Fruits of Labor
- "Of all the pleasures the fruit of labor is sweetest."
- Luc de Clapiers
From a distance it looked really pleasant; a pristine picture when caught together with the surrounding nature, but take away the enchanting background and suddenly it lost that sparkling look. The closer I got, the more I realized that it wasn't at all the little enchanting lake town I had envisioned. A large wall, comprised of sharpened logs surrounded the settlement, obscuring it from my view. Smaller stakes jutted out randomly, several of them covered in what could only be the blood of the forest monsters.
It was this that reminded me that just like Skyrim, Aincrad's first floor was a beautiful landscape, but the story of the land itself wasn't nearly as pretty. This land, too, was overrun by monsters, though I could only hope there wasn't an equally destructive civil war element to this world. Killing monsters was one thing, other people, even simulations (and technically we were simulations too), was a totally different thing.
It was with those heavy thoughts that I arrived at the gate. A guard, whose armor was much less glamorous – not to mention more damaged - than the ones the guards in Starting City had possessed, but still miles better than mine, put his hand on the handle of his broadsword and said: "Who are you and what's your business in Numalba?" His voice was gruff, and it held no kindness; only suspicion. His large square face, marred by a scar that traveled across the bridge of his nose and his thin lips, was just as distrusting.
"My name is Ray, and I'm a Recruit arriving from Starting City."
He looked me up and down twice, and apparently satisfied with what he saw, let his hand drop. He smiled thinly, "Good, we could really use the help. Of course, three years ago would have been better. Anyhow, go on in."
"Thanks," I said and with that I hurried on in, because the look of resentment he was shooting me wasn't a particularly fun thing to be subjected to. At least I'd gotten some new information, as apparently three years ago was when the portals failed and everything went to hell, or at least for Numalba.
I was now inside the town and, as I had seen from a higher vantage point, it was made up of cabins, but they were not at all prime vacation spots; old and ramshackle was more like it. They might have been once, but time, the elements, and monsters had certainly done a number on them. Some were abandoned, nailed shut and left to rot whilst others were being torn down, the materials they were comprised of being put to a better use. The ones in use looked better, some of them even looked brand new, though these were few and far in between.
The reactions of the NPC varied; a few smiled at my added presence, most shot me dirty looks, and one kid even tried to pickpocket me. I put the kid at about age 10, with black hair and equally dark eyes. That was all I really got from him, catching him in the middle of the act, causing him to scamper off.
Even from a distance I could make out that his clothes, whilst not exactly rags – they'd obviously seen better days – were certainly on their way to becoming them. They were worn, that was the word I was looking for, and so it was the case for most of the NPCs, though the extent varied from person to person.
Wandering around, I eventually ended up by the pier, which also fulfilled the duty of small market place – selling mostly fish – and a small dock, a few boats anchored right there. A really nice smell wafted up to me and I followed it eagerly, suddenly quite aware that I was actually really damn hungry. It wasn't much of a surprise seeing as the last thing I'd eaten had been the Cub Berries – and before that only a piece of bread and an apple – meaning that in the 2 hours that I'd travelled and fought I hadn't quite eaten my fill.
Various merchants called out to me, one man selling rods, but I followed my nose and soon I found myself in front of a stall, the closest to the actual pier and one of the smallest ones. It was from here that the delicious and slightly familiar smell came from. It was slightly familiar because the snack that he sold was the in-game version of Shioyaki, a salty sea bream on a stick, which I'd enjoyed many a time at festivals. It wasn't Takoyaki, my favorite festival food, but Shioyaki came a close second.
Of course in Aincrad, it was another fish (especially seeing as mackerel were salt water fish and we stood next to a lake) but the basic principle was the same, and it smelled equally as good. So without further ado, I bought two bleu perches on a stick, paying the entirely forgettable fisherman 14 Col.
With nothing better to do, I decided to sit down at the end of the pier and watch the sun set, seeing as it was already seven o'clock. Mouth actually watering, the system exaggerating my emotions and actions, I started in on my snack. With the first bite I closed my eyes in happiness, because this was even better than the Shioyaki I was used to. This was probably due to the fact that these blue perches were less salty by nature, which made them more delicious to my mind. I gorged the two of them down in record time and contemplated buying a third, but decided against it, because I'd eat my dinner in an hour or so anyway.
No longer practically starving, I sat there, feet dangling above the water. I got bored of the sun soon enough, even if the calm and somewhat depressing BGM added to the beautiful image and I decided to see if the Guide had anything on Numalba.
As it turned out, it did.
"A small fishing and logging town, its foremost trade is in fish and wood. Whilst the smallest of the bigger settlements, about half as big as Horunka, it is the biggest and most wealthy out east due to its central placement between the Tempana Ridge, where the ore mines are, and Starting City. It is also the first place a player can buy rods and start training the Fishing Skill, though it is rumored that one of the smaller towns that surround Numalba's lake has the best rods this early in the game. By far the most convenient thing about Numalba, though, is that for a reasonable fare, one can take a 'ferry' to one of the surrounding villages, which is a much faster way of travel than your own two feet."
I raised both eyebrows at that little gem of information. I looked upon the little boats docked here with a renewed interest and respect. I was pretty sure that it wasn't immediately available, only unlocked after completing a certain quest for a certain NPC. Actually, I bet that every boat - there were a grand total of 5 - would only go to one place and one place alone, meaning that in order to travel to the next village, you had to complete a different quest for a different person; a line of successive quests needed in order to progress forward.
"As far as hunting goes, both Horunka and Numalba have large amounts of Little Nepents in the surrounding forests. In fact, the only difference between the forests is that the ones in the west contain 'Living Oak' and other monsters like it, whilst the east has more Fauna based monsters such as Bears. Level wise it is roughly the same."
There were probably pros to going to Horunka first as well, of that I was sure, but I'd chosen to go to Numalba and all considered I was content with that decision. Sure, the place wasn't exactly cheerful – the loss of the economic wealth the Guide had mentioned an obvious factor to this – but hell if it wasn't a convenient place to be.
The sun had well and truly set behind the mountain range, behind the outer walls of Aincrad if you wanted to get specific, not a single ray left to see and night was starting to fall. The clock showed that it was 7:35, and many of the merchants had already packed up and left, one of them being the man I had bought my delicious fish from. For them it was time to return home to a family and enjoy dinner together, I on the other hand didn't have that as an option. I wouldn't for a long time, and just like that my good mood evaporated.
