The portal room was filled with multiple columns of various colors. Lavender directed us to an ominous portal with a black light. “This is the one for you. It leads to the Shadowlands. Players of ELO can’t go there yet, so you won’t run into them.”

One by one we stepped into the portal. When it was my turn, I noticed it felt similar to teleportation with the exception that we did not pass into the void space between worlds. When I stepped out I asked, “This is different from teleporting, isn’t it?”

Lavender nodded her approval. “This is true. The reason for that is this world exists in the space between matter. It’s the same magic that made your fanny pack and normal bags of nil space. The only difference is that we’ve created a world in here rather than using it to store things.”

The world we stepped out into felt like nothing I had ever experienced before. A sinister cloud covered a wilting land in a shroud, and ominous sounds echoed in the distance.

Shiviria shuddered and clung to her sister. “This place is scary. Are you sure it’s safe, Kalli?”

Lavender stood in front of us and announced. “Listen up children. None of you have anything to fear. While there will be scary monsters and you will have to fight them, none of them will hurt you. This is the safest place for you to learn combat.”

When nobody moved, Lavender sighed and moved back to the still-open portal. “If any of you want to turn back, now is the time.”

Shiviria and Sylvia looked at each other as they hid behind Kalli. She knelt and whispered. “It’s okay to be afraid. This place is spooky. Lavender promised that nothing here will hurt us. How about you watch the first couple of battles and decide if you want to jump in later?”

Sylvia nodded and said, “I’ll hug you if you get hurt.”

“I’d like that,” Kalli replied, hugging the kid for good measure.

Lavender moved out of the way and said, “Now that we’ve settled that, let’s start with something basic. Prepare yourselves.”

As if on cue, a rumbling sound could be heard coming from the darkness. The ground shook around us as the first monster came into view.

Name

Kong Ding

Class

Monkape

Level

50

Affection Level

Simulated

My heart jumped in my chest as I saw the level of the first monster. “Level fifty? Are you sure this is something we can handle? Kalli and I are the only ones above level ten!”

Lavender nodded. “That’s right. You’ve been lucky so far. On multiple occasions, you have fought monsters that are higher level than yourself and emerged victorious. This time you have to learn how to do it on purpose.”

Willing my armor to coat my body, I stepped in front of Kalli.

This isn’t going to be easy, is it?

Kalli gently touched my back, a sensation I felt through the armor. Don’t worry, Mel. Just do your best.

Kong Ding yawned as he towered over me, unimpressed by the armor-clad whack-a-mole in front of him. I summoned my mana blade which finally managed to make the monster rear up. It balled its hands into massive fists and brought them down on me.

I held the sword up, hoping to skewer the monster. It pulled its claws apart at the last second, slamming them both back together around me in a massive clap.

“Melvin!” Kalli screamed as the shockwave of the attack hit her.

Kong Ding pulled his paws back and flung me through the air like a boulder. Kalli raised her hands in the air and a wave of fire rushed up to greet me. The flame caught me in a soft embrace and lowered me to the ground in front of Kalli. She cupped my face in her hands and asked, “Are you hurt?”

I felt my body for damage. While I should have been hurt, the attack felt more like roughhousing with friends than anything else. Still, a health bar appeared in front of me to display my damage to the group.

HP: 30%

“I’ll fix it!” Sylvia announced while tackling me to the ground in a massive hug.

Not only did it feel good to be hugged by the kid as her mana seeped into me but it also repaired the video game damage.

HP: 85%

Lavender issued instructions from over by the portal. “Melvin, the purpose of this exercise is to learn teamwork. You need to learn to rely on your friends and not rush in all the time.”

Kong Ding seemed to be waiting patiently, so I turned back to the others. “Alright, everyone. Huddle up.”

We formed a circle and leaned in. I was secretly happy that Sylvia gave Esha the hug bath and erased her smell. Kalli smiled at me and asked, “Okay, Mel. What’s the plan?”

I looked at all of the eager faces. It was suddenly up to me to figure out a strategy. “Okay, what can everyone do?”

Kalli rolled her eyes as I looked at her first. Realizing she wasn’t helping, she said, “Fire. I can make fire.”

“I can do ice,” Shiviria announced excitedly. “Just wait until you see how much better I’ve gotten since you awakened me.”

“I give warm hugs!” Sylvia grinned, demonstrating on Shiviria.

“Hey!” Shiviria shrieked, trying to pull away.

“I’ll go in first,” Esha said, flexing her bicep and ignoring the two young girls who were rolling around on the ground. “I can take a hit from that thing, no problem.”

Boombrix held up a familiar-looking bomb. “Boom has these. Just say the word and she will make big booms all over the furry monster.”

Turning my attention to Eddie, I asked, “What can you do? You’re the last one, Eddie. Don’t be shy?”

Eddie glared at me before looking at the two girls his own age. “It’s really cool. Just wait and see.”

