Suara pushed herself to her feet to face the hobgoblin. It was a new combat, so she drew her cards. She grinned seeing a full hand for the first time. She played the Iron Javelin as the hobgoblin charged her with a snarl. Its enormous bootless feet pounded the ground. When it planted its foot and raised its axe, she dove forward and plunged the javelin into its thigh.

The axe came down, catching her in the side and sending her top half flying into a wheat field. [90 Slashing Damage].

The blue sky and stalks of wheat rippled into each other. The roar of the hobgoblin was a stretched-out echo as everything blended together and dissolved in water.

She sat up, and her soaking hair flung around to stick to her face. She was in the Spawning Square again.

“Oh no!” she grumbled, vaulting out of the fountain. Her excitement carried her swiftly across the Square. So swiftly she couldn’t stop fast when someone stepped in front of her. She collided with their armoured back and fell sprawled on the cobblestone.

She rolled to her feet and ran past them as their deep voice shouted after her. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Sorry, mister!” she yelled. They shouted angrily after her, but she was busy.

Dying restored her HP to full, and her clothes were even clean again. How convenient! She made a mental note to get killed any time she was hurt or dirty.

“Hey!” Xander called as she sprinted past him. She didn’t stop. For all she knew, the hobgoblin might take her wheat if she dallied too long.

When she reached the farm she spun around looking for it. Only a few low-level players like herself were nearby, and most of them were leaving. The small fields were intact. The wheat leaned gently with the breeze, and a pair of magpies hopped around on the farmhouse roof. There was no sign of the hobgoblin. It was like they were never there.

Suara frowned at Xander as he caught up with her. “Where’d he go?” I wanted to take his EXP before he took my wheat.”

“Someone else killed him,” Xander said. “I think he levelled up too, he was really happy. Got the rare loot and everything.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “He had rare loot?”

Xander nodded. “He drops his battleaxe if you kill him. Has twenty Attack but it’s huge so you can’t even use it without a lot of strength. The rare drops are a Goblin card and a Lesser Health Potion.” He laughed as though it were funny that she missed out.

“Aw, I want those.”

“They’re not great,” he shrugged. “Just come back once in a while and see if there’s a raid going on and you’ll get your chance at it eventually. Or once you get to a higher level, go hobgoblin hunting in the Goblin Valley.”

“I’ll go kill a lot of goblins,” she agreed with a smile. “But another time. I have to collect my wheat.”

She gathered the last eight wheat she needed and took a moment to admire the stack in her inventory. Then she gathered ten more… just in case. For some reason Xander hung around, just watching her pick wheat. When she was done, she walked purposefully towards the Spawning Square. Her heart raced with excitement as she thought about turning in her quest.

Xander jogged up beside her. “Never seen someone so pepped up over such a generic quest.”

“It’s pastries,” she said plainly.

He laughed at her. “You know, you sound cute when you're being weird.”

She shot him a look she hoped would communicate she was unamused. “Don’t say that to me.”

“What? It's a compliment.”

Suara rolled her eyes. “No it isn’t. I didn’t even choose my voice. I didn’t do anything to earn it. If you gave my voice to a goblin it would sound the same.” She shook her head. “It’s no different than complimenting my shirt.”

“Huh. I thought girls liked having their clothes complimented,” he said.

“That would be weird. Unless they made their clothes, maybe.”

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his baggy pants. “I think you’re the one that’s weird, Suara.”

“No, I wouldn’t do anything weird.”

She finally passed through the Resting Place and followed the path around towards the bakery. Xander stayed close beside her for some reason. She was confused about his motives for following her around, but as long as he kept his daggers to himself she wouldn’t complain.

“How about this then: You’re really good at this game," he said. "The first time… the first few times I tried to fight goblins with Ghol Duran we were level four and we both got killed. In fact we lost so much EXP dying we got bumped down to level three.”

Suara stopped fast and pulled up her character sheet. It still read 711 EXP to the next level. “You can lose EXP?” She was relieved hers was okay, so much so she forgot to comment on his slight improvement of a compliment.

“Only outside of towns. One percent for the first death. After that, it doubles every time until you get your soul healed to reset it.”

“Ew.” Suara stuck out her tongue. “That’s not fun.” She looked at the bakery at the base of the hill and sighed. Maybe she should just turn in wheat for pastries instead of adventuring. She continued towards the bakery.

Xander kept talking as he followed her. “The game is pretty brutal. Cards sort of execute a basic move when you use them… but if you’re good you can do your own thing instead. Skill really matters, but it’s a high skill ceiling and most people aren’t naturals in combat like you are. I think the EXP penalty is to encourage people to take a step back when they hit a brick wall.”

“I don’t want to lose my experience. Those goblins barely gave any!”

“That’s why you get your soul healed,” he said. “It’s not hard, and if you do it before you die again you get your EXP back.”

“Oh!” She was relieved. Losing her hard-earned levels would have ruined the fun of the entire game.

Suara clapped her hands together and entered the Accariam Royal Bakery. The mannerless cat man from before turned from placing tarts in the display to glower at her.

“You brought the wheat. And you even cleaned your clothes,” he said.

“No, I got killed,” she explained.

She pulled her inventory up and grabbed a stack of ten wheat cards. The cat man sighed and covered his hand with a towel to accept them. ~QUEST COMPLETE~ appeared in front of her as she handed them over, and a flashy effect showed the ten cards flipping into her inventory.

She couldn’t help her grin as she added one to her deck. The ‘consumable’ part disappointed her a little, though. It would have been fun to cast all ten and then eat them over and over.

“How did it go?” Xander hopped down from the business’s sign as she stepped back outside.

She was surprised he hadn’t followed her in. “That cat is not very nice,” she said. Then an involuntary grin crossed her face. “I got my pastries, though!”

The elf chuckled. “He’s stuck up because he bakes for the royal family. My outfit is a lot nicer than yours, but he doesn’t like me either. Anyway, congrats on completing your first quest, Suara.”

‘Thanks!” She was proud of herself. Now she had the difficult task of deciding what to do next. Her only thought was to look at the quest board again and pick something a little more dangerous. Something worth experience points.