With a lot less curiosity and passion, I went in search for an Inn, and within ten minutes I'd found the only one in Numalba. It wasn't a particularly grand building, two stories tall and not very wide or long but the inside of The Angler Inn was a lot more filled and cozy than the Goblet had ever been.
A merry fire crackled in the hearth, and the hubbub of conversation mingled nicely with the happier tune of the new BGM. The clientele, as far as I could tell, consisted mostly of bearded fishermen, and women were scarce. I think I saw maybe three, at most. Still, the camaraderie these people all so clearly shared was another stab at how alone I was in this world.
With a heavy brow and slow steps, I made my way forward to the bar, because I wasn't hungry yet and I wondered if I could even get hungry given the mood I was in. I looked up at the blackboard upon which my choices of beverage, and food if I felt like it, were to be found.
It was barely any contest at all as to what I would drink; I ordered a glass of the second most expensive drink, a Chestnut Bear. The barkeep, a man with a bushy mustache and a sharp nose looked at me with green eyes that simply shouted that he thought I was way too young. He was about to open his mouth and actually say it out loud, but I glared at him with all I had and with a swipe of my fingers made the transaction of 30 Col. With an audible click, his mouth shut into a firm line and he nodded and brought me my beverage.
It was a light brown in color and it truly did smell of nuts. Without so much a thank you to his, "Here you go, sir", I took a swig. I don't think I'd ever tasted a chestnut before, but the beverage was actually really smooth and relatively sweet for what I assumed was the whiskey of this world. So I sat for the next forty minutes, quietly sipping my tasty alcoholic beverage whilst becoming one with the background noise.
My mind was nowhere and everywhere, going from random thought to happy family filled memory. A slight buzz, what I got from about five beers (I could really take my alcohol), was what filled my head alongside them and it simply wasn't enough. No, I planned on getting drunk, like we all had at that Halloween party last year, to drown this immense feeling of homesickness and loneliness.
I looked at the last of my beverage and thought deeply about how to get drunk in this game, because obviously going at it like I was now wasn't cutting it. Suddenly, something that the Guide had mentioned came to the forefront of my mind: the Ethics Off button. It is what would allow for more than a casual touch, for example kissing and probably doing the deed, without shocking your partner into oblivion. It being off would also allow smoking, so why not becoming intoxicated?
It took me a while to find the darn thing, it being quite well hidden, but with tenacity and a little help from the Guide, the Ethics Code was off and I drank the last of my almost empty glass. With a small smirk, I ordered another from the stern barkeep. This one I drank a lot faster, and hoping that the so far biologically accurate game would take my empty stomach into account and get me even more drunk. Ten minutes passed, and all I felt was a slight increase in the buzz; that was it.
My eyebrows furrowed and I felt the urge to throw the empty glass I was still holding in my hand on the floor, but I quenched it and put it back on the bar where it belonged. It seemed that the NerveGear could do a lot, but getting you drunk was, sadly, not one of them. Or perhaps it could, but only with large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and seeing as this was the Whiskey of this world, it would take quite a bit to get drunk. I'd already paid 60 Col, wasting another 30 for no change whatsoever felt like a huge waste, even if the drink was actually really tasty. Suddenly, with a large rumble my stomach showed off one of those things the NerveGear could accomplish.
Good man that I am, and I heeded its call, ordered something called a Boiled Brew and went to sit at a table that kept some distance between me and the rest of the patrons, seeing as I had no interest in socializing just yet. I'd ordered this particular meal because the name had called out to me, just like the name Chestnut Bear had, and I was anxious to see if this would be as much to my taste as the last two things I'd consumed in this town had been.
Within moments, a deep steaming bowl of a brown broth, next to which lay a few slices of bread, sat in front of me. I saw chunks of vegetables, potatoes, and what could only be some kind of meat floating about in it. It looked very filling, the smell wasn't too bad, and if anything, it reminded me slightly of chili except you know…a little more watery.
I shrugged and dug right on in, dipping the bread into it. It soaked it right up and I had my first taste; it wasn't bad, but way too salty if you asked me, though I had to admit it did suit the dish. The chunks of what I had first thought to be meat turned out to be fish and as I'd predicted, once the bowl was empty I was ready to burst.
No longer hungry, warmed by the fire even this far away from it, and still ever so slightly buzzed, I found that I was actually very drowsy and ready to go to sleep; hiking and fighting all day will tire you out like nobody's business. I called the Bar Keep, whose name I had gleaned over the past hour: "Hey Mr. Bernier, can I have your cheapest room for the next three nights?"
The older man replied with sigh. "I'm sorry were booked for the week, the last room available was taken yesterday, but you're a recruit right?"
I answered, "Yeah", but I thought something more along the lines of: 'First the bar provides me with alcoholic beverages that don't get me drunk and now he can't offer me a room? What kind of Inn is this and how in the hell is this place full! I'm probably the first and only player here!'
"Well, that means the barracks out by the eastern wall have to offer you a place, for a small fee, of course."
This put a stop to the rant I was holding in my head and I blinked at the solid logic this provided me with; you, the player, are a recruit, so of course you have to be inducted by this world's army. This was the game's way of telling me to follow the damn plot.
"Ah," I put my hands on the sturdy wooden table and stood up, "Thanks for the info and the food." By the time I was through the door I heard, "Thank you for your patronage!" The change in temperature was startling as it was a cold November night and I shivered. My breath came out as a puff, and my eyes widened at the realism that the game just employed. Not wanting to find out if catching a cold while pixilated was possible, I walked towards the eastern wall at a brisk pace, passing through a small square where the tallest and broadest building I'd seen so far stood, the words 'Town Hall' carved out elegantly in the wood.
Not five minutes later, after passing more and more abandoned cottages, each showing more damage than the last, I stood in front of what could only be the Barracks. It was two stories high, about eight meters long and probably the same length across. In front of it was a small archery range, and next to it I thought I made out some scarecrow dummies that were no doubt long used to the touch of forged steel. I wondered if training there would help you raise your stats or help you improve you Weapon Skill of choice.
I stifled a yawn, which brought my mind back on track to the quest of finding myself a bed. Opening the sturdy oaken doors (at least I thought it was oak, but I could be wrong) I entered the barracks and I felt the brunt of the chill that had held me whilst walking let go. Hurriedly I closed the doors, lest the cold return.
"Ah, back already, Boryn?" asked a familiar voice. I turned around, and sure enough there sat the guard that had almost drawn his broadsword earlier today. He looked just as surprised at seeing me as I was him, though this was only momentarily.
