Kit and Mars finished their lunch. Kit then wrapped the basket and returned it to his pouch. He then turned to Mars with an excited face.

“Let’s go get some MEAT.”

Kit had an itchy feeling like he couldn’t sit still, he was that excited about collecting some ingredients for cooking tonight.

“Ok, first let’s decide how far we want to travel today. Then we can set our pace keeping in mind how far we need to journey.”

Mars changed from staring at Kit, to concentrating on what appeared to be nothing in front of him. Kit guessed he had just pulled up his menu.

“We don’t need to rush, so I’m happy if it takes us a couple of days extra to reach Flower Field town,” replied Kit.

Mars finger started to trace an imaginary line in mid-air.

“If we take five days to get there instead of three, we will have more than enough time to hunt for some animals. By the looks of the map there will be good camping grounds along the way. Our first stop then will only be about another two hours away.” Mars returned his gaze back to Kit.

“Ok let’s look for some monsters, any clue where to start?”

“On the map there is a river about an hour away, I think that would be a good spot to start hunting.”

“Ok, let’s go so we can hunt MEAT.”

“Kit you are seriously weird sometimes. Most people say let’s hunt some monsters.” Mars had a little chuckle at Kit.

“I’m more excited about getting my hands on some meat right now. I can’t wait to unlock some more skills.”

After an hour’s walk along the road, Kit and Mars could hear a faint continuous roar. Kit looked around for the source of the noise. He finally spotted a river up ahead in the distance.

“Mars, do you think that roar is coming from a monster in the river?”

“I’m not too sure, but I think it’s the river making the noise. Let’s get closer and check it out.”

As they approached the river Kit was surprised. It was larger than Kit had imagined. Kit was expecting a gentle, calm flowing water. What he was staring at, was flowing like a turbulent angry storm consuming all in its path. The tips of large rocks could be seen amongst the water, the fast-flowing water caused foam to build on the rippling surface.

The closer they got the louder the roar became until it was almost deafening. The river spanned roughly 50 meters. Kit hoped they didn’t need to cross it, or if they did the bridge would be able to handle the ferocious water. One wrong move on the water’s edge and they would be swept away.

Ding!

[CAL]

[Map Found: Fornax Tenacious River]

Rewards: 50 EXP

“I was expecting something smaller.”

Kit almost shouted to be heard over the noise. The longer Kit looked at the river the more anxious he felt. He was starting to get a little scared. He could feel his pulse quicken and his palms start to sweat.

He wasn’t that close to the water, but it was making him very anxious and unsettled. He felt like his emotions were starting to swirl in a negative direction. He could feel a tightness in his chest start to develop. He didn’t like this river at all.

“To be honest, me too. Lucky for us there is a bridge further down the road we can cross. We should come across it tomorrow. Though I think I’ll have to change our camping destination. I didn’t realise how loud the river would be.” Mars started staring into space once again.

Kit glanced around while waiting for Mars, he noticed the tree density had increased. Not enough to be called a forest but enough to supply some cover for predators. The change must have been gradual. He only noticed it now since he was paying attention.

The longer they stayed near the river the more Kit was working himself up. He could feel sweat start to pool on his forehead. He felt the colour leave his face. Kit was starting to feel faint. He really did not like being close to the raging sounds of the river. He was starting to remember some of his memories he did not want to ever visit again.

It was like the river was dragging his emotions along on the raging current. Causing all the memories he liked to keep hidden deep inside to surge to the surface. Kit’s scar on his face started to ache. Flashes of the day his mother gave him the scar started to flicker across his vision.

Kit started to struggle to breathe. He felt a tightness in his chest as if someone was squeezing all the air out of his lungs. Snowball started to whine softly and paw at Kit’s leg. Kit’s legs gave out from under him, and he fell to the ground. Snowball climbed on his chest and started to rub his head against Kit’s cheek.

The memories disappeared at Snowball’s gentle contact but his anxiousness stayed. Kit was thankful to Snowball for distracting him enough to dispel his memories.

“Kit what happened, are you alright?” Mars was clearly worried.

“There is something in the water, or the river itself that is causing me to panic. Mars can we go now please? I don’t like this river at all.”

Mars could see Kit was not in good shape. “No worries. Let’s go now.”

Mars helped Kit up from the ground and turned him around so he could no longer see the river. Kit stood on shaky legs. He then started to head away from the river into the trees with Mars’ help. The further he got from the river the more his nerves calm down.

Once they were far enough away Kit took some deep breaths. ‘What the hell was that? I felt terrible.’

“Mars did you notice anything off while we were at the river?”

“No. Maybe it was something that only effected one person. I felt fine. How do you feel now?”

