I figure I should give some context for this story. I started writing it because I wanted to try out the whole "Stream of Consciousness" thing. And to an extent I'm doing that. The original goal was to have the first week be for just writing stuff, getting everything out there. The second week would be going through and editing, revising, etc to make it presentable. The third was just extra time for other people to take a look at it and give their input before I went ahead and published it, but considering that I managed to get this section out within a week, I decided to go ahead and publish it.

The afternoon portion should be ready around either June 30th/July 1st or July 7th-8th.

I stared at Klein's sleeping face. My clock interface told me it was 6:43. I had already done most of my morning exercise with an abbreviated run in anticipation of the day's combat. The reason why I was staring at his face was because I was debating whether or not I should rouse him from his slumber. In the end I decided to turn it into a game and began counting how many times I could poke his cheek before he reacted.

Around the 28th poke, when I started poking twice in a row, the «Curved Blade» user rolled over and lazily slapped my hand away. "Rise and shine, Mr. Scruffles. The locals are heading out and could use our assistance." A blatant lie. While I waved and responded to the Virtual Intelligences that were heading out to work, I didn't engage in actual conversation with them. But if Klein ended up believing that I was bothering him for a Quest, perhaps he would be more amicable.

"Urgh, who wakes up at 6 in the morning?" he droned out, moving into a sitting position. I brushed away a few pieces of hay that had managed to find themselves nestled into his hair. The plant material wasn't the most comfy, and the sheets we were given didn't offer the best protection against the tips, but it was better than sleeping on the floor.

"Wise men and those who live by the sun." I continued poking his cheek, smiling as I gave a humming laugh. "I'll be waiting in the «Charbroiled Boar». Not a good idea to go hunting without something in your belly." I stood up and twirled around, hands clasped behind my back. While the previous night did not heal me completely, it was cathartic enough that I could feel part of my normal behavior return. Having somebody to keep my mind off it while I continued coping, as one-sided as it was, certainly helped.

I ignored the window that popped up when I grabbed the handle of the tavern door, pulling it open and stepping inside. It disappeared a few seconds later. I responded back to the lone chef/waiter/barkeep (did they even sell alcohol here?), declining his offer to get something ready while I set up the tables for another group meeting. I didn't really expect anything out of my impromptu gathering, but back in real life I had always made it a point to share at least one meal with my companions every day, even if it was over MRE's.

While I waited, I ordered a simple tea made from a plant whose name was unknown to me. It certainly didn't follow any conventions I knew of, but perhaps it was creative license from the designers. Even if this world was somewhat realistic in design, it still had fantasy elements. A made up name for items would be totally understandable.

I looked up, giving a small wave to Dale before returning to my wooden cup of tea. It was moderately bitter, but not so much that you couldn't take it down. There was a hint of natural sweetness in it, and it was aromatic enough that I spent more time simply bringing the cup up to my nose and inhaling its scent than I did drinking.

I guess I had fallen into a trance of sorts, for when I next looked up I found the entirety of Klein's group digging into various dishes based around either beans or eggs. When Klein asked if I was going to eat I had told him that I had eaten earlier, and now that I knew how to work the menu I had some snacks tucked away for later.

Even so, he and the others slowly began harping on me to at least eat something. The first reasoning that came to mind for this was that they thought I was of the mind that in order to keep my figure I needed to skip meals. I made it a point to slowly eat the bacon and strange fruit I ordered.

"Alright guys. I looked over all the quests and did what I could to find out the rewards. If we accomplish everything, we should each be able to pick up a full set of leather armor, a bone ring that increases our damage and agility values, a small set of healing and curative potions, and then the final quest for this area will be to deliver a letter as well as escorting somebody over to another town." There was a mostly unanimous groan at that. I hid mine by taking a sip of my refilled drink.

"Like we decided yesterday, we'll be splitting up into groups of four, swapping between quests so we don't over hunt something and end up making it harder on ourselves to find drops and items. When we swap over to do the other set we can update each other on what we learned and how to make the process smoother. Harry, Dale, Issin, and Asasaki will be in group A." The four of us made eye contact, changing seats to group up.

"Choryu, Kunimitzz, and Dynamm will be part of my group. We'll be taking care of the «Boar Hunt» quests as well as the «Goblinoid Extermination» line. You guys will be taking care of the «Hidden Plants» questline. It's a fairly long item collection set regarding plants as well as natural item spawns. Oh, and if you end up finding any weapons or metals, hold onto them. The blacksmith here says he knows the basics of weapon forging and can try to make us some better weapons out of anything we find."

They made some idle chatter for a few more minutes. Eventually, Harry stood up and made mention of how we should head off before we wasted any more time. I downed my fourth cup, the drink having grown on me in the hour and a half or so it took for everybody to gather and eat.

The four of us made our way from building to building, talking to the relevant NPC's to acquire our quests before heading off into the forest. Harry One took charge, leading the way with a mostly stern face while Dale and Issin chatted about a group of girls they had met back in the «Town of Beginnings». Harry looked back from time to time to give his opinion on the matter, his eyes softening slightly with familiarity. It took me a minute to figure out exactly why this situation bothered me so much.

