The sun was shining across the sky as it rose the next morning. Loran, still feeling half asleep, had finished his preparation and was now making his way to the North Gate with a strip of deer jerky hanging from his mouth. His bow was secured around his chest, a quiver of a dozen stone arrows was hanging from his shoulder, and his Spined Picks were strapped to either hip. His patchwork leather shirt was now replaced with a piece of leather armor.

[NAME]: Layered Leather Armor

[RARITY]: 2

[QUALITY]: Poor

[TYPE]: Equipment(TORSO)

[DURABILITY]: 50/50

[STATS]: 3 Armor

[REQUIREMENTS]

STR: 9

[DESCRIPTION]

Armor made by layering thin pieces of leather on top of each other. Has a rather high weight while not restricting movement.

While a few players had been experimenting with making armor for a while now, it was only after the discovery of the Spined Deer that most of the crafters got involved, and the Layered Leather Armor was the most effective armor they had come up with so far. While it only reduced damage by 3, many predicted that this would improve once they manage to raise the quality. Loran had also wrapped straps of leather to his forearms and shins, and while these didn't qualify as an armor item it did still give him a little extra armor.

[NAME]: Loran

[SPECIES]: Human

[LEVEL]: 9

[EXP]: 60/1000

[STATUS]

[ARMOR]: 7

{HP}: 120/120

{SP}: 180/180

[END]: 15

[STR]: 10

[AGI]: 15

[DEX]: 17

[PER]: 19

[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3

[SKILLS]

[ANALYSE] Lv.10(Master)

[HUNTER] Lv.10

[SP BOOSTER] Lv.4

[SPRINT] Lv.8

[STALWART] Lv.10

After a few more minutes of walking, Loran arrived at the North Gate, where the others were all waiting. Just as with Loran, each of them was decked out in their own equipment.

Soze was about the same as Loran; the most notable differences being that he was wearing Layered Leather arm and leg guards instead of just leather straps, and had a pair of knives on his hips for his melee weapons.

Yin had a much larger bow than most hunters used, and rather than armor, she was decked in camouflage, her arms, legs, and torso covered in strips of birch bark. In fact, her black and white avatar colors helped with the effect; it was easy to imagine her disappearing among the black and white of the Birch trees.

Yang's armor was much heavier than anyone else's, made of Birch branches held together by leather straps, and covered basically everything except her joints. This was one of the more experimental designs for those like Yang, who were willing to sacrifice mobility for defense. That being said, it didn't actually look heavy or restrictive, but it was a wonder how she and her sister managed to do any hunting with her dressed like that; animals could probably hear her coming a mile away. She also had a thick wooden shield and her weapon was a Stone Ax, both of which would only see their first use today.

Alexx was wearing pretty much the same Layered Leather armor as Loran and Soze but only wore the arm and leg guards. For weapons, he had a pair of Fire-Hardened Spears, one in each hand.

"About time you got here," Yang said, yawning.

"Mh..." grunted Loran, too tired to give anything more in retort.

"Yes yes, it's the crack of dawn and everyone's tired," said Soze, the only one feeling wide awake, "are there any questions or concerns before we go?"

"Just one," Loran said, finishing off his breakfast, "why does Alexx only have Fire-Hardened Spears?"

"My STR is too high for weapons," Alexx huffed, having needed to explain this well over a dozen times, "I can still use them, but they wear out too quickly. I would need to replace it after every fight, so I just use these disposable ones."

Loran was surprised by this, but not entirely so. He already knew that Alexx had absurdly high STR. From day one he was kicking down trees, and now that his STR had more than doubled he was able to rip some of the smaller trees straight out of the ground. With that for comparison, it wasn't strange to say that a wooden spear was too fragile for continuous use.

Since many of the players had resigned themselves to crafting roles, they needed some way to grind EXP. While the more capable players spent their time planning how to improve the village, there were still about a half dozen who just started making Fire-Hardened Spears on repeat. The logic was that since the spears were easy and cheap to make, using them as throwing spears was better than using the more costly Stone Spears or the new Spined Spears. Because of this, the Workshop had a literal pile of Fire-Hardened Spears available for anyone to take. Some people even just used them as firewood. Thanks to this, Alexx was able to keep a few on him for a ranged option, and wouldn't have to worry about wasting limited materials.

