Author's Note: So, I know I said I'd post this up yesterday afternoon, but in all honesty I was too wiped out after work to do anything. Sorry about that.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter. If you see any mistakes, let me know. Recently I noticed a mistake in the mana stat shown in chapter 1 (I think it was chapter 1 anyway). The willpower was 12, so the mana should've been higher than the 110 that I put down. I fixed it in the copy that I have in my computer, but I haven't fixed it yet on any of the websites where I've published my works.

I've also decided to put a glossary (I think that's what it's called) of the meanings of some the words and phrases I've used down after the story. Look through it if you don't understand what something is.

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Zhang, Misa and Alexa were all travelling together in a triangle formation, with Zhang leading the way and Wahshi being protected in the middle. They had just entered the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest, and were now completely focused on their surroundings as they forged through the foliage.

Earlier as they were making their way to the 2nd layer, Wahshi had been able to get many of his questions answered by Zhang and Misa. It was obvious to him that the two were trying to get on better terms with him, and were cooperating with him so far. He’d already found out that Misa was a Sun Mage, and that although Zhang had originally introduced himself as the warrior and tank for the group, in actuality he was class-less and very versatile in his ways of fighting. He’d long ago equipped new armor from his inventory, his silver and black clothing going underneath it all.

In the brief time that Wahshi had seen Zhang without armor, he’d discovered that Zhang actually had a typical Chinese look to him, even down to the mustache and goatee. However, now that he’d donned armor, Zhang had another helm equipped which once again covered his facial features from everyone that looked at him. It seemed to be the way that he did things when he was fulfilling his position as the tank.

He had also found out from Zhang that being class-less (in a job-system sense), although it didn’t have any big benefits like Misa’s Sun Mage class had in terms of a large mana pool and various other things, it did have the benefit of helping him level up his skills 10% faster. The only real down-side to not having a class was not having the perks that other classes got, something which Zhang was completely fine with.

Of course, all of these things he had found out were after Wahshi had mentally translated the medieval polite way of speaking that he and Zhang always seemed to engage in, and had realized the concepts behind most of Zhang’s explanations. After all, Zhang had never mentioned game-like mechanics such as “level-up” to Wahshi, he had specifically said that one with no class could improve all of his skills at 9/10ths of the speed that it took others that had classes, to improve skills which were outside of their profession. This was something that Zhang had taken great joy in, as he found that he was able to duplicate the effects of many powers that being in a class gave, which only served to further his pride in not having chosen a class.

As he’d explained to Wahshi “Many of the things that the other classes use, such as a fireball for example, can easily be replicated if you understand the principles behind it. The point of a fireball is to have an easy, portable way of making the enemy catch on fire, have them take damage from the impact, and maybe have the fire splash onto the enemies around the target as well.

Since that’s the goal, we can easily do the same things if we combined a weak mana crystal from almost any fire-element monster, a specific type of dirt from near a volcano, and oil. Put it together in a small bag, put a small divider between the dirt and the oil, and you have a portable fireball! Once the pouch hits something, the mana crystal will break and sparks will come flying out. When that hits the dirt, you’ll get a big explosion, which will ignite the oil as it flies out, spreading the fire to everyone close by.”

Wahshi had to admit that it was a brilliant idea. If you could recreate the effects of almost any powers of the classes, have none of the drawbacks, and gain 10% experience when leveling your skills, why wouldn’t you?

Of course, he knew that there had to be drawbacks. After all, he very much doubted that not choosing a class was a popular choice. After some subtle probing, Wahshi found out that not having chosen a class was like being a self-taught jack-of-all-trades. You could do practically anything, but you had to learn it yourself. The higher skills in practically all of the classes required something special that would only be given to those that had joined the profession and had proven themselves. In this case, that meant that Zhang wouldn’t be able to duplicate the spell that Misa had used.

Wahshi had shuddered inwardly when he found out that it was Misa that had done the spell from earlier.

The difference in between the 1st Layer of the forest and the 2nd Layer hadn’t been all that noticeable in the beginning. Where the boundaries touched, at most you could say that some of the trees were taller, and that there were a few more plants here and there.

