He was standing at the front of room 301, the last room before he can complete his quest. He hoped that his resent actions did not compromise everything he worked for so far. He may have been cleared of murder but people hold grudges. It was not the guild master that talked to him but a guard. Thus he had not spoken to the guild master and had only seen him at Ned’s room.

He could feel the butterflies in his stomach. Murder he was fine with if it was to complete a quest, but to look others in the eye and lie about it made him nervous. He knocked and made his way into the room. The man sitting at the table was old, his beard was long and the room seemed to be in chaos. Potions lying everywhere, stacks of books and papers all around. The only place that seemed to be normal was the workbench. He assumed the guild master wanted a clean and orderly workbench.

“Hello guild master, I am Tinker. Can I have a moment of your time?

“Yes come in Tinker, I knew that one day you would walk through my doors. It is just a shame it has to be after that nasty incident. I never knew Ned would overreact so much towards a new student. Maybe it was because you are an outlander and jealousy makes even sane men do crazy things.”

“Yes sir, he seemed like a nice guy when I met him and even our conversation was pleasant for the most part.”

“Indeed, now you are here for the book or to talk about Ned?”

“I do not know if there is more to say about Ned, but I am here for the book.”

“I understand, Tristan has been talking a lot of you lately and the other masters seemed pleased for doing the tasks they asked of you. After a long deal of thought I know what you can do for me. You must go to a fairy grove and collect a good portion of fairy dust. The grove is about a week’s walk from here in the Mystic forest. Take this potion and drink it the moment you enter the forest. It will help you from getting lost in there forever and the fairies will know that a friendly person has come. They will make contact with you. Be polite, do not violate their laws and they would assign you a task to complete. As a reward they would give you fairy dust. Their dust can be used to double magic effects for a brief period, depending on the amount you use. From healing to harmful spells and even summoning gain advantages this way.”

“All right, am I not supposed to get the quest to send me on my way?”

“No your quest from me will start once you get back from the forest.”

“Very good, do I have a time limit or is there anything else I need to know?”

“No limit. Just try and get it done before I retire. You would have to do a quest for them, many men had tried stealing from them and they all had gone missing. Even armies of men have tried to attack the forest to learn its secrets. If fairies feel threatened they will just teleport away with forest and all. One last thing, do not lose that potion and drink it before you enter.”

He left the room, and thought he might as well stop by Tristan. Best not to start acting suspicious. As per usual Tristan was hard at work so Tinker sat on the chair and waited for him to finish what he was doing.

“Tinker my boy, you made a nasty scene today. How are you holding up?”

“Oddly good, I have died before and every time I step outside a city there are monsters that are trying to kill me, a person is new, but such is life.”

“You are handling it better than I would have thought. Nasty business that of today. Did not think Ned would be the one to act out, there are others in the guild that have been more outspoken against your kind. But alas, life is full of mystery. Have you done your task for Jim yet?”

“That I have, he made me collect certain plants, then grind them up for him and so on.”

“I see, when you came here asking about the plant I knew Jim was the one who told you to get the plant. I assumed you were going to travel to Red Ridge and collect them yourself.”

“No need, I found a good supply here and paid a good amount for it. It saved me a lot of time.”

“Ah yes, did Jim tell you what he uses them for?”

Tinker had lied about getting the supplies and it would be better to fake what he knew, which included effects of the plant. It was best to make it seem he is just working and following others command. “No, but he told me not tell other people about the plants he is using but I assume it is poison or some other potion that is illegal.”

“I am glad you feel you can confide in me, do you have any sample left?”

Tinker did not enjoy lying to Tristan, the man had only been good to him and this is how he is repaying him, by lying to his face.” Yes I still got a few, will add them to the book on the road.”

“Yes, then you can see the effect of the plants for yourself. I personally do not endorse Jim illegal activities but a lot of people really are better off when they use his products. What does the future hold for you now?

“The master is sending me to the Mystic forest”

“What are you to do at the forest? I had always wanted to go but the fairies are touchy when it comes to people tampering with the forest.”

