Walking down the street to the Sphere, Wrottzen thought to himself, God that was tougher than it should've been.
In his three hours of preparation, the first was spent trying to figure a way out of the thin clothes the People of the Land had put him in, and into his armor without becoming overstimulated. After experiments with blindfolds and dark room, Wrottzen found the system assist in the menu and utilized that to put on his armor. The torso armor was composed of a thick black metal with an extra band of red painted metal to provide protection to her feminine chest. The lower half of the body was covered, in typical RPG fashion, in only a blackened metal skirt and chainmail leggings. In one hand was her sword and the other a large kite shield.
However, putting on the armor was only the first obstacle that had to be overcome. On his way out of the caretaker's house, the caretaker's wife entered and insisted on Wrottzen fixing her hair, which had become disheveled by the bed. Thus began an hour of boredom and hair brushing. Once that was finished, he began what should have been a 45 minute walk to the Sphere. That also didn't go as planned as the female body struck again. Due to his new higher center of gravity, Wrottzen would trip every few feet, turning the 45 minute walk into an hour and 15 minute one.
The Sphere was a PvP coliseum famous for hosting intense tournaments for people to both participate and spectate. However, since players had become trapped in the game, the Sphere had lost its fanfare and become a ghost town.
As the Sphere came into view, Wrottzen could already see Bojohn waiting at the designated spot. Bojohn was 19 years old and dressed like a pirate with black pants and a white collared shirt, topped off with a yellow handkerchief wrapped around his neck. His weapon of choice was a single rapier blade, which was gleaming in the sun beside him.
"Dude, is that you?" Bojohn asked, as Wrottzen finally came into view.
"What, no 'nice to see you'? All I get is a 'dude, is that you' while you ogle my boobs."
"OK, it's you. What took you so long?"
"It's this accursed female body." Wrottzen replied. "Sigh… nothing I've done today has been easy, not even walking here."
"Why did you even choose a female character to begin with?"
"Well first of all, I didn't think something like this was possible. Second of all, if I'm going to be staring at a computer screen for countless hours a day, I want to be looking at a pretty girl, not a dude."
"Fair enough. Are you ready to go?"
"Yup! Let's go!" Immediately after saying this Wrottzen tripped and fell once again.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Bojohn asked as he helped his friend off the ground.
"Yes I am. Even if I wasn't, I need to get used to this body ASAP and the best way I can see of doing that is throwing myself in the deep end, so to speak."
Settled on a course of action, the two left the city and traveled east to the Onadag badlands. They were quite a ways out of the city before either dared speak.
"It's quiet." Wrottzen began.
"Too quiet." Bojohn finished. "Get set for a mob ambush."
"Got it. Rabid Wolves at 12 o' clock!"
Rabid wolves were a lower tier mob, usually spawning at around level 25. In packs they could be dangerous to even high level players, but the three that had just appeared would be a perfect test of both players' new abilities.
Bojohn rushed forward, sword at the ready and began slashing away at the monsters. After doing a sufficient amount of damage he yelled "Can you pull aggro?"
"Sure, just get behind me!" Wrottzen replied, running to meet his comrade halfway. Once Bojohn was behind him, Wrottzen stopped moving and prepared for an assault from the wolves, only they completely ignored him and continued toward their aggressor.
"They're still after me. What happened?"
"You got too much damage off on them, I need to use a skill to draw them away."
"Well hurry up! I'm not exactly built for defense."
God this is cumbersome. Wrottzen thought as he surfed the menu for his skills. There has to be an easier way. This would never work in the heat of battle. "Anchor Howl!"
A bright light suddenly shone off Wrottzen, attracting the wolves' attention. They stopped pursuing Bojohn and quickly ran back toward the Guardian.
"Hold them off a while. I want to try using a skill."
"No problem." Wrottzen replied as a wolf bounced off his shield. Taking a swipe at the second wolf with his sword, he didn't notice third circling behind him. When the third attacked, Wrotzen was hit with a debuff, infected, slowly lowering his Hp.
"Are you almost set? There doing a number on me here!"
"Here we go! Whirlwind Slash!" Bojohn once again joined the fray, this time with his sword leading the way. Swirling around the sword was a massive body of air, which ended up blowing the wolves away from his comrade. "Now I'll finish the rest with… Hey the screen closed!"
Two of the wolves had been destroyed by the powerful attack. The final adversary, eager to avenge his fallen comrade began to charge toward the two adventurers.
While Bojohn fumbled with his menu again, Wrottzen stepped up and blocked the straightforward attack. As the foe recoiled off the shield, Wrottzen swung his sword once across its torso, causing it to disintegrate like the others.
Slumping against his sword Wrottzen commented, "That was tiring, especially for level 25 monsters."
"Yeah we need a lot more practice before we try anything. Feeling any more comfortable with your body?"
"A bit." Truth be told, in the heat of battle, Wrottzen nearly forgot about the difference in his body. "It's starting to get dark, wanna head back?"
"Sounds good. Getting trapped in a game and learning its new rules is more draining than it sounds."
We still need to figure out an easier way to activate skills, but I guess that can wait until tomorrow. Wrottzen thought as the infected debuff finally disappeared.
As the two walked back to town, the atmosphere slowly grew uneasy as the sun set.
"Is it just me or are you getting a bad vibe off this part of the woods?" Bojohn asked.
"I'm getting the same vibe you are. Hopefully it's just unease about being out this late in an unfamiliar place."
"I don't think that's it kid." Two adventurers stepped out of the woods to answer the question. One was a level 62 samurai. He brandished a large katana that was practically screaming for blood. The other was a level 59 enchanter. He was much smaller than his companion but possessed a staff with a blood red jewel, which was just as intimidating under the circumstances.