Dark, beady eyes narrowed and he said, "You're not Boryn. What are you doing here?" His gruff voice had lost much of the civility that it had had not two seconds earlier. Man, this guy did not like me.
"Looking for a place to stay since Angler Inn is full."
He sighed and muttered something darkly under his breath and then said, "Right, come along then." He led me up the stairs to the second floor and down the entirety of the hall, and finally opened the door on the left. It was completely bare except for a form lying by the right wall. "This is your abode; there are some cushions and bedrolls in the closet. Good night." With that the man promptly left.
The bedrolls he had mentioned were all equally thin and kind of itchy too, seeing as they were made of wool. The cushions, at least, offered more comfort, so seeing as for now it was only two occupants, I allowed myself the luxury of two. I undressed with the pressing of a button (a handy thing that would not have been wrong to have had back in the real world), lay down on the floor and immediately wished back for the crappy beds I'd slept on back in Starting City, a feat I had not thought possible. Sure, the mattresses sucked when compared to what I was used to back in the real world, but scratchy as they were, filled with hay, they were certainly softer than a wooden floor. Beggars couldn't be choosers, though, I supposed. Setting my alarm for 8 AM, I closed my eyes, ready for a long and somewhat uncomfortable night. In the end I needn't have worried, as I was out within seconds.
With a start, I shot awake, the loud chiming of a goddamn bell that was most certainly not the already familiar ringing of my set alarm bringing me out my much valued sleep, not to mention a rather pleasant dream. I was already missing the embrace of a scantily clad Scarlett Johansson something fierce.
Blearily, I looked around trying to suss out the origin of the incessant noise, but all I found was that my roommate was in a similar state of early morning confusion, pulling his pillow over his head in a valiant attempt to tune out the noise and go back from whence he came. Apparently, even AI appreciated their rest, and I heard him groan when it didn't seem to help much, the bell chimes getting louder. The soft glow of morning entered through the window both of us had taken effort to avoid, illuminating the room somewhat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the door slammed open, startling both of us, and a large man, comparable to the size the nerd's avatar had been back on the Square of Beginning, was standing in the opening swinging around the source of the noise.
A huge smile adorned his round face as he swung the bell from side to side. Sideburns à la lamb chops framed it, coming down from a bright red crown of hair. "Up and at 'em, recruits! Breakfast is downstairs and after that there's work to be done!" he shouted in his loud and brass voice with way to much cheer and enthusiasm; you could practically feel the man savoring our expressions.
Silently, my eyes followed him as he walked back into the hall, bell still tolling, but they stopped dead when they came to rest upon the numbers that floated in the corner of the screen: 6:05 AM. My roommate, seemingly also discovering just how early it was, literally stole the words right out of my mouth; "Motherfucker!"
Immediately following our outbursts we turned wide eyes on each other, sustaining whip lash in the process. I probably should have gotten the hint when Sideburns said 'recruits', which was basically NPC slang for player, but it seemed that he was not an NPC as I first had assumed. Really, though, I had to be forgiven for this slight because not only was it early in the morning – two hours earlier! – but there was also the fact that inside buildings there were no cursors by which to identify, and the iconic armor that would have otherwise made obvious was in his inventory just like mine. To be totally honest, had he cursed in Japanese I probably would have thought a lot less of it but it was because he'd cursed in English just like I had – a habit I'd picked up from my cousins – that his being a player had become abundantly clear to me.
Whilst all that had been going through my head, I'd given him a once over: he had long blonde hair that reached his shoulder blades, bright green eyes, and an equally blonde Tony Stark style beard. His skin was slightly tanned – less than mine – but it gave credence to the fact that he'd been in Japan at least for a while. I pegged him to be a few years my senior and around my size, probably slightly bigger, but we'd only know that for sure when we were both standing.
"Well, I'll be damned!" he said, breaking the ice. "You're not an NPC!" Apparently he, too, had been following a similar train of thought. I tried to place his accent and the options of a Texan drawl, any kind of UK accent, the heavy Russian everyone has used at least once in their lives, and the Scandinavian lilt immediately fell away, but that still left many an option open. Eastern Europe wasn't very likely either, and skin tone alone filtered out a lot as well, so that meant that either he was from an American state whose accent I wasn't familiar with, or from some European country or other. I put my money on the last one.
"Nope, and neither are you," I said in English, "the name's Ray, by the way. You are?"
"The name's Trip Fantasia, but you can call me Trip, and damn am I glad to see that I'm not the only foreigner in this game. We Gaijin need to band together, you know? So, Ray, where are you from?" The blonde got up while he said this and, with a flash of light, was dressed.
His shirt was a lime green, probably to match his eyes, the gloves a pitch black and on his hip hung a small war hammer. It looked pretty damn awesome, suited him even, and I wondered what his avatar had looked like.
I decided that, as going back to sleep was not option – once I was awake, it was up and at 'em for me - it was a good idea to follow his lead and just get dressed. A second later and I was in my comfortable armor. I felt him judging me like I had him.
"My dad's from the states, Seattle to be precise, but due to his job we moved to Japan when I was, like two, so I've lived my whole life in Tokyo." I nodded my head towards the door, "Wanna go get breakfast, we can talk on the way there."
"Sure," Trip agreed, already moving towards the hall.
"Anyways," I continued, "where are you from?"
He smiled as we made our way down the steps, "I'm also an International kid. Originally Swiss, but spending my pre-teens in DC and my last high-school years in Shanghai kind of made me into a drifter who's practically at home anywhere."
I raised an eyebrow at that, "So, what called you to Japan then?"
"The language, mostly, but the added culture, great cuisine, and the fact I have an interest in anime and a slight yellow fever all contributed to the decision. I've been studying at Todai for two years now, well on my way towards my bachelors you know." He sighed, "But now, with a game that was supposed to be for relaxing going totally FUBAR, I doubt it'll happen."
I nodded in sympathy, "I know the feeling man; very close to finishing high school myself."
We'd been walking towards the sound of chatter and laughter, a much more pleasant sound than the bell. We arrived at the center of its origin, which turned out to be a mess hall. Around twenty or so guards were all eating breakfast and holding conversations of their own. We proceeded to stand in line, one that was thankfully rather short because we were the last to get down.