"I don't think I ever introduced myself properly." I ran forward a few steps, stopping in front of the trio. "My name is Dawn Lakewood. You may call me Asasaki. In this world, I plan on keeping as close to my real life abilities as possible, taking advantage of the numerical system used in place of muscles. To that extent, I prefer maneuvering around the objective to either take a direct shot or flank them. In that sense, it wouldn't be too far fetched to call me a Stealth Specialist." I gave a proper bow, hoping my introduction wasn't too improper. Considering how close knit they seemed to be, as well as how friendly Klein and I acted the previous day, perhaps it wouldn't matter too much.

Surprisingly, it was Harry who spoke up first, extending a hand towards me. "My name here is Harry One. You could think of me as the second in command of our group in every game we play. Where everybody else debates on what we should do next, I'm the one who looks up guides and gathers information. I normally prefer being a control mage with a lot of area of effect abilities, but since there's no magic in this game I'm settling for being one of our heavy tanks."

I smiled and greeted him, looking at the other two members of our group. The big one spoke up next, introducing himself as Dale. "Whenever we had get togethers, I'd bring hand made snacks. I used to work at a small, but well liked restaurant in the town I lived in. In all the games we've played, I usually take a heavy melee weapon. I might not be a shield user like Harry and Dynamm are planning, but I can still soak up damage in a pinch."

The next one to speak up was Issin. From looks alone he seemed to be a speedster of sorts. If not by quick attacks then repositioning. "I work at a few convenience stores part time. I'm currently taking care of my general studies, and I'm not really sure what I want to major in just yet." He scratched his cheek, buying some time while he thought. "I normally use Ranged equipment but since that's not really an option I'm probably going to look into spears or javelins."

I gave a wide, slightly forced smile, looking around at the faces of our group. The sense of unbelonging had somewhat diminished after our mutual exposure to each other. I doubted that I would ever feel as connected as my old group, but it was a start.

We talked a little more about our general performance and cemented what specific roles we each should take care of. It was decided that Issin and I would be our primary damage dealers, with Harry and Dale acting as our forward guards when dealing with combat. Outside of combat, I would be taking point. Harry and Dale would be alert for anything I might have missed or flanking our sides, and Issin would be managing our six.

We would constantly have our tracking symbols, green inverted triangles, active on our map, keeping said map display in our vision. Anything noteworthy I found would be sent to Harry in a quick message, and if I was needed back with the group they would notify me. They shared a short look of suffering when I explained that I would need a quick demonstration of how to utilize everything, stating that I was not familiarized with the interface just yet.

With our plan of action defined, we set off once more, a budding sense of teamwork easing into my mind. While I was off exploring, arranging sticks and stones on the ground into various patterns to keep track of the route we went (something I did out of habit, having not gotten used to the mapping system we had), I sent a message to Harry as to whether I should fill my inventory with the «Toxic Caps» I found growing around a tree.

#Take a bundle and mark location. Quest item. #

I nodded to myself and made my markers on the ground more noticeable, sending off a message of what to look for. While they caught up, I moved across the small clearing, peeking around trunks with a small pep in my step, acting much like I did in my younger days when I went camping with my family.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just trees, brush, and the artificial sun dancing through the trees. Certainly nothing that seemed animated. #Do monsters spawn here?# I sent off, climbing up a tree to get a better view. I pressed the circle button that popped up, dismissing the level up notification.

This had happened from time to time while we traveled. Mostly whenever I dashed between trees or jumped over roots or other flora. At this point I had reached level six in «Acrobatics», and suspected the growth would start slowing down around level ten.

I held off on reading Harry's response, narrowing my eyes to try and figure out what the strange shape I could see between the branches was. In the end I decided to send another message off regarding the location and estimated time to encounter based on their current pace. Once I sent that, I read through Harry's message, wondering how often the NPC's of the hamlet we stayed at frequented this «Forest of Tranquility».

#Waiting for you. Enter combat formation.» I closed out the notification, making my way down a few branches before jumping the rest of the way down. After dusting off some of the dirt from my clothing, I placed my sheathed blade back over my torso and headed off to Harry, following the tracking dots that were superimposed on my vision.

"One of the quests is asking us to collect various plant materials. Apparently they're ingredients for a stew that's very nutritious, and tastes quite a bit like meat. The villagers don't always make it though since most of the materials they need are from plants that can fight back." I nodded at Harry's explanation, moving into the center of our 2-1-1 formation, myself being in the middle while Issin was directly behind me.

We decided on using this to let Harry and Dale be the primary targets. Once further orders were given, Issin and I would respond accordingly. If nothing was issued, I would flank to the left and Issin to the right. My ambidextrous ability allowed me to perform on whatever side I needed to be. When Dale asked if it mattered what slot I used to equip my sword I responded by saying I had never used a shield (not bothering to mention that on occasion I had utilized my first scabbard as a bludgeon a few times during the first week), and that I never noticed any difference. Having finally learned how to use «Sword Skills», we wondered if my ability to fight with either hand would affect my usage.

