Madness. Nothing but madness must have cursed through my veins! I thought as I walked from the trains, with hundreds of workers, students and other people.
The lack of sleep had turned my brain into mush and made me feel like some kind of emo avenger. But I was nothing like this. Both in the real world and in the game world of Falan, I was a powerless fool. Even imagining damaging the foundations of the system was nothing short of impossible.
But throughout the whole day, the thought didn't leave my mind. Sickly sticking like a chewy gum I accidentally touched, I couldn't rid it from my mind. Bored of fighting back, I pondered about it. Exploring the depths of impossibility wasn't better than trying to avert my thoughts, but it distracted me from my dull day.
After long work hours, I went shopping and cooked a meal, cleaned my flat and spent time ironing my trousers. I have never ironed them since owning an iron.
Finally there was nothing left that could have kept me from playing but my brain turning nuts. Since I (luckily) couldn't nuke the kingdom to the ground, I didn't need to fear my mad ideas.
They would never come true anyways. So I could level up properly to hurry towards Daystreak before my mind explored all the fun stuff I could do as a law abiding citizen in another world. I could do stuff I wouldn't dare in the real world. Here I would be able to influence fate and fight for the things I liked. At least to some extent.
This time, I took another route to the salamander territory. Although it was long-winded, it was better than enjoying the enhanced chance of meeting a pervert salivating over my bones. On my way, I killed 16 more rabbits, granting me a further level. The stats went directly into enhancing my mana, because I increased my speed using the attribute points from the first level up yesterday.
Finally reaching the salamanders' spawning grounds, I carefully looked around until I found one of them. They looked like oversized lizards with sharp claws and teeth. Their back and sides were donning natural armor. The bald heads were covered in further organic armor.
As the beast shot forward to attack me, I almost lost my composure. It was faster than I remembered and I had difficulty raising my shield. As the salamander slammed right into it, my arm was almost fractured by the heavy collision and notifications popped up.
[-1 durability of your [Light shield]]
[-5 health, slightly fractured arm. It can only withstand three more of such heavy impacts before a fracture or broken bone.]
Why the hell did I think fighting salamanders was a good idea? With difficulty, I pushed against the beast, barely moving it. Avoiding the gaping mouth trying to bite my left ankle, I moved my sword in a straight motion. But the armor of the monster made my sword slide off. Well, I'm dead.
Evading a further bite, I scanned the beast's body for weaknesses in its armor. Only their eyes, mouth and tail weren't heavily protected. I assumed that it was the case for their belly, too. But because the salamander was too heavy (or my strength was lacking), I couldn't turn it around. And since salamanders were able to regrow their tail, attacking it wouldn't benefit me as much as I wished. Leaving only the maw filled with teeth and its yellow glowing eyes, staring at me hungrily. Bad salamander, you are my prey! At least I hoped that it would end this way. I still had my health mostly intact, but if I couldn't harm the monster soon, the situation could shift instantly. At this moment I wished I could cast [Slippery floor], rendering its speed mostly useless and making the monster basically a sitting duck for me to grill with a few [Lesser fireball] or at least a cluster of the skill[Tiny fireball]. But I only had my shield, armor, sword and dagger left. Not to forget the useless staff with which Icould cast equally useless spells. Lucky me.
The salamander was already closing in again and I started running back in the undergrowth, hoping to increase the distance between me and the monster. But it was more than nimble and crushed the bushes and branches in its way without halting a single moment.
Since escape was out of the question, I turned toward the monster and prepared my shield for another collision. In the last second, I ducked behind a tree and the fierce run of the salamander made it slam right into the hard bark, momentarily distracting it. But I waited for this exact moment and aimed my sword right at the left yellow eye, piercing the brain instantly and dealt fatal damage. A shiver went through the body before it stilled.
[You dealt 200 damage. A [salamander lvl.1] was slain by you. You earned 20 XP. Congratulations.]
This was only a lvl.1 salamander?! One second I just wanted to return to killing rabbits, as they suddenly looked much more desirable as those heavily armored salamanders. But considering that hunting one monster was still easier than hunting 2 to 3 at the same time, I convinced myself to try hunting a few more salamanders. I shoved the body in my inventory, as I would use it as my lunch and walked further into the salamander territory. This stingy animal didn't drop anything else. What a bummer!
5 kills later, I still had more than 200 XP to go for another level up, but my shield grew more sorry with every collision with a salamander, and I had to drink a HP potion before their impacts fractured my arm.
Either I would need to return to repair my light shield soon, or the collision would hit me directly, maybe shattering my bones or throwing me against a rock or three in the surroundings.
Since I preferred staying alive, I decided to return to Bronning to patch up my light shield. At least hunting lizards was more rewarding than killing rabbits and I had found different ways to kill them fast and without taking much damage.
They were dangerous enemies, but if they dropped something, it would be thrice the worth of items or money that rabbits usually dropped.
Quite happy with the result of just half an hour of hunting, I headed back to Bronning. On my way, a group of two rabbits and a lone rabbit fell victim to my blade. Slowly, my sword swinging was getting smoother and somewhat ingrained in my movements.
