He blinked twice before hurriedly rising to his feet, he offered a hand to the cloaked person, but his gesture was ignored. The person rose and dusted their cloak and started walking away. Taylor yelled after them
''I'm really sorry about that''
For some reason, he had a rather odd feeling about the mysterious person in a cloak, he wondered why. He turned to Liam and heard him chuckle
"So clumsy "
He scoffed and replied to him
"It's not like I did that on purpose!"
They both continued, they had to ride another coach to the valleys. This time Taylor knew better than to ogle, he kept his head low and didn't bother to take notice of the other passengers.
Just as they got off, one of the other passengers shouted
"Hey theif! Give me my back, my money pouch!!"
Without thinking, Taylor ran after the so-called thief with a speed greater than that of lightening, Liam rushed after them as so did the crowd, including the owner of the stolen money. The thief was quite a runner, but Taylor was a relay race champion for four years straight, and he was on his heels.
The figure ran, jumped and cornered repeatedly trying to lose Taylor, but he remained adamant and continued chasing them until they got to a dark deserted street.
Taylor leaped into the air and fell on the runner, they both came crashing down. He forced his hands behind his back and pulled out the pouch from his pocket. Liam finally caught up to them, all tired and breathing heavily, followed by the crowd which now consisted of only four males and the owner of the stolen pouch
--Mission accomplished!
[Congratulations on your first save]
--+50 Strength Boost!
--+50 Exp. Boost!
Current Exp.:50/50
Strength:50/50
Taylor tossed the pouch to the owner, who confirmed it was their's and thanked him profusely. One of the males asked,
"What do we do with him?" Pointing at the tackled thief,
"We should beat him up of course" the other said.
As they were contemplating on what to do with the lad, Liam took a closer look and said
"Stop!"
With that, he pulled off the mask covering the person's face, and they all gasped, it was a girl !
"What?" Taylor's eyes widened, staring at the pretty faced girl beneath him and slowly released her and got off. The others looked on dumbfounded.
Seizing the chance, the girl abruptly took off with such speed that you wouldn't see her feet touching the ground. Then Liam finally found his voice
"How can she run like that" his jaw was still wide
The others mumbled between themselves
"What realm is she from, how can someone run like that, and she's so pretty? What a waste "
In what seemed to be a second, they all forgot what the pretty faced girl had just done and found their way back to their businesses. Taylor dusted off himself while Liam stood watching him with a smile. Taylor noticed it and asked.
" What?"
"How can you run like that?, I could have sworn you were flying" he spoke lowly.
"I've been an athlete since I was nine, won different awards both for my school and a few personal ones. I was trained by my Dad, before he passed away"
Liam mouthed an "O"
"Oh, well, sorry about that. You're really good, by the way, it's good to have a great runner on the team. And speaking of teams, we still have one to form, let's go!"
They found their way around and began searching for their 3rd member, they looked through the valleys, but there was no sign of her, then they began scouting the villages at the end of the valley. They heard a loud hissing from the clouds and Taylor's breath seized
"We have just one hour left "
They continued searching frantically, all this while Taylor wondered what his next mission was going to be, he was running out of strength and the walking had consumed most of it. He checked his status page
Daily Quest:1/2
Saves:1/5
Exp Remaining:20/50
Strength:25/50
He sighed and was about to say something when Liam dragged him into a shop. It was a fish steak shop just like the one he had seen in Naemur, Liam bought a few sticks and they both ate to their fill.
--Daily Quest Completed
[+30 Exp boost!]
Current Exp:50/50
After leaving the fish steak shop, they headed to the mountains, another long walk. Taylor's feet were sore from all the traveling, but he couldn't stop, he had to at least make 2 saves today since it was his first day.
He was determined to become a ranger, and he promised himself he wouldn't slack off. As the journey continued, he noticed Liam was less talkative and guessed it was Rufus who was in control and kept his distance. That first encounter was not pleasant at the least, and he was determined to not let it repeat itself, and also because he barely had any strength left to take a blow.
They came upon a cottage and stopped, Liam knocked on the door twice and a tiny figure popped out it's head and asked in a tiny voice
"Hello, are you looking for someone?"
Liam nodded, but before he could say anything further she replied quickly
"Sorry, you're at the wrong house" at proceeded to close the door, but Liam stopped her quickly and she flinched.
"Matilda Dray, Druid from the Realm of teiflings."
She raised a brow and opened the door wide, with a frown, muttered
"Come in "
They stepped into the comfortable cool cottage, it was warm. Exactly what Taylor needed, the girl scrutinized them critically and began
"Firstly, who are you?
Secondly, how do you know my name?, and who sent you?!"
She looked ever ready for a fight, her chubby face clouded with anxiety and curiosity yet exhibiting a strong aura
Liam proceeded to answer her questions
"I'm Liam Forewand and this is Taylor Lopez, you're one of our 5 teammates, and we're here to recruit you. And no one sent us, we're simply matched together as guild members according to our systems "
The girl seemed to be having none of it, she was being extra careful and didn't want to attract rangers, she looked at the both once again and decided there was no way rangers would send these two-pathetic looking drenched lads.
The two stood there, drenched in sweat, breathing heavily and ready to fall any minute while waiting for her response, she sighed and finally responded, but her response faltered their hope the more
"Fine, show me your abilities then. Only then will I believe you're really not sent by the Rangers "
Taylor scoffed in annoyance
"Why would we be sent by rangers?, We're already tired of hiding from them all day, and we're not going to…."
He was silenced by Liam who seemed to be unto something. For some reason, Taylor couldn't move any part of his body, not even his eyelids.
He stayed like that for two minutes, another round of sweat started rolling down his face as he was suffocating. The girl noticed this and yelled at Liam,
"What are you doing to him? Stop."
Liam smiled and muttered
"Deactivate control ability "
That instant, Taylor finally blinked and fell to his knees breathing heavily, he glared at Liam who grinned at Matilda
"Believe me now?''
She nodded dumbstruck and muttered shakily
"What are you?"