"Ohhhh. Look at what we have here Tachi." The enchanter said, "A pretty little guardian and a swashbuckler all alone in the woods."
"Perfect targets." The samurai, Tachi, replied.
"Who are you?" Bojohn asked, a hand on the hilt of his weapon.
"Us? We're no one special." The talkative enchanter replied, "We're just your ordinary, run of the mill PKers. Hey let's kill the swashbuckler first. Then we can have some fun with the girl."
Wrottzen shuddered before replying "Hate to break it to ya, but I'm a guy."
"Gah!" The enchanter jumped back after hearing the male voice, "No matter, we can kill you both. Tachi?"
"On it." Tachi then leapt into the air, bringing his katana down on Wrottzen's shield. While the shield did block the blow, the PKing samurai followed up with another series of slashes aimed at Wrottzen.
I'm taking quite a bit of damage here but I should be able to hold out a while against this guy. "Bojohn!"
"Ready! Piercing Blow!"
While Wrottzen had been guarding, Bojohn had been surfing his menu to activate a skill. The attack hit, but didn't do nearly as much as it should have.
"What?! How?!"
"It's the enchanter Bojohn!" Wrottzen yelled. "He's casting buffs onto his buddy there to give him the advantage!"
"I'll take care of the enchanter. Keep samurai boy here busy!"
"That won't work." Tachi said, speaking on his own for the first time. "Taunt!" A couple swipes of the hand was all it took to activate the skill, forcing Bojohn to focus on him.
Crap. They were prepared for that strategy. He had Taunt at the ready. "Bojohn start trying to hit him with debuffs and we'll double team him!"
Swashbucklers excelled in placing debuffs on the enemy but most of those were only placed after successfully using a skill. So while Wrottzen charged the samurai, Bojohn was left to scan his menu for an appropriate skill. When the two clashed swords again Wrottzen took a moment to look at her Hp gauge.
I'm already at 25%! How did that happen? Wrottzen thought. The wolves! I must not have been fully healed before we ran into these guys.
"Bojohn! We need to finish this up fast! I'm running low on Hp!"
"I'm trying here! Aggressive Assault!"
Wrottzen's reinforcements came rushing in, sword glowing red with power but before even a single hit of the defense lowering combo landed, the rapier was knocked out of his hand.
"Haaaaa." Seeing his friend in trouble, Wrottzen once again charged into the fray, only to be caught off guard by his higher center of gravity and trip a few feet in front of the enemy samurai. "I thought I was over that..."
"Any last words?" Tachi asked, standing over a cowering Wrottzen with blade raised.
No... I can't die yet! I want to live! I want my old body back! "KYAAAA!" Much to the surprise of everyone present, Wrottzen unleashed a high pitched girly scream.
"What?!" Tachi paused for a second, shock rendering him unable to move.
"KYAAAA! Shield Swing!" Bringing his shield back, it suddenly began to glow with power and slammed into his assailant, catching him off guard and dealing massive damage.
"He... He activated a skill without the menu..." The enchanter said in disbelief.
"Hiya!" The enchanter was suddenly hit in the head with a staff combo and disintegrated.
"Who're you?" Bojohn asked, recovering his sword from the ground.
The newcomer was a girl a year younger than Bojohn and Wrottzen with short cut brown hair and wearing a light green shirt and pants. In her hands was a thin staff, ideal for defense. "A friend." She replied. "Heartbeat Healing!"
The Hp gauge which had been at 25% suddenly jumped up to 40% and slowly began to regenerate further.
"What's the matter tough guy? Don't want to fight now that the field is even?"
"How could I turn now a challenge from the person I had screaming like a little girl just a few moments ago?" Tachi replied before bringing his katana into a ready stance.
OK let's think this through. He's 15 levels above me and at 30% health. I'm at 45% and rising. I may be at higher health but my only shot is to activate those skills again. "Aura Saber!"
Wrottzen charged at his adversary, saber glowing with power.
"Your friend tried that too. It didn't work then and it won't work now!"
"That's where you're wrong!" Rather than simply swinging the sword at the target like Bojohn did, Wrottzen twisted around, gathering momentum, and struck Tachi on the back swing, breaking his guard and knocking him to the ground. "What do you have to say now?"
"I was only doing what I thought was necessary to survive."
"Same here." Wrottzen replied before bringing down his shield for the finishing blow.
"Dude, that was awesome! How did you use those skills? I didn't even see you use the menu." Bojohn asked as he congratulated his friend.
"It seems to be a combination of voice and motion activation." He replied as a level up screen appeared before him. "Awesome a level up!"
As he began assigning stats, the mysterious woman who defeated the enchanter walked over. "Nice going girl! It's great to see another woman who knows how to handle themselves."
"You must've come late to the party." Bojohn said, knowing what was to come.
"Sorry Miss, but I'm a guy."
"Really?" The stranger replied cheekily. "The way you were screaming before I could've sworn you were a girl."
"Hey! I wasn't that bad!"
"Nah man, you were that bad." Bojohn replied nearly kneeling in laughter.
"Thanks for your help Miss." Wrottzen said, eager to change the subject. "My name's Wrottzen, what's yours?"
"The name's May. Nice to meet you." She said as a status window appeared next to her, revealing her to be a level 58 Human Druid.
AN: Hello Log Horizon fans! Happy Labor Day! Here we see some of the struggles Wrottzen has adjusting to a female body, the discovery of how to use skills, and (spoilers) complete our main crew.
If you liked what you read, leave a review and spread the word. Other than that, I'll see you next time!