Shrugging, I started moving people into position. “Okay, that’s the plan. Esha and I will go in first. Kalli, Shiv, and Boom provide ranged support. Sylvia heals anyone who gets hurt, and, um, Eddie can surprise us.”

“That’s right!” Eddie grinned at Shiviria, ignoring me completely. “I’m totally full of surprises.”

Without waiting for me to give the word, Esha broke our huddle and charged at the giant ape. When she was halfway there, it threw something large. Esha ducked and I raised the mana blade. The moment it made contact with the large orb, it broke apart and a murky brown substance splattered all over us.

I dipped my finger in it and sniffed. It didn’t smell bad. Wiping my hand on my pants, I muttered to myself. “I’m going to pretend that’s mud.”

Lavender chuckled. “That’s probably a good idea.”

Shiviria, who got a face full of the stuff, asked, “Ew, what is it?”

Lavender continued laughing. “You don’t want to know.”

“Ew!” All three girls screamed at once.

Prepared to support Esha, I charged in behind her. > When I was about halfway to the Monkape, something sailed over my head to bounce off Kong Ding. Then it exploded. The blast knocked back both the monster as well as Esha.

“Watch out for friendly fire!” Lavender called from behind us.

I jumped in front of Esha, bringing my greatsword to bear. “Are you okay?”

The troll grunted, pulling herself to her feet. “I can keep going. That didn’t hurt at all.”

“There’s no pain.” Lavender reminded us. “Keep your eyes on the health gauge.”

Looking over at Esha, I noticed that her health bar dipped into the yellow.

HP: 50%

“Melvin, look out!” Kalli screamed from the distance.

I brought my sword up just in time to parry a massive fist as Kong Ding attempted to smash me into the ground again. Jets of fire and ice sailed over my head and scored a direct hit on the ape’s face.

Using the distraction, I swung my sword in an attempt to strike the monster in the torso while its defenses were focused up high. My blade made contact but didn’t have the desired effect. While Kong Ding roared in outrage, it did not fall.

With a powerful swipe of its claw, it sent me sprawling. Before I could collect myself, Esha was back in the fight rushing forward to take my place. Above us, a dark cloud crackled with what seemed to be electricity. Only there was no light coming from it. The darkness seemed to rain down sporadically on the ape, causing it to roar at the sky.

“Got you!” Eddie called out from somewhere behind Kalli.

I had just managed to get to my knees when I felt two arms wrap around me. Turning, I was surprised to see Sylvia so close to the monster. Her smile was like sunshine as she chirped, “Don’t worry. I got you!”

I hugged her back as I noticed my HP return to full. Getting an idea, I called out to Esha. “Pull back when I say to!”

She grunted but nodded. Then I instructed Kalli and Shiviria to hit the ape with another coordinated attack. Their fire and ice blasts seemed to work well together.

Just as their attack was about to land, I called out to Esha. “Now! Pull back!”

The troll dove out of the way and I shouted to Boombrix. “Boom, make it rain. Throw a bomb!”

The goblin didn’t hesitate. I watched as her bomb flew toward Kong Ding. Just as it was about to hit, I sent a wave of flame right into it. The effect of the magic combined with the explosive blasted the ape ten feet back where it landed with a thud.

“Now!” I screamed, readying my mana blade. “Let’s finish this thing.”

Together, Esha and I rushed in and pummeled the fallen monster. Eddie added his dark thunder attack which caused us both some damage as well as the boss.

We managed to polish off the last of its HP before it managed to get back to its feet. Esha and I were still walking back to the group when Lavender began to clap. “Not bad for your first fight. You all did very well. However, I see a lot of weak points that you need to work on. For now, let’s split you up into groups. Kalliphae and Shiviria, I want you two to work together to see if you can come up with ways to combine your ranged attacks. While it’s great to work together, you were still casting separate spells. I see potential there. Boombrix, how about you try working with Esha. You want to make sure that your bombs are helping her, not hurting her. Come up with a system that works for you. Melvin, I want you to work with Sylvia. I know you enjoy playing with that sword but you are an all-around type of fighter and I think we should focus on your strengths. As a healer at your core, you will best serve the group by keeping everyone alive. That will be even more important out in the real world.”

“What about me?” Eddie whined as he watched everybody get into groups.

Lavender smiled at the kid. “Don’t worry, Eddie. I saved the best for you. I am going to work with you personally. Since you are using a weather-based attack, you would be best suited to compliment Wendy. Since she isn’t here, I am going to teach you a new spell that will work better with Kalliphae and Shiviria.”

Eddie’s frown turned into a smile as he realized Lavender was about to teach him something new. As I turned to accept yet another hug from Sylvia, Lavender called over her shoulder. “By the way, Melvin. Why don’t you figure out how to heal people from a distance. If you need a reference, just think about Kalliphae’s favorite spell.”