"He's doing it again!" Mufasa exclaimed angrily, causing Thorne to sigh in frustration. These two have been going at it for quite a while now.
Mufasa had arrived just as Supreme Horseface Po's former team had left. He had been initially glad when he saw that a purple construct had joined their team but lost it when he realized who it was.
He had obviously read the article and he didn't like it.
So, the two begun their legendary battle right away. Just a battle of words though because Thorne always stepped in when things were about to get physical. He couldn't bear to watch Mufasa thrashed up. Po was a purple construct after all. He could beat Mufasa up without breaking a sweat.
"Why are you even here anyway? You had two gold constructs in your team. There was no reason for you to leave them to join us." Mufasa really wanted the fellow gone.
"Because of his username." Po pointed at Thorne.
Thorne looked back just to be sure. Yep. the finger was pointed at him.
"On the leaderboard you'll find six others with similar usernames. A few idiots might not think much of this: after all it's possible they could be from the same faction, or in the same team which is the reason why they named themselves that." Po revealed
Mufasa nodded subconsciously. "That might be the case."
"Wrong!" Po refuted while stroking an imaginary beard, probably intending to appear as a sage by doing that.
"Like I said, only idiots would assume that".
Mufasa's eye twitched. He nearly fell from the air in fury. Thorne quickly intervened before the two went at it again.
"Keep talking."
"They aren't from the same faction, neither are they teammates. They even despise themselves"
"And how would you know that?" Mufasa spat out angrily.
Po looked at him as if he was an idiot. He felt disrespected. He was the Supreme Horseface Po, the famed divine sorcerer of information. Yet a blasphemous blue idiot dared question his means. How infuriating!
He chose to ignore the question.
"You must think that your friend chose his username by coincidence then?'
He shot a meaningful glance at Thorne and didn't speak further. Thorne knew this fellow had some information on the children of Synthetica but was refusing to share. He was using that as a bargaining chip to get into the team.
Thorne found it childish because this was a game he was just playing for fun and didn't really intend on delving into secret plots or other stuff about the game. However he still went along with it.
"Alright you're in. Now hurry up and talk."
Po didn't immediately respond. Rather, he gazed at Thorne deeply. Mufasa, who was on the side was thoroughly ignored by him.
"I'll tell you that and much more if you choose to log in next time."
His voice had gone from the sagely con man one to a deeper mysterious one. Thorne could tell he was being fully serious. But he was confused
'Why would he choose not to log in next time. There was no reason to abandon it so soon. He had already grown fond of it.
"What a load of crap", Mufasa sneered. This guy was just too good at pretending. If he just wanted to tag along, why couldn't he say so. Was it necessary to act all mysterious?
Po merely shook his head at the twos disbelief.
"You'll understand soon enough. Just remember that that there's more to this this game than you think. There is a reason it was given out practically for free."
The duo understood this fact clearly. This game was definitely worth more than the price it was sold for. Way more!
"Alright, lets move before we are left behind. By all costs we have to be on that Leaderboard."
Thorne decided to let Po tag along. He was still a purple construct and he might come in handy when they begun clearing monsters.
At this point, most of the player had ventured into the forests in teams or alone. Only a few blue and red constructs were left here still gathering teammates.
The beginner mission said cardinal ends so they chose to head south. Most of the constructs had chosen the other directions, choosing to follow the gold and purple constructs that had left in that direction.
For this reason, the trio chose south after Po deduced that there could be a limited number of mobs and following the others would mean that their kills wouldn't be sufficient to rank in the leaderboards.
As the trio walked onwards, they realized that the number of clusters of glowing mushrooms had increased. This looked like a mushroom only zone. The stalks were so dense and congregated that Thorne had to conjure a machete to clear a path. Po visibly ogled at the abilities of his starshard.
"By the way", Mufasa suddenly asked, "Where did all those bees go ? There were literally thousands of them. We would surely have been on the leaderboards if we are able to kill all of them."