“That I heard. I must go gain fairy dust. Once I return with it he will tell me what quest lies before me.”

“Very well, curious that he wants some. When you are done do pop by and let me know how it goes and maybe it can be over dinner, I did so enjoy the food”

“Sure, maybe this time we can eat something else. I will see what I can find.”

Outside Tinker decided to look what was going on in the party chat. It seemed there was not much talking going on. What he could tell was that the most of the people were busy with quests of their own. Tinker talked so that all could hear him.

“How have you guys been? I have a quest you guys might be interested in.”

“We busy with our own quests. After the Searing gorge it is nice to quest were the sun shines.”

“What is this quest and level of it?”

“I do not know the level of it, I get the quest once I arrive at the Mystic forest. I do know that the reward will be fairy dust, which doubles magic power for a duration.”

All were interested in that accept Yuri. But the solution would be that they would take his dust since he could not use it. It seemed Lina was working on her tailoring and could leave at a moment’s notice. Cuzen was at the training hall so he could leave any time. Yuri said he would be done some time tonight with his quest and Zomger claimed he would only finish up tomorrow sometime. They would have to wait for him. That would give Tinker enough time to ask around where the forest is and get a few hours training in. Also during this time he added the plants he had taken from Ned. In the book it clearly stated the effect of rowdy lamb herb only for men. It increased vitality by 10%, increases stamina by 10% for an hour and gave erections for men. For players it did not give erections and increased their libido and lowered wisdom by 10 %. It was a strong potion for warrior on the front lines of a battle to have.

The following day they left just before midday. They would travel nearly a week to the forest.

As they reached the forest they stopped to make food. Along the way Tinker warned them that fairies do not like people doing stuff to the forest. Thus they agreed not to kill, harvest or make any fires in the woods. This is why they stopped just on the forest edge to make food. Yuri made burgers while Tinker took a variety of meats and put them on sticks and cooked them. With their bellies full and enough food for a week they made ready for going into the forest. They each took a sip of the potion and entered the forest.

They had a standard formation they kept. Cuzen in front, followed by Tinker, followed by Lina or Zomger and Yuri bringing up the rear. This day however Tinker was chosen to walk in front. Since this was his quest and he knew what to do. In truth he had no idea what he was doing or even if the others will be able to get a quest. They walked even deeper inside the dense forest. After about a minute of slow walking Yuri called for a halt.

“Guys, we got a problem.”

“What is it?”

“We are trapped, I would rate we have walked no less than 50 meters into this forest, if we turn around now and make for the exit it will not be there. I do not know if the forest moved or we did, what I can tell is how much trouble we are in.”

“I would just like to point out if we die that this is totally Tinkers fault.” Lina added.

“Don’t be like that guys, going into new places is always a risk, besides all is going according to plan.”

“Really and what plan is that, the one where we walk around the forest for a month lost and eating through our supplies?”

“Sort of, we need to get lost more that the fairies can find us. I would rate that if they do not make contact in the next hour we should start panicking and blaming Yuri.”

“Why blame me, how would that help, this will be your fault.”

“No, I blame the hunter that cannot find his way out of the forest. Who has ever heard of a hunter that fails so hard he cannot use his class specific skills to find his way?”

“O no no no, I am seeing what you are trying to do here, don’t blame me that the hunters guide had never mentioned how to get out of a magical and mysterious forest.” As he finished that statement an unnatural fog appeared all around them.

“Add spooky forest” Cuzen yelled to stack on Lina who was that moment in the middle of their line into the forest. The vision became so bad that they could not see more than 2 feet in front of them. Lina was the first to yell that nobody has come to her yet. She kept talking to make it easier for the others to find her. Tinker was shocked to say the least as he turned around and gave 3 steps and walked into Yuri. Something similar happened to Cuzen and Zomger. They could hear each other clearly and pinpoint each person location on sound. But as soon as they think they are walking to Lina. She shifts or they shift. Cuzen called for them all to stand still.