When we arrived at the mass of shapes, we discovered that they consisted of three «Vernal Mandragora». I recognized the last name and thought it a little odd that a type of plant normally know for it toxic properties (with some limited use in herbal medicine) would have been chosen for a name that would be used in a stew.

When I blinked out of my thought process, I realized that Dale had guided me back several steps so that Harry could refine the plan. "The npc's said that while the plants can fight, they shouldn't be too difficult, but they only ever hunted them in a group."

"Should we try and split them up?" Issin asked, stepping to the side to get another look at them.

"Maybe, but we should assume that won't be an easy process. They are plants, after all." Harry had a point. It would be safest to work on the beliefs that, while not unfair, anything we came across would be difficult to deal with.

"Should I act as a decoy?" I asked, looking up at each of them. "I'm confident in my abilities, and based off their appearances, they shouldn't be too fast." Harry looked me in the eye, weighing the option.

"Alright," he conceded, "but if you fall under 50% hp regroup with us and we'll face them head on, letting you and Issin attack from the flanks where possible." I lazily saluted my current leader, mentioning that I'd wait for a message before engaging.

As I moved into position, I couldn't help but demean the fake looking appearance of our targets. Aside from the obvious digital construct issue, the sheen of the green, leafy body (that looked more like a multi layered dress or kilt than leaves) was far too much, seeming plastic in appearance. The unblossomed, cabbage red bulb that was slightly sticking out of the base didn't help matters. There were creases on one side of the plants that look eerily looked like a pursed mouth and closed eyes. I couldn't help but wonder if those folds would receive significant damage if I attacked them.

#Engage. Lure one and hold.# I closed out of the window, chucking a rock at the thickest part of the bulb for the closest plant. It shook slightly before rising up, revealing three legs made from spiraling roots that dug into the ground. Its leafy dress shook once more, and fuzzy appendages that looked almost like branches uncurled. Thankfully, the bulb that rose out from its nest didn't have anything extra aside from the angry looking creases that served as eyes. All in all, it looked like it was a angry, stout, green, frilled kilt wearing inverted light bulb with a shiny red cap. I had the sense that my former companion would have made a comment about my enemy and its appearance, one I would have smacked him for making.

I flung another rock, slowly luring the creature out. Eventually, it stopped lumbering towards me. On the sides of it, I noticed the two other monstrosities starting to move away. I tensed, eyes flicking from ground to creature in anticipation of its attack.

My answer came in the form of the beast twisting, releasing a salvo of leaves at me as it unwinded. I leapt to the side, accidentally releasing a sword skill when I threw another pebble upon landing. By now its HP had dipped some 8%, and I smirked when it took another few steps forward. At this point it should be far enough from the other two that I would no longer need to worry about gathering the attention of the other «Vernal Mandragoras». I hunched over slightly, a hand ready to draw my blade while I observed the creature.

The beast suddenly bent forward, bracing itself with two wirey arms. The bulb began unfurling, a gleam emanated from its core. I dashed to my right, curving in to have access at the stalk. I twitched at the screeching sound, ignoring what could have been in favor of hacking away at the arm. Once it pixilated, I turned my attention to the stalk, unleashing a «Vertical» followed by a left-right «Slant». At this point, I noticed the beast starting to right itself. Its lower half shook, and beneath its leafy frills I noticed the ground bulging. I fought to get out of the «Post Motion», narrowly dodging the roots that shot up where my feet used to be. I slashed at some of the leaves on its lower body before repositioning. The hit only did 1% damage, possibly 3, but in this world attrition was safer than a full blitz.

The remaining hand reached into its dress, pulling out a long frond resembling a sword. I blinked at the action, wondering whether or not it would be able to use «Sword Skills». Charging in slightly hunched over, I decided to lead the next part of our duet. I swapped my blade into my left hand, snaking over to the same direction. Regardless of the incoming attack, I could either dash to the right and attack freely or roll forward and strike from there.

I prepped my blade, moving it behind so it was diagonal to the ground. A chill washed over me. I forced my eyes to focus on the creature's left side, wondering exactly what conditions I met to activate a skill. When the creature started moving into its attack, I let go of the mental trigger, hoping my targeting would let me avoid to strike.

I found myself on the armless side of the beast once again, a vibrant red line tracing the slightly rising path I tore along its front. The giant leaf blade was embedded into the ground, and once the «Post Motion» wore off I took the liberty of quickly flicking my blade to draw an upside down V on the stalk of the «Vernal Mandragora». I leapt back, checking my position in relation to the group before moving to another spot along the edge of the clearing.

Another group of roots sprung up behind me as I ran, and I wondered if the beast would follow this pattern of "attack, root, attack, root". It began wrapping its arm around its torso, winding up for another leaf barrage. I started strafing it, spiraling back in counter clockwise. The leaves tracked me faster than I expected, and I fell to the ground to avoid the attacks. It took me a bit later than I wished to recover my wits and move into a roll. I jogged forward slowly, coiling up as I looked for the rumble of dirt. When I saw it, I leapt up and thrust my sword into the creature's bulb. Instead of pulling out and potentially losing my hand hold, I switched my grip to hold it reverse, driving it in over and over while occasionally moving it side to side to aggravate the wound.