"...Okay, honestly man, you really should start putting points into other stats."

"...I'll consider it," he lied.

"Alright then, anything else?" Soze only got shaking heads in reply. "Okay, let's go. We'll get into formation when we get deeper into the woods."

~~~~~

The two teams moved steadily through the woods. Soze, Yin, and Loran moved in a triangle formation, silently keeping watch over a designated direction with Soze on point. The moment anything out of the ordinary happened they would all stop to confirm what it was.

The two players behind them showed far less discipline, though they were far tenser. It had been over four hours since they left the village, and their concentration was waning. They were also in charge of carrying the rabbits and squirrels the other three had hunted so far, and the smell of blood did nothing to create a calming atmosphere.

Alexx, a bit of a chatterbox by nature, was uncomfortable staying quiet for the hunt.

This was his first time leaving the village since they set it up, and while others may have been interested in exploring the new areas or nervous from the potential threats, he just felt bored from what looked like an endless landscape of grass, hills, and trees. He wanted to make small talk with Yang, but he wasn't sure how to even begin talking to her after her previous outburst. He didn't want to bother her if she was still feeling temperamental.

"So... I guess punching trees turned out to be pretty good EXP huh?"

As it turned out, Alexx didn't have to worry about starting the conversation.

"Is talking okay?"

"Probably, as long as we keep our voices down. Besides, I'm gonna go crazy without something to do right now."

Yang was still uncomfortable with letting her sister out of her sight in such a dangerous place, despite her better judgment. No matter how logical it was, suppressing her worries was making her noticeably agitated. At this point, she was looking for anything to calm her nerves.

"So, trees," Yang reminded him.

"Oh, uh, yeah it was pretty good. Some of the others have been using axes, but I'm too strong to use them. I could still keep up though."

"Mh... maybe I should spend a few days just chopping down trees, I really need to catch up to Sis."

"Honestly, you can just take my place, I'm so done with trees," he said with exasperation.

"What do you mean you're done with trees?"

"Do you have any idea how many trees I've chopped down in the last three weeks?" he turned to her, eyes wide in frustration, "A hundred. I've chopped down one hundred trees in three weeks and I'm sick of it, especially after the other day."

"Why, what happened?" As much as this was agitating Alexx, Yang almost wanted to see him get even more riled up. She didn't understand how one guy could get so upset by trees, and his over-the-top exasperation was quickly becoming the best entertainment she's had since becoming trapped in NEO.

"I found a new Skill, it apparently increases damage against wooden structures."

"Isn't that good though?"

"But the trigger was to 'destroy 100 wooden structures,' and I did it with only trees," he sighed with slumped shoulders. "I just wanted nothing to do with it. Then it got worse. I was talking about it with Loran and one of the other guys that chop trees overheard me mention the trigger conditions. The next day he comes up to me and says he got the Skill and named it 'Tree Killer,' saying it was in honor of me. Since then a bunch of people have just started calling me that too."

"Pfft-"

"Don't you dare laugh," he turned to her accusingly.

"I'm sorry," she squeezed out, tears in the corners of her eyes, "I'm not laughing at.... okay I'm sort of laughing at you, but it's also something else."

"What?"

"That Skill is stuck with that name forever now. Imagine if this game still has players in a decade or so. Now imagine people getting that Skill and wondering 'why the hell is it called Tree Killer?' It's just too silly for me."

He thought about it for a moment before letting out a chuckle. He didn't find it as funny as Yang did, but having a bunch of people thinking about an imaginary 'tree killer' wasn't something he could think about with a straight face. 'Although, it's not imaginary, since I'm technically the tree killer.' Alexx shook the thought out of his head. "So I wanted to ask, Soze said you weren't a real tank. What is a real tank anyway?"

Yang wiped a tear from her eye as she slowly stopped laughing. "Oh right, you never played an RPG before," she remembered. "Basically, a tank has to keep the enemies focused on themselves, and be sturdy enough to receive their attacks without dying. I have the HP to do the second part, but there aren't any Skills to control agro yet. Honestly, the best I can do right now is yell and hope that does it."

"Do you think that will work?"

"Probably not, but who knows, maybe I'll get a Skill for yelling at the deer."

"Nothing's impossi-"

Alexx immediately stopped talking as Yin and Loran appeared in the distance, moving closer.

"We found one, and it's big."