“Ok, let us talk about what had just happened. I took a few steps and so did Zomger and we walked right into each other. The same happened for Tinker and Yuri. Lina has been standing still the entire time and even if we are two in a group we can’t find Lina or the other group. Suggestions?”

“Maybe Lina should move and try to find us while we talk.”

She tried that and it failed. It seemed no matter how much she walked the others were always just a few steps away. She gave up after a while. The next plan was that they all walk and hope they find each other. They tried that for about 5 minutes and gave up on that. Their next plan was to say nothing and walk. After 30 seconds they broke the silence and came to the conclusion that this was not working and it almost felt that they were back where they started. Their last plan was to split up to 5 single people again and walk in every direction and hope they find each other. Before they could start Lina sounded panicked.

“Guys, someone big is here, I know it is not you people because it is moving and you guys are not, I am going shoot a …” and nothing. It went silent. They called and yelled but no reply came. They tried to walk in the direction she was last heard while yelling and hoping she would reply. With no reply and no results they stopped to talk.

“I am really starting to hate this place. You guys think she is dead?”

“I think if she had died the system would have notified us. What is odd that she has not talked via party chat. Guess it is serious then. Suggestions?”

“Well she was the only person alone so we might as well split up and hope we get taken to her or join her in the afterlife.”

“Good so who wants to go first? I think is should be Tinker and Yuri since Tinker brought us here and Yuri got us lost.”

“Fine you cowards” Yuri let go of Tinker and started sprinting in a random direction which he figured was heading away from them. “With my last breath I curse you Tink…..” and silence followed. The others laughed, Tinker was not in the mood for laughter since he would likely disappear next.” Guys it is coming for me, it is big and ….”

“Guess there goes Tinker, so are we going to stop holding hands now Cuzen or wait a while?”

“Might as well say a few words before we go our separate ways.”

“Works for me. So what you think got them?”

“I am hoping fairies or a big pet of theirs. I bet you 5 gold I get taken before you.”

“You are on, what are you basing this on?”

Cuzen leapt away and yelled to Zomger “Because you are so dam ugly and your mother…” he was gone.

Zomger was left alone. The big thing did not take long before it came for him. As a last act of defiance he tried to curse the thing, but it failed because he did not have a lock on the target.

There was a bright white light. The all awoke at the same time. They were not dead. They awoke to a beautiful scene from a fantasy tale. Lushes woods, sunshine, naked fairies…

They were all shocked, they did not expect fairies to be full grown woman and naked as well.

“Cover up now before I torch you all to hell.” The fairies seemed hurt by that statement but plants started to rap around them and cover up all the exposed areas. The leaves and flowers were all different patterns and colors and they seemed to mimic Lina clothing style.

“That was a total buzz kill” someone mumbled. Lina looked over to see who talked but she was just too late.

“Now tell me why in the name of all that is sacred are you naked?”

“Those that have come before you have told us they prefer it when we are in humanoid form and not clothed. Think our last visitor words are that we are more beautiful than the flowers we keep.”

“Do you not know modesty and what are your natural forms?”

“Do you see any modesty in nature? We are part of nature are we not?” After she said that they all shrunk down to the size of the more traditional fairy. Zomger chose this time to speak up

“Why are there only three of you here and more importantly how did we get here?”

“The others brought you here. We are about 50. Men and woman. The men spend most of the time at our borders protecting us and overseeing things there. We woman stay in the middle and look after the forest. There are more around you but the other fairies are shy and there are some who just do not like your kind. The boys at the forest edge are the trouble makers. We knew you were sent by friends and they could have just brought you, but instead they play tricks.”

“Yes they got us pretty good. We were told to come to you, to collect fairy dust.”

“Most of our visitors do, usually we give out normal tasks for 1 sample of fairy dust. But since you are a group, maybe we can make the task more difficult for 5 samples each? You have a choice. The easy task or the hard task.” It was really a no choice at all, they wanted many samples so they agreed to take the group quest.

Complete a task for the fairies of the Mystic Forest.

Recently there have been strange occurrences in the forest. Animals are dead, patches of forest are dying and one fairy had gone missing. Investigate and help the fairies in whatever way possible.