I felt the rippling of what constituted for muscles in the stalk. From my left, I saw the extending arm from the other side moving to grab hold of me. I kicked off the stalk, pulling my blade out in the same motion. My landing wasn't as smooth as it normally would be, and I had to catch myself with my other hand. At this point I wasn't sure what its attack pattern would be, but cutting off the next another source of my problem would be a suitable short term solution.

When I realized that the monster was winding up for another projectile attack, I cursed and began spiraling in from its left, preparing to roll underneath when it inevitably caught up with me.

Its movement went as predicted, and I waited once more for the rumble to occur. I left behind the roots, thrusting my iron into its body with a two handed stab. Swapping to a one handed grip, I began digging my sword around to deal some more damage. Before jumping off to avoid the potential hand attack, I changed hands, hoisting myself up by grabbing the fold of a petal and wrenching my weapon out sideways.

The lip crease turned upwards in a silent scream. Its eyes delivering a considerable amount of hate for a plant. It slumped into the ground, its multi-layered leaf kilt spreading out before it. I saw three trails of disturbed soil converging on my location. With a huff, I started running once more, curving in from the left. When I leapt in to sheathe my blade in its bulb once again, I found myself grabbed midair by a reformed limb. It threw me to the ground roughly. Training kicked in and after the initial impact I rolled with the force, recovering back into a standing position.

That one attack had knocked me down to around 70% of my hp. I still had at least 30, pushing 40% to go before my target fell. "We got you!" I dashed back in when I saw the creature flinch, my allies having rejoined me. I brought my blade across my torso, reversing my swing to slam the hilt into the stalk. With a practiced motion, I chambered it into a two handed stab, twisting my blade and yanking it out to the side.. I heaved myself up, kicking off lightly before moving into another «Stone Sheath».

My strike didn't finish when my creature shattered. When I rose, I had to tug my blade out with both hands, it having sunk into the ground a little over halfway. With a deep breath, I sheathed my blade, looking through the windows that appeared.

#Acrobatics leveled by 2. One Handed Sword leveled by 1. Leather Armor leveled by 1. Gained three «Vernal Fruit», two «Mandragora Fronds», 1 «Bitter root». Gained 80 Cor.#

"So how did your fights-" I cut myself off when I looked at their Health Bars in my upper left. Somehow I managed to break ahead of them by 15% or so, their bars fully in the yellow while mine was still green. I took a moment to regard their standing. A little haggard, but fairly happy with their achievements.

"Dale and I ended up tanking one each. Issin was moving between each target whenever we got rooted. It took some effort, but we managed to change their attack patterns so they would be alternating which one was going for the root," at this Dale chimed in with the remark of "literal", "and which one was attacking."

I nodded at their explanation, watching the ground. In some games, terrain damage would fix itself, but that seemed to be the exception here. The dirt that was moved showed no signs of smoothing over.

"We're going to take a break, just to be safe. Chug a potion or two if the first one doesn't get you above 80%. We'll let it heal up normally to 90% or so from there." I did as he said, taking out one of the low level potions I had and letting its fluid leak out the holes in its tip into my mouth.

"What's left on our requirements?" I asked, laying down and stretching my back.

"We need to look for two «Faithful Cones», collect three bundles of «Swallow Reeds», and bring back a few «Vibrant Branches». We also need to get a total of four «Vernal Fruit», eight «Mandragora Fronds», and three «Bitter Roots» each." The collective sigh from the four of us brought a smile to my face.

"I feel like this might go on until midday," I remarked, pulling out a piece of roasted root. It's texture was like a potato, but its written name was something I couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Maybe. Aside from the Mandragora drops, everything's on the route to a river. We just need to make sure to collect it." I uncorked one of my water skins, swishing the liquid around before swallowing.

"We're sure that the «Mandragora» is the only monster, right? We're not going to end up fighting a Magical Ent or something?" Issin asked, having unequipped his chestpiece for the time being.

"The «Mandragora» was the only monster the NPC's mentioned, so we should be fine." Harry cupped his chin, looking to the side. "Though I wouldn't count not fighting another mob by accident out. They said this section of the forest was supposed to be safer, but it's still not a safe zone like the «Town of Beginnings» or that village."

Dale and Issin gave understanding sounds at that. I stood up and began pacing, not wanting to fully let go of the phantom adrenaline that coursed through me. After a few laps around the clearing, I drew my blade and began moving through my assortment of «Sword Skills», trying to figure out the requirements for that dash attack I did.

"Crouch forward slightly, bring your blade in front of you, parallel to the same side leg, then draw it back," Harry said. "You're trying to do «Rage Spike», right?" The semi-helmeted member of our group stood up, moving to my side. He pantomimed the motion, and I realized how odd it was that I managed to do that the first time around.

With the motions taught, I executed the move, marveling at how smoothly my vision transitioned from point to point. "I feel like there are more skills I'm missing," I commented, walking back to my starting point.