"The situation's not all bad, though, you know," said Trip whist he put some bread and some ham on his plate. "I mean, sure, the fucking psycho stuck us in here to play out some screwed up fantasy he has about playing god, or to use us as a social experiment or some shit, but I, for the first time in my life, have 20/20 vision because this whole world is projected by the combined powers of electronics and our brains. Seriously, just imagine for a second the medical implications this brings about and the possibilities this could have presented the whole of humanity had Kayaba Akihiko not been such a fuckwad!"
"Yeah…" I replied, mulling it over while I, too, filled up my plate "The NerveGear is a truly technological marvel, isn't it? But, really, that's why I'm glad that all that we're stuck in is a virtual world where we don't feel pain," so long as you don't search for the Durability option, "have no biological need to defecate, and have what kind of constitutes as super powers. I mean as it is, it's tricking the shit out of our senses; everything we see, feel, smell, and hear is all projected upon us by this machine. Kayaba Akihiko himself stated back at Starting City that he wanted us to experience a second reality."
I looked him right in the eyes. "Just imagine what else he could have accomplished with the complete and utter control over our neurological pathways; the very things that make us who we are. Sure, Kayaba is a fuckwad, but in a sense he is very, very merciful fuckwad."
The university student was looking at me with wide eyes, "Damn it, Ray, it's around 6 in the morning; that is way too heavy and dark to be thinking about this time of the day. Man, way too dark, period. "
We moved towards a table by the left wall. I shrugged, "Trip, it's the truth, and face it; it makes you feel better about being stuck where we are, shitty as that is."
He thought about it for a second and then nodded, "Touché, it does do that. Especially the super power part makes it loads better."
I grinned as we sat down on opposite sides of the wooden table, "Yup, mainly the reason I bought the game, aside from it being the world's first VROMMRPG. So, why'd you go for the war hammer?"
"Funny story that, actually," he said with a laugh. "See, me and few campus friends - I'm not the only foreigner at Todai, you know - we all decided it'd be fun to base our characters off of the Marvel's Avengers. Bill, one of the two Americans, went for Captain America while Alex, the other American – coincidentally, also a redhead – she went as Black Widow. Erik, being the biggest out of us, is, you guessed it: The Hulk. Francois had already called dibs on Iron Man way back, and that left me and Tom."
He took a few bites from his meal and then continued, "I would have been fine with being Hawkeye, nice aesthetic and all, but seeing as there aren't any bows and arrows in this game, he kind of became obsolete. Same kind of went for Spider Man, plus his suit's colors are kind of garish, you know? In any case, we decided that the two Asgardian brothers. Thor and Loki, would be our choices – hammers and staffs available in-game. Both of us wanted to be Thor; hammers being much cooler than staves and all that jazz."
I nodded in agreement to that, staffs were all kind of bland. "Plus, Thor is actually an Avenger," I pointed out.
"Precisely, I mean as a character I adore Loki, but he's a trickster and illusionist; a magician. His staff is a magic staff and eh…no magic here. So, we let fate decide by means of a coin toss and as luck would have it, I won. There you have it, the reason behind the hammer."
I cocked my head to the side, "So, if you're based off of Thor, why are you called Trip Fantasia?"
"Ah," he said, "yeah, I kind forgot about that whole thing. See, when I made my totally awesome Thor-esque avatar - I do so miss the muscles - it wasn't the physique or even the voice I spent to longest on. No, it was the naming."
He leaned forward conspiratorially, "I had a few options already jotted down, but they were all already taken. So, did you know there are people in this world called Thor Odinson, Thor, Man of Thundah and even Mjölnir?"
I answered with a grimace, "I do, actually." He blinked, obviously surprised. "Three of those four are dead; I saw their names in the Room of Revival. Only Mjölnir is still alive."
Trip's smile fell off his face in a flash. "Oh…" For the next few moments we ate in complete silence, both of us suddenly again made aware of the fact that even though Kayaba could have done things considerably worse, those three alongside 212 others, were dead, their brains fried. Eyes probably liquefied or burnt out of their sockets with blood dripping down their noses.
I pushed those images out of mind in a hurry. With a bland smile and false cheer, I asked, "So umm… anyways, why the name Trip Fantasia?"
He seemed to perk up at me breaking the heavy and awkward silence that had fallen around us. "Right….see, I love jazz, always have. Well, there's this song, Cantaloop, by the jazz-rap band, US3, maybe you've heard of it?" I shook my head, I hadn't.
"You should listen to it sometime, it's pretty damn awesome. Anyways, one of the main lyrics is 'Flip Fantasia', but I always heard is as 'Trip Fantasia'. Erik's the one who corrected that particular misunderstanding, and it kind of became my nickname. So, seeing as all those other names were taken, I took one which my friends would recognize."
It made a lot of sense, but one thing didn't. "If you're here with your friends, why aren't you with them?"
His smile dimmed somewhat. "Alex had a paper due the next day, so she said she'd join us after she'd delivered it, and I'm glad she's not here; she…. doesn't cope with stress too well. Tom had a date, so he too would join the next day. The rest of them are in here, though. Thing is… we'd all planned to take a pizza break and share our avatar names there, meet up again in Aincrad to exclaim our awe for the avatars we'd crafted. As you know…that never went down."
Suddenly, I understood, "You have no idea what your friends are named, and looking for them amongst 10,000 people is almost an exercise in futility. I'm sorry, man. "
"It's okay. I did try to find them you know, but after two days of searching and finding nothing, I decided that staying still in Starting City wasn't going to get me or them anywhere. In here or out there, we'll meet eventually, of that I'm sure."
I smiled at his conviction, even if a small, traitorous voice in my head whispered; "eventually also includes death."
He grinned, "Besides, isn't this the start of a beautiful new friendship?" The little voice was silent at that proclamation.
I replied "That it is, friend."
"So, pal of mine, is Ray your actual name?"
Just like that, the two of just talked for about thirty minutes whilst eating our breakfast, with Trip doing most of the talking. (In that aspect he was a lot like Aichiro. I wondered if he was in here. The angry, raw, and vindictive part of me wanted him to be, but I was never the greatest at holding grudges and the larger part of me wished he was safe out in the real world. ) We kept the conversation light, breached no deep or dark subjects, and mostly just talked about our experiences of being long term foreigners in Japan and language.
It was thus that I found out that Trip was a polyglot; he was fluent in French, German, English, as well as Japanese and could hold a conversation in Italian, his self-proclaimed worst language. I was kind of intimidated by it, to be honest. But aside from a lack of similar specified interest in linguistics, we got along fine. Eventually, we came right back to our situation through complaining about the fact that when you slept in the barracks, you got woken up.
