She kept running, the bundle in her hands far too bulky for her arms. She kept adjusting as it slipped, trying not to slow down.
Cora eyed her stamina bar with disfavor. It was emptying faster the lower it became and red was the dominant color. Even now, it was starting to do that evil flashing dance. She gritted her teeth, ears straining.
She wasn't in vain. Behind her, the faint sounds of pursuit were getting louder. She knew her path wasn't invisible since she'd neglected any Stealth abilities in favor of a bunch of useless ones that had sounded interesting. She vaguely regretted not listening to her annoying cousin, but at least a couple of them had combined into Stamina Boost +5. She'd still been too annoyed to inform her cousin of the combo; besides, he had a big mouth and would spread it all over the forums in pursuit of a little extra Glory.
Glory, as she'd been constantly informed, could help with innumerable things, such as gaining a title, land or even extra points when you leveled. The memory of rolling her eyes at her cousin's raptured expression gave her the extra boost of courage to free one hand and chug her only stamina potion. It had been given to her when she began the quest to find herbs in the forest. She hadn't given it much thought, thinking she might have to run away from monsters.
The bar immediately stopped flashing and shot full half-way while her HP bar lowered by a third. She readjusted her hold on her package and continued running. Unfortunately, she ran out of forest. She worried about her HP levels; Cora couldn't remember what her cousin had said about healing. Was it automatic or did she have to do something?
She paused at the edge of the rolling meadow. There was no way she'd make it to the next batch of forest before she was caught. She hastily scanned her surroundings, noticing a large fallen log. She sprinted to it, pulling out her small hand shovel and hastily digging a hole. It was completed within seconds, just big enough for her to unroll the package's contents into it and pile leaves around.
"Shh," she whispered, running a light hand over the scaly head, still marveling at the realism of the game.
The tiny dragon looked at her with pitiful eyes. She'd found her pursuers tormenting the little thing and had objected. She'd objected enough to snag the creature while they were distracted arguing with her and run. She was faster than most of them because she was still a Level 1 with no armor and Speed Boost +10.
The boosts would both wear off soon. They were only active during the afternoon, but she'd heard that most people only got two or three points to allocate per level. With her boosts, it was like she'd gained seven or eight levels. This was probably the only thing saving her, that and the rather 'useless' skill, 'Pioneering.' It sounded imposing but no one could figure out its use. She had no interest in telling people that it let you run without falling in forests and meadows. At least that's what it felt like. She hadn't run into any impediments during her flight.
It was one of the things that her cousin Nate was always complaining about. The boosts would only activate at specific times of the day, and it had seemed rather random when he tried to explain it to her. Cora had just chalked it up to the game trying to throw in some sort of strategic element to stoke the fire of the collectors. Heavens knew that those guys would play for literally years trying to collect every little trophy they could.
She rebundled the bloody rags, stuffing the empty potion bottle in the middle. The bottle would evaporate if unused in a couple hours, so it made a nice sturdy center.
Then she stood up. She'd make her last stand in the middle of the meadow. Hopefully, the little dragon could escape while the others were distracted.
Cora ran into the meadow. She could almost feel the stitch in her side. She didn't run this much in real life, let alone in a game. She was more of a walker than a runner.
When her cousin, Nate, had come up with the idea to play the latest full-immersion VR game, she'd scoffed. Then he'd won a pair of pods in an online raffle. He'd been so stoked that she didn't have the heart to turn him down when he'd had one of the them delivered to her house.
She'd also been a bit scared after watching the news and seeing stories about people literally getting stalked for their pods. Still, he'd done it in good faith, and she'd lucked into a neighborhood with decent security.
"There she is! She's still got our dragon!" A fury filled bellow rung out behind her.
Cora kept running until she tripped. She glanced around, startled, only to realize that what she'd tripped on was a rock protruding slightly out of the ground. On further inspection, it looked like an old helmet of some sort that was nearly buried. She scrambled to her feet even as a line of text flashed into existence in her peripheral vision.
"Legendary Quest: My Kingdom for a Horse commences. May invite up to five others to help."
Her breath caught at the sight. She hastily grabbed on the helmet and tugged it free, stuffing it into her bag, dirt and all. Then she scooped up the bundle and turned to run, stopping as a ranger flashed in front of her, his eyes cold and angry.
"Thief! We've finally caught you!" he proclaimed. The name "Flash Smokeon" drifted over his head.
"Flash! Does she still have the dragon?" Another angry voice asked behind her.
"It's not yours. It's a baby you were tormenting." Cora hugged the bundle closer to herself.
"No, it's a Level 20 monster with only 100 HP." Instead of enraged, this voice was calm and cold almost to the point of apathy. Cora glared at the woman. "Astral Goddess" floated above the magician's head. She was already garbed in a Level 10 magician's robe. "Hand it over and we'll forget this ever happened, noob."
"No, it's just a baby, and it's wrong to pick on it." Cora said, glancing around at the party that surrounded her. Her arms tightened around the bundle as she glimpsed the little dragon digging itself out of the hole at the forest's edge.
"Only cowards pick on the weak," she tossed out, glaring at Astral Goddess.