I decided to look through my skill list, tapping my way to the «One Handed Sword» tab. It seemed the only skill I had yet to attempt was «Sonic Leap», a skill whose activation required resting your blade on your shoulder, then leaping before releasing the charge. Just as I was about to start practicing it, Harry called for me to get ready to continue.

I sheathed my blade, eyeing our health bars. That one altercation had brought us all down significantly. Hopefully we wouldn't end up having too many issues. I wasn't sure if the «Health Potions» I had would be enough to last me if we had to fight those creatures more than twice.

Our trip to the river was uneventful. The most that happened was all four of us individually spacing out at some point just to soak in the peaceful ambiance.

I swung my blade out, freeing the «Swallow Reeds» from their base. Harry and I ended up being the only two who had stepped into the creek with Dale and Issin standing guard. While we hadn't come across any monsters after that clearing, there was no shame in precaution.

By tapping just above above an item, I was able to open up a window displaying a short description of the item, durability, and whether to drop it, put it in my inventory, and for the reeds I had a greyed out button for equipping or using it.

The plant was turned into a «Swallow Reed Bundle» when it entered my inventory, a length twine that appeared from nowhere wrapping around the strands. "Alright. There's the last for this area," I called out. There were a few more plants on the other side of the water, but we figured it wouldn't be safe to cross the creek. As far as we could tell, this river marked the edge of the quest zone. Crossing it might lead to a more difficult area, and we might not even find anything relevant over there.

"We'll head farther up stream. Could find something useful." Harry had donned his boots and was walking on the dirt while I stayed barefoot, embracing the feeling of the smoothened pebbles and silt. It was something I hadn't felt in several years.

"Hey, do you think we could find some place big enough to swim in?" I glanced over at Dale, who was eyeing the water longingly.

"Probably. Not sure if it won't be infested with monsters though. There was an entry in the «Guidebook» about a village situated around a lake to the south." Most of the chatter involving Harry went along those lines. One of us would ask a question or say something and Harry would respond with what he knew or expected based on said knowledge. It was comforting, being near somebody that seemed so reliable in terms of strategy and random facts.

"Water feels weird though," I commented, splashing around a bit. "I can't place it, but it doesn't feel right. Like I'm in liquid but I'm not getting wet." We continued on in silence for a while, unwilling to disturb the sounds of nature.

Once we gathered the last «Swallow Reed Bundle», we split the required amount among our group, dividing up the few extra bundles for Klein's group. "And now we just need to find the last of those «Mandragora» drops, right?" I shook my legs off before sitting down. It was possible to directly equip items from your inventory to the relevant area, but I found it much more humanizing to materialize it and put it on that way.

"Just the «Mandragoras»," Harry confirmed. We took a quick break for my benefit (mostly for water and to enjoy the sounds of nature) before back tracking along the route we took earlier. It was decided to have Issin and myself spiral out from the group, rejoining once we confirmed that nothing was on our side. In this manner, we could keep advancing while making sure we didn't miss anything on our initial trek.

After a time, I sent a message to Harry, regarding how there were monsters up ahead, coincidentally in the same place we fought the «Mandragora's». I snuck closer, mindful that their aggression range might not be the same as the first time around. A «Slumbering Lily» had taken the place of one of the pseudo-mandrakes, the creature being in the rear of the trio with the other two «Vernal Mandragora».

I quickly read through Harry's response, shooting back the composition of our enemies before following the marker trail back to him. "How should we proceed?" I asked upon arrival.

Harry took a moment, presumably to organize his thoughts. "We'll need to discuss that in detail. As before, Dale and I will be taking care of the brunt of the attacks. We'll each focus on keeping our target fully on us while Issin moves between our two enemies. As for Asasaki, I want you to bring the other one away from the fight, or to try and disable it as much as possible. It's that issue that we need to work on."

He took a visible inhale. I guess whatever he was thinking of was rather difficult for him. "The problem is that both the «Slumbering Lily» and «Vernal Mandragora» have «Root» attacks. The «Lily» has that wide spread Root-Stun attack, while the «Mandragora» is able to fire off a ranged screech attack in any direction it chooses. What I'm trying to figure out is whether we're better off having Asasaki focus on the «Lily» to disable as much of its rooting area of effect as possible why we try and lure the «Mandragoras» far enough away that we don't need to worry about its attack, or if she should take care of one of the «Mandragoras» like last time, while either Dale or I lure the other «Mandragora» outside of the «LIly's» threat range."

I pulled my sheathed blade off my torso, strap and all. I thought through the issue, moving the blade around idly. Either way required a large amount of effort. Our biggest concern was getting attacked from multiple targets at the same time. It was entirely possible that we could get stuck by the roots of one plant and have an attack lined up by another. "I think I should take one of the mandrakes. I remember its attack pattern from earlier, and I should be able to hold out long enough for either side to help out. Plus, if what you said about pulling the other «Mandragora» works out, somebody's going to be forced to take that root whip attack from the «Lily». I don't have the defences or health to take that kind of damage safely. At least with the «Mandragora» I can jump on its body to avoid the root attack and still deal notable damage."

Dale looked a little concerned, but after letting out a sigh spoke up. "I'll have to chug potions along the way, but I can take care of the «Lily». I wouldn't mind getting a few more though, just in case." I flicked open my interface, initiating a «Trade» with the biggest member of our group. I sent two potions over, stating I still had another two as a back up.

