Upon arriving back at the camp he noticed another player there handing in a bunch of mushrooms and other plants that Cain could not recognise. He had a bow strapped across his back and a quiver on his side.

Must be an archer, I wonder if he just completed the gathering quest for the camp?

Cain walked straight past the archer towards Ruff’s tent.

“Do you have my trapping supplies?”

“I’ve made a bunch of equipment here, it’s not high end stuff because I wanted to keep it light weight for your journey.”

Ruff handed over a series of what seemed like twigs, ropes and wire

“Umm, how do I use this stuff?”

“I’ll show you now”

Ruff started assembling the various traps and explaining each step, such as which knots are used to catch different types of animals and where to lay each snare to maximise the chance of catching something.

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*Level up! Trapping

You have reached level 2

Ability:

-You can now set medium sized snares

-You can now set small deadfall traps

-You can now track game close by

I didn’t even realise you could level up a skill by being taught new techniques!

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“Now Cain, these traps are very basic meaning you can use a lot of the forest to create them, such as twigs and branches. Though remember don’t take too much or you’ll have another possessed beast after you!”

Cain left the hut and set off to find the cook

“I hope it alright Cain, but I’m only able supply you with one pot of mushroom stew.”

“Could you teach me the recipe by chance?”

“I could if you had the cooking skill unlocked, if you ventured back to the village someone might teach you the basics there!”

I’m not walking all the way back there again! I’ll be logged out before I even get into the forest, I better just take what I can

Cain accepted the stew, then walked towards the pot over the fire to help himself to a serve whatever was cooking.

As Cain ate a bowl of fresh stew off the fire, the archer approached him.

“How’d you get here?”

“Quests.”

“I was killed by the guards trying to enter the village, this is where I respawned.”

“You tried entering the town without your cloak equipped?”

“What cloak? Ohhh you’re a thief! I’m a primal hunter, I wasn’t given a cloak from my god of darkness, only the bow… anyway, any quests around here? I only got the gathering one and the next one they offered me was some suicide quest to the middle of the forest!”

“Yep, that’s the one I have too.”

“Wha- what? You’re actually doing it?”

“Yep.”

“Well if you’re that confident, can I join you?”

Cain though for a second, this guy seemed annoying asking all these questions but if he could help out in some way he might be useful

“level? Skills? What can you do to help me?”

“My name is Saxon. I’m a level 3 primal hunter, I’ve unlocked sharpshooter which lets me snipe from a long distance with increased accuracy as well. Other than that, I’ve got the gathering skill which comes with the class and I’ve also unlocked the cooking skill, but it’s still only level 4.”

Cooking!

“Can you make stew?!”

“Yeah like level 1. The best thing I can make is a stat boosting meatloaf, though the effects depend on what ingredients you use…”

“You’re in! Lets get going.”

Cain started to walk out of the camp, excited to trap some game to see what ‘meatloaf’ tasted like.

“Now?” asked the hunter catching up to Cain “I don’t even know your name yet!”

“It’s Cain, now let’s get moving before the it gets dark, I don’t want to have to deal with any possessed beasts just yet.”

“Possessed beasts?”

“You’ll find out soon enough”

The trekked into the forest, the going was easy to begin with but after a short while the paths began to fade and they were soon having to step over overgrown roots, duck beneath low hanging branches and skim past wild nettle bushes. As darkness fell they still hadn’t sited a single creature in the forest, though they had definitely heard them scampering into their borrows as they walked by. They decided to set up camp in a small clearing just as it became too dark to see, though neither of them had any survival or construction skills so all they could make was limited to their natural abilities. This meant that they had to share a small lean-to style shelter that consisted of a large amount of dead branches lent against a large tree. Before calling it a day, Cain went out and set up a few snares around the campsite whilst Saxon heated up the stew.

Cain awoke to the ear-splitting squeals of a distressed animal.

Sounds like a boar! This could be stew for the next week!

Only as Cain got ready to claim his prize did he realised that Saxon was nowhere to be seen, though this didn’t bother Cain much as he had food on his mind. After inspecting all the traps, he managed to catch an old rabbit far past its hopping days and a piglet.

This guy decided to follow the gods of darkness; maybe he is the raw kind of person I need to kill the piglet for dinner.

Cain heard sounds of panic coming from the forest only to see Saxon run past him.

“Take the aggro so I can get a good shot in!”

Cain dropped the animals as he looked up drawing his daggers, excited yet fearful of what he was about to face. From the bunches came a team of five goblins, all armed with splintered wooden armour and rusted weapons ranging from spears to hatchets. He quickly inspected them to see they were only level 3 monsters, he could take them.

I’m not a tank, but if I can hold them off long enough for Saxon to prepared, then we will finish them quick

Cain took a low fighting stance with his daggers held out in front ready to slice the goblin that made the first move. They circled him, trying to find his blind spot. He heard the goblin behind him take a large breath, he was about to attack. Cain waited until he heard the footsteps speed up, he twisted round as the spear stabbed where his body had just been followed by fatally slicing the goblin across the chest. He took too long, he had his back to the others for more than a second. They were advancing. He knew he could take two, but four at a time was going to be difficult. A glowing arrow screamed past Cains ear piercing the closest goblin through its skull!