“I’m ok now. Let’s hunt some monsters so I can lose those feelings altogether. They were not the most pleasant feeling that came up.”

Kit didn’t want to talk about his experience next to the river. he just wanted a distraction.

Mars didn’t question him. he just stared into space once again.

“Ok, found a new spot. Let’s head towards the new camping ground and hopefully we will find something to hunt on the way.

Mars gave Pint some beer and they started to head off once again. They were both vigilant in their search for any visible tracks.

Kit noticed Snowball had started to sniff along the ground occasionally letting out a soft snort. ‘I wonder if he could find us some monsters, dogs usually have a great sense of smell. It couldn’t hurt to ask the little guy, right?’

Kit bent down, “Snowball could you find Mars and I a monster to hunt?”

Snowball tilted his head to the side looking at Kit. He then lifted his nose in the air and sniffed. Snowball started to walk around sniffing the ground. He walked over to the edge of the road and almost buried his nose in the dirt. He then gave a soft growl, turned his head towards Kit and gave a yip.

Snowball left the road to head off into the area opposite of the river. ‘At least he didn’t go closer to the water. If that was where the monsters were, they could stay there.’ Kit pulled out his sword in case Snowball really did understand him and led them to a monster.

Kit paused and turned to look at Pint. “Um Mars, what do we do with Pint. We can’t take him with us he will make too much noise.”

They both stared at the large horse in thought.

“Let’s led him over to a tree, I don’t want to tie him to it in case a predator comes along. Honestly, I don’t think he will go anywhere without beer, so it should be safe to leave him without tying him up. What do you think?”

“Well, we can try it,” said Kit.

Mars led Pint over to a tree at the edge of the road.

“Be a good boy and I’ll give you extra beer when we get back, ok?” Pint stared at Mars, snorted, then ignored him and started to eat some grass.

“I think that went well.”

“Sure, it did if you call being ignored going well.” Kit chuckled.

“….”

“Ok let’s go, hopefully whatever we find tastes good.” Kit and Mars resumed following Snowball.

Snowball led them further from the road. The noise of the river was becoming a distant echo. Snowball started to slow his pace and sniff the ground more regularly. He came to a standstill and gave a soft growl.

He was looking up into a large tree, Kit and Mars followed his gaze. Up in the tree was a huge monster that resembled an ape. It had a human like shape covered in red-brown fur, a leathery face comparable to an ape. Instead of four limbs it had six. The monster was gripping onto the branches with six leathery hands, it eyed them with curiosity.

At that moment Snowball gave a loud growl. The creature let out a loud roar in return, it echoed through the field. It then bared its teeth. White spiked rows of teeth dripped with saliva, black spikes emerged from its back the length of Kit’s forearm.

“How do you think we should handle this?”

As Kit spoke a large nut was thrown at his head. Kit jerked to the side at the last moment and narrowly missed the intended collision.

Ding!

[Skill learnt: sloppy dodge]

Player can move out of the way of oncoming danger. This skill can barely be called a dodge, more like an awkward side step.

Agility + 10

“Yes, unlocked dodge.” Kit was excited with the new skill. Kit gave a big smile to the ape like creature. He was thankful for it throwing the nut.

“Thanks for that, want to go again so I can practice,” Kit goaded.

‘I’m excited about a good skill being unlocked. These descriptions are killing me though, hopefully one day I can get a good one.’

Kit turned towards Mars to see him with an excited look on his face.

‘Why does Mars look so happy?’

Mars pulled out five small knives.

“Let’s see if we can get him down on the ground.”

Mars then threw the knives one after the other at the creature’s hands. Four of the knives made contact, causing the creature to remove four hands from the branches.

To Kit’s amazement, the creature didn’t fall as he expected. It held itself in the tree with its remaining two hands. It eyed Mars and let out a deafening roar. It brought one of it injured hands to its mouth to pull out the knife Mars had thrown. Unfortunately for the creature Mars had not sat still, he was rushing towards the tree.

“Come on, come down and play.”

Mars climbed the tree without any effort. Anyone watching could tell Mars was not a novice in a fight, his movements were agile and fluid. He slashed at the creature’s hand with swift motions causing the monster to fall from the tree. He was like a hunter zeroing in on its prey before finishing it off.

Kit finally realised why Mars had appeared so happy. He was looking forward to fighting with the monster. Kit noticed he was just standing there missing all the fun. He readied himself to join in.

The ape like monster screeched at Mars, enraged by the damage it had taken. Kit took the opportunity to attack while the monster was distracted. He moved forwards and started to slash the creature with his sword. His strikes were wild compared to Mars’.

He still managed to deal some damage. Kit could tell he looked like a baby duck waddling for the first time compared to Mars’ soring high in the sky.