"By the way, do you know why the NPCs could enter our room, because as far as I'm aware, once you have that room nobody but you can open it, right?"
Trip gave me a look, "Did he give you a key or did you see a lock on the door?"
I thought back on it and now that he mentioned it, neither was the case. My silence was answer enough.
"Precisely, just like in a real barracks the notion of privacy isn't exactly a prevalent one, so the NPCs can enter at any time they want. Doesn't happen, though, because I think the only times they go there is if a new player needs accommodation, or for the morning wake up call. That's all their programming allows them." The blonde shrugged, "And yeah, staying at an inn is probably more comfortable – you can actually sleep in - but it is also more expensive. In fact, now that I know that they exist, I'm hoping they have barracks in every town."
"Why?"
He cocked his head to the side, "You don't know the upside to staying here?"
I shook my head, "Nope."
"Oh, huh, I was absolutely sure that that's why you opted out on renting a room in a family house."
"Wait… that's an option?" I was floored; did I perhaps skip over that in the Guide? Very possible, seeing as I didn't read everything with the same fervor.
"Yeah, after the bar keep tells you there's no more room, didn't a few of the patrons of The Angler try and offer it to you, before a guard mentions that the barracks are a much better option?"
Huh, so the patronage at The Angler did change per night, interesting. "No, nobody but the Barkeep actually talked to me, so he was the one who told me about this being an option."
"And he didn't tell you about what the price was?"
"Not specifically, no, he just mentioned that they all but had to offer me a place to stay for a small fee and that was enough for me."
We heard the clanking of armor and the same guard that had come to wake us up – he was still wearing that stupid smile – was walking towards our table. "Well, wouldn't you know it, but that guy there - his name is Radler, I think, and he's the bastard that wakes you up – he's the one that comes and collects your fee."
I asked, "Which is what exactly?" because the Swiss had now been alluding to the fee being the reason that he was staying, so what? It was super cheap?
He grinned, "You'll find out soon enough, Ray."
"Alright Recruits," said the man I now identified as Radler, in his loud and boisterous voice, "you stayed here a night, so it's time to contribute to our community: today, I need each of you to fetch ten slabs of deer meat. Bring it in preferably before dinner time, but after is also still acceptable. Good luck." With that, he moved on.
Bling went the noise and I had a new quest, one you could not, apparently, refuse. I processed this and then a smirk, like the one Trip was already wearing, appeared on my face. "Oh, this is good. You mean that in order to stay here, all we have to do is make profit in Col and EXP? Count me in!"
"Yup, the quests vary from day to day; yesterday was 5 of those odd squirrel creatures, the ones with three eyes." Ah, so that's what they looked like up close, cool. "You know, you'd think 5 isn't a lot, but for those little shits it is, because, fuck, they are fast and nimble, and just so damn small and you have to wait for them come out of the trees, and, just, argh."
"You don't like them, do you?"
"No," he said darkly, "I hate them; it took me 2 hours to complete that particular quest and the EXP they give you is basically worthless. They bite, and also led to me to a Nepent spawning ground and almost got me offed there, but luckily I killed a few of those and could, thankfully, outrun the rest. In conclusion, those Blood Squirrels are devil spawn, I swear to you! But, besides some of the creatures themselves being absolute bitches, this is one hell of sweet deal. Really, I have no idea if it's randomly generated or if there's a schedule to it, only been here one more day than you, but it sure beats having to pay for everything."
Trip stood up, "So, ready to go and complete our quest together?"
I smiled, "Hell yeah, I am, let's go!" And so we did.
We went out the east exit, as it was practically next door, and entered the forest not much later. The BGM was as tranquil as it had been yesterday and the early morning light filtering through the tree tops fitted it even better than the falling evening light had.
"So Trip," I asked the blonde, "you killed one of these deer before?"
He shook his head, blonde strands of hair following and replied: "No, I haven't. I think I've seen maybe two, at the most, and they run away the very moment they notice you. They're probably the fastest creatures in here. I also don't have any clue as to what they're called, does the quest description tell us that or not?"
I checked it, "It does. They're called Striking Stags, which is a fitting name, I suppose. So, I guess this means we can't hunt the females for this quest?"
Trip shrugged, "I guess so, we'll see. Perhaps the females are actually the ones with the antlers in Aincrad, who knows? In the end, they both give us EXP so I won't really discriminate, you know. "
"I wasn't planning on being moral about it either, but it would be useful to know which ones complete the quest faster."
The first things we met were a trio of Little Nepents. I was happy to note that an Eve was not among them, but sadly neither was a Sakura. I took the one on the right and he took the one on the left. I had no idea what level Trip was, I guessed probably already at level 6, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched as his small war hammer – it was no Mjölnir in that aspect – lit up a bloody red and smashed in the head of the plant monster, sending it flying. The one in the middle didn't like that and decided that the blonde was much more of a threat, attacking him with their characteristic cries of war, meaning that I had the luck of just facing one. I heard the shattering of glass, meaning that Trip had disposed of the first one already.
Not wanting to be outdone, I refocused on my target. With ease, and not a second too late either, I dodged one of the leaf appendages and activated a Slant, it fell back with a screech. It was already in the red, but sadly I couldn't kill them in one strike as of yet. I moved forward as well, almost in tandem with it, and sword still up in the air, I reactivated the Sword Skill, following the streak of light that was still in the air with precision. It shattered into pieces and I turned around, seeing the last Nepent still crawling towards the blonde. He saw me and nodded towards the last one, a huge grin on his face.
I understood, and with a smile of my own I activated Horizontal, streaking towards the monster. I cut it, and came to a stop in front of the creature. I turned around once the system let me go and watched how the college student casually activated his war strike. I saw how it squashed the ugly visage of the plant monster, silencing its chatter and not even allowing it to scream out in pain as it exploded into 0's and 1's.
"That," said Trip, "was awesome." His green eyes practically sparkled, "Let's do it again!"
And so began a fun game of finding the best pattern of killing Nepents between the two us, while trying to find ourselves some stags to kill. Just like me, he had two Sword Skills at the moment, his first was the one I'd already seen and it was called Crusher. It was a blow that could practically come from any side as long as you held the hammer around the height of your head. The other was called Uppercut, and as the name implies, it launches the opponent a little bit in the air. The pre-motion for it was equally self-explanatory: it was like performing an actual uppercut, except with a hammer. They melded together so damn smooth, too, because once he'd executed an Uppercut, his hammer was precisely in the position for a Crusher. It was, as he'd put it, "a crushing combo. Get it?"
