Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Marlow, Get up! Now!”

Rolling over Marlow pretending to go back to sleep. After all, it was so warm and he had just crawled into bed, a moment ago. Even the walls were warm. Even they were… warm.

Opening my eyes I finally saw the danger he was in. Instead of the pink and yellow colors of the morning sun reaching through the window, it was replaced by grasping flames of orange and red coming through the floorboards. Smoke would have filled the room, if he hadn’t opened the attic window that night.

Bam! Bam! Crunch! Benson had finally bashed the door down, standing there in the doorway holding his shirt up covering his face. He was in his pjs with pink fuzzy slippers.

“Get up!”

He huffed, while actively dragging me out of bed. Marlow would have put on something but Benson and the fire had yanked him away from those thoughts. Stumbling to his feet they booked it out and up the ladder. As they headed down they felt a crash shaking the building, but once they got down the stairs and onto the first floor they realized that they were screwed.

The second floor bedroom had just met the ground and was happily mingling with the family room. This included the main hallway that led to and from the only door out of the house.

They both looked at each other, for a moment and a knowing grin grew on Benson’s face. Pulling Marlow onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry Benson dashed vaulting over the burning beam and bashed Marlow’s back against and through the front door. Tumbling onto the night grass they were assaulted with a rather large blanket along with a few harsh slaps or punches they couldn’t tell, partly because they were blinded by the forsaid rather large blanket.

Shaking off the blankets he saw something more terrifying than Bensons home burning down. The entire clearing was set ablaze. The barnhouse, the silo, stables. The barn animal pens had been trampled as the cattle fled the scene. The chicken coop door was locked shut illuminated by the orange glow of the Silo, the flames swiftly moving towards the uncooked meal.

Without thinking Marlow got up. Running, he body checked the flimsy tin door. Crashing through the light weight metal he slid on the hay floor using the former door as a sled, only stopping as it hit the opposite wall.

Like on a wedding day the white birds erupted from still cages flying out of the coop, partly because it did. Having to scare the rest of the stubborn bird out of their burning homes he did so. Leaving the shake last with Opal under one arm and Pecky under the other he lept, just as the silo caved in, falling like a mighty tree crashing the coop along with Marlow.

You have died calculating… Died from a burning building, waiting not being crushed by a burning building. Time has been set to 6:44:32. Experience lost 538. Please mind your business somewhere else next time.

“Ah shucks,” Marlow snapped his fingers.

“That was an entire day's worth of grinding!” He bitterly complained to the familiar white room. Looking around to get his bearings he noticed something new. Besides the neatly made bed, the computer tucked in the corner, and the workout area there was now a bronze door standing left to the ever circling portal with the countdown now at six hours forty two minutes and thirty seconds.

Knocking on it, allowed the heavy, metal door to slowly creak open. Pushing his way into the room he saw numerous thigh high pillars, spanning all the way to the horizon, each one empty except for one. Walking towards the oddity he noticed that the blank marble pillars were actually rotating their empty gold plaques to him. Not stopping, he continued his slow walk to the abnormal thing.

Coming within ten feet of the mysterious object finally allowed it to solidify from its blurry form. Revealing it to be Opal’s egg suspended in mid air spinning counter clockwise. Crouching down, Marlow finally understood what the plaques ment.

Name: Opal, The first companion

Class: Arcane Eater

Character Level: 1

Experience: 538

Points until next level: 462

Hit Points: 19

Mana: 50

Mana reg: 1 per second

Stamina: 59

Strength- 5 modifier (0.05)

Dexterity- 4 modifier (0.04)

Constitution- 4 modifier (0.04)

Intelligence- 4 modifier (0.04)

Wisdom- 4 modifier (0.04)

Charisma- 0 modifier (0.00)

Perception- 8 modifier (0.08)

Luck- 1 modifier (0.01)

Time until resurrection- 11:52

Items held- None

“Don’t worry Opal I’ll see you soon” He lied, standing there a moment long taking it all in. the quiet atmosphere, the white marble room, it felt so calming to be here. It would be a while before he would see Opal again, but when she did he’ll already have a place to call home.