After a half hour of walking though, the difference was now clearer. Vines hung down from the branches of the trees, dense foliage blocked their path, and each step that brought them closer to the next boundary had to be earned with lots of sweat. This coated every inch of their bodies, drenching their clothes and armor. Wahshi wanted to feel bad for that fact, because the clothes that he was wearing weren’t his. Zhang had lent them to him after that fiasco in the 1st layer. But he knew that there wasn’t anything he could do to change it, so he tried to squash down those feelings and ignore them.

The group had been travelling in silence for a while now. There was only so much that you could say to other people when you were travelling, and no one felt the need to say something completely and utterly random to fill up the silence. Plus, they were already half-way through the 2nd Layer and hadn’t fought any creatures so far. That fact alone had kept the Zhang, Misa and Alexa from making any unnecessary noise. Wahshi felt the tension in the air, and knew that he should keep his mouth shut. It was more than a little embarrassing for someone with so much pride in himself to be relying on people more than a decade younger than him to protect him from danger, but he’d seen what Misa had done. That alone was more than enough for him to swallow his pride and let himself be led by these people.

He’d already regretted agreeing to go with them in the first place. Even though he’d learned a lot more about the game from them than he could have by himself, they’d also dragged him into a forest with things that were more than a hundred times stronger than him!

‘As soon as we’re out of this forest, I have to find a way to separate from them. These people are crazy!’

Even as he thought this though, he was still conflicted. Being around Alexa was more than just refreshing, it was nostalgic. He contemplated staying with them longer once they were out of the forest, trying to find a way to reveal the “misunderstandings” between them peacefully. No matter how he pictured it though, it all came back to the same thing. They only wanted him because they thought he was an NPC that might lead them to something great.

He couldn’t see Misa or Zhang taking the fact that he was actually a new player well.

‘Maybe if I told them about that place in the Mist of Souls it would work out?’ Playing it out in his head, he realized that even though it would pique their interest, he couldn’t see them reaching a peaceful agreement with each other. That was because Wahshi didn’t know a way back there!

‘Agh! Why am I even worrying about trying to make things up with people that I’m going to split up from anyway?!’

Frustrated and unable to come to a conclusion, he decided to put it off for later. After all, there was still quite some time before they could make it out of the forest, right?

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While Wahshi had been busy trying to make up his mind, he hadn’t noticed that the other three had been having a silent conversation with each other. If he’d been paying attention, he would’ve noticed that Misa, Zhang and Alexa kept turning their heads towards one of them. Almost as if they were looking at someone that they were talking with.

Of course, that was exactly what they were doing! Using the [party chat] ability, they were able to talk to one another telepathically. This way, they could speak freely without anyone else (meaning Wahshi) hearing what they were saying!

Initially, Misa had started the conversation soon after they had entered the 2nd Layer of the forest. Stepping up her pace so that she could walk side-by-side with Zhang, she then gave him a look.

‘Zhang, I’m thinking that we should add the NPC to our party. If he dies too soon, then we’ll have traveled all this way with him for nothing. At least if he’s in our party, he can get to a high enough level that we won’t have to worry about him dying from having run into a tree or something.’

Alexa had originally been scanning the area, paying full attention to their surroundings and was always on the lookout for danger. Hearing Misa suggest this though, her head snapped towards the front where Zhang and Misa strode through the foliage side-by-side.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ She butted in.

Zhang was intrigued! It would’ve been completely normal if it was Misa that had been arguing that they shouldn’t be letting somebody that was practically useless onto the party, but this was Alexa! If Zhang and Misa were the brains and the brawn of the team, Alexa was definitely the heart of it. She was the one that was the most compassionate, the one that people were comfortable to be around, and the one that trusted people the most. For her, saying that someone shouldn’t be a part of their party was more than a little strange.

‘Oh yeah? Why shouldn’t we?’ Zhang asked back telepathically.

Alexa paused.

She knew that they wouldn’t listen to her if she just told them that she just had a feeling that they shouldn’t. How could she, when she could barely convince herself?!

Wracking her brain for something, anything, that would give credit to her opinion, something sparked inside her mind.

‘Our statuses!’

Hearing this, Zhang immediately understood what she meant.

Misa however, just looked at Zhang quizzically.

‘What’s she talking about now?’

Which prompted Zhang to give her one of his famous, know-it-all, smug looks.

It made her want to punch him.

‘Seriously Misa? You haven’t figured it out yet? Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that cute, twisted head of yours.’ He teased.

