It was getting harder to motivate myself to do some hunting. It had lost a lot of its charm and I was frustrated with my lack of progression. I needed to take on harder creatures if I wanted to level up but that meant getting out of my safe zone. I was afraid that I would not be able to keep my carelessness in check forever. I was imagining myself gloriously defeating a floor boss when the reality would probably be thousands of blue-green shards of light and the end of my existence. One thing did root me in this virtual reality. Two little words from a message I'd received: "Stay safe."
Three days had passed since Karla and I exchanged messages. We didn't cross each other at all during that time. Not that I was hiding from her or anything, it's just that I didn't hang around anywhere for very long. I kept to myself, mainly due to my frustrating lack of progress. So that morning when I headed out I didn't expect anything to be different.
I was following the same route I had taken the day after the spider incident. I got a feeling of déjà vu as I reached the last building before leaving town. I saw a girl, like I did that day, but this girl wasn't leaning against the wall with her hands crossed ready to pick a fight. This one sat on a rock with her arms around her legs and her chin on her knees, lazily looking out towards the wilderness. "Karla." I whispered to myself. She was wearing what little armour she had and a dagger which hung from her belt. Her hands were covered by really sleek looking black gloves decorated with subtle white lines.
As I approached, she turned her head and unfolded her legs and arms. "Hello Wolf." She said kindly. I nodded my head and promptly stopped her from saying anything else. As she sat there wondering what I was doing, I activated my menus, flipped through the options and found what I was looking for.
*blip*
Karla turned to the message window that has just appeared in front of her.
"Wolf has invited you to join his party"
She looked at me, looked back at the message window then looked at me again. I kept my eyes on my menus, so as not to influence her decision. The status changed: my party window now contained two entries and a message that read "Karla has joined your party." My heart skipped a beat as I closed my menus. Karla stood up from her rock, took a deep breath, and simply said "I'm ready."
"Ever been in a party before?" I asked Karla. She shook her head. "You know how to switch?" I inquired. "Switch?" she said, not understanding what I meant. "Yeah," I continued "We fight the same target, and while one player attacks the creature, the other can charge their sword skills. Then the players switch and they can attack right away." Karla nodded, taking in this information. "It's also much easier to take health potions during combat. Are you carrying health potions?" I worried. "I have two. It … it's all I could afford." Her voice broke a little. I didn't miss a beat and simply opened my menu and traded two of my six potions to her. A little embarrassed she accepted the potions. "I prefer the potions to be evenly distributed" I said, trying to sound as banal as I could. She didn't argue but I could tell she felt bad accepting them.
We were off the road fairly soon after leaving town, our goal being to actually encounter mobs and not to avoid them. It didn't take long before we encountered a wild ox. It bellowed menacingly. I turned to Karla to see if she was ready for this. Her dagger was out and her sword skill was already charged. I got my sword out and nodded to her. She didn't need any more prompting than that. As she took off, the ox charged. She did a side step and twirled at the same speed the ox was moving, and then slammed her dagger in the ox's side. The ox staggered slightly then turned its head towards Karla attempting to gore her with its horns. That was my cue. I slammed my sword on the ox's head hitting the right side of its face. The ox's HP was in the red. The ox turned its head and managed to cut my arm with one of its horns. The ox's attention was no longer on Karla, who flipped her dagger in her hand and rammed it in the ox's throat. The ox shuddered, then in a flash of light burst into hundreds of blue sparks.
As the encounter window showed us our XP and Col, Karla looked at me. I nodded in response. She was ok to continue and so was I. I had taken some damage but not enough to waste a potion on. So we continued our delve into the wilderness, now seeking slightly stronger creatures. Things were progressing nicely: we managed to take on some snakes, a few wind wasps, a large flower with tentacles, and a couple of kobolds. It was much easier with the two of us taking them on. With Karla getting the hang of switching, we both began to understand how to work together and what the most successful sequence of attacks would be considering our limited skills. We pushed through the wilderness a little more, feeling confident and a little cocky. We might have let our guard down too much.
Without warning, a large aggressive ox materialized a few meters in front of us, and letting out a ferocious bellow, it charged in our direction. I pushed Karla to the side as I jumped the other way, just in time to avoid the beast's huge horns. I got up as fast as I could, grabbed the hilt of my sword and charged a sword skill. Karla rolled on the ground after I had pushed her and managed take a stance without getting up. Her right leg was bent under her ready to push off and her left was outstretched for balance. While her left hand helped to maintain her pose, she reached for her dagger with her right hand and prepared her attack. We simultaneously launched our attack. I charged the ox trying to make my sword connect with its side. Karla was aiming for the neck. Though we both managed to hit it, we hardly had an impact on its health bar. It had far more HP than the both of us combined and we only managed to aggravate it. The ox twisted its head and gored Karla through the shoulder. In doing so it shifted its weight and rammed it's body against mine and I was pushed aside. I had to go down on all fours just to regain control. Karla screamed! The horn was stuck in her shoulder and the ox wasn't letting go. With no time to ready a sword skill, and Karla's health depleting rapidly, I simply went for its neck. The attack was weak but made the ox drop Karla.
There was no way we could win against it. If we stayed and fought we would surely die. Karla yelled what my mind was already screaming. "Run!" Karla said as she took off like a rocket. I didn't hesitate and took off in the same direction. The ox bellowed loudly then charged in our direction. It was going to be tough to out run it; I was going full tilt and so was Karla. The ox was catching up, and I was at a loss for a way to stop it. I looked to Karla desperate for a solution. Then I saw her make her move: while running, and with a charged sword skill, she flipped her dagger in mid step, jumped, twisted her body, and launched the dagger at the ox. She rolled on the ground, got up, and resumed her run. I kept my pace up too and we ran.
Karla's spectacular show of skill paid off. The ox was hit in the face with the dagger causing it to trip and tumble to the ground. We didn't stop to look back till we got to the edge of town. We were relieved to know that nothing was following us. We had managed to get away safe. Karla was bent over with her hands on her knees looking out of breath. I was worried now, I felt I had put her in danger. I cringed whenKarla turned her head to look at me.
Then she laughed.