Difficulty level: D

Quest requirements: Must be sent by friends of the fairies and be in a group

Reward is getting 5 pieces of fairy dust each

“Ok, where do we start?”

“Clover will go with you. We have tried to solve the problem ourselves but to no avail. She will help you navigate and find the troubled areas and answer any further questions you have. Good luck and stand strong.”

With that 2 of them disappeared and left one remaining.

“Hello guys and girl. I am Clover, tell me your names while we walk to the first location of trouble.

“Hi, I am Zomger, this is Cuzen, that is Yuri, him over there is Tinker and last is Lina.

“Good, now it started a while back. We felt a disturbance in the balance of the forest. We sent fairies over to investigate but we found nothing. A small time later another disturbance was felt at a different location in the forest. At one location death of an animal or 2, at the other the plants were dead and the trees were sick. This was the first time we noticed that one of our own was missing and had not reported in yet. So the disturbances continued always two incidents at a time. Dead animals at the first site and dead plants at the second site. The distances between them vary every time. In addition every time we arrive on scene, who ever had caused the problems was long gone. No definitive trails are left behind and only slight traces of magic, nothing to track by.

They kept on walking dazzled by the beauty of the place. The ponds were clear as crystal. Exotic fishes and other aquatic life were living in them. The plant and tree life seemed as diverse as they come. The animals and insects were just watching them and going on with their daily lives. They did not run away like normal animals do. Even the rocks seemed to be unique and one grouping looked like a mini version of the Stonehenge. The birds we singing and a faint sound of laughter could be heard in the wind.

“Does anyone else hear laughter or am I going mad?”

“No Yuri I hear it too.”

“It is the others” Clover explained. “They are laughing at Tinker.”

“Wait what?”

“They ask why do you have a girl’s name when you are a boy.”

“My name is not really a boys or a girl’s name. It is more a name to describe someone than name them. Where we come from most people that tinker with things are men.”

“What do you tinker with then?”

“Well anything really, that I can get my hands on.” He took out plants, seeds, vials, potions and anything else out of his herb bag and showed it to her and put it back.” That is just what I have in my herbal pouch, my back pack is bigger and has many more and different things.”

“I see” she giggled and he could hear others giggling also.

“Why are they still laughing at me?”

“Well they still think you have a girl’s name and one asked do you tinker with the ladies also?”

His face was reddening and his friends also started to giggle. “That is not important, is Tinker a common girls name among the fairies?” He tried his best to change the subject.

“In a way, each fairy has a unique name and when we die the name comes available for a new fairy when he or she is born. The queen of the fairies name is Tinkerbell, her 2 daughters name are Tinker and Bella. All through the ages those that have been named Tinker were woman fairies.”

“As I said in our lands Tinker is usually used by men. Do you fairies live only here or are you spread all over the continent?”

“We are alone here. The others live all over. Our place is like a small camp compared to the grand forest where the queen lives”

“Interesting, I am curious we are not the first outlanders to come here?”

“No, we have had 3 so far here in the inner grove. They were all sent by friends and came for the dust like you. There had been many more of your kind that wondered into our woods but we have dealt with them. The people of the Versailles Continent that are not friends have also tried to enter our forest”

“Really, how did you do that, I always assumed that fairies are peaceful and not the killing type?

“That is right, there is killing in nature but that is only to eat what you kill or protect your own kind. We do not kill, we use our magic to knock out our enemies, then we teleport them to a dragon cave where they get eaten. They do not feel pain and die, those like you come back 4 days later. The dragon get’s food and riches so he is also happy. It has happened more than a few times that those players that die and come back return to the forest, we repeat the process and they seem to learn after that they are not welcome.”

“What do you do to your own, if they break the rules?”

“A decade of imprisonment will change a person and make sure you stay on the straight and narrow.”

“That is a bit harsh, how old do fairies get?”

“Old, it is considered rude to tell your age. In your human years we get very old.”

“Sorry we did not mean to offend, are we allowed to pick flowers or fish in the ponds and stuff?”

