Once the sun set, they set up camp in a clearing by the road, making a few small campfires for each group.
Sirus brought his own food and meditated on his mana at the edge of the forest.
He was there for a few hours before Micheal walked over.
"I know power means a lot here, but be more social. Friends are important, especially since you have no guild."
Surprised at the sudden stimulus, Sirus jolted slightly, and looked up at the man who interrupted him.
"Friendship cannot exist without trust, something impossible here. The stronger I get, the more fun this place is."
"Well, we don't exactly need to be friends... wait, fun? That's your concern?"
"Should it not be?"
"Well. I guess not. It's practically impossible that you have family here, and I'm assuming you have no friends, and jobs aren't really a thing. Being beholden to yourself isn't all that strange since you have no responsibilities, but still.
You're being boring!"
A knife pierced through Sirus' heart. Boring? Him? That's impossible! Nobody has ever called him boring. Crazy? Over the top? Stupid even. But never boring. He had lived his life in the most carefree way possible, taking any opportunity to do whatever dangerously exciting thing was nearby, regardless of the consequences.
'It seems being here has really shocked me to my core.'
"You bastard. I'll kill you where you stand. ."
"Ummm, well if you're not boring, come and prove it to us. Most of the people that came with me are new, and fairly anxious. You seem calm, and that might help them. If you come, we'll feed you; we have a chef class with us."
Sirus' ears perked up at the last comment. He had been curious since he saw the price of meat at the butcher, and this might answer questions. He agreed, and walked over to a group of six sitting around a small fire.
"Hey. I'm a mage named Sirus, nice to meet you. From what I understand, one of you can cook food good."
"I mean, yes, but I wouldn't put it that way."
"Micheal, did you bring this guy over here just to steal food?"
"Hey! I'm a mage too! Do you know any cool spells?"
"I am here almost exclusively for the food, and not really. Just the ones that I got on my class advancement."
"I guess you're at least honest."
"If you love food so much, why don't you try some of this spicy ramen or orange chicken?"
"Finally, something worth listening to!"
Sirus ate the food, finding it to be some of the best things he had ever tried. The ratio of broth to noodle was perfect, and it had just the right amount of toppings. The orange chicken's tanginess was ever present, exciting each little taste bud. He even felt himself get stronger.
! You have eaten well cooked food! +5% stamina, +5% fire resistance for 6 hours
"Wow! This is some special stuff!"
"I know right? Our Jinah is pretty special!"
The group continued talking for a few hours into the night, almost entirely about their respective lives on earth.
'These people still seem so connected to their previous lives on Earth, but I've barely thought about it since I left. Maybe they had stronger family connections than I did, but in any case, my life is better here. It's simple and horribly exciting; everything is new and fun, but everyone here is treating it as a hellscape.'
Sirus didn't bring up his enjoyment of the game, but still tried to participate with funny stories from his time as a firefighter. By the time they finished their conversation, three had already gone to sleep, and it was just Sirus and a man named Dolion. There was a lul in their talk, and Sirus took that opportunity to leave.
'There's only so much time left on the food buffs, so I better go now. I'd probably be best to charge in until I am out of mana and stamina, then retreat. I have multiple days, so multiple opportunities to fight.
From the map we were shown earlier, our path makes an enormous detour to avoid something. It's not mountains or rivers labeled, so it's probably monsters.
'Let's see.'
[Player Name: Sirus Damniel
Lvl: 4
Class: Mage
Skills: Viewer's Guiding Eye, Fireball, Mana-circuits, Magic Missile, Knife Combat, Courage, Mana-Heart, Novice Halberd Arts, Shock, Novice Dagger Arts, Novice Spear Arts
Titles: First Place, Conqueror, Promising Candidate
Strength: 2.46
Intelligence: 3.02
Dexterity: 1.46
Mana: 30/30]
'I originally shot to have thirty mana so I could shoot off two Fireballs, but I guess that didn't really matter. More importantly, I don't really have armor. It seems as if it expects players to make their own armor, or buy it from other players like I have done with weapons. But I really only care about offensense, so I'm probably going to end up this way for a while.'
Sirus trekked out into the forest, confident in his navigation skills from his time outside on earth. The treeline wasn't thick, so it wasn't hard for Sirus to see a small horde of goblins. He had noticed them first, and rushed.
'Goblin's are known for fighting dirty; if I don't ambush them, I'll be ambushed.'
The horde noticed his charge, snarling in disdain, and rushed him in retaliation.
"Explosive Explosion: Fireball"
Sirus modified his incantation, trying to get as much aoe damage into the center of the running horde.
Skreeee!!!
The goblins were blasted in every direction. Sirus moved his grip towards the blade of his halberd for greater control and unsheathed his dagger, managing to stab five of the seven goblins before they rose again.
The remaining two became fear stricken, and fled, but after all his training, Sirus had no trouble killing them both with throwing daggers.
'That was anticlimactic.'
He absorbed the corpses into his inventory, then meditated until his mana was restored.
The trek through the forest continued, and became increasingly steep. There was a clearing at the top of the hill he was climbing, where a wood fort was built. There didn't appear to be any goblins around, so he jogged towards the entrance.
Standing on the edge of the wood palisade, Sirus could hear the sounds inside.
The sounds reminded him of a party, and he could hear instruments being played.
Sirus pulled one of the corpses from his inventory, and decapitated it.
He walked to the entrance of the fort, and screamed.
"HHHEEEYYYYY!!!!!"
He threw the head into the center of the dance circle.
"Entrap and bind: Mudpit"
The grass seemed to melt into the ground as the area stirred itself into a slurry of mud.
"SKREEEE!!!!"
The goblins quickly abandoned their dance, some not even bothering to grab weapons before charging at their new enemy.
With their anger and the dim light of the night, none noticed the mud replaced the dirt.
Sirus smiled at the result of his efforts, and held his halberd at its base to give as much reach as possible. He swung across the swamp like a farmer and their scythe, cutting through multiple goblins at a time.
"GRAAAAA!!!!"
The screams only got louder as the pit practically filled itself with corpses.
"Explosive Explosion: Fireball"
VVVAAA-BOOOOM
Sirus pumped more mana than before into the fireball after the goblin's started to climb on corpses to get across the pit.
A few archers had appeared on the other side, firing arrows as fast as they could. Sirus managed to dodge most, but one had grazed his shoulder.
"Hey! Fuck you!"
"Consume at my command: Fireball!"
The three archers went up and flames, unsuccessfully rolling in the dirt to extinguish themselves.
'I need to kill as many as possible before more archer's appear; I'm practically out of magic.'
The flow of goblins had noticeably decreased, but it was still substantial.
"AAUURAAHHH"