“Alright, we’re ready to go,” Shou faced Aquaine and she perked up in response.

“Thank you so much for your assistance. Let us make haste then.”

“So robotic…” Shou mused over this fact yet again as he started walking with the NPC and Len at his side.

Len ogled Aquaine’s body up and down as the three continued to walk. “Man, this chick is hella fine…” he spoke to himself in amazement.

Shou groaned before pulling up the map to check their current location. “Okay, so it looks like we have to go through Moonlit Forest before and Agardia Town before we can get to Guardian Valley.”

“Like I said, that’s not too far. It’s definitely doable, especially with the right motivation…” Len played with the stubble on his chin as he continued to eye the woman of his affections.

“There’s Moonlit Forest,” Aquaine spoke up, not paying Len any mind. “We must pass through there if we wish to make it to Guardian Valley.” She turned around and looked at Shou and Len with a deadly serious gaze. “I don’t think we’ll be able to leave once we enter. Please make sure you’re prepared before you speak with me again.

“Hehe, whatever you say angel,” a goofy grin sprawled across Len’s face, complemented by a massive blush.

Shou sighed before nudging Len in the shoulder, “Wake up dude. You all set?”

“Huh?” Len blinked, snapping out of his daze. “Oh yeah, sure. Let’s just get on with it already!”

“If you say so…” Shou rolled his eyes in annoyance. Honestly, he had enough of Len’s fawning over an NPC. Not only was it irritating in general that he was only paying any attention to her, but it was also very dangerous since he wouldn’t be able to concentrate in battle.

Even so, Shou had to suck it up since this was the deal they made. And so the three walked into the forest.

“Hey looky over there,” Len pointed to a sleeping Timid Goblin. “Easy pickings,” he said, unsheathing his bronze sword.

Shou smirked, “Not if I get to it first.” And with that, the two eager boys ran for the slumbering monster.

Shou slashed at the goblin first and it awoke in response. “Aw man,” Len moped, slumping his shoulder’s down. “I knew I should’ve picked out lighter armor…”

The goblin swiped his claws at Shou, slightly decreasing his health.

Shou’s HP: 45/50

“Just shut up and help me fight!”

“Yeah yeah…”

Len swung his blade at the goblin along with Shou. The goblin growled at the boys as its body glowed a radiant white light.

“Uh, what’s it doing?” Len pressed Shou for an answer by nudging his shoulder.

“How should I know? Like I said before, this game is as new to me as it is to you.”

“It’s calling its allies!” Aquaine answered their question as she took out a small dagger from her pocket.

A bunch of goblins came out from hiding in the trees and surrounded the group. “We have to defeat them quickly!” Aquaine ran straight for them, gripping her weapon tightly.

“Wait!” Shou called out to the NPC, extending his hand.

The goblins began to gang up on her, slashing at her face and smashing her with clubs. Blood flew up into the sky as she cried out in pain.

Aquaine’s HP: 60/200

Shou’s head fell down, “Ugh, stupid AI…”

Len clenched his teeth and violently shook his fists, “Those damned goblins…Just who do they think they are anyway?! Hurting poor Aquaine like that!”

“Uh…enemy monsters?”

“Well, I won’t stand for it!” Len rushed in, slicing through the goblins with the ferocity of a lion.

One by one, the monsters started to dissolve as Len continued slashing away. One goblin’s fist whizzed right past Len’s face. “Whew, that was a close one,” he said, proud that he was able to dodge the blow.

Shou ran forward as well, swinging his blade down at the goblins. Blood dripped down from his sword to the floor as another goblin vanished.

A pop-up suddenly appeared in front of Len as he was swinging his sword around.

Sword Skill Lv. 5!

“Rad, I just raised my sword skill.” He turned to Shou, “Hey Shou, cover me for a while. There’s this really cool skill I want to try out.”

Shou nodded as his sword sliced through yet another goblin, “No prob, go for it dude.”

