"I need a new dagger." Karla said. "Yeah, you keep losing the other one." I replied without missing a beat. "Oh you little …" Karla growled as she pushed me. "No! No! Don't kill me!" I joked. She harrumphed and crossed her arms. So we bought a dagger to replace the one Karla had used to save us from the ox. From that point on we went hunting every day. We stuck to the safest zones we could identify. We didn't have to go deeper into the wilderness as there wasn't much competition. Most players had either stayed in the starting town or were already on higher floors. Floors five and six had been beaten which meant that more places were accessible and could be occupied.
Each day after hunting we would go to the shops and sell the stuff the monsters dropped. Afterwards we would sit somewhere to eat and discuss our tactics: how we did that day and what we should be doing the next day. Our abilities were not the same: Karla's agility was higher than mine but I had better strength. We were taking advantage of the differences in our attributes to as best we could. I would take the creatures head on and block the attacks as best I could, while Karla would target the creature's weak spot or attack from behind, dodging attacks when they would retaliate. If the creature's mobility was too high we would attack in sequence, switching in and out to let the sword skills cool down and be able to prepare the next one.
If we came across a creature that risked putting us in serious danger, we would usually just try to escape from it. We had a mutual understanding that if one of us yelled "Run!", we would just hightail it out of there. It was never up for debate. We had agreed to this early in the week, and it came into play a couple of times. Even if I felt that we were running from a beatable creature I would not discuss it. I would never judge her decision when it came to our safety and she did the same. We preferred the safety net it provided and enjoyed the trust building between us.
By the end of a week Karla had gone up three levels and I had gained two. This was great and we should have been celebrating. But, that evening, we had a simple meal at our inn, almost in silence, sticking to small talk about the meal and the weather. Talking about the weather in game was a little pointless as it rarely changed. Something was bothering me and I didn't know what to do. "OK Wolf. Spit it out. What's bothering you?" Karla asked. "I think we need to move." I nervously said. Karla shifted in her seat but was obviously interested in what I was proposing. "Go on." She said inquisitively.
"I don't think we will be able to progress without going deeper into the wilderness. Either that or taking on a dungeon and with the rumors of traps and odd happenings in there I'm not quite ready. If we went up a floor or two we could hunt close to town. We'd be able to go up levels faster while maintaining our current tactics. Once we've improved sufficiently, we could come back and take on those challenges." I looked at Karla to see her reaction. "I was thinking the same thing" Karla replied satisfied that we were on the same page. She bit her lower lip before continuing "But, I don't know how ready we are. Our armor is only one notch above the basics and I can't say much more about our weapons. We need to get better stuff. A shame the shops around here don't carry more advanced equipment." She looked at me with expectation, she wanted me to say what she was thinking. "Urbus." I said as the corner of Karla's mouth curled up. "They have a full complement of shops and smiths that we could get equipment from."
"I thought you'd never suggest it." Karla said smiling at the prospect of a change of pace. She gently put her hand on my shoulder as she got up from the table "We'll leave tomorrow when it's light." I watched her go up the stairs to her room. I was so worried about asking her to go to Urbus with me. I thought she might be scared of travelling far from town. I felt relieved that she had agreed to go. This was a step for me too as I had required protection to get here, but now we were travelling with the ability to protect ourselves. I went up to my room and laid on the bed. I put my hand where Karla had rested hers. I smiled, relaxed, closed my eyes and gently fell asleep.
The morning came quickly and I was awoken by a rap on the door with Karla saying "Come on, sleepyhead, we gotta get going." This was new. Karla had never knocked on my door before. "Give me a minute." I replied. "I'll be in front of the inn." She called back before heading down the stairs. I wanted to go back to sleep but the trip to Urbus was going to take a good part of the day. Also, Karla was waiting for me, and that gave me a little extra boost. So I got up and equipped my armor and my sword, then took a look around the room as if to check that I hadn't forgotten anything. But of course everything I had was in my inventory; it was hard to leave anything behind. Feeling a little silly, I left the room, which had been my home for the last two weeks, headed down the stairs and out into the street.
"Ugh! Finally! You ready?" Karla groaned. She was all ready to go and I hadn't even had breakfast yet. As if reading my mind, she said "I packed some food for the trip. Don't worry, you won't starve." She jeered. Opening her inventory window she materialized an apple like fruit and tossed it to me. "That'll hold you for a while." I caught it, looked at it, looked at Karla, smirked, and took a greedy bite. It was refreshing to see Karla take the lead. It's as if this was her trip.
With Karla setting the pace we headed out of town.