It took me a moment to recall the information, but I asked Issin if he had a potion for Stun resistance. When he confirmed that he did, I suggested he chug one now, in case he ended up getting hit by the pollen attack from the «Slumbering Lily».

"Okay! So I'll focus on bringing one of the «Vernal Mandragora» to one side of the field with Asasaki taking care of the other. Dale will handle the «Slumbering Lily», and Issin will swap between the monsters on our side of the field." I couldn't help but mutter clearing in response to that final word. The area we were fighting in was fairly free from trees and foliage, but it wasn't large enough to deserve the term "field". "If you finish your monster, go over and assist the others. Hopefully we can get everything we need with this fight."

I doubted it, but didn't share my concerns. What mattered was the fight ahead. After that could be dealt with when we were safe. As per usual, I led the way, collecting a few stones before moving off to the northern side of the field at Harry's command.

I tossed one of the pebbles up and down, waiting for the message to start to pop up. When it did, I gripped the stone tightly, holding it near my head. When I felt the mental click, I let loose, unleashing the unknown «Sword Skill» directly at the "eye" of my «Mandragora». Not giving it a reprieve, I fired off another, pleased with the light blue trail that rocketed from my hand. The beast slowly rose, a shower of dirt falling from its shiny kilt of leaves.

My mind imagined the sound of an ancient tree groaning in the wind as it started making its way towards me. I chunked another cyan-tinted stone, not yet satisfied with the potential amount of attention I gathered. When it finally leaned over, bracing itself with two spindly limbs, I started running. It was a significant distance from the other two monsters it spawned with. At my distance I couldn't see the text or bars of the monsters, but the red inverted pyramid above their heads told me all I needed about their alignment.

Repeating my intentions from the first round, I slammed the hilt of my blade into what seemed to be the elbow of its left arm before bringing my edge through its upper arm. The combined damage was enough to break it off, and I wasted no time in hauling myself over the stalk, ignoring the scream attack of the plant.

With a flourish, I jumped off the stalk, spinning once mid-air and crashing my sword down one handed on its right limb. My strike severed the limb, pixelating it. Without sufficient distribution of its weight, the plant collapsed on the ground. I took advantage of it by making rapid chopping slashes at a single area. My focus was so intense, I failed to notice the roots travelling through the ground and wrapping around my lower legs. Keeping in mind that the fictional mandrake should be unable to use any other attacks, I took another stab at it before chopping away at the roots binding my feet.

The «Mandragora» and I recovered at roughly the same time. I spared a glance at its health bar as I ran to gain some room. My initial set of attacks had reduced it by around 40% or so. I surmised that after another attack cycle or two I might be able to repeat the same pattern.

At this distance, the rich red petals of the plant remained closed, the leaves that partially hid its lower half shaking slightly as the plant wound up to fire off projectiles. I strafed to the left, rolling underneath the stream of leaves when it neared and advanced towards the plant. Feeling adventurous, I reversed my grip on my blade, leaping up and driving its tip into one of the eye folds. When the plant reared back, I wrenched my arm in a circular motion to maximize the damage it was dealing.

Sensing I was close to the end of my attack window, I kicked off the plant, landing in a roll that I was pleased to have executed perfectly. Its arms had regrown, once again holding long fronds in a manner one would hold swords. Its limbs reared back. When it started moving forward I dashed in, rolling underneath the stab of its right arm and jumping over the follow up slash of its elongating left.

My turned my torso around, flicking my sword above me as I took a few controlled steps, delivering a weak slash to the still outstretched left arm. From there I broke into a full sprint, making a few more weak slashes to the pseudo-branch before pulling myself atop it, kicking off its leafy dress and inserting my sword held into its other eye fold. I lost my footing when it reared back, its arms retracting back to a normal length. With no other purchase to use and expecting its next attack to arrive soon, I wriggled my blade around briefly before kicking off.

The «Vernal Mandragora» shook with a soundless scream and it slammed its trunk back into the ground. A trio of root clusters swarmed out towards me. I took a step back, tracking the speed at which they would arrive. For the first one I performed a short, handless cartwheel to the left. The second, a backstep. The third, I turned to my right and leapt slightly, diving forward and rolling forward a short distance. When I rose, it was with a counter clockwise spin, my blade spiralling out and slashing the three bundles of roots that rose out from where I was.

My phrase didn't end there. I swapped to my left hand and reversed my grip, driving my blade into the earth, its tip severing the first root that had extended out. My head snapped up to look at its next movement, taking in its HP bar. A little under 25% to go.

The plant began winding up, and as I prepared to start moving, I felt that it was taking much longer than normal. When its barrage started, I dashed to the right. At the moment I knew it would catch up to me, I rolled in. When my head rose to reorient myself, my eyes widened and I dove to the side, clumsily barrelling closer to avoid the stream that was still continuing.

