As Loran, Alexx, and Zed continued their march eastward, the trees around them began to thin. First, the Maple trees stopped appearing, then the gaps between the Birch trees began to widen, and then the woods simply stopped.

Before them now was a grassy field sloping upward, stretching off and turning from lush green to the browns and greys of the mountain sides. The grass spread out like a rolling sea, broken up by the occasional bush and these strange divots in the ground. They hadn’t truly made it to the mountains, but as of right now the three had officially left the woods they had remained in since this game began.

“Well, I guess we’re not making it to the mountains today,” Zed said, gazing up at the mountain peaks.

“Nope,” Loran said as he checked the sun's position, already beginning its descent. “We have some time to explore the area, but we don't have long if we want to get back before nightfall.” He pulled out the map and began marking the end of the woods.

“Wow,” Alexx said, his breathing getting heavy from his constant running. He was standing still, staring at something off in the distance.

“Do you see something?” Loran asked. Alexx didn’t respond. “Alexx?”

“Wha? Oh, sorry. I just- it’s weird being able to see this far.”

“Haven’t you ever tried looking up or down the river?” Zed asked.

“Well yeah, but not having any trees in the way just feels different, you know?”

Although players with a high PER stat have been able to see much farther and more clearly than normal humans, they’ve still had their vision limited due to being surrounded by trees. In the woods, Alexx had grown used to seeing with greater detail, and looking along the river helped him understand how far he could see, but felt like staring down a narrow tunnel. Being out in this field felt like stepping outside for the first time as if he had been stuck in a small room but was now in a massive gymnasium.

“Alright, I guess we can just relax until we need to head back,” Loran said as he finished with the map.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Zed was looking northward while hiding behind a bush. “We have company.”

All the wonder drained out of Alexx’s face, replaced with hard focus. “Ants?”

“Uh, goats actually.”

“Goats?” Loran put away the map and made his way over to Zed’s hiding spot. Looking over it he saw about seven large, horned animals standing together in the field. Their fur was white with a few brown patches here and there, and their horns were modest like on a farm goat except for two who had these large, thick, monstrosities that looked like they could crack concrete.

“Alright, at least it’s just normal goats,” Alexx said.

“You may want to get your eyes checked if you think those are just normal goats,” Loran said, tense but now standing and not trying to hide.

“What do you mean?” Zed asked, just as confused as Alexx.

“Look closer, how far away are they?”

Alexx and Zed turned back to the goats, squinting as they focused. Then their faces paled as the realization set in.

Being in an open field had thrown off their sense of scale since the goats weren’t standing next to anything for them to compare with. Now that Loran had pointed it out, they realized that with how far away they were normal goats should have looked much smaller.

“How big are they?” Alexx asked, unable to make a good guess.

“By my estimation, the two males are probably taller than us.”

“With horns like those, they’re probably strong enough to crush Iron Ants too,” Zed said, starting to become excited.

“What do their stats look like?” Alexx asked.

“Can’t say, we’re too far for Analyse.”

“Then let’s get closer,” Zed said, brandishing his spear.

“You sure? Remember, I can’t fight, and against something that large I can’t even give good support,” Loran said, certain that his [PULL] Skill wouldn’t even make those goats flinch. “The best I can do is be a distraction.”

“So me and Alexx against seven giant goats?” Zed grinned. “Sounds like fun.”

Loran sighed. “Of course. Alexx, what do you think?”

Alexx shrugged. “Honestly, I’m just thinking about leaving all of that behind. We won’t be able to take it back with us.”

Loran’s eyes widened. “Yeah, never mind we’re not hunting those things right now.”

“What!” Zed shouted before glancing in the direction of the goats. One of the goats looked up at them when it heard Zed’s voice, but didn’t seem aggitated by his outburst. “Sure we can’t take all of them but Alexx can totally take at least one.”

“Don’t go deciding things like that,” Alexx said, unamused.

“Alexx won’t be able to keep up with us if he’s carrying that much weight. I’m not going to let you get us stuck out here at night.”

“Then I guess I’ll just-“

“You’re not fighting them alone either.”

“…Why not?” Zed asked, his voice low.

“Because we didn’t come out here to have fun. You have a job to do and that means not starting pointless fights.”

“Yeah, and aren’t we, like, depopulating the other side of the river,” Alexx said. “Maybe we shouldn’t do that here too.”

Zed sighed. “Alright fine. Can I at least get close enough to Analyse them? I want to know how strong they are.”

“Sure.”

Zed began walking up to the goats, not bothering to be stealthy on an open field. It didn’t take long for more of the goats to begin looking at him, but strangely they quickly went back to eating grass without giving him much thought. Even the two male goats didn’t seem to become hostile, instead watching Zed with a menacing aura. By the time one of the males decided to stomp their hoof in warning, Zed was only about fifteen feet away from the small herd.

Keeping to his word, Zed backed off and returned to Loran and Alexx.

“Well they seem pretty chill,” Alexx said.

“Yeah, I almost don’t want to hunt them if they’re that peaceful,” Zed said looking back.

“Maybe they don’t have that many threats out here?” Loran speculated. “If they’re the strongest animals in the area they can probably afford to be a little more curious.”

“And they’re definitely the strongest things in the area.”

“How did their stats look?” Loran asked.

“Terrifying. Their STR and END are about equal and range from the high 40s to mid-60s depending on the level. The rest of their stats are in the low 20s or high teens.”

“What about their levels?” Loran asked.

“High teens, but one of the males is level 20.”

That was slightly more comforting. Their stats were definitely high, but that seemed to be a result of their level rather than being another jump in difficulty. If their levels were still in the mid-teens, it would mean that these plains and the mountains were a part of another, even higher-level biome.

However, this all but confirmed that the goats were strong enough to fight the ants.

From what the players could tell, animals reaching higher levels came either from those animals frequently killing other EXP-rich opponents or a sign of those animals having lived for a long time. This idea came from the fact that animals with higher levels were either predators, showed signs of aging and battle scars, or both.

Although it was hard to tell how old these goats were, one of them was definitely an adolescent and it was still level 14, which was fairly high for an animal. For such docile animals to become so high-level, it had to have been against something that was very rich in EXP, like the Iron Ants which gave out around 3000 each.

“Alright, so what else?” Loran asked. “Anything interesting in the description ot their Skills?”

Zed shrugged. “ I just skimmed the description, seemed boring. For Skills, they have Hardened Skull like the Hell Pigs, and a Skull Bash attack that deals triple their total STR and END.”

Alexx whistles in appreciation. “Yeah, something like that would pulverize an ant.”

“There was one thing that needs to be mentioned. They’re called Mountain Goats.”

“Why would you name them Mountain Goats?” Loran asked. “I guess we’re close to the mountains but they’re just grazing in a field.”

“I didn’t name them,” Zed began to grin, “they were already called that.”

Loran’s eyes widened. “That… no way.”

One thing that the players had learned over the last two months was that New Eden Online was a game about adventure and discovery. Whether it was items, animals or plants, almost everything had to be named or created by the players. The exceptions to this rule were things that were identical to something in reality, such as flint, Birch trees, and clay. They were things that the players were already familiar with, and they couldn’t change the names for any reason.

But these goats did not match with their real-world counterparts, regardless of their appearance they were simply too large.

If they already had a name, it meant that they had been discovered by players; players from outside the village.