With nothing else really to do, he went and laid down on the made bed, promising to himself that he would just close his eyes. Hours later he woke up with the portal already open, stepping back into Ardania as clustered as ever, he’d already gotten an elbow in the ribs, twice. Probably because whenever a portal opened it would shove whoever was next to it away to make way for the new arrival.

“I need to find a new respawn anchor.” Marlow muttered under his breath. Wiggling through the packed crowd he found himself heading to Benson’s home. It wasn’t until he had reached the courtyard that a thought occurred, if the thieves followed him to the Bensons home that meant that they would try to leverage Benson against him to get Opal.

Turning around he briskly squeezed back into the ever moving flesh wave that was Ardania. Not noticing the shadowy figure that had been following.

Unsure where to go, Marlow let the tsunami of people guide him, letting him finally think aloud. Since this was a courted street barely anyone took note of the small Tamer.

“Alright, let's break it down. I am a Beast tamer. My main strength is from my pets. However I currently only have one pet who will return in about two hours. Secondly I want to find my family in this new world, bu- but I can't because there's too many people.” Marlow grumbled as he was elbowed in the gut for the fifth time.

“Third, I would like to set up a base of operations so I can train my pets in relative safety away from these greedy thieves. Fourth, I need to OOF!” He was abruptly cut off and he was sandwiched between two beefy tank type characters. Sliding out that uncomfortable hot place he continued his little rant to himself.

“Fourth I need to expand my weaponry so I can do something in a fight rather than just drag my spear along or run and hide as Opal takes care of the problem for me.” Checking his known offensive skills set, he sighed.

Spear Mastery (novice V): Poke, jab, stab it’s all the same to you, just that you're doing it from three feet away. you gain 1n% when using a spear. where n = to skill level.

PoleArm Mastery (novice V): Stick there no stick there all you see is a deadly staff. You gain 1n% when using a staff, polearm, or halberd. where n = to skill level.

Environmental Awareness (novice V): Look over there it’s a bird, not a plane, no it’s a poisonous bush you can use. You gain 1n%, where n = skill level.

If any min maxing player could see him now they’d be furious with how little combat he had done. It was time to change that! With a destination in mind he began going against the flowing tide of flesh. Pushing his way to one of the city's gates he made it there just as the sun had begun to set. After all, it's not like the time of day had an outcome on the animals he would be fighting. He'd soon find out he would be very wrong.

It was as the sun dipped below the horizon, when something felt off. It took him a good solid minute to realize what it was, barely anyone was out. That there were a lot of groups who had much studier equipment than he did. Not to mention torches lots and lots of torches. Torches here, there, they were torches everywhere. One might even say they were safety torches.

Drawing his spear from his sling he also noticed that the groups of people were focused on the darkness beyond the torches, not on each other. Then he saw something in the darkness shift, just as the moon rose above the horizon.

Zone alert! It's a Hunter’s Moon. Be glad you're in bed tonight! For the things that go bump in the night, are finally here. All monsters tonight will head towards the nearest civilization to drink the blood of ‘Humans’ and do well to slay any incoming monster. Every monster will: give double the xp, have a 5% to drop an uncommon tier core, a 15% armor piercing damage, and become darkalined creatures, during the night. Do your best to defend your homes. So sleep tight.

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!” Shouted an intimidating man from a wooden box.

“I KNOW THIS WAS TRAIN TO GRIND OUR NEWBYS UP A FEW LEVELS BUT WITH THAT ANNOUNCEMENT WE NEED TO CHANGE SOMETHINGS UP! SINCE WE’LL BE WAGING WAR ON THE WANDER’S SOON I WANT EVERYONE TO PARTICIPATE DURING THIS EVENT! EVEN YOU NON COMBATANTS WE DONE KNOW WHEN EVEN LIKE THIS WILL COME UP!” The guild leader? Yelled rallying his guild to defend the city.

“Oi you there!” said a snot nosed man holding a morning star out towards me.