His skills did more damage, but they were also slower; in the same time that he killed one, I could kill two if I put my mind to it. The fact that Horizontal increased my speed exponentially made it so that I reached my target earlier than he did his.
Once we'd tried to attack one at the same, me with a Slant and he with a Crusher, and the system had actually held back Trip – he'd been attacking it from behind - meaning that I had to take it down on my own. Apparently, monsters could only face one opponent at a time, but the first one we'd killed together was the anomaly to that theory.
"Wait…" I mumbled. "Could this mean that they can only take one hit at a time?" We tested that out and yes, that was the case; so long as we didn't attack precisely at the same time the game allowed it. And so we spent the next half hour tramping through the forest, killing the many Nepents we came across. If they were in groups, we each took a side and took one or two down as a duo. If there was one, we played rock-paper- scissors to see who'd get to do it in. I usually won those small matches, to my happy surprise.
"You know, "said Trip conversationally as he nimbly dodged two of the sharp leaves, "we should have totally gotten another quest while we were at it; I kind of forgot how many of these fuckers there are in the forest."
"That," I replied as I cut one of the leaves off, rendering one of my opponent's appendages useless, "would have probably been a lot more profitable. Hell, I could have unlocked one of those boats by now come to I think of it. Oh well, we'll do that once we find some of those Stags."
"Boats?" asked the blonde as he crushed his opponent.
"Yeah, the ones that take you to the other smaller lake settlements. I'd assumed you'd already cleared a quest for one of the fishermen by the pier."
He was silent for a moment and then said, "There's a pier?"
Polygons were falling behind me and I bet it looked really bad ass. I looked Trip right in the eyes, and asked him "You haven't explored Numalba yet, have you?"
He chuckled, "Not really, no. I mean, I went right back to sleep after Radler came up with the bell, and woke up at 12."
I stopped him before he could continue with his story, "You mean we could have gone back to bed earlier."
"Yes." I gave him a look that let him know my ire. Not that I could have gone back to sleep anyway, but it was the thought that counted.
"Anyway, "he continued, ignoring the blame I was heaping on him with my eyes, "After that I took continues quest from the people at the barracks, so I was busy with that most of the day. I was deadbeat by the time 8 PM rolled around and went to bed early. Exploring never really crossed my mind."
"Well then" I said with a grin, "you should be glad I kind of did. There are five boats by the pier and each one of them goes to a different town but in order to be able to get access to these 'ferries', you have to complete a quest for the owner of said boat."
"Oh that's cool. Ray," he threw an arm around my shoulder, "I think you and I were scripted to meet and give each other useful information."
I snorted, "Yes, and I suppose we were also scripted to fail at finding some deer."
"Why, yes, we were."
"We were?"
"Yes," he replied sagely, "to have this conversation of course."
"Ah, of course."
We walked out of the small clearing we'd fought the last four Nepents in and Trip sighed, "You're right though, it shouldn't be this hard to find some –
Both of stilled, our eyes centered on the five deer that were grazing right in the next clearing. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Their coats were comprised of dark brown fur which was divided in half by a thin, white line. The tail, however, was a pure black. On their long faces sat four antlers. The bone looked as sharp as my sword. Above those sharp bone protrusions hung a pure red cursor, indicating it was level five. They hadn't noticed us yet, and we shared a look. We could not afford to fuck this up.
We had a strategy, yes, but it heavily relied on the fact that once these creatures were aggro'd, they'd actually keep attacking and wouldn't run away like they'd done so far. It basically came down to me being the aggroer, attracting their attention and leading them into the path of a Crusher.
I pointed towards the creatures, then towards my cursor and raised full hand, signaling they were level five. Trip nodded in understanding and used the universal gesture for attack. I nodded my consent.
The closest one was about seven meters in front of us, slightly to the right. I started running, jumped over the bushes, because wading through them would, a) make my approach slower, and b) would announce my presence too soon. Still, they noticed the vibration, or saw me out of the corners of their eyes. Whatever the case, it was now or never.
I sprinted for two more seconds, adjusting my course and then activated Horizontal. I hit that one, and immediately refocused on another before it could sprint off. I was two strides in, reached the count of three in my head, and reactivated the Sword Skill and hit that one. Not far away was a third, I applied the same tactic, but this one dodged and the other two had already pranced off.
That was a bummer, but at least I'd hit two and I refocused my attention on them. Neither looked too pleased with me, but they hadn't run away, so that meant that once these Striking Stags had been hit they were in for the fight.
The first one I'd hit was pawing at the ground with one hoof just like the Frenzy Boars had, and I suspected that their attack pattern was going to be similar. These Striking Stags were basically the leveled up version of the level one creatures I'd first faced. The bar that hung above it, indicating its HP wasn't even in the yellow yet.
It snorted and charged forward, green light trailing it. It was a lot faster, which was no surprise; still, I was able to follow it. I was ready for it, already set up for a Slant. Within seconds, the creature had mostly crossed the distance between us and I activated my favorite move. I watched with wide eyes as 8 sharp pointy bits of bone passed me right by whilst I cut the beast to whom they belonged. I knew right then and there that fighting these creatures at night would not be something I planned to do because they'd be even faster, and even if I could get the timing for my slant right, it wouldn't hit seeing as it would be simply that much faster than me. For now, though, I could hit it.
The second one actually just ran towards me, no skill employed. I shrugged, thinking the AI of this particular deer to be not too bright. It happened. Behind me I heard the other creature call out as Trip hit it with his Crusher. In this fight, he wouldn't really use his other move because it wasn't exactly geared towards creatures with four legs. It worked, sure, but it rarely launched them in the air; he'd tried to achieve that with the Frenzy Boars early on.
The deer kept on getting closer and I activated my Horizontal, ready to meet it head on. I shot forward, but it easily dodged and ran around behind me whilst I was still stuck in the post-motion. I felt it hit me twice with its hooves, both strikes rather strong and I felt myself being pushed to the ground. Thankfully, the system had let me go and I rolled away as I watched two hooves strike down where my head would have been. So, that, I'd later come to discover was its three hit move, Trample.
"I'm sending him your way, Ray!" shouted Trip. I immediately turned around and saw the blonde swerve out of the way of the sharp antlers. I stepped to the left, flicked my eyes to the right to check on the one I'd been focusing on and found that it, too, was readying a charge. If I timed this right I would be able to hit both with a Slant, and perhaps follow up on the one Trip had sent my way with a Horizontal.
