(A Few Days Later)
Inside a shop full of metallic armor and weapons, there stood both Shiro and Aki looking at a relatively small suit of armor that has a price tag of 5 gold which shows that is of high caliber.
"Whew, finally found an armor for you," I said while yawning, we already spent around a few hours looking for a good armor that can last us for a good while.
"Thank you nii-chan!" said Shiro who took me into a tight hug while I just patted his head in response.
"Well let's go buy this already and buy some skill books for us two, we have been particularly unlucky by only getting Rabbit's Swiftness and Boar's Strength from hunting Horned Bunnies and Wild Boars for a few days," I said as I looked at my stats.
[Aki] [Title: ]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Priest]
[Gift: Heal(Mythical)]
[Body: E]
[Mind: D]
[Energy: D]
[Skills: Light Arrow(D) Rabbit's Swiftness(D) Minor Healing(E)]
"So what skills do you think we should buy?" asked Shiro.
"From what I found, we should get you a combat skill, and I could get a close combat skill, probably a light sword or something," I said as we walked towards the counter and bought the armor without a hitch and after a while, Shiro now wore the steel armor we bought.
"So how about your armor? You're still wearing that ragged Priest Robe" said Shiro while pointing at my clothes.
"Fine, I'll buy some leather armor," I said as I picked up a random cheap set of leather armor and bought it for 50 silver and put it on inside the changing room.
"Let's go, there should be some people selling at the Skill Shop," I said as we walked towards the shop where people would sell their skill books and others could buy it from the shop.
And once we entered inside it, we saw tons of other players looking around for skill books with the skill book catalog and we picked up the catalog and started to look for skill books ourselves.
"So we have about 20 more gold left, 10 gold for me, and 10 gold for you, keep that in mind," I said towards Shiro as we looked at the catalog.
Hmm, Light Arrow is a great skill for targeting a single enemy but I need a skill that I can use to target a group of enemies and a skill that can help me for close-quarter combat.
As I looked at the catalog of skills, I found some useful skills but I need one that could last me for a while, and luckily found Keen Eye selling for a cheap price and it's a passive skill so it's great.
I instantly mark that skill to be bought and I have around 9 gold left to be used, after flipping through the long catalog of skills, I also found Light Sword which is very useful in my opinion, it's not that energy taxing, I could use it to cook meat in the wild because the light is also hot, few are resistant to the Light element, it can also illuminate the area like a Light Ball, it's just an S tier skill in terms of versatility already.
I instantly marked that skill and now I am down to 5 gold left, now for survivability in the wild, food isn't that much of a problem for the both of us with the abundance of beasts we could hunt, and then I realize, water.
So I instantly browse through some skills that could summon water so we could have a source of water in the wild and found Water Ball for 2 gold and now I have 3 gold left.
"What did you buy already?" I asked Shiro who was profusely sweating beside me.
"Regeneration for 5 gold and Durable Skin for 3 gold," said Shiro who was deep in thought.
"Don't worry about it too much, we have strong versatile Gifts remember? It could carry us even until late game, so just buy some Skills you think is useful" I said and went on to look for a skill for multiple enemies and finally found one that could be useful for a good while and it is called Wind Blade that can be spread out for group damage and bought it for exactly 3 gold.
"You finish?" I asked Shiro beside me.
"Yeah, I spent the last of my money on Vigor for more stamina," said Shiro as I nodded and we went towards the counter where we can get our orders.
"May I get your orders?" said the young lady on the counter and gave her our catalogs and nodded in response.
"Please wait a few minutes," said the lady who quickly went inside another room with the door behind the counter, and after a short while, she went back holding our skill books which we quickly use so that the other players can't steal from us and gave her our money.
After that, we quickly got out of the store and onto the safe open street, we checked our new stats.
[Aki] [Title: ]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Priest]
[Gift: Heal(Mythical)]
[Body: E]
[Mind: D]
[Energy: D]
[Skills: Light Arrow(D) Rabbit's Swiftness(D) Minor Healing(E) Light Sword(E) Wind Blade(E) Water Ball(E) Keen Eye(E)]
"Mine are all E luckily enough," I said as my Mind stat took effect and gave me a higher skill rank.
"Whew, me too," said Shiro who wiped his metaphorical sweat out of his forehead.
"Well, now that most of our stats are D and we gained a power boost, we should head out for the next Town already that is near a great hunting ground for goblins, ogres, and more," I said as Shiro became confused indicated by his face.
"But how about the mount you said before?" asked Shiro.
"Don't worry, we're going to get one right now" I said as I walked out of the town and Shiro followed along confused.
"Oh there," I said as we found a Wild Boar in the distance that has respectable speed and a large reservoir of stamina and could probably carry us to the next town called Lute that is near a forest and also near a great hunting ground of monsters for player to hunt in.
"What are you going to do to it?" asked Shiro.
"Just watch, when you need help, you just kindly ask some nice individuals," I said and walked towards the Wild Boar with a smile while carrying a sack towards it.
"Hey, there mister Boar," I said as the Wild Boar looked at me confused but there is no hostility in its eyes.
"Me and my brother here wants to go towards this place but it would take us too long to go there, do you mind if you can carry us over there? We can give you a sack of food right here" I said while pointing at the sack of food beside me.
"Oink!" said the boar with a nod.
"Nice, c'mon Shiro! We got a ride for only some vegetables!" I said while going on top of the Wild Boar without worry.
"A- are you sure?" asked Shiro who slowly walked towards us.
"Don't worry about it, you won't hurt us, right Mister Boar?" I asked the Boar who nodded with its cute face.
"See! Just sit behind me, I promise you it would be fun" I said as Shiro reluctantly got on top with slight fear but once he saw that it was safe, his eyes slowly glowed with excitement.
"Let's go!" I shouted.
"SQUEAL!" shouted the Wild Boar as it took off running while Shiro desperately hugged me from behind to not fall off while I just chuckled and enjoyed the scenic view that we saw.
And as time passes on, Shiro got used to the wild ride and also enjoyed the landscape we were passing by, large lakes, gigantic fields of grass, the grand blue sky, the fleeting clouds, the shining sun, the groups of trees we walked along by, it was so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye.
It really gave what it feels like if you lived in another world of fantasy and magic as we both cheered.
(A Few Hours Later)
After a while, we finally saw Lute in the distance and estimated that we could just walk over towards the large town with more people inside it as it is a more profitable place to be in with tons of monsters to hunt and materials to gather.
"Thank you Mister Boar, here's your food," I said towards the Boar and put the sack inside its mouth so it could carry it around.
"Oink," said the boar with a nod and run away into the setting sun in the distance just like my first attempt at charming a Wild Boar a few days ago but this time, it was successful as we waved goodbye to it.
"Well, we should log off now already, we still have dinner," I said while patting Shiro's head.
"Okay!" Shiro said as we logged off the game and IVR pod and heard our mother's shout for dinner and rushed downstairs to eat.
AN: This is 1543 words by the way, you're welcome.
Oh the parallels between the past and present that directly shows how much Aki has improve not just mentally but charismatically with how he tamed that Wild Boar with ease, kinda poetic if you think about it.
The Sword of Damocles hangs above each and everyone one of you with its ever present threat of despair, so send me some power stones with your power of friendship and save the thousands perhaps even millions to come who will read this masterpiece immortalized in the tunnels of time.
(March 18, 2022 – 114th day of writing)