“No, we try and keep the balance and we weep when you step on an insect or destroy grass with spells. So we do not want people messing up the balance and we look past your small infractions since you are helping us.” After that they all walked as best they can in fear they step on a lady bug or something.

They eventually reached a location were the grass was dead, it seemed as if life itself was absent in the zone. The area had a bad feeling about it.

“This was the most resent place, as per usual we arrived and found nothing, maybe you guys can figure out what had happened.” With that she just glided about trying to mend the plants on the edge of death.

“All right, split up, look for something suspicious and we will get back here in 5 minutes to compare our findings.”

The area was about 40 meters in diameter. The affected area was not an exact shape and seemed random. Tinker went to the middle and walked a spiral pattern outwards in hoping of finding anything. He met up with them 5 minutes later. Cuzen went first. “I found jack. The only thing I can tell is that there is no shape in the burnings and even the tallest tree in the area was dead.”

Next was Tinker, since Cuzen mentioned the shape part he had nothing more to add, he missed the part where the trees were dead all the way to the top. “Well I can only tell you that it was not a fire that killed them. It seems more along the line of a poison or curse.”

Zomger said “pass” which either meant he had nothing or nothing new to add”

“Well I used detect magic spell and detected a lot in the area and a small trail leaving away. I suggest we follow that trail.

“I found very faint tracks of something big that was here in the dead patch or right before, but it walked a small distance and then it disappeared. It only left behind 2 deep marks. In my opinion it took flight or jumped. I surveyed possible places it could have jumped to and found nothing. Judging by how deep and big the indents are it is one huge ass bird if it can fly.”

“So our only lead is following the magic trail. Let us do that. Clover do you not detect said trail?”

“No, I can only tell that magic was used here.”

“Hang around with Lina and tell us if you see anything else. I am also curious what is the biggest animal that lives here in the forest? Is that dragon you mentioned earlier here?”

“No, biggest animal is a bear. The dragon lives someplace else. I do not understand how Lina is able to detect the magic and we are not.”

“Guess we will figure that out when we find the end of that trail, let us move as stealthy as possible.”

The magic trail went all through the forest, there seemed to be no logical pattern. Yuri confirmed they were following someone because there were a few broken branches and other signs only he could detect with his hunter skills. They caught their first definitive foot prints at a pond in the mud. The prints were small and not deep. Yuri claimed it to be female elf or human. Smaller than Lina and possible wearing a dress. There are signs that some clothes are brushing on the ground. Clover claimed it impossible that a person would be able to enter the forest without their knowledge. They all readied their weapons and followed the magic trail further. After a good ten minute walk in silence Yuri whispered stop and crouched. He was walking along side Lina so he could see any threat.

“There is someone in black through the trees over there,” he said in a soft whisper. They looked in the direction he pointed and saw nothing. They believed Yuri and would move out soon to attack after they buffed up. Even Clover used buffs, Zomger and Lina got their mana pools increased, Yuri and Tinker got increased damage, Cuzen received more life.

“We will move closer as sneaky as we can. As soon as you have visual Yuri tell us who or what it is, as soon as we know, we will know if we talk to it or just straight up kill it.” As they approached the others could start seeing the target.

“I can see her, it is an old human lady. A witch I rate. I recommend you guys sneak about 15 meters closer and on my mark you guys pounce on her while I use headshot on her. It does more damage if I manage to fire undetected. If you guys attack before me she might move and I might miss. If all goes well she won’t be able to cast her strongest spells”

Headshot

A powerful attack aimed to hit targets in the head.

Sneak attacks double the damage.

Critical strike bonus effected by luck and type of shot.

Cool down is 5 minutes.

“Good, on your mark then.” All of them assumed positions of attack and waited on Yuri. He took his time and the moment he released the arrow he whispered in party chat that they should attack now.

The arrow hit and the witch fell from the impact, by the time she stood up and looked in the direction from where the arrow came, it was too late. Cuzen did his leap and bashed her. She fell back down again. As she stood up Tinker was behind her stabbing and slicing her back. At this point Zomger and Lina curses and fire spells were already hitting her.