Tensely, I waited for the right moment to kick off, and thankfully I timed it correctly. I landed, counted to two, felt the system let me go, saw Trip sprint towards the one that was now recharging the move it had been named for, heard the thundering of hooves as the one that had hit me sped towards me, and I turned to face it. Again, I waited tensely, jumped in the air, saw a streak of red out of the corner of my eye and heard both deer exclaim their pain as our Sword Skills hit them.
Grey eyes flicked up to glance at my health bar, found that the two strikes hadn't done too much damage, still respectably in the green zone. My opponent was less fortunate, its bar now chipped away to yellow, and it was still under the influence of the post-motion too. Eagerly, I activated Horizontal, shot forward and watched as the deer turned around and found itself in a terrible position where it simply couldn't dodge.
I hit it, sending it stumbling a bit. Thankfully, it was stunned enough by my blow that it didn't immediately activate its other skill. This meant that it couldn't take advantage of my post-motion stillness, and allowed me to immediately fire off a Slant.
It was almost in the red now, and three more moves would likely finish it off. It reared up in anger and pain, no longer disoriented by my Horizontal. I jumped to the side, avoiding the sturdy hooves and fired off two quick Slants, forming an X. I jumped back, activated Horizontal and with a grunt, pierced the place where my two earlier strikes intersected. With a loud noise, the beast fell down and exploded into code. Not a second later, I heard a similar noise coming from Trip's side of things.
A message popped up, announcing that I had gained 70 EXP and 65 Col. I was also glad to note that a slab of meat was also part of the spoils.
"Hell yeah!" exclaimed the college student, "You also get a slab?"
I happily replied that I had. "Well, only 18 more to go!"
20 minutes later, after having killed more than a few Nepents, we found the three that had escaped earlier. Again, I could only agro a total of two, the last one running for all that it was worth. Ten minutes later, we each had a total of two slabs.
It was as we once again ran into group of four Nepents, the Swiss killing the last one - the one I'd cut not a second earlier as was our attack pattern - when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey Trip, you've been getting the spoils for each kill right?"
"Yes, you have as well, right?"
"Yeah, but, well, seeing as were doing this as a team, I feel kind of entitled to some of the credit. The same goes for you when our roles are reversed. So, why don't we actually form a party? For that matter, let's first become friends, as in that you appear on my list."
He blinked, "Why didn't we do this from the beginning?"
"Because we forgot it was an option. It really is kind of frightening how easy you forget that this is actually a game, isn't it?"
We were silent at that for a moment, because it was true; we had forgotten. For a moment, this had been our reality, and not just some game we were stuck in. With a few swipes, we were friends and another bleep later, we were members of a party.
I could suddenly see his HP bar, which was at full just like mine was. As I had speculated, Trip was already at level 6. I, however, if our EXP bars were correct, wasn't that far behind. We also suddenly had a new, shared inventory.
"Well," said my first friend and newly minted party member, "let's give this thing a spin, shall we?"
The party mechanics, it turned out, were very useful; it equally divided up the Col and it calculated the EXP given based on the amount of effort you had exerted in killing the monster, a little bit extra being given to the one who delivered the killing blow.
Two hours passed, within which I gained a level after killing my third Striking Stag. I was awarded three points, and I distributed them as I thought best making my stats look as follows:
Str: 9
Agi: 9
Dex: 7
Per: 7
Vit: 10
We also now each had 7 slabs, meaning only a total of 6 deer were left to be slaughtered. Yes, whilst the buggers often ran off and were not as prevalent as Little Nepents, each and every one always dropped a slab of meat. A much rarer drop was a part of the antler, and we both speculated that damaging bone protrusions during the fight caused them to be dropped, but in order to be sure further testing was in order.
It was also during the last ten minutes of these two hours that I had my first run in with the Blood Squirrels, and as the Swiss had said, they were very annoying creatures. It wasn't even that the damage they did was much, in fact it was entirely negligible. No, it was the fact that they seemed to bite deep and actually sucked some of the 'blood' out; it hurt like a bitch. My sword had more luck than his hammer, but even I had trouble hitting their small, red, nimble frames.
We walked away from where we'd killed ten of the foul little creatures and I scratched my arm where two had bitten me rather viciously. Both my legs had also fallen victim. "Trip," I grumbled, "you forgot to mention that they were little bloodsucking shits."
"Yeah, sorry about that, but they really are mean little fuckers right? They fall from the sky like a small army of vampiric gerbils."
At the coinage of that term, I suddenly imagined them a few levels higher and at night and I shivered, "We are so not going to go out in this forest at night."
"Agreed." He'd probably had a similar horrific vision.
We were walking down something that resembled a path leading to who knew where, when we saw something I'd been expecting to cross paths with eventually; an Eve. My teammate got a huge smile on his face, raised his hands and said, "I will totally win this round, man!"
I looked at him in surprise, "You do notice that, right?"
He looked confused, "Yeah, it's a Little Nepent, duh."
"Yes," I agreed, "but can you spot anything different about it?"
"It has a fruit on its head" – his eyes widened – "Oh, so this is the Eve you were talking about?!"
"Yup."
"So, I take it were not going to engage it?"
"Not if we want to live, no."
"But isn't it safe as long as you don't puncture the fruit and were both strong and fast enough to be able to do that."
I nodded, "True, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Sure were both good, but I just have no idea how many of its kin it'll call or even how long that call lasts. I assume it has a timer, but really I'd rather not find out at present."
The blonde shrugged, "Fine by me, left or right?"
"I'm always the devil's advocate, so left."
"Left it is in then."
We had no trouble avoiding it and it didn't follow us. 45 minutes later, we had completed our first quest of the day because we'd finally found a spawning ground of the Striking Stags. Both of us were eager to return, hungry after all that fighting; the occasional Cub Berry can only carry you so far.
We turned on our maps, checked which direction we had to go – in this case, west – and kept that course up for the next hour. No longer pursuing the Striking Stags, our only opponents were Nepents. We came across two more Eves, but with a little careful maneuvering, we avoided them and arrived back in Numalba unharmed.
We handed Radler the 20 slabs and got a reliable amount of EXP, after which he informed us that lunch was available at the Barracks. We all but ran to the mess hall, and ate our fill. For a time we split up, Trip exploring the town whilst I ordered up my inventory, most of the stuff being from my journey towards Numalba.