- 40 damage

- 40 damage

- 40 damage

With each wild swing blood oozed from the creature. Kit could see a stream of blood from each slice he made on the monster. He was once again amazed at the reality of the game. Kit got in three slashes of his sword before the monster retaliated and lashed out with one of his hands connecting with Kits shoulder. Kit was knocked backwards.

- 65 damage

‘Damn that hurt, I need to remember to dodge. I literally just got that skill too.’

Mars jumped down from the tree with a graceful landing. ‘Ahh, show off, he makes it look so natural.’

Kit regained his footing and returned to the fight.

“Kit target your attacks at different weak points on the monster. I’ll keep it distracted while you practice.”

“How do you know what its weak points are?”

“Observe, where more damage is taken. What will cause it to lose mobility, how it moves and how it attacks. Then you can attack with more accuracy, deal more damage, and save your stamina.”

Kit realised Mars was just playing with the monster at this point. ‘How skilled is he already? Playing sports, my foot, it really doesn’t justify this crazy level of skill.’

Kit and Mars attacked from either side of the monster splitting its attention. Kit was keeping one eye on its arms and the other on the sharp spikes on its back. He timed his strikes when the monster was focused on Mars. With each hit Kit could feel his blade slide through the monster’s skin.

Kit was surprised at how well they worked together chipping away at the monster’s health. Though Kit did notice Mars took the bulk of the creature’s attention. Kit didn’t have to worry about defending himself against the monster, only his attack.

After a while he started to notice two hands of the monster were always on the ground. Those hands could not defend well against attacks. Kit started hitting the hands holding the creature up. With each strike he could feel his control of the blade improve. Soon they had immobilised the creature after all six limbs were damaged.

With the two of them working well together, the monster soon was killed.

Ding!

[Six Limbed Apelop Killed]

75 experience.

2 x Six Limbed Apelop meat.

“Yes, MEAT. Hopefully there will be some more of these monsters around for us to kill. Snowball, do you think you can find us some more?”

Kit looked at the little fluff ball for a response. Snowball gave an excited yip. Kit wiped some perspiration from his brow. The fight had caused him to work up quite a sweat. He glanced at Mars and realised he still looked fresh, like he hadn’t even had a workout. Kit was a little envious at this, Mars had taken all of the attacks.

‘He really is good at fighting.’ Kit gave an internal sigh. He hoped to one day be that good as well.

Before they left Kit bent down to pick up the nut that was thrown at his head. Kit used his identify skill on the nut.

[Monkey brain nut]

“This looks good we should collect these as well.” Kit showed it to Mars.

“I’ll climb the tree and see if I can shake some down.”

Mars scaled the tree in the blink of an eye. He then started to shake the tree branches vigorously. A rain of nuts fell from the tree. Once they had stopped falling Kit collected them from the ground and stashed them in his pouch.

Once he was finished, Snowball started to sniff around on the ground and headed off again. Mars and Kit continued in this fashion, killing a Six Limbed Apelop, shaking a tree, then following Snowball. After the seventh monster Kit had improved in his efficiency in killing the Apelops. Kit decided it was time to return to Pint.

Pint was where they had left him still grazing on the grass.

“Well, he looks happy at least we know he won’t wander off,” said Kit.

“Mmm, unless there is a river of beer, I think we are good to leave him unattached to a tree in the future.”

Mars headed over to Pint to give him some beer. “We should head towards the camping ground before it gets dark.”

Kit followed Mars towards their destination for the night. Mars stopped after the hours walk. He glanced around the area, nodded to himself then pointed at a small clearing amongst the trees.

“That will be a good spot to stop for the night, and it’s far enough away from the river. The sound from the water won’t be a problem.”

Kit was glad his earlier feelings had disappeared. He didn’t want to go anywhere near the river again.

“Ok, it looks good to me.” Kit had no clue what a good camping area looked like so he had just agreed with Mars.

“I’ll have a quick look around to see if there are any monsters.” Kit nodded his head in understanding.

Mars took off Pint’s lead rope and left him to graze in the grass. Snowball was busy following Mars around the camp site. Kit headed over to the clearing Mars had indicated and looked in his pouch for the tent. He would start to set up the camp while Mars was busy. He pulled out a large dark green wooden box with a yellow button on top.

‘I forgot to ask Boots what to do, hopefully it’s easy.’

Kit scrutinized the yellow button. ‘I hope all I have to do is push this button.’

Kit took a breath. He couldn’t wait to see how the tent would assemble itself. He reached out his finger and pressed the button. Once it was pressed, he heard a muted click. The box gave a gentle hum and started to glow in a soft blue light. Kit moved out of the way, so he didn’t get struck by the tent unfolding.

