Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Many animals here today!

ANYWAY, the 4th wall in this chapter is a bit too fragile. I already called an expert, but he said that he can only get here tomorrow. But worry not, it’s nothing too bad, only a mention or so. I somehow managed to keep the leakage to a bare minimum.

ALSO, I will find a wall to punch after posting this. I really need to recover some manliness after writing this chapter.

ALSO(2), no SS chapter today. ME BE LAZY! ME BE LAZING TODAY!

ALSO(3), I think I'll start coloring elemental damage taken by Wargon from now on, to help differentiate.

Have a good read!

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I’m going on an adventure. I’m going on an adventure!

Oh, hello there! It’s me! Your favorite golem, Wargon! And I’m in a really good mood today!

Why, you ask me? Well, the reason is very, very simple. The place where I am about to go, is filled with animals that I can skin! This means that I’m back to the hunting business baby! I mean, there were only two or three days since I hunted the lynxes, but I kind of feel like there have been around twelve or so days since then. Isn’t this weird?

Oh well…

I also took a look in the in-game forum, to see if there was some kind of information on these foxes I was about to hunt, but sadly, there wasn’t much, as very few players actually went so far from the city.

And by far from the city, I mean almost half a day of walking, only to hunt a few level 15 or so animals. Me? I couldn’t care less! Because I’m on an adventure!

By the way, I already logged out, got something to eat and logged in. Cygnas was busy with patching a few bugs the players found, so we didn’t talk very much.

So I spent most of my time simply walking and mining on the way. Of course, I set up a mp3 player in game, or I would have died of boredom. But there was one thing that started to hit me in this trek of mine.

I WAS DAMNED EXHAUSTED!

Now that the adrenaline of hunting, crafting and talking to people finally settled down, I noticed that I haven’t slept for days! Although my in-game body was perfectly fine and could keep going as long as my satiety was high, my mind was starting to get sluggish and slow.

I asked Cyg if sleeping in game would help curing this mental fatigue a bit with the three times faster and such. She said that actually, yes. Although the time difference wouldn’t be as effective to resting as it is to playing, it did have some influence, so I wouldn’t need to sleep as much as in the real world, but would be a bit more than the usual in this world.

Not even caring about the fact that it was barely morning in here, I found a small clearing where there weren’t many trees nor animals and laid down.

By the way, there were some beasts here and there, but they were mostly low level and passives, so I didn’t really bother with them. Although there was this one annoying falcon that attacked me, but nothing a pierce + wind arrow could not solve. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was flying up to now.

I took out the bow from my back and threw it in the inventory so it wouldn’t bother me while sleeping and to avoid any potential theft. Then I slept a bit.

During that time, I had this weirdest dream that, when I logged off the game, I found Cygnas floating besides my bed, then she said something about avoiding an embarrassing scene. For some reason I decided to run away from her and we ended up running through half the town with her trying to strangle me.

That was one weird dream.

I slowly woke up, feeling a lot more refreshed than earlier. By now it was the end of the afternoon. Luckily, it seems that nothing dangerous came by while I was sleeping. Or else I wouldn’t be awakening like this, right?

Sitting up in a good mood, the first thing I thought when I looked around was:

Is this some kind of Disney movie?

I mean, for some reason, there were a lot of animals around me. And I mean, a lot!

Three deer, around ten or so rabbits and something around that for squirrels. Then there were two wolf pups, and a strange feline creature with fur antennas that I never saw before.

And don’t even get me started on the birds!

Did I become a princess or something? If I start singing here, will they help me change my gear? To tell the truth I’m a bit scared to try that theory.

And all of them were just sleeping soundly here in the clearing with me!

I slowly stood up, a bit too scared to even think about waking them. What the hell could have happened during this time that I was sleeping? I don’t think I did anything to gather all these animals…

Wait. Wasn’t there a passive that made passive animals approach me when I remove my weapons? Is this what the skill does?