The fight was very one sided and took a while to kill her. She had a lot of health for a witch. After she died they noticed the huge amount of experience they got. Even the loot was impressive. Not a lot of gold but she had two level 60 rings and a wand. Lina got the rings and Zomger took the wand. They guessed she was about level 65 or even higher. She was strong, but she was alone.

That is the main problem with spell casters. Up close and personal they are weak. If you manage to interrupt their spells they become like scare crows. The witch was constantly interrupted and attacked every second by somebody. She did manage to cast spells and curses, but they were all relative weak and were instant cast spells. On the few times she was not interrupted the constant attacks extended her casting time. She tried to run but was pinned between Cuzen and Tinker. Even if she was 15 levels higher she was helpless, that is why spell casters almost never play solo and hang around at the back in all team fights and battles.

They were all full of health after the loot was divided. They all took minimum damage and the curses were already fading from them. A mighty roar echoed through the forest, it sounded like a wild beast that was very angry. They all got a small fright and Yuri was the first to tell them that the thing that just did it was on the move. A few seconds later he confirmed the beast was coming their way. They took defence positions. They had fought the witch in a clearing so they had about 30 meters view in most directions of what was coming. The trees were cracking and birds were flying away and even a rabbit came running out of the woods and dove into its hole. A huge black figure came leaping out from atop the trees. It leaped out and traveled 30 meters in the air to land before Cuzen and hit him. Yuri did manage to hit it with an arrow while it jumped in the air and Zomger did manage to cast a curse. Lina hesitated and would start attacking late.

It was odd to see Cuzen being hit backwards and falling flat on his back. He did manage to block with his shield but the damage was done. Tinker had enabled the option which allowed a person to see party member’s health bars without looking at them. In small parties it did not take up a lot of space in your view. In Tinker’s view it was just in the corner. Small enough not to impair his vision and big enough so that he can monitor their health. The hit took about ¼ of Cuzen health away. Tinker guessed that he will most likely survive one attack and be dead after that. Thus he would focus on dodging and not doing damage till Cuzen came back to tank. He could clearly see the enemy now, it was a huge and strong gorilla. It was about 7 feet tall and twice as broad as him.

The arms were big and powerful but the speed was lacking. Tinker morphed into agility and prayed the extra boost will help him dodge better. After he dodged the third attack Cuzen was back in action. His leap skill was still on cool down so he had to run back. Zomger and Clover went over to focus on healing him. With the gorilla being kept busy Tinker took his position behind the gorilla. After 6 shots from the gorilla Cuzen yelled that he must fall back and Tinker would have to keep him busy. On the 8 shot Cuzen leapt back, he was one shot away from death and needed to wait for the healing to increase his remaining life. Tinker saw Cuzen leaping away and was ready for the gorilla that swung around right arm first. He just ducked and did not commit to an attack. His job now was to keep him busy and stay alive. The left arm was punching for his mid section. He dodged to his right and stabbed the arm to keep the gorilla’s attention. Attacking his arm did minor damage but it was just to provoke the beast.

That went on for a while and the gorilla almost got him when he punched with both arms at the same time. Tinker leapt in the air and twisted his body that both punches missed. The down side from doing this, is that he fell on the ground and was no longer on his feet. Thank goodness Cuzen came back with nearly full health and taking agro back from the beast. Tinker rose and attacked the unprotected back. This was how they fought. Cuzen could not really dodge and took the shots as best as he could. After tanking 7 or 8 shots he would yell Tinkers name and leap back so that the others could heal him. Then Tinker would take over until Cuzen could return. During all this Zomger did recast the odd curse, Yuri was firing arrows like a machine gun. Lina herself was not holding back and using the more powerful fire spells in her arsenal.