The sharp shooter ability!

Using the distraction, he darted wide and shoulder charged one of the confused goblins knocking it to the ground. He lost his balanced but still had the momentum, the lounged forward with his daggers out in front piercing another goblin and halved its health before he hit the ground hard. He heard the twang of another arrow being let loose. He had to get back in the fight. He rolled onto his back just as the limb body of a goblin with an arrow head sticking out of its heart fell, arms raised high with a hatchet in its hand about to strike Cain through the back. The two injured goblins rose from the ground as Cain was finding his feet. Though this time he could see a new fury in their stance and with each breath a green fog came from their mouth.

They’re possessed. This is going to be harder than I thought.

Three arrows pieced one of the goblins in quick succession, each close to the heart. Its health dropped significantly yet it didn’t seem to realise it was damaged. It charged off in the direction of where the arrows came from only to be hit by another three from the side. Cain couldn’t stand around and watch the fight, he had another possessed goblin to deal with, and he knew it would be hard without the use of traps or long range.

The goblin threw its hatchet at Cain, which he barely dodged in the last second whistling past his face. He used this chance to attack the goblin whilst it was unarmed, he slide beneath the goblins punch to slice its guts open, though its second fist crushed down on his back before he got the shot in.

I need to be more careful, I don’t have any armour and my class has low hit points.

Cain rolled away from the next attack trying to buy time to figure out the battle. The goblin ripped the largest branch from their makeshift shelter, holding it with both hands like a greatsword!

Goblins shouldn’t have this strength! It must be Parowits’ possession providing the power!

The goblin stepped forward and swung its makeshift club at Cain. He easily dodged it.

Even though the goblin is stronger, the club is slow to swing!

Cain waited for the next attack. The goblin swung the club at his head which he easily ducked and sliced its chest twice before retreating, waiting for the next attack.

ABILITY ACTIVATED: BLINDNESS

The shadow daggers ability!

Cain used this opportunity to get behind the goblin and attacked is back with four sharp slashes. The goblin swung its club around. Cain easily ducked beneath it and continued to cut at the goblin, its hit points steadily declining. The blindness effect was over. It swung the club viscously this time with precision colliding with Cain’s side throwing him into a nearby tree.

I only have a quarter of my hit points left, I have to finish it.

He slid around the tree as the club hit the ground where he was lying. He followed round the tree managing to get two more cuts in. Arrows pierced through the goblins flesh.

Saxon must have finished off the other goblin!

Cain stepped forward with four quick consecutive slashes finishing off the final enemy.

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*Common Thief Ability unlocked: Suicide Slash

You have unlocked level 1

Ability:

With each consecutive slash attack the damage increases by 10% for a maximum of 100%. Can only be activated with daggers.

*Level up!

You have reached level 5

Stat Bonus:

16 (+2) speed 13 (+1) attack speed 13 (+1) Agility 13 (+1) Dexterity 13 (+1) Stamina

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Finally I have unlocked an ability!

Saxon stepped out of the forest with obvious damage to his armour.

“Cain we need to find a artisan crafter! My gear is in ruins, that last goblin was too powerful for me! What happened?”

“I told you before, you will see lots more of those possessed beasts on this journey.”

“We have to go back! I can fix my bow but the armour is destroyed!”

“We will keep going. Once we reach the shrine we will be rich enough to afford much better gear. And if we turn back, we may never find our way home, remember the forest is a maze and getting out is much harder than getting in.”

They looted the goblins, gaining crude leather straps and a few pieces of copper. As they searched around camp for supplies worth keeping, Cain noticed the old rabbit hadn’t the strength to escape, he picked it up victoriously and handed it to Saxon.

“Make a stew!” Cain said dangling the rabbit before Saxon

“Sure.”

Saxon boiled the rabbit meat along with a collection of herbs, as Saxon was cooking Cain remembered his absence in the morning.

“By the way, where were you this morning? What were you doing?”

“I was collecting herbs. Within this forest exist some of the most exotic herbs which sell for a high price, and others can be used in unique cooking.”

“What do you mean, unique cooking? Do you mean tastier food?”

“No, one of the perks of having both cooking and gathering as your skills is you can create concoctions depending on your class. For me its poisons that I can dip my arrow heads in. I went out searching for nightshade, it only blooms during the time before dawn and must be harvested then. Though I trekked too far and went within the aggro of that goblin camp… their attack was all my fault.”

So two skills combined can create another skill, this game must have thousands of unique combinations!

“That’s ok, the fight was good. Now we know what to be prepared for!”

“Cain I have to log out, I’m just about to reach my 16 hour force log and don’t want to be in a bad situation if it happens. Lets meet here in four hours ok?”

“I’ll log out as well!”

***

Cain awoke once again in his bed. He got up and repeated his usually strategy, drink water, eat bread then lie down and placed the headset firmly on until he was re-immersed. Though as he logged out far sooner than his timer, he had time to think. There were only 4 days left that he had access to this headgear, he needed to find a way to stay immersed.

Surely there are corporates that play the game that I can befriend and can get protection. But that means I will have to befriend someone that I hate! There has to be another way, maybe I can escape with this gear into the forbidden areas and live there, but how will I survive?