As I was walking distractedly, I hear the sound of moving leaves behind me, and when I turned back I saw a procession of animals following me. They all stopped when I stopped, and moved when I moved. The smaller birds were even using the deer as mobile trees while the squirrels were jumping from tree to tree.

Did I just create an army through sleeping?

As a joke I made a salute towards the animals. They only looked at me confused, except for the antenna-cat, which sat down and tried to copy my movements.

From now on his name will be Lieutenant colonel Whisker McBallofur Maximilliamus the third.

Behold my great naming sense!

I turned back to the animals and started my march towards the north once again. On the way, I noticed that some other animals were slowly joining our parade. With a new wolf pup, two deer and lots of rabbits and squirrels entering the march. When I looked a bit into the distance, I saw that a couple of wolves were

following our parades, probably keeping an eye out for the pups.

We marched until the night started to fall, and noticing that most of these guys were, by now, far away from their homes, I decided that it would be best to free them from their state, so I quickly materialized the bow.

Almost instantly, all the animals blinked surprised, then they turned back and started to run away.

Lt. Colonel Whiskers stayed behind for a bit longer, and I saluted him in farewell. He looked surprised at me and copied my movement once again before running away.

I will never forget your efforts, guys!

With a weight in my heart, I bade my farewell to my army and resumed my lonely march.

…

It was only after a couple more hours before I finally reached the red tails area. In the way I found a small shrine that was literally, in the middle of nowhere. I tried to see if there was a way for me to interact with it, but after getting a pillar of light when I touched it, nothing else happened, so I simply walked away.

Luckily, these guys were nowhere as difficult to find as the lynxes, but they did have one very problematic trait that left me completely at loss on how to battle them.

THEY ARE SO CUTE!

They are just like that crazy granny said. They look like normal foxes, with a yellow to orange fur and a with a few highlight in red, like the tip of their ears, tails and feet. Yes, tails, they have two extra fluffy tails swinging happily behind them.

The first one of these little guys I find, and he is sniffing curiously at a butterfly in a flower. When the butterfly flew and surprised the fox, it fell back on its. Then it let out a cute annoyed bark while letting out some flames from its mouth.

Look. I am a man, and I have a fairly decent resistance to cute things, but these guys, they are just too much! I really was holding my self back so I don’t end up running at it and hugging him.

This is why I hate being low level. Most of the creatures you find are way too adorable for you to go and slash at them happily. Although this game had mostly avoided it, it seems that in the end it was destined to happen .I want to get to the high level, where even the weakest enemy look like a spawn from hell and I can then kill them with a smile in my face!

I took a good look at the fox again, trying to get its level and life, and happily, it appeared.

Red tail [lvl 15]

(aggressive)HP: 720/720

-Fire ball

-Scorching arc

What? That cute thing is aggressive? And here I was hoping to *cough*ab*cough*use my passive skill to get a feel on petting them! This is so sad!

Sighing in dejection, exchange the bow with the sword and shield while preparing myself.

Cygnas, forgive-me, for I am about to sin, by killing this not so innocent foxy.

I charged from behind the tree I was hiding, surprising the Red tail for a moment, enough time for me to get close to him and deal my starting combo. The first strike is what really counts, so I went all out on the little guy.

I started with an upward shield bash, followed by an upward slash, and a stab, then I angled my shield and used the shield slam, sending the fox flying towards a tree, with a quick dash, I approached him and used Slice ‘n dice, but he managed to avoid this last attack at the last second.

-5 -21 -25 -36 -3

Combo! (x1.1)

-97 (623/720)

I spent two seconds standing there, swinging my sword at the air like an idiot unable to stop. The little fox took advantage of this and jumped back, while recoiling it’s head before spitting out a ball of fire half of it’s size.

-25 (395/420)

I grinded my teeth as almost the full damage of the blow reached me. It seems that my magic resistance is still too low! The fire ball literally blew me away, making me fall on the ground. At least I still had some energy from the cancelled slice ‘n dice.