"Only the weak object to being picked on," Astral Goddess replied. She scanned Cora and smirked. "You're only Level 1. Did you start today? Did no one tell you how to level?"
Cora stayed silent. She was supposed to meet up with Nate who was already at a whopping Level 10 despite only starting a couple days earlier. While he'd laughed at her skill choices, he'd also promised to let her into his team to help her level. It seemed that he'd made it to the top 100 in his class and felt it was despicable that his beloved cousin couldn't even beat a slime.
She didn't have the heart to tell him that she'd rather use her skills to have fun than to learn to power level. She honestly didn't want to learn how to beat a slime. It was the same softheartedness that led to her rescuing the bleeding baby dragon.
"We'll help you out. Just give us the dragon, okay?" Astral smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
Cora marveled over how the programmers had managed such realism even as she pulled out her only weapon, a simple White Level 0 dagger. She'd mostly been using it to chop up meat from the butcher with the idea to see if she could cook in-game. If she hadn't used up her beginning funds on the meat, she wouldn't have been questing in the forest for herbs to fund a better knife and armor.
At the movement, the rest of the party drew their weapons as well. They were a multitude of glittery, shiny Levels that pretty much aped the promotional materials for the game itself.
"I'm not giving you the dragon. It's wrong to pick on something so helpless," Cora said firmly.
Even as they raised their weapons to attack, Cora stared at the forest's edge. A hint of startlement raced across her eyes.
Even as the first blow reaped away 18 of her 20 remaining HP, Cora's attention was distracted. She cowered, pretending the bundle in her arms was still the little dragon.
"Got it!" The ranger behind her, Flash, crowed as he snatched the bundle away. His expression changed as he flipped it open to find an empty bottle.
"Where's my dragon?" Astral Goddess demanded, aiming her staff at Cora's head. "I'm thinking you don't know that there's a death penalty, even if you're level one, right?"
"Hah! The noob doesn't even know that? You get sent to the Underworld and have to level there before they let you out," a warrior wearing fur armor scoffed. His axe was still bloody from wounding Cora.
Cora's gaze flicked to them and then back to the forest's edge.
"Your dragon," she said with a smile, "is over there."
The group turned in the direction of her gaze and froze. The little dragon was indeed there, but so were two other dragons, one of which was considerably bigger than the other two. It was nudging the little dragon and thin tendrils of black smoke were curling out of its nostrils.
Cora thought it was rather magnificent. It was a stylized red and black like a proper D&D dragon and even had a frill of gold around its head. The smaller one was an almost solid black, though goldish hints were apparent on its scales, and it resembled the baby dragon the most. If not for the fulsome gaze the giant dragon turned on the group of players, she wouldn't have thought that the trio went together.
"Dragon! Run!" Flash screamed before following his own advice. Even as he turned and headed for the forest at the other end of the meadow, the red dragon launched itself with a magnificent sweep of wings.
"It's Level 90! Level 90!" Another of the party cried as he scrambled in a different direction.
"Go, I'll cover for you," the fur-clad warrior told Astral Goddess, nudging her in another direction. "If we lose any equipment, we'll have to pay to get it back."
At his words, Cora frowned. Pay-to-play was definitely not her favorite way to do things. She always thought that those people were not in the spirit of the game, even though she had been guilty of the same thing in past games. Her purchases, however, were usually of cosmetic items and not of actual game-use. Nate teased her about that to the point that she'd quit her last game.
It was most definitely not wrong to purchase a purple unicorn to ride around on. It'd been bound to the account so it wasn't as if she'd lose it to a PK. Cora still stewed about that.
Cora watched the party scatter, running for the forest. She heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground. If the dragon came for her, so be it. At least her conscience was clear.
At that moment, the baby dragon wormed its way into her lap, inspecting her worriedly. Then it turned to the larger dragon that had trailed after it and made little hissing noises.
"Now you're safe, little one. You shouldn't wander around without by yourself around here. There are far too many wicked people," Cora murmured. She looked up as the red dragon appeared above her.
"Aren't you a beauty?" She smiled even as her vision went black. A string of glowing letters appeared briefly.
"Stamina overdraft detected. Fainted stage initiated. Please avoid overdrafts in the future."
In her pod, Cora blinked and then sat up, fingers drumming on the lid. A ten minute countdown blinked on the game display.
"But that's twenty minutes of game time!" She protested, flabbergasted.
Name: Cora
Level: 1
HP: 2/30
MP: 2/2
SP: 001/300
Class: None
Title(s): Draconic Friend (Beginner)
Skills: Pioneering Lvl 1 Farming Lvl 1 Masonry Lvl 1
Blacksmithing Lvl 1 (Hidden) +2 Canning Lvl 1
Ranching Lvl 1 Alchemy Lvl 1 Crafting Lvl 1
Foreign Diplomat Lvl 1 Multilingual Lvl 1
Subskills: Draconic (Initializing) Wild Run (Initial) Lvl 2 (32/100)
Combos: Stamina Boost +5 (Farming + Blacksmithing) aft
Speed Boost +10 (Ranching + Alchemy + Canning) aft
Sprint Queen +1 (Wild Run + Ranching + Pioneering + (Hidden)) – Speed +1, Constitution +1 morn