I jumped to my feet, swinging under its left arm and bringing my iron through it. Instead of jumping on it and hugging its stalk to avoid the upcoming roots, I instead ran clockwise, slashing my sword upwards from my right. With a twirl achievement by fancy footwork, my next strike appeared further along its body, parallel to the one I made earlier. With a small twist of my body and chambered limb, I brought my blade horizontally from the left, scoring the two lines I had just made.

When its right arm stretched out to grab me, I back stepped and brought my blade down in a «Vertical», severing the limb. My «Post Motion» ended just as the plant reached the apex of its flinch, and I slashed a quick left-right x onto its body. From there I reared back and jammed my weapon at the intersection point half-way through. Supporting my grip with my right hand, I tore my blade up, pulling it free on an overhead crescent. I finished my chain by turning around and moving my blade, now in my right hand, to my side, unleashing a left-right «Slant».

I flung the resulting windows to the side of my vision, running through the glittering crystals to assist with the blossomed «Slumbering Lily». Heaving myself atop its petals, I stabbed my blade through for another handhold. I withdrew my weapon briefly before putting it back through the petal, its edges now running parallel with the midrib vein as I dragged it alongside me. When I neared the core of the bulb, I leapt to the side, slashing the stamens in reach. I leapt fully across the center, attacking the other stamens out of reach. Once I reached the other side, I performed a twirling leap, cutting away the final third of the stamens. As I landed, I coiled up, unleashing a «Stone Sheath» into the pistil. My attack connected, and I found myself continuing the skill through a burst of data.

"Not done yet!" I told Dale, wrenching my blade free and moving to assist Harry and Issin. I brought my blade up to my shoulder, leaping slightly before unleashing the skill. «Sonic Leap» created a vertical red line along the center of the «Vernal Mandragora's» face and I found myself higher in the air than I would had manually be able to.

From my vantage point I watched Harry and Dale unleashed a «Rage Spike» and «Slant» respectively, Issin hanging back to swap in once the monster's attack was fired off. I felt gravity start taking over, and I righted myself to use a falling «Vertical».

The blue glow of my blade clashed with the red of my strike path, and I was pleased that the system recognized my action and let me land relatively safely. When the forced freeze ended, I rose and sheathed my blade, taking a deep breath as Issin finished off the creature.

I started working my way through the windows that had popped up, wondering why the current scenario seemed so off. When I finally looked up, I realized that my partners were staring at me.

"So is this the power of a level six?" Issin asked, cupping his chin with an amused glint in his eye. "Solo a mob and then clean up two more within a minute?" He started nudging me with his elbow. "Can't wait to hit 6 myself if that's the kind of stuff I could pull off."

I made a face, sidling away. "I was just attacking weak points. You guys softened them. They would've fallen in a few more hits anyway." I opened up my inventory, hitting the «Sort» button.

As Harry started talking, I moved my potions into a "quick access" bar, something I could open up by tapping the access points linked to the waist on the diagram of the main equipment screen.

"Asasaki? Asasaki!" I looked up from my screen, wondering if I should express my offendment at the snapping Harry did to get my attention. "We're heading back to the village-" I mentally replaced his word with hamlet, "to meet up with everybody else. It's up to you if you want to take a potion, but we'll try to avoid any combat if anything spawns."

I decided not to take a potion, feeling that it would be better to heal naturally. When we passed the markers for the mushrooms, I asked if we should fill our inventory with some more to either try and sell to the NPC's or just to make the lives easier for Klein's group. Harry agreed and we filled up on what we could. Thankfully, small items such as those stacked up to a maximum of twelve, and we each managed to get two stacks from the various places I marked.

Dale opened the door for us, holding it open with an outstretched hand. The three of us waved at Klein's group. They had arrived before us, and even though they seemed fairly relaxed there was an undercurrent of tension I picked up on.

"You guys get everything you needed?" Scruffles asked, a smile finding its way onto his face.

"We're still missing another battle or two worth of materials. Either we continue hunting them today or later tomorrow. Might end up being the same for you guys. How did your quest line go?" Harry laid out the extra materials we gathered for their sakes, pushing a pouch each of the items towards the other four.

"Same deal for us. We're missing out on more leather from the «Frenzy Boars», and we're all at least eight more goblins and kobolds from finishing that quest line. Turns out there's a bit of tracking you need to do to consistently find them, and they only spawn in groups of two to three." Klein leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head.

"Oh right," he leaned back forward, holding a finger up. "When we ended up killing the tenth «Frenzy Boar», a level 7 «Livid Boar» spawned. It had a fairly large area of aggression and we all ended up having to chug a potion at some point. It dropped a lot of meat, a large tusk, several furs, and three «Tough Leather». The text for that last one said it counted as an enhanced «Boar Leather» and we were thinking that it might affect the stats of the equipment we get."

I sipped at my water, listening in for once. This was information we would need later, and I'd rather memorize it now instead of needing it repeated it later. "Reproductive organs are vitals," I spoke up, remembering my fights.

The group turned to look at me in unison, and I took another sip from my cup to hide my mirth. "For the «Slumbering Lilies», if you can get on top of their petals after they use that powder attack, you can attack the stamen and pistil. It counts as a critical hit of sorts. For the «Vernal Mandragora», cutting off its arms seemed to deal a consistent 5% or so of damage, and then at least the same amount if not more for stabbing them in their eye folds."