I quickly stood up just in time to see the fox jumping at me, it’s mouth burning with fire as it went for a bite. I blocked him with my kite shield and swung him out of the way. But he still managed to land on his feet and come at me once again.

This is one agile little pup, huh?

I countered him by taking a step forward and bashing at him with my shield. A trick I learned while hunting the lynxes and the foxes, since you mess with their targeted distance and they miss their timing to attack or evade.

Since he was in the middle of an attack, the bash skill affected him, making him daze for a second, which I took to use a normal stab at him. This made him retreat cautiously for a moment, and I took the time to regain a better stance.

-4 -17

-21 (602/720)

Damn, gear does makes a difference after all. Look at that damage I’m dealing! It’s ridiculous! A single slash deals the same damage as my best skill from before gearing up.

I didn’t get enough time to get hyped up, as fox prepared to do something again. It slightly twisted its body to the side, with its tail going even further. A red light started to gather at its tip, then the fox dashed forwards slightly while untwisting its body, making a full 360 in the spot.

When its tail came towards me, the fox let out a cute angry yelp, making the light leave the tail and form an arc of fire that flew in my direction.

So cute!

I MEAN, DODGE YOU FOOL!

I jumped forward and activated roll right when the arc reached me, barely managing to pass beneath it. A sudden urge of power came through me as I received the opening buff from the roll skill.

Landing right in front of the fox, I used the remaining energy I had to slice it twice, once with a skill and once without. When I tried to land another attack, the Red tail managed to land a fiery bite on my calves, and I had to jump back to avoid more damage.

-28 -16

-44 (558/720)

-15 -4

-19 (376/420)

I clicked my tongue in annoyance at myself. I was still too aggressive. I took some distance from the little fox and crouched behind my shield. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds, finally, the two-tailed fox snarled (cutely) at me and shot a fireball.

Lifting my shield, I blocked the attack, however.

-15 (361/420)

What is that? The fire ball doesn’t do enough damage for it to overpower my shield! How could this happen? While thinking this, the fox noticed the effect his attack had on me and shot another one. Deciding to not test my luck on trying to block this again, I twisted my body out of the way before dashing forwards. The fox noticed my approach and prepared to attack me with its claws.

But right before I reached him, I stopped and hoped to the side, letting his attack go blank, then I landed a stab on his side, together with a sideway slash, before finalizing with a shield bash and a back-hop.

-27 -42(critical) -4

-73 (485/720)

Nice, a critical! This is how I roll! I crouched again behind my shield while watching the fox recover itself from the attack. My shield slam had just gotten out of cool down, so I decided to wait a bit for my energy to recover and then use it in a combo. If I somehow manage to crit it, this fight will be pretty much over.

While I was crouched, the fox once again used the scorching arc attack. I got a bit too cocky and tried to roll beneath it like the first time. However, the kit was smarter than I gave him credit for, and before I could get up, he bit tackled me, getting me by surprise.

We rolled once on the ground, and ended up with him above me, where I could swear I saw him smirking before recoiling its head. I paled, but had nothing I could do to actually avoid that point-blank fireball. Taking the hit head-on, literally, I tried to at least counter with a stab or something, but the bastard did a backwards somersault while releasing a vertical Scorching arc!

-12 -26 -30

-68 (293/420)

LITTLE BASTARD! THAT HURTS! OKAY, NOW IT’S OFICIAL, HE’S NO LONGER CUTE!

When I get that little bastard, I’m so tearing him apart!

I got up and hopped backwards to open some space between me and the little bastard, and when I stared at him, I saw him making a smug face at me.

…

..

.

I take that back. He’s too cute to hate! Does he have a charm skill or something?

I shook my head to recover my attention. Even if my hate for him is gone, he is still someone I have to defeat. So let’s recover focus.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Okay. He’s attacking. Fireballs. Did he notice that is the most effective technique against me? I decided to ignore it for now, and started to advance in side-ways jumps. Whenever he throws the fire at me, I jump forward and sideway, making a zig-zag pattern.

