram him. Elm experienced it firsthand and he realized that before he could even swing his dagger, the Quill would have already reached him, ramming him to the ground.

After a minute, Elm was suddenly grinning. He discovered a way to kill the Quill without being damaged any further!

"Pfft. You're just a level one hedgehog, and also my stepping stone!" Elm smirked again at the Quill, finding back his confidence earlier. The creature crocked it's snout in confusion as it stared at Elm.

"Here we go!" He gave a small battle cry, and raised his dagger. Responding to his hostile action, the Quill immediately began rolling, on a collision course set towards Elm. As the Quill closed the distance, Elm had already begun his swinging motion, and while doing so, he lightly side stepped to his right..

6!

...

As the Quill rolled past Elm, he slashed it with his dagger while side stepping and cut the Quill on its bristly body. A red gash appeared on the creature's side but instead of the red blood that was supposed to flow out, nothing came out. It was as though the inside of the body of the Quill was just red clay. After being struck by Elm's knife. the Quill rolled to a stop, turned around in Elm's direction again.

"You little critters roll in a straight line, the minute I figured out your attack pattern, you were finished." He said triumphantly, as though he had already defeated the Quill. As if in protest, the Quill squealed in anger, and started rolling towards Elm once again. Elm imitated the same movement as earlier, only this time, he tried stabbing into the body of the Quill.

9!

...

"As I thought. By stabbing with a dagger I can exert more force in my positioning, and deal more damage!"

In Horizon, the combat mechanics had the same theories in real life. As long as you understood the theory behind the movement, and knew how to apply it to your own attacks, the system would naturally guide your body to deliver the attack. For example, if you tried stabbing someone with a stick instead of clubbing them with it, it would obviously deal less pain than the latter. The same principle applied in Horizon, while wielding a sharp weapon, stabbing attacks dealt more damage. While wielding a blunt weapon, crushing attacks would deal more damage.

The GateArk helmet analyzed and improved the user's thought process and applied it into action inside the game. It took years of research and development of the brain before Sakkaku, the corporation behind Horizon had managed to accomplish this. According to accomplished scientists around the world, they noted that when humans were asleep, we could actually tap into the full potential of our brain. Dreams signified the potential of our brains and what it could create. However, when people were awake, we only have access to ten percent of the full potential to our brain.

With the arrival of the GateArk however, it was possible to fully tap into the remaining ninety percent of our brain as it induced the mind into a hibernating state. It was still all speculation as to whether this was all real or not, because virtual reality, although it had been around for awhile, was still in its beginning stages.

8!

9!

...

With a regretful squeal, the Quill finally died, falling down on its side. Elm felt sorry for the creature, even though he knew it wasn't real. The creature slowly disintegrated, leaving behind a patch of fur. He walked over and picked it up.

Quill's FurType:CommonDurability:N/AQuality:AverageFur that came from a Quill. Can be sold to a merchant's store.

"Well, this is the first copper I've earned in game." He said to himself satisfyingly while gazing at the fur he was holding. He stashed it in his inventory by putting it in his pouch. All adventurers had a pouch through which they could store items, and by summoning the inventory menu, it was possible to pull out the items in your inventory.

Turning around from the edge of the field where he finished off his first Quill, he wanted to finish his quest before bed. He saw a few other players who were standing somewhat near where he was fighting and they were imitating his movements, side stepping and allowing the Quill to pass through before taking a swing at them. He paid them no heed, and didn't mind them copying him.

"On to the next critter!" he excitedly shouted.

Main PageChapter 6 - Adventurer