~~~~~

As Loran and Yin went to tell the others about the deer, Soze kept watching from a distance of about 50 feet. It was a large lone buck, easily larger than any of the ones brought back by the other hunting parties, over 6 feet tall at the shoulder. They probably would've passed on fighting it, but the beast was also heavily injured. Many of its spines and the tips of its antlers were either chipped or broken, it had numerous cuts, one of its legs had a slight but noticeable limp, and it was breathing pretty heavily. Loran had also been able to use [ANALYSE] on it and as outrageous as its stats were, hunting it still seemed possible.

[NAME]: N/A

[SPECIES]: Spined Deer

[LEVEL]: 9

[STATUS]

{HP}: 261/465

{SP}: 115/465

[END]: 31

[STR]: 21

[AGI]: 22(-3.3)

[DEX]: 13

[PER]: 15

[SKILLS]

[CHARGE] Lv.10

(Active Cost: 60 SP) Attack a target to your front at least 10 feet away. The base attack power is equal to 100% of your END, STR, and AGI, damage dealt is 50% piercing and 50% bludgeoning. Increase damage by 10% per additional foot run, up to a maximum bonus of 100%.

[DEBUFFS]

[LEFT FORELEG FRACTURE]

Remaining Duration: 6 Days,19 Hours, 30 Minutes, 42 Seconds

Reduce AGI by 15%.

[DESCRIPTION]

A large herbivore. It uses its spines and antlers for both defense and offense, making it unafraid of most predators, preferring to attack rather than flee. Typically seen in herds, both for convenience and for additional protection....[EXPAND]

'Even still, how the hell is this thing the same level as us?' According to some quick calculations, that Skill had a base damage output of around 70. There was no way Alexx could take a hit like that, and even Yang would have a massive chunk of her HP carved out of her. 'She'd probably get a debuff from that much damage, it shouldn't be enough to kill but it could take her out of the fight. Thankfully it can only use that Skill one more time, but not if we wait too long. If she can handle that first charge the rest of us should be able to focus enough damage on it to kill it quickly.

The buck briefly stopped eating and turned towards Soze; He turned stock still as the beast almost seemed to make eye contact with him for a few seconds. After a moment it returned to eating, and Soze allowed himself to breathe again. Whatever, it's not my call anymore.

~~~~~

After rattling off the Spined Deer's stat description, Loran turned to Yang. "So, are we attacking it or moving on?"

"You're asking me?"

"Soze says you get to decide since you'll be taking the biggest risks," Loran said, shrugging. "I'll ask again, what's your call?"

Yang's brow furrowed as she weighed her options, and after a moment she made her decision. "We go for it."

"Really?" Loran was surprised, "even after all that fuss earlier about how dangerous this is?"

"Sis is my biggest concern. You were right earlier, I need to catch up," taking a deep breath she hardened her gaze, "and if that means taking a few risks I'll do it."

"Yang..." A look of concern, and perhaps disappointment appeared on Yin's face.

Yang glanced at her sister, her eyes softening for a moment. "I'll be ok, no way some stupid deer is gonna take me out."

"Just... please be careful."

"I don't really think that's an option this time Sis," she chuckled bitterly. "I'll try to grapple it during its charge."

"That'll be enough," Loran assured, "the rest of us should be able to take it down after that. Alexx, you're going to be right there next to them in all of this, we need you to hit this thing as hard as you can, got it?"

"Heh, not a problem." Compared to Yang's job, mine is a cakewalk.

"Alright, let's go."