“You partied up yet?”

“Well not exactly you see I was just lookn to train my-”

“Good you're with me we're taking the first shift tonight” He said, turning around gesturing for Marlow to follow him. With nowhere else to go he followed the morning star man through the battle ready guild. One would say he was quite lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Luck +3

Karmic luck-3

“Hey Dave I got us another DPS for our team.” The snot nosed man casually said to a rather large shields men with an even larger mace.

“Good job. Why hello there I’m Dave, you already met Evian, and that's Maddy.” Dave said point to each person in turn, lastly landing on a cleric decked out in animal furs rather than the silky robes that cleric players often wore.

“So who are you and how did you come to our ruthless guild?” Say Dave offhandedly keeping an eye on the darkness.

“Umm, hi I’m Marlow and I just kind of walked over here?” This confused comment caused the gang to snicker.

“Ya right, and I'm Headshots’s personal bodyguard. There is no way you just walked over here. Our guards made sure that this gate is our territory.” Dave bluntly stated.

“Ya like besides all that, we’d never let in a nooby like you.” Said Maddy in a condescending tone, slowly pointing to her staff to emphasize that he was in fact dressed in rags. Sensing that she could easily take him out in one swift spell. Marlow decided to choose his next words carefully.

“Ah well... you see I’m actually a spy.” he lied.

“I just got back from, urm, sabotaging a farming community. That, wasum, heading out. I came back to report, when Evian came and adopted me.” He blurted out, sweat already building on the back of his neck.

“Well, you should probably go report-” Whatever Maddy, said her downgrading voice, was thankfully cut off as a apesized rabbit screeched as its life came to an abrupt end. The battle had just begun.

As the bunny apefell eight others to it’s fallen brother's place. Behind them ten thousand orange glowing eyes blinked into existence. The guild responded by shouting a taunt at the enraged creatures.

“WE ARE THE HARDCORES” followed by the sound of many feet slamming against the ground in a rhythmic fashion.

“WE WILL BREAK DOWN YOUR DOORS!” Thump thump, bump bump bump.

“WE ARE THE HARDCORES!” Everyone shouted in unison.

“WE CAN’T HEAR YOUR BLORE!” This united warcry surprisingly kepted most of the monsters at bay. This worked for a time. Up until a bunny with stone armor the size of a truck hopped into the light and charged at this man up on the wooden box.

Waiting for the last possible second, the man stepped off of the box drawing a knife at his belt and plunged it into the rabbit’s armor head as the rabbit's remaining momentum barreled into the former stand.

With the first rabbit slain the other creatures of the night sprung into action charging them, covering dozens in a few seconds. Rabbits, foxs, and deer of all sizes and shapes charged at them.

Arrows, pebbles, and very few spells whittled away the first few lines of the night assault, slowing their progress down foot by foot until their heavy reinforcements made an appearance.

Three large figures trampt across the forest causing trees to fold and snap under their weight. The smallest of the tree breaks galloped forward into the light crossing the distance in a matter of seconds. It’s dark fur along with its bulky shape made it difficult to identify. Until one brave soul shouted its name.

“BLACK BEAR CUB! KILL IT QUICK!” Just as the cub shoulder checked the flimsy erect barrier. Rolling over the young bear roared, stunning the few thieves near it and unstealthed a few unlucky rogues right by it.

Blades, bats, and any melee equivalent piled onto the cub taking it out before it could even get a paw up. The parents were furious and roared a challenge and charged leading the second wave.

Meanwhile Marlow watched in dumbstruck awe as the two forces fought. One side pushes as the other fights back. Eventually fending off them by presumably killing their designated leader at that time, usually the strongest or biggest.

Wait, wasn’t Opal going to respawn so. Her spawn point was the same as his spawn point. So Opal would spawn in town away from the guards, during the hunter’s moon. Which meant, not terrible news for the citizens of Ardania.

Spinning around he broke away from the rag tag group he was put in and began heading towards the gate. Not noticing a person in a forest green cloak who broke off from her group and started following him. Ducking and weaving he'd managed to get close to the gate before getting stopped.