Po quickly switched to sagely con man state in an instant. He clasped his hands behind him and stared into the dark sky.
"Because it went dark", he said, cocking his head like a proud rooster.
"When the cat was away, the mice came out to play. This was what happened."
Mufasa felt that this fellow was spouting bullshit again. Couldn't he just speak normally for once? What was this proverbial nonsense? He sent Thorne a frustrated glare.
Thorne didn't know if he should laugh or cry. These two were surely going to be the death of him.
"The day came only to welcome us and that gave the bees leverage to also come out." Po continued.
"We were right to assume the bees to be mobs. Yes but they weren't just our mobs. They were for everyone"
"What bullshit are you spouting this time." Mufasa roared angrily.
Po ignored him. Rather, he reduced his voice to an eerie whisper.
"When the darkness came, the bees didn't just leave..."
"They fled..."
The forest descended into silence. Po's eerie whisper sent a chill down Mufasa's spine.
"Because something in the dark....."
A large shadow enveloped the trio. Po's whisper was so silent that it merged with the passing breeze.
"...terrified them."
Crack!
The sound broke the three out of their stupor and they jumped back in fright.
Turning to the source of the sound, they saw a large monstrous .....spider.
"YOU DAAAAAARE...!"
A couple of seconds later, Po's furious roar resounded throughout the mushroom zone.
"A measly spider dares to sneak up on me
Purple flames appeared in his hand and he begun bombarding the spider with fireballs, causing the spider to fall back, screeching painfully. Po looked genuinely furious.
After all the effort he had put in to create an unsettling mood it was just a stupid giant spider that came after. No terrifying abomination. No hideous monstrosity. Just a spider. This wasn't how it happened the movies.
How embarrassing!
Ah, he was surely going to lose face in front of his teammates.
He blamed the spider. This foolish creature just couldn't mind its business.
"Yo, watch out!"
Mufasa streaked forward knocking Po down just seconds before a web projectile streaked past.
"What is it with this game and bugs. Unfortunately i cant bring bug spray" He muttered, glancing at the huge spider.
Po felt he was losing brain cells just by listening to this guy. Who even thought of bringing bug spray into a VR game?
Thorne on the other hand, was observing the spider. He was looking for a weak spot he could exploit. Legs, joints,...nope none. Even the creatures midsection was densely armored.
The spider wasn't making his work any easier. Seeing that its ranged attack had failed, it sped forward for a more frontal one.
Thorne shrugged away all thoughts of finding a weakness and decided to go with the standard approach.
Brute force!
The battle would be more thrilling that way. Luckily, Mufasa's last crazy hunting session had earned him some decent stat points so he was sure he could tank a few hits.
[Status]
Name: The seventh son
Race: Syntethicon (Exclusive)
State of Solidity: 14
Core: Cosmogem of Energy (Grade???)
Energy output: –
Integrity: 140
[Starshards]: 1
Quarkite (Grade: Luminous)
Description: Construct any thought into existence
So, without hesitation, he leapt forward, speeding in the direction of the spider. His sudden action stunned Po, who had been drawing the last of his energy reserves, preparing another round of purple fireballs. He wondered what this fellow was up to, so he watched on with interest.
Yet as he watched on, his expression of interest morphed into one of immense shock. Utter total shock. Mufasa, beside him, was so dumbfounded he fell straight to the ground
Thorne this mad fellow. This mad crazy fellow. When he neared the spider, a small circular disk platform appeared in front of him which he leapt on. Then the duo watched on, stunned, as he he continued leaping up. Platform after platform appeared like staircases until he was right over the head of the spider, a considerable height away. Then, the idiot fell.
Thorne was drunk with excitement. The danger intoxicated him. The wind howling in his ears were like melodies spurring him on. In his hands, a large war hammer construct appeared. He filled the starshard with energy until it reached its limit. Holding the end of the shaft with both hands, he raised it above his head majestically, then he brutally swung down.
"Hahahaha...." A crazed laughter escaped his mouth.
BANG!