I pointed at my scrunched up eyes, trying to imitate the face as best as I could. "The roots the «Mandragora» spawned after one of its other attacks are attackable as well, but the timing is a little weird to get. There's a brief delay between when they reach you and when they actually sprout. Also, after a certain point it also sends out a trio of roots instead of just one. Not sure how that would affect anybody it caught."

I took out one of the slightly stale cakes I had stored in my inventory, breaking it apart into smaller pieces to consume. I watched Issin lean over to Klein, using his hand furthest from me to whisper to his leader. I assumed it was a joke, as the attempt to hide his conversation helped me hear instead of hindering.

"I think she's a developer or something. How else would she have known that information?" I wanted to question his intelligence, but there was a playful look tugging at his eyes and lips.

"They were bright, yellow things that were presented to the world after being hidden away. They were basically screaming "attack me"," I said, upturning the corner of my mouth to try and established I was being friendly with my deadpan delivery.

Issin let out a dramatic cry, pointing both of his middle and index fingers at me. "Egads! Put your stats back to normal, Ms. Developer! It's not fair to us Normies if you just carry us all the time!" I let out an amused chuff as he returned back to Klein.

"He's got a point though. Ms. Asasaki managed to take care of her «Vernal Mandragora» all on her own, and then went on to help clean up the other mandrake and «Slumbering Lily» in short order." Dale looked at me with his arms crossed. It wasn't exactly suspicion in his eyes, but I could read the unsaid question.

"I played a lot of old school games and bullet hells. I'm fairly good at pattern recognition. And like I told Klein, I have real life experience and training that lets me execute a lot of things. The numbers and «Sword Skills» here just make it a little more flashy." I took another sip, glancing at everybody's eyes. Harry and Klein looked at me with caution, while the other five seemed to have a small case of hero worship.

"You guys should eat. It sounds like both halves are fairly tedious." I suddenly hit me that they weren't eating anything at all, or even drinking. Even if this world was false, they should still try and maintain some semblance of reality.

"Yeah. Even if I'm not hungry, we don't know when we'll get back here to eat." Klein tapped something on the table, presumable the button to order something. The rest of the group follow suit, and they descended into scattered conversation.

#Can I trust you?#

I looked up over the small sandwich slash flatbread taco I ordered. Klein's eyes met mine, an adequate hardness in his eyes for a civilian. #I will not intentionally bring harm to your group.#

#But can I trust you.#

I let out a quiet sigh and flicked through my inventory for a few moments before typing out my response. #If you tell me to leap, I will leap,# I lamented the character limit of the messaging system, #create a diversion, I will create a diversion,# I stared into Klein's eyes as I sent the next line. #ask for somebody to stay behind, I will volunteer first.#

His brow furrowed briefly when the message reached him. #Ok. Sorry about the interrogation.#

I gave an ambiguous hum, swirling the tea in my cup around. "So will we be finishing up our portions today or moving to the other half?"

"I wouldn't mind doing the «Forest of Tranquility» for the rest of the day. You said the only combat was at a specific spot, right?" I look over at Choryu, recalling that he was a gamer turned office worker who had returned back to gaming for the VR equipment.

"Yeah. The two times we passed by it, there were three monsters. The only ones we saw were «Slumbering Lilies» and «Vernal Mandragora». Like Asasaki said, the «Lilies» have a weak spot in their bulb once they use their powder attack, and the «Vernal Mandragora» alternates between a ranged or leaf sword attack and its root attack. Everything else is just looking around the forest path on the main route to the river." Harry One was living up to his self-description as being the information gatherer for the group. I gave a quiet golf clap that went unnoticed.

"The «Goblinoid Extermination» quest and «Livid Boar» was pretty scary. I wouldn't mind putting that off for tomorrow." Choryu gave a nervous chuckle at that, looking down at the table with an almost far off look.

"You get used to it. It's scary now, but just remember you have teammates who can look out for you. If you think you'll freeze up, just listen to your commander. Believe in the one who believes in you." I blinked at the snickers that erupted from Klein's original group, deciding it pass it off as an inside joke I accidentally invoked.

Harry did his speak to speak clearly, but it was broken up by chuckles. "As our strategists and the ones in charge of the formations, Klein and I will do our best to keep you away from the front lines. It helps that you're a dagger user, so tanking blows isn't expected from you." Mr. Trendy gave a breath of relief.

"So we'll swap quests for the afternoon. Nothing special aside from that «Livid Boar» spawn, and the goblinoids appearing in groups of three for you guys" Klein stood up at that, a confident grin on his face. "We'll meet back here at 6, maybe sooner depending on how things go." Everybody else stood up, returning the look. I rolled my eyes but joined the festivity, giving a smirk.

"To victory, and new gear!" We resounded Klein's toast, putting the tables back where they belonged before heading back out. We weren't stressed enough to warrant saying our spirits had been renewed, but there was a definite sense of upliftment as we headed out in the afternoon light.

Next chapter should be posted no later than July 7th-8th.