Poor Clover could only heal and buff. She was not a fighting fairy and as far as battle goes that was all she could have done to be of use. Nobody could see her mana but she was doing better than Zomger. 20 minutes into the battle Lina was out of mana, Zomger was running low, only Clover and Yuri were still at 100% effectiveness. Cuzen shield was broken and he was already using his spare. He had taken the odd punch and his armour was holding. Tinker stamina was also starting to run low, and when it is empty his damage output and dodging capacity would decrease. Lina fell back a distance and so did Zomger. Cuzen now only took 5 hits before he was forced to retreat. They did not talk and just acted on instinct. Cuzen was standing back and healing and Tinker could dodge no more. He started running and the gorilla did not chase after him. Instead it focused on the person attacking him. Cuzen was closer but he just stood there. The beast charged down on Yuri, Yuri started running, not into the woods but on the edges of the clearing, while he did so he still manages to shoot the odd arrow to keep the beast attention.

At some point the gorilla got close but Tinker would jab the gorilla in the leg to get its attention. Then he would run again and the gorilla would try and attack him until Yuri arrows annoyed him enough to chase after him again. Every now and again Cuzen would join in on the rotation. When he was tanking Lina would fire and use the last of her mana. Yuri would shoot more precise and not focus on spamming the gorilla. Tinker would aim for vital parts like neck and arm pits. After that is was back to running and keeping the gorilla busy. Tinker first aid could not help much or any. The blows of the gorilla caused no bleeding that he could stop and there was not really time to wrap up Cuzen chest or broken ribs during the battle. The gorilla caused attacks that crushed bone and none of their limbs had been hit so far, they made special care not to be disabled.

Another 15 minutes passed before they were able to bring the gorilla down. Zomger and Lina lost count how many times they ran out off mana. Cuzen second shield was nearly broken along with his armour. Yuri almost died when he just got clipped by the gorilla, it only happened because he ran out of stamina. Tinker also came close to death a few times, he took one shot directly and survived and after that it was also only nicks that did damage to him. He also ran out of stamina and that is when he received his direct punch. They managed cheers and yells of joy when they finally realised they were done. They were all out of breath so the cheers and yells were pathetic to say the least. By now they knew food helped regenerate faster and Tinker was already taking out food. The others came walking closer to look at the loot and get the food. Yuri was the first to notice and told the others that he almost leveled up. The others checked their experience bars. It seemed the witch and gorilla were both somewhere in level 60 and the exp they got was a lot.

Nearly half a bar for each of them. A lot of what had happened was starting to make sense for them. The witch would curse one place while the gorilla would kill at another location. The gorilla was high above in the trees so that is why they could not find tracks or signs, since nobody was looking there. After seeing him jump into combat it also explained why he was able to move fast and make the one deep track they did find. Cuzen asked Clover what animal was the biggest after a bear, and she told him the gorillas that live in the forest are second largest after the bears. While eating they talked about the most epic battle they had just fought. Their team work was flawless, Tinker had been fighting in a team since the moment he left Avelon. The others did the same. They have only been together for a few weeks but after the Searing gorge dungeon they were synced. In the start Lina did graze Tinker now and again while he was using his fast speed to move and attack but that rarely happened now. Zomger said he wished they could have saved this battle to view it later. They finally got around to looting the gorilla. He dropped a few items and gold. The items were all low level stuff that nobody could use. Tinker claimed the gorilla leather for himself and they split the gold. Tinker wanted to harvest what he could for his book but then the unexpected happened.

The corpse vanished and a fairy appeared but it seemed to be a spirit.

“Rob, what happened to you?” Clover shouted

“O hey Clover, it seemed like a got myself in a bit of trouble.”

“That is an understatement, where is your physical body?”

“Dead and gone I presume. Think that witch took care of that. She got me good Clover. I am sorry guys, I could not control the gorilla but I saw everything I did through its eyes. I am so glad you defeated it, who knows how long I would have been trapped in there.”

“Forget about that, how did the witch get you?”

“Hehehe, well you know how we are not allowed to leave the forest? I did that. You also know how we are not allowed to eat candy? That was the reason why. I was on patrol at the forest edge when I saw an old lady walking, somehow I could smell the candy she had and I knew she would give me some, so I went over and asked for candy. She seemed nice and gave me some. We talked for a bit and I started to become sleepy and fell asleep soon after. Next I awoke I was looking through the eyes of that gorilla you just killed. I had no control over it and saw what I did to all the poor animals. It seemed that by trapping me in the gorilla made it undetectable to the other fairies. I assume she consumed or did something to my body which allowed her the same skill so that you could not find her. Thank goodness our new friends here could track her.”