When I get close to him, he used a surprise arc, but I manage to roll once again beneath it. He comes for the tackle as soon as he sees me rolling, but this time I’m ready.

I stopped a brief moment before he reached me, and immediately used shield slam on him from below. The heavy knockback threw him upwards a few good meters, and when he fell I slashed him downwards, making him slam the ground with strength. He tried to get up immediately, but I bashed him with the shield before using a stab and finishing with a strong kick.

-47 -21 -3 -10 (Critical) -25 -6 (Critical)

Combo! (x1.3)

-146 (339/720)

Two crits in a combo? Ooh yeah! Take that! I’m unstoppab…

WAIT A SECOND! ARE YOU (BLEEP) ME? THE BASH AND THE KICK? REALLY?

I get two crits. TWO FREAKING CRITS, in a single combo, and it goes to the two WEAKEST hits?

Come on, what are the chances? Really? Could some one help me here? I’ve been hacked by bad luck!

Although I was raging madly, I still managed to recover myself in time to see the next attack coming. He decided to come at me with the physical attacks once again, so he was charging at me with its mouth filled with a blazing fire.

I jumped aside to dodge the attack, but the kit quickly turned aside and came at me. I raised my shield to block the attack, but the fox used it as a trampoline and jumped back, surprising me, and launching a fire ball while still in the air.

My shield took the fireball for me, but I still took some damage like earlier.

-15 (278/420)

However, I didn’t let that stop me, as I darted forward in his direction before he could land on the ground. With my energy low, I only managed to land a single slash at him, but before he could recover, I used my shield hand to grab shut his muzzle and used this time to land a few hits on him with wild swings, until I had enough energy for one last slash.

-23 -16 -18 -17 -17 -23

Combo! (x1.1)

-125 (214/720)

I let go of his muzzle when I saw a few spars escaping from his mouth as he readied a fire ball. I twisted my body aside before opening my hand and expected him to let the ball go forward, but he managed to hold it in and looked in my direction before opening the mouth.

I barely avoided the attack by activating roll, but since I was too close to him, the roll actually served to separate us, opening enough space to the Red tail to use the Arc once again.

It seems that these guys are actually more skill-active than the lynxes…

This arc I dodge by hiding behind a tree. Strangely enough, although the tree did catch on fire, it extinguished almost instantly. I waited there for a few seconds to let my energy regenerate and the cool downs to come out. Meanwhile I heard the fox growling at me while slowly circulating around the tree.

On a bout of either idiocy or geniality, I decided to give the fox a little surprise, so I turned to the tree and somehow managed to climb it by stabbing the sword on its bark.

Just to let me be clear, but I’m not a tree climber in real life, this was probably because of my high STR and AGI in the game.

Once I got up high enough, I kept my sword stabbed into the bark as a support until the fox finally appeared a fair distance to my right throwing a fireball. Right on where I was earlier.

But when it didn’t see anybody there, the fox got surprised for a brief second. I used this time to remove the sword and jump towards it.

I wonder if I will mount on it if I land a few hits while in the air…

Okay, monster hunter jokes aside, the Red tail didn’t even see me coming, as I activated stab while still in the air and was right above it. The skill suddenly changed my trajectory from an arc to a straight fall. This almost messed up with my targeting, but I still managed to correct the blade’s position before the hit.

I fell down hard on the fox, who let out a painful yelp as both the damage from the skill plus my weight came down upon it.

-50 (brutal) -13 (151/720)

However, I didn’t get off unscathed.

-26 (252/420)

The fall damage was a lot higher than what I expected, so my legs were hurting pretty badly by now. Somehow I managed to ignore it and turn my attention to the fox who squirmed out from beneath me and readied an attack coming from my right.

Since I still couldn’t use my leg, I was left powerless when the fox landed a painful bite on my arm. I tried hitting it with my shield arm, but it quickly let go and once again went for my arm, but this time I managed to activated nature’s bastion just in time, so the physical damage was somehow negated.