“Sweet, thanks man!” Len backed away from the goblins and pulled up his menu.

“Alright, there it is.”

He clicked the accept button and equipped his new skill. “Alright, I’m locked and loaded!”

“I don’t think that phrase really fits here…” Shou said as he continued to kill goblin after goblin.

“Eh, whatever. Anyway, check this out!” Len activated his skill and white sparks began to travel across his sword. “Energy Eruption!” Len stabbed his blade into the ground and a wide circle encased all of the goblins in it.

A white beam of energy erupted from inside the circle. Shou’s eyes widened at the sight before he had to shut them from the intensely blinding light.

Once the beam had close up, only a few goblins were left with a few measly points of health.

Shou’s ATK +15 Shou’s SPD +10 Len’s ATK +15 Len’s DEF +10

“So, what do ya think? Pretty neat, huh?” Len smirked as he rested his sword on his shoulders.

“Super neat!” Shou shouted in amazement. “How did you learn it? What level does your sword skill have to be at?! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

“Now now, young one. A wise warrior never reveals his secrets.”

“Nobody says that…”

Len chuckled a bit, “Don’t worry, I’m just messin’ with ya anyway. Your sword skill has to be at level five to learn it. But I don’t think you’ll be able to, Shou.”

Shou blinked, “Huh? Why not?”

“Your intelligence stat is too low. It needs to be at least one-hundred.”

Shou clicked his tongue, “Damn, so I have to raise my intelligence up to one-hundred before I can get it?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

The young warrior’s head fell down in dejection, “I want my own AOE sword skill…”

“Then study up my friend,” Len laughed as he ruffled Shou’s hair around.

“I don’t want to study! This isn’t school, damn it!”

“Oh right,” Len said as if suddenly remembering something. “How is your HP Shou? I had you fighting those goblins by yourself for a little while after all.”

“Oh yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s go-”

Shou’s HP: 10/50 [window]

Just as Shou was about to say “good”, he noticed the unfortunate truth. “Yeah, I need a potion…”

[window] Len’s HP: 20/50

“Haha, don’t worry about it buddy. I need one too.” Len pulled up his inventory and scrolled through his list of items. “Alright, let’s see here. Now, where are they?”

Groove Miester's Inventory Bronze Sword (Equipped) Galvanian Armor (Equipped) Boots (Equipped) Boar Meat (x5) Goblin Meat (x10) Wooden Club (x5)

“Oh…shit.”

“Len? What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much…I just forgot to bring along any potions is all.”

“Oh okay,” Shou answered, not really understanding the situation due to Len’s nonchalant attitude about it. Then, “WHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?”

Shou grabbed Len by his shoulders and started violently shaking him back and forth. “What do you mean you forgot to bring any potions along?!”

“Just what I said, haha…ha…”

Shou just sighed as he let go of Len’s shoulders, “Idiot.”

“Well, you’ve got some right?”

“Yeah, of course, I do,” Shou crossed his arms and nodded profoundly.

“See, then we’re good, so no need to stress ourselves over it.”

“Guess not.” Shou pulled up his own inventory menu and scrolled through his items.

Jiran's Iventory Bronze Sword (Equipped) Battle Cloak (Eqipped) Boots (Eqipped) Goblin Meat (x5) Wooden Club (x2) Bronze Arrows (x15)

“…Hey Len?”

“Yeah, Shou?”

“Start stressing out.”

“Idiot.”

Shou laughed awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head, “Well, guess we'll just have to get out of this forest as fast as we can and avoid confrontation with any enemies.”

“Seems so. Let’s get a move on then.”

And so the boys along with Aqauine headed further into the forest, where they reached a very pressing obstacle. A giant Orc was in their way, a large battle-ax in hand. But even so, they managed to sneak past it and were standing right in front of the entrance to the next part of the forest.

The real issue that they were facing was the notification that they got when they tried to continue on.

Entrance locked. Orc blocks your way.