She blushed when she heard him say that she was cute, but she was also furious! Before she could retort though, he continued on.

‘Remember the new titles we got after the last battle?’

She nodded.

‘Even though we might’ve gotten great bonuses, it still came with big drawbacks.’

As if a lightbulb had gone off in her head, Misa was suddenly able to connect the dots together.

Her sides shook as she tried to contain her laughter as she realized the implications of the title that Alexa had gotten.

She didn’t stay quiet with her telepathy though.

‘HAHAHAHA! Oh my God, I’m dying. I’m dying! HAHAHA!’

Zhang smirked while Alexa could only look away and pretend that she didn’t hear anything that Misa was saying. Anyone that was looking would’ve known that she heard everything that was going on, plain as day though. Her ears were turning red after all.

‘Little Miss Saint over here doesn’t want to show the NPC her status because he’ll lose trust in her!’ Misa just kept on laughing through the [party chat].

It was funny to both Zhang and Misa, because Alexa was the one that had always gotten people’s trust easily. For good reason though, as she always proved that their trust in her was never wrong. Now however, if anyone saw her title they’d be less likely to trust her! The irony was just too much for Misa.

A twig snapped.

Everyone’s heads snapped towards the sound, staring at a spot that where the plants were shaking.

Zhang immediately took the front and Misa fell back with Alexa. Wahshi stood in the middle, unsure what exactly he was able to do.

There was a whoosh as Zhang took out an iron blade from out of his [inventory] and readied it in front of him.

Misa held her staff in her right hand as three balls of fire floated in the air above her.

Alexa stood loosely, her eyes betraying her confusion as she tried to see past the plants and spot the danger that was about to come.

‘Why didn’t I sense anything?’ That was the question at the forefront of her mind as she got ready to show her potential enemies all the skill of the rogue.

Poised to fight, they were inching slowly towards the shaking plants when suddenly….

A small bear cub poked his head out of the bushes, which was quickly followed by the rest of its body as it walked out. With its small nose high in the air, it walked towards us proudly and without a care in the world.

Seeing this, they all visibly relaxed.

“Hah, I can’t believe we got all worked up about a bear cub.”

Alexa wanted to agree with Misa on that, but a sudden thought struck her. “Wait… What would a bear cub be doing all by itself in the woods? Wherever kids go, they’re mom’s usually fol—“

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.

“—low.”

The plants that the bear cub had pushed out of its way had been flattened to the ground. How? By the mom that had been behind her cub, that’s how.

It glared at us as it hovered protectively over her child.

“You just had to jinx it for us, didn’t you Alexa. Why don’t you just say that a meteor is likely to fall on us in a few seconds huh?!” Misa snapped.

The comment clearly wasn’t meant to be whispered, and Wahshi heard every word of it. Misa had clearly already forgotten he was there, or perhaps she just didn’t care enough to change the way she spoke around an NPC they were trying to impress. Either way, Wahshi’s opinion of her had fallen faster than stocks of his own company had fallen after his imprisonment over fraud and embezzlement.

From what he saw, they barely treated her as a teammate. As a friend, they almost seemed to treat her like trash. Oddly enough, seeing them treat her like this was what had finally cleared the indecision clouding his mind. It wasn’t the first time that he’d noticed them treating her this way, and it wasn’t something that he would tolerate. He would stay and protect her as much as he could, just as he’d promised her on that day far in the past.

‘I don’t know why she puts up with this, but I’ll do what I can to support her.’

Of course, he knew that at the moment he was worse than useless. He had to depend on the goodwill of these people to protect him, and that fact stung his pride more than anything else. What fully-grown adult would like being completely helpless and dependent on people younger than they were?

Caring nothing for Wahshi’s newfound determination, the small bear cub kept walking in a straight path. It didn’t look like it cared for the fact that there were people standing in his way. Why would it? To him, the epitome of strength was walking right behind him, protecting him like she had his entire life.

The mother bear took a step to keep up with its cub as it continued to glare at Zhang and his party.

Zhang saw the look in her eyes and decided that it was best for them to step out of the way of the bears. The risk that it was stronger than it looked just wasn’t worth it to him, because he already knew of the bigger dangers that lurked deeper in the forest. Fighting these creatures here would just slow them down and could waste their precious resources if it really was stronger than a normal bear was. The chances of that were pretty high as well, considering it lived in the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest after all.