His started to feel jittery with anticipation, as he waited for the tent to unfold. The dark green box split apart at the top and started to unroll down to the ground, it spread out on the ground all by itself.

It became a large square, covering the grassy ground. Covering the dark green wood was thick plastic like material the same colour as the box. It had a dull shine to it. Kit thought it looked like the material they used for tents in real life.

The material in the middle of the large square started to rise in the centre. Then the sides started to rise, and the shape of a tent started to appear.

Once all the movement had stopped, it pulsed a pale blue light and then the light disappeared. The tent stood fully erect. It was a large dome shape, big enough for the two of them to fit comfortably. It had a single door zipped shut, and an awning was raised in front of the door. It was a simple tent, but Kit was happy all the same.

“Look at this baby. It was definitely worth the money. It is magic, looks great, plus it saves a mountain of time and well, it was MAGIC! The fact that its magic needs to be said a few more times. I own a MAGIC tent!”

“You brought a self-assembled tent? Why didn’t you get a basic one, they are much cheaper.” Kit jumped at Mars words he didn’t realise he had finished scouting the area.

Kit ducked his head and mumbled “Who would want to assemble it yourself when it can be done by magic.”

Mars chuckled “I should have known you wouldn’t go past anything magic. I bet the guy in the store was excited to see you, he would’ve had coins blazing in his eyes.”

Kit blushed at that and thought about the magic camping kitchen he had yet to pull out. His enthusiasm grew with the thought of his next box to unravel. He could feel his heart fluttering.

‘Well, it’s true I can’t go past anything magic. I will pull out the magic camping kitchen now and get the laughing over with. Just like pulling off a sticking plaster quickly so the pain is all over in a moment.’ Kit lifted the large wooden trunk from his pouch and placed it on the ground.

Mars looked at Kit then started to belly laugh. “Oh, Kit you really can’t pass up magic items.”

Mars whole body shook from his laughter.

‘Yep, just like a sticking plaster.’

Mars didn’t look like he would stop laughing any time soon. Tears were pooling in his eyes, then overflowed down his cheeks. His face was red from the exertion of laughing so hard. His shoulders and upper body were hunched over his stomach like he was holding it to stop it from falling out.

Kit decided to ignore Mars, now that he had taken out the camping kitchen. He was too excited to care that Mars was laughing at him. Just like the tent the wooden trunk had a large bright yellow button. It was found on the side of the trunk instead of the top like the tent. The button was a sharp contrast to the dull wood the box was made from.

Kit pushed the yellow button, again a muted click was heard. Then a gentle hum emerged from the wooden trunk just like the tent. It started to glow with a soft blue light. Kit moved out of the way so he wouldn’t be caught in the assembly of the camping kitchen. The lid of the trunk opened, and the sides collapsed, wooden pieces unfolded to connect the collapsed pieces together, forming a rectangle on the ground.

The rectangle then started to rise forming a large wooden bench the height of Kit’s belly. A bright blue light pulsed blinding Kit momentarily. When his eyes returned to the box, it had turned into a stone oven with two cupboards either side.

“Mars look at this, it’s a freaking MAGIC STOVE.” Mars was still too busy chuckling at Kit to reply.

Kit could not contain himself any longer. There was his very own magic stove in front of him. His eyes were twinkling with all the plans rushing around his head about what he could create with this kitchen. His heart went from fluttering to galloping. He couldn’t help but to run his hands over the surface of the stove top.

Cool stone greeted his fingertips. It was a dull blue grey with lighter flecks of white scattered throughout the stone. The stone looked like a smooth river stone polished over time from continuous water flowing over it. The stove top had four round circles on the stone plate.

The smooth surface reflected the fading sun. Kit’s eyes roamed further down the stone to the oven. The oven door was made from glass and pulled down to open.

The two cupboards had one large compartment with doors that swung outwards away from the oven. A small pull out drawer was above each large door. The outside of the cupboard was made from the same smooth blue grey stone as the stove. The doors were made from matching wood the box was made from.

The surface on top of the cupboards could be used as cutting boards. Kit was ecstatic with what he could see in front of him. His fingers itched to explore more of the camping kitchen.

Kit walked over to the cupboards and opened one of the large compartments. Inside were pots and pans of varied sizes. He then opened the drawer above, it had a range of cooking utensils inside.

Kit’s delight could be seen on his face. He had a huge smile spread from ear to ear. Kit felt like he was floating in anticipation of using all the available equipment. Kit’s itchy fingers decided to explore the opposite cupboards.

He opened the large compartment on the opposite side first. It had an assortment of tableware. He then looked in the final pull-out drawer, it had table utensils.

“O. M. G! Magic is amazing! It really is almost a whole kitchen in this little travel set.” Kit couldn’t wait to play with this new toy.