“You are in so much trouble, I always knew that one day you would get yourself in so much trouble that they will imprison you.”

“Yes that is going to be a problem. As long as I stay in the forest I can live even without a body, but for my crimes they will probably imprison me for the next 50 years. It is a good thing I have a plan.”

“O really, what are you going to do to avoid prison time?”

“Leave the forest of course”

“You cannot, you will die within days and it’s forbidden.”

“That may be but I have found a loop hole to get out of here and go see the world outside our fairy territories.”

“Just how are you going to do that?”

“To stay here will not be living anyway, but watch this.”

The party was watching all this unfold and was up to date with what was going on.

Yuri received a message.

Rob wishes to become you companion. You may only have one companion at a time. Companions share in experience gained and depending on the type provide their own unique skills and abilities.

Do you accept?

“Sure, this should be interesting to say the least”

*Rob has become you new companion.

“Good, before we make this final there are a lot of things I must tell you. This will be the last time we are able to talk, one day when I am a very high level I will be able to talk again. Also I am not going with you in my fairy from. I will become a level 1 hawk. At level one I will only have one skill which allows you to look through my eyes and give you a bird’s eye view from what I am seeing for a short time. As I level, more skills will come available to you. In time I will be able to make sounds, do minor damage and even interact with physical things and many more. I will understand you fully, my mind will not be lost and we will share telepathy so that you can tell me where you want me to go from a great distance. What makes me unique is that I will be a spirit. So only other spirits or magic users will be able to see me if they cast detect magic or other similar spells. No physical attacks can harm me unless they are imbued with magic, magic is very deadly to me. When I die I will come here and you will have to wait 24 hours before you can summon me back again. The size you see me on level one is the size I will stay forever unless we discover skills or spells later on. As I level I will also get increased stats like health and stuff like that. I do not eat and will not obey your every order.”

“Ok, it sounds like you will make an awesome companion. Why choose me, there are 4 other people here?”

“I recognize a fellow trouble maker when I see one, we are going to have a grand time exploring this world and having fun along the way.”

“You are correct about that.”

“You can access me any time I am alive. There you can view my current status and skills, also you can make changes. Clover tell my mother this is the life I choose and one day I will return to her, maybe she can come and see me when I die, I will be at the pond where she first told me what happened to my father. So long.” With a mischievous laugh he was gone.

Yuri stuck out his arm so that the Spirit hawk could land on his hand. He looked at in detail before he spoke. “Guys how cool is this?”

“We cannot see him, guess he likes only you. But well done none the less. Now if we get lost or you can’t track something we know that you are truly the worse hunter ever.”

Yuri chuckled and opened a new tab in his menu. Inside the tab he could see the stats of the spirit hawk and the skill. The skill name was Spirit eye which allows him to view through the spirit hawk for 30 seconds. Only one eye or half of his screen would show what the hawk sees. That way he will still be able to fight or look around him. It will be confusing and overwhelming at first but he would adapt. At the settings he noticed he could make the spirit hawk visible to party members. He enabled that feature so that the others could see. They were all ogling his new spirit hawk.

Clover suggested they go back to the grove to tell the others what had happened. The spirit hawk flew up and away, he was not going with them to the other fairies. Back at the grove they completed the quest and got their fairy dust. They divided Yuri’s dust between them and Tinker got the extra one since he needed them for his quest. What shocked them all was that they gained 4 levels for completing the quest. The fairies asked for the bottle Tinker came with and filled it back up and gave him another. They told him to return the one he got and now he could also come visit them, they were all the fairies friends now. They warned that only one skilled or that had the talent for alchemy can use the potion or allow his friends to benefit from its effect.

In short you will need an alchemist and the potion in your party if you want to return here.