“YOU THERE, what are you doing! We are guarding this gate to earn some respect from the city, so you better have a good reason, or else Headshot will have both of our heads.” A figure stepped out from his group and began approaching Marlow, crossbow in one hand and a stuffed bag in the other.

Panicking Marlow blurted out a half truth. “I have an associate inside waiting for me. I’d prefer to get there before the guards do.”

“Oh I guess you're one of our spies then, right? How are the infiltration operations then?”

“Very, very, good. In fact the other night I helped burn down a farm.” Marlow lied, sweat already dripping from his neck. But if he could find out who had a hand in hurting Benson then he could maybe drop by later when he was much much stronger.

“Oh you were with Litith’s crew, ugh. Best of luck man. Hey since you're going in to go meet your ‘associate’ could you by chance drop off our guild taxes. I would, but I’d rather not miss out on the experience gain tonight. I mean how often do these things happen!”

“Sure…”

“Great man, hear you go!” Plopping the surprisingly heavy bag in Beast tamer’s outstretched hand. Swinging the sack around onto his back he walked to and then through the gates, the Hardcore gaurds not even giving a second glance.

Sweating bullets Marlow waited for two blocks before seeing what was inside the tax sack. Dropping it, the coins swam out onto the cobbles catching the eyes of a few hobos. The thing that drew Marlow's eyes was gold coins, rubys, diamonds, and eleven glowing gemstones inside. Squatting down he picked one up.

Trash-tier monster Core found! Would you like to convert this into experience points? Current worth: 300*2 experience points (Doubled due to it being a Hunter’s Moon). [Yes / No]

“What kind of taxes include experience points?” Looking back into the back a smile shone for a moment before being drowned out by golden light as Marlow leveled up twice in quick succession. The dust, grim, and sweat that had been accumulating over the course of a few days was washed away, as a wave of dopamin shocked Marlow’s brain.

Feeling like he’d just walked out of a sauna he wandered off pocketing one for Opal beforehand, forgetting the generous bag of gold. In search of the town square, to hopefully get there before both Opal and the guards could arrive.

Meanwhile behind him the hobos claimed the generous offering by the stranger, taking it back to their alley to distribute the loot amongst themselves. Long before a woman came around the corner wearing a forest green cloak, needles in hand.

Finding the streets empty as usual Marlow made his way to the square without incident. Checking the timer and laughing as the timer displaced that he had two minutes remaining. Opening up his character sheet he dumped his four points into luck.

Taking a seat next to the fountain he let his thoughts roll over him. First he felt fine, he had a plan in mind and knew what he needed to do to finish it. Then he began to worry about how many flaws there were with it. There could be a dozen guards around the corner waiting to ambush him, just as Opal came out. They could then take Opal away from him leaving him with no one. He would be alone in this world again. No one would want a useless Beast tamer.

Abyss, he was useless back on earth just coasting off his parents, doing busy work making it seem that he was making progress towards his goal. But in reality he wasn't, he was just goofing around when his parents weren’t looking. They bent over backwards for him and he had taken advantage of it. He was scum, he didn’t deserve his parents. They were saints, sure he did his best to live up to their expectations, but they were just too far away.

Sighing he began to remember them more and more. And all the amazing things they had gone through just to put a smile on him and his sisters faces. His dad worked over time just so that he could be there to help him with his homework when he got home. That time his mother saved her tips so that they could buy toys at the dollar tree.

Or that one time his older sister had gotten hired at a pizza place and had spent her first paycheck on getting them all christmas presents, even though dad was furious he still used that heated blanket she bought him, even after it broke.

A swirling portal quietly buzzed into existence just as a fluffy chicken was kicked out from it. Flapping its wings the chicken slowly descended to the ground, coming to rest in Marlow’s lap, instantly numbing it. Grabbing the cheerful bird Marlow plopped it the big bird on the ground. Whipping away the tears he looked up and froze.

“Marlow what a pleasant surprise, are you still willing to join the hardcores. Since you just stole our tax money?”