MOTHER BEAR OF THE 2ND LAYER

BEAR CUB OF THE 2ND LAYER

That was all he saw hovering above them. Normally his skill would give him more information, but this time it had just shown him what they were. Putting actions towards his earlier decision to back-off, he motioned for Alexa and Misa to step down as he moved out of the way of the cub. The others followed suit, and let the young cub do as all kids do and wander around innocently with a dangerous mother ready to jump to its aid at a moment’s notice.

The mother bear almost seemed to acknowledge their actions, as her cub walked past where the rest of the party had just been standing. At the same time….

Gyuuu….

Everyone’s stomachs started rumbling.

Wahshi obviously knew what that would have meant in real life. But since this was a game, to him it didn’t make sense that you would actually have to eat food in here as well! In fact, if he hadn’t have heard Zhang curse under his breath saying “Sh*t, I could’ve sworn we all had our satiety bars still full,” he probably wouldn’t have gotten to the conclusion that they were all in need of food.

“Alexa,” Zhang called out. “Hurry up and pass out the food. We don’t want to die of hunger after coming all this way.”

Wordlessly, Alexa opened up her [inventory] to take out the food.

Her face paled in shock, and she quickly shared her [inventory] with her other party members.

The other two party members shared a different look when they saw what she had. Or rather, what she didn’t have.

‘Alexa, what the HELL is this? We gave you all our food to carry, so where the heck is it?!’ Zhang sent over via [party chat].

‘I-I-I don’t know, it was in there a few minutes ago!’ Misa was panicking as the weight of the two mentally pressed down on her.

Gyuu…….

Hearing that sound again, Zhang and Misa’s faces paled. That was the second rumble! There was only one more before they would die from hunger, and that was something that was unacceptable after coming all this way.

‘We’ll talk about this later! Right now it’s eat or die, and I swear that if it ends up being the latter, we’ll blame you for this Alexa!’ Zhang thundered over the [party chat].

Desperately looking around, the only thing he could see was the back of the Mother Bear as it walked away with its kid. An idea popped into his head, and he turned towards Misa.

“I’ve just found our food source.” He grinned and gestured over to the nearby Bears that were peacefully going about their way.

Misa caught on right away. She quickly chanted under her breath and cast [Glory of the Light] over Zhang’s iron sword.

GLORY OF THE LIGHT:

• ATTACK IS MOMENTARILY BUFFED BY 65%. 20 SECOND DURATION

• DURABILITY INCREASED BY 300. 5 MINUTE DURATION

Only taking a quick second to swap out his heavy armor for light armor and boots, Zhang showed no further hesitation. Clapping his hands together, a green light appeared on the back of his left palm in the shape of a paw print. Zhang got into a pose with his left foot forward and his right foot back. His left hand made an L shape which moved as if he was targeting his pray with it, while his right arm held his sword parallel with his shoulders across from his body.

With a CRACK, Zhang blurred forward towards the Mother Bear. The Mother Bear had started to turn around after hearing the sharp sound, but never got the chance to see what had killed her. By that time, it was already too late. She had been neatly split in two, with Zhang standing just past her in the exact same pose as he was before he had moved. The Bear Cub stood right behind him, shaking as he had just turned around to see his mother literally fall to pieces in front of his eyes. Zhang only smiled in satisfaction at the completion of his goal, and didn’t even notice what he’d done to the poor Cub’s mind.

Putting his sword back in his [inventory], he bent over to pick up the two halves of the bear that he had cut through. As his hand reached the meat though, it vanished without a trace, leaving his hand grasping at thin air. He turned around and saw that the Bear Cub had disappeared as well.

“Zhang.” Alexa weakly called out. “Check your satiety level.”

Glancing up at the bar underneath his health, his face scrunched together in surprise and confusion. What he saw was a full red bar with a smaller, green bar right below it. And they were both full.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

Was the question in everyone’s thoughts.

Distracted by all of the things that had just happened, none of them noticed. Not a single one of them.

The trees had grown closer to them…….

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Glossary:

Gyuuu: A word which represents the sound a stomach makes when a person is hungry. Taken from Japanese culture.

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Author's Note:

(I'll do my best to make it July 1st if someone rates, comments, or reviews though)