The repair of my shield took a little less than half an hour, so I went to sell the drops on the market, earning about 2 bronze and 1 copper with a bit of change. With the bodies of the salamanders, I went to a local barbeque spot, where one could either grill their meat themselves or let it be prepared and grilled by a professional. Both required a fee and I handed the cook the 1 copper, watching as they dissected the corpse, separating the meat from the organic armor and organs. Then, the heaps of purplish meat were placed on a huge sizzling grill. After a few minutes, the NPC handed me 10 fresh salamander steaks.
The juicy steak was beautiful to watch and the taste was heavenly. In exchange for the leftovers of the salamander meat, they handed me half a loaf of cut bread to accompany the meat. Sitting in the shade of a canopy, I wolfed down two of the steaks while saving a third of the bread and the remaining steaks in my inventory.
Refreshed and with both full stamina and satiency, I left to pick up my repaired shield and head back to the forest. A few steps into the forest, I hid behind a tree and halted.
I didn't imagine the probing eyes on me. Since I was nothing but a low level player, I didn't think anyone would be interested in me, but now I can't deny that I was followed by someone.
Waiting in silence, I heard the steps come to a halt. I knew I couldn't run so I gripped my sword while hiding my second pair of arms holding the spiked mace and dagger and stepped out. A slender elf was in front of me, the glossy black hair placed in a complicated updo with braids and a small hairpiece looking like a crown from a historical chinese drama. A dark green tinted armored bodysuit covered the body up to the neck and a half mask covered his mouth and cheeks while one of his eyes was behind a tinted aiming help. Two shortswords were on his back while he held a glaive in his hands. He looked like his level was way too high for this region or that he had too much money to spend on games. The game allowed a general shopping channel which only the players could access. But most things offered there were priced with real money or so expensive that I ignored this buying option.
"Do you think I would be an easy target for a fast PK?" I asked, cocking one of my eyebrows. But considering that I was still wearing my cloak, he couldn't really see my expression.
He took the half mask off and it dissolved into thin air, as the other player placed the item in his inventory.
"Hardly." The elf spouted, an arrogant smirk lifting one corner of his mouth. I would have loved to slap the arrogant expression from his face.
"Then why did you follow me?"
"I thought you maybe found some items close to a NPC corpse only a few minutes from here. Yesterday I found some remains and wanted to know if those belonged to a quest of mine."
My heart stopped. Fuck. Did I just encounter the creepy pervert from yesterday? A book truly can't be judged by its cover. Especially in games!
While my thoughts raced, trying to formulate a logical statement, the elf came closer and it took me all my composure not to step back. This was a psychological fight and I was a head taller than the haughty elf. Or rather the psycho who slobbered all over my bones.
"Do you think I would share my findings with you in case I found something nice?" I answered just as arrogant as he talked before. Not a single hint of instability hindered my speech.
"Would one silver make you share what you found there?" His daunting tone of voice and his deliberately slow steps halting just one arm length in front of me unnerved me, but I pretended to be calm.
"One silver wouldn't even make me lift my hand to show my middle finger." Nice comeback! I thought, hoping he wouldn't try to attack me with his glaive.
"How about 1 gold?"
I yawned. "Are you finished? I still have something to do."
Now, it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Name your price then."
"This glaive looks nice." I smirked while showing my teeth, making sure to let the sunlight reflect my fangs.
His hand shot forward and I had to thank my slow reflexes that I didn't jump like a scared rabbit at his fast motion. Holy moly, that must have been thrice my movement speed! How much were those items this elf wore worth, to offer so much added stats?!
"Here, it's yours, just tell me what you found." I dismissed my light shield, placing it back in the inventory.
Then I gripped the shaft of the glaive and heard an announcement.
[The ownership of the rare weapon [Tiger's fang] was transferred to you. Do you accept it? [Yes] [No]]
I chose yes and placed the item in the [Lesser anti-thieving device] instantly. It vanished and I looked straight into the piercing brown eyes of the elf.
"I was there yesterday, too. While I didn't see the corpse up close, I saw a pervert slobbering all over some bones. Maybe start questioning this pervert. Thank you for the glaive." Then I turned around, slowly walking away, hoping he wouldn't stab me with those short swords.
Behind me, I heard him chuckle dryly.
"Well played." he said and steps resounded. Before I could turn to meet his blade with mine, he was standing in front of me.
"Would you let me accompany you then? I just lost my main weapon and am in need of a comrade to do some grinding." His expression was a bit creepy, especially as I saw a hint of fury in his eyes. Does he plan to steal his glaive back by killing me? Why not discourage him by showing him that he can't get his way? So that he won't bother me ever again.
It was a solid plan, especially since I didn't know if he would stab me in case I refused him.
"Sure." I said and sent him an invitation to join my party.
[[Firion lvl.1] has joined your party.]
Hoping I would survive this hunt, I walked alongside the elf deeper into the forest surrounding Bronning.