I had plenty of wolf skin and meat, both would sell for a rather nice price. Two of the Wind Wasps had dropped their stingers, which, when in large quantities, could apparently upgrade a rapier or fleuret so they were kind of really useless to me. The most useful by far were the Bumbling Beetle Exoskeleton pieces I had, because when given to a blacksmith, they could be made into a shield. I liked the idea of a shield very much indeed, protection and living longer and all that.
As it turned out you needed ten pieces, and not five like I possessed, but I was half way there which was a lot better than not having had them at all. I sold most of the rest, but the only tailor in town had a very nice deal on a wolf skin hat – basically, you were wearing a wolf's head, like that first Legion dude in Prim in Fallout New Vegas. I needed three more pieces and I'd have that. There was a better one, like the one the Guards here wore that oddly enough needed less skins, but I couldn't resist the awesome the other one gave you.
Done with that, I messaged Trip, and we reconvened at the pier. We both ate a pair of the delicious Shioyaki, Trip was interested in the fishing skill and the rods, and we added all five of the Ferry quests, as we'd dubbed them. The quest givers weren't that hard to spot, golden exclamation points hanging above their heads instead of yellow cursors.
The first boat, the one that went to a little town on the eastern shore called Orare, was owned by a blonde fisherman who needed us to kill 10 Nepents, which wouldn't be much of a problem at all. The second boat, owned by a grumpy old man, went to Larth, a town a little ways up from Orare. He wanted us to bring him 15 Antlers, which wasn't an as easy task.
The third boat, which would ferry to Linston, the first town on the western shore of the lake, was owned by a young man in his twenties with striking yellow eyes, called Maron. His quest involved killing some Bumbling Beetles, as apparently the exoskeleton could also be used as a roof, which his house desperately needed. 20 did seem a little excessive, though, unless he had no roof at all. In any case both of us found that rather convenient, wanting to get ourselves our hands on a shield so we gladly accepted that quest.
The fourth boat, the smallest by far, ferried to Janlyn, the second town on the western shore. It was owned by Sharon, a woman who needed 10 bear skins, which neither of us had come across yet and were kind of reluctant to. The fifth boat, and by far the largest, went to Aldam, the town situated directly across from Numalba. It was owned by a large man, a lumberjack through and through, and he needed us to get him a Nepent Fruit. We'd both grimaced at that, all too aware of what that entailed.
The decision on what to do first was quite obvious: we'd go for the Bumbling Beetles, seeing as we'd definitely meet ten Nepents on the way back to the fields; two quests in one go. It took us an hour to reach the plains again, and as expected, we'd already completed our first Ferry Quest. For the next hour we fought bugs – Trip coming to the discovery that I did not react well to Wind Wasps – and eventually we had the required amount of exoskeleton pieces for two shields, as well as Manon's quest.
By the time we reached Numalba again, it was already 5 PM. We got some nice EXP for handing in the two quests, and then went to the Armory to get our shields. It took the guy 30 minutes, but by the end of it, we each had ourselves a small, dark blue shield. They were by no means great or indestructible, but they were a notch better than the small battered wooden ones the man himself sold.
Our next course of action was to try and complete, or at the very least make headway on, the quest to unlock the ferry to Larth. So, now knowing where the Striking Stags spawned – or at least the general direction - we headed out east as we had that morning. Half an hour in, only having battled Nepents, we finally found the path that we'd followed earlier that day. Gladly, we followed it, aggroing the odd pair of Striking Stags (a few always getting away) if we found them.
So far, we only had two pieces of Antler from our earlier hunt and it was looking to be a long haul to 15. Eventually, after another hour we found the spawning ground – or another one, we weren't entirely sure – and we did what we did best: we cut them up. Or I did; Trip crushed their skulls.
At 8:10 we called a halt to it, happy to at least have a quarter of the required amount. Hitting the Antlers had no direct effect on it – not to our eyes at least, but we kept at it because of stubborn will that it did. We were on our way back, not too keen on finding out what the moon did to the creatures in here – especially the Blood Squirrels - trying to throw Cub Berries into each other's mouths from various distances, when we heard a human voice. Not just any voice either, a female voice. Both curious, we sought it out.
In a clearing that was obviously a small Nepent spawning ground we saw a black haired girl go at them with an axe. Not a single movement was wasted, and no Nepent that spawned lived for long.
"I know her," whispered Trip.
"You do?" I asked, curious. "
"Yeah, she's the girl who got the last room at The Angler."
"Wait," I whispered back, "You mean that The Angler not having a room isn't a scripted event?"
"Nope, we just had bad luck with her taking up the last room that was available after an apparently random influx of foreign NPC."
"So, did you speak to her?"
The blonde shook his head, "No, wanted to because she's a real cutie, but she was having none of it. Kind of stuck up, if you ask me."
"She has right to be though," I said as I watched her weave her way through the sharp leaves the creatures employed, "she's kicking ass."
"Yeah, well, I'd love to join her, but we'd probably only get in her way. Besides, Nepents don't drop anything unless they're either Sakuras or Eves." This was true, and rather saddening as killing them didn't really do us any perks anymore.
"You're right about that. Plus, dinner." We were about to walk away when we watched her turn around, so in her zone and attuned to the sound of death and rebirth of these creatures that she did it on autopilot. In slow motion, we watched as her axe lit up a bright yellow, and hit the newly formed creature right where she shouldn't have.
Three pairs of eyes widened as her axe hit a newly formed fruit. The air was filled with a sickly sweet smell and a high pitched screech, unlike anything we'd heard yet resounded in the air. For a second everything was silent, and not one of us dared breathe or move a muscle. Then guttural chattering came from all around us, loud and all consuming. A hundred voices, at least, and even though it was guttural and we didn't understand it, the message was clear as the night sky above us: death.
Oh, it was dinner time alright, and we were the main course.
AN: As I mentioned on my profile, depression sucked out a lot of me - including my inspiration for most of these stories - so that's why I went MIA for a while. I'm getting better now, though, and the ~11K words you just read is proof that I got my inspiration back, in part thanks to you guy's reviews so thanks a bunch, everyone!. Also, a big shout out to ravenreux, who's agreed to be my Beta and did a spectacular job with it. Yeah, she's awesome, so do check out her stuff. Do also check out the Tumblr I set up for this, you can find it on my profile, it'll have some fun stuff.
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review if you feel like it.
Cheers,
Ray the Red