-15 -5 -4 -5

-29 (223/420)

Every time it bit me, I also took some fixed fire damage. This is a pretty nasty skill.

Before it let go of my arm, I grabbed his head with my shield hand and slammed him in the ground in front of me. Before he could recover, I used shield slam from upwards, making him slam back on the floor, then activated a last slash before putting everything on a slice ‘n dice. Or I would, but the skill still had a few seconds left on cool down that I had forgotten about.

The fox took advantage of my surprise to get away from me.

-3 -36 -23

-62 (89/720)

The two of us were panting by now, so we took some time to catch our breath, this gave me enough time for me to recover the feelings in my leg and fill my energy.

Finally, the fox darted towards me with it’s mouth open. Even if I had recovered the feeling in my legs, I still wasn’t sure enough to try and dodge, so I waited for the fox to come to me from behind my shield.

But at the last second, the one who made a sudden move… Was me.

I opened my arms at the last moment while activating nature’s bastion around my neck. The fox bit me right at the last second, when I began to feel the skill ending.

-5 -5 (213/420)

However, I took this chance to hug the Red tail with my shield hand. The fox squirmed in my arms and even blew a couple of point-blank fire ball at me, but I refused to let it go.

-25 -25

-50(163/420)

Meanwhile I used my right arm to stab at the fox three times before activating the skill.

-16 -16 -18 -27

-78 (11/720)

The fox, now almost dead, finally started to calm down, so I used this chance to ease my grasp and finally slit its throat as a final strike.

-21 (0/720)

I let go of him after I confirmed his death, then I stopped a moment to calm myself, before taking the skinning knife and starting to do my work.

Since its body was very similar to that of a wild dog, I managed to get a common quality pelt right off the bat, although I messed with some of the claws and one fang. However, what really got my attention in this game, was a small red gem that was embed in its forehead, beneath the pelt.

I hesitated for a moment, then I decided to take the whispering feather Wallace gave me.

I put it in my ear like it was a pen, and immediately felt its effect.

“Wallace, can you hear me?”

“Huh? Brat? Is that you?”

“Yo! Long time no see!” I said in the most cheerful way I could while being exhausted. “Or at least hear.”

“You sound tired, brat, what happened?”

“Just did something a bit idiotic in a fight, nothing bad.”

“Ah see… So, why are you calling me at such an hour? You do know it is night, right?”

To tell the truth, I had completely forgotten.

“You see, I just hunted a red tail, and when I skinned it, I found a gem in its forehead, and I wondered how do I get it.”

“… What level are you right now?”

“Nine?” I heard him laughing loudly for a moment.

Then he instructed me on how to extract this gem. It was actually a lot easier than I thought. The gem was stuck in a few muscles and nerves, so all I had to do was cut them without much worries, since the gem is actually sturdy. As soon as I separated it from the body, the remaining tissues started to disintegrate from the gem, leaving it perfectly clean.

Red-tail gem (good)A gem found on red tails. Rarely drops when reclaiming or skinning. This gem serves as the mana controller for the twin-tailed fox.

Used to make magical items.

(crafting material)

I’m not complaining. Good item is good, even if I probably won’t be using it.

Throwing the items carelessly into the inventory, I went out to find my next prey.

I spent the next hours hunting a few more foxes here and there, and discovered that I could get the gem when I managed to get a pelt with common quality, as anything below would break it.

I also discovered that the fact that I was taking damage from the fireball, came from the fact that my shield’s magical block was low. There were also a couple of other things, like dinging 10. I held back on my derivation point since I would be getting a class as soon as I came back to the city, but still spent my points on mind.

But what really happened of importance, was when I stopped to rest for a moment, I accidentally found this little fella hiding within a hollow tree.

Blue Tail [lvl 12] (RARE)

(aggressive)HP: 12/650

-Ice ball

-Cooling arc

When I saw him, I was at loss on what to do.